Editorial

Steel is the material most in demand for "General Engineering" work in India. For structural work Mild Steel is the commonest in use. But Cast Steel is coming increasingly into use wherever lightness has to be combined with strength, particularly for mobile structures, such as the under-carriages of Railway wagons, or Stems and Sternposts and propeller-shaft brackets for ships. The production of Cast steel is still in its infancy in India and there are few firms which produce accurate and reliable cast steel parts. During the last world-war, just past. Cast steel parts were required for a number of Naval Craft. But there were so few producers that orders had to be placed six months ahead and yet completion of vessels was held up considerably for delay in receipt of castings. In several cases, the castings were not according to pattern. In other cases they had twisted out of shape. Improvement in the quality of castings and increase in the rapidity of production would be a great boon to the country. In order to obtain this improvement it is necessary to have a knowledge of the past as well as the present methods of steel manufacture. These are briefly described in the paper read on the 17th November, 1949 before the Association of Engineers by Mr. N. G. Chakravarti and published elsewhere in this issue.