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The consumption per ton of plough shares (with the same work men and same products as in the period from September, 1843, to March, 1844,) has therefore been:

14.25 Kil. =

1.97 mc. 13.67 mc.

1.42 tons cast iron,

= 42.75 heaped bushels of charcoal,

=

296 heaped bushels of dried wood. During the same month (August, 1844,) the puddling furnace consumed 58 tons of cast iron and produced 51.9 tons of blooms. That is for each ton of blooms, 1.118 tons of cast iron, a great consumption occasioned by the use of a considerable proportion of burnt and oxi dized cast iron scrap. The usual rate of working (in July, 1844, for example,) does not exceed 1.09 tons of cast iron, which is the same proportion as in puddling furnaces with coal.

From a comparison of the work during these two periods, the fol lowing conclusions are drawn:

1st. The monthly production of the refinery fire was 14-72 tons. It is now only

Difference,

14.50%

0.22 «

which is insignificant, and will disappear when the workmen have more experience.

2nd. The consumption of cast iron is increased 63 lbs. which may be represented in money, by $0.68.

It may happen that this increased consumption is due to causes foreign to the introduction of the new process. Thus the refinery fire is now at a distance from the hammer, and therefore disadvan tageous for working.

3rd. The consumption of charcoal was 192 heaped bushels, weighing 20-27 lbs. per bushel, or 3894 lbs.; and as the wood of this neigh borbood yields about 7.6 lbs. of charcoal per bushel, this consumption corresponds with that of 512 bushels of wood. It includes, as we have already said, a loss of one-seventh, so that the effective consumption of the refinery fire is,

Less---one-seventh

3894 lbs.

[blocks in formation]

556

3338*

439 bushels.

From the actual working the consumption is1st. 1.90 mc. or 41.23 heaped bushels of charcoal weighing 836 lbs. and corresponding to

and 2nd. 13.67 mc. or 3063 heaped bushels of dried wood, produced by

Total,

110 bushels of wood.

329.8 66

66

439.8

To obtain the effective expenditure of the refinery fire, one-seventh

636

of the whole weight of charcoal used must be deducted, that is, —7

=

or 119.4 lbs., corresponding to 15-6 bushels. The total consumption is therefore 4244 instead of 439 bushels.

The substitution of dried wood for charcoal seems to give a trifling economy of fuel, (143 bushels.) Nevertheless, this economy is really greater than the results of the preceding calculations seem to indicate. In effect, although the flame of the refinery fire is sufficient to maintain, almost constantly, a suitable temperature in the puddling furnace, it is certain that during the period of "letting or cooling down," which precedes the withdrawal of the loop, the refinery fire might become very low if it were used for no other purpose; therefore, the fuel that is added at this time to prevent the cooling of the puddling furnace, should be charged to the latter. It is an extremely difficult matter to determine, exactly, the relative quantity. Messrs. Bellevue and Lovat, who have placed me under the greatest obligations by furnishing this information, and whose accuracy may be relied upon, estimate it at 4th of the whole consumption, or 60.68 bushels. This quantity, added to 143 bushels, represents the total economy of fuel. In order to appreciate the proportion of heat lost to that which is used in the refinery fire, it should be considered that the latter produces generally 94.6 lbs. iron in 1-75 hours, consuming during this time. 18-22 bushels of wood, or 10-4 bushels per hour, capable of developing about 3600 "calories"* or units of heat per kilogramme; or in English terms, each pound of wood is capable of heating 6480 lbs. of water one degree Farenheit. The total number of English units is, therefore, 6480 × 10-4 multiplied by the weight of a bushel of dried wood, 28.4 = 1893932. During the same time, (one hour and threequarters) the puddling furnace has produced about 330 lbs. of iron, which, by the ordinary treatment, would require the use of 214 lbs. of coal, that is, per hour, 1224 lbs. But a kil. of coal can develope 7.500 French calories, (units of heat,) or in English terms, 1 avoirdu. developes 13.500 English units; these 122 lbs. will give 1653750 units of heat, or 85 per cent. of the value of the combustible used. This comparison, moreover, is not strictly correct, because the waste heat which escapes from a furnace burning 121 lbs. coal per hour, is incomparably greater than that which the combustible gases of Montblainville possess when they come out of the apparatus, although the latter is still sufficient to heat the air and char the wood necessary for the working of the refinery fire.

