I wasn't aware of DIN standards, even in a modern context, so thank you for the prompt to do some googling. Below is google verbatim, not my words:
In 1920, steel designation in Germany was in its infancy, transitioning from DI-Norm (Deutsche Industrienorm), established in 1918, to the earliest DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung) standards. Early designations focused on structural and fastener steels, often using a "St" prefix (e.g., St 37).
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Initial Designation: The first standards, starting in 1918, were referred to as DI-Norm, with the first standard (DI-Norm 1) being approved for tapered pins.
The Transition: By the 1920s, the "DI-Norm" was becoming "DIN" as the organization (formerly NADI, founded 1917) began publishing more industrial standards.
Steel Identification: Early standards in the 1920s began covering steel for specific industrial applications like flanges (e.g., early DIN 2501 for pressure).
Common Format: While numeric material numbers (Werkstoffnummern) became dominant later, early steel grades often relied on identifying the minimum tensile strength, such as St 37 (indicating a tensile strength of
kgf/mm²).
Early DIN standards often focused on dimensions and material requirements for engineering components, laying the foundation for modern German Industrial Standards
I could not find a table outlining steel characteristics by German standard, but this link has some info:
https://www.google.com/search?q=whe...CALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
