Notes from Sheffield.
Page 2
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By a Local Correspondent.
The Sheffield steel trade is now sho,%ing a reeoverv risen the depression that began to make itself evident in the autumn of 1907. It is reasonable to anticipate that in the railway, ship-building, general engineering and motor trades the future will witness a great expansion, but few are optimistic enough to look forward to any marked revival this year.
For general engineering there is no particular demand for heavy forgings, but steel manufacturers report numerous small orders, and the number of buyers is continually increasing, showing that the upward move in trade is becoming more and more widespread. "Foreign.' orders for tool steel, high-speed twist-drills, and other tools have, during the first few months, shown a marked expansion from America, the Continent, and the Colonies. Tnfortunately, the home demand has lagged behind.
Amongst the lighter engineering industries, the inciter and cycle trades are probably the few that have kept up a regular procession of orders during the past 12 months or more. Sheffield, in taking up this speciality, suffered, at the outset, from the fact that French steel manufacturers were earliest in the field, but it is confidently asserted that Sheffield is rapidly ousting France from the British market. Motor manufacturers, who formerly got their steel and many special parts from France, are now placing the greatest part, if not all, of their requirements in Sheffield.
To the big local firms who took up nickel-steel long ago, and pushed it to the front, the manufacture of motor steel has proved a successful and lucrative adjunct to their businesses, and it is satisfactory to be able to record a general conviction that the motor industry has reached an assured position that justifies the steelmaster looking to it. not as a haphazard and violently-fluctuating market. but as an assured source of a steady and ever-expanding demand for his goods. This view is correct. Sheffield, if it has not an entire monopoly of the trade, meets with no serious outside competition in this country. It is quite ready still further to prosecute the manufacture of high-duty steels, and manufacturers are still vieing with each other in experiments, although the nature and purposes of these are shrouded in that secrecy and reserve which is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Sheffield steel trade. Sheffield is able to turn out every grade of steel which may be required by the motor manufacturer. Some firms combine many separate lines in their specialities, others, with that specialization which is the cardinal feature of Sheffield steel makers, content themselves with one or two, but in all cases order hooks are well filled. The orders include a good proportion of the larger forgings required in the construction of motor vans, lorries, etc., and the market for these leads one to the impression that makers are contemplating a much-larger output in the near future. Locally, it is thought that the prospects before this branch are eminently satisfactory. steel makers are now recognizing more and more the necessity of combining lightness with strength in the steel parts for these heavy vehicles. It may perhaps be mentioned here regarding crankshafts and general forgings that the 3 per cent. nickel-steel is giving very great satisfaction for ordinary purposes, with, of course, nickelchrome where still higher strength is desired. Evidence of the activity at the motor-engineering shops is also furnished by the larger demands for tool steel which are reaching this district. Amongst the prominent local firms which have just gone in for motor steels are the makers of the well-known " Musket " steel. Messrs. S. Osborn and Co.