The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-02-05
SCRAP IRON.
A Business That Has Made Fortunes for
Shrewd Mana gers.


Shrewd Managers.
You'd never think it was much of
a trick to sort out scrap metal said a
dealer in old iron, as he stood in the
middle of yard heaped up with piles
of rusty scraps of every description,
without any apparent order OF method.
"As matter of fact, though, there is
quite knack in it. 1t requires good
deal of experience If you don't want to
get taken in, as the profits of the bust
ness all lie in mans ability to tell at
a glance what is good material and
what is not. The greenhorn will go
and buy Wagon-load of stuff in a lump,
and when it is sorted over he will find
he has paid probably double what the
lot is worth.
How are the scraps assorted?"
asked the reporter.
Well, you see here is separate
pile for the best scrap. 1t is nearly all
in small pieces-bolts, nuts, screws,
pieces of horseshoe, nails and such as
that, all of the best quality of mallea-
BILE iron. It commands the highest
price, except for that of whole horse
shoes, of any iron that is bought by us.
We pay from sixty to eighty cents d
hundred for it. Horseshocs are worth
from one dollar to one dollar and TWEEN
ty cents hundred pounds. We pile
the small pieces together SO that the
scraps can be shoveled out into barrels
or sacks, while the the large pieces,
such as broken shafting, boiler iron and
metal of that sort, are stacked up sep
arately. There are the steel and cast
iron piles over there, you see, and here
are the behring's and turnings from the
machine-shops."
"Of what use are those scraps of
tinen asked the reporter, pointing to-
ward huge heap of cut and twisted
pieces of the shining metal.
ooh, that goes to the smelling
works. You see it mainly consists of
the clippings and fragments of timed
iron and worn-out tin vessels. These
are sometimes dipped in hydrochloric
acid to dissolve the tin coating from the
iron. The muriate of tin so formed is
of commercial value for dyeing pur-
poses. =
Hanging up on the walls all about
were cogwheels, cranks and other
pieces of machinery, while in one cor
ner was a collection of pick-axes, axes
and pitchforks.
Every thing that we find of value
in the masses of scraps that come in
here every day by the wagon-load,
remarked the dealer, 'sor that can be
used in the shape it is received in, is
preserved from the scrap heaps and
sold separately. There are people
who if they want lot of pick-axes, for
instance, never think of going to a
hardware store for them, but come di-
rect to the sorap-iron dealer, where
they can generally find serviceable ar
ticles of the secondhand class. Nearly
all of these cranks and cogwheels will
come in use in their present shape
some day.
ssScrap-iron, continued the dealer,
consists of any kind of iron that will
serve the purposes of remelting, but
more especially that of the malleable
quality. We work In all the old ship
iron that can be made serviceable, and
there is one firla in the city that makes
a speciality OF that branch of the busi-
ness. They have broken up several
old vessels during the past year and
taken out tons of good scrap-iron
They are tearing the Mohonga to pieces
over in Oakland and selling her plates
and sheeting to the nail manufacturers.
There is good deal of money in that
kind of trade if one understands it.
Of late years the scrap-iron business
has increased to such an extent as to
make it an important feature of water
front trade. Several good-sized fort
unes have been made in the business.
Large lots of vacant land are covered
with heaps of the rusty metal, for
which there is always brisk demand
during the busy season at the IRON
| works. The smaller scraps make the
best kind of shafting and pipe material.
as the ibers of the finished product are
so twisted and intertwined as almost to
defy an attempt at breaking, while for
ordinary use it will last for years. -.
San Francisco Chronicle