TOOL HANDLES. 87 



STEREOTYPE MOULDS. 



Stereotype moulds, made from the hard compounds of caout- 

 chouc ivory and whalebone, and vulcanized, are unquestionably 

 an improvement which will afford new facilities for moulding 

 other materials, and for multiplying works of art, especially 

 where they are reproduced in caoutchouc compounds. Not- 

 withstanding their first cost is something more than that of 

 plaster moulds or casts, there is great economy and advantage 

 in their use, because, instead of being lost, like plaster, with 

 every impression, they may be used, like metal, an indefinite 

 number of times. 



In the state in which the caoutchouc material is used for 

 making the moulds, it is so soft and plastic, that perfect copies 

 may be immediately taken from the finest work of art, in any 

 material, whether metal, plaster, wood, leather, cloth, or paper. 



TOOL HANDLES. 



It is well known that much perplexity and annoyance are 

 experienced in the use of very many kinds of tools and instru- 

 ments, from the handles coming loose from them. This evil 

 may be remedied, particularly in all small tools and instruments, 

 by the use of caoutchouc ivory and whalebone for the handles. 

 These handles, when in a soft state, are put on the rough 

 shanks of the instruments, and are vulcanized on them so firmly 

 that they will bear a hard blow of the hammer without injury 

 and without becoming loose. 



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