TIN PLATE M L3OIPAOTUBB, 



party machinery in the hands of the pople them- 



The State FarmerV Alliance, at Dallas Aug. 10. 

 adopted by a unanimous vote the n-jM-rt of tli> 



littee severing allegiance with tin- National 

 Alliance. 



I IN PI M I >l \N| } \( ITRK. In !*!! the 



so of tariff on tin- and tcrnc-phitc from 1 



(-.mid to 2* cents a poun.l InaOOtd many 



firm- in tli.- ('niteu Slate* top- into tin- nmnufai - 



dome-tic n-ump!i"n in thi- country 



was then a little more thnn :>w.< >m.< x H pound- an- 



nually. tin- largvr jwirt of which was imported from 



\Val^. when- there are very productive tin mine-. 



Nativt- tin him: :i i he 1'nitcd Mates. ha\ - 



*'ii fotin.l in only a few places. in quantities 



unprofitable for mining. Ib-nce there was no in- 



n KI I fin lure tin plate in this country 



until the tnnff raise*! a mat. -rial discrimination in 



favor 'f i hi- Aini-rii-an. The remarkable growth of 



the nidus: "!! i- shown in a few figures. 



atisttcs being takm from reports made ii|. to 

 June 90 of each yar. It should be undci- 

 first that black plates are sheets of unt inned iron, t in- 

 innrd iron, and tiTiie-phitc- those in 

 which an alloy of lead is used in the tinning. In 

 ISBl-TO there were manufactured in this country 

 4,589,500 pni nds ,,f tin-plate and !.107.12! |K.und's 

 of terne. 32 IMT rent, of which was made from im- 

 ported black plates, the remainder lieing from 

 American black plat.-. In l*'x> '!:; the total home 

 output <>f tin- and t erne-plates was a fraction less 

 than 100.000.000 pounds, 56 per rent, being from 

 ju black plate, owing to the fact that the con- 



ion of the American black-plate mills had 

 not kept pace with the tinning sets in operation. 

 Black-plate mills were rapidly erected, and the 

 product of 140.000,000 pounds in 1893-*94 included 

 only 3s JUT cent, of foreign black plate. Since 1896 

 the foreign black plate has been but a small factor in 

 the manufacture of American tin- and terne-plate. 

 The next year < here was an enormous in- 



in the American product, the total running 

 up to 884.014,798 pounds, while the last report 

 < f or lH96-'97) gives the figures 436,438,035 pounds. 

 Although foreign black plate has almost cease. 1 to 

 into the l'nitcd States, yet the importation 

 of tin- and terne-plates continues, owing to rebates 

 of tariff to certain great corporations. The total 

 IUI|M .6-'97 were 244,407.601 pounds, or 



more than half as much as was manufactured in this 

 country. To offset this, we exported 139,21* 

 j-.unds. which figures include a large portion of 

 n-plate imjM.rtcd. which simply came here 

 for transshipment, mostly to southern countries. 



The capacity of th- mill-. .Ian. 1. 1898, 



may be safely given at 600,000.000 founds, and the 

 domestic consumption at .~MO.nno.000 pounds. 

 There are now about 250 black-plate mills in opera- 

 nd more than 500 tinning set-. The manu- 

 facture i* w well established, and the machinery in 

 use has been so much improved, that in spite of t he 

 fact that the wages paid in the American mills 

 average about double those paid in \Va 

 duct ion in the tariff doc* not materially affect the 

 industry. Th- standard si/e of tin-phi 1 . - i- U x 20 

 inch.-*, and ihf weight of a sheet varies from half a 

 jN.und to a pound, the average l*-ing jer haps two 

 thirds of a pound. They are put up in boXM, 1 1:2 

 sheets to the h..*. and the jobbers* price to the 

 trade in 1897 for a good quality of plate was from 7 

 to 8 cents a pound. Imported tin-plates, which sold 

 at 4^ cents a pound in 1880. and :. from 



1887 to 1891. in 1897 average*] 2^ cents a pound. 



