PLUMBERY. 



by running it into moulds of brass, clay, 

 plaster, &c. But the chief articles in 

 plumbery are sheets and pipes of lead ; 

 and as these make the basis of the plumb- 

 er's work, we shall here give the process 

 of making 1 them. In casting sheet-lead, 

 a table or mould is made use of, which 

 consists of large pieces of wood well 

 jointed, and bound with bars of iron at 

 the ends, on the sides of which runs a 

 frame, consisting of a ledge, or border of 

 wood, two or three inches thick, and two 

 or three inches high from the mould, call- 

 ed the sharps : the ordinary width of the 

 mould, within these sharps, is from three 

 to four feet: and its length is sixteen, se- 

 venteen, or eighteen feet. This should 

 be something 1 longer than the sheets are 

 intended to be, in order that the end 

 where the metal runs ofY from the mould 

 may be cut oft", because it is commonly 

 thin, or uneven, or ragged at the end. 

 It must stand very even or level in 

 breadth, and something falling from the 

 end in which the metal is poured in, viz. 

 about an inch, or an inch and a half, in 

 the length of sixteen or seventeen inches. 

 At the upper end of the mould stands 

 the pan, which is a concave triangular 

 prism, composed of two planks nailed 

 together at right angles, and two triangu- 

 lar pieces fitted in between tlrem at the 

 ends. The length of this pan is the 

 whole breadth of the mould in which the 

 sheets are cast ; it stands with its bottom, 

 which is a sharp edge, on a form at the 

 end of the mould, leaning with one side 

 against it, and on the opposite side is a 

 handle to lift it up by, to pour out the 

 melted Irad ; and on that side of the pan 

 next the mould are two iron hooks to 

 take hold of the mould and prevent the 

 pan from slipping, while the melted lead 

 is pouring out of it into the mould. This 

 pan is lined on the inside with moistened 

 sand, to prevent it from being fired by 

 the hot metal. The mould is also spread 

 over about two thirds of an inch thick', 

 with sand sifted and moistened, which is 

 rendered perfectly level by moving over 

 it a piece of wood called a strike, by 

 trampling upon it with the feet, and 

 smoothing it over with a smoothing plane, 

 which is a thick plate of polished brass, 

 about nine inches square, turned up on 

 all the four edges, and with a handle fit- 

 ted on the upper or concave side. The 

 sand being thus smoothed, it is fit for 

 casting sheets of lead ; but if they would 

 cast a cistern, they measure out the big- 

 ness of the four sides, and having taken 

 the dimensions of the front, or fore part, 



make mouldings, by pressing long slips 

 of wood, which contain the same mould- 

 ings, into the level sand, and form the 

 figures of birds, beasts, &c. by pressing 1 

 in the same manner leaden figures upon 

 it, and then taking them off', and at the 

 same time smoothing the surface where 

 any of the sand is raised up, by making' 

 these impressions upon it. 



The rest of the operation is the same 

 in casting eiiher cisterns or plain sheets 

 of lead ; but before we proceed to men- 

 tion the manner in which that is perform- 

 ed, it will be necessary to give a more 

 particular description of the strike. The 

 strike, then, is a piece of board about 

 five inches broad, and something longer 

 than the breadth of the mould on the in- 

 side; and at each end is cut a notch about 

 two inches deep, so that when it is used 

 it rides upon the sharps with those notch- 

 es. Before they begin to cast, the strike 

 is made ready by tacking on two pieces 

 of an old hat on the notches, or by slip- 

 ping a case of leather over each end, in 

 order to raise the under side about one- 

 eighth of an inch, or something more, 

 above the sand, according as they would 

 have the sheet to be in thickness ; then 

 they tallow the under edge of the strike, 

 and lay it across the mould. The lead 

 being melted, it is ladled into the pan, 

 in which, when there is a sufficient quan- 

 tity for the present purpose, the scum of 

 tlie metal is swept oft" with a piece of 

 board to the edge of the pan, letting it 

 settle on the sand, which is by this means 

 prevented from falling into the mould at 

 the pouring out of the metal. \Vhen the 

 lead is cool enough, which is known by 

 its beginning to stand with a shell or wall 

 on the sand round the pan ; two men 

 take the pan by the handle, or else one of 

 them lifts it up by a bar and chain fixed 

 to a beam in the ceiling, and pour it into 

 the mould, while another man stands 

 ready with the strike, and, as soon as they 

 have done pouring in the metal, puts on 

 the mould, sweeps the lead forward, and 

 draws the overplus into a trough prepar- 

 ed to receive it. The sheets being thus 

 cast, nothing remains but to planish the 

 edges, in order to render them smooth 

 and straight ; but if it be a cistern, it is bent 

 into four sides, so that the two ends may 

 join the back, where they are soldered 

 together, after which the bottom is sol- 

 dered up. 



Tlie Method of casting thin sheets of 

 Lead. Instead of sand, they cover the 

 mould with a piece of woollen stuff nailed 

 down at the two ends to keep it tight, 



