1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



357 



liavu risen to £1600. The works of Beraril les Saint Elienne (Loire), sent 

 specimens to the Exposition, as did those of MontUiyon (Allier), which make 

 a good coke from the Commentry basin, and work the iron ore of Berry, ob- 

 tained by canal. The Creuzot is one of the largest establishments. Its coal 

 beds produced last year more than 1,000,000 hectolitres, and it has four 

 Wast furnaces, three worked with coke and one with wood, and another blast 

 furnace in construction ; forges producing 8,000 tons, instead of 3,000 in 

 ]S39, and which will produce double when the new works are completed ; a 

 factory comprising a large foundry, great forge, smithy, boiler works, fitting 

 works ; a buikling yard at Chalons, on the banks of the Saono, for building 

 iron steamers and fitting engines. Denain is the largest work in tlie north. 

 In 1830 it was still only a small village, it has now 5,000 or 6,000 people, in 

 1830 the first coke furnace was built, and 1837 the first blast farnace ; they 

 obtain their ore from the neighbourhood of Boulogne and Avesnes. The 

 forges in the north are four, Raismes, Trith St. Leger on the Scheld, Denain, 

 and Anzin. This last has been bought by the Society of Commerce of Brus- 

 sels, who are greatly extending it. Several othe rforgcs are in progress. Most 

 of these works are for Belgian pig iron, of which the importation is greatly 

 increasing every year. The Marquise works, in the Straits of Calais, use ore 

 from the neighbourhood of Boulogne. 



Tlie works of the second class are numerous, of 263.000 tons of bar iron in 

 1811, 127,000 were made by the mixed process. The chief metallurgical 

 groups where this system is ailopted are the group of the north-east, com- 

 prising tha Ardennes, Moselle, Low Rhine, and Mcuse ; the group of Cham- 

 pagne and Burgundy, comprising tlie Nievre, Saone and Loire, tlie Cher, and 

 the Allier. Fourchambaut, in the Nievre, is the most important of all. It 

 has 12 blast furnaces, and produces 16,000 tons of pig, 10,000 of bar, besides 

 300 or 400 tons of forged wood iron from the forges of Gressouvre, Trezy, and 

 Tournay, in the Bher, belonging to these works. This work seems to be one 

 of the most distinguished for the quality of its produce, Messrs. Rowclifl'e 

 and Co., of Rouen, make use of this iron. The works of Abainvillc, Meuse, 

 belong to Messrs. Capitain and Co., and eomiirise three blast furnaces worked 

 with charcoal, and five sets of rollers. Other considerable works are those of 

 Messrs. Bongueret, Courreux, Landel, and Co., of Chatillon on Seine, Messrs. 

 Grenouillet, Luzarches, and Desoages, of Vierzons, and M. Demimuid, of the 

 Meuse. The works of Sionne, Vosges, belong to M. Bourgeois, and comprise 

 a blast furnace, four refining furnaces, three puddling furnaces, two cement- 

 ing furnaces, and a roller. They sent to the Exposition some shafts five or 

 six yards long, of which one weighed near a Ion. Messrs. Festugieres, Bro- 

 thers, of Eyzies, were the first to introduce, on a large scale, the use of coal 

 furnaces into the department of the Dordogne. The forgo, of St. Maur, in 

 the Seine, near Paris, belongs to Messrs. Doii and Co., and works up old iron 

 from the pigs of the Haute Maine. The Crenelle work, in the same district, 

 carries on the same business. The forges of Athes, in the Seine and Oise, be- 

 long to M, Baudry, and produce iron principally for coach smiths, also good 

 steel. 



The last class of works is that in w hicli improvement is slowest, and com- 

 prises chielly the works in the eastern group, in the High S.aone, Doubs, 

 Jura, High Rhine, Meurthe, and Vosges ; in the norlh-west group from the 

 Eure to the lUc and Vilaine ; and the groups of the Indre, Perigord, and the 

 Isere. The works of Framont, Vosges, existed in the thirteenth century, and 

 now comprise two blast furnaces, six refining furnaces and their hammers, a 

 roller, &c. They produce annually 600 tons of castmgs and 000 of bar and 

 sheet iron, and make railway axles. The works of Allevard, in the Isere, 

 comprise two blast furnaces, a forge and four slitting mills worked by water 

 power. The works of Rufl'ec, in the Cnarente, belong to M. Marsat, and 

 consist of three blast furnaces, six refining furnaces, and two foundries. The 

 forge of Lagrenerie, belonging to M. Beorbazan, has for the last forty years 

 supplied the iron for the great manufactory of arms at Tulle, principally em- 

 ployed for gun barrels. 



There is, moreover a fourth class of works, consisting of those which make 

 bar iron direct from the ore by the charcoal process, without passing through 

 the state of pig. This, called the Catalan method, is peculiar to Corsica and 

 the departments near the Pyrenees. Two works in the Arriege sent to tlie 

 Exposition. They manufacture steel also. 



Iron Castings. 



