140 ANDREAS KURTZ 



Darcy became bankrupt, and Kurtz, after 

 having lost several thousand pounds, was 

 compelled to take over the works. When 

 they came into his hands, they were in a very 

 dilapidated condition; he put them into repair, 

 and let a portion of them, the sulphuric-acid 

 plant, to a man named Clough. Clough had 

 had a soda works on Greenbank, near 

 Ravenhead copper works, but like Darcy had 

 been unsuccessful. Kurtz let him have on 

 rental, kilns and chambers, and from pyrites 

 he made sulphuric acid which was bought 

 from him by neighbouring alkali makers. 

 Clough, however, could not get on, the plant 

 wore out, he failed, and Kurtz having lost 

 money again, for he had put the works into 

 repair, thought it best to take the property 

 into his own hands and work the Leblanc 

 process' himself. This, as we have said, was 

 about the year 1842. 



There is little or nothing to notice about his 

 operations as an alkali manufacturer. He had 

 been one of the first, if not the first, to suggest 

 the use of pyrites instead of sulphur, and 

 before the Wicklow mines were at work, he 

 had begun to open up a pyrites deposit near 

 Port-Madoc. Other chemical manufacturers 

 got wind of his ideas, and they selected the 



