The daily union., 1846-08-28
WAsHINoroN, August 81, 1876,
IRON WORKS IN OHIO

Messrs. Wilkinson, Wilkes, e. Co., it is said,
have erected the first American furnace in which
pig iron has been made with ra,o bituminous coal |!
The iron made by this process is fully equal to the
best Scotch pig, being made from good ore and
better quality Of coal, and smeted in precisely the
same manner. These works will afford employ
ment to two hundred men.
Many are the purposes and uses not yet dream
Of that iron may be applied to. The Bostonians
It is SAID, are now pulling down large threestory
houses and erecting granite buildings IN their stead
Why not build iron houses entire. The iron would
be cheaper than granite, and made quite orna-
mental by paint. Then you have building fire.
proof-proof against lightning, rats, and vermin Of
all kinds, and fully durable granite itself
Wagons, carriages gun-carriages, poughs and most
farming utensils, would be better if made of good
iron, and economical in the long run. From the
abundance of iron and coal of every kind in this
country, and the new method of smelling iron with
raw coal, there IS no country on this globe, in few
years, which can compete with the iron manuac-
lures In this country, and instead has been done,
of importing railroad iron from England and Wales,
may supply England with railroad iron, and
make profit by 30 doing.
The following article from the Philadelphia Led
ger shows that If our countrymen not yet build
ing whole house out of iron they are preparing to
make the roofs out of il. Some time since it would
have been deemed proof Of the grossest folly to
build vessels out Of iron, being the last material
IN the world to font upon the water and yet iron
steamers are now being almost as common as wood
en- ones:
"CAsT IRON RooFMs.-A specimen of cast iron
plates for the roofing of buildings yesterday ex-
hibited at the Exchange, by the inventor and pat
entee, Mr. William Beach. The plates are about a
foot square, and made to fit into one another
as to render the roof perfectly water-tight with the
application Of white lead to the joints. In every re-
spect this material for roofing is preferable to any
| other description now in USE As to its durability
| thnsa h.. tLo,.
whole for ages, if covered occasionally with Goa,
of paint and even without that preservative, rust
would not affect it materially for a period of fifty
years at7east. AS compared with "copper" the cost
would be nearly one-haf it is expected the iron
can be furnished at l6 cents per square f,ot, while
copper would, at the most moderate estimate, cost
% cents. As regards the weight of an iron roof
which at first sight would appear objection, it is
far less than formed Of slate and does not much
| exceed one of copper. The iron plates weigh 3j
pounds per square foot slate roof would cost
about cents per square FOOT but for durability and
the with which il can be put on and made water
tight, the iron roofing would appear to be far prefer
able. The plates exhibited we're cast at Troy, New
York, and are of the very hest quality The paten,
for the eastern States is now owned by Mr.. Hiram
Hemmistope, Of Troy, in which neighborhood the
adaptation of such durable material for roofing is
rapidly attracting public attention there. Starbuck's
machlne-shop and foundry at Troy has been covered
or this plan, and it has also been adopted for the
roofing of an arsenal at West Point The patent for
the middle and western States has been reserved by
Mr. Beach, and he is about entering extensively into
the business at his foundry at Bush Hill. The Iii
rectors of the Academy of Fine Arts have the right
Of using this material for roofing the hre-proot
building now erecting for the reception Of their valu-
able collection. The rafters and supports for the
roof are Of iron, and it proposed to use tin as
The exterior covering; but the advantages to be de-
rived by substituting cast iron are so evident that il
is TO be hoped they will at seize the opportuni-
ty Of roofing II with material that will be as dura-
bic as the building itself"
II is to be hoped that all our friends in Pennsyl-
vsnia will soon entirely recover from the panic which
the wings attempted to raise, and will learn to profit
by the ample duties with freight, commissions,
&C., superadded) which are laid upon foreign iron,
These together amount to more than 40 per cent
substantial protection in favor OF our native iron
Add TO this the advantages which we enjoy in the
abundance and consequent cheapness Of our iron
and coal mines, and in the inventive genius of our
people, which finds out the best and cheapest mode
OF doing everything in the manufacturing line, (wit
ness already the pig-iron which is being made with
rd'o bltumnous coal,) and what ground is there "a
| apprehend any serious competition with foreign
irom Thanks be, however, to the buoyant temper
and the good sense Of our peoplel They ere al
ready recovering from the spell Of the delusont
which the whig politicians and the greedy protec.
tonlsts have bees attempting TO throw over them
In Pennsylvana--good,o old, honest, sensible Penn
sylvania--the sagacious Germans, the enlightened
solid farmers, asceraining the facts and arriving
at just conclusions and they will find that the pres