Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 106

_h._ For SOLDER:--1. Fine bra.s.s, 12 parts; zinc, 6 parts; tin, 1 part; melted together.

2. Bra.s.s, 2 parts; zinc, 1 part; as before.

3. Bra.s.s, 3 parts; zinc, 1 part. Very strong. Used for soldering tubes and other like purposes requiring great strength. The above alloys form the 'HARD SOLDER' of the braziers. For certain purposes a little silver is added to them, when the compound receives the name of 'SILVER-SOLDER,'

_i._ For TURNING:--1. Fine bra.s.s, 98 parts; lead, 2 parts; melted together.

2. Copper, 61 parts; zinc, 36 parts; lead, 3 parts.

3. Copper, 65 parts; zinc, 33 parts; lead, 2 parts.

_j._ For WIRE:--1. Copper, 72 parts; zinc, 28 parts; the resulting alloy being subsequently properly annealed.

2. Copper, 64 parts; zinc, 34 parts; as before.

3. To the last add of lead, 2 parts.

_a.n.a.l._ This may be briefly described as follows:--

_a._ 100 gr. of the alloy is digested in nitric acid. The insoluble portion is peroxide of tin, every 74 gr. of which, when washed and dried, contain 58 gr. of metallic tin.

_b._ Sulphuric acid is added to the nitric solution as long as a white precipitate falls; after a time the precipitate is collected on a filter, washed with a mixture of water and alcohol, and ignited in a porcelain crucible. Every 152 gr. of the residuum represents 104 gr. of metallic lead.

_c._ The liquid filtered from the precipitate of sulphate of lead is treated with a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen; the precipitate is collected on a filter, washed with water mixed with a little sulphuretted hydrogen, dried, and digested in pure nitric acid until the sulphur which separates acquires its natural full yellow colour; the resulting solution is next diluted with water, and reprecipitated with pota.s.sa, the whole being boiled until the precipitated oxide of copper becomes of a deep brown or black; it is then collected on a filter, washed, dried, ignited in a platinum crucible, and weighed therein immediately after it becomes cold. Every 40 gr. of oxide of copper thus obtained represents 32 gr. of pure copper.

_d._ The liquid poured from the precipitate of sulphide of copper is boiled for about a minute, when it is precipitated with a solution of carbonate of sodium; the whole is then boiled for a few minutes, and the precipitated oxide of zinc collected, washed, dried, and ignited. Every 40 gr. of this oxide contains 32 gr. of metallic zinc.

_Concluding Remarks._ In the adoption of his formula the operator should be entirely led by the object he has in view. The larger the proportion of copper, the deeper will be the colour, and the greater the density, and, within certain limits, the toughness of the alloy. Zinc lessens the specific gravity and colour. Tin gives it hardness and grain; whilst lead toughens it, and renders it fitter for turning. These facts are known to every experienced bra.s.s-founder. See ALLOYS, COPPER, MOSAIC GOLD, PRINCE'S METAL, TOMBAC, &c.

=BRa.s.s BATH= (FOR ELECTRO-PLATING). _For steel, wrought and cast iron, and tin; using ordinary cyanide of pota.s.sium._ Dissolve together in 14 pints of distilled or rain water:--Bisulphite of soda, 7 _oz._; cyanide of pota.s.sium (containing 75 per cent. of real cyanide), 17 _oz._; carbonate of soda, 34 _oz._

To this solution add the following, made up to 3-1/4 pints of water:--Acetate of copper, 4-1/2 _oz._; neutral protochloride of zinc, 3-1/2 _oz._; the two liquors become colourless when mixed. Ammonia must not be used for bra.s.s electro-plating baths for iron, especially for solutions worked in the cold.

=BRa.s.s BATH= (FOR ELECTRO-PLATING). _For zinc._ Pure or rain water, 4-1/2 gallons; bisulphite of soda, 24-1/2 _oz._; cyanide of pota.s.sium (containing 75 per cent. of cyanide), 35 _oz._ To this add the following solution:--Water, 9 pints; acetate of copper and protochloride of zinc, each 12-1/2 _oz._; liquid ammonia, 14 _oz._

The filtered bath is colourless, and gives, under the action of the battery, a bra.s.s deposit of a very fine shade, varying from red to green, by increasing the proportion of copper or that of zinc.

