Litchfield enquirer., 1870-11-03
THE BRIDGEPORT SILVER STEEL
 MANUFACT0RY.

The silver Steel" manufactured in our city. is tie cause of so much talk, that I took the opportunity afforded by few mo- nlents Of leisure, and visited their works which are situated on what has been known as the aAfatthew's Point" in the extreme lower part of East Bridgeport. Contiguous to the property of the steel works and con. nected herewith is an abundance of dock room. found three large, one story buildings, separated one from the other by 30 foot streets. These houses are designa- ted as the Producing house" 65 it \ 55 it. where the gas, which is used for fuel entirely, is made; the "Casting house,, 45 it. 12l it. where the steel is cast into ingots; and the t'Mill." 85 it. 15O it. where the ingots are hammered and rolled into the desired shapes. The ore used by this company for the manufacture of their steel, is taken from very extensive mine in Roxbury, Ct. It is smelted in charcoal furnace at the mine, and brought to the factories by the Housatonic R. R. in the form of pig iron. This mine is owned by the company. The main shaft is 125 it. deep, and there are 3 drifts opening into the shafts from the side of the mountain. The furnace is capable of smeltlng about 12 tons per day. The ore is of very supe- rior quality, being of. a similar character to that used by Herr Krupp, the great iron and steel worker in Germany, and is known as " "spathic ore"; it is also Carbonate of Iron. There are but one or two other mines of this ore in the United States, and none whose quality compares with this
 One of the principal features connected with these factories, is, as said above, the exclusive use of gas for fuel in all depart ments. This gas is made on the premises. For the purpose, 'tSeiman's Regenerative Gas Furnaces" are used, and are acknowl- edged to be the best in use for the. manuss facture of iron and steel, and there are in these works a larger number of these fur naces than can be found in any other es- tablishment in the country. The gas pro- duced differs from that made by Gas Com panies for lighting purposes, in that the Gas Go. 8 only use that portion of the coal giving the best light, while this company uses all the combustible part of the coal, looking rather for heat than for light. In this way there is very little refuse coal left. .-....
 In the ''Mill" are three heating furnaces for steel, one heating furnace for iron, one welding furnace, one pudding furnace, three steam hammers, one set puddle rolls, one set merchant rolls, and two large steam engines of 150 horse power. This pig iron, as it comes from the mine, after being pud- dled by Gas heat in furnace is hammered and rolled into ''muck" bar. This bar is cut up into pieces, placed in a crucible, melted and carbonized, then is run into cast iron moulds forming Ingots. These Ingots are welded, hammered and rolled, and are then in q marketable shape, as Tool, Machinery, or Decarbonized Steel; the grades depending on the amount of carbon used in the process of melting. Tools have been made from the steel suf- ficietnly hard to cut glass, without impair ing or affecting their temper. This I be- heve is not true of any other steel yet man. ufactured.
 There are only fifty men employed in the work and that fact alone conveys to the reader the truth that this firm is yet but in it's infancy. It however is bound to en- large and increase. They have introduced into the factory every improvement known as conducive to the perfection of manufac- ture, and having, as they do. the entire control of every part of the manufacture from the ore to the finished steel--an advantage possessed by no other works in America-they are enabled to offer to the public an unsurpassed quality of steel that is certain to take.
 MT. w. F. Durfee is the originator and planner of the system and works, and it IS to his perseverance in introducing steel that we are indebted for it. He is person ally superintendent and sees that all goes on correctly. It is lately that this steel is used as carriage tires, and gives great satis- faction, being easier to work, and yet more lasting than that previously used.-Corres- lnA1lI IYAa A...-