480 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



iron, has been one so severe and trying as to make it extreme- 

 ly difficult to find hands to engage in the work, and the rap- 

 id increase in the demand for wrought iron has rendered it 

 impossible to find competent men in sufficient number for the 

 purpose. 



Numerous efforts had been made to relieve iron manufac- 

 turers from this dependence upon manual labor, but without 

 success; and the announcement made last autumn by Mr. 

 Dank, before the iron and steel workers, that he had success- 

 fully solved the problem, was received at first with incre- 

 dulity. A committee was, however, appointed to proceed to 

 Cincinnati to examine Mr. Dank's furnaces, which was done ; 

 and on their return they reported that every thing promised 

 could be accomplished, and that the interest of the trade was 

 closely connected with the acceptance of Mr. Dank's offers. 



It is now stated that two hundred furnaces on Mr. Dank's 

 plan are to be shortly put up in various districts, and that he 

 is to receive the sum of 50,000 as his premium, whether the 

 furnaces are in operation or not. 12 A, March 28, 1872, 417. 



dank's iron puddling furnaces. 



Much interest continues to be attracted in Great Britain by 

 the successful performances of Dank's iron puddling furnaces, 

 which promise to be very useful to the iron manufacturers 

 there. This furnace is substantially an iron barrel lined with 

 fire-brick, rotating horizontally, with the flame of a furnace 

 passing in at one end from the grate, and out at the other 

 end to the chimney. Within this barrel the iron to be pud- 

 dled is placed, and, as it slowly revolves, the iron keeps roll- 

 ing over and over to the bottom, and so presents constantly 

 a new surface to the flame. This continual turning over su- 

 persedes the necessity of stirring by the puddler, and labor 

 is thus saved, and larger charges can be worked than when 

 the stirring has to be effected by manual labor. 22 A, 1272, 

 309. 



INDICATIONS OF STOPPING-PLACES IN RAILWAY TRAINS. 



The need is continually felt in railway trains of some sys- 

 tematic indication in all the cars of tile name of the station 

 at which the train is next to stop ; and although numerous 

 attempts have been made to meet tins desideratum, none 



