Portada (detalle) del libro editado con motivo del Congreso celebrado en Bilbao, en 1928, por The Iron & Steel Institute. / Colección Joaquín Cárcamo.

FOREWORD

It being our desire to correspond in some form to the honour you are doing us by visiting Spain a second time, after 32 years, we have thought you would like to have a handbook giving in concise form statistics relating to the mining and metallurgical industries in Spain, a description of the works to be visited, and the places of interest included in your itinerary which, although they are among the most characteristic in Spain, are not the only ones, for to include all those places of historical, artistic and monumental interest, would necessitate an extensiveness not in harmony with your purpose in coming here. In producing such a handbook our intention has been to give you as much information of interest as possible to avoid you the trouble of having constantly to consult guide books.

We, Spanish Members of the Institute through our Executive Committee this offer, little handbook to you with our best wishes and hope that it may prove of use and interest.

We take this opportunity of thanking you for the honour you are doing us by holding this Meeting in Bilbao and we hope that your stay among us will be both pleasant and instructive.

Mr. Benjamín Talbot. President of the Iron and Steel Institute. Libro del Congreso, 1928. / Colección Joaquín Cárcamo.

Mr. Benjamín Talbot

President of the Iron and Steel Institute

Mr. Benjamín Talbot, the inventor of the continuous process of steel manu­facture which bears his name, was born in Shropshire in 1864. His earliest experience in steel manufacture was obtained at the Ebbw Vale Works, after which he went to assist his father, who owned the Castle Ironworks at Welling­ton, Shropshire, where, besides gas puddling furnaces, he was operating a «Glapp-Griffiths» steel plant with small basic open-hearth furnaces. In 1890 Mr. Talbot became superintendent of the Southern Iron & Steel Company of Chattanooga, in Tennessee, U. S. A., in order to start the basic open-hearth process in the Southern States. Whilst there he experimented for the Tennes­see Iron & Coal Company, of Birmingham, Ala., with their silicious pig-iron, as up to that time basic pig-íron had not been made in the South. He conceived the idea of working a preliminary continuous basic-lined refining furnace for desiliconising, and this is now in large use in England under the name of the basic-lined gas-heated mixer. In 1893 he accepted the position of steel-works superintendent at the Pencpvd Steel Works, in Pensylvania, where he commenced the manufacture of basic open-hearth steel, and in 1899 brought out the continuous method of steel-making. In 1900 Mr. Talbot read his first Paper before the Iron and Steel Institu­te on the «Continuous Steel Process», being followed by one in 1903 on the same subject. In 1900 he resigned his position of manager of Pencoyd, when the Pencoyd Works were absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation, and returned permanently to England to develop the continuous steel pro­cess, which was taken up by some of the largest steel companies, including the Cargo Fleet Iron Company, Limi­ted, South Durham Steel Su Iron Com­pany Limited, Frodingham Iron & Steel Company, Limited, and others, in this country. In 1905 he read a Paper befo­re the Institute upon «Segregation in Steel Ingots». For many years Mr. Tal­bot has been engaged in improving the design of large steel furnaces with the end of increasing production and reducing costs. He is also the inventor of a successful mechanical gas producer, and of a process known as «The Talbot Hy-dro-carbon Lining», by which iron and steel pipes are lined by centrifugal for­cé with a special hydro-carbon lining.

Mr. Talbot was awarded the Elliot Cre­sson Gold Medal and the John Scott Medal of the Franklin Institute of Philadelpia in 1908 in recognition of his metallurgical inventions, and also, during the same year, was awarded the Bessemer Medal of the Iron and Steel Institute in recognition of his research in the manufacture of iron and steel. During the war he acted in an expert advisory capacity to the Ministry óf Munitions, and also as a member of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Trade to consider the position of the iron and steel trades after the war. He is a member of the Adviso­ry Committee for Coal and the Coal Industry under the Mines Department, and of the Permanent Committee on Basic Slag under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Amongst his ma-ny other connections Mr. Talbot is deputy-chairman and managing-director of the Cargo Fleet Iron Company, Li­mited, and is interested in several other important iron and steel and colliery companies on the North-East Coast. During the present year he is also President of the National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers.

Excmo. Sr. Conde de Zubiria. Presidente del Comité de Recepción. Libro del Congreso, 1928. / Colección Joaquín Cárcamo.

Excmo. Sr. Conde de Zubiria

Presidente del Comité de Recepción

The Conde de Zubiria has been Chairman of «Altos Hornos de Vizcaya» since its inception in 1902, having-been largely instrumental in the formation of this company by the amalgamation of the following companies «Altos Hornos y Fabricas de Hierro y Acero de Bilbao», «Sociedad Metalúrgica y Construcciones Vizcaya» and «Compa­ñía Anónima Iberia».

He has contributed greatly to the formation and development of compa­nies for working-up iron and steel such as «Tubos Forjados» (forged tubes), «Alambres del Cadagua» (wire), «Sociedad Española de Construcciones Babcock & Wilcox» (boilers, locomoti­vos, cranes, etc.,) and «Sociedad Espa­ñola de Construcción Naval (shipbuilding). He has been Chairman of the last-named company, which was foun-ded to develop the building of warships in the country, since its formation.

The Conde de Zubiria has also taken a considerable part in the development of the «Sociedad Hulleras del Turón» which was formed for the exploitation of coal mines in Asturias, «Banco de Vizcaya», «Sociedad Ibérica de Cons­trucciones Eléctricas», «Sociedad de Electrificación Industrial» and «Socie­dad Española de Minas del Rif» (iron ore mines), of which company he has been Chairman.

Both as Deputy and Senator he has been a member of the Cortes under various governments, and has served on numerous Committees of economic investigation, etc.

For his signal services to the coun­try His Majesty the King conferred on him the title of Count.

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