The Iron Age 1904-03-03: Vol 73 Iss 9

THE [RO};,.AGE A Review of the Hardware, Iron, Machine ° eat al Trades. Published every Thursday Morning by David Williams Co,, 232-238 William St.. New York, Vol. 73: No. 9. New York, Thursday, March 3, 1904. SR00 0 Vers, Sates ae Single Copies, 15 Cents. Reading Matter Contents........ page 66), Alphabetioal Index to Advertisers ‘‘ 23! Classified List of Advertisers... ‘‘ 223 Advertising and Subscription Rates *‘ 230 The .32 Automatic Colt Pistol Cabetdee is loaded with a special high power smokeless powder. giviog _ velocity and operating freely through the mechanism of the Automatic Colt Pistol (pocket model). Those with the soft —_ bullet wiil be found desirable for sporting purposes, and those with metal case military and target use. RIM FIRE CARTRIDGES. The U. M. C. .22 automatic rifle (Winchester model 1908) cartridge is now ready for the market. New .%3@ short ungreased, .22 long ungreased, and .22 Winchester inside lubricated are inexpensive rim fire cartridges loaded with the best grade of smokeless powder. Boys are calling for these cartmdges as they can be carried loose in the pocket without the old inconvenience of the greased cartridge. They will not lead the gun. THE BRISTOL COMP . U. M. C. Ammunition shoots well in any gun. Waterbury, Conn. THE UNION METALLIC CARTRIDGE CO. Bristol’s Recording ts BRIDGEPORT, CONN, Instruments. Agency : 313-16 Broadway, New York ity. Depot: 86-88 First St., San Francisco, Gal. Bor Piand Electricity. ' Silver Medal, Puris Exposition. All Ranges, Low Pri and Guar aoteed. Send for Circulars. SAMSON SPOT CORD abe esingborgeaste feet SAMSON CORDAGF WORKS, Boston, Mass. TURNBUCKLES. C3 GAPEWELL HORSE NAILS THE CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL COMPANY BASIC PIG. |/ HARTFORD, CON Girard Bopéing Phiia, REGULAR PATTERN. PILLING & GRANE, essissnee, arts 6} <n = CY Jenkins Bros.’ Valves. z i ch Office. Bronguay Clevelonde City Forge ae Iron Co., 7 my. oO. F NEW YORK, Branches 2 PORTLAND, ORE., LADELP BUFFALO TURNBUCEHE TES: < CHICAGO,” ~—s DETROIT, BALTIMORE, MERRILL BROS., 8ST. LOUIS, CINCINNATI, NEW ORLEANS, — TD ime 465 to 471 Kent Ave . Ww gosTON, SAN FRANCISCO, DENVER. Brooklyn, E.D.. N.Y. e : J a wBlivd aszivenuyoo On The metal and workmanship are the best. All parts are interchange P A oe E 3 ] able. Need no regrinding, as they are more effectively repaired by re- newing the disc, which can be easily and quickly done without removing valve from the pipe, and costs but a trifle. Insist on having the genuine, the’ which always bear our Trade-Mark. American ee ~~ _JENKING BROS., NewYork, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, London. C 1 . ‘6 99 ™ + Sheet & Tin Plate Co. “megan” | fd Rolled Stee oo fawing and amping publishes an enumeration cemenidll rae AMERICAN [USE Ss ST hermes COMPANY = 33, of the various kinds of Iron and Steel Sheets and Tin and Terne Plates which are produced at MAGNOLIA METAL. Best Anti-Friction Metal for all Machinery Bearings. it i k imitations. its several works. - MAGNOLIA METAL CO., —_ - soe Owners and Sole Manufacturers, 113-115 Bank Street, etn mg treal, Boston. Chicago, Fisher Bidg. NEW YORK. Pitan ce of Babbitt Metals at pot 2 THE IRON AGE. ous ao gunn BRASS; =, BRASS AND COPPER COPPER ae Seamless Tubes, Sheets, Rods and Wire. Taos GERMAN | s#eet Tobin Bronze} SILVER | “nc Condenser Piates,Pump Linings, Round, Square and Hexagon Bars, for Pump Piston Rods and Bolt Forgings. Seamless Tubes for Boilers and Condensers. 99 John Street, Randolph-Clowes Co. Main Office and Mill, WATERBURY, CONN. MANUFACTURERS OF SHEET BRASS & COPPER. BRAZED BRASS & COPPER TUBES. SEAMLESS BRASS & COPPER TUBES TO 36 IN. DIAM. New York Office, 253 Broadway, Postal Telegraph Building, Room 715. Office, 602 Fisher Bldg. LOW BRASS, SHEET BRONZE. SEAMLESS BRASS AND COPPER TUBING. BRAZED BRASS AND New York. - BRONZE TUBING. ees 22-8 SF WATERBURY BRASS C0., WATERBURY, CONN. 130 Centre St., New York. Providence, R. I. Bridgeport Deoxidized Bronze & Metal 9 BRIDGEPORT, GONN. Automobile Castings a Specialty. High Tensile Strength. Bronze and Aluminum Alloys. Write Us. Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co., LA SALLE, ILLINOIS. SMELTERS OF SPELTER AND MANUFACTURERS OF SHEET ZINC AND SULPHURIC ACID. Special Sizes of Zinc cut to order. Rolled Battery Plates. Selected Plates for Etchers’ and Lithographers’ use. Selected Sheets for Paper and Card Makers’ use. Stove and Washboard Blanks. ZINCS FOR LECLANCHE BATTERY. TUN etek 2 88-74 oF ae On Short Notice Best Bronze, Babbitt " we eats ae ya nS heen CASTINGS ww. @. RO ——_ siden. HENDRICKS BROTHERS PROPRIETURS OF THE Belleville Copper Rolling Mills, MANUFACTURERS OF Brazxicrs’ Bolt and Sheathing COPPER, COoOPrPwER VWI IRE AND RIVETS. Importers and Dealers in ingot Copper, Block .Tin, Spelter, Lead, Antimony, etc. 49 CLIFF ST., NEW YORK. AO Av a: THE PLUME & ATWOOD MF6, 0, MANUFACTURERS OF Sheet and Roll Brass —AND— WiR BG PRINTERS’ BRASS, JEWELERS’ METAL, GERMAN SILVER AND GILDING METAL, COPPER Rivets AND BURRS. Pins, Brass Butt Hinges, Jack Chain, Kero. sene Burners, Lamps, Lamp Trimmings, &c, — 29 MURRAY ST., NEW YORE. 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON, 199 LAKE ST., CHICAGO, ROLLING MILL : FACTORIES : THOMASTON, CONN. WATERBURY, CONN, SCOVILL MFG. CO., BRASS, GERMAN SILVER Reds, Boits and Tubes, Brass Shelis, Cups, Hinges, Buttons, Lamp Goods. SPECIAL BRASS GOODS TO ORDER Factories, WATERBURY, CONN. DEPOTS: NEW YORK, CHICAGO, BOSTON. JOHN DAVOL & SONS, AGENTS FOR Brooklyn Brass & Copper Co., DEALERS IN COPPER, TIN, SPELTER, LEAD, ANTIMONY. 100 John Street, - New York, Arthur T. Rutter SUCCESSOR TO WILLIAM S. FEARING 256 Broadway, NEW YORK. Small tubing in Brass, Copper, Steel, Aluminum, German Silver, &c. Sheet Brass, Copper and Ger- man Silver. Copper, Brass and German Silver Wire. Brazed and Seamless Brass and Copper Tube. Copper and Brass Rod. THE BRIDGEPORT BRASS CO., BRIDGEPORT, CONN, I9 Murray St., New York. 85-87 Pearl St., Boston. 17 N. 7th St., Philadelph':«. MANUFACTURERS OF Brass { SHEET ano 1 TUBING Copper | WIRE. Latp Geeds of all Kinds, BRASS AND COPPER GOODS In Great Varieties. The Gas Engine. A ee on the Sates: combustion engine. > alcohol . other Scout ; of energy. . Remsen Hutton. 