In commencing to enlarge upon these mechanical processes we may at once state that it is our intention to refrain from going into the whole art of wire-drawing, because that process has been somewhat minutely alluded to in our other work recently published in the interests of the goldsmiths; the details of which are there fully described.
Fig. 23. Draw-plate.
The draw-plate, [Fig. 23], which is the principal tool of the modern wire-drawer, was unknown in this country until the middle of the sixteenth century, when it was introduced by Christopher Schultz, a Saxon, from France. It was supposed to have been the invention of a native of that country named Archal. The draw-plate had been in use some years on the Continent previous to its introduction into England. The old method of making wire was upon the anvil, by means of the hammer; and those who manipulated in this art were termed wiresmiths at that period. The best form of draw-plate consists of a piece of steel about nine or ten inches long, one and a quarter to one and a half inch broad, and about half an inch thick, each containing a number of conical holes of various sizes, becoming smaller in succession until the last hole in the plate is reached, when another plate, corresponding in size, having smaller graduated holes, is employed, and the wire drawn through it; and so on, until the proper size has been obtained.
Fig. 24. Draw-bench for Wire.