Advantages of the Improved Method of Soldering Metals.
One great advantage to the public at large to be derived from the general introduction of “autogenous soldering,” will be the diminution of the number of cases of the escape of water and gas, which every day occasion so much inconvenience and even danger as regards the stability of buildings, the maintenance of the public thoroughfares, and the security of life.
The disuse of charcoal and tin by plumbers will have the important effect of rendering their trade less unhealthy, the fumes from their brasiers, and the arsenical vapours emanating from impure tin, being a very common cause of serious maladies.
By the old method of soldering, there is great danger of setting fire to houses and public buildings: the destruction of the corn market of Paris, and of the Cathedrals of Chartres and of Bruges, by fire, was partly owing to the negligence of plumbers; a negligence for which there could be no reason, if the new method of soldering had been introduced, since it is only necessary to turn a cock in order to extinguish or rekindle, at any moment, the jet of gas which serves for the plumber’s tool. By means of the new apparatus, a soldering flame can be conducted to a distance of several fathoms without the dangerous necessity of lighting a brasier to heat irons, to melt masses of solder, and to carry the whole into the midst of complicated carpentry work.
The disuse of solder will also greatly reduce the price of plumber’s work, without, however, diminishing the demand for the services of the workmen. The disuse of seams or overlapping, which from this new mode of connecting lengths of lead will almost entirely be given up, will alone occasion a considerable saving in the quantity of lead employed. The ease with which lead of from one-thirtieth to one-tenth of an inch in thickness may be soldered, and defects repaired, will permit of the substitution of this, in many cases, for thicker lead, and thus diminish the expense; perhaps, also, it will give rise to the use of lead for purposes to which it has not yet been applied, or the return to others, in which from motives of economy it has been superseded by other metals.
The plumber will also be indebted to M. de Richemont’s method for several important improvements. He will be able in future to make internal joints wherever a jet of flame can be introduced and directed; to reconstruct on the spot, of pure lead, any portion of a pipe, a vase, or a statue, that may have been removed or destroyed; to execute in rapid succession any number of solderings; to repair in a few minutes all dents, cracks, and flaws, in sheets or pipes of new lead; to remove entirely the enormous edges or knots left by the old-fashioned joints, and that without weakening them; to give, in short, to works of lead a precision of execution, and a solidity, unattainable up to this time.
Autogenous soldering will also be of great assistance to several chemical manufactures, where it is so important to have large vessels of lead without alloy. By uniting a number of sheets into one, vessels of pure lead of any size may be formed for the process of acidification and concentration of saline solutions; for the formation of scouring vats employed by so many artisans who work metals; for vessels of every kind used to contain liquids which act upon tin solder.
In the repair of leaden vessels exposed to the action of heat, peculiar advantages are offered by autogenous soldering. By the old method, the holes which are so often caused in the bottoms of these vessels, either by the action of sudden flames, or by deposits that form on their surface, can be stopped only when they are not of too large dimensions, by making what are called weldings of pure lead. The cases in which this mode of repair is available, are very limited, and whenever it is impracticable, the boilers must be taken down, the lead changed, and then reset; thus occasioning considerable expense and an interruption to business. By the new method, nothing is easier than to apply pieces to the bottom or sides of the vessels, whatever be the size of the holes, and thus the whole of a boiler may be renewed piecemeal. By this plan, too, the old lead remains uncontaminated with solder, and consequently will yield a pure metal to the melting-pot.
The great ductility of lead, which, in many cases, is one of its most valuable qualities, is, however, an inconvenience when instruments or utensils are required of considerable strength. At the same time, there are circumstances where this metal alone can be employed, on account of the manner in which it resists chemical action. By constructing vessels or instruments of iron, zinc, or wood, and covering them with lead, utensils can be formed that will resist pressure and blows, and most chemical agents, as well as if they were made of solid lead. Such vessels are required in the preparation of soda, and other gaseous waters; in the distillation or evaporation of acid or alkaline solutions; and for many other purposes.
Another application that deserves especial notice is that of lining common barrels with thin sheet-lead. These vessels would be of great utility in chemical factories, more particularly in the construction of Woulf’s apparatus, and other pneumatic instruments, to which greater dimensions could be given by this means; but they could be employed with singular advantage in the transport of acid and alkaline liquids by sea and land. Sulphuric and muriatic acids are transported in stone bottles, or glass carboys placed in baskets, which, however carefully packed, are liable to be broken, not only with the loss of the acids, but with danger to surrounding bodies. We are told of two French ships that perished at sea on a voyage to the colonies, in consequence of the breaking of some bottles of sulphuric acid.
In the manufacture of sulphuric acid, the use of ordinary solder is impracticable, since it would soon be corroded. The following method was introduced some years ago for forming sulphuric acid chambers, and the concentration pans. Two edges of lead being placed in contact, were flattened down into a long wooden groove, and secured in their situation by a few brass pins driven into the wood. The surfaces were next brightened by a triangular scraper, rubbed over with candle-grease, and then covered with a stream of hot melted lead. The riband of lead thus applied, was finally equalized by being brought into partial fusion with the plumber’s conical iron, heated to redness; the contact of air being prevented by sprinkling rosin over the surface. The autogenous soldering apparatus will greatly simplify the above method.
The advantages to be derived from the new process, are by no means confined to lead: the apparatus may be employed in using for solder either the common alloys, or pure lead, to unite zinc, and iron, and lead, with iron, copper, and zinc. It may be substituted also with advantage for the common blow-pipe and lamp of the enameller in all their applications to the soldering and joining performed by the aid of these instruments by jewellers, goldsmiths, tinmen, manufacturers of plated goods, of buttons, &c.
The flame produced by the combustion of the gas may be most economically employed for heating soldering irons. A few seconds suffice to bring the iron to the desired temperature, and it can be kept at that temperature for many hours without being liable to burn, nothing more being necessary than to regulate the flame by means of cocks, and the workman need not be obliged to change his iron, or even to leave it for a single moment. Hence there is not only a considerable saving in manual labour, but also in fuel, which in most cases is of greater consequence.
Such are a few only of the advantages of this simple and beautiful invention, which is now very extensively adopted in France, and will doubtless get into extensive use in this country, when its merits are more generally known.
It may be here stated, in justice to some of our own ingenious countrymen, that after this method had become extensively known, M. Richemont’s claim to the invention was disputed. We have been informed, that previously to the year 1833, a Mr. Mallet had employed an apparatus constructed on the same principle, and used in a similar manner, as that already described as the invention of M. de Richemont. In Loudon’s Encyclopædia of Cottage Architecture, published in 1833, the following passage occurs:—“Mr. Daniell, of King’s College, London, has since published the same thing as new, and of his invention: however, I can establish priority by my laboratory journal.”