4 3 # i V s THE ~\ GREAT INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES: BEING AN HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE ORIGIN, GROWTH, AND PERFECTION OF TIIE CHIEF INDUSTRIAL ARTS OF THIS COUNTRY: BY nORACE GREELEY, LEON CASE, EDWARD IIOWLAND, JOTTN B. GOUGH, PHILIP RIPLEY, F. B. PERKINS, J. It. LYMAN, ALBERT BRISBANE, REV. E. E. HALL, AND OTHER EMINENT WRITERS UPON POLIT¬ ICAL AND SOCIAL ECONOMY, MECHANICS, MANUFACTURES, ETC., ETC. — • • > J&Uitjj oR-cr 500 Illustrations. HARTFORD: J. B. BURR & HYDE. CHICAGO AND CINCINNATI: J. B. BURR, ITYDE & CO. 1872. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the yea* 1871, by J. B. BURR AND 1IYDE, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Vf asliingtoD. O'NEILL LIBRARY BOSTON COLLEGE PREFACE. Iii the following work, the design of the publishers has been, hot only to memorialize the great enterprises of manufacture of the day in the United States, but to make clear to the general reader the processes and mysteries of the various manufactures noted, as well. No pains have been spared, in the matter of general study and special investigation, to make each article as nearly perfect as necessary to convey an adequate impression of the magnitude of the manufactures treated upon, their mechan¬ ical subtilties, and everything connected therewith, ol which the u inquiring mind” may properly desire to be informed. They only who have contemplated the state of manufactures as they exist in the United States, understand at all adequately how great a part these play in the history of modern civilization, or how much is to be learned, by each participant in a special art, of the value and importance to humanity at large, of every other art. There is a more or less anxious desire, upon the part of every skilled man in particular, in any branch of industry, to know something of the character and pursuits of his fellow-men in every other art of importance; and it is the design of the writers hereof to offer to such, an insight into the various arts which distinguish the present period of scientific industry in the United States of America. That the people of this country do—all things considered— outvie, by positive and original inventions, in the promotion of (v) VI Ch¬ art, and of the useful arts especially, as well as by tlieir absorp¬ tion of the genius of other nations, all the peoples of the civil¬ ized world, there can be hut little doubt. % However superficial may be the expression of a given art in the United States (for Which, as a people, we have sometimes been reproached by more or less intelligent and candid visitors from other lands), it must be acknowledged by the just everywhere, that, in the aggregate, the United States have made giant steps, even in the last few years, in the prosecution of every class of ingenious industry. In fact, within the boundaries of the nation is to be found some¬ thing in the way of current enterprise and industry, illustrative of the genius of all peoples (and of all times which fitly bear upon the present age, as the aggregate necessary response of the past to the wants of the present), of which both the scholar and the active mechanic, as well as the laboring man of every degree, ought and wishes, to know more than ordinarily falls to the lot of any one man’s knowledge without arduous and pains-taking study. To administer to such desires this work has been projected, and it is confidently believed that its design has been so faithfully carried out, as to leave but little, if anything, more to be desired for the end in view, than will be found in its pages. The writers of this work have been necessarily limited and restrained in some respects ; for the past history of some arts, in their struggle through invention, opposing circumstances, etc., has not been so well preserved as that of some other arts. But, in the general, something of worth has been recorded of each. As a record of manufactures in their present condition, it is 4 believed that this summary not only supplies a want long felt among geneial leaders,but that it will do much toward encour¬ aging in this country that appreciation and study of the arts, PREFACE. v i fran the high stand-point of science, which arc so desirable in every nation. Especial care has been taken with each article in order that it might discuss its special subject in a manner comprehensible by all classes of readers, the young as well as the old ; and the design of the publishers, which it is believed has been regarded throughout, has been that nothing of a questionable character in the statement of facts comprised in any article, should find place. That the labor of producing “ The Great Industries” has been enormous, the reader in order to understand has but to consider that the history of each art has been traced to its origin through countless volumes, if the art is really antique; and its present condition, processes of manufacture, etc., de¬ rived by the personal investigation, inspection, and laborious study of the several writers employed. The aim of this work is to give the reader a general (and in all cases something in detail) “ speaking acquaintance” with whatever is discussed herein. The great, chief ambition of the human intellect is to know something at least of everything; and “ to know” is certainly a laudable desire. Without specially noting any particular industry so far as its respective actors or promotors are concerned, this book not only makes record of leading manufactures as they exist, but of the principal manufacturers of the day noted for their especial worth, as great, leading men, making their mark upon the times, and entitled to a place in a work which must necessarily, as a record of the times, hand their names on, if not to immortality, to many generations which are to come. The pride of the na¬ tion is in its children, and in none of these so much as in those who preeminently distinguish themselves in the arts of peace—. • in domestic manufacture ; for these have wrought out in great part the nation’s weal, furnishing occupation and a lucrative PREFACE, • - • vi 1 “ sphere for labor’’ for thousands and tens of thousands, who, thus employed, have achieved for themselves and their families successes, as well as realized a happier current life, which thoy could never have won and enjoyed save under the guidance and skill of the more enterprising and far-sighted. Out of the plod¬ ding ways of life, which the feudal ages, for example, imposed upon the race, there was evidently no passage, except that, which the inventor and the manufacturer have opened. Though prompted in the main by the spirit of self-aggrandizement, these men have proved themselves, nevertheless, the chief phi¬ lanthropists of the times, and have borne the standard of pro¬ gress on to its great victories. $ \ CONTENTS. THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY IN TIIE UNITED STATES,.. SEWING MACHINES,... PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS,. WATCHES AND "MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. PURIFYING AND HEATING WATER FOR STEAM BOILERS,.. STEAM NAVIGATION,...... SHIPBUILDING,... CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS,... AXES AND PLOWS,. MANUFACTURE OF SALT,. COINAGE, OR MANUFACTURE OF MONEY,. THE ICE TRADE,.. WATER WHEELS,... JLITHOGRAPHY,..... STEREOTYPING AND ELECTROTYPING,... BOOK-MAKING,. KNITTING MACHINES,... WRITING PAPER,. GLUE,... VENEERING,. EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT,. CUTLERY,. CIGARS AND MANUFACTURED TOBACCO,. CONFECTIONERY: HONEST AND DISHONEST,. SUGAR REFINING,. FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES,. BRUSHES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE,. CORDAGE,. CURTAIN FIXTURES,. HORSE SHOE NAILS,...,. PETROLEUM,. GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS,.. PIANOFORTES,.. MOWERS AND REAPERS,. IRON AND ITS PREPARATION,. SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE,. ORNAMENTAL IRON WORK AND BRONZE CASTINGS,. BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD TABLES,. BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE,.. (ix) PAGS. 25 47 57 73 82 87 101 109 122 148 151 156 159 170 175 181 192 201 209 214 217 229 239 247 258 261 277 285 289 295 303 307 317 332 £41 3G3 379 390 405 X CONTENTS. PAGE. WIRE-DRAWING,. 419 STARCH,. 422 ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. 425 JEWELRY AND IIS MANUFACTURE,. 435 STOVES AND RANGES,. 442 FILES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE,. 445 QUILL AND METALLIC PENS,. 456 PRINTING INKS,. 459 PAPER HANGINGS,. 461 FIRE PUMPS,. 465 THREAD MACHINERY,. 472 COAL,. 475 COPPER,.;. 479 WOOD ENGRAVING,.!... 483 STEEL AND COPPER PLATE ENGRAVING,. 487 SCALES,. 493 WHITE LEAD AND PAINTS,. 496 BEDS. 501 STEAM AND THE STEAM ENGINE,. 507 CALICO PRINTING,. 523 NARROW GAUGE RAILROADS,. 533 SEWING SILK AND MACHINE TWIST,. 542 HINGES,. 547 .FIRE-ARMS,. 555 LATEST IMPROVEMENTS IN UTILIZATION OF STEAM,. 563 ARCHITECTURAL IRON WORK,. 574 BANK NOTE ENGRAVING,. 583 CLOTHING,. 587 ARMORED VESSELS AND ARTILLERY,. 597 LINEN COLLAR AND CUFF MANUFACTURE,. 607 RAILROAD CARS,. 618 IIAIR CLOTH. 630 . FURS AND THE FUR TRADE,. 633 FIRE-WORKS,.’. 641 CARD CLOTHING,. 646 CALLIOPES,. 651 SHOT,. 653 GLOVES,. 656 OIL CLOTH,. 661 THE ALDEN PROCESSES,. 664 SOAP, ITS HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE,. 675 IRON WORKING MACHINERY,. 684 AGRICULTURAL HAND IMPLEMENTS,. 693 LASTS,. 699 GUNPOWDER,. 705 THE EXPRESS BUSINESS,. 713 FANCY LOOM MAKING,. 721 AMERICAN LEAD PENCILS,. 728 CONTENTS. xi PAGE. RULES,. 733 BROOMS,..**. 745 GOLD MINING.,. 748 MERCURY, OR QUICKSILVER,. 761 MIRRORS,. 705 SILK DRESS GOODS,. 770 HATS A:'D THEIR MANUFACTURE,. 775 ILLUMINATING GAS,. 784 NARROW TEXTILE FABRICS,. 7)2 CARRIAGE-BUILDING,. 83 BREACH LOADING FIRE ARMS,. 812 LUMBER AND LUMBERING,. 820 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN,.*. 826 CARPETS,. 834 STEAM FIRE ENGINES,. 840 BRITANNIA WARE,. 852 SCREWS,. 855 LIFE INSURANCE. 8 0 THE TARIFF, A PROTECTION TO MANUFACTURES,. 863 PHOTOGRAPHY,. 874 A NEW METHOD OF TRANSPORTATION,. 882 GLASS,. 889 FERMENTED LIQUORS, . 8)8 SCREW WRENCHES,. 906 WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES,. 914 MODERN INVENTION IN DOMESTIC INDUSTRY,. 920 STEEL,. 931 THE GATLING GUN,. 944 CHEESE AND ITS MANUFACTURE,. 951 CHILLED ROLLS. 956 COTTON MANUFACTURES,. 964 CAOUTCHOUC, OR INDIA-RUBBER,. 971 THE FITCH-PINE AND ITS PRODUCTS*. 976 VARNISH,. 985 FLOUR,. 994 SILVER MINING,. 999 SAFES AND SAFETY LOCKS,. 1907 RAILROADS,. 1020 ROLLED SHEET BRASS,. 1045 HOISTING MACHINERY,. 1055 LEAD AND ZINC,. 1064 SMALL NAILS AND TACKS,. 1069 BANKS AND BANKING,. 1079 , FURNITURE,. 1099 CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES,.\. 1104 THE POST OFFICE,. 1116 SPOOL-COTTON THREAD,..'. 1126 CLOCKS,. 1138 CONTENTS. • • xu PAGS. PAPER FURNISHING GOODS,. 1143 FIRE INSURANCE,.... 1151 LINEN FIRE HOSE,..... 1155 THE TREASURY,. 1161 CHURCH ORGANS,. 1173 COMBS,. 1179 BUTTONS,. 1182 HOTELS. 1186 HYDRAULIC WATER POWER,. 1191 FISH CULTURE, . 1198 GAS AND WATER PIPE,. 1207 NEWSPAPERS,. 1214 MATCHES,..•. 1223 AMERICAN MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH,. 1233 LADIES’ BOOTS AND SHOES,. 1250 WOOD TYPE,. 1265 CARRIAGE AXLES AND SPRINGS,. 1272 STENCIL PLATES,. 1282 HOOKS AND EYES,. 1284 PINS,..'. 1286 QUARRIES,. 1289 INDEX,. 1293 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. ILLUSTRATED TITLE PAGE, 2. COAT OF ARMS OS TIIE UNITED STATE3, 8. STATE SEAL OF MAINE, 4. STATE SEAL OF NE V HAMPSHIRE, 6. STATE SEAL OF VERMONT, - 6. STATE SEAL OF MASSACHUSETTS, 7. STATE SEAL OF l.IIODE ISLAND, - 8. STATE SEAL OF CONNECTICUT, 9. STATE SEAL OF NE .V YORK, 10 STATE SEAL OF NEW JERSEY, - 11. STATE SEAL OF PENNSYLVANIA, - 12. STATE SEAL OF DELA .CARS, 13. STATE SEAL OF MARYLAND, 14. STATE SEAL OF VIRGINIA, 15. STATE SEAL OF WEST VIRGINIA, 16. STATE SEAL OF NORTH CAROLINA, 17. STATE SEAL OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 18. STATE SEAL OF GEORGIA, 19. STATE SEAL OF FLORIDA, 20 STATE SEAL OF ALABAMA, 21. STATE SEAL OF MISSISSIPPI, 22. STATE SEAL OF LOUISIANA, 23. STATE SEAL OF TEXAS, 24. STATE SEAL OF OHIO, ... 25. STATE SEAL OF INDIANA, - 26. STATE SEAL OF ILLINOIS, 27- STATE SEAL OF MICHIGAN, 28 STATE SEAL OF WISCONSIN, 29 STATE SEAL OF MINNESOTA, 30. STATE SEAL OF 10-VA, 31. STATE SEAL OF MISSOURI, 32. STATE SEAL OF KENTUCKY, 83. STATE SEAL OF TENNESSEE,. 34 STATE SEAL OF ARKANSAS,. 35- ST’ATE SEAL OF KANSAS, -. 36 STA.E SEAL OF UTAH,. 37. STATE SEAL OF COLORADO,. 38. STATE SEAL OF OREGON,. u 39. STATE SEAL OF CALIFORNIA,. 49. SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES,._ 41 THE SEWING MACHINE IN USE,. 42 MANUFACTORY OF THE WEED SEWING MACHINE CO., HARTFORD, CONN., 43 THE FAMILY SEWING MACHINE,. 44. THE JOB PRINTING OFFICE,. 45. SIGNET OF CAIUS JULIUS,. 46. FRANKLIN'S PRINTING PRESS,. 47. FAUST’S FIRST PROOF FROM MOVEABLE TYPE, .... 48. COMPOSING STICK,.’ 49. TEN CYLINDER TYPE REVOLVING PRINTING MACHINE, 60. SINGLE LARGE CYLINDER PRINTING MACHINE, .... 51. ALLEGORICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE PRINTING PRESS, 52. WATCH-MAKING. . 53 THE FIRST WATCH MADE BY MACHINERY IN AMERICA, - 64 THE “ BULL’S EYE,”. 65. ENGINE ROOM,. 56. STILWKLL’S PATENT HEATER AND LIME CATCHER, 67. INTERIOR OF PATENT HEATER AND LIME CATCHER, 68. REPAIRING A BOILER, .. 69. A MAIL STEAM SHIP, - - -. Page. 21 21 21 .21 21 21 21 21 21 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 47 52 66 57 58 60 60 64 68 71 72 73 78 81 82 84 85 88 87 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. xiv 61. A HUDSON RIVER STEAMBOAT, 62. THE HULK,. 63. EARLY NAVIGATION OF THE PHOENICIANS, 64. THE LAUNCH OF A PACKET SHIP, 65. BEATING UP THE HARBOR, 68. MUSIC, THE SOUL OF LIFE, 67. CABINET ORGAN, WEIGHT 278 POUNDS, 68 CABINET ORGAN, WEIGHT 362 POUNDS, 69. CUPID PLAYING THE REEDS, - - • - 70. A FOREST SCENE, .... 71. COLLINS & CO'S WORKS, COLLINSVILLE, CONN., 72. VIEW OF THE STEAM HAMMER, 73. THE TEMPERING FURNACE, 74. ANCIENT PLOW, .... 75. PALESTINE PLOW, ... 76. CHINESE PLOW,. 77. EAST INDIAN PLOW, . 78. NORMAN PLOW,. 79. ECLIPSE GANG PLOW, - ... 80. THE GRINDING SHOP, - * - 81. CUBAN MACHETE,. 82. CENTRAL AMERICAN MACHETE, 83. BRAZILIAN MACHETE, .... 84. SUGAR CANE KNIFE, - - 85. BRAZILIAN AXE,. 83. BROAD AXE,. 87. YANKEE AXE,. 88. THE CAST CAST STEEL COULTER PLOW, 89. HOLDING THE PLOW, .... 80. THE BLACK COOK, .... 91. SALT WORKS,. 82. COINS,. 83. THE OLD OAK,. 94. ICE BY THE WHOLESALE,. 95. ORNAMENTAL TAIL-PIECE,. 96. T1IE OLD MILL ON THE HILLSIDE,. 97 WORKS OF THE STILWELL & BIERCE MANUFACTURING CO., DAYTON, 0., 93. ECLIP.'E DOUBLE TURBINE WATER-WHEEL, .... 99. GOING TO THE Mil I ,. 100. LITHOGRAPHIC DESIGNING,. 101. STEREOTYPING,. 102. STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, . 103. A HAPPY FAMILY,. 104 A SMALL LIBRARY,. 105. PRINTING THE SHEETS,. 103. FOLDING, GATHERING, AND SEWING THE SHEETS, 107. PRINTING-OFFICE OF CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINAIID, HARTFORD, CONN , 108. EMBLEMS OF LITERATURE,. 109. KNITTING BY HAND,. 110 WORKS OF LAMB KNITTING MACHINE M'F’G CO., CHICOPEE FALLS, MS., 111 LAMB KNITTING MACHINE,. 99 101 102 102 108 109 316 119 121 122 124 129 132 133 133 134 135 133 133 140 142 142 142 142 142 142 142 147 147 118 150 151 155 156 158 159 164 168 1C9 170 175 176 180 181 184 187 188 191 182 190 199 112. THE FARMER'S DAUGHTERS, 113 TIIE WRITING SCHOOL, 114. THE KNIGIIT OF TIIE GLUE-POT, 115. ORNAMENTAL TAIL-PIECE, 116 VENEERING, - -• 117 THE COUNTRY SCHOOL MA'AM, - 118 HIE OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL HOUSE, 119. MODERN DISTRICT 'CIIOOL, 120 MODERN HIGH SCHOOL, 121 THE MODERN COUNTRY SCHOOL HOUSE, 122. SCHOOL FURNITURE, 13. ROGERS'GROUP—SCHOOL EXAMINATION, 124 ASSEMBLY-ROOM DESKS AND SETTEES, 125. BOOKS, - * 126. ‘-NOT ENOUGH BY HALF,” 260 201 209 213 211 217 210 120 228 224 22 i 22i 227 218 228 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 127. 123 129. 130 131 132. 133. 134 135. 136. 137 138 139. 140 141. 142. 143 144 145. 146. 147 148. 149. 150 151 152 153. 154 155. 156. 157 158. 159. 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173. 174 175. 176 177 178 179 180. 181 182 183. 184. 185. 186. 187. 183. 189. 190. 191. 192. JOHN BUSSELL MANUFACTURING CO., GREEN RIVER WORKS, MASS., CUTLERY, . TRYING TO BE MEN.. THE SWEETS OF LIFE.. MANUFACTORY OF RIDLEY & CO., NEW YORK,] A CONFECTIONER'S STOCK IN TRADE, - ’ - MAKING MAPLE-SUGAR,. THE RAGING ELEMENT,. FIRE ENGINE ON DUTY,. WAREROOM5 OF ALBERT F. ALLEN, PROVIDENCE, R. I., THE SPRAY NOZZLE,. THE ACTION OF THE SPRAY NOZZLE,. AUTOMATIC RELIEF VALVE,. “ CRUMBS SWEPT UP,” . BRUSHES OF VARIOUS KINDS,. A ROPE WALK,. ’ - OLD STYLE TAIL-PIECE,. RAISING THE CURTAIN,. SELF-ADJUSTING CURTAIN FIXTURE,. CLOTHES HOOKS, . WINDOW SHADE,. A TOUGII SOLE, .- S. S PUTNAM & CO’S WORKS, NEPON3ET, MASS., - HORSE-SHOEING, ... - AN OIL WELL,. BORING FOR PETROLEUM,. GAS 7IXTURES,. CHANDELIER AND GAS FIXTURES,. THE GRAND PIANO FORTE,. STEIN WAY & SONS’ PIANO FORTE MANUFACTORY, THE SQUARE PIANO FORTE, - - - “ COMING THRO' THE RYE,” . AT WORK - - / . CLIPPER MOWER.. WORKS OF THE CLIPPER MOWER AND REAPER CO., YONKERS, N. Y., PASSING AN OBSTRUCTION,.. THE FARMER'S EMBLEMS,. THE FOUNDRY MAN. THE VILLAGE SMITHY,. SAWING LOGS... DIAGRAM OF SAW TEETH, - . - PATENT GULLET-TOOTH CIRCULAR SAW, - - - KEYSTONE SAW WORKS , HENRY DISSTON & SON, PHILADELPHIA, OLD STYLE TAIL-PIECE,. ORNAMENTAL FOUNTAIN,. IRON FOUNTAIN, . BREVOORT VASE, - . BRONZE FOUNTAIN, . MAKING A CAROM,. PHELAN & COLLENDER’S WORKS, TENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, THE GAME OF BILLIARDS, .. “SCISSORS TO GRIND,”. CHURCH BELL,. WIRE DRAWING,. WIRE WORKS,. “IRONING DAY,” .. THE VILLAGE POSTMASTER, - - VETERANS, .... . ARTIFICIAL LIMB,. MECHANISM OF THE ARTIFICIAL LIMB,. ARTIFICIAL LIMB IN SITTING POSITION, «... ARTIFICIAL LIMB WITH STRAP,. “ LOVE AMONG THE ROSES,”. THE JEWELER’S WINDOW,. REGULATING A WATCH,. PARLOR AND COOK STOVES,. OO0 233 239 247 252 257 238 261 236 20 274 274 273 277 284 2S5 233 2S9 292 293 294 295 293 302 303 3 Jo 307 316 317 326 351 332 £39 310 344 347 348 349 362 O^Q uJO 386 387 372 378 379 352 385 3S9 390 393 404 405 413 419 421 422 424 425 432 432 433 433 434 435 441 442 XVI INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 193. 194 . 195. 193. 197- 198. 199. 200 . 201 . 202 . 203. 204. 205. 203. 207. 208. 209. 210 . 211 . 212 . 213. 214. 215. 213. 217. 21S. 219. 220 . 221 . 222 . 2S3 224. 225. 223. 227. 228 229. 230. ■231. 232. 233. 234. 235 233 237. 238. 239 240. 241. 242. 243. 244 245. 243 247 248 250. 252. 254. 253 253. 257. 258. 259. 260. 261 232- cars, A FULL-RIGGED COOK STOVE, TIIE USE OF T1IE FILE, .... A MANUFACTURING TOWN, THE OLD PHILOSOPHER AND TIIE YOUNG CLERK, STEEL PENS, - - TAKING A PROOF, .... THE NEWSPAPER PBESS, .... HANGING WALL PAPER, TIIE PAPER HANGER'S UTENSILS, MEMBERS OF TIIE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY, SECTION OF A PUMP, .... GEARED PUMP,. ROTARY PUMP, . PUMP ON BED, WITH OUTSIDE BEARINGS, HYDRANT FOR DISTRIBUTING WATER, THE ORIGINAL THREAD MACHINE, - A MANUFACTORY,. NOT ABOVE IIIS BUSINESS, IN A COAL MINE,. COPPER MINING,. A COPPER MINE,. ENGRAVING ON WOOD, .... ORNAMENTAL TAIL-PIECE, .... TIIE KNAVE OF BELLS, .... ARMED KNIGHT,. ENGRAVING ON STEEL, - BLACK-LETTER TAIL-PIECE, PLATFORM SCALES, .... PUTTING ON A NEW COAT, ON THE WHARF, - OLD ENGLISH BEDSTEAD, .... WOVEN WIRE MATTRESS, MATTRESS FOR STEAMER BERTHS AND SLEEPING FOLDING COTS FOR HOTELS AND FAMILIES, DOUBLE COMPLETE BEDS, .... THE MODERN BEDSTEAD, EXPERIMENTING WITH STEAM, - “SHILLING A YARD, MA'AM,” A COTTON FACTORY, .... GRADING TIIE ROAD, ... - TIIE PORTABLE RAILROAD IN OPERATION, HEAVY FREIGHT, - - ' - THE SILK WORM AND ITS PRODUCTS, - CARD OF TIIE NONOTUCK SILK CO., - NATURE’S HINGE AND MAN’S IMPROVEMENT, AMERICAN SPIRAL SPRING BUTT, ILLUSTRATIONS OF HINGES, (9 FIGURES,) A GOOD SHOT, SIX-SHOOTER,. FOREHAND & WADSWORTH’S FIRE ARMS MANUFA BREECH-LOADING SPORTING RIFLE, BREECH-LOADING DOUBLE-BARRELED SHOT GUN, SECTION OF CARTRIDGE, TIIE HUNTER'S PARAPHERNALIA, THE STEAM ENGINE, .... BABCOCK & WILCOX ENGINE AND GOVERNOR, (2 ILLUSTRATIONS,) BABCOCK & WILCOX PATENT SAFETY BOILER, (2 ILLUSTRATIONS,) BABCOCK & WILCOX STEAM ENGINE, (2 ILLUSTRATIONS,) A SUSPENSION BRIDGE,. BARTLETT, ROBBINS & CO’S IRON WORKS, BALTIMORE, MD , BASKET OF FLOWERS,. BANK NOTE ENGRAVING,. CONTINENTAL MONEY,.. . A GOOD FIT,. WAIIEROOMS OF MACULLER, WILLIAMS & PARKER, BOSTON, PURCHASING A COAT,. HEAVY ARTILLERY, . - . . . C’RY, WORCESTER,MS., 444 445 455 456 458 459 4C0 451 454 4G5 439 4*'9 4C9 470 471 472 474 475 4 ; 8 479 452 453 484 454 4S4 487 492 403 493 500 601 504 604 605 505 506 607 603 532 633 533 541 642 643 617 660 650 555 656 553 630 631 631 662 563 663 671 673 674 678 682 683 686 687 692 696 697 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. XVII 263 264 265 2(53 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 281 285 283 287 288 239 290 291 292. 293 294 295 293 297. 293 299 8o0 301 302 803. 304 8-»5. SOi 3<>7. 308 309 310 311 312. 313 311. 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 824 325. 326 327. 828 IASS AMERICAN SIIIPS OF WAR AND GUN BOATS, BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUM,TER ARTILLERY IN MOTION,. SELF ADMIRATION, - .... GEO B. CLUETT BROTHER & CO’S LINEN COLLAR MAN’F’Y, TROY ORNAMENTAL TAIL-PIECE, - - - A PALACE CAR, . JACKSON & .-IIARP CO’S CAR WORKS, WILMINGTON, DEL., THE EXPRESS TRAIN,. HAIR CLOTH AND ITS ORIGIN, .... BALED AND LABELLED,. BEAVERS SUNNING,. GOOD THINGS FOR COLD WEATHER, .... FUN FOR ONE BUT NOT FOR BOTH, THE GOD OF THUNDERBOLTS,. CARD CLOTHING, - - - - WORKS OF THE SARGENT CARD CLOTHING CO., WORCESTER, OLD STYLE TAIL-PIECE,. EFFECT OF CALLIOPE MUSIC,. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,. LOADING UP, .. SHOT GUNS,. A LIVELY MILL,. OLD DOG TRAY, -. RETAILING OIL CLOTH,. CREATURES OF FANCY, . SEALING FRUIT CANS,. TROPICAL FRUITS,. A GOOD WASH,. SOAP MANUFACTORY OF E. MORGAN S SONS, SECTIONAL VIET A BAD EGG, ------- IRON WORKING MACHINERY, - . - WOOD. LIGHT & CO'S MANUFACTORY, WORCESTER, MASS, IMPROVED PATENT AXLE LATHE, .... LATHE FOR IRON WORK,. CUTTING A SWATH,. AGRICULTURAL HAND IMPLEMENTS, THE COBBLER AT HIS BENCH, .... TURNING MACHINE FOR LASTS, .... MAWIIINNEY S LAST MANUFACTORY, WORCESTER, MASS., THE SHOEMAKER S TOOLS,. AN EXPLOSION,. MESSENGER OF DEATH,. MERCURY AS AN EXPRESS MESSENGER, TENDING A LOOM,. CROMPTON LOOM WORKS, WORCESTER, MASS., BROAD FANCY LOOM, . INDUSTRY. . THE LEAD PENCIL, . . AMERICAN LEAD PENCIL COMPANY'S MANUFACTORY, - GODDESS OF LIBERTY, ACCORDING TO RULE,. STEPHENS’ PATENT COMBINATION RULE, STEPHENS CALIPER RULE,. COMBINATION RULE AS AN INCLINOMETER, - THE STREET SWEEP,. THE HAY STACK,. A GOLD MINER'S CAMP, - - - GOLD WASHING IN THE CALIFORNIA MINES, AUSTIN. NEVADA. A WESTERN MINING TOWN, WASHING FOR GOLD,. FILLING THE JARS,. A SMALL LABORATORY, . REFLECTION,.- MIRRORS AND FRAMES, * A FINE DISPLAY, . N. Y 600 603 606 C07 610 617 618 622 629 630 632 633 640 641 645 646 649 650 651 652 653 655 65(5 600 661 663 664 674 675 678 653 654 686 689 692 693 698 699 701 703 704 705 712 713 721 722 726 727 728 730 733 739 743 744 744 745 747 748 752 755 760 761 764 765 769 WQ INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 829. 830. 831. 332. 333. 331. 333. 333. 337 333. 339. 310. 341. 312 313 314 345. 343. 347. 348. 319 350. 351 353 354 355. 356. 857. 358. 859. 300. 331. 332. 363 334. 365. 333. 367 338. 339 370. 371. 372. 373. 874. 3<5 376. 377. 378. 379. 380. 381. 382. 383. 334. 385. 333 337. 388. 389. 390 391. 392. 393. 394. 395. PAUSING THE TORT, . * - - 775 AN 0LI) HAT ON A. YOUNG HEAD, ..776 IIATS .C SUIT A EL TASTES,.733 IN TIIE CAS-WORKS,.784 LIGHT FOR THE UNIVERSE,.761 NARROW TEXTILE FAURICS,.702 MANUFACTORY OF WM. II. 1IORSTMANN & SONS, PHILADELPHIA, - 704 THE AMERICAN SAROR, 802 BUILDING A COACH,.803 WM D ROGERS & C'*'S CARRIAGE REPOSITORY, PHILADELPHIA, - 803 WAITING FOR THE HORSES,.811 A DE \D SHOT,.8.2 REMINGTON’S ARMORY, ILION, N. Y., - - . - - - 818 CUTTING TIMLER,.- 820 BALKY,.825 MAKING STONE JARS, - - -.826 CROCKERY WARE AND VASES,.£33 THE CARPET SALES-ROOM,.834 A CARPET MILL, ..839 THE STEAM FIRE ENGINE AT WORK,.840 LONDON F.RE ENGINE, 1740,. 842 LONDON FIRE ENGINE, 1765,. 8i2 STEAM FIIIE ENGINES, MANUFACTURED BY NEW YORK FIRE ENGINE, 1730, - NEW YORK FIRE ENGINE, 1733, GOING TO THE FIRE, BRITANNIA WARE, - - 5IIE SCRE W PRESS, - - - L. BUTTON & SON, (2 ILLUST'3,) ORNAMENTAL TAIL-PIECE, THE WIDO W’S FRIEND, LOVE’S LINKS, CUSTOM-HOUSE PASTIMES, THE AMERICAN EAGLE, - TAKING IIIS PICTURE, SITTING FOR A PHOTOGRAPH, - THE NEW EXPRESS, - 845 343 851 851 8,52 855 859 860 867 803 873 874 8S1 882 PACKING A SPHERE,. FRAME-WORK SUPPORTING THE TULE, WITH SPHERE INSIDE, - PLACING THE LOADED SPHERES IN THE TULE, - ORNAMENTAL TAIL PIECE,. GL \SS-BLOWING,. GARDENER’S IIOI-IIOTJSE,. PLEADING AT THE BAR,.- THE GRAPE AND THE WINE,. TIGHTENING THE WHEEL,. SCREW-WRENCH,. S REV-WRENCH MANUFAC’Y ; A. G. COES & CO., WORCESTER, MASS., PEACE AND PLENTY,. 884 885 8S8 888 889 497 898 905 903 909 BIO 913 “ ALL WOOL,”. SHEEP AT PASTURE, - - f . READY FOR USE,. MANUFACTORY OF THE WILSON SEWING MACHINE CO , CLEVELAND, O. WILSON SHUTTLE SEWING MACHINE,—PLAIN STAND, - WIL'ON SHUTTLE SEWING MACHINE,—WITH FOLDING TABLE, - WILSON SEWING MACHINE,—FULL CABINET, .... THE CARPENTER’S BENCH, - .. A JUVENILE B vCCIIUS,. A QUAKER, . THE GATLING GUN.. CARTRIDGES USED IN THE GATLING GUN, .... AN INFANTRY CHARGE,. BAIT FOR MICE,. CASTING IRON,. WORKS OF THE FARREL FOUNDRY AND MACHINE CO., ANSONIA, CONN., PLAYING CRICKET, - ...... AN ADVOCATE OF TUB FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT, - 914 919 920 926 929 929 930 931 943 944 946 949 950 951 956 930 963 964 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. xix 896. 897. 893. 399. 400. 401. 402 403. 404. 406. 406. 407. 408. 409. 410. 411. 412. 413. 414. 415. 416. 417. 418. 419. 420. 421. 422. 423. 424. 425. 426. 427. 428. 429. 430. 431. 432. 433. 434. 435. 436. 437. 438. 439. 440. 441. 442. 443. 444. 445. 446. 447. 443. 449. 450. 451. 452. 453. 454. 455. 456. 457. 458. 459. 400. 461. LOADING-COTTON ON-A MISSISSIPPI STEAMER, - A WET-DAY, - . - . - . - . - THE WORLD’S TRUMPETER,. GATHERING SAP FROM THE PITCH PINE, - . - . . CLUSTER .OF GRAPES,. - . . . . VARNISHING,. MANUFACTORY AND WAREROOMS OF BERRY BROS., DETROIT, MICH., - STUDYING NAVIGATION, - .. - - - ' . ^ . THE GRIST MILL, - : - /{.."l ' V . FARM TOOLS, - * - % - - A BIG NUGGET, - _ t - - \ - * * ** v - . DISCOVERY OF SILVER IN PERU, - v . . INTERIOR OF A SILVER MINE, - - ’» - ;•> \ v «■ . RIDING “BAREBACK,” - - '** - ^ ' A SAFE OPERATION, - - - . ■ - ' MANUFACTORY OF HALL’S SAFE ANI?LOCK CO., CINCINNATI* O., - HALL’S FIRE AND BURGLAR PROOF SAFE, ■> * - ' . ^ . TRANSPORTING A SAFE, - - - - ,v"' - /. X - GUARDED, - - - * • • /’ - /' . »'• . ARRIVAL OF THE TRAIN, - - - - . / ' . . LAYING THE TRACK OF THE PACIFIC RAILROAD, - CROSSING THE PLAINS BEFORE THE PACIFIC RAILROAD WAS BUILT, THE LIGHTNING EXPRESS, - - , .. 970 - 971 975 - 876 ' 984 > 985 990 - 993 994 - ,*998 . 999 ■ - 1000 1000 100(1 ... 1007 ‘ • 1012 1016 - 1019 1019 - 1020 1036 - ‘1039 1044 BRASS MANUFACTURES, - - - * . . . I - m 1045 WORKS OF THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING CO., WATERBURY, CONN., 1048 REFRESHMENTS,. STARTING THE ELEVATOR,.. . MANUFACTORY .OF HOISTING MACHINERY, YONKERS, N. Y., v - AT THE WELL, WEIGHING PIG LEAD, - - .. . - , k . PACKING SMALL NAILS, - - - . . ' . TACK MANUFACTORY OF A. FIELD & SONS, TAUNTON, MASS., - ORNAMENTAL TAIL-PIECE, . THE VILLAGE BANK, PARK BANK,. NEW.YORK, INDIAN WARRIOR, THE OLD STYLE AND THE NEW,. THE CHASE, - - r - CHEMICAL WORKS, - RIVERSIDE, - . ItUM FORD, -. COUNT R.UMFORD,. U S. GENERAL POST OFFICE AT WASHINGTON, - VIRTUE, - - - . ' THE SEAMSTRESS, - - - MAN F’Y OF THE WILLIMANTIC LINEN CO., WILIJMANTIC.,. CONN., LOVELY, -- .... . THE DIAL, \ j* -• „ . SUPPLICATION, - - N . . - . . , - . s . STIFFNESS, * . ♦ • * • . . - . . v ORNAMENTAL TAIL PIECE, - , - -. MANUFACTORY OF RAY & TAYLOR, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.,- INSURANCE IS THE BEST POLICY, - - ... THE HOSE TRUCK, - - • n r r LINEN HOSE,.. v . U. S. TREASURY AT WASHINGTON, • ' - ‘ ' .X. CONTINENTAL MONEY, .... .. . .'X . CIIUKCH ORGAN, THE HARP, - , - v.* THE TOILETTE, ' A SHAVER, - ' - - V THE AWKWARD SQUAD, * STEAM FIRE-ENGINE, ARRIVAL OF THE STAGE, BROADWAY “BUS,” THE CASCADE, - 1 J V * - 1054 * 1055 • 1061 •. 1063 ’ - 1064 1069 - 1074 1078 - 1078 1094 - 1098 1099 ♦ 1103 1104 - 1111 1112 - 1116 1116 - 1125 1126 * 1130 1137 1138 1142 - 1143 1148 - 1148 1151 - 1155 ' 1160 - 1161 1172 - 1173 1178 - 1179 1181 - 1182 1135 - 11S6 1190 - 1191 XX INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 462. 463. 464. 465. 466. 467. 468. 469. 470. 471. 472. 473. 474. 475. 476. 477. 478. 479. 480. 481. 482. 483. 484. 485. 486. 487. 488. 489. 490. 491. 492. 493. 494. 495. 496. 497. 498. 499. 500. 601. 602. 603. 504. 505. 606. 607. 608. 609. / MORE WATER, * FISH CULTURE, UNDER FULL SAIL, IN RUINS, ~ - SNAKY. . .. THE NEWSBOY.. NEWSPAPER ADDRESSING MACHINE (WITH CABINET CASE), NEWSPAPER ADDRESSING MACHINE (WITH IRON STAND), FRANKLIN AT THE CASE, - . INDIAN METHOD OF PRODUCING FIRE, FACTORY OF SWIFT & COURTNEY & BEECHER CO., WILMINGTON FACTORY OF SWIFT & COURTNEY & BEECHER CO., WE3TVILLE, THE PI KEN IX, -. PUTTING UP THE WIRES, * THE SIGNAL TELEGRAPH, - - 9 ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH, .... A PRETTY FOOT AND A STYLISH BOOT, A SHOEMAKER’S SHOP OF THE OLDEN TIME, (EXTERIOR,) A SHOEMAKER’S SHOP OF THE OLDEN TIME, (INTERIOR,) BOTTOMING ROOM IN FACTORY OF B. F. SPINNEY & CO., LYNN VIEW OF LYNN, MASS., FROM FOREST PLACE, VIEW OF LYNN, MASS., FROM SADLER’S ROCK, - LIVE STOCK, - THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, - WOOD TYPE AND BORDER CUT BY MACHINERY, THE HONEST APPRENTICE, - BOUND FOR THE RACES,. REED & BOWEN PUNCH, .... CONCORD SIDE SPRING,. BOW-SHAPED SIDE SPRING, .... FRENCH ELLIPTIC, . ELLIPTIC, COMMON HEAD, .... FRENCH PLATFORM AND CROSS, - SCROLL PLATFORM AND CROSS, PHILADELPHIA SHAPE,. SCROLL SPRING,. CONCORD AXLE, SHORT SHANK, .... HALF PATENT FANTAIL AXLE, ... IMPROVED TAPER AXLE, SHORT SHANK, MAIL-COACH AXLE, LONG SHANK, WEST’S AMERICAN TIRE SETTER, POWER MACHINE, WEST’S AMERICAN TIRE SETTER, HAND MACHINE, FOR THE BABY,. THE SHIPPING CLERK,. THE LADIES’ MAID,. BUTTERFLIES, -. JOVIAL,. IN THE STONE PITS.. DEL CONN. IASS. 1197 1198 1206 1207 1213 1214 1218 1218 1222 1223 1226 1230 1230 1233 1234 1234 1250 1252 1252 1255 1258 1261 1264 1265 1268 1271 1272 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1276 1279 1279 1281 1282 1284 1286 1288 1289 MAINE. NEW HAMPSHIRE. VERMONT. MASSACHUSETTS. RHODE ISLAND. CONNECTICUT. NEW YORK. MARYLAND. DELAWARE. VIRGINIA. WEST VIRGINIA.' NORTH CAROLINA. SOUTH CAROLINA. GEORGIA. FLORIDA. ALABAMA. LOUISIANA. INDIANA. MISSISSIPPI. ILLINOIS. I UTAH. TENNESSEE. ARKANSAS. KANSAS. COLORADO. OREGON. CALIFORNIA UNITFD STATES. THE GREAT INDUSTRIES OF THE f • t f ^ UNITED STATES. . ■ r . !«« »» AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. The Value of Industry. It js quite within modern times that, by observation and expe¬ rience, the knowledge has been acquired for a comprehensive and philosophical conception of the importance of industry as a neces¬ sary condition in the evolution of human society. The position of man in the world, and his social destiny* could not be under¬ stood until, by experience, the data necessary for arriving at a philosophic generalization concerning it were obtained, any more than the position of the world itself in the solar system could be known until, by the same process, the data needed for its compre¬ hension had been gathered. The brilliant results which have followed, in modern times, from the inauguration of a scientific method of inquiry, though perhaps more apparent in the physical sciences, are of no less value in the department of sociology. The field of social science has been opened, and the method has been indicated by which the complex questions of social progress can alone be studied with positive and enduring results. With the growing perception of the rela¬ tivity of all knowledge, mankind has become aware of the inter¬ dependence of the sciences, and that upon industry — upon our' ability to modify the conditions in which we are placed — can we alone depend for our advance in the path of progress. In the study of industry, and of its effects upon the growth of civilization, and also of the effects produced upon industry hy (25) 26 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. political and other causes, the United States offer a most impor¬ tant and suggestive field. In the first place, our history is com¬ plete ; the beginning of the nation dates from a definite historical period, and the foundation of its industry is not lost in the ob¬ scuring mists of tradition. Then, again, the political constitution of the country, its social equality, and the necessities of the new conditions of its settlement, all conspired to make more evident the fact that productive industry is of necessity the foundation of all progress in civilization. The Influence of the United States. In the democratic movement of modern times, America appears destined to perform a similar office for the world that the discovery of the country in the fifteenth century did for the knowledge of mankind concerning the form of the world, and its position in tho solar system. At the period of the settlement of the country, the industry of Europe had begun to feel the influence of the increased knowledge of the world gained by the enterprising spirit of navi¬ gation, which, during the preceding century, had supplemented the discovery of America by the circumnavigation of the world, and of the new spirit of independence and investigation which, thus brilliantly vindicated in the domain of physical research, excited the minds of all those who were not drugged by supersti¬ tion, or bound helplessly by tradition, to apply the same methods to the existing conditions of their religious, their social, and their political organizations. As with all movements of advancing social organization, the commencement was made in the popular discontent with the existing conditions, before it found an expres¬ sion in the literature or the political action of the times. It was the popular demand for books which stimulated the invention of printing, as it was the spirit of the times to which Luther gave expression which made the reformation possible ; and later, when Voltaire, in his historical works, made the first expression in lit¬ erature of the importance of studying the opinions and the condi¬ tion of the people, rather than the whims and ambitions of kings, for obtaining an accurate conception of the progress of society, he laid the foundation of the modern spirit of scientific historical research, but merely expressed, in literature, the sentiments which had been for a long time fermenting in the hearts and minds of the people. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 27 The First Settlement of the Colonies. The time and the method of the settlement of the United States were also fortunate lor influencing the industrial advance of the country. The first settlement was not made by a roving army of pastoral people, with whom the arts were as yet undeveloped, or whose political and social relations had attained only to the patri¬ archal phase of development. The basis of their social life was political equality, and, though hardly yet aware of the importance of productive industry, still their history shows that all progress in civilization is dependent upon it. In the history of the settlement of Massachusetts especially does this appear. The colony of Plymouth came over .at their own expense, and the Massachusetts colony made their settlement also at their own charges. Virginia. With the settlement in Virginia, which was the first established in the country, in 1607, the case was somewhat different. The London Company, under whose auspices, and at whose expense, the colony at Jamestown was established, had been attracted to this country by the stories of the great wealth of gold which Spain had drawn from the new world. Yet they still contemplat¬ ed the establishment of some other industry than searching for gold. Stitli, in his History of Virginia, tells us that the company sent out in the second voyage, in the latter part of 1608, eight Poles and Germans, to make pitch, tar, glass, mills, and soap ashes, who, he observes, would have done well had the country been peopled, but in fact proved only a burden and hinderance to the rest. “ No sooner were they landed but the president dis¬ persed as many as were able, some to make glass, and others for pitch, tar, and soap ashes.” “ He himself carried thirty about five miles down the river to cut down trees, make clapboards, and lie in the woods. Among these were two fine and proper gentle¬ men of the last supply. These were at first strange diversions for men of pleasure. Yet they lodged, ate and drank, worked or played, only as the president himself did ; and all things were carried on so pleasantly, that, within a week, they became masters, and thirty or forty of those voluntary gentlemen would have done more in a day than a hundred of the rest, who must be drove to it by compulsion.” 28 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. Very soon, however, the attention of the colony was turned from all other pursuits to the raising of tobacco; and in 1617, Captain Argali, on his arrival as governor, found only five habita¬ ble houses in Jamestown, while the market-place, the streets, and all spare places were planted with tobacco. Various attempts were made to discourage the raising of tobacco, and further diver¬ sify the industries of the colony. The company made arrange¬ ments for sending out “ husbandmen, gardeners, brewers, bakers, sawyers, carpenters, joyners, shipwrights, boatwrights, plough- wrights, millwrights, masons, turners, smiths of all sorts, coopers of all sorts, weavers, tanners, potters, fowlers, fish-hook makers, netmakers, shoemakers, ropemakers, tilemakers, edge-tool makers, brickmakers, bricklayers, dressers of hemp and flax, lime burners, lether-dressers, men skillful in vines, men for iron works, men skillful in mines,” as appears in the original list, in A Declara¬ tion of the Slate of Virginia, published in 1620. The character of these men appears also to have been consid¬ ered, according to the same authority. “ The men lately sent have been, most of them, choice men, borne and bred up to labor and industry; out of Devonshire about one hundred men brought up to husbandry ; out of Warwickshire and Staffordshire above one hundred and ten ; and out of Sussex about forty, all framed to iron-workes.” The culture of tobacco still, however, maintained its position as the chief industry, and in 1621 there were fifty-five thousand pounds exported to Holland. None was exported to England, on account of an impost which had been laid upon it there. At the end of twelve years from the settlement of the country, the com¬ pany had expended £80,000, and were £4,000 in debt, while the colony numbered only six hundred persons, though much of this was unquestionably due to interference by the authorities with the natural growth of the industry of the colony. But, besides this, the colony itself had not the best conditions for its industrial devel¬ opment. Its political organization was still too aristocratic to de¬ velop fully the individual independence and energy which require the freedom of political equality for its best expression. Many of the colonists were criminals, sent over by the government of the mother country, which had commenced already to consider the colonies rather as a convenient receptacle for those whom she desired to free herself from, than as a nursery for the production of men and women who should display, in the freedom of their AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 29 conditions for social and moral development, the inherent tendency of mankind to progress with increasing knowledge gained by increasing experience. From a tract entitled A Perfect Description of Virginia, which was published in 1649, and which can be found in Force’s Collec¬ tion of Tracts, the following extract serves to show the industrial advance which the colony had made up to that time. The writer states that 1 they had three thousand sheep, six public brew- houses, but most brew their own beer, strong and good ; that indigo began to be planted, and throve wonderfully well, from which their hopes are great to gain the trade of it from the Mo¬ gul’s country, and to supply all Christendom ; that the quantity of tobacco had so increased, that it had fallen in price to three pence a pound ; that they produced much flax and hemp ; and that an iron-work erected would be worth as much as a silver-mine ; that they had four wind-mills and five water-mills to grind corn, besides many horse-mills; that a saw-mill was much wanted to saw boards, inasmuch as one mill driven by water will do as much as twenty sawyers; that they make tar and pitch, of which there was abundant material, as well as for pot and pearl ashes ; that all kinds of tradesmen lived well there, and gained much by their labors and arts as turners, potters, coopers, to make all kinds of earthen and wooden vessels; sawyers, carpenters, tyle-makers, boatwrights, tailors, shoemakers, tanners, fishermen, and the like/ From another pamphlet, written by Ed. Williams, and published in 1650, entitled Virginia, more especially the Southern Part thereof, etc., the following extract will be read with interest. Speaking of the country, he says, “ It will be to this commonwealth a standing magazine of wheat, rice, cole-seed, rape-seed, flax, cot¬ ton, salt, pot-ashes, sope-ashes, sugars, wines, silks, olives, etc.” Of iron he says, “ Neither does Virginia yield to any other prov¬ ince whatsoever in excellency and beauty of this oare; and I can¬ not promise to my self any other than extraordinary successe and gaine, if this noble and usefull staple be but vigorously followed.” Concerning its textile fabrics he says, “ For what concerns the Flax of China, that we may not lose the smallest circumstance of parallel with Virginia, Nature herselfe hath enriched this her bo- some favourite with a voluntary plant, which by art, industry and transplantation may be multiplied and improved to a degree of as plentifull but more excellent nature, which because of its accession to the quality of silke wee entitle silke grass ; of this Queen Eliz- 30 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. abeth had a substantial and rich peece of Grogainc made and pre¬ sented to her. Of this Mr. Porey, in his discovery of the great river Chamonoak, to the south of James River, delivers a relation as of infinite quantity, covering the surface of a vast forest of pine trees, being sixty miles in length.” Though it must be remembered that many of the statements put forward in the numerous publications of that time concerning America are not to be too implicitly received, since they were written with the intention of stimulating emigration thither, and were consequently constructed very much as similar documents intended to produce similar results in the present day are written, yet they show that the process of the differentiation of industry commenced in Virginia, and bade fair to produce the same results as the more continuous, because unfettered, growth of the same process has produced in other parts of the country. The too general devotion to the culture of tobacco, as in late years the devotion of the south to the culture of cotton, checked, however, the diversity of employments, and thus prevented the country from becoming thickly settled enough to induce the attention to other pursuits which would naturally have arisen. Besides, too, the aristocratic cast of the social relations of the people, and the foolish prejudice against any other employment than agriculture, the planters arrogating to themselves the position of social leaders, and looking down ignorantly upon all labor as degrading, were shown even thus early, and had then an effect similar to that which they had later in the country’s history. The climate and the rich¬ ness of the soil, the cheapness of land and its abundance, enabled them to obtain large estates, and fostered the habit of considering the amount of the land one owned, rather than its being made productive, the test of gentility ; while at the same time the com¬ parative isolation of life thus produced led to a monotony of exist¬ ence and a poverty of desires which made them satisfied with passing their lives confined to the small circle of interests directly surrounding them, and fostered that overweening self-pride which is the natural accompaniment of an existence devoid of an intelli¬ gent and comprehensive social sympathy. In 1640 there were, on Christmas day, at the ports of Virginia, ten ships from London, two from Bristol, twelve from Holland, and seven from New England, while the number of the colony had reached twenty thousand. In 1705, Beverley, in his History of Virginia, speaks thus of the dependence of the colony upon other AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 31 nations to supply their wants, and of tile change from the early habits of industry which he had before commended : “ They have their clothing of all sorts from England, as linen, woollen, and silk, hats and leather. Yet flax and hemp grow nowhere in the world better than here. Their sheep yield good increase and bear good fleeces; but they shear them only to cool them. The mulberry tree, whose leaf is the proper food of the silk-worm, grows there like a weed, and silk-worms have been observed to thrive extremely and without any hazard. The very furs that their hats are made of perhaps go first from thence ; and most of their hides lie and rot, or are made use of only for covering dry goods in a leaky house. Indeed, some few hides, with much ado, are tanned and made into servants’ shoes, but at so careless a rate that the plant¬ ers don’t care to buy them if they can get others ; and sometimes perhaps a better manager than ordinary will vouchsafe to make a a pair of breeches of a deer-skin. Nay, they are such abominable ill-husbands, that though their country be overrun with wood, yet they have all their wooden ware from England ; their cabinets, chairs, tables, stools, chests, boxes, cart-wheels, and all other things, even so much as their bowls and birchen brooms — to the eternal reproach of their laziness.” Now that, with the nation’s recent experience, it has been found that the test of a nation’s social development is more accurately made by the condition of its industry than by that of its aris¬ tocracy, and that the interdependence of all classes binds society into one consistent whole, so that the body politic, like each of its members, is dependent for its well-being and vigor upon the healthy and unconstrained action of all of its organs, we can the more fully comprehend the reasons for the difference in the industrial advance shown in New England as compared with Virginia. . Massachusetts. With the settlement of Massachusetts the natural advantages of the soil and climate appeared, when compared with those in Virginia, to be greatly in favor of the latter. A generally barren and rocky soil, with tolerably fertile valleys scattered here and there along the river courses ; an inclement climate, subject to repeated and sudden fluctuations, which, with the hardships inci¬ dental to the unprovided condition of the colony, proved fatal to so many of them during their first winter. But to these very causes the industrial success of New England is largely due. The 32 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. # very sterility of the soil forced their attention to making use of the timber which it provided, and soon the fisheries furnished by the waters of the coast became also an important branch of their industry. At the time of the settlement of Massachusetts, timber had already become somewhat scarce in England, since the use of coal in making iron had not been discovered, and the forests had been wasted in the iron manufacture, which had already begun to be an important branch of English industry. In 1623 the “ Anne,” a ship of one hundred and forty tons, was loaded at Plymouth for England with a cargo of clapboards, and a few beaver and other skins. This was the commencement of a business which soon increased so as to become a most important interest with the colo¬ nies. Not only was lumber largely shipped to England, but the settlement of the West India Islands depended chiefly upon New England for their supplies of barrels and boxes, in which to export their crops of sugar and molasses. Ship-building in the Colonies. Ship-building was also soon established in New England. The first vessel ever constructed in North America by Europeans was a “ Dutch yacht,” called the “ Onrest,” built by Captain Adriaen Block, in 1614, at Manhattan River. She was of sixteen tons bur¬ den, with thirty-eight feet keel, forty-four and a half feet in length, and eleven and a half feet wide. In her, Captain Hendrickson, in the summer of 1616, discovered the Schuylkill River, and ex¬ plored nearly the entire coast from Nova Scotia to the Capes of Virginia. In 1614 Captain John Smith set sail from England for Virginia, with two ships. Ilis purpose was to engage in mining for gold and copper. Having reached the coast.of Maine, he made several unsuccessful attempts at whale fishing, and landing, built seven boats, with which the crew were very successful in cod-fishing. Thus the commencement of our fisheries was made in American built bottoms. At Plymouth, in 1642, there arrived a carpenter and a salt-maker, who had been sent out by the company. Governor Bradford, in his History, speaks thus of the former: “He quickly builds two very good and strong shallops, with a great and strong lighter, and had hewn timber for ketches, but this spoilt; for in the heat of the sea¬ son, he falls into a fever and dies, to our great loss and sorrow.” AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 33 The salt-maker attempted unsuccessfully to make salt both at Cape Ann and at Cape Cod. In 1641 a bark was built by sub¬ scription at Sandwich, near Cape Cod. She was about fifty tons burden, and cost two hundred pounds. The money Tor her con¬ struction was advanced by various persons, who formed a sort of joint stock company. The Massachusetts colony built their first vessel at Medford. She was launched on the fourth of July, 1631, and christened by Governor Winthrop, to whom she belonged, “ The Blessing of the Bay.” The unsettled condition of things in England, produced by the commencement of the civil wars of the commonwealth, reacted upon the colony. Their industry had not yet become en¬ tirely remunerative, and they still depended upon importations for a portion of their supplies, and for the accession to their ranks of fresh emigrants. Governor Winthrop, in his Journal, writes of the new aspect induced by this juncture of affairs as follows : “ The general fear of want of foreign commodities, now our money was gone, and that things were like to go well in England, set us on working to provide shipping of our own, for which end Mr. Peter, being a man of very public spirit and singular activity for all occasions, procured some to join for building a ship at Salem of three hundred tons, and the inhabitants of Boston, stirred up by his example, set upon the building of another at Boston of one hundred and fifty tons. The work was hard to accomplish for want of money, etc. ; but our shipwrights were content to take such pay as the country could make.” The want of money in the colony was shown at this time by the fact that corn was made a legal tender for debts. Other Industries. In other departments of industry we shall find the colonists actu¬ ated by the same restless and persistent spirit of enterprise. From the first, though agriculture, or the raising of the food they needed, was considered, as it should be, the art of primal necessity, yet they were constantly extending their efforts in every direction, as though they were conscious that a high condition of civilization is attainable only by the most highly diversified employments, and that the general culture of society, like that of the individuals composing it, can be reached only by the widest and most active exercise of all of its numerous functions ; while at the same time respecting every kind of industry, they considered them all as of 34 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. importance, and avoided the ignorant feeling of contempt for any useful occupation. The art of ship-building, of which we have noticed the begin¬ ning, spread rapidly through all the seaboard of the New England and the Middle States, bringing the young nation into intimate commercial relations with the rest of the world, and by spreading everywhere a knowledge of the comparative freedom of their politi¬ cal relations, stimulated the emigration to the country which has done so much for our subsequent advance, and has been so instru¬ mental in breaking down the narrow bounds of prejudice, and generating a broad and human interest in life in the place of a petty isolation and contempt of foreign nations. It was estimated at the beginning of the war of the Revolution that three hundred and ninety-eight thousand tons of colonial-built shipping were employed in the general commerce of Great Britain, or nearly one-third, and if the West India trade was included, nearly two-thirds. House-building. Perhaps, however, the most important branch of industry is that of house-building, as serving to indicate tiie advancing civilization of a nation, and the excess gained by their industry over the bare necessities of living. Peculiarly is this so in America, where labor is not generally consigned to hovels, especially in agricultural districts, in order that its earnings should be squandered upon a palace for the gratification of some ruler’s or capitalist’s love of vain display. As we have seen, the first cargo shipped from Plymouth consisted chiefly of clapboards. The forests of the United States afforded an abundant supply of building material. The logs at first were sawed or split into the required form by hand ; and the time necessarily consumed in this operation made it very expensive. The saw-mill is said to have been first introduced into Massachusetts in 1633, which was some years before it was used in England. Even as late as 1V67 a saw-mill was destroyed in that country by the mob, because it was supposed to be destructive to the work of the sawyers. At the time of the settlement of this country, the hand process was the only one used in England for the preparation of lumber, and the colonies must have brought over with them persons who were acquainted with its methods. As we have seen, the use of machinery was soon introduced, though as late as 1663 England AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 35 depended chiefly upon Holland for its sawn lumber. With the introduction of the saw-mill, the energy of the numerous streams in New England was soon applied to the preparation of lumber, and the same process of improvement in house-building began, which may be seen at work in the outskirts of our civilization, where the advent of the saw-mill abolishes the use of the log cabin. Saw-mills and Machinery. In the “ Body of Liberties,” which was a system of laws adopted by the General Court of Massachusetts in 1641, it was provided that there “ should be no monopolies but of such new inventions as were profitable to the country, and that for a short time only.” Under this provision a saw-mill was built in Scituate in 1656, for which the authorities stipulated, as appears in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, “ that in case any of the townsmen do bring any timber into the mill to be sawed, the own¬ ers of the mill shall saw it, whether it be for boards or plank, before they saw any of their own timber ; and they are to have the one half for sawing the other half. And in case any man of the town that doth bring any timber to the mill to be sawed shall want any boards for his particular use, the owners of the mill shall sell him boards for his own use, so many as he shall need, for the country pay at 3.s\ Q>d. an hundred inch sawn ; but in case the men of the town do not supply the mill with timber to keep it at work, the owners of the mill shall have liberty to make use of any timber upon the Common to saw for their benefit.” Wind saw-mills were erected by the Dutch in New York as early as 1633, and were also used there for grinding-mills. One of the first saw-mills built there was on Governor’s Island, in the harbor of New York city. In 1639 it was leased for five hun¬ dred merchantable boards, yearly, half oak and half pine. The introduction of the saw-mill was a great improvement. Before that time, the first houses in the colony were hardly better than the wigwams of the Indians, and unquestionably the first shelters' constructed were fashioned upon such models. Then came the log hut, described by the poet as “ A rude habitation, Solid, substantial, of timber rough-hewn from the firs of the forest; Wooden-barred was the door, and the roof was covered with rushes; Latticed the windows were, and the window panes were of paper, Oiled to admit the light, while wind and rain were excluded.” 