The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-04-23
What is Tin-ware9 The Care of It


1t does not appear to be generally
known that the article so commonly
used for household utensils, for cans,
for roofing, etc, called "tin." really
contains very little tin, seldom more
than one part in forty or fifty. Tin
pure this silyery white me a.,
and the highest and easiest melted
of all the metals in common use;
it being only about five-eighlhs as
heavy as lead, and requires only
about two thirds the heat to melt it.
Pure tin is called ''block-tin," but il
is rarely used pure, the utensils,
said to be made Of block-tin being
alloys with other metals. Our COM
mon tin.ware IS really tin,pIate-a
thin sheet of iron, cOated with film
OF tin. Plates of iron of the proper
size and thickness are occurred with
sand and acid until perfectly
clean, and then dipped several times
in melted tin; coating of tin, Of
variable thickness, adheres to the
iron. The object Of coating iron
with tin 10 this manner is to pro-
tect the iron from rusting. Tin
when exposed to the air does not
rust or even tarnish. while iron read
ilv does so, but the thin coating Of
tin completely protects it. No
doubt that many housekeepers will
be ready to assert that tin ware does
rust-and they are correct-tin-
aUoye does rust, but tin itself does
not; so long as the coating Of tin is
perfect, no rusting can take place.
The knowledge Of the fact that all
our tin-ware is only tin upon the
surface, but that the body is iron,
should lead to greater care 10 the
purchase and the use of such ar
ticIes. Aside from the fact that the
iron plate to be covered with tin
may be good or bad, there is great
difference in the coating OF tin; for
cheaper ware. not only is the tin
adulterated with lead, but this put
on in the thinnest possible coating,
various expedients being used to
quite cover the iron and yet make
the coating as thin as possihle-a
mere film or wash. In this, as in
many other cases, the purchaser
must rely upon the honesty Of the
manufactures, for in this as in silver
plate the bad looks equally well
with the good the maker Of the
ware can buy tin.plate on which
there are three or four times as
heavy covering of tin as on the
cheapest. 1t is important to have
good ware at the start. 1t will be
understood that when plate Of tin
is cut, the iron is exposed at the
the edges; ia making up utensils
careful manufacturers tin these
edges. /. e., cover them with a film
of tin. The neglect to do this is
what makes cheap ware show rusty
spots after few days use. With
the best of ware the tin will in time
wear off and expose the iron, but
this is often FASTENED by improp-
er cleaning. Some persons, es-
pecially help, pride themselves upon
their bright tin-ware, which is furi-
ousIy secured with soap and sand
one such securing will remove the
timing from cheap ware, and the
best cannot stand many repititions
unframed. Nothing coarser than
whiting should be used upon tin
ware, unless in the rare cases when
some accident has made 1t neces-
sary care in its use, and the knoWl-
edge that the tin, like beauty, lis
but skin deep"-that the articles
are really iron, with a thin covering
of a very soft metal-tin-should
lead to a more economical treatment
of these most useful household con-
venieuces.-Anaerjcan AgrjculturiSt.