stearin (ste arin)

[ proce es, and the rostrum of the skull is compre ed. The second pectoral muscle is small, and the femorocaudal is wanting. The syrinx is entirely bronchial, and hence paired. The oil-gland is very large. The plumage is not after shafted, and the rectrices are ten. There is only one genus and one species. See cut under guacharo. steek (stek), v. [Also steik ; obs. or dial. (Sc.) form of stick1 .] I. trans. 1. To pierce with a sharp-pointed instrument; stitch or sew with a needle.-2. To close or shut: as, to steek one's eyes. Burns. [Obsolete or Scotch in both uses.] But doors were steek'd , and windows bar'd, And nane wad let him in. the effect of this latter element varies with the amount of impurity (silicon, etc.) present in the steel. The larger the amount of impurity, the larger is the quantity of car- bon required to give to the iron the character of steel. In the case of the best bar-iron, a little over 0.3 per cent. of carbon is sufficient to give it a steely character; from 0.5 to 0.65 per cent. of carbon, according to the purity of the iron, gives a steel which can be hardened so as to strike fire with flint. Iron containing from 1 to 1.5 per cent. of carbon gives steel which, after tempering, combines the maximum hardne with the maximum tenacity. One per cent. of carbon gives, on the whole, the most generally useful steel. With more than 1.5 per cent, of carbon the tenacity and weldability of the steel are diminished, al- though the hardne may be increased. With more than 1.74 per cent. of carbon the steel ceases to be weldable, and is with difficulty drawn out under the hammer; and from 1.8 to 2.0 per cent. is usually considered as the limit be- tween steel and cast-iron, the steel with that amount breaking when hammered after softening by heat. Since steel is intermediate between wrought and cast-iron in the amount of carbon which it contains, it is evident that it might be made either by carburizing the former or decar- burizing the latter. The method of carburization, or cemen- tation as it is generally called, is one of the oldest, perhaps the most ancient, as, although differing greatly in the de- tails, in the e entials it is the same as the proce by which the Indian wootz is manufactured. The cementation pro- ce was described in detail by Réaumur in a work published in 1722. By this method blister-steel is obtained, and this is further worked up into spring-, shear-, and double-shear steel by one or more proce es of fagoting, welding, and hammering or rolling, the object of this being to give the metal greater homogeneity. A great addition to the value of this proce was the invention by Huntsman, in 1740, of cast-steel, the product of the fusion in crucibles, under suitable manipulation, of blister-steel, which proce is still in use as first arranged almost without change. By this method, when iron of a sufficiently high grade is used, the finest quality of steel is produced, and it is only steel manufactured in this way which can be used for the best tools, weapons, and cutting instruments of all kinds. The methods of producing steel by the decarburization of pig-iron are numerous and varied. The Styrian method of decarburization in the open-hearth finery, whereby a material called raw steel is produced, was once of very considerable importance, but is now little used. The method of decarburizing pig-iron by puddling, which is similar in principle to the ordinary puddling proce used IMG:content-2060.png:[blocks in formation] extensively employed, especially on the continent of Eu- rope, the product being called puddled steel , this being drawn into bars, which are cut up and remelted, as is done with blister-steel in manufacturing cast-steel. There are various methods for producing steel by fusing pig-iron with iron ores, or with wrought-iron, or with both together. The Uchatius proce belongs to this cla of proce es, but is of comparatively small importance; but the pro- ce es known as the "Siemens," the "Martin," and the "Siemens-Martin" are extensively employed. The steel made by any of these proce es is generally called open-hearth steel, as the work of decarburizing the pig is done in the open-hearth regenerative furnace. The dif- ference between these proce es is simply that in the first- named the pig-iron is treated with certain iron ores with out the addition of wrought-iron (scrap-iron); in the sec- ond the pig is melted with scrap-iron; and in the third both scrap and ore are used together: hence the names by which the first two of these modifications of what is es- sent i ally the same proce are known- pig - and - ore , pig . and-scrap-the third, or the "Siemens-Martin," being the most commonly employed. By far the most important of all steel-producing proce es, if only the amount of the metal produced is considered, is the "pneumatic" or "Be emer" proce , invented by Sir Henry Be emer about 1856, which consists in blowing air through molten pig-iron in a "converter," or ve el of iron lined with a refractory material - the oxidation of the carbon and silicon which the pig contains, together with a small part of the iron itself, furnishing sufficient heat to keep the material in a fluid state while the operation of decar- burization goes on. After complete decarburization of the iron, a certain amount of carbon is restored to the metal by the introduction of spiegeleisen or ferromanga- nese; this extremely important addition to the Be emer proce , without which it would hardly have been a suc- ce , was contributed by R. F. Mushet. The Be emer proce , as conducted in a converter lined with the ord i- nary silicious or "acid" material, is suited only for work- ing iron which is practically free from phosphorus and sulphur, or such as is made from ore like that of Lake Superior, from which all, or nearly all, the Be emer steel made in the United States is manufactured. By the so- called "basic" or "Thomas-Gilchrist" proce , the con- verter having a basic (calcined dolomite) lining, iron con- taining a considerable amount of phosphorus is treated, and a fair quality of steel produced, the phosphorus pa - ing into the slag during the operation, as is the case in is generally called Be emer steel, but some consider it more correct to call it ingot -iron. It can be produced of various grades by varying the amount of carbon which it contains, and is a material of the highest value for structural purposes - as being cheaper, and having more durability, than wrought-iron made by puddling-al. though of no value for the purposes for which the older higher-cla steels are employed. Its principal use is for rails, and during the past few years from seventy to eighty per cent. of the Be emer steel made in the United States has been used for that purpose. 2. Something made of steel. Specifically-( a ) A cutting or piercing weapon; especially, a sword. Com pare cold steel , below. Shall I Sir Pandar us of Troy become, And by my side wear steel ? She straight replies, Send in your steel combs, with The steel you see your faces in. any intermediate support, the lace-like fabric bridge soaring as high as the top of St. Paul's. The steel of which the compre ion members of the structure are composed contains of carbon and of manganese. The parts subjected to extension do not contain more than of carbon. W. C. Roberts- Austen , Nature, XLI. 36. IMG:content-2061.jpg:[blocks in formation] manufacturers, small articles, such as corkscrews, buckles, button-hooks, and boot-hooks, when made of polished steel.- Steel trap. See trap i.