344 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[September, 



you on lliese subjects tlie o])iiiion of an excellent friend of mine, who has 

 ample means of fonning a tolerably correct estimate. His rcmarlvs are very 

 general, and as such I ofter them. He says, " To make 1000 tons of bar- 

 iron weekly, requires about 4000 persons of every description, but I cannot 

 give you the proportionate numbers to each process. The rates of wages for 

 men range from 12s. to 60s,, for women Gs. to lO.v., and for boys 7s. to Us. 

 per week." * * 



There is another branch of statistics of the iron trade on which I felt 

 desirons of afibrding you some information, and in obtaining this 1 have been 

 somewhat more snceessful, though it was not procnred without very great 

 difficulty — I mean the proportions of the materials used in each process, and 

 the waste of the iron. I am glad to say that I can inform you on these most 

 important points with the utmost exactness. Fifteen furnaces, averaging 

 ninety tons each per week, wiU produce 1350 tons of cast-iron with a con- 

 sumption of 50 cwt. of coal per ton of iron, inclusive of calcining — say 3375 

 tons of coal to furnaces and calcining, and to the blowing engines 10 cwt. of 

 coal per ton of iron, or 675 tons. If the furnaces make 1350 tons of east- 

 iron, 100 tons may be deducted for ballast iron. Then refining 1250 tons, at 

 22cwt. 1 qr. of pig to the ton of refined iron, will produce 1110 tons refined 

 metal with a consumption of 9 cwt. per ton, or about 500 tons of coal weekly 

 for the refineries. 1110 tons refined metal will yield of puddled iron, at 21 

 c\rt. per ton of the metal, and 18 cwt. of coal per ton of iron, 1045 tons 

 with 940 tons of coal; <ind then the rolling-mills, at 22 J cwt. of puddled 

 iron and 20 cwt. of coal per ton, will produce 915 tons of merchant bars, 

 or wliat is called No. 2 iron, with a '■onsumption of 915 tons of coal. * * 



\Yithin the last three years, Mr. George Crane, of the Yniscedvvyn iron 

 works, has (Uscovered, that by using heated air, he can melt iron ores with 

 the anthracite coal. M'hen I was last in South Wales, I visited Jlr. Crane, 

 at his works, near Swansea, in order that I might see and judge for myself 

 of the merits of this thscovcrj-. To enable you to form some idea of its 

 value and national importance, I need only inform you that it has added to 

 the available resources of this kingdom, for the purposes of its iron trade, a 

 district sixty to seventy miles long, by six to eight miles broad, al)0unding 

 with the anthracite or carbon coal, lime, and ironstone ; and, further, that 

 it has already trebled the value of this extensive mineral property. * * * 



Mr. Crane has yet only one small c\ipola furnace, in which he uses an- 

 thracite exclusively ; for firing the other two, he uses, as I have before 

 remarked, three-fourths bituminous, and one-fom-tb anthracit<i coal ; and by 

 using anthr.tcite in this comparatively small proportion, be effects a saving 

 of 12s. to 13s. per ton in the cost of making iron, and verv materiallv im- 

 proves its quality. His furnaces also yield abetter produce, in proportions of 

 35 to 50 ])cr cent. His small cupola furnace No. 2, from which, when using 

 cold air and coke, he could obtain only twenty to twenty -two tons of east- 

 iron per week, liy being fired with anthracite coal alone, and blown with 

 hot air, lias in-oiluced, on an average of many months, tliirty-five tons per 

 week, and the larger furnaces, in which he uses the jn-oportions I have before 

 stated, have increased, the No. 1, from thirty -finir to thirty-five tons up 

 to forty-five to forty-nine tons ; and the No. 3, from fifty to fifty-five tip to 

 sixty-five to eighty tons per week. All his fiu-naces arc veiT small, and his 

 blowing machinei7 not so good as it ought to he, hence his very limited 

 produce. 



The quality of this iron is very highly spoken — Mr. Crane has received 

 assurances from several parties who had used it for various purposes, that, 

 " for bars it had given great satisfaction ;" " for foundn' work it was admi- 

 rable ;" that. " in re-melting, it was found very fluid, and at the same time 

 very strong" — a union of quaUties most desirable, but rarely to be met 

 %vith. 



With respect to the economy of this new process, Mr. Crane has, on the 

 average of several months, produced the Ion of cast-iron with the before- 

 imheard-of small quantity of 27 cwt. of coal, and he entertains the greatest 

 confidence tliat he will be able to reduce the quantity still fm-ther, say to 22 

 cwt. His main bed of anthracite coal is eighteen feet thick. I produce a 

 sample of it as obtained from the mine. 



The maturing of tliis most important plan has cost Mr. Crane much time, 

 and money, and anxiety, and it is to hoped that he will be most amply re- 

 paid for his valuable services. 



This new feature in the iron trade soon attracted the attention of capi- 

 ■talists, both here and in London ; and the comities of Pembroke, Carmar- 

 then, and the western part of Glamorgan, give fair promise soon, at least 

 to rival Moumouthsliire and the eastern part of Glamorgan, in the manufac- 

 ture of iron. 1 will first enumerate the works already in operation in the 

 Swansea and Neatli districts, and then inform yon of the extent to which 

 new establishments are being erected and others contemplated. 



The Maesteg iron works are worked by Messrs. Robert Smith and Co., 

 with bituminous coal and hot air ; they h.ive two furnaces at work, i)ro- 

 ducing from 180 to 200 tons per week of cast-iron. A part of this they 

 make into malleable iron, but I am not aware of the exact quantity — per- 

 liajis, about sixty to seventy tons per week. 



