Ironstone

“ But the prosecution of the ironstone-mining has proved that, at the time when the seam of Black-band Ironstone of that district was accumulated, the floor of the shallow sea or lagoon where this deposition took place was dotted over with cones of tuff, in the hollows between which the ferruginous and other sediments gathered into layers. That seam is in one place thick and of good quality; yet only a short distance off it is found to be so mixed with fine tuff as to be worthless, and even to die out altogether. ”

“ Accordingly, they are placed in the smelting-house of speculation, not on their own account, but in order to disengage them from the necessary laws with which they are invariably mixed up in our experience,—just as the founder places the ironstone in his furnace, not on account of the stone, but on account of the iron with which it is combined. ”

“ Moreover, there is yet a most great benefit to the kingdom in general by the sow iron made of the ironstone and Roman cinders in the Forest of Dean, for that metal is of a most gentle, pliable, soft nature, easily and quickly to be wrought into manufacture, over what any other iron is, and it is the best in the known world ”

“ An ironstone may in many places be traced laterally into a limestone, the amount of iron in the rock gradually diminishing. Some ironstones (Carboniferous, Jurassic, &c.) retain the oolitic structures of the original limestone; others show corals, shells and other calcareous fossils replaced by iron ores. When beds of shale or sandstone are intercalated among the limestones they usually show little change, a fact which indicates that the ready solubility of the calcareous rocks was a dominating factor in determining the metasomatic deposits. ”

“ Sometimes, however, they are said to consist more or less of binds, elunch, or clod, and in a few instances to be entirely composed of those argillaceous materials. Their thickness varies from 10 feet to upwards of 30 feet, the average and by far the most usual thickness being between 15 feet and 20 feet. In some cases, as at Baremoor in the Congreaves district, they contain ironstone, there called "Ballstone," as also at Coseley, Gornal, and in the Chillington field, in which latter place there are two courses of ironstone called "Bindstone." ”

“ Persons unacquainted with minerals would be unable to discover the slightest affinity between the rough ironstone as brought up from the mine, and the iron or steel of commerce. To unpractised eyes they would seem to possess no properties in common, and it is only after subjecting the stone to severe processes of manufacture that usable metal can be obtained from it. The effectual reduction of the ore requires an intense heat, maintained by artificial methods, such as furnaces and blowing apparatus. ”

“ These burrs were formed in the primitive manufacture of iron, which much resembled that of tin. Andrew Yarranton, in England's Improvement by Sea and Land, 1698, says that he saw dug up near the walls of Worcester the hearth of an old Roman iron-furnace.
"It was an open hearth upon which was placed alternately charcoal and ironstone, to which fire being applied; it was urged by men treading upon bellows. The operation was very slow and imperfect. Unless the ore was very rich, not more than one hundredweight of iron could be extracted in a day. ”

“ LOADSTONE, or MAGNETIC IRONSTONE, is a compact blackish kind of iron ore, which is possessed of the power of attracting iron, as well as every substance which contains ferruginous particles. It is betwixt four and five times as heavy as water.
This mineral is found in masses of different form and size in most of the iron mines of Europe and America, and, when submitted to the furnace, it yields a considerable 198proportion of metal. It makes excellent bar iron, but very indifferent cast iron. ”

“ Under-glaze.—This applies to decoration, painted or printed, done before the glaze is applied to the object—i.e., when completed the decoration is under the glaze. [30] Ironstone China.—An earthenware for which Mason took out a patent in 1813. The body contains a large proportion of flint and slag of ironstone. Jasper Ware.—A fine hard stoneware used by Wedgwood, and imitated by his followers. It is unglazed. Lustre Ware.—Earthenware decorated by thin layers of copper, gold, or platinum (see Chapter XIII.) . ”

