Do these actually brew the tea?

Most antique tea urns only held hot water. The host kept a separate teapot on the table, brewing a strong concentrate. To serve, you pour a little strong tea. You'd then turn the urn's spigot to dilute it with hot water.

My grandmother always kept one of these on her sideboard but the inside looks black and crusty, how do people clean the inner chamber?

That dark layer's usually heavy tarnish mixed with mineral deposits from hard water. Many old copper urns were tinned inside to stop the water tasting metallic. That tin lining dulls down to a dark grey over time. Warm water and a gentle brush will remove the loose scale. Don't scrub too hard. You'll risk stripping the remaining tin, which exposes the bare copper beneath.

Are they safe to use today?

You need to check the internal lining first. Bare copper can leach into the water, so it requires intact tinning for modern use. The tap seals often dry out and leak. A plumber or silversmith can replace the old cork or leather washers inside the spigot to make it watertight again.

I noticed that a lot of these have a solid iron weight that slides into a tube in the middle. Is it supposed to sit all the way at the bottom or hang on a ledge?

The iron billet should sit right at the base of the central sleeve. This placement pushes heat straight into the widest part of the water chamber.

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Antique Tea Urns

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Standing at the centre of a formal dining table, an antique tea urn is a large metal vessel with a front spigot, used to supply hot water for topping up the teapot.