Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
472 FORTIA’S TRAVELS IN SWEDEN.
weeks anda half. The ore, upon its being withdrawn, is pounded by a large ham-
mer and thrown into a fieve, whence the fineft part falls into a bucket faftened to an
iron chain, which carries it to the large furnaces. When this large furnace is once
heated it continues fo for about fix-and-thirty weeks, more or lefs, without interrup-
tion; after which a new crucible becomes requifite. ‘The fides of the furnace, al-
though of bricks made from /corie fixteen ells in thicknefs, require renewal every four
years. When once the furnace is kindled it is fupplied every hour with a laft of char-
coal anda fchippund and a half of ore, divided into eleven equal parts. ‘The iron fufes
in about fifteen hours: in the beginning this procefs is very little produdtive, but it in-
creafes by degrees as the furnace augments in heat, and at length produces, when in
full aétivity, about one hundred and twenty f{chippunds of iron weekly. The bellows
are worked by a wheel twenty feet in diameter. When the ftrength of the flame is
confidered, which proceeds from the mouth, one is aftonifhed at the little hurry of the
workmen in emptying their barrows of charcoal ; fmall and dry as it is yet does it ne-
ver inftantly take fire even in the middle of the flame. The greateft attention is ne-
ceflary in throwing the ore on the charcoal ; as a little too much or too little might in-
jure the fufion and have a material influence on the quality of the iron. The metal in
fufion is let off every eleven hours. A channel is made in hot fand of equal dimen-
fions with the orifice, where the molten metal flows, and the divifions are marked
agreeably to the length defired to be given them: it does not run to fo great a length
as in France, feldom more than two feet. The fand is kept hot for the purpofe of pre-
venting accidents, which however in extreme cold weather occafionally happen. ‘The
furnace each time it is {truck yields feven or eight fchippunds. In lefs than a quarter
of an hour afterwards the iron, having refumed a degree of firmnefs, is raifed and re-
moved for its cooling with greater difpatch ; fhortly after it is thrown into a ciftern
lined with wood, and repeatedly filled with cold water on account of its being made to
boil inftantly upon the firft immerfion: from this ciftern a prodigious fteam arifes, and
by the fide of it you feel a kind of trembling underground. Near this is a building in
which the raw iron from the procefs is founded ; for this ufe there are three furnaces,
one hammer and a furnace for {mall anchors.
In another building are eight furnaces, fix of which for founding the raw iron, and
two forlargeanchors. The chimneys of the furnaces for the anchors are fufpended in
the air. In this forge are three hammers. During the war between England
and France the demand there was could not be anfwered, notwith{tanding all the eight
furnaces were kept wholly employed upon anchors. The largeft hammers weigh two
{chippunds and a half; the extremity alone is of tempered fteel. For hammering the
anchors a hammer is likewife fometimes ufed larger than a fledge hand hammer, called
Hercules ; it is entirely of iron, and has the fhape ofa club. Ofthefe there are different
fizes; the largeft weigh nearly a fchippund. They are raifed, by means of pullies, by
two men, and are dire€led by another. ‘There is here a machine in fhape of a crane,
at the end of which hangs an iron chain ; it goes on a pivot, and is fo true that two
men are all that are required for moving the largeft anchor and placing it on the anvil,
in the pofition defired tor its receiving the blow. We have omitted to mention a fur-
nace in the open air, in which the /corig from the three {mall furnaces are molten
anew; in which fcorize a large quantity of iron is found yet to remain. It is but lately
that this furnace has been employed.
The anchors are tranfported by land to Elfscarleby, on account of the cataract; the
largeft, which weigh thirty fchippunds, require eight horfes, and can be moved only
upon fledges; thofe of twenty {chippunds being the heavieft which can be i
other-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
