Pirotechnia

by Vannoccio Biringuccio, Cyril Stanley Smith, Martha Teach Gnudi

Overview

Originally printed in 1540, this classic work on the field of metallurgy marked the beginning of a true technological literature.

Biringuccio's Pirotechnia is the earliest printed work to cover the whole field of metallurgy. Originally printed in Venice in 1540, this was the first book to deal with the applied metal arts and processes of ore reduction and to describe the techniques which had been in development since the bronze age.

Written by a master craftsman in a time when knowledge was kept alive by the spoken rather than the written word, this classic marked the beginning of a true technological literature, with both craftsmanship and science united by a writer's pen to form a record of an important facet of man's achievement as a stimulus to further advance. After the publication of the Pirotechnia, many followed Biringuccio's example, and as a result of this growing literature of technological practice and experimental fact, science eventually became the concern of the educated man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262520171
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	03/15/1966
Series:	The MIT Press
Pages:	508
Sales rank:	399,482
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Cyril Stanley Smith is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and author of A Search for Structure: Selected Essays on Science, Art, and History (MIT Press paperback).

Table of Contents

"BOOK ONE - EVERY KIND OF MINERAL, IN GENERAL"
Preface
Chapter
I The ore of gold.
2 The ore of silver.
3 The ore of copper.
4 The ore of lead.
5 The ore of tin.
6 The ore of iron.
7 The practice of making steel.
8 The practice of making brass.
BOOK TWO [THE SEMIMINERALS]
Preface
Chapter
I. Quicksilver and its ore.
2 Sulphur and its ore.
3 Antimony and its ore.
4 Marcasite and its quality.
5 Vitriol and its ore.
6 Rock alum and its ore.
7 "Arsenic, orpiment, and realgar."
8 Common mineral salt and many other artificial salts.
9 "Calamine, zaffre, and manganese."
10 The lodestone and some of its effects.
11 "Bole, ochre, [emery], and borax."
12 Azure and green azure.
13 "Rock-crystal, gems, and other glasses."
14 Glass and other semiminerals.
BOOK THREE [ASSAYING AND PREPARING ORES FOR SMELTING]
Preface
Chapter
I "The method of assaying the ores of all metals in general, and in particular those containing silver and gold."
2 The method of preparing ores before smelting.
3 The common forms of blast furnaces and other furnaces for smelting ores.
4 The method followed in smelting ores.
5 "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."
6 "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."
7 The method of making cupeling hearths for refining silver in quantity.
8 The method of refining matte and converting it into fine copper.
9 The method of smelting litharge and reducing it to pure lead.
10 The properties of charcoal and the different kinds of it.
BOOK FOUR [THE SEPARATION OF GOLD FROM SILVER]
Preface
Chapter
I The method of making the common acid for parting old from silver.
2 The method of assaying silver containing a quantity of gold.
3 "The proper method and procedure in parting gold perfectly from silver in quantity, by means of acid."
4 The method of retrieving silver and good acid from the precipitates from acids.
5 Precautions that must be observed in parting gold from silver with acids.
6 The method of parting gold from silver by means of sulphur or antimony.
7 The method of cementing gold and bringing it to its ultimate fineness.
BOOK FIVE [THE ALLOYS THAT ARE FORMED BETWEEN METALS]
Preface
Chapter
I The alloy of gold.
2 The ally of silver with copper.
3 The alloy of copper.
4 The alloys of lead and of tin; their purity and finenesss.
BOOK SIX [THE ART OF CASTING IN GENERAL AND PARTICULAR]
Preface
Chapter
I The quality of the clay or making moulds for bronze founding.
2 "The arrangement and methods of making the moulds for bronze founding, in general."
3 The differences in guns and their sizes.
4 The arrangments and various ways that are used for making moulds for statues to be cast in bronze.
5 The arrangments and methods for making gun moulds.
6 How the cores are made for gun moulds.
7 "Methods of making the third part of the mould, called the breech."
8 The method of making the disc for holding the core.
8a The method of supporting the core in the mould at the foot of the gun
9 "Gates and vents for moulds, in general."
10 "The baking of moulds for casting in bronze, in general."
11 Necessary advice and precautions in making guns.
12 "Methods of making the moulds for bells of all sizes, and their dimensions."
13 The rule for proportioning the weight of the clapper to the size [of the bell]
14 The ways of hanging bells.
15 The method of welding [cracked] bells.
BOOK SEVEN [METHODS OF MELTING METALS]
Preface
Chapter
I The method of making reverberatory furnaces for melting metals by the flames of wood.
2 The method of melting metals in the hearth.
3 The method of melting in ladles with charcoal and bellows.
3a The method of melting metals in crucibles.
4 The method of melting in a wind furnace.
5 "The melting of bronzes and other metals, in general."
6 "The bronzes and alloyed metals for casting, in general."
7 The methods of arranging various devices for moving the bellows for urging melting fires.
8 Finishing guns and the arrangment of gun carriages.
9 Methods of casting iron for making balls for shooting with guns.
BOOK EIGHT [THE SMALL ART OF CASTING]
Preface
Chapter
I "Various methods of making powders for casting, which will receive and withstand bronze well."
2 The method of preparing the salt for making the magistery for moulding powders.
3 The methods of moulding in frames and boxes in the small art.
4 "The manner of making the powders for casting in green sand, and the method of moulding"
5 The various methods of moulding reliefs.
6 Note on some materials that have the property of making metals melt easily and run into every corner of the mould.
BOOK NINE [THE PROCEDURE OF VARIOUS WORKS OF FIRE]
Preface
Chapter
1 The art of alchemy in general.
2 "The art of distilling oils and waters, and on sublimations."
3 Necessary discourse and advice on working a mint.
4 The art of the goldsmith.
5 The art of the coppersmith.
6 The art of the smith who works in iron.
7 The art of the pewterer
8 "The manner of drawing out gold, silver, copper, and brass by beating, and making wire."
9 [The method of preparing gold for spinning.]
10 The method of removing gold from silver and any other gilded object.
11 The method of extracting every particle of gold and silver from slags of ores.
12 The procedure in making mirrors cast in bell metal.
13 The method of making shells or crucibles for melting.
14 Discourse on the potter's art.
15 Concerning lime and bricks.
"BOOK TEN [ON CERTAIN ARTIFICIAL COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS, AND THE PROCEDURES FOLLOWED IN MAKING FIREWORKS TO BE USED IN WARFARE AND FOR FESTIVALS]"
Preface
Chapter
I Saltpeter and the procedure of making it.
2 The powder that is used in firing guns.
3 The methods that are used in loading guns and shooting them accurately.
4 Subterranean mines.
5 The method of making fire tubes.
6 The manner of making metal balls [that burst].
7 The methods of making tongues of fire
8 The methods of preparing fire pots.
9 The method of making various compositions of artificial fires.
10 Methods of constructing girandoles.
"[The Last Chapter - 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."
[Appendix A Figures from other sources.]
[Appendix B Weights and measures.]
[Appendix C List of editions of the Pirotechnia.]
[Appendix D Bibliography.]