454* Mr. T. B. Jordan's Remarks on Electro- Metallurgy, 



point of saturation by the destruction of a portion of the 

 copper plate connected with the negative plate of the battery ; 

 of course the solution of this plate is effected by the portion 

 of acid set free by depositing its copper on the mould, assisted 

 by the galvanic action ; so that in fact this method gives us the 

 power of removing the material from any old and irregular 

 piece of metal, and depositing it in the most highly wrought 

 mould of which we may wish to obtain a copy. 



In taking a comparative view of the probable cost of pro- 

 duction, it will not be necessary to consider the first outlay 

 for apparatus and moulds, because there must be a much 

 larger outlay before commencing operations in the usual way ; 

 and leaving this out of the question, the cost of any electro- 

 deposit would be made up of the value of the raw material, 

 of the zinc and acid used in the battery, and of the time em- 

 ployed in making the arrangement. 



The raw material may be obtained in considerable quan- 

 tities, at its lowest price, as old sheathing copper would be 

 admirably adapted to the purpose, on account of the facility 

 with which it may be bent to any required form. The zinc 

 and acid used in the battery would only have combined to 

 form sulphate of zinc, which would be of some value. The 

 time required for making the arrangements in the different 

 troughs of a large factory, would be comparatively small, be- 

 cause one man may keep a great number at work, as they 

 only require attention once in twenty-four hours — of course 

 there must be many other persons employed in such a factory, 

 in preparing new patterns, and new battery plates and con- 

 nexions, but these come under other heads of expenditure 

 which have their counterparts in the present mode. 



I will now suggest a few of the plans which may be used 

 for producing hollow vessels. The most simple process which 

 has occurred to me, and the one which I have already used 

 with success, is to form a block of some easily fused material 

 into the shape of the interior of the required vessel, which 

 serves as the matrix for depositing the copper on ; when this 

 is sufficiently thick, it may be placed on the fire till the block 

 is melted, when the fluid material may be poured from any 

 of its openings, and leave the hollow vessel complete and in 

 a single piece, without the aid of the soldering iron or ham- 

 mer. The temporary block on which this vessel is deposited 

 may be formed of wax, cement, fusible metal, lead, or any 

 other convenient material which melts at a much lower tem- 

 perature than the metal to be deposited. I consider this 

 method to be peculiarly applicable to the most complicated 

 forms of metallic musical instruments, and to crooked tubular 



