1872.] Metallurgy. 387 
subscribed. Should productive coal-beds be discovered at moderate depths, it 
seems likely that the social aspect of south-eastern England would be com- 
pletely changed, and agriculture give way to mining. 
At a recent meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Mr. E. Bainbridge 
read a paper explaining the ingenious method of sinking shafts through water- 
bearing ground without the use of pumping machinery, as brought into 
practice by Messrs. Kind and Chaudron. As the method was fully explained 
in our chronicles last January, when noticing a paper read in the North by 
Mr. W. W. Smyth, it seems unnecessary to refer again to the subject in this 
place. 
All who are interested in the welfare of our West of England metal-miners 
must take deep interest in the progress of the Miners’ Association of Cornwall 
and Devon. Each year this association issues a neat little report; and last 
year’s report, whichis now before us, is not less interesting than its predecessors. 
In addition to several short papers of local interest, Mr. J. H. Collins offers some 
remarks on the successive Mining Schools of Cornwall, in which he traces the 
history of the several schemes which have from time to time been projected 
for offering technical instruction to the Cornish miner. The last and only 
enduring scheme is that which set afoot the present Miners’ Association—an 
institution which was founded in 1859 through the praiseworthy exertions of 
Mr. Robert Hunt, F.R.S. 
METALLURGY. 
Although it seems likely that the success of Mr. Danks’s rotary furnace will 
eventually lead to a complete revolution in our system of puddling iron, it is 
obvious that the general introduction of his furnaces must be a work of much 
time and great expense. In the meanwhile our ironmasters will no doubt 
gladly avail themselves of any means of improving our present laborious 
method of manual puddling without involving any material alterations in their 
existing plant. Such a method has been lately brought prominently forward 
by Mr. F. A. Paget, who at the last meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, 
and subsequently at the Society of Arts, directed public attention to M. Dor- 
moy’s process of puddling with a rotating rabble. The rabble is thrown into 
rapid revolution by steam-power, while its direction is readily controlled by the 
hand of the puddler. A revolving shaft above the furnace carries a pulley 
which is conneéted by a belt with another pulley below. This lower pulley is 
secured to the outer end of the rabble, which is thus caused to rotate some- 
what in the fashion of the well-known revolving brush used by the hair- 
dresser. By means ofa handle jointed to the lower pulley, the puddler readily 
dire&s the movements of the rabble. From 300 to 500 revolutions per minute 
are made by the tool when white pig-iron is treated, and from 800 to rooo for 
grey pig. The point of the rabble in the furnace carries a disc which agitates 
the molten metal, and effectually renews the surface exposed to the air. 
When the iron “ comes to nature,” another rabble is used, having, in place of 
the disc, a short twisted point. Dormoy’s method has been successfully 
employed in Austria and France. It is said that the yield of wrought-iron is 
increased by at least 30 per cent, while the consumption of fuel is propor- 
tionately diminished; that the puddler is relieved of much of his fatigue, 
although the number of heats in a given time is considerably increased ; and, 
finally, that the phosphorus and sulphur are removed to such an extent from 
the metal that excellent iron may be obtained from inferior brands of pig. 
It is right to mention that the rotating rabble, although first brought success- 
fully into a@ual practice by M. Dormoy, was independently invented and 
experimentally employed some time ago by Mr. Hutchinson, of the firm of 
Messrs. Pease, Hutchinson, and Co., of Darlington; but we believe that the 
results of his experiments, although satisfactory, were never made public. 
A rotary puddling machine, recently invented by Messrs. Howson and 
Thomas, was described by Mr. Howson at the late meeting of the Iron and 
Steel Institute. This invention is said to be not so much competitive with 
the Danks furnace as subsidiary thereto. Many of the details of the ordinary 
