The Legacy of Investment Casting
Investment casting, the process used at Hitchiner
Manufacturing to produce intricately detailed nearnet-shape castings, is one of the oldest and also the
most modern of the metallurgical arts. Hitchiner
employs the latest scientific advances in CADCAM design and manufacturing, automated
systems, conveyorization, robotics, countergravity
casting techniques and other innovations to
produce the highest quality investment cast parts
available today.
Hitchiner castings are at work in the fiery combustion chambers of jet aircraft, in the subzero vacuum of space, on the world's streets and highways and in a myriad of other
applications. Yet, the root of this technology, the cire perdue or "lost wax" process dates
back many thousands of years. The artists and sculptors of ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia, the Han Dynasty in China, and the Benin civilization in Africa used the
lost wax method of casting to produce their intricately detailed artwork of copper, bronze
and gold.
It is remarkable that the art of lost wax casting was
so widely known in ancient times. It is not an easy
process and calls for considerable skill in its
execution. The Aztec gold-smiths of preColumbian Mexico used the lost wax process to
create much of their elaborate jewelry.
Unfortunately, few examples of this work survived
the plunder of the conquistadors. Countless
masterpieces were melted down into gold bars to
enrich the Spanish treasury. The quality of the few
pieces which have survived demonstrate a mastery
of the process which must have taken many years of trial and error to develop. Accounts
of the methods used are provided in the book by Friar Bernardino de Sahagun, who spent
60 years in an intensive study of Aztec Mexico. Each step in the process, which is
described and illustrated in his writings, was told to him by the Indians themselves.
Some of the finest remaining examples of pre-Columbian Mexican casting were
discovered in the 1930s at Monte Alban, the sacred mountain of the ancient Zapotecs
near the city of Oaxaca. Many gold artifacts found there were decorated with wirework
presumably made by dipping threads into melted wax and applying them to the beeswax
pattern prior to casting.
In the city of Benin, now a part of Nigeria, brass smiths
continue to produce lost wax castings using a method
passed down through the ages from one generation to the
next. A study of their methods provides a living example
of the early history of the investment casting process.
The brass casters at Benin begin with a core of clay
kneaded into a mass. They shape the clay into the
approximate size and shape of the article to be made.
These cores are then allowed to dry thoroughly in the sun for several days.
The brass smith creates a pattern for the casting by covering one of these cores with
beeswax and carefully modeling it into the exact shape desired. Thus, each casting is a
unique hand formed work. When the wax form is finished to the artist's satisfaction, it is
covered in a thick coating of clay. Sometimes the cores are made to be self supporting, in
other cases small pins are used to keep the core centered. The first layer of clay is applied
as a very fine slip. Before the pattern is fully sealed in this coating, a thin roll of wax is
added to form a channel into which the molten metal will be poured. Subsequent layers of
a thicker clay are added, gradually investing (covering) the form completely, creating a
mold. This mold is allowed to air dry thoroughly.
When a batch of molds have been created and are ready for casting. they are placed in a
fire and heated so that the wax will melt and can be poured off. The clay molds are
further heated to a point where they are sufficiently fired to permit the pouring of the
molten metal without causing the shell to burst. Meanwhile, pieces of brass are melted in
crucibles on a nearby forge fire. The fire on the force is stoked by a manually operated
bellows.
Immediately prior to the pour, the molds are taken from the fire and placed upright in
spaded earth. A crucible of metal is taken from the forge with long tongs and the molten
brass is poured into the open mold. The brass smith holds a wooden stick in his other
hand during the pour and places it on the edge of the crucible to help insure a smooth
flow of metal into the shell. Soon after casting, the molds are broken open, the shell
knocked off and the final object is cleaned, filed and polished. Benin lost wax castings
can be found in museums throughout the world.
Shortly after the dark ages in Europe, the
industrious sculptor and goldsmith, Benvenuto
Cellini began to make use of the lost wax method
of casting. He learned this process from the
writings of the monk Theophilus Presbyter (circa
1100) whose Schedula Diversarum Artium is the
earliest known foundry text. In Cellini's
autobiography, considered to be one of the classics
of literature, he describes in great detail the casting
of his famous Perseus and the Head of Medusa.
This three and a half ton statue was completed in
1554 and was unveiled at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy, where it stands to this
day.
The investment casting process has been used in the arts by many civilizations for
countless centuries. Not only was this process in use, but it was developed to a high
degree of excellence, as is attested to by many beautiful and finely detailed statues,
jewelry and artifacts from antiquity.
This technique was largely ignored by modern industry
until the dawn of the twentieth century, when it was
"rediscovered" by the dental profession for producing
crowns and inlays. The first authenticated record of the
use of investment castings in dentistry appears in a paper
written by Dr. D. Philbrook of Council Bluffs, Iowa in
1897. However, the true significance of this process was
not realized until the research of Dr. William H. Taggart
of Chicago was published in 1907. Dr. Taggart not only
developed and described a technique, he formulated a
wax pattern compound of excellent properties,
developed an investment material and even invented an
air pressure casting machine.
