A dictionary of arts, manufactures, and mines; containing a clear exposition of their principles and practice

Preface

It is the business of operative industry to produce, transform, and distribute all such material objects as are suited to satisfy the wants of mankind. The primary production of these objects is assigned to the husbandman, the fisherman, and the miner ; their transformation to the manufacturer and artisan ; and their distribution to the engineer, shipwright, and sailor.* The unworked or raw materials are derived, — I. from the organic processes of vegetables and animals, conducted either without or with the fostering care of man ; 2. from the boundless stores of mineral and metallic wealtK arranged upon or within the surface of the earth by the benignant Pai of our being, in the fittest condition to exercise our physical and intellects powers in turning them to the uses of life.

The task which I have undertaken in the present work, is to describe and explain the transformations of these primary materials, by mechanical and chemical agencies, into general objects of exchangeable value ; leaving, on the one hand, to the mechanical engineer, that of investigating the motive powers of transformation and transport ; and, on the other hand, to the handicraftsman, that of tracing their modifications into objects of special or local demand. Contemplated in this view, an art or manufacture may be defined to be that species of industry which effects a certain change in a substance, to suit it for the general market, by combining its parts in a new order and form, through mechanical or chemical means. Iron will verve the purpose of illustrating the nature of the distinctions here laid down, between mechanical engineering ; arts and manufactures ; and handicraft trades. The engineer perforates, the ground with a shaft, or a drift, to the level of the ore, erects the pumps for drainage, the ventilating, and hoisting apparatus, along with the requisite steam or water power ; he constructs the roads, the bridges, -oanals, railways, harbors, docks, cranes, &c, subservient to the transport df the ore and metal ; he mounts the steam or water-power, and bellows 'for working the blast-furnaces, the forges, and the cupolas ; his principal end and aim on all occasions being to overcome he forces of inertia, gravity, and cohesion. The ores extracted and sorted

*For correct and copious information upon agricultural production, I have great pleasure in referring my readers to Mr. Loudon's elaborate Encyclopedias of dgriculiure, Gardening, and Plants ; and for mercantile production and distribution, to Mr. M'Culloch's excellent Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Navigation.

by the miner, and transported by the engineer to the smelting station, ar« there skilfully blended by the iron-master (manufacturer), who treats them in a furnace appropriately constructed, along with their due proportions of flux and fuel, whereby he reduces them to cast iron of certain quality, which he runs off at the right periods into rough pigs or regular moulds ; he then transforms this crude metal, by mechanical and chemical agencies, jmto bar and plate ir^n of various sizes and shapes, fit for the general market ; he finally converts the best of the bars into steel, by the cementation furnace, the forge, and the tilt-hammer ; or the best of the plates into tin-plate. When farther worked by definite and nearly uniform processes into objects of very general demand in all civilized countries, these iron and steel bars still belong to the domain of manufactures ; as, for example, when made into anchors, chain-cables, files, nails, needles, wire, &c. ; but when the iron is fashioned, into ever varying and capricious forms, they belong either to the general business of the founder and cutler, or to the particular calling of some handicraft, as the locksmith, gratesmith, coachsmith, gunsmith, tinman, &c.

Such are the principles which have served to guide me in selecting articles for the present volume. By them, as a clew, I have endeavored to hold a steady course through the vast and otherwise perplexing labyrinth of arts, manufactures, and mines ; avoiding alike engineering and mechanical arts, which cause no change in the texture or constitution of matter, — and handicraft operations, which are multiform, capricious, and hardly susceptible of scientific investigation. In fact, had such topics been introduced into the volume, it would have presented a miscellaneous farrago of incongruous articles, too numerous to allow of their being expounded in a manner either interesting or instructive to the manufacturer and the metallurgist. I readily acknowledge, however, that T have not been able to adhere always so rigorously as I could have wished to the above rule of selection ; having been constrained by intelligent and influential friends to introduce a few articles which I would gladly have left to the mechanical engineer. Of these Printing is one, which, having had no provision made for it in my original plan, was too hastily compiled to admit of my describing, with suitable figures, the flat-printing automatic machine of Mr. Spottiswoode, wherewith the pages of this volume were worked off ; a mechanism which I regard as the most elegant, precise, and productive, hitherto employed to execute the best style of letter press.

