304 On the use of Anthracite in Blacksmiths'' Shops. 



The kind of coal to be employed. 



Every one, familiar with anthracite, in place, knows that its varie- 

 ties, even in the same bed, are very great. Some of the strata are 

 usually slaty, portions of others are charged with sulphuret of iron, 

 (iron pyrites,) while other parts, generally far the greater portion, 

 are almost entirely carbonaceous. The last is always preferred by 

 the smiths, and the value of pure coal to them is so well known, that 

 in one mine, near Wilkesbarre,* which we visited, a stratum was re- 

 served for them, the coal from which was sold for two dollars per 

 ton, while for the remainder but half this price was demanded. As 

 the proprietors of the different mines, however, are desirous of ac- 

 quiring a good reputation for their coal, only the best is now sent to 

 the sea-board, and it is probable that but a small portion of the an- 

 thracite in our market is unfit for the heating of iron. The proper 

 coal is easily distinguished : I seated myself by a heap of anthracite, 

 near a smith's shop, in Wilkesbarre, and with a little assistance from 

 the owner learned, in five minutes, to discriminate between the differ- 

 ent kinds. The slaty coal is inferior in lustre, and an experienced 

 eye will easily distinguish the delicate lines of the slate : its fracture is 

 also even, while that of the pure anthracite is more or less conchoidal. 

 The sulphuret of iron forms usually fine white specks, and may be 

 easily observed from its contrast with the glossy jet of the coal. If 

 any difficulty however is found in making the distinction before 

 heating, there can be none when the coal is in the furnace. The 

 slaty coal soon becomes covered with a white ashy coat, and has a 

 dull appearance : the pyritous coal has a bright glow, but on being 

 moved, will send up numberless brilHant sparks 5 its smell is also 

 stronger, but the smiths rely more on the former circumstance than 

 on the smell. The slaty coal will not injure the iron; its only evil is 

 in the inferior degree of heat it affords. The case is different with 

 the pyritous anthracite. Yellow iron pyrites is a bi-sulphuret : when 

 heated one proportional of its sulphur combines with the bar to be 

 forged, making it a proto-sulphuret, and giving consequently a brit- 

 tle character, which renders it difficult to be wrought. When in 

 small quantities, however, neither the slaty nor the pyritous coal 

 is to be dreaded : if tlie latter is in larger proportion, the smiths find 

 an easy security from its influence, by throwing common salt upon 



* The Baltimore mine. 



