m the Countces of New-Haven and Litchfield. 207 
ed a little audience into the piazza where, in a cool but 
pleasant evening, (August 27) the landlord was smoking his 
pipe. 
Manufactory of Anchors and formation of Bar-Iron. 
This naval taste was easily explained by the fact, that 
at this place there is a considerable establishment for the 
manufactory of anchors. It belongs to the Hunts—(four 
prothers,) and has supplied many anchors for the American 
ships of war. Very lately, they have sent off two for the 
¥ranklin 74 gun ship—one weighed 8000 and the other 
3000 pounds. 
I rose very early the next morning to visit the anchor 
manufactory. Every thing was very obligingly explained 
to me, and I saw enough of the operations to obtain a dis- 
tinct comprehension of them. 
The iron is, on the spot, reduced from the ore to 
the malleable state. ‘The ore is that of Salisbury—the 
- brown iron stone of Werner. Itis pulverized by a machine 
moved by water,—which is, in fact, nothing more than a large 
hammer moved by a long lever, and falling into a trough or 
rude kind of mortar, in which it plays up and down, and in- 
to which the ore is thrown. ‘This receptacie is shaped like 
a hopper, and the pulverised ore falls through as fast as 
it is pounded ; it is then taken up by shovels, and thrown up- | 
on a large forge-fire, where a heap of charcoal of some 
bushels, is kept in vivid ignition by two bellows of great 
‘dimensions worked by water; as these rise and fall alter- 
nately, the blast is never intermitted, and the supply of ore 
and fuel being made, also alternately, the work goes on for 
many hours without interruption. No limestone or other 
flux is employed, and the consequence is that the operation 
although much more expeditious, is also much more wasteful 
than where the ore is first reduced in furnaces, and after- 
wards rendered malleable in the forge. Mr. Hunt inform- 
ed me, that in this way, the ore yields not more than half its 
weight of malleable iron, whereas in the other mode three 
fourths are obtained. Indeed the dross rejected ia this 
operation is obviously still rich in iron. I selected speci- 
mens that were brilliantly crystalized,—had the fine lustre 
of the Elba ores and a very considerable specific gravity. 1. 