483 pag illustrated. Chet ececcocceccescceececees For sale by David Williams Co., 232 Wililam St., WN. sene, $ ‘EFuHE FROoN:- AGE THuRSDAY, MARCH 3, 1904. Iron Making in the Philippines.* c Primitive Blast Furnaces in the Angat Iron Region, Bulacan, Physical and Geographical, The Province of Bulacan lies within the central part of Luzon, its boundaries touching those of Nueva Hcija on the north and northeast, Infanta on the east, Rizal on the south, Manila Bay on the south and southwest, and Pampanga on the west. The eastern boundary is part of the crest of the great cordillera of Luzon, and part of the western boundary is the extensive Candaba swamp. which marks a pronounced depression in the low plain between the cordillera and the Zambales range. In gen- sands of the mountain streams for gold, and the ¢cal- cining of limestone. Beyond these I could learn of no ac- tivity in this industry of any sort; and these, indeed, are now so extremely limited that they prove an exceedingly insignificant portion of the productive activity in this province. Beginning of the Bulacan Iron Industry. The history of iron mining in Bulacan is of more than ordinary interest. Romantic incidents are related by Foreman and others, of which we have no records in the bureau, and which will not be enlarged upon here. Of one thing, however, I am quite convinced—that some of the most interesting of all the chapters of the history of these mines are those missing from the records, echoes of which are sometimes heard from the natives of Angat, and evidences of which are seen in old abandoned pits, charcoal ovens, and slag dumps on the hills and moun- Fig. 1.—The Constancia Camarin (Furnace House). IRON MAKING IN eral, therefore, this province lies tilted toward the east and the rainfall caught in the mountains and foothills makes its way west, that part of the main range constitut- ing the extreme eastern boundary, the long spur running from the northeastern corner of the province almost to San Miguel de Mayumo, and the series of hills and foot- hills parallel to the range and extending west as far as Angat and San José del Monte, constitute the hilly por- tion of Bulacan, and this in area is a little over half the provinee. This is the undeveloped part, and it contains but a small portion of the population; and herein lie the mineral deposits and springs, the valuable forests, and the beautiful little mountain valleys and basins that must sooner or later prove very attractive to American farmers here. The Rio Grande de Pampanga flows across the south- western corner of the province, emptying into Manila Bay by many mouths. The Angat is the most important river in Bulacan and, with its many tributaries. it drains the greater portion of the province. The mineral industry of Bulacan is at present confined to the mining and smelting of iron, the washing of the * Extract from the report of H. D. McCaskey, mining en gineer fo. the Mining Bureau, Manila, P. I. THE PHILIPPINES. tain sides. Ruins of houses of the early ironmasters are also seen, and in Angat, Norzagaray, and other towns near by are still to be found old plates and bowls of cast iron, which indicate that in the years gone by the scope of this industry was much broader than it is now. The earliest record contained in the archives of this bureau, with reference to iron mining, bears the date December 12, 1781, and is the “ letter order” of instruc- tions to the Governor of Angat through the Governor of Bulacan from the Superior Government of Manila, to ren- der every possible assistance to Chaplain Don Juan Belli, of the Royal Armada, in the working of his mine. It seems that the chaplain was intrusted by the Government with the mining of ore and with the establishment of a smelting plant in the neighborhood of Angat, and that, after entering upon the work he found it necessary to complain to the officials in Manila that the natives of his vicinity were unsatisfactory as laborers, and, more than this, that they were ruining the road he had built to the mines by dragging over it the timber they were cutting in the mountains. The reply to this complaint was the very spirited order referred to above, in which the Gov- ernor of the Pueblo of Angat is instructed to prevent the cutting of timber within a distance of 1 league from the een te 2 THE IRON AGE. mines, without express permission, to prevent the use of the mine road for timber haulage by these natives, and to insist that the justices of Angat and others respect the power given to the governor to enforce orders. We find next that the owner of the mine, who, it de- velops, was not the Chaplain Don Juan Belli, but Sefior Lorenzo Lopez de Buycochea, renter of the cock pits, asks permission to sell his mine because of his advanced age and because of the accidents, not only to himself, but to the director, Padre Don Juan Belli. This was referred to the judge-advocate, Royal Palace, Manila, May 14, 1784, and on the 17th the judge-advocate advised the Superior Government that there was nothing to prevent the sale, it being understood that the conditions of concession be assumed by the purchaser. On August 7, 1784, we find dated the deed of sale of the mine, works, and all prop- erty pertaining thereto, for the sum of 11,000 pesos, to Don Felix de la Rosa, Lieutenant of the Battalion of the Royal Prince. So far as the records are concerned this pioneer iron mine of the Philippines was never named; and nothing is known of the dimensions of the property nor of the result of the workings, if even partial success was ever visited upon it. The next. that we learn in chronological order is that Don Santiago Hison, past captain of the Guild of Mes- tizos of Angat, petitions the gobernadorcillo of Angat that he be declared the discoverer of a mine on the Sapang-Bacal, at a considerable distance from the mines of the late Don Felix de la Rosa, and of the Escalantes. The Chinese ironmaster, Ong-Sayco, who has worked in the Bulacan smelters for over 30 years and who is to-day the maestro in charge of the new Constancia smelter, solicited on March 21, 1873, two pertenencias, which may have been upon the site of the old Buycochea claim, although no connection is made in the records tending to substantiate this statement. Through faults of omission, and because of real or imagined conflict with other claims, no concession was ever obtained by Ong- Sayco. The Constancia claim of ome wabtiadebles was reg- ularly solicited by Francisca Talag, on February. 