Il6 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [^248 



law did not cover this point, it was patent to the leaders that 

 such action served to increase the evils which the union 

 sought to ameliorate. Heats were charged so heavily that 

 th^y could not be made in any less time, and in addition it 

 required more laborious effort to handle the iron properly 

 and the product was consequently of inferior quality/ To 

 remedy this defect, the convention of 1878 fixed the weight 

 of a charge for a boiling furnace at 500 pounds.® This 

 made the day's output 2500 pounds for a double turn, and 

 3000 pounds on a single turn. Six years later the union 

 increased the limit of weight for a charge to 550 pounds for 

 single furnaces." This rule has since continued in force, 

 modified only by provision for averaging the two weeks' 

 work. 



A minor question of dispute between the union and em- 

 ployers was the discharge of puddlers for breakage of ma- 

 chinery due to the large size of puddle balls. In 1887 the 

 Association adopted a resolution that puddlers should work 

 each heat into balls weighing not more than 250 pounds,^" 

 in order to claim the protection of the union. If any part 

 of the machinery was broken by putting in large balls, the 

 puddler was subject to dismissal without recourse to the 

 organization for redress. The matter of determining 

 whether or not a particular breakage was due to the over- 



7 Ibid.. 1873, no. 12, p. 51. 



" Proceedings, 1878, p. 179. 



Proceedings. 1884, p. 1457. Turn limits were likewise fixed for 

 other workmen in the puddling department, such as knobblers (Pro- 

 ceedings, 1881, p. 709), and bushelers (Proceedings, 1884, p. 1457). 

 The weight of the charge was adjusted proportionately for larger 

 furnaces which were introduced from time to time (Western Scales 

 of Prices, 1903-1904, p. 6; Constitution, 1903, art. 18: 1916, art. 18). 



'<* Proceedings, 1887, p. 1924 ; National Labor Tribune, June 25, 

 1887. p. 4, col. 2. When the iron reaches the boiling stage, it is said 

 to " have come to nature," somewhat analogous to the coming of 

 butter in a churn. At this stage, the puddler works the molten metal 

 into balls, and by means of tongs these balls are conveyed on a 

 buggy, or more usually by a trolley, to a squeezer. The squeezer 

 consists of a stationary rim and a revolving inner rim, containing 

 teeth-like grooves, which operate somewhat on the principle of a 

 coflfee mill. It squeezes out much of the slag in the balls and elon- 

 gates them into blooms, which in turn are passed through the rolls 

 and drawn out into muck bars. 