During World War II, with urgent military demands
overtaxing the machine tool industry, the art of
investment casting provided a shortcut for producing near net shape precision parts and
allowed the use of specialized alloys which could not be readily shaped by alternative
methods. The investment casting process was found practical for many wartime needs-and during the postwar period it expanded into many commercial and industrial
applications where complex metal parts were needed. It was in this period that the
Hitchiner Manufacturing Company was founded at the Amoskeag Millyards of
Manchester, NH.
The solid mold technique was first utilized because a technology to successfully remove
the wax patterns from a shell without causing it to collapse, crack or burst had not yet
been devised. In the solid mold technique, a wax sprue was placed in a steel casing and
surrounded by a setting slurry. The drawbacks of the solid mold technique were
extremely long pre-heat, size limitations and poor dimensional tolerances.
The first successful shell technology was the Mercast Process, which used solidified
mercury as a pattern material. Mercury patterns were very heavy but extremely accurate.
This was a very difficult process as all pattern production and shell building had to be
done at temperatures below minus 39 degrees Celsius--the melting temperature of
mercury! This process is no longer used due to high costs and the health hazards involved
in handling this toxic element.
The first shell process utilizing wax patterns was developed in England and was known
as the Investment X Process. This method resolved the problem of wax removal by
enveloping a completed and dried shell in a vapor degreaser. The vapor permeated the
shell to dissolve and melt the wax. Some measure of success was also found using flash
firing methods. Hitchiner developed a wax elimination tank containing hot liquefied
reclaimed wax into which a shell would slowly lowered. The wax would melt out due to
the transfer of heat to the solidified pattern material. The advent of the steam autoclave
for dewaxing shells made these earlier techniques obsolete. In the autoclave, highly
pressurized steam rapidly melts the surface of the wax patterns before the bulk of the wax
is heated and can expand.
One of the recent major advances in casting technology occurred at Hitchiner
Manufacturing Co. when, in the early seventies, the first of its exclusive countergravity
casting processes was patented.
Over 4,000 years ago, between the Tigrus and Euphrates Rivers in a land known as
Mesopotamia, ancient artisans produced idols and ornaments using natural beeswax for
patterns, clay for molds and manually operated bellows for stoking furnaces. Today,
precision components for spacecraft and jet engines are investment cast using the latest
advances in computer technology, robotics and countergravity casting techniques. The
future of the investment casting process is very bright, in part due to the research and
development commitment of Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc., the General Motors
Corporation and their joint venture company, Metal Casting Technology, Inc.
Benvenuto Cellini
Born: 1 November 1500, Florence
Died: 14 February 1571, Florence
BENVENUTO CELLINI was one of the enigmatic, larger-than-life figures of the
Italian Renaissance: a celebrated sculptor, goldsmith, author and soldier, but also a
hooligan and even avenging killer.
The son of a musician and builder of musical instruments, Cellini's first major
brush with the law came as an early teenager: He was banished from his native
Florence for his alleged role in a brawl. As a result, he received his early artistic
training not only from the Florentine goldsmith Marcone [Antonio di Sandro], but
also from Francesco Castoro, a goldsmith of Siena. After further visits to Bologna
and Pisa, Cellini was allowed to return to Florence and continue his work there.
In 1519 Cellini removed to Rome, remaining until the city's fall to the Spanish
Emperor in 1527. Among Cellini's surviving works dating to this early period in his
career is a gold medallion with carved stone inset, "Leda and the Swan," created for
Gonfaloniere Gabbrello Cesarino and now in the collection of the museum at
Vienna. Another of his patrons in the period was Cardinal Patriarch Marco
Cornaro (B-61), of the powerful Cornaro della Regina family of Venice.
If his own later account is to be believed (a choice left to the reader), Cellini played a
remarkable role in the ultimately unsuccessful defense of Rome in 1527, slaying the
Constable of Bourbon in one attack and later killing Philibert, Prince of Orange, as
well. After a brief stay in Florence, where he concentrated on producing medals
(including "Hercules and the Numean Lion" in gold repousse and "Atlas
Supporting the Sphere" in chased gold), Cellini returned again to Rome. Among his
notable works for Pope Clement VII during this period were a peace
commemorative medallion depicting the Pope, 1530, a chalice (not completed), and a
magnificent morse [button] for the Pope's cope.
Then his work was interrupted again by one of the recurrent storm clouds that
characterized his career: In 1529 he killed a man who had early killed Cellini's
brother and, in another incident, wounded a notary of the city. Celini fled briefly to
Naples but, upon the accession of Pope Paul III, returned to Rome. His stay this
time was brief, however, culminating in a dispute with Pietro Alvise Farnese, the
Pope's illegitimate son, and flight to Florence and Venice.
While at Florence he executed, 1535, a 40-soldi coin for Alessandro de Medici,
depicting the Duke on one side and Saints Cosmo and Damian on the obverse.
Fences were mended in Rome, however, and soon Cellini was back in Rome and
back in favor. There he continued to produce coins and medals for the new Pope as
he had for his predecessor. He also executed a gold prayerbook cover for Pope Paul
III to give to Emperor Charles V.