36 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. Brick Making. The materials for some of the best houses, especially those for the official residences of the governors and other dignitaries, were at first imported from England or from Holland ; but soon the art of brick making was learned, and with lime made from oyster- shells, before the deposits of limestone were found, substantial brick houses came into use. The first brick-kiln in New Eng¬ land of which there is any account, was set up in Salem, Mass., in 1629. From the Massachusetts Historical Collections, the fol¬ lowing notice of it is taken, written by the minister of the town: “ It is thought here is good clay to make Bricke, and Tyles and Earthen pots, as need be. For stone, here is plentie of slates at the Isle of Slates, in Massathuletts Bay, and Lime-stone, Free-stone, and smooth stone and Iron-stone, and marble stone, also in such store that we have great Rockes of it, and a harbor hard by. Our plantation is from thence called Marble Harbor.” At first, the use of wood in building houses was so entire, that even the chimneys were made of this material, coated with cla}'. Such chimneys were called ** catted,” and the danger from fire thus incurred was heightened by the common practice of making the roofs thatched. In the first year of the settlement of James¬ town, in Virginia, the fort, the store-house, arid all the supplies it contained, together with most of the rest of the town, were burnt by a fire which originated in this way. The same fate, from the same cause, befell the first building and store-house built by the Pil¬ grims at Plymouth, within a month of its being finished. In Bos¬ ton, the first fire, which took place in 1641, and destroyed two buildings, commenced from one of these imperfectly built chim¬ neys, from which the flames were communicated to the thatch of the roof. The use of such chimneys and roofs was therefore for¬ bidden by Governor Dudley. In 1635, the new fort at New York, Fort Amsterdam, which had cost the labor of two years in building, caught fire from the same cause, and was destroyed. In consequence, their use was prohibited there. Throughout the country, however, the iso¬ lation of the houses, and the difficulty of transportation, made brick so scarce that these methods of building continued long in use; and in 1189, Washington, in his tour through the Eastern States, noticed several times in his diary the fact, which seems to have struck him as worthy of record, that after leaving New AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 87 York, no dwelling-houses were seen in the villages or small towns through which he passed, which had not brick or stone chimneys. Those in Connecticut had generally “ two flush stories, with a very # good show of sash, and glass windows.” The last ten thousand bricks which were imported into Boston from England in 1629, were intended for use in building chimneys. In Boston, the first brick house, which was also, most probably, the first one in Massachusetts, is said to have been built in 1638 by a Mr. Coddington. In 1643 a watch-house of brick was built in Plymouth, the bricks for it being furnished by a Mr. Grimes, at eleven shillings a thousand. In 1630, at the first Court of Assistants, held in Charles¬ town, Mass., the wages of carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, saw¬ yers, and thatchers were fixed at two shillings a day, with a penalty of ten shillings to both giver and taker if more was paid. This was one of the few instances of an attempt to transplant to the colonies the foolish interference by legislation with the wages of labor, which prevailed even much later in the mother country. . The folly of attempting to introduce into the freer political and social conditions of the colony this practice, * inherited from the times when the chief business of the rulers was supposed to be the domination of industry, was soon seen, and in 1640 all such restrictions were removed. , ln 1692 an order of the General Court required all buildings of a certain size to be built of stone or brick, and to be roofed with slate or tiles, on account of the “ great desolations and ruins ” which had been caused by crowding together houses of 'wood. In 1700 Boston contained about one thousand houses and ten thousand people. In New York bricks were early imported from Holland, and the style of the houses was an imitation of those of Amsterdam. Brick-making was introduced by the last governor Stuyvesant. In 1649 a deputation was sent to the Hague to complain of his administration to the company, the chief charge brought against him being that he had been mostly engaged in building, brick¬ making, and such like occupations, though they were unprofitable. At this time, the chief industry of the colony was the gathering and exportation of furs and skins. At the Van Rensselaer estate, below Albany, bricks were made before they were at New York, and between 1630 and 1646, as appears from the accounts, were sold for fifteen florins the thousand. Earthen ware, which was 38 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. said to equal that made at Delft, was early manufactured on Long Island, and the company in Holland, as appears from the records, refused to grant special privileges or monopolies for the encour¬ agement of new branches of industry. Their language in so doing was as follows : “ The grants we not only entirely disap¬ prove, but require that you will not give one single grant more hereafter, as it is, in our opinion, a very pernicious management, principally in a new and budding state, whose population and welfare cannot be promoted but through general benefits and priv¬ ileges, in which every one who might be inclined to settle in such a country, either as a merchant or mechanic, may participate.” In 1678, Governor Andros, in a report to the committee of the House of Lords on the colonies, stated that New York city con¬ tained three hundred and forty-three houses, with ten inhabitants to each house, ** most wood, some, lately, stone and brick, good country houses, and strong of their several kindes.” About the end of the seventeenth century, Madam Knight thus describes the buildings of New York: “ The buildings are brick generally, in some houses of divers colors, and laid in cheques; being glazed, they look very well.” Of their interiors she says, they are “ neat to admiration ; ” that the fireplaces had no jambs, but were made flush with the walls, while the fireplaces were built of tiles, and extended into the rooms sometimes as much as five feet. In a few of the streets, narrow brick sidewalks were laid down. ^ The prices of building materials are thus given for 1637, in New Amsterdam, in O’ Callaghan’s New Netherlands: Bricks, ten florins ($4) a thousand ; rushes, or reeds for thatching, one and* a half- florins for one hundred bundles, or, at Fort Orange, one florin. The daily wages of carpenters were about two florins, and day laborers, one florin. Nails were eight to ten stivers (16 to 20 cents) a pound, a pound containing a hundred nails. For the minister at Rensselaerwick, a dwelling-house, built entirely of oak, with doors and window casings of the same, was purchased for three hundred and fifty guilders. The Various Styles of Domestic Architecture. The Dutch style of house-building prevailed also at Albany, and gave rise also to the fashion of the houses in the northern portion of New Jersey; the gable walls of brick, and, later, of stone, while the other walls were of wood, and the roofs of shingles. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 3D In 1684, the letters of Gawen Laurie describe the houses of the poorer classes in East New Jersey as quite primitive in their con¬ struction, being made of split trees, set up on end, and the other x end nailed to the “ rising; ” they were then covered with shingles, and plastered inside. The cost was about five pounds each, and barns were built in the same manner. “ We have good brick earth,” he writes, 11 and stone for building at Amboy, and else¬ where. The country farm-houses they build very cheap ; a car¬ penter, with a man’s own servants, builds the house ; they have all the materials for nothing, save nails. The chimneys arc stone.” At the beginning of this century, the house was still standing at New Castle, Pennsylvania, in which Governor Lovelace enter¬ tained George Fox in 1672. It was built of brick and hewn tim¬ ber, the mortar and cement having been made from oyster shells. In Pennsylvania and Delaware, the first buildings erected by the Swedes, who settled that portion of the country, were modelled after the houses in use at that time in the northern part of Europe, from whence the colonists came. They were built chiefly of wood, were rudely finished, consisted only of one story, containing only a single room, and having low doors, while the windows were mere apertures in the walls. The Dutch," who succeeded them, brought bricks from New York. The manor house built by William Penn, the founder of Penn¬ sylvania, at Pennsbury, a few miles above Bristol, in Bucks County, was constructed of bricks, which were chiefly brought over from England. This house cost its owner over five thou¬ sand pounds. In the Southern States, wood was the material chiefly used in domestic architecture. As late as 1791, General Washington de¬ scribes Charleston as having a number of very good houses built of brick and wood, though the majority were of the latter material. In 1790, Hamilton, in his report as Secretary of the Treasury, speaks of the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and potter’s ware, as among the most important branches of the national industry. From the period of the independence of the country until quite into this century, the style and manner of house building ex¬ pressed the growing wealth and culture of society; while the dif¬ ferences in the domestic architecture of New England, the Middle States, and the South, necessitated by the differences of the cli¬ mate, were also suggestive of the differences in the social rela¬ tions of their various inhabitants. 3 40 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. Here, as elsewhere, the differences in the political constitution of the various colonies were also expressed. The democratic con¬ stitution of New England society produced a more general and uniform air of comfort in the houses. Few had any pretension to be splendid, but all had an air of comfort. The proprietary gov¬ ernments, and the more aristocratically constituted society of the Southern States, gave rise to a greater difference in the houses of the different classes, and mansions with considerable pretensions to architectural effects were more common, and more striking from their contrast with the poorer accommodations afforded to industry. With the opening of the West, the new methods of transporta¬ tion, the use of steam, and the application of machinery to lessen¬ ing the expenditure of labor, domestic architecture has partaken fully of the new spirit of the age, and solidly-built cities now spring up along the lines of travel through the West almost as rapidly as though through the agency of the wonder-working lamp of Aladdin. Improvements in House Building. With the application of machinery, the labor of house building has been greatly lessened, and the western prairies are dotted over with houses which have been shipped there all made, and the various pieces numbered, so that they could be put up complete, by any one. The use of iron also in domestic architecture has been one of the chief improvements of modern times, especially in our cities; and though our architects have not yet arrived at an artistic method of treatment of this material, still its use will increase with time. The strength of iron is textile, while that of stone is in supporting a direct thrust, and our architects as yet not recognizing this distinction, have used iron as though it was stone, notwithstanding that, in the various crystal palaces, exam¬ ples have been given of the correct method for its treatment. The method of construction with wood, known as 11 balloon framing,” is also the most important contribution to our domestic architecture which the spirit of economy, and a scientific adapta¬ tion of means to ends, have given the modern world. When it was first used is not known with any definiteness, but it has, within the last fifty years, entirely replaced the old method of construction. The heavy beams, the laborious framing, the use of mortises and tenons, have all been replaced by lightness and constructive skill, so that a single man and a boy can put up a AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 41 house, such as formerly, for its “ raising ,” required the combined force of a village. There is hardly a better evidence of the American spirit, which is so prompt to adapt itself by new methods to new conditions, than the introduction of this new style of building, and it has really been the most efficient cause of the rapidity with which, in modern times, our villages and towns spring into existence. Our methods of construction, like our means of transportation, have passed into the railroad phase of development. Agriculture in the Colonies. With the settlement of the various colonies, agriculture was of course considered as the first and most important branch of in¬ dustry. The colonies brought over with them supplies of food sufficient to last for some time, and in many cases were forced to depend upon other countries for their renewal for a year or two.. With the commencement of agriculture was of necessity allied the raising of stock, and the differentiation of industry which nat¬ urally follows from manufacturing the various articles of clothing from the materials thus provided. The first cattle ever brought to America are said to have been introduced by Columbus in his second voyage in 1493. In 155.3 cattle were carried by the Portuguese to Nova Scotia and New¬ foundland, and are said to have increased there very rapidly. In 1565 cattle, horses, sheep, and swine were carried to Florida by the French, and in 1608 the same people introduced cattle into^ Canada. The first permanent settlement in Virginia was, in the year 1609, in possession of between five and six hundred hogsy with as many fowls, a few goats, and some sheep and horses. The scarcity of food, however, led to their extinction by the colonists, and in 1610 another stock of cattle was -brought from the West Indies, and the penalty of death for killing them was enacted,. The next year, Sir Thomas Gates brought with him three hun¬ dred emigrants, over one hundred cows, some swine, and am ample store of provisions. In 1620 the cattle had increased! to about five hundred, and in A Declaration of the State of Virginia, are described as being “ much bigger of body than the breed from which they came; the horses also more beautiful, and fuller of courage. ” f In 1649 the cattle of Virginia, including bulls, cowhand calves, 42 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. were estimated at twenty thousand, together with two hundred horses, three thousand sheep, five thousand goats, and many swine. Of these many were exported- to New England, where the diversities of industry made them more valuable. In the Plymouth Colony the first neat cattle were introduced by Edward Winslow, in the spring of 1624, and consisted of three heifers and a bull. In 1626 twelve cows were sent to Cape Ann, and in 1629 thirty more. With the settlement of Massachusetts in 1629, there were sent out one hundred and forty head of cattle, with some horses and goats. With Governor Winthrop, in the following' year, three hundred kine, and a number of other animals had been shipped, but more than half of them died on* the pas¬ sage, or during the first winter. The Indians were also very destructive to the animals of the colony, as were also the wolves. Yet the increase of their stocks was rapid, and Bradford, the sec¬ ond governor, in his recently discoveied History of Plymouth, says that by this, and the rise in provisions from the increasing emigra¬ tion, “ many were much enriched, and comodities grew plentifull; and yet in other regards this benefite turned to their hurte, and this accession of strength to their weakness. For now their stocks increased, and ye increase vendible, ther was no longer any holding them together, but now they must of necessitie goe to their great lots ; they could not otherwise keep their katle, and having oxen growne, they must have land for plowing and tillage. And no man thought he could live except he had catle and a great deale of ground to keep them, all striving to increase their stocks.” The Differentiation of Industry. In 1651, Johnson, in his Woncler-worhing Providence, thus speaks of the industries of the colony : “ All other trades have here fallen into their ranks and places, to their great advantage ; especially « coopers and shoemakers, who had either of them a corporation granted, enriching themselves by their trades very much. As for tanners and shoemakers, it being naturalized in these occupations to have a higher reach in managing their manifactures than other men in New England, and having not changed their nature in this, between them both they have kept men to their stander hitherto, almost doubling the price of their commodities according to the rate they were sold for in England, and yet the plenty of leather is beyond what they had there, counting the number of the people ; but the transportation of boots and shoes into forraign parts hath AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 43 vented all, however.” lie mentions also among' others who had ** orderly turned to their trades,” card-makers, glovers, fell- mongers, furriers. “ As for tailors, they have not come behind the former, their advantage being in the nurture of new fashions all one with England.” And some “have a mystery beyond oth¬ ers, as have the vinters.” In 1677 the Assembly of the United Colonies of Connecticut, at Hartford, ordered that no tanner should receive more for tanning than two pence a pound for green, and four pence for dry hides; and that they should be sold for three pence a pound for green, and six pence for dry hides, and so marked that they could be readily known. Shoemakers were also to charge five and a half pence a size “for all playne and wooden-heeled shoes above men’s sevens. Three soled shoes, well-made and wrought, not above seven and a half pence a size for well-wrought French-falls.” In New York, domestic cattle were imported from Holland by the West India Company in 1625, by Pieter Evertsen Ilulst. He sent one hundred and three animals, horses, cows, hogs, and sheep. In 1627 a cow was worth there £30, and a yoke of oxen £40. In 1650 the company supplied each tenant with land, house,-tools, four cows, as many horses and other animals, to be returned in six years. A cow and a calf were then worth £40. New Jersey was provided with cattle from New York, and their increase soon made this province one of the storehouses for the supply of the cities of Philadelphia and New York. In Pennsyl¬ vania the Swedes were, in 1627, supplied with neat cattle by the Swedish West India Company, and the colonists for a long time wore moccasins, and vests and breeches of Indian-dressed skins. Even the women wore jerkins and petticoats of the same material, and their beds, except the sheets, were also of leather. Flax, hemp, and wool were also spun b}’’ the women. In the private accounts of William Penn, a pair of leather over¬ alls are charged at £1 2s., and a painted skin at twelve shillings. An account of the province, written in 1697, states that twenty bullocks, besides many sheep, calves, and hogs, were killed every week for the supply of Philadelphia. A cow could be bought for £3, and salted pork and leaf were regularly exported. Raw hides were three halfpence a pound. Curriers received 3s. 4c?. a hide for dressing, and paid 20c?. a gallon for their oil. Shoemakers were paid two shillings a pair for men’s and women’s shoes, while last-makers received ten shillings a dozen for their lasts, and heel- 44 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. makers two shillings a dozen for heels, which were most probably of wood. Among the trades enumerated were tanners, skinners, glovers, pattern-makers, saddlers, collar-makers, book-binders, and carriage-makers. In the Southern Provinces, the differentiation of labor was a slower process than in the more enterprising Eastern States. The cattle were left to provide principally for themselves. In the account written by Mr. Perry, in 1T31, he states that cattle were numerous, but that there was not a hovel in all the country for their shelter, and that, in consequence, ten thousand homed cattle died from exposure during the previous winter. The plant¬ ers did not know how to mow or to provide fodder. Butter w T as 7s. Qd. a pound, and the winter before, 12s. The hides were ex¬ ported raw, or thrown away. Imported shoes were sold at 10s. a pair, and ox hides at 20s. each. “ Neither are they destitute of the means to tan them, for they make very good lime witli oyster shells, and the bark of oak trees is so plentiful that it costs but the trouble of gathering. They want, therefore, only a sufficient number of good tanners and shoemakers. I might say the same of leather-dressers, since they send every year to England alone 200,000 deer-skins undrest. Yet Carolina produces oker naturally, and good Fish oyle may be had from New York or New England very cheap, so that they might be drest and made up into Breeches in the country ; for which these skins are very proper, being warm in winter and cool in summer.” The Extension of the Settlements. From these settlements upon the coast, the population gradually extended inland, following generally the course of the rivers, and carrying their agricultural pursuits into the valleys. In many of the various articles of this work upon the position of the special industries, the history of their foundation and growth will be found more in detail. One of the great obstacles in the way of the more rapid increase of the country was the bad state of the roads, and the necessarily slow condition of the intercom¬ munication. It was not until the discovery of the use of steam, and its application to railroads, that civilization in any country had the means at its disposal for the circulation of its men or its prod¬ ucts, with the certainty or rapidity which are absolutely necessary for the fullest development of its resources. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH. 45 Methods of Communication. Up to this time the improvement in the modes of communica¬ tion underwent the same gradual course which lias marked else¬ where the passage of society to its present phase of organization. About the centres of population the roads were improved. Stages were introduced, canals came into use, and the isolation of small communities began to give way before larger national sympathies and more extended interests. The war of the revolution had much to do with introducing and organizing a national spirit among the colonies. In the armies, the men from different sections met each other, and learned to supplant their sectional jealousies with a mutual respect and a wider conception of a national destiny. With the formation of a national Congress, the necessity for a more intimate union of the states than that of the confederation became evident, and the means were prepared for supplanting the various political differ¬ ences in the organizations of the proprietary and southern col¬ onies by constitutions which more nearly approximated the repub¬ lican character of those in New England. This course of action, which supplemented the results of independence gained by the revolution, though more concealed in its workings, was quite as influential as was the war in producing a distinctive national feeling. With the result of the late war, the abolition of slavery, and the unification of the financial policy of the states, another great step has been taken towards the advancing organization of the social forces of the country. Labor has been made free from deg¬ radation, and the obstacle of slavery cleared away from the social and industrial advance of every one. With political equality, the means of education open freely to all, the guarantee of republican institutions in every state, with no legislative or other artificial impediments in the way of any one to improve his position, but with every avenue of industry open to all, and only individual fitness made the test of success, the United States now offers to the industry of the world, for the first time in the history of human progress, the opportunity for it to enjoy the most perfect freedom of development, and to take its proper place in the organization of liberty. With the use of the ballot, industry has secured the ability to peacefully obtain its rights, for which, in Europe, revolutions are still necessary. With the 46 AN HISTORICAL. SKETCH. means of free education, the power to comprehend those rights is afforded to every one. With no restraint upon the freedom of every man to seek the spot where he can find the best opportunity for exercising his industry ; with the wide expanse of the national domain open before him, and no custom-house or other govern¬ mental restriction to prevent his going wherever lie may wish, industry, for the first time in its history, has the ability to control the selection of its own conditions, and organize them in accord- mice with the demands of its increasing knowledge. The Activity of National Life. The political life and activity of a nation, like that of each individual, consist in the continuous adjustment of internal to external conditions, in this cycle of continuous motion and change which constitute the phenomena of the moral as of the physical world. Though it may not be at present possible to foresee with minuteness what is in store for us in the future, yet from a com¬ parison of the immediate past, we can measurably prefigure the result. From the small beginnings which have here been rapidly sketched, with their simple uniformity of employments, we have seen produced, in less than three hundred years, the great diversity of our present occupations, and the differentiation of our industrial pursuits, of which this work will give an idea. With the increasing circle of employments for human energy, the forces brought to bear upon the question of social progress have increased in both number and intensity, and the solution of the problem, like that of the resolution of various forces in me¬ chanics, has become more complex. Yet the result is in the line of progress, in the direction of securing to each individual the largest liberty for his personal endeavors, and for society at large the greatest amount of material for its collective comfort and well¬ being. Upon the next-century of our national life, we start from a point which has been reached by the labors of two centuries, and with the collected experience of the generations which have preceded us, with the organized appliances which their labors have pre¬ pared for us, to carry forward still further the process of indus¬ trial development, and afford in our turn the evidence that the moral progress of mankind is best secured by liberty. SEWING MACHINES. AN AMERICAN INVENTION. — AN EVIDENCE OF THE SPIRIT OF MODERN TIMES. —' INVENTIONS PREVIOUS TO THE SEWING MACHINE. -THEIR VALUE AS STEPS TOWARDS IT. — THE FIRST PATENT. —HOWE’S PATENT. —THE NUMBER OF PATENTS ISSUED. — CLASSIFICATION OF SEWING MACHINES. — THE VERDICT OF THE PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1867 . — THE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN institute; of the Maryland institute.—the points weigh the man¬ ufacturers NOW SEEK TO REACH IN SEWING MACHINES. — THE G. F. MACHINE. — ITS DESIGNER. — THE POINTS OF ITS SUPERIORITY. — A DE¬ SCRIPTION OF THE METHOD OF ITS CONSTRUCTION. — THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZATION UPON THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING MACHINES. — THEIR PRESENT PRICES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THIRTY YEARS AGO. — THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF THE SEWING MACHINE. The introduction of the sewing machine, by whicli the slow and tedious process of hand sewing is so largely done away with, is due entirely to American ingenuity and enterprise. Such an ap¬ plication of the modern spirit of industry, which seeks in every way to dignify labor by lifting it above the plane of drudgery, and by introducing the necessity for brains, as well as simple muscular force, into all the operations of industry, tends to make the opera¬ tive more of a human being, exercising- in his business of life more of the faculties which form the distinctive characteristic of man in the hierarchy of nature, and is analogous to the political equality which underlies the theory of our government, and which seeks to make of any individual of the body politic a citizen, ‘conscious of the responsibilities of such a position, instead of a subject depen¬ dent upon others for a knowledge of his duties or his rights. The steps which, before the completion of a practically working- machine, were made in this general direction, will be seen to have been only such as in no way detract from the claim of America to have originated and perfected this industrial appliance. The ulti¬ mate effects of the sewing machine, though by no means yet fully attained, are still already sufficiently manifest to justify the asser¬ tion that this invention ranks among the foremost of this century. ( 47 ) 48 SEWING MACHINES. The earliest patent which appears to have been granted for a machine to improve or facilitate the process of sewing, was grant¬ ed in England, on the 24th of July, 1755, to Charles F. Weisen- thal, for an improved method of embroidering. Under this patent he claimed a needle, pointed at both ends, and having the eye in the middle, so that it could be passed both ways through the cloth without being turned round. The next patent was granted to Robert Alsop, in 1770, for the use of two or more shuttles in em¬ broidery, their purpose being to secure the stitches. In 1804 John Duncan took out a patent for an improved process by the use of barbed or hooked needles, by which the loops were made and secured somewhat as the stitch is made in the single-thread sewing machine. In 1807 James Winter patented in England an appliance for sewing leather gloves, the importance of which here arises only from the fact that the material was held in position by metallic jaws, thus leaving the operator’s hands free. On July 17, 1830 , a French patent was granted to M. Thimonier for a ma¬ chine to do crochet work, which could also be applied to sewing. .In this machine a hooked needle was used. In 1848 this machine was improved by M. Maguin, a partner of the inventor, and in 1851 was exhibited in the great London World’s Fair of that date. None of these machines, however, were intended really for the purpose which the sewing machine performs, and are mentioned here simply because each of them in turn was a partial step in the use of some mechanical process, which was afterwards in¬ troduced in the sewing machine. In the Patent Office at Washington is the model of a u machine to sew a straight seam,” which was patented February 21, 1842, by James Greenough, of Washington. This machine made what is known as the “ shoemaker’s stitch.” The needle was made with the eye in the centre, and pointed at both ends, being pushed through and* then drawn back by means of pinchers. In 1813 other patents were granted to G. R. Corliss and B. W. Bean. Bean’s machine worked by crimping the .material, by running it through corrug-ated rollers, and then sewed by thrusting a needle through the folds, thus, in fact, basting it. Another machine was patented in 1844, by Rogers. The next year, 1846, Elias Ilowe, Jr., patented his, on September 10. This was the first practicable machine for sewing. Though not patented until this year, Mr. Ilowe had invented the machine some years before, and working without the knowl- SEWING MACHINES. 49 edge of what had been done before by others, he had used some devices which others had used, but had so combined them in novel shapes or arrangements that the machine, as a whole, was entirely his own invention. His patent claims, substantially, the use of a needle with the eye in the point, and a shuttle for the purpose of uniting two edges in a seam, or their equivalent, making the stitch by interlocking two threads. lie improved his machine as origi¬ nally invented, but failed in exciting sufficient attention to it, either in the United States or in England, to raise the. capital necessary for its successful introduction into popular use. Ilis attempts to do this exhausted his means, and reduced him to great- poverty. Though he afterwards received very large amounts of money from the subsequent inventors, who manufactured their machines under a royalty to him for the use of the appliances governed by his patent, yet the heavy expenses of the lawsuits he was forced to undertake to enforce his claims absorbed so much of the money he received that he died in comparative poverty. While Howe was attempting to introduce his machine to notice* the attention of inventors began to be turned to the subject of sewing machines, and patents for improvements, modifications, or new arrangements of the parts began to flow in a steady stream from the Patent Office. Between the year when Howe’s patent was issued to the year 1871 nearly one thousand different pat¬ ents relating to sewing machines have been issued, and as many applications for patents have been rejected. Of this number thirty- seven were issued in 1857, seventy-two in each of the two suc¬ ceeding years, and with an average of nearly fifty for each year until 1869, when eighty-eight patents were issued, being the largest number in any single year up to that date. Of all these patents, of course the large majority have never been carried so far as the production of machines for popular use, while many of them were simply for modification and improve¬ ments upon the mechanical devices already in use, or for new combinations of them. At present, therefore, all the sewing ma¬ chines presented before the public may be classed, according to the variety of stitch they make, into three classes. The first are those sewing machines which make the lock-stitch, using two threads, and consequently a shuttle. The use of this kind of stitch consumes about two and a half yards of thread in sewing a seam a yard long. 50 SEWING MACHINES. The next kind of stitch is the loop or double-chain stitch, which consumes about six yards of thread in sewing' a seam a } ard in len gth. The third class is the chain-stitch, or the twisted loop-stitch, which is made with a single thread, and consumes about lour yards of thread in sewing a seam a yard in length. In the Paris Exposition of ISO? there were numerous machines exhibited which made the loop or the chain-stitch, but not one of them was noticed by the international juries as deserving of men¬ tion for any special merit. The classification of sewing machines, made by a committee appointed by the American Institute of New York for the purpose of examining their comparative merits, was as follows : — The committee divided them into four classes, ranging them in the order of their merits. The first class included the shuttle or lock-stilch machines, made for family use, and the committee as¬ signed this position to machines of this kind on account of the “elasticity, permanence, beauty, and general desirableness of the stitching when done/’ and also for the wide range of its ap¬ plication. The second class made by the committee embraced the shuttle or lockstitch machines, intended for manufacturing purposes. The third class included the double chain-stitch, while the fourth class included the single thread , tambour, or chain-stitch machines. Of the first and second class, the Weed, the Howe, the Singer, the Wheeler and Wilson, the Florence, and others are the chief representatives. Of the third class, the Grover and Baker is the chief representative. Of these, while the committee acknowl¬ edged that this stitch can be used most successfully for em¬ broidery purposes, yet they objected to it from the fact that it consumes so much more thread than the others, and leaves a ridge projecting upon one side of the seam, which makes it unfit for many garments. In the fourth class the Willcox and Gibbs is the chief represen¬ tative. With these machines the committee considered that the tendency of the stitch to ravel formed so serious an objection that they refused to recommend it for a premium. Of the various machines, therefore, the question of the best be¬ comes narrowed down to the consideration as to which of those making the lock-stitch has the most special claims to consideration. Not only does the verdict of the judges maintain this, but it would SEWING MACHINES. 51 seem to be also the judgment of the public, who, as consumers, are practically interested in deciding between the adverse claims put forward by the various machines offered for their acceptance. This becomes evident when it is remembered that at least five- sixths of the machines manufactured and. used in the world are machines which make the lock-stitch. Machines making the lock-stitch are all good machines, and have been practically tested by so many thousands that it would be absurd to deny that they do their work well. The claim of any one of them to being superior to the others must depend upon certain technical points in which it is superior to the others. By a careful comparison of these machines, it is evident that the ✓ Weed machine, which obtained the highest prize at the Paris Exposition of 1867, was then rightly judged, and is to-day, for family use, the best there is. Nor, after a careful consideration of the following points, can any one without prejudice fail to come to the same opinion. In the first place it is the simplest in its construction ; it has a straight needle ; it will readily stitch either thick or thin material; the upper and lower thread have the same tension — a most important point ; it will work as well with both threads of the same thick¬ ness ; its needle can be set without the use of a screw-driver, or any other tool; the needle is moved perpendicularly, instead of at the end of an arm, by which it is moved through the segment of a circle. This is an important point, since the differences of the atmosphere affect the length of the arm, so that to this cause the best judges assign the singular 11 fits ” which so often affect sew¬ ing machines when they refuse to work correctly. Its machinery is below the table, where it is free from dust. It is so well bal¬ anced that it is worked both easily and noiselessly. These points and others of less importance were allowed, in the Maryland In¬ stitute, in 1869, to constitute the superiority of the Weed machine over its competitors, and to entitle it to the highest premium. Now that the sewing machine is so popularly accepted, and the demand has risen to such proportions that to supply it requires a production of nearly two thousand machines a day, or over six hundred thousand a year, the best mechanical ingenuity in the country finds in it a most profitable field for employment, and the workmanship displayed in the machines from the best manufac¬ turers is exquisitely perfect. It is no longer a question concerning the practicability of sew- 52 SEWING MACHINES. ing by machinery, but the efforts of the various manufacturers are devoted to producing machines which shall sew most noiselessly ; which shall be so accurately fitted, and so evenly hung, that they can be worked with the least expenditure of force ; while the sim¬ plicity of their mechanism and its accuracy shall make them, under use, more durable and more easily kept in order. As an interesting evidence of the success attained in perfecting the sewing machine in these important points, we would mention here a new machine introduced by the Weed Company under the trademark of G. F., or 1 ‘ General Favorite,” as these initials are ordinarily translated. This machine was designed by Mr. George Fairfield, the super¬ intendent of the Weed Company’s works, to whose mechanical genius and talent for organization the productions of the company chiefly owe their well-earned reputation. The credit of its inge¬ nious mechanism, which makes a new era in the history of sewing machines, is due entirely to him, and this the Weed Company have acknowledged in branding it with his initials. The chief point aimed at in the construction of this new ma¬ chine was to make it a really noiseless one ; and early in his endeavors to attain this end, Mr. Fairfield found that he must abandon the mechanical devices heretofore used in sewing machines, such as cams, gears, and similar appliances, and replace them by something else. With this view, he introduced in their place a swinging or rock motion, by which to avoid the nervous grinding of the cams, and the harsh clatter of the cogs and gears in ordi¬ nary use. The essential merit of this new combination is simplicity and perfection of mechanical motion, together with a perfect freedom from the friction and jarring incident to the ordinary mechanism of the sewing machines heretofore made. By this means, also, not only is all noise avoided, but a rate of speed much higher than that heretofore attained becomes possible with these machines. This merit is one which will specially com¬ mend the G. F. to manufacturers, with whom time is most practi¬ cally money. A still further improvement in this machine is a novel device for feeding, by which all wearing points are avoided, and which is readily adjusted from the top of the bed. As it works also directly under the material to be sewn, it avoids all long levers and the MANUFACTORY OF THE WEED SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN, a <• » . : ■ ■ - * ■ • ' . ■ V . v » SEWING MACHINES. 55 variations in the length of the stitches which are caused by their springing. The uneven tension between the upper and lower threads, which all experts know is an objectionable feature in almost all the ma¬ chines heretofore made, is also avoided in the Weed machines by the introduction of a delicate, adjustable pad arranged in the shut¬ tle, and under which the thread passe's. Its tension is thus secured without the necessity for the short curves and corners/ by which it is chafed, and which have heretofore rendered it im possible to secure a perfect tension. With the upper thread, also, in the sewing machines as con¬ structed ordinarily, the -tension is secured by passing the thread round corrugated wheels, or between disks, or under a spring or clamp. All of these various methods are objectionable. The corrugated wheels may stick ; or, when the thread passes between disks, the twist in the thread is destroyed ; or, in this case, as also when it passes under a clamp, a knot, or any unevenness in the thread itself, makes a difficulty in the way of its even tension and regular supply. In the G. F. machine, however, these objections are all overcome by the introduction of a vibrating or an anti-friction pad, which readily adjusts itself to any ordinary imperfection in the thread, and renders all unevenness of the tension impossible. These improvements in the tension obviate the difficulties which have heretofore been, perhaps, the most evident in the way of perfecting the sewing machine, and their advantage will appear manifest to any one practically acquainted with the use of sewing machines. In this machine, also, the shuttle is driven by a ball and socket joint, which is universally acknowledged to be the best mechanical device known for imparting motion ; while all the joints and bear¬ ings in its mechanism are arranged to be so adjustable that any wear which may arise from long-continued, constant use, for manu¬ facturing or other purposes, may be readily taken up without trouble to the operator, or expense for repairing. This is an im¬ provement which appeals most forcibly to those who have had experience in the use of sewing machines for industrial purposes. The increase of the consumption of sewing machines has raised their manufacture to one of the most important of the mechanical 50 SEWING MACHINES. industries of the country, and the economic value to the consumers of the organization of industry is, perhaps, nowhere shown more strikingly than in this branch of manufactures. With the first introduction of the sewing machine, its cost ap¬ peared to be an almost effectual bar to its general acceptance. It would cost to-day some hundreds of dollars for'a mechanic to make a single sewing machine, from a model before him ; and the first sewing machines made cost fully this amount. The first introduction of sewing machines was less than thirty years ago, and yet, at that time, it has been stated that the origi¬ nal inventor could not have filled an order for a dozen machines at a less price than five hundred dollars each. There was not the machinery in existence to make the various parts, and they had, consequently, to be, all made by the tedious and expensive process of hand labor. Now, however, in a well-furnished and properly- organized manufactory, like that of the Weed Company, every aid of machinery is made use of, and sewing machines, constructed with a perfection of accuracy which it would have been impossible to attain thirty years ago, are now made in large numbers daily, and sold at a price which places them within the reach of every family of thrifty habits. The influence of the change in our methods of domestic labor, which the sewing machine has been chiefly instrumental in pro¬ ducing, can hardly be over-estimated. We have seen only its beginning. The greater intensity and activity of the social forces set in action by the new spirit of industry, and the extension of the means for enjoying the luxury of propriety in dress among all classes, will produce in our social organization a change similar to that produced in the political world by the extension of political rights and responsibilities. We live in an age of universal ideas, and the material questions of the time are rising to claim their proper position as the truly moral questions, which must be answered in the interest of no one class, but of all. THE GERM OF THE ART. —BLOCK-BOOKS. —DISCOVERY OF PRINTING. — EARLY HISTORY. — KOSTER. — METBLIN. — JOHN GUTTEMBERG. — FAUST. — SCIICEF- FER. — SPLENDID SPECIMENS OF TYPOGRAPHY. — SPREAD OF THE ART IN EUROPE. —THE FIRST PRESSES IN AMERICA.—THE CA3IBRIDGE “ UNIVER¬ SITY PRESS.”-WILLIAM PENN’S PRINTER. — FRANKLIN’S PRESS. — PRACTI¬ CAL PRINTING.-COMPOSITION. — PROOF-READING. — IMPOSITION. — DISTRI¬ BUTION.— TYPE-SETTING AND DISTRIBUTING MACHINES. — JOB PRINTING.— PRINTING IN COLORS. -THE PRINTING PRESS.