Brass
Brass names 6 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Brass A yellow alloy of copper and zinc
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
A yellow alloy of copper and zinc, much used for furnishing and decorating, as well as for parts of machinery. It is common to include other alloys, as copper and tin in this classification; these, however, are not brass, but bronze, and will be found described under that head. When brass is manufactured on a large scale, it is usually made to contain: copper 2, zinc 1; but the alloys must necessarily vary according to the purposes for which they are intended. If more than ordinary tenacity is required the alloy must consist of about: copper 16, zinc 4; but if a hard, brittle alloy possessing reduced resisting power is desired, the zinc may be increased to equal quantity with the copper, or even beyond that where, at copper 1, zinc 2, the yellowness ceases entirely, and we have a brilliant bluish-white alloy of so crystalline a nature that it may be crushed in a mortar. The method of manufacturing brass in large quantities is to heat in crucibles a mixture of calamine, or carbonate of zinc, charcoal, and scrap, or grain copper, in the proportions thus: calamine and charcoal 3, copper 2. The action of the white heat reduces the calamine, and separates the zinc, which, combining with the copper, forms a brass consisting of copper 2, zinc 1. Common ingot brass is made by the simple fusion of copper 16, zinc 8; but, owing to the volatility of zinc, the resultant proportions of the alloy are seldom to be relied upon, and calamine brass is preferred. The vapor of the zinc-ore by the latter mode combines more intimately with the copper. Yellow brass for filing and machining ranges from: copper 16, zinc 4, to copper 16, zinc 9. Up to this proportion brass remains very ductile and malleable; beyond it, the crystalline nature asserts itself in proportion as the zinc is increased. Copper and zinc mix in all proportions, but it requires the greatest care in mixing to obtain the proportions aimed for, owing to the zinc's volatility, as before stated. With reference to the color of brass alloys, copper-red gives place to yellow at copper 16, zinc 4, and maintains about the same hue up to copper 16, zinc 10; when it gradually becomes lighter up to copper 1, zinc 2--which as before stated, is a bluish-white with a brilliant silvery lustre when polished. The fusibility of brass increases with the zinc; so that the metal from copper 16, zinc 7, up to copper 16, zinc 15, is eminently adapted for running a large class of furnishing and decorative-work; but before such brittle metal as this is subjected to the various processes of cleaning, dipping, lacquering, and bronzing, it is invariably annealed. The specific gravity of brass is greater than that deducible from the specific gravity of the metals composing it. The brass for ornament is prevented from tarnishing by lacquering and bronzing. The former consists of coating with shellac in spirit, with some coloring; the latter process being affected by the application of metallic solutions, after a course of cleaning in acids. Brass from copper 50, zinc 50, to copper 63, zinc 37, may be rolled into sheets and otherwise worked when heated to a red heat; but, according to Muntz, copper 60, zinc 40, is the best proportion. When brass is made for this purpose it is cast into ingots, then heated and rolled. Brass is made hard by hammering or rolling, but its temper may be again drawn by heating to a cherry-red and plunging it in water. Copper-castings are, to a great extent, freed from porosity or honeycombing by the addition of from 1/2 to 1 ounce of zinc to 16 ounces of copper. The following compositions are alloys of copper and zinc only, which constitute true brass: COPPER AND ZINC ALLOYS. Copper. Zinc. Copper castings are made solid by. . . . . 16 1/4 to 1 Brass gilt for jewelry, etc., bronze color . . . . . 16 1 to 1 1/2 Heavy Machinery bearings . . . . . 32 1 Sheet brass, red . . . . . 16 3 Tough engine brass . . . . . 20 3 Brass to imitate gold . . . . . 16 3 1/2 to 4 Bristol brass, solders well . . . . . 16 6 Brass wire . . . . . 16 7 Brass castings, ordinary . . . . . 16 8 Muntz metal (one extreme) . . . . . 16 9 to 10 1/2 Muntz metal (one extreme) . . . . . 16 16 Pale-yellow brass for dipping (spelter solder for copper or iron) . . . . . 16 12 Another dipping-brass . . . . . 16 14 Spelter solder for brass . . . . . 16 16 Speculum metal . . . . . 100 18 3/4 Mosaic gold . . . . . 32 33 As a supplement to the above, the author appends the following list of mixtures, which are largely original, and of known excellence for the numerous purposes mentioned: MISCELLANEOUS MIXTURES FOR GENERAL MACHINERY PURPOSES, ETC. Copper. Tin. Lead. Zinc. Soft Machinery brass . . . . . 16 2 5 Large steps or bearings (common) . . . . . 16 2 2 2 Large steps or bearings (good) . . . . . 16 3 1 1 Large steps or bearings (best) . . . . . 16 4 Small steps or bearings . . . . . 16 2 1 1/2 1 Ordinary D valves . . . . . 16 2 1/2 2 1/2 Extra large D valves. . . . . 16 1 1/2 1 1/2 Delivery valve-lids . . . . . 16 2 2 1 Large bells . . . . . 16 4 1/2 Large bells . . . . . 16 3 1/2 Small clock-bells . . . . . 16 3 General machinery brass . . . . . 16 2 1 1/2 General machinery brass (good) . . . . . 16 2 1/2 1/2 General machinery brass (collars, etc.) . . . . . 16 2 1/2 1 1 Large cocks . . . . . 16 1/4 9 Small cocks . . . . . 16 1 5 Common cocks . . . . . 16 1 1/2 6 Yellow brass . . . . . 16 8 Yellow brass (good) . . . . . 16 7 Yellow brass (better) . . . . . 16 6 Brass for cutting-wheels . . . . . 16 4 Roller brass . . . . . 16 2 3 Large copper rivets . . . . . 16 1 Small copper rivets . . . . . 16 1/2 Lathe-bushes . . . . . 16 4 1/4 Pulley-blocks . . . . . 16 2 1/2 Wheels . . . . . 16 2 Gun-metals . . . . . 16 1 3/4 Connecting-rod steps . . . . . 13 1 1/2 1 1/2 Valve-spindles . . . . . 16 1/2 3 Valves and seatings . . . . . 16 3 1 Piston-rings . . . . . 30 4 1/2 15 Brass to expand by heat equal with iron . . . . . 79 6 15 For further information on this subject, see ALLOY; BRASS-FURNACE; BRASS-MOULDING; BRASS-TEMPERING; BRASS-SCRAP; BELLS; BRONZE; CEMENTATION; COPPER; SHEATHING-METAL; SOLDERS; LACQUERING; ZINC; GASBLAST FURNACE; PORTABLE FURNACE; HARD ALLOY.
