36 REPORT— 1867. 



who have intruded slovenly heaps of raw materials, intermingled with pieces 

 of rusty iron, upon an occasion which may be looked upon as a state cere- 

 monial of industry. 



The practical man, however, notwithstanding these disadvantages, has 

 there materials and opportunity enough, to enable him to pronounce an 

 opinion with sufficient precision, on the question of quality of the samples 

 submitted for examination. I have myself carefully aud repeatedly studied 

 all the great divisions of this important branch of metallurgical industry at 

 Paris. I have done so alone, and in company with English and French 

 engineers, iron-shipbuilders, and iron-masters, both British and foreign, 

 including men of the greatest experience and knowledge of the subject, — and,, 

 suj^ported by their concurrent testimony, I imhesitatiugly advance the opinion 

 that no evidence whatever is to be found there that this coimtry occu:pies a 

 position less conspicuous for excelleuee of its produce than that of other 

 nations. Of course, it is not pretended that in such a coinpetition the four 

 and a half millions of tons of British-made iron have to be brought into com- 

 parison with those 300,000 or 400,000 tons of the metal which it requires 

 the collective power of every European nation to smelt from the pui-est and 

 rarest known ores and charcoal, and which cannot be made or sold at much 

 imder double the price of our most esteemed brands. 



It is of importance, in an inquiry like the present, to bestow especial atten- 

 tion to what may be considered the purely mechanical treatment of iron — to 

 that treatment b)* which it is obtained in the various forms known in com- 

 merce. Those sections of bars which present mechanical difficulties in rolling, 

 have those difficulties greatly increased by the presence of certain chemically 

 combined impurities. A good skin, as it is called, and unbroken edges, par- 

 ticularly in some forms, may be accepted as a fair indication of quality of 

 iron as well as of excellence of machinery employed. Judged by this standard, 

 the French as weU as some other nations, have every reason to congratulate 

 themselves on the state of iron-manufacturing science in their respective 

 countries, as evinced by some of the really marvellous pieces of iron they 

 exhibit. One firm, for example, has sent solid rolled bars of double "]" iron 

 27 inches, and others 33 inches deep, by 30 and 40 feet long, each bar in 

 both cases weighing forty-six cwts. ; but the greatest chef iVceuvre in this 

 way is a girder of the same form as the preceding, from the works of 

 Chatillon and Commentary, 43 inches deep, with flanges 11| inches wide and 

 web of I5 inch in thickness. This last achievement has not so far met with 

 any practical application, but it is of value in showing engineers what can 

 be done, and that when occasion requires it, they have it within their power 

 to obtain perfectly solid masses of ^vl■ought iron of these large dimensions : 

 at the same time it may be questioned whether, looking at the lengths which 

 generally accompany the use of iron of such sectional strength, it will not be 

 found more economical to construct the girder by rivettiug plates or bars and 

 angle-iron together. It should be stated that the Butterly Iron Company 

 have for some time past rolled iron of this description, in a somewhat different 

 way, for which they charge 40^. a ton less than the French quotations. Plates 

 of iron, too, are exhibited, roUed so as to require no shearing along the sides, 

 as has hitherto been practised. In many instances, such, for example, as in 

 the construction of tanks, bridges, and other articles v.hcre a slight deviation 

 from perfect soundness on the edge is immaterial, this mode of manufacture 

 offers advantages by reason of the economy it effects. Against these proofs 

 of efficiency of miU-machinery and skill in its use, may be placed the armour- 

 plate, weighing eleven tons and a quarter, from the works of Messrs. Erown 



