Oil of vitriol1fluid ounce.Soft water1pint.
Oil of vitriol1
Soft water1
This makes a fluid which is perfectly invisible until heat is applied by holding over a lamp or by placing in an oven, when it changes to a permanent black. Write with a clean steel pen. All invisible inks will show on glazed paper, therefore unglazed paper should be used.
Another singular invisible ink is made as follows: Oxide of cobalt,1/2ounce; muriatic acid, sufficient to dissolve it; water, 4 ounces; mucilage of gum acacia, 1 drachm. Place in a stained bottle. Characters written with this solution are invisible, but on the application of heat they instantly appear in blue. On cooling they again become invisible.
Hydrochloric acid1/8ounce.Water1pint.
Hydrochloric acid1/8
Water1
Mix, bottle, and label No. 1.
Solution of chlorinated soda2/3pint.Water1pint.
Solution of chlorinated soda2/3
Water1
Mix, bottle, and label No. 2.
To erase ink dip the end of a penholder or pencil in No. 1 and apply to the writing, and do the same with No. 2. Let remain a moment and blot off with clean blotting-paper. If the characters are not erased repeat as before.
The jewellers of Turkey, who are mostly Armenians, have a singular method of ornamenting watch cases, etc., with diamonds and other precious stones by simply gluing or cementing them on. The stone is set in gold or silver and the lower part of the metal made flat, or to correspond to that part to which it is to be fixed. It is then warmed gently and the glue applied, which is so very strong that the parts thus cemented never separate. For this glue, which will firmly unite bits of glass and even polished steel, and which may of course be applied to a vast variety of useful purposes, large number of formulas have been published. The following is the original recipe. Dissolve 5 or 6 bits of gum mastic, each the size of a large pea, in as much alcohol as will suffice to render them liquid; in another vessel dissolve as much isinglass, previously softened a little in water (though none of the water must be used), in good brandy or rum as will make a two-ounce vial of very strong glue, adding two small bits of galbanum or ammoniacum, which must be rubbed or ground until they are dissolved. Then mix the whole with a sufficient heat. Keep the glue in a vial closely corked, and when it is to be used set the vial in boiling water. To avoid cracking the vial by exposure to such sudden heat use a thin green glass vial and hold it in the steam for a few seconds before immersing it in the hot water.—Workshop Receipts.
FOR GLASS, CHINA, WOOD, LEATHER, ETC.
Gelatine (Cooper’s or Cox’s)3ounces.Acetic acid2ounces.Carbolic acid5grains.Oil of cloves6minims.Water enough to make1pint.
Gelatine (Cooper’s or Cox’s)3
Acetic acid2
Carbolic acid5
Oil of cloves6
Water enough to make1
Soak the gelatine in half a pint of water for four hours. Place in a bottle and heat in a water bath; add the acids, dissolve, add the oil of cloves and sufficient hot water to make a pint, and strain.
Powdered cast-iron bore chips60parts.Sal-ammoniac2parts.Flowers of sulphur1part.
Powdered cast-iron bore chips60
Sal-ammoniac2
Flowers of sulphur1
Mix, and stir the mixture into a stiff paste by adding water. Use while fresh.
For attaching metal plates, such as metal letters, etc., to flat sheets of glass or windows, the following is excellent:
Copal varnish15parts.Drying oil5parts.Turpentine3parts.
Copal varnish15
Drying oil5
Turpentine3
Melt in a water bath, and add 10 parts of slaked lime. The cement commonly used for fastening the tops on kerosene lamps is plaster of Paris, which is porous, quickly penetrated by the kerosene, and readily destroyed. A cement which does not have this defect is made by boiling 3 parts of resin and 1 of caustic soda in 5 of water. This composition forms a soap, which mix with half its weight of plaster of Paris. Use while fresh.
Dissolve1/8ounce of salicylic acid in half a gallon of warm water, and when cold stir in as much flour as will bring it to the consistency of cream, being particular to break up all the lumps; next place it on the fire and allow it to cook gently for a few minutes, stirring well meanwhile. This paste answers a variety of purposes. The salicylic acid is to keep it from spoiling. The addition of 1 ounce of powdered colocynth to the above amount will effectually banish all insects and worms from the walls where the paper is pasted.
Ordinary pastes will not adhere labels to tin. The following is a good one: Make a paste of gum tragacanth and add a little oil of wintergreen. Apply by removing the film of grease from the tin by a solution of caustic soda (10 parts of water to 1 of soda). Apply with a rag to the spot on which you wish to affix the label.
