Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-06-17
MAKING THE TIN PLATE.
CONSUL JARRETT TELLS OD THIS
 GREAT INDUSTRY

Solid Iron Bars Cut Into slices and Pickled in Oil-Ths Various Processes | Described fin their Order-rhs Palm 1 OH ana Acid Flux systems.
 l There is probably no American citizen
 better qualified both by study and expe-
 rience to write intelligently and enter l tainingly about tin plate and it's manu- l facture than MT. John Jarrett, the newly ! appOinte consul of the United States to Birmingham, England. In the Bulletin i published in Philadelphia, under the aus 1 pices of the American Iron and Steel ! association, MT. Jarrett writes on 'How 1 Tin Plates are Made in Great Britan." 1 Charcoal iron is no longer used in the 1 manufacture of tin plates, and the . quantity of puddled bars now used for 1 this purpose Is also very limited. The
 bulk of the finer and better qualities of
 plates is now made of open hearth steel. | and nearly all the cheaper grades are | made of low carbon Bessemer steel. We
 will, therefore, deal only with our subject from the bars of iron or steel (which in
 tin mills are generally called ''tin bars
 to che finished plates.
 In the first place we have the bar, de- l livered from the bar mill, several feet
 long, about inches wide and from 1-2 l to 5-S of an inch thick. rolled according
 to the size of the plates required at so
 many pounds per foot. The bar Is taken
 and sheared into the required lengths, 1 say about 15 inches, which would weig h l about 19 pounds to the piece. This l would be the length of bar required to
 produce sheets IA inches by 20 inches in
 size. The bar would eventually be rolled
 into Is sheets of this size, 112 of such
 sheets forming a box and weighing when
 timed about 1O8 pounds.
 l rrh,o p,ooo oF hor iron fffoon jnchoS
 long, Is placed in reyerberatory.
 heated to redness, put through the
 chilled rolls and rolled into what is | termed "thick." It is then relocated and
 rolled in "singles" until reduced in
 thickness so as to be easily doubled,
 after which 1t is doubled, relocated and rolled three times in succession By this
 time it will be seen that the nineteen pound bar is eight sheets in thickness.
 In this shape it Is rolled until each sheet
 Is reduced to the required length and
 thickness. The whole mass Is next
 taken and sheared into two parts and the
 rough edges taken off. We have then
 eight sheets in each part adhering very
 closely together. Girls are generally
 "packs" as they are called, which they
 do with small hatchets, protecting their
 hands with hand feathers. The plates
 are now termed "black plates
 The plates are next sent to be picked, that Is immersed in heated dilute sul- phuric acid. This process is now gener- ally done by the aid of patent pickling
 cradle or receptacle, which Is lifted by hydraulic power and dropped down into :. tank containing the acid. The cradle is then given a revolving or other motion
 to make the liquid rush between the
 sheets. After being subjected to the , action of the acid for some time the era.
 dle Is again lifted by the hydraulic powel and dropped into another tank contain
 ing the ample supply of clean water only
 the cradle revolving as in the acid tank so that the water may rush between the sheets and wash away all trace of the acid When taken out the sheets arc bright and clean. They are then placed in closed iron annealing pots and sub jected to bright red heat in an anneal
 ing furnace for from twelve to twenty four hours.
 through cold rolrs three, four or more times, as may be deemed necessary This Is called cold rolling. These roll! are highly polished, and must be set yer. } accurately in order to give the plates
 perfectly flat set and a well polished sur face. After this rolling the plates ar again annealed, at & lower tempera tur' |
 would be damaged by the slightest de gree of sticking or adhering together Then they are again pickled, as before 3 excepting that the liquid is considerabl, , weaker, after which they are placed in
 trough, through which a stream of col' water is continually flowing. They ar l then taken in hand singly and, If neces sary, secured with sand and hemp il + pads before going to the ''tinman." Now comes the last process. Tn sheets are iron or steel so far. The, : next reach the tin house, and are place, , in & trough of clean water ready for tn tinman, who takes them up singly ant 7 puts them in grease pot, containing r oil, to soak. After being there shor
 large iron pot, containing molten tin
 with covering of palm oil. When tn s tinman has performed his part the plate f are handed over to the ''washman, whose pot contains more molten tin l After they have soaked a little while il g his pot he raises them with tongs on t & the "hob" as he requires them, brushe
 the surface of each side of the sheet, an . after again dipping them into pot con e taining molten tin, they are sent throug S rolls which work in large pot contain z ing palm oil. A boy called the "riser, now lifts the sheets and places them ln
 bunch and then hands them over to
 young woman, who rubs them in bins o = boxes of bran, one after the other, whic L takes off the grease. Another youn
 woman, called a cluster" gives ther
 another rubbing with skin duster, afte ]. which they are taken to the assortin
 room. Here they are carefully inspecte
 and all good plates are classed as ''pel
 fects" and defective plates as ''wasters. l. We have here described what is know r as the "palm oil process. The prime P pal feature of what is called the "aci ' Aux process" Is that in lplace of palm o d covering the molten tin an acid fux V used. being made by 8 mixture of gin, n hydro chIorate and water. All the bes k plates, however, are made by the pail e oil process.