I have imbodied in this work the results of my long experience as a Professor of Practical Science. Since the year 1805, when I entered at an early age upon the arduous task of conducting the schools of chemistry and manufactures in the Andersonian Institution, up to the present day, I have been assiduously engaged in the study and improvement of most of the chemical and many of the mechanical arts. Consulted professionally by proprietors of factories, workshops, and mines of various descriptions, both in this country and abroad, concerning derangements in their operations, or defects in their products, I have enjoyed pecidiar opportunities of becoming familiar with their minutest details, and have frequently had the good fortune to rectify what was amiss, or to supply what was wanting. Of the stores of information thus acquired,' I have availed myself on the present occasion ; careful, meanwhile, to neglect no means of knowledge which my extensive intercourse with foreign nations affords.

I therefore humbly hope that this work will prove a valuable contribution to the literature of science, serving —

lil the first place, to instruct the Manufacturer, Metallurgist, and Tradesman, in the principles of their respective processes, so as to render them in reality the masters of their business, and to emancipate them from a state of bondage to such as are too commonly the slaves of blind prejudice and vicious routine.

Secondly, to afford to Merchants, Brokers, Drysalters, Druggists, and Officers of the Revenue, characteristic descriptions of the commodities which pass through their hands.

Thirdly, by exhibiting some of the finest developments of chemistry and physics, to lay open an excellent practical school to students of these kindred sciences.

Fourthly, to teach Capitalists', who may be desirous of placing their funds in some productive bank of industry, to select judiciously among plausible claimants.

Fifthly, to enable Gentlemen of the Law to become well acquainted with the nature of those patent schemes which are so apt to give rise to litigation.

Sixthly, to present to our Legislators such a clear exposition of our staple manufactures, as may dissuade them from enacting laws which obstruct industry, or cherish one branch of it to the injury of many others : and,

Lastly, to give the General Reader, intent chiefly on intellectual cultivation, a view of many of the noblest achievements of science, in effecting those grand transformations of matter to which Great Britain owes her paramount wealth, rank, and power among the kingdoms.

The latest statistics of every important object of manufacture is given from the best, and, usually, from official authority, at the end of each article.*

The following summary of our manufactures is extracted from Mr. Macqueen's General Statistics of the British Empire, published in 1836. It shows the amount of capital embarked in the various departments of manufacturing industry, and of the returns of that capital : —

Cotton manufactures

Woollen ditto

Silk ditto

Linen ditto

Leather ditto

Iron ditto, to making pig iron

Iron, hardware, cutlery, &c.

Copper and brass ditto

China, glass, &c. -

Paper, furniture, books, &c.

Spirits (British), ales, soap, &c.

Sundries additional -

Totals

Capital.

40,973,872

36,000,000

8,000,000

12,000,000

13,000,000

10,000,000

25,000,000

3,600,000

8,600,000

10,000,000

37,600,000

201,773,872

Produc

7,098,000 31,072,600

9,000,000

262,085,199

In consequence of an arrangement with Mr. William Newton, patent agent, and proprietor of the London Journal of Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures, I have been permitted to enrich this Dictionary with many interesting descriptions and illustrative figures of modern patent inventions and improvements, which I could not otherwise have presented to my readers. Mr. Newton has lately enhanced the value of his Journal by annexing to it a catalogue raisonnee, entitled " An Analytical Index to the Subjects contained i» the 23 Volumes," which constitute the first and second series. The

* The statistics of agriculture, trade, and manufactures is ably and fully discussed in Mr. M'Culloch's Dictionary already referred to.

subsequent 22 volumes, of his Conjoined Series, are of still superior interest , and the whole form a vast storehouse of Mechanical and Chemical Invention.

Although. I am conscious of having used much diligence for many years in collecting information for this work, from every quarter within my reach, the utmost pains in preparing it for publication, and incessant vigilance during its passage through the press, yet I am fully aware that it must contain several errors and defects. These I have studied to rectify, in the text of this edition, and more completely in a compendious Supplement.

