The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-09-12
- STOLEN SECRETS,

a manufacturer in these our dav
holds his own against competition b,
force of capital, knowledge of science
and skill of workmen. lie has no secre
beyond that OF producing the best arti
Gle at the lowest price. One hundred
years ago the case was different. Wha
a man discovered in the arts he con
cealed Workmen were put upon their
oath, in the name of God, never to reveal
the processes used by their employers.
Doors were kept closed, artisans going
cut were searched, visitors were rigidly
excluded from admission, and false oper.
ations blinded the workmen themselves.
/ The mysteries of every craft were hedged
/ in by quickest fences of empirical preten
/ sion and judicial affirmation.
! The royal manufactures or porcelain,
for example, were long carried on in
Europe with spirit of jealous exclusive
ness. His Majesty of Saxony was espe-
cially circumspect. Not content with
the oath of secrecy imposed upon his
work people, he would not abate his
/ kingiy suspicion in favor of a brother
monarch. Neither king nor kings dele
gate might enter within the tabooed walls
of Messen. What is enormously called
the Dresden" porcelain that exquisite
pottery of which the world has never
seen the like-was produced for two hun
dred 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,
/ II oh
proprietor of it, in days gone by, enjoy
ed the monopoly of making citric acid.
More favorably circumstansed than other
secret manufacturers, his was process
that required no assistance. He employ
ed no workmen. Experts came to sam
pie and assert and bottle his products.
They never entered the labratory. 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. y chimney sweep, or
a boy disguised as such, wide awake in
chemistry, was on the watch. Follow
ing the secret keeper so far on his way to
Charing Cross as to be sure he would
not return that day, the sooty philoso-
pher hied rapidly back to Temple Bar,
assembled the low building, dropped down
the tlue, saw ali he wanted, and returned,
carrying with him the mystery in citric
acid. The monopoly of the inventor was
gone. A few months after and the
price of the article was reduced four
ftths. The poor man was heart broken,
and died shortly afterwards, ignorant of
the trick by which he had been victim
lied Like Miss Tabitha Bramble, when
informed that the thunder had spoiled
two barrels of beer in her cellar, he
might have said, Chow the thunder
should get there, when the cellar was
double locked, l can't comprehend"
The history of cast steel presents a Gu
rious instance of manufacturing secret
stealthily obtained under the cloak of an
appeal to philanthropy. The 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 in contact with powdered charcoal
in an iron box. Now steel thus made is
unequal. The middle Of bar is more
corbonized than the ends, and the sur
face more than the centre. 1t is there
fore unreliable. Uniform work cannot
be made out of it. For many purposes
it will answer, but where accuracy is re-
qured it fails. Nevertheless, before the
invention of cast steel there was nothing
better
In 1860 there lived at Attercliffe,
near Sheffield, a matchmaker named
Huntsman. He became dissatisfied
with the watch springs in use and set
himself to the task of making them
homogeneous.
eff" thought he, can melt a piece
of steel and cast it into an ingot, its com
position should be the same through
out"
He succeeded. His steel became IA
nous. Huntsman's ingots for fine work
were in universal demand. He did not
call them cast steel. That was his secret
About 1870 large mandatory of this
peculiar steel was established at Atterclife
The process was wrapped in secrecy by
every means within reach-true and
faithful men hired, the work divided and
large wages paid, and string
ent oaths administered. 1t did not an
swer. One mid-winter night, as the tall
chimneys of the Atterclitfe Steel Works
belched forth their smoke, a traveller
knocked at the gate. 1t was bitterly
cold, the snow fell fast, and the wind |
howIed across the moor. The stranger,
apparently a ploughman or agricultural
aborer seeking shelter from the storm,
awaked no suspicion. Scanning the
wayfarer closely and moved by motives
Of humanity, the foreman granted his re-
quest and let him in.
FeigniDg to be worn out with cold and |
fatigue the poor fellow sank upon the
ioor, and soon appeared to be asleep.
That, however, was far from his inten-
ion. He closed his eyes apparently, |
,nly. He saw workmen cut bars of steel
nto bits, place them in crucibles and
hrust the crucibles into fur
lace. The fire was urged to its ex
RENE power, until the steel was melted.
Clothed in wet rags, to protect them
elves from the heat, the workmen drew
tut the glowing crucbles, and poured
heir contents into a mould. Mr.. Hunt
mans factory had nothing more to dis
lose. The secret of making cast steel
lad been found.
Manners.