Useful Information for Practical Men

tomgears · **Posted:** Fri Dec 04, 2015 11:44 pm

I stumbled upon this book on Google Books, published in 1908 by the DuPont Company, it is a glimpse of how things were done and has a nice little section on light locomotives. The section on recipes is pretty fascinating.

https://books.google.com/books?id=iZ4NA ... en&f=false

From a historical standpoint, it gives a little glimpse as to how things were done and perhaps enough information on some pretty obscure practices to help guide further research.

philip.marshall · **Posted:** Fri Dec 04, 2015 11:56 pm

What an interesting book! Thanks for posting this.

However, the section on light locomotives appears to have been lifted directly from the H.K. Porter catalog.

softwerkslex · **Posted:** Sat Dec 05, 2015 6:01 am

The link says "no ebook available". How are your reading this?

scottychaos · **Posted:** Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:29 pm

softwerkslex wrote:

The link says "no ebook available". How are your reading this?

when you click the link in the first post, the entire book is right there on that page.

Scot

philip.marshall · **Posted:** Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:32 pm

I wonder if it could be a copyright issue. The book is in the public domain in the US, but perhaps Google is blocking users from the EU?

70000 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 05, 2015 1:29 pm

Can't view it from the UK either - "No e-book available" comes up, but there is a link to someone who will sell you a (reprinted) copy for £24.99........

Guess it might be a Country based Copyright, based on your IP address.

I have the same problem with music videos on YouTube as well !

tomgears · **Posted:** Sat Dec 05, 2015 2:06 pm

I put a copy on my google drive. You can link it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6r-wY ... sp=sharing

70000 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 05, 2015 4:22 pm

tomgears wrote:

I put a copy on my google drive. You can link it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6r-wY ... sp=sharing

Many thanks - looks like some interesting stuff in there to browse through.

tomgears · **Posted:** Sun Dec 06, 2015 1:18 pm

Here is a snippet from the booklet. I think railroaders will find it interesting. I've not ever heard of some of the ingredients. How about "all it to cool to blood heat", what a great term lost to time. I'm thinking of living history and the gears are turning.

tomgears · **Posted:** Sun Dec 06, 2015 9:25 pm

Here are some recipes for various cements. Perhaps someone will find them useful.

Bob Hall · **Joined:** Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:37 am **Posts:** 151

Wonder how many of those ingredients one could actually buy these days!

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu Dec 10, 2015 10:16 am

Virtually all of them. In many cases, they're using old terminology for common (well in chemistry and industrial usage!) supplies. "Litharge," for example, is basically lead oxide ore in its natural form.

Just a quick check revealed you can order a 2-pound bag of oxalic acid for $8.70 at Amazon, along with an ammoniac block (used for tinning soldering irons in jewelry-making) for $9.99...........

sleepermonster · **Joined:** Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:57 pm **Posts:** 100

I have come across the rust joint cement in practice. I am one of a team restoring a War Department austerity saddletank, which has an inside cylinder block made with two halves bolted together. When we cleaned this down we found two copper or brass plugs set into the middle seam towards the top and bottom of the seam and ground off flush.

The halves were cast with a pair of grooves which were then packed with a mixture of iron filings and sal ammoniac and plugged, in order to seal the joint between the faces. The block has a manufacturers hydraulic test certificate.

I don't know if this was common british practice in 1944; the Austerities were very basic engines, very strongly built.

Tim