SHEFFIELD STEEL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 102, 11 April 1933, Page 8

SHEFFIELD STEEL

HISTORY OF THE TRADE ITS PAST DEVELOPMENTS. ADDRESS BY COLONEL BRITTAIN. Brief reference to the history of the development of the steel industry of Sheffield was made by Napier Rotarians yesterday by Colonel W. B. Brittain, who is associated with one of the manufacturing firms in that city. The first development of the cutlery and tool industry was the manufacture of articles from puddled iron; he said. From such crude types of materia] hunting knives and other weapons were first made far back in the history of the city. A progressive step was made, however, when a better type of metal, discovered in Denmark, was introduced into Englund and manufactured into steel by the Sheffield factories. In 1756 a watchmaker found the greatest difficulty in getting a fine enough type of steel for watchmaking. He discovered that by the introduction of certain elements into steel he could obtain a metal sufficiently flexible for watchmaking and from that time the history of .Sheffield’s fame as a steel manufacturing centre comemneed. A little later, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the tool trade commenced. With the introduction of better coaching facilities tools and other steel articles were placed on various markets throughout England and the steel trade gathered further prominence. In Sheffield the workmen and apprentices lead very happy lives, although the wages earned were pitifully small compared with their requirements for living. They owned their small houses and sections, grew their own vegetables and, considering all things, were far happier than the workmen of to-day. But the advent of modern machinery made a great difference to their lot and conditions for them soon underwent a change. Gone were their simple and happy forms of existence and the problem of earning their daily bread became more serious. Another important step in the history of the steel industry was the call for greater bulk production of the metal, made necessary by the demands brought about by more efficient and more extensive armaments. Thus scientific research resulted in bulk steel of an excellent quality being produced. At the present time bulk steel for all kinds of work was being manufactured at the lowest possible cost. With the declaration of war in 1914 Sheffield had prepared her factories for the production of arms instead of peace-time implements in less than three weeks. Within six months after the declaration of war, indeed, the firms were able to produce up to 14,000 bayonets a week. “I suppose there is no town in England which has been through harder times than Sheffield," said Colonel Brittain. ‘‘Trade conditions there were suffering as a result of the present depression, but if by hard work conditions could be improved, then the people of Sheffield were capable of improving them." He spoke of the history of the discovery of stainless steel, stating, incidentally, that many people were under the impression that stainless steel table knives should not be sharpened. This was not the case at all, for the steel was stainless throughout and not merely a coating of the metal. Placing the edge of a knife against a steel could do no harm w-hatever to the knife.