Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1877-08-18
Stolen Secrets.

"A manufacturer i'm these. our DAYS.
holds his own against competition by
force of capital, knC wladge of science.
and skill OF woikmen. He has no secret
beyond that of producing the best article
ut the lowest price. One hundred years
ago the case WAS different. What man
discovered In the arts he concealed.
WOrkmen We're put upon their oath. i'll
the name of God, never 10 reveal the pro-
cesses used by their employers. Doors
were Kept closed, artisans going out were
searched, visitors were vigorously eX
cluded from admission, and false opera
tons blinded the workmen themselves
The mysteries OF every craft were hedged
in by quickest fences of empirical pre-
tentiOn and judicial affirmation.
The royal manufactures of porcelain.
for example, were long carried on i'm
Europe with a spirit OF jealous exc,u-
siveness. His Majesty of Saxony was es-
pecially circumspect. Not content with
the oath of secrecy imposed upon his
work people. he would not abate his
kingly suspicion in favor of a Brother
monarch. Neither king nor kings dele
gate might enter within the tabooed
walls of Messein. What is enormously
called the Dresden" pOrcelain-that eX-
qusite pottery of which the world has
never seen the like-was produced Tor
200 Years by process so secret that
neither the bribery of princes nor the
garrulity of operatives ever revealed it.
There used to be, close by Temple Bar,
in London, an old chemists shop. The
proprietor oil it, in days gone by, enjoy
ed the monopoly of making citIic acid.
More favorably circumstanced than other
secret manufacturers, his way was pro-
cess that required no assistance. He en-
plOyed TO wOrkmen. Experts came to
sample, assert and bottle his products.
They never entered the laboratory. The
mystic operations by which he grew rich
were confined to himself.
One day, having locked the doors and
blinded the windows, sure as usual, OF
the safety of his secret. our chemist went
home to dinner. A chimney sweep, or Il
boy disguised as such, wide awake i'm
chemistry, was on the watch. Following
the secret keeper so far on his way to
Charing Cross as to be sure he would not
return that day, the sOoty philosopher
he'd rapidly back to Temple Bar, as
cended the low building, dropped down
the fue, saw all he wanted and returned,
carrying with him the mystery of MAX
ing citric acid. The monopoly of the in
ventOr was gone. A few months after
and the price of the article was reduced
fOur-fifths. The poor man was heart
broken, and died shortly afterward, TO-
nOrant Of the trick by which he had been
victimized. Like Miss Tabitha Bramble.
when informed that the thunder had
spoiled two barrels of beer in her cellar.
he might have said: ..How the thunder
should get there. when the cellar was
double-.ocked. can't comprehend"
The history of east steel presents a Gu
rious Instance of manufacturing secret
stealthily obtained under the cloak of nm
appeal to philanthropy. Tie main dis
tinctiOn between iron and steel, as every-
body knows, is that the latter contains
carbon. The one is converted into the
other by being heated for considerable
time i'm contact with powered charcoal
in an iron box. Now steel thus made is
unequal. The middle of bar is more
carbonized than the ends, and the sur
face more than the center. 1t is, there
fore, unreliable. Uniform work cannot
be made out of it. For many purposes it
will answer, but where accuracy is re-
quired it fails. Nevertheless, before the
invention of cast steel there was nothing
better.
In 1850 there lived at Attercliffe, near
Sheffield, matchmaker named Hunts
man. He became dissatisfied with the
watch springs in use, and set himself to
the task of making them homogeneous.
III" thought he, IL can melt piece of
steel and cast it into an ingot, it's COM
position should be the same through
out" 4 y - - Pc '''''',