Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Bronze

BRONZE, a metallic compound of copper and tin, to which zinc and other substances are sometimes added. It is hard, brittle, sonorous, and specifically heavier than the metals of which it is composed.

M. Tillet, in his memoir concerning the ductility of metals, observes, that in bronze the colour of the copper is totally disguised by that of the tin, even though the proportion of the former be four-fifths to that of the latter. This compound is much more fusible than copper alone, and less liable to be covered with verdigrise.

From the properties here enumerated it appears, that bronze is well calculated for the casting of bells, cannons, statues, and other works exposed to the air and weather.

Bronze-colour, in imitation of the metal, is much used by the colourmen of Paris, who prepare two sorts of it, namely, the red bronze, and the yellow or golden: the latter is made solely of the very finest and brightest copper-dust; the former is prepared of the same material, by adding a small proportion of well pulverized red ochre. Both are applied, with varnishes, to the outside of substances, as gold leaves are in gilding. But, to prevent it from turning green, the bronzed work should, as soon as laid on, be carefully dried over a chafing-dish.