In England more than half the pig iron is used for castings. In France, 

 also, the use of cast iron is extending for architectural and ornamental pur- 

 poses. Of the 377,000 tons of pig produced in France in 18-il more than 

 95,900 tons were castings, thus obtained— 



From charcoal 61,600 



From wood and charcoal . . . 10,400 



From coal and coke 7,400 



From coke 16.500 



This quantity was produced by 162 blast furnaces worked with vegetable 

 fuel, and from 28 with mineral fuel. To this total must be added the foreign 

 imports, which bring it up to 122,800 tons of pig used, reduced on casting to 

 117,700 tons, It is remarked that whde some French castings are very good, 



the English have llie superiority, particularly in large castings, because their 

 produce is more equable and regular. Upwards of 18,000 tons of English pig, 

 principally used for castings, were imported into France in 1812, and chiefly 

 worked up at Paris, and the coast towns Havre, Rouen, Nantes, &c. The 

 Franche Cumie pig is esteemed the best in France, and is often mixed with 

 English pig for castings with good eflect. After these comes the pig of Peri- 

 gord and the Nivernais, In the Meuse, Low Rhine, and Vosges most of the 

 common eastings are executed, and the gas and water main pipes for Paris 

 are principally cast there. The higher class of foundry business is carried on 

 in the large towns, among which Paris and the Seine take the lead, although 

 in 1824 there were only 4 iron foundries there, the number now being from 

 35 to 40, producing a quarter of the superior casting of France, valued at 

 £240,000. Next come the Lower Seine, Charente,High Rhine, Nievre, Card, 

 &c. A great many .specimens of superior easting were sent to the Exposition. 

 The chief foundry in France is that of Garchizy, known as the Fourchambaut 

 works, under the direction of M. Emile Martin. It can cast 400 or .500 tons 

 of second casting in a month, and has supplied hydraulic presses for the ports ; 

 the machinery for the Decareville works ; the arches of the Pont du Car- 

 rousel ; the work of Chartres Cathedral ; the iron piers of the bridge of St. 

 Andre de Cubzac, one of the largest works of the kind ever undertaken ; and 

 extensive orders for the French railways. M. Emile Martin is now bringing 

 out a cast iron bridge for the Lyon railway at La Mulatiere, and others for 

 the Avignon and Marseilles Railway over the Rhone and Durance. M. 

 Emile Martin has also a great locomotive factory, and is desirous that all 

 railway works should be executed from uniform models, as in the artillery. 

 Not far from Garchizy is the Torteron furnace, belonging to the Forcliam- 

 baut Company, which executes rough castings. Here the hot blast has been 

 used with advantage with a mixture of coke and charcoal. This furnace pro- 

 duces 3,000 tons, used for castings, chiefly gas and water mains, railway 

 chairs, shot and shells for the army and navy, &e. Solid balls are now made 

 of grey pig, like the English, instead of white and brittle pig, which in bat- 

 tery in breach would break and recoil on the beseigers. The chairs supplied 

 to the St. Etienne and Lyon Railway, to be placed on stone blocks, and 

 under contract to restore all broken ones within two years have never yet re- 

 quired any to be replaced. 



M. Calla sent to the Exposition some of the most finished work. The es- 

 tablishment as founded by his father, in 180 j, was only a machine factory, 

 lut in 1818, on returning from a journey to England, an iron foundry was 

 added to it, and it has since greatly increased. M. Calla was the first ia 

 France to manufacture cast iron ornaments on a large scale, and he has 

 exerted himself to produce patterns in good taste, and to bring out clean and 

 sharp castings. He has supplied the Palais Royal, the Tuilliries, the Pan- 

 theon, Church of the Madeleine, Notre Dame de Lorette, Sec., with stair- 

 cases, flower vases and receptacles, candelabras, balconies, railings, &c. M. 

 Calla exhibited this year one of the compartments of the grand door of the 

 church of St. Vincent de Paul, representing St. Simon and St. Jude in demi- 

 relief, also a holy water vase for the same church, and some busts. M. Ducel, 

 also of Paris, sent a number of models for buildings, churches, garden work, 

 fountains, heating, lighting, 8ic. Some of his best productions were cruci- 

 fixes, of various dimensions, a gothic door, a Descent from the C'ross in low 

 relief, a lion, ?ic. M. Andre of Val d'Osne, in the High Meuse, who supplies 

 the capital largely, sent in a kind of artistic exhibition, including ornaments 

 of all sorts, candelabra, a handsome holy water vase, statues of the Venus de 

 Medicis, and the Young Faun, &c. This manufacturer Has the first to intro- 

 duce into the High Marne moulding in sand, instead of the lormer tedious 

 and costly process of moulding in sand. He has two blast furnaces, each 

 produces about 1500 tons per annum ; one, that of Morley, manufacturing 

 gas and water mains only ; the other, the Val d'Osne, manufacturing orna- 

 mental work, and also large work for bridges and water works. M. Andre 

 has had a great hand in reducing the prices of run cast works, as pipes, &c. 

 Messrs. Vivaux, Brothers, of Dammarie, Meuse, produce cheap saucepans ,aiid 

 culinary utensils, tinned by a convenient process invented by M. Budy, who 

 uses an alloy harder, more adherent, and much whiter than pure tin. Whe- 

 ther the same as the English plan or diflerent we cannot say. In Alsace and 

 Lorraine cast iron saucepans are used without tinning. Cast iron saucepans 

 are gradually superseding copper in Fiance. In Germany; instead of tinning 

 the inside, an enamel is used more solid than tin, a great many of these ena- 

 melled iron pots are used there. The process is kept secret, and only known 

 from the impeifect description given by H irston. The pots are chiefly made 

 in the Hartz, Saxony, and Silesia, and large profits are derived from thsir 

 manufacture. In France, the foundaries in Alsace and Franche Comte ma- 

 nufactured enamelled pots ; but, either on account of the enamel not being 

 firm.'or the price being high, the speculation has not succeeded very well. 

 At Birmingham some attempts have been made to enamel cast iron, but with- 

 out adequate success, the enamelled street name plates being we believe the 

 chief application. 



R.viis. 



The rail manufacture is mainly carried on by the coal furnaces, eleven 

 large establishments only being recognized by the government as contrattors 



T31' 