22, 1879, and on August 13, 1880, the title of concession was. granted. The two claims of the Coenstancia lie imme- diately north of the Hison claim. The present claimant is Don Pedro Otaxyco, whose deed of purchase of one pertenencia from Dofia Francisca Talag bears the date of July 27, 1901. ‘The price paid was the remarkably small sum of 200 pesos. To the north of the Constancia pertenencias lies the single claim of the Sapang-Munti mine. This is on the headwaters of the Monta Muro Creek, whereas the others just mentioned lie in the mountain forming the west side of the Maon. The Sapang-Munti is a new claim and but little is known of it, excepting that it was regularly solicited on November 21, 1892, by Don Francisco San- chez. This mine was recently sold, I was informed dur- ing my stay in Bulacan, for the sum of 7000 pesos, to a new owner whose name I cannot recall, who proposed to combine forces with the Constancia smelter and work the deposit for a time. Features of the Deposits. The iron deposits of Angat lie, in general, in the crys- talline rocks of the western flanks of the cordillera. I have never heard of any deposits on the eastern side of the range. Among the spurs and more important hills forming the buttresses of this cordillera there are two crests running roughly parallel with the main range, the one beginning near Mount Buga and running to the west of the Sapa-Santol, or Santol Creek, and its headwaters, the Sapa-Tuyo, and terminating a short distance to the northwest of the Constancia claim; and another, possibly a detached continuation of the former, beginning south of Mount Tincugan and running north to the , Pahiripan Creek. The eastern side of the first range, draining into the Sapa-Santol, and the Sapa-Tuyo, the western side of the second, draining into the Monta Muro and the Pahiri- pan, and the western side of Mount Camanglao and the eastern side of a range without name, both drained by the Maon Creek, contain the iron deposits at present known. March 3, 1904 It must be confessed from the start that no mines exist in these hills. A mine, in the legal sense, is an un derground working requiring artificial lighting. The ligh' of common day is ample for all purposes at present in th« so-called mines of Angat. Nothing more, so far as I have been able to observe, or otherwise learn, has existed in these iron deposits than the mere sinking of shallow pits for distances of from 6 to 80 feet, through the overlying clay and talc, to reach the bed, or the “stripping” to equal depth; and it may be added that a large amount of the ore smelted in the past came from bowlders of hem atite and magnetite found in the beds of the moun tain streams. Old mine-pits.and trenches have become filled and overgrown with forest growth; and even the present limited workings, as above described, which are ample for the supply of the small number of diminutive furnaces in blast, are so completely surrounded with dense jungle and heavy growth that the study of the out- crop and strike, and, therefore, any estimate of the ex- tent or continuity of the beds, are quite impossible. All indications seem to me, after visiting and inspect- ing these isolated workings, to point to a more or less continuous bed, or a series of them, for the Angat coun- try at least. The country rock is massive and therefore no dip and strike of stratification are possible. The dips and strikes and thicknesses, however unsatisfactorily they may have been observed, are variable; but this would be expected even in highly contorted stratified rock. It may be safely prophesied that when. stratified formations are found in this region, as I expect them to be, they will be found lying with as many dips and strikes as the iron beds present to-day. Therefore, the various dips and strikes of these iron beds, as. observed, do not in themselves constitute an — to the theory of more or less. continuity. Details of Principal Claims. On the banks of the Monta Mura Creek, at Sapang- Munti, and at about the center of the claim, the bed of magnetite is extremely irregular, as elsewhere, and the strike is roughly from northeast to southwest. The bed is from 3% to 8 feet thick and lies almost vertical. The gangue is iron pyrites» with serpentine, lying in bands through the bed. The country rock here is a crystalline slate apparently of diabasic origin. — The. bed of ore on the Constancia claim, occurring on the steep banks of a little creek called Sapang-Tibagan, which empties into the Maon, has a strike of N. 30 de grees BE. and dips 55 degrees to S. 60 degrees E. The ore is hematite and magnetite and is singularly free from pyrites. Above the bed lies a variable thickness of clay resulting from the decomposition of the crystalline mas- sives, and immediately over the bed and, in the upper por- tions, mixed with it is found green foliated tale. The general thickness of the pure ore, so far as exposed, is from 5 to 6 feet, and with the mixtures of tale and clay the entire iron bearing bed may be estimated at from 16 to 18 feet. At the time of my visits, in March, 1902, there were two pits, one above the other, on the hillside, uncovering the ore bed. Two little mountain brooks flowing down the hillside eastward to the Maon uncover the present and the old workings of the Hison mine. The little streams are roughly parallel and are both difficult of passage. The northern flows over the outcrop of the present Hison workings, where there now stands a cabin erected by the American prospectors in this section. This stream is called the Tusig and its rocky course is the only thor- oughfare to the outcrop; the problem of transportation here, as elsewhere, is more than likely to be a serious one; but in this connection I may suggest that no diffi- culty seems to stand in the way of aérial wire tramway carriage. The stream bed is strewn with great bowlders of hematite weighing many tons, and this is precisely the reason that so little development has been done upon these deposits ; nature has mined the ore, and the smelter men, finding sufficient for their limited needs, have naturally not delved for more. The strike and dip of the Hison outcrop I could not even approximately determine as the sides of the stream bed are precipitous and heavily Varch 3, 1904 vergrown; the outcrop here is the only exposure and tle or no development work has been done. The de sit is from 35 to 50 feet thick—in fact, the natives say, obably with reason, that the “ mountain is iron ”’—and though the upper layers are impure with pyrites and eatite, the lower 12 to 15 feet are formed of a compact caceous hematite with apparently no foreign mineral. The workings of the Santa Lutgarda mine consist of o pits sunk for about 12 feet each through the over- ng clay, upon the side of Pinugayan Hill. The upper Fig. 2.