CHAPTER VIII.

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES (BIRMINGHAM AND DISTRICT.)

BY C. J. WOODWARD, B.Sc.

In the following pages an attempt is made to give to the reader some idea of the extent and variety of the manufactures of our town and neighbourhood. The method followed is to state at the outset the classes of material which come into the town, and to follow these in the mind’s eye through smelting furnace, forge, or workshop, until they come out in a wonderful variety of articles, one or more of which will ultimately be found in the possession of every nation of the earth. To carry out the proposed method with fulness and accuracy would require a strict blockade of the town, similar to that adopted for collecting town dues in continental towns with agents to report the quantities and qualities of the goods passing in and out. Failing this, we may, through the agencies of the railway and canal companies obtain at least some idea of the character and extent of our trade.

In preparing some statistics relating to goods brought into and taken out of the town, I am particularly indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Henry Wiggin, M.P., one of the directors of the Midland Railway, and also to Mr. John Noble, general manager of that railway; Mr. J. Grierson, general manager of the Great Western Railway; and Mr. G. Findlay, general manager of the London and North Western Railway. Mr. W. Pilcher, of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and Mr. George, of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal, have also been good enough to supply information. In considering the traffic of our town we must remember that Birmingham is not only a manufacturing centre but a distributor of goods which arrive here in bulk. This, coupled with the circumstance that, from its inland position, there is a great deal of through traffic, renders it difficult to obtain such satisfactory figures as I hoped to have done when I commenced this work.

Statement of principal classes of goods coming into and going out of Birmingham by railway during the year 1885, with weight in tons of each class.

INWARDS.

Coal and Coke 897541 Lime 5327 Limestone, Bricks, &c. 14315 Glass 7689 Iron and Steel 115874 Tin Plates and Zinc 10382 Spelter or Zinc 22564 Hardware and Miscellaneous 134204 Stone 15621 Timber 63591 Paper Making Materials 5550 Drugs and Drysaltery 14867 Grain 126783 Grocery and Provisions 61888 Leather 3599

OUTWARDS. Bedsteads 34976 Brass & Copper, Ingot and Wire 4697 Galvanised Wire and Ware 11705 Glass 6151 Hardware and Lamps 110597 Iron and Metal Tubes 13570 Iron Wire and Sheet 2999 Iron Castings 9166 Nails 18936 Rolled Metal 7619 Paper and Stationery 9490 Machinery } Hides and Leather } 33754 Miscellaneous }

From one wharf alone in Birmingham there were delivered into the town by canal last year about 40,000 tons of various goods, of which the following will serve as examples--Timber, 3810 tons; salt, 443 tons; metals, 3948 tons; road stone, 10,821 tons; potatoes, matches, mill stones, glue and groceries, 1221 tons, whilst traffic over one of the canals in the course of the year was 7,327,269 tons, including merchandise, 972,749 tons; pig iron, 586,434 tons; coal, 3,333,865 tons; iron stone, 495,912 tons; sand, 115,791 tons; lime and limestone, 140,828 tons; road materials and manure, 525,249 tons; and bricks, 460,359 tons.

=Nature of the Manufacturing Industries of Birmingham and the District.=--It is difficult, if not impossible to classify satisfactorily the varied industries of Birmingham and the district. The one adopted has as its basis, the raw materials of different kinds as used up in the trades of the town. In order to obtain information as to progress of the trades, or change in their character, I have extracted from Kelly’s Directory of 1864 the number of each trade as then given, and compared it with the number in the last Directory published, viz., 1884:--

TRADES OF BIRMINGHAM AND THE COUNTIES OF STAFFORDSHIRE, WARWICKSHIRE, AND WORCESTERSHIRE.

=I=.--=Production of Materials from Ores, including Chemicals.=

A.--NON-METAL.

No. in Directory. 1864 1884

Black Lead 2 [41]Chemicals 33 54 Colour Grinders and Manufacturers 29 51 Glue, Isinglass 6 7 [42]Mungo 0 1 Optical Glass 1 1 Paper 31 21 Ice 0 1 Glass 41 62

B.--METAL AND ALLOY.

No. in Directory. 1864 1884

Alloy Makers 0 1 Aluminium 0 1 Brass and Yellow Metal 0 6 Copper 7 10 German Silver 14 10 Iron 88 103 Nickel & Cobalt 2 2 Steel 18 21

II.--=Finished Articles.=

A.--NON-METAL.

No. in Directory. 1864 1884

Barometer and Thermometer 2 4 Leather Articles 28 57 Bicycle Saddle 0 3 Wholesale Boot and Shoe 11 42

Clay-- Pottery, Encaustic Tiles, Terra Cotta, Parian 43 43 Telegraph Insulator 0 1 Ivory, Pearl, and Bone Workers 59 54 Chocolate 2 6 Floor Cloth 2 India Rubber Goods 5 14 ” ” Stamps 0 3

Bristle, Fibre, Hair, Feathers-- Besom 1 1 Chimney Sweeping Machines 0 2 Hearse Plume 1 Whip 35 33 Brushes 88 106 Cotton 2 4 Measuring Tape 7 6

Wooden Articles-- Boxes (and Paper) 27 77 Clock Case 11 7 Cork Cutters 9 12 Clog and Patten 85 127 Rules 37 23 Picture Frames 40 99 Tobacco Pipe 29 18 Railway Carriage 11 13 Bellows 10 14 Casting Mould Pattern Makers 30 27

Glass Articles-- Lighthouse 1 1 Bottle, Plate and Window, Decanters, Tumblers, &c., Looking Glass, French Shade 50 65 Toys 13 3 Artificial Eyes 1 6

Horn-- Lantern Leaf 5 0 Combs 6 4

Paper and Pulp-- Paper 31 21 Papier Mâché 19 15 Black Ornament 0 24 Account Books 10 20 Bags 4 16 Gun Wads 6 4

B.--METAL.

No. in Directory. 1864 1884 Gold-- Chains 43 50 Brooches and Jewellery 346 472 Pencil Case 21 21 Ring 3 29 Leaf 20 14 Watch Case 10 43

Silver-- Spoons, &c., Lockets, Bracelets, &c. (Silversmiths) 51 103 Leaf Reflectors (Plate) 1 6

Copper-- Pans, Kettles, &c., Sugar Pans (Coppersmiths) Tubes 21 20 Plate Engraving 2 18 Wire Lightning Conductors 0 4 Percussion Cap 5 4

Lead-- Pipes 0 1 Pumps

Iron and Steel-- Anchors 12 22 Bedsteads (Metal) 51 48 Bicycles Bird Cage & Wire Work 44 59 Bridle Bit 104 67 Boarding Pike 1 2 Boilers Buckles 25 25 Nuts and Bolts 19 81 Chain 45 131 Coach Furniture, &c. 60 48 Coffin Furniture 17 14 Corkscrew 17 16 Door Spring 4 6 Earth Boring App. 0 1 Forge (Portable) 3 2 Frying Pan 7 9 Fencing Foil 0 1 Fender 45 55 Fire Irons 57 55 Fish Hook 68 36 Gun (27 Branches) 553 424 Gas Holder 8 5 Gas Meters 1 1 Hair Pin 6 7 Hammer 18 12 Handcuff 3 4 Hyd’lic Machinery 1 2 Hinge (and Brass) 47 51 Hollow Ware 10 23 Hooks Hook and Eye 14 13 Ladle Roofing 8 15 Tanks 12 20 Boats 9 9 Bridge 9 12 Girder 7 9 Jews Harp 6 8 Keys 87 140 Lance and Javelin 1 1 Locks (13 Br’nch’s) 164 252 Lasso Rings [43]Matchet 4 6 Mariner’s Compass Needles (7 Br’nch.) 172 126 Nutcrackers 3 10 Nailmakers 207 235 Pens 18 19 Pen Holder 16 14 Quoit Makers Quicksilver Bottle Rings (Split, &c.) 13 16 Scale and Weight 25 25 Screws 71 42 Sewing Machines 10 30 Spectacle Frames 9 16 Safes 15 27 Spring Makers 8 14 Spring Mattress 0 2 Steel Toy 58 39 Sword 17 4 Toasting Fork Tack Umbrella & Parasol Furniture 12 11 Vice 49 32

Brass-- Ammunition cases 1 2 Bedsteads Belt clasp 7 3 Coach beading 5 4 Candlestick 12 9 Coach handles 2 5 Cocks 29 35 Chandelier 40 51 Church Furniture 4 6 Clock movements Cornice pole 3 12 Curtain hook 0 10 Curtain ring 4 14 Door bolts Door handles Electrical bell & apparatus 2 7 Fog signal 1 1 Ferrule Gas burner 4 4 Gauge 6 13 Mathematical inst. 10 10 Military ornament 12 15 Paper fasteners Roasting jack 7 2 Stair rod (case) 6 7 Theatrical jewellery 0 1 Thimble 13 12 Watches (29 branches) 496 790 Tin Plate-- Coffin Furniture 17 14 Dish Covers 1 7 Grocers’ Canisters 2 2 Lamps Baths Cooking Utensils Candlesticks

Tin Alloys, hard and soft-- Beer Engine 19 10 Bells 10 17 Dram Flask Medals Measures, Tankards Composition Pipe Stencil Plates Tea Pots Cream Jugs, &c. Britannia Metal Ware Manufacturers 20 13

German Silver-- Cruet Frames Tea Pots Spoons, &c. Electro-plated Ware & Electro-platers & Gilders 110 215 Dessert Knife & Fork

Implements and Tools used in Manufactures.

Awl Blade, Auger, Anvil, Brace and Bit, Bookbinders’ Tools, Bellows, Bullet Mould, Brushes, Coach Wrench, File Cutter, Glaziers’ Diamond, Gun Implements, Hammer, Hoe, Iron Ladle, Last and Boot Tree, Nails, Rivet, Saw, Screw, Tack, Gimp Pin, &c., Vice, Press Tools, Punches.

Dependent Manufactures and Processes.

A.--NON-METAL.

Box Makers (Wood), Box Makers (Paper), Brick (Fire), Bookbinding, Casting Pot and Crucible, Emery and Glass Cloth Paper, Embossed Paper, Engravers (Block), Felt, Glass Mould, Jewellery Case, Lamp Wick, Lithography, Printing, Pitch Paper, Pearl Workers, Rouge, Rope and Twine, Sealing Wax, Tortoise Shell Workers.

Dependent Manufactures and Processes.

B.--METAL.

Assayers, Bronze Powder, and Gold and Silver Leaf, Die Sinkers, Iron and Steel Hoop, Letter Cutters, Music Smith, Rollers, Refiners, Sweep Smelters, Water Tuyere Iron Manufacturers, Weavers’ Mail.

Processes carried on for the Trade.

Brass Polishers, Buckle Plater, Chasers, China Decorators, Coach Painters, Dippers and Silverers, Diamond Cutter, Engravers and Woodcutters, Enamellers, Electrotypers, Electro-platers, Engine Turners, Galvanisers, Glass Quicker, Glass Painters, Glass Grinders, Glass Benders, Glass Cutters, Harness Platers, Iron Planers, Iron Casters, Iron Braziers, Jewellers’ Stampers, Jewellers’ Glass Cutter, Lapidaries, Metal Spinners, Metal Perforators, Metal Fluters, Machine Rulers, Magic Lantern Slide Painter, Stereotypers.

Dealers and Merchants.

Asbestos, Carozo Nut, Cotton Waste, Copper and Metal, Grindstone, Iron, Salt.

Variety of Materials used in the Manufactures.

It may be expected that in a variety of manufactures, such as those just given, numerous materials would be required. In order to ascertain as far as possible what materials are used in the town, circulars were sent out to many firms, and from information supplied, in reply to these circulars and from other sources, the following list has been prepared.

STATEMENT OF MATERIALS USED IN THE MANUFACTURES OF BIRMINGHAM AND THE DISTRICT.

NOTE.--After the name of the material, which is printed in small capitals, is given in ordinary type the trades, or a few typical ones, in which the material is used.

ORES.

ANTIMONY.--Nickel and cobalt refining.

BROWN IRON ORE.--Gas works.

COPPER PYRITES--(SPANISH ORE).--Copper extraction and refining, sulphuric acid works.

COBALT AND NICKEL.--Nickel and Cobalt refining.

HÆMATITE.--Iron smelting, nickel and cobalt refining, malleable iron casting, polishing works.

GALENA.--Refining lead slags and products.

IRON PYRITES.--Sulphuric acid manufacture.

MANGANESE OXIDE.--Weldon’s process for chlorine.

TIN ORE.--Nickel and cobalt refining, bedstead manufacture, tin plate works.

METALS.

ANTIMONY.--Britannia metal works, pewter working, stereotyping, engineers’ brassfounding.

ALUMINIUM.--Aluminium bronze, metal beating, pen and pencil case, gauge making, sewing machine.

BISMUTH.--Engineers’ brassfoundry, solder making.

COPPER.--Alloy makers, coppersmiths, copper and brass tube works, gas fitting, railway carriage works, brass founding, stereotyping, nail making, gun making, roast jack, clocks, electro works, jewellers, mathematical instrument makers.

GOLD.--Jewellery, gilt toy, thimble making, brassfounding, chains, spectacles, watch chains and cases, electro-plate, gun making, swords, pens.

IRON and STEEL.--All trades.

LEAD.--Chemical manufactures, alloy makers, pewter and Britannia metal, nickel and cobalt refining, electro-plate, whip, pen, nail, stereotyping, india rubber stamps, railway carriage, gun, brassfounding, thimble, ship’s log.

MAGNESIUM.--Mathematical instrument.

NICKEL.--Electro-plate, pen and pencil, stereotyping, whip button, needle, sword, photo-frames, fire-irons, tin plate, sewing machine, coach furniture and harness, bicycle, steam gauge.

PLATINUM.--Mathematical instrument, nickel and cobalt refining, photo-frames, electro-plate, wedding ring, thimble, brassfounding.

IRIDIUM and PALLADIUM.--Pen and pencil.

QUICKSILVER.--Optical instrument, nickel and cobalt refining, stereotyping, thimble and whip, gauge, electro-plate, art metal, clock.

SILVER.--Silversmith, jewellery, carriage furniture, whip mounts, sword, electro-plate, hook and eye, mathematical instrument, gun, silver plating, button, stereotyping, spectacles, chains, bedstead, thimbles.

TIN.--Cocoa, stereotyping, whip, rolled metals, toilet pin, nail, needle, railway carriage, mathematical instrument, tool making, gas meters, roasting jack, engineers’ brassfounding, axle boxes, clock, bedstead, thimble, gauge, electro-plate, brassfounding, wholesale boot and shoe.

TIN PLATE.--Various branches of the tin plate trade, ship’s log, steam gauge, art metal, nickel and cobalt refining, button, cocoa, printing, electro-plate, needle.

ZINC and SPELTER.--Brass and alloy makers, yellow and sheathing metal, thimble, whip, art metal, galvanising, copper extraction, button, stereotyping, alkali, electro-plate, nail, watch chain.

NOTE.--The applications of the compound metals or alloys, such as BRASS, BRITANNIA METAL, BELL METAL, GERMAN SILVER, GUN METAL, PHOSPHOR TIN, FERRO-MANGANESE, HARD AND SOFT SOLDERS, and others, are not given for want of space. The most important trades consuming metal in the form of leaf and powder--GOLD LEAF, SILVER LEAF and BRONZES--are bedstead manufacturing, picture frame making, japanning, lithography, art metal work (planishing.)

ACIDS.

ACETIC (VINEGAR).--Gelatine manufacture, button, lithography, whip, sword, art metal, gas fitting, bedsteads.

BORACIC.--German silver, electro-deposition.

CARBOLIC.--Gelatine, soap, ammunition works.

CITRIC.--Lithography, art metal.

HYDROFLUORIC.--Glass, gas fitting, nickel and cobalt works, button making, railway carriage.