Wheat flour21/4pounds.Resin (powdered)1/2ounce.Salicylic acid1/8ounce.
Wheat flour21/4
Resin (powdered)1/2
Salicylic acid1/8
Rub together till a uniform paste is formed, transfer to a small kettle over a fire, heat, and stir until the lumps are all dissolved and the paste becomes stiff; transfer to another vessel and cover up. This paste is applied in a thin layer to the surface of the table or desk to be covered, the cloth or leather is then laid on and smoothed with a roller. If leather is to be fastened on it must be first dampened.
This is a time-tried whitewash, either for inside or outside work, and has been known to retain its brilliancy for over thirty years. Nice unslaked lime,1/2bushel; slake it with boiling water; cover it during the process to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer, and add to it1/4bushel of salt, previously well dissolved in water; rice, 3 pounds—boiled to a thin paste and stirred in boiling hot; Spanish whiting,1/2pound; best glue, 1 pound, which has been previously dissolved by soaking it well, and then hanging it over a slow fire in a small kettle immersed in a larger one filled with water. Now add hot water, 5 gallons, to the mixture, stir well, and let it stand a few days covered from the dirt. It should be put on hot. For this purpose it is best to keep it in a kettle on a portable furnace, or use other means more convenient. It answers as well as oil paint for brick or stone, and is much cheaper.
Coloring matter, dissolved in alcohol, may be put in and made of any shade you like. Spanish brown stirred in will make red-pink, more or less deep, according to quantity. A delicate tinge of this is very pretty for inside walls. Finely pulverized common clay, well mixed with Spanish white, makes reddish stone color. Yellow ochre stirred in makes yellow wash, but chrome goes further, and makes a color generally esteemed prettier. In all these cases the darkness of the shade is of course determined by the quantity of the coloring used. It is difficult to make rules, because tastes differ. It would be best to try experiments on a shingle, and let it dry. Green must not be mixed with lime. The lime destroys the color, and the color has an effect on the whitewash which makes it crack and peel. When inside walls have been badly smoked and you wish to make them a clean, clear white, it is well to squeeze indigo plentifully through a bag into the water you use before it is stirred into the whole mixture; or blue vitriol pulverized and dissolved in boiling water and put into whitewash gives a beautiful blue tint. If a larger quantity than five gallons be wanted the same proportions should be observed.
Linseed Oil30parts.Oil of Turpentine10parts.Colcothar14parts.Red chalk46parts.
Linseed Oil30
Oil of Turpentine10
Colcothar14
Red chalk46
The coloring substances are pulverized and the mixture ground. Should the mixture be too thick reduce it with equal parts of linseed oil and oil of turpentine. Give the roof two coats, allowing the first to dry before applying the second. See that the tin is free from rust, and the coats should not be laid on too thick nor too thin.
Pulverized slate (argillaceous schist)35parts.Pulverized mica slate (mica schist)30parts.Pulverized rosin35parts.
Pulverized slate (argillaceous schist)35
Pulverized mica slate (mica schist)30
Pulverized rosin35
Mix, and add one-half its volume of pure coal-tar and boil to a fluid mass.
This paint gives a very durable and pliant covering, which does not melt in the greatest heat of summer nor crack or break in the greatest cold. It resists moisture, and a roof painted with it need not be gone over again for four or five years.
Common glue, 4 ounces; flour of emery, 3 ounces, and just lampblack enough to give an inky color to the preparation. Dissolve the glue in3/4quart of warm water, put in the lampblack and emery, stir till there are no lumps, then apply to the board with a woolen rag smoothly rolled. Three coats should be given.
Place a vessel of lighted charcoal in the room and place on it two or three handfuls of juniper berries; shut the windows, chimneys, and doors and twenty-four hours afterward the room may be opened, when it will be found that the sickly, unwholesome smell will be gone. Another very simple method is to plunge a handful of hay into a pail of water and let it stand in the newly-painted room.
To remove dry paint or hard putty make a saturated solution of caustic of potassa with water. Apply to the paint with a swab. After a short time it will be easily removed.
Logwood chips8ounces.Copperas1/2ounce.Lampblack1/2ounce.Water, sufficient.
Logwood chips8
Copperas1/2
Lampblack1/2
Boil the logwood for 30 minutes in a gallon of water, and then add the copperas and lampblack. Apply to the wood hot, giving a number of coats. In varnishing ebonized wood a little drop black must be added to the varnish or it will give a brown shade.
