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TINNEVELLY

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 1000 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TINNEVELLY , a See also:

town and See also:district of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:Madras See also:presidency. The town is on the See also:left See also:bank of the Tambraparni See also:river, on the other See also:side of which is See also:Palamcottah, the administrative headquarters of the district. Pop. (1901), 40,469. It is the See also:terminus of a See also:branch of the See also:South See also:Indian railway, 444 M. S.W. of Madras. Its most noteworthy See also:building is a beautifully sculptured See also:temple of See also:Siva. The DISTRICT OF TINNEVELLY has an See also:area of 5389 sq. in. It is for the most See also:part a See also:plain with an See also:average See also:elevation of 20o ft., sloping to the See also:east with slight undulations. It is watered by numerous See also:short streams, the See also:principal being the Tambraparni with a length of 8o m. The See also:chief See also:irrigation See also:work is the Srivaikuntam anicut or See also:dam on this river, In the See also:north the scenery is unattractive and the See also:soil poor; in the south red sandy soil prevails in which little See also:save the See also:Palmyra See also:palm will grow. This palm yields toddy as well as a coarse See also:sugar.

Along the See also:

banks of the See also:rivers are See also:rice-See also:fields and a variety of trees and crops; and See also:coffee is grown on the slopes of the See also:Travancore hills. The district contains many See also:ancient and magnificent buildings. But the most interesting antiquities are the large sepulchral earthen urns of prehistoric races, which have been found at several places, especially along the course of the Tambraparni; they contain bones, pottery, beads and See also:bronze ornaments, See also:iron weapons, implements, &c. The South Indian railway has its maritime terminus at See also:Tuticorin, the chief seaport. The principal exports are rice to See also:Ceylon and See also:cotton to See also:Japan and See also:Europe. In 1901 the See also:population was 2,059,607, showing an increase of 8% in the See also:decade. The number of native Christians was 159,213, Tinnevelly being the most See also:Christian district in India. The Society for the See also:Propagation of the See also:Gospel and the See also:Church Missionary Society have important and flourishing stations at Tinnevelly town and Palamcottah, as also have the See also:Jesuits. It was here that St See also:Francis See also:Xavier began his See also:preaching in India. The Shanans, or See also:caste of toddy-drawers, have supplied many converts to See also:Christianity. In 1899 their treatment by the Vellalars, or cultivating caste, led to serious riots and bloodshed. The See also:early See also:history of Tinnevelly is mixed up with that of See also:Madura and Travancore.

Down to 1781 it is a confused See also:

tale of anarchy and bloodshed. In that See also:year the See also:nawab of See also:Arcot assigned the revenues to the East India See also:Company, which then undertook the See also:internal See also:administration. Several risings subsequently took See also:place, and in 18o1 the whole Carnatic, including Tinnevelly, was ceded to the British. See also:TIN-See also:PLATE and TERNE-PLATE. Tin-plate consists of sheets of iron or See also:steel which have been thinly coated with tin by being dipped in a molten See also:bath of that See also:metal. Terne-plate is a similar product, but the bath is not of tin, but of tin and See also:lead mixed, the latter metal constituting from 75—9o% of the whole; it has not the See also:bright lustre of tin-plate, whence its name, from lerne, dull, tarnished. The sheets employed in the manufacture are known as " See also:black plates," and are now of steel, either See also:Bessemer or open-See also:hearth. Formerly iron was used, and was of two grades, See also:coke-iron and See also:charcoal-iron; the latter, being the better, received a heavier coating of tin, and this circumstance is the origin of the terms " coke plates " and " charcoal plates " by which the quality of tin-plate is still designated, although iron is no longer used. Tin-plate is consumed in enormous quantities for the manufacture of the tin cans in which pre-served See also:meat, See also:fish, See also:fruit, biscuits, cigarettes and numerous other products are packed, and also for the See also:household utensils of various kinds made by the tinsmith or silversmith; terne-plates, which began to be produced in See also:England about the See also:middle of the lgth See also:century. are widely employed in See also:America for roofing purposes. The manufacture of tin-plate was See also:long a See also:monopoly of Bohemia, but about 162o the See also:industry spread to See also:Saxony. In 1665 See also:Andrew Yarranton (1616-1684?), an See also:English engineer and agriculturist, was commissioned to go to Saxony and if possible discover the methods employed. According to his own See also:account (England's Improvement, pt. ii.

1681), he was " very civilly treated " and was allowed to see the whole See also:

process. On his return to England his See also:friends undertook the manufacture on an experimental See also:scale, but though they were successful they had to abandon it, because their method became known and a patent for it was " trumpt up " by a See also:rival, who, however, from lack of technical skill was unable to work it. See also:Half a century later the manufacture was revived by See also:Major See also:John Hanbury (1664–1734) at See also:Pontypool; the " method of See also:rolling iron plates by means of cylinders," said to have been devised by him, enabled more See also:uniform black plates to be produced than was possible with the old See also:plan of hammering, and in consequence the English tin-plate became recognized as See also:superior to the See also:German. During the next See also:hundred years or so the industry spread steadily in England and See also:Wales, and after 1834 its expansion was rapid, especially in Wales, See also:Great See also:Britain becoming the chief source of the See also:world's See also:supply. In that year her See also:total See also:production was 180,000 boxes of to8 lb each (in America a See also:box is too ib), in 1848 it was 420,000 boxes, in 1860 it reached 1,700,000 boxes, in 187o nearly 3 460,000 boxes, and in 1890 it exceeded 9,500,000 boxes. In the See also:United States the manufacture of tin- and terne-plates did not make much way until about 189o, and up to 1892 the bulk of the supply was imported from Great Britain. But subsequently the advance was rapid, and the production, which was about 2,236,000 lb in 1891, had by 1900 increased to more than 849,000,000 lb, of which over 141,000,000 lb- were terne-plates. The total imports in that year were only 135,264,881 lb. In later years, again, there was a decline in the See also:American production, and in 1907 only 20% of the American tin-plate See also:mills were at work, while the British production reached 14 million boxes. There are two processes for the tinning of the black plates. In the " palm-oil " process, which is the older, the plates, after being properly annealed, are scoured with See also:sand and See also:water and pickled in dilute sulphuric See also:acid alternately until they are perfectly clean and bright. They are then washed in 'water, and after being boiled inpalm oil to remove all traces of acid and water are dipped into a bath of molten tin, covered with oil to prevent oxidation.

They are then taken to a second bath containing purer tin than the first. After this they are scoured with a hempen See also:

rubber and dipped in a third bath containing the purest tin of all; then they are passed through rolls to finish the See also:surface and regulate the thickness of the coating. As the tin in the third bath becomes alloyed with iron from the operation, it is removed into the second, pure fresh tin being substituted; and similarly the metal of the second, as the amount of iron in it increases, is removed to the first. In the " acid process " only a single bath of tin is required. The molten metal is covered with a layer of muriate of See also:zinc, which acts as the See also:flux, and by means of rolls the plates are passed through this down into the tin, to be brought out at another point in the bath where there is a layer of oil on the surface.

End of Article: TINNEVELLY

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TINNY, ALEXANDRINE PETRONELLA FRANCINA (1839-1869)

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