—Blast Furnace and Bamboo Charging Platform. pit, near the top of the hill, is merely the remnant of an ancient working and no observations could be made there. The lower pit, a hundred yards from the Maon, exposes an irregular bed about 10 feet thick lying nearly vertical, with an approximate strike of N. 20 degrees DB. The ore bed carries within it streaks of steatite and ser- pentine, but I saw no pyrites. This has long been con- sidered one of the purest iron ores of the Philippines. The ore is magnetite and hematite, both compact and massive. Analyses of Ores. The accompanying table shows the results of analyses of iron ores of the Angat district, made for me by Paul tangl, of the Bureau of Government Laboratories. No. 1. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5A. No. 5B. Mag- Hematite Hematite. Hematite. netite. + pyrites. Hematite. ba ET ee 1.922 5.143 32.344 4.720 2.570 FUDs. ciccecaeneas 88.225 65.862 48.691 48.078 84.215 Ca0 icscecavueee 0.126 5.040 Trace 1.930 0.250 MgO .ciweesdees 0.182 1.513 1.311 0.465 0.093 BlOg. stewie 6.523 10.100 15.340 12.200 8.670 WOR: -cinsitewsaame niet 3.754 Trace 14.657 Trace We «ine gue aaa 0.010 o-elnd Trace 0.032 Trace A coke . 0.041 0.370 0.0385 3.212 0.340 BOs <seedee ooee DMO 6.719 2.184 14.137 3.853 PiOs. «ss aie eae Trace 0.243 0.053 0.143 Trace +0 sodak pian tl 0.770 Trace 0.106 0.513 Trace ‘ek ecean ion rie ks 1.089 +P aah a | 100.040 99.983 100.064 100.087 99.991 Metallic fron.....63.31 51.85 59.24 44.16 60.95 ‘OTE.—No. 1, Micaceous ore from Hizon mine; soft and ous at outcrop. No. 8, Compact, brittle; luster metallic; Constancia mine. No. 4, Crystalline, massive; Constancia No. 5A, Second-class ore; upper bed, mixed with pyrites : tancia mine. No. 5B, First-class ore; lower portion; Con- ‘ia mine. G THE IRON AGE. 3 It will be observed that No. 1, No. 4, and No. 5 B are ores singularly rich and pure. No. 1 and No. 5 B are practically free from sulphur and phosphorus, those two most objectionable elements, and all three would suggest themselves as suitable for manufacture into high grade steel by the Bessemer process. The chief impurities are silica and alumina, but these can in no way impair the quality of steel made from them. In passing, I call atten- tion to the remarkable absence of manganese from all of these Angat ores, and to the presence of cobalt in No. 3. The above ores, as sampled by me, were not picked specimens. The Blast Furnace Piant. The metallurgy of iron, as at present practiced in these islands, is confined entirely to Bulacan. At the time of my visit to the iron mines of Angat but one fur- nace was in blast; and in describing the operation of this I shall describe the operations of all, for I could learn of no variation elsewhere in the province from the practice at the Suarez camarin. The buildings in which the smelting is done are con- structed entirely of the products of the forests of the neighborhood. The posts and rafters are of trimmed trunks of trees, the pieces are secured in place by bejuca, or rattan, and the thatching is of cogon or of nipa—thus, no metal of any kind is required, and the camarines are made with the bolo as the only tool. The Constancia camarin was in process of construction during my sur- vey, and it is here shown with the roof partly thatched, Fig. 1. The custom in the hills is for the maestro, or smelter foreman, to assemble his assistants, and with them to clear and level the land selected for the smelter site, to dig the clay from the stream banks, bake it into bricks and from these to construct the furnaces, to cut the required pieces and erect and roof the camarin, to prepare the molds, tuyeres, slag pots and blowers, io burn the charcoal and sort the ore, to keep the books and to pay the men, and, finally, to smelt the iron and send forth the finished product. From the uncleared forest to the column of cargadores bearing the plowshares and points to the market, the entire work is intrusted to the maestro and to his assistants. This small industry is a singularly independent one, and, so far as I could learn, the one requirement of the entire process, beyond all that the forests, ore banks, and streams of these narrow moun- tain valleys could furnish, is a limited amount of bone black used in coating the molds. The camarin, once constructed, is divided roughly into three parts. One side is given up to stalls or little rooms in which live the workmen and where are stored the sup- plies and the furnace products. Another side is divided into ore bins and charcoal bins. The main central space Fig. 3.