Research Catalog

Title

The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio Biringuccio, translated from the Italian with an introduction and notes by Cyril Stanley Smith & Martha Teach Gnudi. Publication sponsored by the Seeley W. Mudd memorial fund.

Author

Biringucci, Vannoccio, 1480-1539?

Publication

New York, The American Institute of mining and metallurgical engineers, 1942.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Smith, Cyril Stanley, 1903-1992
• Gnudi, Martha Teach, 1908-
• American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Fund.

Description

xxvi, 476 pages, 1 leaf including frontispiece, illustrations, diagrams; 28 cm

Series Statement

Seeley W. Mudd series

Uniform Title

Seeley W. Mudd series.

Subject

• Mineral industries > Early works to 1800
• Metallurgy > Early works to 1800
• Metal-work
• Precious metals > Metallurgy
• metalworking
• Precious metals > Metallurgy
• Metal-work
• Metallurgy
• Mineral industries

Genre/Form

Early works

Note

• The frontispiece is a facsimile of the title-page of the first ed.: De la pirotechnia ... [Venetia, V. Roffinello] MCXL.

Bibliography (note)

• Bibliography: p. [462]-465.

Contents

• EVERY KIND OF MINERAL, IN GENERAL: The ore of gold -- The ore of silver -- The ore of copper -- The ore of lead -- The ore of tin -- The ore of iron -- The practice of making steel -- The practice of making brass -- THE SEMIMINERALS: Quicksilver and its ore -- Sulphur and its ore -- Antimony and its ore -- Marcasite and its quality -- Vitroil and its ore -- Arsenic, orpiment, and realgar -- Common mineral salt and many other artificial salts -- Calamine, zaffre, and manganese -- The lodestone and some of its effects -- Bole, ochre, emery, and borax -- Azure and green azure -- Rock crystal, gems, and other glasses -- Glass and other semiminerals -- ASSAYING AND PREPARING ORES FOR SMELTING: The method of assaying the ores of all metals in general, and in particular those containing silver and gold -- The method of preparing ores before smelting -- The common forms of blast furnaces and other furnaces for smelting ores -- The method followed in smelting ores -- The method by which lead, silver, and gold are separated from copper when they are all in one mass resulting from the smelting of ores or otherwise -- The method of refining silver on the cupel, the arrangement of weights, and the method of finishing the assay of gold and silver more skillfully -- The method of making cupeling hearths for refining silver in quantity -- The method of refining matte and converting it into fine copper -- The method of smelting litharge and reducing it to pure lead -- The properties of charcoal and the different kinds of it -- THE SEPARATION OF GOLD FROM SILVER: The method of making the common acid for parting gold from silver -- The method of assaying silver containing a quantity of gold -- The proper method and procedure in parting gold perfectly from silver in quantity, by means of acid -- The method of retrieving silver and good acid from the precipitates of acids -- Precautions that must be observed in parting gold from silver with acids -- The method of parting gold from silver by means of sulphur or antimony -- The method of cementing gold and bringing it to its ultimate fineness -- THE ALLOYS THAT ARE FORMED BETWEEN METALS: The alloy of gold -- The alloy of silver with copper -- The alloy of copper -- The alloys of lead and of tin; their purity and fineness
• THE ART OF CASTING IN GENERAL AND PARTICULAR: The quality of the clay for making moulds for bronze founding -- The arrangement and methods of making the moulds for bronze founding, in general -- The differences in guns and their sizes -- The arrangements and various ways that are used for making moulds for statues to be cast in bronze -- The arrangements and methods for making gun moulds -- How the cores are made for gun moulds -- Methods of making the third part of the mould called the breech -- The method of making the disc for holding the core -- The method of supporting the core in the mould at the foot of the gun -- Gates and vents for moulds, in general -- The baking of moulds for casting in bronze, in general -- Necessary advice and precautions in making guns -- Methods of making the moulds for bells of all sizes, and their dimensions -- The rule for proportioning the weight of the clapper to the size of the bell -- The ways of hanging bells -- The method of welding cracked bells -- METHODS OF MELTING METALS: The method of making reverberatory furnaces for melting metals by the flames of wood -- The method of melting metals in the hearth -- The method of melting in ladles with charcoal and bellows -- The method of melting metals in crucibles -- The method of melting in a wind furnace -- The melting of bronzes and other metals in general -- The bronzes and alloyed metals for casting in general -- The methods of arranging various devices for moving the bellows for urging melting fires -- Finishing guns, and the arrangement of gun carriages -- Methods of casting iron for making balls for shooting with guns -- THE SMALL ART OF CASTING: Various methods of making powders for casting, which will receive and withstand bronze well -- The method of preparing the salt for making the magistery for moulding powders -- The methods of moulding in frames and boxes in the small art -- The manner of making the powders for casting in green sand, and the method of moulding -- The various methods of moulding reliefs -- Note on some materials that have the property of making metals melt easily and run into every corner of the mould
• THE PROCEDURE OF VARIOUS WORKS OF FIRE: The art of alchemy in general -- The art of distilling oils and waters, and on subliminations -- Necessary discourse and advice on working a mint -- The art of the goldsmith -- The art of the coppersmith -- The art of the smith who works in iron -- The art of the pewterer -- The manner of drawing out gold, silver, copper, and brass by beating and making wire -- The method of preparing gold for spinning -- The method of removing gold from silver and any other gilded object -- The method of extracting every particle of gold and silver from slags of ores -- The procedure in making mirrors cast in bell metal -- The method of making shells or crucibles for melting -- Discourse on the potter's art -- Concerning lime and bricks -- ON CERTAIN ARTIFICIAL COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS AND THE PROCEDURES FOLLOWED IN MAKING FIREWORKS TO BE USED IN WARFARE AND FOR FESTIVALS: Saltpeter and the procedure of making it -- The powder that is used in firing guns -- The methods that are used in loading guns and shooting them accurately -- Subterranean mines -- The method of making fire tubes -- The manner of making metal balls that burst -- The methods of making tongues of fire -- The methods of preparing fire pots -- The method of making various compositions of artificial fires -- Methods of constructing girandoles -- Concerning the fire that consumes without leaving ashes, that is more powerful than any other fire, and whose smith is the great son of Venus.

LCCN

43001117

OCLC

• ocm03942024
• 3942024
• SCSB-309464

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library