“We the subscribers having made use of the Lehigh 
Coal in our parlours during the past season, are so well 
satisfied with it that we prefer it to any other fuel— 
being cheaper, safer, and more durable, after being 
once ignited, and therefore less troublesome to con- 
tinue the fire than with wood or other Coal. 
JOSEPH BALCH. 
ISAAC WATERS. 
C. BLANCHARD. 
A. H. GIBBS. 
I. P. DAVIS. 
Boston, June 15, 1825.” 
Norte.—It has been ascertained by calculation that 
by the substitution of Lehigh Coal for wood, the 
expenses of the Pennsylvania Hospital have been 
diminished about one thousand dollars per year, or 
say one third—This is a well authenticated fact. 
[From the New York Mercantile Advertiser. | 
IMPORTANT TO AGRICULTURE, 
COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES. 
It appears from actual experiment made on the 
Coals dug out of the mines of our country, such as the 
Schuylkill, Lackawaxen and the Lehigh, being all of 
the same family, that they possess a degre of heat in 
the ratio of 5 bushels to 18 bushels of the Liverpool 
Coal after it had been cok’d; it is confidently believed 
these Coals are the pure carbon, and that there is no 
such Coal to be found in Europe, and from the experi- 
ment made by Messrs. Robert M’Queen & Co. in this 
city, we have reason to say that the grand desideratum 
so long sought after in the manufactures of Europe to 
acquire a degree of heat beyond that which the Coke 
Coal will produce, will be found in the Coal above 
mentioned. 
Herewith subjoined is a certificate from the prac- 
tical hands of Mr. Hood, the foreman of Messrs. R. 
M’Queen & Co. who carry on in this city one of the 
most extensive Iron Foundries in the United States. 
Here is no theory, it is the result of actual experiment 
passed through the ordeal of the large crucible tech- 
nically called a Cupola from which there is no appeal. 
The following certificate is from Mr. Hood, Foreman 
of Messrs. Robert M Queen & Co. 
“I do hereby declare that I have, in the Cupalo 
Furnace of Robert M’Queen, Esq. made four different 
blasts with the Schuylkill Coal of Mr. Snowden, and 
find it fully to answer all our purposes. We used differ- 
PAPER 72: ANTHRACITE IN THE LEHIGH VALLEY 
ent proportions of Coal and Iron on the different days 
to try the strength of the Coal, and the result is, that 
the Schuylkill Coal, in its native state, without any 
trouble or the expense of coking, and with a much 
smaller quantity of coal, makes better iron than any 
coke we ever used. It renders the metal much softer 
and fitter for our purpose than coke. I have no doubt 
that this coal, as soon as introduced here, will entirely 
do away the use of coke, and produce great saving 
in our works,” 
(Signed) WILLIAM HOOD. 
William Hood acts in the capacity of foreman for us, 
and we believe what he has stated to be correct. 
(Signed.) ROBERT M’QUEEN & Co. 
LEHIGH COAL, 
APPLIED TO ROLLING IRON. 
The furnaces should be 12 or 15 inches longer than 
the bars intended to be heated, with a grating under the 
whole, and a flat roof about 12 or 13 inches above the 
grating, and the draft taken through 2 or 3 openings in 
the roof connected with the stack—each of the openings 
should be provided with a damper, to regulate the draft 
at pleasure. With such a furnace you need never wait 
for the coal to burn up, after making the first fire. At 
the same time that you put on the iron, throw a few 
lumps of coal at the back end of the furnace which will 
be ignited by the time the iron is rolled off, then stir up 
the fire so as to free it from ashes, bring forward the 
fresh coal, and immediately put on the change of iron 
and renew the coal at the back of the furnace. With 
two furnaces worked on this plan, the rollers may be 
kept constantly at work, as the iron will heat in one as 
fast as it can be rolled out of the other. This will be 
found to require water to be always running upon the 
rolls to keep them cool. Five bushels of coal will be 
sufficient for 1 1-2 tons of iron. Supposing the Lehigh 
and Liverpool coal to be at the same price, the use of 
the Lehigh will be found to save the whole cost of the 
coal and hands—as the same hands can do double the 
work, with half the coal, in the same time that they can 
with Liverpool or Virginia coal. Soap Stone, with the 
end of the grain next to the fire, is the best material 
for the furnace and will stand some years without repair. 
139 
