(21) Carron, V. IN CLACKMANNANSHIRE IV. IN STIRLINGSHIRE first place in Scotland where iron-works were The progress of the Scottish iron trade appears from the quantity of pig-iron produced in Scotland at different periods, as shown in the following table: The number of Scottish furnaces in blast, thus amounts to eighty-five; and, if to these are added about twenty new furnaces building, or about to be built, in Ayrshire, Linlithgowshire, and Fifeshire, the total number of furnaces at work in Scotland will, ere long, be 105, each yielding on an average 100 tons of metal per week, and producing together, in the year, upwards of 500,000 tons of pig-iron, being not much less than half the present total produce of England. What a contrast is this to the former state of the iron trade in Scotland. In the forty years that elapsed betwixt 1788 and 1827, the quantity of iron made increased only from 7000 to 36,000 tons, while, during the period from 1827 to 1845-not more than eighteen years-the quantity has risen to 400,000 tons, and will soon reach half a million. 1788, Number of tons of pig-iron produced, 7,000 now applied, as compared with former periods. 1796, 1820, 1827, 1843, 1845, Ditto, Ditto, Ditto, Ditto, (estimated,) The average produce of each furnace at the same periods may next be given : 400,000 No doubt, much of the rapid improvement in the iron trade throughout the country, is justly to be ascribed to the numerous purposes to which iron is 16,086 When the Carron Works were established, and 20,000 for many years after, the grates and other house36,000 hold articles for which these works became cele280,000 brated, were almost the only iron objects with which our eyes were familiar. But now, whereever we turn, we are met by iron. If we walk into the country, we see the clumsy wooden gates that long asserted their right to protect the farmer's enclosures, supplanted by iron. Pass from the country to the city, and we observe our churches, shops, and buildings all supported on pillars of iron, and our areas enclosed with iron. Travel by railroad from city to city, and we find ourselves propelled by iron, and flying upon iron. Cross along a bridge from one side of a river to another, And, in order to complete the general view of and, in many instances, we observe the bridge conthe subject, we subjoin a state, showing the num-structed of and suspended by iron. Leave the land ber and the distribution of furnaces in Scotland at the present time : Annually. T. C. Q. 1788, Av. prod. of each furnace, 875 0 0 1796, Ditto, Weekly. 16 16 0 912 0 0 2000 0 0 38 5200 0 0 100 00 In blast. Out of blast. Total. 1 journey, and enter the steam-boat, and still we are incased in sheets of iron. In short, iron is everywhere on the aggressive; and we shall not be surprised to hear by and by of iron floors, iron beds, and iron tables, as well as of the iron houses which 6 are occasionally to be seen on their way to other climates. This universal demand for iron, accounts for the 4 rapid progress of the iron trade; and the improve6ments made from time to time in the manufacture 5 5 1 3 8 2 2 4 5 1 15 5 4 2 7 3 440 When this discovery was first announced, it was ridiculed and laughed at as the visionary idea of a person unacquainted with the subject. Practical men had long been universally agreed that the colder the blast the better the iron; and their opinion appeared to be confirmed by the circumstance that blast furnaces wrought better and produced more iron in winter than in summer. Acting upon these views, the efforts of iron-masters had always been directed to the cooling of the blast; and various were the expedients devised for that purpose. There were instances even of the regulator being painted white, as the "coolest color;" of the air being passed over water, and of the air-pipes being surrounded with ice; all showing the exertions made in order to keep the blast cold. Nor was this notion confined to practical men. The scientific world was equally unenlightened on the subject and it was stated in the London Cyclopædia, and Rees' Cyclopædia, that it was an advantage to use the blast as cold as possible. These savings amount, as has been seen, to five tons of coal, and half a ton of limestone (in materials ;) and (in money) to £1, 12s. 6d., on each ton of iron produced by hot-blast. And as, in Scotland, every furnace (with the exception of one at Carron) now uses the hotblast, the saving on our present produce of 400,000 tons of pig-iron, is 2,000,000 of tons of coals per annum, 200,000 tons of limestone per annum, and the sum of £650,000 sterling per annum. In England the saving will be still greater; but as we have no accurate information as to the precise number of furnaces there at present using hotblast, we cannot enter into details. Nor is it necessary to do so; for facts enough have been given to show the immense importance of the invention in question, and the debt which the iron trade and the country owe to Mr. Neilson, for