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patent-office at Washington I sawupwards of seventy different mo¬ 
dels of nail-making machines. In this factory they were cut by ho¬ 
rizontally moving shears, and at the same time the heads were 
formed by a hammer. A workman can make a hundred and fifty 
pounds of the smaller kind of nails daily. The preparation of 
the iron plates from which cut nails are made is very interesting. 
The crude pig iron is made white hot in the furnace; it is thence 
taken and rolled seven times through, between two iron cylin¬ 
ders, which are screwed closer together after every revolution. 
It is then passed seven times more between two narrow cylinders, 
which are also screwed closer after each time the plate passes. 
By this time the pig is reduced to a plate less than a quarter of an 
inch thick. This plate is again made red-hot, and finally passed 
between two cylinders, which are just as broad as the length of the! 
nails to be cut. The piece in the upper cylinder passes directly 
in one cut to the lower, where the broad red-hotplate is cut into 
as many strips as are wanted. The very smallest of these are 
used for making wire. This machinery is set in motion by a 
large steam-engine, which works the bellows for the different 
furnaces and forges. The whole reminded me of the colossal 
iron-works I saw three years ago in South Wales. 
Mr. Rapp accompanied me also to a sieve-maker, who weaves 
iron and brass wire, &c. which is done in a loom something like, 
but longer than a cloth-loom, in order to extend the wire pro¬ 
perly. This one was twenty-five feet long. Our last visit was 
to an iron foundry, where, during our stay, different articles, 
grates and smoothing irons were cast. The smoothing irons were 
cast four in a mould, and while still red-hot were knocked 
asunder. 
In the evening we went to the United States arsenal, two miles 
from the city, on the Philadelphia road; it is under the com¬ 
mand of Major Churchill of the artillery, who received us at his 
house and introduced us to his wife, and four lovely children. 
This establishment contains a place of about four acres, lying be¬ 
tween the road and the river Alleghany: the front consists of a 
large four-story main building, of sandstone, and two smaller build¬ 
ings, one of which is the residence of the directors and the other 
of the sub-directors. On entering the court-yard, one sees that the 
side of the quadrangle facing the front contains three buildings 
not yet inhabited, which are barracks, and four others, work¬ 
shops for the repair of arms, &c. opposite to these are two build¬ 
ings in which are the smith and wheelwright shops. Except the 
three fronts, all the buildings are of bricks. The arms are kept 
in the main building, where there may be about twenty thousand 
stand; most of them are packed in chests: those not packed up, 
are very tastefully arranged in the hall, as trophies, &c. An arch 