HYDROCHLORIC (MURIATIC or SPIRITS of SALT).--Metal trades generally, gas manufacture, gelatine, printing, chemical trades, railway carriage.

HYDROCYANIC.--Button, pen and penholder, electro-plate.

NITRIC (AQUA FORTIS).--Metal trades generally, especially brass, gelatine, button, whip, sword, gun, hook and eye.

OXALIC.--Tin plate, art metal work, button, tool making, whip, pen and penholders, wholesale boot and shoe trade.

PYROGALLIC.--Gas manufacture, art metal.

SULPHURIC (OIL OF VITRIOL).--Iron wire, nails, bedsteads, button, pen, gelatine, chemical trades, soap, hook and eye, tin plate, brass trades, gun, whip, sword.

TARTARIC.--Gelatine, nickel and cobalt, art metal.

CHEMICALS.

AMMONIA and AMMONIUM SALTS.--Gas manufacture, brass trades generally, galvanising, buttons, tin plate, printing and lithography, nails, paper.

ARSENIOUS ANHYDRIDE or WHITE ARSENIC.--Brass founding, chandelier, electro-plate, buttons.

ALUM.--Gelatine, paper, rolled metal, buttons, wholesale boot and shoe.

BORAX.--Metal trades generally, jewellers, gelatine.

COPPER SULPHATE or BLUE STONE.--Iron wire, electro-plate, buttons, fibre dressing, printing.

GLYCERINE.--Gas fittings, soap, printing.

IODINE.--Copper extraction.

IRON SULPHATE or COPPERAS.--Buttons, fibre dressing, brass founding, emery paper, wholesale boot and shoe, rouge manufacture.

LEAD ACETATE (SUGAR OF LEAD).--Gelatine, buttons, tin plate works, oil and colour works.

MERCURIC CHLORIDE (CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE).--Buttons, jewellery, optical instruments, gold beating.

NICKEL SULPHATE.--Trades in which nickel plating is used, bicycles, sewing machines, bridle bit, &c.

POTASSIUM SALTS (CAUSTIC POTASH, CYANIDE, CARBONATE, SAL ENIXUM, FERROCYANIDE, FERRIDCYANIDE, PERMANGANATE, BICHROMATE, CHLORATE, ARGOL or TARTAR).--Brass founding, electro-plate, bedstead, jewellery, gelatine, glass, buttons, soap, whip, tin plate.

PLATINUM CHLORIDE.--Electro-plate, buttons, optical instruments.

SODIUM SALTS (CAUSTIC SODA, CARBONATE, BROWN ASH, ACETATE, SALT, SULPHATE).--Brass founding, jewellery, alloys, electro-plate, fibre dressing, tin plate, soap.

SULPHUR.--Chemical works, rolled metal works, sword, tin plate.

ZINC SALTS (CHLORIDE, SULPHATE).--Gelatine, buttons, printing.

PIGMENTS.

BRUNSWICK GREEN, CARMINE, CHROME YELLOW, COBALT, GAMBOGE, INDIAN RED, INDIGO, IVORY BLACK, LAMP BLACK, OCHRE, ORANGE CHROME, ORPIMENT, PRUSSIAN BLUE, RED LEAD, SCHEELE’S GREEN, SMALTS, UMBER, ULTRAMARINE, VERDIGRIS, VERMILION, YELLOW OCHRE, ZAFFRE, ZINC WHITE, WHITE LEAD.--(Red and white lead are used for lutes as well as for pigments, red lead too is largely consumed in the manufacture of flint glass). Brass founding, tin plate works, japanning, bedsteads, lithography, brush works, coach and carriage works, buttons, ammunition works, cycles, art metal work.

STONES.

QUARRY STONES, LIMESTONE, BILSTON and DERBY (GRIND) STONES, LITHOGRAPHIC STONE, WHETSTONE, RAGSTONE, WATER OF AYR STONE, TURKEY STONE, ARKANSAS.--Iron smelting, chemical works, nickel and cobalt refining, sword, edge tool, and tool grinding generally, printing and lithography, tin plate, brass founding, gun, button, sword, art metal, electro-plate.

APATITE, SOMBRERITE, and NATIVE PHOSPHATES.--Phosphorus manufacture.

FLUR SPAR.--Alloys, engineers’ brass foundry, roasting jack, hydrofluoric acid manufacture.

MICA.--Gas fitting, stove makers, brass founding, ship’s log, optical instrument.

FELSPAR.--Pottery, art metal.

ROCK CRYSTAL.--Spectacle manufacture, art metal, electrical apparatus, optical instrument.

AGATE, BLOODSTONE, HÆMATITE.--As burnishers in many trades.

DIAMOND BORT.--Diamond cutting, lapidary work, spectacle manufacture, railway carriage.

DIAMOND.--Jewellery, glaziers’ diamond manufacture.

AMBER, AMETHYST, CROCIDOLITE, GARNET, OPAL RUBY, SAPPHIRE, CARNELIAN, TOPAZ, &C.--Cut stones in jewellery, lapidary work, watch and clock manufacture, art metal work, electro-plate, whip, fine wire drawing.

GUMS.

ARABIC.--Brass founding, printing and lithography, optical instrument, electro-plate, pen, whip, light metal trades, wholesale boot and shoe.

BENZOIN.--Wire mattress, railway carriage.

COPAL.--Button, printing and lithography, electro-plate, needles, optical instruments.

DAMAR.--Button, optical instruments.

DEXTRINE.--Printing and lithography, pen and penholders, optical instrument, thimble.

GUTTA PERCHA.--Electro-plate, brass founding, railway carriage, printing and lithography, rolled light brass metal work, needle, thimble, wholesale boot and shoe.

INDIA RUBBER.--Vulcanised India rubber works.

MASTIC.--Buttons, printing and lithography, tin plate.

SANDARAC.--Buttons, printing.

SHELL-LAC.--Lacquer manufacture, brass founding, light metal work, railway carriage, pen and penholder, whip, button, printing and lithography, sword, optical instrument, roasting jack, thimble, electro-plate.

TRAGACANTH.--Printing and lithography, wholesale boot and shoe trade.

OILS, VARNISHES, &c.

ANIMAL OILS (LARD, NEAT’S FOOT, SPERM, SEAL, WHALE, TALLOW, TRAIN).--Rolled metal, electro-plate, buttons, pen and penholder, nails, fire irons, bedstead, wedding ring, brass founding, gas manufacture, printing and lithography, optical instrument, alloy making, railway carriage, engineers’ brass founding, soap, wholesale boot and shoe.

VEGETABLE OILS (COLZA, COCA NUT, LINSEED, RAPE, OLIVE, PALM, PINE).--Gas manufacture, fibre and brass dressing, printing and lithography, electro-plate, rolled metal, tin plate, carriage furniture, optical instrument, soap, paper, button, alkali works, iron wire, bedstead.

MINERAL OILS (PETROLEUM, PETROLINE, COAL SHALE).--Fibre dressing, brass founding, gas manufacture, spectacles, lapidaries’ work, lithography and printing, railway carriage.

BENZOLINE, BISULPHIDE OF CARBON, COAL NAPHTHA, ETHER, METHYLATED SPIRIT, SPIRITS OF WINE, TAR SPIRITS, TURPENTINE, TEREBINE, WOOD NAPHTHA.--Papier mâché, japanning, lacquer, printing and lithography, electro-plate, button, thimble, cycle, whip, soap, brassfounding, railway carriage, bottle jack, optical instrument.

ASPHALTUM, BITUMEN, GOLD SIZE.--Printing and lithography, tin plate, papier mâché, bedstead, picture frame, ornamental glass, brassfounding, art metal.

PITCH, RESIN.--Soap, electro-plate, tin-plate, bedstead, carriage furniture, printing and lithography, thimble, paper, brassfounding, wholesale boot and shoe trade.

VARNISHES (COPAL, MASTIC, JAPAN, PONTYPOOL).--30 or 40 varieties are known in the trade, the names often implying the purpose for which the varnish is used as coach-body varnish, oak varnish, undercoating, finishing, &c. Coach and carriage works, house decoration, furniture, tin-plate, papier mâché, bedstead, coffin furniture, fog signal cases, iron hollow-ware, enamel leather.

LEATHERS AND FABRICS.

BASIL or SHEEP SKIN, BUFFALO, BULL NECK, CALF, CROCODILE, COW HIDE, DOG FISH, DONKEY, GNU, HORSE HIDE, KANGAROO, PIG SKIN, RUSSIAN, SKIVERS, CHAMOIS, or WASH LEATHER, SEA HORSE, or WALRUS, VELLUM.--Wholesale saddlery and leather trades generally, wholesale boot and shoe trade, polishing in the metal trades, parts of articles in the electro-plate, tin plate, whip, and many other trades.

BUCKRAM, CLOTH, FLANNEL, PLUSH, SATIN, SILK, VELVET.--Railway carriage works, tin plate, brassfounding, button, needle, optical instrument, cocoa, leather trades.

FELT.--Corrugated iron, brassfounding, light brass rolled metal works, railway carriage works, printing and lithography, electro-plate, art metal, optical instrument, glass polishing.

PAPER.--Paper box trade, papier mâché, wrapping up in all trades.

WOODS.

ASH, BAYWOOD, BEECH, BIRCH, ELM, FIR, MAPLE, OAK, PINE, TEAK.--One or more of them used in most trades, railway carriage, cabinet, tin plate, brass founding, edge tools, clog, electro-plate.

BEEF WOOD.--Gun trade, ramrod.

BLACKTHORN.--Whip.

BOXWOOD.--Used in metal trades, generally for chocks.

CEDAR.--Railway carriage, cabinet, pen and penholder, needle, art metal, optical instrument.

COCUS WOOD.--Optical instrument.

EBONY.--Gun, gas fitting, brass founding, button, electro-plate, tool, art metal, railway carriage.

HICKORY.--Whip, rolled metal, needle, ferrule, railway carriage.

HOLLY.--Tool, whip.

HOLDER WOOD.--Clog.

LANCEWOOD, PARTRIDGE WOOD, SATIN WOOD, SNAKE WOOD.--Gun, clog, whip, needle, pen and penholder, brass founding, optical instrument.

LIGNUM VITÆ.--Button, whip, brass founding, art metal, rolled metal, tool, corkscrew.

MALACCA CANE.--Gold beating.

MAPLE.--Gun, railway carriage, cycle and sewing machine, brass founding.

PEACH.--Electro-plate.

PEAR.--Coal mining, glass, printing and lithography.

ROSEWOOD.--Gun, railway carriage, cabinet, printing and lithography, pen and penholder, electro-plate, tool.

SYCAMORE.--Railway carriage, electro-plate, printing and lithography, art metal.

TULIP.--Art metal.

WALNUT.--Gun, electro-plate, brass founding, railway carriage, cabinet, pen and penholder, art metal, matchet.

YEW.--Whip.

ZEBRA.--Button, electro-plate, pen and penholder, optical instrument.

DYE STUFFS.

ANILINE COLOURS, ALKANET, ARCHIL, BURWOOD, CUDBEAR, CATECHU, DIVI DIVI, DRAGON’S BLOOD, FUSTIC, INDIGO, GALL NUTS, LOGWOOD, MYRABOLANS, RED SANDERS, SHUMAC, TURMERIC.--Furniture and cabinet works, button, railway carriage, fibre and bass dressing, art metal, whip, paper, printing and lithography, matchet, wholesale boot and shoe trade.

NOT CLASSED.

ASBESTOS.--Gas fitting, paper, railway carriage, printing and lithography, electro-plate, tin plate.

BONES AND BONE WASTE.--Glue, buttons, electro-plate, light brass rolled metal works, carriage furniture.

BEESWAX, PARAFFIN WAX.--Brass founding, alloy, whip, bedstead, electro-plate, printing and lithography, light brass rolled metal works, optical instrument.

BURDOCK, KECK, ELDER PITH.--Watch Finishing.

BATH BRICK.--Gas fitting, whip, light brass rolled metal works, ships’ log, optical instrument, railway carriage.

BLACK LEAD.--Black lead works, gas fitting, railway carriage, electro-plate, tin plate, nails, whip, buttons.

CHALK, WHITENING, FRENCH CHALK.--Gas fitting, brass founding, electro-plate, printing and lithography, sword, railway carriage, tin plate, fibre dressing, buttons, pen and penholder.

COAL TAR, CREOSOTE.--Tar distilling, railway carriage, soap, electro-plate, light brass rolled metal works.

CATGUT.--Bands for lathes in nearly all trades.

CAMEL HAIR, SABLE HAIR.--Railway carriage, electro-plate, watch chain, brass founding, art metal, optical instrument.

COTTON WASTE.--In nearly all the metal trades.

COTTON WOOL AND WADDING.--For storing and packing in jewellery and other trades.

COTTON, THREAD, TAPE.--Nearly all trades.

CUTTLE FISH.--Printing and lithography, jewellery.

CROCUS, COLCOTHAR, ROUGE.--Brassfounding, gas fitting, bedstead, electro-plate, tin plate, jewellery, glass grinding, and polishing.

CHARCOAL.--brassfounding, gas fitting, bedstead, electro-plate alloy, wedding ring, nails.

CHINA CLAY.--Porcelain (Worcester), paper, engineers’ brassfounding.

COCOA (THEOBROMA CACAO).--Cocoa and chocolate manufacture.

EGGS.--Printing and lithography, photographic frame and cabinet work.

EMERY.--For grinding and polishing in all the metal trades, glass grinding, lapidary work, wholesale boot and shoe trade.

FLOUR.--Tin plate, brassfounding, alloys, railway carriage, printing and lithography, bedstead, nails, papier mâché, paper box, pocket book, wholesale boot and shoe trade.

FLAX.--Whip Manufacture.

FLOCK, FEATHERS.--Upholstery and bedding manufacture, artificial fly.

FIRE CLAY.--Furnaces in all manufactures.

FULLER’S EARTH.--Pin, cycle and sewing machine.

FLINTS.--African gun trade, nickel and cobalt, chemical works.

FOUNDERS’ DUST.--For casting, metal trades generally.

GALL NUTS.--Ink, brassfounding.

[44]GYPSUM AND PLASTER OF PARIS.--Gold beating, paper, gas manufacture, railway carriage, printing and lithography, whip, brassfounding, nails.

GAS CARBON.--Electrical apparatus makers, ship’s log, thimble, whip, art metal, optical instruments.

GELATINE AND GLUE.--In nearly all trades.

GANNISTER.--Alloys, rolled metals, iron and steel works, brassfounding.

GOLD BEATERS’ SKIN.--Gold beating, electro-plate.

HARES’ FEET.--Gold beating, watch chain, whip, tool, thimble, printing and lithography.

HEMP, HURDS, TOW.--Rope and twine, alloy, electro-plate, carriage furniture, tin plate, brassfounding, gas fitting, railway carriage, anchor, sword, thimble.

HONEY.--Bronze powder, cocoa and chocolate.

HORSE HAIR.--Railway carriage, whip, fishing tackle, upholstery and bedding.

IVORY.--Bone and ivory and billiard ball turners, electro-plate, optical instrument.

IRISH MOSS, TANNATE OF SODA.--Used generally to prevent scaling in steam boilers.

JUTE, KITTOOL FIBRE.--Paper, glue, fibre, dressing, electro-plate.

LIVER OF SULPHUR.--For bronzing in various metal trades.

LIME.--Building, paper, glue, chemical works, iron wire, brassfounding, electro-plate, printing and lithography, railway carriage.

MARINE GLUE.--Alloys, railway carriage, rolled light metal, optical instrument.

NUTS (BETEL, COQUILLA, CAROZO).--Buttons.

OILSTONE DUST.--Gun, clock, watch finishing.

PARAFFIN WAX.--Railway carriage works, axle box, rolled light metal works.

POLISHING THREAD.--Watch chain, spectacle, cycle and sewing machine.