thus economizing our most valuable resources. But, brilliant as is the result of Mr. Neilson's discovery, he had many difficulties to contend with; and it will not be uninteresting to endeavor to trace the history of his connexion with hotblast. In the New Statistical Account of Scotland, (article, Lanarkshire,) we find the following notice of Mr. Neilson's first introduction to the subject, which is the more valuable, as it appears to be drawn up from notes furnished by himself: It was against inveterate prejudices like these that the hot blast had to contend; but, in course of time, all prejudices gave way, and Mr. Neilson's invention came at length to be acknowledged as one of the most important ever discovered. Professor Forbes of Edinburgh states, that it is now generally used, not only in Scotland and England, but also in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Russia, Prussia, Silesia, Hesse, and America. Professor "In 1824, an iron-maker asked Mr. Neilson if Gregory of Aberdeen, characterizes it as the he thought it possible to purify the air blown into "greatest improvement with which I am acquaint- blast-furnaces, in a manner similar to that in ed." Mr. Mushet (whose name is distinguished which carburetted hydrogen gas is purified; and in connexion with blackband ironstone) describes it from this conversation, Mr. Neilson perceived that "as a wonderful discovery," and as one of the he imagined the presence of sulphur in the air to most "novel and beautiful improvements that I be the cause of blast-furnaces working irregularly, have known in my time." Mr. Houldsworth, a and making bad iron in the summer months. Scottish iron-master, says in regard to it, that "it Subsequently to this conversation, which had in has been the making of the iron trade in Scotland." some measure directed his thoughts to the subject Mr. Jessop, an extensive English iron-master, ex- of blast-furnaces, he received information that one presses his opinion, that it is "as great an advantage of the Muirkirk iron-furnaces, situated at a considin the iron trade as Arkwright's machinery was in erable distance from the engines, did not work so the cotton-spinning trade." And a writer in the En- well as the others; which led him to conjecture cyclopædia Britannica states, that it has "effected that the friction of the air, in passing along the an entire revolution in those branches of industry pipe, prevented an equal volume of the air getting and of commerce connected with the manufacture to the distant furnace, with that which reached to and application of the most valuable of metals." the one situated close by the engine; and he at After testimonials like these, the reader will nat-once came to the conclusion that, by heating the urally expect the utility of the invention to be great and palpable; and he will not be disappointed. The saving in every ton of iron made by the hotblast as compared with the cold-blast is, Quantity saved. Price Money saved. (2.) Limestone, Tons. Cwt. per Ton. 50 at 5s. 6d. £1 76 0 10 at 4s. Od. 5 10 0 20 0 30 air at the distant furnace, he should increase its volume in the ratio of the known law according to which air and gases expand. Thus, if 1000 cubic feet, say at 50° of Fahrenheit, were pressed by the engine in a given time, and heated to 600° of Fahrenheit, it would then be increased in volume to 21,044; and so on for every thousand feet that would be blown into the furnace. In prosecuting the experiments which this idea suggested, circumstances, however, convinced him, that heating the air introduced for supporting combustion into air-furnaces, would materially increase its efficacy in this respect; and, with the view of putting his suspicions on this point to the test, he instituted the following experiments :-To the nozzle of a pair of common smith's bellows he attached a cast-iron vessel, heated from beneath in the manner of a retort for Total, £1 126 And, at the same time, the furnace does double the work which it did with the cold-blast, whereby half the capital formerly required for the erection of furnaces is sufficient. Against this last benefit, however, has to be placed the expense of the apparatus for heating the air; and the one counter-generating gas; and to this vessel the blow-pipe, balances the other, so that neither requires to be taken into the account. The savings by the hot-blast arise, 1st., from it being unnecessary now to coke the coal used in the manufacture; 2d., from less raw coal being required as fuel; and, 3d., from less limestone being needed as flux. by which the forge or furnace was blown, was also attached. The air from the bellows having thus to pass through the heated vessel above mentioned, was consequently heated to a high temperature before it entered the forge fire, and the result produced in increasing the intensity of the heat in the furnace was far beyond his expectation; whilst it made apparent the fallacy of the generally received | ature