OLD COAL-PIT WATEB UPON IBON. 



83 



waggons will be mentioned in this communication, and are 

 now exhibited on the table. 



On the first day of November, 1844, the pumps for with- 

 drawing the water from the mine were started, and by the 

 second day of February following, the hole where the water 

 had burst into the shaft was reached, and the men com- 

 menced to put in the new tubbing. The bottom of the 

 shafts, filled with four yards of dirt, was reached on the 4th 

 day of October, 1846. At the commencement of 1847, the 

 workings were cleared, and the specimens of iron described 

 in this communication brought out of the mine, having been 

 thus buried and immersed about four years and six months. 



A description of the specimens will now be given.* These 

 consist of cast and wrought irons. There is no evidence as 

 to their make, either as to the locality where they were made, 

 or whether they are of hot or cold blast manufacture. 



First as to the cast iron : — 



No. 1 is part of an edge wheel, ten inches in diameter, one 

 inch thick in the centre, formerly belonging to one of the under- 

 ground waggons. The shape of the wheel is preserved, but the 

 whole substance of the casting has been altered. When first 

 taken out of the pit it was of a brownish black colour, and could 

 be easily cut, like soft clay, with a knife. Since it has been ex- 

 posed to the air, it has become harder, and is now not so black 

 as it first was. Its fracture is earthy, and not like that of cast 

 iron. The composition of it I am enabled to give through the 

 kindness of my friend. Dr. Robert Angus Smith, F. C. S., who 

 has been at the trouble of analyzing a portion of this specimen. 

 He found it to consist of — 



Iron and bases 38*8 



Carbon 40 



Silica 19-7 



Its specific gravity is 2-0183 



* These specimens, as well as much valuable information, I owe to the kind- 

 ness of Mr. Andrew Ray, the late intelligent manager of the Pendleton Colliery. 



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