AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE COLUMBUS. 23 



tall cast-iron standards, and was turned by worm-gearing arranged 

 to be driven either by band or power. The engine which supplied 

 the blast to the converter is represented in front elevation by Fig. 

 G3 ; it was constructed from original working drawings made by 

 the writer. It was intended to produce a pressure of blast of six- 

 teen pounds per square inch, which was regarded as very heavy ; in 

 fact, I was informed, at the time of commencing the plans for this 

 engine (the winter of 18G3-'63), that the pressure used for blowing 

 steel in England and Sweden was but eight pounds. I adopted 

 the higher pressure with a view to shortening the time required 

 for a " blow," but I soon became satisfied that this was a mistaken 

 departure. I found myself in most excellent company, however, 

 for, before my engine was finished, steel was blown in England 

 with a blast pressure of twenty-five pounds, a practice which 

 has continued until the present time. The engine had three 

 upright cylinders of the same internal dimensions (twenty-four 

 inches in diameter and thirty-six-inch stroke), the middle one 

 being the steam cylinder and the outside ones the blowing 

 cylinders. 



Very soon after entering upon the study of the new process it 

 became evident to me that an accurate knowledge of the chemical 

 constituents of the metals and other materials employed was 

 essential to its successful conduct ; for, after we had found by 

 working them that certain irons were, and others were not, suited 

 to our purpose, analysis would in future enable us to determine 

 whether any offered brand of iron was of suitable quality. These 

 considerations, with others, determined the addition of a chemical 

 laboratory to the works.* 



As late as 1868 a large establishment for the manufacture of 

 steel (in which over a million dollars was invested) commenced 

 operations in western Pennsylvania, and at the end of one year 

 it was abandoned and dismantled, the whole of the investment 

 having been utterly lost in consequence of attempting to use ma- 

 terial which an analysis costing not over fifty dollars would have 

 shown to be absolutely unfit for the purpose intended. American 

 " iron-masters " (so called) were not alone in their contempt for 

 chemistry. I have in my possession a pamphlet published by a 

 well-known firm of steel manufacturers in Sheffield, England, as 

 late as 1870, for the purpose of attracting attention and trade, in 

 which the following sentences occur : " The various articles on the 



* At this time there was no such thing as a laboratory in connection with a steel-works 

 in America: to the so-called "practical steel-makers" chemistry was an unknown and 

 unappreciated science, and no sneer was too cynical for them to bestow upon those who 

 advocated its employment. The laboratory at Wyandotte (which was derisively called 

 "^ Durfee's 'pothecary-shop ") was ultimately destroyed by the influence of incarnate ma- 

 licious ignorance. 



