72 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF GIRDERS, AXLES, AND SHAFTS. 



A patent has been taken out in England by Mr. James Fenton for a mode 

 of manufacturing axles, piston rods, and shafts, girders, and other like articles, 

 by rolling up or coiling a plate of iron, of any required thickness and size, into 

 a compact roll or coil ; next bringing it to a welding heat in a suitable furnace, 

 and then drawing it to the required shape under a hammer ; or by passing it, 

 when at a welding heat, through a pair of rolls. The welding may be carried 

 completely through or only partially, say half, through the mass ; if the latter, 

 a compound axle or other article will thus be formed, neither solid nor hollow, 

 which it will be nearly impossible to break. The mode of operating- is as fol- 

 lows: A plate of iron is prepared, of a suitable length, width, and thickness 

 to form a compact roll or coil, containing sufficient metal for the production of 

 the intended axle or other article. The thickness, and consequently the other 

 dimensions of the plate, will depend upon the quality of the iron employed. 

 This plate is heated to a red heat (when needful), and two or more workmen 

 with tongs or pincers, turn up one of the edges ; hammer men then bend down 

 this turned up edge on to the side of the plate, so as to form the commencement 

 of a roll or coil ; after which the operation is continued in the same manner 

 until the whole of the plate has been rolled up ; and it may then be passed 

 through a pair of rolls, if considered necessary. A compact roll or coil of 

 metal being thus produced, it is heated to a welding heat in an air or other 

 suitable furnace, and then welded and drawn down under a hammer to the 

 required form. The welding and shaping of the axle or other article may also 

 be performed by passing the roll of metal, when at the welding heat, between 

 a pair of rollers, having sets of grooves of gradually decreasing diameter, in 

 the manner commonly practised when rolling bars and rods of iron ; or the roll 

 or coil may be submitted first to a hammering process, and then passed 

 between grooved rollers until it is reduced to the required shape. The plate 

 of iron employed for forming a coil or roll which is to be manufactured into an 

 axle or other like article, may be a compound one that is, it may be com- 

 posed of iron of different qualities, and hi this case the plate should be so rolled 

 up as to bring the iron of superior quality at the outer surface. In some cases, 

 also, a smah 1 solid or hollow core or centre may be employed, and the plate of 

 iron may be coiled around it, until a mass has been produced of sufficient size 

 for the production of the intended axle or other light article. The process of 

 manufacture is then concluded as above directed. 



PRESENT ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF IRON. 



Mr. Hewitt of New York, hi a paper recently presented to the Geographi- 

 cal and Statistical Society, furnished the following memoranda respecting the 

 production and manufacture of iron. Cast iron can only be traced back to 

 the 13th century. Previously, the ore and charcoal were placed in alter- 

 nate layers in a rude oven, and there smelted by a blast injected by a 

 bellows worked by hand. Even so late as 1740, the total annual product of 

 England was but 17.350 tons, made by 50 furnaces at the rate of 294 tons 