—Elevation of Blast Furnace, with Dimensions. is open and is given over to the smelting proper. In the center of this space are the two furnaces, with bamboo platforms at the sides upon which the feeders stand, with the tapping holes and slag runways at the front, and with the blower or air compressor and the connecting clay tuyeres behind. Opposite the furnaces runs a row of molds, always placed in position for pouring immediately after the last castings have been dumped. ee end The Furnaces Made of Sun Baked Clay. The furnaces, Fig. 2, are generally made of sun baked fire clay, the material being obtained from the decomposi- tion of the crystalline feldspathic rocks of the neighbor- ing hillsides. In some cases the bricks are molded, and the furnace is built up of these. In others the furnace itself is molded as one piece, dried, and after- ward bound with rattan or iron. The thickness is so great that, notwithstanding the intense smelting heat on the hearth, the ratton, or bejuca, is not burned off. In building the furnace a rectangular space 6 x 8 inches is left above the blow and tap holes, and into these are in- serted blocks of a very siliceous rock, measuring 6 x 8 x 15 inches, and called buga by the natives. The word buga is surely a misnomer, as it is the Tagola for pumice. This quartzose rock is quarried near La Mesa for this es- pecial purpose, and the ironmasters pay 2 pesos for each. They are used end about, and I imagine are for the sole purpose of furnishing silica to the slag. That they do furnish silica is shown by the ends of the blocks when removed. The hearth of the furnace, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, is shal- low and nearly circular. It is from 4 to 6 inches deep and about 2 feet 4 inches in diameter. The total hight of the furnace is 7 feet 5 inches, measured from the ground, and the distance from bottom of hearth to top of furnace is 6 feet. The thickness of the annular ring formed by average right section is 1 foot, although this thickness is slightly greater toward the hearth. The tuyere is a pipe of best selected and baked fire clay, connected with the blower at one end, passing through the furnace and opening upon the hearth at the other. It is 2 feet 7 inches long, 6 inches in gross diam- eter, and with an inner diameter of 1% inches. The air compressor or blower is as ingenious as it is interesting. It is made from the hollowed cylindrical trunk of a tanguile tree and is 9 feet 8 inches long and 1 foot 7 inches in its greatest diameter. One end of this blower rests upon the ground and the other is supported 1 foot 6 inches from the ground by a cross piece of wood. The ends of the blower are furnished with semicircular valves of leather and wood, suspended from above and closing by the pressure of air against them when the pis- ton moves toward them. The valves are 3% x 7 inches. A separate piece of wood, containing the com- partment into which the air is forced and from which it is driven through the tuyere into the furnace, is fitted Trt |ROm Aot Fig. 4.—Cross Section of Blast Furnace, Showing Charging Platform. into the main blower, and made air tight. It contains an opening at each end into the compressor. The connection between the tuyere and the air compartment is frequently a short piece of cast iron pipe fitted tight. The piston is a circular piece of wood well fitted and carrying around its perimeter a double thickness of feathers. The piston rod is of balite wood, 15 feet long, and furnished with a double handle. . The ore baskets used in feeding the furnace are wedge shaped and are 1 foot 4 inches long, 1 foot 2 inches wide, and 6 inches at the back. The flat baskets used in feed- ing the charcoal are circular and 2 feet in diameter and 5% inches high. The pouring pot, or ladle, is made of fire clay, bound with iron and furnished with a stout wooden handle. Its THE IRON AGE. March 3, 1904 inner dimensions are about 8 inches and 6 inches for t}), larger and smaller diameters, respectively, and 6 inches deep. The few tools, such as pokers, stirring rods for t}\. furnace, and ore hammers and picks for the ore beds, of wrought iron. The molds for the present smelter practice are of | shapes, and of different sizes for the large, medium and small castings. These molds are made of carefully lected and ground clay and the bottom halves “formed” by means of pieces of narra wood cut to shapes and sizes of the castings desired. The inner sir faces are freshly coated for each casting with a paint made of a mixture of boneblack, ground palay and wat. The halves of the molds are placed in wooden frames, Fig. 5.—Molds for Plowshares and Points. bound close together with rattan, and set upon a pair of forked sticks for the pouring, Fig. 5. The ore beds are worked, as I have already men tioned, in the open and in the most primitive manner. No system whatever is followed, save the very rudest meth- ods of “stripping” and quarrying. The ore, being broken down by means of crowbars, picks and small sledge ham- mers, is carefully hand sorted and carried by cargadores to the smelter. Here it is reduced to a uniform size of about 1% x 1% x 1% inches by means of a small cube shaped hammer having 4 breaking. edges. The charcoal is burned near by the smelter men, who cut the forest trees of the third, fourth ‘and fifth groups for the purpose. They make an excellent quality of wel! burned charcoal, and to this valuable fuel much of the success of the native smelters is due. Before “ blowing in” a furnace the hearth and body are filled with glowing fuel, the air driven through, and the furnace well and evenly dried and heated. This being accomplished, the ore and fuel are introduced alternately, the proportion for the preliminary stage being one-half an ore-basket as above described, of metal, to four ful! charcoal baskets of fuel. After the furnace is we!! heated, the iron reduced and running upon the hearth, and the blast well on, the normal proportion is thereafter fed to the furnace of one full basket of ore to four of charcoal, and the furnace is kept filled, with a cone of heaped charcoal on top. The air compressor is worked at an average rate of 17 strokes per minute, and the pres- sure and volume seem ample for the purpose. The p! ess of reduction is comparatively simple, as the ore '* self fluxing and the fuel is very pure, there being 1 fluxes required whatever, save that from the buga rock above mentioned. This reduction is caused by the «»r- bon monoxide, which is itself produced by the carbon ‘i- oxide of the burning fuel coming into contact with the lot charcoal. The simplicity of the process is paid for with a loss of 20 per cent. of metal. The slagging of the silica and alumina, with a cer({1iD proportion of the iron, is rapidly formed and escoradv'¢’ draw off the slag every two or three minutes when ‘h¢ furnace is working well. The pourings are made ev«'y two or three hours. The pouring pot is filled, and ‘le maestro passes down the line of molds with the po of molten metal, upon which floats a