Year: 1867

One of the finest, thickest, and heaviest
armor plates ever rolled in the world, was
recently pressed into the very perfection of a
manufactured armor plate at the great Atlas
Ironworks of Sir John Brown & Co., Shelf
field. The size of this monstrous slab of
iron. when in the furnace, was little over
20 feet long by about 4 feet broad, and 2l
inches thick. It's rough weight was over p
tons. 1t was built up in the furnace before
being rolled by five plates each three inches
thick, and one plate Of six inches. The
plate, when laid in the furnace, rested upon
little stacks of fire bricks, so that the flame
and heat played equally around it till it was
oil glowing white, and the successive layers
settled down into one dense mass. As the
time for 8 drawing" approached, bands OF
workmen, to the number of about 90, ar
ranged themselves on each side of the fur
mace, as near to it as they could bear the heat.
Then the doors were opened to their fullest,
and what had been glare before, and what
had been heat, were quite eclipsed by the
intense light, and fervency with which the
long tongues of fame leapt forth. In the
midst of this great light lay mass even
whittier than the rest To this some half a
dozen men drew near. They were all attired
in thin steel leggngs, aprons of steel, and a
thin curtain of steel wirework dropping over
their faces like large, long visor. All the
rest of thoir bodies were muffied in thick, wet
sacking Thus protected they managed,
with the aid of gigantic pair Of forceps
slung from crane above, to work as 1t were
amid the flames for few seconds, and to
nip the huge plate with the forceps. The
signal was then given, and the whole mass
of iron, fzzing, sparkling, and shooting out
Jets Ct lambent flame, was by the main force
of chains attached to the steam rollers,
drawn forth from the furnace on to a long
wrought iron car The heat and light
which it then diffused were almost unhear


able in any part of the huge mill, but the
men seemed to vie with each other to
approach and detach the colossal pinchers
which had drawn the iron forth. More
than a dozen attempts were made before
this was effected, and more than dozen of
the best and most skillful workmen were
driven back one after another by the tre


mendous heat and glare. At last all was
made clear. The forceps was drawn away,
the chains cleared from the rollers, and the
other workmen seized the chains attached to
| the iron truck, and drew it to the incline by
main force, VIII re it was left by its own
weight to run into the jaws of the rolling
mill. The workmen rushed for shelter in
all directions as the mass was nipped be-
| tween the rollers, and wound rapidly in amid
| quick reports like those of dull musketry, as
the melted iron was squeezed by the tremen-
dous pressure from the mass, and flew out in
Jets Of liquid fire on all sides. The turning
of the rollers crushes the plate through to
| the other side, where it rests for minute on
a wrought iron truck similar to that on
which it was brought from the furnace
| The action of the rollers is then reversed
after they have been brought closer together
by about an inch. These again nip the
plate aud draw it back in an opposite drec-
ton, and again and again does this mass go
forward and backwards, each time passing
! between a smaller space. till the whole of
the huge thickness was reduced to a compact
mass l5in. thick, in quarter of an hour
During every stage of the process, quantities
of fine sand are thrown upon the plate this
takes fire as it touches the flaming surface.
| and covers it as it melts, with a coat of
/ silica, or with glaze like that of earthen
ware, thus preventing the active oxidation.
which would otherwise take place After
every discharge of sand, aud these 90 on
almost incessantly, buckets Of water are
! thrown upon the plate and explode in scald
| ing steam, and when these are partly dissi-
pated, men rush forward and with wet
besoms, with handles 20ft. long, sweep off
whatever little scraps Of oxidation may have
taken place. Thus, every time the plate
passes through the mill, the sand is scattered,
the water thrown, and the surface swept,
and at every roll the chief roller of the es.
tabliShment runs forward. and under the
helter of wet clothes, measures with a
guage its thickness end to end. The requir-
ed dimensions were obtained. as we have
said by less than a quarter Of an hours roll
ing, and plate l5in. thick, the product of
the labor of nearly 200 men, and Of the con-
sumption Of nearly $50 tons of coal, was
shot out by the rolling mills and left to cool.
When this had been effected, two large roll
lers Of iron, each weighing l5 tons, were
left upon its ends to keep the whole perfectly
level Nothing further now remained in
order to complete it as the finest specimen of
armor plate manufacture ever attempted.
but to plane off its rough ends and edges
The fat surfaces on either side, which form
what is called the skin Of the plate, are
never interferrd with, for the action of the
steel rollers leaves them literally almost as
smooth as plate glass.


The San Bernardino Ranch, in San
Diego county, and which contains 20 900
acres, was sold the other day for $1,000 or
about twenty cents an acre. This of course
included all improvements. 1t is one of the
best grazing ranches in that county, with