Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-12-22
STOIEN Seer ETS

ceSSeS L or the most part q manufacturer |
tries to hold his monopoly now by the force of |
capital, which gives him mercantile advan-
tage over his neighbors; by carefully select |
ing skilled artisans and by makisg himself |
acquainted with the latest discoveries of sci
ence bearing upon his manufacture. There
very few secret manufactures now, in the
old, and would add, objectionable5eense of
the term sssecret." There is no longer des- |
ecration of the name of God by putting art-
sans on their oath not to reveal what they
know-a practice common enough even as late
as the end of the last and the beginning of the
present century.
The reader must not imagine that desire of
gain was the sole object, on all occasions, of
| carrying on a mandatory in secrecy. On
! the contrary, the royal manufactures of por-
| celain in Europe, were long carried on in a
| spirit of exclusiveness to which the annals Of
manufacturing industry amongst private indi-
| viduals can hardly furnish a counterpart. His
Majesty of Saxony was especially circumspect.
| \ ot content with imposing an oath of secrecy
| on all employed in his workshops, he would
| not even abate an iota of his kindly suspicion
! in favor of a brother monarch. Neither king
/ nor kings delegate might enter within the
| tabooed walls OF Meissen, the seat of the Sax
/ on pottery manufacture, and where the beau
| tiful specimens of true porcelain, known by
| the misnOmer of s'Dresden porcelan,'' were,
| and indeed still continue to be, manufactured.
! The history OF secret manufactures is very
unfayorable TO the hopes of those persons who
| trust, by hemmng in their process, and en-
/ vironing them with quickest fence of judi
| cial oaths, to retain the secret indefinitely.
| Somehow, mysteries of this kind have gener-
! ally oozed out, either by applying to them the
! test of science-whch is fair and proper
| enOugh-Or through the unguarded garrulity
| of wOTkmen, or still more frequently, by theft
the secret being stolen like any other valu-
| able commodity. 1t is concerning a few OF
! these stolen trade secrets that have a little
! to write just now.
Next Temple Bar there is a chemists shop
of very old standing A proprietor of it, in
! times gone by, enjoyed the monopoly of the
manufacture OF citric acid. More favorably
circumstanced than the generality of secret
manufacturers, his was a process which did
not require number of workmen; if | right
| y apprehend my information, he conducted
| the process himself. One day, having gone
! into the laboratory, and advanced the process
through the necessary stages, the sole posses
| sor of the secret came out, and, locking the
| door after him, doubtless thought the secret
was perfectly safe. How should it moi be safe
when the door locked, and the windows
carefully blinded Alas there Chin
ney, and of that chimney the manufacturer
took no heed: so chimney sweep-One wide
awake in chemical matters-slipped down the
| chimney, saw all he wanted to see, and then,
returning whence he came, departed, carrying
| with him the secret of making citric acid.
The manufacture of tin plate originated, so
| far as the English are concerned, in a stolen
| secret. Few readers need be informed, that
| tin pans. canisters and other wares, are only
| called tin-ware by courtesy. They really
| made of tin plate, that is thin sheets of iron
| covered with tin by dipping Now, in theory
! ii is a very.eaSy matter to clean the surface of
| piece of iron, then dip it into bath of
/ molten tin, and remove it, enveIoped with a
| covering of the latter metal; in practice, how
ever, there are so many difficulties to be en-
/ cOuntered, that we English did not manage to
| surmount them until a countryman of ours
went to Holland, insinuated himself surrepti-
! tiously into plate mandatory, made
| himself master of the secret, and came away
with it.
The history of cast steel presents with
| curious instance of a manufacturing secret sur
| repttiously obtaiEed-the more Objectionable
| in this case, that the secret-stealing thief op-
Grated under the cloak of an appeal to phllan-
| thropy.
Perhaps the very first chemical inveStiga-
| tion l remember to have been concerned in
was one day, when, little boy at school, |
tried, in company with other boys, whether
our knives were made of iron or steel. Our
plan OF procedure this-and it is less ex-
| ceptionable than many processes of schoolboy
analysis sometimes are. On each blade we
poured drop of spirit of salt, allowed it to
| remain there few seconds, and afterwards
washed 1t away. If the spot disclosed black
mark, giving the notion of charcoal, We con-
spot were bright and metallic looking, con-
cluded the blade to be of iron. Well, L say,
our chemistry was not bad after all, and
| that experiment will serve to impress on the
| memory of the reader something that L wish
| TO be impressed there respecting STEEL The
main distinction between iron and steel is.
| that one holds carbon, or the matter of char
| coal, whereas the other does not The amount
| of carbon is very trivial, and is impaired by
heating iron bars, for long periods together,
surrounded by powdered, broken charcoal in
a box. Having regard, then, to this operation
! it seems natural enough that the outer portion
! of each bar should become more sssteelified,''
(if may be permitted to coin an expressive
| word,) than the internal portions. Now. steel
of this sort, though used for many purposes,
is Objectionable for others. To give an exam
pie: it is by no means good for the manufac-
| ture of watch-springs; nevertheless, before
the invention of cast steel, to which the read
er's attention is presently to be directed,
| watcl-SpringS had to be made of it.
There lived at Atterclitfe, near Sheffield a
| bout the year 1850, matchmaker named
Huntsman. He was very much dissatisfied
with the quality of steel of which watch
springs were made in his day, and he set-him-
| self to the task of thinking out the cause of
its inferiority, Mr.. Huntsnlan correctly infer
red that the imperfection of such watch
springs as came in his way was refera0ie to
the fact of the irregular conversion or s'steei-
ifcation'' of the metal of their manufacture
| ssIf'' thought he, ssI can melt piece of steel,
and cast it into ingot, the composition OF
| the latter should be regular and homogeneous"
He tried, and he succeeded. The fame of
| Huntsman's steel became widely spread; but
the discoverer took care not to designate it
by the name cast steel, under which it is now
familiariy known that was his secret.