550

Lead-Its Ancient Uses.

[Book V.

The old Regal, a diminutive species of organ, still used in some parts of Europe, was sometimes acted on by water; at least so it would seem from a remark of Lord Bacon in his Sylva. Speaking of music, he particularizes the tones from the percussion of metals, as in bells-of air, as in the voice while singing, in whistles, organs, and stringed instruments— "and of water, as in the nightingale pipes of regalls, or organs, and other hydraulics, which the ancients had, and Nero did so much esteeme, but are now lost."-Cent. ii, 102.

CHAPTER IX.

SHEET LEAD: Lead early known-Roman pig lead-Ancient uses of lead-Leaden and iron coffinsCasting sheet lead-Solder-Leaden books-Roofs covered with lead-Invention of rolled lead—Lead sheathing. LEADEN PIPES: Of great antiquity-Made from sheet lead by the Romans-Ordinance of Justinian-Leaden pipes in Spain in the ninth century-Damascus-Leather pipes-Modern iron pipes -Invention of cast leaden pipes-Another plan in France-Joints united without solder-Invention of drawn leaden pipes-Burr's mode of making leaden pipes-Antiquity of window lead-Water injured by passing through leaden pipes-Tinned pipes. VALVES: Their antiquity and variety-Nuremberg engineers. Cocks: Of great variety and materials in ancient times-Horapollo-Cocks attached to the laver of brass and the brazen sea-Also to golden and silver cisterns in the temple at Delphi-Found in Japanese baths-Figure of an ancient bronze cock-Superior in its construction to modern ones-Cock from a Roman fountain-Numbers found at Pompeii-Silver pipes and cocks in Roman baths-Golden and silver pipes and cocks in Peruvian baths-Sliding cocks by the author. WATER-CLOSETs. Of ancient date-Common in the East. TRAPS for drains, &c.

A FEW subordinate inventions, but such as are of some importance in practical hydraulics have been reserved for this chapter, viz: sheet lead, pipes, valves and cocks, water-closets and traps.

Lead was probably worked before any other metal. Its ores abound in most countries, and frequently reach to the surface; they are easily reduced; the metal fuses at a low temperature; it is soft and exceedingly plastic. Lead is mentioned as common at the time of the Exodus. It was among the spoils taken by the Israelites from the Midianites, and articles made of it were ordered to be melted up. The Phenicians exported tin and lead from Britain. Both are enumerated in the graphic account of the commerce of Tyre, in the 27th chapter of Ezekiel. The Romans worked lead mines in France, Spain and Britain; Pliny says, those in the former countries were deep and the metal procured with difficulty; but in Britain it was abundant, and "runneth ebb in the uppermost coat of the ground." Several Roman mining tools and pigs of lead have been found in England. In 1741, two pigs were dug up in Yorkshire. Their form was similar to that in which the Missouri lead is cast, but more than twice the weight. Each weighed 150 lb. and was inscribed in raised letters with the name of the reigning emperor, Domitian. (Phil. Trans. Abrid. ix, 420.)

The uses to which lead was put by the ancients were much the same as at present. The fishermen of Egypt sunk their nets with it just as ours do. A portion of a net with "sinkers" attached is preserved in the Berlin Museum. Leaden statues are ancient. There was one of Mamurius at Rome. They probably preceded those of bronze, and perhaps formed part of the spoil of the Midianites mentioned above. The Romans had leaden coffins; a device adopted more or less in all ages. Double leaden

Chap. 9.] Solder-Leaden Roofs-Invention of Rolled Lead.

551

coffins (observes Fosbroke) occur in the Anglo-Saxon era, not made of plain lead, but folded in a very curious and handsome manner. For the mode of making coffins and their singular forms, consult L'Art du Plombier, Arts et Métieres, tome xiii, a Neuchatel, 1781.

The art of casting lead into sheets on beds of sand, as now practised by plumbers, is of immense antiquity. The terraces of Nebuchadnezzar's hanging gardens were covered with sheets of lead soldered together, to retain moisture in the soil. The composition of ancient solder for lead, we know from Pliny, was the same as ours. It is uncertain whether the art of uniting lead by "burning," that is, by fusing two edges together (without solder) was known. Pliny says, two pieces of lead cannot possibly be soldered without tin glass." Either therefore the ancients had not the art of "burning" pieces of lead together, or Pliny was not aware of it.

