Washington Paper - A Device for Sampling Pig-Iron

The device here described has been found useful in sampling foundry-iron, and there is no reason why it should not be equally useful in sampling other metals, which are not too hard to be drilled with a breast-drill. It consists, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, of an ordinary plumber's gas T (without bead) of about 1/2-inch in internal diameter, over the leg of which is snugly fitted a small tin cup, about If inches deep, to catch the drillings which are made by use of a breast-drill with a 1/4-inch twist bit, working through the arms of the T. The forward arm of the T is filed down to a blunt edge, over which is stretched a short piece of rubber tubing projecting a little beyond the end. The bottom of the inside of the front arm of the ? is filed down to a slope, to facilitate the passage of drillings into the tin cup. The rear arm of the T is fitted with a tin ring, projecting about 1/4-inch, for the purpose of holding in place a stiff spiral brass spring, which serves to press the sampler firmly against the metal to be drilled. The other end of the spring is supported against a shoulder of the breastdrill. The projecting rubber prevents the loss of any drillings, and also the falling of sand from above into the sampler. With ordinary care there need be no risk of getting particles of rubber into the sample. It is, of course, not possible to get a fair average sample of drillings, representing a pile of foundry-iron, by taking drillings from any one or two pieces, because of the frequently mixed character of the iron. This observation applies more particularly to the sampling of iron as it is broken and piled at the foundry, than to sampling at the works, where, if the furnace is working regularly, a few pigs may fairly represent a whole cast. By the use of this device, it is possible for a sampler to pass