The New Student's Reference Work/Bronze

Bronze (brŏnz), an alloy of copper and tin. It is harder than copper but less malleable. It was long used by the ancients for weapons and utensils, and is now widely used for statues, machinery and cannon. It is also used for parts of telescopes. In making bronze, the metals are melted separately, and then poured together, stirred and turned into molds. The many varieties of bronze have different proportions of the metals, and lead, zinc and silver are sometimes added. Bell metal has seventy-eight parts of copper and twenty-two of tin. Cannon metal has much more copper. The temperature of the alloy when poured and the rapidity of cooling also have an effect on the quality of the bronze. Copper and aluminum also produce an alloy called bronze.