cover of burning ci! coal; and he rapidly fills mold after mold. The rem:i0- ing metal is returned to the hearth. As rapidly as ‘he March 3, 1904 castings harden in the molds the latter are taken down and opened, the castings thrown out, and the surfaces of ‘he molds are relined with paint and prepared for an- other pouring. About 15 molds are in constant use by one furnace in good running order, 8 of these for plowshares and 7 for points. The finished product, as made at present in the smelters, is of the largest size only of plowshares and points. The plowshare of this largest size weighs 4 9-10 pounds. The castings are only fairly good in quality and might be greatly improved. Estimated Expenses and Profits. The expenses and profit of this industry are too vari- able to be readily ascertained. During the plowing months, May and June, the pair, which consists of a plowshare and a point, bring 1 peso, and the Angat people buy the entire product. During the other months a large part of the product is sent to Manila and is sold here at the rate of from 70 to 90 pesos per hundred pairs. The costs of transportation are variable. Sefior Suarez pays the cargadores 1 real for each pair carried from the smelter to Angat, and as each averages about 8 pairs he makes 8 reals, or 1 peso, for the round trip of about 15 miles. When the roads are good it costs 41%4 pesos to get 100 pairs to Manila; when they are bad, as in the rainy season, it costs 7 pesos. Because of the shortage of labor, at the wages Sefior Suarez can afford to pay, he in- formed me that he cannot get enough men to keep even one furnace in blast. He said that he would work three furnaces if he could get the men. During my visit he complained that we Americans overpaid native labor throughout the islands and that native employers with limited plants could not compete for labor. As it is, he must blow out his furnace from time to time to put his limited force to cutting timber for charcoal, to the making of molds, tuyeres and other supplies, and to gen- eral repair work. He estimated four months’ smelting a year as good—that is, producing from 2000 to 3000 pairs each month; four months as medium, or producing from 1500 to 2000 pairs, and four months, during which time the furnace is largely out of blast, as poor, or producing from 800 to 1000 pairs. The laborers required for one furnace are almost as many as for two, and are 2 maestros, or foremen, who have general charge, 1 escribiente, or clerk, 2 escoradores, or slagmen, who also act as brajenantes, or molders, 4 heladores, or blowers, and from 4 to 7 other common laborers who obtain and prepare the ore and fuel. These men are “found” and are paid by the amount pro- duced, the unit being 60 carabao loads of 20 pairs each. Sefior Suarez told me that the food he gave the men de- pended upon the quantity and quality of their work, and that when everything was running well and the output steady and large he fed them with the best he could buy. He estimated that the cost to him in food and wages, for men enough for one furnace, averaged about 60 pesos a month during the working season, or about 40 pesos through the year, and that the variation was between 20 and 100 pesos. His annual taxes during the Spanish régime were 115 pesos to the General Government and 48 pesos to the pueblo of Angat. He seemed much concerned over the cost that his fuel would be to him under the pres- ent Forestry Regulations. He stated that he cut only the cheaper grades of trees for charcoal, and yet, upon looking over the taxes imposed at the present scale, he said that he would be compelled to shut down if he were forced to pay the full amount. I could get no statistics whatever upon this subject of the cost of his fuel, and this is a matter of regret to me because it is a most es- sential factor in the operation of furnaces in this region upon a larger scale. With the above incomplete data I have attempted to form some sort of estimate of the profits of one furnace, run under unfavorable conditions. With more furnaces ind improved methods the profits would correspondingly nerease. One great difficulty in the attempt at an esti- nate is the division of product as to place of sale, the profits being greater when the plowshares are sold in \ngat. The followffig is intended to be more suggestive than accurate: THE IRON AGE. Estimate of Profits from One Blast Furnace. Mexican currency. Sale of 6000 pairs in Angat at $0.90..............2..- $5,400 Sale of 14,000 pairs in Manila at $0.75.............+- 10,500 REGS: FO. chia Kis Chena inset tacwewces $15,900 Transportation of 6000 pairs to Angat at $0.12%4....... ~~ $750 rransportation of 14,000 pairs to Manila at $0.70...... 9,800 Wages and food for employees for 20,000 pairs........ 1,000 FORD WEE DG CNG: b dincidicc o: Chia Ohe wae elenen 163 MOE CROMER sisi icc iacicic cen tasieanticans $11,713 Fe a ee $4,187 In the above no account has been taken of cost of mine and plant. The latter, of course, costs very little indeed. There is, and has been, so much unfortunate litigation and quar- reling over these mines and camarines that no data on the subjects were obtainable. It would seem that if a market could be assured for a large output of these plowshares and other castings, or of pig iron of high grade, if charcoal can be had at reason- able rates or if our islands can furnish lignite of a qual- ity to give good producer gas, if the transportation rates can be materially reduced, and if competent labor can be secured, a large modern furnace smelting the best of these ores could operate at a handsome profit to its owners. I am inclined to think that the above conditions can be satisfactorily settled and that there is a future for the iron industry in the Philippines. Herewith I give the only statistics available of iron production in Bulacan. The information is for the year 1884, and was furnished by the Governor of Bulacan on February 4, 1886: Statistics of Iron Production in Bulacan, 1884. Number of Number of Number of Pueblos. furnaces. plowshares. operatives. SOS BEN Siac «8 os HS ode een 3 20,000 25 BO DRM 6c icc ats tewecens 2 10,000 10 RE eens ceVin cae denanecus 2 12,000 18 ME vceccdesdv cu @ecavaneaen 1 8,200 14 BEER Fi ctene peace vad i seunene 1 8,200 14 Gas aucdnw cee eee ce 9 58,400 81 —_—_9--e—____-_- An Illinois State Employers’ Association.