HISTORY OF TIN-PLATES.

CHAPTER III.

ORIGIN IN BOHEMIA-INTRODUCTION INTO SAXONY-JOURNEY OF MR. YARRANTON-ESTABLISHED AT PONTYPOOL-HEMMING'S PATENTBIOGRAPHY OF MAJOR HANBURY-INTRODUCTION INTO FRANCEIMPROVEMENTS— -EARLY ACCOUNTS OF THE MANUFACTURE.

THE particular town or village in Northern Germany where the manufacture of tin-plates originated, and the actual year in which it was commenced, are unknown, but it has been very clearly ascertained that, in 1620, the trade had already existed for many years in Bohemia.

In that year a knowledge of the manufacture was sought and obtained from Bohemia by the then Duke of Saxony, who immediately commenced the manufacture in his own territories, and it was from Saxony that the secret came to England in the year 1670. The affair was at once taken up at Pontypool, but, in consequence of difficulties which shall be hereafter explained, was subsequently abandoned and neglected for a period of fifty years, and it was not till the year 1720, in the reign of George I., that the manufacture of tin-plates was finally established in this country.

From time immemorial, then, up to 1720, our ancestors were accustomed to import these tin-plates from Hamburg, but, as we have said, there is no record of the invention to be found in any of the French, German, or English works on metallurgy, and it seems to be probable that all information relating to this trade was kept very secret with a view

to a quiet enjoyment of the monopoly by those who possessed a knowledge of its details.

This idea is confirmed by the celebrated M. de Réaumur, who, writing on this subject in 1725, shows that the art of making tin-plates was considered as Germany's own trade. "It is said that it was a secret kept there very carefully; but where is the country and which is the trade where workmen are not mysterious?

"Limited in their understanding to a knowledge of what is necessary to obtain their own living, they think it very clever to know at least something of which other people are ignorant.

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However, there are arts which are open to every one and processes which can keep themselves from sight, and such are to be found in every country.

"The processes of making tin-plates are of this last category, but at the same time are they such as could not be discovered if the effort was made ?"

The records of German mining are unreliable and imperfect, but it may be considered certain that the manufacture of tin-plates was commenced in Bohemia between the dates 1240 and 1600, following the discovery of tin mines in the Erzgebirge Mountains in the former year by a Cornish tin miner, who fled or was banished from England, some say on account of his religion, others for murder.

If he had committed murder, impossible as it is for posterity to forgive this nameless wandering assassin (to whom, however, a statue was erected at Awe in Saxony), we must, nevertheless, be ever grateful for the immense advantages which resulted to the world, and especially to this country, from (let us hope) the "accident" which obliged him to leave Cornwall.

As has been previously very briefly explained, from the time of the invention of tin-plates up to the year 1620, the manufacture existed exclusively in Bohemia, and the Bohemians supplied not only England, but the whole of Europe with tin-plates. In that year the reigning duke of the adjoining kingdom of Saxony, who is said to have been a wise

and far-seeing prince, willing and ready to improve his own revenue and the condition of his subjects, made an effort to obtain from Bohemia such a knowledge of the trade as would enable him to fix the manufacture in his own territories.

A Romish priest, turned Lutheran, was employed as a spy or "medium" in this affair, and with great success, for when Yarranton visited Saxony in 1665, less than fifty years after the introduction of the trade into Saxony, he found the different establishments very numerous and the trade a very profitable one, for he informs us that these tinworks have proved so beneficial to the place that there are several fine cities raised from the riches therefrom.

The situation certainly appears to have been a most desirable one, and the trade to have prospered, favoured by nature as also by the "providence of passing events."

The works, which were most of them owned by the Duke, were situated in a large tract of mountainous land on a great river, flowing along a valley for twenty miles from a place called Segar Hutton into a town named Awe, and some upon the rivulets which ran down the mountains.

Tin, iron, and charcoal were all obtained from the mountains ranging on both sides of this river, and the trade must have been a very important one, for Yarranton computes that no less than 80,000 people depended upon it for support.

In speaking of a population of 80,000, Mr. Yarranton no doubt includes wives, children, and shopkeepers who depended upon the actual workmen for their living.

If we calculate that there were three at home for one at work, the number of workmen will be reduced to 20,000: some engaged in tin mining and tin smelting, others in wood cutting, charcoal burning, iron ore raising, smelting, forging, boating, and hauling, in addition to those employed in the actual manufacture of tin-plates.

But even 20,000 men would be a very large number to find employment from one trade exclusively, and it seems possible that Mr. Yarranton was referring to the population who depended upon these and the other works of the Duke of Saxony for support, for he informs us that "the