be kept to a red heat, or nearly so; but so theory, that the coldness of the air of the atmos- high a temperature is not absolutely necessary to phere in the winter months was the cause of the produce a beneficial effect. best iron being then produced. But in overthrowing the old theory, he had also established new principles and facts in the process of iron-making; and by the advice and assistance of his friends, he applied for and obtained a patent, as the reward of his discovery and improvement.' The friends to whose advice and assistance Mr. Neilson resorted, were Mr. Charles Macintosh of Crossbasket, Mr. Colin Dunlop of Clyde ironworks, and Mr. John Wilson of Dundyvan ironworks; and as capital was required to perfect the invention, and combined energy and influence were needed to introduce into practice what was then reckoned a useless innovation, Mr. Neilson saw it for his interest to communicate to these gentlemen a share in the patent. "To Mr. Dunlop of Clyde Iron Works," says the writer in the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Mr. Neilson had to give up three tenths of his patent rights; to Mr. Macintosh three tenths; and one tenth to Mr. Wilson of Dundyvan, retaining to himself only three tenths of this valuable monopoly. But the transfer was judicious-it was necessary. Mr. Macintosh is distinguished as a man of much practical science; Mr. Dunlop was one of the most sagacious ironmasters of his time; and Mr. Wilson was a man of tried practical talent. The cooperation of these gentlemen was essential to the speedy and successful trial of the novel though simple process." The patent was taken out on the 1st October, 1828, and endured for the ordinary term of fourteen years. Its title, which was written by Lord Brougham, describes it to be an "invention for the improved application of air to produce heat in fires, forges, and furnaces, where bellows or other blowing apparatus are required." Within four months after the date of the patent, a specification was, as usual, lodged in chancery, explaining the nature of the invention. The specification in this case, which was drawn up by the late Serjeant Bompas, is as remarkable for its perspicuity and brevity as the generality of specifications are for their obtuseness and length. It is in these (2.) The air-vessel, or receptacle, may be conveniently made of iron; but as the effect does not depend upon the material, other metals or convenient materials may be used. 66 (3.) The size of the air-vessel must depend upon the blast, and on the heat necessary to be produced. For an ordinary smith's fire, or forge, an air-vessel, or receptacle, capable of containing 1200 cubic inches, will be of proper dimensions; and for a cupola of the usual size for cast-iron founders, an air-vessel capable of containing 10,000 cubic inches will be of a proper size. For fires, forges, or furnaces upon a greater scale, such as blast-furnaces for smelting iron, and large cast-iron founders' cupolas, air-vessels of proportionally increased dimensions and numbers will be required. (4.) The form or shape of the vessel or receptacle is immaterial to the effect, and may be adapted to the local circumstances or situation. 66 (5.) The air-vessel may generally be conveniently heated by a fire distinct from the fire to be affected by the blast or current of air; and gener ally it will be better that the air-vessels, and the fire by which it is heated, should be enclosed in brick-work or masonry, through which the pipes, or tubes connected with the air-vessel, should pass." And the patentee concludes his specification by reverting to the substantial part of his invention, and inserts this general salvo "The manner of applying the heat to the airvessel is, however, immaterial to the effect, if it be kept at a proper temperature." In other words, "get my air heated. I don't care how you do it; the manner is nothing to me; it is sufficient for my purpose to have heated air blown into the furnace." Having now obtained their patent and lodged their specification, Mr. Neilson and his partners proceeded to have the invention brought into use at the blast furnaces of Great Britain. The first thing to be done was to determine the charge which they were to make for it. They appear to have been all agreed that, following the example of Watt,* it should be a proportion of saving effected by employing the patent. They seem, however, to have differed for a time as to what that proportion ought to be; but ultimately concurred in fixing it at the low sum of one shilling for each ton of iron produced by the hot-blast. No doubt this moderate charge was made, in order to ensure the introduction of the patent into speedy use, as well as to prevent its infringement. How far the latter object was attained, will shortly be seen. The former object was speedily realized both in England and Scotland. The first trials were made in Scotland at the blast-furnaces of Clyde and Calder. Gradually it was extended