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fullest information upon the subject, we shall content our- 

 selves with very briefly indicating the plan of Mr. Budd. 



The ironmasters of Yorkshire are generally favourable to 

 the cold blast process ; and it has long been a reproach upon 

 all engaged in the smelting of iron, that so much waste of 

 combustible gas should be permitted at the top of their blast 

 furnaces. Many attempts have been made to introduce the 

 principle of heating the blast before it enters the furnace, by 

 collecting the gas at the top of the furnace, and other con- 

 trivances — all, by the way, forming part of the furnace itself ; 

 but from some radical defect in each of them they were 

 abandoned. 



Mr. Budd, whose furnaces are fed by anthracite coal, 

 found that to make fifty to sixty tons of iron weekly he 

 consumed thirty-five tons of coal, and he therefore set about 

 making a change in the process of smelting. He interfered 

 in no way with the operations of the furnace ; but he intro- 

 duced three or four horizontal flues leading into the chamber 

 or stove, which made the requisite draught, and procured as 

 much gaseous escape as was necessary for the process of 

 smelting. By a contrivance which it would be difficult to 

 describe without the aid of a diagram, the combustible gases, 

 which usually escape from the top of the blast furnace 

 chimneys, fouling the air and destroying the chimney itself, 

 are collected and re-conveyed to the boilers; so that the 

 escaped gas from the furnaces is applied to the smelting of 

 the iron. The advantages of this are numerous : — there is 

 a great deal more iron smelted without additional coal or 

 labour; the blast is better and more regular; the pipes, 

 instead of continually wearing, and thus causing enormous 

 expense, are rendered tough and durable ; a furnace which 

 had been stopped may be resumed in a few minutes; the 

 saving in coal alone, if this invention were adopted through- 

 out England and Wales, would be not less than £100,000 



