Morning herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1837-1840, 1840-08-27
No. 302

he naked eye. A small hard chissel is used with
Ia very hard edge, and the operator sets at bench
bedy. He gives his chissei tap for every notch
he makes, with a hammer, and as quickly removes
1t to fresh place, and so goes ON till the file is
cosple,ey cut. In this way You may from
forty TO fifty hands all employed at tn. same time in
single room. all auentively tapping away together
making steel files to go to all parts OF the world
This house also employs about three hundred hands
The brothers Messrs. Vickers are very active and
intelligent young gentlemen, connected with the
house. They reside at a beautiful family mansion,
on high hill, about mile out Of town, which com
mands an extensive view Of the rich farming hills
and vales, in the neighbourkood, am ong which, the
town of Sheffield is situated, comprising the land
cd estate of the Duke of Norfolk very rich noble
man. | rode out to this Gne family residence one
morning to breakfast with them Z" en- fdmiie," att
A. NJ The morning was fresh and pleasant, and
vegetation green, fresh and beautiful. Mr.. VIM.
man, and has already done much to distinguish him
self as inventive machinist.
In the course of the day, I went through the cut
lery establishment Of Joseph Rogers & Son. so long
Their warehouse or show room, is really inter-
esting exhibition. II contains great variety of
curious and splendid specimens Of cutlery and
and silver plated ware. Here you see knife with
2W blades-a duplicate of one Of the same kind pre-
sented to the King. Another is seen with 1888
blades corresponding in number with the christian
era. Here is seen carving knife about three feet
long, and three four inches broad, and fork to
match, and looked like they might have served
" Cog and Magog whose images are seen at Guild
hall London. Here you see four pair Of perfectly
formed steel scissors, whose united weight only
equals half grain! Here too, you eIe plants
tooth which weighs 190bs. And piece Of ano-
Il er tooth is shown which is pierced into its hol-
low near its root by iron spear, which is entirely
surrounded by new bone within the hoow-na-
ture having surrounded il with Justification TO pre-
vent injury. 1t was doubtless shot into the tooth
by some African pursuer. They say in cutting up
elephants teeth, they frequently find bullets mbed
ded in their tusks. Every part Of penknife or
razor is made by hand and from the bar steel, the
metal passes through at least twenty to twenty-five
hands before it gets to be penknife The blades
ground on both dry and wet grindstones on
the former large quantity Of sparks are given of,
mixed with PARTICLES Of steel, which, mixing with the
air inhaled by the workmen, formerly injured
their lungs so much, that none, or few of them,
lived to be over forty years OF age. This inconve-
nience is now entirely remedied, by having box
constructed into which the sparks and steel parti
clss are drawn by wind fan, and blown entirely
out Of the room The grndstones, tilt hammers,
&c, are moved by very beautiful steam engine,
which, like others for the first time saw in in
Sheffield; their furnaces are fed by coal by machi-
merry The coal is ground iato small pieces and put
into an iron hopper at the front Of the boilers, The
bottom of the hopper communicating with the fur
naccs beneath As the csals fall from the hoppers,
there are fans inside which blow them back with
the blame and thus keep up hot FIRE from one end
of the boiler to the other There is a valve at he
bottom Of each hopper, which Is opened or shut by
a creased wheel, which machinery is put in motion
by the governor of the engine. When the steam
gets high and the motion gains ed the valves
partly closed and the feed OF coal lessened. And
when the speed and steam are reduced, the valves
open and give more Goals, which aga n raises steam;
aud thus both the feed of Goals az the supply q
the engine, are regulated.
also went through the silver plate works Of the
Messrs Rogers Il Sou--which found curious and
interesting. In making plated ware, copper is cast
INTO small heavy compact square Pigs, with one s,ds
plated with silver. These square pieces are rolled
into thin shects, and however thin they made,
side remains covered with silver and the other
with copper. Pieces Of this sheet are cut out and
stamped in iron dies, made for the purposc, which
gives thctsilvcrcd side all the forms, figures, and
namcnt, required When thus stamped, two pieces
either put together with thin copper sides facing
each other, the copper side is faced with cast
ing Of pure silver, and then finished up, 20 repre-
sent solid silver. Thus are formed fruit trays and
handles, snufer stands, castor stands, and candle
sticks, &c. But many of these articles are from
pure silver castings, which fitted together, and
the hollow cavities such as candlestic ks filled with
some popderous metal, To give them weight. In
large hollow pieces that are cast they are first fill
ed with pine resin, and then all he forms desired
to be represented, such as leaves &c are inecnted
with light small hammers; and if parts are rcqsircd
to be raised the resin is melted and the hount end
Of an elastic iron rod is introduced, the middle Of
which is fixed in vice, and ths parts wanted raised,
hammered over the end of this rod, till the parts
sufficiently raised. In this business, cutting the
dies In solid rop il the most tedious and expensive
part Of the business. IL takes man from one 10
two months. 10 cut one ofthese dies, particularly IL
the pattern IL rich one. AZ the fashions change in
plate as IN every thing else they have 10 keep men
all the time making new dies. I in
several hundred Of these dies. They are generally
placed, when used under heavy falling piece of
iron, and the piece plated metal placed the die
when the workmen lets fall the weight, which
brushes the metal in the die, in such saanner
to give it the form of the die and this is con
tnued several times till the process is completed
The Mcssrs. Rogers employ about 100 haf ds-and
what surpIis much in Sheffield, IL that they
do much by hand alone without the aid of mach j.
merry This Is owing to the great chespness OF labor,
and causes the work, especially In fine articles Of
plate and cutlery, the more perfectly done. And
hence, in our country. where labor is high these
things cannot now, If ever come in competition with
them. Nearly one-half OF every thing made in Shelf
way, Is sold to America. The remainder Of their
export trade is principally to the Continent The
y ench never have, and doubt If they ever can,
equal the Englsh in the manufacture Of hardware.
They also make every variety Of saws IN Sheffield
The three principal houses are, Spear a. Jackson.
Groves A Son, and Miiington q Co. They make
beautiful articles in their line. could name num-
way, but viii not trespass upon your time. Blythe
bye, did you ever hear OF Joseph t'iIlet steel pen
anufacturer, Of Birmingham Some years back he
was poor snnft, nosed boy IN Sheffield An old
gentleman in Sheffield told me he gave him many
penny for doing small jobs. This same Joseph Gil
let went t. Birmngh CHAM and set up steel pen manu-
featuring and has made fortune Of over ElC0 600
sterling
Tits little curious that no country in or out Of
Europe affords suitable iron for making steel bot
Sweden, aud only y small portion cf that country
II is confined 10 a district bordering on a river a
little hundred miles 20 the northeast from
Stockholm, called I" Candamora.- or some such
name. The PRINCIPAL trade is IN the hands OF an
immensely wealthy family in Sweden called the