The next storm cloud was imprisonment in 1537 on a charge (perhaps false) of
stealing gems from a tiara of the Pope. Intervention by Cardinal d'Este of Ferrara
(for whom he had created a silver cup) and others brought his release, and Cellini
left Rome for the last time. His destination this time was the court of King Francis I
of France.
Five productive years followed at Fontainebleau and Paris, as Cellini produced
several of his most celebrated works, including a salt cellar (now in the museum at
Vienna) and large silver statues (subsequently lost) of Jupiter, Vulcan and Mars.
Characteristically, Cellini became embroiled in disputes with those around him and
in 1545 he returned at last to his native Florence, where he remained until his death
in 1571. At Florence Cellini created one of the most celebrated works of his long
career and one of the notable monuments of the Italian Renaissance, the bronze
figure Perseus holding the Head of Medusa. Other acclaimed statuary of the period
include Ganymede on the Eagle and a bust of Cosimo I de Medici, both now in the
Bargello Museum in Florence.
Much of Cellini's notoriety, and perhaps even fame, derives from his memoirs,
begun in 1558 and abandoned in 1562, which were published posthumously under
the title The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. As noted by one biographer, "His
amours and hatreds, his passions and delights, his love of the sumptuous and the
exquisite in art, his self-applause and self-assertion, make this one of the most
singular and fascinating books in existence."
© 1997-9, 2004 C. I. Gable
Benvenuto Cellini
From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition |
Date: 2007
Benvenuto Cellini , 1500-1571, Italian sculptor, metalsmith, and author. His remarkable
autobiography (written 1558-62), which reads like a picaresque novel, is one of the most
important documents of the 16th cent. Cellini tells of his escapades with the frankness
and consummate egoism characteristic of the Renaissance man. He was born in Florence,
the son of a musician; he studied music until his 15th year, when he was apprenticed to a
goldsmith. Banished from Florence after fighting a duel, he went from town to town
working for local goldsmiths and in 1519 went to Rome. Under the patronage of Pope
Clement VII he became known as the most skillful worker in metals of his day,
producing medals, jewel settings, caskets, vases, candlesticks, metal plates, and
ornaments. Imprisoned on false charges, he worked at the court of Francis I at Paris after
his release. He returned to Florence (1545), remaining until his death. The decorative
quality of his work, its intricate and exquisite detail, and its workmanship are typical of
the best of the period. Unfortunately, most of his works have perished. The famous gold
and enamel saltcellar ( Saliera ) of Francis I (Vienna Mus.) and the gold medallion of
Leda and the Swan (Vienna Mus.) are perhaps the best examples of those remaining. His
sculptures, most of them executed in the later Florentine period, include the colossal
bronze bust of Cosimo I (Bargello); the bronze bust of Altoviti (Gardner Mus., Boston);
the Nymph of Fontainebleau (Louvre); the life-size Crucifixion, a white marble Jesus on a
black cross (Escorial); and the renowned Perseus with the Head of Medusa (Loggia dei
Lanzi, Florence), a beautifully wrought bronze statue surmounting a marble pedestal
lavishly adorned with statuettes and carvings.
Bibliography: See translation of his autobiography by J. A. Symonds (1888; many later
editions).
The History of Silver
The history of silver is as old as the history of man. It speaks in the Bible of "Joseph,
who was rich in silver, gold, and oxen". In the pre-Christian era, in certain civilizations,
silver was considered more precious than gold. To the early Egyptians, silver had a
religious significance and was used profusely in articles of worship.
Silver can be hammered into sheets so thin that it would take 100,000 of them to stack
an inch high.
It can be drawn into a wire finer than a human hair.
It is this ductility (or ability to be formed) that makes silver the wonderful art form that it
is.
Silver can be shaped by hammering, spinning, or drawing - it can be decorated with
etching, chasing, or engraving - sterling silver is the queen of metals. There is no
substitute.
Through the centuries, the silversmith or goldsmith has, by a process of elimination,
become the most highly skilled craftsman in the world today.
In every generation the "Master Smith" would select from his apprentices those best
qualified for training necessary to make a jeweler or silversmith. The less skilled
craftsmen stayed in the "minor leagues" and became blacksmiths or bronze workers.
As only the finest craftsman in each generation became master gold and silversmiths,
this evolution through the centuries, created a tradition of excellence in both artistry and
craftsmanship which is found only in the silver field.
Silver, as we know it today, dates from the 16th and 17th Century. Prior to that time silver
was available only to the extremely wealthy nobility - or to the church.
During the 17th Century there arose a new wealthy merchant class.
The fortunes of these traders was founded on the sailing ship. As a sea captain returned
from a voyage, with the tremendous profits made, he could purchase a second vessel.
By repeating this procedure, the sea captain became a merchant prince with a fleet of
vessels at his command.
These men built great estates and furnished them with all available luxuries. We find a
tremendous amount of nautical derivation in the decorations, carvings, and silver of
these homes.