Since this book is not a Methodical Treatise, but a Dictionary, one extensive subject may be necessarily dispersed through many articles. Thus, for example, information upon the manufacture of Colors will be found under azure ; black pigment ; bone-black ; bronze ; brown dye ; calico-printing ; carmine ; carthamus ; chromium ; cochineal ; crayons ; dyeing ; enamels ; gold ; gilding ; gamboge ; gray dye ; green dye ; green paints ; indigo ; kermes ; lac dye ; lakes; madder; massicot; mercury; periodide of ; Naples yellow ; orange dye ; orpiment ; paints ; grinding of ; ochres ; paper-hangings ; pastes ; pearl white ; Persian berries ; pottery pigments ; Prussian blue ; purple of Cassius; red lead; rouge; Scheele's green; Schweinfurth green ; stained glass ; terra di Sienna ; ultramarine ; umber ; verditer ; vermilion ; verifiable colors, iveld, white lead ; woad ; yellow, king's.

A casual consulter of the Dictionary, who did not advert to this distribution, might surmise it to" be most deficient, where it is in reality most copious

The elaborate and costly Encyclopedias, and Dictionaries of Arts, which have appeared from time to time in this country, and abroad, have, for the most part, treated of the mechanical manufactures more fully and correctly than of the chemical. The operations of the former are, in fact, tolerably obvious and accessible to the inspection of the curious ; nor are they difficult to transfer into a book, with the aid of a draughtsman, even by a person but moderately versed in their principles. But those of the latter are not unfrequently involved in complicated manipulations, and depend, for jheir success, upon a delicate play of affinities, not to be understood without an operative familiarity with the processes themselves. Having enjoyed the best opportunities of studying the chemical arts upon the greatest scale in this kingdom and on the Continent, I may venture, without the imputation of arrogance, to claim for my work, in this respect, more precision and copiousness than its predecessors possess. I have gone as far in describing several curious processes, hitherto veiled in mystery, as I felt warranted, without breach of confidence, to go ; regarding it as a sacred duty never to publish any secret whatever, without the consent of its proprietor. During my numerous tours through the factory districts of Great Britain, France, &c, many suggestions, however, have been presented to my mind, which I am quite at liberty to communicate in private, or carry into execution, in other districts too remote to excite injurious competition against the original inventors. I am also possessed of many plans of constructing manufactories, of which the limits of this volume did not permit me to avail myself, but which I am ready to furnish, upon moderate terms, to proper applicants. I conclude by pointing attention to the very insecure tenure by which patents for chemical or chemico-mechanical inventions are held ; of which there is hardly one on record which may not be readily evaded by a person skilled in the resources of practical chemistry, or which could stand the ordeal of a court of law, directed by an experienced chemist. The specifications of such patents stand in need of a thorough reform ; being for the most part not only discreditable and delusive to the patentees, but calculated co involve them in one of the greatest of evils — a chancery suit.

London: 13 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, August, 1843.

A

DICTIONARY

OF

ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND MINES

ABB-WOOL. Among clothiers, this term signifies the woof or weft.

ACETATE. {Acetate, Fr. ; Essigsaure, Germ.) Any saline compound of which the acetic is the acid constituent; as acetate of soda, of iron, of copper, &c.

ACETATE OF ALUMINA, see Red Liquor and Mordant; of Con £r, see Copper ; of Iron, see Iron; of Lead, see Lead ; of Lime, see Pyroligneous Acid.

ACETIC ACID (Acide Acetique, Fr. ; Essigsaure, Germ.) is the name of the sour principle which exists in vinegar. It occurs, ready formed, in several products of the vegetable kingdom, and is generated during the spontaneous fermentation of many vegetable and animal juices. The sambucus nigra, or black elder, the phcenix dactilifera, and the rhus typhinus are plants which afford a notable quantity of vinegar. It is found, likewise, in the sweat, urine, milk, and stomach of animals. All infusions of animal or vegetable matters in water, when exposed for some time to the air, at a moderate temperature, ferment into vinegar; and most vegetables, when subjected to decomposition by fire, give off condensable vapors of acetic acid. All liquids containing alcohol are susceptible of passing into the state of vinegar ; but the pre-existence of alcohol is not necessary to this change, as we learn from the acetification of vegetable soups, infusion of cabbage, starch — paste, &c.

