Brass (relic)

“ In the progress of the commerce, they would deal for nothing but metal; and, at length, brass was so eagerly sought for, in preference to iron, that, before the navigators quitted the place, scarcely a bit of brass was left in the ships, except what belonged to the different instruments. ”

“ No increase has taken place in the size of the Brass Gun Factory, although, through the energetic action of Colonel Wilmot, its produce has been doubled since the breaking out of the war: fourteen pieces of brass ordnance—six, nine, and eighteen pounders—can be turned out weekly. Brass is used for field-pieces on account of its resisting power being greater than that of iron. Experiments which have lately been made, however, tend to show that steel is a far lighter and better material even than brass for this purpose. ”

“ Of domestic metal-work there are not many early pieces. In Fig. 82 is shown a cup or ewer of brass with artistic handle and spout ornamented with a grotesque mouth; the date assigned to it is 1570. It may be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, where also is deposited a fine seventeenth-century ewer or tankard with plain cylindrical body and a deep and long spout with fancy handle (see Fig. 81) . There is also a trumpet of brass, dated 1738, in the same gallery; it has upon it the owner's monogram, "S.M.A.," ensigned with a count's coronet and crest. ”

“ Some of the articles manufactured of brass, are forged to the required form, and others are made of rolled sheets; but, in most cases, they pass through the hands of the brass-founder, who liquifies the metal, and pours it into moulds of sand. For the sake of lightness, and economy of material, many articles are made hollow ”

“ The back or crown brass, and not the key brass, should be fitted first. The corners of the ways, in the brass, for the strap should be eased just clear with the edge of a smooth half-round file, because otherwise they will rub down the sharp edges of the strap, and make the strap jaws appear to be a bad fit when on the rod. The brass should be driven in and out of the strap to fit, using a block of wood to strike on, otherwise the skin of the bore may become pened, and when the brasses are bored they will close in at the sides and become loose in the strap. ”

“ In the earliest ages, whose manners have been delineated by history, we find the weapons of their warriors invariably framed of this fictitious metal. Military nations were naturally studious of brightness in their arms: and the Ancient Britons, particularly, gloried in the neatness of theirs. Hence various nations continued to fabricate their arms of brass, even after the discovery of iron. ”

“ There are tinned brass vessels with incised decorations, sculptured vessels of brass, brass incrusted with copper and copper incrusted with silver, but which can be called the baser and which the richer metals when all assume shapes of such wondrous beauty as the lotas and sarais, and are decorated with designs so pleasing and with a skill so perfect with damascened work, incrustations or enamel? The metal excipient is forgotten in the art. ”

“ No. 1 is a section of the cutting-board, showing the groove in which the piece of brass runs. 2, The brass, to which is attached the thumb-screws, by means of a screw through the eye at B. 3 3 3, Thumb-screws, to screw down the ruler upon the paper. The brass rule should not be less than an eighth of an inch in thickness, otherwise it may bend; if steel it will do a little less. ”

“ Fifth, the top brass may be made a handsliding fit to the strap without springing the strap open, which being already under a tension because of the spring due to the bottom brass, will be more rigid and permit of a tighter degree of top brass fit, without springing open and away from the rod. ”

“ As ornament there is usually a good deal of brasswork; the handle of the tiller is generally bordered with the metal, and the owner seems to take pride in nailing brass along the bulwarks of his boat where it is not wanted and is even little seen. It has been suggested that the polishing of these brass plates or bars provides a pleasant change from the dull routine work of towing. The brightness of the paint and the brasswork constitutes the pride of the barge-owners, and supplies a standard of comparison among them. ”

“ Around him hung, stood, or lay in heaps on the floor old brass bowls and cups, old needle-work delicately yellowed, old carved furniture, old swords and bits of armor, old pottery of shapes and colors to make a painter throw up his hat and rejoice. In the background the dealer agitated vainly with a stiletto (dated 1560 on the blade) in one hand, and a brass hunting-horn, its smooth curves wound with faded green silk cord, in the other. ”

