Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1848-01-19

|
that gas company, which, to our knowledge. maid
several hundred pounds To obtain sewerage for the
arucle, would now reckon it waste TO let n sinoIe
ga'ioh pass that way. And SO will 4 shortly mo
win the sewer-water of our large cities. to which
our ancestors never directed thought, but which
is AZ present engaging the attention of the scientific.
that 1t may be converted into Il source of we,lth
instead or being, as ii has hitherto been source If
nuisance and disease VI
go Nor do we need to look to agriculture alone for
illustrations OF our maxim: mining and me,allurgv
are equally rich In examples. Cobalt which WELLS
the valuable blue pigment of that name. was far n
yes accounted very troublesome article TO the mi
Iof copper pyrites, the common available ore in
England, was, until recently thrown aside 40
rubbish by the miners of South America Mr D, 30
WIN, speaking of the Chilan method of mimi
/ observes mat ''the two principal Improvements Ig
'roouced by foreigners had been yiysf REDUCING, mo
previous roasting, the copper pyrites, which, beipg
''e common ore In Cornwall, the English miners
were astonnded on their arrival to find thrown A.
way as useless; secondly, stamping and washing
Tie scorla from the old furnaces, by which nroceSs
PARTICLES of metal are recovered in abundapce
nave actually seen mules carrying to the co,st for
transportation to England, cargo of such cinders
put the flrst case is much the most curious The
Chillah miners Were SO convinced that copper-pv-
1l'es contained not particle Of copper, that they
iaugned at the Englishmcn for their Ignorance
|
for few dollars. ''''
1t is very odd that, in a country where mn;no
had been extensively carried ON for many ve,re 60
simple process as gently roasting the ore. TO ex
pei the sulphur previous TO smeltinp it, had never
been discovered. At the beginning of the present
century, the blackboard ironstone-which has adj
ueu an unknown value to the west of Scotland, and
'iaeii'iy niiiuehced the iron trade Of the world
was treated as SO much rubbish no iron founder
would have taken gift oft .E'or several wears
alter It's discovery" says Mr.. Mushet, TO whom
the crcdlt oil Irst employing the black band is due
tins lTonstone was confined to the Calder iron
works, erected by me in 1902, where il was en-
pioyed i'll mixture with other ironstones of the ar
e"'aceous class. IL was afterwards used in mix
lure At the Clyde iron works, and | believe. no
where else. There existed on the mart op Tho iron
trade strong feeling Of prejudice against it. A.
! oout the year 1879, the Monkand COMPANY were
the hrst To use 1t alone, and without any other mix
lure IMAM the necessary quantity of limestone for
nuN' he success OF this company soon gave rise
10 me Gartsherrie and Dundyvan furnaces. in the
midst OF which progress came the use of raw nj,
COAL ana olast-thc latter OF the greatest dis
coveries In metaurgy of the present are and above
every other process, admirably adapted for seltinr
tiie Dlack-D band lronSlone The greatest produce in
iron furnace, with the blacs-band and cold HAS,
never exceeded sixty tons a week the produce per
| furnaces WIN ho-olast now averages ninety tons.
ii'Vau VI twenty, twenty-five OF thirty hundred
weight OF limestone, formerly used to make q ton
| OF iron, the blackstone now renuires oplv civ 49,
ven, or eight hundred weight for the Production of
ION. his arises from the extreme richness of
me ore when roasted, and from the small ouanttv
OF earthly matter 1t contains, which renders the o.
Peration OF smelling the black band with hot blast
liioie me me melting OF iron than the smelling of
an ore. When properly roasted, its richness ran
se> ioi sixty To seventy per cent, so that little
! more tan 4 ton and 4 half is required 10 make =
ION ot IRON" Here was an Ell dorado for our conn
Try; ana yet, when the present century commenced
no man regarded it, nay, it is only about twenty
years since any company was found bold enough TO
use 1t without admiXture with other ores The
same remarks apply with equal force to anthr,cIe
OF non -oituminous coal, which, ten or twelve wears
! ago. was known only by the depreciatory names of
stone coal, !" and blind coal" In our own conn
ny thlS anthracite occupies about che third of the
mineral basin of South Wales; it is found also in
rance, Austria, Bohemia, and Sardinia and it
constitutes the great bulk Of the North American
AoiuS' whose dimensions are computed at eigh-
| " Thousand square mlles-about sixteen times az
much as the coal measures of all Eurone At,ho
! .ine we mention, any OF those countries would
nave giadly exchanged its supply of anthracite for
uSle scam IN Inc Newcastle coal field but now
by tho application of the hot-blast in iron sneliner
ana founding, the ''stone coal of our Rorefabers Is
e'P'oyeu Win as great facility and success as the
at PottsviIie, Pennsylvania, by W. Lyman. ESD.
on the occasion OF his having successfully introduce
ca the smelling OF iron with anthracite Mr. Nicho-
las biddle, who attended to witness the result OF
inc experiments, alter expressing his entire salts.
factlon In their success thus observes -s And this
ai.er all Is The great mystery, the substitution OF
what Is called the hot-bast for the cold blast Lot
us see the changes which this simple discovery Is
destined to make As long as the iron ores and
the coal OF the anthracite region were incapable o.
fusion, the ores were entirely useless and the Goa
nearly unavailable for manufactures while. as tbf
disappearance OF the timber made charcoal very ex
Pensive, the iron of eastern Pennsylvania was com
Paratlvely small In quantity and high in price, and
Inc detective communications with the interio
made It's transportation very costly The resul
was, that, with all the materials OF SUPPLYING iro,
III our own hands, the country has been OBLIGED e
pay enormous sums to Europeans for this necessa
ry. In two years lS36-7-ihe ifnp,rtation
OF iron and steel amounted to upwards Of twenty
iour millions of dollars. 1t is especially morryn.
10 see that, In Pennsylvania there has been intro
duced within the last seven wears. exclusive q
hardware and cutlery, nearly EIGHTY Thousand ton
Of IRON, and that of these there were about forty
nlne thousand tons OF railroad IRON COSTING proba
Dy, three millions and half of dollars Nav
TINS very day, in visiting your mines we saw, a!
the farhest depths of these su5erranean PASSAGES
that the very coal and iron were brought 10 th
houVI VI tne mines on Tail-tTackS OF British rOu
manufactured In Britain, and sent TO us from dis
lance of three thousand miles" Such was tn
. state of matters in 1910; now, there arc about on
hundred anthracite furnaces in America iron lead
/ and copper arc now produced in abundance and OK
II ports, instead of imports. may shortly be expected
J w hat wonderful results have thus been famed int
J. existence by a current Of heated air! Even us
II has been found Tor the iron dross CT sagg Of ii,
IS furnace, which is generally thrown aside as cum
c bersorne refuse. This refuse, while in fluid state
u is run into iron forms. which are provnnsv hroroh