PUMICE STONE.--Grinding and polishing in most metal trades, printing and lithography, papier mâché.

PEARL SHELL.--Pearl workers, papier mâché, bedstead, electro-plate, optical instrument.

PUTTY POWDER.--Lapidary, electro-plate, diesinking, needles, whip, sword, thimble.

QUILLS.--Whip, fishing tackle.

ROTTENSTONE.--For polishing in the metal trades, papier mâché, pearl work.

SAND (FONTAINBLEAU, TRENT, SILVER, LOAM, CORE, &C).--Glass manufacture, glass grinding, moulding in the metal trades, for sand blast in the electro-plate trade.

SANDIFER or GLASS GALL.--Jewellery, electro-plate, watch chain.

SAWDUST.--Gas manufacture, brass founding and brass trades generally, railway carriage, printing and lithography.

SEALING WAX.--For parcelling in nearly all trades.

SILK.--Railway carriage, button, tin plate, printing and lithography, needles and fish hook.

SIZE.--Railway carriage, printing and lithography, tin plate, optical instrument, house decoration, electro-gilding.

SLATE AND SLATE PENCIL.--Jewellery, railway carriage, printing and lithography, electro-plate, tin plate.

SLAG WOOL.--Gas fittings, engineers’ brass founding.

SOAP.--Nearly all trades.

SPONGE.--Tin plate, art metal, rolled light brass trade, whip, electro-plate, printing and lithography.

STALE BEER.--Electro-plating and gilding, wire working.

SUGAR.--Cocoa, electro-plate, tin plate, ships’ log, printing and lithography.

STRAW or HAY.--Bedding, packing in nearly all trades.

SWAN’S DOWN.--Electro-plate, bridle bit, tin plate.

TORTOISE SHELL.--Tortoise shell workers, button.

VULCANITE.--Button, ammunition, railway carriage.

WHALEBONE.--Whip manufacture.

WOOL.--Railway carriage, felt, printing and lithography, bedding, needles, optical instrument.

In reference to some materials, Mr. Arthur Robottom, who has introduced a variety of new products for use in Birmingham sends me the following notes: _Cryolite_ from Greenland, is used in making glass globes for the electric light. _Nitrate of soda_, from Chili.--Mr. W. R. Lloyd, merchant, Newhall Street, sold the first small lot to W. C. Alston, about 50 years ago; since then I have sold large quantities to the manufacturers of nitric acid. _Lard oil_ was first used in Birmingham. _Carnubia wax_ (Brazil) was first used in Birmingham for wax tapers. _Mica._--The first import of large plates from India was sold to Griffiths and Browett for lanterns to be used in powder magazines. _Istle or Mexican Fibre._--The first bale was sold by me to Mrs. Grew, of Church street, and used for brush making. _Kourie Gum_, from New Zealand, first used in Birmingham by Barratt, Postans and others for varnish making. _Cow Hair_ from River Plate used for circular brushes in glass cutting. _Carozo nuts_ or _Vegetable Ivory_.--The first arrivals from Venezuela were sold to Mr. Burgiss, of Great Charles Street, for toys; afterwards some were obtained by Mr. Bricknall, button maker, who first made buttons from this material. Subsequently the late Mr. J. S. Wright, then a clerk with Smith and Kemp, took up the material, and it soon became generally used. Now some thousands of tons are consumed every year for this purpose. _Piassava._--“I sold the first small lot to Richard Deen, and got him to retail it to Irishmen living in London Prentice street and neighbourhood, to make into bass brooms for hawking. At the present time some 200 tons per week of this material is made up into brooms. _Gum Animi_, largely used in Birmingham for varnish. _Button Lac_ was first used in Birmingham by Joseph Shorthouse, Market Street, who had the first five cases from Calcutta, for the manufacture of lacquer. _Kiltool_, from Ceylon. The first shipment came to me, I put it aside in some stables at my house in the Coventry Road, intending to sell it for putting under ripe strawberries, but by accident I found out that by putting it into hot oil it took a beautiful black colour. Upon this Mr. Lovedee, of Bartholomew Street, at my suggestion, dressed and prepared the material for the brush trade. It is now used in great quantities.” _Lemon_, _Orange_, and _Citron Peel_.--Large quantities sent to Birmingham to be candied at Mr. Pattison’s works, Spring Hill. They are imported from Sicily.

The reader having now some idea of the materials entering our district, let us see generally, though in mere outline, how these materials are worked up in the metal trades.

ORES.--The only ores smelted in our district on a large scale are iron and nickel and cobalt. Small quantities of galena and copper pyrites are used. Spanish ore, an iron pyrites containing two or three per cent. of copper, has the sulphur burnt off in the chemical works, and the copper is subsequently precipitated and refined.

METALS AND ALLOYS.--Iron and steel are now extensively produced from cast iron in our district by the modern methods as well as by the older ones of puddling in the case of iron, and cementing in the case of steel. The basic Bessemer process has been adopted on a large scale by Mr. A. Hickman, of the Spring Vale Furnaces, Bilston. Three converters are used, one lined in the ordinary manner (gannister), the other two with a paste made of dolomite (magnesian limestone) and tar, the process of conversion being commenced in the first named converter, and finished in the others. At the same works are modern type blast furnaces in which the waste gases are utilised for heating the blast on the regenerative principle, two stoves being those of Mr. Cowper’s system, while there are three new ones invented by Ford and Moncan. Messrs. Hatton and Sons of Bilston, adopt a fixed Bessemer converter in which blast of low pressure can be used. At the same works the Wilson gas producer is used for re-heating furnaces, and an arrangement on the Ponsard principle is adopted for raising the temperature of the air used in the combustion of the gas. Mr. Smith-Casson has in use at the Round Oak Works a novel gas furnace of his invention. At the Patent Shaft and Axle Tree Works a modification of the (Siemens) open hearth furnace (an improvement by Dick and Riley) is being used.[45] At Messrs. Cox Brothers and Holland, Alcester Street, crucible steel is made. The cementing process is carried on at the Brades Steel Works, Oldbury.

COPPER.--The crude copper known as Chili bars and precipitated copper from chemical works, where the sulphur of the ore has been previously utilized, are refined extensively in the neighbourhood of Birmingham.

LEAD.--Lead refuse of various kinds, together with galena, is treated at one small works in the town.

ALLOYS.--In most cases manufacturers mix their own metals. However, brass, German-silver, and other alloys are extensively manufactured for the trade.

The metal or alloy having been made, is subject to various general processes, either as preliminary to manufacture, or in the course of manufacture, of which the following are the principal:--

CASTING.--From a drawing the pattern is made in wood--⅛ of an inch to the foot longer in case of cast-iron, and ³⁄₁₆ do. in case of brass to allow for shrinking. The pattern is laid in sand, often contained in a casting frame, which, from its plasticity, non-fusibility, and other properties lends itself admirably for mould making. The mould is dusted over with charcoal, or with a mixture known as founders’ dust, and the casting then made by pouring metal in. With small articles in brass, metal patterns are used. For gold articles, such as wedding rings, an iron frame is used, filled with the finest red sand. For small gold work, the cuttle fish bone is used as a mould, the pattern being pressed in the same manner as in sand.[46] A special feature in the process of casting in our district is the production of “chilled” castings for rolls. The mould for the barrel part of the roll is a heavy cylindrical casting of iron truly bored out to a size sufficient to allow of the roll being turned to the required size. The molten iron is run into the mould sidelong, and from the bottom, so as to give the metal a rotatory motion. This rotatory motion causes the dust and slag to keep in the centre, leaving a pure metal in contact with the mould. This metal chilled by contact with the massive metal mould, produces the hard and close texture required.[47]

Keys, stirrups, hob nails, and many small articles are produced by casting, the casting being afterwards rendered malleable by the process of cementation, which consists in packing the articles in an iron box with powdered hæmatite, and heating from three to seven days. Iron castings are also annealed by packing with cinders in a box, which is then heated for some time, as with the malleable cast iron.

ROLLING, WIRE AND TUBE DRAWING.--Iron, brass, steel, and German silver are used up in the form of sheet, wire, and tube. With large firms producing finished articles, these processes are done on the premises, but there are several works devoted to the production of sheet metal, wire, or tube only, and rolling for the trade. In the jewellers’ district, the cast ingots of the precious metals are taken to rolling mills in the neighbourhood to be rolled down to the required degree of fineness. For some articles, such as spoons, where a blank is required of varying thickness, strips of metal are thinned in parts by what is known as “cross rolling,” the rolls being exposed at one end, so that a strip of metal may be passed through, which is thus thinned down at one end.

Tube drawing is effected by cutting a strip of metal which is then passed through rolls to give it a gutter form. One end of the gutter is now beaten up to form a tang that can be gripped by the tongs of the draw bench, and the gutter is pulled through a conical hole which roughly forms the tube. The open seam of the tube is now brazed, and after cleaning, this roughly formed tube is slipped over a steel rod or mandril. Both mandril and tube are drawn through a smooth circular hole when a smooth uniform tube is formed. Fluted taper tubes are made as described at (B. p. 324[48]) by means of “tins,” but a novel method is now adopted for smooth taper tubes. A wedge-shaped piece of metal is roughly made into a conical tube which is put on a taper mandril revolving in a lathe. A flat steel burnisher is pressed on to the tube as it revolves pressing the metal to take the shape of the mandril. Twisted tubes are produced by drawing the tube through a revolving nut (B. p. 325[48]), embossed or ornamented tubes by drawing a plain tube through a die, composed of a series, four say, of small wheels or pulleys on the edge of each wheel being impressed the desired pattern. As the tube is drawn through the die, the wheels turn and impress on the tube the pattern they carry on their surface. As stated (B. p. 326[48]), the invention is due to Mr. Fearn. It should, however, be mentioned that the process failed in his hands, but was subsequently taken up by Messrs. Winfield and Co., who, with the help of their engineer, Mr. Thomas Preston, brought the process to perfection.

PRESS TOOL WORK.--The next general process in the manufacture of many metallic articles is cutting out a blank into the requisite shape. This is done by what is called a press tool consisting of two parts; one a firm block of steel, in which is an aperture, circular, oval, or whatever shape may be desired, and the other a punch of corresponding shape, a piece of metal being placed over the aperture, the punch is forced down by a screw of high pitch on to the metal, when a blank is cut out at one blow, and falls into a pan placed to receive it.[49]

STAMPING.--Used for hollowing blanks in a number of trades. The blank cut by hand or tool is placed on a mould or die, and a heavy weight, carrying on its lower surface the counterpart of the mould, working in guides so as to fall true, can be lifted up and allowed to fall on the blank until the metal is forced into the shape of the mould. As the metal hardens by successive blows, the blanks are annealed (that is heated and allowed to cool) as often as may be found necessary.

The weight which gives the blow is supported by a strap passing over a wheel in constant motion. So long as the strap hangs loosely over the wheel, the friction of the moving wheel is insufficient to lift the weight, but immediately the workman makes the strap taut, the weight is carried up and is let fall by the workman releasing his hold on the strap.

SHAPING.--Thin metal is shaped by pressure applied by means of a screw press, the metal being placed between a die or mould and its counterpart.

AUTOMATIC MACHINERY.--A number of articles produced from wire, such as pins, nails, hooks and eyes, hair pins, etc., are made completely by automatic machinery, the wire being wound off a reel at one end of the machine and transformed into the various articles as it passes along until it comes out at the other end of the machine, a finished or nearly finished article.

AUTOMATIC TURNING AND SHAPING.--Gun stocks, boot lasts, tool handles and other similar articles are automatically turned. With a gun stock for example, the rough form cut from a plank is put in a lathe, above is placed a steel model or dummy of the form required to be turned, the model and the wooden blank are made to revolve at precisely the same speed, and a rotating cutter travels slowly along from one end of the blank to the other, the movement of the cutter inwards or outwards being regulated by the dummy. The wooden blank having been put in the lathes, the cutting is started, and it then goes on until finished, when the lathe stops automatically. The shaping of gun locks and many other parts of the gun is effected by causing a revolving cutter to be moved over a fixed steel model or dummy, the cutter thus shapes the blank to a fac-simile of the pattern or dummy.[50]

SPINNING.--Tea pot bodies and a variety of articles in Britannia metal are “spun.” A piece of wood 4 or 5 inches in diameter is attached to the lathe head, and in this a hollow corresponding to the bottom of the tea pot is turned. A sheet of metal of a foot or so diameter is now put against the wood and pressed into the hollow by a wooden cylindrical mould with a round base which corresponds to the concavity. The disc is rotated very rapidly and the workman presses the soft metal over the mould so as to form a vessel in shape somewhat resembling a coffee cup with upright sides, the cylindrical mould is taken out and replaced by a disc of wood in two halves, held in place by a spindle from the back centre of the lathe. The metal cylinder is now gradually closed in until the opening is reduced to the required size, when the body is complete. The spindle is withdrawn and the divided disc of wood easily shakes out.

DRAWING THROUGH.--Umbrella ferrules, pencil cases, cartridge cases, and a variety of articles are made by “drawing through.” The finest example of this process is seen in the manufacture of a metallic cartridge case, such as is used in the new Enfield-Martini rifle. I am indebted to Mr. T. R. Bayliss, Managing Director of the Birmingham Small Arms and Metal Company, for the following particulars. The brass is rolled to the required thickness.[51] It is then passed into a machine which forms it into a shallow cup. This machine consists of a tubular punch which cuts out a disc of 1.25 inch diameter, immediately upon which a solid plug passing through the tubular punch, presses the disc through a steel ring, so that it falls to the ground as a shallow brass cup. Three of these are produced by one blow of the press. The cups are heated in a muffle to a red heat, then dipped in dilute sulphuric acid to remove scale, washed, coated with soap and oil, and then passed through a second machine in which a slightly narrower punch forces the cup through a slightly narrower ring, and thus the cup, while retaining the same thickness at the bottom, is made slightly narrower and much deeper. Repetitions of the process (six altogether) produce a case rather more than half-an-inch wide and three inches long, which, when cut off to proper length, indented at the bottom for reception of the cap, and some other finishing processes gone through, is ready for the charge of powder. The process is applied to small articles like pencil cases, and at the Small Arms and Metal Company to cases as large as 5·20 inch diameter and 15 inch long.

SOLDERING.--Hard soldering or brazing consists in fusing an alloy of high melting point between two junctions of the metal to be soldered so as firmly to connect them. The solder in fine powder is mixed with powdered borax, and made into a puddle with water, and then spread about the parts to be soldered together. The article is now heated by fire or gas, and the moment when the solder runs, is carefully watched. Gold and silver soldering used in the jewellery trades is on a small scale similar to brazing, the solder used is a gold or silver alloy of slightly lower melting point than the article to be soldered: the borax is commonly applied by previously rubbing down a crystal on a piece of slate and the white puddle thus obtained applied by means of a camel hair pencil to the junction on which the solder is placed. The article is supported on a piece of pumice stone and the necessary heat produced by the flame from a mouth blowpipe. In soft soldering an alloy of tin and lead is used, the melted alloy being spread by means of a “bit” or “doctor,” consisting of a piece of copper attached to an iron rod set in a wooden handle. A flux called “monkey” or “spirit,” consisting of muriatic acid with dissolved zinc, having previously been applied. Formerly resin was used as a flux, but this is now to a great extent superseded by the mixture just spoken of.

SCRATCH BRUSHING is used to produce a rich rough surface previous to gilding. Revolving brushes of brass wire scratch the surface of the article which is kept well moistened with stale beer or with water to which size has been added.

Of late years the SAND BLAST has been introduced for roughing surfaces. Sand is fed into a powerful blast of air, and a fine frosted surface produced. If the article is protected in places by a mask of paper or soft metal cut out in any desired pattern, an ornamental pattern is produced requiring only a little chasing to finish it. The sand blast is used too in the production of an imitation of engraved glass, in embossing glass as a substitute for hydrofluoric acid, and for re-cutting old files.

