Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-02-17
SECRETS IN THE ARTS AED NE
CHANICS.
Connected with the AIanufaetur.
ofPorcelains TlnyFars. and Cast Steel
IEnnIfsh Esu=r

Of Porcelain ElnNFares and Cast Steel.
English PaparI
One hundred years ago, what a man
discovered In the arts or mechanics he
concealed. WOrkmen were put upon
their oath never TO reveal the processes
used by their employers. Doors were
kept closed. artisans going out were
searched visitors were vigorously ez-
Guided from admission, and false opera
tons blinded the wOrkmen themselves
The mysteries of every craft were
hedged in by quickest fences of en-
pirlcal pretension and judicial atiirma-
ton.
The royal manufactures of porcelain
for example. were long carried on IN
Europe with a spirit of Jealous eX-
cIusiveness. His Majesty Of Saxony
was especially circumspacE Not con
tent with the oath of secrecy imposed
upon his WOrkpeOple, he would not
abate his Engly suspicion in favor Of a
I brother monarch. Neither king nor
kings delegate might enter within the
tabOoed walls of Nielsen. What Is
commonly called the Dresden" pOr-
celain-that exquisite pottery Of which
the world has never seen the like
was produced for 200 years by a pro-
cess that neither the bribery of princes
nor the garIulity of operatives ever re
vealel.
There used to be close by Temple
Bar in London an old chemists shop.
| The proprietor of it in days gone by en-
jOyed the monopoly of making ci5ric
acid. More fayOrably circumstanced
than other secret manufacturers, his
was a process that required no assist
ance. He employed no workmen. Elk
/ perts came to sample and assert and
| bottle his products. They never en-
| tered the laboratory. The mystic opera
/ tons by which he grew rich were con-
fined to himself One day, having
/ locked the doors and blinded the win
| dows, sure as usual of the safety of his
| secret, the chemist went home to his
/ dinner. A chimney-sWeep, or a boy
/ disguised as such, wide awake in chem
| istry was on the watch. Following the
! secret-keeper so far on his way to Char
ing Cross as to be sure he would not
return that day, the sOOty philosopher
| hied rapidly back to Temple Bar, as
| cended the low building. dropped down
the hue, saw all he wanted, and re-
turned, carrying with him the mystery
of making citric acid. The monopoly
of the inventor was gone A few
months after and the price of the ar
ticle was reduced fOur-hlths. The poor
man was heart-broken and died shortly
afterward ignorant of the trick Of 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-locked
1 can't comprehend"
The Tr1nnTTfanfuF of ffuTvaFa En-
gland originated IN a stolen secret.
Few readers need to be informed that
tinware is simply thin 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
a bath of boiling tin, and remove it, en-
veloped with the silvery metal, to a
place for cooling. In practice, how
ever, the process is one of the most
difficult of the arts. 1t was discovered
in Holland, and guarded from publicity
with the utmost vigilance for nearly
half q century. England tried in vain
! to discover the secret until James Sher-
man, a Cornish miner, crossed the
Channel, iusinuateG himself surrepti-
tiously into a tin-plate mandatory,
made himself master Of the secret, and
brought it home.
The history Of cast steel presents a
curious instance of a manufacturing Sc
cret stealthily obtained under the
cloak of an appeal to philauthrOphy.
The main distinction between iron and
steel, as most people know, is that the
latter contains carbon. The one is
| converted into the other by being
heated for a considerable time in con-
tact with powdered charcoal in an iron
! box. Now, steel thus made is unequal
| The middle of a bar is more carbOniZed
/ than the ends, and the surface more
than the center. 1t is, therefore, unre-
liable. Nevertheless, before the in
| vention Of cast steel there was nothing
better. In 1TGO there lived at After.
| cliffe, near Sheffield, a matchmaker
named Huntsman- He became dissatis
fed with the watch-springs in use and
set himself to the task of making then
/ homogeneous. at, thought he, 81
can melt a piece Of steel and cast il
into an ingO5 its composition should be
the same throughout" He succeeded.
His steel soon became famous. Hunts
mans ingOts for fine work were in uni.
versal demand. He did not call then
cast steel That was his secret About
ITO a large mandatory of this pc
Z culiar steel was established at After
! !
secrecy by every means within reach -
true and faithful men hired. the worl
divided and subdiVided, large wage
paid, and stringent Oaths administered
1t did not answer. One midwinte
night, as the tall chimneys of the After
cliffe steel works belched forth thel
smoke, a traveller knocked at the gate
, 1t was bitterly cold, the snow fell fast
and the wind howled across the mOat
, The stranger, apparently plOwman o
! agricultural labOrer seeking shelte
from the storm, awakened no suspicion
Scanning the wayfarer closely an
moved by motives of humanity tn
foreman granted his request and lie
him in. Feigning to be worn out wit
cold and fatigue the old fellow sam
upon the floor and soon appeared to b
asleep. That, however, was far fror
his intention. He closed his eyes, ap
parentlv only. He saw WOrkmen Gu
. bars Of steel into bits, place them i
crucibles, and thrust the crucibles int
| a furnace. The fire was urged to 1t
extreme power until the steel wa
melted. Clothed in wet rags to prOtec
themselves from the heat the wOrkme
drew out the glowing crucibles an
| poured their contents into q mold. MI
Huntsman's factory had nothing NOR
to disclose. The secret Of making cas-
steel had been discovered
How CamphOr Is Made.
Camphor is made in Japan in thi
way; After a tree is felled to the eartl
it Is cut into chips, which are laid in
tub or a large iron pot partially file
with water and placed over slow FIRE
] 81. al