“ Dick said. “The old, eternal test of truth—­Will it work?”
“Ah, now you are pounding your favorite brass tack,” Paula smiled. “And Dar Hyal, with a few arm-wavings and word-whirrings, will show that all brass tacks are illusions; and Terrence, that brass tacks are sordid, irrelevant and non-essential things at best; and Hancock, that the overhanging heaven of Bergson is paved with brass tacks, only that they are a much superior article to yours; and Leo, that there is only one brass tack in the universe, and that it is Beauty, and that it isn’t brass at all but gold.” ”

“ During the sixteenth century much progress was made in metal-founding. The Worshipful Company of Founders was busy. Many "battery" works were set up in England, and there brass was hammered or battered into shape. Thus brass-workers were engaged in making useful pots and pans, now in their much worn state eagerly sought after by the collector. Some worked with the ladle and crucible, others with the hammer and anvil or wood block. ”

“ The smiling youthful faces of the figures in this most remarkable brass, and the modern-looking whiskers and beard and moustache, combined with the helmet, give a singularly unancient look to the wearers, and irresistibly call to mind what one has so often seen of late in the twentieth-century pageants. ”

“ An exceptionally fine early brass of crescent form is seen in South Kensington, where there are other early specimens pointing to the ancient and very general acceptance of the belief in the potency of symbolical horse trappings as talismans against evil and dangers of the road, happily unknown now. Almost as common is the brass fashioned like the sun god, whose face was so often looked upon with awe by the ancients. ”

“ It particularly deserves to be noticed, that, with scarcely a single known exception, the brasses of France and Flanders differed from those commonly used in England, in this respect, that they were formed of one large unbroken sheet of metal, the field or back-ground being richly diapered to set off the figures, whereas in England the slab of dark grey marble, to which the brass was affixed, served as the field ”

“ In various rooms, by various machines, the work of perfecting the parts from the first blank form cut out of Connecticut brass goes on. Shades of size are adjusted by the friction of whirring cylinders coated with diamond dust. A flying steel point touched with diamond paste pierces the heart of the "jewels." Wheels rimmed with brass wisps hum steadily, as they frost the plates with sparkling gold. Shaving of metal peel off, as other edges turn, so impalpably fine that five thousand must be laid side by side to make an inch. ”

“ The French brass castings and articles of sheet brass are made of cheap, light colored brass, and possess a fine golden color which is not produced by gold varnish, but by a coating of copper. This gives them a finer appearance, so that they sell better. ”

“ We have no instrument that could do it, no composition that could make tools of temper sufficient to cut bass reliefs in granite or porphyry so readily; and our ignorance in this is the more completely shewn, in that we have all the reasons to believe, the cutting instrument with which they did these surprising feats was composed of brass; a metal of which, after a thousand experiments, no tool has ever been made that could serve the purpose of a common knife, though we are at the same time certain, it was of brass the ancients made their razors. ”

“ They do not all belong to the thirteenth century, as this kind of memorial of the dead was used during several centuries—in fact, well on into Queen Elizabeth's reign, at the end of the sixteenth century. The oldest brass in England, showing a man in armour, is in Surrey, in Stoke D'Abernon church. Brasses are very valuable, as they show us the kinds of armour and dress worn in particular centuries. ”

“ That no heat may be lost, two carriages are provided, the one being ready to put in as the other is taken out; the furnace is meanwhile uniformly kept hot. This method, however convenient for moving the sheets in and out, wastes a good deal of fuel in heating the iron carriage.
The principal places in which brass is manufactured on the great scale in England, are Bristol, Birmingham, and Holywell, in North Wales.
The French writers affirm, that a brass, containing 2 per cent. of lead, works more freely in the turning lathe, but does not hammer so well as the mere alloy of copper and zinc. ”

