The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-16 00:00:00

THE IRON TRADE.

The following paper, " On the State and Prospects of
the Iron Trade in Scotland and South Wales, in May,
1839," was read before the Liverpool Polytechnic So.
ciety, on the 13th June, by Joseph Johnson, Esq., Iron
Merchant, Liverpool.
HENRY BOOTH, Esq., President, in the Chair.
The vast and increasing importance of the iron trade to
this country must be so apparent to the most indifferentob-
server, that I feel fully persuaded I need offer no apology to
you for intruding upon your notice the consideration of a
subject that appears, at first sight, so completely without the
legitimate sphere of the objects for the promotion of which
this Society was established. The daily inc:easing magni-
tude of this ba anch of British industry is surprisingly great ;
but, to enable you to obtain a clear view of its rapid exten-
sion, 1 have extracted from Dr. lire's- valuable " Diction..
ary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines," the following
sketch of its progression from 1740 to 1826. The Doctor
observes, p. 687, that—" Till 1740, the smelting of iron
ore in England was executed entirely with wood charcoal,
and the ores employed were principally brown and red
hematites. Earthy iron ores were also smelted, but it does
not appear that the clay-ironstones of the coal basins were
then used, though they constitute almost the sole smelting
material cf the present day. At that era there were fifty-
nine blast furnaces, whose annual product was 17,350 tons
of cast-iron—that is for each furnace 294 tens per annum.
and five and one-eighth tons per week. By the year 1788
several attempts had been made to reduce iron ore with
coked coal; and there remained only twenty-four charcoal
blast furnaces, which produced altogether 13,000 tons of
cast-iron in the year, being at the rate of 546 tons for each
per annum, or nearly eleven tons per week. This remark-
able increase of eleven tons for five and one-eighth was due
chiefly to the substitution of cylinder blowing machines,
worked with pistons, for the common wooden bellows.

" Already fifty-three blast furnaces, fired with coke, were
in activity, which furnished in tote 48 800 tons of iron in a
year, and which raises the annual product of each furnace
to 907 tons, and the weekly product to about seventeen
and a half tons. The quantity of cast-iron produced that
year (1788) by means of coal was 48,800 tons, and that by
wood charcoal was 13,100, constituting a total quantity of
61,900.

" In 1796, the wood charcoal process was almost en-
tirely given up, when the returns of the Iron trade, made
by desire of Mr. Pitt, for establishing taxes on the manu-
facture, afforded the following results :-121 blast fur-
naces, furnishing in the whole per annum 124,879 tons,
giving an average amount of each furnace of 1,032 tons.
" In 1802, Great Britain possessed 168 blast furnaces,
yielding a product of about 170,000 tons, and this product
amounted, in 1806, to 250 000 tons, derived from 227 coke
furnaces, of which only 159 were in activity a t once.
" In 1820, the make of iron had arisen to 400,000 tons,
and in 1826 to about 600,000 tons.

" From 1823 to 1839, the iron trade saw many fluctua-
tions. The price of forge pig-iron varying from 21 104. to
10/. per ton at the works. But the make of this country
was still increasing, and in 1838 I believe it reached to up-
wards of 1.000.000 tons."

For many interesting particulars connected with the iron
trade of the United Kingdom, and particularly for a de-
tailed account of the introduction of the heated air-blast,
by Mr. Neilson, of Glas'ow, I must refer yoo to the ex -
celleht work from which I have made the foregoing extracts.
The introduction of the hot blast formed quite a new era
in the iron trade, and the consequent increase of produce
of iron, particularly iu Scotland, where this invention was
first applied, has been incredibly great, and is still progres-
sing. I have been very kindly furnished by a friend, who
is intimately connected with the Scotch iron trade, with a
list of all the furnaces now in operation in Scotland ; tLe
number out of blast, the number erecting-, and about to be
erected. I have every confidence in the accuracy of my
friend's information, and have no doubt but that the cor-
rectness of the list may be relied upon. Tlis list shows
that there are in Scotland fifty-two furnaces in blast, five
out, seven building, and twenty-four contemplated. With
the permission of the meeting, I will read over the names
of the works, and their respective owocre-_..

- ---- -
Names of thvne"
,„ • In Out of Buil '_Content.
Works. ' Blast. Blast. ing. plated.
Clyde Tames Dunlop
Calder W. Dixon and Co. 6 —

Carron

,Carron Company... 4

I -

Muirkirk Muirkirk Iron C 0... 4

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