St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-28
SHORT TALKS WITH THE BOYS
BY NJ. QUAD.
detroit Free Press.

Fifteen or twenty of you boys get on your
old clothes and come with me into the paint
factory, and We will learn some secrets worth
knowing
To begin with, what is white lead, which is
the basis Of nearly all paintsi
''Don't know
1t would be odd if you did. Now aud then
you may find some one to tell you that the
same lead you mold into bullets is the white
! cad you see in the paint pots, but you will
ask great many people before you find one
! 10 explain the recess of manufacture. Let US
follow it out.
Iron is melted into what is called ''pigs''
for shipment and for convenient use. It is
the same with lead, only the pigs are not
as large and heavy. The first step in the
manufacture is to corrode the lead. We will
take what is called the sold Dutch process"
because that makes the best article The
pigs" are tossed into melting furnace, and
when reduced TO liquid state the metal is
drawn. of into molds which are called
''buckle-molds." The lead thus nodded is
called "buckle,' being little round cake
nearly as large as a saucer, but not so thick,
and perforated in many places.
These "buckles" are carried By an endless
belt and dropped into earthen jars of various
sizes. At the bottom Of each jar is a small
quantity of acetic acid. When jar is full
OF "buckles," which have been dropped In
without regard to order, it is removed to the
correding house. Here the Jars are placed in
a row, covered by boards, the boards covered
by two inches of tanbark, and then another
course of jars is added until all the room is
taken up. There is nothing more to do for
ninety days except to wait. The acid at once
begins its work on the buckles" and cor
rosion Is the result. It isn't the acid direct,
spoke permit the fumes to get at all parts
of the little cake.
At the end Of ninety days the lead should
be corroded. The buckles are then
bleached out until they look like crackers,
and will crumble TO pieces at the touch. The
same acid which has befrended us in the
eorroson is now our worst enemy, and must
be got rid Of. Haven't you rubbed your
hand along the clapboards OF a house and
foun it smeared with a white powderl Well,
that house was painted with lead from which
the aeetie acid was not thoroughly washed
out, and the paint killed and powdered up
The jars are taken TO the washing troughs
aud their contents emptied in, and the water
LETT In and the batch is sluiced until we have
q mixture the color of milk, and scarcely
heavier. After 4 deal of washing the water
Is drawn of aud the lead is found at the bot
tom of the troughs. If the acid has been
taken out it is shoVeled into jars again, and
these are carried into a hot air room and left
Sor the water TO evaporate. When this has
been acHomp lished the contents of the Jars
are emptied on copper drying pans heated by
steam. The stuff now looks like ice cream,
but soon dries until it is as fine and almost
as white as -four. To make paint 1t simply
has to be ground in oil.
Let me ask you If that wasn't curious
diseoveryi Who eonld have got the idea
into his head as he looked at a bar of lead
thh it would preserve and beautify the build
ings of the W0rIdl And the process requires
so much time that men must have spent
years in Experimenting to get the right acid
and the proper method OF using.
Now 70 prove to you that this white paint
was once metal, we'll take this piece of char
coal, dig out small hole in the center, and
ill the cavity with paint. Now light your
coal and put the blow pipe to work, and
what Is the resultl ragged button of lead
Acid made it paint-fre turns 1t back to its
original state.
The corroder ships to the paint factories by
the barrel. At the factories the dry stuff is
poured into paint mills, oil aided, and the
stuff is ground through three different mills
before 1t comes out as you see it in the paint
cans. If the paint man is making pure
lead he adds nothing. If he so desires the
lead is adultersted while grinding. There is
q species Of quartz rock called barytes.
When this is pulyerized it closely resembles
lead, aud is largely used to adulterate it.
Did YOU e9er, call boy ''putty headl'
Wen, you ard Il without knowing anything
about putty % Hefe is where it is made. So
manypouads OF whiting are placed in this
great iron basin, so much oil added, and
then the machinery is set in motion. Iron
knives kept mixing the stuff up aud turning
It over and over, and grindstone, weighing
Al 900 pounds and faced with iron, rolls
around the basin twenty times q minute
This stone Is called chaser, and il mashes
the putty down as fast as the knives can
fling it over. Pure putty Is made almost en-
tirely Of whiting and linseed oil, although
a small quantity of cotton seed oil is used in
every grade, 10 prevent 1t from dying too
soon. The next grade contains about half
marble dust, and the poorest grade, which is
good enough for all outdoor work, is FIVE
eeVenLns 10 arole uusL 10 Two OF Wnlung.
8 But what is whitfng9'
Ask your father that question and see If be
can come within forty rods of correct an
swer. I've many time been told thst it
was clay. It is chalk-the very same chalk
you Use on the blackboard, only ground TO
fine powder.
Now, about other paints. Red lead is the
white lead burned on the copper pans /
spoke OF until it is red. Yellow ochre Is a
mineral, black is made fom lamp black.
which is simply SCOT, and there are several
kinds OF paint which are simply a mineral
clay purified and burned. Most Of the col
ored paints--as blue, green, pink, ETC.
have white lead. for basis
Here ", the Office OF the factory is fine
pair Of scales, delicate enough to weigh gold
dust With, and here are two samples Of Prus-
sian blue which agents have brought In to
sell. Both look alike and each claims his