How A Bronze Statue Is Cast

The oasting of a large piece in bronze is a delicate operation, requiring care and artistic skill. The making of a piaster mould froin the original model, then a piaster figure from that mould, and finally from the figure a sectional mould into which to run the metal, requires many weeks of skilled labor. The element of luck enters largely into the culminatiiig attempt tocast, as flaws in the metal often cause failures, iniposing weeks of additional labor. The large box called a " flask," contiining the mould, clamped firmly with iron, was let down with a crane into a oavity, and flowed over, so that only a funnel protruded. This was close to a brick furnace, in which the bronze was heating over a great roaring fire. The metal, as it was slowly converted into liquid, was closely observed by the foreman. A glimpse through an aperture showed it boiling furiously like water, and so hot that an iron bar stuck into it became red almost instantly. When the iron could be withdrawn without any bronze clinging to it, the compound wrs deemed ready. An immense metal bucket attached to a powerful crane, was swung under the end of a spout, the furnace was tapped and a molten stream ran out. Kparks fiew in every direction, faces were shielded hastily trom the heat, the dusty piaster images of Frankliu, the Vanderbilt bas relief and other relies of previous jobs were made to glow. The bucket was nearly filled, a turn of the crank took it over the flask, and the liquid was, by tipping the bucket, poured into the mould, from which the suddenly heated air rushed through the vent pipes with a noise ike eseaping ateam. Some of the bronze slopped over and set fire to the wood floor, and the water that quenched the blaze made so much steam that nothing could be seen for five minutes. The casting was perfect.