Vinegar may be distinguished into four varieties, according to the mode of its production, though all of them are capable of being converted, by chemical means, into one identical acetic acid. 1. Wine vinegar. 2. Malt vinegar. 3 Sugar vinegar. 4. Wood vinegar, or pyroligneous acid. Fermentation is the source of the acid in the first three varieties. Here alcohol is first generated, and is next converted into vinegar by the influence of the air at a genial temperature ; a change which will be investigated under Fermentation. But the conversion of spirit of wine into acetic acid may be demonstrated by direct experiment. When the vapor of alcohol is brought into contact in the atmosphere with the black powder obtained by mixing muriate of platina, potash, and alcohol, vinegar is rapidly formed at the expense of the alcohol. In Germany, where crude alcohol bears a low price, the manufacture of vinegar has been arranged upon that principle, which, as throwing some light on the process of acetification, I shall briefly describe. See Platinum for the mode of preparing the above powder.

Under a large case, which for experimental purposes may be made of glass, several saucer-shaped dishes of pottery or wood are to be placed in rows, upon shelves over each other, a few inches apart. A portion of the black platina powder moistened being suspended over each dish, let as much vinous spirits be put into them as the oxygen of the included air shall be adequate to acidify. This quantity may be inferred from the fact, that 1000 cubic inches of air can oxygenate 110 grains of absolute alcohol, converting them into 122 grains of absolute acetic acid, and 641 grains of water.

The above simple apparatus is to be set in a light place (in sunshine, if convenient), at a temperature of from 68Q to 86° Fahr., and the evaporation of the alcohol is to be promoted by hanging several leaves of porous paper in the case, with their bottom edges dipped in the spirit. In the course of a few minutes, a most interesting phenomenon will be perceived. The mutual action of the platina and the alcohol will be displayed by an increase of temperature, and a generation of acid vapors, which, condensing on the sides of the glass-case, trickle in streams to the bottom. This striking transformation continues till all the oxygen of the air be consumed. If we wish, then, to renew the process, we must open the case for a little, and replenish it with air. With a bos of 12 cubic feet in capacity, and with a provision of 7 or 8 ounces of the platina powder,

S ACETIC ACID

we can, in the course of a day, convert one pound of alcohol into pure acetic acid, fit im every purpose, culinary or chemical. With from 20 to 30 pounds of the platirm powder (which does not waste), we may transform, daily, nearly 300 pounds of bad spirits intc the finest vinegar. Though our revenue laws preclude the adoption of this elegant process upon the manufacturing scale in this country,, it may be regarded as one of the greatest triumphs of chemistry, where art has rivalled nature in one of her most mysterious operations.

To readers acquainted with chemical symbols, the following numerical representation of the conversion of alcohol into acetic acid may be acceptable : —

580-64 parts by weight of alcohol = His C4 02 consist of

74-88 of hydrogen == His

305-76 of carbon = C4

200-00 • of oxygen = O2

If we combine with this mixture, 400 parts of oxygen = 04, we have,— acetic acid = 643-20 = He C4 03

Hence, in this formation of vinegar, 100 parts by weight of alcohol take 68-89 parts of oxygen; and there are produced 58-11 parts of water, and 110*78 of acetic acid.

These beautiful experiments prove, that when in a mere mixture of alcohol and water, under the influence of the atmospheric air and heat, some vinegar comes to be formed after a considerable time, the same formation of vinegar takes place in a similar, but more effective, manner, when a ferment is present, which acts here in a somewhat analogous way to the platina powder in the preceding case. Several azotized substances serve as re-agents towards the acetous fermentation, — such as vinegar readymade, vinegar-yeast, or lees, barley bread, leaven, beer barm, and similar veeetable matters, which contain gluten. The best and purest ferment is, however, vinegar itself With this ferment we must conjoin, as an essential condition of acetification, the free access of atmospheric air.

