COTTON and Johnson's patent " Torch " is a very useful means of getting a good flame for making joints with a blow-pipe.

2. The " Self-acting Blowing-lamp," illustrated in fig. 3, is all that a plumber wants in many cases for melting his solder, for making small joints and for repairing jobs. For working in confined places, it is better to have the hinged wind-guards, d, made to take off. The lamp is a French invention, with some improvements made upon it in England. It is made in several sizes and used for various purposes. An upright joint, or branch joint, of any size can be made with it in from five to twenty minutes, depending, of course, upon the size of the joint and the skill of the joint-maker. Underhand joints from 1/2 in. to 2 in. are easily enough made with the heat from such a lamp, but for underhand joints upon large pipes it is not so well suited.

The lamp is not so well suited for soldering sinks and cisterns as well-heated pots of solder. For making wiped joints, etc., plumbers' solder should be run out into thin strips, say about 1/4 in. thick, 1 inch wide, and 15 or 18 in. long. This solder is quickly melted upon well-heated jointings from the flame of such a lamp. With a well-directed blast a bulb of solder is soon formed upon the pipings, and heated up to the consistency of wiping. If the joint is too large to wipe round, the cold parts can be heated up as the wiping proceeds.

Fig. 3. - Self-acting Blowing-lamp.

The lamp, a, should be filled with methylated spirit, and the wick (common lamp-cotton) should be kept well in front of the jet, E, to prevent the blast from jumping. The boiler, b, should never be more than half-filled with methylated spirit, and the safety-valve, C, should be loosened and cleaned from time to time, to prevent it sticking and bursting the boiler.

3. The "Blow-pipe" Lamp, illustrated in fig. 4, was made for my firm for a special work. It is an improvement upon some small lamps of a similar kind in use in many places. It is much liked by those who have worked with it. The lamp, a, is filled with common lamp-cotton, and this is saturated with ben-zoline. A powerful blast is obtained by blowing through the india-rubber tubing, c, which can be of any length, and which is blown by the solderer, or his mate, or it can be blown by bellows attached to the tubing, or any air-forcing machine, and the lungs of the plumber saved. The solder is melted upon the jointings as explained in the other lamps, Art. 2.

4. Briggs' patent " Solderer " is an apparatus of much more value to the plumber for making joints, etc., than either of the two lamps described in the two preceding paragraphs. A general view of the apparatus is shown in fig. 5, with the flame from the burner melting a thick stick of solder upon a branch joint. The apparatus is made in two sizes, the largest being furnished with two burners or jets, one for soldering and one for lead

Fig. 4. - Blow-pipe Lamp.

Fig. 5. - View of the Patent "Solderer." burning. The apparatus, which has been in use in my works for two or three years, has given great satisfaction. The " Solderer," partly filled with absorbent material, is charged with a small quantity of benzoline, which, mixed with air pumped into the cylinder, will supply sufficient gas to make a large number of joints, and an occasional supply, say a Pint, of benzoline, is all that is required to keep the machine in constant working condition. No evaporation takes place when out of use, as the cylinder is hermetically sealed.

5. The following description of fire-places is extracted from my book, "Lectures on the Science and Art of Plumbing." "A good fire-place is essential where a large amount of soldering is wanted - if it is to be expeditiously done. In jobbing work, where the plumber cannot use a modest stove in the house, he prefers going to the devil - a well-known fire-grate - rather than go into the kitchen for his heat, to be sent to such a quarter by the cook. The heat in kitchens is generally too great for men with 'metal' to stand it. If the plumber happens 'to be without a devil' - a position ' devoutly to be desired,' I should say, by others as well as plumbers - he can easily make a fire-place with a few bricks.

"A plumbers' stove is shown in the view which heads Chapter I (Plumbers' Tools)., and it is a great improvement on the old firegrate. But the plumber, especially the jobbing plumber, can, if he chooses, be independent, in a large majority of cases (except in new buildings), of fire-places, pots, ladles, and irons, and I recommend him to take up his independency in this matter by using lamps," described in Arts. 2 and 3, or the patent " Solderer," Art. 4.