Anthracite Facing
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
Finely ground Lehigh coal, which has been carefully selected for its freedom from impurities. It is one of the cheapest blacking-facings, and answers just as well as the dearer brands for rough work and cores when mixed with a small proportion of charcoal-facing--especially as a wet blacking. See FACING; BLACK-WASH. Antifriction Metals are alloys compounded with the view of lessening friction in the bearings and journal-boxes of machinery. Some of the compositions given in the following table are for linings only, while others are for the bearings or steps, which require no lining. ANTIFRICTION ALLOYS. Copper. Tin. Lead. Antimony. Zinc. Grain Zinc. Iron. Good Lining for general use ..... 1 7 1/4 7 1/2 Good Bearing (not a lining) ..... 1 1 1/2 17 Good Bearing (not a lining) ..... 10 5 85 Lining (soften with lead if too hard) 1 8 2 Lining ..... 1 10 1 Journal-box Lining, to be melted and run into ingots first ..... 24 24 8 Lining subject to heat ..... 17 0.5 0.25 1 Lining subject to shock ..... 20 1 6 Lining for Loco. Axle-tree ..... 86.03 13.97 Lining for Loco. Axle-tree French ..... 82 10 8 Lining for Loco. Axle-tree English ..... 73.96 9.49 7.09 9.03 0.43 Lining for Loco. Axle-tree Belgian ..... 89.02 2.44 7.76 0.78 Lining for Loco. Axle-tree Stephenson 79 8 5 Extra Lining (melt tin and antimony and pour to the melted copper) ..... 1 1/2 25 3 Lining, for a heavy weight ..... 1 2 1/2 1/2 Hard Bearing ..... 16 2 Very Hard Bearing ..... 16 2 1/2 Lining for Car-axles {mix for hardening ..... 4 24 8 {then add ..... 72 Lining, very cheap ..... 100 15 Hardening for Babbitt's Metal ..... 4 24 8 (For linings use 1 pound of hardening to 2 pounds of tin.) See BABBITT'S METAL; FENTON'S ANTIFRICTION METAL.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When The Encyclopedia of Founding described anthracite facing in 1892, ground Lehigh coal was among the cheapest mold blackings a foundry could buy, and Pennsylvania anthracite was still years from its production peak around 1917. Both halves of that world have gone: modern foundries brush or spray refractory mold coatings based on graphite, silica or zircon in water or alcohol carriers, and carbonaceous additions to green sand are made with bituminous "sea coal" or synthetic lustrous-carbon formers rather than ground anthracite. Anthracite mining itself shrank from the tens of millions of tons a year of the 1892 era to a small remnant industry. The tin-antimony-lead babbitt recipes tabulated alongside survive in principle, but rolling-element bearings and polymer liners have taken over most of the duty they were mixed for.
Written for this edition, 2026.