Manufacture. The American mothod* of manu- 

 facture differ in nianr respects from the pra< 

 the older mills of Wales, owing to the utilization 



of new time-having machinerv. A black-plate mill, 



which is simply a rolling mill fitted up especially 



i'.r tin-plates, js provided 



with hot mils, heating furnaces. >hearing inarlniies, 

 ilul>l< t-s. . i. \ ators, conTeyors, tramways, etc. The 

 tinning department ioohuat pickling machines, i in- 

 ning pots, annealing ox.-iis. ( ,il baths, cooling i-;n k-. 

 cleaning machines, etc. The first operation is the 

 placii lullets in the furnace and healing 



to a welding temp- \ hen the billet 



rolled into bars aLmt 7 inches wide and A to J 

 inch thi<-k. The bar is ,- M t into lengths of some- 

 what more than 2n indie-...,, that a margin may 

 be left for subsequent trimming to % jo ii 

 heating then becomes necessary, after \\hidi t he 

 bar is rolled to a length of 56 niches, and matched 

 with a similar bar or sheet, the t\\.. ben 



'ier while still hot. and then trimmed in a 

 doubling shears. This doubling and rolling con- 

 tinues until there are N thickne-ses. \\hieh are 

 then placed together in a machine, and commonly 

 trimmed to the standard si/e of 1 J x '-'<> indie-, t h'e 

 final trim being given in what are kno\\n as squar- 

 ing shears. This completes the ordinary black 

 plate of commerce, which derives its name from its 

 color, it being covered with dark wale, frequently 

 termed forge scale, largely the n-ult >f oxidation. 

 Pickling. Before the coating with tin it 



selitial that the scale shall be totally removed, else 



the tin will have a tendency to scale off. Pickling 

 in hot dilute sulphuric acid is resorted to for this 

 purpose, and the American pickling machines. 

 whose introduction was coincident with the manu- 

 facture in this country, are marvels of lab..r-a\ing 

 and automatic mechanism, conducting the entire 



esses of pickling and "swilling." as the clean- 

 ing i- sometimes called. The main feature of the 

 pickling machine is an upright tubular column. 

 that lengthens ami shortens telescopic-ally under 

 the pressure of steam, admitted by valves under 

 the control of an attendant. To 'the top of the 

 column are attached three radiating cross anus. 

 each bearing a hook on which may be hung a bundle 

 of plates. At the beginning of the operation one of 

 these arms extends over a tramway, on which tin- 

 black plates are run out mi small cars. Another 

 arm swing- over the pickling vat. and the third 

 arm over the swilling vat. A bunch <f pl.t 

 hung on the outer arm. and swung over the pic- 

 kling vat. The steam pressure is then lowered in 

 the column, and allows the plates to become sub- 

 merged in the sulphuric bath. A regular up-and- 

 down motion is then imparted to the column, which 

 raises and lowers the plates about a foot 

 which agitation assists the sulphuric acid in its 

 work of eating off the scale. When they are thor- 

 oughly dean the column is raised to swing the 

 plates* out of the pickling vat and around to the 

 swilling vat. win-re they are agitated again t 

 move the acid. At the next hoj-t the plat. 

 swung back to the tramway, to IM- reloaded on a 

 car. Iy this means the "f loading and 



unloading the plates are carried "ii continuously 

 with the pickling and swilling, and the manual 

 labor required is simply the hooking and unhook- 

 f the plates and the operation of shifting the 



Klectric methods of pickling 

 been tried with -ome success. 

 Annealinjr. After pickling it i- ncee ary to 

 pack the plates in bo\e-. s,, that the air and mois- 

 ture will be excluded, tic being suited to 



the annealing furnace. Iron I ommonly 



employed, having flaring tops and bottoms so a- to 

 retain' the sand in which the plates are packed. 

 These boxes are placed in an annealing oven, where. 

 a temperature is maintained that keeps the plates 

 at a dull-red heat. There they remain ten to twen- 



