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The dining-room of this boarding-house, owned and managed by the G. F. C., brought to his mind the state prison, which he had once visited with its rows of men sitting in silence, eating starch and grease out of tin-plates.
He then described the history of his own efforts to import the manufacture of tin-plates into England some sixteen years before, in which he had been thwarted by Chamberlaine's patent, as above described, and offered sundry queries as to the utility of patents generally, which, says he, "have the tendency to drive trade out of the kingdom."
"What with the patent being in our way," says Yarranton, "and the richest of our partners being afraid to offend great men in power, who had their eye upon us, it caused the thing to cool, and the making of the tin-plates was neither proceeded in by us, nor possibly could be by him that had the patent; because neither he that hath the patent, nor those that have countenanced him, can make one plate fit for use."
There are two tin-plates and two empty cups." "Are you sure the the old Prof was one of those fishermen we saw in the boat?" asked Bobby. "I recognize that old coat and hat," said Laura, firmly. "I do not see why I did not recognize Professor Dimp, in spite of his disguise, before." "Well!" sighed Jess.
Such tin would not do for the dyers, but it is good for the tin-plate makers, who, by dipping thin sheets of iron into molten tin, produce the well-known tin-plates of which our pot-lids and pans, etcetera, are manufactured. This last bit, gentlemen," he added, taking a third piece of tin from the cupboard, "is our worst quality."
He was even permitted to engage a number of skilled workmen, whom he brought over with him to England for the purpose of starting the manufacture in this country. A beginning was made, and the tin-plates manufactured by Yarranton's men were pronounced of better quality even than those made in Saxony.
Although the richest tin mines then known existed in this country, the mechanical arts were at so low an ebb that we were almost entirely dependent upon foreigners for the supply of the articles manufactured from the metal. The Saxons were the principal consumers of English tin, and we obtained from them in return nearly the whole of our tin-plates.
The use of ingot steel, or very mild steel, for making tin-plates is now an established thing, and manufacturers are now taking this metal for making large tinned sheets up to seven by three feet. The making of casks by machinery, cheaper and better than those made by hand, is now an accomplished fact by Mr. Ransome's machines.
In order to encourage the manufacture of tin-plates, a considerable duty was imposed, which was to cease after 1897 unless domestic production reached specified amounts. As the result of Blaine's urgency, a reciprocity feature was introduced.
Yarranton's labours were thus lost to the English public for a time; and we continued to import all our tin-plates from Germany until about sixty years later, when a tin-plate manufactory was established by Capel Hanbury at Pontypool in Monmouthshire, where it has since continued to be successfully carried on. We can only briefly refer to the subsequent history of Andrew Yarranton.
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