-EARL OF STANHOPE. — NICH¬ OLSON.— KONIG.—THE LONDON TIMES. —GEORGE CLYMER.— APPLEGATII. — ISAAC ADAMS. — NAPIER. — THE MESSRS. HOE. — AMERICAN PRESSES. The discovery of the art of letter-press printing is the glory of the fifteenth century; but the germ of the art existed more than three thousand years before, when the Egyptians engraved raised characters and symbols upon tiles and cylinders, which were after¬ wards impressed upon soft clay tablets, which were then baked and hardened. These are supposed to be records, and the use of stamps, from which many impressions could be taken, shows that the purpose was multiplication, to disseminate information. With these have been found clay and porcelain figures, on which the characters were evidently impressed 'singly, side by side, by stamps. The ruined cities of Asia also exhibit similar specimens, and Mr. Layard declares that “the most common mode of keep¬ ing records in Assyria and Babylon was on prepared bricks, tiles, or’cylinders of clay, baked after the inscription was impressed European public museums and private collections contain many of these curiosities of the first steps taken in the art of printing. It is strange that the Greeks and Romans were slower in dis¬ covering even this initial step in the art. The earlier specimens of Roman pottery, many of them exhibiting exquisite taste in manufacture, show almost no attempts at the impression of de- 4 ( 57 ) 8 PRINTING AND TIIE PRINTING PRESS. signs or characters ; and that, too, when their monuments and public buildings bore sculptured legends and inscriptions in the Roman letters which we use to-day. But the first attempt was an immense step in advance. They made stamps of different sizes, bearing on their faces names and legends in raised characters re¬ versed. These were of bronze or brass, and unquestionably were used to make impressions by means of ink or colors upon papy¬ rus, cloth, or parchment. One of them, preserved in the British Museum, has a face two inches by four-fifths of an inch, with let¬ ters and a border, which are here given in facsimile. It is the signet Julius) CiECILIVS IIER- MIAS, and with modern printer’s ink it makes a clear and handsome im¬ pression upon paper, while the ring or handle on the back leaves no doubt whatever of its object as a stamp for printing. That the Romans of that period should have just missed the discovery of block-printing by the page, which the Chinese claim to have known before the Christian era, is indeed surprising. In fact, there has been no material improvement in Chinese printing from its beginning, and for obvious reasons — their written lan¬ guage contains from eighty thousand to one hundred thousand characters, so that block-printing would be easier and more rapid than the use of movable type, since the number of characters re¬ quired — at least sixty thousand — would make composition quite impracticable. But from the Roman stamps and (claimed) Chinese block-print¬ ing, centuries elapsed before comparatively civilized nations knew even this much of the art. Of course wood-cutting was the be¬ ginning ; first for the manufacture of playing-cards, certainly as early as in the fourteenth century ; and then followed many rude engravings, generally of scriptural subjects, with legends or texts annexed. Prominent among these was the “ Poor Man’s Bible,” consisting of forty leaves from as many different blocks. In this book, and in the Canticles, and the Speculum, certain pages were printed from movable type, and with this fact, admitted by bibliogra¬ phers, comes at last the great discovery of letter-press printing. But who was the discoverer ? Harlem claims it for Koster (*>r CICAECILI IIERMIAE SN 59 PRINTING AND TIIE PRINTING PRESS. Custos), Strasbourg for Mentelin, and Mentz for Guttemberg. It is not intended here to more than mention the discussion, which extended over three centuries, and space permits only the briefest statement of the prominent and really important facts in the earlier . history of the art. It is probable that many of the small tracts, printed on movable type previous to 1440, were issued by Koster. The actual invention of letter-press printing is now, however, al¬ most universally attributed to Guttemberg. John Guttemberg, of Mentz, was the first to cut type from metal, and he afterwards cut matrices in which type were cast. He was a man of means, but these were exhausted in experiments. He then applied to John Faust (or Fust), a wealthy citizen of Mentz, to whom he revealed his plans, and who became his, part¬ ner. Subsequently was associated with the two Peter Schoefier, a scribe, to whom many attribute the invention of the matrices for type-casting. In 1455, or thereabouts, — for the volume has no- date, — this firm printed the famous “ Mazarine Bible.” Faust and Schoefier separated from Guttemberg, and, in August, 1457, issued the celebrated Psalter, printed on large, cut type, and the first book which ever bore the date, place of issue, and names- of printers. In 1462 they printed the famous Latin Bible, and in 1465 they printed Cicero de Officiis, in which occurs the first Greek type. Together Faust and Schoefier printed ten books, and' after his death, Schoefier carried on the business for thirty-five years, during which he issued many books. The type used was what is called Gothic, with illuminated initial letters, generally done by hand, though Faust and Schoefier printed them in two colors. Parchment and paper were used indiscriminately. Of the- character of the work and the mechanical skill, Dr. Dibdin, the- bibliographer, says, 11 Everything is perfect of the kind — the pa¬ per, the ink, and the register.” Guttemberg died in 1467, poor, it is believed, and unhonored, it is known. It was reserved for a later century to rescue his name from the obscurity into which it fell. Not one of his books bears his imprint, and others derived the immediate emoluments, and,, for a long time, the sole honor oMiis inventions. Unless we except Mentelin, of Strasbourg, who printed books as earty as 1460, for a long time the Mentz printers had the mo¬ nopoly of their art, and were sworn not to reveal it. But the cap¬ ture of the city by Count Adolphus of Nassau, in 1462; not only interrupted the labors of Faust and Schcefler, but scattered their 60 PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS. workmen to other cities ; so that within eighteen years the art had so spread that there were ninety-four printing-offices in full opera¬ tion in different European cities. Nicholas Jenson, who ^earned his trade at Mentz, had the honor, at Venice, in 14T1, of introduc¬ ing the Roman type, which is used to-day. To the famed Aldine Press, established by Aldus Manutius at Venice in 1488, we owe the Italic letter. The earlier printers used only the period and colon ; the comma was introduced many years later; and in the first printed books capitals were rarely used in beginning sen¬ tences. William Caxton carried the new art to England in 14*14, and printed “ The Game of Chess/ 7 the first book in London. Ilis press was in one of the chapels of Westminster Abbey. The scarcely less famous Wynkyn de Worde was Caxton’s successor. Presses were speedily established at Oxford, St. Albans, and Cam¬ bridge. The introduction of printing at other important points is as follows : — Paris, 1470 ; Florence, 1471 ; Antwerp, 1476 ; Geneva, 1478 ; Vienna, 1482 ; Stockholm, 1483 ; Copenhagen, 1493 ; Cracow, Munich, and Amsterdam, 1500 ; Edinburgh, 1507 ; Dublin, 1551 ; and Mexico, 1569. Seventy years later, in 1639, the first printing press in the American colonies was set up at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was procured by subscription (the Rev. Jesse Glover acting as agent) from Amsterdam, and was given to the college, with a fount of type of forty-nine pounds ; so that it may be assumed to be the beginning of the present “ University Press/ 7 The first issue from this press was the “ Freeman’s Oath ; ” next, “ An Almanac for New England, calculated by William Pierce, Mariner ; ” and next a metrical version of the Psalms. On this press was printed, in. 1663 , the first edition of “ Eliot’s Indian Bible.” It was wholly set by an Indian, was three years going through the press, and was the first Bible printed in America. Stephen Daye was the first printer at Cambridge, and he received a grant of three hun¬ dred acres of land on that account. William Penn brought William* Bradford, printer, to Pennsylva¬ nia, in 1686, and established a press in Philadelphia. In 1692 Mr. Bradford was invited to establish a printing-house in New York, with the inducement of forty pounds a year, and the “ privi¬ lege of printing on his own account,” which he accepted ; and the first printed issue in that province is a proclamation, bearing FRANKLIN’S PRINTING PRESS. FAUST'S FIRST PROOF FROM MOVEABLE TYPE. PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS. 63 date of that year. At New London, Connecticut, a press was set up in 1709 ; at Annapolis, Maryland, 1726 ; at Williamsburg, Virginia, 1729 ; at Charleston, South Carolina, 1730 ; at New¬ port, Rhode Island, 1732. At Newport, by the by, in the old Mercury office, was used for many years a press brought from Boston, on which Benjamin Franklin worked as a “ ball boy.” This curiosity is now the property of the United States govern¬ ment, and is in fhe Patent Office at Washington. Other presses were established as follows : At Woodbridge, New Jersey, 1752 ; at Newbern, North Carolina, 1755 ; at Portsmouth, New Hamp¬ shire, 1756 ; Savannah, Georgia, 1762. Kentucky had a printing press in 1786 ; Tennessee in 1793. William Maxwell set up a press in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1793. The first printing west of the Mississippi was at St. Louis, in 1808, by Jacob Hinkle. Louisi¬ ana had a press immediately after her acquisition by the United States; Michigan had a press in 1809, and Mississippi in 1810. Halifax boasts of a printing office in 1751, and Quebec in 1764. To go back briefly to the early European printers: Before the year 1500 almost every known manuscript of antiquity was print¬ ed. These were in quartos or in folios, generally on parchment, with initial letters superbly colored and gilded by hand ; and this practice was long continued, till very beautiful initial letters, cut on wood, were substituted. Many of these printed volumes, with all our boasted “ advance in the art,” have never been surpassed in mere mechanical execution, and certainly not as works of art. Some of these volumes exhibit now ink of a dense blackness, and colored inks of a brilliancy which no books of modern times can show. For in the days when the press was almost wholly devoted to the production of sumptuous Bibles for cathedrals, and superb copies of the classics for libraries, or for wealthy purchasers, printing was a luxury, and not, as now, a necessity. The march of centuries, and the universal diffusion of the art, have naturally compelled vast improvemertts in presses, paper, type, and office material ; but the art itself, in taste, correctness, and practical skill, has not greatly improved. Printing is printing, and those who compare the mere letter-press of to-day with that exhibited in the volumes of Guttemberg and his contemporaries will declare that the art sprang forth, Minerva-like, full grown. With this condensed historical sketch of the origin and progress of printing in the past, we proceed to consider the present process of book-making. 64 PRINTING AND TIIE PRINTING PRESS. \ Composition'. When the manuscript or “ copy ” of a work to be printed is re¬ ceived in the “ composing-room,” it is apportioned in “takes” among the “ compositors,” who are to set it up in type. Each compositor has before him, on a stand, two “ cases,” which slope towards him in angles convenient to his hand, the upper case be¬ ing more inclined than the lower one. The upper case is divided into ninety-eight equal spaces or “ boxes,” and the part on the left of the broader division is devoted to CAPITAL letters, figures, particular “ sorts,” etc., while the right contains the small capi¬ tals, accented letters, and references. The letters and figures are arranged, with one or two exceptions, in alphabetical and numerical order from left to right. The lower case is divided into fifty-four boxes of varying sizes, according to the average occur¬ rence of the letters, containing the small letters, punctuation points, figures, and spaces of different sizes. The “ lower-case ” letters are not arranged in alphabetical or¬ der ; if they were, the work of the compositor would be doubled ; but the larger boxes, which hold the most frequently-recurring let¬ ters, are in the centre of the case, nearest at hand. Separate cases, similarly arranged, contain the italic letters, and there are still other cases for accented (a) and diaeresis (e) vowels, superi¬ ors ( a ’ b ’ c ), fractions, etc. The compositor never looks at the face of the letter, but, apparently without effort of the mind, puts his fingers in the particular box where the letter should be. Placing his copy before him on the upper case, the compositor takes in his left hand a “ composing-stick,” which is a steel frame COMPOSING-STICK. with a slide, which can be adjusted and fixed to the ** measure ” or width of the page. In the stick is a thin brass or steel “ rule,” on which to slip the types to their places, and to prevent the lines PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS. 65 already set from falling over. Reading a few words of the copy, the compositor takes a capital letter from the upper case, and suc¬ ceeding letters from the lower case, one by one, with a “ space ” at the end of each word, securing the increasing line in its place with his thumb tin the line ends. If the words with the spaces do not fill, or if they crowd the line, the compositor gains by “spacing out;” i. e., by putting in more or thicker spaces, or, on the other hand, takes out the thick spaces, substituting thinner ones, taking care that his “ matter ” shall not look too close or too open, till the line tightly fills the stick. This is “justifying.” lie then takes out his rule, places it in front of the line just set, and repeats the operation till his stick is full. If the matter is to be “ leaded,” — that is, if the lines are to be more apart, — the com¬ positor, after setting each line, and before removing his rule, places before the line one or more thin pieces of metal, called “ leads,” which are of the exact width of the page, and not higher than the spaces. The stickful is then “ emptied ; ” that is, by a dexterous operation the compositor lifts the lines, and places them upon a flat surface, usually of brass, with a rim to sustain the standing type, and called a “galley.” Compositors are usually paid by the “thousand,” not a thou¬ sand letters, but for the space occupied by a thousand of the let¬ ter “ m,” and the payment is for “ corrected ” matter. Proof-reading. The matter on the galley is divided into pages, the head lines are added, “ proofs ” are taken by hand on a press for that pur¬ pose, and are sent to the proof-reader. lie first looks over the proof, and satisfies himself as to all the technical points, whether the directions given have been followed, and marks whatever he finds wrong. An assistant — generally a boy — then reads the copy, while the proof-reader, with vigilant eye, sees that copy has been carefully followed, meanwhile rapidly noting on the margin of the proof all errors in spelling, turned letters, capitals, italics, or other blemishes and peculiarities, which, in a proof not “ clean,” will soon cover the margin with letters, words, and signs. The proof is then sent to the compositor, who corrects his own matter, takes a “ revise ” on the proof-press, sends it to the reader, who com¬ pares it with the first proof, to see that the corrections indicated have been made, and then carefully reads the revise for any errors which may have escaped him in the first proof. A third proof is 66 PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS. then taken, and sent to the author. If he materially changes the text from the original manuscript, the subsequent corrections are, very properly, at his expense. Imposition. When the corrections are complete, if the work is to be “ letter¬ press,” that is, printed directly from the type, the pages are taken to the “imposing-stone,” a large marble slab, or sometimes a lathe-turned plate of iron. On this table the pages are laid down correctly, and a “ chase ” — a frame of iron divided by bars into compartments — is placed over them, and the spaces between the pages are filled in with “furniture,” — pieces of wood or metal, — while inside the chase, and next to the pages, are placed side and foot sticks, and between these and the chase are put in wedge-shaped pieces of wood, called “ quoins.” These are sharp¬ ly driven up with a mallet and a “shooting-stick,” — a piece of hard wood, or iron, a foot in length, — and if the work is well done, the “ form ” is securely “locked up,” and may be lifted without danger, and sent to the press-room. Distribution. When the sheets are printed, the pressman returns the forms to the composing-room, where they are carefully washed with lye, rinsed, laid on a board in the sink, and unlocked. The compositor then loosens the type with his hand, at the same time pouring on water to wash away the lye and ink, and the type are then left to drain. This is now “ dead ” matter for “ distribution ” to the cases, which have “run low.” Wetting the face of the type to make it adhere, the compositor takes up a portion —nick upward, and face towards him — on his setting-rule in his left hand, while with his right he takes a word or more, gives a rapid glance at it, and drops each letter in its proper box. Remembering that the greatest accuracy is necessary, since errors in distribution will certainly cause errors in composition, to the grief of the composi¬ tor, who must gratuitously correct his matter, the rapidity with which the distribution is effected is indeed wonderful. It depends, of course, upon the size of the “fount,” and of the book; but whether the type is sent to the press or to the stereotyper, in the printing of a single volume the type would be returned several times to be distributed and composed again. PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS. G7 Type-setting and Distributing Machines. A perfect type-setting machine is yet to be discovered. Several inventors have attempted it, the most successful of whom was Timothy Alden, of Massachusetts, who obtained a patent for a machine ; and since his death, his nephew, Mr. IT. W. Alden, has organized a company for the manufacture of the machine. The machine is operated by means of keys, like those of a piano, and the type are made to form themselves into words and sentences at the will of the operator. The difficulty, however, with this, and with‘all the machines, is in “ justification/ 7 which must be done by hand after the type is set, thus rendering the services of the machine comparatively valueless. It is claimed that the machine invented by Mr. F. G. Foster, of North Carolina, solves this diffi¬ culty. Distributing machines have also been invented, which take up “ dead matter ” and distribute it, sort by sort, in the different boxes, with marvellous rapidity and tolerable accuracy. While all these machines display wonderful ingenuity, their disadvan¬ tages, yet to be overcome, render them impracticable at present. • r~ Job Printing. Within a few years there has grown up a demand for a distinct class of printers, who are known as job printers. These are the useful citizens who fulfil nearly all the printing demands which business or pleasure may require, who print everything, from the business or ball-room card to the gigantic illuminated poster that covers the theatrical bill-board, and sometimes the whole “ side of a barn.” A few years ago, such jobs as were required in the way of cards, bill-heads, posters, etc., were done in the plainest, often¬ times in the poorest manner, in the newspaper or book-printing offices ; now, great and small job establishments in all the cities vie with each other in turning out work which displays not only admirable mechanical skill, but frequently the highest artistic taste. And hence the type-founders have furnished, and are constantly devising and providing for this especial class of printers, an infi¬ nite variety of large and small letters, borders, and beautiful de¬ signs of all sorts, which enable the compositor to turn out work so delicate and so elaborate as to vie with lithography and engrav¬ ing. The job printer is not confined to regular founts of Roman and Italic, and limited to black ink ; he may—indeed, he must — 68 PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS. use all the fanciful forms of type which the imagination of the type-founder has yet conceived, and he can indulge in all the col¬ ors of the clouds at sunset. In addition, then, to a complete knowledge of his business as a first-class compositor, he should be* a man of thorough good taste ; in short, an artist. He has not merely to please himself and his patron, but in many cases, as in posters, programmes, and the like, which meet the eye on every side, he must please the public. But the printer is often blamed or laughed at by the public for an inartistic or grossly tasteless piece of work which the patron compelled, while the taste of the printer rebelled. The character of the work in a job office precludes the employ¬ ment of “piece-hands,” as in newspaper and book establishments, though many of the operations are the same. The proofs are generally submitted to the customer, and if approved are sent to the press. The job business throughout the country, especially in the large cities, is enormous, and in some of the larger estab¬ lishments is very profitable. Printing in''Colors. The origin of printing in colors was an effort to reproduce by types the gorgeous illuminations wherewith the old scribes illus¬ trated their manuscripts. The early printers were profuse in these richly-colored letters, and in rubricated lines ; and nearly all the books of the contemporaries of Guttemberg, and of the printers of the immediately succeeding century, show page printing in two and three colors, which has never since been surpassed. We sel¬ dom see color printing nowadays, except in books which are in¬ tended especially as specimens of the beautiful in art rather than as “books which are books.” But the job printer still has the opportunity, and improves it. Manufacturing interests, too, have created an immense demand for bronze printing, in which a size is used instead of ink. The bronze powder is then applied to the sizing, and the loose particles are brushed off. This was formerly done by hand, but is now suc¬ cessfully performed by the rotary bronzing machine. The Printing Press. Before the days of Guttemberg, the few block-books, like the Speculum, the “ Poor Man’s Bible,” and others, were printed by simply laying the leaf upon the inked block, and taking an im- TEN CYLINDER TYPE-REVOLVING PRINTING MACHINE. SINGLE LARGE CYLINDER PRINTING MACHINE. PRINTING AND THE PRINTING PRESS. 71 pression by burnishing, or friction, as we take sometimes a hasty proof of a wood-cut now. The first printing press was simply the lower end of a large wooden screw upon the paper on the types, and the first “ improvement ” was simply putting a heavy piece of plank under the screw to equalize the pressure on the face of the form. This rude press, with immaterial modifications, was in use well into the eighteenth century. The Earl of Stanhope de¬ vised an iron press, combining the screw with the bent lever, and having a carriage for the form, which could be run in under the point of pressure, and readily withdrawn. This press also had a spring, which, when the impression was made, caused the iron plate (“ platen ”), which pressed upon the form, to fly up, and permit the withdrawal of the form. In 1790, Mr. William Nicholson, of England, took out a patent for a cylinder machine, which had also an inking apparatus. This press was never brought into use, but it furnished the suggestion for after constructors. Frederick Konig, of Saxony, was the first to construct a cylin¬ der machine to run by steam. This press was built for the London Times, and the number for November 28, 1814, was worked by it at the rate of eleven hundred impressions per hour. George Clymer, of Philadelphia, in 1815, constructed a combi- • nation lever press, called the “ Columbian,” which would print by hand two hundred and fifty impressions per hour. In 1827, Messrs. Applegath & Cowper constructed for the Lon¬ don Times a press with four-impression cylinders, so arranged that two were in contact with the type as the table passed to the right, and two as it passed to the left, and which would print from four thousand to five thousand impressions per hour. Mr. Applegath was the first to abandon the plan of placing the type on a plane table, and built a press in which the type was placed on the sur¬ face of a cylinder. The London Times was the first newspaper to adopt the improvement. This is the beginning of all cylinder presses, of whatever manufacture and of whatever number of cylinders. In printing newspapers with these presses, each page is locked up on a detached segment of the large cylinder, called a “ turtle.” Isaac Adams, of Boston, patented, in 1830 and 1836, a press, not cylinder, which is peculiarly adapted to book-work. The Na¬ pier press, in England, enjoys a similarly good repute for this class of work. The Napier press was introduced into the United States in 1830. 72 PRINTING AND TIIE PRINTING PRESS. From this time the printing press, especially in the United States, has been so improved as very nearly to have reached per¬ fection. This advance is largely due to the inventive genius of the Messrs. Iloe, of New York. Robert Iloe, who, with his part¬ ner, Sereno Newton, constructed the first two-cylinder press in this country, died in 1833. Ilis son, Richard M. Iloe, who inher¬ ited the ability and energy of his father, continued the business, and opened a new era in the manufacture of printing machines. The *' Iloe Double-cylinder Press ” was followed by “ Iioe’s Light¬ ning Press ; ” then other larger and better machines followed in quick succession, till now Hoe’s eight-and ten-cylinder presses are used in nearly all the great newspaper offices of the country, and their approval and adoption by the London Times is an acknowl- ment that Americans are the cha'mpion printing-press manufactur¬ ers of the world. The proprietor of the Warrington (England) Guardian patented, in 1871, a steam type-composing machine, which has been success¬ fully used in several English printing offices. It is claimed that this machine, with one man and three boys to feed the type and space out the lines, will set up a newspaper column, as large as a column in the London Times , in one hour, which the inventor as- . serts is equal to the composition of eight men. The machine costs five hundred pounds. WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. THE WATCH ! ORIGIN OF THE WORD. — THE BELL. — THE CLOCK : EARLY HIS¬ TORY.— THE CLEPSYDRA: ITS ETYMOLOGY: THE CHINESE USE IT: DESCRIP¬ TION. — THE HOUR GLASS : PERSIAN CALIPH’S GIFT TO CHARLEMAGNE. - GALILEO AND THE PENDULUM.-TOWN CLOCKS. —MANUFACTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. — CONSTRUCTION OF THE WATCH, ETC. The word watch comes from the Saxon wceccan, signifying to wake, to excite, and is the name applied to the numerous species of time-markers which have sprung legitimately from that old stirps, or “ stock,” the “ clock ”— the earliest history of which is lost in the night of the past, but which has played so wondrous a part in the civilization of the world ; and who knows but in barbarism too ? for the meaning of the term originally was “ bell,” and is still retained in the French cloche. And since it is probable that the first sound man produced by artificial means was the resonance of bodies struck together by the hands somewhat as the tongue of a bell strikes its sides, it is quite likely 7 ' that the “ bell,” and consequently the 11 clock ” in embryo, were among the very first conceits and mechanical accomplishments of primi¬ tive man. Yet in the very early ages there could have been but little need of any measurers of time save those which nature affords ; as the day and night, the rising and the setting of the sun and the moon, and the numerous phases of the latter. Then, as human observation became more extended and accurate, the varying con¬ stellations marked the wider passages of time. So our aborigines ( 73 ) 74 WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. still count time by the moon’s passages -—“ Ten moons have gone ; ” and, indeed, in the field to-day for the laborer, and wher¬ ever in the backwoods men find it inconvenient, or are for other reasons unable, to afford the luxury of a supply of artificial time¬ keepers, the sun is made to tell the hour; “ sun half an hour up,” or “ an hour before sundown,” thus indicating the sun’s place in the sky above the western horizon ; and, indeed, since “ one thought begets another,” as we write we reflect that it is no great violence to etymology to find the root of “ horizon ” and “ hour ” primarily in the same Greek word, which signifies a bound, a limit; i. e., a measure. But it is useless, perhaps, however grati¬ fying it may be to the imagination, to linger in speculation upon what were the earliest measures of time discovered in “ revolving nature ” by primitive man. But one thing is certain —that motion, change, was a necessary “ symptom ” or index to the measure of time in the past as well as now. Out of positive silence and rest nothing could have been determined in this matter ; and doubtless “ Time,” by whatever sweet name the Orientals may have blessed him, or by whatever uncouth or sublime sound the guttural Northmen may have told the sense of his presence and power, was among the earliest of the “ gods ” which man recognized. Little could the men of those rude early days have conjectured of the devotion which we, their far-off children’s children, pay to Time, when in every house is erected an altar to his worship, and in every bosom is borne a jewelled monitor of his existence and “ passage ” along the course of “ever-moving creation.” But we must not tarry amidst the poetry which Time excites in his devotee’s brain, for our title is properly “ watch -making,” and not its great promoter, Time. Shadows are not “ senseless shades,” and have played their part in the measurement of Time’s marches ; and the dial was one of the primitive means of marking the divisions of a day, — so old at least as to be legendary, or pre-historic, — but it is be¬ lieved that its origin was in the East. But the dial would mark time only on clear days. Obscuring clouds hid the sun, and some device was necessary to mark his place in the sky, above “ the great wet veil,” on stormy, dark days ; so that very far back in the ages we have records of the “clepsydra,” though by what natiou in¬ vented no one knows. This term (from the Greek “klepto,” to steal, and “ hudor” water) means “ water-stealer,” and signified in WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. 75 the very poetry of the word itself, that as water “steals” away, drop by drop, through some crevice in a vessel that holds it, so time, for man, “steals” away from him. This instrument was a hollow cylinder, so graduated that the recession of the water within it readily marked the passage of the sun from horizon to horizon, at its various points of ascension to and declination from the meridian. The ancient Chinese, as well as the Egyptians, are said to have used this instrument; and the native Britons, if we are to accredit Caesar, also made use of it. It appears to have been a valuable instrument, though imperfect, and subject, of course, to increasing inaccuracy, the longer used, by the almost imperceptible, yet certain wearing away which the trickling water caused, — the instrument at last delivering its given quantity of water more speedily than at first. But the clepsydra naturally suggested the hour-glass, in which sand was substituted for water. Water would evaporate in all climes at times, and in some it would inevitably freeze. The hour¬ glass dates far back of the beginning of the Christian era, and supplanted the clepsydra almost everywhere ; however, we are told that the latter is used in India even to-day. Both of these instruments were constructed in various shapes, according to the fanciful conceits of their fabricators, sometimes taking on the human form, sometimes that of fanciful beings, — in short, imitat¬ ing everything in nature or imagination, the shape of which could be made to bend to the general principles of either. So much was finally added in the way of machinery to the clepsydra that it has been denominated by some writers as the “ water-clock.” So ingenious and complicated were some of these, that there seems to be but little, if any, room for doubt that the very earliest and most successful efforts of man’s mechanical genius were expended upon time-measurers, and especially upon the clepsydra. The Persians appear to have carried the manufacture of this instru¬ ment to the highest perfection, and it is said that a Persian caliph sent to Charlemagne, emperor of the Franks (in the eighth cen¬ tury), a clepsydra which had a bell to denote the hours. It was so constructed that, when the twelfth hour was striking, twelve doors in its face opened, and from each door issued an automaton cavalier, who proudly stood, square and “ stock-still,” till the striking ceased, and then rode back into his “ castle,” shutting the door behind him I The clock had its origin, according to some writers, thousands 76 WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. of years ago, among the Chinese; but its invention has been claimed by many nations, and for several eras, it being claimed that the Germans, less than a thousand years ago, were its in¬ ventors. But for the last eight hundred years the history of the clock is quite clear. The watch was originally, we find, a comparatively huge and “ bungling ” thing, and was moved by weights, — in short, it was only a “little clock ,” —a “pocket edition” thereof, as it were. Its case was at first made of iron, and on account of the weights it had to be borne about in a suspended position, as by a cord about the neck, hanging down on the breast. It was only a little over three centuries ago, about the year 1555, that the “ spring ” was devised, doing away with weights, and rendering the instru¬ ment more readily and safely portable. These springs were then only straight pieces of steel, not coiled, as now, and occupying more space. The watch of those days had but one index or hand, and required to be wound often, two or three times a day. The faces or dials were of metal, brass usually, and the cases were without crystals, but opened in front and at the back, not unlike the “ hunting-watch ” case of to-day. The case was from five to six inches in diameter— a “ fashion ” which- modern indisposition to “ bear about large weights ” would hardly tolerate ! As may be readily conjectured, the watch of those times was a very costly affair, worth more than many a New England farm now is, and requiring a long time in its construction. It is computed that the average value of the watches of those days was equivalent to fifteen hundred dollars of our currency. Long years of experience finally enabled the Swiss and English manufacturers to produce watches of an appropriate size, of great beauty, and, in those of high cost, great exactness of time. It had always been supposed, owing to the want of experience, the great skill required, and the high cost of labor in Amer¬ ica, that the business of watch-making could never be successfully introduced here ; and there is no doubt that, even to this day, it would not have been attempted, had it not been for two ingenious, enterprising mechanics, who would never listen to the remon¬ strance of friends, or the ridicule of the unbelieving, but perse¬ vered until their efforts were crowned with success. Those two persons who devoted their united talents and their thoughts to solve the problem of introducing machinery into watch making, together with a comprehensive system, which would enable WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. 77 them to make a more perfect watch, and at the same time compete with the skilled and low-cost foreign labor, were Aaron L. Dennison and Edward Howard, both of Boston, Mass. Mr. Dennison was a thorough watch-repairer, one of the very best. Mr. Howard was a thorough-bred clock maker, one of the firm of Howard & Davis, both of whom had learned the trade of one of the celebra¬ ted Willards. In 1848 Mr. Dennison suggested to Mr. Howard the feasibility of making watches by machinery, conducted on a sys¬ tem of interchange of most of the parts, and they often had long discussions of the matter. They knew that the foreign makers had no system to work on, because any two of the parts of watches of the same size, by the same maker, were far too unlike to be interchanged. That want of uniformity argued a want of machinery as its cause. After they had thoroughly canvassed the matter for two years, they determined to commence action. Mr. Dennison, closing out his business of jeweller and watch repairer, entered the clock fac¬ tory of Howard & Davis, and, with Mr. Howard, they commenced a series of experiments to test their ideas, and as preliminary to extended operations. Those experiments indicated that they were on the right course, and, in the summer of 1850, they, to increase the capital required, associated with them Mr. Samuel Curtis, of Boston, and a brick building one hundred feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and two stories high, was erected near the clock factory in Roxbury, Mass., now a part of Boston. That was supposed to be amply large to do an extensive business. The intention, at the commencement, was to make only eight-day watches. Only fifty of them were* made, when it was found that no uniform and reliable time could be had from an eight-day watch, and that plan was abandoned. The accompanying cut exhibits the “ upper plate ” of the first watch ever made by machinery in America. It seems simple enough, now that the thing has been done, to> suggest the application of machinery to watch-making. But, as Columbus showed the scoffers with an egg that all the merit of his discovery of America consisted only in conceiving the idea and then executing it, so was it with this practical extension of the application of machinery to industry, by which a new era has been opened in our social advance, the final results, of which no one can yet completely foresee. It is the first step which is diffi¬ cult, since to make it presupposes the genius necessary to con-r ceive it, and the courage to attempt it. 5 78 WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. This watch is now possessed by Mr. Howard, as a memento of the first fruits of the enter¬ prise. The usual thirty-hour watch was then commenced in the full plate form, and was as simple in its parts as possi¬ ble, and the name engraved upon it was “ Samuel Curtis.” One thousand of them were made with that name upon them. At that time the co¬ partnership name of the organization was the Warren Manufac¬ turing Company. That name was used so as not to unnecessarily expose the kind of business being pursued. After the first thousand watches were made, the copartners assumed the name of the “ Boston Watch Company,” and the business was continued at Roxbury till 1854, when a large factory in the form of a hollow square, one hundred feet on each side, and two stories .high, was built at Waltham, Mass., and the entire business was then moved there. The business was continued there under Mr. Howard’s charge till the spring of 1857, when the heavy outlay that had been needed for machinery, for making experiments, and instructing help, produced such financial embar¬ rassments as to force the company to make an assignment of the property, which was sold for the benefit of the creditors. Mr. Howard’s friends being overbid at the sale, he immediately re¬ turned to the original factory at Roxbury, and there reestablished the business, with new and improved machinery, and commenced making watches of higher quality and high price. Mr. Howard has always been determined to. improve and perfect both his watches and machinery. The factory has been enlarged from a two-story building one hundred feet long to a hollow square one hundred feet on each side and four stories high. Mr. Howard has, within the past year, produced a new style of movement, with a patented steel barrel, which protects the train from damage by the breaking of the mainspring, and is used as a stem winder, as well as a key winder. It is no doubt the best stern winder that is in use, and is already in great demand by the public. In the factory at Roxbury both sexes are employed. The tools and machines are countless, and are fitted to perform the WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. 79 most minute work—machines for shaving steel so minutely that the “ product ” can hardly be seen ; registers for measuring the least conceivable part of an 'inch ; drills so small that the holes they make cannot be seen without a microscope ! etc., etc. In no department of mechanism is work required to be more mi¬ nute and perfect than in watch-making. To the uninitiated, watch-making by machinery, at first sight, is nothing less than miraculous. The inner “ works” of a watcli are made of brass and steel, in about equal quantities. Steel is used principally in those parts of the watch where the most strain comes on a delicate part; but brass is used wherever there is the most friction. Brass and steel rubbing against each other will last twice as long as two pieces of steel of like size when rubbed together. The steel and brass are brought to the factories from rolling mills in sheets, and with enormous shears are cut up into nar¬ row strips; these are then further thinned, if required, between steel rollers, so finely that it takes four thousand of them to meas¬ ure an inch ! These strips are then subjected to a punching pro¬ cess, cutting them into whatever shapes required. Thousands of wheels a day can be cut out by a single machine under the gui¬ dance of one man. The factory is divided into apartments for the manufacture and composition of the several parts of the watch : and we may as well go next to the Plate Room, where the plates of the watch are made, or, in other words, the framework, to which all the mysterious “ inner soul,” or working parts, of the watch are attached. The plates are here bored or drilled, for the insertion therein of the screws, pivots, and pillars. All the parts made in this room being finished, they are property stamped and placed appropriately in little boxes to be carried on to another room, where they undergo further manipulation. With the aid of ma¬ chinery a man can make more than sixty times as many of these “ attributes*” or parts of a watch, as by hand, in the same time. The plates of the watch are nex,t engraved with the manufacturer’s name, etc., and numbered. There are fortv-four screws in a watch, which constitute more . than a quarter of all its pieces. These are made by swift-running little machines, attended generally by active girls, who change the fine steel wire into minute screws, adjust and “slot” their heads in almost “no time.” The screws then pass through a 80 WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. polishing process, and then are "tempered” by heat, and come out ” at last of fine blue color, perfected and ready to take their places in the delicate time-measurers. These screws are no larger, some of them, than a small grain of sand—-it taking nearly one hundred and fifty thousand of them to weigh a pound. Think of the infinite smallness of the "thread” cut upon these! so small, indeed, as to be invisible to the unaided eye. Screws for some kinds of compensation-balances are made of gold. The compensation-balance we will next notice. A piece of steel as large as a cent, enclosed in a brass rim, is ground down and polished till it becomes only the slenderest wheel. Through the double rim twenty-two holes are drilled for screws. A boy can drill over one hundred wheels a day. The screws are put in, and the compensation-balance is finished. In another department takes place the grinding of wheels, pin¬ ions, etc. Cutting teeth in the wheels is also a neat and rapid process. A number of wheels are piled up together around an upright shaft, which passes through a hole in the centre of each wheel, and is made fast. The person in charge of the cutting machine lifts a little lever, and away whirls the cutter like light¬ ning, carving its way instantly through the whole length of the wheel-pile, grooving each properly and accurately. The whole process requires but a moment, and the wheels are fitly " teethed.” There arc in these factories the 11 escapement ” and jewelling rooms, the mysteries of which are very engaging. Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, here dazzle the eye — valuable here only for their hardness, however. These are brought from all parts of the world — mostly from India, Persia, and Brazil. Watches of the first quality are jewelled with diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. The stones are cut into small slabs by circular saws, and then fur¬ ther cut up into the right sizes, and turned in lathes with diamond tools. The stones are, when finished, so small that it takes eighty thousand of them to weigh a pound. Every part of a watch must be perfect, but not all parts close¬ ly fitting, for there must be a little play ” for the working parts, so that even every jewel-hole must be a particle larger than the pivot which is to move in it. These holes are measured accurately by gauges, which perform their functions with more than human accuracy. The dial is made of a thin plate of copper covered with a fine white enamel in the state of a paste, which is thinly spread on WATCHES, AND MACHINE WATCH-MAKING. 81 with a knife. After this paste becomes dry, the dial is placed upon a red-heated iron plate in the mouth of an intensely hot fur¬ nace, and is closely watched. The enamel prevents the copper from melting almost instantly under so great a heat. The dial remains in the process of baking for a minute, and when removed is soft and plastic. The baking “ sets ” the enamel, but leaves it in a rough state. It lias then to be polished smooth with emery, and is again baked, and is ready for the ornamenters or painters. Points for the hours are marked out upon it, and it is then let¬ tered, the minute marks added, etc. The parts all being finished, the process of “ putting together ” follows next. The watch is at first but loosely adjusted in its parts, and is hung up to run a few hours, mainly to adjust the length of the hair-spring — a delicate thing to do. It is then taken down, and all the brass portions sent to the gilding department; and each part is there polished ready for the process of electro¬ gilding. Gold is rolled out into thin sheets, and dissolved by acids. The solution, as it goes into the battery, is as colorless as pure water. It is, however, a deadly poison, and must be ■“ han¬ dled ” carefully. Generally the parts submitted to the electric currents are left in the solution about five minutes, and come out beautifully covered with gold. All are then sent to the finishing department, where skilled hands re-adjust the parts of each watch, which is next taken to the inspector’s office, who scrutinizes all, searching for the least flaw. The watch is then again tried in the adjuster’s room, in order to “time” it. At first it is run for six or eight hours in a little chamber heated to one hundred and ten degrees, and next for a like period of time in a refrigerator, the temperature of which is nearly at zero. It is not perfect unless it will-keep time equally, well in both places. If there is any variation, this must be cured before the watch is allowed to “ pass muster.” Now the watch is ready for the case, —its one hundred and fifty-six different parts and pieces composing the perfect whole, — and put in the case, is perfect and guarded — finished, the stamp of its reliability appearing on its face in the words, printed in the most diminutive letters, “ E. Howard & Co., Bos¬ ton.” PURIFYING AND HEATING WATER FOR STEAM BOILERS. THE NECESSITY OF PURE WATER FOR STEAM BOILERS. — SUBSTANCES HELD IN SOLUTION BY WATER. —THE TEA-KETTLE AND THE STEAM-BOILER. — METHODS OF FILTERING. — STILWELL'S LIME CATCHER. — THE WAY IT WORKS. —ITS ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES.—THE GREATER SAFETY GAINED BY ITS USE. The general use of steam as a motive power in modern indus¬ try has made every suggestion by which the safety or the econ¬ omy in its production is increased, a matter of great importance. In generating steam, it is evidently best to have the purest water with which to fill the boiler, since in its evaporation, as the water passes off into vapor, any extraneous substance diffused through it must be deposited upon the boiler itself, and beside its tendency thus to diminish the effective heat of the fire, it may be a sub¬ stance having a corrosive and weakening effect upon the iron of which the boiler is composed. Very early in the history of the steam engine attempts were made to remove the impurities of the water, so as to preserve the boilers from becoming incrusted with sediment. Though by the use of filters, of various kinds, the coarser impurities can be easily separated from water, yet the soluble salts of lime, which give to water the property known as hardness, being in a state of solu¬ tion, will pass readily through simple filters. Water, which is otherwise pure, may thus contain about two grains of carbonate of lime to the gallon, or one thirty-five thousandth of its bulk ; and as water absorbs carbonic acid gas, its capacity for dissolving car¬ bonate of lime increases, until its capacity may be ten times greater than pure water. In proportion as water dissolves car¬ bonate of lime its hardness increases. For tin's reason the water from springs, especially in regions abounding in calcareous rocks^differs from rain water, which has ( 82 ) PURIFYING AND HEATING WATER FOR BOILERS. 