THE ART OF CASTING BRONZE IN JAPAN. 



637 



volume ; and the effective power of a machine worked by eight men does 

 not exceed 1 ton of cast iron melted per hour, the cost of the labor, 

 however, being only about 8 pence. 



3.— THE OPERATIONS OF CASTING. 



The metal used for the charges of a cupola furnace when a " cast " 

 has to be made consists either of old bronzes and defective castings, or 

 more generally of a mixture of these with new alloy. The separate 

 metallic constituents of the bronze, viz, copper, tin, lead, or zinc, do 

 not forjn part of these charges, but the alloy is previously ])repared by 

 melting them together some days beforehand. The alloy then obtained 

 is cast into thin plates, which are broken up while hot, and the frag- 



Fig. C: 

 WORKING THE BLOWING MACHINE, CALLED "TATARA." 



ments are used for the casting cliarges. When crucibles are used, the 

 alloy is however frequently made at the time of casting, although for 

 castings of special importance bronze which has already been once or 

 oftener cast is always preferred. 



For my description of the operations of casting I have selected the 

 casting of a brazier in the mold shown in fig. 7, as it is a typical exam- 

 ple of Japanese practice, and I was present in the foundry during the 

 whole of the ojjerations. 



The bronze was melted in the cupola furnace (fig. 3). Charcoal was 

 used as fuel, and the blast was produced by a " tatara" worked by eight 

 persons. 



