Chap. III. SMITHERY AND IRONMONGERY.

729
should not be run direct from the smelting furnace, but the metal should be romeltedina
cupola furnace, which gives the opportunity of suiting the quality of the iron to its intended
use. Thus, for delicate ornamental work a solt and very fluid iron will be required, whilst
for girders and castings exposed to cross strain the metal will require to be harder and
more tenacious. For bed plates and castings, which have merely to sustain a compressing
force, the chief point to be attended to is the hardness of the metal. Various mixtures of
different qualities of iron have been recommended as materials for large castings (see Fair-
bairn's Ajyplication
of
Iron, ^-c. 6.i). Most engineers are agreed in considering that the best
course for an engineer to take, iu order to obtain iron of a certai-n si rength for a proposed
structure, is not to specify to the founder any particular mixture, but to specify a certain
minimum strength wliich the iron should exert when tested by experiment.
226of. As noticed in a previous chapter, the ores are smelted by cold and hot air blasts.
The latter iron makes very fine castings, but is deficient in tenacity, and requires great care
ill its application to the purposes of machinery, and for girder castings, by employing it as
see(,nd runnings from the cupula, and mixing third-class pig iron with the first. On
account of some defects in it, hot blast iron should be excluded from all such works as
girder bridges, machinery castings, &c.,and from the preparation of bar iron where great
strength in the metal is required. It appears that there are no means of detecting hot or
cold blast irons in pig castings. Whenever great strength is required, air furnaces instead
of cupolas should be used, and where it is not connected with too great an expense, loam
instead of green sand should be used for moulding,
2265i. Table of the Weight of Cast Ikon feb Foot Superficial. (Hurst.)
The weight of a cubic f .ot is put at 456 lbs. and 460 lbs.
Thickness in inches
1
15 *
a
It) i
5
16
3
8
7
l8
1
3
Weight in pounds
2-34 4-68
703 937
11-72 14-06 16-40 18-75
Thickness in inches - ^
1
11
16
3
4
13
16
3.
8
1.5
To
1
Weight in pounds - 21
"09 23-44
2578
28-12 30-47 32-81 35-16 37-50
2265e. Collinson s Mansfield moulding sand has a wide reputation among the modellers
of the finest brass and iron castings, arising, no doubt, partly from its exquisite fineness of
grain, but more particularly from its clay-like adhesiveness and plaster quality, combined
with a total freedom from any coarse or gritty particles. It is found under a deep deposit
of coarse sand, ordinarily known as building sand, and within a short distance of the well-
known white and red Mansfield stone quarries, in Nottinghamshire. The Isle of Wight
sands are also used for the purpose. The sand usually employed in casting is of a soft:
yellow and clammy nature, over which, in the mould, charcoal is strewed. Upon the sand
properly prepared, the wood or metal models of what is intended to be cast are applied to
the mould, and pressed so as to leave their impression upon the sand. Canals are provided
for the metal, when melted, to run through. After the frame is finished, the patterns are
taken out by loosening them all round, that the sand may not give way. The other half
of the mould is then worked with the same patterns, in a similar frime, but having pins
which, entering into holes that correspond to it in the other, cause the two cavities of the
pattern exactly to fall on each other. The frame thus moulded comes now under the care
ot the melter, who prepares it for the reception of the metal.
2265/". In making patterns for cast iron, an allowance is always made of about one-eighth
of an inch per foot for the contraction of the metal in cooling. And it may be also requisite
that the patterns should be slightly bevelled, that they may be drawn out of the sand with-
out injuring the impression ; for this purpo-e,
jg
of an inch in 6 inches is sufficient.
2265//. All castings should be kept as nearly as possible of the same bulk, in order that
the cooling may take place equably. It is of importance to prevent air-bubbles in castings,
and the more time there is allowed for cooling the better, because, when rapidly cooled,
the iron does not become so tough as when gradually' cooled. It is important in any casting
tol:ave the metal as uniform as possible, and not of different sorts, for different sorts will
sh rink differently, and thus will be caused an unequal tension among the parts of the metal,
which will impair its strength
;
and, beyond this, an unevenness is produced by such mix-
ture on the surface of the casting, for different sorts can never be perfectly blended tiigetlier.
226-5A. Castings should show on the outer surface a smooth, clear, and continuous
skin, with regular faces and sharp angles. When broken, the surface of fracture should be of
a light bluish-grey colour, and close-grained texture, with considerable metallic lustre; both
colour and texture should be uniform, except th;it ne;;r the skin the colour may be some-
what lighter and the grain closer ; if the fractured surface is mottled, either with pat(-hts
of darker or lighter iron, or with crystalline patches, the casting will be UDsafe
;
and it