Plumbers' Tools
1. Copper-bit—hatchet shape.
2. Copper-bit—straight.
3. Hammer.
4. Cold-chisel.
5. Screwdriver.
6. Coupling-plyers.
7. Wire-plyers.
8. Ladle.
9. Soldering Cloth, different
sizes, used to suit size of joints.
10. Pocket-knife.
11. Foot-rule.
12. Gouge.
13. WoodChiseL
14. Awl or Brog.
15. Chalk-line.
16. Set-wedge.
17. Iron Bending Pin.
18. Chipping-knife.
19. Small Shears or Snips.
20 and 21. Rough and Smooth Rasps.
22 and 23. Rough and Smooth Files.
24. Tompion or Pipe "Widener—boxwood.
25 and 26. Flat and Round Dres-
27. Wood Mallet.
28. Shave-hook.
29. Soldering-iron.
30. Solder-pot.
31. Pothook.
32. Spirit-level.
33. Saw.
34. Callipers.
35. Smudge-pot and Brush.
36 and 37. Stone Chisel and Batting-iron.
38. Plane.
39. Compasses.
40. Square.
41. Bossing-pin.
42. Looking-glass.
43. Turnkey.
At the side of the fire is seen a pail, generally kept nearly full of water for cooling the handle of the soldering irons. In the middle of the floor stands a plumber's chaffer, and beside it on the floor are lead and solder ingot moulds. A vice is seen attached to one end of the bench, while on it lie several tools, including a gasoline blower B, for soldering with independent of a fire, a copper hatchet bit, shears, plane, dresser, and screw-wrench. On the wall are seen dies for screwing brass pipes, and purchase tongs, and also set of wood mandrels from 1J in. diameter to 6 in. diameter, also two iron stop-cock keys.
Fig. 5 shows a plumbers lead-burning machine used for joining two pieces of lead together with lead in place of solder. This machine consists of two principal parts, viz., the atmospheric air-pump and the hydrogen gas generator.
The former is a cylinder fully 4 ft. high and 1 ft. diameter. It is made say of No. 19 galvanized sheet iron, with a water-tight division across its centre. From the bottom of this division a pipe l£ in. or so in diameter is suspended as indicated at K, while another and smaller pipe J about | in. in diameter is led up as shown, to act as an air-pipe from the hand force-pump p. When the pump P is to be worked the top division of the cylinder w is nearly filled with water. This water runs down into the lower space y through the pipe at K. When the pump p is worked the atmospheric air is blown into the division Y arid so presses up the water into the upper receptacle w. This water in w then tends to regulate the pressure of the air delivering through the air-pipe J and india-rubber pipe L to the forked junction pipe A B. H is a stop-cock for regulating and stopping the air passing up through the pipe J.
The hydrogen gas generator stands about 3 ft. 6 in. high* and is in three divisions or compartments. It is made of wood and has the upper and lower compartments lined with sheet lead. The seams and pipe junctions are burned, not soldered.
The bottom is made of heavy sheet lead. The zinc is put in through the 4-in. trap-screw opening T. I is a wooden plug. After the zinc is put into the lower chamber and the trap-door T closed, water and sulphuric acid, in the proportion of fully two-thirds of the former to one-third of the latter,* are put into the upper chamber, from whence they flow by the 1 in. or 1J in. pipe E into the lower chamber, when hydrogen gas is generated which gets into the small lead box or safety chamber N, in the middle, with its divisional tongue D, through the pipe and stop-cock c. The hydrogen gas then passes on through the f-in. india-rubber pipe R to one side of the fork B, when the gas pissing through the stop-cock B meets with the air passing through the stop-cock A at the pipe M, to which is attached the india-rubber tube and nozzle plumbers' tools.
For light work a small nozzle is used, for heavy lead, a larger sized one.
When too much liquid has condensed in the safety-box N it can be let off by unstopping the short pipe x. When doing so the cock c should be shut and any light or flame held away from x in case of explosion. The stopper at x may be a half coupling with the hole in the ring filled up.
When putting the water and sulphuric acid into s A compartment, open the cock c to let air out from the z z compartment, so that the liquid may get down. Then shut cock c. When the gas has been generated it forces the liquid back up into the s A chamber. When using the air-hydrogen blow-pipe for joining lead, the edges of the lead should be shaved bright and the thin narrow strip of lead used in place of solder should also be shaved clean and bright. The jet tube is held in the light hand, the lead strip in the left. For practice the india-rubber tubes L and R are much longer than in Fig. 5 to allow for moving about. After using the machine the saturated liquid should be drawn off, by taking out the plug at I, to prevent deposit.
The slope D is to allow a rest for the lead used in the burning. A good workman, however, can burn the seam quite vertically, as at V, Fig. 6c, the seam being kept a foot or so back from the corner to give the man room to work. In Figs. 6, 6a, and 6c, the lead is shown overlapped. In many schedules this overlap is stated to be an inch and a half. In Fig. 6b, the lead is shown edge to edge at the seam.
In patching some men simply lay the lead patch against the other lead forming the vertical walls of the chamber, and burn all round the laid-on patch. In other cases a less skilled burner will make a slit horizontally in the main sheet lead for his patch to slip through an inch or so, and so 'he gets a rest for his seam along the bottom of the vertical patch.
The saturated acid should not be left lying in the bottom compartment z z, but should be drawn off through the pipe I after each service of the machine in order to prevent deposit inside of sulphate of zinc.