Kingdom.]

Class 1.—MINING AND MINERAL PRODUCTS.South Side—Areas S. 1 to S. 27.

149

Ystalyfera anthracite pig-iron, and exhibited in the dif-ferent processes, from the puddled ball to the tin andterne-plate. The same in wire.

Tin-plates: tin and black-plates, made at Llanelly,Glamorganshire , from Yniscedwyn anthracite pig-iron.Tin and terne-plates, of various sizes and thicknesses, of

the brand Tin and black-plates from Lydbrook.

Patent lap-welded boiler tubes, plain and enamelled,of various lengths and dimensions, brass ferruled. Atube 7 inches diameter, 13 feet 4-£ inches long. Cor-rugated enamelled roofing-plates, in colours. Tire bars,fractured.

The above-mentioned specimens are not manufacturedfor any special purpose, but are the fair average qualityof each particular mark. These marks are well known tothe trade, and are extensively used alike for home con-sumption as for export. •

[The iron furnaces of the United Kingdom , in numberabout 450, of which 7 per cent, may be out of blast,consume annually about 10,000,000 tons of coal, and7,000,000 tons of ironstone, in order to make 2,400,000tons of pig-iron, which is the estimated quantity for 1851,at an average cost of 485. or 50s. per ton, taking allqualities, from No. 1 cold blast to No. 4 hot blast, in therange. The mill power (which can if necessary be ex-tended) at present produces annually 1,000,000 tons ofrails, bars, boiler-plates, hoop-iron, and the various de-scriptions of manufactured iron required for differentindustrial productions, for export and home consump-tion. The home consumption is an average in weight ofabout 1J cwt. per head for the population, and from thefacility with which it is procured by every manufacturerin the United Kingdom , it affords the means of subsist-ence and profit to a larger amount of industrial handsthan any other.]

412 The Ebbw Yale Company, near Abergavenny , and83 Upper Thames Street —Producer.

Samples of coal and iron-stone, with foils, from theEbbw Yale iron-works, in Wales, and the Coalbrook Dale iron-works, in Shropshire .

Maps showing the strata, vertically, of the SouthWalesand Shropshire mineral fields. Model of the mineralworkings, taken both vertically and horizontally, of theEbbw Vale estate. Working model of blast furnaces,showing the mode of using the gases and economisingfuel. Pieces of various pattern rails, bar-iron, angle-iron,&c. Samples of rails, full length, and other descrip-tions.

[The South Welsh coal-field has been elsewhere de-scribed. The Coalbrook-dale field contains 32 squaremiles of workable coal, the average number of seamsbeing 17 , and the average thickness of the principal seamsthiee feet. The field is much faulted, some of the dis-locations amounting to 600 or 700 feet. The coal is oft e kind called slate coal, and contains from 1 to 3 peroent. ash. The percentage of carbon is 56 to 64. Veryexcellent iron is made from several seams of clay-iron oremterstratified with the coal, and yielding upwards of threetons of ore per square yard.

The Ebbw Vale coal is brilliant, brittle, lights easily, andyields a clear fire. It is light, weighing 53§ lbs. to thecube foot.

It contains 89-78 carbon; 5-15 hydrogen ; 2-16 nitro-gen; 1-02 sulphur; 0-39 oxygen, and 1*50 ash. Thecoal yielding the above analysis is that known as the

Ebbw Vale 4 feet steam coal.” The mine is 400 to 500feet deep.—D. T. A.]

413 Sutcliffe, Johj* Clarkson, Barnsley — Producer.

Model of Honey Well Colliery, Barnsley , showing themanner in which it is worked and ventilated*.

[The method of working coal, adopted in the Yorkshire mines generally, is that known as the long wall, and isdistinguished from the Newcastle, or pillar-and-stallmethod, by extracting at once all available coal, insteadof first taking a small proportion and leaving the rest inthe form of pillars. The selection of the method ofworking should depend on the conditions of the mine;and generally the long-wall system may be consideredadmissible where ironstone occurs with the coal, the coalbeing thin* or the floor and roof soft, the royalty small,the general superincumbent mass compact, and the waternob very troublesome.

When, however, there is much gas, where the coal isdeep and the quantity to be extracted from one set ofworkings very considerable, and the water troublesome,it cannot generally be recommended.

In working the long-wall method, it is usual to put apair of levels from the shafts, and carry drifts at once tothe extremity of the intended workings; and then, re-moving the coal from the end, the roof is allowed to fall,leaving only an air-way round the outside of the fallenmass (gob), cut in the solid coal. The gob is often partlyfilled with the rubbish removed in getting the coal.—D.T.A.]

413a James, John, Blaina, near Abergavenny , Wales —Inventor.

Model of a blast furnace for smelting iron ore.

[“Smelting” is the process of reducing an ore to thestate of a metal. The ore is first calcined or roasted bybeing burned with coal in the open air, until the water,sulphur, and carbonic acid are driven off; which, if notseparated before going into the furnace, would injure thequality of the iron. The roasted ore, coke for burning,and limestone for a flux, are then thrown into the fur-nace, in the proportions of 14£ tons of coke, 16 of roastedore, and 6f tons of limestone for every 7 tons of metalrequired. The “blast” is the stream of air thrown intothe furnace by machinery, for promoting rapid combus-tion ; the pipes conveying the “blast” are called the“tuyeres,” and the ends from which the air issues arecalled the “nose pipes,” or “nozzles.” Some of thelarge Welsh furnaces contain 150 tons of ignited material,and 20,000 cubic feet of air are forced into them perminute.—S. C.]

414 Dickinson, J., F.G.S., Inspector of Coal Mines,Birmingham — Producer,

Section of the strata in the coal and ironstone mines atDowlais and Merthyr Tidvil, South Wales.

415 Beecroft, Butler, & Co., Leeds, and 8 PancrasLane, London — Manufacturers.

Pieces of best double-fagoted railway axles, in the forgedstate, cut to show the mode of manufacture; and broken,to show the fibre in fracture.

Pieces of best quality of railway tire-bar, in the forgedstate, cut to show the mode of manufacture; and broken,to show the fibre in fracture.

Railway tires, and double-fagoted railway axles, bestquality, and double-fagoted cart and carriage axles, inforged state, bent cold in different forms, to exhibit thetoughness, soundness, and strength of the material.

[As the speed of the locomotive steam-engine becamedeveloped, many results presented themselves which were