A brilliant and uniform rose color can be imparted to wood and vegetable ivory by chemical precipitation, as follows: The first bath consists of 8 parts of potassium iodide to 100 parts of water. The second bath is prepared by mixing21/2parts of corrosive sublimate with 100parts of water. Immerse the wood for a few hours in the first bath, then place it in the second, in which it will acquire a beautiful rose color. Varnish the wood after drying. Both baths can be repeatedly used without renewing them.
Mix 2 parts by weight of catechu, 1 part of caustic soda, and 100 of water. The best wood to use is white wood, and after the article is finished it is boiled in the stain for several hours, rinsed, and dried. The length of time in boiling depends upon the depth of color desired. This is a very deep and natural stain.
To coat wood with a substance as hard as stone apply the following mixture while hot with a brush:
Lime40parts.Resin50parts.Linseed oil4parts.
Lime40
Resin50
Linseed oil4
Spermaceti oil95quarts.Melted tallow20pounds.Neat’s foot oil41/2quarts.Pitch1pound.Rosin3pounds.
Spermaceti oil95
Melted tallow20
Neat’s foot oil41/2
Pitch1
Rosin3
Melt the rosin and pitch together, add the other ingredients, and heat all in an iron vessel until all moisture is driven out, and the heated mass ignites from a burning chip of wood held over it; the flame is at once extinguished by a close-fitting lid.
In using the method for saw blades, they are first heated in a suitable furnace and then placed vertically, teeth upward, in troughs filled with the mixture. After sufficient cooling they are taken out and wiped with a piece of leather so that only a slight film of fat remains. They are then placed flat over a coal fire until the coating of fat ignites, which may burn as freely as required for great hardness. Screws, or other articles which require a less degree of hardness, are dipped into the hot mixture and brought to a white heat.
Resin2pounds.Tallow2pounds.Black pitch1pound.
Resin2
Tallow2
Black pitch1
Melt together and dip the steel in the mixture when hot.
Anoint the article all over with tallow, temper it in a gentle charcoal fire, and let it cool itself; or take a little clay, cover your iron with it, and temper in a charcoal fire.
It is not generally known that burnt steel may be almost instantaneously restored by plunging it while hot in cold water and hammering it with light strokes on the anvil, turning it so as to hammer all over it, again dipping in the cold water, and repeating the hammering process as before. Try again if you do not succeed the first time.
Rock saltpeter1/4pound.Oil vitriol1/4pound.Water1gallon.
Rock saltpeter1/4
Oil vitriol1/4
Water1
Dissolve the saltpeter in the vitriol and add it to the water. After scarfing the steel get it hot; and quench in the preparation. Then weld the same as a piece of iron, hammering it very quickly with light blows. It answers the purpose much better than borax. Cork it in a bottle and it will keep for years.
Another:
Borax15parts.Sal-ammoniac2parts.Cyanide of potassium2parts.
Borax15
Sal-ammoniac2
Cyanide of potassium2
Dissolve all in water, and evaporate the water at a low temperature.
Cover your steel with melted beeswax, and when cold make a hole in the wax with a fine-pointed needle or other article the size of the hole you require; put a drop of strong nitric acid upon it, and after an hour rinse off and apply again. It will gradually eat through.
By means of carbolic acid a hole1/4of an inch in diameter has been drilled through1/2inch thickness of cast-iron with a carpenter’s brace.
Take your ferrule, lap round the “joining” a small piece of brass wire, then wet the ferrule, scatter on the joining ground borax, put it on the end of a wire, and hold it in the fire till the brass fuses. It will fill up the joining and form a perfect solder. It may afterward be turned in the lathe.
Cut a piece of a tin-foil the size of the surface to be soldered, then pass over the surface a solution of sal-ammoniac, place the tin-foil between the pieces, and heat over a lamp or fire until the foil melts. Instead of the solution of sal-ammoniac equal parts of water and hydrochloric acid saturated with zinc can be used just as well.
Pour in a little mercury, agitate it over the interior surface of the barrel, and pour it out again. The mercury will amalgamate the lead and remove it.
Saleratus4ounces.Water1quart.
Saleratus4
Water1
Dissolve the saleratus in the water. Boil the old files or rasps in this solution for half an hour. Then take out, wash, and dry them. Next stand them in a jar, filling it up with rain water and sulphuric acid in the proportion of water, 1 quart; sulphuric acid, 4 ounces. Coarse files should remain in the bath twelve hours and fine ones two or three hours less. Take them out, wash them clean, dry quickly and thoroughly, and rub them with sweet oil to prevent rusting.