from time to time to other parts of Scotland, and to the mining districts of England. And, ultimately, when the patent expired on the 1st October, 1842, it was to be found at every furnace in Scotland, with one exception; at one *The object and result of Watt's invention was (by condensing in a separate vessel) the saving of fuel; and the remuneration he asked and obtained, was a per centage of this saving. In like manner, the object and effect of Neilson's invention was the saving of fuel and that principally in the manufacture of iron," &c. half of the furnaces in England; and at many (James Beaumont Neilson, engineer in Glasgow, furnaces on the continents of Europe and Amer-by letters patent, dated the 1st day of October, ica. 1828, and to be now vested in him and Charles Mackintosh of Campsie, and John Wilson of Dundyvan, and the trustees of the late Colin Dunlop of Tolcross, and of the claims founded by those parties on certain licenses or agreements between them and various of the subscribers, proceeding upon the said letters patent, do hereby agree and bind themselves to institute, defend, carry on, and During this period, considerable improvements were made in the shape of the air-heating vessels. At first these vessels were in the form of a round, or a square, or a cylindrical box-then they became more elongated-next partitions were placed in them and latterly the form adopted has been a congeries of tubes, whereby the greatest extent of heating surface is obtained for the thor-follow out to a conclusion, such actions, and genough heating of the air. These improvements in the heating vessels raised the temperature of the air introduced into the furnace froin 240° to 600°, being the temperature of melting lead. ing repetition of the sums paid by the subscribers in consequence thereof, and generally for challenging, opposing, and obtaining redress against the claims set up by the said James Beaumont Neilson and others, and that in the name of the subscribers, or any of them, or of any other parties as may be advised by the said Duncan M'Neill and Robert Whigham, or the survivor of them, and to pay the expense of all such proceedings, and to relieve any cautioners who may become bound; or, if required to become cautioners themselves, for preventing or removing any interdict which may be applied for by the said James Beaumont Neilson and others, against any of the subscribers, and generally, to bear the whole conse erally to adopt such proceedings, judicial and extrajudicial, as Duncan M'Neill and Robert Whigham, Esquires, advocates, or the survivor of them, shall advise to be expedient and proper for setting aside the said letters patent, and for resisting the And this increased heat caused the introduction enforcement of the claims founded by the said of another beautiful improvement in order to pro-James Beaumont Neilson and others thereon, and tect the nozzle of the air-pipe as it entered the on the said licenses or agreements, and for obtainfurnace. The improvement referred to, consisted in introducing, within the sides of the iron twyre through which the nozzle passes, a spiral pipe for a stream of water constantly to play. The twyre was thus kept comparatively cool, and formed an effectual protection to the nozzle of the air-pipe.* All these improvements tended to illustrate more strikingly the worth of Mr. Neilson's invention, and to bring it more rapidly into use. But, notwithstanding its great advantage to the iron masters, and the moderate remuneration asked from them in return, the patent did not escape the usual fate of valuable patents. It was soon the subject of litigation. The first litigation occurred in 1832. A party in Scotland who had obtained a license to use the patent at the stipulated price, re-quences of opposing and resisting the claims of the fused, in that year, to pay the license duty; and contended, in the usual style of objectors to patents, that Mr. Neilson was not the first and true inventor that the invention was not new-that it was not useful-that it was a patent for a mere principle that the specification was unintelligible and inexplicit-and, finally, that the apparatus used by the objectors did not fall under the patent. But this first litigation did not last beyond a year. In 1833, it was settled by the party objecting giving way, paying for the past, and taking a license of new, which the patentees granted at the same rate as previously. said James Beaumont Neilson and others, all in proportion to the quantity of pig-iron made at the iron works of the subscribing parties respectively, during the continuance of the said proceedings; and they bind themselves severally to make no payments to, and to enter into no compromise or arrangement of any kind, with the said James Beaumont Neilson and others, excepting such as shall be approved of in writing, by at least so many of the subscribers as shall be the proprietors of a majority in number of the furnaces in blast at the