83 not percolated through the ground. When hard water is boiled, its excess of carbonic acid gas is freed, and its capacity for holding carbonate of lime in solution being thus lessened, the excess of lime is deposited as a sediment or crust, which collects on the bottoms of the vessels in which the boiling is performed. Every cook has had experience of this in her own tea-kettle. By continuing the boiling all the lime, except about two grains to the gallon, may be thus separated. Other salts, the solubility of which does not depend upon the presence in the water of carbonic acid gas, such as sulphate of lime, chlorides of soda, mag¬ nesia, and so on, which give the hardness and saltness to sea¬ water, can be separated only by distillation. It is the same with many organic substances, and fine clayey or aluminous particles. The waters which flow over cliffs of clay become saturated with the impalpable material, and refuse to part with it by any wholly mechanical action. Water of this kind may be cleansed by adding alum to it, in the proportion of a few grains to the gallon, which causes the water to precipitate the alumina. Such a process, how¬ ever, is objectionable, since it adds to the deposit, and a portion of the sulphate of lime which is formed still remains in solution, rendering the water hard. The best practical combination of a heater and filter which has yet been invented, is StiiwelUs patent heater and lime catcher, the general appearance of which is represented in the accompanying cut, No. 1. Not only does this invention purify the water from the impurities which would incrust the boiler, but it furnishes it to the boiler hot, thus saving the fuel necessary to generate steam, and to accomplish this, uses the exhausted steam from the engine itself, thus proving a double economy. These heaters are manufac¬ tured by the Stilwell & Bierce Manufacturing Co. of Dayton, Ohio. The necessity for some device by which the incrustation of boilers should be prevented, having engaged the attention of Mr. Stilwell, after some time spent in experiments, he finally produced this present arrangement, which, the practical test of use for years has proved, is most admirably fitted for its purpose. Its in¬ terior arrangement is shown in cut No. 2. By using all the escape steam fiom the engine, and bringing it in contact with thin sheets of falling water, this heater is capable of purifying and heating a very large quantity of water. The steam, it will be observed, meets the water as it enters the heater, dashes it into spray, and the work of depositing begins immedi- PURIFYING AND HEATING WATER Stilwell’s Patent Heater and Lime Catcher, No. I. ately; the top shelf being always found to be most heavily covered. The shelves are easily removable when necessary; and experience has shown that this form is better than pans, since the deposit of salts takes place more rapidly and thoroughly when the water is passed in a thin sheet over a highly heated metallic surface than when it stands in a pan. The S 3 7 stem of upward filtering, followed in this arrangement, is so well known to be the best, that it needs only to be men¬ tioned. This heater was first introduced t6 use in 1864, and the favor it has met with proves that it is indispensable in the most economic use of steam. Especially is this so where the hard water of a limestone country, or the muddy water of our western rivers, is used. To woolen or paper manufacturers, and others to FOR STEAM BOILERS. 85 Stilwell’s Patent Heater and Lime Catcher, No. 2 A. Steam enters the Heater, and is divided into two currents, B. Steam escapes from the Heater. ' , C. Cold water enters. F. Cock with which to regulate supply of cold water. //. Door of Heater. J. Hot water leaves Heater. L. Glass water-gauge. a. Overflow cup suspended on the end of cold water pipe. bbbb. Removable shelves or depositing surfaces. c. Filtering chamber to be filled with any suitable filtering material. The feathered arrows indicate the course of the steam, and the plain arrows the course of the water. The letters of reference, in both cuts, refer to the same parts. whom a supply of pure water is necessary for their operations, this heater is equally valuable, as it furnishes an abundant supply of pure water, and is so simple in'its construction. For preventing the formation of deposit or scale upon the inside of steam boilers, it is one of the most economic devices. By careful experiment, it has been shown that a deposit of scale one-sixteenth of an inch thick causes a loss, by its being so im- 86 PURIFYING AND HEATING WATER FOR BOILERS. pervious to heat, of fifteen per cent, of the fuel, while the danger to the boiler from cracking of the scale, thus letting the water down to the heated plates of iron, is daily becoming better known to practical engineers. Both safety and economy unite in teach¬ ing that to keep the boiler plates clean is the first requisite of a steam engine ; and experience has shown that in attaining this de¬ sirable end the Stilwell heater is indispensable. * STEAM NAVIGATION. THE APPLICATION OF STEAM TO THE CIRCULATION.—ADAM SMITH’S WEALTH OF NATIONS. —BUCKLE’S OPINION OF IT. — THE FIRST ATTEMPTS AT STEAM NAVIGATION. —JONATHAN HULLS. —FRENCH ATTEMPTS. —ATTEMPTS IN THE UNITED STATES. — OLIVER EVANS. — THOMAS PAINE’S SUGGESTIONS. — JAMES RUMSEY. — JOHN FITCH. —THE DISPUTED CLAIM OF PRIORITY. — FITCH’S FIRST BOAT. — HIS SECOND BOAT. — ROBERT FULTON. — HIS TAUT* NERSHIP WITH LIVINGSTON. —THE CONTEST WITH THE MONOPOLY.—LEG¬ ISLATION IN ITS FAVOR. —THE RESULT OF THE CONTEST. — ITS LESSON FOR THE PRESENT. — THE ATTEMPTS IN THE WEST. —THE FIRST BOAT TO ASCEND THE MISSISSIPPI. —OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION. — THE IMPROVE¬ MENTS IN OCEAN STEAMERS. — A COMPARISON OF THE OLD METHODS AND THE PRESENT ONES. The application of steam to land and water travel and transport¬ ation is a step in the progress of mankind which separates the civilization of the modern from the ancient world more distinctly and definitely than perhaps any other single difference in their methods of industry or government. It has secured the circula¬ tion of the products of industry, and of man himself, and rendered po'ssible the intenser action of the political, the social, the indus¬ trial, and the other forces which go together to make the life of nations. Less than a century ago, Adam Smith, in 1776, pub¬ lished his work entitled The Wealth of Nations, in which the foun¬ dation was laid of the science of political economy, and of social science as its subsequent outgrowth, and in which he speaks of the difficulty of transporting men from one place to another, even though the change should be one from want to plenty, from tyr¬ anny to freedom; and notices how loth the great masses of Europe are to attemjit any improvement in their condition by changing their place of abode. Of this work, Buckle, the author of the History of Civilization in Europe , says most truly, “Adam Smith contributed more, by ( 87 ) 88 STEAM NAVIGATION. tlic publication of this single work, towards the happiness of man than has been eficcted by the united abilities ol all the statesmen and legislators of whom history has preserved an authentic rec¬ ord.” This statement is true, though the comparison is one that can hardly be made, and is liable to a misinterpretation. It is ^ unfair as a comparison of the respective worth of the statesmen and legislators before his time and of the author of The Wealth of Nations. They, with himself, their actions and their knowledge, were the results of the times in which they lived, and of the con¬ ditions with which they were surrounded. A comparison of their relative value to the human race, if it is made the basis of a moral judgment, is as unfair as would be the comparison of the actions and opinions of a child with those of the same individual after his maturity. As with the growth of a child, his errors and his mis¬ takes are the necessary material of his experience, from which his maturer judgment can alone generalize the truth, and by their combination arrive at the rules and laws which should govern his actions and give him a method for forming, examining, and testing his opinions, — so with the slower growth of a nation’s, or man¬ kind’s progress in civilization; the errors and mistakes of the early times are the necessary experience from which alone, by comparison, the generalizations of laws which should govern their "political, their social, their industrial, and other relations, can be arrived at. In this view, therefore, the legislators and statesmen who pre¬ ceded Adam Smith were necessary precursors of the period in which he lived, and, together, each of them has done his part in aiding to produce the present condition of the world, when social progress is recognized as a growth regulated by law. When Watt, taking up the steam engine, in the condition to which it had arrived in his time, perfected it, in a measure, and made it practically applicable to industry, the idea readily occurred of using it also for purposes of locomotion, and especially of naviga¬ tion. In England and in France, which were at that time engaged in a rivalry in commerce, attempts to realize the introducing of steam as a motive power for propelling ships were frequent, but before 1730 had led to no practical results. In 1736 Jonathan Hulls published a description of a vessel which was to be pro¬ pelled by a stern wheel, the motive power of which was to be an atmospheric engine ; but there is no record of his having put his plan in operation. In France, during the period intervening be- STEAM NAVIGATION. 89 tween HU and 1796, the Count de Auxizon, the brothers Perier, the Marquis de Joufiroy, and M. Des Blancs had each attempted to construct a boat which should be propelled by steam; but all their experiments had proved failures. In the United States, in Philadelphia, which at that time still retained much of the political importance she had held during tiie revolution from being the seat of Congress, and in which great attention was paid to commerce and sliip-building, early attempts were made to propel vessels by steam power. As early as 1773 the attention of Oliver Evans had been turned to steam propulsion, both on land and water. Evans was the practical introducer of the high-pressure engine, and of various improvements in mill ma¬ chinery, and his subsequent successful attempts to build a locomo¬ tive carriage, which ran in the streets of Philadelphia, and, with the same apparatus, a boat which was propelled on the Schuylkill with paddle-wheels, have, with some authorities, been supposed to justify his claim to the first contrivance of a practical steamboat. Whether this is so or not, yet it is certain that he predicted the ultimate triumphs of steam, and of his own method of propelling a boat. At the same time there were others in the United States whose attention was turned to the same subject. Fitch mentions that steam navigation was the subject of a con¬ versation between Mr. Henry, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Mr. Andrew Ellicott in the year 1776. The former had even made drawings of a steamboat, which he intended to lay before the Philadelphia Society, but was probably diverted by the impending struggle. In 1778 Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense , whose writings have done so much for the success of American indepen¬ dence, and for the enfranchisement of the world’s thought, recom¬ mended Congress to adopt measures for encouraging the building of steamboats on the plan of Jonathan Hulls, patented in England in 1736, and intended “to go against wind and tide.” In 1784 James Rumsey, of Maryland, showed to General Wash¬ ington on the Potomac, the model of a boat for navigating rivers, against the current, by the force of the stream acting “ on setting poles.” This invention had been previously attempted without success, in 1750, by a resident of Reading, Pa. ; yet Rumsey pat¬ ented it in several states, and in March, 1785, obtained from the Assembly of Pennsylvania an exclusive right for ten years “ to 90 STEAM NAVIGATION. navigate and Build boats calculated to work with greater ease and rapidity against ramd rivers.” In 1785 John Fitch had completed the model of a steamboat, and the next year navigated the Schuylkill in a small shallop pro¬ pelled by a wheel at the stern, driven by steam. In 1786 Jefferson, writing from London on the 22d of April, appears to have been informed of this fact, for in a letter to Mr. Charles Thompson, of Philadelphia, he says, “ I hear you are ap¬ plying the same agent (steam) in America to navigate boats.” In the first volume of the Columbian Magazine for December, 1786, Fitch published an article descriptive of a new steamboat he was building, and in the following May he made an experimental trip with this first practical American steamboat upon the.Dela¬ ware. Her speed was estimated by Messrs. Ritterhouse, Ewing, Ellicott, and others, who witnessed her performance, from their measurements to be eight miles an hour at dead water, and she afterwards went eighty miles a day. On March 28, 1787, the legislature of Pennsylvania accorded to Fitch “the sole right and advantage of making and employing the steamboat by him lately invented for a limited time” — that is, for fourteen years ; and subsequently the legislatures of Dela¬ ware, New.York, and Virginia granted him the same privileges. In December, 1787, James Rumsey, who has been mentioned as having exhibited to Washington and received from him a written testimony of the fact, a boat which moved against the stream, having turned his attention to steam as a motive power, propelled a boat by an engine and mechanism of his own invention upon the Potomac. This boat was propelled by the force of a stream of water driven out at the stern by a pump. Ilis successful experi¬ ment was witnessed by a number of people who had gathered upon the banks. The inventor, however, became subsequently engaged in a controversy with Fitch concerning the priority of their respec¬ tive inventions. The next year (1788) a society, of which Franklin was a mem¬ ber, was formed in Philadelphia under the title of the Rumsey Society, for the purpose of aiding Rumsey in his inventions, who in the same year, having gone to England, obtained patents there and in France and Holland for some of them. With a boat constructed from his plans he made a successful trip upon the Thames in December, 1792, and was preparing for another when lie died. STEAM NAVIGATION. 91 In 1839 Congress voted to his son — James Rumsey— a gold medal, “ commemorative of his father’s services j^d high agency in giving to the world the benefit of the steamboat.” In the dispute between Fitch and Rumsey, the claim of the first to priority of invention was sustained by the legisla¬ tures of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, while Rura- sey’s patents were allowed by those of New York, Maryland, and Virginia. Both inventors, on the^fstablishment of the national Patent Office, took out patents for their marine inventions. The facts of the dispute between Fitch and Rumsey appear to be these : The credit of the invention belongs to each of them, since they both arrived at it independently, and without the knowledge of each other’s labors ; but while the conception of propelling boats by the energy of steam appears to have occurred to them both in the same year, Fitch was fortunate enough to have made the first practical experiment. But, unfortunately also, Fitch being a man whose peculiar idiosyncrasies of character were intensified by his independence of spirit, his inventive pride, his clear foresight of what the eventual value of his invention would be, and the mis¬ fortunes of his early youth, the troubles of his domestic life, and the want of appreciation he met with in his maturer years, it Was difficult, if not impossible, for him to obtain the cooperation he needed. Yet there is no doubt that it was only defects in the size of the wheels, the imperfections and the excessive weight of the engine, and other quite secondary details of construction which were remedied by those who came after him, together with his want of capital, which alone prevented Fitch from making naviga¬ tion by steam a success years before it became actually such in other hands. Unsuccessful and unhappy, broken in fortune, and suffering from poverty and want even of sympathetic appreciation, he rash¬ ly ended a life which had become too great a burden to be borne. Yet still his countrymen should not willingly let his memory de¬ cay ; but, with the growth of the enterprise he foresaw, an in¬ creasing appreciation of the value of his life should bring to his memory the recognition which was denied him while alive. In 1788 Fitch built a second boat for the machinery he had used in his first, which was an engine with a twelve-inch cylinder, and made with it several passages between Philadelphia and Burling¬ ton, at the rate of about four miles an hour. This boat was driven by paddles, six on a side. Another boat for an engine with an 92 STEAM NAVIGATION. eighteen-incTrcylinder was ready for trial in August, 1189. Changes in the machinery, which were found to be necessary, occupied the time until the spring of 1790, when the boat was run regularly to carry passengers between Philadelphia and Burlington, making an average speed of seven and a half miles an hour, and going over two thousand miles that season. This boat was driven by paddles at the stern. This was the first American* steamboat which regularly carried passengers. In Scotland, in 1788, Patrick Miller and William Symington built a small double skiff, which was propelled in Dalswinton Lock by a four-inch cylinder engine, driving a paddle-wheel working between the boats, and reached a speed of about five miles an hour. In 1789, with a larger engine, they propelled a boat upon the Forth and Clyde Canal, at the rate of from six to seven miles an hour ; but their machinery being found insufficient, they abandoned further attempts. In 1796, Fitch, having returned to this country from a trip to France, in which he had been again disappointed in obtaining the aid he needed for introducing his invention there, built a small boat, which was run on a pond in New York city, called the Col¬ lect Pond. This boat was propelled by a screw at the stern, while its boiler was a twelve gallon pot impressed into this unusual ser¬ vice, its top being covered with a plank which was secured in its place by an iron bar fastened down with clamps. This was the last attempt made by Fitch to realize his project. His death oc¬ curred two years afterwards. During this time Robert Fulton, whose name is more generally known as connected with the introduction of the steam engine into practical use in navigation, was in England, where he had gone for the purpose of continuing the study of the art of paint¬ ing under Benjamin West. While there he became acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater, who was then carrying out his system of canal navigation in Great Britain, and, following his advice, determined to devote himself to engineering. A subse¬ quent acquaintance with the Earl of Stanhope, who was an inven¬ tor, and then engaged in attempting to realize a method of steam navigation in which the paddles were to be shaped and to work like a duck’s foot, turned his attention in this direction, and in a letter to this nobleman, dated 1793, Fulton expresses some of his STEAM NAVIGATION. 93 objections to this proposed method, and made some suggestions, which he afterwards followed himself in his attempt upon the Hudson. At Birmingham he became acquainted with Watt, and made himself perfectly familiar with the steam engine, which had just been improved by this inventor. On a visit to Paris he be¬ came intimate with Chancellor Livingston, of New York, who was then United States minister to France. Livingston had been con¬ nected in New York with Nicholas Rosevelt and John Stevens in experimenting concerning steam navigation, and, being wealthy, offered Fulton, when he heard his views, all the capital necessary for his experiments, and if they were successful to contract for the intro¬ duction of this new method of propelling boats in the United States. Through Livingston’s influence, also, an act was passed in the legislature of New York, in 1798, repealing the act of 1787 in favor of John Fitch, and granting to himself the exclusive privi¬ lege of navigating the waters of the state by steam, on condition that he should give proof, within a year, that he had constructed a boat of twenty tons which was able to navigate the Hudson River at an average speed of fbur miles an hour, and that he should at no time fail, for the period of one year, to have a boat of this de¬ scription plying between Albany and New York city. From time to time the continuance of this act was extended, and finally its provisions were made to include Fulton. In the mean time experiments were continued in France, and during the summer of 1802, at Plombi&res. The next year Fulton commenced constructing a working model, and at the same time a vessel sixty feet long and eight wide. It did not, however, move when finished with the speed he had expected. The same year he also sent an order to Watt and Bolton for a steam engine suitable for a boat of larger size, .which, when completed, was for¬ warded to New York, arriving there in 1806. Having informed himself concerning all the attempts made in Europe to realize steam navigation, so that he should be able to avoid the causes of their failure, he returned to America, and doing the same thing here, he set about constructing a boat for his ma¬ chine. This boat was finished in 1807, and named the Cler¬ mont, the name of Livingston’s estate on the Hudson. The speed she attained averaged five miles an hour, and during the ensuing winter she was lengthened so as to measure one hundred and forty feet on her keel and sixteen and one-half feet beam. The legislature also granted to Livingston and Fulton an extcn- 94 STEAM NAVIGATION. sion of their exclusive privilege for additional terms of five years for every new boat they should build and run, provided the total number of years so granted should not exceed thirty. The second boat built was finished in 1807, and called the Car of Neptune. Next year the legislature passed another act confirming the prior grants,' and giving the grantees further remedies against any in¬ fringement of them, by subjecting any vessel propelled by steam, which should enter the waters of the state, to forfeiture, unless it had their license. In 1809 Fulton took out his first patent from the United States for his invention, and in 1811 others for improvements in his ma¬ chinery. These patents covered the adaptation of a paddle-wheel to the axle of the crank of Watts’s steam engine. It was naturally to be expected that in a country governed professedly upon democratic principles such a monopoly would be resisted, and very soon the power of the legislature to grant such an exclusive privilege was denied. The question was soon brought to a legal issue in the courts by the establishment of a company at Albany for the purpose of constructing another line of boats to ply between that city and New York. Livingston and Fulton, as grantees of the privilege, filed a bill in equity, asking for an in¬ junction against the new company. Their request was refused by Chancellor Lansing, on the ground that the act of the legislature was repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, and against common right. This decision was, however, reversed by the Court of Errors ; but the case was carried no further, being quashed by a compromise, in which the right to navigate the waters of Lake Champlain was granted to the Albany company. Thus in the very beginning of the course of modern methods of trans¬ portation the monopolists showed their readiness to avoid compe¬ tition, by combining among themselves. Nor was the legislature more averse in those times than in the present to lend its aid in furthering the interests of the monopolists as against the people. Having in the first place granted a right which was not theirs to grant, they passed another act peremptorily ordering the granting of an injunction to the grantees of their privilege, and also order¬ ing the seizure of any boat which should infringe upon the terms of their grant before the commencement of any suit against it. By this arbitrary and unconstitutional legislation the steam nav¬ igation of the waters of New York State remained in the exclu¬ sive possession of Fulton and his partner until the death of Fulton STEAM NAVIGATION. 95 in 1815. But the contest was simply transferred to New Jersey, whose coast abutted on the mouth of the Hudson River. Here, however, the promptness with which monopolists will combine was again illustrated. Colonel Aaron Ogden, who had commenced to contest the claims of Fulton and Livingston under the grants of the legislature, was converted, by concessions on their part, into be¬ coming the warmest advocate of the monopoly, and maintained it until eventually he was defeated in the famous case of Gibbons against Ogden, in the Supreme Court of the United States, where the question had been carried by appeal. The same course of procedure was also forced upon the West to secure the free navigation of her streams. In 1814, Fulton, claiming the monopoly of steam navigation upon the western riv¬ ers, built at Pittsburg, for a company at New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, a steamboat' called the Vesuvius, of three hund¬ red and forty tons. She was the third boat built at the West, and was intended for the New Orleans and Louisville trade. In the spring of this year she sailed from Pittsburg, and in July started with a cargo from New Orleans, making in ten days one- half the distance between there and Louisville, when she ground¬ ed, and remained until December, when, being floated off by a rise in the river, she returned to New Orleans. The first steamboat to navigate the western rivers was also built by Fulton at Pittsburg. She was called the New Orleans, and had a capacity of between three and four hundred tons. She was provided with a stern wheel and sails, since at that time Fulton supposed these would be needed in addition to her engine. In October, 1812, she made the trip from Pittsburg to Louisville in seventy hours. Being detained there several weeks by the condi¬ tion of the falls, she made several trips to Cincinnati, and in De¬ cember proceeded to New Orleans. Her length was one hundred and thirty feet, and her breadth thirty. Her cost was about forty thousand dollars, one-half of which was received from the net profits of her-first year's business. From New Orleans she pro¬ ceeded to Natchez, and engaged in the trade between these two cities, for which she was built, until 1814, when she was wrecked upon a snag at Baton Rouge. The second steamboat of the West was a small boat, rated at twenty-five tons, called the Comet. She was built at Pittsburg by D. French, and provided with machinery which he had patented in 1809. In the summer of 1813 she descended to Louisville, and 96 STEAM NAVIGATION. in the spring’ of 1814 to New Orleans. After two voyages to Natchez, she was sold, and her machinery taken for a cotton mill. Thus far, therefore, no steamers had ascended the western riv¬ ers. The experiment of the Vesuvius had been successful until she ran aground, but it was not conclusive. In 1814 the Enter¬ prise, built at Brownsville, Pa., was provided with one of French’s engines, and in December descended to New Orleans. On her re¬ turn trip, in which she was the first vessel which ascended the Mississippi, she reached Louisville in May, 1816, making the trip from New Orleans in twenty-five days. The event was celebrated by a public dinner given by the citizens of Louisville to her com¬ mander, Captain Henry M. Shreve. To this gentleman the West is greatly indebted for securing the free navigation of their waters, for this vessel and another called the Washington, which he sub¬ sequently built, were intended to test the validity of Fulton’s claims to his monopoly. Both of these boats were seized, as Cap¬ tain Shreve desired they should be, and the cause being carried up to the Supreme Court, the exclusive pretensions of the monopolists were denied, and the freedom of navigation secured. The history of the action of state legislatures in aiding monopo¬ lists, and the promptness with which the monopolists themselves cooperated with each other, and their willingness to compromise and aid each other, showed how frail is the chance of the public to obtain from their competition the benefits which many theorizers ascribe to this tendency, and afford many valuable lessons for the action of the present generation in contending with other monopo¬ lies, which, at times, seem destined to override all the principles of our democratic nationality. In this way the free navigation of the internal waters of the countries being secured, an opportunity was offered to enterprise, and the result has been beyond what even the most sanguine in¬ ventors of this method of transportation could have imagined. Fitch left a request that he should be buried upon the banks of the Ohio, “ where the song of the boatman would enliven the still¬ ness of his resting-place, and the music of the steam engine soothe his spirit;” and well has his desire been fulfilled. The first steam navigation of the ocean was in a boat called the Phoenix, which was launched by John Stevens soon after Fulton’s Clermont made her first trip. As Fulton held the monopoly of steam navigation in the waters of New York State, the son of the t STEAM NAVIGATION. 99 builder of the Phoenix — R. L. Stevens — took her to Philadelphia by the outside passage, the only one then in existence. The first steamboat to cross the Atlantic, however, was the Sa¬ vannah, a vessel built in New York, with side wheels and sails. She sailed from New York to St. Petersburg by way of Liverpool, reaching this last named place in twenty-six days, and returned safely. As she was, however, a small vessel, and did not depend entirely upon her engines, her trip was hardly considered a proof that ocean steam navigation was practicable. The first regular passages across the Atlantic were made in 1838 by the Sirius and the Great Western. The first of these left London and reached New York in seventeen days, and the second left Bristol and reached New York in fifteen days. Since then great changes have been wrought in the models, the construction, and the propulsion of ocean steamers, in which American invention has performed its full share. Though, owing to the conditions of our present tariff, our ocean steamers have entirely disappeared, and there is not a vessel now crossing the Atlantic under the American flag, yet the labors of American me¬ chanics in this direction have left their influence. George Steers, the builder of the yacht America, and of the Adriatic, influenced the lines of all the English sea steamers, as the American models of the clipper ships have modified the rig and the lines of all the best sailing vessels. The indications are, also, from the success which has attended the use of iron as a material for the construction of sea steamers, and the improvements made in the propeller, or submerged wheel at the stern, that in the future our sea-going steamers will all be built of iron, with water-tight compartments, and, discarding side wheels, be propelled with a screw. A comparison of the early methods of travel, and of the time and discomfort inherent to the circulation at the commencement of this century, with those now in use, will show in the briefest and most striking manner the industrial advance we have made during the past two generations. In the early days a sloop would occasionally ply between New Amsterdam (New York) and Fort Orange (Albany), but the license to do so was granted only on condition that she did not carry more than six passengers. From an advertisement clipped from a newspaper issued early in this century we gather that this method was improved somewhat at that time. The announcement reads as follows :— 100 STEAM NAVIGATION. “ Sloop Experiment. — For Passengers only. 11 Elias Bunker informs his friends and the public that he has commenced running a sloop of about one hundred and ten tons burden between the cities of Hudson and New York, for the pur¬ pose of carrying passengers only. The owners of this vessel, being desirous to render the passage as short, convenient, and agreeable as possible, have not only taken care to furnish her with the best beds, bedding, liquors, provisions, etc., but they have been at very great expense and trouble in procuring materials and building her on the best construction for sailing, and for the ac¬ commodation of ladies and gentlemen travelling on business or for pleasure. “ Merchants and others residing in the northern, eastern, and western counties will find a great convenience in being able to cal¬ culate (at home) the precise time they can sail from Hudson and New York, without being under the necessity of taking their beds and bedding ; and those in New York may so calculate their busi¬ ness as to be certain of comfortable accommodations up the river.” The time employed in such a trip varied, of course, according as the wind was propitious or not. Nor was the travel upon the western waters calculated to be any more attractive. In 1794 a line of packets, two in number, commenced running between Cin¬ cinnati and Pittsburg, and were advertised to perform the voyage, each, once in four weeks; the passengers were assured of their safety, since they would be placed under cover, which was proof against rifle or musket balls, with convenient port-holes for firing out of. Each boat was to be armed with six pieces carrying a pound ball, and a number of good muskets, with plenty of ammu¬ nition. How few of those who pass up and down the Hudson upon the steamers which will easily accommodate a thousand passen¬ gers, or on the Mississippi in one of those floating palaces which will accommodate an equal number, think how much more cheaply, quickly, and conveniently they are thus transported than their grandfathers and grandmothers could have been ! It seems impos¬ sible that the coming generations shall see changes of equal mag¬ nitude ; but the world is just waking to the conception of the in¬ dustrial tendency of mankind, and of the aids that science, com¬ bination, and improved social methods can produce. SHIP-BUILDING. EARLY HISTORY. — EGYPTIAN, GREEK, AND ROMAN SHIPS. — ENGLISH, SPANISH, AND FRENCH IMPROVEMENTS. — AMERICAN MODELS. — OLD PLANS SET ASIDE. — BALTIMORE CLIPPERS. — THE YACHT AMERICA. — GREAT REPUBLIC. — FLY¬ ING CLOUD. —THE BUILDING OF A SHIP. —PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION.— LAYING THE KEEL. — SETTING UP THE FUTTOCKS. — CEILING AND PLANKING. — CALKING AND COPPERING. —LAUNCHING. — IRON SHIPS. —HOW THEY ARE BUILT. — SUPERIORITY OVER WOODEN VESSELS. — GREATER STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS. — MORE SPACE FOR CARGO.—WATER-TIGHT COMPARTMENTS.— SECURITIES AGAINST SINKING. — IRON-CLAD FLOATING BATTERIES. — SHIP¬ BUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES. — DEPRESSED STATE OF THE INDUSTRY. • f Ship-building may be said to have begun with the construction of Noah’s Ark ; but even the ark could only have been an enor¬ mous enlargement upon existing models, for from the earliest period, wherever man has lived in proximity to water, boats of some sort have been built. The Hebrew (Scripture) records speak of the joint Jewish and Phoenician naval expeditions for the timber and other material for Solomon’s Temple, and mention of tl ships ” is frequent in the Bible. The oldest tombs and monu¬ ments in Egypt bear representations of vessels propelled by means of sails, as well as by oars. Tradition has handed down accounts of great galleys and ships of extraordinary size, used in warfare by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Csesar’s “ Commenta¬ ries ” allude to ships constructed of oak. Alfred the Great had his navy. Edward III. had ships of war carrying cannon. When the mariner’s compass came into use, larger and more complete vessels were built. The discovery of America gave an immense impulse to ship-building in Spain, and that country long took the lead of all other maritime nations in whatever pertained to navi¬ gation. The opening of a great East India trade by the discovery of the passage around the Cape of Good Hope, made England foremost among ship-building nations, and under Henry VIII., and especially under Elizabeth, extraordinary progress was made. In ( 101 ) 102 SHIP-BUILDING. the seventeenth century English ships, of from fourteen hundred to sixteen hundred tons, were built. In the eighteenth century the French so far advanced upon the ships built by the Dutch, Portuguese, English, and Spaniards that their models were eagerly adopted. But with all these nations progress beyond a certain point was comparatively slow, till the United States, ignoring the old-established features in naval architecture, began to build ves¬ sels which have since been models for the world. Speed and beauty were the ends sought and attained in the new American models, and these were secured principally *by the intro¬ duction of concave, wedge-shaped bows, instead of the convex form, and corresponding “ lines ” for the stern. The schooners built-on Chesapeake Bay, and ships after the style of the celebrated “ Baltimore clippers,” constructed on the new American model, frequently showed a speed under sail that had not then been at¬ tained by the best English steamers. The Collins steamers were the stimulus to the construction of the superb ships the Cunard Company subsequently added to their line. The success of the yacht “ America,” at Cowes, in 1851, built on the Baltimore clip¬ per model, revolutionized yacht-building in England. Among re¬ markable American sailing ships, constructed outlie new principle, may be mentioned the Boston clipper “ Great Republic,” of four thousand tons burden, and the “ Flying Cloud,” which has made three hundred and seventy-four knots in twenty-four hours, or nearly eighteen miles an hour. Other American ships engaged in the California, China, and East India trade, have displayed equally wonderful speed. Assuming, then, that American ships and American models are unsurpassed, we proceed to give the de¬ tails of construction. The architect first makes a model of alternate strips of pine and cedar, three or more feet in length, fastened together, and hewn out with the greatest precision, so as to present every line in the ship to be built. From this model he makes three drawings — the “ sheer plan,” presenting the length, depth, water-lines, and entire side of the ship ; the “ half-breadth plan,” which is a length¬ wise section of half the ship ; and the “ body plan,” which verti¬ cally divides the ship in halves, and shows the curves and tim¬ bers towards the bow and the stern. From enlarged patterns of these plans the workmen select and shape to the required dimen¬ sions every timber for the ship. In the yard, close to the water’s edge, blocks are set, — at a EARLY NAVIGATION OF THE PHOENICIANS. THE LAUNCH OF A PACKET SHIP. SHIP-BUILDING. 105 proper inclination for the launching of the ship, — on which the keel is laid. Generally a false keel, consisting of pieces of from four to six inches in thickness, and of the same width as the keel proper, — the false keel preventing leeway,, and protecting the keel in case of the ship’s grounding, — is laid first, and then the keel, of live oak or other suitable wood, and for a first-class ship of timbers twenty inches square, dowelled together to make the * required length, is laid. The keel is grooved on both sides to re¬ ceive the planking. The stern, which must be of the best and strongest timber, and which is backed by other timbers called the “ apron” and the “ sternson,” all securely bolted together, is secured to the keel by a “knee.” In setting this very important timber, the greatest care and accuracy are requisite, as any irregu¬ larity will be evident in the ship when completed. Next comes the “ stern-post ” of solid oak, which is mortised into the keel, and is strengthened by an inner post. The backbone of the ship is now ready for the ribs. At each end of the keel the space too limited for framing is filled in with solid timber, known as “ dead- wood.” The floor timbers, with alternate long and short arms, are next let into the keel at right angles, and from the floor are elevated the curved timbers called “ futtocks,” which make the frame of the ship and determine its shape. The futtocks are shored up with sticks of timber to keep them in their places. The next process is to lay down the “ keelson ” — stout timbers run¬ ning from stem to stern, directly over and securely bolte^ to the keel, with two or four side keelsons, which are bolted through the floor and futtocks. The spaces between the floor and futtocks be¬ low the water-line are filled with timber, and are calked water¬ tight. The entire frame is then trussed or braced with bands of iron, and the ship is ready for the interior planking, or “ ceiling,” which begins at the keelson and is carried up the sides. Project¬ ing pieces, called shelves, are placed at proper intervals, and to these the deck beams are fastened with strong wooden or iron knees. Close to the keelson a gutter is left to catch the leakage, if any, and accessible to the pumps. The few planks and timbers which need curving for the ceiling are steamed and bent, and the planks are secured to the futtocks by locust pegs, called treenails. “ Breast-hooks ” of wood or iron, fitting the shape of the bow, and “crutches” at the stern, are put in to further strengthen the frame. Blocks or “steps” for the mast are fastened to the keel¬ son. The deck beams are strengthened by posts which rise from 10G SHIP-BUILDING. the keelson. The outside planking, or “ skin ” of the ship, is of oak planks, varying in thickness from four* to ten inches, carefully selected, and put on with the greatest possible care, as the security of the ship against leakage and decay depends upon the judgment and skill with which this outside planking is performed. The decks, of yellow pine, are framed to leave hatch and ladder ways, mast holes, etc., and are laid with great nicety, so as to be per¬ fectly water-tight, care being taken to put down the planks so as # to avoid the possibility of springing or straining. The hatchways are oblong in shape, the broadest part running athwart the deck. The bulwarks are finished ; the capstan or windlass, which should be double, running through two decks to enable two sets of hands to work at once, is set; the catheads, to suspend the anchor over the bows, are put in ; and much other work is done by the ship- carpenters before the vessel is ready to be calked. The rudder, which may be added before or after launching, is made of the best oak and elm, and is hung by 11 pintles ” to the “ gudgeons ” in the stern-post. The circular head of the rudder which appears on deck is mortised to receive the tiller, and the tiller ropes run through blocks to a barrel, which turns so as to tauten one rope while it slacks the other from the barrel to the wheel of the steers¬ man. Calking is the process of making the seams of the deck and the outer planking water-tight, and is effected by driving in oakum with caring-irons, and covering the seams with pitch. Copper¬ ing the ship may be done before or after launching, or even alter a voyage or two, by taking the ship into a dry dock. The bottom is covered with a smooth coating of pitch and tar, and sheets of copper, four feet in length by fourteen inches in breadth, are nailed on. Patent sheathing is made of sixty parts of pure copper and forty parts of zinc, the zinc counteracting to a great extent the process of oxidation. The coppering is to prevent the bottom from fouling by marine deposits, or the accumulation of barnacles, which materially impede the progress of the ship. The ship is now ready for launching. At low water, two par¬ allel lines, or ways, of heavy timber are laid the entire length of the sliijf, and down to the point where the ship at high water will float. On the sliding ways are the “ bikeways,” running five- eighths of the length of the ship, and connected with the ship by "poppet” and 11 6topping-up ” timbers. These are wedged up with “slices/’ and the whole makes a cradle, in which the ship is SHIP-BUILDING. 107 confined by a single piece of timber called a “ do£-shore.” When all is ready, the ways are well lubricated with soft soap and grease, the dog-shore is pulled away by a cord, and the freed ship slides down the ways and into the water. Though now afloat, the ship is by no means ready for sea. Her masts, yards, rigging, sails, cables, anchors, etc., are to be added, and if she is to be a steamer, she must be towed to the works where her engines are put in. With the riggers come the ship- painters and numerous other mechanics, who assist in finishing the vessel and preparing it for sea. The mere building of the hull is but a part — a most important one, however—of an infinity of work that follows. The woods used in the United States for ship-building are al¬ most exclusively live oak and pine, with such ornamental foreign woods as may be necessary for the cabins. Other nations use a great variety of woods, including teak, mahogany, pencil and red cedar, Spanish oak and chestnut, tamarac, and many others. Masts and spars are made from pine, the larger vessels requir¬ ing “ made masts ” of several pieces secured to a centre stick by iron rings. A full suit of sails for a large ship will use fifteen thousand yards of cotton duck. Anchors — “ kedge,” “small bower,” “ working bower,” and “ best bower” —weigh from five hundred to eighty-five hundred pounds. To prevent the decay of wood used in ship-building, a recent process is to carbonize the surface to a depth that need not exceed one hundredth oart of an inch, and which will give a coating that is claimed to be impervr ous to air and water. Iron Ships. Iron now enters very largely into the construction of even wooden ships by the substitution of iron knees, deck beams, and sometimes iron plate (hollow) masts. This use of iron is to secure space, greater strength, and lightness; for a vessel constructed wholly of iron is really much lighter than a wooden vessel of the. same size, while by doing away with the space required for heavy timbers, it can carry a much larger cargo. For these and other advantages, iron has come to be a common material for ship-build¬ ing, and it has been used in the construction of the finest Cunard and other steamers. For an iron ship, the naval architect sends his construction drawings to the iron plate rolling mill, where each plate is pre¬ pared of the exact curve and dimensions. Holes for the rivets ir >8 SIIIP-BUILDING. are punched by machinery, and the plates are then ready for the ship-builder. The keel of the vessel is made of iron bars riveted together, and to the iron upright ribs the plates are riveted, one plate overlapping another. The frame of the ship, in which the ribs stand from ten to eighteen inches apart, the outside skin, and indeed the whole structure, are entirely of iron. When the plates . are prepared, ships of this kind can be built with great rapidity. They have the advantage over wooden ships of greater simplicity erf construction, greater immunity from deterioration, no liability to decay, and they can be built in compartments, which, by mak¬ ing each compartment a floating vessel in itself, immensely in¬ crease the security of the ship from sinking in case of collision or other disaster. In rigging, .finishing, and otherwise fitting out iron ships, the processes are nearly the same as for ships built of wood. Iron-clads. The immense floating batteries, iron ships, and gunboats, lately introduced into the navies of all nations, are constructed either wholly of iron, or they are strongly-built wooden ships, heavily plated with wrought iron, of from four to eight inches in thickness. They carry the heaviest armaments, and are designed, some of them, for sea service, but the majority of them for harbor defence. Ship-building in the United States. * Ship-building is now (1811) very much depressed in the United States. This is owing to several causes, prominent among them the general use of iron vessels, and the greater cheapness on ac¬ count of the charges added by our tariff, with which such vessels can be constructed abroad, particularly in Great Britain. CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. PROGRESS OF MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS. —. THE MULTIPLICITY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. — THE ORIGIN OF THE ORGAN, THE INSTRUMENT DERIVED FROM THE “ PIPES OF PAN.” — CTESIBUS, THE ALEXANDRIAN, INVENTOR OF THE HYDRAULICON,” TWO HUNDRED YEARS B. C. — AN ANCIENT ROMAN ENGRAVING OF THE ORGAN ON STONE. — POPE VITALIAN, AND CATHEDRAL ORGANS.