Show electroplating electro plating at home many families among the middling classes of our countrymen are fully capable of appreciating the convenience and cleanliness of a silver fork or spoon but the co costliness Winess miness of the article keeps it beyond their reach the plated goods wear ont oat and become exceedingly shabby in a few years and und the substitutes for silver although cheap are objectionable on several grounds they look took especially the superior kinds of them that is called instance wonderfully well when cleaned up but the impurity or rather of the ilia merald of which they are composed renders them liable to the influence of or tile the atmosphere so that they tiley soon tarnish and cover themselves with a thin pellicle of metallic oxide which both destroys their beauty and renders thenn them unwholesome if used without great pre pro cautious cau ion lon tiou iou they form nevertheless most excellent asea ases haves hages for plating upon and it is our object in this paper to give gire such plain directions as will enable anyone any one of the smallest intelligence to convert them to all practical intents and purposes into ilver silver at a very moderate nn co cost st and with very little trouble hitherto the clasa class of persons for whose special benefit wo we write have llave looked upon the process of electroplating electr electro 0 pla pia plating ting ling and gilding as oue one of those subjects with w which 1 i 1 1 except as a matter of admiring wonder they had nothing whatever to do it has been a my mystery tery in their eyes only belonging to tiie the laboratory of the chemist of the capitalist but hut as we oan can explain tile the operation is 13 so simple that a child or a handy servant may be easily diu taught ht how to perform it as well aa as the most eminent chemist although alu AlL hough it is not absolutely necessary to the performance of the operation we shall allow ourselves or to offer a brief explanation of its principle as an interesting piece of information to those who may desire it if you take a piece of zinc and plunge it into a solution of salt in water or acid it is decomposed that is a new substance is formed gradually by athe tile tiie union of the salt with the zinc this is chloride of zinc and in tile the act of its formation eli elf electricity is evolved if we coi col rive rire to pass this el electric current through a solution of gold or silver in such euch a way as that the object to be plated cr er git gilt glit should act as a eon son conductor ductor for it or what is called the positive side the metal held field in solution in the form of a soluble salt will be re metal lazed and precipitated upon that object in such a way as to cover it over with a perfectly even cven coat coal of silver or gold the tile thickness of this coat depends entirely on the will of the operator it is altogether without a theoretical limit as the die precipitation will go on if allowed to do so until all the metal contained in the bath ia is exhausted this is the principle of the art and we shall now proceed to show allow j its s application in the easy and economical mode at a t which w ich we have ourselves arrived after much experience the processes which we recommend are different en 1 tc cording according as they are applied to silver or to gold we shall confine ourselves here silver as by far the most important for domestic purposes there are few houses in which bits of or old silver may riot cot be found in some shape or other oilier when euch can be had it may be worth while converting them into tile the salt required the process s consists in dissolving the silver first broken as ekmali small as can be done in concentrated nitric acid this shoud should be done with precaution as the fumes furies which arise are highly injurious it is well weli to do it in lle ile tile lie open air and by all means in a glass vessel a common water glass for instance and to keep to the windy gide eide the acid ba be strong otherwise it may be necessary to boil it a highly objectionable proceeding on sanitary grounds As soon as the silver is all dissolved a strong solution of common salt must be poured into the ye resel sel sei which contains it there is no danger of putting U eting in too much of this and the best plan is to fit lf up the vessel with it at tit once A white powder will immediately be formed and fall to the bottom when the ilia liquor should be poured off into another vessel say a common de decanter canter and aud more alt ait a it and water added to it for the purpose of ascertaining whether it has lost all its ila silver if a second precipitation takes takee place the liquid must mast be poured off as before and thrown away tile tiie white powder is then washed was lied by pouring po urina fresh water on it give five or six times letting it settle each time after being agitated fora for a few seconds seco lids this white powder is the chloride of silver which is a metallic salt golu bleill in certain cartain alkaline solutions so supposing posing that two ounces outlets of silver user uses have been beill used we shall require thirty six ounces of yellow of potash which should be in readiness dissolved in four quarts of soft water waters to this the poder powder of silver should ba be added without delay dehy as it suffers from liht light and the whole gently ge boiled over a clear fire for about twenty minutes or half li alfun un hour the tile boiling may be done with perfect success and baud convenience as well as safety in in any clean tin vessel or copper newly t tinned failed w which ilch lich is large enough to hold hoid the quantity but as the liquid is poisonous the greatest care must be taken flat ilat fiat the tha vessel is thoroughly washed and scoured afterwards and we recommend to finish tivit that process by boiling in it a solution of sods when the boiling is completed tile the liquid will present a muddy appearance and it will be belter better to pour the tile boiled liquid into one or more jugs jogs or other vessels and after letti ietti ngit settle a few 1 hours to pour the clear liquor into clean bottles for use the liquid thus obtained is tile the silver solution or bath which may be used for plate plating ng ye we shall now endeavor to explain tile the mode of using as us well as forming the electric current in practice this may be done in many