78 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
Art. 21. The rate of working the bellows will also be as regular as possible; 
and, except in case of special accidents, no change will be made without the 
order of the director. 
Art. 22. When it appears at the beginning of a founding that the work¬ 
ing of the smelting furnace is well regulated, and that the metal produced 
is fit for the manufacture of guns, this metal will be tried in the form of a 
gun of 30, No.l, of the model 1849. The proof is laid down in Articles 
71 and 72. 
Art. 23. If the gun stands the proof, the employment of the mixture will 
be continued. 
Art. 24. If the trial has an unfavourable result, the causes of failure 
should be investigated and remedied, after which a fresh trial will be made in 
the same manner. 
If the gun succeeds, a report will be made to the ministry of the modi¬ 
fications which have been made in the second trial. 
The pigs of iron which have been run between the castings of the two 
trial guns, and before the modifications introduced in the manufacture of the 
second gun, will be put aside, and only employed in the manufacture of guns 
under the orders of the minister. 
Art. 25. When the working of the furnace has been regular, a receiving 
proof (epreuve de recette ) shall be made by 400,000 kilos. (882,000 lbs.)* 
of metal made from the same mixture; and if, on the contrary, the work¬ 
ing should have been irregular, and the director should have conceived doubts 
on the quality of the metal, he will communicate his fears to the minister, 
and demand authority to repeat the trial. 
Art. 26. Tor the receiving proof of metal, the pigs of iron which are to 
form the trial gun will be taken at different periods of the manufacture, 
which is to be tried, and the intervals of time at which they have been run 
will as much as possible be equal. 
Art. 27. The director will divide the workmen attached to the smelting 
furnaces into brigades, which will relieve each other by shifts, either by night 
only or by day and night, having regard to the good of the service, the habits 
of the country, and the comfort of the men. 
Art. 28. The minister will organize, by means of the agents and military 
employed under his orders, a system of surveillance, with a view of ascertain¬ 
ing that every one conforms to the orders issued for the management of the 
furnace. 
These agents will report the result of their observations to the officer of 
artillery whom the director has charged with the inspection of the smelting 
furnace. 
Art. 29. The officer charged with the inspection of the furnace should 
himself, by frequent and unexpected visits, assure himself that the prescribed 
rules are observed, and that the surveillance ordered in the preceding Article 
is properly exercised. He shall always be present when the metal is run. 
The other officers should also be present, if the director thinks fit. 
Art. 30. The foreman of each brigade should note the proportions of each 
charge at the moment it is put into the furnace. He should warn the govern¬ 
ment foreman (chef-ouvrier d’etat) of all the accidents which may happen to 
* “Par quatre cent mille killogrammes de fonte.” There appears to he some misprint 
here.—J. H. L. 
