The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-08-04
Third EDITION.


i MES Aln-Iint W olk5.
The editor of tho Joliet Republic
md Sun took ride to the suburb of
jol e., ILL.,. called Lewiston, to see tho
progress OF Affairs. and was surprised
To- iinl the advanced stage OF the work.
Tho Messrs. Lewis brothers were on
the ground, and the different work
men and teams were all busily employ
ed. The immense steel frame OF the
principal building Is up. The con-
tract Is let for the roof, which is to lie
finished August 10. Tho building is
l0l feet inches by 200 feet. At tho
west end, where the big stone wall
with the hue5 built in is found, will be
the great pots in which the pure tin
Will be melted. An engine of six hun
dred horsepower and the necessary
\ boiler hayo been bought, and will DO
put In place next month. The great
rolls, which are to roll out the thin
plates OF steel, have been bought, with
the necessary housings and mill work,
at Pittsbnrg, and are Of the latest
and best partoTns.
The picking machines are known as
IewlS's patent, and are tho latest and
best. a shop was recently sold to the
Reidrinhaus Company, ut st. Louis,
and the machines will be used in the
immense pant there. The Joliet plant
and the outfit for each mill, together
with the plan of working, s briefly
described by Messrs. Lewis as follows:
The material comes in plates about q
half inch thick and two feet long.
These plates ara heated Ia the heaters.
The heaters are brick ovens similar to
the heaters at the Joliet steel mills.
Each mill has two pairs Of 'hot' rolls
and three pairs OF cold" rolls. Aftel
the hot rolls have ihinned the metal II
goes into tho picking Vat8 in sulphur.
fc acid. IL Is then annealed. 1t then
goes through tho cold rolls, which
give it the sinoothness and polish 1t
then goes to the annealing furnace
again and Is polished in weaker solu.
ton.
This pickliug is done by hand in
Wales, but Lewis patent process
saves the labor Of ten men. The sheets
are placed in racks and moved chang
cd from vat to vat end agitated by
machinery. After the oxide and all
foreign substances are thoroughly
cleaned OFF the sheets are ready for
Timing. Hero comes the Lewis paten
process again. The sheets are dippel
In palm oil and after being changet
moved on to the great pots OF molten
tin, as bright and shiny rs silver. Dow
they go into the fiery furnace bath, ant
after being gently ngitated come out
completely coated with the rich, pure
Tin. The sheets are then cleaned
with sawdust OF bran and lime and 60
to the assorters' table. Here they ar,
closely inspected and graded, care
fully reckoncd and weighed. TheI
they IRE packed and branded with the
factory name, quality, size, etc.
The two mill plants TO start first will
employ about two hundred men, anC
of them nearly seventy-hve per cont
will be skilled laborer5 The now pro
ceases introduced by the Lewis Broth
ers are already making a stir among
the tinmakerS OF this country, who
are anxious to obtain the process. anC
will enahie the Joliet mill to sell til
much cheaper than any competitor
and still realize a handsome profit
The reoson that so many mills ar,
starting all over the country Is tn
fact that under the Mckinley tarif
law there is very large profit In til
making. The report OF the Republi,
and Sun shows that most prosperous
suburb Is rapidly being built up. tba
street railroad will DO built to tn,
new town. and that the steam railways
will connect with the tin-plate plant.