No. 199.] 161 



The iron exhibited by Messrs. Cooper and Hewitt, Trenton, N. .J., 

 manufactured into wire and wood screws, is from the Andover mine 

 in that State, made entirely with anthracite coal, by the puddling 

 process, and pronounced by our judges to be of very superior quality. 

 These gentlemen are largely engaged in the manufacture of railroad 

 bars from the same quality of iron, and we hazard nothing in saying 

 that these bars are worth from 15 to 20 per cent more than any rail- 

 road iron which has been imported. There was a blast furnace 

 established at the Andover mine dunng the Revolutionary war, at the 

 close of which, some of this iron was carried to England and there 

 made into steel ; it was pronounced equal to the best iron they had 

 ever found for that purpose. All, or nearly all the steel made in 

 Great Britain, is made from Swedish and Russian iron, and the quality 

 of the article depends in a great measure upon the quality of the iron 

 before its conversion ; for although poor steel may be made from 

 good iron by conducting the process improperly or imperfectly, a 

 good article can not be produced from iron of inferior quality. For 

 the finest and most important purposes, the Swedish and Russian iron 

 is generally employed for conversion by respectable manufacturers. 

 Dr. Ure says, " with the exception of Ulverstone charcoal iron, no 

 bars are manufactured in Great Britain capable of conversion into 

 steel at all approaching in quality that made from Madras, Swedish, 

 and Russian irons, which are largely imported for that purpose. 

 Swedish iron, stamped with a circle enclosing the letter L, (hence 

 called hoop L,) holds the first rank, and fetches the high price of 

 .£36 10s. per ton ; while excellent English coke iron may be had for 

 one-fifth of the price. The other Swedish irons are sold at a much 

 lower rate, though said to be manufactured in the same way, and 

 therefore the superiority of the Dannemora iron must be owing to 

 some peculiarity in the ore from which it is smelted. The steel re 

 cently made in the Indian steel works at Chelsea, from Mr. Heath's 

 Madras iron, rivals that from the hoop L." 



The specimens of Andover iron, which have been presented to us 

 in various forms, since the working of the mine has been renewed 

 under the enterprising and skilful management of Peter Cooper, 

 Esq., encourages us to hope that these operations may be the pioneer 

 in the production of iron from our own mines, the superiority of 



TAssemblv. No. 199. i 11 