Brass an alloy of copper and zinc
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an alloy of copper and zinc. Ordinary brass is composed of two parts by weight of copper and one of zinc. Brass is harder than copper and is more handsome than zinc. Its bright yellow gives it the appearance of gold. It is much used for ornamental metal work of all sorts, such as gas fixtures, hinges, door plates, hand rails, boxings, eyelets, tubing, wire, kitchenware, and clockwork. Much that passes for brass is really bronze. Brass is very suitable for the making of castings, as it retains its full size in cooling. The surface is usually polished in a turning lathe. It is not known whether brass was in use before the time of the Romans. A form of brass known as pinchbeck is used to make cheap jewelry. An alloy consisting of three parts of brass and two of zinc may be drawn out under the hammer when heated. The brass rolling industry of the United States is centralized in the valley of the Naugatuck, Connecticut. The water is held in large reservoirs to furnish power. A narrow valley, forty miles long, furnishes a total fall of 600 feet. A population of 100,000 people is engaged directly or indirectly in brass manufactures. One hundred and seventy-five million pounds of copper are converted annually into sheet brass by the mills of nine large companies. This small valley uses half the copper mined in the United States. See Alloy ; Copper ; Zinc
Brass Brass solutions of any desired color may be made by adding carbonate of zinc
American Watchmaker and Jeweler (1892)
Brass solutions of any desired color may be made by adding carbonate of zinc, in varying proportions, to the above solution. One part of zinc and two of copper carbonates will give a beautiful golden yellow brass, and should be used with an anode of the same color. If, however, the plater desires to match colors on repairing jobs, etc., he can get any desired color from this bath by varying his current; a strong current will deposit more zinc than copper, giving a paler color of brass in the deposit; and a weaker current will deposit more copper than zinc, giving a redder deposit. In this way most repair jobs can be matched in color, although it is better, when doing new work, to make your solution of the color desired, and use an anode of the same color, as by doing so you put the two metals into the solution in the same proportion as you are taking them out. If you are using copper anodes, it is best to buy the electrically deposited anodes from a dealer in platers' supplies, as they cost no more, are always pure, and deposit much freer and smoother than the hard rolled copper for sale at metal houses. The same thing also applies to anodes of brass, gold or silver, but in less degree.
Brass an alloy of copper and zinc
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an alloy of copper and zinc, of a bright yellow color, hard, ductile, and malleable. The best brass consists of two parts by weight of copper to one of zinc. The proportions of copper and zinc vary. Ordinary brass is a yellow alloy of copper and 28 to 34 per cent. of zinc. The density of cast brass is 7.8 to 8.4; that of brass wire 8.54. It is harder and yet more fusible than copper, more sonorous and not so good a conductor of heat. It is said that when the Roman Consul, Mummius, after capturing the celebrated Grecian city of Corinth, barbarously burnt the place to the ground, in B. C. 146, various metals, fused in the conflagration, became united into a compound or alloy, called from the circumstances now stated, Corinthian brass.
Brass An alloy consisting of about 65 parts of copper to 35 parts of zinc
American Watchmaker and Jeweler (1892)
An alloy consisting of about 65 parts of copper to 35 parts of zinc. This proportion is varied according to the uses to which the alloy is to be put. See Bronzing, Plating and Coloring Metals.
Brass An alloy, consisting of about 65 parts of copper to 35 parts of zinc
American Watchmaker and Jeweler (1892)
An alloy, consisting of about 65 parts of copper to 35 parts of zinc. This proportion is varied, according to the uses to which the alloy is to be put.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The metal itself is exactly what the 1892 Encyclopedia of Founding said it was, a copper-zinc alloy roughly two parts copper to one of zinc, and Muntz metal at 60/40 is still made and still called that. What has gone is the process the book prefers: making brass by roasting calamine (zinc carbonate) with charcoal and copper, so the zinc never appears as a separate metal. Cheap metallic zinc from electrolytic and retort smelting killed that cementation method off in the early twentieth century, and brass is now made by straightforward fusion of weighed zinc into molten copper, with recipes given as weight percentages and UNS numbers rather than parts in sixteen. The other big change is legal: the lead that the 1892 lists add freely for machinability is now capped at a 0.25 percent weighted average in US plumbing fittings under rules in force since 2014, with similar limits elsewhere.
Written for this edition, 2026.