THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON IN ALL ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES. INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF WOOD-CUTTING, COAL-DIGGING, AND THE BURNING OF CHARCOAL OF THE CRUDE INTO WROUGHT IRON BY CHARCOAL FORGES AND PUDDLING FURNACES. ALSO A DESCRIPTION OF FORGE HAMMERS, ROLLING MILLS, BLAST MACHINES, TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ESSAY ON THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL. BY FREDERICK OVERMAN, MINING ENGINEER. STHON.30. Phoenixville Iron Works. WITH ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY WOOD ENGRAVINGS. Third Edition, Revised. PHILADELPHIA: HENRY C. BAIRD, SUCCESSOR TO EDWARD L. CAREY, No. 7 HART'S BUILDING, SIXTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS. LONDON: TRÜBNER AND CO., No. 12 PATERNOSTER Row. 1854. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by HENRY C. BAIRD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PHILADELPHIA: T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. PREFACE. THIS book has been written with a special regard to practical utility. In what manner this object has been fulfilled, we leave the intelligent reader to judge. The character of the work is purely technological. This object we not only deemed desirable in itself, but we were necessarily restricted to it on account of space. A mere description of materials and of manipulations amounts to nothing more than an enumeration and record of facts. This we considered insufficient to satisfy the wants of an inquisitive community. Therefore, each division of the book contains a philosophical investigation concerning the apparatus and manipulations applicable to specific cases, as well as the basis whence their relative advantages are deduced. No book which embodies only a collection of confused or partially developed facts is adapted either to attract or to fix the attention of a thoughtful mind. The little interest which men, even of education and intelligence, take in certain mechanical pursuits that are worthy of all notice, is probably to be attributed to the rarity of the treatises which elucidate the principles such pursuits involve.-This evil we have sought to avoid, without, at the same time, making our book so scientific as to render it useless as a practical treatise. This work contains imperfections for which we cannot consistently ask the indulgence of the reader. It may even embody errors; these, on the ground of human frailty, may be deemed, by the kind-hearted reader, excusable. The expression of one fact will, we hope, disarm critics. We make no claims as a writer. We make this statement, not only because the language of the book is not our native tongue, but because, though it were, we doubt whether we should be able to exhibit a reasonable proficiency in its use. Many of the repetitions which the reader will observe may appear to be superfluous. Some of these were designed; others, despite every precaution, were unavoidable. In verbal communications, we are enabled to draw attention to a given subject by a bold assertion, or a striking illustration. But in a technical work, designed to convey important information, a certain amount of repetition is almost indispensable. Quotations and references we consider inappropriate in a work like the present. But we have not hesitated to insert them, where this could be done without interfering with the current of the text. In addition to the authors we have quoted, we acknowledge our indebtedness to the German authors Karsten, Knapp, and Sheerer. The publisher has spared no expense in relation to the typography and engravings of this work, which have been executed in a manner equal to anything the country can afford. Wood-cuts are preferable to lithographic or copperplate illustrations, on account of the facility with which they can be printed on the exact spot to which they belong. If the book, with all its incongruities, shall be accepted kindly by the public, our labors will have been more than compensated. F. OVERMAN. PHILADELPHIA. |