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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. [Novkmbeu, 



Papers on Iron and Slat, Praclical and Exptrimtntal. Ey David 

 Ml'Shet. London : Weale, 1S40. 



Second Notice. 



Iron possesses among metallic products tlie same pre-eminence wliicli 

 cotton lias over those of vegetable origin, and has for many centmies 

 been one of the great staples of our foreign trade, and a main sup- 

 porter of our internal industry; to the progress of this manufacture in 

 our own country we shall subsequently have occasion to refer, we shall 

 iiovp therefore, call attention to its origin elsewhere. Mr. Mushet in 

 his fourteenth paper combats tlie traditional account of the discovery 

 of iron in Greece by the accidental burning of a forest, and gives a 

 probable theory so well confirmed by experience here as to carry with 

 it a high degree of authority. I have seen, says lie, a mass of per- 

 fectly malleable iron produced by roa-iting a specie? of ironstone, iniited 

 with a considerable quantity of bituminous matter. After a high tem- 

 perature had been excited in the interior of the pile [ilates of malleable 

 iron of a tough and flexible nature were found, and under circumstances 

 %vhere there was no fuel but [hat furnished by the ore itself. Mr. 

 Mushet thence argues the possibility of the properties of the metal 

 having been discovered during the process of making charcoal by a 

 mass of ore accidentally dropping into Ihe burning pile. Iron, it is 

 most probable, was for a long time after its discovery applied solely 

 to agricultural purposes, for the want of a regular method of converting 

 it into steel long gave a preference to ha,-Jened copper and its alloys 

 as the material for edged tools and instruments of war. So little in- 

 deed was the art of making steel advanced, that a present of 40 lbs. 

 of steel from Porus to Alexander is quoted by biographers as a most 

 acceptable anrl valuable gilt.* Even in hulia "itself where this branch 

 of art is now carried on upon a very extensive scale, the progress seems 

 to have been very slow, for the value of that gift of Porus"\vould now 

 be the produce of one man's Uibour in 2-10 davs. It is to India how- 

 ever, that according to the best authorities 'we are to look for the 

 origin of steel, and from which other countries were supplied ; even 

 the obelisks of Egypt being supposed to have been worked with Indian 

 tools. Among ourselves the production of iron claims a very early 

 date, for there is every probability of the Cornish mines having beeii 

 worked at least 2300 years ago by the Phenicians, while we know bv 

 the testimony of Caesart that this branch of mining was still pursued 

 by the nations inhabiting Britain. The current money was of brass 

 01- iron, valued according to weight, although Cssar observes that the 

 produce of this latter met d, which was worked in the maritime dis- 

 tricts was small. As however the tin trade had long been a staiile, 

 and copper and brass were imported, it maybe reasonably doubted 

 whether among a mining population, the workings were, although rude, 

 carried on upon a greaier sca'e of magnitude than is implied from the 

 terms used by the Romans. During the subsequent occupation bv the 

 Romans, remains now existing fully attest that the workings were kept 

 up by them, and indeed during thewhole period of history there seems 

 to have been no intermission in the prosecution of this brand) of the 

 national wealth and strength. The Danes are particularly noted in 

 this pursuit, and large heaps of scoria, named after them, are to this 

 day to be met with in many parts of England, with so great an accumu- 

 lation of soil upon tliem as to bear trees of large size. At the time of 

 the Norman accession we find the king demanding of the inhal)itants 

 of Ghister 3(j icres of iron, for making nails for his fleet, every icre to 

 consist of 10 bars or rods of iron ; which iron was very probably made 

 in the neiglibourbood in the Forest of Dean. The kings of England 

 Iield in this forest iron works, consisting of three blast furnaces and 

 two forges, which are supposed to have been given up by Charles 1st, 

 somewhere about the year l.)37. Cromwell and other princes are also 

 said to have embarked capital in such pursuits, and indeed the iron 

 trade seems always to have been the object of the highest solicitude. 



One of the first events which led to an extension of the iron trade, 

 particularly as regards castings, was the invention of cannon, the pre- 

 cise date of which is not however known. Cast iron is said by M. 

 Verlit to h.ive been known in Holland in the 13th century, and staves 

 to have been cast from it at Elass in 1400, but how produced is not 

 known. Cannon are mentioned in a record of the accounts of the 

 Chamber of Paris in 1338, and were used by the English at Cressy in 

 134G, and by the Venetians in 13150 and 7, but we are by no means to 

 conclude th.it such cannon were cast, as for two hundred years hooped 

 cannon were made, formed of staves of wrought iron, bound together 

 with strong hoops of the same metal. It was not until 1517 that the 

 first iron guns were cast in London by a person named Owen. The 

 precise date of the origin of the blast furnace is far from being ascer- 

 tained. Mr. Mushet who has investigated the subject with his usual 



iuiulus Curlius, R. 9. cli. 2.'). Ferri candid) talcnta cunlum 

 T De Bi'llo Galileo, L. 5, c. 10. 



