cwt. in Yorkshire, where most of the furnaces were still on the cold blast, to 2 ton 16 cwt. in South Wales. Scrivenor also tells us that in 1831 Mr. Dixon at the Clyde Ironworks, substituted raw coal for coke, and by 1833 had succeeded in producing a ton of pig-iron with 2 ton 5 cwt. of raw coal, exclusive of the 8 cwt. required to heat the blast. Some years ago, in a paper read before the Society of Mechanical Engineers, Mr. Charles Cochrane pointed out that the actual quantity of coke necessary in a blast furnace was that demanded for the reduction and carburizing of the iron which he estimated at 17:43 cwt. per ton of metal (i.e., a coal equivalent of about 26 cwt.) but the average coal consumption per ton of pig-iron produced in 1920, amounted to 44 cwt.

It will have been noticed from the figures given above that the number of blast furnaces is now much less than formerly (the maximum number of furnaces in existence in any one year seems to have been 948 in 1878), but that the output per furnace has steadily increased. The table on the following page shows the number of furnaces in each of the iron producing districts of the country, and their production in 1920.

The average annual output per furnace thus varied from 64,000 tons in South Wales (where some of the modern furnaces are equal to those in America) to 13,300 tons in Scotland. The average annual output per furnace in 1920 in the U.S.A. amounted to over 100,000 tons.

At the present time there are 487 blast furnaces in the United Kingdom, of which 385 are in England and Wales and 102 in Scotland. Of the 385 in England and Wales, only 90 are capable of producing over 50,000 tons per annum, of which seven only can produce 100,000 tons per annum.

The 487 furnaces belong to 95 different works, 15 of whom produced under 25,000 tons each in 1920, 53 between 25,000 and 100,000 tons, and 27 over 100,000 tons; of the last 9 produced over 200,000 tons each.

D

1920: AVERAge Output per Blast FurnACE BY DISTRICTS.

The location of the blast furnaces in the United Kingdom has depended upon a variety of considerations, the most important of which has been the reduction to a minimum of transport charges upon materials and products, which are both bulky and heavy. Proximity to coal and ore, and access to markets have therefore been the dominating considerations. In the first half of the nineteenth century the furnaces were in many instances constructed on coalfields from which ore could also be obtained, or which were adjacent to an ore field. In more recent times the position has been altered by the steady growth of the importation of high-grade foreign ore, which has attracted furnaces to the coalfields adjacent to the coast.

Among the pig-iron producing districts of the country the preeminent place is held by the North-East Coast. At present this area possesses in a higher degree than any other in the Kingdom that combination of advantages which spells success in pig-iron production; and as a result is responsible for approximately one-third of the total production of the country. Cleveland ore and Durham coking-coal laid the foundation of this prosperity, and the situation on the coast renders easy the importation of high-grade Spanish ore for the production of hematite pig-iron and the despatch of the pigiron to overseas markets or on coasting vessels to other districts in the United Kingdom, e.g., Scotland's deficiency in pig-iron is largely made good by coastwise shipping from Middlesbrough. No district can attempt to rival the North-East Coast in respect to output, which in 1920 amounted to 2,638,600 tons as compared with 1,009,200 tons produced on the West Coast (Cumberland and North Lancs),

1 i.e., those parts not included in Districts 4 and 9.

which ranks second among the pig-iron producing areas. Here, also, the furnaces are on the Cumberland ore field near the coast, which yields an ore of better quality than that found elsewhere in the kingdom, but the coal has farther to travel than on the opposite coast. The Midlands still form an important centre of production; they possess the necessary coal, but the ore has now to be brought a greater distance than formerly, when it was forthcoming in sufficient quantities on the coalfields themselves, and the inland situation makes the importation of foreign ore practically prohibitive and adds considerably to the cost of exporting the finished product. There is still a good local market for pig-iron, but the prospect is hardly so bright as it was when wrought iron and not steel was the chief constructional material, and the Midlands possessed an undoubted supremacy in the iron market. The growing importance of the Midland ore field in Lincoln, Northants and Leicester, is causing a shifting of productive capacity eastwards to the coast, and some competent observers consider that Lincolnshire will one day rival the North-East Coast. In Scotland and in Wales the pig-iron industry, originally based on the native ore near the coalfields, has become, of recent years, more and more dependent upon foreign ore; and even so, both of these districts require to import pig-iron to meet the needs of the steel industry.

The first half of the nineteenth century was pre-eminently the age of iron for, although steel had not been entirely neglected, the steel manufactured by the crucible process, which had been developed by Benjamin Huntsman in Sheffield, was too costly for most purposes, and it was not until the inventions of Bessemer, in 1856, that the production of a steel suitable for constructional work at a relatively low price was rendered possible. This was followed by the discovery and application of the open hearth process of steel manufacture by the Siemens Brothers, between 1864 and 1867. So effective were these improvements that Mr. Jeans quotes a statement from a Thames shipbuilder to the effect that in 1858 the ship plates used in the ships built by his firm had cost £40 to £50 per ton and angles £40. By 1878 plates produced by the open-hearth process cost £13 to £15 per ton, while within twenty years, plates produced by the same process were selling for £5 per ton. The significance of this change is at once apparent, when it is remembered that, on the average, one ton of iron or steel is required for every 2'1 tons of gross shipping tonnage.

Between 1879 and 1883 the basic process of steel manufacture was developed by Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and others, and rendered available for steel making the large deposits of phosphoric ore in this country. Even more important was the effect of Thomas's inventions on the Continent, for without his inventions the development of the Lorraine and Luxemburg industry would have been impossible. The following table shows the output of steel in the United Kingdom at different dates:

1917

1920

9,716,544 (Year of maximum production). 9,067,300

In 1873 the production of open-hearth steel amounted to 77,473 tons; in 1917 the production was 7,900,767 tons. Ingot steel is manufactured in ninety-two different works in the country of which twenty-eight produced under 25,000 tons in 1920 and twelve over 200,000 tons. The number of works manipulating steel is, of course, very much larger. The following table shows the chief steel producing districts in 1920:

Tons. 2,074,000 1,950,000 1,884,300

980,200 806,200 1,372,600

9,067,300

The uses of steel are countless, from the domestic pin to the mighty dreadnought, but so far as I am aware no analysis of the consumption of steel by the different consuming industries has been made in this country. An estimate has, however, recently been made of the consumption by the consuming industries in America and the following results obtained:

FINISHED STEEL OUTPUT DIVIDED BY DEMANDS.
Estimates in Net Tons.

An analysis for this country would, of course, show the same consuming industries, but with very different proportions. The proportions for building, automotive, car and locomotive would be much less and for shipbuilding and food containers much higher.

As was stated at the beginning of the article the iron and steel industry is essentially an export one; in 1913 nearly five million tons of iron and steel were exported, about a quarter of which was in the form of pig-iron. During the war nearly all the iron and steel produced was required for munitions in one form or another, so that exports, except to Allies, had to be rigorously cut down as will be seen from the following figures:

To get back our pre-war export trade is one of the big problems now facing the industry. In 1920 we exported two-thirds of the tonnage exported in 1913, but, owing to the slump and coal stoppage, exports fell last year to little more than one-third of the pre-war figures. The following table shows the chief items of export in 1913, 1920 and 1921:

Nearly half our exports of iron and steel before the war were to British possessions, the other half being almost equally divided between European and non-European foreign countries. India, Australia and South Africa took the bulk of our exports to British possessions; France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Sweden were our chief customers in Europe, while the Argentine, Japan, Brazil and the U.S.A. were our best markets outside of Europe.