[Illustration: Casting Lead.]
In trades connected with building, the work of the Plumber is of so much
importance that it must come next to that of the Bricklayer, and the
Carpenter. At one time the Plumber (who takes his name from the Latin
word for _lead_[2]) was principally employed in making leaden roofs of
churches or large public buildings and in forming casements for windows;
window frames being then made of strips of lead soldered or riveted
together and holding the little diamond-shaped panes of glass between
their edges. In those days all the water used in the house was carried
from the well or from the conduit in the main street, or was brought in
casks set upon wheels from the nearest running stream: while rain-water
for washing was collected in tubs or vats as it ran off the roofs. Not
much more than a century ago the poets wrote of the misery of the streets
of London on a wet night, when there were no waste pipes to carry off the
rain from the overcharged gutters on the tiles, and nobody could venture
out of doors without being half drowned by the sudden discharge of a
shower bath from some overhanging gable. Then, as there was no proper
system of pipes for carrying off the wet, there was very little drainage
except by means of open gutters, and the bye-ways, as well as some of the
principal thoroughfares and large houses, were extremely unhealthy.
[2] Plumbum.
We are not quite perfect even yet in these respects, and there are
still neighbourhoods in London where a few Plumbers might be able to
make vast improvements; but we are a great deal better off than our
great grandfathers were. The Plumbers do not make quite so many leaden
casements as they made in the olden time, but they are well employed in
constructing roofs; carrying water into houses by means of leaden pipes;
making cisterns to contain a good supply of it, and providing other
pipes and gutters for conveying all the dirty water and drainage into
the sewers that are under the roadway, where it runs quite away from the
streets, and (in London at least) goes into the sea from near the mouth
of the Thames at Erith.
[Illustration: Ladle. Grate. Soldering Iron.]
Now as the Plumber has to do a great deal of his work in roofs and other
places where he is liable to fall, he should be clear-headed, and able to
go up a ladder or look over a ledge at a height from the ground without
being afraid, and this is all the more necessary because he has to handle
tools, and sometimes to pour melted solder out of a hot _iron ladle_
while he is at his work on these places. For the purpose of melting
the solder he has to carry his _fire grate and melting pot_ with him
to some place near where he is at work, since unless the solder can be
used rapidly it cools, and will not make a sound joint. The rest of the
Plumber’s tools are the _pouring stick_ for applying the melted solder
in the places where it is required, the _soldering iron_ which is made
red-hot, and passed over the soldered joints to smooth them and make them
all firm and sound; the _chisel_, _shave hooks_, _drawing knife_, and
_chipping knife_, for cutting the lead and scraping it on the surface,
or at the edges that are to be fastened together; the _hammers_ and
_mallets_ for beating the lead into shape and flattening the ridges, the
_bossing mallet_ and dresser for bringing the sheet of lead to a proper
shape, and forming it over the ridge of a roof, the _chased wedge_, the
screw-driver, the _dunring_ and the _turnpin_ for various uses in making
roofs, laying down leaden pipes and fixing taps, and the _sucker hook_
used in repairing or fixing pumps when the part of the pump called the
sucker requires to be rectified.
[Illustration: Pouring Stick. Chipping Knife. Dunring. Drawing Knife.
Chased Wedge. Shave Hook. Turnpin. Shave Hook.]
There are other tools beside these, such as planes for making the surface
of the lead smooth and even, gouges and centre-bits for circular openings
in the lead to receive nails or clamps, measuring rules and compasses,
and pads of carpet or cloth to hold under a pipe when it is being
soldered, that the solder may be pressed round the joint before it cools,
and without its dropping on the ground.
[Illustration: Mallet. Hammer.]
Plumbers now buy their sheet lead as well as their leaden pipe at the
warehouses, but those in a large way of business formerly cast the lead
themselves. For this purpose they used a casting table, which is a great
wooden bench about six yards long and two yards wide, made of smooth
planks, and with a raised wooden frame round the edge. On this table the
Plumber spreads a layer of finely-sifted sand, which was made level by
a strike—a flat piece of wood with two handles—drawn from end to end of
the table; after this the surface was made still more smooth by a planer,
which was a flat plate of copper fastened to a handle.
[Illustration: Sucker Hook. Screwdriver. Dresser. Bossing Mallet. Chisel.]
A trough called the pan ran along the whole length of the table, and into
this the melted lead was poured from the melting pot. There were two ways
of making the sheet lead: one of them was to tilt the trough up, and
pour out the lead on to the table, two men immediately passing a wooden
strike over it so as to spread it evenly over the whole surface. In this
case the thickness of the sheet of lead depended on the distance between
the edge of the “strike” and the surface of the sand. Another way was
to have a narrow opening all along the bottom of the trough, the trough
itself moving from end to end of the table as the lead flowed out. When
this method was used the thickness of the sheet depended on the size of
the opening, and the rapidity with which the trough was moved along the
table. Neither of these methods are now used, the lead being rolled into
sheets by machinery.
Water-pipes are made by lead being cast in moulds with a steel rod
passing through their middles, according to the size required. The lead
is poured into the space between the rod and the mould. After it is
cool the rod is drawn out by machinery, and the mould which is made in
halves is opened and the pipe taken out. The pipe is then much thicker
and shorter than is required for use, but it is afterwards drawn between
powerful iron rollers with grooves cut in their surfaces, an iron rod
being again placed inside it. As these grooves gradually decrease in
size, and the pipe is drawn through several, it is very considerably
lengthened, and at the same time diminished, in thickness, by the time
the operation is finished. Another method of making lead pipes is by the
use of the _forcing pump_, which pumps the melted metal out of the boiler
into a mould containing a “mandril,” or pipe of the required size. Pipes
made in this way do not require to be rolled.
[Illustration: Forcing Pump.]
The work which the Plumber is called upon to do on the roofs of houses
requires experience before it can be properly performed. The foundation
of the roof which is to be covered with lead is made either of boards or
plaster, so that the surface may be even, and if it be of boards they
must be thick and well seasoned to prevent their warping. The foundation
slopes a little in order to carry off the rain towards one end. When the
roof is so large that it needs two widths of lead, there are three ways
of joining the edges of the lead together: one is by fastening to the
roof long slips of wood (flat at bottom and round at top) at the places
where the lead will be joined. Over these strips the edge of the first
sheet of lead is folded and hammered down quite close, then the edge of
the second sheet is folded and hammered over that, so that water cannot
get between them. This is called “rolling.”
Another method is to bring the two edges up just as though they were
to be sewn together, then to fold them tightly one over the other, and
hammer them down: this is called “overlapping,” but it is not so good as
rolling for keeping out the rain.
The third way is to _solder_ the edges together: the solder, which is in
constant use by the Plumber, being a metal made by mixing lead and tin
together. These two metals when mixed adhere very strongly to the lead
that they are meant to join, and the surface to which they are applied
is made hot enough to unite with the solder by means of the soldering
iron, while very often a little resin, borax, or tallow is placed on the
surface of the lead to cause it to combine more rapidly with the molten
metal.
Besides the fixing of roofs the Plumber makes leaden cisterns, fixes
rain-water gutters, and waste pipes, and arranges taps and drains; and
in some of these operations he will use zinc instead of lead. Not the
least important part of his business, however, is the construction and
arrangement of pumps, and for this purpose it is necessary that he
should study mechanics, and those branches of science which refer to the
properties of water, and to the laws which govern the air and other
fluids. He is always the best workman who goes to his business with a
knowledge of the natural laws and scientific facts connected with it, and
a very little study will save a world of blundering; during which the
ignorant man will remain a labourer, because it takes him half a lifetime
to learn his business.
[Illustration]