DIPPING.--In order to clean brass articles, they are dipped into a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, the temperature and strength of acid determining whether the dipping is bright or dead. The bright articles are now finished by burnishing or polishing, and are then ready for

LACQUERING.--The articles are laid on an iron table heated to a temperature of about 230° F. by super-heated steam. When warm, the lacquer, which is a solution of shell-lac in spirits of wine, is brushed over, the spirit evaporates and leaves a protecting coating of gum.

GOLD CUTTING or LAPPING in jewellery consists in pressing articles against a rapidly revolving disc or “lap,” composed of lead and tin, to the surface of which fine emery has been applied. The faces of the article which have thus been “cut” are subsequently polished on a “bob,” that is on a wheel covered with leather on its edge or circumference.[52]

COLOURING in jewellery refers to a rich gold colour obtained on gold articles. The process at first could be applied only to jewellery of high quality, but now 15 and 18 carat gold is coloured. The articles are heated to dull redness to destroy grease and dirt, then hung on platinum wires and immersed in a boiling mixture of salt, saltpetre, and muriatic acid and water. After drying out in sawdust they are scratch-brushed.[52]

There are many extremely interesting processes in the trades of our town besides those which apply exclusively to the metal trades, but for these I have no space. Those who wish for full information respecting the history, position, and general character of the Birmingham industries, must consult “Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District,” edited by Mr. Sam. Timmins. This volume, which was published on the occasion of the visit of the British Association to the town in 1865, is exhaustive, describing the trades as they then existed. In order, however, to supplement Mr. Timmins’ book, application has been made to various gentlemen who have been good enough to provide the following short notices (or the substance of them) of the various trades referred to at length in the volume. In addition there are some notices of industries which have been introduced since the year 1865.

SUPPLEMENTARY DETAILS OF BIRMINGHAM TRADE SINCE 1865.

=Introductory Note.=--The references to “Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District” volume are quoted as “B.,” followed by a number indicating the page. Thus (B. 77) means, _See “Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District”, page 77_. The trades are arranged alphabetically.

=Assay Office of Birmingham.=--[H. WESTWOOD].--(B. 499). The assay marks continue to be so highly valued by the public that all goods are now sent to be assayed and marked except those of the commonest quality, and a few richly wrought articles that would be injured in the process.[53]

The statistics of the Assay Office form an index to the condition of the gold and silver trades of the town. The following tables are a continuation of those given by Mr. Ryland (B. 507).

WEIGHT OF GOLD AND SILVER WARES ASSAYED AND MARKED IN BIRMINGHAM.

Year ends Gold. Silver. June 24th oz. oz.

1865 30,733 99,688 1866 35,705 90,736 1867 34,114 83,501 1868 36,170 79,642 1869 47,694 87,027 1870 48,123 84,323 1871 58,323 81,248 1872 75,933 91,988 1873 98,134 106,415 1874 116,325 134,949 1875 113,642 141,123 1876 120,019 142,148 1877 114,772 163,047 1878 104,202 159,847 1879 87,042 166,469 1880 81,606 239,835 1881 70,466 331,209 1882 86,837 511,743 1883 91,053 851,957 1884 99,799 926,968 1885 97,618 888,391

AMOUNT OF PLATE DUTY COLLECTED.

Year ends July 24th.

Date. Amount. 1865 £11,114 1866 11,493 1867 9,941 1868 9,761 1869 10,505 1870 10,767 1871 11,270 1872 12,603 1873 14,889 1874 17,898 1875 18,202

Year ends June 24th.

1876 18,689 1877 19,053 1878 18,406 1879 15,752 1880 13,898 1881 15,141 1882 18,649 1883 19,663 1884 20,943 1885 20,221

NUMBER OF ASSAYS MADE IN BIRMINGHAM.

Date. Number. 1843 1,685 1853 2,477 1863 6,823 1873 38,138 1883 101,012

=Bedsteads, Iron and Brass.=--[L. BRIERLEY.]--(B. 624.) In 1849 there were only about eight manufacturers of metallic bedsteads in Birmingham and the neighbourhood, whose united production probably reached 400 finished articles per week. In 1865 the number had increased to twenty, with a weekly output of about 5,000; the number of makers within a radius of fifteen miles is about forty, and the weekly production not far short of 20,000. As the number of manufacturers increased, and competition necessarily became keener, so improvements were continually being effected. The old imitation bamboo cane gave way to more artistic effects of colour. The pillars and rails were decorated with flowers and Dutch metal, or with gold--accomplished partly by hand, and partly by the process (long known in the potteries for ornamenting china ware) called transferring. This somewhat pronounced, if not “loud” style of decoration, though still in demand for foreign countries, has in its turn been replaced by plain polished surfaces, relieved at intervals with brass, nickel, or silver plated joints, and mountings. Prices range now (1886) from 5/- or 6/- for a plain stump bedstead to £100 for electro-silver plated canopy or fore part constructed to suit Oriental taste. The United States now buys and also makes metallic bedsteads. Australia, New Zealand, the Cape, Mauritius, Canada, East and West Indies, the States of South America, Egypt, China, and to some extent, Japan, purchase.

About 500 persons are now employed in Birmingham and neighbourhood in the bedstead trade; the average earnings of men are about 23/- per week, and of women about 14/- per week.

Within the last ten years wire mattresses have been introduced. The price was formerly £4 to £5 for a mattress, according to width. Now a good one may be obtained at a price varying from 20/- to 40/-.

While Birmingham and the district is the principal seat of the bedstead trade there are extensive manufactories in London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Bristol. Metallic bedsteads are also made extensively in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and of late years in the United States also. A great number are, however, still exported to Spain and America in spite of the native competition, and protective duties amounting to 45 per cent. Our trade with Spain is very much reduced of late years in consequence of England being denied the advantage of “the favoured nation” clause.

=Block Paper and its Uses.=--[J. B. GAUSBY.]--(B. 574.) Since the previous paper on this subject was written, there has been no alteration in the process of manufacture, nor has there been any marked development of the trade as a whole. The manufacture of panels of various thickness has increased in consequence of their adoption in the place of wood, where bending or exposure to varying conditions of moisture are required. The great quantities of trays imported from Japan for some time checked the demand for moulded paper tray blanks, but the demand is now returning. Fashion has however dealt less kindly with the manufacture of slabs in blocks for the purpose of manufacturing artificial jet ornaments. This branch of the trade is entirely destroyed.

=Boiler Plate and Gas Holders.=--[W. S. SUTHERLAND.]--(B. 93.) In spite of heavy duties, boiler and gas apparatus are still exported. Within the last twenty years many types of tubular boilers have been introduced, but the one fluted or Cornish boiler, the simple egg-end, and the Lancashire and double boiler with cross tubes are most generally used. Mild steel has been introduced into boiler making and plate making during the last few years, though it is still a contested point whether it is superior to iron when all things are taken into consideration. It requires to have all rivet holes drilled, and it must be carefully annealed, though the writer is informed by Mr. Edwin Danks, of Oldbury, that steel makers often prefer to have their plates either worked cold or at a red heat, and not in the intermediate condition. Drilling machines especially designed are now used. Hydraulic machines of greatly improved construction have come into use for facilitating the operations in the boiler yard. These machines are portable, the water being supplied through a flexible tube. Improvements in the construction of the internal boiler flues have been made to enable them to resist increased pressure, and further to allow the expansion and contraction of the flue without injury. Of these improvements, the most noted are Fox’s corrugated flues, the bowling ring, the flanged flue, and Arnold’s flue.

An improvement introduced by the writer into boiler plate working, is the system of welding by gas, adopted in Birmingham by Messrs. Piggott, and by Messrs. Lloyd and Lloyd, for tubular and other work and applied by Mr. Puplett for welding plate sheets of steel only, 12 and 13 w.g. thick into ice moulds. It is found that the strength of the weld equals that of the solid plate, and the process is a cleanly and convenient one. Hemispherical sugar pans of 8 and 9 feet diameter without a joint are made by Messrs. Piggott, who use this process. _Gas Holders._--Since 1865 much larger gas holders have been made. The two designed by Mr. Hunt, and recently erected at the Windsor Street Works, Birmingham, have each a capacity of 6,000,000 cubic feet, and are at the present time the largest in the world.

=Brassfoundry.=--(B. 225). No important changes have taken place in this trade since the last report was written. At Messrs. Winfield’s and other makers, light and elegant “electroliers,” for electric lighting, have been added to the usual run of work. A general cheapening of brass articles has resulted among other causes from the reduction in price of copper. In the table (B. 259) it will be seen that in 1855 copper was £126 a ton, the prices since 1865, when it was £92, have been--

£ 1866 88 1867 78 1868 76 1869 75 1870 70 1871 75 1872 96 1873 92 1874 87 1875 88 1876 82 1877 75 1878 67 1879 63 1880 67 1881 66 1882 72 1883 67 1884 59 1885 48

The increased imports from America account for the fall in price, the increase in Lake Superior copper alone being from 25,439 tons in 1882, to 35,000 in 1885.[54]

=Button Trade.=--[J. P. TURNER.]--(B. 432.) A fashion for covered buttons in various qualities of mohair or its imitations, in diagonal patterns, has prevailed at home and abroad for some years. These are largely made in Birmingham, but as many or more are imported from Germany, where the covering is _wholly_ produced, and, further, a better finish to the buttons is obtained. _Vegetable Ivory or Carozo Nut Buttons._--The Germans produce more beautiful designs and superior finish at the same prices, and the Birmingham markets are now almost annihilated. The foreign trade Birmingham once had is extinguished. _Pearl Buttons._--Since 1865 a new supply of pearl shell has been obtained from various parts of the coast round Australia, and this locality is our chief source of supply. It is worth £200 per ton for picked parcels, and about £150 per ton when delivered here. The best of this shell is equal or nearly so to the best Macassar shells. Panama shells are now found in but small quantities, and instead of only fetching £20 to £30 per ton, as quoted in 1865, they are now worth £50 to £70. _Glass Buttons._--Some fancy glass buttons made in Birmingham are still unsurpassed in style, but the sale is a limited one. More than ever come from Bohemia, where they are better made than formerly, and equally low in price.

The button trade in Paris has had to yield to German competition equally with that in England.[55]

=Cast Iron and Hollow Ware.=--[W. KENRICK, M.P.]--(B. 103.) Since 1866 the increase in the trade is remarkable, and some important improvements have been introduced by which the public has obtained a very superior article, at a price quite as low, if not lower than before. Roughly speaking, the trade has doubled in twenty years. Enamelled iron ware has become better known and more appreciated. Ten firms are now engaged in this manufacture. Messrs. Baldwin, of Stourport, have introduced and patented a new process, whereby they claim the production of a better enamel at a lower price, owing to the use of a single coat. This variety is called mottled enamel ware.

Messrs. Kenrick were the first in the trade to introduce a cover stamped out of a single piece of metal without rivet or seam, and this was manufactured under a patent taken out by Mr. Ryland in 1868. Since then the adoption of a solid cover has extended generally throughout the trade. By another patent, the firm fixed the tubular handle to the saucepan by means of a socket in which the tube was securely locked without a rivet.

The process of annealing has been improved by a saving of time occupied in the process. Machinery has been introduced into the moulding of hollow-ware, the stamping and finishing of covers, and the dressing of hinges and sash pulleys.

The odd work which comprises most small articles of cast iron used by builders’ furnishers, &c., has undergone a great change in appearance, owing to the introduction of a new style of finish from America. A coat of transparent varnish is now applied, the iron being previously polished on those parts in relief, and the result is an appearance somewhat resembling antique bronze. This, together with greater lightness and elegance of design, has given an impetus to the trade, and has led to the introduction of iron where brass was previously used.

The favourable conditions of labour described in 1866 still prevail, though it may be added that progress in this direction has at least kept pace with the advance in progress of manufacture, and the greater excellence in the ware produced.

The provisions of the Factory Acts have long applied to this industry with beneficial results. The hours of labour have been reduced, and thanks to the Education Act of 1870, the intelligence and docility of the younger operatives are their notable characteristics. What is now wanted is the establishment of Science and Art classes where the principles which underlie processes may be learnt, and the power to add beauty of form to articles of utility may be acquired. When these branches of technical training are added to the course of elementary instruction in our public Schools, all that is needed to secure the prosperity of British industry will have been done.

The best relations as a rule now exist between employers and employed; the former are less exacting and more sympathetic, the latter take juster views of the relation of capital and labour, and are more ready to co-operate with their employers to a common end. The wider introduction of machinery has been attended with the larger employment of female labour, and this seems to be an inevitable tendency of modern processes of manufacture. On the other hand many more skilled workmen are required in the fitting and machine shops, which now form an important department in large works of the class here described.

=Clocks.=--Within the last year or two a new industry has been imported into the town by Mr. Edward Davies, formerly of the Ansonia Clock Company, Brooklyn. A company has been formed under the name of the British United Clock Company, of 34, Farringdon Road, London. The works are in Great Hampton Street, Birmingham. The company make the round or drum-like time pieces, the works of which are machine-made, the parts being interchangeable, and are supplied retail at a few shillings each.

=Coinage.=--[RALPH HEATON].--(B. 552). Coining presses devised by a German named Uhlhorn, but manufactured and improved by Messrs. Heaton, have been supplied to the Royal Mint. The great advantage of the new presses is that they require no foundation, and are silent and automatic in action. The blanks are dropped into a tube, and the machine carries them forward one by one to the dies, where they are finished and fall into a box in front of the workman.

With regard to the manufacture of blanks, Birmingham has from time to time furnished these to a number of States, and is doing so now. Nickel coinage (an alloy of 20 per cent. nickel, and 80 per cent. copper) has been supplied to Jamaica in pence, half pence, and farthings. In 1884, seventy-five tons nickel alloy were coined for Servia, and an entirely new coinage of both silver and nickel for the Republic of Ecuador. At the present time (1886) Messrs. Heaton are supplying Columbia and Egypt with nickel coinage. The nickel alloy is an excellent material for coinage.

In 1872 the Birmingham Mint delivered silver blanks to the Royal Mint, for a coinage of the nominal value of £1,000,000. This was completed in six months.

The letter H below the date will be found on many of the bronze coins in circulation; this implies that the coins were struck at the Birmingham Mint. At the time of their introduction in 1875, it was supposed that an extensive gang of forgers were at work, and the mint authorities were communicated with by an anonymous writer, who stated that the counterfeit coins could be distinguished by the small letter H below the date.

Messrs. Heaton have supplied coins to no less than 39 states or authorities. In 1868, the Italian Government ordered five million lire in pieces of 10 centimes; and in consideration of the satisfactory manner in which this and other coinages had been carried out, his majesty, King Victor Emmanuel, conferred the honour of knighthood on the firm.

=Electric Lighting.=--[HENRY LEA, M.I.M.E.]--The period of fifteen years following the last Meeting of the British Association in Birmingham, in the year 1865, was devoid of any undertakings in electric lighting, other than in the direction of the application of powerful arc lights for lighthouse purposes, as practised by Messrs. Chance Bros., of Spon Lane, near Birmingham, who, beginning in 1862 with apparatus having optical adjustments for electric arc lights of small power, proceeded to introduce more and more powerful lights, of which the Souter Point revolving light of the 2nd and 3rd order built in 1870, the South Forelands fixed lights, two in number, and of the 3rd order, built in the same year; the Sydney Heads light of the 1st order and of 11,000 candle power, built in 1880; and the flashing light at Tino, near Spezia, a lamp of the 2nd order, finished in 1885, are examples shewing the great progress made during the period referred to. The Sydney Heads light is said to be the leading light of the world. The motive power employed for it is the Otto silent gas engine. The carbons are 23 millimetres, or upwards of ⅞″ in dia. Particulars of these undertakings will be found in a special paper upon Lighthouse Work in another part of this volume. The first application of arc lighting for ordinary business purposes in this district is believed to be that of the Birmingham Household Supply Association Limited, which was fixed in the year 1880-1 under the superintendence of the writer, who employed a pair of 8″ × 12″ Horizontal Tangye Engines to drive a Brush Dynamo working sixteen arc lamps. Amongst other examples of arc lighting subsequently put down may be named those at Messrs. Brown Marshalls & Co.’s Carriage Works at Saltley, Messrs. John Wilkes and Sons’ Rolling Mills in Liverpool Street, Messrs. Elkington & Co.’s Show Rooms, in Newhall Street, the New British Iron Co.’s Works at Corngreaves, the Lower Grounds at Aston Park, and Messrs. Cadbury Bros.’ Cocoa Manufactory, near Birmingham, the latter being only very recently started upon the Gulcher system.

