Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-03-06
CASTING HEAYY BR.assEs.
How tho Work rs Pcrforned--WIl
n ngi0n sRns Onc UE she aprges

CASTING HEdYR BRASSESs
How tho Work rs Pcrformed--WIl-
M ngi0n sRns Onc or Ihc Largest
amt Hest Appointed FOundries.
Now and then notes OF the casting OF
some heavy iron hy-whesI bsd plate or
other piece of machinery appear in the
newspapers, but rarely II ever ia any note
made of the casting OF any heavy piece
of brass.
II ia not generally known that the brass
foundry of the Pusey d Jones Company,
located at the foot of Lombard street, is
one of the best equipped brnss foundries
in the country. IL hos a reputation for
turning out perfect brass castings that is
second to none in the United States. 1t
IL harder to obtain perfect oEsting of
brass than OF iron. Molten brass gener-
etes more gases than iron, and If the
smallest amount of gas gos5 into a
mould with the metal, 1t will cause q
small hole or bubble in the casting.
Much Of the SUCCESS of Q Pusey &
Jones Uompany's brass foundry is duo to
Joshua Carpenter, the foreman, Mr..
Carpenter is a young man, but he has
made study of his trade and under his
direction brass castings of tho largest size
are made as perfect % can be found any
where.
Last Friday afternoon, solid brass
cylinder or sleeve, for paper making
machine being built in New York was
cast or this foundry. The sleeve is 1870
inches long, 18 inches In diameter and
over an inoh thick. 1t took over 9, 100
pounds of metal to make the casting,
which weighed, after being trimmed OF
the ''fins and gates" left by the mould,
nearly 1000 pounds, and is valued at
about 5000 for the metal alone. The
Pusey " Jones Company hayo rsputa-
tion for making the best braqs sleeves in
the country. They are generally perfect,
there being only occasionally small holes
to be plugged up.
The operation of casting brass is simi.
lar to that OF casting iron, hut as brasa
melts at lower temperature tnsu iron,
the process of charging the furnace and
melting the metal is different; Us are also
the furnaces. There is no tall cupola or
forced draft tc obtain intense heat, as for
melting iron. The brass furnaces at the
Pusey d Jones Company's foundry, are
beneath the surface Of the ground. There
are really eight furnaces, which are sim
ply pits about three feet deep. There
are two rows of four each, parallel to
each other and about 10 feet apart. Six
of the pits or furnaces are Is lnchsH In
diameter and two 16 inches in diameter.
They are carefully built Of tire brick and
under each is a grnto.
Each furnace il connected with the
chimney by faes. Between the two rows
of furnooes there is passage, covered
by az iroE grating, which gives access to
the lower part of the furnaces and by
whioh the fires are lit end attended to.
The pits arc provided with sliding iron
covers The metal is melted in tlumbago
! crucibles, which are manufactured ut
Taunton, Mass. Tho largest of these
hold 800 pounds o. metal and are about
10 inches in diameter at the top, and 2U
inches In height. Smaller sizs holds
200 pounds OF mstal.
| The process Of charging the furnaces,
melting the metal and oRsting the heavy
brass sleeve en- Friday was as follows /:
The fires we're first started in ssven of
the furnacs4. When q good heat had
been obtnined, tho cruotbles or pots vers
lowered on TO tho glo wing GOALS and fresh
coal packed around them. Then came
the mssing of the brass, which ia not O
natural metal, bat composition. Frat,
the copper was put in, in the shape OF
ingots obtained from Baltimore re-
hnery. 10 sbout two hours the copper
has become liquid. The covers OF the
furnaces were removed and the intense
temperature required to melt the copper
lowered. Then the block tin, obtained
from Australia, and tho Peruvian ziao, ia
dropped into the molten copper. Ger
tain proportions of each are used, mostly
copper, and iast q email piece OF zinc to
make flux and oauss tho copper and tin
TO mix. The exact formula ia secret.
The three metals that form the brass eau
not be put into tho pots together. Cop
per mslts Of 00O' Fahrenhoit, while tin
nelts al 4420 and zinc az ZOO. II the
tin and zino w8re put in with the copper,
the heat nsoossary to melt the latter
| would oxidize and vAp0rize the two lesser
metals before the copper would be melted
enough to absorb them.
The mould in which the brass nlseye
was TO be cast stood on end in the middle
OF the foundry. 1t had bsen made in o
series of perforated iron cylinders, set one
above the other and was about 10 feet
high. About half of its length was In a
| pit, but five feet projected above the iron
| floor of the foundry. The cope, as the
outside shell of the mo1ld is called, had
bsen built inside of tho iron cylinders,
which Bre over two feet in diameter. The
pattern had been placed inside OF the
cylinder and the cope formed by ram
ming m0ulding sand firmly bs ween the
pattern and tbs cylinder. Then the pat
tern was carefully drawn ont and the
cope dried and baked in tho dry oven,
which occupies one corner of the fouadry,
Until perfectly hard and firm.
| The core OF the mould was made on a
long spindle Or "oore-barEel, by winding
hay rope on the outside and then putting
on wet Gand until the Goaired diameter
was obtained. The core was baked hard
in tue dry oven and lowered ineide of tha
cope, leaving cylindrical space of 1.16
inches between tho two, in which the
metal would be poured. 10 the top OF
the mould q bRson like box OF sand was
| placed, with small holes leading to the
mould proper. Vent holes and other de-
tails were attended to and the mould was
ready. II took six days 10 make it, in
Guiding the baking in the dry oven.
In about an hour and half from the
time the tin and zinc were put In the pots
in the furnaces, the foreman pronounced
the metal in condition 10 be cast. The