time belonging to the whole body of the subscribers, and as shall be made upon terms common to all the subscribers; but the minority shall be obliged to enter into any arrangement made by such majority, on terms common to all; and it is hereby agreed that each of the subscribers may employ such agent in Edinburgh as he shall think fit, but But in 1839 the patent was again disturbed. that the said Duncan M'Neill and Robert WhigDuring the interval the embers of the old litigation ham, with such other council as they, or the maseem never to have been wholly extinguished; and jority of the said agents, may consider necessary, they now broke out of new with greater force than shall be the council employed in conducting the before. The same parties appeared as objectors a said proceedings; and in the event of any differsecond time; but, on this occasion, they were sup-ence arising as to the meaning or effect of this ported by several of the other Scotch iron-mas- agreement, or as to the apportionment of the liabilters, who entered into a combination to defeat the ities hereby undertaken, the same is hereby referred patent. The objects of this powerful confederacy to the said Duncan M'Neill and Robert Whigham, were embodied in a formal deed, executed in Jan- or the survivor of them, who shall have power to uary, 1840, which, from its novelty, is worthy take such assistance in determining the same as of being preserved. It was in these formidable they shall think fit, and whose decision shall be final."* From 1833 to 1839, Mr. Neilson and his friends remained in the undisputed possession of the patent, and drew, from year to year, the profits of the invention, which, by 1839, appear to have amounted to many thousand pounds per annum. terms: "The subscribers hereto named and designed in the testing clause hereof, being all interested in the iron trade, and in opposing the enforcement of certain privileges alleged to have been conferred on *Mr. John Condie, sometime manager at the Blair Iron Works, claims the merit both of introducing the improved tubular air-vessels, and the water twyre. *When thus recording the names of the very able council selected by Mr. Neilson's opponents, it is right also to mention that the management of Mr. Neilson's case was entrusted to Mr. Rutherford, M. P. for Leith, and Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, whose eminent talent shone conspicuously at every stage of the litigation. In fact, he seems never to have lost a single point. The impetus given to the iron manufacture by the introduction of the hot-blast has greatly enriched proprietors and manufactures of minerals, as must be apparent from the tabular view we furnished of the rapid progress of the trade during the last eighteen years. Proprietors, whose lands previously yielded only a few hundred pounds a year, are receiving thousands of pounds by the opening up of their minerals;† and the profits of the manufacturers may be judged of from the fact, that the nett profits of one firm amounted, for the seven years from the 31st May, 1832, to 31st May, 1839, to £214,800, 8s., or at the rate of £30,000 a year; and, for the year from 21st May, 1839, to 31st May, 1840, it has increased to £54,855, ls. 5d. Their profits since, and particularly at present, must be enormous. The litigation betwixt the parties, which was be placed upon it would be to present him as thus so boldly recommenced, continued from 1839 standing betwixt the blowing cylinder and the to 1844; and the law charges expended on each blast-furnace, intercepting and heating the air in side could not have been less than £20,000. its passage from the one to the other. Such would There appear to have been about twenty separate be a vivid picture of Neilson's invention.* Scottish actions going on at the same time, in all the varied forms of interdicts, declarators, and damages. Every point was contested to the utmost. Twice were Neilson's claims submitted to and sustained by a jury; and twice were appeals taken to the House of Lords. The first jury trial occupied six days, and thirty-eight witnesses were examined. The second trial lasted ten days, and one hundred and two witnesses were examined. But, at length, the objectors finally abandoned farther litigation; and paid, in different proportions, to Mr. Neilson and his friends, a very large amount, as a compromise and settlement of the litigations,-being, in some cases fifteen times, in others ten times, and in others seven and a half times, the sums which they would have had to pay had they not disputed the patent. In other words, in place of paying only one shilling per ton, on The demand for iron is still on the increase, and the iron produced, some had to pay 7s. 6d. per appears to have reached the point when it has exton, some 10s. per ton, and some 15s. per ton. ceeded the present means of its supply. Owing The litigation also extended to England, where to the immense number of railways in progress there were