Non-iron metallurgy

The non-iron metallurgy is one of the oldest production knowledge mastered by man; it is far older than the iron metallurgy. The documentation of production, processing and testing (probing) of gold and silver is concentrated in the fund of geology and mineralogy. The collection of non-iron metallurgy is not too large but important. It provides a partial documentation of production and processing of lead, antimony, aluminium, zinc, tin, copper, nickel and some of their alloys. The collection is based on non- ferrous metals as collections of raw materials and semi- products after forming and products in the form of rods, sheets and profiles. Interesting from the technical point of view is the model of Pattison furnace for separating lead from other metals. Main parts of the collection are castings from aluminium alloys for aeronautical and car industries. Of a particular historical value is the pharmacy bronze mortar from 1689. Interesting from the developmental point of view are the original and a perfect metal model of the pressure casting machine for casting objects from non- ferrous metals. They were made according to the patents of Ing. Polak who made, through his inventions and his own production activities and export of casting machines in the 20s and 30s, a great contribution towards world-wide spreading of this today common technology.


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Josef Petrik , iso@ntm.anet.cz