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industrial biography-第30部分

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losing its carbon; it passes from hard to soft steel; thence to

steely iron; and last of all to very soft iron; so that by

interrupting the process at any stage; or continuing it to the end;

almost any quality of iron and steel may be obtained。  One of the most

valuable forms of the metal is described by Mr。 Bessemer as

〃semi…steel;〃 being in hardness about midway between ordinary

cast…steel and soft malleable iron。  The Bessemer processes are now in

full operation in England as well as abroad; both for converting

crude into malleable iron; and for producing steel; and the results

are expected to prove of the greatest practical utility in all cases

where iron and steel are extensively employed。



Yet; like every other invention; this of Mr。 Bessemer had long been

dreamt of; if not really made。  We are informed in Warner's Tour

through the Northern。  Counties of England; published at Bath in l80L;

that a Mr。 Reed of Whitehaven had succeeded at that early period in

making steel direct from the ore; and Mr。 Mushet clearly alludes to

the process in his 〃Papers on Iron and Steel。〃  Nevertheless; Mr。

Bessemer is entitled to the merit of working out the idea; and

bringing the process to perfection; by his great skill and

indomitable perseverance。  In the Heath process; carburet of manganese

is employed to aid the conversion of iron into steel; while it also

confers on the metal the property of welding and working more soundly

under the hammera fact discovered by Mr。 Heath while residing in

India。  Mr。 Mushet's process is of a similar character。  Another

inventor; Major Uchatius; an Austrian engineer; granulates crude iron

while in a molten state by pouring it into water; and then subjecting

it to the process of conversion。  Some of the manufacturers still

affect secrecy in their operations; but as one of the Sanderson

firmfamous for the excellence of their steelremarked to a visitor

when showing him over their works; 〃the great secret is to have the

courage to be honesta spirit to purchase the best material; and the

means and disposition to do justice to it in the manufacture。〃



It remains to be added; that much of the success of the Sheffield

manufactures is attributable to the practical skill of the workmen;

who have profited by the accumulated experience treasured up by their

class through many generations。  The results of the innumerable

experiments conducted before their eyes have issued in a most

valuable though unwritten code of practice; the details of which are

known only to themselves。  They are also a most laborious class; and

Le Play says of them; when alluding to the fact of a single workman

superintending the operations of three steel…casting furnaces〃I

have found nowhere in Europe; except in England; workmen able for an

entire day; without any interval of rest; to undergo such toilsome

and exhausting labour as that performed by these Sheffield workmen。〃







CHAPTER VII。



THE INVENTIONS OF HENRY CORT。



〃I have always found it in mine own experience an easier matter to

devise manie and profitable inventions; than to dispose of one of

them to the good of the author himself。〃Sir Hugh Platt; 1589。





Henry Cort was born in 1740 at Lancaster; where his father carried on

the trade of a builder and brickmaker。  Nothing is known as to Henry's

early history; but he seems to have raised himself by his own efforts

to a respectable position。  In 1765 we find him established in Surrey

Street; Strand; carrying on the business of a navy agent; in which he

is said to have realized considerable profits。  It was while

conducting this business that he became aware of the inferiority of

British iron compared with that obtained from foreign countries。  The

English wrought iron was considered so bad that it was prohibited

from all government supplies; while the cast iron was considered of

too brittle a nature to be suited for general use。*

 'footnote。。。

Life of Brunel; p。 60。

 。。。'

Indeed the Russian government became so

persuaded that the English nation could not carry on their

manufactures without Russian iron; that in 1770 they ordered the

price to be raised from 70 and 80 copecs per pood to 200 and 220

copecs per pood。*

 'footnote。。。

SCRIVENOR; History of the Iron Trade; 169。

 。。。'



Such being the case; Cort's attention became directed to the subject

in connection with the supply of iron to the Navy; and he entered on

a series of experiments with the object of improving the manufacture

of English iron。  What the particular experiments were; and by what

steps he arrived at results of so much importance to the British iron

trade; no one can now tell。  All that is known is; that about the year

1775 he relinquished his business as a navy agent; and took a lease

of certain premises at Fontley; near Fareham; at the north…western

corner of Portsmouth Harbour; where he erected a forge and an iron

mill。  He was afterwards joined in partnership by Samuel Jellicoe (son

of Adam Jellicoe; then Deputy…Paymaster of Seamen's Wages); which

turned out; as will shortly appear; a most unfortunate connection for

Cort。



As in the case of other inventions; Cort took up the manufacture of

iron at the point to which his predecessors had brought it; carrying

it still further; and improving upon their processes。  We may here

briefly recite the steps by which the manufacture of bar…iron by

means of pit…coal had up to this time been advanced。  In 1747; Mr。

Ford succeeded at Coalbrookdale in smelting iron ore with pit…coal;

after which it was refined in the usual way by means of coke and

charcoal。  In 1762; Dr。 Roebuck (hereafter to be referred to) took out

a patent for melting the cast or pig iron in a hearth heated with

pit…coal by the blast of bellows; and then working the iron until it

was reduced to nature; or metallized; as it was termed; after which

it was exposed to the action of a hollow pit…coal fire urged by a

blast; until it was reduced to a loop and drawn out into bar…iron

under a common forge…hammer。  Then the brothers Cranege; in 1766;

adopted the reverberatory or air furnace; in which they placed the

pig or cast iron; and without blast or the addition of anything more

than common raw pit…coal; converted the same into good malleable

iron; which being taken red hot from the reverberatory furnace to the

forge hammer; was drawn into bars according to the will of the

workman。  Peter Onions of Merthyr Tydvil; in 1783; carried the

manufacture a stage further; as described by him in his patent of

that year。  Having charged his furnace (〃bound with iron work and well

annealed〃) with pig or fused cast iron from the smelting furnace; it

was closed up and the doors were luted with sand。  The fire was urged

by a blast admitted underneath; apparently for the purpose of keeping

up the combustion of the fuel on the grate。  Thus Onions' furnace was

of the nature of a puddling furnace; the fire of which was urged by a

blast。  The fire was to be kept up until the metal became less fluid;

and 〃thickened into a kind of froth; which the workman; by opening

the door; must turn and stir with a bar or other iron instrument; and

then close the aperture again; applying the blast and fire until

there was a ferment in the metal。〃  The patent further describes that

〃as the workman stirs the metal;〃 the scoriae will separate; 〃and the

particles of iron will adhere; which particles the workman must

collect or gather into a mass or lump。〃  This mass or lump was then to

be raised to a white heat; and forged into malleable iron at the

forge…hammer。



Such was the stage of advance reached in the manufacture of bar…iron;

when Henry Cort published his patents in 1783 and 1784。  In dispensing

with a blast; he had been anticipated by the Craneges; and in the

process of puddling by Onions; but he introduced so many improvements

of an original character; with which he combined the inventions of

his predecessors; as to establish quite a new era in the history of

the iron manufacture; and; in the course of a few years; to raise it

to the highest state of prosperity。  As early as 1786; Lord Sheffield

recognised the great national importance of Cort's improvements in

the following words:  … If Mr。 Cort's very ingenious and meritorious

improvements in the art of making and working iron; the steam…engine

of Boulton and Watt; and Lord Dundonald's discovery of making coke at

half the present price; should all succeed; it is not asserting too

much to say that the result will be more advantageous to Great

Britain than the possession of the thirteen colonies (of America);

for it will give the complete command of the iron trade to this

country; with its vast advantages to navigation。〃  It is scarcely

necessary here to point out how completely the anticipations of Lord

Sheffield have been fulfilled; sanguine though they might appear to

be when uttered some seventy…six yea
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