several actions, one jury trial, and one and in agitation, it is anticipated that about two appeal to the House of Lords-in all of which millions of tons per annum will be required to be Mr. Neilson was successful. But these were like-made during this and the next two years. Such a wise settled about the same time, although nothing more than the license-duty was recovered. The hot-blast patent has thus passed through an ordeal the most severe that any patent ever encountered. But the result has been to establish the novelty and merit of the discovery, and the claims of Mr. Neilson as its sole inventor. Like Watt, he had to part with two thirds of the profits, in order to secure the capital influence necessary to bring his invention into use. Like Arkwright, he had to encounter three trials at law, for the protection of his patent. But (unlike Cartwright, whose invention was only beginning to be introduced in the last year of his patent,) Neilson was successful in drawing a large pecuniary return from his patent for at least eight years of its duration. What the precise amount of that return may have been, the proceedings in the litigations do not show. But, looking to the quantity of iron produced during the period of the patent by the hot-blast process, and to the sums paid at the close of the litigations, the profits of the proprietors cannot have been less than £300,000, of which Neilson's share would be £90,000. Neilson was satisfied with this reward, and did not apply for a renewal of his patent. He has now, we understand, retired from active business, though by no means an old man; and is enjoying, in the seclusion of the Island of Bute, the quietness of a country life. His name is identified with the greatest improvement that has yet been discovered in one of our staple manufactures; and will pass down to posterity, as not unfit to be associated, in point of usefulness to his country, with the names of Watt, and Arkwright, and Cartwright. Were any tribute to be paid him, either now or hereafter, the most appropriate device that could * Dr. Roebuck, the founder of the Carron Iron Works, and the lessee of the extensive coal-works at Kinneal, was the first party to whom Watt made over two thirds of his patent; but the doctor became involved in difficulties, and his share was transferred to Mr. Boulton. t Arkwright was unsuccessful at his first trial-gained his second and lost his third. quantity cannot be calculated on. The supply will probably fall short of it by a quarter of a million; and the effect will be a great increase in the price of iron. But if this increase shall be the means of checking the universal and reckless speculation in railways that prevails amongst all classes-from the merchant of highest standing to the waiter in our country inn-none need regret although prices are doubled or tripled for a time. It will be the most natural check that can be applied, and much more effectual than any legislative measures on the subject. But, amid the blazing of the iron-furnaces, the improvements that have been introduced into the manufacture, the profits that are derived from it in *We have already given the saving to the producer by Neilson's invention; and we ought also to have mentioned the saving to the consumer. The following moderate estimate has been made of this last saving. It refers to a previous statement on the subject, which, howin my former statement which might have been more ever, it is unnecessary to quote:-"There is one feature forcibly brought out, as marking the great benefit which the country in general has derived from the application of heated air in the smelting of iron. It would be observed, that I gave the January prices (as being usually the lowest) for the last twenty-five years. The average rate for the first ten years, 1821 to 1830 inclusive, when cold-blast was in operation, is £7, 2s. 6d. per ton, while the average of the last ten years, 1835 to 1844, inclusive, under hot-blast, is £3, 17s. 6d., giving a benefit to the conSupposing the make to have been equal to 100,000 tons sumers of Scotch pig-iron of no less than £3, 5s. per ton. per annum, for the last ten years, and I am persuaded this is not far from the mark-the saving of cost to the coun try amounts to £3,250,000, on the article of iron made in this quarter, besides the impetus which it has given to every branch of trade where iron is consumed."-Correspondence of Mining Journal, 8th February, 1845. "The great iron works of Gartsherrie, Summerlee, Calder, Dundy van, and Chapel Hall, receive a great quantity of ironstone from Rochsilloch, the property of Sir William Alexander. The black band here yields from 30 to 40 per cent. of iron. The output at Rochsilloch alone is 4.500 tons per month, and the annual income to the proprietor is about £12,600 per annum, from a property which, if only let for tillage, would only yield a few hundreds per annum."-New Stat. Account of ScollandLanarkshire. Evidence in Baird's Trial. |