40 REPOKT — 1867. 



ing together in verj- well-contrived machinery the improved small coal thus 

 placed at their disposal. To meet the increased demand for pitch, which 

 constitutes the cement used in this last-mentioned process, coke-ovens are 

 now in use ahroad foi- condensing aU the products of distillation, both of a 

 tarry as well as those of an ammoniacal nature. In like manner the excess 

 of heat, which passes away from the puddling and balling fui-nace, instead of 

 being permitted to escape, was made available in France for raising the steam 

 for driving the forge and rolling-mill machinery ; but i^erhaps the most ele- 

 gant and interesting application of a waste product was that effected by em- 

 ploying the gases, which formerly flamed at the tops of their blast-furnaces, 

 for a variety of purposes for which hitherto solid fuel had been used. 



Now, it may be asked, were our own iron-masters indifferent spectators to 

 those valuable ameliorations contributed by other nations to an art in which 

 Britain might be supposed to occupy the first rank ? The answer is, that no 

 sooner did a change in the ]nicc of our fuel enable them to adopt, with profit, 

 the purification of coal andtlic imjjrovements in its conversion into coke, than 

 both processes were imported into this kingdom ; and at the present day there 

 is scarcely an ircn-work in it of any consideration, where the machinery is 

 not driven by the Avaste heat from its OAvn furnaces in the manner suggested 

 by the example of our neighbours. As regards the use of the blast-furnace 

 gases, not onlj' h ive our furnace-owners availed themselves of the lesson 

 tauglit them bj' foreign industry, but the mode of collection has been so im- 

 jiroved as to afford in many eases results better than those obtained by the 

 original inventors. At this tim.e not less than 500,000 tons of coal are 

 annually saved in the Cleveland iron district alone, by the state of perfection 

 to which this admirable discovery has been carried. 



For many years past such are the advantages possessed by this country for 

 the economical working of metals that, although the raw material for the 

 finer kinds of steel had to be imported from other nations, we have been able, 

 notwithstanding, from our position in other respects, to rank first as manu- 

 factui'ers of this modified form cf iron. The rapid speeds attained on our 

 railways, and the great strain to which the machinery there, as well as on 

 other occasions, is exposed, has rendered increased strength of material, 

 combined with lightness, an object of the highest importance. Metallurgists 

 have thus been led to devise some more ready and less expensive methods of 

 producing steel, this substance being, as is well known, possessed of the 

 desired qualities, unequalled bj' any other known condition of iron. It is 

 needless to dwell on the various i)rojects which have been suggested for 

 securing this desideratum, inasmuch as every one appears to have been 

 driveu out of the field liy that last great discovery of Eessemer, the success 

 of which still maintains for this nation its old position in an industry in 

 which it has laboured so incessantly and to such good purpose. It is true in 

 Prussia there exist gigantic steel-works (those of Krupp and others) where 

 the process is carried on by methods confined, it is alleged, to themselves. 

 Whatever these methods may be, they are not of that character to liave ])re- 

 veuted the directors of the establishments named from adding the converters 

 of Bessemer to any appliances or modes of procedure of which they have the 

 merit of being the original inventors. 



In concluding this endeavour to trace, in its main features, the progress of 

 the manufacture of iron, I may be permitted to mention that, during a per- 

 sonal acquaintance with the works of this and other countries, extending 

 over twenty -five years, I can detect no change in the relative position of our- 

 selves and continental nations as iron manufacturers. No doubt, abroad, the 



