HORN MANUFACTURES. 



HORN-WORKS AXD CROWN'-WOUKS. 



711 



M being whiter and more transparent than thoso of any other animal*. 

 The firt process in the manufacture of horn ii to remove the bony 

 core or pith, which accomplished by steeping the horns in water for 

 a month or more ; by this operation the membrane which lie* between 

 the core and the horny aheath U no softened by putrefaction that the 

 core* may be easily extracted. These are not thrown away, but ore 

 burnt to aihea, in which date they form the best material for the 

 small tests or cupel* employed by lawyers of gold and silver. In some 

 eases, instead of being thus used, the cores are boiled down in water, 

 by which a quantity of fat is extracted, which, rising to the surface, in 

 akimmed off and sold to the makers of yellow soap ; while the liquid itself 

 is used as a kind of glue, and in purchased by cloth -dressers for stiffening; 

 and the remaining insoluble substance is crushed in a bone-mill for 

 manure. The solid tip of the horn U sawn off with a frame-saw, and 

 is employed for making knife handle.", umbrella-handles, the tops of 

 whips, buttons, and various other articled. The remainder of the hum, 

 employed for purposes for which thin lamina! are required, may cither 

 be left entire, or sawn into two or more lengths, according to the use 

 to which it is to be applied. When divided, the lower port, or that 

 next the root of the horn, is frequently employed for making combs, 

 while the portion which has formed the middle of the horn is us.il for 

 lanterns and similar purposes. To prepare the horn for use, it is 

 immersed in boiling water for about half an hour, by which it is 

 softened ; and, while hot from this operation, it ia usually held in the 

 flame of a coal or wood fire, until it acquires about the temperature of 

 melting lead, and becomes so soft as to be semi-fluid. If the horn be 

 from an old animal, care is taken to expose the inside as well as the 

 outside to the action of the flame. Sometimes the softening is effected 

 by pressure between two heated surfaces of iron. The slitting of the 

 horn is performed while it is in the semi-fluid state, by a strong 

 pointed knife resembling a priming-knife ; and, by the application of 

 two pairs of pincers, one to each edge of the slit, the cylinder or cone 

 of horn is opened until it is nearly flat. Several pieces are then 

 exposed to pressure between alternate plates of iron, previously heated 

 and greased, either in a press, or by placing them vertically in a strong 

 iron trough, and compressing them by means of wedges. The degree 

 of pressure applied depends on the proposed use of the horn ; if it be 

 intended to form very thin leaves for making lanterns, the pressure 

 should be sufficiently strong to break the grain, or cause the lamina: of 

 the horn to separate a little, so that the edge of a round-pointed knife 

 may be inserted between them to complete the splitting or separation. 

 The thin sheets of horn are then scraped with n blunt or wire-edged 

 draw-knife, upon a board covered with bull's hide ; and when thus 

 smoothed and brought to the required thickness, they are polished by 

 a woollen rag dipped in charcoal dust, a little water being added from 

 time to time. They are afterwards rubbed with rotten-stone, and 

 finally with horn shaving* The painted toys known under the name 

 of Chinese sensitive leaves, which possess the curious property of 

 curling up as if they were alive when laid upon a warm hand or near 

 a fire, are made of the best of the thin films 'removed by the draw- 

 knife. When the horn is to be converted into combs, the pressure 

 applied in flattening must be as slight as possible : lest, by the breaking 

 of the grain, the teeth of the comb become liable to split at the points. 

 If a comb or any other article be required of greater size than con be 

 made out of a single plate of horn, two or more may be united by the 

 dexterous application of a degree of heat sufficient to melt but not to 

 decompose the horn, assisted by pressure. When this is well managed, 

 the junction cannot be perceived. The Chinese are skilful in this kind 

 of work, as may be seen in the large globular lantern hi the museum at 

 the East India House, about four feet in diameter, composed entirely of 

 small plates of coloured and painted horn. 



Horns for combs are roughly cut by a hatchet or saw to the required 

 shape, and then finished by rasps and scrapers. If required to be of a 

 curved shape, they are first made flat, and after the teeth are cut they are 

 softened in boiling water, and pressed until cold in a die of hard wood. 

 Horn combs ornamented with openwork are extensively imported from 

 France, where they are produced by pressure in steel dies. Horn 

 shavings, when heated to a soft state, may easily be pressed into the 

 form of combs, snuff-boxes, and other articles. The mode of cutting 

 the teeth of combs is described under COMB MAXUFACTCKK. 



Drinking-horns are now made by sawing the horn to the required 

 length, scalding and roasting it over the fire, placing it while hot in a 

 conical wooden mould, and driving a wooden plug firmly into the 

 interior, to bring it into accurate shape. When cold and hard, it is 

 fixed on a lathe, and turned and polished both inside and outside ; and 

 groove or thimt is cut with a gage-tool within the smaller end, for 

 receiving the bottom. The horn is then softened before a fire, ami the 

 bottom, which is a round flat piece of horn cut out of a plate with .-i 

 crown-saw, is dropped in at the larger end, and forced down until it 

 reaches the chime. By the subsequent contraction of the horn in 

 cooling, the bottom is so firmly fixed as to be perfectly water-tight. 



In the manufacture of all articles made of fragments of horn com- 

 pressed into a solid mass, great care is necessary to avoid the presence 

 of grease, which would prevent perfect union. Tlie mai-.-..of horn 

 should be moved with wooden instruments while at the fire, and in 

 carrying them to the moulds. Bull-pulls, the handles of table-knives 

 and forks, knobs for drawers, and many other useful articles, are thus 

 formed : care being taken, whenever the article is put into the mould in 



two or more pieces, to fit them together so that they may dovetail 

 one into another. 