It is a well-known fact, that spirituous liquors, as weak branch", wine, and beer, &c, may be preserved for years in close vessels, without undergoing the acetous fermentation, even when they repose upon a layer of lees. It is equally well known, that these very liquors, if they stand for some time in open vessels, become readily sour, especially if exposed, also, to a somewhat high temperature. If we fill a flask with common brandy, and subject it, without a stopper, to the influence of air and warmth, the contained liquor may, at the end of many weeks, discover no sensible acidity ; if we add to the same brandy a ferment, and stop the flask air-tight, everything will still remain unchanged ; but if we leave a portion of air in the flask, or leave it uncorked, vinegar will soon make its appearance in the brandy.

If we investigate the nature of the air which remains over brandy in the act of acetification, we shall find that it consists entirely of carbonic acid and azote, the oxygen being absorbed and combined in the acetic acid and water formed.

Since this absorption of oxygen from the air can take place only at the surface of the fermenting liquors, we thus see the necessity and the practical importance of amplifying that surface, in order to accelerate and complete the acetification by multiplying the points of contact between the alcohol and the oxygen. The essence of the new German method of rapid acetification depends upon this principle.

Temperature has also a remarkable influence on the formation of vinegar. The acid fermentation proceeds very feebly in the cold, but takes an accelerated pace as the heat is raised. It would even appear that spirituous vapors brought by themselves in contact with atmospheric air, without the aid of any ferment, are capable of being converted into acetic acid, since it has happened in the rectification of brandy, in a still furnished with a large capital and adopter pipe into which air was allowed to enter, that vinegar made its appearance. Hence, warmth does not seem to act as a promoter of the combination of alcohol with oxygen in a merely chemical point of view, but it acts, so to speak, physically. Over the warm liquor a stratum of spirit vapor appears to float, which, coming ihere into conflict with the atmospherical oxygen, probably causes the generation of some acetic acid, and thus accelerates the operation, much more than by the mere contact of the oxygen with the liquid surface.

When we expose any spirituous liquors, as wine, beer, &c, with the requisite ferment, to the external air, at a temperature of from 64° to 68° Fahr., the fluid, however clear before, becomes soon turbid ; filamentous slimy particles begin to appear moving in the middle and on the sides of the vessel, and then form a scum on the top of the liquor. When this scum has acquired a certain thickness and consistence, it falls in a sediment to the bottom. The Germans call it the vinegar mother, as it serves to excite acetification in fresh liquors. Meanwhile, the liquor bas become warmer than the *\u rounding ah*, and the vinegar process betrays itself by diffusing a peculiar aroma in the apartment. Whenever all the alcohol present has been converted into acetic acid, the liquor comes into a state of repose ; its temperature sinks to the pi,tch of the atmosphere ; :t becomes bright, and is the article well known by its taste and smell under the name of vinegar.

Genuine wine or raisin vinegar differs from _iat formed either from apples, or sugar, h^.er, &c, in containing wine-stone or tartar ; by which peculiarity it may be distinguished, except in those cases where crude tartar has been artificially added to the other vinegars, as a disguise. Barley-malt vinegar contains some phosphoric acid, in the state of phosphate of lime or magnesia, derived from the grain.

After these general observations upon acetification, we shall now proceed to describe the process for manufacturing vinegar on the commercial scale.

1. Wine vinegar. — The first consideration with a vinegar-maker is a good fermenting room, in which the wines may be exposed to a steady temperature, with an adequate supply of atmospherical air. As this air is soon deprived of its oxygenous constituent, facilities ought to be provided for a renewal of it by moderate ventilation. The air-holes for this purpose ought to be so contrived that they may be shut up when the temperature begins to fall too low, or in windy weather. The best mode of communicating'the proper warmth to a chamber of this kind is by means of fire-flues or hot water pipes, running along its floor at the sides and ends, as in a hot-house ; the fireplace being on the outside, so that no dust may be created by it within. The flue is best made of bricks, and may have a cross section of 10 or 12 inches by 15 deep. The soot deposited, even when coals are burned, will find ample space in the bottom of the flue, without interfering essentially with the draught, for a very long period, if it be made of the above dimensions. Low-roofed apartments are preferable to high ones ; and those built with thick walls, of imperfectly conducting materials, such as bricks, lined with lath and plaster work. Should the chamber, however, have a high ceiling, the fermenting tuns must be raised to a suitable height on scaffolding, so as to benefit by the warmest ail1. Sometimes the vinegar vessels are placed at different levels ; in which case the upper ones acetify their contents much sooner than the under, unless they are emptied and filled alternately, which is a good plan.

