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CARMARTHENSHIRE.

Donovan's 'South Wales,' 1805, speaking of Carmarthen, says:

"At a small distance to the eastward of these deserted lead works are the tin works of Mr. Morgan.

"The iron ore employed in this manufactory is the common argillaceous kind of South Wales, intermixed with a considerable portion of the Ulverston ore of Lancashire, a rich hematite, the latter, which it is deemed necessary to smelt with the other sort in order to produce a metal of such pliability as the iron plates designed for tinning require."

Thomas Rees, F.S.A., in a description of South Wales, 1815, speaking of Carmarthen, relates, that there is an iron foundry upon a tolerably large scale at Kidwelly. There are at this place, besides, some tin mills, which at one time produced considerable quantities of this material.

A tin manufactory, now the property of Messrs. Morris and Co., has likewise been long conducted on a large scale at Carmarthen.

KIDWELLY.

The neighbourhood is rich in coals and iron ore, and some iron and tin manufactures have been long carried on here.

GLAMORGANSHIRE.

Tin-plate manufactories are numerous in this country, but the war has occasioned very considerable diminution in the demand for this article, and consequently in the quantity produced for many years past.

There are extensive tin works at Melin Griffith, on the Taff, above Llandaff, belonging to Messrs. Reynolds and Co.; the other establishments are those of Messrs. Miers and Co., which are three in number, viz., one at Aberavon, another

at Ynis-y-gerwn, a few miles above Neath, and a third at Ynis-pen-lwch, about eight miles from Swansea. Of the latter, Ynis-y-gerwn works alone are at present in a state of activity. The tin used in this manufacture is brought from Cornwall.

CARDIGANSHIRE.

At one period Sir Benjamin Hammet, and after his decease his sons, carried on some extensive tin works in the neighbourhood of Llechryd, but these are now wholly abandoned, and the buildings are pulled down and the materials sold. South Wales,' Thomas Rees, F.S.A., 1815.

CHAPTER XIII.

DESCRIPTION OF MODERN MANUFACTURE-TINNED PLATE OR WHITE IRON-SIZES AND SUBSTANCES-THE FORGE-FORGEMEN-PIG IRON -THE DANDY FIRE-THE REFINERY-THE HOLLOW FIRE-CharCOAL AND COKE-THE HELVE-THE MILLS-OPENING-PICKLING— ANNEALING-TIN-PALM OIL-VITRIOL-COATING-ADVANTAGES OF TINPLATE OVER COPPER UTENSILS.

TIN-PLATE, or in other words, tinned plate, or, as the French people call it," white iron," is a material which, in a converted shape, is familiar to everybody under the name of tin; but outside of those who are unfortunate enough to be engaged in the manufacture, or are fortunate enough to deal in or convert this useful metal, few, indeed, of the world are aware that their so-called "block tin tea-pot, kettle, or dish-cover, is made of nine-parts iron, and one-part tin.

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Tin-plates vary in size, in substance, in toughness, and in the nature of their coating: in sizes they vary from a sheet of 10 x 14 inches, suitable for a one-pound tin of provisions, to a sheet of 40 x 28, adapted for roofing purposes in the western states of America; in substance they differ from a sheet of taggers, as thin as paper itself, to a plate of ten times that thickness, adopted for the dish-covers of ordinary use; in toughness from a sheet which won't bend at all, to a sheet of charcoal-iron, which is equal in tenacity to leather itself. The coating varies with the purposes for which the tin-plates are required, the lightest coating is sufficient for mustard and biscuit purposes; the heaviest possible coating is desired for dish-covers, which have to stand planishing in conversion, and will be subsequently subject to the inevitable ceaseless 'rubbing" in every careful household.

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The tin-plates of commerce are packed in boxes, and, as a

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