The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-01-23
Tie Pudding of fr0n.

This process Of pudding was invented
by Henry Cort, all Englishman, and
patented by him in 1888 aftd 1884 as n
new process for shingling, Welding.
and manufacturing iron and steel into
bars, plates, and rods of purer quality
and in larger quantities than hereto
fore, by more effectual application of
fire machinery" For this invention
Cort has been called " the father of the
iron trade Of the British nation. and it
is estimated that his invention has, dur
ing this century, giving employment to
5000, 600 of persons, and increased tie
wealth of Great Britain by 33, 0n0, ,00o,-
600. In his experiments for perfecting
his process, Mr.. Cort spent his fortune,
and though it proved so valuable, he
died poor, having been involved hy Che
Government in lawsuit concerning
his patent which beggered him. Six
years before his death, the Govern
ment, rs all acknowledgment of their
wrong, granted him yearly pension of
81 900, and at his death this miserly
recompense was reduced to his widow
to S625. When iron is simply melted
and run into any mold, its texture is
granular, and it is so brittle as to be
quite unreliable for any use requiring
much tensile strength. The process of
pudding consisted in stirring the moi
ten iron run out in a puddle, and had
the effect Of so changing its antonio
arrangement as to render the process
of rolling it more etiicacious. The pro-
cess of boiling is considered an improve
ment upon this. The boiling furnace is
an oven heated to an intense heat by a
fire urged with n blast. The cast-iron
sides are double, and a constant circula-
tion of water is kept passing through
| the chamber thus made, i'll order to pre-
serve the structure from fusion by the
heat. The inside is lined with fire.
brick covered with metallic ore and Stag
! over the bottom and sides, and then
the oven being charged with the pigs OF
iron, the heat is let on. The pigs melt
and the oven is filed with molten iron
/ The puddler constantly stirs this mass
with bar let through a hole in tn,
door, until the iron rolls up, or "fer
ments, as it is called. The fermenta
ton is caused by the combustion of
portion of the carbon in the iron, and a
soon as the excess Cf this is consumed
the cinders and Stag sink to the bottom
of the oven, leaving the scmi-fuid mas
on the top. Stirring this about, tn
puddler forms it into balls of such
size as he can conveniently handle
which are taken out and carried on ittl
cars, made to receive them, to I" tn
squeezer." To carry on this process
properly requires great skill and iudg
ment in the puddler. The heat neces
sarily generated by the operation is S
great that very few persons have TIL
physical endurance to stand it. S
great is Il TINT the clothes upon tn
person frequently catch fire: Such
strain upon the physical powers natul
ally leads those subjected to it t
indulge in excesses. The perspiratio
which flows from the puddlers i
streams while engaged in their work
caused by the natural effort of thei
bodies to preserve themselves from il
jury by keeping their normal temperg
ture, Such a consumption of the fluid
of the body causes great thirst, and tn
exhaustion of the labor, both bodily an
mental, leads often to the excessive lis
of stimulants. In fact, the work is to
laboriotls. its conditions are such tina
no one should be subjected to then
The necessity, however, for Ju'lgmen
experience, and skill on the part of til
operator has up to this time prevente
the introduction of machinery to tax
the place of human labor in this prc
cess. The successful substitution
modern times of machines for perform
+, ing various operations which formerl
: seemed to require the intelligence an
r dexterity of a living being for their e,
ecution, justifes the expectation thl
) the study now being given to the organ
i. ization of industry will lead to the il
=. vention of machines which will obviat
the necessity for human suffering in tn
process of pudding. Such a consun
nation would be an advantage to "A
classes concerned. The attempts whic
hate been made in this direction hay
!, not as vet proved entirely successful.