Bronze
3 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Bronze. All 3 are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an alloy of copper. The name is related to brown. Copper forms from seventy to ninety per cent of the alloy. Other metals entering in are tin and zinc. Bronze used for bells contains as high as twenty-five per cent of tin. The bronze used formerly for cannon contained about ten per cent of tin and a small amount of zinc. The bronze used in making statuary varies greatly in composition. Some statues are made of brass almost pure. Others contain from one to twenty-five per cent of tin, zinc, or sometimes lead. Bronze has been improved by the addition of a fraction of one per cent of phosphorus. An alloy of copper and aluminum, called aluminum bronze, has great tensile strength. Bronze was known to the ancients. In fact, the use of bronze preceded that of iron and steel, and gave the name to the so-called Bronze Age . For many purposes bronze is superior to iron. It is a tough metal not subject to rust. The ancients found it very satisfactory for swords, axes, and edged tools. This, before they were familiar with methods of making steel. See Brass ; Bell ; Alloy
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an alloy composed of copper and tin, sometimes with a little zinc and lead. It is harder and more fusible than copper itself. The proportions of the two constituents vary according to the purpose for which the alloy is produced. It oxidizes very slowly, even when the air is moist, which renders it well adapted for statues and similar works of art. Bronze was in use in ancient China, Egypt, Assyria, Europe and Mexico. The tin used in parts of the or implements, the working of metal being as yet unknown. Then weapons were made of bronze, the method of alloying the two metals having been discovered, but that of working in iron being ing undiscovered . Finally iron took the place of bronze. These views have been generally ad adopted by geologists and archæologists, though some believe an age of copper to have intervened between those of stone and bronze. Lake dwellings of the bronze period have been found in western and central Switzerland, and one has been discovered in the Lake of Constance. Geologically, even the stone age belongs only to the recent period.
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
A mixed metal, consisting chiefly of copper with a small proportion of tin, and sometimes of other metals. It is used for casting statues, bells, guns, and numerous other articles, in all of which the ingredients are of varying proportions. For a description of the various bronzes, see ALUMINUM-BRONZE; PHOSPHOR-BRONZE; MANGANESE-BRONZE; STATUARY; BELLS; DEOXIDIZED BRONZE; VINEGAR-BRONZE; GUN-METAL, and other bronzes. Also, COPPER; TIN; ZINC; FONTAINEMOREAU'S BRONZES; JAPANESE BRONZE-WORK. Bronzing Liquids. See STAINS FOR METALS.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The metallurgy in these entries still holds: bronze is copper with tin (plus zinc or lead), it resists corrosion, and aluminium and phosphor bronzes described by Aiton's in 1910 remain in use today — in ship propellers, bearings, bells and marine fittings, though not in the cannon Aiton's mentions. What has been transformed is the archaeology. Collier's in 1921 noted that "some believe an age of copper to have intervened between those of stone and bronze"; that copper (Chalcolithic) phase is now standard, and the frozen body found in the Alps in 1991 was carrying a copper axe from roughly 3300 BC. Radiocarbon dating, developed from the late 1940s, replaced the loose relative sequence of stone-bronze-iron with absolute dates, and the Bronze Age tin trade the entries puzzle over became tangible with the Uluburun shipwreck, found off Turkey in 1982 with a cargo of copper and tin ingots.
Written for this edition, 2026.