=BRa.s.s'-COLOUR.= _Syn._ BRa.s.s-PIGMENT, B.-BRONZE. _Prep._ 1. Grind copper filings, or the precipitated powder of copper, with a little red ochre.

Red-coloured.

2. Gold-coloured bra.s.s, or Dutch leaf, reduced to a very fine powder.

Yellow or gold coloured.

_Obs._ Before application these powders are mixed up with pale varnish, no more being worked up at once than is wanted for immediate use. They are also applied by dusting them over any surface previously covered with varnish to make them adhere.

=BRa.s.s-PASTE.= _Prep._ 1. Soft soap, 2 oz.; rotten-stone, 4 oz.; beaten to a paste.

2. Rotten-stone made into a paste with sweet oil.

3. Rotten-stone, 4 oz.; oxalic acid (in fine powder), 1 oz.; sweet oil, 1-1/2 oz.; turpentine, q. s. to make a paste.

_Obs._ The above are used to clean bra.s.s-work, when neither varnished nor lacquered. The first and last are best applied with a little water; the second with a little spirit of turpentine or sweet oil. Both require friction with soft leather. See BRa.s.s-WORK, PASTES, &c.

=BRa.s.s PLATING.= _By simple dipping._ A colour resembling bra.s.s is given to small articles of iron or steel by a long stirring in a suspended tub containing the following solution:--Water, 1 quart; sulphate of copper, and protochloride of tin crystallised, about 1-5th of an _oz._ each. The shades are modified by varying the proportions of the two salts.

=BRa.s.s-STAIN.= _Prep._ 1. Sheet-bra.s.s (cut into small pieces) is exposed to a strong heat for 2 or 3 days, then powdered, and again further exposed in a like manner for several days; the whole is then reduced to fine powder, and exposed, a third time, to heat, testing it occasionally, to see if it be sufficiently burnt. When a little of it, fused with gla.s.s, makes the latter swell and froth up, the process is complete. It imparts to gla.s.s a green tint, pa.s.sing into turquoise.

2. Equal parts of plate-bra.s.s and sulphur are stratified together in a crucible, and calcined, until they become friable; the whole is then reduced to powder, and exposed to heat as before. This imparts a calcedony red or yellow tinge to gla.s.s by fusion; the precise shade of colour being modified by the mode of using it.

_Obs._ The common practice in the gla.s.s-houses is to conduct the calcination by exposing the metal, placed on tiles, in the leer or annealing arch of the furnace; a plan both convenient and economical.

=BRa.s.s'-WORK.= Articles of bra.s.s and copper, when not varnished or lacquered, may be cleaned and polished with sweet oil and tripoli, rotten-stone, or powdered bath-brick, applied with friction on flannel, and 'finished off' with leather; due care being taken to ensure the absence of anything gritty, which would scratch and disfigure the surface of the metal. A strong solution of oxalic acid in water gives bra.s.s a fine colour. Vitriol and spirits of salts make bra.s.s and copper very bright, but the polish thus obtained soon tarnishes, and the articles consequently require more frequent cleaning. A strong lye of roche alum and water also improves the appearance of bra.s.s. In all cases where acids or saline matter has been used, the metal should be at once well rinsed in clean water, and then wiped dry, and finally dry polished with soft leather.

BRa.s.s INLAID-WORK may be cleaned with tripoli and linseed oil, applied by a rubber of felt or leather; the whole being afterwards thoroughly rubbed off, and then finished with clean soft leather. The ornaments of a French clock, and similar articles, are said to be best cleaned with bread-crumb, carefully rubbed, so as not to injure the wood-work. ORMOLU CANDLESTICKS, LAMPS, and BRANCHES, may be cleaned with soap and water. LACQUERED and GILDED ARTICLES are spoiled by frequent rubbing, and by acids and alkaline leys.

1. A fine colour may be given to BRa.s.s ORNAMENTS, when not gilt or lacquered, with a little sal-ammoniac, in fine powder, moistened with soft water. The articles must be afterwards rubbed dry with bran and whiting.

