636 



THE ART OF CASTING BRONZE IN JAPAN. 



may fit closely to tlie sides of tlie cliamber and leakage of air be pre- 

 vented. 



About eiglit or ten persons are required for working one of these 

 machines in melting bronze, and often the whole of the artist's house- 

 hold — men, women, and children — aid in the operation. A rocking 

 motion is given to the pressure board by the workers stepping alter- 

 nately on and off either end (fig. C), and the air is thus compressed first 

 in one chamber, then in the other, and passes to the blast outlet E 



lo Feet 



Fig. 5, 



JAPANESE BLOWING MACHINE, CALLED "TATARA." 



A, A, air chamber; B, pitssme Ixiard; C, C, valves of pressure board ; U, blast valve; E, blast outlet. 



through a channel at the bottom and front of each. At tlie junction of 

 these channels with the blast outlet a flap valve, D, closes either channel 

 when the opposite half of the pressure board descends. The workers 

 are aided in stepping on and off by ropes hanging from the roof, which 

 they grasp with their hands, and in keeping time — and the efliciency of 

 the machine depends greatly on this — by singing songs which have been 

 specially composed for them. 



The blast is intermittent, irregular in pressure, and deficient in 



