Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-01-20
TALKS WITH THE BOYS.
A Mechanical Process Not 9ener-
ally Understood
The Manufacture of Lead Pipe Fsmiiiarly
Explained--An Interesting Process,
which seems simple Enough
When You Understand It.

M Quad in Detroit Free Press-l
SHOW many boys have been in here
this week 70 post themselvess" l asked Of
the manager OF the lead pipe works the
other day.
"Not a one" he replied.
"How many ia the last n'onth;"
81 do not remember OF a boy coming In
here 10 see the process, since the works
were started, eight years agC."
Aud yet, ii is one OF the most interest
Ing things in the whole range OF mechanics
and manufacturing. NOW. my boy, now
Is lead pipe nader"
Don't know"
"Give a guess"
swell. it's east. Yes, of course it's cast,
the same as e.-s pipe"
Is ity Ask your father, and see what he
says. He'll probably agree with you. l
asked twenty different men, the other day,
aud such OF them as didn't know" replied
that it was cast.
Let me tell you why IL isn't cast. What
Is called inlet-pipe, or the pipe which sup
| plies building with water, must stand the
| pressure Of the water works. Every throb
OF the big engine at the pumping works
exercises . pressure OF no little force on
every inlet-pipe in the whole city. Lead
has not the density of iron, and this pres
sure, in case of lead simply allowed To cool
around a core, would send the water
through a thousand pin holes. We will
now see how it is made
In the paint-factory article l told you
| that the corroder received his lead in
"pigs." 1t is the same at the pipe-wo
A kettle, large enough to hold 1S) pounis
of melted lead, is bricked in as furnace,
and is provided with strong draught to
insure a hot fire. Soft coal is used for
fuel, and it takes only short time for the
lead to melt.
| Close by the furnace Is the massive
machine which makes the pipe. 1t is made
| of gun metal, and is very massive, for it
| must exercise a pressure of 25,OO0 pounds.
In the center Of this press is u cylinder
which will hold all the lead in the furnace
as it runs through a spout There is
water-well underneath tho press, and it is
worked by hydraulic pressure.
To illustrate SO that you can plainly un-
derstand. Imagine baking = powder can,
with one end open, as the cylinder. This
is full of the melted lead, but in the center
OF it is steel core. You can illustrate
again by holding a round stick in the GEN.
ter of the can. There are grades OF pipe
from one-eighth Of an inch to two or three
inches OF core, and the press has cores Of
every size needed.
When all is ready the machine starts,
and you are dumb founded to see the bot
tom of the cyl n1er slowly rising up. This
forces the lead up and around the core, just
the way you pull on a sto king. The core
makes the hollow, and the distance from
the core to the sides of the cylinder deter
IN mes the thickness of the pipe. The lead
pipe comes up foot by foot, slowly but con-
tnuously, and as it rises above the press it
is run over large wooden wheel. You
never see the pipe except in coils, and it is
this wheel which coils it.
AS the pipe comes from the cylinder it il
40 bright and shiny as silver, and every
inch of it has been subjected to a pressure
of 2a,0O) pounds. This pressure would
fatten six bars o, the lead you buy for bull
let's into the thickness of one. The lS)
poun Is of IN elted lead has made 15J feet Of
half-inch pipe.
The process looks simple enough after
we have seen done, but men spent years
and years be or, they perfected that press,
and they w re smart men, too. Years ago
pipe was cast, LuJ it was Of no use when
there was any conSi lerable pressure to
force the water throu III. They then rolled
it solid and bored it out, but the expense
and waste were too great.
Every boy has handled the bar-lead
found in hardware stores and at the gun
smiths. These bars are made in this same
press. The cylind er is filed just the same,
but in place OF a solid steel core they use
one with a hole in it just the shape of a
bar. The upward pressure forces the lead
up through this aperture. AMI it keeps
going over the VIII eel until we have three
hundred feet of il. 1t is then cut by a
machine to proper snsths. and these
lengths are run through a second machine
to have the name stamped upon them. AMI
the edges dressed up 10 look n bit more
fancy.
If you live In city having water
works, and the plumbing in your house is
well done, the floors under every lavato V
are lined with sheet-l lead 20 catch any
drip from the basin above The making of
this is, of course, an entirely different af-
fair The lead is cast into blocks. say four
feet square. These blocks are placed on
large iron tables, and powerful rollers roll
back and forth until the blocks are 6at
tened 10 thin sheets.
In an hours time you can see the whole
process of maxim lead pipe. bar lead and
sheet lead, AMI it will be a well-spent
hour. IL wo1't bs worth a els to you
financially. but il " II have atlsi . yolr
xnowledgs an in ELI yence. Tn, mind j.
great sore h use. VIVA ever YOU lssrl
sihd up on ths SHELF, ~ il were. an
;lo1gh yo1 may not tass III plri 'Ilar
tenn down FOR years. the day inlllv CO m g
<hen Won want 20 make u.s. OF it
And don't you know that the world q
mprov'n 80 raj Ily in science and me.
shanics an | genius stands q near the head
II the procession that me1 vii for give
,Im a. ANYTHING in a fellow mn spon T
han ignor ssce Tarsv years 40 Wh e