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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Fig. 23. Plan of an Early Puddling-Furnace. 



shire, England, made very important improvements in the con- 

 struction of puddling-furnaces, by substituting iron plates for the 

 original sand bottoms of their puddling-chambers ; and in the 



conduct of the process, by 

 using iron-ore as the chief 

 source of the oxygen neces- 

 sary to decarburize the melt- 

 ed pig iron. This ore was 

 packed around the sides of 

 the interior of the furnace, 

 and the bottom plates were 

 protected by a layer of ox- 

 ide of iron. These improve- 

 ments more than doubled 

 the daily production from a furnace, and at the same time a su- 

 perior quality of iron was made. 



Mr. Rogers encountered a great deal of ridicule in attempting 

 to introduce these improvements, which were pronounced im- 

 practicable and of no value by many of the leading iron-masters 

 of England ; and, as he failed to protect his rights by patents, the 

 only reward that he ever received for inventions that have been 

 of vast benefit to mankind was the nickname "Old Iron Bot- 

 toms/' which was bestowed upon him by those of his contempo- 

 raries who fully believed that they had become possessed of all 

 desirable knowledge, and were, in fact, too wise to learn. Unfor- 

 tunately for our country, a few of the descendants of these wise 

 fools, who were patriotic enough to " leave their country for their 

 country's good," found their way to America, and are honoring 

 their ancestry by sneering at all ideas and methods that are not 

 hoary with antiquity and moldy respectability. In spite of such 

 counsels in the past, the improvements of Mr. Rogers found their 

 way into use in America and the world at large, and for the last 

 fifty years there has not been a puddling-furnace as originally 

 constructed by Cort in existence. 



A very good idea of the appearance and construction of the 

 puddling-furnace in common use in the " puddle-mills " of England 

 and America is conveyed by Figs. 24 and 25. Fig. 24 is a side 

 elevation of the furnace, whose interior form is shown by dotted 

 lines. The whole of the brick-work is inclosed in a casing of 

 cast-iron plates, securely bolted together. The door of the work- 

 ing-chamber is seen in the center (and at C, Fig. 25), counterbal- 

 anced and operated by a lever and chain, and below it the "tap- 

 hole," by which the " cinder" made in the process is " tapped oil' " ; 

 to the left is seen the "stoke-hole," and just to the right of it is 

 shown, in dotted lines, the outline of the "bridge-wall" separat- 

 ing the "fire-box "on the left from the " working-chamber" in 



