The Encyclopedia of Founding

Twelve hundred entries from the golden age of cast metal — how bells are founded, why brass is not bronze, what a cupola melts and a core withstands — by Simpson Bolland, the trade's great teacher.

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Iron Alloys

Very few of the metals alloy with cast iron in such a manner as to be of any practical value to the founder. True, there is a marked difference in the resultant mixture by the addition of alloys, but it does not affect them favorably as a rule. By the addition of a quarter of one per cent of copper, well stirred into the molten iron, a perceptible increase of density may be noticed, and the strength is increased somewhat. Again, if from 10 to 15 per cent of wrought scraps can be successfully mixed with the cast iron after the latter has been melted the same improvements are apparent. Much is claimed for the aluminum fluxes now offered, but any opinion as to their worth would, at this early stage of their application, be premature. See ALLOYS; ALUMINUM; GOLD.

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