Iron. 
253 
When the cast was finished I had the doors and windows 
shut. This made the real state of the moulds visible* 
The 18, 24, and 32-pounders were all of a dark glowing 
red heat, and presented an arid and inhospitable glare with 
which it was impossible long to exist. 
Some Account oj* the Manufacture of Forged Iron V essels 1 
at Fromont. By M. Ch. Hers art.* 
The operations of forging vessels of cast iron may be 
divided into three distinct parts : 1st, the method of forg- 
ing the plates ; 2d, that of forging the cake or parcel ; 3rd, 
the cold hammering. Of these we shall speak in the or- 
der here mentioned, which is likewise the order of fabrica- 
tion. 
To Forge the Plates . — The iron for this manufactory 
must be very soft and malleable. It has usually the form 
of bars, ten or twelve feet long ; each bar having the form 
of a long truncated square pyramid. This form is neces- 
sary in order to obtain plates of different diameter. The 
small base is a square of ten lines, or twelfths of an inch, 
and the greater eighteen lines. 
The assistant puts one of these bars in the lire, and when 
the heated part is ignited, the master forgeman carries it 
to the small tilting hammer, which is not different from 
those used in drawing out steel bars. He places the bar 
on the anvil, not upon one of its faces, but on an edge, as, 
in this position, the iron is less subject to crack. Accord- 
ing to the size of the plate intended to be hammered out, 
the workman strikes a greater or less portion of the bar, 
presenting it in all situations to the hammer, in order that 
the plate may obtain a circular form. Between the plate 
* Journal des Mines, No. 112. 
