| From the New Orleans Daily Crescent |
| |
| February 6, 1861 |
| |
| Southern Manufactures |
| Attention is solicited to the
following article, taken from the Richmond (Va.) Enquirer of the 4th
September, 1860: |
| ***** |
| Tredegar Iron Works! |
| Conducted by Messrs. J. R.
Anderson & Co., and we propose, in this article, to give a running
sketch of what a visit to these extensive works exhibits. |
| A pleasant walk on the canal
bank to the Armory grounds, brings us to the first |
|
Rolling Mill |
| Here we find furnaces for
melting and converting pig iron, and ponderous machinery for rolling
it into the various forms of merchant and railroad bars, railroad
axles, bridge bolts and railroad chairs; enormous machines that punch
an inch hole through an inch bar; lathes for turning axles;
screw-cutters, for cutting nuts and bridge bolts, and machines for
making every kind of railroad chair. |
| Our attention was particularly
directed to the ingenious machinery, recently invented by one of their
operatives, a most skillful workman, for rolling and straightening the
continuous lip-chain and the new rail-splice, forming a continuous
rail, and successfully introduced in the Island of Cuba. The principle
on which this splice is made is entirely new, as the depth required in
the groove to receive the web of the rail could not be attained by any
mode of rolling hitherto adopted. |
| A few yards further on we come
to the second Rolling Mill, where all the various denominations of
large and small iron are made. Here the rods for making Spikes are
rolled; and attached to this Mill is the new and extensive |
|
Spike Factory |
| Eighty-one feet long by fifty
wide, and four stories high, where the rods are fashioned into spikes
of every form and size. A visit to this department would alone repay
the curious for his trouble. you see here three gigantic machines
turning out railroad spikes at the rate of one per second each, and
from twenty to twenty-five tons per day; these falling into the
basement story are carefully inspected, packed up in kegs, neatly
marked and stored away ready for shipment. |
| In ano her part of the
building is the |
|
Copper Shop |
| Worked entirely by negro boys,
under the supervision of an experienced foreman, and on another floor
are various machines for cutting Nuts and Bridge Bolts. |
| Passing through the south gate
of the Rolling Mill, you come to the |
|
Foundry Buildings |
| The capacity of this
department has been much increased within the last year. The first
building is for very heavy work, and they are at this time casting
heavy Navy Guns, and Water Pipes, two feet in diameter, for the city. |
| The next building is for
general castings, such as railroad, bridge and engine work, and the
third is exclusively for railroad |
|
Car Wheels |
| Of which, they manufacture
both single and double plate. Near the Iron Foundry is the |
|
Brass Foundry |
| Where all the castings for
Locomotives and other Engines are made. |
| Leaving the Foundry we come
next to the |
|
First Machine Shop |
| Where we find a new and
powerful Hydraulic Press for forcing the car wheel on to the axle,
with an indicator to how the exact power required to effect it. Near
it turns a horizontal, self-adjusting Boring Mill, for boring out the
eye of the wheel. On the other side lathers, for turning axles, and
one fifty feet long for turning long and heavy shafting and wheels.
Lower down in this show you come to the |
|
Gun Mill |
| For boring Cannon, and the
powerful lathes and planers for turning and finishing them off. The
reputation of the guns made here is unrivaled by that of any made in
this country or Europe, as the records and certificates in the
Tredegar Office will show. |
|
Locomotive Shop |
| This building is three stories
high, one hundred and fifty feet long and forty-five feet wide, and
has attached to it a setting up shop, one hundred and forty by sixty
feet, and a Carpenter's Shop for the wood work of Cars, Saw Mills,
etc. |
| In this shop all the nicer and
more delicate work for Locomotive, Marine, Stationary, Portable and
Hoisting Engines, Saw Mills, Sugar Mills, etc., is executed. Several
highly finished Locomotives are now being constructed, and will
shortly be running on our Southern roads; a splendid Engine and Saw
Mill, with two Saws, one working above the other, is now being boxed
up, ready for shipment to Cuba -- with which Island, we understand,
the proprietors have already inaugurated an extensive and profitable
trade. In this department many new and improved tools have been
recently introduced, and many more of entirely different character
will in a short time be erected, for executing the large and important
contract made with the State for putting |
|
The Armory |
| In condition, to turn out five
thousand rifled muskets per annum. |
| In front, and on the line of
the river, stands the |
|
Boiler Shop |
| One hundred and sixty feet
long. A lively scene awaits the visitor here; but unless his ears are
proof against the most stunning and distracting sounds, he had better
keep clear of it. |
| In this shop the
enormous boilers of the United States frigates Roanoke and Colorado
were built. Adjoining the Boiler Shop, and on the same line, we find
the |
|
Blacksmith Shop |
| This building is one hundred
and eighty feet long, and is furnished with twenty five fires, a large
Nesmith Steam Hammer, besides smaller Tilt-Hammers. The greater part
of this shop has been appropriated for a year or more past to the
forging of car and truck work for Southern roads -- for which articles
the proprietors have received the most liberal encouragement.
Adjoining this building, there is now in the process of erection |
|
A Cast Steel Foundry |
| With trip-hammers and
machinery for manufacturing the various kinds of steel, under the
superintendence of a Southerner who has been many years engaged in the
business. It opens a new and interesting field to Southern enterprise. |
| We have thus, in as concise a
way as our limits and information would allow, given a hurried and
imperfect description of these truly magnificent works. There are
thousands in our own vicinity who have no idea that such an
establishment as the Tredegar Works exists, and who would be amazed at
viewing the multifunction and varied operations carried on there; for
we believe there is no establishment within the broad limits of the
United States where such a variety of work is executed. To the
enterprising and energetic proprietors the State and the whole South
owe a debt of gratitude, which we cannot doubt they will amply repay
by a liberal patronage, and thus keep at home the money which they
have heretofore so freely lavished upon Northern establishments
hostile to our institutions, and whose unceasing efforts have for
years past been directed to break down every attempt to introduce the
mechanic arts in the South. That the work turned out from the Tredegar
shops will compare favorably with that from the best Northern
establishments, there is abundant evidence to show. Why should it be
otherwise, when the best skill in the country is at their command to
insure its equality, and their machinery is operated by the cheapest
of all powers, water, from our never-failing canal? |