Adjoining the mustard mill is the packing floor, where a great number of men and boys are employed in putting the mustard into tins of various shapes and sizes, and adorning them with the handsome labels which are so generally exhibited in grocers’ windows everywhere, for the demand for this mustard is universal.
Leaving the mustard mill we enter the starch works, which seem to be still more extensive. The process of making starch is carefully explained to us. After the grain has been moistened with a solution of caustic soda, it is passed into the mill, where it is mixed with water and ground in its wet state between mill stones; from each pair of which continually runs a stream of pure white liquid, resembling thin paste. This liquid is placed in large iron tanks called “separators,” a considerable quantity of water is added, and the whole is well stirred for some time. It is then allowed to settle, and the various particles of husk, gluten, &c., sink slowly and form a thick deposit at the bottom. The water with the starch in solution is then drawn off and pumped up into immense shallow vats, several sets of which, placed over one another, occupy the whole of the upper part of the building. In the course of two or three days the liquid in the shallow vats gradually deposits the starch held in solution, when the water is drawn off, and the starch is taken out and placed in long narrow boxes filled with holes and lined with cloth. It remains in these boxes for some time in order that the moisture may gradually drain out and the starch consolidate. As soon as it is sufficiently hardened, the starch is taken out and divided into blocks, each about six inches square, and put into stoves and exposed to a temperature of about 140 degrees; after which it is cleaned, papered, and again placed in stoves, where it remains till it is gradually crystallized, when the process of manufacture is complete, and the starch is ready for sale.
We now walk across to the other side of the premises and enter a long row of workshops, where a great number of men and boys are employed in making tin-packages for the mustard. Passing by long ranges of coopers and carpenters’ shops, we soon come to a large square block of buildings called the “blue factory.” Here the indigo is mixed with the finest starch, water is added, and the whole is ground in a moist state by large heavy mill stones, till it resembles a very thick, dark blue paste. It is transferred by means of a steam hoist to the upper part of the building, where it is received and quickly manipulated by a number of girls, who divide it into small cakes and stamp it with wooden stamps of various devices, from which it is called “Stamp Title,” “Lion,” &c.; or they work it into balls, on which they leave the impressions of their finger and thumb, when it is called “Thumb Blue.” We learn from the workers that the great art of blue making consists in drying it carefully, so that the lumps or cakes may harden without cracking. We walk through many rooms, almost in the dark, for the window shutters, which are closed, are so constructed as to regulate the temperature, and we have just room to pass between large tiers of racks filled with wooden trays, on which the lumps and cakes of blue are placed in order that they may dry gradually.
We next take a peep at the paper mill, and admire the beautiful machinery which rapidly transforms any quantity of dirty rags into a thin milk-like pulp, and then into solid quires and reams of paper, all cut and ready for use. As we pass we look into the engineers’ shop and wonder at the variety of the machinery there, capable of operating on the hardest steel, and of planing, cutting, punching, or drilling it with the greatest apparent ease; and we learn that most of the machinery is made and repaired on the premises.
We are at last taken to the luncheon kitchen, in which a good lunch or dinner is provided, consisting of as much hot meat and potatoes as any man can eat, for threepence. Many of the men and boys gladly avail themselves of this kitchen, and obtain a good meal without leaving the works.
On leaving the yard we ascend the hill and observe a handsome school-house, built in the Gothic style, and we learn that it was built by Messrs. J. and J. Colman for the children of the working-people in their service. The school comprises several class-rooms, and is fitted up with every convenience.
The Iron Trade.
Coal and iron form the basis of our industrial system in this island, but neither of them are produced in the eastern counties, which are, for the most part, purely agricultural. Iron manufactures have, however, arisen since the commencement of the present century, chiefly for agricultural purposes. Norwich cannot boast of concerns so extensive as Messrs. Ransome and Sims, of Ipswich; or Messrs. Garrett, of Leiston, in Suffolk; but several firms here employ large numbers of mechanics in the construction of engines, machines, and implements of every sort.
Dr. William Fairbairn, in his “History of Iron,” mentions five distinct epochs: the first dating from the employment of an artificial blast, to accelerate combustion; the second marked by the use of coke in the reduction, about the year 1750; the third dating from the introduction of the steam engine, on account of the facilities which that invention has given for raising the ores, pumping the mines, supplying the furnace with a copious and regular blast, and moving the powerful forge, and rolling machinery; while the fourth is indicated by the introduction of the system of puddling and rolling; and the fifth and last—though not the least important epoch in the history of iron, is marked by the application of the hot blast, an invention which has increased the production of iron four-fold, and has enabled the iron-master to smelt otherwise useless and unreducible ores. It has abolished the processes of coking and roasting, and has afforded facilities for a large and rapid production, far beyond the most sanguine anticipations of its inventors. Some manufacturers, taking advantage of so powerful an agent, have used improper materials, such as cinder heaps and impure ores, and by unduly hastening the process, have produced an inferior kind of iron.
Nearly all the iron manufacturers in Norwich, Norfolk, and Suffolk, are founders, and make their own castings for engines, girders, and machines of every kind. The principal firms in this district are Messrs. Ransome and Sims, before named; Messrs. Garrett, of Leiston; Mr. Turner, Ipswich; Messrs. Woods, Cocksedge, and Warner, Stowmarket; Mr. C. Burrell, of Thetford; and Messrs. Barnard, Bishop, & Barnard, Mr. W. S. Boulton, Mr. Smithdale, and Messrs. Holmes and Sons, of Norwich. These great firms send their productions all over the civilised world.