RUSSIA.
1365
fo'aulic, by the compulsion of water-wheels, driven by falls°I water from greater or less heights. The “hammers”for breaking the ores are fixed in these works by what arecalled “ Ordons d drome they are of cast-iron, andUsually of six or eight poods weight each.
The staff employed for one of these principal furnaces,&C-, is composed of—
2 Masters.
2 Helps (aides).
8 Ordinary labourers.
8 Labourers for disposing and preparing thecharges.
4 Labourers for carrying the charges to thefurnace mouth.
3 Labourers for carrying away the scorke, the
pig, and run metal, &c.
2 Labourers to attend the blowing machines.
29 in all.]
10 Imperial Iron Works op Nijne-Tottrinsk.
Bar-iron, used chiefly for the manufacture of muskets,Prepared by the French method; also made by the openfo'e. Sheet-iron.
Boiler-plate iron, manufactured for the naval depart-ment.
[The processes of iron-plate making deserve a particularnotice. The making of iron-plates here is carried to greatperfection. The rollers used are not formed by the lathe,W cast at once with the requisite smoothness and regu-larity in moulds, rubbed over with graphite, which arekored at Yerkhnei Turinsk. While the plates are under-going the operation of rolling out, particular care is takenthat the edges be kept free from gaps by paring them^th large shears. They are then placed on layers of fromlO to 20 on an ingeniously-contrived moving bench, whichPasses them to and fro under a hammer of 40 poods’height, by which both sides are alternately exposed to its^tion, whilst a man carefully brushes off the scales thatare continually produced on the surface. The black iron8 heets have been long applied to the manufacture of agreat variety of utensils, besides being used in coveringthe roofs of houses, as the excellent quality of the metalenables it to assume any degree of tensity. Plates, orar skine, 28 inches in breadth and 2 in length, will some-times weigh not more than 2-| lbs. The parings from theedges were formerly worked up into Uklad steel, as it is-ailed ; but now they are mixed with half their weight ineharcoal and converted into bar-iron. This is a saving ofa tenth of the iron, so that the entire loss in the production
sheet-iron is only T ^ g to lbs. The sheets used forc °Vering houses usually measure two square arshines.~\
■*-1 Imperial Iron Works or Yerkhne-Barant-
CHINSK.
n aV^d iron of different forms and dimensions ; pre-R r ed by the French method.
4 Imperial Iron Works op Yerkhne-Toerinsk.•^ijvS iron, obtained from the mixture of magnetic oreSnug ^ rowu iron-stone; used only for the casting of heavy
^ Imperial Iron Works oe Yotkinsk,
^ Government of Viatica.
eo u ddlmg-ir 0n of various sizes, manufactured with char-m * , an d only once worked ; also doubled up, welded, and°I "various sizes ; boiler plate; the same processce ^peated, of various sizes. Iron prepared in open
forges, and rolled, of various sizes. Sheet iron and boilerplate, made by the same process. Cemented steel, manu-factured from scrap iron. Cast steel, manufactured fromthe above, and rolled.
[M. Eversmann has thus described these works visitedby him, and subsequently by Mr. Erman:—“ On approach-ing Yotka, or Yiatka, through the villages of Rossalin,Polosova, and Kilchi, all inhabited by Russians , theground sinks rapidly near that place, and the travellerbecomes aware of the elevation of the country which hehas left. The iron works of Yotka, belonging to theCrown, are situate at the junction of two small streamswhich, united with the Siva, run into the Kawa, abouttwenty versts lower down.
The raw iron procured at Kushva, on the eastern slopeof the Mai (in lat. 58° 16'' 32" H.), may be carried downby an uninterrupted water communication to Yotka, adistance in a straight line of 224 geographical miles :first it goes westward down the Chusonaya, then south-westward down the Kama, then about seventy miles, orfive times the direct distance, against the streams of theSiva and Yotka, into the pond at the factory, which ismade by damming up the two rivulets, and the water ofwhich serves to drive some overshot wheels.
At the smelting-houses at Yotka there were living in1812 a population of 6,000 souls, which would be in-creased, however, to double that number if we were to addthe inhabitants of the villages belonging to the district.Fourteen smelting-furnaces, with a corresponding numberof hammers and various other machinery, serve to preparethe iron used for the artillery. But, besides these, ships’anchors, and iron pots or crucibles for melting the silverin the Mint at St. Petersburg , are wrought at Yotka in themost perfect manner.
Anchors weighing from one to five tons are made ofbars welded together, and experience has led to a re-sult which is theoretically very interesting, namely, thatin order to give the shaft and arms of the anchor thegreatest possible tenacity, the outer bars alone must bewelded together in perfect continuity, the inner ones beingleft more loosely combined. The lighter anchors are deli-vered at St. Petersburg at the price of about nine roublesthe hundred-weight, including cost of carriage. Those ofgreat weight are relatively cheaper.
The forging of the iron crucibles in Yotka is a re-markable operation, the largest of them, weighing 23 cwt.,were capable of melting at once 100 to 4,000 poods ofsilver.]
14 Imperial Manueactory oe Fire-arms oeZlataoust, Government of OrenbiM'g , dis-trict of Zlataoust.
Raw steel, used for making the reforged refined steel.Blister steel, used for manufacturing different tools. Twicereforged steel, used for manufacturing sword-blades. Caststeel, used for file-cutters, chisels, blades, surgical cutlery,and dies for stamping coins. Damasc steel, manufacturedin small quantities, for ornamenting Asiatic weapons.Cast Damasc steel, of a superior quality, for the aboveuse.
[The department of Zlataousk possesses three smelting-works for the treatment of iron ores. The ore of sevenlarge deposits in the vicinity of Zlataousk contains oxideof iron, either in the mass or in nodules, alternating withmica-schist, stea-schist, &c., in a bed of granite. Thisore is very rich, yielding from 50 to 60 per cent, ofmetal.
Zlataoust is described as being the great centre of the