NON-TECHNICAL CHATS ON IRON AND STEEL AND THEIR APPLICATION TO MODERN INDUSTRY BY LA VERNE W. SPRING, A.B. CHIEF CHEMIST AND METALLURGIST, CRANE CO., CHICAGO _WITH TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS_ [Illustration: [Logo]] NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1917, by_ FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages_ TO MY FELLOW WORKERS IN THE VAST IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED FOREWORD It has long been a desire of the author to put into non-technical form the interesting data here given. During several years spent in the service of one of the great steel companies of this country, first in the laboratories and afterward in the rolling mills, he acquired a love for the industry that is now of fairly long standing. Spending as much of his spare time then and since in visiting various parts of that mammoth plant and as many others as he was able, he has always felt that this extremely interesting subject could not fail to prove fascinating even to those who had previously known little of the manufacture of steel and steel products. Later work with gray and malleable cast irons and with cast steel enlarged the outlook and further urged his sharing these interesting things with others not so fortunately situated. Such an inspiration, if it may so be called, is the reason for the appearance of these articles. Practically as here reprinted, the first thirteen of them were published during 1915 and 1916 in serial form in the “Valve World,” the house organ of Crane Company of Chicago, with which the writer for some time has been connected. The enthusiasm with which they were received has been very gratifying, while the scores of letters bearing favorable comment testify to the correctness of the judgment that the metallurgy of our most useful metal, iron, is of very general interest.