Litchfield enquirer., 1839-08-29
EXTENSIVE FOUNDRY.

EXTENSIVE FOUNDRY.
The New York Herald gives an interest
ing description of the Foundry of Mr. Gov
erneur Kemble on the North River, from
which we abridge the following The build
ings of this establishment cover more than
100 acres Of ground, and yet are all contigu-
Gus to each other There are employed in
them, upon an average, 400 men, whose wa
ges amount to nearly $150OO0 per annum.-
There are four steam engines and two enor-
nous water wheels constantly at work in the
business of blasting; melting, welding, cast
ing, forging, turning, &c. One water wheel,
used for the machinery employed in boring
cannons, is SO feet in diameter. There are
about dozen large buildings, used for differ
ent branches of the business. There are 3
large pattern lofts, from 80 to $50 feet long
one casting house 205 by SO feet in the clear !;
and there is one grand moulding floor COM
prising clear space of 300 by 80 feet. An
other large house contains three large sized
cupolas, and three reverberatory furnaces,
the latter capable of throwing out Is tons of
iron at a casting; and the streams from all
three of which can be turned at one and the
same time into the same mould.
Mr.. Kemble is a relative, we believe, of the
Secretary of the Navy, and it appears that
an immense amount of government work is
done here; all the fixtures for the two new
steam frigates are to be made at this foundry.
Of the work which was going on when the
editor of The Herald visited the place, he no
tees seven gun beds 80 feet long employed
in turning and boring cannon: also sepa-
rate bed for turning and boring trunnions:-
In one of the turning shops was an immense
roll of Ames' paper works. at Springfield; up
on the face of this roll where the wet pulp of
the paper is thrown, it would not do to have
a hole Of the size ola pins head: there were
several carronades boring: and some 25 8
inch bomb cannons, in process of casting
and finishing. There is curious rotary
machine used for cleaning balls; the balls
are placed inside hollow circular box, and
are cleaned to perfection by dry attrition.
The forging shop is a grea! curiosity; I'M
der one roof there are twelve large furnaces
besides four in the pudding shop. There
are also eight enormous wooden cranes,
(wood being preferred to iron) for carrying
the shafting, pieces of machinery, &C. in
heated state from the forge to the hammer.
horse power. This hammer is the large trip
hammer, and weighs no less than six TONS
There are also two other hammers-one
weighing Is and the other 500 pounds. In
this shop there is a furnace building on an
entirely new principle, 10 work up large
shafting hollow space is left in the brick
work, around which the fire plays, and
which will take shaft of % inches in diam
eter. The bellows attached to this, like
those of the other furnaces, is driven by the
power of the engine. The workmen were
engaged in forging new shaft for the Char
ter Oak, weighing seven tons.
In other parts Of the establishment the men
were at work upon the pipes for the Croton
Works, which are 80 inches in diameter in
the clear, 8 feet long, and weigh two tons
each. Sugar mill frames, boilers for steam
engines, sugar boilers, shafts, cannons,
ises in hundreds upon hundreds. In the en-
CINE finishing house, there is a beautiful SUI
gar mill engine, on the low pressure princi-
pie, with portable condenser; it is admira-
bly finished, and ornamented with six Ionic
columns. A handsome high pressure engine
of 25 horse power with many valuable i'm
provements, and occupying but few feet
of space, stands by the side oft.
The iron ore in the first instance is obtain
ed from Woodbury. and Greenwood, one
about 6 and the other Is miles of, and sneit-
ed there. The magnetic iron ore is mostly
used, containing from as to 100 per cent OF
iron. The iron ore is all smelted by CHAR
coal, and iron is therefore produced superior
to the British and equal 70 the e,.'a
The marble for fuxing is obtained from Sing
Sing.
These iron furnaces are lined with Stour-
bridge clay fire brick, and have req sand
Stone hearth: the Amboy fire brick clay
having too great an admixture of sand
Each furnace will turn out five tons of pig
iron at two tappings every "a hours, and run
off about 1900 tons at blast of IA months
The furnaces are blown offat various periods
of from IA to Is months duration. The coal
used in the iron works is brought from Vir-
ginia, and is worked in two well constructed
coke ovens, superior TO the English coke
hearths, which turn out four chaldrons a day.
A SMALL FAMILY.-There were OUer four hundred
dodgers at the Astor House, N. Y, on Friday night