438 



EXHIBITION, BRITISH INDUSTRIAL. 



regarded as a very large amount. The gradual 

 increase in yield in different districts is certain- 

 ly one of the most interesting points connected 

 with the development of the iron trade in 

 modern times. Not many years ago, a weekly 

 return of 70 tons was considered good, but 

 now a single furnace has yielded the enormous 

 amount of 600 tons in a single week. Some 

 of the Aberdare furnaces are reported to have 

 done excellent work, and to have yielded a 

 weekly average of 400 tons. This has been 

 effected by what is called " driving hard " i.e., 

 sending a large quantity of blast through the 

 furnace in a given time. Great yields have 

 recently been obtained at the Barrow-in-Fur- 

 ness works, Cumberland. These works are 

 quite of recent construction, and were repre- 

 sented by a costly mahogany model, occupying 

 a very large superficial area. There was also 

 a single model, made to open, of one of the 

 furnaces. The average yield in one of these 

 furnaces per day during the fortnight ending 

 the 16th of April, 1862, was 91 tons 7 cwt. 3 

 qrs., or the enormous amount of about 640 tons 

 (short weight) in a week of seven days. In 

 one week this furnace yielded not less than 

 684 tons (short weight) ! The qualities of the 

 pig iron were 3.5 between Nos. 1 and 4, and 

 2.5 between Nos. 5 and 6, inclusive of 35 tons 

 of mottled pig. It is exclusively rich red ore 

 that is smelted at these furnaces, and the fuel 

 is Durham coke. Gases are economized in 

 raising steam, and their propulsion to a dis- 

 tance is aided by the exhaustion of a fan. 



In the Austrian Department Charcoal Pig 

 iron was shown ; it is produced with a consump- 

 tion of less charcoal than is known in any 

 other locality. The ore is brown decomposed 

 spathose ore, containing, when roasted, 52 per 

 cent, of iron,' and the products are gray iron 

 and spiegeleisen. Only 60 parts by weight of 

 charcoal are required to produce 100 of pig 

 iron. Models of furnaces for smelting iron and 

 copper were found in the Russian Department. 

 They are long and rectangular in horizontal 

 section, and are provided with numerous 

 twyers. One of those furnaces is reported to 

 have been in operation for smelting iron during 

 a year and a half. A large yield and reduc- 

 tion in the amount of fuel are stated to be the 

 advantages of this kind of furnace. 



Forged Iron. Some of these specimens were 

 interesting as illustrations of remarkable mal- 

 leability, others as displaying skilful workman- 

 ship, and others on account of their large 

 dimensions. With regard to forgings remark- 

 able on account of their large dimensions, the 

 two objects which stood out preeminently were 

 the enormous Crank Shaft and the large Armor 

 Plate manufactured by the Mersey Steel and 

 Iron Company. The monster shaft weighs 

 about 25 tons, and is destined for one of her 

 Majesty's ships. During the process of forging, 

 this heavy mass was moved by powerful and 

 skilful mechanical appliances, with ease and 

 rapidity, just as a blacksmith handles his iron. 



The plate bears the following inscription: 

 11 This Armor Plate, 21ft. 3iu. long, 6 ft. 3 in. 

 wide, 5| in. thick, having a superficial area of 

 133 feet, weighing upward of 13 tons, was 

 forged at the Mersey Steel and Iron "Works, 

 Liverpool, and has been neither smithed nor 

 tooled since it left the steam hammer. This 

 plate would have been made 15 ft. to 20 ft. 

 longer if space could have been obtained." It 

 is an admirable specimen of .forging. The 

 great Horsfall Gun, of which every one has 

 heard, is another testimony to Mr. Clay's (the 

 manager of the company) skill in forging large 

 masses of iron. This gun was made several 

 years ago: it is 10 in. in the bore, and has 

 stood charges of 80 Ib. of powder. 



Welding. The Exhibition contained many very 

 interesting illustrations of Welding under diffi- 

 cult conditions. The Butterley Company's large 

 girders, of which one was in the form of a 

 double T, 12 in. across each end and 3 ft. deep, 

 was welded longitudinally. In the English 

 Department was shown a stamped, solid, 

 wrought-iron wheel, made by an ingenious 

 process invented by M. Arbel, a Frenchman : 

 it was forged under the steam hammer, and 

 combines strength and cheapness. In illustra- 

 tion of the successful welding of steel and iron 

 in railway tire bars, we may refer to the speci- 

 mens of the Monkbridge Company's collection. 

 The iron tire being heated to whiteness, and 

 dusted over with borax powder, the melted 

 steel is cast round it: the union seems to be 

 perfect, and we have examined specimens 

 which have been hammered out into thin plate 

 without presenting any sign of separation. 

 This process is also the invention of a French- 

 man, and promises well. 



The French appear to have made great pro- 

 gress in the manufacture of iron, and we are 

 indebted to them for many ingenious mechan- 

 ical contrivances. Two instances in the case 

 of railway wheels have just been mentioned, 

 and to these might be added a third the pro- 

 cess of Petin, Gaudet, and Co., of making 

 " weldless tires," of which the Blaenavon 

 Company exhibited specimens manufactured by 

 themselves. 



Hotted Iron. Specimens of Boiler Plate were 

 shown, doubled hot and doubled cold, and 

 punched under various trying conditions. The 

 Butterley Company exhibited a Rolled Boiler 

 Plate, 12 ft. 9 in. long, 7 ft. 6 in. wide, and 1J 

 in. thick. The solid-rolled Engine Beam Slab 

 well deserved attention : it is 31 ft. 6 in. long, 

 7 ft. wide in the middle, 2| in. thick, has a su- 

 perficial area of 163 square feet, and weighs 7 

 tons. 



Sheet Iron. Of sheet iron there were nu- 

 merous fine illustrations. The Belgian sheets 

 were, of their kind, unrivalled, and were 

 specially characterized by their smooth and 

 dark bluish gray glossy surface. The color is 

 obviously due to a thin and firmly adherent 

 skin of oxide of iron, which has been detached 

 here and there near the edges of several of the 