—THE GREEK EMPEROR’S PRESENT TO KING PEPIN OF FRANCE, A. D. 755 . — THE ORGAN FROM THE TWELFTH CENTURY UP TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. — DISTINGUISHED BUILDERS OF ORGANS IN THE FIFTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. — ICONOCLASTIC OPPOSITION TO THE ORGAN IN ENGLAND, UNDER THE PROTECTORATE OF CROMWELL. — ORGAN MAKING AS AN INDUSTRIAL INTEREST IN THE UNITED STATES. —CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. —A SKETCH OF THEIR INVENTION AND GROWTH IN POPULAR FAVOR. —MR. AARON MERRILL PEASLEY AND MR. EMMONS HAMLIN — THE “ MASON AND HAMLIN ORGAN COMPANY” THE CHIEF, MANUFACTURERS OF CABINET ORGANS. — PARTIAL DESCRIPTION OF THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. No feature of 11 progress ” among the people of the United States, within the last few years, has been more marked than that of the increased love of music which they display. Twenty years ago, but few 'piano-fortes existed even in t*he cities, and in the flourishing and important towns. A few harmoniums, melo- deons, and other like instruments were to be found scattered over wide territories. The bass and snare drum, the fife, and sometimes a horn of some kind, discoursed the chief music, aside from vocal, which the inhabitants of the interior towns throughout the land enjoyed; and the music of even these was seldom dispensed by their clumsy and unskilled performers, save on militia “training days,” and the Fourth of July, or on the occa¬ sion of some extraordinary excursion of a civic society from one town on a visit to its brethren in another. The best music of those days — so near in point of time, but so far off on the path of progress — was yielded by the violin, but was generally to be heard only in the “ ball-room ” of the villages a few times a year at most. The more wealthy of the towns-people were considered ( 100 ) 110 CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. by their neighbors as in danger of contracting extravagant habits in general, — if they were not charged with already having done so — if they indulged in the luxury of a piano-forte; and so marked was the absence of musical instruments among our people at large, that foreigners visiting us, decided that the Americans had but little comprehension of or taste for music, and some of the most refined and observant of our own writers even deplored the lack of interest in music, and the tastelessness and inaptitude of our people to musical studies. This is by no means an overdrawn picture ; yet it would appear so to one considering the condition of things now, and ignorant of the facts which characterized the state of music in this country twenty years ago. What we have said above exhibits the state of music at that time in the Northern and Western states, more particularly than in the Southern. In the last-named states, the “ standard ” was hardly as high as in the former. Instrumental music was but little encouraged, and the most popular type of vocal music was found in the plaintive airs of the negro slaves. “ Dandy Jim from Caroline/’ “ 0 Susannah, don’t you cry for me,” and the like, were the most popular songs of the day. To-day there is hardly a town, however far inland, or obscured from the “ outside world ” by environing mountains, the Green, the White, the Alleghanies, or the Rocky, even, where well-rendered selections from the choicest creations of the grand old masters cannot be heard ; and pianos, melodeons, and cabi¬ net organs are to be found, all over the country, in the brown clap- boarded houses, the tenants of which do not feel able to paint them,— such is the spirit of the love of music with our people now. And this, as already intimated, has created an industrial interest of great magnitude. The origin of the organ is lost in the night of the past. The name is derived from the Greek organon, which signifies simply an instrument of action or operation, by which some process is carried on, and, as applied in the mechanics of music, covers several instruments the principles of the construction of which are somewhat similar. The largest of these is the church organ, which is usually understood to be meant, when the single, un¬ qualified word “ organ ” is alone used. This has come with the “growth of the ages,” step by step. The hypothesis generally re¬ ceived as well founded is, that the organ, in its simplest state, was a modification of the “ Pipes of Pan,” or simple hollow reeds of various lengths, bound together and so arranged as to be rapidly CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. Ill swept over by the mouth of the player, each pipe graduated as near as might be to some natural “ note ” of music. But the steps of improvement of the original organ are all lost to us so far as the relative times at which they were taken are concerned. But that the progress of this instrument was slow is sufficiently cer¬ tain. Eventually, the mechanical powers of water came to be understood, and as early as two hundred years before Christ, it is said that Ctesibius, the Alexandrian, inventor of the clepsydra , or water clock, also invented an hydraulicon or hydraulic organ. Upon an ancient monument in the Giardine Mattel , at Rome, was carved an organ, parts of which bore strong resemblance to the organ of these times. St. Augustine in his scriptural comments, makes allusion to the organ ; and it is related by some writers that Pope Yitalian, during the last half of the seventh century, promoted the introduction of the organ as an inspirer of devotion into some of the chief churches of Western Europe ; and we have reliable account of an organ having been presented to King Pepin, of France, in the year *755, by the then ruling Emperor of Greece. It is confidently declared that organs were “ common ” (by which term we suppose, however, that nothing more is intended, than that a few existed) in England, in the tenth century. It appears that these were generally quite large — larger than those then to be found on the continent. Elfeg, Bishop of Winchester, caused one to be set up in his cathedral in 951. These organs were coarsely constructed, and of restricted capacity. The keys were struck with the fist, and the pipes were wholly of brass. Twelve pipes, or fifteen pipes at most, measured the capacity of the largest organs, up to as late a period as the twelfth century. Eventually, some Italian inventor added half notes, and first in¬ troduced his improved organ to the Venetians. This was near the close of the twelfth century. Pedals, or foot-keys, came not till as late as 14*70, and were the invention of a musical German me¬ chanic by the name of Bernhard. But some time elapsed after this before the organ reached its present form. Of the builders of organs, the names of whom have been most noted, may be mentioned the Antegnati, of Brescia, in the fif¬ teenth and sixteenth centuries — later, in the eighteenth century, Serrassi of Bergamo, and the Venetian Callido. The organ, like almost everything else of mechanical progress, has had its history of opposition. In England, during the exist¬ ence of the commonwealth, under the protectorate of Cromwell, 112 CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. the iconoclastic spirit of the Puritans vented itself upon many of the largest organs in England, as idolatrous, or, rather, barbarous and unchristian in their nature,—being mechanical aids to devo¬ tion, which should be, as they declared, wholly spiritual in its character and means of expression. But we have not space to pursue the history of the organ in its details of construction, and its steps of progress of growth in popular favor, for the last few centuries,—nothing of which, however, is specially remarkable, save within the last few years. One form of the organ—cabinet and parlor organs — is very rapidly gaining in popularity and use in the United States. In 1870 about thirty-two thousand were made and sold in America, while the number of piano-fortes was about twenty- three thousand. The increased use of organs within a few years has been very great. Probably their sales ten } 7 ears since were not more than one-third what they now are. This is undoubtedly owing in a large measure to the great improvements made in the instrument itself. Formerly it was a mere “ convenience ” for lack of something better, and mainly because nothing more satisfac¬ tory was available. Now the instrument is worthy from its intrinsic merit, and has favor with cultivated musicians, as well as the people. There can be little doubt that it has not yet reached its greatest popularity, because not sufficient time has yet elapsed to make it generally known, and its practical advantages are so great. It is comparatively very cheap. A good instrument, though quite small, is now furnished at fifty dollars ; and from this it in¬ creases in size, capacity, elegance, and price, to styles which are worth thousands of dollars each. Thus it is adapted to a wide variety of means and classes of purchasers. Room can be found for the smaller styles, where there is not sufficient space for larger instruments ; and the larger styles admit of the greatest amount of elegance in form and decoration. Reed instruments, of which these are now the best illustrations, and the only ones largely sold in America, include melodeons, har¬ moniums, seraphines, and all instruments producing tones by free reeds without the use of pipes. The reed is a thin strip of brass or other material, from half an inch to several inches in length. It is fastened at one end over an aperture in a metal plate, corre¬ sponding in size to the reed. A current of air is made to pass through the aperture, causing the reed to vibrate and produce a musical tone. The size of the reed determines its pitch, and its CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. 113 shape, surroundings, and a hundred conditions, determine its qual¬ ity of tone. The invention is an American one, letters patent therefor having been granted to Aaron Merrill Peasley in 1818. The original papers, signed by James Monroe, President, and John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, are now in the posses¬ sion of the Mason and Hamlin Organ Co., of Boston and New York. Mr. Peasley styled his invention “ an improvement in organs.” At first, the new instrument enjoyed, and probably deserved, little popularity. Doubtless the quality of tone pro¬ duced was so poor as to make it rather an instrument of torture, than anything else. About twenty-five years after, Mr. Jeremiah Carlrart, then in Buffalo, N. Y., introduced improvements which seem to have first given the instrument currency. He employed an exhaust bellows instead of the .force bellows which had commonly been used be¬ fore, and in other respects somewhat modified its construction. Mr. Carhart was evidently not the originator of the exhaust bellows ; for in the original claim for the patent, Mr. Peasley had stated that a force or exhaust bellows might be used. But Car- hart seems to have been the first to use the latter in such a man¬ ner as to develop its advantages, which were chiefly in improved quality of tone. He gave his instruments the name “ melodeon,” by which they became widely known, and are familiar to most readers. A few years later Mr. Emmons Hamlin, now of the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co., but then quite a young man, in the employ of Messrs. Prince & Co., of Buffalo, introduced an improvement, which has probably done more than anything else to render the instrument worthy of its present popularity. He discovered that by giving to the tongue of the reed a slight bend and twist, the quality of tone was greatly modified. Patient and skilful exper¬ iment led to the development of the art of “ voicing ” reeds, which was immediately introduced in the instruments of Messrs. Prince & Co. It gave them great superiority, and they speedily became the largest manufacturers of this class of instruments in the coun¬ try. Other makers were not long, however, in discovering the secret and adopting the improvement, which has now become universal. Few, if any, instruments of the class are now made in this country without voicing the reeds. Mr. Hamlin seems to have had from the first, and not to have lost it, great zeal and capacity in the construction and improve- 7 114 CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. ment of musical instruments. In illustration of this may be mentioned the recent construction by him — as a matter of per¬ sonal gratification solely, and with no reference to business — of several violins, which are said by virtuosi to be of extraordinary excellence, and to need age only to rank with the productions of the old masters, who, it has been supposed, had left no successor to their skill. A few years after his discovery of the art of voicing reeds, Mr. Hamlin, feeling confident that great improvement was yet possible in reed instruments, and finding others possessing the same con¬ fidence, became associated in business with Mr. Henry Mason, a son of Dr. Lowell Mason, the distinguished musical composer and author, under the now well-known name Mason & Ilarnlin, for the manufacture of instruments of the class. Combining, thus, * musical cultivation with mechanical skill and experience, in this specialty they united, what is not common, a knowledge of what results were desirable, and capacity for their production. The new firm gave themselves at once to experiment, which has been perseveringly pursued to the present time ; and they have certainly been largely successful in that improvement which has raised the instrument to its present popularity. To follow in detail the improvements which they have effected would occupy more space than can here be afforded. Allusion may, however, bo made to the employment of an improved bellows, having two blow-pedals, and giving a much stronger current of air than was before available ; the introduction of ingeniously constructed valves, which are important in securing more nearly perfect and durable action ; of the automatic swell — a device as simple as effective ; of new and different scales for sounding and tube boards ; the discovery and application of principles effecting the purity and power of tone. The instrument has indeed assumed a new form, both in interior and exterior, and its relationship to the melodeon with which Messrs. Mason & Hamlin started is hardly nearer than was that of the latter instrument to the accordeon, which preceded it. The growing popularity of reed-organs has stimulated efforts by others also, by whom some improvements of value have been originated ; but the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co., as in the growth of its business it has become, have undoubtedly been the leaders in the march of improvement, and have accomplished most im¬ portant results. Their instruments possess a peculiar excellence CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. . 115 in quality of tone, which is highly appreciated by musicians ; the result, in a measure, undoubtedly, of superior “ voicing ” — an art in which they are acknowledged to excel. Apace with the repu¬ tation of their work, the demand for the organs made by the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co. has increased. They are how much the most extensive manufacturers of this class of instruments in the world, producing more than twice as many as any other maker. Re¬ cently they have added a large new factory to their premises, but are still greatly in lack of sufficient facilities to supply the demands for their instruments. The reader, if he can obtain permission to go over it, will find much to interest him in the principal factory of this company, at the corner of Cambridge and Charles Streets, Boston. Machinery is largely employed, resulting in more exact and better work, and greater economy of cost. Every part of the instrument is made by this company themselves, and every precaution used to secure only the best and most reliable work. The works of the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co., are, without doubt, the largest establishment of the kind in the world ; and as such, merit, together with the successes of the company itself, and their peculiar advantages as manufacturers of cabinet and parlor organs, a brief historic notice in a work like this. The company originated about eighteen years ago, under the firm name of Mason & Hamlin. Its factories are at the corner of Cambridge and Charles Streets, Boston, and in Cambridge, Mass., covering an area of seventy by three hundred feet, five stories high. The Cambridge factory has the advantage of a rail¬ road track connected with all the railroads centering in Boston. The salesrooms are at 154 Tremont Street, Boston, and 596 Broad¬ way, New York. The number of workmen employed is about five hundred. The capacity of the establishment is two hundred organs per week. None but first-class organs are there made, and they range in price from fifty to fifteen hundred dollars each. They are sent to every quarter of the globe, viz., throughout the American continent,, to Europe, Western Africa, to Japan, China, and Australia — wherever the English language is spoken, and where it is scarcely known ; in fact, to all countries where the love of music is culti¬ vated. Their exportation to Europe exceeds $100,000 in amount annually. It has been carefully and curiously estimated, that if all the organs made by this concern in the year 18&9 (and 116 CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. the number in 1870 was considerably larger still) were stretched out, end to end, in a continuous line, they would reach to the r distance of three miles ; or they would form a wall nine feet high, sufficient to enclose the whole of Boston Common. The Mason & ilamlin Organs were awarded the American medal at the Paris Exposition, but two other medals then being awarded, one to Germany and one to France. They have also won seventy-five medals, or other first premiums, at various In¬ dustrial Exhibitions in America. They are used in preference to all others in concert-rooms, by the most eminent artists, a majority of whom, here and in Europe, have given voluntary written testi¬ monials to their numerous superior merits. In fact they are rec¬ ognized as the standard of excellence. It is everywhere to be noted in the history of a great manu¬ facturing enterprise of any nature, that its great success depends upon compliance with the laws of rigid industry, perseverance, and the conscientious production of the best wares, as well as honorable, fair dealing with customers ; and it is fitting, in merited compliment to this distinguished company, to say that, the supe¬ riority of their organs is owing to the following reasons : The long experience of the proprietors ; the vast amount and great variety of ingenious and latest improved machinery, tools, and appliances ; the adoption of all improved processes in the prepara¬ tion and manufacture of the materials ; the introduction of all valuable new inventions in the mechanism ; the employment of workmen who have been thoroughly bred to the business ; the employment of each set of workmen only upon one special branch of the work, so that each attains perfection in his particular division of labor; the fact that the foreman of each department is made peculiarly responsible for any defect which may occur in his de¬ partment ; the unequalled care observed in thoroughly seasoning materials ; and the admirable system in putting together, with exactness and nicety, the three to four thousand pieces of wood, iron, brass, ivory, ebony, leather, rubber, cloth, and other* ma¬ terials necessary to the construction of a perfect organ ; all of which discloses not only the best business good sense, but high- toned professional ambition, which it is ever so pleasant to record of our leading manufacturers in general. Tiie large scale upon which these organs are made, and the possession of every facility which ingenuity could devise or money purchase, enable this company to furnish these first-class instru- r Length, 4 feet 8 in CABINET ORGAN. Height, 8 feet 4 in. Depth, 2 feet 5 in Weight, 362 pounds, . ' ■ • • ‘ . ‘ l» * . ■ CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. 119 ments at the lowest rates ; as low, in fact, as the rates charged for inferior instruments made by others. The company make all parts of these instruments themselves, and thus avoid the neces¬ sity for charges to cover the two or three, profits which are made when the parts must be purchased, as is the case with smaller manufacturers. Some peculiar reasons, which may properly be pointed out, have materially tended to give the organs made by this company the popularity which they enjoy, and illustrate, at the same time, the vast improvements which the organ, since the days of simple Pandean reeds form, has undergone. The action of the improved centre-pressure self-adjusting reed valves is more instantaneous, sure, and perfect than that of any others. The pressure on all parts of the valve-seat is exactly equal, and perfectly closes the aperture ; and therefore the tones do not sound when the keys are not pressed down. These valves insure a lighter action, em¬ ploy a more forcible current of air, produce a complete vibration of the reed, increase the volume of tone, improve its quality, and give better capacity for expression. In the construction of the sounding and tube boards , the materials, size, plan, and details are such that these organs have become specially famous for musical power and sonorousness. The new styles of resonant cases also aid in rendering the tones peculiarly full and rich, giving them perfect vibration. The automatic bellows swell far exceeds all others in producing crescendos and diminuendos , and is more effec¬ tively used with little practice. The tones by its use, from the loudest to the softest, are commanded to any degree without any unusual movement of hands or feet. This swell is perfectly simple in construction, and least liable to get out of order. It has re¬ ceived many medals, and the high approval of judges, at the Paris Exposition and elsewhere.* Numerous fruitless attempts have been made to imitate it. The Mason & Hamlin Improved vox humana produces brilliant orchestral and solo effects, giving a remarkable imitation of stringed instruments, and a near re-- semblance to the best characteristics of a cultivated human voice , from which it takes its name. It is as durable as the instrument itself, being simple in mechanism. It is a combination of several patents, is used only in these organs, and is one of the most popu¬ lar improvements ever introduced. Wood’s octave coupler is used i:i these instruments, and doubles their power. It enables the performin', by touching any one key, not only to produce all the 120 CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. tones immediately connected with it, but also their octaves. It is not liable to get out of repair, which cannot be said of other couplers. The vibrators or reeds are made by peculiar machinery, invented and perfected by the company itself. Each reed is after¬ wards carefully finished by hand, thus securing a uniformity unat¬ tainable when the reed is made wholly by hand or less perfect machinery. No reed is stamped out of brass. Every one is riveted with iron, thus securing strength and durability. The liberal policy of this company in patient and costly experi¬ ments, and in obtaining, at whatever cost, the use of every real improvement made by others, has given them the control of the most important improvements. Many are patented, and exclu¬ sively used by this company, although some other makers wrong’ fully represent their instruments to be the same. Every Mason & Hamlin organ is rigidly tested before being suffered to leave the establishment, and each instrument is war¬ ranted in the amplest manner for five years. Their points of superiority are thus summed up, as claimed by the company : Superior quality of tone ; power and volume of tone ; capacity for varied effects, imitating pipe organs, the violin, violoncello, horn, flute, clarinet, etc. ; capacity for expression ; quickness of utterance, having almost the vivacity and life of a fine piano-forte ; uniformity in character, and equality in loudness of tones, through¬ out each stop ; quality of keeping in good tune; smoothness and perfection of action, all the mortises in the keys through which the guide-pins work being lined with cloth ; and in other respects they are so constructed that the action may be reasonably ex¬ pected to be smooth and noiseless till worn out; durability: when carefully used they may be expected to improve for years. They are used in many countries and most trying climates ; all the nicest parts of the lumber are seasoned for years in the open air, then in drying kilns, and then by a new process of super¬ heated steam. They scarcely ever require tuning. They can be sent anywhere, ready for use, and without risk, by the ordinary freight routes, etc. Strength and thoroughness of construction : these merits of the Mason & Ilamlin organs are illustrated by the following facts : the desks are all made of three pieces of wood, so glued together that the grain runs in different directions, securing the greatest possible strength. The stops have fronts of engraved ivory. Tho ivory in the keys is of the best quality, and the lronts of the keys are of ivory instead of wood. The CABINET AND PARLOR ORGANS. 121 black keys are of ebony, not painted inferior wood. The pedal coverings, hinges, locks, *etc., are of the best quality; and every other detail exhibits the same thoroughness of construction and strength of material. The claims to preeminence of the Mason & Hamlin organs are confirmed not only by the large number of premiums they have taken within a few years at all the prominent fairs, but also by the Internal Revenue returns, which are made under oath, and show that their sales are very much larger than those of any other reed instrument. More than three hundred of the most prominent artists of the United States, and many of the leading organists of Europe, besides the most eminent musical and other journals of both hemispheres have testified to the superiority of the Mason & Hamlin organs; and independent of their numerous other merits, in any of their great variety of styles they are chastely elegant specimens of furniture, worthy of a place in the most sumptuously furnished apartment. In listening to these organs one feels the full force of those lines of Tom Moore, in his “ Loves of Angels,” in regard to the connection between love, religion, and music ; and notwithstanding the prosaic character of an article upon an industrial enterprise and manufacture, we conceive it not unfit to conclude it with the lines above referred to : — ♦ ... * 4 w l % . . *4 ' ' k “ O Love, Religion, Music, all, — The only blessings since the Fall, — How kindred are the dreams you bring! How Love, though unto earth so prone, Delights to take Religion’s wing, When time or grief hath stained his own! How near to Love’s beguiling brink, Too oft, entranced Religion lies! While Music, Music is the link Thby both still hold by to the skies, The language of their native sphere. Which they had else forgotten here.’* ^ AXES AND PLOWS. THE PRIMITIVE AXE. —ITS USE AS A WEAPON OF WAR.—TIIE POET WHITMAN. -IMPORTANCE OF THE MANUFACTURE OF AXES IN THIS COUNTRY. — TUB CHIEF MANUFACTURERS, COLLINS & CO., -THEIR VAST ESTABLISHMENT AT COLLINSVILLE, CONN. -MODE OF MANUFACTURING DESCRIBED. -PLOWS, ANCIENT IMPLEMENTS. — THE PALESTINE, CHINESE, EAST INDIA, AND OLD NORMAN PLOWS (ILLUSTRATED). — THE PLOW IN MODERN TIMES. -PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE OF PLOWS. — COLLINS & CO ’S SUCCESS, WITH REASONS THEREFOR. — OF FUTURE PROGRESS, AND THE PART TIIE AXE AND THE PLOW MUST CONTRIBUTE THERETO. — THE “REVOLVING COULTER** PLOW. The needs of man must have made some means of severing the branches from trees, and breaking up the soil, among the earliest of tools — the most primitive of manufactures. Mere brute force could break the small limbs of trees, and the heel, or a stick pushed by the hand, could tear up the sod a little ; but as soon as man came to emerge from the most savage state, he needed some instruments like those of the axe and the plow. Among the fossil and other remains of the oldest nations we always find some instrument similar to the axe — the bone and stone tools of sundry aboriginal races of America ; and sometimes the metallic instrument, made of copper blended with tin ; the tools with which the ancient Etruscans cut even porphyry (when the mode of hardening tools must have reached its highest perfection, since porphyry is the hardest of all minerals); the copper axe of the Druids — all these assure us of the primitive use of the axe and its co-relations. The axe, in ancient times, was used for warlike as well as domes¬ tic or civic purposes, and bears more historic stains of human blood than any other domestic implement. The poets have not only sung the praises of the woodman’s peaceful axe, but have sounded those of tjhe barbaric battle-axe. But neither historian nor poet of the past knew a tithe of what the writers of to-day might say ( 122 ) AXES AND PLOWS. 123 of the marvels wrought by the axe, as a pioneer of civilization. The poet Whitman, in his quaint, peculiar, nerveful style, has given the axe a classic niche in the temple of poesy. We quote a few lines from his “ Broad-Axe Poem ” : — * * * “ Broad-axe, shapely, naked, wan! . Head from the mother’s bowels drawn! Wooded flesh and metal bone! limb only one and lip only one. Gray-blue leaf by red-heat grown! helve produced from a little seed’sown ! Resting the grass amid and upon, To be leaned, and to lean on. • • • • • The axe leaps! The solid forests give fluid utterances ; # They tumble forth; they rise, and form Hut, tent, landing survey, Flail, plow, pick, crowbar, spade, Shingle, rail, prop, wainscot, jamb, lath, panel, gable, • • • - • • Capitols of States, and Capitol of the nation of States. Long, stately rows in avenues, hospitals for orphans, or for the poor or sick, Manhattan steamboats and clippers, taking the measure of all seas ! ” The manufacture of axes in this country constitutes one of our largest and most important business interests, involving an im¬ mense amount of capital, invested in several (in fact, in nearly all, to a greater or less extent) of the States of the Union, and em¬ ploying a vast number of laborers. But the axe is an implement which requires far more science and skill in its manufacture, where a perfect instrument is intended to be produced, than not only the cursory thinker, but even the actual observer of the process of its manufacture would be apt to consider ; so much depends upon the amount of pressure the steel may receive under the hammer or press, its degree of tempering, and many manipulations which it undergoes in its various phases from the crude elements, or till it is pronounced finished. Therefore the merit of various axes of different makers, though made from the same kind of materials (iron and steel), from the very same manufacturers of these, even, is as varied in degree as the makers of the implement are different in person. It is a mattter, therefore, of great importance to the consumer, or wielder of an axe, that he possess himself of the best ma^le one. All other things being equal, it is usually safe to 124 AXES AND PLOWS. say that the wares of those who have, against all obstacles, and commencing with limited means, worked out for their wares a large sale, or a wide-spread fame, are the most confidently to be trusted ; for, in such case, the valuable character of the wares themselves accomplishes the success of their makers. There are numerous manufacturers of axes in this country, not a few of whom do excellent work ; while others, a very numer¬ ous class (it is an unpleasant thing for the writer to confess), are satisfied with making and putting upon the market, in the shape of an axe, anything that will sell; trusting to a little cheaper price, as the attraction to buyers, — who, however, always find that “ cheap tools are dearest.” But in the matter of chief excellence and extent of manufacture of the axe in this country, it is fortu¬ nately not4eft for the writer of this article to decide ; for, turning to that grand repository of useful learning, “ The New American Cyclopmdia,” published by the Messrs. Appleton, it will be found (vol. ii. page 422, issued in 1859) there stated, that “the largest establishment in the world for manufacturing axes and edge tools is that of Collins & Company, situated on the Farmington River, at Collinsville, Connecticut.” Since that time this company has steadily increased in business power and facil¬ ities, and in the extent of its manufactures has more than held its relative position in regard to other manufacturers ; and the encyclopaedist above quoted, were he writing of the same com¬ pany to-day, might add, that as manufacturers of plows, also, they stand unrivalled in this country, and, it is believed, through¬ out the world. Perhaps, then, we cannot better serve the general reader, who would learn how axes are made, the processes through which the iron and steel are passed, etc., etc., than by taking him through the establishment of Collins & Company, and pointing out to him the chief important processes. The engravings with which this article is illustrated will give the reader who may be unacquainted with the manufacture of heavy materials a fair understanding of the vast power and labor it takes to convert iron in the raw state, not only into axes, but a thousand other things in daily use. But here it is fitting that we give a partial history of the up-growth from its infancy of the vast establishment, and the powerlul corporation of Collins & Company, a growth peculiarly American, and which, resting upon axes and plows, as it does, could never have occurred in any part of the world but the United COLLINS & CO.’S WORKS, COLLINSVILLE, CONN. / - * • •• ,• l v • ' ■ • * . lU .. BkJ 4 . • ' • f ’ • . . ‘ . ■ ■ • ' » AXES AND PLOWS. 127 States ; and this success has been achieved by true merit, com¬ mencing-, as will be seen from what follows, with a 11 small begin¬ ning/ J The reader will reflect that the union of two of the most abundant substances in Nature, iron and carbon, produces steel ; and but for this union the world would be without all products and results whatever which are achieved by the use of cutting-edges. Iron alone would have given mankind only a sort of half-civilization. The union of these two substances is not natural, but artificial, and is a matter for the best skill; if too soft, the steel will not receive a keen edge or retain stiffness ; if too hard, it breaks. The proper compounding of iron with carbon, the process of nicely tempering to just the right hardness, and the most approved meth¬ ods of manufacture, make up the business of tool-making as carried on in the village of Collinsville, Connecticut. The vanguard of American civilization moving westward has always been armed, as nobody needs to be reminded, with the axe. This tool, indispensable, although too unsparingly used against the trees by almost every original settler, was roughly hammered out by blacksmiths, forty years ago, each purchaser grinding his own to an edge. More than forty years ago, Mr. Samuel W. Collins, at that time engaged in mercantile business in the city of Hartford, Con¬ necticut, convinced that there was a field of American enterprise in the manufacture of axes, determined to commence in a small way in a little stone shop, still standing among the score of larger ones which have since gathered around it. Mr. Samuel W. Col¬ lins afterwards removed to the town of Canton (the chief village and business part of which has long been named Collinsville, in honor of him), and the business has since been his life-work, and his name is known wherever tools are used. He is living yet, and his quaintly-written diary shows all the shrewd, hard sense, ingenuity, and practical sagacity which characterize the New Englander. The following memorandum is taken from this diary : — “ 1828. — Contracted with Oliver Couch to take his four-horse stage off the Albany turnpike, and run through Collinsville to Farmington and Hartford, and so got a post office established at Collinsville. . . . Built the first trip-hammer shop, etc. Com¬ menced drawing axe-patterns, and making broadaxes with trip¬ hammers. Each man tempered his own, forging and tempering eight axes per day.” We have not space to recite further from the diary, showing the increase of business step by step, on up to this time. 128 AXES AND PLOWS. From tliis insignificant beginning, a few men making each eight axes per day, the business has grown, in forty years, into a stock company, with an invested capital of over a million, employing over 600 men, producing 3000 axes and tools per day, with a capacity for producing daily 100 plows in addition to the other work. The annual sales are over a million of dollars ; the an¬ nual consumption of anthracite coal, 10,000 tons ; of charcoal, 50,000 bushels; of steel, 1100 tons; of iron, 5000 tons ; and of grindstones alone, 600 tons are literally ground away in powder. The first process at the works of Collins & Company is to make the steel, for all their tools are made on the spot from the first stage to the last. The steel-making process is simple. Bars of the best Swedish iron are placed in trough-like furnaces, made of fire-slabs, and enclosed in a shell of fire-brick, in alternate layers of iron and pulverized charcoal, care being taken to prevent any contact of the bars ; when the furnaces are thus filled, the whole is tightly sealed up, and the “ heat ” is commenced. Twen¬ ty tons of iron are prepared at a “ heat; ” five days are spent in preparation, nine in keeping a perfectly uniform temperature of a thousand degrees, and five more in cooling. When removed, the iron has become what is known as “ blistered ” steel ; the carbon has penetrated it, roughening the surface, and puffing it up into little blisters. The texture of the iron bars had a grain, like wood ; they were fibrous, and would bend easily without break¬ ing. They are now crystalline, and very porous ; the increase in bulk is such, that repeated “ heats ” have made long cracks in the thick walls of the furnace, which are strengthened by careful bracing. This blisteted steel, now so brittle that a slight blow snaps it like clay, is the material from which, forty years ago, country blacksmiths hammered the imperfect axes which cleared up the new settlements. It is unmistakably steel, but is not homogeneous ; the carbon has penetrated it, but is not evenly mingled with it, and the next process is to make of it “ cast ” steel, — as many a soft iron tool is falsely represented to be by the stamp upon it. Broken into small pieces, the bars of blistered steel are placed in crucibles holding fifty pounds each, made of plumbago and clay, and resembling in shape an earthen butter- jar ; these are set in furnaces built under the floor of the foundry, and subjected for four hours to a heat of 2760 degrees, after which their contents are cast into ingots, or round bars about a yard long. •/ O AXES AND PLOWS. 129 The next process is hammering, the object of which is to com¬ press the steel, increase its toughness, fineness, and tenacity. This is done under the steam-hammer, borax being used to cement into union any parts of the ingot which may be partly separated by flaws. From the hammer, the ingot passes to a series of rollers, and after leaving them, further hammering is applied, until VIEW OF THE STEAM-HAMMER. the ingot becomes a bar about ten feet long. Its tenacity and closeness of structure, as well as its uniformity, have been mar¬ vellously increased by this hammering and rolling, and the bar is now ready to assume the rough form of the axe-bitt, or cutting part. Common as the axe is, some may not know that it is made in two parts, a “poll,” or head of iron, and a “ bitt,” or cutting 130 AXES AND FLOWS. part of steel ; the place where these are joined may be recog¬ nized by a faint line about three inches from the head of the axe. The iron head is shaped by machinery, and is made solid, that is, the hole for the handle is punched instead of being formed by welding. The heated bar is inserted in an aperture in the ma¬ chine, whereupon a gigantic knife snips it off at the required length ; next a pair of dies give the iron the proper fold or bend ; the workman withdraws the lump of iron, inserts it in another aperture, and the hole for the handle is punched ; another move¬ ment, and it is bent in the opposite direction, and so, by rapid and successive compressions, the head is shaped, and ready to receive the bitt. This bitt, hammered from the steel, and finally punched by a die into shape as long as the axe is to be wide, with a broad flange left on either side, is jnow ready to be joined to the iron poll, and complete the form of the axe. The steel bitt is in¬ serted in the iron poll, both being properly heated ; the forger turns over the two flanges of the poll upon -the bitt, then runs with it to a trip-hammer, under which, by alternate heating and hammering, the two parts are so firmly welded together as to be practically one. When sufficiently drawn out under the trip¬ hammer, the next process is to reduce the thickness by grinding ; this labor, however, which is slow, expensive, and unhealthy for the workmen, has been greatly lessened by the introduction of machines which now actually shave down the bitt of the axe nearly to an edge. * The axe now goes to the tempering-room, where one of the most interesting of all the processes is carried on; any defect in tempering would be utter failure. The old way consisted in heating axes, a few at a time, and plunging them into cold water, thus making the degree of temper a matter of accident and con¬ jecture. In these works, on the contrary, a hundred axes are heated at once, being placed on the edge of a circular drum, with the bitts projecting over the edge, the bitts being the only part it is desired to heat. This drum is contained in a circular iron oven, and the fire laps up against the bitts of the axes as they project over the edge of the drum, while, to secure perfect uniformity in heating, the drum itself slowly revolves. The cooling-bath stands close by, filled with a fluid preparation composed of salt and other substances. On the top of the bath is a frame, which, as well as the bath itself, is circular, and is fitted with hooks around its edge *, on these hooks the axes, taken at the proper heat from the AXES AND PLOWS. 131 furnaces are hung by the hole made for the handles, so that the bitts are immersed in the bath, and the frame, steadily revolving, drags them around through the water. The “ temper ” is now in ; but there is far too much of it, and in its present condition the axe would be as useless as if made of glass. It is impossible by merely heating and plunging in cold water to attain the desired degree of temper -—the only way is, to make the axe very hard, and then soften it to just the right point. For this purpose the axe passes on to the drawing-fur¬ naces at the other end of the room ; there are but two of these furnaces, but. they hold two hundred axes each, and can temper over one thousand each per day. They are circular ovens, con¬ taining each two racks, revolving only as they are turned by the hand, on which the axes are hung, and again slowly heated, this process drawing out a portion of the temper or hardness previously acquired. The philosophy of the process is briefly this : hard¬ ness is but another name for density or closeness of structure. The axe, when its particles are separated by heat, being suddenly cooled, the caloric is expelled so- suddenly that the particles are rushed together in excessive compactness, and the steel is thereby made too hard; the subsequent gentle heating slightly separates the particles again. The workman judges of the proper temper partly by the color the metal assumes, and partly by certain in¬ describable signs and instincts his practice has given him. A “pigeon-blue” is the desirable shade. (The very deep blue on some articles, such as gun-barrels and watch-springs, is put on artificially, and is merely on the surface.) Some methods of tem¬ pering follow the color entirely. Thus, a brownish yellow, cor¬ responding to four hundred and ninety degrees, is thought right for cold-chisels ; tinged with purple, five hundred and ten degrees, for plane-irons ; purple, five hundred and thirty degrees, for table- knives and scissors; pale blue, five hundred and fifty degrees, for swords and watch-springs; while at six hundred and thirty de¬ grees, all color vanishes, andihe steel becomes soft as iron. Testing is next in order; and for this, two or three axes out of each lot that comes from the tempering-furnace are ground abruptly to an edge. Here is one just from the bath, not yet drawn at all; touch its edge with a hammer, and it flies off like glass. The enthu¬ siastic superintendent, who accompanies us, exclaims, “ Beautiful steel! ” and even the unpractised eye can see that it is beautiful — that broken surface, with its light gray tint, its smooth crystal 132 AXES AND PLOWS. lustre, and its marvellously fine structure ; but for this steel it is hard to say where our modern civilization would be. The appar¬ ent difference between the hard and the properly tempered steel is in a slight variation of color, the latter suggesting more than the former — the notion of being alive and active. The tester lays the edge of the axe over an anvil, and taps it gently with a ham¬ mer. If it first bends a very little, and then breaks off short and sharp, it is right; if it bends too far before breaking, it is too soft; if it snaps off too soon, it is too hard. The two hundred axes, being tempered together, are necessarily alike, and the trial of one or two proves them. If the edge bends too much, the THE TEMPERING-FURNACE. whole lot goes back to the beating-furnace and the bath, and then to the drawing-furnace once more ; if it breaks too quickly, the whole go into the drawing-furnace for another trial. It is rare, however, that any second attempt is necessary. As the axes must be introduced and withdrawn through a small opening in the oven, it would seem that the time thus occupied would operate to keep some longer in than others, and thus make a difference in the tempering; but trial has shown that so won¬ derfully sensitive are the axes to heat, that, if one hundred and ninety-nine axes are in the oven and partially heated, and the tw T o AXES AND PLOWS. 133 hundredth one be introduced cold, all those already in will not re¬ ceive an atom of additional heat until the new comer is hospitably warmed into perfect equilibrium with the rest. When tempered, the axe passes through the process of grinding, polishing, inspecting, covering the poll with asphaltum, and is then ready for packing. The polishing answers three important purposes, besides that of handsome appearance : it makes the axe enter the wood more easily, preserves it from rust, and exposes the slightest flaw to the keen eye of the inspector. So exquisite is this polish that it has sometimes been actually mistaken for silver plating. This is a hasty sketch of the process of making the common u Yankee ” axe. Many other varieties are made by the Collins Company — axes for turpentine-making*, for miners, axes with double bitts, broadaxes, axes for South America and the West Indies, adzes, and hatchets ; besides many forms of machetes, cane-knives, cleavers, hoes, picks, sledges, etc. The modes of making all these differ somewhat in detail from that described already. For instance, Brazil axes do not have the holes punched, but are welded, as the Brazilians like to insert a rough round stick for a handle; machetes, of which there are scores of varieties, are fitted with handles of wood, horn, and other mate¬ rials, and*are carried by every planter in certain southern lati¬ tudes. A very important part of the business of Collins & Company is the manufacture of steel plows. The history of the plow, meagre though it is, from the first simple bent stick used to dig up the earth, to the perfect machine manufactured by Collins & Company, known as the “ Eclipse Gang Plow,” is not a littlq, interesting. It is impossible to say who was the first inventor of the plow. I 8 134 AXES AND PLOWS. The earliest records speak of it as a well-known instrument of hus¬ bandry, and we are therefore left to conjecture alone as to its origin. The first plow of which we have any delineation is figured roughly on the monuments of Egypt. This is believed to represent the original of all plows. It was sometimes formed of the limb of a tree, and sometimes of the body and tough root of a sapling, the lower end being hewed to a wedge. The plow¬ man occasionally worked the implement by himself, applying his foot to the projecting pin, like a spade, but was oftener assisted by a team composed of a grown daughter and her mother attached to the plow by rawhide or hempen thongs. This same contri¬ vance is at the present day used for a plow in the Hebrides. The plow still in use in Palestine is made entirely of three sticks, adjusted to support each other, as shown in the illustration. This is commonly drawn by a cow or an ass, and sometimes by camels. Figures 3 and 4 exhibit the plows of China and the East Indies. These countries do not seem ever to have changed or improved their plows in an}" important respect. We present (in figure 5), page 118, an engraving of a Norman plow and plowman, from a sketch found in an ancient British manu¬ script. The plowman carries a hatchet to break the clods of earth, and the very faulty perspective shows it to be about the size of his team. The plow of the ancient Britons was*very rude, no man being regarded as qualified to be a farmer until he could make his own plows. The custom was to fasten the plow to the tails of oxen or horses, and compel the poor beasts to thus drag it through the ground. An act of the Irish legislature was passed in 1634, entitled “An act against plowing by the taile,” which forbade the cruel custom; but it was still practised in some parts of the island as late as the present century. The draught-pole was lashed to the tail of the animal, and, as no harness was employed, two men were neces¬ sary, one to guide and press upon the plow, the other to direct the animal, which he did by walking backwards in front of the miserable creature, beating him on the head on either side, accord- •* ing to the direction required. The beginning of the last century was signalized by a revival of interest in agriculture in England, and attention was more strongly turned to the improvement of AXES AND PLOWS. 135 plows ilian ever before. A plow introduced from Holland, and known as the “ Rotherham Plow ” (perhaps the name was a cor¬ ruption of Rotterdam), was first constructed and patented by Joseph Foljambe, of Yorkshire, which he soon after sold to a Mr. Staniforth, who, however, did not manufacture them himself, but charged a royalty of two shillings and sixpence on those made by others ; but when he attempted to raise the price to seven shillings and sixpence, the validity of his patent was contested, and set aside by the courts, on the grounds that it was not a new inven¬ tion. Ten years after the letters patent were granted to Foljambe for the “ Rotherham Plow,” Jethro Tull, an enterprising English¬ man, published a work on “Horse Hoeing Husbandry,” in which he advocated deep tillage, and the use of four coultered plows (similar to the ordinary knife coulter), but so arranged as to cut the furrow into four parts. Tull claimed great advantages for his four-coultered plow, but they were never very generally adopted ; and as the same objects have since been accomplished in a more simple manner, it has fallen into disuse. James Small, of Scotland, was the next great improver of the theory and practice of plow¬ making. He established his manufactory at Black Adder Mount, in Berwickshire, in 1763, and died about thirty years after, signalizing every one of those thirty years by some new improvement of the various parts of his plow. He took the Rotherham plow as a basis, and improved it in nearly every particular. Indeed,*he left the imple¬ ment at his death so nearly perfect, that to this day it is used in many of the largest and best cultivated districts of Scotland, and is prized more highly than any other, being known as the East Lothian Plow. In 1785 Mr. Robert Ransom, of Ipswich, England, obtained a patent for making plowshares of cast-iron, and in 1803 improved his article by a mode of chilling or case- hardening them, for which he received a patent. One of the first to improve the plow in this country was Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, who, in a com¬ munication to the French Institute, attempted to solve the mathemat¬ ical problem of the true surface of the mould-board, and to lay down 136 AXES AND PLOWS. intelligible and practical rules for its formation, for the first time. In 1793 Mr. Jefferson put his theory to the test of practical ex¬ periment, and had several plows made after his patterns, and put them into use on his estates in Albemarle and Bedford Counties, Virginia, and became fully satisfied of their practical utility. The first American, after Mr. Jefferson, who set himself to work to improve the plows in common use, was a farmer by the name of Charles Newbold, of New Jersey, who invented the first cast- iron plow ever made in America, and whose letters patent were signed by John Adams, President of the United States, in June, 1797. Mr. Newbold spent upwards of thirty thousand dollars in perfecting and introducing his plow, and then abandoned the business in despair, as the farmers had in some way imbibed the strange idea that the cast-iron plow poisoned the land, injured its fertility, and promoted the growth of rocks. The next plow pa¬ tented was invented by John Denver, of Maryland, in June, 1804. There is, however, no definite record as to its peculiarities, which i3 also true of a plow patented February 24, 1804, by Hezekiah Harris, of Kentucky. A patent was granted to David Peacock, of New Jer¬ sey, April 1, 1807, which, no' doubt, resembled Newbold’s plow, as Newbold sued him for an infringement of his patent, and the case was settled by the payment of fifteen hundred dollars to Newbold. Peacock obtained another patent in 1822, consist¬ ing of some improvements in the various parts, but the chief feature was the famous lock coulter, which, it is believed, he was the first to introduce. • We have not space to name the various patentees of plows in There were sold, in New York city, of Wood’s plows, in 1817, fifteen AXES AND PLOWS. 