The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-01-11

snleared with a white POWDER Well,
that house was painted with lead from
which the acetic acid was not thoroughly
washed out, and the paint killed aud
powdered 10.
The Jars are taken tn the washing
trOughs and their contents emptied In,
and the water il then let IN and the batch
is sluiced until we have a mixture the
color OF milk and scarcely heavier. After
a deal of washing the water is drawn off
and the lead is found at the bottom Of
the trougbs. III the acid has been taken
out it il shoveled into jars again, and
these are carried into a hOt-air room and
left for the water TO evaporate. When
this has been accomplished 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 fire and almost as white "a -four.
To make paint it simply has to be ground
in oil.
Let me ask yOu If that wasn't a curl
Gus discovery? Who could have got the
idea into his head as he looked at n bar
of lead that it would preserve and beau.
tify the buildings of the world? And the
process requires so much time that men
must have spent years in experimenting
to get the right acid and the proper meth
cd of using.
Now to prove to you that this white
pain; was once metal, we'll take this
piece of charcoal, dig out a email hole In
the center, and fill the cavity with paint.
Now light your coal and put the blow
pipe at work, and what is the result? A
ragged button of lead! Acid made
it paint-fre turns it back 10 its original
state.
The corroder ships to the paint facto.
ries by the barrel. At th~efac,ories the
dry stuff is poured into a paint mill, oil
added, and the stuff is ground through
three different mills before it comes out
as you see it in the paint al If the
paint man is making pure lead he adds
nothing. IL he 90 desires the lead is
adulterated while grinding. There is a
species of quartz rock called barytes.
When this is pulverlzed il closely resem-
bles lead, and is largely used to adulter.
ate it.
Did you ever call a boy n putty
head?" Well, you did it without know
ing anything about putty. Here ia
where it is made. So many pounds of
whiting are placed in this great iron ba-
sin, 80 much oil added, and then the
machinery is set in motion. Iron knives
kept mixing The stuff mp and turning it
over and over. and a grind stone, weigh
ing 1000 pounds and faced with iron,
rolls around the basin twenty times a
minute. This stone is called a Chaser"
and it mashes the putty down as fast as
The knives can fling it over. Pure putty
is made almost entirely of whiting and
linseed oil, although a small quantity of
cotton-seed oil is used in every grade to
prevent it from driving too soon. The
next grade contains about half marble
dust, and the poorest grade, which is
good enough for all outdoor work, is
five seventies marble-dust to two of whit.
ing.
But what is whiting%
Ask YOU father that question and zee
if he can come within forty rods of a
correct answer I've many a time
been told that it WAS clay. 1t lie chalk
-the'very same chalk you use on the
blackboard, only ground to a fine pow
der.
Now, about other paints. Red lead il
the white lead burned on the copper
pans | spoke of until it is red. Yellow
Ochre is a mineral. black is made from
lamp. black, which is simply SCOT, and
there are several kinds of paint which
are simply a mineral clay purified and
burned. Much of the colored paints-as
blue, green, pink, etc.-have white lead
for a basis.