Another method, though not so effectual, is to pour a few drops of benzole upon the file and brush thoroughly with a scratch brush.
This is such a simple and cheap way of mending tinware that a person with just a bit of ingenuity can do his own work in this line. Take a vial about two-thirds full of muriatic acid and put into it little bits of sheet zinc as long as the acid will dissolve them. Then put in a crumb of sal-ammoniac and fill up with water and it is ready for use. Wet the cork in the vial and with it wet the edges of the place to be mended. Then put a piece of sheet zinc over the hole and hold a lighted candle or spirit lamp under the place, which melts the solder on the tin and causes the zinc to adhere without further trouble. Do not forget to wet the zinc also with the solution.
Put the razor blade for half an hour in water to which has been added one-twentieth of its weight of muriatic or sulphuric acid, and after a few hours “set” it on a hone. The acid acts as a whetstone by corroding the whole surface uniformly.
Moisten flour of emery with tallow or sweet oil.
Scratch the glass around the shape you desire with the corner of a file or graver; then having bent a piece of wire the same shape heat it red-hot and lay it upon the scratch, and sink the glass into cold water just deep enough for the water to come almost on a level with its upper surface. It rarely fails to break perfectly true.
Barium sulphate3ounces.Ammonia fluoride1ounce.
Barium sulphate3
Ammonia fluoride1
Acid sulphuric, a sufficient quantity to decompose the ammonia fluoride and making the mixture of a semi-fluid consistency. It must be prepared in a leaden vessel. It can be used with a common pen, but must be kept in bottles coated inside with paraffine, beeswax, or gutta-percha, with rubber stoppers.
Any hard steel tool will cut glass with great facility when kept freely wet with camphor dissolved in turpentine. A drill-bow may be used, or even the hand alone. A hole bored may be readily enlarged by a round file. The ragged edges of glass vessels may also be thus easily smoothed by a flat file. Flat window glass can readily be sawed by a watch-spring saw by aid of this solution. In short, the most brittle glass can be wrought almost as easily as brass by the use of cutting-tools kept constantly moist with camphorized oil of turpentine.
Nitrate of silver (crystals)1/4ounce.Cyanuret potassa1/2ounce.Prepared Spanish whiting1ounce.Pure rain water21/2ounces.
Nitrate of silver (crystals)1/4
Cyanuret potassa1/2
Prepared Spanish whiting1
Pure rain water21/2
Mix all together in a glass vessel, and it is ready for use. Thoroughly clean the article from all grease and dirt (see polishing preparations, page12), and apply with a soft rag or brush and polish with a chamois skin.
Chloride of silver1ounce.Pearlash3ounces.Common salt11/2ounces.Whiting1ounce.
Chloride of silver1
Pearlash3
Common salt11/2
Whiting1
Powder and mix the articles thoroughly. This is excellent in silvering brass and copper articles. Clean the surface of the article, as in the preceding preparation, and apply the mixture by rubbing on with a cork or piece of soft leather moistened with water and dipped in the powder. Afterward the metal should be well washed in hot water and wiped dry.
Gold amalgam1/2ounce.Nitro muriatic acid1ounce.Alcohol2ounces.
Gold amalgam1/2
Nitro muriatic acid1
Alcohol2
Dissolve the amalgam in the acid and then add the alcohol. Thoroughly clean the article to be plated and apply the solution with a soft brush. Rinse and dry in sawdust or with tissue paper and polish with chamois skin.
To a solution of chloride of zinc 5 or 10 per cent strong add enough nickel salt to give the usual color of nickel bath. Cleanse the articles and put them in the solution for from1/2to 1 hour.
An American has discovered a beautiful alloy, which has been most successfully applied as a substitute for gold. It is composed of pure copper, 100 parts; pure tin, 17 parts; magnesia, 6 parts; tartar of commerce, 9 parts; sal-ammoniac, 3.6 parts, and quicklime, 1.6 parts. The copper is first melted, then the lime, magnesia, sal-ammoniac, and tartar are added, little at a time, and the whole is briskly stirred for about half an hour, so as to mix thoroughly, after which the tin is thrown on the surface in small grains, stirring until entirely fused. The crucible is now covered and the fusion kept up for about thirty-five minutes, when the dross is skimmed off, and the alloy found ready for use. It is quite maleable and ductile, and may be drawn, stamped, chased, beaten into powder, or into leaves, like gold leaf, in all of which conditions it is not distinguishable from gold even by good judges, except by its inferior weight.
