Besides the groups of Fungi enumerated above, there are others more obscure and consequently less interesting to many students, of which no mention will be made here, although numerous rare or undescribed species belonging to them have been found in the district within recent years.
APPENDIX.
Articles Received too Late to be Included Alphabetically Between Pages 117 & 212.
Chains, Cables, and Anchors.—[Benjamin Hingley, M.P.]—(B. 99). The manufacture of chains, cables, and anchors is carried on at Tipton, and to a much larger extent at Netherton, and in the neighbourhood of Old Hill near Dudley. The manufacture of chain cables in their present form, namely, with elongated links supported by a bar or stud in the centre of each link is of comparatively modern origin; there are Naval men still living who remember that Men-of-War and Merchant Ships were fitted with hempen cables of large diameter, which occupied a considerable space in the fore-hold of the ship. The British Fleet in Nelson’s fighting days knew not chain cables, but was encumbered with large coils of hempen rope.
It is certain that iron chains of some description were known and used in the days of the Romans, as it is recorded that Julius Cæsar could not cut the cables of the vessels of the Gauls, because they were made of iron. Such chains were doubtless a succession of iron rings, or “S” hooks of comparatively small size. It is believed that the first chain cable was used on a British Ship, in the year 1808. It was made by a blacksmith named Robert Flinn, at North Shields, for a vessel which at that time was reckoned to be of a considerable size, namely, the “Ann and Isabella.” of 221 tons. It not only saved that vessel when in peril, but also saved a whole tier of ships that had been made fast to her, their hempen cables having been cut by the ice, owing to a great flood with much ice in the Tyne. This notable instance gave a great impetus to the making of chain cables on the banks of the Tyne, where it is still carried on to a considerable extent.
At about the same date, Samuel Brown, afterwards Sir Samuel Brown, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, having, it is said, been in communication with Flinn, and taken a great interest in Flinn’s iron cables, took out a patent, and in the year 1810 he prevailed upon the British Admiralty to put iron cables on several Men-of-War, with such successful results that the days of hempen cables became numbered; Lieutenant Brown afterwards devoted his attention to the making of chain cables, and established a manufactory at Millwall on the Thames, he also, with the assistance of “John Rennie, an Engineer,” constructed an efficient testing machine as he “was of opinion that there was nothing more essential in completing an iron cable than the most rigid attention to proving.”
The manufacture of chain cables naturally commenced on the sea coast, and it rapidly spread from the Tyne and Wear, where it first commenced, to London, Liverpool, Bristol, and to Aberdeen, and Irvine in Scotland. It may be said, that up to the year 1820, although chain making was a local industry in the district of Birmingham, it was confined to small welded chains in the form of elongated rings, for farming and domestic purposes; but about the year 1820 a new impetus was given to it by the late Mr. Noah Hingley, who then carried on business as a nail master and dealer in small chains at Cradley Heath near Dudley. He in the course of his business made periodical visits to the Port of Liverpool, travelling sometimes by the Stage Coach, and at other times on horseback, and there, one of the new chain cables, with a stud in the centre of each link, attracted his attention. He at once resolved to develop the trade in Staffordshire, and without hesitation made a contract to supply to a Liverpool ship owner, a chain cable made of iron 1½ inch diameter to be used in lieu of an hempen one. It was a bold venture, as no workman in the Midland district had ever seen a chain of such large size, or one fitted with studs, but after a few trials a workman with the assistance of two strikers, and two boys to blow the bellows, succeeded in turning out a good chain cable which was duly delivered in Liverpool, and did good service on board ship. The making of this first chain cable was a source of wonder in the district, and people came from far and wide to see it.
Mr. Hingley afterwards introduced the making of anchors in a similar manner—bringing men from Liverpool with a knowledge of the trade, and afterwards erecting the first Nasmyth’s steam hammer for that purpose in the Staffordshire district, namely, at Netherton Ironworks, near Dudley.
Mr. Hingley lived to see the chain cable and anchor trade developed to a large extent, and by several eminent firms who engaged in the business in and about Dudley; he also took part in the establishment of efficient public testing machines at Netherton and at Tipton, under the authority of an Act of Parliament, making compulsory the testing of cables and anchors for British ships. The machines in question are under the control of the Board of Trade, and of Lloyd’s Registry of British and Foreign shipping, and are of the most powerful description. One of the machines at Netherton is not only capable of testing, but also of breaking for experimental purposes, a chain made of bar iron 4 inches in diameter.