[Sca-cooks] Bells and their Casting was Cast Iron pots??

[grizly]

I'm curious to ask what is this "EB printed relatively close in time to its
casting" and why does it holds more value describing the bell alloy than the
actual metellurgical analysis done on the actual metal samples from the
Liberty Bell.  Definitely not a homogenous alloy according to their
findings, but that does seem to offer a pretty solid description of the bell
metal composition that would be more sustainable than a reference entry on
general composition of alloy?  I am just missing something with the EB here.

niccolo difrancesco


-----Original Message-----
Was written:

That's as may be; the Liberty Bell contains, as per

http://home.att.net/~honorAmerica/libertybell/history/
bellfacts.htm#DetailedComposition

Material % Composition
Copper 64.95 - 73.10
Tin 24.00 - 30.16
Lead 1.30 - 5.47
Zinc 0.25 - 1.65
Iron 0.00 - 0.87
Silver 0.14 - 0.26
Antimony 0.08 - 0.18
Arsenic 0.19 - 0.42
Gold 0.02 - 0.06
Nickel 0.00 - 0.28>>>>>>>>>


The metals of significance are probably copper, tin, lead and zinc as
according to my Volume III of the EB, published in MDCCLXXI,

<SNIP>

Thus my understanding is that the L bell was made, per the EB printed
relatively close in time to its casting, of bronze which was formulated
presumably by mixing copper and common pewter.  The hit of antimony suggest
that there might have been an admixture of some of the less commonly
formulated pewter in the melt as well.  Brass of the period, again per my
EB, does not have lead or zinc in the mix but just copper and tin.  Bronze
was cast but not worked, i.e. hammered cold as it was brittle.  Brass was
worked cold and in some formulations heated.  I'm uncertain regarding the
casting of brass as found in funeral brasses of that time period.

Daniel