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Tablets of lead were anciently used to write on. Job alludes to them. Books composed of leaden leaves are figured by Montfaucon. To such tablets, we presume, Pliny refers, when he speaks of lead "driven with the hammer into thin plates and leaves."-(Nat. Hist. xxxiv, 17.)

The employment of sheet lead as a covering for roofs ascends to the earliest ages in the East. It is still extensively used there. Tavernier, in speaking of the mosques at Aleppo, says their domes were covered with lead, and so was the roof of the great hall of the Divan at Constantinople. He mentions an inn or caravansary, the roof of which was covered with the same metal. Henry Blount, who traveled in Egypt and Turkey in 1634, found the roofs of the mosques and seraglios at Adrianople covered with lead. Count Caylus mentions ancient sheet lead half a line thick taken from the inner dome of the Pantheon. Gregory of Tours describes an old temple of the Gauls, which was extant in the time of the Emperor Valerian, and had a leaden roof. (Montfauc. Supp.) Paulinus built a church at Catarick, Eng. which was burnt by the Pagans; he built another of wood, which was the mother church of British Christianity," and enclosed the whole building with a covering of lead." The churches and castles of Europe in the middle ages were almost uniformly covered with this metal. In a statute passed in the fourth year of Edward I. of England, (A. D. 1276,) to ascertain the value of real estate, commissioners were appointed to visit "castles, and also other buildings compassed about with ditches [to determine] what the walls, buildings, timber, stone, lead, and other manner of covering is worth."-(Statutes at large.)

Leaden seals on woolen cloth were used in Henry IV.'s reign.

It is uncertain whether the ancients were acquainted with the process of forming lead into sheets by passing it between rollers. If they were, the art, like many others, became lost, and was not revived till the 17th century. A close examination of specimens of ancient sheet lead might determine the question.

Rolling or "milling" of lead was invented by Mr. Thos. Hale, in 1670, about which time the first mill was erected at Deptford. The inventor met with violent opposition from shipwrights, because the lead, from its smooth surface, uniformity of thickness, and low price, began to be generally adopted for sheathing vessels, in place of the old wooden and leather sheathing. And as it was used also for gutters and roofs of houses, "the

About twenty years ago iron coffins were introduced in England and secured by patent; but they were not then by any means a new thing under the sun for the Parsees of India for ages buried their dead in them. Ces idolatres adorent le feu comme une divinité, considerant le bois comme sa viande; d'où il vient qu'ils ne mettent pas leurs morts dans les cercueils de bois, mais de fer."—(C. Antiquaire, iii. 846.)

552

Ancient Leaden Pipes.

[Book V. plumbers were as industrious as the shipwrights to decry the lead;" but finding their opposition in a great measure fruitless, some of them now began to cry it up, and have set up engines to mill it themselves."(Collier's Dict. Art. England.)

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A paper in the Phil. Transactions, 1674, erroneously attributes the invention to Sir Philip Howard and Major Watson. These gentlemen were associated with Hale in the patent, and merely contributed their influence to introduce the new manufacture, especially to sheathe the public ships. (Abrid. i, 596.) The large ship built by Archimedes was sheathed with lead.

PIPES for the conveyance of water have been made of earthenware, stone, wood and leather, but more generally of lead and copper. Leaden pipes extend back to the dawn of history. They were more or less common in all the celebrated nations of old. In the old cities of Asia, Egypt, Greece, Syria, &c. they were employed to convey water wherever the pressure was too great to be sustained by those of earthenware. The same practice is still followed: thus in Aleppo, both leaden pipes, and those of stoneware are used, and in all probability just as they were when this city was known to the Greeks as Bercea, and to the Jews in David's time as Zobah. Archimedes used pipes of lead, to distribute water by engines in the large ship built for Hiero; and the same kind were doubtless employed in conveying water to the different terraces of the famous gardens of Babylon. The great elevation to which the fluid was raised would render earthenware or wooden pipes entirely inapplicable.

