Underhand and Upright Joints.

BEFORE preparing the ends of pipes for joining together, well straighten and round up the pipes. Rasp off and feather the outer edge of the inner pipe, and scrape off the fringe or burr formed upon the inner edge by the rasping. Open the end of the outer pipe with a tan-pin (whether a large pipe or small one) for the inner pipe to enter it 1/4 in. or 3/8 in., without any contraction of the bore, and rasp off the outer edge. In "soiling" the ends of the pipes, soil over the interior end of the inner pipe (the parts brightened in cleaning off the edge formed by the rasping), to prevent the solder tinning upon it and running through to the inside in making the joint.

2. Having decided upon the length of the joint, and allowed for the entrance (3/8 in.) of the male end, scribe the shaving-line round the pipe with the point of one of the legs of a pair of compasses, the point of the other leg being kept parallel with it, and drawn round upon the smooth surface of a piece of board, or held against the blade of a large saw placed tightly against the end of the pipe.

3. In making underhand joints, i.e., joints to pipes fixed horizontally or at a slope, pour the solder upon the soiled parts of the pipes at the edges of the shaving, as well as upon the jointing, to make the pipes hot. [Some joint-makers prefer to pour the solder through a hole made in the lip of a ladle; but a better stream can be poured over the lip, with care and practice, as much or little can be poured just where it is wanted.] Pour the solder on very rapidly all round the jointing, conducting it to the under-part from both sides by letting it fall upon the cloth. In collecting the solder upon the jointing, and roughly forming it into shape, keep working it round and round the pipes, remembering that the solder has ever a great tendency to fall away from the underside, especially in the making of large joints. When sufficient solder has been formed upon the jointing, take the well-heated and well-cleaned iron and heat up the solder to a good consistency for wiping, draw the iron quickly round the underside, first on one edge and then on the other, and wipe the lower half, pressing well upon both edges in the wiping. Keep on wiping, and as you wipe keep the iron just in front of the cloth, bringing the ends of the wiping together somewhere on the upper part of the joint, to make a good and clean finish. In the case of small joints, when sufficient solder has been roughly formed upon the jointing, take the iron (unless you are a very expeditious joint-wiper, and can make the joint better without an iron) and rub it round upon the solder, first on one edge of the jointing and then on the other; then take the solder off upon the solder-cloth and heat it up into the form somewhat of a sausage-roll, place the middle part of the solder quickly against the underside of the jointing, and turn up first the outer half upon the ends of the pipes, and then pull up the inner half, and wipe the joint as expeditiously as you can, heating up the edges and the solder with the iron as required.

Fig. 38.   View of an Underhand Joint.

Fig. 38. - View of an Underhand Joint.

4. An upright joint is a soldered joint connecting two pipes (or two pieces, as a piece of brasswork and a piece of lead pipe) fixed in a vertical position. In fig. 42 two ends of 3 1/2 in. pipes are shown ready for making the joint. The ends of the pipes were soiled and tinned upon the bench before the pipes were fixed in their places. The pipes are brought out 2 or 3 in. from the wall, or a small hole is cut round the sides and back of the pipe (as shown at my, in fig. 44) for the ladle and the hand to go round the pipes to make the joint.

The edge of the outer pipe is well closed upon the end of the inner pipe to prevent the possibility of any solder running through the jointing to form a spur, or any such like evil inside the pipes. Some plumbers prefer not to close in the edge of the outer pipe. With a quick joint-maker this would make the better joint, as the solder between the two pipes would be of great value, but with slow and inexperienced plumbers the solder would be liable to run through and form spurs and ribands inside.

It must be evident to the most casual observer, that to make a joint in such a position, a great deal of solder will be wasted if means are not taken to catch the droppings of solder and falling pieces from the joint. Plumbers know this well enough, but do not always take the best means for saving the solder. They place pieces of board or slate round the pipe; or they tie some rags, or a wisp of straw, about the pipe, and catch the solder in this rude way; and, when the joint is made, they spend more time in picking off and picking up the solder than they did in making the joint.

