Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-06-27
HOW BELLS ARE MADE.
Glimpse Into Foundry where Chfznea
Are C-ast-Moment of Opening
Mold an Anxious One.

Mold an Anxious One.
A peer through the furnace door
revealed a wide molten lake of liquid
fire, glowing with rosy light, stirred
into sluggish motion from time to
time by a long-handled iron rake,
which comes out red hot almost in
q moment from its fiery labor. This
seething mass is a compound of cop
per and tin in admixture of about
three parts of the former to n OF
the latter, and occasionally a small
portion of the metal is withdrawn
while the melting is in progress, and
examined by the expert, who directs.
maybe, that a small quantity more
copper or TN be added to bring it to
the right consistency.
The floor around the furnace con-
sists of hard-trodden earth only, and
from the lower door of the great
! cald-on from which the molten mass
will presently flow little shallow
! channels of clay, sprinkled with pow
dered plumbago. have been scooped
in the ground, conducting to four
separate holes leading downward.
These four holes lead, we r told,
to the grave beneath, where, care
fully buried in tightly rammed earth,
lie the molds of the four bells to be
cast. These molds are of course in
visible to US, but we can form a very
fair idea of what they are like from
the specimens that are piled up in
negligent order around the walls,
says the Philadelphia Times.
The mold of the bell consists, then,
of two parts, called technically a
! score" and a scope" The core is
built up of brick and covered with
loan, which word, as even a cockney
knows, is the proper agricultural
term for clay. This loan is care
fully plastered upon the bricks, and
then smoothed round with a specially
shaped instrument known as a
Crook" until the core has assumed
outwardly precisely the form OF the
inside of the bell, which is to be cast
upon it. Next the cope is prepared,
This is the outer covering, which
fits exactly over the core, but leaves
a space between the two. to be pres
emily filed with the molten metal of
| the bell to be cast. The cope itself
is an iron case of a size dependent
upon the bell being made, n thick
ly covered with a lining of loan.
The lining is done with great care
and skill, for upon its depth de-
ponds the ultimate thickness of the
bell. Upon the soft loan is also
nodded any lettering or decoration
which the completed bell is to bear,
and the choosing and inscribing of a
suitable inscription has from time
immemoria1 been considered a mat
/ ter of grave import. The cope is
placed in position above the core, and
the whole then buried under ground
in convenient proximity to the ur-
mace as described. Then, when all is
ready, the lower door is opened and
the molten metal in a fiery stream
rolls down the little. channels scooped
for it and pours through the pre-
pared holes int the space between
the cope and core which it is to fill
The workmen, armed with long-hand
led iron plugs, stand beside to see
that the stream flows Alright, and tc
| stop its course, as one by one, the
molds are filled to overlooking.
The temperature of the sheds rises
almost uncomfortably as this molter
mass is liberated. The liquid meta
CLOVIS first with white-hot brilliance
which quickly gives place to a rosy
glow, lighting up the heated faces
of the men bending over it and suf
fusing the whole building with .
warm and rudy glare. For many
minutes does the fiery stream, in
well-regulated torrents, flow from
the furnace doors, until each mold is
filed and the surplus metal lies in
broad red pools within the chan.
1els.
Then at length the flood gates are
closed, the fire is suffered to lie
down, and the workmen withdraw
to other labors, leaving the molten
masses to slowly cool and solidify
until such time as the heat has suf-
6ciently abated to allow of the un-
earthing of the molds. With big
bells this will take many hours. The
moment of opening the mold is an
anxious time for the founders, for
only then can it be discovered wheth-
er a perfect casting has been made.
and how much the resulting note
differs from hat which was in.
tended.