We have no information respecting the mode of making leaden pipes previous to the Roman era; but as that people adopted the arts and customs of older nations, we may be assured that their tubes, as well as their pumps and other engines, were mere copies of those made by the plumbers of Babylon and Athens, Egypt and Tyre. All ancient pipes yet discovered are said to have been made from sheet lead; viz strips of sufficient width folded into tubes and the edges united by solder. We learn from Vitruvius that Roman plumbers generally made them in ten feet lengths, the thickness of the metal being proportioned to their bore, according to a rule which he gives in book viii, cap. 7. of his Architecture. Large quantities of Roman leaden pipes have been found in different parts of Europe, varying in their bore from one to twelve inches. Some of them are very irregularly formed, their section being rather egg-shaped than circular. Montfaucon has engraved several specimens. On large ones belonging to the public, the name of the consul under whom they were laid was cast upon them. Others that supplied the baths of wealthy individuals have the owners' names; and sometimes the maker's name was cast on them. Of small leaden pipes, Frontinus mentions 13,594 of one inch bore that drew water from one of the aqueducts. Pompeii was but a small provincial town, of which not more than one-third has been explored, and yet a great many tons of pipes have been found. The consumption of lead for pipes must have been enormous in old Rome, not only from their great number, but on account of the large dimensions of the principal ones. Pliny might well observe, "Lead is much used with us for sheets to make conduit pipes."-(xxxiv, cap. 17.)

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An ordinance of Justinian respecting a bagnio erected at Constantinople by one of the dignitaries of the empire is extant : Our imperial will and pleasure is, that the leaden pipes conducting the water to the Achillean bagnio, contrived by your wisdom, and purchased by your munificence, be under the same regulations and management as have been appointed in the like cases; and that the said pipes shall only supply such bagnios

Chap. 9.] Cast Leaden Pipes-First Articles of Cast-Iron in England. 553

and nymphæa as you shall think fit," &c. Constantinople has for ages been supplied with water through leaden pipes. The Sou-terazi or water towers, are mere contrivances to facilitate the ascent and descent of the fluid through pipes.

Leaden pipes have been uninterruptedly employed in some or other of European cities since the fall of the empire. In the middle of the ninth century water was conveyed by them to supply Cordorva, in Spain, under the Caliph Abdulrahman II. who also caused that city to be paved. This is the oldest pavement on record in modern cities. Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Damascus in the 12th century, says, the river Pharpar (see 2 Kings, chap. v,) slideth by and watereth the gardens; "but Abana is more familiar and entereth the citie, yea, by helpe of art in conduits [pipes] visiteth their private houses."-(Purchas' Pilgrim.)

The ancient inhabitants of the island Arados ingeniously obtained fresh water from the bottom of the sea. They sunk down over the spring a large bell of lead, to the upper part of which was attached a pipe of leather that conveyed the fluid to the surface. (Pliny, v, 31.)

Some of the Roman earthenware pipes were made to screw into each other. Old leaden pipes laid, A. D. 1236, to supply London, are mentioned at page 294. Most modern pipes of large bore are now made of cast iron. The largest sizes now laying to supply this city, are nine feet in length, three feet internal diameter, and weigh from 3500 to 3800 pounds.

The first improvement on the ancient mode of making leaden pipes was matured in England in 1539. It consisted in casting them complete in short lengths, in molds placed in a perpendicular position. After a number were cast, they were united to each other in a separate mold, by pouring hot metal over the ends until they run together. The device for "burning" or melting the ends was exceedingly ingenious, and such pipes are still made to some extent in Europe. In the 30th year of Henry VIII. (observes Baker in his Chronicles of the Kings of England,) " the manner of casting pipes of lead for conveyance of water under ground without using of soder, was first invented by Robert Brocke, clerk, one of the king's chaplains, a profitable invention; for by this, two men and a boy will do more in one day, then could have been done before by many men in many days. Robert Cooper, goldsmith, was the first that made the instruments and put this invention in practice."-(Edit. of 1665, p. 317.) Five years afterwards, Ralph Hage and Peter Bawde made the first articles of cast iron in England.—(Ibid.)

