MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 89 



METHOD OF SOLDERING CAST-IRON WITH WROUG1IT-IRON. 



THE following- process has been recommended for this purpose. 

 First, melt filings of soft cast-iron with calcined borax in a crucible ; 

 then pulverize the black vitreous substance which is thereby produced, 

 and sprinkle it over the parts which are intended to be united ; after 

 which heat the pieces of cast and wrought iron, and weld them together 

 on an anvil, using only gentle blows. This method is peculiarly ap- 

 plicable for the manufacture of iron articles which are intended to be 

 made red-hot, and are required to be impervious to fluids or liquids, as 

 such a result cannot be obtained by simple fastening. Technologiste. 



CAST ZINC IN DECORATION. 



M. GEISS, of Berlin, has been exhibiting specimens of zinc used for 

 architectural and decorative purposes in a mode not hitherto employed 

 in England namely, cast. It appears that for seventeen years, zinc has 

 thus been used in Berlin for architectural purposes, that is, for all 

 exterior as well as interior ornamental parts of buildings, which, by 

 casting, can be produced in the sharpest forms, and are said to be at the 

 same time capable of resisting all influence of the weather. 



The late distinguished architect, Schinkel, thus writes on the sub- 

 ject : " The cast metal offers particular advantages from its great 

 strength in comparison with rolled zinc, from its being less subject to 

 influence of temperature, and from its capability of receiving the finest 

 impressions, when cast, for which reasons it seems well adapted for all 

 plastic works of art. We see, therefore, already large statues, copies 

 of antiques, in the factory of M. Geiss, at Berlin, executed in the most 

 elaborate style ; to which statues, by a precipitate of copper, an ex- 

 cellent imitation of copper can be given. All ornaments of carved 

 work, and projecting members, forming perforations, and crowning 

 members, can be executed of this metal in the easiest manner. At the 

 same time the more important parts of building can be made very 

 cheaply and durably. We have recently finished a large restoration of 

 our University, in which about 1,600 feet of cornice have been cast in 

 zinc, which was fastened to an iron framework, and which, instead of 

 sixteen dollars per foot if in stone, cost in zinc only nine dollars, in- 

 cluding the iron framework. 



" The many advantages which zinc offers for the construction of 

 furniture, as vases, candelabra, basins, &c., &c., which in the open air 

 are less exposed to damage than stone, and for the clothing of rough 

 iron supports, with the elegant forms of columns and consoles, dressings 

 for doors, and richly ornamented architectural members, show clearly 

 the extent of its usefulness, and will render it in future indispensable 

 for architecture, contributing at the same time more and more to the 

 extension of architecture itself." English Paper. 



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