Mexico weekly ledger., 1885-01-22
SHORT TALKS WITH THE BOYS.

i How many boys have been in her
this week to post. themselves 2.
asked Of the manager of the lea
pipe works the other day.
'.Not a one," be replied.
"How many in the last month? %
/ II do not remember of boy com
ing in here to see the process, sine,
| the works were started, eight year
ago."
J And, yet, it is one of the most in
teresting things in the whole range O
mechanics and manufacturing. 'sNow
my boy, how is lead pipe madey'
Don't know"
''Give a guess"
"Well, it's cast. Yes, of cours,
it's cast, the same as gas-pipe."
I Is its Ask your father, and Sc,
what he says. He'll probably agret
with you. asked twenty different
men, the other day, and such Of
them as ''didn't know" replied that i,
was cast.
Let me tell you why it isn't cast
What is called inlet-pipe. or the pipe
which supplies building with water,
must stand the pressure of the water
works. Every throb of the big en-.
gine 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
pressure, in case of lead simply al
lowed to cool around core, would
send the water through a thousand
pin-holes. We will now see how it is
made.
In the paint factory article I told
you that the corrodor received his lead
in "pigs." 1t is the same in the
pipe-works. A kettle, large enough
to hold 1S0 pounds of melted lead, is
hricked in as furnace, and is provi-
ded 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 mas
sive. for it must exercise a pressure
of $4,000 pounds. In the center OF
this press is cylinder which will
hold all the lead in the furnace as i,
runs through spout. There is a
water-well underneath the press, and
it is worked by hydraulic pressure.
To illustrate SO that you can plain
ly understand. Imagine a baking.
powder can, with one end open, as
the cylinder. This is full of the melt
ed lead, but in the center of it is G
steel core. You can illustrate agair
by holding a round stick in the center
of the can. There are grades OF
pipe from one-eigbth 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 bottom of the cylinder slowly
rising up. This forces the lead uE
and around the core, just the way
you pull on a stocking. The core
makes the hollow, and the distance
from the core to the sides of the cyl.
inder determines the thickness of the
pipe. The lead pipe comes up foo1
by foot, slowly but continually, and
as it rises above the press it is rur
over a large wooden wheel. You
never see the pipe except in coils, ane
it is this wheel which coils it.
As the pipe comes from the cylin
der it is as bright and shiny as silver
and every inch of 1t has been sub
Iiected to a pressure Of $4,000 lbs
This pressure would fatten six har
of the lead You buy for bullets int,
the thickness of one. The $50 lbs
of melted lead has made $50 feet o
half-inch pipe.
! The process looks simple enougI
after we have seen it done, but me-
spent years and years before the.
perfected that press, and they wer
smart men, too. Years ago pipe wa
cast, but it was of no use when ther
was any considerable pressure to fore
the water through Then they role
it solid and bored it out, but the ez
pense and waste were too great.
Everybody has handled the bar
lead found in hardware stores and 9
the gunsmith's. These bars are mad
in this same press. The cylinder ]
filed just the same, but IN place of
solid steel core they use one with
hole in it just the shape of bal
The upward pressure forces the lea
lup through this aperature, and
keeps going over the wheel until "
have 300 feet of it. 1t is then cut b
a machine to proper lengths, an
these lengths are run through set
ond machine to have the name STAMP
ed upon them. and the edges dresse
: up to look a bit more fancy.
If you live in a city having waite
works. and the plumbing in yot
house is well done, the floors unde
! every lavatory are lined with she
t lead to catch any drip from the basi
above The making of this is,
$ course, an entirely different affai
: The lead is cast into blocks, say fo'
feet square. These blocks are piact