The incandescent or glow electric lamp, first made its appearance upon a large scale in Birmingham, in the year 1882, when the Birmingham Town Hall was successfully illuminated for the Triennial Musical Festival, by Messrs. R. W. Winfield and Co., who had allied themselves with Messrs. R. E. Crompton and Co., of Chelmsford, for electric lighting undertakings. This installation was established under the writer’s superintendence, and consisted of 440 Swan glow lamps, suspended from ornamental pendants placed around the walls of the Hall, a chamber having very nearly the proportions of a double cube, and measuring 165ft. × 65ft. × 65ft. high. Various lamps in other rooms raised the number to 500. Cables were laid underneath the streets, for a distance of about a quarter of a mile, to the works of Messrs. Winfield and Co., in Cambridge street, where nine Bürgin Dynamos, separately excited by two similar machines, were employed to generate the electricity, the motive power being the old rolling mill engine, from the flywheel of which a belt conveyed the motion to the electric machinery. This wheel, being 25ft. diameter, weighing about 25 tons, and revolving 50 times per minute, afforded a source of motion, the steadiness of which left nothing to be desired. The marked difference of temperature in the Town Hall during the evening performances, as compared with the previous use of gas--70° at the ceiling instead of 110°--was fully appreciated by the large audiences of that festival. Subsequently the number of lamps was increased to upwards of 600, by the addition of two pendants. The same means of illumination were used for the 1885 Triennial Festival, as well as on many occasions of concerts, etc. The whole plant still remains the property of Messrs. Winfield and Co. Upon somewhat similar lines the same firm fitted up the Leeds Town Hall, for the Festival of 1883, where, however, the whole of the light was derived from pendants suspended from the ceiling by steel wire ropes. The machinery in this case was also situated about a quarter of a mile from the Town Hall.

In the year 1882, Messrs. Elwell, Parker, and Co., commenced electrical business in Wolverhampton, with secondary or storage batteries constructed upon a modification of the Planté method of manufacture. Shortly afterwards, the same firm began to make dynamos for charging their batteries, since which time the output has increased, and now amounts to a total of about 500 dynamos, besides several thousands of storage cells, the latter being now made under the joint Patents of the Wolverhampton Firm, and the Electrical Power Storage Co., Limited, of London. The London Stock Exchange, Lloyd’s Shipping Offices, the Manchester Art Gallery, Lord Shrewsbury’s seat at Ingestre Hall, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Co., the Blackpool Electric Tramway, the Giants’ Causeway Electric Tramway, the Cannock Chase Colliery, the Grosvenor Gallery and many other establishments are lighted or worked by means of dynamos manufactured by the Wolverhampton firm.

Amongst installations set up in Birmingham under the writer’s superintendence may be mentioned the Theatre Royal, in New Street, and the Prince of Wales Theatre, in Broad Street, in each of which the plant consists of a 16-H.P. Otto silent gas engine, driving a 300 light Ferranti alternate current dynamo with a Siemen’s exciter, and with appliances at the prompt side for lowering or turning out the light at will. 200 lights are run very brightly with an expenditure of about 800 cubic feet of gas per hour. A similar number of ordinary gas burners would require from 1,000 to 1,200 cubic feet of gas per hour. The Birmingham Liberal Club, in Congreve Street, another example, has 160 lamps which are worked from a 10-unit compound dynamo, made by Messrs. Crompton and Co., of Chelmsford, the motive power being a 12-H.P. compound steam engine, by Messrs. Marshall, Sons, and Co., Limited, of Gainsborough. This machine is an excellent specimen of a self-regulating dynamo, the commutator not having been touched with anything coarser than well-worn emery cloth since February last, its surface presenting a highly-polished appearance. No storage cells are used, the lighting being derived directly from the machine.

In the suburbs, the house of Mr. Mitchell, Hagley Road, Edgbaston, has about 40 lights, and is worked from a 2-H.P. Otto silent gas engine, and a 2-unit Crompton shunt-wound dynamo, charging 24 storage cells of the E.P.S. (Electrical Power Storage Co.’s) type.

The writer’s house, 7, Clarendon Road, Edgbaston, is also electrically lighted by 24 E.P.S. cells, charged by a 30-light Chamberlain & Hookham dynamo, worked from a ½-H.P. Otto gas engine.

Messrs. Chamberlain & Hookham began, a few years ago, the manufacture of dynamos having permanent steel magnets, but they subsequently adopted the more usual type of electro-magnetic machines. Particulars are not to hand of this firm’s work, but the residences of Messrs. Walter Chamberlain and Herbert Chamberlain are amongst the examples of domestic electric lighting carried out by the firm, whose attention, however, has been directed principally to the manufacture of dynamos for electro-depositing purposes, where very heavy currents of low electro-motive force are required.

The public supply of electricity was in 1882-3 the subject of much attention on the part of Messrs. Winfield & Crompton, under whose auspices the Incandescent Electric Lighting Co. Ld. was registered. An Act of Parliament was obtained, and plans and estimates were made by the writer for lighting a large district in Birmingham from central stations. Carefully collected statistics of the gas consumption in the proposed district afforded some interesting information, such as, for instance, that the average cost of gas per burner per annum, called the burner earnings, varied from 2d. to 43/6 per burner per annum, and showed a mean earning for the whole district of 10/2 per burner per annum, the average price of gas being about 2/3 per 1,000 cubic feet. From various causes, chief amongst them being the adverse restrictions of the Electric Lighting Act of 1882, the operations of the Company have remained in abeyance. The Birmingham Act is, however, still in force, and should the efforts which are now being made for the removal or substantial modification of the obnoxious clauses of the Act meet with the desired success, Birmingham may yet enjoy the advantages of a public supply of electric light, the luxury of which only those who have lived in an electrically lighted house can fully appreciate.

=Flint Glass Manufacture of Birmingham.=--[A. C. OSLER.]--(B. 526.) Further inventions have been made with regard to furnaces. Frisby’s patent, the fuel inserted from below, instead of being thrown on the top of the fire, has met with some amount of favour, having been adopted by several Stourbridge houses. Bœtius’s patent, by which the earlier stages of combustion take place below the floor of the furnace, and a current of heated air is supplied to complete the combustion as the inflammable gases pass through an opening in its floor into the furnace itself, has now been in use at Messrs. Osler’s for many years.

The process of etching by hydrofluoric acid, has been largely developed as a means of ornamenting glass, and has to a large extent superseded engraving. Highly artistic designs are produced by a combination of etching and engraving. Mechanical methods are adopted in producing many effective borders.

Among new inventions for the ornamentation of glass, should be mentioned the process of “threading,” that is, the surrounding and partial covering of a body of glass of one colour with a continuous thread of glass of another colour, by which many beautiful effects of varying and toned colour are produced.

Recent years have also seen the revival of what is termed cameo cutting on glass. A body of glass being formed of layers of different colours, the outer layer or layers are partially removed by eating away by hydrofluoric acid, and the remaining portions are then wrought into designs with the chisel or graver. A reproduction of the Portland Vase is one of the most remarkable specimens of this revived art, which offers excellent opportunity for the combination of lustrous colours of varied hue with delicate and exquisite ornamentation.

Marked progress has been made in the production of coloured glass, formerly almost a monopoly of the Bohemian makers.

=Hinges of Wrought Iron.=--[F. E. MARTINEAU.]--(B. 610.) Material consumed at time of British Association Meeting, in 1849, was about 700 tons; in 1865, about 2,500 tons, and this year, 1886, about 3,500 tons per annum. In 1865, about 300 people were employed in the trade, there are now about 380. Strip steel has to a certain extent replaced strip iron in the manufacture.

=Hydraulic Machinery.=--[MESSRS. TANGYE.]--(B. 647.) The Cornwall Works have rapidly extended, now occupying six times the area covered in 1865. 2,000 men are employed. In addition to hydraulic machinery, steam engines, machine tools, machinery for gas works, patent retort lids, gas stoking and charging machines, gas engines of a novel and economical type, steam boilers of all kinds, and fixed and portable steam cranes are manufactured. These works will now turn out per month 200 steam pumping engines, 40 steam boilers, 100 steam engines used for other purposes than pumping, 800 cranes, crabs, and lifting apparatus. 300 hydraulic presses, lifts, and jacks. 5,000 complete sets of pulley blocks, and 1,000 gas retort mouth-pieces and lids.

=Jewellery.=--[JOHN BRAGG.] (B. 452).--EXTENT OF THE TRADE.--This general title includes a number of so called “Trades” which appear in the Directory under separate heads. It covers not only gold and silver “Jewellers,” but gold and silver chain makers, gilt, plated, and black ornament jewellers, as well as all those subsidiary branches which exist solely for the general trade, such for instance as lapidaries, stone dealers, gold cutters, chasers, engravers, jewellers’ die sinkers, tool makers and stampers, enamellers, case makers, and also jewellery factors. In several large establishments, many of these separate departments are carried on within the walls and under one central management. The Post Office Directory for 1885 gives 1,123 master-men thus engaged in Birmingham. To these however must be added a large number of “garret” masters or “out workers” whose names do not so appear, and who employ perhaps only one, two, or three persons each. It is estimated that 14,000 to 16,000 persons are actively employed in this trade in Birmingham, while probably 40,000 to 50,000 are locally dependent upon it. The amount of capital here engaged in it is enormous, and, without doubt, larger than any other distinct and separate trade of the town. The manufacture is still, as at last report, aggregated in one locality, though it is extending its area. The central point is near to where Warstone Lane is crossed by Northampton Street or Vyse Street.

LABOUR AND WAGES.--The increase of female labour, particularly in silver jewellery and in warehouse duties, is very considerable, and has tended to keep down the wages of men. Still, these have risen to very high points in seasons of prosperity, and even in the present time of depressed prices, a skilled journeyman jeweller earns with his own hands 30s. to 45s. per week of about 54 hours. A trade society exists, but nothing approaching to a “strike” is possible, because of the infinite variety of departments, the constant change of patterns, and the habit of each workman agreeing personally with his employer or foreman as to prices of piece work. Most of the manufactories are well ventilated, the newly built ones being large and commodious in every respect.

BULLION USED.--An estimate has been made by those most competent to judge as to the value of gold and silver used by this trade in Birmingham per annum. Taking the last three or four years as a basis, it seems probable that the annual consumption of gold here is about £750,000, and of silver (at the present low price) from £300,000 to £350,000. One large manufacturer of silver jewellery has, within the last three years, used upwards of 3,000 oz. of fine silver per week. Sovereigns are still extensively used to melt instead of grain gold.

It may be asked, “Why melt sovereigns when gold, commercially pure, can be had from the dealers without paying costs of minting?” The answer is: the cost of minting is so small that against the other advantages attaching to the practice, it is of no account. These advantages are--1st, the grain gold of commerce cannot be relied upon for absolute freedom from accidental or superfluous alloy; and 2nd, that other qualities, such as uniform hardness, tenacity, and ductility--of the utmost importance to some branches of the trade--are ensured by using them. The metallurgical science and technical skill of our national assayers and melters at the mint, are therefore freely used by our manufacturers to enable them to alloy to the utmost nicety, and yet with a certainty of their goods, when made, passing the “Hall.” This, therefore, is a question of economy.

CHANGES IN THE TRADE.--The immensely increased production of silver jewellery has tended to almost obliterate two departments which twenty-five years ago were of large proportions--viz., the gilt and the plated jewellery trades. The workmen in these branches have mostly turned their hands to silver working. Notice must be taken of some new developments, which have become practically new trades to the town. The manufacture of costly official insignia, such as mayoral chains, municipal badges, presentation caskets, gold and silver ceremonial keys, &c., is new since last report. More than seventy such mayoral chains have been made here since then. The manufacture of watch cases in gold and silver, but particularly in silver, is also a new and very considerable trade, employing hundreds of people. Not fewer than 60,000 to 80,000 silver watch cases per annum are now turned out from Birmingham manufactories. Another new trade, though at present not a large one, is diamond cutting, but there is no reason why it should not become an important business here.

ARTISTIC PROGRESS.--How far the trade has led or has followed public taste it is impossible to say, but that a general improvement has taken place is undeniable. In place of the huge bracelets, brooches, earrings, and lockets of twenty years ago, we now have small and elegant articles of the most tasteful designs. Even such jewellery as is produced greatly by the aid of machinery, for the sake of cheapness, is often characterised by perfect style. Silver brooches may be bought wholesale for one shilling each which would not disgrace any wearer of the most refined taste. In the gold trade also, the productions for the great middle classes are equally neat and commendable, both as to form and detail of decoration. The greater use of gems, both in gold and silver jewellery, is a distinct feature of present requirements. A most remarkable evidence of the above statements is afforded by one branch of the trade, which now exports to France, Germany, and Switzerland goods in large and increasing quantities, winning its way by style as well as price against the best makers of the Continent. Compared with the like classes and prices of goods twenty years ago, there is no doubt but that beauty of design is greatly improved; nor can there be a doubt either but that our National Art Teaching has chiefly contributed to the improvement.

CHEMISTRY.--Chemistry has considerably improved the various processes in which its aid can be applied. Alloying is more skilfully and exactly performed. The art of melting is better understood. “Coloring” (which must not be confounded with “gilding”) is now carried to a pitch of remarkable excellence. At date of last report, this, which is a purely chemical process, was done without much intelligence, and nothing lower than 15 carat gold could be with certainty so finished. But now those who devote themselves specially to this branch of work, can produce a beautiful “color” on 12 carat gold. It must, however, be stated, that upon the lower quality, such bloom and rich colour is fugitive, while upon the higher qualities it is permanent. Gilding by electric processes is done with increased economy and skill. Parcel gilding, oxydising, and gilding with various colored alloys in solution, are carried to a high pitch of excellence. The chemical treatment of waste, such as shop sweepings, and the water used for washing of hands is much improved. In the business of refining, scarcely anything is lost.

MECHANICAL CONDITIONS.--So much depends, and will always depend upon skilled handicraft in the Jewellery trades, that there is not much to record in the way of mechanical progress. Still, in some tools there are notable improvements. The ingenuity manifested in the mechanical production of gold and silver “parts,” to be afterwards put together into great varieties of patterns, is remarkable. “Sand blast” is a new mechanical means used for producing the rich dead surface so much admired on gold and silver. The lathe, draw bench, die stamp, and press, effect much more than they did for the trade 20 years ago. Gas engines are now commonly used, even in small shops.

PRECIOUS STONES.--The gem and precious stone business together with that of the lapidary form a most important element of the jewellery trade. We have some 35 local stone dealers and lapidaries. Besides these, Birmingham is visited constantly by dealers from London, Paris, Hamburg, and elsewhere, who do large trades here. Diamonds and other gems in the rough are also sold here increasingly. Compared with date of last report, the sales of diamonds and other gems to the trade in this town is probably twenty times larger. Single firms will each buy and mount up £20,000 or £25,000 worth of gems in a year. It is now a recognised and distinct name of this branch of the trade, “Diamond and Gem Mounter,” and the Directory gives about 25 of those who do not ordinarily interfere with other jewellery. Many Birmingham factors now carry magnificent stocks of diamond goods manufactured here, which was not the case twenty years ago.