The "Gadroon" motif so prevalent in Georgian silver is obviously derived from a rope
which was a decorative treatment used on the crude wooden tables and chairs which a
sea captain might have. When the time came that his wealth permitted him to have
furniture made especially for himself, he oftentimes had the rope or "Gadroon" border
carved into the furniture. Later, when silver was made to adorn his tables, the same rope
motif was used.
The "Shell" motif found in George III items and later, is also derived from the sea, to way
nothing of the "Dolphin" which was used profusely for spouts, handles, finials, and feet
on various decorative pieces.
Prior to the 18th Century, silver was found primarily in the homes of the nobles or in the
possession of churches in the form of chalices, crosses and altar appointments. At that
time, most silversmiths were subsidized by either one of the royal households or by
some local Bishop. The new wealthy middle-class permitted a number of silversmiths to
support themselves as independent craftsman. In the early 1700's, the social revolution
and the economic development on which it was based, made the silver craftsman an
important man in his town.
In the baronial castle there was a "great standing salt" or "the ceremonial salt".
This "ceremonial salt" was placed on the great "T-shaped table" in the banquet hall in
such a way that the nobility sat at the head of the table with the Lord and Master, while
the first cousins, second cousins, third cousins, etc., dwindling away down the table to a
point of demarcation which set apart the landed gentry from the common serfs. The
"salt" was passed from here up the table, and if you sat below the salt you were not only
"not worth your salt" but you didn’t get any.
The expression "upper crust" comes from this same era in which the great crusted meat
pies were served from the top of the table on down, and obviously the "gentry" got first
choice of the crisp, flaky upper crust, and those at the foot of the table were more apt to
get the soggy under crust.
Salts and peppers still have social significance and have become one of the more
popular wedding presents, as in presenting a pair of sterling salts and peppers you are
saying "the finest people have silver salts and peppers on their tables - you are worthy of
your salt".
Jack Shepherd was not a famous early English silversmith as is sometimes supposed,
but rather was a bandit and highwayman who was hanged when he was 21 years old.
Jack Shepherd was apprentice to a cabinet maker, and until he was 17 years old, he
was a model youth. At that time, he either took to drink or was disappointed in love. In
any event, from that time on he became one of the most notorious highwaymen in
England. His greatest fame, however, was that he was a notorious escape artist. While
captured on several occasions, he always made good his escape and was known as
"the runaway" Jack Shepherd.
At this very time, (about 1701) footed silver came into vogue - both in gravy boats, salts
and peppers, bowls, coffee pots, etc. Folks jokingly said that they had legs so they could
run away like Jack Shepherd. This name has stuck to this very day.
Another illustration of interesting history behind modern design is in the long-handled
pitcher spoons which we sell today for stirring lemonade in a pitcher. These "pitcher
spoons" go back to early Elizabethan days when the long-handled spoons were
necessary to reach the mouth as the hand had to be extended out around the great
starched ruffles worn around the neck. A long-handled spoon was necessary in order to
get food to the mouth without damaging your ruffles.
It is interesting to note how tradition has influenced design in the tea service.
The coffee pot is taller than the teapot. The reason behind this is that the coffee pot was
derived from the early English tankard. The old pewter or silver tankard, which was
found in most middle-class and better homes, was often of several quart capacity and
was not necessarily reserved for a single person’s use. In most modest homes a single
tankard served all the men at the table.
When coffee was first introduced into England by the traders returning from Central and
South America, there was no vessel in the home from which it could normally be served.
It was therefore served from a tankard, but it is easy to understand how this made for
difficulty pouring.
The first converted tankards had a round pipe inserted into a hole low in the tankard
body which was bent up in an "S" shape on what we would consider the near side for a
right handed person.
This was fine for a right handed person, but if you were left handed, it’s easy to
understand how you had to pour backwards. For this reason, the spout was moved
around opposite the handle, and this became the first coffee pot.
Unlike the coffee pot, the average teapot was based on "ball shaped" teapots which
were brought back from India and China by the early traders such as Marco Polo and
those who followed him.
Many a crusader brought back tea after his years in the East and, of course, a china pot
in which to brew it.
The first silver teapots were fashioned after these low round china pots.
With the two entirely different sources of origin, the coffee pot deriving from the tankard
and the teapot from the round china pot, we can see how, over a period of years, the
tankard has come down in proportion and the teapot has evolved upwards, until today
on some of the more commercial services it is sometimes only a matter of a halt an inch
in height which differentiates between the two.
Prior to 1847, only the wealthy were able to afford table silver. The story goes that
Sheffield was discovered by a silversmith named Bulsover who worked in Sheffield in
the middle 1700's. In mending a buckle he had occasion to place a piece of copper
behind a piece of sterling silver in order to reinforce a break, and when it was red hot he
had occasion to tighten the vise which fused the two red hot metals together.
This fused plate, which we can liken to a sandwich of one slice of white and sone slice of
rye bread, obviously only used approximately one-half the amount of silver that a piece
would made of silver through and through. At first silver was fused to only one side; later
it was fused to both sides of the copper.
