Under manual conditions of handling scrap and at the current contract trade union rate the cost is 1s. 4d.--33 cents--per ton. With the lifting-magnet, including labour and depreciation, the cost is only one penny--2 cents--per ton for this work--a reduction of 1s. 3d.--31 cents--per ton! At the works of the Stobie Steel Company, Dunston-on-Tyne, the initial cost of the lifting-magnet was recovered during the first four months it was used. This company declares that the annual saving which its employment effects is £800--$4,000. But the applications of the magnet are not confined to lifting and carrying operations. As an instrument for breaking up masses of steel too large to be handled conveniently, or to be passed into the cupola of the furnace, it cannot be excelled, either in point of efficiency, safety, or economy. Breaking-up is carried out by what is known as the “skull-cracker,” which comprises a roughly-cast ball of steel which may weigh as much as 22,400, 27,000 or even 36,000 lb. This is picked up by the magnet and lifted to the desired height. The current is then switched off, releasing the ball to fall and to strike the scrap-boiler or some other cumbrous piece of junk a terrific blow. While the “skull-cracker” has been in vogue for many years with mechanically operated devices, and so is not peculiar to the magnet, yet this latest development represents the highest achievement yet attained in this particular direction. Under mechanical conditions from four to six men are required to carry out the work successfully. With the magnet and ball the task can be fulfilled by two men--if exigencies so demand it can be completed single-handed by the crane-magnet operator--while the time occupied in such essential destruction is very much less, more efficiently accomplished and with complete safety, because under mechanical conditions breaking-up is generally regarded as highly dangerous work. A further advantage is offered by this system. The “skull-cracker” can be lifted and dropped alternately until the scrap has been reduced to suitably sized pieces, and then the magnet, disdaining the ball, can pick up the pieces of junk to bear them away to the furnaces without any delay. Despite the forward strides which have been made in regard to the adoption of the magnet in the British iron and steel trades during the past four years, this system of handling ferrous metals is still in its infancy. It has been neglected far too long. Yet it is a force which in the future must play an increasing important role, because it is generally admitted that, to offset the higher wages incidental to production, it is imperative for manufacturers to exploit fully every possible time, labour, and money-saving device. The magnet is one of the most attractive contributory factors to this end, especially in connection with the handling of iron and steel waste, that has yet been contrived. CHAPTER XVI