Aug. 2 2, 1872] 



NA TURE 



327 



competitors in the trade ; and it cannot but be observed 

 that since the foundation of the Institute, a very different 

 spirit has infused itself among the members of the iron 

 and steel trades in general, as they no longer keep them- 

 selves jealously aloot from one another, but. on the con- 

 trary, are now pleased to meet, and in a spirit of generous 

 rivalry to interchange their ideas, thereby to some extent, 

 at least, tacitly acknowledging that the advancement of 

 industry of the country at large, so far from being preju- 

 dicial to, is in reality ultim:\tely connected with, the inte- 

 rests of each individual manufacturer also. It is the recog- 

 nition of this principle which has enlisted the sympathies of 

 those engaged in the iron and steel industries, and has con- 

 tributed so much to the success of the Institute, which at 

 this moment, including those candidates nominated at the 

 present meeting, numbers no less than 602 members— a 

 surprising result when it is remembered thit the Associa- 

 tion is now only in the fourth year of its existence. 



The Glasgow meeting of the Institute commenced on 

 Tuesday, August 6th, when its members assembled in 

 the Corporation Galleries, Sauchiehall Street, which had 

 most liberally been placed at the disposal of the Council 

 of the Institute by the Lord Provost and Magistrates of 

 the City ; the proceedings being prefaced by a short intro- 

 ductory address from the President (Mr. Bessemer), to- 

 gether with a few words of welcome from the Lord Provost 

 of Glasgow. 



The Secretary then announced that the Council had re- 

 cominended Mr. Isaac Lothian Hell, of Newcastle, as 

 president-elect, and nominated Mr. Edward Wilhams, of 

 Middlesborough, as vice-president in the place of Mr. 

 Bell, as also Messrs. W, S. Roden, C. W. Siemens, H. 

 Sharpe, VV, Nielson, and J. Hunter to the vacancies caused 

 by the retirement of the other m-mbers of the Council by 

 rotation, which recommendations were unanimously 

 adopted by the meeting. 



The Foreign Secretary read out the names of those 

 gentlemen connected with the foreign iron trade then 

 present at the meeting, amongst whom were representa- 

 tives of France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and the 

 United States of America. 



The election of members was then proceeded with, after 

 which an extremely interesting paper, " On the Coal and 

 Ironstone Strata of the West of Scotland,'' was read 

 by Mr. James Geikie, of the Geological Survey, in 

 which a general sketch of the geology of the district, 

 with special reference to the occurrence and nature of the 

 coal and ironstonedeposits, was given in a concise yet ex- 

 tremely lucid communication, the delivery and discussion 

 of which occupied the remaining available time of this 

 day's meeting. Visits were subsequently made by the 

 members to some of the neighb juring works, and more 

 particularly to the Blochaim Iron Works, where consider- 

 able attention was paid to Mr. Graham Stevenson's new 

 mode of reversing rolling miih then in operation. 



On the following day (Wednesday) the meeting com- 

 menced at 10.30 A II. by the reading of a paper by Mr. J. 

 F. Mayer, of Glasgo.v, "On the Rise and Progress 

 of the Iron Manufacture of Scotland," which was an 

 historical sketch of the subject, commencing from the 

 year 1760 w'nen iron was first smelted at Carron, near 

 Falkirk, and continuing it down to the present time, when 

 the Scotch iron manufacture occupies so prominent a 

 position in the British iron trade. Attention was specially 

 directed to such improvements in the manufacture of iron 

 as had originated in this part of Scotland, amongst which 

 were mentioned the use of raw coal instead of coke in iron 

 smelting by Condie at Govan, the employment of hot blast 

 by Nielson, and the utilisation of the black band ironstone 

 by Daniel Mushet, discoveries w-hi:h, itmay be said, were 

 the making of the Scotch iron trade. 



