The boy's book of trades and the tools used in themAnonymous
General
The boy's book of trades and the tools used in them
Anonymous
Industrial arts -- Juvenile literature; Vocational guidance -- Juvenile literature
The processes of casting and rolling copper into sheets are so much like
those already described in the manufacture of iron that they need not be
repeated, but the trade of the Coppersmith is distinct from those of the
workers in other metals, though they mostly consist in forming the sheet
copper into various shapes and utensils by means of _hammers_, of which
the _smoothing hammer_, the _set hammer_, and the _riveting hammer_,
explain their own uses by their names.
[Illustration: Copper Bit. Oval Wedge. Riveting Hammer. Smoothing Hammer.
Cob Hammer. Set Hammer.]
In manufacturing the large vessels with circular bottoms which are so
frequently made of copper, the metal is first cast in a shape resembling
a round spectacle glass, that is to say, a flat cake, thick in the middle
and gradually diminishing in thickness towards the edge. It is then
subjected to the powerful blows of a tilt hammer, the beating being
principally confined to the centre. The effect of this is not only to
reduce the thickness of the copper, but to cause the disc to turn up at
the edges and assume the form of a hollow dish.
[Illustration: Punches. Hand Vice. Cutting Punch. Spanner. Anvil. Shears
for Sheet Copper. Hand Shears.]
Another operation of the Coppersmith is called _planishing_, or hammering
the metal until it becomes more dense, firm, and tough; any one who
looks at the surface of a large copper vessel will see the marks of the
hammer by which it has been planished.
It is by the combined operation of casting, rolling, hammering, and
planishing, as well as by the processes of fastening, either with
_rivets_ or with _solder_, that nearly all copper articles are made.
[Illustration: Plumber’s Iron. Iron Horse. Pouncing Block and Hammer.]
Of the tools used by the Coppersmith, beside those already mentioned,
the principal are _punches_ for cutting or piercing holes, _shears_ for
cutting the sheets of metal, the _spanner_ for turning heads of screws or
nuts, the _anvil_, the _blocks_ and _horses_ for receiving the work in
such a position as to operate on any part where the hammer or the punch
is required, and the _iron_ for soldering. There are five different modes
of forming copper piping out of sheet metal; in the first the edges of
the sheet, which is curved round a mandril, are made to meet without
overlapping, and are joined with hard solder; in the second they overlap
and are united by soft solder; in the third they overlap and are secured
by rivets; in the fourth the edges are folded one over the other, and are
made close and firm by hammering; and in the fifth both edges of the pipe
are turned back and covered with a strip of sheet metal, the two edges of
which are turned in and hammered down.
[Illustration: Wood Horse.]
THE GUN MANUFACTURER.
[Illustration: THE PROOF HOUSE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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