If the question be now considered financially, which, after all, is the most important, we see that formerly the consumption was 192 heaped bushels of charcoal, at 114 cents,

It is now 42.75 bushels of charcoal, at 11 cts. per bushel,

And 296 heaped bushels of dried wood, at 5.53 cts. per bushel,

Apparent economy,

$4.84

$21.75

16.36 $21.20†

0.55

• The French unit of heat is one kil, of water heated 10 Centigrade; this corresponds with 3.968 avoir. lbs., heated 1° Fah.

†Price of Charcoal.-3.575 cords, or 282 heaped bushels of wood at $2.38 per cord, were

From the supposition that 4th of the expense,

$21.20
7

= $3-03,

should be charged to the puddling furnace, we should only reckon $18.17 to the refinery fire, and a saving of $3.58 per 1000 kil., or 3-64 per ton should be attributed to the substitution of dried wood for charcoal.

As the puddling produces about 3 times as much iron as the refinery fire, in the same time, the expense of $3-03 only adds 0-861 cents per ton of puddled iron.

The puddling furnaces of Montblainville, which have been idle for some time in consequence of the high price of fuel, do not use less than 1430 lbs. of Liege coal of good quality for each 1000 kil. of blooms, or 1453 lbs. of Liege coal per ton. The Belgian coal costs now 7.62 per ton, delivered at Montblainville; the 1453 lbs. will come to $4.96. The nett saving is, therefore, $4.96 less 863, or $4-10 per ton.

To recapitulate, the economical results are,—

1st. For the refinery fire, $3.64 per ton, and per month on

14 tons,

2nd. For the puddling furnace, $4.10 per ton, and per month

on 51 tons,

Monthly economy,

$52.78

209-10

8261-88

Expenses of the Construction and Establishment of the Apparatus.

The puddling furnace of Montblainville differs from an ordinary furnace only in the substitution of the refinery fire for the grate, the suppression of the large chimney, and the addition of a hot air apparatus.

The construction of this apparatus may be valued at from 75 to 100 dollars. The two fans, and the plates over the flue walls, might cost about as much more, making the total expense in ordinary cases from 150 to 200 dollars; which expense is in part balanced by the saving from the suppression of the high chimney for draft.

An establishment which would use three refinery fires and a pair of rolls, could have a complete system of puddling and rolling, or drawing out. One of the fires would serve to heat a furnace for reheating the iron, which would come from the other two. The ex periment of re-heating has been successfully made at Montblainvilie, by the temporary conversion of a puddling into a welding furnace.

charred in the forest,

The cost of charring amounted to
Transportation,

Total,

$8-53

$9.84

The product obtained was 87.0 bushels of charcoal, costing, therefore, 11 cents per bashel Price of Dried Wood.-There was dried 0.55 cords, or 43-4 bushels of wood, at $2:38 per cord,

$1-31

Drying at the works, at 9 cents,

Transportation,

Sawing,

$1-92

And 39 bushels or 0·49 of a cord of dried wood was obtained, the cost was, therefore, $92

per cord, or 494 centsper bushl.

Account of the various Improvements made in the Stocking Frame from its invention to the present day, and its connexion with the Lace Manufacture.

[From the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of the Framework Knitters, 1845.]

In a memorial addressed to the Lords of the Treasury in 1834, against the exportation of machinery, from the merchants, manufacturers, and others at Nottingham, engaged in the manufacture of silk and cotton bobbin-net lace, the introduction and importance of this manufacture is thus spoken of:

"The fabrication of thread and silk lace is a very ancient and extensive manufacture, the manner of making which, by the hand, is a very complicated, tedious, and slow process, and, of consequence, such lace is very expensive and costly.

"That the manufacturers of such lace, particularly of the most costly fabrics, principally resided in the northern provinces of France, in Brabant, Flanders, and the Low Countries, where the female population were to a great extent employed in making lace.