“ MODERN JAPANESE CLOISONNÉ ON METAL.
"The fine threads of brass that run through the surface give a very pretty appearance to the work, as they look like gold, and are perfectly even with the rest of what has been laid on to the original bowl. In some of the most expensive of the enamel-work the threads are of fine gold instead of brass; but there is no particular advantage in having them of gold, as the brass answers all purposes and the gold serves as a temptation to robbers. ”

“ Narrow thread-like bands of brass were used for purposes of inlay and in the lyre-back chairs the strings were brass, as well as the accompanying ornaments. Brass has always been a valuable commodity in English manufactures, and in the reign of Henry VIII. Parliament passed an act prohibiting, under severe penalties, the export of brass, which prohibition was not withdrawn till as recently as 1799. ”

“ Taking one of the square strips of brass we have seen in the cutting-mill, he hammers its end to a point on a small anvil at one side of him, and passes it through the eye of a huge needle fixed in the bench on the other side of him. He then seizes the point of the strip of metal with a great pair of pincers attached by a chain to the drum, puts his foot upon a treadle beneath him, and round goes the drum—the Giant in the rolling-mill turns it—dragging the pincers with it, and drawing the strip of metal slowly but surely through the round eye of the needle. ”

“ From north-east Central Africa we get a little metal-work, some of the head-dress ornaments being enriched with circular brass plates, on which are repoussé decorations. Among the curios from this district in the British Museum are several exceptional pieces, one being a head-dress or helmet of brass with circular brass ornaments.
The knives used in ceremonials are often very handsome. There is a fine executioner's knife from north-east Central Africa, with brass studs all over the wood handle. ”

“ One of the most remarkable indications that old fables and beliefs, antedating in their origin the introduction of the Christian [373] religion in this country, have a hold still on rural districts, is seen in the brass harness trappings used by all classes alike. Years ago the makers of harness fashioned their brasses with care, and the artists who engraved them and cut them out of solid plates of metal laboured long and tediously in producing exact replicas of similar ornaments which had been used from time immemorial. ”

“ As mathematical knowledge increased in Europe, that of mechanics gradually advanced, and enabled artists, by making brass cannon of a much smaller bore for iron bullets, and capable of bearing a much greater charge of strong powder in proportion to their calibers, to produce a very material and important change in the construction and fabric of those original pieces. ”

“ Macklin says: “Brasses give a complete pictorial history of the use and development of armour, dress, and ecclesiastical vestments from the thirteenth to the end of the seventeenth century.... All these (members of every class of society) we see, not in fancy sketches, but in actual contemporary portraits.” Perhaps one of the greatest values of the brass is that it is a great and authentic record of middle-class costume during the Middle Ages. ”

“ When heat, elongating the balance ring, causes it to vibrate more slowly, the brass, expanding more than the steel, bends the free ends of the cut rim toward the center, thus decreasing the diameter of the balance and quickening the vibration. On the other hand, when cold, contracting the ring tends to quicken the vibration of the balance, the contraction of the brass rim draws the free end outward, making the diameter larger and the vibration slower in consequence. The compensation balance is also made with brass as the inner metal and aluminum outside. ”

“ To Work Brass.—This material is a combination of copper and zinc, and since zinc is not so malleable as copper, it renders the brass less malleable. Nevertheless it forges out pretty well under the hammer, in a cold state, the only condition in which it can be so worked. Hammering increases its hardness with great rapidity, soon converting it into a very fair spring metal. Brass springs are quite common—they are all made by repeatedly hammering or rolling the metal while cold. As in the case of both silver and copper, heating and gradual cooling removes this hardness. ”

“ A fine kind of brass, supposed to be made by the cementation of copper plates with calamine, is, in Germany, hammered out into leaves, and is called Dutch metal in this country. It is employed in the same way as gold leaf. Brass is much used for watchworks, as well as for wire. ”