IRON MANUFACIURE. 463 
complete, though the total number is less considerably than in some of 
the other districts. The production capacity of the fifteen establish- 
ments, given in the tabular statement, is about 586,000 tons of iron a 
year, and omitting the Cleveland furnaces the production capacity of 
the Mahoning and Trumbull county furnaces (18 stacks) is 393,000 tons 
of 2,000 lbs. The actual production of pig-iron in these counties for 
1881 was, according to the official reports of the Iron and Steel Asso- 
ciation, 245,737 net tons. 
The industry, however, does not belong so peculiarly to Ohio as 
that of the other districts, the ores and fuel being so largely derived 
from other States, and the enormous industry owing its growth largely 
to the advantages the location offers as a meeting ground for the Lake 
ores and the Pennsylvania coke. The furnaces, in their complete equip- 
ment and large capacity, resemble the establishments of Pennsylvania 
and the east, and differ radically from the smaller works in the other 
districts where the native ores are a prominent factor in the working, 
and which have therefore a more distinctive character in their arrange- 
ment to meet local contingencies. 
In regard to economy of working and fuel consumption, the fur- 
naces of this district will compare favorably with any. The figures 
above given show a coke consumption of only i.19 to 1.33 tons to 
the ton of pig-iron made, assuming, as is undoubtedly correct, that the 
raw coal only contributes the coke it will furnish as real fuel in the fur- 
nace. The gaseous matter is all expelled at too low a temperature to 
have any influence as a reducing agent, and probably only acts as a 
heat consumer instead of producer, as some heat is required to expel 
this volatile carbonaceous matter. 
A coke production of 60 per cent. in the Brier Hill coal is also 
assumed. 
Taking Bell’s figures (Chemical Phenomena of Iron Smelting, p. 15) 
for Clarence Works, as the best English working at that date, 1.12 tons 
coke for 1 ton iron is given, of course using a leaner ore than in the 
ease of the furnace from which the above figures were taken, which 
used an exceptionally rich mixture. As the course of iron smelting 
has been continually toward larger production per ton of coal, the 
introduction of better stoves and the more careful regulation of flux and 
ore mixture will probably yet reduce the above already low figures. 
The details of the furnaces and machinery in this district, together 
