Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-10-09
Gold Beating.

toned by Homer. The ancient Peru
vians made very thin sheets of gold,
and rallied thcm together on tho walls
of their temples. On tho collins OF
tho Thcban mummics, specimens of
original leaf arc met with, where the
gold is in 80 thin 4 state that j: re-
eembles modern gliding. Tho art
seems to have been practiccd in India,
as there arc rude specimens Of gliding
ut Tippo Sahib's palace at B;tngaIor"
The thickness of the loaf is spoken
of by Martial as like vapor, ard by
Lucrctius IL is compared to Il spiders
web. From a description by P'iny,
Of Roman gliding, tho thinncss of the
leaf boro no comparison with that Of
tho modern gold beatcr. BY his ac-
count, an ounce of gold was made in
to sevcn hundred and Gfty leaves, each
four fingers square. This is about
three times tho thickness of tho loaf
now in common use; but somo quail
tics are SO ;hin, that two hundred and
only ono inch in height; and srcci
mems have been made cn!y one three
hundred and sixty seven thousand and
five hundrcdths OF an ilc:i in thick
l.css, which is one thousand two hun
drod times thinner than ordinary
printing paper. The tilinncst gold
leaf of French manufacture, is not
thicker than tho four hundred and
eighty thousand;h part OF an inch,
that Of the E,gIish Is about the three
hundred thou5Lndth part.
TO prepare the gold FOR boating, it
ia melted in q black lead c-rcibIc, with
borax, in a wind furnace, and as soon
"s it is in perfect fusion, it is poured
into an iron ingot mould, six or eight
inches long, three quarters Of an inch
wide, previously creased and heated,
80 AS to make the grease run and
smoke, but not SO as 10 fame. When
the gold is fx~d aud solid, it is made
red hot, to burn or the rnc,uoas mat
Ter, and then forged into long plato,
which is farther extended by passing
1t between polished steel rollers, ill i;
becomes no thicker than = ribbon, or
u sheet Of paper. The plate, or rib
bon as it is called, is carefully divided
by compasscs, and cut by shears into
equal square pieces; each Of these
pieces is again worked by hammer on
tho anvil till it is ono inch square, and
is then annca!cd, to CORRECT tho rigid
ty acquired by tho forging and fiat
ting mill, each picco weighing abou.
six grains, and therefore in this state.
being about one seven hundred and
sixtieth Of an inch in thickness, one
hundred and fifty of them Weighing
two ounces, the lnantity commonly
operated on at a time.
These arg now to be extended by
beating; and TO effect this, it is nee
cssary to interposo somo smooth body
between and the hammer, for tho pur-
pose of softening tho blow, ard de-
tending tho gold from its Immediate
action, rs also TO place between every
one Of the plates some intermediate
substance, which, while IL prevents
their uniting together, may sutfcr
them to extend freely. These OBJ
jocts are attained by means Of certain
animal membranes those arc OF three
kinds, and used for different purposes.
First, The outside cover is commonly
parchment, mado OF sheepskin. Sec
ondly, For intcrlaying with the gold
in tho early state of the process, they
use fine vollum, made of calC:skin !;
and, Thirdly, For the latter part of the
operation they use tho intestines Of
oxen, which arc slit open, and pre-
pared for this purpose only, and hence
called gold.beater's skin.
The anufacturo of this article is a
secrot, which, it is eaid, only five men
in the world now know. The art of
preparing it has brought fortune to
the manufacturers. Wickstead, of
London, attained tho highest perfoc.
ton in the art in tho last generation,
and promised to leave the secret 10 a
relative at his death-bed. In bis d1-
ing gasp, he called the relative to his
to open the mystery, but died, and il
remained still secret. T.. Puck
ridge, of London, is the most celebra
ted maker now. With great perse-
vorance and expense, he succeeded il
perfecting tho art. He has promised
it is said, to reveal the socret to biz
nephew.
The bed on which tho gold is bea-
ten, is smooth block Of black mar
BILE, weighing from three hundred tt
six hundred pounds, about nine inche
square on the upper surface, fitted in