Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/700

 676 WIRE June 10, 1861. He graduated at Yale college in 1848, entered a New York counting house, spent two years at Panama, and accompanied Lieut. Strain's expedition to the isthmus of Da- rien. He began the practice of law in St. Louis, but soon removed to New York. In April, 1861, he went with the seventh regiment to Washington, and became military secretary to Gen. Butler, with the rank of major. He was shot dead while leading the assault on the left of the confederate line at Great Bethel. His works, all published posthumously, are : " Ce- cil Dreeme" (1861); "John Brent," "Edwin Brothertoft," and " Canoe and Saddle " (1862) ; and "Life in the Open Air" (1863). A new edition of them was commenced in 1876. WIRE, a small metallic rod or thread, varying in thickness from half an inch to i-fa* of an inch. The facility with which a metal may be drawn into wire is called its ductility. (See DUCTILITY.) From an examination of the his- tory of wire drawing, Beckmann is led to con- clude that in early times metals were brought to the filamentous form only by beating into thin plates, then dividing these into narrow strips, and finally rounding with the hammer and tile. Such a view agrees with the account given in Exod. xxxix. of the sacerdotal dress, and with that of the fable of Vulcan's forging a not of delicate wirework with which to en- snare Mars and Venus. The earliest known mention of " wire drawers " and " wire mill- ers," as those who produced wire by drawing were variously called, occurs in 1351 and 1360, in the histories respectively of Augsburg and Nuremberg, the previous accounts being only of "wire smiths," or those who fabricated wire with the hammer. The change from the old to the new method was accomplished, or very soon followed, by the introduction of a machine, probably the invention of one Lndolf of Nuremberg, by which wire was produced without direct aid of the hand. The precious metals appear to have been the first subjected to this process. White wire, or blanch iron wire, is in fact mentioned in a list of articles not to be imported into England in 1463 ; and in 1484 both iron and latten (fine brass) wire are similarly named. Anderson, however, re- cords that up to 1565 English iron wire was drawn by hand only, and was so poor that most of that used in the country, and also wool cards and other articles involving the employ- ment of wire, were imported ; and that in the year named patents were granted to certain Dutchmen or Germans to manufacture wire in England. In 1630 this manufacture is spoken of as employing many thousand persons, and producing a superior article ; and the importa- tion of foreign wire, wool cards, and hooks and eyes, of the last named of which (made from wire) a very large amount was already con- sumed, was again formally prohibited. In the 17th century the business of wire drawing became largely established about Barnsley in Yorkshire; while the manufacture of copper and brass wire also was begun (1649) by for- eigners at Esher. For wire, the best and toughest wrought iron is selected. Formerly this was prepared for drawing by hammering it out into convenient rods of nearly a half inch thickness. These rods were then extend- ed and further reduced by a sort of coarse drawing, called ripping or rumpling, by means of a machine, believed to be also the invention of Ludolf, in which a pair of pincers were made to advance to the draw-plate, seize the protruding end of the rod, and then, being moved back and drawing the metal thus far, to relax their hold, advance again to the plate, and repeat the process. Owing to the inter- rupted action, the use of this machine involved loss of time, while a degree of unevenness in the product, and the marks left by the pincers, rendered it unsuitable for the manufacture of small wire or that of the best quality. Until recently, however, and especially on the con- tinent of Europe, iron wire was drawn alto- gether by such a machine. At present, iron, and usually steel, are prepared for the final drawing by passing between grooved rollers very accurately made and adjusted, of 7 or 8 in. diameter, and sometimes making 350 revo- lutions to the minute. The cast-steel wire for the best needles and some similar articles is prepared for drawing with the hammer, in preference to submitting it to the rolling pro- cess. But however the metal may be prepared, and in whatever manner the drawing may be performed, this latter operation is in all cases essentially the same in principle. Very com- monly the draw-plate is a piece of hardened or shear steel, about 6 in. long and 1 in. thick, flattened on one side and slightly tapered to- ward the ends. From the flat side of this plate, at which they have their larger extremity, to the opposite side, several conical holes are pierced, their smaller orifices being carefully finished to the sizes they are respectively in- tended to give to the wire drawn through them. As the holes necessarily become en- larged by long use, when this occurs the small- er orifices are reduced by hammering, and then opened to the proper size again by means of a long taper needle, called a pritchell. The French draw-plates, it appears, are formed by repeatedly fusing and hammering, to insure their complete union, the two lateral parts of a compound bar, one part being of wrought iron, the other part of a sort of steel, called potin, previously obtained by melting to a paste fragments of cast-iron pots with white-, wood charcoal, throwing this into cold water, and repeating the melting and sudden cooling 10 or 12 times. When the union of the two parts is complete, the plate is reheated and ex- tended; and it is then several times heated and punched with successively smaller punches, to secure tapering holes ; though these, which are of course smallest at the steel or hardest side, are left to be finished in the cold plate by the wire drawer himself. The orifices