137 hundred and fifty; in 1818, sixteen hundred ; in 1819, thirty-six hundred ; and in the year 1820, the sales were largely augumented. It is alleged that Mr. Wood not only made no profits by his efforts to improve the plow, but that he actually lost large sums by his enterprise. Mr. Wood’s efforts were, however, lately recognized by the New York State legislature, who appropriated two thousand dollars to his heirs. Many other plows were patented subsequent¬ ly, but as they founded their claims to public favor upon some real or fancied improvements, and soon went out of use, it is unnecessary to describe them. In 1836 or 1837, Daniel Webster, the great statesman, invented a plow for work twelve and fourteen inches deep, cutting a fur¬ row twenty-four inches wide, which is still in existence, the prop¬ erty of his friend Peter Harvey. This plow is twelve feet long; the land-side four feet long. The mould-board is of wood, plated with thin iron straps, in the usual way of strapping wooden mould- boards in those days, and the beam was some twenty-eight inches from the ground. Mr. Webster designed this plow for a field on his farm at Marshfield, which was full of very strong roots, and it was accordingly made of great strength. Mr. Webster himself, with some six or eight assistants, held this plow, and expressed himself substantially as follows in regard to his monster plow : — “ When I have hold of the handles of my big plow in such a field, with four pair of cattle to pull it through, and hear the roots crack, and see the stumps all go under the furrow out of sight, and observe the clean, mellowed surface of the plowed land, I feel more enthusiasm over my achievement than comes from my encounters in public life at Washington.” To the various forms and sizes of wood and cast-iron plows heretofore mentioned, succeeded that important change in the ma¬ terial used for plows, viz., the substitution of sheet-steel for cast- iron. This was a great improvement in certain respects, as it enabled the manufacturers to greatly reduce the weight of the plows, without impairing the strength, and consequently lessened the draught of the plow ; but experience has demonstrated, how¬ ever, that in soils sticky in their nature, there is generally present a proportion of sharp grit, which soon cuts through the thin sheets, rendering the use of this class of steel plows quite expen¬ sive to farmers. The so-called “ Smith plows,” which are manu¬ factured so extensively by Collins & Company, are an improvement upon the sheet steel plow. 138 AXES AND PLOWS “ Plow-points, 77 or shares, of cast-iron, rough as they came from the mould, and remaining rough until worn smooth by use, were in general use until a comparatively few years back, yet very uulike the light and elegant steel ones now manufactured by this company, and fast coming into use. The distinguishing pecu¬ liarity of the Smith plow, as made by them, is, that it is cast east- steel ; and this name is not a mere repetition of the word “ cast 77 for the sake of sound, like “ double extra superfine, 77 but is a simple and literal title ; the “ cast-steel 77 expressing the material of which the plow is made, and the “ cast 77 the mannner of mak¬ ing it. That is, the steel itself is first made, broken up, and then re-cast into plows. Cast-steel plows were made before the com- ECUPSE. GANG PLOW. znencement of this manufacture, and are made yet; but they are made of u sheet 77 steel, being rolled into shape. Their manufac¬ ture presents two difficulties : by being rolled, the thickness of the parts must necessarily be uniform, and after being rolled, it is impossible to temper them properly, without warping them out of shape. They must, therefore, be left untempered and soft, and in the gritty soil of the west, sheet-steel plows have been repeat¬ edly cut entirely through by plowing no more than twenty acres. In 18t>0, however, Mr. F. F. Smith, who had been hammering away at sheet-steel plows in a prairie town in Illinois, had his attention attracted by the successful casting of steel bells in England, and he at once asked himself whether plows also could AXES AND PLOWS. 139 not be cast. Entering into correspondence with Collins & Compa¬ ny, he removed to Collinsville, and fell to work with the savage ardor of a man who feels that he has staked himself upon the re¬ sult of his labor. Like most Americau inventors, he was full of one idea; he had lived for plows, and believed that the earth was created for nothing but to be plowed. There was no difficulty at all in making cast-iron moulds, or in pouring the steel into them; the difficulty was to cool the thin castings without cracking, and after a year’s hard labor, even the superintendent of the works pronounced the plow a failure. But Mr. Smith did not think so ; he had faith in his plow, and success has justified his faith, for more than one hundred thousand of these plows are now in use. The three working parts, share, mould-board, and land-side, entirely of cast-steel, are taken from the moulds ; the edges are then trimmed off; the hammering and tempering process are similar to those employed in axe-making ; the parts are drilled, bolted firmly together, ground, and polished on emery-wheels. The share is solid for three inches back of the point; the land- side is an inch thick at the heel, and the mould-board is half an inch thick at the point where it presses the surface of the ground. The lightness of these plows is remarkable ; an average English plow, made of wrought-iron, handles and all, and weighing two hundred and fifty pounds, large and clumsy in every part, can cut no deeper or wider furrow than a small plow of this pattern, weigh¬ ing but forty pounds. The process of casting secures three advantages. The wearing parts may have, and do have, a thickness varying according to the wear imposed upon them ; the parts are all exact duplicates of one another, and if any part gives way or wears out anywhere in the civilized world, the owner can always procure a duplicate section from the nearest dealer, and can fit it into its place with the aid of a hammer and wrench. Moreover, the casting allows the parts to be tempered at will without destroying their shape, and it is mainly in its extraordinary hardness that the peculiar value of the plow consists. The invariable test of the temper of every plow is the broken end of a file, which must not affect the steel in the least. The point of a penknife of Sheffield make, pressed against it, slides along as it would slide on glass ; breaking a file^ we rub the jagged end upon the steel with all our strength, but no mark is visible. The natural result of this extreme hardness and polish is, that in any soil which can be found, the plow 140 AXES AND PLOWS “ scours,” or cleans itself, letting nothing scratch it or stick to it, thus reducing friction and draught to the minimum. Revolving-coulters, as well as the old-fashioned knife-coulters, are made ; the circular outter runs lightly over the ground, parting the grass and sharply cutting the sod just in advance of the share. This cutter, really beautiful in shape and finish, is like a circular saw deprived of its teeth, and gently carried down to an edge ; take it up and tap it gently with the finger, and it proves itself steel by ringing clearly, like a bell, for half a minute. The manufac¬ ture of “ left-hand ” plows, turning the furrow over to the left, is THt GRINDING SHOP. AXES AND PLOWS. 141 also carried on ; this style is bought chiefly by Pennsylvanians and Pennsylvanian emigrants, who have a habit of guiding their teams by attaching the rein to the left shoulder, and think they can “ haw ” round more easily than they can “ gee ” round. There is no reality in this notion ; but just as the Spanish use an axe with a very broad bitt, because their ancestors happened to do so, the notion must be humored, and hence broad-bitted axes and left-hand plows are made. The success of Collins & Company has been attained by a union of the three things which generally have been the causes of success in all successful manufactures, namely, first, manufac¬ turing upon a large scale ; second, minute division of labor ; third, a most persistent and rigid system of inspection. In every pro¬ cess. of the manufacture, operations are performed upon a large scale; twenty tons of steel are made at a time ; hundreds of axes, and thousands of machetes, go through the processes all together, from first to last. The efficiency of this doing upon a large scale is especially marked in the all-important process of tempering, in which the slightest failure would be the ruin of all the work, however excellent that may have been. But no room for chances or variations has been left; a uniform process of heat¬ ing has swept them away, and has supplied a certainty instead. By the old process of heating and tempering one axe at a time, there were as many chances for variations of temper as there were axes ; but now two hundred are tempered together, and if one is perfect all must be. The division of labor also tends to bring cer¬ tainty into the work. Each workman, whether he tends a furnace, or moulds, or hammers, or tempers, or grinds, or packs, or in¬ spects, or whatever he does, does nothing else, so that his eye and hand acquire a certainty like that of a machine. Then there is the inspection. There is a little army of inspect¬ ors, and the metal never escapes their eyes and their searching tests, from the time it enters the furnace to be converted into steel, until it has been wrapped in paper and boxed for shipment. After each stage in the manufacture comes the prying inspector, looking for faults, and the material cannot go on towards comple¬ tion until'it has received his private mark. Any defect sends it back to the department where the fault occurred, and to the par¬ ticular workman through whose carelessness it occurred ; no fault being seen, the material passes to the next stage, and when com¬ pleted, receives a final inspection, every tool by itself. Then, and 142 AXES AN1) PLOWS. not till then, the stamp, “ Collins & Co., Hartford,” is struck upon the metal, committing the company to the excellence of the work ; and not until then are the painting, labelling, and packing begun. Inspecting implies a care for reputation. The Collins Company have never tried to make low-priced tools ; they have sought first to make perfect work, and then to sell it as low as it could be afforded. They have always been aware that, while to polish up and sell soft iron or brittle steel is an easy matter, it is not easy to sell it more than once to the same person ; out on the western prairie, or in the forest somewhere, the bad plow or axe will give way under trial, convicting its dishonest maker, and making the purchaser remember not to buy that manufacture again. They intend to sell many times to the same person, and so do not allow their reputation to be endangered by any inferior work. Repu¬ tation is capital, and to keep reputation there must never be even a single instance of the sale of poor work — a fact of which all our American manufacturers are eminent exemplars. The Collins Company are the manufacturers, and the works are located at Collinsville, in Hartford County, Connecticut, but the original trade-mark of “ Collius & Co., Hartford ,” is retained. And how much is this trade-mark worth ? It would be hard to say without seeming t extravagant. Suppose another company, which should, if it were possible, make better tools than these,— or suppose that these very tools, now made and sold with this trade-mark, should be made by these men without it, — it is safe to say that in either case, forty years, at least, of hard work would be required to build up a business of equal extent with the present one* Yet what is the trade-mark, after all ? There is no efficacy about it; it merely signifies that the name 11 Collins & Co.” stamped upon a tool renders any asking of questions unnecessary ; buy it at once, and trust it with safety. In the interior of the Gulf States it is hardly possible now to find axes which do not bear this stamp. In the West Indies and in South America it is almost impossible to sell an axe or a machete bearing any other; those tropical people are suspicious of Americans, but think themselves quite safe when they see the familiar stamp. Other dealers have found this out, and have acted upon it; so the printed labels read, “Look for the stamp ‘ Hartford f if you want the genuine Collins & Co.” The most remarkable fact is that even the counting-rooms of England have found out the value of this trade-mark by trying SUGAR-CANE KNIFE. .. : 1 . JL • : : m - jp'; •5 ■?#- i *- b» * 3 1 ■ >;4 ^ „ * * ! - f ? :y* utttyr u n.S ■n%U * U 3 q ^o; i.,\t * - » T . i ' ^ Hi. a . I I ' ' J4>,! H |itf> * im ■’ u ‘mui 1 * V ' . * . • I* 4 •’**' *i» J ft BiIS 1 <* ut i&i 9 » noo » «*!\ J ^ l oi‘ yi o m»> r-t 91 ,: ‘ 1 t 4 . * ;• k>iw4i- i j •** »■••<; 4 M«i«Ht W r7 . ■ ' • ■ . . •• .vigil BOOK-MAKING. 191 country. Mention may be made of single works sold in the United States. Of Webster’s well-known Spelling Book more than fifty-five million copies have been printed, the sales now reaching a million and one quarter copies a year, and of the dif¬ ferent editions of Webster’s Dictionary three hundred thousand copies are sold annually. Of “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin ” more than half a million copies have been sold in the United States ; various editions of the same work have been sold in England to the extent of a million and a half of copies ; it has been translated into every European language, and even into Armenian and Arabic. Within a few years an important branch of the business has. grown up in the publication of books for sale solely by subscrip¬ tion. By this mode of publication thousands of valuable books have reached buyers who otherwise would not have purchased,, and by this dissemination of works of an entertaining and instruc¬ tive character, intelligence has been diffused, and the country has been benefited. Some of these subscription books have reached extraordinary circulation. Of “ Sunshine and Shadow,” published by Messrs. J. B. Burr & Hyde, one hundred and fifty thousand copies have been sold ; of the Bible Dictionary, seventy-five thou¬ sand copies ; of other works published by the same house from thirty thousand to one hundred thousand copies of each, and with a steady demand for all. This kind of book publishing is becom¬ ing more and more popular throughout the country every year. It is found to be the best, indeed almost only, means of introdu¬ cing to a large circle of readers, especially in interior towns which are remote from book-publishing and book-selling centres, standard works of a high character, and this means of diffusion, by its enor¬ mous extent, enables the publishers and their agents to sell in¬ teresting and entertaining works, profusely illustrated, at far less prices than works of the same character can be afforded by the' usual method of book publishing. KNITTING MACHINES. NETTING AND KNITTING BY IIAND. — ANCIENT HOSE. — FRENCH STOCKING KNITTERS. — THE FIRST KNITTING MACHINE. — WILLIAM LEE. — MACHINE¬ KNITTING IN AMERICA. — PROHIBITION ON EXPORTATION OF KNITTING FRAMES. — COXENDEFER.— MICHAEL TRAPPAL. — TIMOTHY BAILEY. PROG¬ RESS OF THE INDUSTRY. — THE LAMB KNITTING MACHINE. — WIIAT IT CAN DO. — ITS AID FOR THE WOMEN. The generalizations of modern thought have led mankind to rec¬ ognize in every interest or occupation which go together to make . up what is known as the social forces, a steady process of growth, or progress, analogous to that which in the observation of the physical and mental growth of any child must strike any careful observer. The activity of the child, its ceaseless motions, and its insatiable curiosity are the means Nature takes to force upon him the necessity of becoming acquainted with his powers, and able to use his physical and mental faculties. He must learn to use his legs and hands to become aware of what he can do and how best to do it. The growth of society is necessarily much slower than that of a child, but the history of the world shows that in government, in finance, in industry, and in every other department of human activity, the course has been the same. The wonderful industrial advance of the present cen¬ tury, the application of steam, of the telegraph, of science to the arts, are evidences that the race, or portions of the race, are be¬ coming acquainted with their powers, and are beginning to use them. The application of machinery to performing the processes which formerly were carried on by the slow and tedious methods of hand labor, is a most striking exemplification of this general principle ; and the inventors of modern times, by lessening the time and labor required for the production of the necessities of life, are doing a work that is equal, if not superior, to that of the ( 192 ) KNITTING MACHINES. 193 moralists, in aiding* and stimulating the social and moral progress of society towards a more perfect organization of its forces. The art of knitting, by which a continuous texture is made from a single thread, intricately joined by a series of loops, was proba¬ bly in practice at a very early age in the history of mankind. We know that the analogous process of netting, in which the thread is passed over a guard, making the stitches longer and the texture consequently more open, was in common use from the earliest ages. Nets are frequently spoken of in the Bible, and as aids to the hunter and the fisher, are among the most common implements made by the various uncivilized nations at present in the world. In modern times knitting has come to be the process upon which we rely for the production of various articles of clothing. Stock¬ ings were made of cloth, cut out in the required shape, and then sewed, even as late in England as the time of Henry VIII. Ilowell, in his History of the World, states that this king habitu¬ ally wore stockings of cloth, “ except there came from Spain, by great chance, a pair of silk stockins. K. Edward, his son, was presented with a pair of long Spanish silk stockins by Thomas Gresham, his merchant, and the present was much taken notice of. Queen Elizabeth was presented by Mrs. Montague, her silk wo¬ man, with a pair of black knit silk stockins, and thenceforth she never wore cloth any more.” The old term for the garment to cover the feet and the legs was hose, a word which is found in Anglo-Saxon, Old and New German, Danish, Lower Latin, and Old French, and which, with the use of the article itself, was derived from the people from whom these different nations descended. In the middle ages the feet and the whole of the lower part of the body were covered by one garment, the hose, which was made entire, and intended to fit the person tightly. Our word stocking was introduced with the article itself, and is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word sfocken, to stick, because the material was made with sticking-pins, or, as we now term them, knitting- needles. Our word knit is also derived from the Anglo-Saxon term enytan, an equivalent for which exists in all the European languages, and shows itself how old must have been the knowl¬ edge of the art it describes. On the continent of Europe, as we see in the quotation above given from Howell, the art of knitting stockings was practised long before it was in England. Buchanan, in his History of Inven- 194 KNITTING MACHINES. tions, says that as early as 1527 there existed in France a guild of stocking-knitters. This fact shows that the trade had then been in existence long enough to have become of importance, though as to when it first began to be practised nothing is positively known. In 1589 William Lee, an educated man, who had been expelled from St. John’s College, at Cambridge, England, because he had infringed the collegiate rules by marrying a wife instead of re¬ maining satisfied with being wedded only to the Muses, found himself so destitute that he was obliged to depend for his support upon the scanty earnings his wife could gain by knitting stockings. Observing her at work one day, he conceived the idea of making a machine to do the same work more expeditiously and easily. Having finally succeeded after years of labor in producing a ma¬ chine which could do the work he designed it for, he made it pub¬ lic ; but finding no encouragement in England, he took it to France, where he was seconded by Henry IV. and Sully, and where, after Henry’s assassination, he died in 1610. Ilis workmen, having returned to England with the machine, succeeded finally in introducing its use in London and its vicinity; and shortly afterwards the manufacture of stockings by the stock¬ ing frame, as the machine was called, was introduced into Not- tinghamshire, which soon acquired the reputation it has retained for this industry. Since then there have been various improve¬ ments introduced into this branch of manufacture, until the num¬ ber of stocking frames in England has increased to over fifty thousand, giving employment, in Nottinghamshire alone, to about forty thousand persons. By the machine, as originally invented by Lee, the thread was knit in a straight flat web, which, being cut into the proper lengths, was sewed together to make the stocking. An improve¬ ment upon this method, the origin of which is unknown, was knit¬ ting a circular web, which was afterwards fashioned into the heel and foot in various ways. This process is supposed to have been brought to America by a German who immigrated from Belgium, and settled in Connecticut in 1835. During the century before, as late as 1784, the existing penalty of forty pounds for exporting a stocking frame from England had been so greatly increased that it had been difficult for the colonies to obtain them. The date of the settlement of this country was almost coincident with the introduction of knit stockings in Eng- KNITTING MACHINES. 195 * \ land. Yet Felt, in his Annals of Salem, gives a list of articles to be exported to New England in 1629, among which are eight hundred pairs of stockings, two hundred pairs of which were to be Irish, at thirteen pence a pair in Dublin, and one hundred pairs of knit , at two shillings four pence a pair ; also “ 500 pair of redd knit capps, milled, about 5d. apiece,” together with “ sutes of dublett and hose of leather lyned with oyled-skin leather, ye hose and dubletts with hooks and eyes,” and “ breeches,” or “ leather drawers,” which for a long time, in New England, took the place of knit hosiery. The prohibition on the exportation of knitting frames from the mother country forced the colonists to depend upon hand labor for the domestic supply of the demand for stockings and other arti¬ cles of hosiery. Naturally, too, this labor fell upon the women, and nobly did the mothers and grandmothers of those days meet the responsibility. Up to quite the present century the chief sup¬ ply of hosiery for the inland population of the country, was pro¬ duced by the busy fingers of the women in the odd moments of leisure they could snatch from more pressing duties during the day, or during the long evenings of winter. The subject early engaged the attention of the colonial govern¬ ments. In 1662 the Virginia Assembly voted a premium of ten pounds of tobacco, the currency of that day, for every dozen pairs of woollen or worsted stockings. When the approaching Revo¬ lution intensified the patriotism of the land, the same state of¬ fered fifty pounds for every five hundred pairs of men’s and women’s stockings produced, and worth from one shilling to three shillings a pair, with the privilege of buying them at an advance of seven¬ ty-five per cent, upon these prices. Among the German settlers of New York and Pennsylvania this branch of domestic industry flourished naturally. The knitters of coarse yarn stockings in Pennsylvania are said, in 1698, to have received half a crown a pair. Despite the prohibition upon the exportation of stocking frames, knitting by their aid was introduced into the colonies before the Revolution. The machines were probably introduced by the Ger¬ mans. The earliest mention found is an item in Bradford’s Ameri¬ can Weekly Mercury for 1723, which speaks of Matthew Burne, of Chester County, Pennsylvania, as having served John Camm one or two years at stockingAveaving, during which time Camm’s stockings obtained some repute. In 1776 the Committee of Safety 106 KNITTING MACHINES. in Maryland appropriated three hundred pounds to Mr. Coxendefer, of Frederick County, to establish a stocking manufactory. In 1 *766 the Society of Arts, established in New York, offered a prize of ten pounds for the first three stocking looms of iron set up that year, with five pounds for the next three, and fifteen pounds for the first stocking loom made in the province. In 1194 Michael Trappal, of Newark, New Jersey, petitioned Congress for an additional duty on hosiery, or some other encour¬ agement of the industry. In the census of 1810 the returns from ten states and territories reported a manufacture of four hun¬ dred and eighty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine pairs of stockings, valued at five hundred and seventy-two thousand seven hundred and forty-two dollars. Of this Virginia had made almost one half, Pennsylvania, next in order, nearly one quarter, and third, Connecticut. 1, f . In 1831 Timothy Bailey, of Albany, succeeded in applying power to the old stocking frame of Lee, thus making it a power loom instead of a hand loom. This improvement had been repeatedly tried in England and on the continent, but had been abandoned as an impossibility. This, with the introduction of the machine for knitting a circular web, by which the necessity for a seam in the leg of a stocking was done away with, g'ave great impetus to the production, since the cheapening', consequent upon this saving of time and labor, greatly increased the consumption. .The attention of the inventors being thus turned in this direction, numerous im¬ provements were patented, which were generally intended to im¬ prove the machines for factory use. It is thus that within the last fifty years or so the production of articles of hosiery has been changed from a domestic to a fac¬ tory industry. Formerly a workman with one of the old hand- power machines could produce in a week about a dozen pairs of cotton hose : now one of the best rotary round power-frames can produce in the same time about two hundred dozen pairs. Against such competition as this the knitting needles, even in the hands of the most skillful grandmother, are powerless. But on the other hand, this method of manufacturing in factories, while it has cer¬ tainly been of great benefit by cheapening the prices of hosiery, has also done much to deprive the women of a branch of employ¬ ment of which they had once nearly the monopoly. There is but one remedy which clearly meets this base, and that is the inven¬ tion of a machino which they could use themselves. WORKS OF THE LAMB KNITTING MACHINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, CHICOPEE FALLS, MASS. , 5 • •; , / ^ •; v ; 14 #•'-***• • < .• i KNITTING MACHINES. 109 This result has been attained by the Lamb Knitting Machine, the invention of Isaac W. Lamb, a Baptist minister of Michigan. This invention gives the women the power to successfully contend against the competition of the factory, without being forced to leave their own firesides, or desert the more congenial sphere of their own homes for the crowded factory. While so simple in LAMB KNITTING MACHINE. its construction that any intelligent person can readily become acquainted with its working, it combines the merits of the stock¬ ing frame and the circular machine, with the important advantage over both of forming a tubular web in such a manner that it can be narrowed or widened, — “ fashioned,” as the technical term has it. This result has never been obtained previous to the invention of the Lamb Machine. This, with any variety of plain and fancy ribbed webs, is accomplished by arranging the self-' acting , latch needles in two parallel rows, and at pleasure, by simple adjustments effected in an instant, operating either row, a part singly for plain flat webs, alternately for tubular, and both together for ribbed or seamed work, and narrowing or widening either web by adding to or subtracting from the number of needles in operation. This is usually done at the ends of the 200 KNITTING MACHINES. rows, thus locating the fashioning at two points; but, by manipulating the stitches on the needles, a web can be fashioned at as many points as may be desirable ; and this has been applied to a branch of manufacture heretofore done only by hand, namely, heeling and toeing the ribbed web made on circular machines for mens’ and bo} T s’ socks. In the ribbed webs, by different arrange¬ ments of needles, and transferring stitches, the most beautiful designs can be produced, limited only by the imaginative inge¬ nuity of the operator. Thus it will be seen that this wonderful little machine (only twenty-six inches long by nine inches wide) will knit all kinds of hosiery, gloves, mittens, &c., completing them with less hand labor than any other machine ever made, and, at the same time, all the fancy articles of wearing apparel, such as scarfs, hoods, jackets, shawls, cardigans, clouds, nubias, &c., and is truly called the companion of the sewing machine. In short, it makes the women, who are the chief consumers of the five or six mil¬ lion dollars’ worth of knit goods which are yearly imported into this country, able to produce them for themselves. A WRITING PAPER. HISTORICAL SUGGESTIONS. — PICTORIAL WRITINGS. — ANTIQUE INSCRIPTIONS. — PARCHMENT. — THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD “PAPER.” — THE PAPYRUS PLANT. - MANUSCRIPTS FOUND IN HERCULANEUM. — PAPER IN SPAIN IN 1085 ; IN ENGLAND IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. — VARIETIES OF PAPER. - HISTORY OF THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER IN THE UNITED STATES. — THE PROCESS OF THE MANUFACTURE. — FINE WRITING PAPER. —ITS DAILY PROD¬ UCT IN THE UNITED STATES.—HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, AS THE CENTRE OF THE PAPER MANUFACTURING INTEREST.—THE WHITING PAPER COMPANY, THE REPRESENTATIVE MANUFACTURERS OF THIS COUNTRY. — MR. WILLIAM WHITING AND MR. LEVI L. BROWN AS MANUFACTURERS OF FINE WRITING PAPER. As all our knowledge is derived from experience, the ability to record the results of our thought and observation in such a man¬ ner as will enable others to obtain, to compare, and to preserve them otherwise than by verbal communication, is one of the most important, if jiot the most important, steps made by the race in their advance from isolation to union, or from barbarism to civil¬ ization. It has been estimated that under favorable circumstances it would take a people about two thousand 3 r ears to arrive at some method for expressing language by writing. Of course such an estimate must be very general, since, in a matter of this kind, ac¬ curacy of calculation is evidently impossible, the data being mere¬ ly approximate conjecture. The first writings were most probably in all cases pictorial, be¬ ing crude and simple representations of natural objects. In the course of time these drawings came to have merely a conventional resemblance to the objects they were originally intended to repre¬ sent ; and, by an analogous process, abstract ideas were repre¬ sented by signs, which originally expressed concrete objects. Thus the picture of a lion came to stand for courage, the ox for strength, and finally the suggestion of the picture of a lion or an ox to represent the same ideas. The researches of modern philosophy into what may be called (201) 202 WRITING PAPER. the archaeology of language have demonstrated beyond dispute that this was, in general terms, the origin and growth of writing, until finally language itself was found to be composed of various sounds variously combined, and these sounds being represented by some arbitrary signs, our various alphabetical systems of writing came into existence. The oldest inscriptions in the world are cut upon stone, or stamped upon bricks before they were baked, or engraved upon metallic plates. These operations are difficult to perform, and the bark or the leaves of some of the tropical trees, which are well adapted for the purpose, were early used to write upon.. As it must soon have been found that these substances are too destructible for the permanent preservation of any writing in¬ trusted to them, the ingenuity excited by the demand for some substance which should have the qualities needed, succeeded finalty in preparing parchment from the skins of sheep and other animals, together with a fine quality of the same substance, called . vellum, from the skins of calves, kids, and still-born lambs. Though this material possesses in a superior manner the quali¬ ties of toughness, indestructibility, and smoothness, which pecu- liarily fit it for the purpose of writing, yet the necessarily lim¬ ited supply, and the expense of it, rendered some other material still desirable. This demand was met in antiquity by the manu¬ facture of papyrus, the material for which was furnished by a plant, and from which our word “ paper ” is derived. This plant, classed by botanists as the cypertis papyrus, or the papyrus anti¬ quorum, grows on the marshy banks of rivers. It was formerly very abundant on*the banks of the Nile, but is said by Wilkinson, in his treatise on the Ancient Egyptians, to have entirely disap¬ peared from there. It belongs to the natural order of the cype - racece, or sedge family, of which the common bulrush and the nut- grass of the Southern States are familiar examples. It has a triangular stem, reaching sometimes the height of twenty-five feet, with its flowers in a cluster about the top. From this stem, cut into sections, the papyrus was obtained by peeling off the in¬ ner bark. These strips were then kept saturated with water upon a table, and another layer of them being placed on the first, with the fibres running at right angles, they were joined by pressure, and afterwards hung up to dry. The sheets were enlarged by pasting two sheets together, and such a lengthened sheet was then kept for use rolled upon a roller. For several centuries after the Christian era a very large com- WRITING PAPER. 2C3 merce was occupied in supplying the countries lying upon the Mediterranean with the papyrus made at Alexandria in Egypt. Numerous specimens of writings upon papyrus have been recovered to the modern world from the ruins of Egypt, and from the mummy cases of the dead. In Herculaneum various manuscripts, written upon papyrus, have been found, and some of them have been un¬ rolled and read. Its use, however, was supplanted by that of parchment, and by the discovery of paper. This art was known to the Chinese at a very early date, and was most probably intro¬ duced into Europe as early as the seventh or eighth century. Casivi, in his Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, says that paper was brought to Mecca in 707. The oldest specimen of paper made from linen, known to be in existence in Spain, is a document con¬ taining a treaty of peace between the kings of Aragon and Spain in 1178. In the Chronology of Paper and Paper Making, written and published by J. Munsell, at Albany, in 1857, this author sa} r s that paper mills were in operation in Toledo, Spain, in 1085. In France the introduction of this industry dates back to 1314, and in Germany to about the same period. For Italy the date is given as 1367. Paper was made in England as early as the reign of Henry VII.; but the first mill of any importance was established by John Spell¬ man, a German, who was jeweller to Queen Elizabeth. The Eng¬ lish, however, for the next century still depended chiefly upon the continent for their supplies. The French refugees of 1685 im¬ proved and greatly increased the production. In 1760 James Whatman had a mill in operation in Maidstone, the paper from which was of such excellent quality as to create a reputation for its superiority, which has been kept up by his successors, who, in the Exhibition of 1851, obtained a medal for it. During the eighteenth century the paper manufactured in Holland obtained a deserved reputation for its toughness and its solidity. Paper is of all varieties, according to the various purposes to which it is applied, and also according to different materials from which it is made. For writing and printing paper, however, the chief materials used are the fibres from cotton or linen rags. This material, or that derived from any other source, as wood, straw, pieces of rope, or any other substance with the required fibre, is reduced by various processes to a watery pulp, which, being run out in thin sheets upon felt cloths, the water drains off, leaving the sheet of pulp, which is then pressed, dried, and sub- 204 WRITING PAPER. jcctcd to other processes, according- to the kind of paper to bo made. Mr. Munscll mentions in his work one hundred and three different substances from which paper has been made. The large majority of these are vegetable substances, the others being gen¬ erally animal substances, and the remaining few minerals. In 1798 Louis Robert, a workman in the factory of Pierre F. Didot, in France, conceived the idea of a machine for improving the manufacture of paper. Up to that time the processes had been carried on entirely by hand. The pulp prepared to the right consistency was dipped out from the vat by the workman into sieves, over the meshes of which he distributed it evenly. No great skill or experience was needed to do this expeditiously and well. Then the film of pulp, being drained, was removed to a cloth, then pressed and dried. The various operations required much time, with some care and attention. Having patented his machine, Robert was rewarded by the French government with an appropriation of eight thousand francs, and sold his patent in England to the Messrs. Fourdrinicr, a firm engaged in the station¬ ery business. These gentlemen, having expended about three hundred thousand dollars in experiments for the improvement of the process, became bankrupt. But the results of their self- sacrifice the world possesses to-day in the machine which bears their name, and by which the time consumed in making paper is shortened from weeks to hours. Roughly described, the process thus introduced is to allow the prepared pulp to flow from the vat upon an endless web. During its passage on this it is partially drained, and this is more effectu¬ ally done by its passage through rollers. Then it is dried by being passed round drums heated with steam, and is delivered, finished, in a long sheet, which is afterwards cut into the required lengths. In the United States the first paper mill of which we have any account was erected at Roxborough, near Germantown, Pennsyl¬ vania, as early as 1693. This was fifty years after printing had been introduced into the colonies, but only five or six after a proc¬ lamation had been issued by the English government for the estab¬ lishment of the first manufactory of white paper in England. This mill was built by an ancestor of David Rittenhouse, whose family in Holland had long been engaged in the manufacture of paper, and William Bradford, the first printer in Philadelphia. Printing, writing, and wrapping papers were made here until the mill was carried away by a freshet. WRITING PAPER. 205 Id 1128 Bradford, when government printer in New York, owned a paper mill in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, which was probably the second mill erected in the colonies, unless the one upon Chester Creek, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, which was built in 1U4, should be so classed. This mill in Delaware County came shortly afterwards into the possession of a Mr. Wilcox, and liis descendants quite recently continued the manufacture of paper there by the old hand process. From this mill the press of Benja¬ min Franklin was supplied with paper; and during the Revolution the bank-note paper used for the printing of the Continental cur¬ rency was made here by the hand process. In 1829 the old mill was replaced by another, in which paper and bank-note paper have continued to be made in the same way. Franklin took great interest in the establishment of paper mills, and, after the Revolution, in 1181 stated that he had been con¬ cerned in the erection of eighteen of them. In 1169, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware are said to have contained forty paper mills, of which six were within the present limits of Philadelphia, and to have produced annually one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of paper of various kinds. In 1187 there were sixty-three mills in operation in the states, forty-eight of which were in Penn¬ sylvania, producing all together paper valued at about two hun¬ dred and fifty thousand dollars. The first patent for an improvement in the process of paper¬ making in the United States was granted to John Carnes, Jr., of Delaware, in April, 1793, for an improvement in the moulds. The second was issued in March, 1794, to John Biddis, of Pennsyl¬ vania. In Massachusetts, according to Salmon in his Modern History , a paper mill was built about 1717, and in 1720 paper was manufac¬ tured in it to the value of about two hundred pounds. According to other authorities, the generally received statement is, that the first paper mill erected in Massachusetts was built in 1730, by Daniel Henchman, a large bookseller and publisher in Boston, Benjamin Faneuil, Thomas Hancock, and others, who were in¬ duced to -commence this industry by the encouragement offered by the General Court. By the terms of the license granted them, they were obliged to produce during the first fifteen months one hundred and forty reams of brown and sixty reams of printing paper, and at least five hundred reams, including twenty-five reams of writing paper, during each succeeding year thereafter. In 206 WRITING PAPER. 1731 Daniel Henchman presented to the General Court samples of the paper produced ; and in the following year the English paper merchants, learning that the mill was in successful operation, com¬ plained of it to the British Board of Trade as an infringement of their business. This mill was built at Milton, about seven miles from Boston, on the Neponset River, and continued until the Revolution in successful operation, though interrupted once or twice by the want of experienced workmen. During the remainder of the last century, the manufacture of paper gradually increased throughout the country, though the supply never equalled the demand. One of the chief causes lim¬ iting the production was the difficulty in obtaining a sufficient supply of rags. The importation of these, together with the at¬ tempts to produce paper from various other materials, was stimu¬ lated into greater activity by the action of the American Company of Booksellers, who, in 1804, offered gold and silver medals for the greatest quantities and best qualities of printing and wrapping- papers made from othqr materials than cotton and linen rags. In New York and New England the people were stimulated and urged to preserve their rags by advertisements and patriotic ap¬ peals in both verse and prose, together with the more seductive offers of three pence a pound for clean white cotton or linen rags, and two pence a pound for blue, brown, or check rags. During the early part of this century one engine for grinding rags constituted a mill, and two what was called a double mill, and the manufacturer who ow-ned one of these last was counted more than rich. An engine then would grind about one hundred pounds a day. Now an engine will work up from four hundred to fifteen hundred pounds a day, according to its capacity. The pa¬ per manufactured then was worth about fifty cents a pound, a % price which, comparatively with the present, was equal to about one dollar a pound. The business of paper-making at that time had not become as well organized as at present, and paper-makers were “ tamps,” as they were called ; that is, they were frequently forced, by want of steady employment, to wander over the coun¬ try in search of it. A mill employed about seven men, and ten to twelve girls. At this time the custom of drinking was universal, and in the general preparation of the material for the temperance reform of the next twenty years the paper-makers were not behind their fel¬ low-laborers. The ordinary daily product of a mill was about one WRITING PAPER. 207 hundred pounds. Wages were paid in cash, or in equivalent trade in goods, as needed, settlements being made about once a year. The rate of wages ranged from twenty-five cents to five shillings (eighty-three cents) or to a dollar a day. A dollar and a quarter a day was large pay for a superintendent. Women then, as now, were paid less for the same work. Their wages averaged a dollar and a half a week, of which one half was paid in cash and the other in board. There was no social dis¬ grace in working in the mill, and the daughters of the best society the place contained were often employed in the mill. The work was all done by hand, the pulp being dipped out into the 11 mould,” which was just the size of the sheet to be made. Two men and a boy were required for the dipping from the vat, the couching, or laying off on the “ felt,” and separating from the felt. When a pile of one hundred and twenty-eight sheets had been made, they were pressed together in alternate layers with the felts by a common screw-press. The paper was then removed from the felts, and pressed again and again, until the water was expelled. The next day the girls " parted packs,” that is, sepa¬ rated the sheets, which were again pressed, and again parted, and then hung up, in sections of six to ten sheets, in a loft to dry. When dry, the sheets were evened, or “ jogged,” as the term was, then sized in packages of about one half ream by being dipped into a thin glue, then pressed again, and the edges turned to pre¬ vent their sticking together, then parted, pressed again, and hung up again to dry. When dry they were pressed again, assorted, the specks and motes picked off with a sharp knife, then pressed again with .sheets of paper between them, and then again between hot plates of iron. The edges were then trimmed even with a binder’s plough, and the paper was packed for sale. Steam power was first applied in the United States at Pittsburg in 1816. The introduction of the Fourdrinier machines has great¬ ly facilitated the manufacture, and made the production of modern times able to satisfy the increased demand caused by the wonderful industrial advance of this century. These machines cost about twenty thousand dollars each, and kept at work the twenty-four hours of a day, make two and a half tons of paper. A part of the new process in its manufacture is the use of chlorine in bleaching and cleaning the rags, and rendering it possible to use coarser materials for the production of the better qualities of paper. The general statement of the workings of this machine lias 12 208 WRITING PAPER. already been given. It would be almost impossible, without nu¬ merous illustrations, to describe intelligently its technical arrange¬ ments. The machine occupies a space of eleven hundred square superficial feet, and a continuous sheet, which commences as pulp, and is delivered as paper, occupies, in its intricate passage through the various operations of manufacture, a length of over one hun¬ dred feet, or over six rods. After the paper is made, it is calend¬ ered, which consists of rolling it between a smooth copper roller and one made of paper, this last material being the best substance known for giving a smooth surface. These rollers are pressed to¬ gether with great force, and the effect is to greatly strengthen the paper. When finished and arranged in reams, the paper is stamped with any device by means of dies. The manufacture of fine writing paper in this country is promi¬ nently among its great industries, some sixty-five tons a day being the. customary product, a large percentage of which is made at Holyoke, Massachusetts, where exists the representative or lead¬ ing paper manufactory of the Whiting Paper Company, whose paper is so extensively used throughout the United States, and ap¬ preciated for its delicate finish and general perfection. The Whiting Paper Company, though not old as a corporation, has won for itself the first place among paper manufacturers with a rapid and sure success rarely equalled in any business enterprise, through the happy combination among the gentlemen composing it, of peculiar talents for the business, great energy, thorough experience, and large capital. Mr. William Whiting, after whom the company is named, is still a young man, one of the few who win early successes. Though young he has had long business experience, and enjoys an extensive acquaintanceship throughout the country. With un¬ tiring energy he devotes himself to the active business of the vast establishments owned by the company, while he has the co-opera¬ tion and invaluable counsels of his chief partner, Mr. Levi L. Brown, whose perfect acquaintance with the business in every detail, and * unequalled success as a paper manufacturer (at South Adams, Mass.), long since secured to him a cordial deference among paper manufacturers as the leading man of their order in the United States. Such men, who could not fail to do credit to any enterprise in which they might engage, are likely, especially as they are in the full vigor of life, to long hold the leading position in their manu- .factuie, which They have so worthily obtained. 1 GLUE, SAND-PAPER, CURLED HAIR, COW-HIDE WHIPS. HISTORY OF GLUE-MAKING. — THE MODERN USE OF GLUE. — THE PROCESS OF MAKING IT. — THE TESTS FOR GLUE. — THE EFFECT OF GLUE-MAKING ON THE y t PUBLIC HEALTH. — THE AMOUNT OF THE BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES. — SAND-PAPER. — THE ORGANIZATION OF THIS INDUSTRY. — THE AMOUNT OF THE BUSINESS. — BAEDER, ADAMSON AND CO., PHILADELPHIA. — EMERY PAPER. - ITS USES. — CURLED HAIR. — A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS OF MANUFAC¬ TURE. — THE EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS. — THE LEADING HOUSE IN THE MAN¬ UFACTURE. — COW-HIDE WHIPS. — THE PROCESS OF MAKING THEM. —PHILA¬ DELPHIA THE SEAT OF THIS MANUFACTURE. The superior processes introduced into industry, in modern times, by the knowledge of chemistry, has led to the establish¬ ment of various branches of manufacture, and made them of great importance, though they deal with articles which were formerly either entirely unknown, or disregarded as of no value. Glue, in the modern industrial world, is a case in point. Like many of the important things in industry, it has heretofore been overlooked ; and though the world would suffer, to-day, much less in its comforts and conveniences of living from a loss of all its gold and silver than from that of its glue, yet this fact would be most probably overlooked by the large majority of those whose well being is so intimately dependent upon its abundant and cheap supply. Yet, in fact, glue is absolutely indispensable to the arts of modern industry, and as yet no substitute has been found to take its place. Without it, turpentine and petroleum would escape from the barrels which now contain them, and be lost. The very paper on which we write would, but for glue, make nothing but a series of blots ; and so on through all the series of domestic or household arts. # * ■ '• But very little is known of the history of glue-making. For¬ merly the artist and the artisan made themselves what little glue they wanted. The semi-civilized peoples made it in a simple way, by boiling pieces of skin. Fish sounds, that is, the bladder of the fish, now called isinglass, or fish glue, has from time imme¬ morial been known as a substance from which glue could be made, ( 209 ) 210 GLUE, SAND-PAPER, CURLED HAIR, COW-HIDE WHIPS, and has been used for this purpose. In modern times glue is made from hides, skins, sinews, and tendons of animals. In the process of tanning and currying the skins a large amount of cut¬ tings and trimmings is removed. These clippings are placed to soak in a strong solution of lime-water. This treatment disposes them to dissolve readily under the application of heat, removes at the same time the fat, flesh, and hair, acts as an antiseptic, and removes alUtraces of putrefaction. After the trimmings are thus cleaned, they are then washed and dried, and laid away for perfect desiccation. When perfectly dried, they are taken, in autumn and spring, — for glue cannot bo made in summer, -and placed in a vat or kettle, and reduced to a liquid glue, either by the direct action of fire or by steam. Tho liquid is then drawn off, strained, into a vat, where it is al¬ lowed to settle. Then it is placed in boxes, or tin dishes, and allowed to cool into a tremulous jelly, which it generally becomes after standing about ten or fifteen hours. It is then, by a very sim¬ ple contrivance, removed and sliced into sheets, which are placed upon nets of cotton or flax, stretched upon wooden frames, and exposed,,either in the open air or in well-aired buildings, to dry. The process of drying occupies generally about two weeks. When dried, it is placed in lofts to season, and is then ready for market. In England, owing to the greater dampness of the climate, glue becomes dull or mouldy in appearance. To remove this, each sheet, after it is dry, is washed, to give it a glazed look. The greater dryness of our climate renders this operation unnecessary here. The quality of glue is judged of by its adhesiveness, and by the amount of surface it will cover when used as a size. A clear, hard, horny appearance when broken is an indication of good quality ; but no rule can be given which is always reliable. The reputation of tlie manufacturer, and the reliance placed on his marks, are the only sure guarantees as to quality or value. Not only is the manufacture of glue an important one for the value of its product, but it is also worthy of consideration for its incidental conservation of the public health, since it takes from the tanner and the butcher, when fresh, materials which, if not so disposed of, would ferment, rot, and become a serious danger to the hygienic conditions of the community. An opinion generally prevails that bones, hoofs, horns, and dead animals are used in the manufacture of glue. This is, however, erroneous. There is not glue enough in dead animals to pay for the expense of handling GLUE, SAND-PAPER, CURLED HAIR, COW-HIDE WHIPS. 