— Delegates to the Indianapolis convention of the Citizens’ Industrial! Association from 15 cities of Illinois held a meeting and made preliminary plans looking to the formation of a State organization of employers’ associations and citizens’ alli- ances. A. E. Demange of Bloomington presided over the meeting, and C. H. Emery of Peoria acted as secretary. A resolution was adopted providing that a committee be appointed, consisting of one member from each of the citizens’ alliances and employers’ associations of the State of Illinois, to take the initiative in the formation of a State employers’ association and to issue a call at what- ever time it sees fit for a State convention. To this end word will be sent to the city associations immediately to appoint their members of the committee in the follow- ing cities: Bloomington, Peoria, Decatur, Belleville, East St. Louis, Rockport, Aurora, Joliet, Quincy, Alton, Kan- kakee, Springfield, Chicago and Jacksonville. ————_—__ pea. The New Britain Machine Company of New Britain, Conn., are building a mortising machine which, it is be- nieved, will hold the record for working a large mortise at a single cut. The machine is for the London & North- western Railroad of England, and is a standard chain saw mortiser. It will cut a mortise 4% inches long, 15% inches wide and of any desired depth in Georgia pine. Some idea of the size of the machine may be obtained from the fact that the chain bar, chain and sprocket weigh 201% pounds. The chain saw will cut 19 distinct shavings simultaneously while running, the chain speed being 2300 feet a minute. The machine is intended for cutting fence posts for use in guarding right of way, English railroads being compelled to guard their lines more carefully than is the custom in this country. The Billings & Spencer Company of Hartford, Conn., are making a specialty of the Le Moine drop forged front axle for automobiles. rns Ba § THE Standard Specifications for Locomotive Cylinders.* Process of Manufacture.—Locomotive cylinders shall be made from good quality of close grained gray iron cast in a dry sand mold. Chemical Properties.—Drillings taken from _ test pieces cast as hereafter mentioned shall conform to the following limits in chemical composition : Per cent. DP LASSE RA ROBES AEA 6440 DAO RA ORO from 1.25 to 1.75 rd aie din 6d bank 60s 54530555 were not over 0.9 PTT ESET CT Tee RTT TROUT rere not over 0.10 Physical Properties——The minimum physical quali- ties for cylinder iron shall be as follows: The Arbitration Test Bar, 114 inches in diameter, with supports 12 inches Fig. 1-—Agnew Auto-Mailer.—Front View, Showing Feeding apart, shall have a transverse strength not less than 2700 pounds, centrally applied, and a deflection not less than 0.08 inch. Test Pieces and Method of Testing.—The standard test shall be 114 inches in diameter, about 14 inches long, cast on end in dry sand. The drillings for analysis shall be taken from this test piece, but in case of rejection the manufacturer shall have option of analyzing drillings from the bore of the cylinder, upon which analysis the acceptance or rejection of the cylinder shall be based. One test piece for each cylinder shall be required. Character of Castings.—Castings shall« be smooth, well cleaned, free from blow holes, shrinkage cracks or vther defects, and must finish to blue print size. Each ‘ylinder shall have cast on each side of saddle manufac- turer’s mark, serial number, date made and mark show- ing order number. * Proposed by Committee B of the American Society for Testing Materials. IRON AGE. March 3, 1904 Inspector.—The inspector representing the purchase; shall have all reasonable facilities afforded to him by the manufacturer to satisfy himself that the finished ma terial is furnished in accordance with these specifications, All tests and inspections shall be made at the place of th: manufacturer. ———»+,—-e__—_ The Agnew Automatic [ailing Machine. It is the office of the Agnew auto-mailing machine illustrated herewith, to take bunches of newspapers, mag azines, catalogues or periodicals as they come from the printing press and to fold, wrap, seal and address them individually. All this is accomplished at the rate of from 3000 to 5000 an hour, obviously several times faster than Mechanism. it could be accomplished by hand. In fact, it is claimed that one machine will replace 12 persons, and perform the work with greater neatness, less liability to errors, and with less skilled attendance, one man being all that is required. The operator, standing on the side of the machin shown in Fig 1, works in front of the elevator or co! veyor, refilling the shelves as fast as they are empti¢ with bunches of the papers or magazines just as they ar taken from the press. The construction of the elevato! is clearly shown in the engraving. It consists of two set: ot moving shelves, carried perpendicularly to their di rection of travel by endless chains, and arranged to ru! at the same speed but in opposite rotation, so that co! tiguous shelves register with one another. Its action intermittent, and under electrical control, which mail tains the top of the pile at a fixed hight. At each cycle 0! the machine little pneumatic suckers come down on th uppermost paper, and, with a combined lifting and pul! VN March 3, 1904 THE IRON AGE. 7 ig movement, start it far enough into the machine to be aken along by horizontal traveling tapes. Simultaneous- y at the opposite side of the machine wrapping paper rawn from a continuous roll is introduced under the veriodical and cut off to the required length. When the paper and its wrapper have reached a def- nite position a vertical blade descends, creasing them hrough the middle and carrying them down between a et of steel rolls. The vertical blade then returns to its pper position and a horizontal blade folds them again nd carries them to a basket or receiver. The wrapper ; not entirely under the paper when folded with it, con- sequently only part of it goes into the inside with the operation of folding. It is sufficient, however, to prevent the wrapper from sliding off the paper later on, and the out of the way and fortunately located where it is pro- tected by the fly wheel. The motor is of the Crocker- Wheeler make, of a semi-inclosed type, known as Form L, and of 1 horse-power size, which shows that the cost of running is not very great. The machine is positively driven at all points by chains or gear connections, so that there is no chance for slipping and causing a loss of co-operation between the different parts. Furthermore, there is an electrical device to automatically open the motor circuit and stop the ma- chine if any interruption in the regular operation occurs, such, for example, as when a paper fails to feed, or a wrapper is not in place, or when the stack of stencils is exhausted. The entire machine occupies a floor space of about 4 x Fig. 2.