The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-10-25
INDIAN INDUSTRIES.
Structures of Iron and Steel in
India.
APPROPRIATIONS OF WROUGHT IRON.
Railway Companies Build Their own
Rolling-Stock - Foundries and Ma
chine Shops In India.

In the last twenty years, the number
of iron foundries and machine shops
has greatly increased in India, and the
country is less dependent on Europe for
general ironwork; importations of
wrought iron and steel are yearly in
creasing. The following is list of
such structures of iron and steel as are
built i'll India: Coasting and river
steamers, launches. barges, steamboat
ers, bridges, tanks, piers, and jetties,
sluice gates, buildings, engines, steam
pumps, turbines, sugar crushing ma
chinery, oil mills, cotton, hay, and
other presses, and grinding mills. The
United States consul at Bombay says
that the railway companies build their
own rolling stock, but they import the
wheels, axles. tires, and other iron
work; rails also are imported, as are
also steel sleepers, which are much in
vogue in place of timber. Bolt, chain,
and rivet making are not yet known as
separate industries. Wire working is
steadily increasing industry, being
readily taken up by the natives.
Locks Of fairly good quality, are
made in Bombay and Calcutta, but none
of the manufacturers appear to possess
a key-cutting machine or good set of
machine tools. On account of national
and religious custosm, brass and copper
vessels, for cooking eating, and drink
ing, are to be found in every house, and
the workers in these metals are more
numerous than those in iron. The hol-
low ware is made of imported sheets
hammered into shape; vessels used for
cooking are timed inside; brass hinges
are made and much used on account of
the destructive effects of the monsoon
rains on iron hinges; the whole of the
work is done by hand, without the as
sistance of any stamp or press. Ma
chine tools are made, but in samll
quantity, most Of the tools being i'm
ported. Textile machinery is entirely
made i'll England. Agricultural i'm
plements are in small demand on ac-
count of the poverty and ignorance of
the cultivators
Cultivation as practiced in Egypt,
the grain districts of Southern Europe,
and the United States has not yet been
begun in India. India possesses only
one glass factory conducted ON European
and this is in Calcutta.
There are a few smaller glass factories,
but when they do not use broken i'm
ported glass, they turn out goods of an
inferior quality. Most of the broken
glass that reaches the ports of India
is sent to China, where it is worked
up by the Chinese glass workers
Good glass-making materials are to be
found III India, and a factory for the
manufacture of soda water bottles alone
would, according to Consul Sommer,
find occupation for large number of
operatives. Window glass is now
largely used throughout India, where
only shutters were used before. 1t is
obtained principally from Belgium.
There are five wooden mills in India,
two of which are in Bombay.
The materials made are blankets,
heavy coatings, serges, and uniform
cloths. Both Indian and Australian
woods are used, and the future of this
industry promises to be prosperous
one. There are nine paper mills in
India, four of which are in Bombay.
The tibrous materials used for making
paper are chiefly rags and mum grass,
rice straw, jute, and hemp cuttings,
and old jute bags and cloth. The quail
ity of the paper made has improved il
recent years, and there is large anC
increasing sale of this product. The
production of paper in India has in
creased 11S per cent. since 1885
amounting to IL ,0S6 tons in 1891. Il
is expected that India will in a very
few years supply its own paper, tn,
only drawback being the cost of trans
portation of raw materials from grea
distances. There We're twenty six mill
working jute and one working hemp il
India at the end of the year 1891 -92
The mills contain S,695 looms ant
ia, 156 spindles. Their nominal cap
ital is estimated at e1, 100000. II
brick and tile making there are few
factories having the appliances TO
making bricks by machinery. The tile
most in use are of native design an,
manufacture.
A tube of clay is spun by hand on
very simple wheel made of wool an,
balanced and loaded with clay. /
turns on peg, and having been Sc
in motion. it revolves long enough 70
the operation. The tube, which is taper
ing in form and about four feet long b.
four inches and a-half wide, is split b.
piece of string into halves, which
when dried and burned, become TIL
country tiles of India. One layer wit
edges up and one layer with edge
down is what is termed single tiling
No fastenings are used, there being onl
one support at the caves of the roof t
prevent them from slipping off.
large towns the European pattern G
tile is coming into vogue. The great
est number of European tile factorie
in India are i'll Malabar and Sout
Canara, where water carriage along tn
coast affords cheap means of trans
portation. The factories are close
! during the rainy season.
The silk industry has not shared tn
prosperity of the cotton and wooden in
dustry, for while the exports in 1867
amounted to 1884, 701 pounds, the eS
ports in 1891 so We're only 1,7S2, 43
pounds. There is a silk mill in BON
bay which works only for the Burmes
market; and does not venture to com
pete with the European and Asia Mino
goods. Thana, near Bombay. use t
have thriving trade in woven figure
silks, which were famous for their quail