This Sheffield plate opened a whole new market for silver with people who had the
desire but not the pocketbooks for fine sterling. This ware was made for about 100 years
until replaced by electro-plate. Little true Sheffield exists outside museums.
The date 1847 stands as a landmark in the silver industry. The Rogers Bros., (William,
Asa and Simeon) whose names are synonymous with fine silverplate, not only had spent
several years in experimenting and in preparing for the making of silverplate but for
many years, previous to any knowledge of electro-plating, they had acquired a vast
amount of experience in the making of coin silver such as spoons and forks . . . an
experience that was to have a tremendous influence in assuring success for this new
industry.
Articles of sterling silver are solid silver through and through. Sterling is 925 parts out of
a thousand pure. We have a federal law which requires that all silver stamped "sterling"
must be 925 parts of pure silver in every thousand parts of metal. The additional 75 parts
out of a thousand are to add stiffness and durability as pure silver is quite soft.
The word "sterling" has been used to mean high-quality silver since the 1200's. At that
time, the coins of England had decreased in value and contained only a little silver.
The only European coins that contained large proportions of silver, were those made by
the merchants of the Hanseatic League, a group of trading cities in Northern Germany.
These coins were called "Easterlings" to distinguish them from the low-silver alloy coins
of England.
English speech contracted "Easterling" to "Sterling".
There is one other type of silver with which many of you will be familiar . . . coin silver.
Fine old coin silver spoons were actually hammered from individual coins prior to that
time in colonial days when silver was mined in the American colonies. In the early days,
you actually took a bag of coins to the silversmith and rather than melt and roll out fresh
metal he merely started hammering from the coins. Many of these spoons were made
from two separate coins, one for the bowl and the other from the handle, and it is
possible to see on the back that two pieces were actually joined together.
While this joining was originally merely functional, in time it was elaborated to what we
now know in antique silver as the "rat tail" design, which is a graceful tapering of the
handle on the back of the spoon.
Sterling tableware is divided into two categories called flatware and hollowware.
Flatware is the "knife, fork, and spoon" category of silver as hollowware means the
bowls, dishes, candlesticks, etc.
Sterling is the most hygienic metal known to man. It has actual germ killing properties. It
is also the most durable art form and the most economical purchase that can be made
for the home. Sterling silver grows more beautiful with the passing years, never wears
out, and can be passed along as part of a heritage that grows stronger with passing
generations.
The History of Chocolate - 1800's
1819
Francois-Louis Cailler returns from Italy where he studied chocolatemaking. He established the first Swiss chocolate factory in Corsier.
1822
John Cadbury, a Quaker who tried to convince people that drinking
chocolate was much healthier than alcohol, opens a tea and coffee
shop in Birmingham, England.
1828
Coenraad Van Houten, a Dutch chocolate maker, invents a
hydraulic press that is used to make cacao powder.
1832
Francois-Louis Cailler opens a large plant in Corsier, Switzerland.
1840
Cailler opens a second chocolate factory in Vevey, Switzerland.
Twenty years later this factory is sold to Julien and Daniel Peter who
invent milk chocolate.
1847
The first manufacturer of chocolate in England creates the first
chocolate bars. Their shop is called J. S. Fry & Sons. Not many
people liked this because of its bitter taste.
1860
John Cadbury joins with his brother Benjamin to form the Cadbury
Brothers of Birmingham. A year later the business goes to John's
sons, Richard and George.
1861
Richard Cadbury creates the heart-shaped candy box for Valentine's
Day.
1862
The Baker's Chocolate Company obtains the rights to use the
painting La Belle Chocolatiere, by the Swiss artist Jean-étienne
Liotard. The painting shows the wife of Prince Dietrichstein as a
maid serving chocolate. This was how she was dressed when the
prince first mets her. Baker's Chocolate Company will use this same
painting as their company trademark. This is one of the oldest
product trademarks in the United States.
1864
Jean Tobler begins production of handmade confections in Bern,
Switzerland.
1872
Baker's Chocolate Company begins to use the chocolate girl painting
as the company trademark.
1875
Daniel Peter figures out how to combine milk and cocoa power to
create milk chocolate.
1879
Rodolphe Lindt invents the conch. This is a machine that stirs liquid
chocolate to break down any remaining clumps. This machines
makes the chocolate smooth for the first time. Lindt calls this
chocolate fondant and labels his candy bars Lindt Surfin.
1890
Henri Nestlé dies in Montreux, Switzerland. He was the founder of
the Nestlé Company.
1893
Milton Hershey goes to the World's Colombian Exposition in
Chicago. He watches a demonstration of German-made chocolate
equipment. He likes the this so much that he buys it immediately. He
ships the equipment to his Carmel factory in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania.
1894
Milton Hershey creates his first candy bar. He also makes baking
chocolate, cocoa, and chocolate coatings for caramels.
1894
Otto J. Scholenleber starts the Ambrosia Chocolate Company in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Later he switches to making bulk chocolate
for large companies such as Hostess, Pillsbury, and Nabisco.