"That although the making of the inferior kinds of lace was extensively carried on in the counties of Buckingham, Bedford, and Northampton, and the superior fabrics to a small extent in Devonshire, yet such was the demand for foreign laces in these dominions, that Parliament was induced to prohibit the importation of such laces, as it z caused a visible diminution in the amount of British specie, and weakened the resources of Britain, whilst it added to the power, wealth, and aggrandizement of France, and the possessors of the Low Countries.

"That the superseding of hand labor by machinery, in the carding and shearing of cotton and other cloths, had been early invented in England, and the use of such carding machinery was prohibited (by the 5th and 6th of Edward VI., cap. 22,) on account of its damaging the cloth in the process, from the imperfection of its construction; so that the knitting or stocking frame was the first invention successfully used for superseding hand labor by the use of a machine, in making clothing.

"That in the latter end of the reign of His Majesty George II., or about 150 years after the invention of the said knitting machine, a number of appendages were applied to the said stocking frame, one of which, termed the tickler machine, by mere accident, was applied to the making fabrics in imitation of lace, by removing the stocking loops in various directions. This attempt was succeeded by another invention, termed a point-net machine, consisting of a machine appended to the frame, which made the net without removing the stitches; and this invention, after numerous attempts to make it sound, nearly superseded the making of silk lace by the hand.

"Your memorialists further show that this net, though an imitation of bobbin-lace, was yet inferior in many essential points to those fabrics, particularly in retaining its appearance of lace, when unstiffened; VOL. X. 3RD SERIES-No. 5.—NOVEMBER, 1845.

30

notwithstanding which defect, no less than 1200 workmen were employed at one period in making it, and more than 20,000 persons in ornamenting the net, and preparing it for sale.

"That so early as the year 1770, attempts were made to produce bobbin-nets by machinery, in exact imitation of those made by the hand, having the threads traversed and twisted round each other. To accomplish this object a machine was invented to plat a warp at both ends, in imitation of a machine brought from Switzerland, but this was found too slow a process; small brass winding bobbins, having teeth, and rolling in other rack teeth were essayed; threads wound upon wire, tier upon tier of hooks, revolving wheels on slides, and hundred of other experiments were tried, and though the bobbin mesh was by these means effected, yet the want of speed and accuracy of working rendered all the plans abortive. Numerous attempts were made during this period in Scotland, London, and many parts of the kingdom, to make fishing-nets by machinery, which was for several years also essayed at Nottingham. A workman employed in making and inventing such machinery, at length discovered, through ac cidentally seeing a child at play, the formation of the bobbin and carriage now used in the bobbin-net machine, which was first applied to the making of fishing-nets. Notwithstanding this discovery, none of the inventors could apply it to a machine to make bobbin-net. So great was the difficulty, and such the number of abortive attempts, that the projectors were ranked amongst the enthusiasts who were seeking to obtain the perpetual motion. Two men, named Simpson and Green, actually died from a disease of the brain, brought on by unremitting and unrequited study.

"At length, in 1809, a machine to make bobbin-net was completed, which had passed through the hands of no less than six of the most ingenious and indefatigable mechanics then known, whose labors had been abortive, though they had passed their lives in similar attempts "The machine thus accomplished, after 40 years' experiments in different parts of the kingdom, was yet surprisingly complex and slow in its movements, having 24 motions to the series for twisting the mesh, and four motions for the pins to secure the twist from unraveling.

"This complex machine, before the expiration of the patent, was simplified so as to require only 13 motions to complete the same mesh, and two to prevent the unravelment; two other improvements reduced the motions to 11, and two motions for preventing the unravelment; and at length the utmost acme of speed was accomplished, by reducing the motions to six, and performing the two motions to prevent unravelment at the same time that the other motions were made; whilst a number of machines to any extent were constructed, so as to be propelled by steam and water power. The original machine only possessed speed sufficient to make one rack, of 240 holes in length, in an hour, while the power-impelled machines can make six such racks in an hour; in addition to which, the original machines made nets from one yard to one yard and a half in width, whereas machines are

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