In the reign of Henry IV. of France, a native of St. Germain, devised another mode of casting pipes and burning them together. The mold was used in a horizontal position, and the metal poured in at one end. When a pipe was cast, it was not drawn entirely out of the mold, but one or two inches were left near the spout where the metal entered, so that when another length was cast, the hot metal running over the end of the previous pipe fused it, and both became as one. The tube was then drawn nearly out and another one cast and united to it in like manner, and so on till any required length was attained.-(See Planche, vii. L'Art du Plombier in Arts et Métieres.)

Sometimes pipes formed of sheet lead have their seams united by "burning." A strip of pasteboard is packed against the inside of the seam, and the tube (if small) filled with sand; the edges are then melted with a soldering iron, and the deficiency made up with a bar of lead, in the same way as when a bar of solder is used. The old mode of burning these seams was by pouring hot lead upon them, and generally a projec

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Drawn Pipes-Burr's Plan-Window Lead.

[Book V. tion of metal was left along the seam. The ancient pipes figured by Montfaucon have a similar projection.

The plan of drawing leaden pipes through dies like hollow wire was first proposed by M. Dalesme, in the Transactions of the French Academy of Sciences, in 1705. It was subsequently brought forward by M. Fayolle in 1728; but it was not till 1790 that such pipes were made. In that year, Mr. Wilkinson, the celebrated English iron master, took out a patent for drawing them, since which period they have become general in England, France, and the U. States. (See Reper. of Arts, 1st series, vol. xvi.)

mover.

In 1820, a singular mode of making leaden pipes was patented in England by Mr. T. Burr. A large and very strong cast iron cylinder, in which a metallic piston is made to work, is secured in a vertical position. To the underside of the piston a strong iron rod is fixed, its lower end being cut into a screw or formed into a rack for the convenience of forcing the piston up, either by means of a steam engine or any other suitable first To the upper side of the piston is secured a polished cylindrical rod, rather longer than the cylinder, and of the same diameter as the bore of the pipe. The cylinder forms a mold in which the pipe is first cast, and this rod is the core. The bottom of the cylinder may be open; but the top is strongly closed, with the exception of a circular and polished opening at the centre, of a size equal to the external diameter of the pipe. Suppose the piston now drawn down to near the bottom of the cylinder, the upper end of the polished rod will stand a little above the circular opening, and an annular space will be left between them equal to the required thickness of the tube. The cylinder is then to be filled with fused lead through an opening at the top, (which is to be stopped up by a screw-plug or any other device,) and as soon as the metal begins to assume the solid state, the piston is slowly raised; this necessarily forces the lead through the annular space in the form of a tube, which is then wound on a reel as fast as formed.

Various cylinders are employed according to the different sized tubes. For half inch pipe, one 18 inches long, six or seven inches internal diameter, and the sides three or four inches thick would be required. Plates with openings of different sizes may be adapted to one cylinder. They may be made to slide in recesses cast in the top.

This mode of forming leaden tubes is the same in principle as that by which some of earthenware have been made: the clay being put into a square and close trunk, is forced by a piston through an annular space, adapted to the thickness and bore of the tubes required. At first sight the process appears difficult. It also seems strange that solid lead can thus be squeezed through an aperture into the form of a tube; but it should be remembered that this metal is extremely soft when heated to near the fusing point; and that the mode only differs from that of making clay pipes in requiring a greater force. Tubes made in this way are in general more solid than others. This arises from the large body of metal of which they are formed being poured while very hot into the cylinder, so that there is little danger of flaws or fissures. These pipes may also be made in much greater lengths than by any other plan. A manufactory of them has recently been established in Philadelphia.-(See Repertory of Arts, for 1820, vol. xli, p. 267.)

From the quantities of pipes used of old, it appears singular that the art of drawing them was not discovered, especially as the Tire-Plomb or glazier's vise for drawing "window lead" is of ancient date-a most beautiful machine, and one far more ingenious and interesting than the drawbench; one too by which lead is worked at a single operation into very