“ The Americans are now rapidly developing their large natural resources of iron. “The iron ores of the United States” (London Times, 28th of May, 1875) , “are plentiful and various, though some kinds are wanting; thus the ‘spathose’ or spar-like iron ore, scarce even in Europe, is very rare; and the ironstone of the liassic and oolite seams, which furnishes about one-third of our British pig-iron, appears to be wholly absent. On the other hand, the specular iron ore, the brown and red hematites, the clay and blackband ironstones, are good and abundant ”

“ The ‘bedstead,’ or rather divan, of Og, the King of Bashan, measuring nine cubits of man (each = sixteen inches) in length by four broad, was of iron (Deut. iii. 11) . Joshua shows that the Canaanites owned ‘chariots of iron’ (xvii. 16) . These tribes, displaced by the Jews, seem to have been accomplished workers in metal. [348] Traces of iron-smelting occur on the Libanus, [349] where I found copper-stone, [350] and where, during the present century, coal and asphalte have been mined. Many parts of the country, as Argob in ancient Bashan, produce an abundance of ironstone. ”

“ In Norway and Sweden there are large and important deposits of bog iron-ore, which have presumably been formed in the beds of lakes.
Fig. 53.
Cainozoic Ironstone with Leaves (Banksia ? marginata, Cavanilles) .
Slightly enlarged. Below Wannon Falls, Redruth, Victoria.
Clay ironstone nodules (sphaerosiderite) have generally been formed as accretions around some « 81 » decaying organic body. Many clay ironstone nodules, when broken open, reveal a fossil within, such as a coprolitic body, fern frond, fir-cone, shell or fish. ”

“ It appeared to him that a remedy might be found by making, as it were, an artificial iron ore of the sand, and thus smelting it in the ordinary manner. He had tried some simple blow-pipe experiments, and found that although he could not obtain a temperature sufficiently high to melt the ironsand, yet it was easy to produce an ore compact and hard enough to stand considerable pressure. By mixing one-third in bulk of ordinary impure sandy clay with two-thirds in bulk of ironsand, at a full red heat, a hard ironstone was produced. ”

“ The general formation is granitic, overlaid by sandstone, laterite or clay ironstone, and to the north by limestone. Iron ores are found everywhere, and are so little regarded for their metallic contents that, though containing, according to Mr. ”

“ Starting at 7.30 a.m., followed the creek to the north-east by east till 8.25, when it was joined by a small creek from the south; thus increased water was abundant in the bed of the creek, but the pools were shallow and not permanent. Grassy flats extended for a mile on each bank of the creek, beyond which the level forest of stringybark, bloodwood, and box was well grassed; the soil a good red loam. In a few spots fragments of limestone and agate were strewed over the surface, and an occasional ridge of ironstone conglomerate was crossed on which the grass was indifferent. ”

“ In that body there is more of the stone than of iron; and therefore the iron, that it may not be subdued by the stone, desires the force and company of iron; that being not able to resist alone, it may be able by more help to defend itself.... The Loadstone draws not stones, because it wants them not, for there is stone enough in the body of it; and if one Loadstone draw another, it is not for the stone, but for the iron that is in it." As if in the loadstone the iron were a distinct body and not mixed up as the other metals in their ores! ”

“ The quantity of iron in some samples falls as low as 17 per cent., but it rises with variations to as much as 50 per cent. Much of its importance arises from the fact of its occurring in beds alternating with layers of coal, limestone, and clay, so that the same pit is sometimes able to supply firebricks for building the furnace, fuel for the smelting, and limestone for the flux,—a combination of advantages that for long enabled iron to be produced in England cheaper than elsewhere. ”

“ Upon a close examination of the specimen that I had brought away with me in my bag, home to the Hermitage, and by consultation with my book, I felt convinced that I had discovered what is called magnetic iron; that is, iron ore that is most universally dispersed over the earth. The action of the compass added to this belief, and the limestone formation was exactly fitted to this kind of ore, which is the same as is generally called the Swedish iron ore, one of the best-known irons in the world. ”