PRICES AND CHEAPNESS.--Any comparative notes which did not recognise the cheapness of modern jewellery would be incomplete. This cheapness is a real thing and not a delusion. Genuine gold and silver brooches, rings, bracelets, &c. set with gems, are now offered throughout the country, at prices which often cause doubts of their quality. Gold, it is true, remains at the same standard value; but silver is one-fifth lower in price. Several causes have acted together, resulting in this considerable reduction in retail selling prices of both gold and silver goods. First, workmen’s prices are much lower, although their total weekly earnings are not materially altered. This is effected by mechanical improvements; by the larger quantities of one pattern made at once; and by the employment of girls and youths under men. Secondly, the rates of profit realised by manufacturer, factor, and shopkeeper are lower. Lastly, diamonds and some other gems extensively used are much lower in price, especially their second and third qualities, than at date of last report.

DISTRIBUTION.--as a rule, manufacturing jewellers neither cultivate trade with shopkeepers nor with the private purchaser, but sell to the factors, or middle men. A factor sees all their stocks, selecting from each to compose his own, and so offers a better variety to the shopkeepers throughout the kingdom than could otherwise be done. There are in Birmingham about fifty of such factors. But the line of demarcation is somewhat indefinite, because many of them manufacture certain specialities for themselves. Still the system is the best under present circumstances, and works on the whole to the mutual good of all parties. The factors in London, and merchants generally, are also large purchasers from Birmingham manufacturers. The Post Office is the chief engine of distribution for small parcels, and all little orders and repairs. Two private firms, however, do a considerable business by collecting, through agents, in London, Coventry, and Birmingham, small jewellery parcels, conveying them by rail, and then delivering them very quickly and cheaply in those towns. The losses are practically nil, although perfect shoals of such little packages are despatched and delivered daily by these means, together with the railways.

=Lighthouse Apparatus.=--[J. KENWARD].--(B. 153). The Lighthouse Works of Chance Brothers and Co., Spon Lane, near Birmingham, are the only works of the kind in the kingdom. The improvements since 1865 may be noted under: (1) the optical agents, (2) the lamps and burners with the illuminant or fuel used in them, (3) the mechanical appliances. The six original orders of optical apparatus distinguished by their radii and height are no longer the only types. There is the hyper-radial first order lens, whose focal distance is 1,330 millimetres, and diameter about 104¾ inches, the usual first order being about 72½ inches diameter, and there are several varieties below the 6th order whose radius is 150 mm. Of these the Ship Light introduced by Messrs. Chance with a focal distance of 125 mm., is the most important. Various new arrangements of condensing lights where from one flame, certain sea sectors are strongly illuminated by means of vertical prisms, while other sectors are less intensely lighted, have been adopted with signal success, as have also several special designs where a coloured and a white beam of equal intensity are concerned. The new lenses for port and harbour lights, and those used with the electric arc on board vessels of war for search purposes, introduced by Messrs. Chance, may be named. The present two most powerful lights in the world are the Macquarie at Sydney Heads (a revolving electric light of the first order) and the Tino near Spezia, a revolving electric light of the second order. In both a single optical agent is employed, and carbons from 15 to 25 mm. diameter. Another improvement is the ship light lens designed to give adequate intensity and penetrating power in a vessel’s signal lights, especially her side lights, whereby an increased luminous range can be secured and the risk of collision greatly lessened. The vertical angle subtended by lenticular refracting apparatus has been increased from 45° and 47° to 80°, and even by the use of dense flint glass to 92°. In this way the normal power of the central or lens portion of a light, always two-thirds of the whole power, has been so augmented that it is found advisable to dispense with the prisms both upper and lower, and to depend on the refractors alone. When higher degrees of intensity are needed, a second tier of lenses can be superposed on the first, and a third and fourth added, a separate flame being in the focus of each tier. This has been done by Mr. Wigham, of Dublin, with gas flames, and by Sir James Douglas with oil flames. The two great divisions of lighthouse apparatus into fixed sections and revolving sections have been extended. Thus the old fixed light, the revolving light with equally recurring single flashes, the composite fixed and flashing light, always objectionable from its unequal power, have been supplemented by the occulting light, and the group flashing light which last was designed by Dr. John Hopkinson, and first constructed by Messrs. Chance. In this arrangement the beams are sent out in groups, each beam of the group being separated from one another by a short interval of time, and each group by a longer interval. The lights on a coast can thus be distinguished by their single flash, double flash, or triple flash.[56]

ILLUMINANTS AND BURNERS.--Mineral oil has been introduced, and special burners designed in order to burn it. The largest of the old colza oil burners (known as Fresnel burners) has an intensity of 230 candle units, or 23·6 candle units per square inch, while a similar burner for paraffin has been reported as affording 415 candle units, or 44·3 units. The latest developed Trimley burner of Sir James Douglas, with nine concentric wicks, gives 49·8 units. The oil used has a flashing point of 154° F. The average cost of mineral oil is one-fourth that of vegetable oil. Gas is also freely employed, and in the 108-jet burner of Mr. Wigham it has attained a power of 2,433 candles, and in the 10-ring burner of Sir James Douglas, a power of 2,619 candles. Beyond the highest reach of oil or gas burners, say 2,500 or 2,600 candles, is the electric arc giving an intensity of beam of ten millions of candles. At the other end of the scale is the duplex burner, which, with the new Chance lenses, is available in the smallest apparatus for a horizon of from seven to ten miles.

The Spon Lane Lighthouse Works have been extended greatly since the last visit of the Association. The unique methods of grinding and polishing the optical glass have not been materially changed, but the number and variety of machines have been largely increased. In the mechanical shops there is now a complete _outillage_ for turning, drilling, shaping, screwing, &c., applicable to all the old designs and processes, and also the newer branches introduced since 1865. There are about 200 workpeople employed, many with consummate skill and intelligence, as may be assumed from the precise and highly finished work in which they are engaged.

At this date about 260 complete sea lights and about 300 complete harbour lights have been sent out, together with about 200 smaller port lights and about 370 of the recently designed ship lights.

Very striking specimens of optical science have been contributed by Messrs. Chance, as exemplified in the list of dioptric lights they have supplied around our own coasts, of which The Longships, the Wolf Rock, the Flamborough Head, the Hartland Point, the Start Point, the South Stack Rock, The Casquets, Bull Point, Anvil Point, the Eddystone, and many others are examples.

Mr. Kenward will be glad to give further information to any member of the Association who may take an interest in the subject.

=Locks and Lock Making.=--[J. C. TILDESLEY.]--(B. 77.) The price of cheap padlocks is still lower. Iron padlocks of the cheapest class are now being made in this district (Willenhall) and delivered free in Bombay and Calcutta, at _fivepence halfpenny per dozen_!

In reference to the table (B. 89), the number of employers may be set down as 100 less (that is 350) and at least 1,000 must be deducted from the total number of workpeople, bringing it to about 3,950.

The production of locks in the district may now be computed at 25,000 dozens per week, as against 31,500 dozens per week, as estimated in 1865. The reductions being chiefly in the pad, cabinet, chest, and till departments, which are being driven hard by America and continental competition. On the other hand, door locks (rim, dead, mortice, and drawback) are being made in larger quantities than ever, and are being sold at prices which would have been regarded as fabulous twenty years ago.

The average earnings of locksmiths are 15 to 20 per cent. less than the figures given at (B. 89.) American competition in castings has, so far as the lock trade is concerned, considerably diminished since 1865. By grinding English sand to the fineness of flour, and by the adoption of Plaster of Paris moulds and improved methods of casting, transatlantic supremacy over England no longer prevails. While in the matter of cheap and clear castings they have maintained for their productions the reputation for practical qualities which has so long distinguished them. Artistic design and ornamentation have improved. Germany is now the most formidable rival to the English lockmaker, owing to the low wages and long hours endured by the German locksmiths. The remedy for this state of affairs ought, in the interests both of commerce and humanity to be found not in a retrograde movement on the part of England to Germany, but in the uprising of the German workman, to secure the same _status_ as that enjoyed by his English confrere.

=Magic Lantern Slide Painting.=--[H. H. STANTON.]--The old fashioned method of tracing from a drawing or engraving though still used, has given way to a great extent to the introduction of photography. Special drawings are made, photographed on to glass, and subsequently painted. Girls and also artists are employed in the work. Photographic slides from various parts of the world come to Birmingham to be finished.

=Measuring Rules and Tapes.=--[JOHN RABONE.] (B. 628.) It is noteworthy that in the “garret” at Heathfield Hall, near Birmingham, where Watt amused himself during the latter years of his life with his copying machines--the prototypes of those afterwards known as the American and Enfield--is still to be seen an example of Watt’s early work in London before he entered upon his remodelling of the steam engine in connection with Matthew Boulton.

In one of the drawers there are preserved several of the old fashioned tools, formerly, and still used in rule making by hand, and also carefully wrapped up in paper by Watt himself, is a “brass sector with a French joint,” which, unlike his compasses and other mathematical instruments, has undergone no wear, and is as faultlessly clear and perfect as it was on the day it left the maker’s hands. The only assumption that can be made respecting it is that it is the identical “brass sector with a French joint,” of which young Watt so glowingly wrote to his father, now a hundred and thirty years ago; and if that be so, it is the only known specimen of the great engineer’s work as a rule maker.

Prior to the last meeting of the British Association in Birmingham, in 1865, machinery had been brought into the trade to but a small extent compared with what has since been the case in the making and marking of all kinds of rules. Accurately engine-divided, 2-feet folding steel rules, retailed at a shilling each, are a new feature of the trade, which is a boon to mechanics they never before had. The employment of automatic machinery has quite revolutionised the trade, by bringing larger capital into it, and increasing the number of workpeople sixfold, at the same time enabling employers to pay higher wages than they could possibly do when all depended upon unaided hand labour. The trade has always been in comparatively few hands, three-fourths of the names appearing in one directory as makers, being merely dealers, or journeymen; in one case fifteen of the men so described being merely journeymen of one employer. The bulk of the trade is now in the hands of as few makers as might be counted on the fingers of one hand, but competition is not rendered thereby less severe, but is rather more excessive. During the past twenty years a great change has taken place in many countries by the adoption of the metre as a standard measure. Since 1870 all the numberless measures of little German towns, many with both decimal and duo-decimal divisions, have been abolished, and the use of the metre alone legalised. Other nations have followed the example of Germany. Many of the rules made for export to such countries as Russia, which have not legalised the metre, are marked with it in addition to the local measures, thus preparing the way for its future adoption. Its use has been legalised in Great Britain, though not made compulsory, and many of the measures made for export to foreign countries where English customs prevail are marked with both English and metrical divisions.

=Military Arms Trade.=--[J. D. GOODMAN.]--(B. 381.) At the date of the notice of the gun trade, published in the transactions of the meeting of the British Association held in Birmingham in 1865, the British forces were armed with muzzle-loading guns. The arm of the service was that known as the “Enfield Rifle.” It was adopted by a committee of military officers, appointed by Lord Hardinge, Master General of the Ordnance, in 1853.

In 1865 the breech-loading system was receiving much attention. The Wesley Richards’ Breech-loader had been for some time in use in the service on an experimental scale, and had been tested in the field, both in China and New Zealand. So far back as 1861, a thousand breech-loaders, on Terry’s principle, had been issued to the troops, but did not prove successful. Trial was also made of Sharp’s American Breech-loading Rifle. The successful use of the Needlegun Breech-loader, by the Prussians, in the Danish war of 1864, gave great urgency to the enquiry.

In August, 1864, the English Government invited proposals for the conversion of the Enfield rifle into a breechloader. Fifty different systems were sent in, of which five only were ultimately selected for trial. Four of these were capping and one was a non-capping arm--that is, one in which the cartridge carries its own ignition. On 14th March, 1865, the Woolwich Committee issued their Report on the various systems which had been submitted, in which after speaking of the obvious disadvantages which a breechloader requiring a cap presents, when contrasted with one adapted for a cartridge carrying its own ignition, proceeds to say:--

“The Committee have now respectfully to submit their observations on the whole question.

“The ultimate armament of the infantry with breech-loading weapons is determined upon. It would be done at a comparatively small cost by conversion, but it is now well known that the calibre, twist, and form of rifling of the ‘Enfield’ is not the most favourable for fine shooting, and it is quite certain that no converted arms can possess the precision which will be easily attained in a new breechloader of smaller gauge and quicker twist. Nor will the soldier be able to carry that increased quantity of ammunition, which is so desirable, without a reduction of calibre.

“There are certain circumstances in which, notwithstanding all the inconveniences which will attend the co-existence of unaltered arms, converted arms, and new arms, with their different ammunitions, it may still be desirable to proceed with the conversion on the ground of its small cost, and of the less time in which the arms can be turned out; but the Committee do not feel in a position at present to recommend such a measure.”

In the end, the economical view prevailed, and it was determined to convert the Enfield rifles to the Snider system. The effect of this decision was to postpone to 1871, when the Martini rifle was adopted, the advantages recognised in the Woolwich Report, which would be obtained by a smaller bore, quicker twist, and a different form of rifling.

In July, 1866, the Birmingham Small Arms Company was instructed to proceed with the conversion of the Enfield rifles to breech-loaders to the full extent of their power. The London Small Arms Company was very shortly afterwards established. They received similar instructions. The result was that the whole of the Enfield rifles available were converted, as follows:--

Enfield (Government Factory) 296,352 Birmingham Small Arms Company 156,000 London Small Arms Company 85,200 ------- 537,552

As this number was insufficient for the requirements of the service, and as it was indispensable that there should be but one description of arm in use, it became necessary that new Sniders should be made. In 1869, and subsequently, orders were issued to the trade, and the following supplies were made:--

Enfield 200,523 Birmingham Small Arms Company 92,837 London Small Arms Company 42,525 National Arms Company 2,000 ------- 337,885

Making a total of 875,437 Snider arms.

The adoption of the Martini-Henry rifle resulted from an invitation to inventors, issued by the War Department first in 1866. More than 100 different arms and 49 descriptions of ammunition were sent in, but the committee appointed to make the selection reported that none came up to the requirements. The invitation was repeated in December, 1867, resulting in 45 additional arms being submitted. In February, 1869, the Committee reported recommending a combination of the Martini Breech Action and the Henry rifling, and for the ammunition, the Boxer coiled case. During the following year, trials of this arm were made in the service, and finally, in 1871, it was definitely adopted. Orders were afterwards issued to the trade, and the following statement shows the numbers which have been manufactured at the Government Factory, and by the trade, up to March, 1885:--

Enfield 583,798 Birmingham Small Arms Company 107,219 London Small Arms Company 74,131 National Arms Company 12,456 ------- 777,604

It has now (July, 1886) been decided to adopt a new arm, embodying the improvements suggested by the experience gained in the use of the Martini, during the service it has undergone. It has been found that the calibre of the barrel if still further reduced would much improve the shooting, an increase being made at the same time in the twist of the rifling. A Committee has for some time past had the matter under consideration, and finally have recommended an arm which is to be known as the Enfield-Martini.

In the new arm, the Martini action is retained, the outside dimensions of the barrel are the same, but the bore is reduced from ·45 inch to ·4 inch. While the twist of the rifling is increased from 1 turn in 22 inches to 1 turn in 15 inches. The weight of the bullet is reduced from 480 grains to 384, the powder charge being the same as in the former rifle, 85 grains. A wooden hand guard is fixed over the breech end of the barrel to protect the hand of the soldier when the barrel becomes heated by rapid firing. The barrel is no longer imbedded in the fore-end of the stock; it was found that the exterior of the barrel was liable to rust from contact with the wood. The fore-end is now so shaped that the barrel simply lies upon it, held in place by the bands which surround both stock and barrel. The back sight is provided with a wind gauge, and a locking bolt secures the trigger when the arm is at full cock. A sword bayonet is substituted for the former triangular-shaped bayonet. A “quick loader” will be used with this arm. It hangs on the side of the body of the action, and holds six cartridges. The cartridges are acted upon by a spring which forces the head of the cartridge through an aperture in the lid, ready for the soldier’s hand. With this “quick loader,” six rounds can be fired in about 25 seconds, whereas, in loading from the pouch, 40 seconds are required. This description, of the new arm may be subsequently modified, as the recommendation of the Committee has not yet been confirmed.

