Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-24 00:00:00

NEW BLAST-FURNACES AT ULVERSTONE.

(From the 411-Zning Journal, 22nd October, 1859.) I
The opening of the new works recently erected by
Messrs. Schneider, Hannay, and Co., of Ulverstone,
created considerable excitement in the whole district of
Low Furness, on Tuesday last. Gentlemen connected'
with the trade, from Loudon, South Wales, Stafford-
shire, and other iron districts, came down in conSiderable
numbers, and by a special train provided for the oceasion,
which left Ulverstone at two o'clock, about 1,000
visitors were brought by the Furness Railway Com-
pany into the. yard of the Ulverstone Hematite Iron-
works—the name under which the enterprising filen
of Schneider, . Hannay, and Co: intend to cart' on
their new- enterprise.. The works are connected with
the Fxrness Railway by a branch line from Barrow,
which forms a link with the Ulverstone and Lancaster,
Lancister and Carlisle, North-E .stern for Leeds, and
the Stockton and Darlington Railways, tines rendering
their railway communication complete for fuel from all
the best coal districts. The furnaces are likewise within
200 yards of the water on one side; and when the jetty
is completed, will have great facilities for loading their
own vessels with the pigs which they manufacture.'
The visitors were evidently gratified with the new
works, and the moment the special' train delivered its
1,000 visitors, including numbers of ladies, interesting
groups were seen about the works, the chief point of at-
traction beimg the apparatus where the gas is ignited
for the generation of steam, &c. Large parties ascended
the incline to visit the funnel heads of the furnaces, and
the ladies were continually seen venturing upon this
apparently perilons trip,
Among the visitors we 4b3erved Mr. A. Sainedo (the
eminent shipbuilder of London), Mr: H. S.
Ainslie (of the firm of Harrison, Ainslie, and Co.), Mr.
Thomas Roper,
,Mr. Alexander Brogden, Mr. James
Ramsden, Mr. Henry G. Grieveson, Mr. J. R. Breekon,
Mr. E. Wadham (agent to the Duke of Buccleuch),
Mr. Drewry (laud steward to the Duke of Devonshire),
the Messrs. Barker (of the Cleator Hematite Works),
Mr. A. Paxton (of the Carlisle Railway), Mr. Henry
W. Schneider, Mr. Robert Hannay, Mr. George IC.
Hannay;and Mr. Robert Hannay, jun., Mr. J. T. Smith
(the bnildcr of the works), Mr. Thos. Perry (of the.firei
of Thomas Perry & Son), Mr. George Stephenson, Mr.
J. Salterthwaite (of the Lancaster Banking Company),
Mr. S. Griffiths, Wolverhamplon, and a great.number
of other, principal mine 'masters and gentry of Lew
Furness. The works are designed A, nd erected by, Mr.
Josiah T. Smith, of South Staffordshire, and are most
unquestionably as perfect in all their arrangemente
if not more gh; than any other works in the. United
Kingdom.
The engines are from the works of Messrs. Perry, of
the Highfields Foundry, near Wolverhampton. They
are a beautiful pair of bright beam engines, with cranks
and fly-wheels, arranged either for separate or combined
action, condensirg on the expanSive principle; stroke nine
feet, with connecting-nd attached to an elongated por-
tion of the beam in the iMmediate vicinity. of tie pis-
ton-rod steam cylinder; forty-six inches, blowing cylin-
ders, ninety-six inches. The effective rawer of these
engines when completed will be upwards of 2GO horse-
power. The nozels are what 'are called the organ pat,
tern, and, as a whole, the engines will hear comparison
with any pair of blast engines in the kingdom ; the
one in action did its work-in a smooth and easy man-
ner, without the least jarring or shaking.
The perfection of the gas apparatus, which is con-
structed d la Brymba, was universally admired ; it
worked admirably during the whale day, by its perfect
combustion under the steam-boilers generating ample
caloric, and to spare, for the -prodnetion of steam re-
quired for the engines. The shaft is 150 feet high, and
8 feet diameter at the summit; standing on an extensive
square stone basement, and is Very beautifully Propor-
tioned. The furnace architecture is'-a Complete success,
and may' safely be visited by builders as a model works,
replete with all the latest improvements both of Wales
and Staffordshire.
The arrangements for delivering at the mines coal and
limestone are admirable, the fultates being provided
with a semicircle of a series of railways to supply all the
materials on the feeding side, the minerals bung dis-
charged from the various rails in the immediate vicinity
of the bridge-house. These arrangements must of
necessity save an amount of common charges unpatal-
leled, even in the working of, the best constructed plants
with which we are acqnamted. The inclined plane over
which the mine ascends to the furnaces is entirely of
iron—graceful and light, though adequately strong, being
constructed of two lattice girder's, 155 feet in length.
The mine is taken up,by a steam-engine, with a wire-
rope connection, and the brake with which this apparatus
is controlled is, on a new and successful principle.
The mines of Schneider and Hannay have a world-
wide celebrity, the celebrated Parks deposit of hemetite
ore being the largest and, perhaps the Most valuable
depagitian e11e,111t49 9r9 everclLscoyered in this
country ; and for than)* years will continue to turn out
an amount of wealth equal to the, great Barra Barra
Copper Mine, which has yielded such enormous quanti-
ties of copper, in Australia. The firm are at the present
moment raising and disposing of hematite iron ore, of a
first-rate qUality, to the extent of. 250,000 tons per
annum, a large portion of this grand aggregate of ore
being shipped in their own screw steamers, three of
whichnontinually ply between the ports of South Wales
and Barrow with the hematite 'ore raised by the firm for
the Welch ironmasters. _ _ _

We understand that Schneider and Hannay have a
great variety of ore in their large 'estates ; one lately
discovered, called Monad, which- contains no. less than
20 per cent. of manganese ; and as they intend to use
this and some poor ores to mix with the rich ores of the
famous Parks deposit, no doubt is entertained
.of their
being able to produce a quality of hematite iron at these
new works far superior to anything previously brought
into the market,' and admirably adapted for admixture
with the pig-iron of Staffordshire and South Wales.
Mr. Brown, the managing partner of the well-known
Ebbw Vale Company, has looked over the works since
their completion, and expressed his entire approval of
the whole of the arrangements. The proprietors are
importing the best steam coal from South 'Wales,• and
coke from the Darlington and Durham districts; and we
understand that they expect to produce 900 tons of 'good
I hematite 'iron per week from these three furnaces.

MUNICIPAL ELECTION.