“ Cardan asks why no other metal is attracted by any other stone; because (he replies) no metal is so cold as iron; as if indeed cold were the cause of the attraction, or as if iron were much colder than lead, which neither follows nor is deflected towards a loadstone. But that is a chilly story, and worse than an old woman's tale. So also is the notion that the loadstone is alive and that iron is its food. But how does the loadstone feed on the iron, when the filings in which it is kept are neither consumed nor become lighter? ”

“ It has been repeatedly shown above that iron not excited by a stone turns north and south; further that it has verticity, that is, special and peculiar polar distinctions, just as a loadstone, or iron which has been rubbed upon a loadstone. This indeed seemed to us at first wonderful and incredible; the metal of iron from the mine is smelted in the furnace; it runs out of the furnace, and hardens into a great mass; this mass is divided in great worksteads, and is drawn into iron bars, from which smiths again construct many instruments and necessary pieces of iron-work. ”

“ Again, iron which has been excited by a loadstone, * if that iron on account of obstacles should not be able to turn round immediately in accordance with its nature, as happens with a versorium, is laid hold of, when a loadstone approaches, on either side or at either end. Because, just as it can implant, so it can suddenly change the polarity and turn about the formal energies to any part whatever. So variously can iron be transformed when its form is adventitious and has not yet been long resident in the metal. ”

“ The obvious reply to such an objection is, that iron is so liable to oxidation that most of the smaller iron articles of ancient times must have perished from that cause. Many of the small masses of rust-cemented gravel and earth, found everywhere, may have originally had for their nucleus an ancient iron implement, or a fragment of one. If it be allowed that the Picts or other early inhabitants of the north used iron tools and weapons, the question at once arises,—Where and how did they procure them? ”

“ In the gravel and clay-beds below, polished and rough stone implements are found. In North America the iron tools are wanting. The Indian was in the Stone age at the advent of Europeans. The Mound-builders had used copper, but the process of smelting and the use of iron had not been reached by them. [2]
In the accompanying diagram, while I have indicated the geological succession of the implements of man, you must bear in mind that, since stone implements are yet used in some parts of the world, they are there found in surface or alluvial deposits. ”

“ Ores of iron that are stony, cindery, dusky, red, and several more of other colours, do not attract one another mutually, nor are they attracted by the loadstone itself, even by a strong one, no more than wood, or lead, silver, or gold. ”

“ Prescott, “just remember three things: fuel, blast, and hammer—power, of course, behind the hammer. It’s the different variations that men have been making on those three things that have brought iron where it is to-day.
“Iron ore has so many things besides iron in it that the problem has always been how to get the impurities out.
“The old blacksmiths used to put it in the fire and hammer it; put it back in the fire and hammer again, until they worked most of the other things out. They made what is called forge iron. ”

“ Accordingly native iron which sui generis (as metallurgists term it) , is formed when homogenic parts of the earth grow together into a metallick lode; Loadstone being formed when they are changed into metallick stone, or a lode of the finest iron, or steel: so in other iron lodes the homogenic matter that goes together is somewhat more imperfect; just as many parts of the earth, even the high ground, is homogenic but so much more deformate. Smelted iron is fused and smelted out of homogenic stuffs, and cleaves to the earth more tenaciously than the ores themselves. ”

“ Occurs in compact masses, with rounded surfaces or kidney-shaped; fibrous structure; color brownish-red to iron-black; but powder invariably red; when black, the lustre is somewhat metallic, otherwise dull; brittle; scratches glass with difficulty; dissolves slowly in strong muriatic acid; gravity 4.5 to 5.
Value.—An ore of iron, yielding from{66} thirty-six to fifty per cent. In powder, used as pigment and for polishing metals.
Localities.—Found usually in beds with granite or limestone. Aroostook County and Hodgdon, Me.; Antwerp, Ticonderoga, Crown Point and Gouverneur, N. Y. ”