DIMENSIONS, &C., OF THE BREECH-LOADING ARMS OF THE BRITISH SERVICE.

----------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------- | | MARTINI | ENFIELD- | SNIDER. | HENRY. | MARTINI. ----------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------- RIFLE. | | | | | | Length of Barrel | 39in. | 33³⁄₁₆in. | 33³⁄₁₆in. Length over all |4ft. 7in. |4ft. 1½in. |4ft. 1½in. Length with Bayonet |6ft. ½in. |5ft. 11½in.|5ft. 11½in. Weight with Bayonet |9lb. 14oz.| 9lb. 14oz.|10lb. 4oz. Weight without Bayonet | 9lb. | 9lb. | 9lb. 6oz. No. of Grooves in Barrel | 3 | 7 | 7 Calibre | .577 | .45 | .4 Twist of Rifling 1 turn in | 78in. | 22in. | 15in. Velocity of Muzzle per second | 1240ft. | 1315ft. | 1570ft. Trajectory at 500 yards | 11.35ft. | 8.594ft. | 6.704ft. Figure of Merit at 500 yards | 0.89ft. | 0.55ft. | 0.30ft. | | | AMMUNITION. | | | | | | Weight of Loaded Cartridge, grains| 715 | 758 | 718 Powder ” | 70 | 85 | 85 Bullet ” | 480 | 480 | 384 ----------------------------------+----------+-----------+-----------

DESCRIPTION OF ARMS USED BY OTHER COUNTRIES.

------------------+--------------------------+--------- COUNTRY. | DESCRIPTION. | CALIBRE. ------------------+--------------------------+--------- America, U.S. | Springfield | ·450 Austria | Werndl | ·433 Belgium | Albini Braendlin | Denmark | Remington | ·433 Egypt | Remington | ·433 France | Gras | ·433 France | Kropatschek Magazine Gun | | in Navy | ·433 Germany | Mauser | ·433 Greece | Gras | ·433 Holland | Beaumont | ·433 Italy | Vetterli | ·408 Norway and Sweden | Jarman | ·397 Portugal | Martini Henry | ·450 Roumania | Peabody Martini | ·450 Russia | Berdan | ·420 Servia | Berdan | ·420 Spain | Remington | ·433 Switzerland | Vetterli Magazine | ·409 Turkey | Peabody Martini | ·450 ------------------+--------------------------+---------

As it is essential that all arms made for the service should be interchangeable, the orders to the trade have been confined to the factories where the work is done exclusively by machinery, viz., to the Small Arms Company and National Arms Company in Birmingham, and to the London Small Arms Company, whose works are at Bow. The National Arms Company, which was incorporated in January, 1872, is no longer in existence, having gone into liquidation in December, 1882. With a paid up capital of £330,000 they erected gun works at Sparkbrook, and ammunition works at Holdford. The gun works have now been purchased by the Government, and the Holdford Works are on the market for sale. The same irregularity in the Government employment, which proved fatal to the National Arms Company, acted very prejudicially for both the other Companies. The Birmingham Company paid no dividend during the five years 1879-83, and a nominal one only in 1884.

To this uncertainty of Government employment may be attributed the difficulty of obtaining swords and bayonets, to which, a short time since, attention was called in Parliament. When military arms were supplied by the ordinary hand-made trade, there were four bayonet-makers in Birmingham and West Bromwich, where, now, there is not one; and in Birmingham there is only one manufacturer of swords, when formerly there were several. The manufacture of triangular bayonets has been, with trifling exceptions, confined of late to Enfield, while sword bayonets, not made at Enfield, have been procured from Solingen. The future Enfield-Martini is to be provided with a sword bayonet. The plainly expressed wish of the House of Commons is that in future, all swords and sword bayonets shall be made in England, of English material. There will not be the slightest difficulty in carrying out this wish. Birmingham will be able to produce any number that may be wanted, but to keep together the required staff of workmen it is necessary that the demand should be continuous.

In the manufacture of rifles, as well as bayonets, there is every reason to hope that the future employment of the trade will be more regular and continuous. The past bitter experience has shown that the trade cannot live without steady employment, and it is now fully recognised that it is not desirable that this country should remain dependent for its supply of arms on one Government manufactory at Enfield.

AMMUNITION.--Up to the present time the English Government have adhered to the use of the Boxer cartridge, the case of which is made up of thin coiled brass, attached to an iron base, which carries the ignition. For some years past all other European nations have used a solid metal cartridge case, _i.e._, a case in one piece stamped out of a flat disc. The English Government have now decided that the solid case shall be used, with the new Enfield-Martini rifle. A plant for the manufacture of these cartridges is being prepared at Woolwich. It is fully intended also to employ the trade. Orders have already been issued to the Birmingham Small Arms Company and Messrs. Kynoch and Company, Birmingham, and Messrs. Eley Brothers, of London, who have all had long experience in the manufacture of this description of cartridge.

=Nails (cut).=--[R. F. MARTINEAU.]--(B. 613). The machines for cutting tacks and small nails up to 1½ inch are now fed automatically. One unskilled workman can keep five or six machines going. The machines do not work so fast as the hand fed, but there are fewer stoppages, and the quantity turned out is greater. This improvement has reduced the price 30 per cent. The present machines turn out the work so that it need not be looked over and sorted as was formerly the case. The cut nail trade has developed in the North and at the present time, there are as many nails made at Leeds as at Birmingham. The better class of nail is, however, supplied from Birmingham. London brewers send coasting vessels up the east coast with cargoes of stout, and they return from Hull with cut nails at very low freight. The quantity of nails made in Birmingham is about the same as in 1865. The French and Belgians have given up making cut nails, but they make tacks. No French tacks or _tingles_ (the smallest sort of tacks used in the shoe trade) are now imported into England, on the contrary, some are being exported into France.

Mild steel has been introduced since 1865. Steel nails are now being made at only a shilling per cwt. above the price of iron nails. These steel nails will clench, and hence are replacing wrought nails.

The manufacture of wire nails has been introduced into Birmingham since 1865. On its introduction, wire was imported from Germany and Belgium, owing to its cheapness and low freight, but now, as English wire has fallen in price, it is used in preference to the foreign.

Wire nails are suited for hard wood, hence a large trade is done in them in Australia. The Cape, India, and South America, are markets for Birmingham nails. Women get about ten shillings a week. Youths as feeders about 15 to 20 shillings, skilled mechanics from 30 to 50 shillings, and labourers 15 to 20 shillings per week.

=Needles and Fish Hooks.=--[J. M. WOODWARD.]--(B. 197). The pointing of needles is now done exclusively by machinery. The new machines introduced into the trade within the last 25 years, are the machines for cutting, *pointing, *skimming, stamping, eyeing, *point handing, *tempering, scouring, *handing, *counting, heading and tailing, blueing, *burnishing, *finishing, assorting, and sticking. The machines marked with * produce not only cheaper, but better quality of work. Electro-gilding has taken the place of the old ether gilding. As regards machinery used in the production of sewing machine needles, the chief novelty is the “grooving” machine, which is taking the place of the old stamping process. From special enquiries made I conclude that in the needle district the weekly productions of all kinds of needles and goods akin to needles, cannot be less than 50,000,000 in number. _Pins._ In addition to pins in ordinary use, steel and glass headed pins are made at Redditch, the weekly production of all kinds of pins being about two tons. An attempt is being made to adapt the machines for the production of two pins at a time instead of one. _Fish hooks and fishing tackle_ are now made almost entirely by machinery. Artificial fly making is altogether done by hand; feathers of various birds are used for “sea flies.” Spinning baits are shaped much like the bowl of a spoon, and are electro-plated so as to cause a glittering appearance when in motion. Swivels in connection with these baits form a branch industry, and machinery for the dressing and turning of these has of late been introduced.

The manufacture of fishing rods is now an important branch. Among the new aids to production are the turning machine and the machine for splitting bamboo canes for the manufacture of “split cane” rods. These curious and costly articles first came from America, and the making of them by hand requires the greatest patience as well as the highest skill in joining, every part of the rod, from the butt to the thinnest member, having to be split lengthwise into six pieces, each wedge-like in section, and then glued together again with the greatest care and exactness. Reel making has been introduced of late years. One manufactory turns out about 50 dozen rods, 7,000 floats, 13,000 flies, 4,000,000 fish-hooks, and 5,000 swivels per week. Electro-tinning is now used for small sea-hooks. The weekly production of fish-hooks is approximately 20,000,000.

=Nickel, Cobalt and German Silver.=--[ALFRED S. JOHNSTONE.]--(B. 673.) Many of the original sources of nickel have become exhausted. It is now found plentifully in Norway (in magnetic pyrites, containing about 4 or 5 per cent.) Hungary still supplies ore. The South African supply of ore, (an arsenide of over 25 per cent cobalt) has fallen off. South America and her desert of Atacama was a great source of nickel or cobalt, some of its hydrated arseniates reaching as much as 25% in the ores of nickel, and 17% in the ores of cobalt. The sole mine in Connecticut has been worked for many years. Sweden has yielded nickel from the Klefra and other mines. Germany supplies nickel from the Mansfeld mines. About 1874 nickel was discovered in the Island of New Caledonia, and large quantities of the ore were shipped to this country and to France. There appears now to be a constant supply from this source. The ore is a double silicate of nickel and magnesia, averaging 7 to 10% nickel. Later still nickel and cobalt have been discovered in Nevada. Passing over the history[57] of the production of nickel, which is already, to some extent, described in “Birmingham and Midland Hardware District,” it should be mentioned that nickel, though brittle under the hammer, has been successfully rendered malleable by treatment in which manganese is employed. The process of rendering nickel malleable is due to Messrs. Wiggin & Co., who patented the process in 1880. About the same time Dr. Fleitman, in Germany, succeeded also in rendering nickel malleable by using magnesium instead of manganese. The nickel thus produced may be rolled into plates and drawn into wire, or be stamped, beaten or raised into any article of common use, and it may be welded to itself or to iron. It is less malleable when it contains carbon than when pure. Besides its application for the production of German silver, nickel is largely used as anodes for nickel plating, and for coinage in many countries. Its oxide is used in the Potteries for giving a soft brown tint to china and earthenware, and it is also employed for the production of nickel salts for plating. The German Government in 1873 adopted nickel alloy for coinage, and the exceptional demand advanced the price from 4/- to 16/- per lb. At the present time, owing to the extensive supplies from all parts of the world, and the keen competition in the trade, nickel is reduced to 2/- per lb.

Cobalt has scarcely any application; it is used as an anode in plating, and for some parts of scientific instruments. It does not whiten copper to the same extent that nickel does. The oxides of cobalt are of great value in the arts, not only for the production of the beautiful blue colours given to china, earthenware, and glass, but also as a basis of the blue pigment known as cobalt blue. The oxide of cobalt was in 1841 40/- per lb.; to-day it is about 8/- per lb. Latterly there is a tendency to replace brass and electro-plate by white alloys which have nickel for their basis. Spoons, forks, fittings for railway and ship fittings, bar fittings, and harness furniture have been largely manufactured from these metals. These alloys are known under various names, such as silveroid, argentoid, navoline, nickeline, aluminium metal, &c., but they are all varieties of German silver, containing in some cases small proportions of tin, lead, cadmium, and other metals.

=Papier Mâché Trade.=--[E. H. HODSON].--(B. 566). Within the last few years wood pulp imported from Sweden has been introduced as a substitute for paper pulp, and is used for small desks, work boxes, jewel cases, and many other articles, thus enabling Birmingham manufacturers to compete with Chinese and Japanese lacquered goods. A change too has taken place in the mode of ornamentation. Instead of employing artists at a high rate of wage, transfers are used which can be applied to the articles by boys and girls. German papier mâché is imported into this country duty free, but on the other hand, English papier mâché is subjected to heavy duties before it reaches the German and Continental Markets. It should be mentioned that there still continues a steady demand for small quantities of expensive articles made of papier mâché, though for the supply of the Million, the old papier mâché is replaced by the Swedish pulp above referred to.

=Pewter & Britannia Metal Trade.=--[W. PERKS.]--(B. 617). The two trades are distinct. Pewter consists of 95 parts tin, 4 parts copper, and 1 part antimony. The metal is cast in iron or brass moulds. Britannia metal is not cast, but rolled, stamped, swaged, or spun. Its composition is similar to pewter, but a little more antimony and copper and less tin. The staple articles in pewter are still ale and wine measures, tankard and drinking cups, the most saleable shapes are identical with those which Hogarth painted in the early part of the last century. There has been a revival of pewter for ink pots for Board School use and home use. In foreign markets a tea-pot known as the Dutch pattern is still sold of the same shape, style, and strength as it has been for the last 70 years. Makers have tried to introduce wrought metal pots instead of cast pewter, but the foreign traders do not care for them. The trade in beer engines and bar fittings has much increased within the last 20 years.

=Plate, Crown, and Sheet Glass.=--[HENRY CHANCE.]--(B. 147.) In the 1864 report it was mentioned that cast plate glass is manufactured at Smethwick (Plate Glass Company) crown, sheet, and rolled or rough plate glass at Smethwick (Messrs. Chance Brothers and Co.) and at Stourbridge (Stourbridge Glass Company.) Of these three manufacturing establishments, that of Messrs. Chance Brothers and Co. is the only one now in operation. Antique glass for decorative purposes and glass shades are manufactured at Oldbury by Messrs. W. E. Chance and Co. Crown glass is now almost extinct; Messrs. Chance however still make the very limited quantity required. The price of ordinary sheet glass has fallen from one shilling and twopence per foot in 1884 prior to the repeal of the duty, to three halfpence in 1886. Rolled plate glass is now made by most of the manufacturers of sheet glass, and by several firms who confine themselves to this branch of trade. The Siemens’ regenerative furnace has not only been successfully applied to furnaces containing pots, but by its aid Messrs. Siemens have been able to dispense with pots and employ large tanks made of clay, for the melting of glass. By this means the process of melting and working becomes continuous. The raw materials are introduced at one end of the tank furnace and arrive, after gradual transformation, at the other end, in the shape of melted glass.

=Plated Wares.=--[ELKINGTON AND CO.]--(B. 477.) A great impetus has been given to the trade owing to the development of hotel life in London and all large towns, together with the equipments required for ocean-going steamers, in many cases special designs having reference to the building being required. On the other hand the taste of the public is now for simple and useful designs. The old form of stamping, in which the stamp was lifted by one or more workmen, has been superseded by the method described on page 172. A dish cover which formerly required hundreds of blows now requires only six, and instead of the old process of smoothing the surface with hammer and stake a “wheeling” machine is used, and the swage or shape lapped over instead of mounting with a wire, the time consumed being about one twentieth part of that required by the old process. Improvements in metals used enables the hollow bodies of coffee and tea services to be “spun” (see page 174) instead of being slowly raised into form by wooden mallets and steel hammers. Spinning oval bodies is now extensively practised, though at one time it was considered impossible to treat German silver in this way. This process (oval spinning) is used only when one or two articles of a particular shape are required. When great numbers are required stamping is the process adopted. Press work in shaping articles has considerably improved, and has replaced, to some considerable extent, the tedious process of chasing and embossing. Enamelling has been introduced, but owing to Japanese competition the trade is gradually falling off. The enamelling, known as cloisonné is performed as follows: The decoration, birds, flowers, &c., is traced on the surface of the object to be enamelled, very thin wire of any metal, but generally silver or copper, is then bent by hand to the various forms traced on the metal. This process requires the utmost care. The wire thus bent is then soldered down to the surface of the object, the different colours put in in the form of paste into the different divisions formed by the bent wire, and the whole is subjected to intense heat until the colours are completely fused. When cold the surface is rubbed down flat, and finally polished. In the champlevé process the spaces for the colours are cut out with a graver. The process of damascening largely carried on by Messrs. Elkington is described at (B. 545.) Soldering arrangements are much improved, the introduction of the patent blowpipe saves time, and the workman is able to solder, cleaner and produce a firmer jointing than with the old process. The sand blast is a new feature in the finishing department.

