A Select Collection of Valuable and Curious Arts and Interesting Experiments, / Which are Well Explained and Warranted Genuine and may be Performed Easily, Safely, and at Little Expense.

by Unknown

40. To wash iron or steel with copper.—Dissolve sulphate of copper in water, in the proportion of one to three; wash the iron or steel with it, and it will instantly be covered with reduced copper. This is best performed by applying the solution with a brush, which must be followed directly with a sponge of clear water. In this manner any letters or figures may be drawn with a camel-hair pencil, or a pen, and if it be on polished steel, the letters or flowers will assume the brilliancy of the steel and appear like highly polished copper. It may sometimes be requisite to cleanse the metal by washing it with diluted muriatic acid, that the copper may adhere the more readily. If the steel thus ornamented, be held over a charcoal fire, the copper figures become blue first; and when the steel becomes blue, the copper takes a gold colour; but is restored again to its original colour, by diluted muriatic acid.

41. To give iron the whiteness of silver.—To nitric acid, diluted with an equal quantity of water, add as much mercury as the acid will dissolve; then add to the solution, three or four times as much water, and having given the iron a coat of copper, as directed in the last experiment, brush it over in the same manner with the diluted nitrate of mercury; its appearance will be equal, if not superior to that of real silver. In this manner any common, or rough iron work, may be apparently silvered at a most insignificant expense.

42. To wash iron with tin.—Small pieces of iron may be tinned, after being filed bright, by washing them with a saturated solution of muriate of ammonia in water and dipping them, while moist, in a vessel of melted tin. If the iron is of such form as cannot be conveniently filed, it may be immersed in nitric acid, diluted with as much water as acid; when the acid begins to act sensibly on every part, it may be washed with water, and then with the muriate of ammonia, and if a little fine rosin be sprinkled on it previous to dipping it in the tin, it may be an advantage. The iron must remain in the tin till it becomes nearly as hot as the tin, otherwise it will be coated too thick. Muriatic acid may sometimes be used, instead of muriate of ammonia, and if the iron is not filed, it will answer a better purpose. The inside of cast iron vessels may be tinned as follows: Cleanse the iron by scouring or rubbing it with a sharp grained stone, keeping the iron wet with diluted nitric acid. As the most prominent parts of the iron will be first brightened by the stone, the acid will also commence its action on the same parts, which will very much facilitate the work, while the hollows, and deeper parts of the surface, will remain untouched till the iron is nearly smooth. When this is accomplished, wash the iron with water, and then with clear muriatic acid; turn the vessel over to drain off the superfluous acid; then set it upright, and fill it with melted tin, which must be poured in cautiously, directly on the bottom of the vessel first, and the stream of tin increased till the vessel is full; then pour out the tin suddenly, and invert the vessel till it is cold. Sheets of iron are tinned, in the manufactories of tin plate, by immersing the sheets, endwise, in a pot of melted tin, the top of which is covered with about two inches depth of tallow. This tallow answers a better purpose, after it has become brown by use, than it does at first. The only preparation of the iron sheets is, to scour them perfectly clean and bright.

43. To give tin the whiteness and brilliancy of silver.—To an ounce of nitric acid, diluted with an equal quantity of water, add nearly an ounce of mercury, or as much as the acid will dissolve. When this is dissolved, add to the solution, gradually, half an ounce of sulphuric acid; this will precipitate the mercury in the form of a white powder; when this has subsided, pour off the acid and add clear water; thus wash the powder from the acid, then pour off the water, and while the precipitate is moist, (or if it be suffered to dry, it may be again moistened with water,) rub it over the tin with a piece of glove leather.—Then wash the tin with water, and when it is dry, rub it pretty hard with a piece of fine woollen cloth; it will resemble polished silver.

44. To give tin a changeable crystalline appearance.—Cleanse the tin by washing it with warm soap and water, and rinse it in clear water. Then heat the tin to the temperature of bare sufferance to the hand, and pour on it, or apply with a brush or sponge, a mixture of one ounce of muriatic acid, with one fourth of an ounce of sulphuric acid, and two ounces of water; then immediately wash the tin in clear water. Another method is, to apply in the same manner a solution of two ounces of muriate of soda, in four ounces of water, with one ounce of nitric acid. In either case, if the crystalline figures are not bold enough, the operation may be repeated. If a very small figure is required, the tin may be heated nearly to flowing, and plunged into cold water, slightly acidulated with nitric and muriatic acids. If a little solder is drawn over the tin with a hot iron or copper, in such manner as to form a cross, or circle, and the opposite side of the tin be afterwards crystallized, it will have a beautiful effect.