Show STEEL OF DAMASCUS A dispatch from portland oregon says B J casterline an obscure country toolmaker of corvallis oregon has restored the long lost art of tempering steel to the hardness of a diamond his process promises to become one of the greatest discoveries of the century with a razor tempered by castellines Cast erlines new process shavings are readily whittled from a wire nail with a knife so treated a common pocket knife a small file was cut in two with a drill of castellines Cast erlines making a hole was bored through the thin portion of an ax A car penters carpenters drawing knife was made to cut chips from a steel bar with each of the edged tools used as described the inventor afterwards shaved hair from the back of his hand in no case was the slightest dulling of the edge perceptible ordinary tempering is a combination of the hardening and annealing practically applied to all steel goods in order to give them such a degree of hardness as will fit them for resisting wear and reduce their brittleness to the minimum it is effected by first hardening by heating and then suddenly cooling them and then heating again to a somewhat lower temperature and allowing to cool slowly according to the temperature pera ture to which the hardened steel has been heated before annealing so is the diminution mi nution in the hardness affected by the process and the particular resultant combination of hardness with toughness and elasticity is termed the temper of tile the steel this characteristic property of steel as distinguished from malleable iron is that when heated red hot and suddenly cooled by plunging into cold water it becomes hardened to a greater or lesser extent and rendered more or less brittle and also elastic when the steel thus hardened is heated red hot and slowly cooled on the other hand it loses this acquired hardness and becomes soft and malleable again this inverse process is termed softening or annealing such in brief is the tempering of steel sheel Caster castellines Cast erlines Iines discovery bids fair nay seems certain to revolutionize not only the tempering but the entire steel working industry the reason is that by his process steel is brought to a degree of hardness never before approached much less equaled A drill made of castellines Cast erlines steel will perpetrate pere ordinary steel with as much readiness as an ordinary steel drill will penetrate soft iron the whole secret of castellines Cast erlines process lies in the composition of a cherl cal fluid in which is dipped the steel to be hardened this fluid is dark brown in color andas and is apparently y composed largely of oils it is kept by the inventor in an oblong metal lined box the box is fitted with a hasp and lock and is never open except when casterline is at work all efforts of curious or interested persons to make a close inspection of the mysterious box and its contents are quietly but determinedly checkmated check mated by the jealous eyed inventor no miser is more zealous in guarding his treasure hoard than is casterline in caring for this precious box and its contents were it not that results are so marvelous there would be nothing especially interesting in watching casterline at work he simply heats the steel to be tempered to a red heat plunges it into his tank of fluid and heats it again this time to a lesser degree then he plunges it into cold water and the work is done the result is a blade which when edged is equal in keenness to the famous damascus weapon with which was cut in two the cushion tossed in air by saladin of old daily since the announcement of his wonderful discovery castellines Cast erlines little shop in north portland has been besieged by manufacturers of iron and steel products scientist capitalists and persons drawn thence simply by idle curiosity daily for the past two weeks the lil inventor has given exhibitions of his process and of its wonders among his spectators have been severa several experts in tool making and in steel tempering 0 not one of these has disputed caster lines statement that his discovery would revolutionize tool weapon and armor mak ing all agreed that his work was nothing el less than marvelous at one of these exhibitions given a few days ago casterline took a common steel spike of the twenty penny size fastened it firmly in a vise and proceeded to whittle shavings from it with a common pocket knife that he had previously tempered the edge of the knife was not in the least dull or turned and to prove this casterline used it to shave a bunch of hair from the back of his hand an ax badly nicked and dulled was brought to him he tempered it in the presence of the spectators and then sharpened it on a grindstone then he fastened a one inch steel baran bar in a vise and proceeded to chop the bar with the ax half a dozen blows he struck with al all I 1 the force of his mighty arms the steel bar was deeply culand cut and indented in as many places as there were blows struck but the ax remained as ap keen and sharp as though it never had been used casting the ax aside casterline next took up a carpenters drawing knife that he had tempered and with it proceeded to cut shavings from the same bar that had been chopped with the ax the drawing knife was pot got dana damaged ed and with it caster line afterward cut to pieces a thin bust busi card offered by a spectator tit ness 83 A dozen tests equal to these ar are e formed daily by casterline ile he is ig per ier anxious to exhibit evea his di discovery se overy a and d ml isei no opportunity of doing so he is honest honest I 1 thinking he has found out a a secret of tre importance and he wants the world to know about iland it and appreciate wha he has done |