198 FORGED IRON VESSELS. 



Fabrication of When the cake is red hot, the assistant, who always has the 

 I'^Ton'fln^ru- ^^^"^S^"^^"* ^^ *^^ ^^^' taJ^es it to the edge of the furnace, 

 linary and other wliere the master workman bends the two large plates in one 

 uies. part, and takes up the cake with ihe tongs already mentioned. 



Fig. 2, when he carries it to anvil of the small forge hammer, 

 in order to bend the edge of the two great plates entirely round. 

 The difference between the diameter of the great and small 

 plates, is about two inches: when this is done, he puts the cak^ 

 again into the fire ; and when red hot, he carries to a smaller 

 caking hammer and that used before, but fixed and moved in 

 the same manner. The anvil is a rectangular parallejnpedon, 

 which rises above the ground not more than one foot ; and it 

 has three pieces of iron bended to a right angle, at the height 

 of the angle, which affords three branches converging towards 

 the anvil, and serving to facilitate the operation of moving the 

 caR.e during the work next to be described. See the plan and 

 elevation traced. Fig. 10. 



The workman being seated before his hammer, takes the cake 

 with two small pair of tongs, and gives it a continual circular 

 motion: during this commencement of the work, he hammers 

 it only on the edge, after which he ignites it, he again carries 

 it to the same hammer, first wetting the edge of the plates to 

 diminish the heat which would only incommode him. By this 

 second forging, he carries his stroke nearer to the center, still 

 continuing the circular motion. By repeating the same opera- 

 tion as far as for eight times, continually approaching the cen- 

 ter, the edge rises every time, and the assemblage of plates 

 become more and more hollow. Accordingly, as this figure en- 

 creases, he finds it necessary to change his tongs for others, 

 which differs from the first in the elevation of one of the jaws, 

 and the extrc^mity of the handle. Fig 5. After seven or eight 

 ignitions, he carries the cake to a kind of anvil, the form of a 

 figure 6, wh'^re he holds it with small tongs, Fig. 7, in order 

 to con pletc the sides, which is done by the workmen hammer- 

 ing in succession, the hammer of the assistant being heavy and 

 double-h'inded, when this is upon iwo at once. It is speedily 

 done, and followed by another nearly similar on the bottom of 

 the vessel, by a second hammer, placednear the first, strikingon 

 akind of square anvil. Young girls, afterwards, are employed 

 in scraping the bottom with an iron rod, Fjg. 9. One foot 



and 



