Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-11-16
Falcon Iron Works.

William Ward and Thomas Russell, for the
manufacture Of Bar Iron and Nails. The
firm was then called James Ward ( Co., all
three of the partners being practical artisans
from Pittsburgh.
The original size Of the Mill was As by 90
feet, operated by one engine offs horse pow
er, ls15 inch cylinder, and Eve foot stroke
two boilers each % feet long, by 80 inches
in diameter, One furnace for boiling iron
| part of the time, and the balance for heat
ing. One pair merchant rolls, IS inch train
and one hammer for forging blooms; also one
machine for cutting nails. The amount Of
iron finished was tons q week, and 80 kegs
of nails, the iron being sold at 5 cents lb.
and the nails at 81. In 1s43 the same com
pany built an addition to the mill of 30 by
80 feet, and added two new boiling furnaces
and three more nail machines. Then the
weekly average Of manufactured iron, was
tons, and so kegs Of nails. In 1874 another
addition of the same dimensions was built,
and another small train of 8 inch rolls re-
ceived, for rolling small sized iron. From
| this period till 1883 the establishment gradu-
ally increased the amount manufactured
In that year there was a change of partners,
names Ward & Co. selling fourth interest in
the mill to Messrs. Refs & Berger of Pitts
burgh. Again an increase in the size of the
mill was affected, making total of eleven
boiling and six heating furnaces, with
corresponding increase of machinery, and
another engine of one hundred horse power,
and having i've 20 foot boilers, each 80 inch
es in diameter; also % inch cylinder with
FIVE foot stroke.
This engine drove the squeezers, muck
rolls, sheet rolls, nail and plateI rolls, sheers
and other machinery, manufacturing from
| so to 90 tons Of various sizes of merchant
iron, and between 700 and 800 kegs of spikes
and nails per week.
This firm has reasons for believing that
they were the pioneer parties in the western
country, who succeeded in making mer-
chantable iron out of stone coal pig, the most
important iron production of the MahOning
valley. This company have used a great
deal Of this kind of iron during the last IF
teen years, and considerable of the Lake su-
periOr and Lake Champlain ores. The re-
putation Of their iron and nails is now equal to
any in thewest. They make large amount
Of iron for car and locomotive building, and
their work is fast superceeding the celebrated
LOw-MOor iron of England. They were the
first to discover what is called the black
band iron ore, found in the Mahoning val
ley in large quantities, below coal beds. It
is the same ore as that from which the noted
Scotch pig iron of Scotland is made. At the
present time this company use about ten
thousand tons of it per annum.
Their blast furnace has been completed
and in successful operation thirteen months,
producing $50 tons of iron per week It is
situated short distance from the Mill, on
the north side of Musquito Creek. It is ex-
tensive in all its appointments, and worked
by powerful engine.
The village of Niles is owned principally
by this company and few oftheir worlmen.
Twenty-Five acres of the land is set apart
for the use OF the mill and furnace This
town is about 60 miles southeast of Cleve-
land on the south side of the c. &M. R.R., in
the midst of a fertile agricultural country.
Soon after the erection of the original mill
the Messrs. Wards formed business relations
with our fellow townsmen George Worthing-
ton & Co., by which arrangement that firm
had the sale of the product of the mill in
this market, and which has been continued
up to the present time, the growing business
Of the Cleveland firm keeping pace with the
increased facilities of the mill. The house
of W. Bingham & Co., and WOrthington &
Co., still dispose Of what iron and nails this
mill offer to the Lake region, the quality Civ
ing their customers universal satisfaction.
The coal used at this extensive establish
ment is supplied exclusively by the firm of
Morris & Price, of Cleveland, and is mined
from their mines at Girard and Mineral
Ridge, Trumbull County.
The latter coal is well adapted for the
manufacture of Iron, and Is extensively used
in the States and Canada for this purpose
Messrs. Morris & Price furnish the Wyandotte
Rolling Mill Co., in Michigan, and the Chi
cagO Rolling Mill in Illinois, with; this coal.
It is highly spoken of by James Ward &
Co., as being very SUPERIOR article for the
manufacture of iron. This0coal comesgto the
works on the C. & N. R. R. cars and about
one hundred tons of it are consumed at the
Falcon Iron Works daily. Three hundred
hands are employed in these works, which,
with their families, make total of eight
hundred and seventy-nine persons dependent
on the Mesers. W. & Co. for support.
A word or two in reference to the process
of making iron, nails, &c, may not come
amiss. Pig iron comes from the blast fur
mace in a crude state, together. with more or
less cinders, sand, and other impurities.-
Pudding separates it from these extraneous
substances, and helps to mix the metal ma
terials and give the iron the necessary tough
ness for Nails, Bar or Sheet Iron. From the
pudding furnaces, it is transferred in balls
of eighty or a hundred pOunds each to the
squeezers. This operation drives out einders
in flight of sparks, somewhat similar in its
effects to the operation of a blacksmith's
hammer, extracting impurities and render
ing the iron ready for manufacturing.
It's decided improvement on the eld-
fashioned plan Of hammering iron into
blooms. After this process it is passed to the
various sized train rolls or grooyed cylinders,
and through the largest first, then run
through a lesser size, and SO continued till
it is Of the required shape, of long bar or
sheet, which is called PuddIed iron. It is
then taken to the cooling sheds. If it is to
be converted into nails, it is reheated to a
white heat, and then run through the nail
plate train, which rolls it down to the prop
er thickness. tits then cooled and cut into
plates a foot long, and of the required width