Horn U easily dyed of various colours. In this country it is usually 

 coloured of a rich reddish brown, and spotted to imitate tortoiseshell ; 

 this is effected by a mixture of pearl-ash, quicklime, anil litharge or 

 red lead, with water and a little pounded dragon's blood, applied hot 

 to the parts of the horn which it is desired to colour. For a deeper 

 colour the mixture may be applied twice ; and for a blacker brown the 

 dragon's blood may be omitted. 



No part of the refuse of the born manufacture is without its value. 

 When exposed to a decomposing heat in close vessels, horn produces a 

 large quantity of the gaseous compound which forms the base of 

 prussic acid : on which account hoofs and horn cuttings are in great 

 request among the manufacturers of Prussian blue, and of the beautiful 

 yellow pruHsiato of pot.mli. The clippings of the comb-maker are also 

 used as manure. In the first year after they are spread over the soil, 

 they have comparatively little effect ; but during the next four or the 

 iticiency is considerable. The shavings of the 1. intern-maker, 

 from their extremely thin and divided form, produce their full 

 on the first crop. 



Two recent improvements in the horn manufacture may be briefly 

 noticed. One, introduced by M. Possoz, of Ixelles, in Belgium, con- 

 sists in so heating, pressing, and rolling the horn, that the grain 

 becomes straightened, the fibres lengthened and compressed, an 1 the 

 substance rendered so elastic and solid as to be fit for making into the 

 ribs of umbrellas. Another, by Mr. Macpherson of Sheffield, relates 

 to the manufacture of articles of furniture out of small waste fragments 

 of horn and hoof. He cleanses the fragments from grease and dirt, 

 soaks them in boiling water containing a little lime and potash, brings 

 them into a cohesive mass by pressure between iron dies or moulds 

 heated to 300 Fahr., and finally gives shape to them by pressure in 

 moulds specially prepared. The finer the fragments, the better the 

 result ; if there be differences in quality, the best is kept at the surface. 

 Varied effects may be produced by cementing different colours and 

 kinds together ; and inlays of mother-of-pearl or of metal may be used. 

 Horn dust is better than any fragments ; and one pound of liorn will 

 yield twenty-two cubic inches of such dust. The substance produced 

 IB well suited for table-tops, panels, work-boxes, dressing-cases, door 

 knobs, &c. Hoof works up nearly as well as horn, and looks much 

 like tortoiseshell. A table-top has been produced, of twelve square 

 feet, and three-quarters of an inch thick, with forty pounds of horn. 

 The solid tips of horns are worth 301. a ton, but waste horn can be 

 bought for a quarter of this price ; and this relative cheapness appears 

 to have suggested the mode of manufacture here described. 



The manufacture of a kind of artificial horn has been established in 

 France. It consists of gelatine, usually obtained from bones by treating 

 them with muriatic acid, converted into a horny substance by tanning. 

 Upon becoming hard and dry it resembles horn or tortoiseshell, both 

 in appearance and in the facility with which it may be softened, by 

 boiling in water with potash, and moulded to any required form. By 

 inlaying with gold and silver, and staining with various colours, it may 

 be rendered highly ornamental. 



A considerable trade in horn has sprung up. The importations 

 exceed 3000 tons per annum, the chief supply being from the East 

 Indies. The importations in one year into Liverpool comprised 

 280 tons of deer horns, 200 of buffalo horns, 120 of biiflalo tips, and 700 

 tons of ox and cow horns. Including the produce of home animals, the 

 quantity of homs worked up is supposed to be not less than 6400 tons, 

 worth 180,000?. The comb manufacturers alone consume ISOOtons, which 

 produce 320,000?. worth of combs. Sheffield requires nearly 300,000 

 deer horns annually to make handles for cutlery . 



HORN-WORKS AND CROWN-WOBKS, are fortifications usually 

 situated in advance of the principal works of a place. The rampart of 

 the front, on the plan, is similar to that which is formed on each side of 

 the polygon, supposed to surround a regular fortress ; and on each 

 flank a line of rampart returning from the nearest extremity of the 

 front terminates on the ditch either of a bastion or ravelin on the 

 enceinte of the place. The work is generally strengthened by a ravelin 

 placed before the curtain between its two demi-bastions, and by a 

 covered-way and glacis beyond the ditch; these return along the 

 branch or wing on each vide, and join the covered-way and glacis of 

 the collateral bastion or ravelin of the enceinte. 



The invention of horn-works is referred to the commencement of 

 the 17th century. At first the plan of their rampart had simply the 

 form of the letter M, the upper points being directed towards the 

 country like horns; from which circumstance the work obtain 

 name-. They ap]>car also to hare been at first forme, 1 of i-.-.itli only, 

 for the purpose of strengthening a place in daily 



when there were no outworks and when the i re small and 



very distant from each other. They were then o ni-tructed in front 

 of the curtains, by the fire from whence the approach of the unniy 

 towards their flanks might be opposed. 



But the feeble defence which was made by such works when 

 attacked in front, and the advantage of occupying beyond the j>i 

 fortress some position from whence, during the siege, the enemy mi_-M 

 be annoyed in forming his approaches, or which, if gained by the ' 

 might enable him to command the town, almost immediately indu . , ,! 

 engineers to give to the hom-work the form first described, and to 



