[Fig. 878.] and [879.] are two views of the stamp. A is a large stone, the more massy the better; b, the anvil on which the die e is secured by four screws, as shown in the ground plan, [fig. 880.] In [fig. 878.], a a are two upright square prisms, set diagonally with the angles opposed to each other; between which the hammer or drop d slides truly, by means of nicely fitted angular grooves or recesses in its sides. The hammer is raised by pulling the rope f, which passes over the pulley c, and is let fall from different heights, according to the impulse required. Vessels which are less in diameter at the top and bottom than in the middle, must either be raised by the stamp in two pieces, or raised with a hand hammer. The die is usually made of cast steel. When it is placed upon the anvil, and the plated metal is cut into pieces of proper size, the top of the die is then surrounded with a lute made of oil and clay, for an inch or two above its surface; and the cavity is filled with melted lead. The under face of the stamp-hammer has a plate of iron called the licker-up fitted into it, about the area of the die. Whenever the lead has become solid, the hammer is raised to a certain height, and dropped down upon it; and as the under face of the licker-up is made rough like a rasp, it firmly adheres to the lead, so as to lift it afterwards with the hammer. The plated metal is now placed over the die, and the hammer mounted with its lead is let fall repeatedly upon it, till the impression on the metal is complete. If the vessel to be struck, be of any considerable depth, two or three dies may be used, of progressive sizes in succession. But it occasionally happens that when the vessel has a long conical neck, recourse must be had to an auxiliary operation, called punching. See the embossing punches, [fig. 881.] These are made of cast steel, with their hollows turned out in the lathe. The pieces a, b are of lead. The punching is performed by a series of these tools, of different sizes, beginning with the largest, and ending with the least. By this means a hollow cone, 3 or 4 inches deep, and an inch diameter, may be raised out of a flat plate. These punches are struck with a hand hammer also, for small articles, of too great delicacy for the drop. Indeed it frequently happens that one part of an article is executed by the stamp, and another by the hand.
Cylindrical and conical vessels are mostly formed by bending and soldering. The bending is performed on blocks of wood, with wooden mallets; but the machine so much used by the tin-smiths, to form their tubes and cylindric vessels (see the end section, [figs. 882.] and [883.]), might be employed with advantage. This consists of 3 iron rollers fixed in an iron frame. A, B, C, are the three cylinders, and a, b, c, d, the riband or sheet of metal passed through them to receive the cylindrical or conical curvature. The upper roller A can be raised or lowered at pleasure, in order to modify the diameter of the tube; and when one end of the roller is higher than the other, the conical curvature is given. The edges of the plated cylinders or cones are soldered with an alloy composed of silver and brass. An alloy of silver and copper is somewhat more fusible; but that of brass and silver answers best for plated metal, the brass being in very small proportion, lest the colour of the plate be affected. Calcined borax mixed with sandiver (the salt skimmed from the pots of crown glass) is used along with the alloy, in the act of soldering. The seam of the plated metal being smeared with that saline mixture made into a pap with water, and the bits of laminated solder, cut small with scissors, laid on, the seam is exposed to the flame of an oil blowpipe, or to that of charcoal urged by bellows in a little forge-hearth, till the solder melts and flows evenly along the junction. The use of the sandiver seems to be, to prevent the iron wire that binds the plated metal tube from being soldered to it.
Mouldings are sometimes formed upon the edges of vessels, which are not merely ornamental, but give strength and stiffness. These are fashioned by an instrument called a swage, represented in [figs. 884.] and [885.] The part A lifts up by a joint, and the metal to be swaged is placed between the dies, as shown in the figures; the tail b being held in the jaws of a vice, while the shear-shaped hammer rests upon it. By striking on the head A, while the metal plate is shifted successively forwards, the beading is formed. In [fig. 884.] the tooth a is a guide to regulate the distance between the bead and the edge. A similar effect is produced of late years in a neater and more expeditious manner by the rollers, [figs. 886.] [887.] [Fig. 888.] is a section to show the form of the bead. The two wheels a, a, [fig. 886.], are placed upon axes, two of which are furnished with toothed pinions in their middle; the lower one being turned by the handle, gives motion to the upper. The groove in the upper wheel corresponds with the bead in the lower, so that the slip of metal passed through between them assumes the same figure.
The greatest improvement made in this branch of manufacture, is the introduction of silver edges, beads and mouldings, instead of the plated ones, which from their prominence had their silver surface speedily worn off, and thus assumed a brassy look. The silver destined to form the ornamental edgings is laminated exceedingly thin; a square inch sometimes weighing no more than 10 or 12 grains. This is too fragile to bear the action of the opposite steel dies of the swage above described. It is necessary, therefore, that the sunk part of the die should be steel, and the opposite side lead, as was observed in the stamping; and this is the method now generally employed to form these silver ornaments. The inside shell of this silver moulding is filled with soft solder, and then bent into the requisite form.
The base of candlesticks is generally made in a die by the stamp, as well as the neck, the dish part of the nozzle or socket, and the tubular stem or pillar. The different parts are united, some with soft and others with hard solder. The branches of candlesticks are formed in two semi-cylindrical halves, like the feet of tea-urns. When an article is to be engraved on, an extra plate of silver is applied at the proper part, while the plate is still flat, and fixed by burnishing with great pressure over a hot anvil. This is a species of welding.