Wilmington daily commercial., 1872-12-11
PIC IRON.
Ia Wilmington a Good Place for It's
Manufacture
View. OF Geo. IL. seller. Upon the subIo,

At meeting Of the Board of Trade, held last
evening, George H. Sellers, Esq. delivered his
views upon the advantages of Wilmington as a
centre for the manufacture of Pig Iron. There
was a large attendance OF members OF the Board
Vice President Lea occupied the chair. Mr..
Sellers being introduced, said
Being neither speaker nor writer, regret you
| did not call upon some one who could have
done justice to the subject of iron manufacture,
| in the establishment of which am an interested
worker.
In answer, it will be necessary to revert to the
| commencement of manufacturing this metal in
| Eastern Pennsylvania, the present blast furnace
centre, and view the progressive steps 10 the
present time.
Before the age OF steam power, when water
| was the only available motive force furnishing
the required blast to smelt with, the forge or
| furnace was located by some stream, and con-
tiguous to favorable ore deposit OF either mag
netite or hematite ores, while the surrounding
| hills, covered with the primative forests, fur
/ nished the fuel
Many OF these charcoal furnaces were brought
| into existence during revolutionary times to
| supply war demands. Their consumption OF
stock was very small, az they used only the best
selected lump ores of the mine. As the hills
| were shorn OF their crop of timber, these char
coal furnaces had, with the introduction OF
| steam power and anthracite fuel, to be changed
| or abandoned With the change, the WAGNER
| and his team were no longer hDlt 10 luTulbu lHo
| needed supply of ore or fuel, but had to sue
| cumb to the canal and railroad which stretched
| out their network OF easy communication to
the more distant ore deposits, which became
| tributary to the furnace
| Az the change from charcoal to anthracite was
effected, the iron master labored through sea-
son OF great trials and dsappointments with
the increase Of power and more abundant fuel,
the yield, though enlarged, deteriorated in quail
ity. This, with the increased amount OF ore
which was rejected at the mines as beng too
fine or too intimately mixed with clay and earth
to be used in the furnace, demanded remedy
or the abandonm, mt of the anthracite furnace.
| II was at this time, some inventive genius IN
troduced the washing machine, which utilized
the whole yield of the hematite mines, and has
| in many instances for a long time maintained
the profitable situation of furnaces by rework-
ing the old banks and large deposits OF fine ores
which had to be rejected at the earlier mining.
marked improvement in the quality OF the
Weld was attained in the use of clean stock and
with this Improvement, two others OF equal i'm
portance were introduced-the utilization of the
I waste gases at the tunnel-head (or top Of the
furnace) for generating steam and heating the
blast by hot blast stoves With these changes,
the size and height OF the furnaces we're increas-
| ed and the refractory ores, which had to be dis
carded in earlier times. were m tde to yield theil
| quota of iron to the Unsuitable NAV OF the never
| ceasing blast furnace With these enlargements
greater supplies werJ demanded, and the orgl
| nal ore bed, which dad determined the loc tior
! | of some of the largest furnaces. was exhausted
| and the advantages of their location were the
n artificial ones which they had developed around
them.
Experience soon taught them the Importance
| OF mixture of stock, which caused the manufac
turers to draw their supplies from distant mines
Q AS the expenses att lending this were a drec
: charge on the tons carried, they sought thos
ores containing the greater amont OF iron, an
u from supplying tue furnace with hsinatites an
!, | red short magnetic ores most abundant arount
them, the quality al d yield were much improve
by using the GOLD ehort and neural magneti
= ores from the distant New Jersey and LAX
rs Champlain districts.
The changes in the manufacturing of pig iro
J. have all occurred since the introduction Of ar
sd thracte fuel for smelling purposes about
years ago-a space of time scarcely suticen
w | to open up the iron business and teach the OF
IN servant operator the requirements and best Ii
cations for carrying on the same Evidently
is business of handling large Quantities, as th
u stock charged into the best East Pennsylvani
~ furnaces, producing from $50 to 26O tons pc
week, averages Ores, IL. three-fourths to tw
ID, tons Coal, II. three -fourths to two tons Linn
Ty stone three-fourths to one and half tons, b.
ing about five tons of material to one OF yiel'
nd This is dependent on the quality OF ores used.
es These should be selected by aid Of ohemic
re and practical knowledge, often from widely di
ferent locations, as those large deposits IN son
-. few favored places, rarely contain all the esse
@ Aoe tials for producing the highest grades OF ro
n, With the aid of chemistry the Iron Master ca
NV now with certainty arrive at results IN protltab
mixing ores to assist the smelling which WI
zee formerly attained by the expensive process
ow actual experiment. The Importance of a wit
les field to select his stock from is apparent al
cannot be over-estimated. The furnaces wor
r is ing on forge irons generally have their vie
ib- worked up in the mills connected with them, tn
tho in turn rewOrking the cinder and scale of d
mills. Those making foundry rons,we are INC
nal | interested in, the cost of making the be
os, a grades with well-seleoted stock is but tri
~ over that of the lower grades, the market val
0 being some dollars greater per ton, besides col
manding reader sale in the great manrfacturil
teu centres.
IN With this hasty survey Of the improvemeI
Y y, in the mode of manufacturing, and requiremeI
of supplies, &C., we will look at our situation
Nil comparison with the inland furnaces which
ad- nearer fuel and certain kinds of ores. Situat
Ills upon tide water, with three competing railroa
here, we can command our fuel by water or ri
,tor from either of the great anthracite regio
IN (which in this age of strikes is of especial i
ar portance the operators of both districts rar
III 20 out together) at prices 30 little in advance
that paid by furnaces upon the main coal a
nues, that the difference is fully saved by hav
u the market at our door.
,lne The Wilmington Il Reading Railroad in
met dtion to its penetrating the coal regions,
competition with the older coal routes, OPP
tain the mineral wealth of st. Mary's and the We
uiry mountains, abundant in rich magnetic red sh
lere ores, while the Wilmington d Western Railro
the with its connections, bears to us unlimited
1up- posts of cold short hematites and if extend
ght, as proposed will form the outlet by the short
ced. route from Southern Pennsylvania for the