383 
Tin, 
in the present mode of tinning : but it ought to be re^ 
marked, that the thicker the coat of tin, the more liable it 
would be to be melted off the copper by strong fires. 
4 Watson , 158. 
Tin-plate or tinned iron ( Fer Blanc of the French) 
holds an intermediate place between an alloy and a coat- 
ing. It is made simply by immersing plates of iron into 
meited tin, whereby they not only become covered with a 
perfect coating of this metal, but a very intimate union of 
the two metals takes place, to a certain depth in the sub- 
stance of the iron, which is seen by cutting it transverse- 
ly, and when the tinning has been repeated two or three 
times, the whole plate is more or less alloyed, or as it 
were, soaked with the tin. 
Tin-plate is manufactured in several countries, but no 
where to such perfection as in England, to judge by the 
quantity exported. The finest kind when highly polish- 
ed, has a lustre and whiteness scarcely inferior to silver* 
and the peculiar excellence of the English plate, appears 
to be chiefly owing to the perfect smoothness given to the 
plate before tinning, and the great uniformity in the ap- 
plication of the metallic coating. 
The general process is extremely simple, and is thus de- 
scribed by Mr. Donovan. 
It is carried on near Caermarthen in South Wales, the 
centre of an immense and increasing manufacturing dis- 
trict, of many of the most important metals. 
The iron ore employed in this manufactory, is the com- 
mon kind of the country, intermixed with a large portion 
of the fine haematite from Ulverstone, in Lancashire, which 
gives a very fine metal. This too is smelted with char- 
coal, instead of coke, to produce a metal of the greatest 
purity and extensibility, and closeness of texture, which 
qualities are particularly required in this manufacture. 
The reduced ore is smelted in the usual manner, and cast 