=Refrigeration.=--[S. PUPLETT.]--Mechanical refrigeration owes its development to the enterprise of Birmingham men. The imports of ice into the United Kingdom were in 1884 nearly 300,000 tons. Refrigerating machinery is supplying ice in competition with these importations. In addition, refrigerating machinery is used in brewing for the purpose of cooling wort quickly, in bacon curing, in working of butter and butterine, cocoa, and candles, in oil refining and tar distilling, and in telegraphic works for securing a low temperature when testing cables. Freezing machines have too been used in sinking and tunnelling, the water being prevented from running into the shaft owing to the hardening of the earth by freezing. The cost of imported ice may be taken as 20/- per ton, while machine ice can be made for 5/- per ton. The first commercial machine, patented by James Harrison, of Geelong, in 1856, was an ether machine, and made in London. Afterwards machines of this kind were made by Mr. Philips, of the Atlas Works, in Oozells Street, Birmingham. In 1861 Carré showed the advantages of ammonia over ether as a refrigerant, and since then Mort and Dicholle, of Sydney, and Stanley, of London, have patented various modifications of the Carré system. Pictet has devoted many years to the subject, and has identified himself with sulphurous acid as a refrigerant, and recently claims to have discovered a fluid termed _liquide Pictet_, SCO₄; in addition to these refrigerants, air, water, chloride of methyl, bisulphide of carbon, carbonic acid, and nitrous oxide have been used. The machines made in Birmingham by the Birmingham Refrigerating Company are ammonia machines. This form of machine consists of (1) a multitubular vessel called the refrigerator, containing liquid (anhydrous) ammonia--in this vessel vaporization takes place; (2) a vapour pump, by which the ammonia formed by evaporation is exhausted from the refrigerator, compressed, liquefied, and forced into (3) the condenser, consisting of a multitubular vessel surrounded by water; (4) a circulating pump for supplying the condenser with water; (5) ice tanks surrounded by a bath of a liquid of a low freezing point, such as a solution of chloride of calcium or of common salt; (6) a circulating pump for circulating the brine through the refrigerator and around the ice tanks; (7) the steam engine or other motor for driving the vapour and circulating pumps.

=Rope Making.=--[J. T. WRIGHT.]--(B. 578). Within the last few years a machine has been introduced by Mr. Good, an American, for treating fibres as imported, more particularly Manilla. By means of fluted rollers, and a system of bars fitted with strong steel pins which press upwards into the hemp, the fibres are dressed and straightened out, the operation is aided by a patented machine known as Wright and Laider’s Patent Sun and Planet Hacklebus. Finally, the hemp fibres are drawn off the pins and delivered in a compact and continuous sliver into a can placed in front to receive it. These slivers being in one length, are now passed on to the drawing frames to be accumulated together.

=Steel Pen Trade.=--[MAURICE POLLACK.]--(B. 634.)--There has been little improvement since 1865. Muffles heated by gas on the plan of Dr. Siemens, have been introduced for tempering and colouring, and ordinary gas is also used in connection with these processes, but these improvements are only used by one or two firms, and more as a matter of convenience than as a means of making pens of a better quality or lower price.

Many patents have been taken out since 1865 for new styles of pens, the most successful have been those which deal with the points; these have been turned up or turned down, thickened, or planished, all for the purpose of producing smooth points to glide freely over paper even with a rough surface. The fashion in paper and ink materially influences the style of pens. The J pens (so called because that letter was embossed upon one of the first and best known broad points) have been extensively used, and have influenced hand writing, especially that of ladies. Calligraphy as an art has fallen off in this country, and this has influenced pen manufacture. The most delicately made pens are manufactured for foreign use. There are, perhaps, not so many pen works now as there were in 1865, but the productive power has vastly increased. The present _weekly_ average of pens manufactured is about 160,000 grosses, requiring from 16 to 18 tons of steel, of which only 8 tons appears in the article, the rest being loss or waste. Pen steel is still produced in Sheffield, the best being made from Swedish iron. The number of girls and women employed is from 3,200 to 3,600, whilst the number of men employed as tool makers, rollers, engineers, stokers, &c., hardly exceeds 500. The increase in make since 1865, of quite 60 per cent. is mainly due to the export trade. No new pen manufactories have been established since 1865, except in the United States, where there are now four pen works, but of these, only one is of importance. In France, there are now only three pen manufactories, and the production is less than it was three years ago. In Germany there is only one, and its make though improved in quality is very inconsiderable in comparison with the large consumption of steel pens in Germany. An attempt has been made to establish works in Russia, where the duty on steel pens is high, but after existing one or two years, the manufactory was burnt down, and no attempt has been made to re-build it. The Customs duty on steel pens with the exception of Russia, are the United States, where it is 6d. per gross, is very moderate, and prevents the importation of low and middle class pens. The price obtained for steel pens depends more upon the reputation of the maker or of the mark than upon their intrinsic value, hence the difficulty of giving an average value of each gross of pens produced.[58]

=Stourbridge Fire Clay.=--[GEORGE KING HARRISON.]--(B. 133.) The district suffers from high railway rates. The quantity of clay raised per week now is about 3,500 tons, say 160,000 tons per annum. About 40 million bricks are made per annum.

=Salt.=--[J. H. HOLLYER.]--(B. 138.) At the Stoke Prior Works from 500 to 700 hands are employed. The salt manufactured is from 3,000 to 4,000 tons per week. The entire produce of salt in Worcestershire is about 250,000 tons per annum. The Brine pits are about 1,000 feet deep. “Butter salt” is largely exported from Droitwich to India and Australia. Round pans have been introduced since 1865. The aggregate traffic, that is, coal received and salt forwarded, of the Stoke Prior works is about 1,000 tons per day.

=Swords and Matchets.=--[F. M. MOLE, JUN.]--(B. 649.) The conventional ideas as to the extent of the sword trade are very erroneous. Our army is small and only horse soldiers and officers carry swords. When once equipped one single sword forger will produce what is required. Hence the matchet trade is combined with sword manufacture. (The matchet is a large knife used in sugar cultivation in the West Indies and Central South America.) The extraordinary demand for swords at the time of the Crimean war, and the inability of English firms to supply it, gave the start to foreign competition. It is not generally known that the larger proportion of the officers’ swords sold in this country are either German swords imported complete or foreign blades mounted in London. There have been several spurts in the trade, but these died out, and at the present time Messrs. Robert Mole and Son, of Birmingham, are the only manufacturers who take Government contracts. An outline of the method of manufacture is given in (B. 649) and is similar to that of edge tools generally--(see p. 208). In ornamenting the hilts of swords fire or mercury gilding[59] is used. The “gripe” is of wood (walnut or beech), and covered with dog fish skin.

=Tin Plate Ware.=--[A. N. HOPKINS.]--(B. 638.) Fifty years ago workmen made a variety of articles with several pieces of tin plate soldered together. The introduction of machinery in the trade is reducing the number of skilled workmen. In 1835-6 Mr. Thomas Griffiths took out a patent for stamping and burnishing; shortly afterwards Mr. J. H. Hopkins commenced the manufacture of “Patent tea-pots.” Candlesticks and other articles made in the same way quickly followed, and stamping and burnishing opened up possibilities which till then had not been dreamed of in the trade. In 1840 what was thought a monster stamp was put down to stamp the top of an 18-inch imperial dish cover. Further improvements in stamping led to the trade being speedily one of the most important, both in this town and the neighbouring one of Wolverhampton. A little time later, tin plate workers turned their attention to the stamping of a few culinary articles, such as colanders, gravy strainers, &c., and of wash-hand basins. In the making of these sheet iron was used, and the articles when finished were tinned by the same process as that used by tin plate makers, and were then sold as “tinned wrought iron hollow ware,” and once more an increasing impetus was given to the trade. Milk pans and “prospecting” pans were made in this way, and the advance made just at this time by the Australian Colonies on the great discoveries of gold opened out a large field, where the goods have been bought in ever-increasing quantities, while shortly after, the Cape and South America as well as Canada became large customers for a similar class of goods. India too came into the market for brass and copper articles, while Egypt, especially about the time of the American Civil War, began to be a most important customer for the copper utensils hitherto manufactured only by the natives, but which the superior machinery the English manufacturer possessed, enabled him to produce much better and cheaper. Meanwhile the French Exhibition of 1855 had shown to our manufacturers specimens of stamping superior to anything they could produce, and one or two unsuccessful attempts were made by them to obtain a nearer inspection of the French method of stamping or more properly pressing. In one way and another it leaked out that the French makers employed a pressure plate and a gradual forcing process, instead of the sharp blow by which the English stamper pounded his material into the required shape. The late Mr. Clutton Salt purchased the patent right for this country, and in 1867 a machine was in operation at the works of the Birmingham Enamel Co., with which Mr. Salt was at that time connected, and Messrs. Griffiths and Browett took out a licence to use the patent. Improvements in stamping followed, keeping well abreast of the new process, and ultimately outstripping it, especially as regards size of vessel produced.

The French system of pressing was taken up in the United States, and as early as 1865 the works of Lalance and Geoschein, at Woodhaven, New York, were in active operation on this principle. In 1866 a Birmingham man, named W. Page, son of an old Birmingham worthy, travelled to New York, and erected improved machines on the French system in the factory of Messrs. Ketcham and Co. These machines economised material, and at the same time quickened production.

In 1872 Mr. Satchell Hopkins, of Birmingham, after communication with Mr. Page, put down a number of machines on Mr. Page’s principle, including one which is even now the largest and most powerful of its kind. A similar form of machine was adopted by other firms, and there soon followed an extraordinary development of the trade hitherto known as the “Stamped Tin Hollow-ware,” but now as the “Pressed Bright Tinned Hollow-ware” Trade.

In another important branch of the trade, though there has not been so much scope for improvement, advance has not been wanting. The common and ugly japanned ware, in which stencil plates were largely used, has been superseded by “transfers,” and by an invention of Mr. Alfred Hopkins, the japanning of articles with backgrounds highly polished has been superseded by a dead, morocco-like surface, in low tones of pleasing appearance.

In iron plate working the only new mechanical appliance introduced since 1867 is a machine or series of machines for making buckets, by which the article is practically made in one operation. The low wages of workmen who make buckets, coupled with the low prices to which manufacturers have been driven by excessive competition, render the employment of these machines of doubtful advantage. Besides Birmingham, manufactories are established in Wolverhampton, London, Reading, Sheffield, and other towns.

_Treatment of Waste._--The following facts are supplied by Mr. T. J. Baker:--Sheet iron scrap and lathe turnings are worked up again into sheet iron. Copper clippings and turnings are remelted. Copper scale is resmelted, as also brass clippings and brass dust. Gold scrap of the japanning department is sent to the gold refiners, and the leaf metal scrap to the bronze powder manufacturers. Tin plate scrap, after the larger pieces have been sold to the button makers, are “stripped”--that is, the tin is removed by immersion in hydrochloric acid. The resulting tin salt is used by calico printers. The iron scrap, after removal of the tin, is used for precipitating copper by the wet process. Tin oxide, known as “drop tin,” formed on the surface of the metal in the tinning pot, is, after recovery of as much of the tin as possible, sent to the tin smelter. Galvanizing dross, an alloy of zinc and iron, which sinks to the bottom of the galvanizing bath, is removed by a perforated ladle, and refined by distilling off the zinc. Zinc ashes, that is cinders which have fallen on the molten metal and absorbed zinc, is also refined by distillation. Flux skimmings, or that which is skimmed off from the galvanizing bath, is an oxide and chloride of zinc. This is put in a vat; stirred with hot water, the oxide falls to the bottom of the vat, but the chloride dissolves. The clear solution is heated with gas liquor, when zinc precipitates as carbonate, and the chloride of ammonium, now in solution, is recovered by evaporation. The solid residues are worked up in paint mills into zinc white.

=Tools (Heavy Edge).=--[A. WINKLER WILLS.]--(B. 656.) In addition to edge tools proper, such as axes, adzes, hatchets, and other articles, the trade includes pickaxes, spades, shovels, forks, hoes, augers, trowels, shipscrapers, &c. The number of patterns regularly supplied by the manufacturers of Birmingham and the neighbourhood is estimated at several thousands, each nation and almost each district requiring special patterns of its own. The character of the soil, habit of people and other circumstances affect the form of tool though used for the same purpose. The enormous hoe, with a blade nearly a foot wide and of the same depth, which is in universal use in Guatemala, would be useless in Valparaiso, because the soil is light in one country and heavy in the other.

A Brazilian axe is made thus:--A piece of bar iron is taken and the middle part thinned out under a light steam hammer to the thickness required to form the edge of the tool. The blank is then doubled over upon itself and the bottom part welded together. A bar of hard cast steel is welded on to the bottom of the blank; the steel being then cut off from the bar to a width corresponding to that of the blank. The embryo axe, by means of a steam hammer, is forged under tools of suitable shape fixed in the head of the hammer, the final shape being given by hand tools. The tool is now ready for hardening and tempering--the steeled end of the axe is heated to a blood red in a slow furnace and is then plunged into cold water. It is now tempered by slowly heating till it assumes the required tint. The tool is now ready to be ground, polished on a succession of wooden wheels or bobs, dressed with emery of gradually increasing fineness, and then to have its upper part japanned black, blue, scarlet, or bronze-coloured, according to the taste of the consumer.

The principal machinery employed consists of shears, “squeezers,” tilt and trip hammers, striking from 200 to 400 blows per minute, steam hammers, shearing and punching machines, stamps, rolls, and lastly, massive machines or presses of various construction, used for shaping the eyes of hoes, pickaxes, &c. The wood handles required for spades, shovels, &c., form a distinct branch of the trade. Hickory handles are almost exclusively used in the wedge axes so largely employed in India and the colonies; these handles are necessarily imported from the United States. Self-acting machines have during late years been introduced for the turning of ash handles for axes, hatchets, &c. The handles of spades, shovels, and forks are of ash sawn from planks, subsequently turned in lathes. To bend them, they are steamed and pressed into shape by powerful screws.

The only waste products are the scale or dross which falls from the heated iron, and the shearings or scraps cut off the tools. Both are sold to the ironmaster--the former for fettling his furnace, the latter to be worked up again into bar iron.

The number of persons employed in the trade in Birmingham and the district is probably 3,000 to 4,000.

The conditions of the manufacture have been greatly altered during the last seven years by the extensive introduction of machinery to replace manual labour; at the present time a much larger number of boys and youths are employed than was formerly the case. Their wages range from 8s. to 15s. per week according to age. Forgemen earn on an average £2. 10s. or £3. per week; foremen smiths about £2., and their strikers or underhands about £1. to £1. 5s, when in full work. Women are only employed in japanning, wrapping up and similar light work. The revolution which has taken place in the method of manufacture during recent years was largely accelerated by the tyrannical operations of the formerly powerful trades union of edge-tool makers, which, during the period of large demand which prevailed from 1872 to 1874, used every available means to limit production, and to make it impossible for the manufacturers to execute orders in reasonable time. As a consequence, the productive power of the trade has been so enormously increased that at present it is altogether disproportionate to the demand, and hence, in this as in almost every other branch of manufacture, unremunerative pric