According to the 1916 Statistical Report of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the recent yearly production in this country of wrought iron and steel merchant bars, plates and sheets, and skelp for pipe in gross tons has been: ════╤═══════════════════╤═══════════════════╤═══════════════════ │ Merchant Bars │ Plate and Sheets │ Skelp for Pipe ────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬───────── │ Iron │ Steel │ Iron │ Steel │ Iron │ Steel ────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── 1905│1,322,439│2,271,162│ 72,156│3,460,074│ 452,797│ 983,198 1906│1,481,348│2,510,852│ 74,373│4,107,783│ 391,517│1,137,068 1907│1,440,356│2,530,632│ 74,038│4,174,794│ 444,536│1,358,091 1908│ 685,233│1,301,405│ 54,033│2,595,660│ 297,049│ 853,534 1909│ 952,230│2,311,301│ 76,202│4,158,144│ 370,151│1,663,230 1910│1,074,163│2,711,568│ 91,118│4,864,366│ 350,578│1,477,616 1911│ 835,625│2,211,737│ 89,427│4,398,622│ 322,397│1,658,276 1912│ 944,790│2,752,324│ 75,044│5,800,036│ 327,012│2,119,804 1913│1,026,632│2,930,977│ 64,729│5,686,308│ 312,746│2,189,218 1914│ 563,171│1,960,460│ 56,590│4,662,656│ 264,340│1,718,091 1915│ 657,107│3,474,135│ 20,253│6,057,441│ 262,198│2,037,266 1916│ 993,948│5,625,598│ 13,303│7,440,677│ 355,445│2,572,229 ────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┴───────── There is considerable so-called wrought iron on the market to-day which is not truly wrought iron, by which we mean iron “puddled” from pig iron. Bushelled Iron After heating a mixture of thin sheet or other soft steel and wrought iron scrap to a welding heat in a reverberatory furnace, it may be balled and put through the squeezer, muck rolls, etc., as was the true wrought iron made by puddling. This manipulation of scrap is known as the bushelling process and the product as “bushelled iron” or “scrap bar.” By using scrap bar for the outer layers and old wrought iron bars cut to length for the interior, box piles are made, which, heated and rolled, make very good material, though not as good as puddled iron. Certain grades on the market, e. g., common bar iron, contain more or less of this bushelled iron, but the better grades, refined wrought iron, double refined wrought iron, engine and stay-bolt iron, are usually the pure puddled product. As with the latter, repeated shearing, piling, and rolling improve the quality. Bushelled iron is largely the result of an endeavor to reduce the cost of production of wrought iron. The material has a legitimate place and considerable of it is used. CHAPTER VII CEMENTATION AND CRUCIBLE STEELS