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

40 hIIo" Ill NICSCC1 iuu ID HUI
toned by Homer. The ancient Peru
vians mado very thin sheets of gold
and nailed them together on the wall
Of their temples. On tho cotlins O
the Theban mummies, specimens O
original leaf arc met with, where tn
gold is in SO thin state that il re.
semblcs modern gliding. Tho ar
seems to have been practiccd in India
as there arc rude specimens Of gliding
ut Tippo Sahib's palace at Bangalorc
The thickness of the loaf is Spoken
Of by Martial rs like vapor, and by
Lucrctius it is compared to spiders
web. From q description by plipy
of Roman gliding, tho thinncss Of tho
leaf bore no comparison with that OF
tho modern gold bcatcr: BY his ac-
count, an ounce Of gold was made in
TO soven hundred and fifty leaves, each
four fingers square. This is about
three times tho thickness of tho leaf
now in common use; but some quail
ties arc so thin, that two hundred and
ninety thousand shoots mako L pile
only one inch in height and spcci-
mems have been made only ono three
hundred and sixty-scvcn thousand. and
live hundrcdths Of an iEch in thick
ness, which is one thousand two hun
dred times thinner than ordinary
printing paper. Tho thinnest gold
leaf of French manufacture, is not
thicker than the four hundred and
eighty thousandth part Of an inch,
that Of tho English Is about the three
hundred thousandth part.
To prepare the gold for beating, it
is melted in a black lead crucitlc, with
borax, in wind furnace, and Us soon
as it is in perfect fusion, it is poured
into an iron ingot mould, six or eight
inches long, three quarters of an Incl,
wide, previously CREASED and heated,
so as to mako the grease run and
s:nt ke, but not SO rs TO flame. When
the gold is fixed and solid, it is made
red hot, to burn Off the rnc,uous mat
Ter, and then forged into Il long plate,
which is further extended by passin;,
it between polished steel rollers, Till i:
becomes no thicker than q RIBBON, or
sheet Of paper. The plate, or rib.
bon as it is called, is carefully divided
by compassos, aud cut by shears into
equal square pieces; zach of these
pieces is again worked by hammer on
tho anvil till it is ono inch square, and
is then anncaled, to correct tho rigid
4. ty acquired by the forging and flat
ting mill, each piece weighing about
six grains and therefore in this state,
being about ono seven hundred and
sixtieth Of an inch in thickness, one
hundred and City of thom weighing
two ounces, the quantity commonly
operated on at time.
These are now to be extended by
beating; and to effect this, it is nee
essary to interpose some smooth body
between and the hammer, for tho pur.
pose Of softening the blow, and de-
tending the. gold from it's Immediate
action, as also to place between every
one of the plates some intermediate
substance, which, while il prevents
their uniting together, may suffor
them to extend freely. These OBJ
jects are attained by means of certain
animal membranes those are of throe
kinds, and used for different purposes.
First, The outside cover is commonly
parchment, made OF sheepskin. Sec
ondly, For intcrlaying with the gold
in tho early state of the pl locess, they
use fine vellum, made of calcskin
and, Thirdly, For the latter part of the
operation they use tho intestines of
oxen, which are slit open, and pre-
pared for this purpose only, and hence
called gold.beater's skin.
The manufacture of this article is q
secret, which, it is eaid, only five men
in the world now know. The art of
preparing it has brought fortune to
tho manufacturers. Wickstead, of
london, attained the highest perfsc-
tion in the art in the last generation,
and promised to leave tho secret TO q
relative at his death-5ed. In his dy =
ing gasp, he called tho relative to his
to open the mystory, but died, and it
remained still secret. F.. Puck
ridge, of London, is the most celebra.
ted maker now. With great perse-
Vcrance and expense, he succeeded in
perfecting the art. flo has promised,
t is said, to reveal the secret to his
aephew.
The bed on which tho gold is bea-
len, is smooth block of black mar
BILE, weighing from three hundred to
six hundred pounds, about nine inches
eOuara nm tho nnnou cttoI e.