1896
Leo Hirschfield makes the first Tootsie Roll. He names it after his
daughter.
1897
People in England ate a record 36 million pounds of chocolate.
Europeans ate 100 millions pounds and the people from the United
States ate 26 million pounds of chocolate.
1899
Rodolphe Lindt sold his secret formula for making fondant chocolate
to David Sprüngli for 1.5 million Swiss francs. He forms a new
partnership and the company becomes Lindt & Sprüngli.
1899
Jean Tobler begins a chocolate company in Bern.
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/chocolate/history/history_of_chocolate5.htm
Tea in Britain
Tea, that most quintessential of English drinks, is a relative latecomer to British shores.
Although the custom of drinking tea dates back to the third millennium BC in China, it
was not until the mid 17th century that the beverage first appeared in England.
The use of tea spread slowly from its Asian homeland, reaching Europe by way of Venice
around 1560, although Portuguese trading ships may have made contact with the Chinese
as early as 1515.
It was the Portuguese and Dutch traders who first imported tea to
Europe, with regular shipments by 1610. England was a latecomer to
the tea trade, as the East India Company did not capitalize on tea's
popularity until the mid-18th century.
Tea shop in
Chilham, Kent
Coffee Houses. Curiously, it was the London coffee houses that
were responsible for introducing tea to England. One of the first
coffee house merchants to offer tea was Thomas Garway, who owned an
establishment in Exchange Alley. He sold both liquid and dry tea to the public as
early as 1657. Three years later he issued a broadsheet advertising tea at £6 and £10
per pound (ouch!), touting its virtues at "making the body active and lusty", and
"preserving perfect health until extreme old age".
Tea gained popularity quickly in the coffee houses, and by 1700 over 500 coffee
houses sold it. This distressed the tavern owners, as tea cut their sales of ale and gin,
and it was bad news for the government, who depended upon a steady stream of
revenue from taxes on liquor sales. By 1750 tea had become the favoured drink of
Britain's lower classes.
Taxation on Tea. Charles II did his bit to counter the growth of tea, with several acts
forbidding its sale in private houses. This measure was designed to counter sedition, but it
was so unpopular that it was impossible to enforce. A 1676 act taxed tea and required
coffee house operators to apply for a license.
This was just the start of government attempts to control, or at least, to profit from the
popularity of tea in Britain. By the mid 18th century the duty on tea had reached an
absurd 119%. This heavy taxation had the effect of creating a whole new industry - tea
smuggling.
Want to know where to get a really good "cuppa"? You could do worse than to start with
The Parlour, South Molton, Devon, which was named winner of the 1999 Britain's Top
Tea Place of the Year by the Tea Council.
Smuggling Tea. Ships from Holland and Scandinavia brought tea to the British coast,
then stood offshore while smugglers met them and unloaded the precious cargo in small
vessels. The smugglers, often local fishermen, snuck the tea inland through underground
passages and hidden paths to special hiding places. One of the best hiding places was in
the local parish church!
Even smuggled tea was expensive, however, and therefore extremely profitable, so many
smugglers began to adulterate the tea with other substances, such as willow, licorice, and
sloe leaves. Used tea leaves were also redried and added to fresh leaves.
Finally, in 1784 William Pitt the Younger introduced the Commutation Act, which
dropped the tax on tea from 119% to 12.5%, effectively ending smuggling. Adulteration
remained a problem, though, until the Food and Drug Act of 1875 brought in stiff
penalties for the practice.
Tea Clippers. In the early 1800's ships carrying tea from the Far East to Britain could
take over a year to bring home their precious cargo. When the East India Company was
given a monopoly on the tea trade in 1832, they realized the need to cut the time of this
journey. The Americans actually designed the first "clippers", or streamlined, tall-masted
vessels, but the British were close behind. These clippers sped along at nearly 18 knots
by contemporary accounts - nearly as fast as a modern ocean liner.
So great was the race for speed that an annual competition was begun for clippers to race
from the Canton River to the London Docks. The first ship to unload its cargo won the
captain and crew a hefty bonus.
The most famous of the clipper ships was the Cutty Sark, built in 1868. It only made the
tea run eight times, but for its era it was a remarkable ship. The Cutty Sark is now on
exhibition at Greenwich.
Tea Customs. Afternoon tea is said to have originated with one person; Anna, 7th
Duchess of Bedford. In the early 1800's she launched the idea of having tea in the late
afternoon to bridge the gap between luncheon and dinner, which in fashionable circles
might not be served until 8 o'clock at night. This fashionable custom soon evolved into
high tea among the working classes, where this late afternoon repast became the main
meal of the day.
Tea Gardens. The popular pleasure gardens of Ranelagh and Vauxhall in London began
serving tea around 1730. An evening of dancing and watching fireworks would be capped
by tea. The concept caught on, and soon Tea Gardens opened all over Britain. Usually the
gardens were opened on Saturday and Sunday, and an afternoon of entertainment and
dancing would be highlighted by serving tea.
