In London, it is the favorite plan to make bends without cutting them.
Fig. 46. It is done by taking a length of pipe, and, just where you
require the bend, lay it (_with the seam at the side_) upon a pillow,
made by tightly filling a sack with sand, wood shavings, or sawdust;
have some shavings ready to hand and a good lath, also a short length
of mandrel about 3 ft. long and about ½ in. smaller than the pipe, and
a dummy as shown at A B, Fig. 56. Now, all being ready, put a few
burning shavings into the throat of the bend, just to get heat enough
to make it fizz, which you can judge by spitting on it. When this heat
is acquired withdraw the fire, and let the laborer quickly place the
end of the mandrel into the pipe, and pull the pipe up while you place
a sack or anything else convenient across the throat of the bend, then
pull the pipe up a little, just sufficient to dent it across the
throat. Now, with a _hot_ dummy, dummy out the dent, until it is round
like the other part of the pipe. Keep at this until your bend is made,
occasionally turning the pipe or its side and giving it a sharp blow
on the side with the soft or hornbeam dresser; this is when the sides
run out as in Fig. 37. Never strike the back part of the bend from
inside with the dummy, but work the lead from the throat to the back
with a view to thickening the back.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.]