5. Instead of building up or improvising a rough means for catching solder when making joints on vertical pipes, a proper instrument should be used, and this is very readily made and attached to the pipe, and with such means not a particle of solder need be wasted. Figs. 39 and 40 show pieces of lead cut with circular holes in the centre to suit two sizes of lead pipes. Fig. 40 shows the collar turned up, and clipped. These pieces of lead are called collars; they can be cut out of 5 lb., 6 lb., or 7 lb. remnants of lead to suit the various sized lead pipes. They should be kept well soiled all over, edges and all, to prevent the solder adhering to them.

Fig. 39.   Lead Collar.

Fig. 39. - Lead Collar.

Fig. 40.   Plan of a Lead Collar when turned up.

Fig. 40. - Plan of a Lead Collar when turned up.

With a well-arranged set of collars, which should be kept ready for use in all large jobs, a man ought not to take more than a minute or two in selecting the right collar, and fastening it upon the pipe, just where it is wanted, about 2 in. below the bottom edge of the joint, as shown at d, fig. 42. To secure the collar in its position upon the pipe, all that the plumber wants to do is to pull the collar tightly round the pipe and turn the points (b, fig. 39) one over the other to clip them, as shown in fig. 40, and d, fig. 42. He should then sprinkle a pinch of dust - which he can easily pick up in a building within a stride or two - to cover over any small space or opening which may be left between the collar and the pipe. As shown in fig. 42, the collar, when on the pipe, forms a dish for catching the falling solder. There is this additional advantage with such an arrangement, that the solder collecting in this dish keeps the pipes hot, thereby facilitating the making of the joint.

6. To make an upright joint, unless the plumber is well skilled in pouring with the ladle upon his cloth, he wants a splash-stick (illustrated in fig. 41) for splashing the solder upon the pipes. These splash-sticks are made of wood or iron, about 6 or 7 in. long, l 1/4 in. wide in the spoon part, and 1/8th to a 1/4 in. thick. With care, there is no fear of the iron scratching the pipe, for the edges are well rounded. When the stick is made of wood, the smoke is apt to get into one's eyes, and interfere with the perfect sight just when it is most wanted.

Fig. 41.   Splash Stick.

Fig. 41. - Splash-Stick.

7. In making an upright joint, splash the solder well upon the upper part of the jointing, round and round, at a little below e e, fig. 42; keep pulling up the solder from time to time with the splash-stick from the lower part of the jointing to the upper part, for the solder collecting in the dish will keep the lower part well heated. Splash on the solder rapidly, remembering that speed is the soul of joint-wiping, and roughly form the joint with the splash-stick. Then take the iron in one hand and the solder-cloth in the other, rub the iron over the solder, and pat it into its place with the cloth; then draw the hot iron right round the upper edge of the jointing, at the back, following it closely with the cloth. Do the same at the bottom edge, and then change hands with the cloth and iron, and treat the front half in the same way, and the joint is made. Before leaving the spot, and while the iron is still hot, rest it in two or three places upon the solder collected on the collar; pull the melting solder into the ladle, and the rest of the collected solder on the collar will then come away in sections, without waste or damage to the pipe.

8. An overcast joint is simply a wiped joint overcast with an iron, to (a) re-melt the surface of the joint and fill up the cellulose solder, caused by the coldness of the wiping; and (b) to remove superfluities, and fill up deficiencies; but no good joint-maker, in this advanced age of plumbing, needs any such aid to make his joint either sound or true. Directly the joint is wiped, and while the solder is still hot, the neck-part (or, in some cases, the point) of a hot iron is drawn up and down, or forwards and backwards, over its surface, forming it into a ribbed joint, or giving it a large number of facets, as shown at b b b, fig. 43. Any form of wiped joint can be overcast with the iron, upright, underhand, block, or branch; but overcasting is rarely done now, except to joints upon service-pipes under very great pressure, and to joints on copper pipes, and in brewery work, where great strains are put upon them.

Fig. 42.   View of Upright Jointing, READY FOR MAKING.

Fig. 42. - View of Upright Jointing, READY FOR MAKING.

Fig. 43.   View of an Overcast Joint.

Fig. 43. - View of an Overcast Joint.