38 REPORT — 1867. 



before it reaches the iron works. Simple as this substitution of pit-coal for 

 charred wood appears, it was a long time before the difficulties attending its 

 introduction were overcome, and the jirejudice against its use set aside — 

 Dudley liimself beiiig in his grave long before the accomplishmcut of either. 

 This cardinal improvement in iron-smolting brings us, witliout fv;rther 

 change, down to about the beginning of the present century, when our blast- 

 furnaces were running thirty or forty tons a week, and that portion of their 

 produce which had to be converted into bar iron was obtained in this con- 

 dition by means of the old "hearth," a most laborious, costly, and wasteful 

 mode of treatment. In it charcoal was frequently the fuel stiU employed, 

 and the small tilt hammer the only means possessed for reducing the malleable 

 product to the state of the bar. 



This was our position when our countryman Gort effected an entire revolu- 

 tion in the character of the operations carried on in our forges, hj the inven- 

 tion of the rolling mill and the puddling furnace. The latter contrivance 

 was subsequently greatly improved by Rogers abandoning the old sand 

 bottoms used by its original designer, and by substituting iron plates pro- 

 tected by iron slag. 



Fostered l)y the discoveries of Dudley and of Cort, the use of iron extended 

 in every direction, rendering each subsequent im])rovement of increased im- 

 portance, by reason of the enlarged field provided for its exercise. 



It was thus a fortunate circumstance that the labours of James Watt, in 

 connexion with the steam-engine, placed in the hands of tlie iron manufac- 

 turer the means of dri\ing his new machinery, for which the water-wheels of 

 our old forges were, in many instances, totally inadequate. 



If the other changes which have been iritroduced in later times into our 

 iron processes are to be considered as modifications and improvements only 

 of what Dudley and Cort effected many years ago, that of N^eilson in applying 

 heated air to the blast furnace has been followed by results of such magni- 

 tude as to rank in importance with discoveries of the highest order. The 

 effect Neilson's idea has had in reducing the consumption of fuel and the 

 expense generally in smelting the ores of iron, is too familiar to all to require 

 repetition here. 



It would appear, however, tluit it is only to those greater and more sudden 

 changes that the world at large seems to attach any siguiiicance ; for, judging 

 by recent criticism on the progress of metallurgical science in this country, 

 the fact apparently has been overlooked tliat the iron-masters of Durham and 

 North Yorkshire, M'ithin the List four years, have introduced great alterations 

 in tlie character of their furnaces, and have succeeded in raising the tempe- 

 rature of the blast they employ to a point never contemplated by Neilson 

 himself. These progressive changes have enabled their projectors to effect a 

 sa\dng in coal and an increase of produce, greater than the difference between 

 those cold and hot blast furnaces still in common use in other parts of 

 England. 



Our rolling-mill engineers had kept pace with the constantlj' increasing 

 rc(]uircmcuts for malleable iron, iintil aliout a dozen years ago, Avhen the 

 I'xampJe of the Enqjeror of the French created a demand for an article 

 beyond +hc powers "of any rolls then in existence. Possibly they were never 

 applied to, owing to the belief then prevailing that hammered slabs of metal 

 alone would satisfy the necessary conditions attending the protection of sliips 

 of war, by means of the so-called armour-plating — at all events it was by 

 means of the steam-hammer (a French idea, it is said, originally, but in- 

 debted for its practical introduction here to Nasmyth) that we in this country, 