research, seems to be of o|)inion that it cannot be beyrmd the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century. It is tlien that we perceive a fresh epoch 

 in the jirogress of the manufacture, as a greater power of blast was 

 required, {he old situations would be abandoned, and the iron trade 

 pass from the township in the neighbourhood of the mines to the banks 

 of the adjacent streams; this is particularly evident from examining 

 the sites of the oldest workings. The introduction, or invention of 

 the blast furnace here, for we seem to have some claim to its first use, 

 was productive of a great extension of the trade; a great exportation 

 of iron artillery to the continent was the result, and without giving 

 implicit belief to the statements of Dudley, in his Metallum Martis, we 

 are still bound to believe that the trade was great. According to 

 Dudley's computation in 1G15, there were then no less than 300 blast 

 furnaces for smelting iron ore vvith charcoal, and oOO forges and iron 

 mills. The total quantity of iron produced from the works is said to 

 have been 180,000 tons per year, an enormous amount considered in 

 relation to the then population of the country, although not impossible 

 so far as the question of fuel is concerned. .Supposing Dudley's state- 

 ment of the number of furnaces to be accurate, although some question 

 may be raised upon that point, a deduction is still to be made for fur- 

 naces out of blast and building, for which, trom modern experience we 

 might easily assume the deduction of a third, leaving 200 as the actual 

 number in work. A less njmiber of weeks (perhaps 35;, and a lower 

 average fsay ]2), should also be taken, and the estimated produce 

 would tlien not exceed 80,000 tons, a quantity by no means incredible. 

 It may be mentioned here by the way that the extensive exportation 

 of artillery is not only in favour of the origin of blast furnaces in this 

 Country, but also of our possessing a very large share of this trade, 

 which might well give an impulse to it in this country. 



We have now to contemplate the history of another great improve- 

 ment, the use of pit coal, for which we find several patents granted by 

 .Tames I. In 1G12 a patent was granted to -Simeon Sturtevant, Esq. 

 fseeminglv a Dutch name) fir 31 years for nuking iron with pitcoal, 

 in return for which patent Sturtevant was bound to publish his dis- 

 coveries, wdiicli appeared in a quarto form under the rame of" Metal- 

 lica." In the next year Sturtevant, having tried his plan upon a large 

 scale and failed, was obliged to give up his monopoly. John Raven- 

 son, Esq., was the next in the field, and was also enjoined by his patent 

 to publish his discoveries, which he did under the title of his " Me- 

 t.illica." Several other candidates also failed, wlien, in lul9, anew 

 competitor came into the field, wdio was destined to excite more 

 attention. Dudley's father possessed iron works at Pinsent, in Wor- 

 cestershire, and it was there that Dudley perfected the patent which 

 he obtained in 1619. He declared that although he made only at the 

 rate of three tons of pig iron weekly, that be made it with profit. His 

 success was such as to excite the alarm of the charcoal iron manufac- 

 turers, who formed a powerful opposition, and obtained a limitation of 

 his patent from 31 to 14 years, new adventurers also spr.uig up to en- 

 croach upon his rights, until at last their rivalship, and his attachment 

 to the cause of Charles 1st, prevented his improvements from being 

 followed up. In the meanwhile the deficiency of wood had begun to 

 be felt, and Dudley had fully proved the efficacy of his plan for the 

 manufacture of pig and bar iron, and for various castings, all of which 

 he sold much lower than the charcoal-manufacturers. In the article 

 of castings alone, Mr. Mushet says, he must have h.id greatly the st.art 

 of the charcoal foundries, as the quality of c.irbonated coke pig iron 

 is far superior to that of the charcoal iron of this country for the gene- 

 ral purposes of casting. .Such success greatly provoked the hos- 

 tility of his rivals, particularly of those who still possessed a good 

 sujiply of fuel, who at last in "the true s|iirit of combination led on an 

 attack upon his devoted works, and led to tliee>il results to which we 

 have alluded. His impioved bellows, forge, &c. all fell a prey to the 

 lawless banditti. While he was thus openly plundered, his rivals were 

 not less active in endeavouring to undermine him, or at least profit by 

 his success by evasions of his patent. Among these attem|)ls that of 

 Captain Buck, Major Wildman and others is a singular instance of 

 failure. Attacked on all sides Dudley was also foiled in 1603, 

 in his last attempt to obtain a patent from Charles the Second, 

 and deserted by all.he was compelled to give up the pursuit. — 

 Dudley was the author among other works of the "Metallum Mar- 

 tis," in which we possess many curious det.iils of the early state of 

 the trade. We may here pause and view the present state of the 

 charcoal iron manufacture, which from 310 furnaces has dwindled 

 down to insignificance, so as to be almost extinct, the whole annual 

 quantity manufactured not exceeding 1000 tons. In Lancashire, two 

 or three fiunaces are occasionally in blast, and one in Argyleshire. 

 The jiurposes to which iron made from this fuel is now applied are 

 limited inileed. In Lancashire a small quantity of steel iron for the 

 Sheflield marker has of late years been made from it; but the principal 

 consumption is for casting knives, forks, razors, snuffers, bridle bits, 