Tea Shops - that oh, so British establishment, can be traced to one person. In 1864 the
woman manager of the Aerated Bread Company began the custom of serving food and
drink to her customers. Her best customers were favoured with tea. Soon everyone was
asking for the same treatment. The concept of tea shops spread throughout Britain like
wildfire, not in the least because tea shops provided a place where an unchaperoned
woman could meet her friends and socialize without damage to her reputation.
Tea and Pottery. What connection, you might be excused for asking, does tea have with
the growth of the British pottery industry? Simply this: tea in China was traditionally
drunk from cups without handles. When tea became popular in Britain, there was a crying
need for good cups with handles, to suit British habits. This made for tremendous growth
in the pottery and porcelain industry, and the prosperity of such companies as
Wedgwood, Spode, and Royal Doulton.
Note: much of the material in this article is based on the excellent "History of Tea" on the
web site of the Tea Council.
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/tea-in-britain.htm
Why is the cafe so historically important and why is it such a scandal that
so many are being allowed to die off unlamented?
The years after WW2 heralded a new spirit of optimism and national confidence
in Britain. Consumer culture became king and as a symbol of this progress and
prosperity a new Contemporary style dominated architecture and design through
the 50s and into the 60s
This was a fresh style moving on from the minimalist rigours of the Modernist
movement. It represented a new vibrancy with materials like Formica, leatherette
chrome and plastic coming to the fore. The 'streamlining' cult was especially
evident in kitchen interiors and the functional spaces of cafes.
The positivity of an age created new tastes and trends, with the cafe's Italian
styling a ubiquitous cheery symbol of national regeneration and outward
lookingness. But today you have to look harder than ever to find decent, intact
cafes with classic Formica tables, lino floors, proper seats and small cabinets of
biscuits and crusty rolls. Cafe family owners are nearing retirement age and the
children don't want to take over the business. Also many leases are coming to an
end for the central London cafes and the resale value of cafe buildings in the
property boom is too vast to ignore.
Too many have been replaced and refitted with ghastly plastic moulded interiors
devoid of atmosphere. But those that are left are national treasures.
Dating from 1802, the term café comes from the French 'café' (meaning 'coffee'
or 'coffeehouse') and the Italian 'caffe' (also meaning 'coffee'.) In 1839 'caféteria'
had been coined in American English from Mexican Spanish to indicate a coffeestore. But the café has been reinvented many times over the centuries. Here's a
brief timeline excerpted from the history section of the forthcoming Classic Cafes
book...
1600s
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The precursors to the original coffee houses were the monasteries and
inns that had offered hospitality to travellers since the twelfth century.
Expansion of urban populations during the fifteenth century led to a
profusion of 'cook shops' - notably around London's Bread Street and East
Cheap - where meal prices were controlled and the public could bring their
own pies.
The "first coffee house in Christendom" was established in Oxford in 1650
by a Jew called Jacob at the Angel in the parish of St Peter in the East.
Two years later, a Greek servant named Pasqua Rosee (see illustration
above) began running a coffee shop in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill in the
City of London. Coffee houses became such popular forums for
discussion they were dubbed "penny universities".
By 1670 the coffee house movement had overtaken - and become a key
element of - Restoration London. By the 18th century, London was
teeming with the liquid said to resemble 'syrup of soot or essence of old
shoes' and places to drink it in.
From 1675, a thousand or so coffee houses flowered during the reigns of
Charles II, Queen Anne and George I.
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By the 19th century however, coffee houses had become exclusive clubs
as a prolific press and an efficient post and transport system undermined
the function of the coffee houses as centres of communication.
1700s
 England abandoned coffee as the demands of the East India Company
to exchange its preferred stimulants pushed the domestic market into tea
consumption. But due to the success of the Dutch navy in the Pacific, tea
became fashionable in the Dutch capital.
 As the craze for all things oriental swept Europe, tea became part of the
national way of life and Dutch inns provided the first restaurant tea service
as guests were furnished with portable tea sets complete with heating unit.
 The first tea samples reached England between 1652 and 1654 and
proved popular enough to replace ale as the national drink. Tea mania
swept across England as it had earlier spread throughout France and
Holland.
1800s
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Beginning in the late 1880's in both America and England, fine hotels
began to offer tea service in tea rooms and tea courts. By 1910 hotels
began to host afternoon tea dances as dance craze after dance craze
swept the United States and England.
Through this time, the English working classes largely kept to the pub but
the 19C coffee house hadn't entirely died out. A few clung on as 'workers'
cafés', described by one contemporary as: 'dull and humble; they have
sallow holland blinds, drawn deep down behind sallow window-sashes...'
But in the 1880s the temperance movement tried to revive the coffee
house scene in an attempt to divert the working man from the perils of
drink. Modeled on the mahogany-trimmed taverns promoted by the beer
industry, 'Coffee taverns,' one pamphlet stated, 'must show there are
beverages as comforting as beer, that there are beverages to be bought
as cheap as beer.'
