THE PRODUCER AND MEASUREMENT OF THE STEEL PARTS OF THE FOGHORN BUILDING OF INUBOUSAKI LIGHTHOUSE

Abstract

The foghorn building in Inubousaki which was all made of steel was built in 1910. It is ambiguous that the steel used for this building was domestic or imported from Europe, because it was made in incunabula of steel production in Japan (the Imperial Steel Works (Yawata) was founded in 1901). This paper shows that this building can be the oldest building in existence using domestic steel in Japan on the following basis;
a) The steel panel (8'× 4' Japanese feet) can be produced in Yawata then.
b) Assaying the chemical properties of building parts, more copper is gained in steel panels and rivets. It means that the iron ore used for them were probably imported from China that was mainly used in Yawata then.