waysl ways but i we shall point out two only each of which is to be recommended under certain conditions if the operator has lias time to spare and is in haste to get the plating done the simple pi is the best if lie can only attend to the llie process at long intervals ter vals a modification of what is called I damello Da mells pile is to be recommended the simple pile is by taking a tube oi of glass say tile tiie neck of a bottle tying strongly a piece of wet bladder on oil one end and adjusting to the other a bit of tin till or zinc which will give it a hold on the tiie edge of the tile vessel in which the tiie plating is performed this tube Is filled with salt and ard water ater and the bladder end is plunged into the silver solution contained in a new tin vessel made expressly for this use and of a tall form forin so as to allow of the complete immersion of spoons forks ac or in any other oilier of glascor glass or delft ware waro which may be found con lenient veni ent a small smail delft foot root bath is very good in the case of large objects when all is done so far a strip of sheet zinc must be put into the salt and water in the tube but it should not touch the bladder A hole muy be made ia in it al at the proper distance and a bit of wire through to sustain it oil on the tile edges of llie tile tube any one can co cut t the zinc with fill a pair of old scissors and it should have an over length of three or four inches the objects to be plated must be suspended in I 1 the tile liquid bath by bits of copper wire very tiling thin alir alil these must be connected with tiie llie zinc in the tube lube A good plan is to make a hole through the zinc and pass a bit of strong brass or copper wire through it in such a way ivay as ds to overhang over hang the bath the wires suspending the objects may be hooked oil on to this so that a metallic connection may be established between the tire objects and tile the zinc which is in the salt water tube this pile usually acts quickly and the objects frequently become dead white while in a few ini minutes and if left so will take lake on a rough coat of silver instead of a smooth one oae it is necessary therefore to watch closely and when wilen the dead appearance comes oil on to remove the object and rub it up with polish powder very nine fine and a bit of cloth or chamois leather this done donet it must be placed again T in the bath and the lle ile lie process repeated repented until it is judged to be sufficiently plated tile tiie exact quantity laid on can only be known by liing fling the objects before and after r plating and continuing until the desired weight ia is obtained we should say that for large spoons and forks the ilia weight of a dime each should be laid on each ounce 0 of f silver employed contains ten such quantities A much smaller quantity of silver than this his t will last a long time and it may perhaps be more convenient to renew it afterwards than to go on to the extent we have mentioned but as asa a rule it may be recommended to plate alabata or argentine ia in that proportion the latter r metal rieta I 1 which is 13 wonderfully cheap consil considering ering its beauty answers admirably for our purpose and we should never think of rising any other we shall shail how now briefly describe our very inex pensive substitute for Da damelis mells melis plis pils we take a versel vessel say a campot which holds a quart and nearly fill it with a saturated solution of sulphate 0 of f co copper in this liquid we ye plunge the tube lube with salt and water aud and zinc just as described above for the silver bath we suspend on the other side of thelam pot and in the solution a piece of c copper 0 the size of a common penny piece by a soft copper or brass wire about a foot long thu tha wire may be bent in such a way as to hiten on tile tho edge of the vessel and keep the penny ponny suspended to the other end of this wire we attach a piece of silver the size of a dollar piece and suspend it in the silver solution but so 66 that the ane copper wire may not be immersed the proper way is to pierce pierr e holes in each and pass the wire through close to ilie llie edges the next thing is to suspend the objects b by wi before in the silver solution and connect conny t them with the zinc of the pile which is in the tile other vessel they will then plate the difference between this pile pilla and the other is is that to tho operation goes on much more slowly and consequently with far greater c convenience 0 for those whose time is precious es as the apparatus may be left all night or all day dayi without removing and polishing the objects it is sufficient to do this mornin morning gand gaud and evening the plating is generally of a better color and quality in this way although where convenience dictates its use the rill first plan lan ian described answers all practical purposes the piece of silver plunged in the bath as we have just described is electrically dissolved and the bath retains its strength at the expense of the anode Y as it is ter termed nied its waste is also a ome some go gulde guide ld 1 e to the quantity laid on it being understood that what one loses is a gained by the other brass and copper lend lead themselves so easily to silvering that all till that is necessary is to take care that they are clean and bright by being rubbed up tripoli or some such material nater natverlal lal ial but with respect to those imitations of silver of which we have hare spoken as the best beat to operate on they do not bot especially when new nev take the plating so readdy it is indispensable if they tiley are new to remove altogether the shop sur tur surface face and we effect this by fine emery paper and we then wash the object in a ion lon of potash and quickly plunge I 1 it in the bath after the object has been about a minute in the bath it should be taken out and well wiped with will a linen or calico rag jag an abu abundant jdant supply of will which le ii is indispensable and then replaced when it is quite white that is when it is fully but lightly plated it may be put ta iff use for ten days or a fortnight in that case if the ilia metallic adhesion is not perfect it will show itself by the tile silver scaling off and the loss will be quite hi infinitesimal if it a wear and daily rubt rubi ing inc it may bo be considered safe and plated up to any desired weight |