CARRON. 



Carton ing three blast furnaces. It has two regulating cy- 

 . uhi.-li Mipport, l>y the compressed air, float - 

 ~~ ~ C^* injr pistons of no less than 15 tons weight each, 

 whicn produce a regular uninterrupted 1>L 



The m.u hmery driven by water is chiefly employ- 

 ed for blowing into the blast furnaces and cupolas, 

 for tlu- boring mills, forge hammers, plating mills, 

 and polishing mills, also for grinding fire clay, and 

 charcoal. 



There are five blast furnaces, which produce nearly 

 200 tons of pig iron each week, in which cOak, viz. 

 mineral charcoal, only is used. Of air furnaces and 

 cupolas there are above 29 capable of melting, for 

 foundry purposes, double that quantity of metal. 

 Here all kinds of ordnance are cast, such as mortars, 

 cannons, and carronades, of every caliber, not only 

 for the British government, but for all the European 

 powers. They are all cast solid in a perpendicular 

 direction, and are afterwards bored to the requisite 

 caliber, with machinery moved by water. From long 

 habit, and the constant attention paid to this depart- 

 ment, the pieces of ordnance made here are or the 

 best kind, and of the proper texture of metal, being 

 greatly consolidated by a heavy pressure of liquid 

 metal poured in a perpendicular direction. In former 

 times all the ordnance made here were tried with the 

 full powder proof before being sent from the works, 

 but they are now only proved by water forced into the 

 chamber by a very powerful compressing engine, a me- 

 thod of proof which is reckoned much better than the 

 former. The carronade gun, so well known in the 

 navy, invented in Ireland by General Melville, was 

 perfected at Carron, (from which it derives its name,) 

 by the joint aid of several scientific gentlemen. Mr 

 Gascoigne, (afterwards Sir Charles Gascoigne,) the 

 then manager, had an active hand in this improve- 

 ment. 



Immense quantities of shot and shells are also 

 made here, besides every article in the foundry line, 

 such as engine cylinders and materials, pipes, boilers, 

 ovens, vats, pots, grates, machinery of all kinds, and 

 in short articles of every description so universally 

 known by the name of Carron goods. From the mi- 

 nute attention paid to the manufactory of all ar- 

 ticles made here, they are in general so well executed 

 that the name Carron, upon cast iron goods, gives 

 them a kind of sterling stamp. 



Smith work, particularly all the varieties of the 

 heavy kind, is also executed here on a great scale, and 

 in the best manner. 



All the various machinery employed at Carron, is 

 plain, substantial, and well finished, without the least 

 aim at finery ; a principle of the first importance, 

 and worthy of imitation in all such concerns. 



From the great extent of this foundry, the fire 

 blast furnaces cannot supply the consumpt of pig 

 iron, so that it is estimated that the company buy 

 annually a quantity of iron equal to the produce of 

 other five furnaces ; the consequence of which is, that 

 they are constantly in the market for iron, both in 

 Scotland and Wales. Only a small quantity of mal- 

 leable m-n is made for their own particular uses. 



Upwards of 2000 people are employed at the 

 works in the various departments, so that it may be 



estimated that at least 6000 touls depend upon the 

 Carron company immediately for lubuatence. 



With to the raw materials uted at the 



work ., the coals are supplied by two large collieries 

 adjoining the works, which are brought direct from 

 the pit mouth to the furnaces, by mean* of improved 

 cast iron rail ways. The main seam of coal is about 

 four feet thick, partly of slate, and partly of cubical 

 coal, being the only coal in these collieries hitherto 

 wrought for making iron. A plan has been here 

 adopted of working by means of sliding rods and 

 pumps, under dip of the engine levels, to a greater 

 extent than has been practised in any part of Scot- 

 land ; a mode to which the company have paid great 

 attention, and upon which they have very much im- 

 proved. The sliding rods are moved by the engine 

 above ground, and by this mode collieries have been 

 revived by the same engine pit and machinery, which 

 were considered as exhausted in the common mode of 

 working. The ccnsumpt of coals is no less than 200 

 tons each day ; from which we may easily conceive 

 not only the magnitude of the works, but alao the 

 great annual excavation of the coal fields by such an 

 expenditure of fuel. 



It is somewhat remarkable that none of the iron 

 stone, used at the furnaces, is found in the immediate 

 neighbourhood ; the chief supply of it is brought 

 from the westward down the great canal, which pas- 

 ses within a mile of the works, and from the coast of 

 Fife : all of it is of the common argillaceous iron stone, 

 yielding from 25 to 30 percent, of iron: only a small 

 quantity of the Cumberland rich iron ore is used in 

 the furnaces occasionally, for giving the metal a pe- 

 culiar texture. The lime-stone, used as a flux in the 

 furnaces, is also brought from the coast of Fife. All 

 the fire-bricks used for lining the furnaces are made 

 at the works, from a clay which is found immediately 

 under a thin coal in one of their collieries, and which 

 resists well the action of fire. 



As the quantity of ordnance stores, and the various 

 articles made at this work, are immense, the company 

 keep from 15 to 20 vessels in their employment, for 

 carrying their manufactures to London, Liverpool, 

 and other ports, and for bringing iron-stone and 

 lime-stone to the works, the greater part of which 

 vessels are their own property. 



Till within these two years all the cartage for 

 the works was done by single horse carts ; but 

 the improved rail-ways have superseded that mode. 

 It it remarkable, that all the carts employed at 

 this extensive iron work had wooden axles, which 

 the carters preferred : the reason assigned for this 

 was, that in the deep cut roads, the concussions 

 were not so severe upon the horse as if they had 

 been of iron. 



This great work is under the direction of one 

 manager, and the whole is conducted with the 

 greatest order, attention, and economy, and no where 

 in Scotland are the wages of workmen more mo- 

 derate. Here societies are formed by the workmen, 

 and patronized by the company, for the relief of 

 those in distress, or who are superannuated a sys- 

 tem highly beneficial in all large works. 



In a commercial view, these works are well situ- 



CUTM. 



Wtttm. 