Orleans is the place most famous for vinegars. The building there destined to their manufacture is called a vinaigrerie, and is placed, indifferently, either on the ground floor or the floor above it; but it has always a southern exposure, to receive the influence of the sunbeams. The vessels employed for carrying on the fermentation are casks, called mo/hers. Formerly they were of a large capacity, containing about 460 litres (150 gallons, Eng.) ; but at the present day they are barrels of half that capacity, or somewhat less than an old English hogshead. It is now known that the wine passes sooner into vinegar the smaller the mass operated upon, the more extensive its contact with the air, and the more genial its warmth. These casks were formerly arranged in three ranks by means of massive scaffolding ; they are now set in four ranks, but they rest on much smaller rafters, sustained by uprights, and can be packed closer together. The casks, which are laid horizontally, are pierced at the upper surface of their front end with two holes : one, to which the name of eye is given, is two inches in diameter ; it serves for putting in the charge, and drawing off the vinegar when it is made ; the other hole is much smaller, and is placed immediately alongside ; it is merely an air-hole, and is necessary to allow the air to escape, because the funnel completely fills the other hole in the act of filling the cask.

When Rew vessels are mounted in a vinegar work, they must be one third filled with the best vinegar that can be procured, which becomes the true mother of the vinegar to be made ; because it is upon this portion that the wine to be acidified is successively added. At the ordinary rate of work, they put at first upon the mother, which occupies one third of the vessel, a broc of ten litres of red or white wine ; eight days afterwards they add a second broc ; then a third, and a fourth, always observing the same interval of time, 8 days. After this last charge, they draw off about forty litres of vinegar, and then recommence the successive additions.

It is necessary that the vessel be always one third empty if we wish the acetification to go on steadily ; but as a portion of the tartar and the lees forms and accumulates in the lower part of the cask, so as eventually to counteract the fermentation, the time arrives when it is requisite to interrupt it, in order to remove this residuum, by clearing out all the contents. The whole materials must be renovated every 10 years : but the casks, if well made and repaired, will serve for 25 years.

We have mentioned a definite period at which the vinegar maybe drawn off; but that was on the supposition that the process had all the success we could wish ; there are circumstances, difficult to appreciate, which modify its progress, as we shall presently show. We ought, therefore, before discharging the vinegar, to test and see if the fer mentation has been complete. We proceed as follows : we plunge into the lquor a white stick or rod, bent at one end, and then draw it out in a horizontal direction : if it be covered with a white thick froth, to which is given the name of viork (travail), we judge that the operation is terminated ; but if the work, instead of being white and pearly, be red, the manufacturers regard the fermentation to be unfinished, and they endeavor to make it advance, by adding fresh wine, or by increasing the heat of the apartment.

It is not always easy to explain why the fermentation does not go on as rapidly in one case as in another. There are even certain things which seem at present to be entirely inexplicable. It happens sometimes, for example, that although all the vessels have been equally charged, and with the same wine, yet the fermentation does not form in the same manner in the whole ; it will move rapidly in some, be languid, or altogether inert, in others. This is a very puzzling anomaly ; which has been ascribed to electrical and other obscure causes, because it is not owing to want of heat, the casks in the warmest positions being frequently in fault ; nor to the timber of the cask. It, however, paralyzes the process so completely that the most expert vinegar makers have nothing else for it, when this accident happens, than to empty entirely what they call the lazy cask, and to fill it with their best vinegar. The fermentation now begins, and proceeds as well in it as in the others. See Fermentation.

We must here make an important remark, relatively to the temperature which should prevail in the fermentation room. In many chemical works we find it stated, that the heat should not exceed 18° R., or 65° Fahr., for fear of obtaining bad products. But the vinegar makers constantly keep up the heat at from 24° to 25° R., 75° to 77° F. ; when the acetification advances much more rapidly, and the vinegar is equally strong. The best proof of this heat not being too high is, that under it, the vessels in the upper part of the room, work best and quickest. In Orleans, cast-iron stoves and wood fuel are used for communicating the requisite warmth.