Chap. 1 1.

LEAD. 515
1780/y. IV. Coating witli a metal, t-oniinoiily called rialinnizing. Zinc is efficient, pro-
vided it is not exposed to tiie acids capalile of di^solviiif; it
;
liiit it is desiroytd hy sulplinric
aci
I
in tlie air of places where much coal is burnt; and by muriatic acid in the neighbour-
liDod of the sea. All attempts to use galvanized iron for roofs in large towns or smoky
districts have failed. The use of this material will be noticed in the section on Zinc.
Tinned iron does not now answer so well even as good zinc. It is kiidwn that during the
mcdia;'val period, iron nail-heads, anchors, dogs, and such like articles were finned o\er, no
doubt to pveveni oxidation ; and tinned iron is grea'ly used fi.>r the covering of houses
in America. In St. Petersburg and in Moscow iron is mostly used, but it requires
paintino. The coppering of iron has failtd unless it was done in so expensive a manner as
not to be practicable in any extended employment of it. A coating of lead, or of lead
and antimony, is wanted to iron, so as to combine the stiffness and cheapness of iron
with the durai)ility of lead. ]Messrs. Morewoi d have recently intioduced metal plates
covered with a unilbrm coating of lead.
'1
hesc plates are supposed to possess all the
advant^iges of slieet lead, and they can be rendered serviceable at a considerably reduced
cost (Hunt, Handbook^ 1862). Enamelled iron is a late invention, and one tending to be
very serviceable. (jS'ee also par. 2264
)
178Cc. Professor Barff's recently (1877) discovered method of coating iron with mag-
netic or black oxide is effected by subjecting it to steam at a high temperature of about
1,200 degrees of Fahr. for six or seven hours. It is said that iron so treated will resist a
rasp, and bear any amount r.f exposure to the weather without showing any signs of
corrosion. Difficulties which have hitherto stood in the way of the adetjuate working of
the process have since (1882), we are informed, been removed, and this preservative pro-
cess will no doubt be largely adopted, as adequate apparatus lias been provided.
Sect. VI.
LEAD.
1781. Lead, the heaviest of the metals except gold and quicksilver, is found in most
parts of the world. It is of a blui.sh white when (irst broken, is less ductile, elastic, and
sonorous than any of the other metals: its specific gravity is from 11,300 to 1 1, 479, and a
cubic foot, therefore, weighs ai)out 710 lbs. It is soluble in all acids and alkaline solu-
tions, fusible before ignition, and easily calcined. The ore, which is easily reduced to the
metallic .state by fusion with charcoal, is found mineralised with sulphur, with a slight
mixture of silver and antimony, in diaphanous piismatical crystals, generally hexagonal,
white, yellowish, or greenish, in Somersetshire, about the IMendi]) Hills. About Bristol,
and in Cumberland, it takes the form of a white, giey, or yellowish spar, without the least
metallic appearance : in some places it is in a state of white powder oi native cei use ;
and
in Monmouthshire it has been found native, or in a metallic state.
178L'. Exposure to air and water does not produce much alteration in lead, though it
quickly tarnishes and acquires a white rust, by which the internal parts are defended from
corrosion. Pure water, however, does not alter it ; hence the white crust on the inside of
lead pipes through which water Hows must probably be owing to some saline particles in
the water. Lead will fonrr an union with most other metals ; one excejition, liouever. is
iron. Next to tin, it is the most fusible of metals. It is run from the furnace into moulds
;
the main form is called a sow, tiie smaller ones piiis : from these it is run into sheets, pi})es, &c.
1783. Sheet lead is of two soits, cast and milled. The thicker sort of tiie former, or the
comiTTon cast sheet lead, is manufactured by casting it on a long table formerly made of
wood but now of cast iron, (with a rising edge all round it) from 16 to 29 feet in length,
and 6 feet in width, which is covered with tine pressed sand beaten and smoothed down
with a .strrke and smoother's plane. The pig lead is melted in a largi; vessi.-l, near this
table, and is ladled into a pan of the shape of a concave triangular jirism, whose length is
erjual to the width of a sheet, from which p;in it is poured on to the table oi mould.
Petween the surface of the sand and the strike, wliich rides u))on the edges of the table, a
space is left which determines tlie thickness of the sheet. The strike bears away tie
superfluous liquid lead before it has time to cool, as it mpves by hand along the edges of the
laole oetbre mentioned. When lead is required to be cast thin, a linen cloth is stretciiid
on an appropriate table over a woollen one
; in which case the heat of the lead, befoie
spreading it on the cloth, must be less than will lire paper, or tlie cloth would be burnt.
The strike must for the purpose i)e passed over it with considerable rapidity.
1784. In manufacturing milled lead, it is usual first to cast it into sheets from 8 to 10
feet long according to circumstances, but the width is regulated by the length of tliL- rollers
L L 2