Combine by fusion 1 part pure copper, 24 parts block tin,11/2parts pure antimony,1/4part pure bismuth, and 2 parts clear glass. The glass may be omitted save in cases where it is an object to have the metal sonorous.
The teeth, through negligence and ignorance, receive less attention among the majority of people than any other subject of a personal character. The care of children’s teeth is very important, and if parents do not post themselves in the matter frequent visits to a skilled dentist should in their case be imperatively enforced, as well as upon the older members of the family.
The first teeth of the infant are called the deciduous ormilkteeth, and are twenty in number—ten in each jaw. These twenty teeth are as follows: Eight incisors, four in each jaw—the four being composed of two central and two lateral incisors—also four canine or cuspid teeth, two in each jaw, and eight molars, four in each jaw—the molars being called first and second molars, indicating their relative positions as well as the periods of their eruption (commonly called cutting). It is generally recognized among physicians that all diseases of children are more difficult to treat during dentition than before or after. It is well enough for parents to recognize this fact in administering medicines to their children. Although the time of eruptions of the teeth differ with different persons, yet the following table gives a close approximation:
Deciduous Teeth.Permanent Teeth.(The lower generally precede the upper by two or three months.)First molars5 to 6yearsCentral incisors6 to 8yearsLateral incisors7 to 9yearsCentral incisors5 to 8monthsFirst bicuspids9 to 10yearsLateral incisors7 to 10monthsSecond bicuspids10 to 11yearsFirst molars12 to 16monthsCanines11 to 12yearsCanines15 to 20monthsSecond molars12 to 14yearsSecond molars20 to 36monthsThird molars17 to 21years
It would be difficult indeed to condense in so short a space so much practical information from a reliable source as has been given in the following prize essay on the teeth, which was awarded by the Dental Society of Philadelphia:
1st. Cleanse your teeth once, or oftener, every day. Rinse the mouth after eating. Cleansing the teeth consists in removing every particle of foreign matter from around the teeth and gums.
2d. To cleanse use well-made brushes, soft quill, or wood toothpicks, an antacid styptic tooth wash, and precipitated chalk. If these means fail apply to a regular dentist.
3d. Avoid eating hot food. Thoroughly masticate the food, and well salivate it before swallowing.
4th. Parents ought to carefully attend to the child’s second dentition. Prevail upon your children to visit, at frequent intervals, a careful and skillful operator.
5th. Remember that four of the permanent double teeth come in at the age of six years. They are very liable to decay early, are very large, and should never be allowed to require extracting.
6th. Never allow any one to extract a tooth or dissuade you from having them filled unless absolutely necessary.
7th. Carelessness and procrastination are responsible for a large proportion of teeth that are lost.
The teeth were never intended to take the place of nut-crackers nor to rival scissors in cutting thread. The teeth must be taken care of or your health will suffer.
Remember, a clean tooth would not decay in a hundred years.
Precipitated chalk4ounces.Powdered cuttle-bone2ounces.Powdered orris root11/2ounces.Powdered borax1/2ounce.Oil of cloves5minims.Oil of wintergreen2fluid drachms.
Precipitated chalk4
Powdered cuttle-bone2
Powdered orris root11/2
Powdered borax1/2
Oil of cloves5
Oil of wintergreen2
Mix the powder thoroughly, and with a small portion add the oils and mix them until in the form of a moist powder. Then add the rest of the mixed powders gradually until all are evenly distributed throughout. A solution of carmine can be added in with the oils, which will color it as desired.
Some prefer a preparation in the form of a paste, as follows:
Precipitated chalk4ounces.Powdered areca nut1ounce.Powdered quillaya bark (or soap root)1/2ounce.Powdered cuttle-bone1ounce.Powdered borax1/2ounce.Powdered orris root4ounces.Tincture of myrrh1/2ounce.Oils of nutmeg, cloves, and bitter almonds,each15minims.Oil of rose5minims.
Precipitated chalk4
Powdered areca nut1
Powdered quillaya bark (or soap root)1/2
Powdered cuttle-bone1
Powdered borax1/2
Powdered orris root4
Tincture of myrrh1/2
each15
Oil of rose5
Honey, glycerine, and mucilage acacia equal quantities of each sufficient to make into a paste of the desired consistence. First mix the powders and color with carmine, and then add the other ingredients and thoroughly mix.
Mouth washes are a valuable addition to the toilet as they assist to harden and heal the gums, cleanse the mouth and purify the breath.