1870.] The Metallurgical Industry of Cleveland. 193 



kilns, either by inclined planes up which the laden waggons are 

 dragged, or by hoists of great ingenuity. As a rule, it is tho- 

 roughly roasted or calcined by means of one ton of small coal or 

 " breeze " to from thirty to forty tons of green ironstone. In every 

 direction labour-saving appliances are to be found. Even in the 

 discharging of the kilns an ingenious hopper arrangement has been 

 applied, which economizes labour to a remarkable extent. The 

 roasted stone is charged into great iron barrows without any shovel- 

 ling being required, and by means of them it is lifted in the furnace- 

 hoists to the top of the furnace, and charged into them quite hot. 

 This plan of charging the furnaces with calcined ore while it is dry 

 and quite hot also effects some economy in the fuel. 



II. The Blast Furnaces: their Number, Size, and Mode of 

 Working. — The blast furnaces of Cleveland form quite an extraor- 

 dinary feature throughout the whole district, whether we regard 

 their number or their size, or the mode of working them. In no 

 other iron-making district can such a sight be seen as that which 

 meets the eye of the visitor to Middlesbrough and the district imme- 

 diately surrounding it. At the present time (February, 1870) there 

 are no fewer than 122 blast furnaces in the Cleveland district, if under 

 that term it may be permitted to include Durham, considering that 

 Cleveland ironstone is almost universally used in the blast furnaces 

 of that county. True, there are twelve of that number of furnaces 

 that are not likely ever to be again brought into use in their pre- 

 sent form, as they are too antiquated, and not in accordance with 

 the prevailing notions as to what a blast furnace should be. Then 

 there are other nine which are out of use, but as they are available 

 they may again be called into requisition. There are thus left 101 

 furnaces, all of which are in blast ; but besides these there are four- 

 teen new ones being built, one being raised, and other two being 

 rebuilt or modernized. Somewhere about seventy, or about two- 

 thirds of the whole, are clustered within an area so limited that a 

 radius of three or four miles from the centre of Middlesbrough 

 would include almost every one of them. 



And then, such furnaces as they are in point of size, almost 

 universally ! Throughout Monmouthshire and South Wales there 

 are probably not fewer than 200 blast furnaces, while out of that 

 great number only four or five reach to a greater height than 

 50 feet. Many of them are only 35 or 40 feet high, and there is 

 even one that rises no higher than 25 feet. In South Staffordshire 

 from 45 to 50 feet is the commonest height for the blast furnaces, 

 and in Scotland the greater of those two elevations is but seldom 

 exceeded. But what a mighty difference is observable throughout 

 Cleveland. Such a puny thing as a furnace only 45 feet high is 

 exceedingly rare, and in comparison with many of the other colossal 

 structures it might almost be spoken of simply as a crucible or a tiny 