The make of Mr. Crane, at the Yniscedwyn iron works, I have already 

 acquainted you with. 



The Neath Alibey Iron Company have tw'o furnaces in blast, blown with 

 heated air, and fired with three-fourths Intiiminous, and one-fourth anthra- 

 cite coal. They make about 160 tons of cast-iron per week, the chief part 

 of which is made into castings on the spot, for their very extensive engineer- 

 ing establishment. 



The Millbrook Iron Company have two furnaces in blast, producing alrout 

 forty tons ))er week, blown with cold air. 



The works erecting in the anthracite district are the Venallt, in the vale 

 of Neath, and belonging to our enterprising townsmen, Messrs. Jevons and 

 the Messrs. Arthur, of Neath. They are carried on under the firm of Je- 

 vons, Arthur, Wood, and Co. They are building two furnaces, and hope to 

 be in blast by tlie end of the year. They have a very abundant supply of 

 both kinds of coal and ironstone. 



The Ystal-y-fera works, near Swansea, are also being erected by a Liver- 

 ])Ool company, at the head of which stands our spirited and excellent fellow- 

 townsman. Sir Thomas Braneker. This company is building four furnaces, 

 and 1 am told that they intend building four more. Their fuel is aU of the 

 anthracite kind. 



The Cambrian Iron Company are erecting four furnaces near Pile, on bi- 

 tuminous coal, anil I have been informed, intend building four fiu'naces in 

 tlie anthracite district. 



Messrs. Mellins and Co. have one furnace near Pile. 



The Gwcudrath is a new work about to be established by a London com- 

 pany near Swansea, but 1 could not ascertain the extent to which they intend 

 going. Mr. Crane informed me that he knew of twelve to fourteen new 

 iron works, of from two to eight furnaces each, erecting, and about to be 

 erected, in the anthracite district, the existence of which will be solely at- 

 trilmtalde to his invaluable discovery. 



The aggregate number of furnaces in blast in South Wales we have found 

 to be 122 ; out of blast, 7 ; building, 31 ; and contemplated, 91 ; and, al- 

 lowing for the twelve works that Mr- Crane alludes to, as being likely to be 

 erected soon, only five furnaces each, or sixty in all, we thus find that pro- 

 bably within the next five years the number of furnaces in South Wales will 

 be doubled, and number 214. Allowing an average produce of eighty tons 

 per week for each furnace, we have the astonntUng quantity of 1,015,040, 

 or, in round numbers, 1,000,000 tons of cast-iron produced in this district 

 alone — a quantity equal to that produced last year in the whole of Great 

 Britain. 



MOTTO FOR A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE. 



Mr. Editor. — Allow me to subscribe nmolfo for a Locomotive, the effusion 

 of an ingenious friend, if you have a corner of your Journal to fill up, per- 

 haps, for the novelty and " naivete," of the idea yon will insert it in your 

 next : — 



■• Upon the four elements I feed, 

 M'liicb life and power sujqily. 

 To run my race of loundtess speed, 

 By loss of one I die." 



J. H. 



Important Invention in the Maufacture of Paper IIangincs. — 

 We were favoured a few days since with an opportunity of visiting the 

 extensive papei' works of Messrs. J. Evans and Co., at the Alder Mills, near 

 Tamworth, where we had the jdeasure of witnessing the appUcation of an 

 ingenious and very beautiful jiiece of mechanism, the invention of the 

 Messrs. Evans, to the printing of paper hangings, which cannot fail to pro- 

 duce a complete change in this deiiartment of our manufactures, from its 

 superiority over the ordinary method of block printing. The Messrs. Evans 

 would have brought their invention into ])ractical operation many years ago, 

 had if not been for the heavy duties imposed on the manufacture of stained 

 papcfs, which, by hniiting the consumption, rendered their invention com- 

 paratively useless, a fact which supplies another argument against the impo- 

 sition of heavy duties upon the manufacturing skill and industiy of the 

 country. In connection wi'h the present invention, we may here state that 

 the Messrs. Evans took out a patent in February last, for an important im- 

 provement in the manufacture of paper, by the appUcation of a pneumatic 

 pump in the compression of the moisture from the pulp, by wliicli means 

 the substance is almost instantaneously converted into paper. By this in- 

 vention they are, we understand, enabled to manufacture a continuous sheet 

 of paper six feet in width, and nearly 2,000 yards in length every hour. 

 This jiaper, as it is taken off the reel, is in every respect fit for immediate 

 use, and is conveyed on rollers to another part of the mill, in which the 

 printing machinery is erected, through which it is passed with great rapidity, 

 and receives the impression of the pattern intended to be produced, with all 

 the precision and beauty of finish which macliinerj- can alone effect. In 

 order to connect the operations of the paper making and printing machines, 

 the Messrs. Evans are at present engaged enlarging their premises, and when 

 this alteration is completed they will lie enabled to print, glaze, and emboss, 

 the most complicated and delicate patterns in paper hangings, in every 

 variety of shade or colour, as rapidly as the paper can be manufactured. 

 Some idea may be formed of the power of the machinery, and the im- 

 portance of the invention, when we state that during our visit to the mill, 

 the machinery was working at a rate which would produce 1,(580 yards 

 of jiaper per hour, consisting of two very beautiful patterns, the only hand 

 labour employed being that of one man, who superintended the machinery, 

 and four girls, employed in rolUng up the paper in pieces of the required 

 length. The whole process of manufacturing the paper from the pulp and 