1900s
www.theresposh.com
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The coffee taverns were largely overtaken in the 19th century by small
establishments run mainly by Arabs, Turks, Greeks and Sicilians which
had become the haunts of 'foreigners' as well as stray 'Bohemians'.
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Soho built on its traditional French, Italian and Spanish immigrant-centre
origins as a new generations of outsiders move into London. After WW2
an influx of Italian families building on their long established catering
expertise settled in Clerkenwell (Little Italy), spread West to Soho and
eventually expanded all over the capital and the country.
Gradually, as Britain pulled through the travails of the post-war economy
London rejuvenated. The Festival of Britain in 1951 signals an
unequivocal move forward. Somehow, this feat of mass cultural reengineering would impel the arts in Britain for the following decade and a
half.
A greater informality of eating had begun as the first sandwich bar,
Sandy's, opened in Oxendon St in 1933. Soon snack bars spread
throughout the capital as the culture of fast-food was established.
In 1935 the first milk bar is set up in Fleet St by an Australian, Hugh D.
McIntosh. Within a year there are 420 throughout Britain. As a further twist
on the theme, coffee bars with a reputation for low-life and fast times
emerged to mainstream popularity in the 1950's.
In 1945 Gaggia altered the espresso machine to create a high pressure
extraction that produced a thick layer of crema. By 1946 cappuccino had
been christened for its resemblance to the colour of the robes of the
Capuchin monks. The unique selling point of the classic café had arrived
1953...
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By 1953 coffee bars sprang up all over Soho. The first was The Moka
espresso bar at 29 Frith St. Opened by Gina Lollabrigida, it became the
model for many classic Formica cafes to come.
The coffee bars rapidly spread to other metropolitan areas: The Arabica,
Brompton Road (G.R.Cole FRSA); Bamboo, Old Brompton Road (John
Bainbridge); The Coffee House, Haymarket (Antoine Acket with
E.E.Barlow ARIBA); Mocamba, Brompton Road (Douglas Fisher)...
The cafes attracted CND activists, jazzers, noveau existentialists, nascent
rock n' rollers, beatnik baby boomers, Piccadilly exquisites and a whole
new post-war set of UK On The Roaders who, like Gelina in Mark
McShane's novel 'The Passing of Evil', wilfully inhabit: 'the seedy-garish
world of back-street London... restless rootless... beautiful, amoral,
modern siren(s) of doom in a jungle of dance halls, caffs and pubs'
By the mid-1960s, 40% of the general populace were under 25. The scene
was set for a British creative renaissance as diverse art, writing, musical,
criminal and sexual subcultures thrived within the burgeoning cafe
communities...
1970s
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In the 1970s, severe bust lead to a halving of the UK's manufacturing
employment base. Large companies began leaving the capital en masse.
Increasingly, British industry (for so long dependent on the spoils of
Empire) fell behind the leaner economies of the US, Germany, Japan and
Eastern Europe.
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Unemployment, virtually unknown in Britain in the 1950s, began a long
spiral upwards, the subsequent recession accompanied by high inflation
and a collapse in living standards. As proprietors found more profit in
selling food, so the coffee bars gradually all turned into general cafes or
cheap restaurants.
Only a couple of die-hard cafe chains managed to last out the 1960s and
hang on into the 1970s: the Lyons' Wimpy Bars (established in 1954) and
the Golden Eggs (set up by Philip and Reggie Kaye in the early 1960s).
The Wimpys avoided gimmickry, maintaining simple duo-tone minimal
interiors but the Golden Egg was: "The most controversial use of colour in
British restaurantswhere riotous colour schemes and brilliant opaline lights
have brought a jazzy mood to eating in low-price popular restaurants."
Despite their once epochal freshness, by the 1980s cafes were well and
truly off the menu. A revitalised pub culture, swarming burger
conglomerates and insidious sandwich operations pushed all aside...
http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/History.html
What type of music did they listen to in the 1800’s?
The type of music people listened to in the 1800's was Romantic Music ( not romantic
music but music like Beatoven) And in the late 1800's Jazz big band type stuff and the
still listened to music from earlyer periods like Baroque.
1800-1950
Historical musicology began as a discipline in the nineteenth century focusing on the
contributions of earlier composers. Samuel Wesley played a very important role in the
revival of interest in Johann Sebastian Bach through performing, lecturing on and editing
his works. Felix Mendelssohn similarly played a critical role in the revival of Bach but as
the founder of the Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre. Historical
musicological scholarship led to the publication of Gesellschaft editions of George
Frideric Handel as well as Bach.
In the twentieth century, the work of Johannes Wolf and others developed studies in
Medieval music and early Renaissance music. Wolf's writings on the history of musical
notation are considered to be particularly notable by musicologists. Historical musicology
has played a critical role in renewed interest in Baroque music as well as medieval and
Renaissance music. In particular, the authentic performance movement owes much to
historical musicological scholarship.
Towards the middle of the twentieth century, historical musicology was increasingly
popular as a field of scholarship as musicology generally became more popular as a field
of study. Similarly, there was an expansion of scholarly articles in musicological and
music journals.