The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-03-05
The st. Louis Wire Mill.

The st. Louis Wire Mill.
Among the pioneer enterprises for the
development Of our manufa curing re-
sources, we notice the st. Louis Wire
mills, at the foot Of Chouteau avenue. in
this city. The mills are owned by Messrs.
f. M. Ludlow and Jewett Wilcox, old
and esteemed residents of st. Louis, and
have already won position in the wire
trade which with the promised improve.
ments bid fair to soon become the nucleus
Of the wire trade of the whole West, The
present high prices imposed by the neces-
sity of brining the commodity from the
East will soon be obviated by the con.
struction of appliance, for the use of
NATIVE IRON.
and those States which now look the
monopoles of the East will be relieved
by the sale Of as good wire at far less
price as has ever been provided for
them.
A TINES reporter recently visited the
works of the mill and obtained descrip-
ton Of the interesting method Of its manu-
facture.
The iron now used is imported from
England, and is brought to the mill in
coils of heavy rods. These are first heat
ed and pointed at one end, after which
they are subjected to bath of vitriol,
for the purpose Of removing the scales
and cleansing them. After another in
lime water, they are ready for working
and are passed over to the platemen.
These coils are of No. a size, and are re.
duced to the requisite sizes by them
through
IMPORTED PLATES,
made Of the best tempered steel. The
plates are about six inches square, and
are perforated with tunnel-shapcd holes.
The sharp end Of the coil is passed
through one Of these holes, and attached
to frame set upon cogged shaft The
frame is then set in motion, and the wire
drawn through the hole. This process
reduces it one size.
The coil thus reduced is then put in an
"annealer'' a cast-iron cylinder, eight
feet deep and thirty-iour inches in
diameter, surrounded by an outer casing
OF brick work. The annealers, Of which
there are four, have a capacity of two
and one-half tons each. When filled
they are fitted with caps, and the brick
work is enclosed with large cap, from
which pipe carries off the smoke from
the furnace below. Rising from the out.
er cap is q smaller pipe fed by the gas
generated in the annealer. This pipe is
lighted, and by the burning of the gas is
regulated the time for
ANNEALING THE WIRE.
The cylinders are expensive, costing
$500 each, and are renewed every nine
or twelve months. The coils are left in
the annealer twenty-four hours, and then
are ready to be run through another
plate, and the wire is again reduced in
size. Each coil is passed through the
process Of annealing after each reduction.
1t is then put up in sixty-three pound
bundles, and is ready for the market.
There are nine plates in this establish
ment making wire from sizes No. 4 to 81
inclusive. An experiment has been
made lately by Messrs. Ludlow 4 Will
cox with the lowest grade Of
MISSOURI IRON,
and it has been discovered that our iron
with an admixture of other native ores
will produce as good quality Of wire as
the iron now imported from Engl up.
on which the freight alone is nearly twen-
ty dollars per ton delivered in ST. Louis,
and it is the declared intention Of Messrs
Ludlow d Wilcox to erect rolling mill
adjoining their wire WORKS, to be COM
pleted during the present season, for the
manufacture of wire rods from native
ores. This will enable them to control
the trade of the entire West, Northwest
and South. Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota
are untiring in their demands for this ar
ticle for fencing purposes, of which the
mill now makes speciality, and the re
duction Of the present high rates will
prove of incalculable benefit 10 those
States,
THE WORKS
are at present turning out six tons daily
of fencing, trellis, market, coppered and
annealed wires, at an expense of $1,000
per day, and with their proposed enlarge
ment Of the mill, will soon be enabled to
turn out eighteen hundred tons per year
and to fill all orders sent them without
crowding their capacity, as they are at
present compelled to, and will be enabled
to furnish all kinds of smaller wires made
by the Eastern manufactures, in as large
quantities as any other mandatory in
the country.
THE OPERATORS,
numbering twenty-five, under the able
SUPERINTENDENT OF Mr.. j. Ii. Halliwell,
are very intelligent men, selected for
their care and foresight in their business,
and who have learned their business in
the principal wire mills in England and
this country.
Messrs. Ludlow and Wilcox are men
of enterprise and energy, and have the
well wishes not only OF their fellow towns
men but OF the wire inter ests of the West,
whose necessities-the new undertaking is
destined TO fully supply st. Louis
Times.
Statistics of the Chicago Fire.