Another plan is to wash the bra.s.s-work with a strong lye of roche alum (1 oz. to water 1 pint), and after rinsing it in clean water and drying it, to finish it off with fine tripoli. These processes give to bra.s.s the brilliancy of gold. See BRa.s.s-PASTE.

2. A gold varnish for giving a beautiful gilding to bra.s.s and bronze objects is prepared from 16 grams of sh.e.l.l-lac, 4 grams of dragon's blood, 1 gram of turmeric-root, and 332 grams of rectified spirit of wine. The varnish is thinly stroked over the surface with a sponge, the metal being warmed over a small coal fire.

The surface at first appears dull, but soon after it appears as if most beautifully gilded. The ready-prepared spirituous varnish must be preserved in well-stoppered vessels.--_Dingler's Journal._

=BRa.s.s'ING.= _Syn._ BRa.s.s-COATING. 1. Copper-plates and copper-rods may be covered with a superficial coating of bra.s.s by simply exposing them, in a heated state, to the fumes given off by melted zinc at a high temperature. The coated plates and rods are rolled into thin sheets or drawn into wire. The spurious gold wire of Lyons is said to be made in this way.

2. Vessels of copper may be coated with bra.s.s, internally, by filling them with water strongly soured with hydrochloric acid, adding some amalgam of zinc and cream of tartar, and then boiling the whole for a short time.

This plan may be usefully applied in certain cases to copper boilers in laboratories, and to other purposes.

3. By the electrotype (which _see_).

=BRAUNETINCTUR--QUINSY OR BROWN TINCTURE= (Netsch, Rauschau), an embrocation for the larynx, is a mixture of 3 parts oil of cloves and 1 part creosote. (Hager.) According to Leimbach 1 part creosote with 3 parts of a spirituous tincture of cochineal perfumed with oil of cloves.

=BRAWN.= A boar or its flesh. When young, the h.o.r.n.y parts feel moderately tender. If the rind is hard, it is old. (Mrs Rundell.) Also in cookery, the flesh of the boar, or of swine, collared so as to squeeze out as much of the fat as possible, boiled, and pickled.

=Brawn, Mock.= _Prep._ (Mrs Rundell.) Take the head and belly-piece of a young porker, well saltpetred; split the head and boil it; take out the bones and cut it to pieces; then take 4 ox-feet, boiled tender, and cut them in thin pieces; lay them in the belly-piece with the head cut small; roll it up tight with sheet tin, and boil it 4 or 5 hours. When it comes out set it up on one end, put a trencher on it (within the tin), press it down with a heavy weight, and let it stand all night. The next morning take it out of the tin and bind it with a fillet, put it in cold salt-and-water, and it will be fit for use; it will keep a long time, if fresh salt-and-water are put into it about once every four days.

=BRAXY.= Inflammation of the bowels in sheep, chiefly affecting young sheep. It is most frequent during winter, and occurs in exposed wet localities. The symptoms are restlessness, thirst, tenderness along the spine or belly, and constipation.

_Treatment._ Bleed early, and give 3 _oz._ castor oil; 8 grains of calomel; 1/2 _oz._ of laudanum; 3 _oz._ treacle; beat up with two eggs, and mixed with about 6 _oz._ of warm water; let this be repeated in half doses every six hours.

This should be combined with clysters and hot fomentations to the belly.

If, after two days, no benefit should be derived, give thrice daily, 5 grains of calomel, 20 grains of carbonate of ammonia, and 1-1/2 dram of laudanum, in gruel. The animal should be removed to a shed or sheltered place.

=BRAZIL NUTS.= The particular tree yielding these nuts (the _Bartholetia excelsa_) is a native of Brazil, whence the nuts are exported to the yearly annual amount of about 60,000 bushels.

When the kernels of the nuts are submitted to pressure they yield an oil in great repute for domestic purposes and for export, each pound of the nuts yielding nine ounces of the oil, valued at two shillings the pound.

According to Martius, this oil consists of 74 per cent. of eldein, and 26 per cent. of stearin. The finely laminated inner bark of the trunks is also a valuable article of commerce, especially adapted for the caulking of ships and barges, and is worth about eighteen shillings the cwt.

The following a.n.a.lysis by Corenwinder gives the composition of the kernels taken from the nuts when in a fresh condition: