The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-02-04
STOLEN SECRETS.

One hundred years ago, Whist a man
discovered in the arts and mechanics he
concealed, Workmen were put on oath
never to reveal the process used by their
Employers. Doors were kept closed, ar
tisans going out were searched, visitors
were vigorously excluded from admis.
sion, and false operations blinded the
workmen themselves. The mysteries of
every craft were hedged in by quickest
fences of empirical pretensiou and judi
cial affirmation. There used to be, close
by Temple Bar, in London, an old chem
lists shop. The proprietor of it, in days
gone by, enjoyed the monopoly of max
ing citric acid. More favorably circum-
stanced than other secret manufactures,
his was process that required no assis
lance. He employed no workmen. Elk.
perts came to sample, and 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 his dinner. A
chimney sweep, or boy disguised as
such, wide awake in 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, assembled the low building,
dropped down the hue, saw all he wanted,
and returned, carrying with him the mys-
terry of making citric acid. The monopoly
of the inventor was gone. A few months
after and the price was reduced by four
fifths. The poor man was hearth
ken. end died shortly afterward, ignorant
of the trick by which he had been victim
ised. Like Miss Tabitha Bramble, when
informed that the thunder had spoiled
two barrels of beer in her cellar, he
might have said, 81 How the thunder should
get there, when the cellar was double lock-
ed, I can't comprehend"
The manufacture of tinware in Eng
land originated in stolen secret. Few
readers need to be informed that tinware
is simply thin sheet iron, plated with tin
by being dipped into the molten metal.
In theory it is an easy matter to clean
the surface of iron. Dip it into bath
of boiling tin, and remove it, developed
with the silvery metal, to place of cool
ing. In practice, however, the process is
one Of the most difficult of the arts. It was
discovered in Holland, and guarded from
publicity with the utmost vigilance for
nearly half a century. England tried in
vain to discover the secret, until James
Sherman, Cornish miner, crossed the
Channel, insinuated himself surreptitious-
ly into tinplate mandatory, made him
self master of the secret, and brought it
home. The history OF cast steel presents
a curious instance OF manufacturing
secret stealthily obtained under the cloak
of an appeal to philanthropy. The main
distinction between iron and steel, as
most people know, is that the latter con-
tains carbon. The one Is converted into
the other by being heated for consider
able time in contact with powdered char
coal in an iron box. Now, steel thus made
unequal. The middle of bar is more
carbonized than the ends, and the sur
face more than the center. 1t is, there
fore, unreliable. Never heless, before
the invention of cast steel there was moth
ing better.
In 1850 there lived at Attercliffe, near
Sheffield, a matchmaker named Hunts
man. He became dissatisfied with the
watch springs in use, and set himself to
the task of making them homogeneous.
"It," thought he, 81 can melt piece of
steel and cast it into an ingot, its compo-
sition should be the same throughout.
He succeeded. His steel soon became ia
nous. Huntsmsn's ingots for fine work
we're in universal demand. He did not call
them cast steel. That was his secret.
About ITO a large mandatory of this
peculiar steel was established at After
cliffe. The process was wrapped in Sc
crecy by every one within reaeh-true
and faithful men hired, the work divided
and sub-divided, large wages paid, and
stringent oaths administered. 1t did not
avail. One midwinter night, as the tall
chimneys of the Attercliffe steel works
belched forth their smoke, traveller
knocked at the gate. 1t was bitterly cold,
the snow fell fast, and the wind howled
across the moat. The stranger apparent
ly ploughman or agricultural labor er
seeking shelter from the storm, awaken
ed no suspicion. Scanning the wayfarer
closely, and moved by motives Of human