The next two communications related to the different 

 systems for reversing the rolls in rolling wrought iron ; 

 the first of these by Mr. J. D. Napier, " On Napier's 



differential gear for reversing rolling mills," illustrated by 

 models, described the application at the Codnor Park 

 Iron Works in Derbyshire of a differential clutch, identi- 

 cal in principle with the differential breaks used by him in 

 the windlasses of ships ; whilst the second, by Mr. Graham 

 Stevenson, " On Reveising Rolling Mills," advocated the 

 employment of his conical clutch, which had been in- 

 spected the previous afternoon at the Blochaim Iron 

 VV'orks. These two papers wtre discussed together, and 

 gave rise to a very animated debate, in the course of which 

 much valuable information was elicited from the observa- 

 tions made by members practically acquainted with the 

 subject. The balance of opinion appeared, however, to 

 be in favour of Mr. Napier's differential clutch, the ex- 

 treme simplicity of which appeared to give it advantages 

 over any hitherto applied form of reversing gear, not ex- 

 cluding the conical clutch of Mr. Stevenson, which, 

 nevertheless, was admitted to work very satisfactorily. 



The meeting then broke up, most of the members 

 proceeding by a special train to inspect the Iron Works at 

 Gortsherrie, Coatbridge, Summerlee, and Monkland. 

 Amongst the novelties examined on this excursion maybe 

 mentioned the new coal-cutting machine, invented by 

 Messrs. Miliar and Anderson of Coa'.bridge, then at work 

 in the No. 3 pit. Gortsherrie, belonging to Messrs. Wil- 

 liam Baird and Co. 



This macnine is stated to cut 350 ft. of coal per shift of 

 8 hours, yielding 75 tons, or equal to the unitt'd turn out 

 of 40 m^n, whilst it only requires two t a attend to it, being 

 driven bv compressed air at a pressure of 45 lbs. to the 

 square inch, brought in cast iron pipes some 300 fathoms 

 from the shaft. As six additional machines are in course 

 of construction for Mr. Baird, it is evidently regarded as 

 a success ; and it is hoped that in these days of incessant 

 strikes it may prove capable of doing all it is represented 

 to do, and thus be the means of checking in some degree 

 the exor'oitant deinandi of the colliers. 



At the North British Iron Works, at Coatbridge, M. 

 Dormoy's patent puddling furnace, with revolving rabble, 

 driven by steam po.ver, was shown in full operation, and 

 appeared to elicit the very general expression of opinion 

 that the invention, even if ingenious and practical, had 

 come out too late in the day. Now that the more perfect 

 system of rotary puddling of Mr. Danks has proved suc- 

 cessful in dispensing with the labour of the puddler alto- 

 gether. It is not likely that the ironmaster of the future 

 will be content with a sysiem which at best is only an 

 improved manual process for puddling iron. 



At the Alonkland Iron and Steel Works the interest of 

 the visitors was concentrated in inspecting the two blast 

 furnaces constructed on Ferric's patent cuking principle. 

 These furnaces have a height of no less than 90 ft., and 

 are so arranged that, when fed at the top with the raw 

 coal and iron ore mixed together, the coal, as it descends, 

 becomes coked in the upper portion of the furnace, before 

 it reaches the smelting region of the furnace lower down. 

 Great economy in fuel is claimed for this arrangement ; 

 it being considered that the heat and combustible gases 

 driven off and lost, when the coal is previously coked as 

 at present in separate coking ovens or heips, are utilised 

 entirely in the Ferric blast furnace. 



The favoarable opinion expressed by several of the 

 members of t'ne Institute, will, it is understood, lead to the 

 erection of several of these furnaces, both in the district 

 and probably in England also. 



The meeting on Thursday commenced at 10.30 a.m., 

 and was opened by the reading of a paper by Dr. A. K. 

 Irvine, of Glasgow, " On a new miner's safety lamp," in 

 which the author described an invention of a most in- 

 genious character, which is likely to prove of great ser- 

 vice in coal mines troubled with explosive gases, since, 

 besides serving the purpose of an ordinary safety lamp, 

 it sounds a note of warning to the workman the moment 

 the air around becomes so charged with firedamp as to be 