—Rear View, Showing Roll of Wrapping Paper and the Method of Driving. extra amount projecting on the outside forms the flap. This is gummed by a roller covered with a solution of dex- trine, and is pressed down by another roller as the pack- age passes out of the machine. On the shelf at the side of the machine just before being discharged it pauses long enough to receive an impression through a stencil, giving it its individual address. The perforated stencils for the addressing are ar- nged to replace one another successively at each cycle 0! operations. These may be previously assorted by towns cr states, thus eliminating the necessity of distributing tie mail afterward. For instance, all of a certain group ly be run-through at a time and discharged into one iil bag, another being in readiness to be moved up to eive those belonging to the next group, and so on. A motor mounted against the side of the machine at the r, as shown in Fig. 2, provides the power with one re- iction through a spur gear and pinion. It is noticeably 5 feet, has an over all hight of 76 inches,and weighs about 2000 pounds when equipped with a Crocker-Wheeler mo- tor, as shown. It is the invention of Lee A. Agnew of Chicago, and is built by the Agnew Auto-Mailing Machine Company, 156 Pear! street, Boston, Mass. miphmstcnanilliliielndbccees The manufacturers of the Shenango Valley are enter- ing a vigorous protest against the action of the commis- sioners and assessors of Mercer County, Pa., in raising the assessments of manufacturing establishments at Sharon and South Sharon. The plants of the United States Steel Corporation at the latter place have been raised from $1,500,000 to $3,000,000, and other plants in the valley are reported to have been raised proportion- ately. The boards of trade of Sharon, South Sharon and Sharpsville have all joined in protests and appeals for a lower valuation, as higher taxes will, in their opinion, drive industries away. Per 3 ea arent n _——— | | 8 THE IRON AGE. The Citizens’ Industrial Association. The proceedings of the first annual meeting of the Citizens’ Industrial Association of America were briefly referred to in last week’s issue. The convention met in Indianapolis on February 22 and 23, and was attended by nearly 500 men of prominence in business affairs, rep- resenting 400 associations in 150 cities. In opening the first session a stirring address was delivered by President David M. Parry of Indianapolis, whose remarks, in part, were as follows: President Parry’s Address. We expressly deny that we are opposed to the right of labor to organize, but we are firm in our determination that individual and property rights shall be respected by every organization, be it composed of workmen or of other citizens. We are opposed to the closed shop, sym- pathetic strikes and restriction of output. We stand for the enforcement of law in industrial controversies—not only for its enforcement to-day, but to-morrow and for all time. It is to be regretted that it has become necessary to form organizations for the purpose of protecting the basic principles of American government. But the grow- ing power of organizations seeking to overturn these prin- ciples has been such that. the independent workman and the individual employer have frequently been unable to secure justice from local authorities or fair treatment from the press and the general public in many commu- nities. The only recourse open to the business men and good citizens in these communities has been that of form- ing associations in the hope of counteracting the influence of organizations encroaching upon their rights of citizen- ship, and these efforts to obtain relief have met with great success in many cities and towns. The most important work that should be carried on by the Citizens’ Industrial Association, to my mind, is that of educational propaganda. The only true solution of the labor question must lie in an appeal to the intelli- gence of the people. The methods and the economic ideas of trades unionism cannot survive through public dis- cussion. But the public is not to be greatly blamed if it arrives at erroneous conclusions by virtue of having but one side of the question continually put before it. There must be some antidote provided for the poisonous doc- trines of socialism. This national association is to my mind in a better position to carry on educational work than any of the other organizations of the country. It is not hampered by considerations arising from direct dealings with or- ganized labor. Some organizations of employers in in- dustries that are more or less dominated by the unions appear to be compelled under the force of circumstances to make joint agreements and to submit to arbitrations which involve a partial surrender of their rights to em- ploy whom they please on terms mutually satisfactory to the employer and the employee. Such associations are necessarily handicapped in carrying on educational work, but it is even more important to the members of such associations than it is to employers in general that there be some force in the country which is carrying on an adequate work of propaganda. NO MORE NATIONAL ARBITRATION TRIBUNALS WANTED. We do not want any more national arbitration tri- bunals to haggle with labor trusts as to the terms upon which they will consent to allow industry to proceed in this country, and we do not want to see a great public sentiment demanding the creatio