211 them, nor is there any in hoofs and horns. Occasionally, where acids are cheap, bones are used ; but in this country they are too valuable for other purposes to be used in making glue. The amount of capital invested in the United States in the glue busi¬ ness is about eight million dollars, and the yearly product made amounts to about ten million dollars. In order to carry on the business, large outlays must be made for buildings and fixtures, while the time required in the processes, and the short periods dur¬ ing which glue can be made, do notallow a quick return. One half to two thirds of the value in glue is labor. There are numerous firms in the United States engaged in the manufacture of glue, scattered from Maine to California, but for the most part located east of the Alleghanies. The laVgest in the country, or in the world, is the Riverside Glue Works, on the Delaware River, Phila¬ delphia, and owned by Baeder, Adamson & Co. This concern was founded by Mr. Charles Baeder, in 1828, and has grown from small proportions to its present size, employing some eight hundred men and boys, and is a model of industrial organization. Sand Paper, This branch of manufacture is comparatively new in this coun¬ try, or in any other. Formerly it was customary for the trades using sand paper constantly, to make it for themselves, as they needed it, out of ordinary brown paper, glue, and sand. This is done even yet in some parts of Europe. The business was organ¬ ized by Messrs. Baeder, Adamson & Co., who make their own paper out of old rope, use the best quality of glue, and pulverize the quartz or flints used in it. By this means they are enabled to furnish so superior an article, of a constantly uniform grade, at so low a price, — some being as low as half a cent a sheet, — that the demand for it has become universal, large quantities being export¬ ed to Europe, South America, the Pacific Islands, and elsewhere. The amount made in the United States is very large, amounting to about two hundred thousand reams yearly, requiring a capital of at least five hundred thousand dollars. Emery paper and emery cloth are made by the same firm, a large demand for them being created ’ by the nice iron work in the steam engine, the sewing machine, and other similar industries which require them for polishing pur¬ poses. Curled Hair. This industry is comparatively modern, and is created by the demand originating in the increased appliances for comfort in the 212 GLUE, SAND-PAPER, CURLED IIAIR, COW-HIDE WHIPS. furnishing of our houses, railroad cars, and other places. Curled hair is made from the manes and tails of horses, and from the hair or switches of cattle. The greater part of the hair used for this purpose is imported from South America, where it is cut from the animals while alive, which are then let run until they have grown another crop. In making curled hair, the material is first cleaned by washing; it is then carded and spun into ropes, and simultaneously, by the same process, an extra twist is given to the rope, which is thus half kinked. In this condition it is boiled for about an hour in fresh water, and then placed in an oven or kiln to bake. After being thus baked, it is untwisted and picked apart. The operations of spinning, twisting, boiling, and baking have given the hair a curl which acts as a spring, so that a mattress made of good curled hair consists of ten thousand tiny springs, and forms an admirable support for the tired body. The quantity of curled hair made in the United States may be fairly estimated at thirteen million pounds, and a capital of not less than two and a half million dollars is engaged in carrying on the business. But when in addition to this we estimate the various uses to which curled hair is put, the capital invested in the various trades which necessarily employ it becomes enormous. An inferior article is made either directly from hogs’ hair, or by mixing it with horse hair; but is not as durable. Philadelphia has always been the centre of this business, and Baeder, Adamson & Co. are acknowledged to be the largest producers, while the excellence of the article they make is unsurpassed. Cow-Hide Whips. It is not known to whom the honor of inventing the cow-hide whip belongs ; yet of all simple things it is the simplest and most com¬ plete. It is nothing but a strip of hide twisted in proper shape, and kept in position until it has dried, when it has all the toughness and elasticity of whalebone, without its brittleness. They are used principally for stocks for covering, instead of whalebone. Philadel¬ phia is now, and has always been, the only place in the world where these whips are made. Baeder, Adamson & Co. make nine tenths of all that are made, and ship them to all parts of the world. As a simple, cheap, and handy whip, they have no equal. They are generally made of strips of hide which could be turned to no other use. It is singular to see how the industrial activity of the pres¬ ent has by ingenuity turned to the advantage of our comfort GLUE, SAND-PAPER, CURLED HAIR, COW-HIDE WHIPS. 213 such simple and generally disregarded materials as we have been writing about. By their industry, enterprise, and persever¬ ance, however, Messrs. Baeder, Adamson & Co. have made the manufacture of their specialties one of the great industries of the country, and have fairly earned the high commercial estimation in which they are held. VENEERING. THE ART KNOWN TO TIIE ROMANS. — ITS UTILITY. — THE PRINCIPAI WOODS USED. — SELECTION OF ABNORMAL FORMATIONS. — DEFORMITIES TURNED TO BEAUTIES. —PROCESS OF SPLITTING AND SAWING VENEERS. —UTILIZING SAWDUST. — DELICATE MACHINERY. — THINNESS, WIDTH, AND LENGTH OF VENEERS. —STRIPS OF IVORY. —PROCESS OF PUTTING ON VENEERS. — AP¬ PLICATION OF THE ART. — BUHLWORK.— PRESSED WORK. —BOOK-BINDERS' BOARDS. —WOOD HANGINGS FOR WALLS. Veneering is the art of facing straight-grained, inexpensive wood with a thin strip or plate of beautiful and costly wood, so that the cabinet work or other article, when finished, may present the appearance of having been made from solid boards of the more expensive material. The art is very ancient; it was known cen¬ turies ago to the Romans, and, possibly, to the Egyptians, to whom it naturally would be suggested by the plating of wood with gold and silver, in which they were experts. Obviously, the first in¬ tent of veneering is to deceive — to represent as solid substance what is only surface; but it enables the purchaser to procure what he desires in furniture, panels, casings, and other wood work, at a far less price than the same work from the solid material would cost; and the art has the intrinsic advantages of strengthening, by means of the veneer, the wood basis, so as to materially assist in preventing it from warping or splitting, and of permitting the artisan to make perfect matches in parallel panels, or in one design in a single part of his work, by using two faces of the same cut, tli us producing exact duplicates, which would be impossible in the solid wood. The principal woods used for veneering are the American bird’s- eye maple, ebony, mahogany, rose-wood, king’-wood, satin-wood, sandal-wood, sycamore, kiabocca (or amboyna), zebra-wood, tulip- wootl, and a few others. From these woods sections can be se¬ lected which present knots, gnarls, or other excrescences, which, ( 214 ) VENEERING. 215 when sawn into strips, present surfaces showing beautiful and va¬ riform figures. In parts of the trunk where limbs have protruded, the veneers will give elliptical figures, sometimes two or three feet in length, by from four to six inches in breadth. In such parts of the tree the fibres not only assume a vast variety of twists and shapes, but they acquire deeper colors, and, by interlacing the texture, the wood becomes denser and more compact. Other parts of the same wood exhibit a wavy and grotesque appearance, or that mottled surface seen in the bird’s-eye maple, and the similar, though far more beautiful and costly, kiabocca. These dots or “ eyes ” are incipient or partially formed knots. The knots and ex¬ crescences turned into veneers furnish the endless and pleasing varieties of shapes seen in finished furniture and cabinet work, and what in nature is in reality a deformity becomes beauty of a high order in art. The veneers are sawn or cut by machinery from blocks or planks of the wood. For straight-grained woods there are ingeniously constructed machines which will split the veneers of the required thickness, thus utilizing the whole of the wood and saving the waste (estimated at one eighth) made by sawing. But for the more valuable woods, this sawdust need not be wasted, since it can be mixed with glue or bullock’s blood, and then forced by pow¬ erful pressure into moulds which will give beautiful imitation wood- carvings of solid texture. The greater part of the veneers are sawn by machines which must be of the nicest construction, for the veneers vary in thickness — according to the material or the value of particular woods—from eight to one hundred veneers to the inch in thickness of the plank or block. The veneers vary in width from a few inches to four or five feet. By still another ma¬ chine veneers of considerable length as well as width are obtained. This machine is, in fact, a turning-lathe, which cuts the veneer from the wood in a spiral, so that the strip comes off as it were from a roll, in a sheet of from ten to fifty feet in length. This is applied especially to bone and ivory, and sheets of ivory have been cut by this method of from ten to forty feet in length and from one to two and one half feet in width. Perfect machinery enables the veneer mill to supply the cabinet maker or other artisan with uniform veneers of the required thickness for different classes of work. The veneers are sent to the cabinet maker rough on both faces, and the surface to be placed on the wood is further roughened to facilitate the gluing. The strips are selected and shaped to the 210 VENEERING. part to be veneered ; the wood work ground is thinly coated with glue ; the veneer, well warmed to keep the glue liquid, is laid on ; over the veneer is placed an exactly-fitting wooden cover, or “caul,” also warmed, and caul and veneer are then tightly pressed down by wooden clamps secured by screw bolts and nuts. Or the veneer may be placed, rubbed down by hand, and then pressed down by the “veneering hammer” worked by one or more men from the centre to the edges, so as to press out air and any ex¬ cess of glue. In this process the glue is kept in a fluid state by hot size on the surface of the veneer. Such spots or places as do not adhere closely are “gone over” with a hot iron. -When contact is perfect, and the work is thoroughly dry, the veneering is finished, as in other cabinet work, by planing, scraping, pol¬ ishing, oiling, or varnishing with colorless varnish. The finished work acquires a darker, and so older, appearance by exposure to light, and the same effect may be produced artificially by the use of lime water. The application of the art is almost unlimited. It is seen in furniture of the commonest and of the most costly kinds ; in the ivory keys of pianos ; in panellings, and cabinet and carpenter work of various sorts ; and in the elaborate interior fittings of halls, offices, and libraries. It is exhibited in its most perfect form in the mosaic, or inlaid work known as “ buhl work ” (proba¬ bly the most ancient style of veneering), in which rare woods, ivory, tortoise shell, and other materials are inlaid or veneered in fanciful and beautiful forms. A recent American invention utilizes veneering in what is known as “ pressed work,” which consists in gluing together several veneers of a cheaper wood, say black walnut, facing them with more expensive wood, like rose-wood, and then heating the whole and shaping it in moulds to furnish chair backs and arms, or other curved work. By this process, a stronger piece, less liable to crack or warp, is secured, than could be obtained from a solid plank. By similar processes, heating and putting into moulds, an infinity of shapes may be obtained from veneers, which are thus made to present forms and figures in re¬ lief, as if of carved wood, the concavities being filled with composition to make the work solid. Veneers are sometimes cut and stamped for binding books; and large, thin sheets of variegated woods have lately been introduced in the United States to take the place of paper hangings. Properly put on the wall, a room presents the appearance of having been finished in the solid wood from which the veneers are cut. EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. i THE EDUCATION' BUSINESS. — EIGHT MILLION CHILD-PATRONS. — GIGANTIC CAP¬ ITAL INVESTED. —TWENTY-SIX HUNDRED SCHOOL-BOOKS.—NO HISTORY OF EDUCATION. — PRACTICAL TENDENCY OF EDUCATION REFORM.—OBJECT¬ TEACHING TWO CENTURIES AGO. -A QUART OF BLACKBOARD.-OLD-FASH¬ IONED SCHOOLS.—REBELLION AGAINST GRAMMAR. —THE REAL ROYAL ROAD TO KNOWLEDGE. - FIRST ORGANIZATION OF THE IMPROVED SCHOOL APPA¬ RATUS BUSINESS. -ORIGIN ANQ RISE OF THE HOUSE OF J. W. SCHERMER- HORN AND CO. — EXTENT OF THEIR OPERATIONS. — CONTENTS OF THEIR MU¬ SEUM.— MODERN APPARATUS.—MASTER TILESTON AND THE PEN-WIPER. —• PUBLISHING DEPARTMENT. Improvements in the methods and in the machinery of educa¬ tion and schools have a value in a mental and moral point of view which has been endlessly talked about, and is pretty well under¬ stood. But their importance, as a matter of every-day business, in dollars and cents, is not so often mentioned, and is less familial*. And yet the business part of education, even leaving the matter of “soul” for the moment out of the question, ranks, in point of money importance, pi the same grade with the cotton business, the wool¬ len business, the grain trade, or the shipping interest. That this is so will quickly be perceived, if we only remember that about one fifth of the whole number of persons in the LLiited States are always occupied in attending schools or other educa¬ tional institutions ; that is, at present, not far from eight millions of pupils, besides about one hundred and sixty thousand teachers. The books alone used by this yast army at any one time have cost at the very least twenty millions of dollars ; the seats, desks, and other apparatus, thirty millions of dollars — together, fifty mil¬ lions of dollars. The investment of capital in schpol-houses and. other buildings, in lands, college endowments, etc., is several times as much as this ; one single item, viz., fifty millions of acres of ( 217 ) 218 EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. public lands, given by Congress at one time for educational pur¬ poses, being alone equal in value to the items of books and iiirni- ture. To all these must be added, further, a capital the interest of which would equal the annual total sum paid to teachers ; a still fur¬ ther considerable item for libraries ; another for reference-books and professional works owned by teachers ; and the total amount of the business investment of the United States in education becomes absolutely gigantic. Perhaps another fact will add to the distinctness of our picture. It is well known that as much as twenty thousand dollars has re¬ peatedly been invested in preparing, printing, and distributing some single new school-book before the receipt of any returns from it, with the expectation that subsequent sales would reim¬ burse the whole, with abundant profits. Very well : there are in the market to-day (besides books which have become obsolete) about twenty-six hundred different school-books. Of course the investment for “ introducing ” these has often been comparatively small ; but if there are so many competitors for a patronage which it may cost so much to obtain, that must be an enormously lucrative patronage. No competent history of education exists in English literature. German literature contains many works on the subject, and abun¬ dant materials for it are dispersed throughout English literature, particularly in the essay and biographical departments. But any one at all versed in the general subject will recognize the truth of the statement that, since the time of the “ revival of classical learning ” in Europe, which took place just after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, and just before the Protestant Refor¬ mation, one line of progress more distinct than any other can be clearly traced along the whole history of modern education — namely, improvement in the practical character of education. This practical tendency has always belonged to the prominent educational reformers, and has characterized all the improved edu¬ cational systems, as compared with those which preceded them. We find Comenius, in the days of Oxenstiern and the Thirty Years’ War, laying down with perfect distinctness the very doctrine which is to-day most prominent among the improvements now in progress, to-wit, the Object Lesson system. lie says, “ Things and words should be studied together; but things especially, as being the object both of the understanding and of language.’ , This same idea, indeed, was the basis of his famous Orbis Pictus, EDUCATION ; ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. 21V a collection of pictures of natural objects with explanations, in connection with which he intended that the objects themselves were to be used as far as possible. This work has been a favorite German school-book for two hundred years — a duration of popu¬ larity more than doubling that of Webster’s Spelling-Book. To pass at once to the affairs of the present day. The condi¬ tion of the educational interest of the United States, so far as it is to be looked at on the business side, presents two especially striking features. These are — first, the rapidly advancing prac¬ tice of educating through the senses, and about things instead of educating about words, and through the memory ; and as a means of accomplishing this, the increased use of improved apparatus of all kinds, from the school-house itself with its symmetrical and elegant furniture and fittings to models and machinery of all kinds, and even down to the minute details of crayons, erasers, rods, inkstands, and hat-pegs; and second, the use of capital, machinery, and inventive ability for supplying these improved in¬ strumentalities at once in great quantities and at cheap rates — that is, according to the spirit of modern civilization. One question, to-day a perfectly reasonable one, but which at any past period in the history of schools would have been per¬ fectly absurd, may serve to illustrate the changed character of the new order of things : — “ What is the price of a quart of blackboard ? ,} Heretofore we might as well have inquired for a yard of oil, or a pound of conscience. But it is no joke at all; a material is regularly manufactured and extensively used, which is neither more nor less than liquid blackboard. It is bottled or canned for carriage and keeping; may be spread like paint on board, paper, or wall, and becomes a blackboard. The old-fashioned “ district school ” has, within the memory of very many persons now living, been the prevailing type of school- house and apparatus ; and, indeed, abundance of specimens of it may yet be found. It is a clapboarded shanty, or perhaps a log hut; its walls within fringed, so to speak, with a sloping board for a desk, while parallel to this are slabs for seats, upheld by straddling legs cut from green poles, with the bark still on them. Perhaps other desks and seats, on the same principle, occupy part of the floor. Each pupil has a speller, a reader, an arithmetic, and possibly a geography and atlas ; perhaps there is a black¬ board, and very likely there is a rattan, a ferido, or even a raw- 220 EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. hide within reach of the teacher’s hand. No wall maps; no globe; no apparatus of any kind, unless a painted pail and a tin dipper may be called such, for illustrating hydraulics and hj’gi- enics at once. As for a school library, or any real “ apparatus,” as well expect to find a grand piano growing in the woods. It has happened within the last twenty years that a rebellion broke out among the intelligent parents of a certain school district in the educationally famous State of Connecticut, because the teacher ventured — not to make the district pay for globes, or maps, or pictures, or anything else, but — to teach grammar! THE OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL-HOUSE. However, the number of such abodes of darkness decreases. The present spirit of the schools is represented by a very different affair — by the first-class graded school, with its elegant architec¬ ture, home like and healthful warmth and fresh air, neat and com¬ fortable desks and seats, abundance of text-books, well-chosen library, varied assortment of maps, charts, globes, and primary and scientific apparatus of all kinds, in short, by an array of con¬ trivances for shortening, clearing, and easing the way of the scholar, and for speeding his progress upon it, so numerous and so effective that the time-honored maxim, “ There is no royal road to knowledge,” is pretty much done away. There is one; it lies through the improved common school ; and the sovereign for whom it h is been contrived is the Sovereign People. Unquestionably the utmost point thus far reached in this pro¬ cess of organizing and combining for the supply of mental training on business principles is shown in the existence and operations of a central depot for exhibiting and distributing school material. MODERN DISTRICT SCHOOL. EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. 223 Fifteen years ago no such depot existed. The boys and girls in the country could get their spelling books, arithmetics, and slate pencils where their fathers bought their codfish and molasses, and their mothers their calico and thread— at the country store. In the cities there were publishers and booksellers, in case of a wholesale order for the like commodities. But it was not easy to obtain much more. Some of the simpler articles of school appa¬ ratus, now in common use, were not unknown, but, in order to obtain them, the enterprising teacher or trustee must visit as many different places as there were articles named on his memorandum. Prices were’high, the supply small, and the shops or garrets where each article might be had were obscure, and dispersed throughout the city. Of course these articles were usually not supplied, and the efficiency and improvement of the schools were seriously im¬ peded accordingly. A few feeble attempts had been made to es¬ tablish the manufacture of some of the most important apparatus, but without enough of either capital, or energy, or knowledge of what was required to attain success. In 1858 a schoolmaster, now principal of the house of J. W. Schermerhorn & Co., of New York, having learned in his profes¬ sional experience the wants of the schools, and having studied the needs of the times, conceived the idea of a general depot for school material of all kinds. In this one centre, according to his conception, should be gathered and displayed specimens of furni¬ ture, apparatus, stationery, books, — everything useful in the school-room. It was to be an exhaustive museum of educational merchandise, where ail things in that line could be seen by all men — and women ; in fact, a perpetual world’s fair of school material. In 1859 a connection was made with the American School Insti¬ tute, and the proposed business was actually set on foot in Phila¬ delphia. In 1861 it was found expedient to remove the base of operations to New York. It quickly became evident that, in order to adequately develop the enterprise, a department for the manu¬ facture of school merchandise must be added. Mr. George M. Kendall, who had been identified with the enterprise from the first, assented to the suggestion ; in 1865 Mr. George Munger, an in¬ ventor of celebrity, whose articles had been extensively ordered through the house, joined it as a partner, and manufacturing was soon afterwards begun at Guilford, Conn. Mr. W. P. Hammond joined his interests with those of the gentlemen already named, and not long-afterwards three enterprising capitalists — Messrs. 22 t EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. Nelson Crawford, Thomas Bell, and Samuel P. Bell — invested funds in the house. No gigantic fortunes have yet been made in the operations of this modern and very original concern. The nature of the trade is such that the margin of profit cannot be heavy ; and in the early period of such enterprises there is alwa} 7 s a great and appar¬ ently wasteful outlay of money, thought, and labor in creating and improving. Our country is yet new. Vast as the existing THE MODERN COUNTRY SCHOOL-HOUSE. school mercantile interest already is, we have, in fact, barely entered the real school-organizing period. The business of the firm hitherto has partaken largely of a missionary character; has drawn heavily upon the faith of its managers and supporters. But the original projector of the house, as well as his partners in it, have not at all lost confidence in the importance of the school interest, and in the magnitude of the part which they must play % in working out American destiny ; nor, accordingly, have they any fear for the ultimate success of their undertaking in a business EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. 225 point of view. It would be an unprecedented violation of the laws of business should such industry, perseverance, and fertil¬ ity of contrivance remain permanently unrewarded. Indeed, the business has already fully verified the predictions uf its founder as to the main principles involved. It was believed that there was a national demand for such a central depot as this in the business metropolis of the nation ; and the operations of the house have become national. It has become a regular resort for persons interested in education from all parts of the country, and its agencies are open in most of the principal cities of the Union. Its trade extends from Canada to the Mexican border, and from Maine to California. Orders from England are frequent; trade with South America is large ; Honolulu, and other localities of the SCHOOL FURNITURE. islands of the sea, make frequent demands upon the facilities of the house ; it has furnished the public schools of Melbourne, in Australiaff and distant missionary stations, as they establish schools, are habitually resorting here for supplies. No more vivid representation of the advance of educational im¬ provements for the last quarter of a century could be made than is supplied by a contrast between the catalogue which Messrs. J. W. Schermcrhorn & Co. publish of the school material for sale by them, and the condition of things twenty-five years ago. On one hand, a handsomely printed volume of a hundred and fifty pages, containing two hundred and forty-four elegantly executed Vood-cuts, to begin with ; and specifying the names and prices of several hundred books, describing dozens of different courses of study ; cataloguing not merely the articles represented in the 13 226 EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. illustrations, numerous as they are, but twenty times as many, with prices at retail and wholesale, suggestions for use, etc., etc., to the extent of being substantially a practical pictorial educa¬ tional encyclopaedia. So much for the list of to-day. As for that of twenty-five years back — there is none. It is out of the question to give within the limits of an article like the present even an approach to a full summary of the mate¬ rials thus catalogued and represented. But a list of the names of fifty of the items, picked out in turning over the pages, and which we throw into an alphabetical order, will surprise any one not ROGERS'S GROUP —SCHOOL EXAMINATION. thoroughly familiar with the subject, so varied are the articles, and so wide the range of knowledge illustrated, processes of study assisted, and devices contrived : — Abacus, alphabet blocks, arithmetical solids, barometer, book carrier, color cube, crayon holder, croquet set, cube root blocks, dissected cone, dividers (for blackboard use), drawing paper, dumb bells, eraser, geometrical forms and solids, globe (slated), goni- graph, hat rack, hydrometer, Indian clubs, kindergarten blocks, letter clip, liquid blackboard, lunch box, magic lantern, magnet,, mariner’s compass, mathematical instruments, microscope, organ, orrery, pencil file, planisphere, prism, rain gauge, Rogers’s school EDUCATION : ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. 227 groups, school bags, season machine, shoe scraper, slate rest, song roll, spelling stick, stream of time, sweeper, tape measure, tellu¬ rian, thermometer, wall slate, wands (for exercise), waste basket. This list, it will be observed, omits such obvious items as chair, desk, ink, paper, etc. It is not .unlikely that some of our readers may h ive to stop and think before they can tell what some of these things are for. What is a gonigraph ? a pencil file ? a sea- • son machine? a spelling stick? “ Gony ” is, or used to be r a slang term for “ a silly fellow; ” does a gonigraph describe gonies ? Is the file to sharpen the pencil or to keep it? Can your season machine turn out weather to order? Will a stick spell ? Even the man of to-day might almost be imagined to put these questions. But please to hear about Master Tileston and THE ASSEMBLY ROOM DESKS AND SETTEES, WITH ALLEN’S OPERA FOLDING SEATS. the pen-wiper, and then imagine what that excellent old gentleman would have said to Schermerhorn & Co.’s catalogue of school material. Master Tileston, who died not far from 1824, at the age of eighty-five or more, was writing-master in one of the Boston schools for over half a century. Sundry curious anecdotes are told about the good old gentleman ; but that which is to the pres¬ ent point, and which was recorded by one of his pupils, is as follows : This pupil had become apprentice in a bookstore, when his old instructor entered the store: “ Out of respect for the ven¬ erable man, the pupil wiped his pen on a rag that hung by the desk for that purpose, and suspended his work. The old gentle¬ man approached the desk, and carefully raising the rag with his thumb and forefinger, said, ‘ What is this for ? ’ ‘To wipe the 228 EDUCATION: ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT. pen on, sir, when we stop writing/ said the respecttul pupil. ‘ Uh ! it may be well enough/ said he, * but Master Proctor had no such thing! ’ Master Tileston always wiped, out his pen with his lillle finger , and then cleaned his finger on the while hairs just under his wig. Ilis model, Master Proctor, had been dead half a century, perhaps, but he still lived in the routine that he had es¬ tablished .” The pen-wiper evidently was a sore burden to the poor old man. The gonigraph would have staggered him ; the magic lantern » would have.been little better than sacrilege in his eyes; and the Indian clubs would have beaten his very life out. And yet this comprehensive and seemingly heterogeneous variety of school material corresponds to a very wise saying of a very judicious old gentleman of far more ancient date than Master Tileston — that famous and practical Greek, the Spartan King Agesilaus — who, on being asked, “ What ought children to learn at school ? ” re¬ plied, “ Whatever they will need to do as men.” Besides the extensive arsenal — so to speak — of educational ordnance &,nd munitions of war wherewith to teach the young idea how to shoot, the house keeps on hand a full specimen assortment of all the best school books, and furnishes them in the same man¬ ner as apparatus, maps, or furniture. Moreover, it publishes, from time to time, books of its own, the last being Professor Johonnot’s School-Houses, with designs by Hevves — an elabo¬ rate work, bringing its subject down to the very latest dates, and with a great number of drawings and plans for school-houses of all sorts, materials, and sizes. And lastly, it issues The Ameri¬ can Educational Monthly, a lively periodical, which serves as a record of contemporary educational history, doctrine, and prac¬ tice, and as a common organ of communication among those inter¬ ested in schools and other institutions and instrumentalities of learning. Such an institution as has thus been described could not exist except amidst a great number of highly improved and improving schools. It at once lives by them, and helps them live ; and while it is justly entitled to large pecuniary success, it is at the same time incomparably most significant as an iudex and engine of mental and moral improvement. THE DERIVATION OF THE WORD. — CUTTING TOOLS BEFORE THE IRON AGE. — AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. —THE HINDOOS. —THE TEST OF COMPARATIVE CIV¬ ILIZATION. — THE MANUFACTURE IN SHEFFIELD. — CHAUCER QUOTED. — THE INTRODUCTION OF FORKS INTO ENGLAND. — THE MANUFACTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. — THE INTRODUCTION OF IMPROVED METHODS. — DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE NEW PROCESSES.-THE RESULTS OF MACHINE AND HAND LABOR COMPARED. — DESCRIPTION OF THE RUSSELL MANUFACTURING COM¬ PANY'S WORKS. — THE AMOUNT OF THEIR YEARLY PRODUCTION. Our term cutlery is derived, through the process of phonetic change which characterizes the passage of Latin to English, from the Latin word culler, meaning a small knife, as distinguished from a sword. One of the earliest necessities of mankind must have been to shape some tool into a cutting edge. Before the discovery of the art of working metals was known, men used bone, or hard woods, or stone. The Egyptians had the art of tempering copper to a hard, cutting edge, and from them many of the nations of antiquity derived the process, which is now lost, and made their sharp im¬ plements of war, or for domestic usage, from this material. The art of making steel was, however, known to the natives of India before the time of Alexander the Great, and from the steel there made the famous Damascus blades were tempered in the city of that name. Singularly enough, some of the uncivilized races, as those in Borneo, and others, have now great skill in tempering their weapons, though they use a rude method which has probably been handed down by tradition from a very early age. One of the chief characteristics, however, of civilization, is that the industry and invention of the people who have arrived at such a condition of social advance, are chiefly devoted to the produc¬ tion of tools and utensils for domestic and industrial use, instead ( 229 ) 230 CUTLERY. of weapons for use in war. Judged by this standard we can com¬ pare the progress of our own times with that even of Greece and Rome, and without vanity we can congratulate ourselves upon the comparison. The Grecians and Romans forged and tempered swords, which performed their bloody work only too completely f but they still ate with their fingers, and the cleanly decency of knives and forks was unknown even to their kings, their states¬ men, or their philosophers. The steady growth of mankind towards that ideal future when the world shall be at peace, when mutual aid and sympathy shall replace national jealousies, and the relations of nations shall at¬ tain the plain of reason and law which now prevails between gen¬ tlemen, is shown by the fact that now the art of making cutting weapons is chiefly employed for pacific purposes, and our cutlery uses more steel to make our table knives which serve to increase our social culture, throwing the graces of good breeding about the occupations for the support of life, than in fashioning the weapon? for war, by which men meet to only attempt their mutual destruc¬ tion. Up to within quite a recent date, the chief supply of cutlery for the civilized world was manufactured in England. At a very early period this art was practised there, and Sheffield, which is still the chief seat of the manufacture of knives, was celebrated for the sami article as early as the times of Chaucer, the father of English po etical literature, who writes, — “ A Shelfeld thuytel bare he in his hose.” The word ihuytlc is the old form for thwite, a knife, which is itself now obsolete, but traces of which still remain in the language, in the diminutive ihwittle, from which we have our word whittle. Though knives were made in England at an early date, yet they were not a regular piece of table furniture, and the fingers were still the chief implements used for eating. In the time of James I., Coryatt, the traveller, in his account of his tour through Europe, mentions forks as recently introduced into Italy, and speaks of their use as a curious custom. The manufacture of cutlery is of quite recent introduction into the United States, but has made Ruch progress, owing to the im¬ proved methods and machinery introduced into the processes, that it will be best to mention only these, since thus the reader will CUTLERY. 231 quicker and easier become acquainted with the latest and best modes for its manufacture. The leading manufactory of cutlery in the United States is the Russell Manufacturing Company, at Greenfield, Massachusetts. The business was commenced by John Russell, of Greenfield, who was born in 1797. He is a man of a remarkable business capa¬ city, with great decision and perfect integrity. In 1834, being engaged in the manufacture of edged tools, such as chisels, &c., he commenced, upon a small scale, that of table cutlery. This was the first attempt made to introduce this branch of industry into the United States. At first the attempt appeared to be a failure. The goods produced did not pay the cost of manufac¬ ture, the difficulty being the lack of skilled workmen. During this first year, however, the amount produced was very small. Mr. Russell, nevertheless, still persevered in the attempt, though he had to contend not only against the difficulties inherent in any new enterprise, but also against a foolish prejudice against Amer¬ ican cutlery; so that, though he produced wares which were ac¬ tually as good as those imported from Sheffield, yet they could not be sold as readily or as well. At first the capital to carry on the business was small, and all the operations were performed by hand labor, the only machinery in use being the emery wheels and grindstones for grinding and finishing the blades ; the handles, or hafts, being made entirely by hand, and the blades forged by the same tedious and expensive method. At this time the market was entirely under the control of the Sheffield manufacturers, who, though they used, and still in a great measure use, more hand than machine labor, yet having the advantages of an established business, a reputation, and a buying public prejudiced in their favor, could force out any competition from American manufactories. The first improvement made by Mr. Russell, in the processes used in the “ Green River Works,” was the introduction of the trip hammer for forging the blades. This improvement is purely American. Though trip hammers were then in use in England, in forging large masses of metal, yet the idea had never occurred to any one to use them for this pur¬ pose. At first in the “ Green River Works,” two trip hammers were introduced. This improved process did much towards cheapening the manufacture, and together with the next intro¬ duced, by which the bolsters, or that part of the blade which 232 CUTLERY. abuts upon the handle, and bolsters it, or supports it, were also struck up by the trip hammer instead of by hand, enabled the American production to compete successfully with the Sheffield manufacture. This process of forming the bolster is called swedging, and the importance of the introduction of this process, as an improvement over the old-fashioned way of forming them by hand, is shown by the following fact: By the hand process, a man, aided by a striker, who swung the hammer, could, in a day, subject about one hun¬ dred and fifty blades to this process, while a trip hammer, with one man and a tender, can accomplish the same for about three thousand blades. But the improved processes were not allowed to stop here, and the next step was the introduction of machinery to perform the plating, or shaping, of the blade, and the cutting of the same into the required shape by dies, which were crushed in a cam power press. These two improvements were of great importance, since they replaced by one, and the same operation, the tedious and slow methods of plating the blades ; that is, of making a blade from a plate of steel by hammering it into shape, and then cutting it out. By these improvements the manufacture of the entire blade, with its bolster, was transferred from hand work to machinery, with the increase of production, and cheapening of expense, con¬ sequent upon such a transfer. The next improvement was direct¬ ed towards the process of preparing the handies. For wooden handles, the wood from the apple tree is preferred. The improve¬ ment in making them consisted in subjecting them, hot with oil, to a pressure in a machine. In this way the handles are greatly im¬ proved, and oak, maple, and other woods can be used. The next improvement was the invention of an ingenious way of making the bolster, so that it should hold the scales, or the slips of wood, or other material, forming the handle, to the tang, or the projecting prong to which the outside of the handle is riveted. This improve¬ ment was invented by Matthew Chapman, and patented by the company as assignee in 18G2. This patent bolster does away with the necessity for forging or swedging the bolsters, and so simplifies the process of manufac¬ ture as to quadruple the production. The next improvement con¬ sisted of making the blade, the bolster, and the handle all of steel, forged from one solid piece. This process, like the two previous¬ ly mentioned, was also invented by Mr. Chapman, and the patent JOHN RUSSELL MANUFACTURING COMPANY; GREEN RIVER WORKS, MASS. .. •• 1 % : ■ .• ^ * ' ,? ■ ! \ . . i A CUTLERY. 235 steel-handled knife, which is made by tin’s process, has already en¬ tered largely into consumption. The handles are silver-plated, and the knives are quite elegant in appearance, and convenient to use, especially in hotels, for which they are specially adapted. A still further improvement has been made, by which the blade is manufactured of steel, and the handle of iron, which is after¬ wards japanned, and thus affords a cheaper article. All of these later improvements are patented, thus giving the control of their use to the company. Besides this the company control in this country the use of ivoride, a patented article made in England, and which can be distinguished from ivory only by a skilled ex¬ pert. Though, as has been shown in the above remarks, the various processes of making cutlery have been so successfully simplified and cheapened by substituting for the slow and tedious methods of hand labor the more rapid and accurate work of machines, yet the process of making knives is still quite a complicated one, and one which requires the cooperation of a great many men. From the selection of the steel to be worked up, which requires skilled experience and judgment, through all the various processes of manufacture, up to the point when the manufactured articles are ready to be offered for sale, con-stant care and attention are neces¬ sary to insure the excellence which has been recognized by the public. Most of the improved processes of manufacture, which have been alluded to, are also applied by the Russell Manufacturing Company in their manufacture of forks. The prongs of these are cut and shaped by machinery, and the entire fork, handle and all, are made by the same process by which the solid knives are made. Though the improved machinery has increased the production, while it has simplified the methods, yet still the processes through which a knife has to pass before being' ready for sale,, are many and various, as may be seen from this list: First, cutting steel into proper lengths ; second, trying blade under trip hammer, and bolstering; third, shaping under a press ; fourth, straightening; fifth, ground for the stamp ; sixth, stamped ; seventh, hardened ; eighth, tempered; ninth, ground ; tenth, halted; eleventh,, fin¬ ished on the emery wheels, and the handles so finished ; twelfth, bolsters so finished ; thirteenth, buffed ; fourteenth, cleaned ; fif¬ teenth, inspected ; sixteenth, packed. Numerous as these operations may seem, yet, in fact, they are £36 CUTLERY. much fewer than by the old process. A penknife, by the old method, is said to pass through a hundred hands before it is ready for sale. To give an idea of the vast variety of goods manufactured by this company, it may be stated that they make thirty different styles in each class of the following table cutlery, with the finest ivory, pearl and ivory (2d class) handles of different patterns — oval, fluted, square, octagon, oval ornamented, grooved, “ tulip,” shell head, witli fancy carving, with and without silver ferrules, etc., etc —viz.: table knives, dessert knives, meat or game carvers, Jones’ carvers, steels "and concave steels ; eleven patterns of but¬ ter knives, with ivory, fine ivory, pearl, cocoa, ebony and horn, square, oval, and octagon handles ; two kinds of cheese scoops, steel and silver plated, with ivory and ivoride handles ; four varie¬ ties of fruit knives ; four kinds of nut-picks; twenty-two kinds of knives and forks with cocoa handles ; two kinds with iron handles ; four kinds with horn handles; twenty-two kinds with ebony handles; fifteen kinds with bone handles ; and each kind with dessert sets, carvers, steels, etc., to match. The ivoride, to which we have referred, and which presents a scarcely distinguishable substitute for ivory, gives superior han¬ dles, which will not break or crack, nor absorb grease and stains. They are put on without cement, so that they are not injured by contact with hot water, and are warranted to hold fast as long as they are in use. Besides the solid steel, silver-plated handles, manufactured expressly for hotels, restaurants, steamboats, and other hard service, the company make wrought oval hollow- handled plated knives and forks, and hollow metal handle silver- plated table and dessert knives. All these goods are made, not merely to sell, or to be admired as beautiful and artistic speci¬ mens of work, but are designed for use, and consequently every detail receives the greatest care and attention, so that the well- merited reputation of the company may be maintained. This company turns out a great variety of very superior pocket knives, of different sizes and patterns, with ivory, horn, bone, cocoa, ebony, and imitation stag handles, at prices ranging from four to ten dollars per dozen. They heavily silver-plate all table cutlery so ordered. They also manufacture rose-wood cases, of different sizes, for fine table cutlery, and make to order rosewood and morocco cases for any number of pieces. To show how much raw material is required in such an estab- CUTLERY. 237 lishment, we give the following figures for a single year: 2,000 tons of anthracite coal; 25,000 bushels of charcoal; 400,000 pounds of grindstones ; 44,000 pounds of emery ; 3,000 pounds of beeswax; for handles, 36,000 pounds of ivory, 112,000 pounds of ebony, 57,000 pounds of rosewood,'305,000 pounds of cocoa- wood. Every day two tons of steel are used. A large amount of silver is used in plating blades and handles. The increase of business from year to year compels a proportionate increase of this enormous quantity of raw material of the different kinds. Besides their various styles of table cutlery, the company man¬ ufacture California hunting knives, butcher knives, bread knives, beef sheers, carving knives and forks, of which a knife specially designed for the carving of fowls should be mentioned. This knife has the blade made narrow, so as to be more easily moved about in search of the joints. In the gradual social advance of mankind, industrial pursuits offer one of the best fields for displaying the increased power gained by organization, and the advantage of applying scientific knowledge to the processes in use. One of the best examples of the truth of these axioms is afforded by the Russell Manufactur¬ ing Company. An ignorant adherence to the traditional methods in use would have resulted in failure, and have simply intensified the opinion that the manufacture of cutlery could not be success¬ fully established in the United States. But in industry, as in sci¬ ence itself, or in any other department of human interest, the new spirit of investigation, which takes nothing for granted, but, wisely sceptical concerning all authority, seeks to discover new methods and new appliances in harmony with the new conditions of the social organization, is the only spirit with which our industry must be carried on in order that it should advance in line with our moral and social progress. The works of the Russell Manufacturing Company are at Tur¬ ner’s Falls, Mass. The power used in the manufactory is water power derived from the Connecticut River, and the amount used by the company is estimated as equal to seven hundred horses. The buildings of the company are arranged in the form of a par¬ allelogram, enclosing a middle building and a yard. The two larger buildings are each six hundred feet long by fifty wide, rising four stories on the inner and two stories on the outer side. The stories are high and commodious, measuring fourteen feet from floor to ceiling. The interior building is three hundred feet 238 CUTLERY. long by forty wide, and is only one story high, being devoted to the various smith shops of the company. The ventilation of the buildings is admirable, and in the grind¬ ing rooms, where, from the immense business they are required to do, the dust would be oppressive and injurious to health, it is all carried off by a system of fans and channels, so that the air is kept perfectly free from it. The company own also a branch railroad, three-quarters of a mile long, connecting with the Vermont and Massachusetts Rail¬ road. From the average steady increase of their sales during the past, their sales for this year (1871) will probably reach one million and a half of dollars. The company disburse an average vf over twenty-five thousand dollars a month to their employees; and as the means for doing this are derived from the sale of their manu¬ factured products all over this country, from Maine to the Pacific, it offers a practical proof of how important an agency the industry of the country is in demonstrating the necessity and value of unity and peace, thus arriving by practice at the same results which by theory the moralist and the scientist have before proclaimed. Mv| # , MA '*) > * >ikf t v • .ta#4$ HOARIIOUND CANDY. — SWIN¬ DLING IN THE CANDY BUSINESS UNNECESSARY. Take some lozeng'es, or some “ stick candy/’ or some “ sugar¬ plums/’ say a wine-glassful or thereabouts, pound or break them up, if you choose, into small fragments, put these into a tea-cup or a two-ounce vial, and fill up with hot water ; stir, or let it stand, until the candy is dissolved. If it was pure, it has disappeared, just as loaf sugar would do, except that, if it was colored, the coloring matter might slightly cloud the water. But in a good many cases a fine white or brownish powder will quietly settle to the bottom of the solution in a layer perhaps an eighth, or even a third, of an inch deep. This is dirt; at least it is a mineral. It is known in the wholesale candy and grocery business as terra alba, and it is manufactured in great quantities, and sold to swindle with, and for no other purpose. Sometimes wheat flour or starch is mixed with it, when the sediment is probably brownish. This terra alba is nothing but plaster of Paris, or gypsum, chemically a sulphate of lime, which is composed of oxygen, sul¬ phur, and lime, ground to a fine flour. Now, gypsum is useful to fertilize land, and to make cornices, and “ hard finish ” for walls ( 247 ) 248 CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST. and ceilings. But the human stomach has not been found to re¬ quire mineral fertilizers, nor do its walls receive benefit from being “ hard finished.’’ Gypsum, as an article of food, is just as good as slate-pencils, or hard coal. As coal dust would show, it is/im¬ practicable to cheat by mixing it with sugar ; but as plaster is white, and docs not show, the cheat is easy. It is fortunate that this ground plaster of Paris can be used in confectionery without being burned in a kiln. It is this process of burning which makes it “ set,” as it is called. If candy were • made with burned plaster, it would “ set” in the stomach and bow¬ els, furnishing a cast of our interior at the expense of our life. As it is, it only causes disorders of the stomach and bowels. Sometimes half the substance of candy, or even more, is made up of this mineral. As it costs many times less than sugar, it is easy to see that candy made of it might be sold at a less price than unworked white sugar itself; and this apparent paradox has often been seen in our markets. Numerous other tests, besides the very simple one above de¬ scribed of solution in water, would be necessary, most of them more scientific and difficult.than this, before all the cheats which are common in the candy business could be found out. For in¬ stance, instead of gum arabic, of which considerable quantities are required, glucose is used. This is harmless, being simply a mucilage of dextrine, which is itself a modification of starch. But the cheat is, that glucose costs only eight or ten cents a pound, while gum arabic, of equal cleanness, costs sixty-five or seventy cents, and the price is not reduced in proportion. How¬ ever, a practice has grown up among the candy-makers which may be called semi-honest. It is this : they mark the glucose gum- drops “ A B,” and they are known in the trade as “ A B gum- drops,” or “ Arabian gum.” This enables the retailer to know what lie is about; so that this half of the matter is honest enough. But the consumer has not the same information ; so that the re¬ tailer is tempted to charge a gum-arabic price for glucose goods. This might very justly be called, to use a rather slangy expression, a “gum game.” These glucose gum drops, by the way, can be recognized by their peculiar “ short” or brittle fracture, whereas the gum arabic has much‘more elasticity. Again : a great proportion of what are sold as “ licorice drops ” are manufactured, not from the proper materials, — refined sugar, gum arabic, and licorice, — but from lampblack, glue, and brown CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST. 249 sugar, with as little licorice as will give this compost something like a proper flavor. In like manner the Tonka or Tonquin bean is very commonly used instead of vanilla. The same ground plas¬ ter of Paris, or terra alba, which is used in sugar, is extensively mixed with chocolate for the same purpose ; tartaric acid and sulphuric acid are used instead of lemon for acidulating; etc., etc. Instead of cochineal, which is Harmless, but expensive, aniline, • a poisonous product of coal tar, is extensively used to color red candies ; and instead of saffron for the yellow candies, gamboge and chrome yellow, both poisons, are used. Indigo is compara¬ tively harmless for blues, and “ sap green,” or vegetable yellows of other kinds, along with indigo, is safe enough for greens ; but smalt, ultramarine, verdigris, Brunswick green, and other mineral poisons, are extensively employed. Flavoring matters of a poisonous nature are as readily used in the ordinary confectionery of the shops as poisonous colors, or cheap dirt, and for the same reason, to wit, that more money can be made by poisoning people than by furnishing them healthful viands. An enormous quantity of the oil of turpentine is mixed with the peppermint oil, the oil of lemon, and the oil of cinnamon, which are used in flavoring candy, sometimes, indeed, to such an extent that the turpentine can be distinctly tasted. But far worse poisons than turpentine are used. All the “ bitter almond ” flavor that is given to confectionery, of whatever kind, is produced by prussic acid, one of the quickest and strongest poisons known to chemis¬ try. Another class of poison flavors, common a few years ago, has fortunately gone pretty much, out of use. This is not because the confectioners hesitated to sell the poison, by any means, but because its effects were so distinct that the public, careless as it is about its stomach, would not buy it. These flavors were used in what were called “banana drops,” “pear drops,” “peach drops,” “ pineapple drops,” etc. Now the flavor of the pineapple drops was made from an extract of rotten cheese and sulphuric acid, and the others from a mixture in which a chief ingredient was the very poisonous “ fusel oil,” a well-known constituent of bad liquor, and equally well known to physicians as a powerful cause of the fatal and agonizing disorder of the kidneys, known as “ Bright’s disease.” It is a fact that numbers of deaths of young children have been directly traceable to the use of some of these poisonous candies. The temptations to perpetrate these (literally) sickening imposi- 250 CONFECTIONERY, IIONEST AND DISHONEST. lions arc, no doubt, great, for the gain in money is great. So is the money gain of robbing a bank, or robbing and murdering a man. The yellow coloring matter obtained from saffron costs thirty-five dollars a pound, while chrome yellow costs ten cents a pound. Terra alba costs a little more than ordinary loam, while refined sugar costs eighteen or twenty cents a pound, or more ; and so on of the other poisons, as compared with nutritious or harmless materials. But more than this, it is a curious fact that the influence of the United States government has once, at least, been thrown directly in favor of the dishonest candy manufacture, as against the honest trade. During the war, the price of sugar was for a time as high as from twenty-eight to thirty-two cents a pound. Yet at that very time abundance of candy was in the market at seventeen or eighteen cents a pound — a state of things which only plaster of Paris can account for. However, the United States offered a further premium of two cents on every pound of dishonest candy, by means of a tax of four cents on all candy costing over twenty cents a pound, but of only two cents on such as cost less. But it is evident that no honest candy could have cost so little as twenty cents a pound ; so that the honest dealer had not only to compete with a cheating commodity offered at one half the price of his own goods, but with a further bribe of two cents al¬ lowed by his own government for every cheating pound over and above the advantage of the cheat itself. It will be seen, however, by the account which a subsequent portion of this chapter will give of* the business of the senior American house engaged in the candy manufacture, that one con¬ cern, at least, has found it possible to live, and to prosper, too, without the use of lying, swindling, poisoning, or dirt, during a business career of three quarters of a century. The love of sweet things is as natural and healthy as any other appetite. Sugar and sugar candy are as good to eat as puddings or preserves, or anything else whose flavor is one of its recom¬ mendations. Very true, it is not suitable for sustaining life, if eaten without anything else during considerable periods, but neither is any one of the “proximate principles ” which constitute food. AYe should sicken or starve on starch alone, or gluten alone, or fat alone, or albumen alone, or sugar alone ; but each _ of them is healthful in its place, as part of a properly arranged diet. It is said, indeed, that sugar is a prompt and fatal poison to frogs, and lizards, and to doves. So is salt to hens. But human beings are CONFECTIONERY, IIONEST AND DISHONEST. 251 neither frog, lizard, dove, nor hen, — whatever Mr. Darwin may believe as to their having been such a hundred million years ago, — and sugar and salt are good for the food of man. Candy, like everything else, has a history, although it does not, within the records of Christendom at least, date very far back. Before the use of sugar, honey was the great sweetener of culi¬ nary and confectionery labor, as the classic recipes sufficiently show. No other article is mentioned as so uspd in the Bible, wdiich refers to honey as an article of food, or as an ideal of sweetness, some fifty times. The*.sugar-cane, sugar, candy, molasses, and, for all we know, gingerbread and molasses candy, appear to have been known, however, from time immemorial among the Chinese. The sugar¬ cane, but not sugar itself, is supposed to be referred to by Greek and Roman writers on botany and medicine. The cultivation of the cane, the manufacture of sugar, and that of rock-candy also, — this being the earliest known of all the varieties of candy,— were brought by-the Saracens from Asia into Cyprus and Sicily about the eighth century, and into Spain not far from the same time. About 1240 these industries were introduced into the Ma¬ deira Islands. In 1493, the very next year after Columbus dis¬ covered America, they were established in San Domingo, whence they spread to the other islands, and to the main land of America. Humboldt, after thorough research, became convinced that the sugar-cane was not known in America until thus introduced*. It was not until 1563 that Admiral Ilawkins brought sugar into England. There are in the United States several hundred concerns en¬ gaged in manufacturing confectionery, and twenty-five or thirty in New York city alone. Jmich the oldest of them all, however, and indeed the senior concern of all on the Western Continent, is the house of Ridley & Co., of New York, which dates from the year 1806, and whose modest parent establishment, at No. 1 Hud¬ son Street, and which is shown by the cut accompanying this article, is still occupied by the firm, another larger sales-room having also been opened in connection with their up-town manu¬ factory at No. 1149 Broadway. The original founders of the house were succeeded by the pres¬ ent partners in May, 1856, after just half a century of honest and prosperous dealing. The firm now consists of Messrs. Robert A. Ridley, William A. Fritz, William Kennedy, and William Force, all 252 CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST of whom were apprentices to the old firm. Mr. Fritz, who was twenty years with the old firm, is at present business manager. Ridley & Co. do not thus far experience any temptation to vary from the traditions of the concern. They use no materials what¬ ever in their business except the purest and best. Their sugar is sugar, and neither sulphate of lime nor wheat flour, and it is the best refined loaf sugar, too. Their honey is honey, and not mo- MANUFACTORY OF RIDLEY & CO., NEW YORK. lasses ; their gum is gum arabic, and not glucose ; their licorice is licorice, and not a compound of lampblack and glue ; their vanilla is vanilla, and not Tonquin beans ; their flavoring extracts are made by themselves ; no deleterious article whatever is used in their business for flavoring, color, or ingredient of any kind. The high principle of morality, which prevents this standard firm from the profitable swindling which has been described, is consistently adhered to, not only in their process of manufacture, CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST. 253 but throughout their whole business. Thus, for instance, the firm will not deal in what are called “ brandy-balls,” “ cordial drops,” nor any of the kinds of candy which contain alcoholic fluids, nor will they deal in the gambling stuff known as “prize candies.” As befits the truly honorable merchant, they will not trade either upon the bodies or the souls of men. The economical organiza¬ tion of their business, and their extensive and successful use of steam processes in manufacture, show at the same time that they possess a full share of intelligence and enterprise. The materials used in Ridley & Co 's extensive business are much more numerous and varied than might be imagined ; but they present a singularly agreeable array of things wholesome, flavorsome, delicate, and aromatic. They include, first and fore¬ most, sugar; then the auxiliary substantial of honey, molasses, cream, gum arabic, almonds, filberts, cocoanuts, peanuts, chocolate, liquorice, jujube, flax seed, coriander seed, caraways, cinnamon (i. e , the cassia of commerce), cloves, and Iceland moss. Next are the flavors, which are birch, boneset, cayenne pepper, cinna¬ mon, ginger, hoarhound, lemon, musk, peppermint, raspberry, rose, sassafras, vanilla, and wintergreen. Then come the coloring mat¬ ters, viz. : cochineal, indigo, and saffron. Last are what may be called the literary and military styles of confectionery, namely, “ mottoes ” and “ torpedo mottoes.” The former are either those which are infolded with a motto or rhymed couplet, or certain so- called “ conversation lozenges,” each having a brief remark, ques¬ tion, or answer printed upon its face in bright red letters. As for the second or military confectionery, this simply consists of motto candy, accompanied with a kind of small torpedo that goes off when pulled, with a delicate pop just loud enough to please a young lady. As for the forms which are given to these substances, they are still more various. Candy is manufactured into rock, sticks, bars, lumps, braids, crystallized, plums, kisses, comfits, drops, lozenges, nonpareils, and broken candy. All these are manufactured of all combinations, flavors, and colors, and they are put up in boxes, parcels, and cornets. Thus there are used in the confectioneiy business between thir¬ ty and forty different kinds* of materials. These are manufactured into several hundred different styles of candy. The processes of the manufacture are not without their interest, although a detailed account of them would be suitable onty for scientific or commercial purposes. All the sugar used is bought 2 oi CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST. of the best quality, and is carefully clarified besides. No candy, except lozenges, is made without heat; the principal process being to boil a strong sirup of sugar ip the proper manner, and then to manipulate it in a proper manner for crystallizing, or to color it and shape it for drying into its various forms. The quantity of labor bestowed, both by machinery and by hand, is enormous. Take, for instance, one of those common, round, rough-surfaced sugar-plums, about half an inch in diameter, which are made of various colors, some white, some red, etc. Split one of these in two ; you can see numerous concentric circles all the way from the coriander seed, which is the nucleus, out to the surface. Each of these circles is the evidence of one dip in the sugar, and a sub¬ sequent drying. Before this little globe was finished, this dipping and drying had to be repeated two hundred or even three hun¬ dred times. It is true that a large tray or panful is thus treated all at once ; if each had to be made alone, sugar-plums would be practically?unattainable. Machinery and division of labor have rendered them cheap, however ; and these being the two great triumphs of modern industry, it is evident that a great deal of civilization goes into a sugar-plum. King George, according to an old story, "was once greatly mys- . tified with the fact that an apple could be inside of a dumpling, without any sign of its entrance therein. A similar question has often puzzled the uninstructed mind about the cream in cream chocolate drops, and the jelly-like material in the so-called '‘jelly drops,’ 7 and in soft gum drops. As for the chocolate drops, the answer is only this : the inner lump of il cream ” — it is nothing but a lump of very fine, soft sugar — is made first, and then dipped into a thick paste of chocolate, which clings to it and hardens upon it. The structure of the jelly drops is one grade more com¬ plicated, depending on the fact that a thick sirup of gum and sugar, and indeed of sugar alone, ready to crystallize, always be¬ gins to do so on the surface, the interior changing last, because it is thus shut out from the free action of air and light. A prop¬ erly-shaped lump of such sirup, ready flavored and mixed, is therefore placed by itself; it quickly hardens or crystallizes on the outside, and the rest is the "jelly.” Keep it long enough, and that crystallizes or dries up also. There is a well-known scale of the degrees of heat and continu- ance of boiling, which produce certain scientific effects upon sugar. Warm water simply dissolves it more readily than cold. Boil, for CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST. 255 instance, in a proper vessel, fine loaf sugar with water, at three gills of water to a pound of sugar, and two minutes’ boiling will bring the solution to what.is called “ the thread,” i. e., to a state where it will draw out into a short thread ; a few moments more, and it is at the 11 pearl,” that is, bubbles like pearls appear on its surface ; and so on. After a little, a small portion dropped into cold water can be rolled into a ball by the hand ; a little more, and it becomes dryer, and will crack ; then it begins to grow brown, and turns into what is called in the shops caramel ; and the baking can be carried still further, until the sugar becomes nothing but charcoal. The sugar is used for one or another kind . of confectionery, at one or another of these various stages of'boil- ing, as the work requires. Messrs. Ridley & Co. have no regular war departmgnt; the torpedoes, which they use for “ torpedo mottoes,” being imported ready for use. The mottoes, which are used in the candy of that name, have themselves been composed by unknown poets, and consist usually of two-line or four-line stanzas, amatory, compli¬ mentary, or sarcastic. Of these compositions there is a wonder- ful variety, the stock possessed by the firm reaching to about ten thousand different mottoes. Of thirteen of these poetical efforts, picked up at random from a lot in an open basket, every one turned out to belong to the affectionate kind, belonging to classes such as we find described in the indexes to hymn-books by words like “ invitation ” and “ expostulation,” etc.; and it may be ob¬ served that there is a notable equality between the sexes as re¬ gards taking the initiative. One, for instance, suitable for a bold young thing, says, — “ This motto is sent, and sent by a miss, Who wishes you, sir, to return her the kiss.” This one, again, is for a melancholy and unsuccessful lover : — “ How can the fair, for whom I daily pine, Prefer another’s boasted love to mine ? ” But most of them are ambiguous in regard to sex, being such gushes of affection as might fly either way, viz. : — “ Together let us faithful twine A wreath that will our hearts combine.” * No specimens from any of the classic English poets in particular 25G CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST. were observed, though it might be imagined that such a selection would be just as loving as these, and a good deal more poetical. Why not, for instance, use these ? — “ O, woman, in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please ! ” “If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you’ll forget them all.” “ Maid of beauty, ere we part, Give, O, give me back my heart! ” However, this very experiment has been made, and it has failed. A sufficient number of couplets and stanzas could not be found having at once the completeness of form and the peculiar signifi¬ cation required. There are, perhaps, enough abstract and general compliments and declarations of love ; but a brief rhymed request to be allowed to see a young lady home, or an invitation from her to a young gentleman to do so, it would be hard to select; and such homely, every-day suggestions as those are the most useful “ mottoes ; ” for they save the blushes and shyness of many a loving but awkward heart. Allusion has been made to the steady and long-continued busi¬ ness success which has attended the operations of this firm, al¬ ready of a patriarchal standing among American business houses. It does not even condescend to employ those energetic and volu¬ ble representatives of the spirit of modern business, known as “ drummers.” Nevertheless, the transactions of the house of Ridley & Co. reach all parts of the United States, and many other countries besides, as various parts of South America, London, Paris, China, etc., etc. The series of circumstances which ended in the establishment of one of these business correspondences in particular is interest¬ ing enough to be related somewhat in detail. Quite a number of years ago, her grace the Duchess of Sutherland called one morn¬ ing on her friend, Mrs. Bates, the wife of the late Joshua Bates, the well-known American member (since dead) of the great bank¬ ing firm of Baring Bros. & Co. Observing that the duchess had a cold, Mrs. Bates gave her some hoarhound candy to use as a remedy. The duchess, finding it of great service, afterwards rec¬ ommended it to the queen, who tried it with equal success, and the London firm of De Castro A Co., grocers to the queen, were CONFECTIONERY, HONEST AND DISHONEST. 257 soon commanded to supply her majesty with a further quantity of the article. As Mrs. Bates had obtained it from Messrs. Ridley & Co., the order was sent to them; and Ridley & Co. have ever since been supplying Queen Victoria and her family, and the Lon¬ don market besides, with hoarhound candy, sending considerable shipments monthly, or even oftener. It is an additional proof of •the excellence of Ridley & Co.’s candy, that counterfeits of it are constantly on sale all over London. The extent of the business of Messrs. Ridley & Co., as well as its duration in time, is ample proof of the unnecessary nature of the impositions which have been alluded to in the previous pages. The sugar which they use is counted by thousands and thousands of barrels a year. In preparing one of their styles of candy alone they use annually a quantity of dried hoarhound leaf equal in bulk to a good large haystack. Their printer’s bill alone is some two thousand dollars a year. Indeed, as long as there is so ample a field for profit, with the purest integrity in supplying the sweets of life, it is peculiarly strange that the substitution of poisons and rubbish should be so extensively practised. SUGAR REFINING. EXTENT OF THE BUSINESS. — OLD METHODS. — MODERN PROCESSES. — SUGAR REFINERIES. —LOAF, CRYSTAL, AND CRUSHED SUGARS. —TREATMENT OF RAW SUGAR. — REMOVAL OF COLOR AND IMPURITIES. — GRANULATION. — THE VACUUM PAN. — LIQUORING. — MOULDING. — OTHER PROCESSES. — MAPLE SUGAR. —WHERE AND HOW IT IS MANUFACTURED. — SORGHUM. Sugar Refining is carried on to a very large extent in New York city, and in nearly every other leading city in the United States. The process is for the purpose of removing the impurities and coloring matter from raw sugar, as imported, and producing pure white loaf sugar, crystals,—large crystal or “ coffee sugar/ 7 — and crushed and pulverized sugar. These classes of refined su¬ gars may be made in one large establishment, or in different estab- • lishments devoted to the production of a particular class. The process of refining, in its rudest form, is exceedingly ancient, and was practised in England in the sixteenth century. For many years the method of refining was to add to the solution of raw sugar blood, eggs, and lime water to neutralize acid ; heat was then applied, the scum was removed, the semi-crystallized solution was poured into moulds to drain, and the hardened loaves were trimmed, dried, papered, and were ready for market. This pro¬ cess is almost entirely superseded by a more perfect form of filtra¬ tion, which removes the color and impurities with far less waste of sugar. The refineries are immense buildings, six or seven stories high, to admit of the various processes in the different stories, begin¬ ning at the top floor. On this floor the hogsheads and boxes are emptied, the sugar is put into copper “ dissolving pans/ 7 about eight feet in diameter, and hot water is added. The solution is raised to the required heat by means of the steam-heated coils which encase the pans. From the pans the si^up passes through ( 258 ) SUGAR REFINING. 259 filters, which are long bags of thick, twilled cotton cloth, arranged in rows, and which are kept warm by steam. From these bags the liquor runs free from most of its impurities, but still colored. To rerhove the color, the liquor is passed through iron cylinders • of from five to ten feet in diameter, and (now) of fifty feet in height, filled with animal charcoal, or “ bone black.” This char¬ coal is granulated, and, after thorough cleansing and reburning, it recovers a portion of its power, and may be re-used. From tliese charcoal cylinders the sirup comes out perfectly colorless, and is removed to the “vacuum pan ” for evaporation and crystallization. The more rapidly this is effected, the more sugar will result. The evaporation begins at a temperature of from one hundred and seventy to one hundred and eighty degrees, and, when granulation begins, is reduced to one hundred and sixty degrees, and gradually to one hundred and forty-five degrees. From the vacuum pan the sugar goes to a heating pan, similar to the dissolving pan, where it is raised to a temperature of one hundred and eighty degrees, being constantly stirred during the heating, and is then drawn off, and poured into conical iron moulds, and left to drain. After several hours the loaves are “liquored ” by pouring in at the top a perfectly clear solution of pure sugar, which effectually removes every remaining particle of coloring matter. If necessary, the liquoring process is repeated till the loaves are perfectly blanched, when they are taken to a steam-heated drying-room for two or three days; are then trimmed, if necessary, in a lathe ; are papered, and are ready for market as the best quality of “ loaf sugar,” The drainings from the moulds, trimmings, etc., are saved for the manufacture of inferior grades of sugar. In the manufacturing of crystal and crushed sugar, the prelimi¬ nary processes are the same as for loaf sugar, but raw sugars of an inferior quality may be used. The vacuum pans are larger, and for the formation of large crystals the pah is first partially filled, and, as crystallization begins and continues, fresh liquor is introduced from time to time, till the process is complete. The crystals, while in a semi-fluid mass,' are separated by means of a “ centrifugal machine.” In crushed sugar the process is similar to that of making loaf sugar, excepting that the filtration is less complete, and liquoring is dispensed with, ktucli of the best wittte sugar now sold in American cities is sent to market, not in loaves, but in small, square-cut lumps, and the cut, crushed, and pulverized sugar is put up in barrels. 15 260 SUGAR REFINING. Maple Sugar. The manufacture of maple sugar, which has been carried on for more than one hundred years in New England, has now attained considerable importance in that section, in New York, in Pennsyl¬ vania, in Ohio, in Michigan, and in other northern and western states. The sugar is made in February and March, from the sap of the sugar maple. Holes three fourths of an inch in diameter are bored in the trees, not more than half an inch into the wood ; elder wood split tubes are inserted, and the sap, as it flows, is caught in pails or troughs. The sap is boiled over an active fire, is repeatedly skimmed, and when it assumes the consistency of sirup, it is strained through woollen cloths. It is then reboiled to granulating consistency, when it is poured into moulds, from which the molasses drains away, leaving light-brown cakes of sugar. Many farmers make their entire supply of sugar for home consumption from the maple ; it is 11 run ” into cakes, for sale by grocers and confectioners in cities; and it is susceptible, by refin¬ ing, of conversion into pure white sugar. In 1856 the seed of the Chinese sugar-cane, or sugar variety of the sorghum, was introduced into the United States, and its culti¬ vation was begun somewhat extensively, especially at the West. It grows readily in soil and climate where Indian corn can be raised, but will not ripen perfectly north of 42° north latitude. Like the mulberry and petroleum, sorghum became a mania, and for a year or two the papers were filled with accounts of its production and profit, and the probability of its ultimately superseding the sugar-cane of Cuba and the South. It was soon discovered, how¬ ever, that its chief value was for sirup, from one hundred and fifty to four hundred gallons of which can be produced to the acre, while the production of the crystallized cane sugar from the juice is quite small. For molasses, or sirup, the sorghum cane is exten¬ sively cultivated, and in some sections of the country it furnishes almost the sole supply of this article. Quite recently successful experiments have been made in the United States, particularly in Illinois, in making sugar from the French white sugar beet. The manufacture in France for many years past has been extensive and profitable, and there is little doubt that it may become an important industry in this country. FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. FIRE AS A SERVANT, AND AS A MASTER. — IMPROVEMENTS IN BUILDING. — EX¬ AMPLES OF CONFLAGRATIONS. — THE GREAT FIRE IN LONDON. —FIRES IN ROME. — INVENTIONS FOR PUTTING THEM OUT. — THE FIRST FIRE ENGINE OF MODERN TIMES. — THE AIR CHAMBER INTRODUCED. — HOSE FIRST IN¬ VENTED. — FIRE SYRINGES. — THE STEAM FIRE ENGINE. — THE FIRE DEPART¬ MENT OF PARIS.-OF LONDON.-IN THE UNITED STATES.—THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL USE OF STEAM FIRE ENGINES.—THE PRESENT APPARATUS USED BY FIRE DEPARTMENTS. — THE INVENTIONS OF A. F. ALLEN, OF PROVIDENCE, R. I.—THE SPRAY NOZZLE.— AN AUTOMATIC BELIEF VALVE.— TELEGRAPHING THROUGH THE HOSE. — THE NEW ERA IN FIGHTING FIRE. The services of fire, when under man’s control, are so important and valuable, that we cannot wonder that the ancients, with the child-like tendency of personifying the objects about them, should have ascribed its discovery to the agency of the gods; or that some nations of the East should have worshipped it as the symbol of the divine power which created and sustains the universe. To the race of mankind while still in the pastoral condition, while living in tents, and in sparsely-settled communities, this benefi¬ cent aspect of fire is more readily suggested. But when with in¬ creasing numbers men became aggregated into cities, and industry becoming specialized, greater attention and labor were bestowed upon their dwellings, while the fruits of their varied toil came to be gathered and stored in vast depositories, the terrors of fire as a master, as a raging devourer of all that they prized, became more vividly impressed upon their minds, and fire was made the attribute of demons rather than of divinities, becoming a symbol of destruction rather than of service. Though there is hardly any modern city which has not suffered from a conflagration of greater or less extent, and in whose history, if it is old enough to have a history, some destructive ( 261 ) [ \ 26S FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. fire does not form an era from which dates are computed, and the memory of which is still preserved among the old survivors, who never tire of recounting the fearful horrors of that terrible night when the horizon was lit with the lurid flames, and men could wander about in a light as bright as day, with the sad conscious¬ ness that it was made by the destruction of their homes, yet still our’modern cities are more secure than those of olden times. In the advancing march of human dominion over the earth, men have come to use for the construction of their habitations the more incombustible materials, brick, stone, and iron replacing wood. Yet our houses are still very far from being incombustible, and it is only by comparing them with the structures made en¬ tirely of wood, which formed the bulk of our cities during the preceding century, that their advantage in this respect becomes apparent. The number of cathedrals built of stone, which have been burned by the woodwork of the interior finish, together with the total destruction, in about half an hour after the fire was dis¬ covered, of the Crystal Palace in New York, which was con¬ structed of iron and glass, and the partial burning of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, built of the same material, show that it is difficult to construct a building which shall be really indestructible by fire. In York Cathedral, for example, though the solid stone walls were uninjured, yet the flames from the woodwork inside, the pews, the choir, and the screens, set fire to the woodwork of the noble oak roof, covered with slate, and on the two occasions on which this building has been burned, in 1829 and in 1840, utterly destroyed it, though it is hung at an elevation of over one hundred feet from the main floor. In the New York Crystal Palace, the pine floors, the wooden stairs, and the tables for the exhibitors, made such an intense heat as to fracture the glass, and fuse much of tlie.iron used in the construction of the outside. The rapidity with which this confla¬ gration spread was surprising. It began in a lumber-room, used for the storage of benches and things of that kind, and though at irst it cduld have been extinguished with a pitcher of water, yet in less than a half hour it had reduced the entire building to a shapeless mass of ruins. Once started, the flames ran along the pitch pine floors, which had been drying and seasoning for a year or two, as though they were so much tinder, and hardly allowed time for the throng of visitors who were present when the fire FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. 263 began, to save themselves, before the whole building fell into ruins. The great fire of London, in 1666, lasted four days and four nights,.and reduced five-sixths of the city to ruins; nor was this the only time that London had suffered, almost as severely, from con¬ flagrations which the inhabitants had. found too powerful to re¬ strain, though since then no such terrible lire has obtained the mastery of means in use for controlling it. In this country* our chief cities have all experienced the terrors of a great fire; and the recent terrible conflagration in Chicago, oc¬ curred so little while ago, that the impression it produced upon the public mind has not yet died away. In Rome, as we learn from its mention by some of the ancient Latin authors, an in¬ vention called a sipho had been made for the purpose of putting out fires when they occurred. As none, of these writers has hap¬ pened to describe it, it is impossible to tell how it was con¬ structed; and some critics have therefore thought it was rather an arrangement for supplying water to the houses for domestic .use, than an apparatus for putting out fires. Even if it was, how¬ ever, the germ of a fire department, it could not have been very effectual, since Seneca remarks that the houses in Rome were so high that when they took fire it was impossible to put it out. Though the Romans built aqueducts for the. supply of their cities with water, yet they were unacquainted with the properties of this fluid, and that in enclosed pipes it will rise to the level, of its source, so that their aqueducts were carried on a level, often at a great outlay of labor. Yet they were not unacquainted with the use of pipes, for siphons were in use among the Egyptians at a very early age, and frequently in antiquity were used for drain¬ ing lakes, or transferring water from one reservoir to another, over an intervening obstacle. Though the houses in Rome were peculiarly liable from their material to be destroyed by fire, and thpy had a supply from their aqueducts which was much larger in proportion, to the number of their population than modern cities generally have, yet the first suggestion for using water as a defence against fire was made as late as the Empire, by the architect Apollodorus, who suggested the use of a kind of hose, made of the intestines of an ox, to which was attached a bag. filled with water. By pressure upon the bag, the water could be forced through the tube, thus ob¬ tained, and raised to an elevated place. His suggestion was 264 FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. originally made for the purpose of supplying water to besieged places, which were exposed to the arrows and fiery darts of the enemy, but was most probably used also for fighting fire. In Europe, during the middle ages, the chief means used as a protection against fire was prevention. The curfew bell was the signal given in the early evening for extinguishing all the fires used for domestic purposes. The term is derived from the French couvre feu, meaning cover up the fire. In Germany, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, fires were of frequent occurrence. The cities of that country were in those days built in a very crowded manner, and chiefly of wood. The necessity for walling the towns during this period, in order to protect their inhabitants from the raids and forays of the neighboring barons, who maintained their wealth by preying for¬ cibly upon every industrious community within easy reach, obliged the inhabitants of the towns to live in confined quarters. Besides, too, at this time the sanitary measures used in our cities were ignored, and the streets were so narrow as to be frequently little more than footpaths, so that fire was easily communicated from the houses upon one side to those on the other. The frequency of destructive fires led to the issue, in Germany, during these cen¬ turies, of numerous ordinances regulating the construction of houses, and the methods to be used for preventing fires. The first machines, however, intended to put out fires, of which we have any accurate notice, were in use in Augsburg in 1518. These were called “instruments for fires , tf and ** water syringes useful at fires,” this last name pretty effectually describing what these u fire engines ” were. The Jesuit Caspar Schott de¬ scribes one of these which he saw in Nuremberg, in 165T, and says, that forty years before he saw a similar one, though smaller, in Konigshofen, his natal city. lie describes the one in Nuremberg as having a barrel for the water, eight feet long, four feet high, and two feet wide. The piston was forced up by twenty-eight men, and threw a stream of water, one inch in diam¬ eter, a distance of eighty feet. It was carried about on a sledge, ten feet long and four feet broad, drawn by two horses. In front it had a short, flexible pipe, by which the stream could be directed from one side to the other. He makes no mention of any air chamber connected with it, and evidently it was simply an enormous syringe, with which the water was driven by the force applied to the piston. Such a FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. •265 machine must have been quite clumsy to handle, and of not much efficacy, since it had mo suction pipe, and would have to be filled when its charge was expended. In 1684 Perrault describes engines in use in Paris for extin¬ guishing fires. One of these he. speaks of as being in the king’s library, threw a continuous stream of water, though it had but one chamber; and as this is supposed to have been done by the use of an air chamber, this account is said to be the first mention of the use of this device in fire engines. In 1699, a special officer was appointed by the King of France, with the duty of construct¬ ing, and keeping in repair, and using at fires, the seventeen “portable pumps,” which then constituted the force in the royal service. In 1722 the number of these pumps had increased to thirty; but as none of these were provided with separate air chambers, it is most probable that the one previously spoken of did not have any. This opinion is strengthened by the fact, that in the Memoires of the Academy of Sciences, in Paris, for the year 1725, an account is given of the introduction of such an im¬ provement in the engines at Strasburg, while no intimation is given that those of Paris were built with the same device. About the year 1670, hose made of leather wer6 invented in Amsterdam, by two natives of that country, named Van der Ileide, and the immediate introduction of their use showed how much the necessity had been felt for some such appliance. Having afterwards invented the suction pipe, the same inven¬ tors, in 1690, published, in folio, an account of their improve¬ ments, under the title Beschrijving der nieuwljkis uitgevonden Slang-Brand-Spuiten. This volume was handsomely illustrated with plates, the first seven of which represented conflagrations, at which the old engines had been used with but little or no effect, while the last twelve depicted more recent fires, which had been extinguished by the use of the new engine, and showed the work¬ ing of the machines. The details of the construction of the new engine are not given. In England it was a long time before the improved methods of extinguishing fires were introduced from the continent. At the end of the sixteenth century, the only apparatus in use in London was a kind of hand syringe, holding about two or three quarts of water. Some of these are still preserved in the vestry-room of St. Dionis Backchurch, in Fenchurch Street, London. These re¬ quired three men to work them. One man on each side held the .260 FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. ** engine ” in his hands, while the third pressed up the piston, and forced out the water in a stream. When discharged, they were filled by taking out the piston, and immersing the “ engine ” in the water. , • , These syringes were afterwards fitted into a portable cistern, and the pistons arranged to be worked with levers. This arrange¬ ment continued in use until they were supplanted, about the end of the seventeenth century, by a new engine, invented and patented by Ncwsham. This was a cistern mounted upon wheels. It was provided with a suction hose, pumps, and an air chamber. The suction pipe was furnished with a spiral of metal to keep it distended when the air in it was exhausted, so as to prevent its collapsing before the water was drawn up into it. It had also a strainer, and when it could not be conveniently used, water was supplied to the cistern by being brought in buckets. During the eighteenth century, and until the commencement of this, the fire engine remained the same, in general character, as the one just described. Several improvements were made in the manner of working it, but it remained the same in principle. An improvement made in the early part of this century consisted in arranging twelve force pumps about a central air chamber. Each of these pumps could be worked separately, and only one man was required for each pump, so that the engine could be operated without waiting for the entire complement of men to arrive. It is said to have surpassed any other engine of the time in its capacity for throwing water, even when working with a smaller number of men. During the early half of this century, and before the successful application of steam to fire engines, as still in many of the small towns, the engines in use consisted of two vertical double-acting force pumps, or sometimes four single-acting pumps, wdtli an air chamber. These pumps are worked by brakes, consisting of a long handle, worked parallel with the engine, and enabling many men to work them together, and these engines arc provided with separate hose carrriages, upon which a longer or shorter length of hose is carried, rolled upon a reel ; and with them are also pro¬ vided long ladders, and hooks placed upon long poles, which are carried upon separate carriages, and are used for pulling down the damaged walls of a fmilding, or for other purposes. In the United States these engines are worked generally by volunteer companies, who are usually made exempt from military FIRE-ENGINE ON DUTY, FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. 269 duty, and are, however, more or less dependent upon the state, and subject" to the control of state officers. The friendly emulation encouraged between these companies has led to their taking- great pride, in the excellence of their engines, and these are frequently admirable specimens of mechanical workmanship, and beautifully ornamented. In Paris the service at fires is performed by a regularly con¬ stituted body of men, under the control of the government. They are uniformed, are provided with various apparatus for saving the lives of persons in danger from a conflagration, and are trained systematically in all kinds of gymnastics, so as to be able to afford assistance in cases of difficulty. Members of this force are detailed at each of the theatres, and other places of public meet¬ ings, in order to be on hand in case of an emergency. In London the fire service is in the pay of the insurance com¬ panies, and is regularly organized, provided with apparatus, and is very efficient. At first the suggestion to introduce steam fire engines to replace those worked by hand met with great opposi¬ tion from the- organized volunteer fire companies of this country, but the indisputable benefits of their introduction render it cer¬ tain that, in time, wherever they can be used, they will replace the old method of hand engines. The first attempt to produce a fire engine which should work by steam was made by Mr. Braithwaite, of London, England, in 1830. Ilis first engine weighed a little over five thousand pounds, and had not quite six horse power. The boiler was upright, and generated steam in twenty minutes. It could throw about one hundred and fifty gallons a minute from eighty to ninety feet high. In 1832 Mr. Braithwaite built a second engine, constructed upon the same general principles, for the King of Prussia. The great fire of 1835, in New York city, excited attention to the inadequacy of the means then in use to control a conflagration, and premiums were offered for plans of steam fire engines, and in 1841 a number of insurance companies associated themselves together, and contracted with Mr. Ilodges for the construction of such an engine. This* engine, when finished, performed excellent service at fires upon several occasions, but was found too heavy, and it was therefore sold. The merit of having first successfully introduced the use of the steam fire engine, and having organized the fire department upon that basis, in a way which has secured an efficiency never before 270 FIRE DEPARTMENT SUPPLIES. attained, belongs to the city of Cincinnati. The first steam fire engine used there was designed and constructed by Mr. A. B. Latta, in the early part of 1853. This was a very powerful engine, weighing about twelve tons; and though its own steam was ap¬ plied to its wheels as a propelling force, yet it required four horses to drag it. The next year he built two others of the same kind, but the machines now in use do not depend upon the steam as an aid to their propulsion, while the weight of many, in¬ cluding the water in their boilers, has been reduced to less than five tons, so that they are easily hauled by two horses. In 1859 a steam fire engine was built in New York, to be drawn by hand. Its weight was but little over five thousand pounds, and yet it discharged nearly five hundred gallons a minute, throwing a stream measuring one and one-eighth inches to a height of one hundred and eighty-five feet. The use of steam fire engines, being thus successfully inaugurated, has extended in every direction, and the ingenuity of inventors has been chiefly turned towards improv¬ ing the appliances used in connection with them, so that the effi¬ ciency of our apparatus for controlling fires shall be increased, and a greater economy of labor be secured, with the same or less ex¬ penditure of force. The materials now at hand for forming the stock of a well or¬ ganized and provided fire department compare with those in use in the days of ** hand syringes,” very much as the modern steam ship compares with the canoe with which the aboriginal savage navigated our streams, or as the locomotive with its train of palace cars compares with the journeys on foot made by the same people. A visit to the establishment of Albert F. Allen, of Providence, would furnish the reader with the best data for making such a comparison. Here a fire department can find everything needed for their purposes, from a 6team fire engine. down to a hose wrench. Mr. Allen has himself done much to improve the appli¬ ances in use by the fire department, and having practical experi¬ ence of what was needed to perfect the arrangements for subduing a conflagration, he has turned his inventive abilities towards supplying them, and has succeeded, though still a young man, in establishing for himself a reputation as the leading inventor of the country in this department, and for his house as the representa¬ tive house in the United States for its special branch of business. In 1867 he patented an lt escape valve coupling,” which operated with a hand wrench, and was the first step in the much WAFEROOMS OF ALBERT F. ALLEN, PROVIDENCE, ' Mi* -r-.'h vn? ■ -u • f •m U : i - *' »j o'H^yis' ix* w'H - .^nMui u •*;« * ■ ■ ' u 1 9 *• ^ /h l ' ^ J * ' ’ 1 •“ i VJ*Wm i to y tin^Y- o «.. ; ■-: ;•>-... yr •• '/■ • v fi'oifrjnab » ' '• g if , A " ■«•«(• W&gnH ■ * . \\ \ 'j * fi^xtoa rwtfAvr k ,0*fi/9 4i i’> ! i, Kite-v ij t« OiiiHr ,tn&*•<** 4 ' . * #* * * • _« • In the middle ages the comb was also the chief implement used in the toilet of the hair, and it was made of fine materials, ' <• • • i * • 11 ♦« * 4 *. > • - • U * *♦* • ’ J .4*..** ^ ^ such as iv-pry, often of the precious metals, and was handsomely carved and decorated. BRUSHES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 279 In modern times, however, brushes are made of a great variety of materials, according to.the purpose for which they are to be used, and varying in their stiffness. Brushes for scrubbing the surfaces of metals are made of wire. Brushes of twigs, rattan, whalebone, and wood are used for coarse work, and so on up to those made of the finest and most carefully selected hair, for artists’ usq, and of choice feathers for dusting. Most probably many of these materials were used in all times for similar purposes ; but the use of bristles belongs to quite a modern date in history. The bristles used in brushes are chiefly those obtained from the hog; and of these the best are obtained from the wild hogs in the north of Europe, the largest proportion coming from Russia, this country contributing nearly five-sixths of the entire supply. i The demand in this country has more than doubled in the past three years. Besides bristles, the hair of the badger, the squir¬ rel, the sable, the bear, the horse, and other animals, is used for making brushes. For artists’ pencils the hair of the ichneumon is used, while a portion of the supply is furnished from the hair cut from the ears of cows. In fact, it would appear that the hair from any animal whose skin produces straight hair may yet be used for this purpose. The supply may be so much increased, without any fear of outstripping the demand, that invention and experiment are busy at work devising new methods of treating the hair, so as to overcome the technical difficulties which have heretofore stood in the way of its use for this purpose. The cheaper materials for brushes, which do not require much elasticity, and which are used for the coarser work, such as rat¬ tan, whalebone, or shavings of wood, form but a small part in the general trade of the country. For the finer brushes, however, the first thing necessary is to secure the animal which is to furnish the material. This industry of itself furnishes occupation to innumerable hunters, scattered all over the surface of the globe. The animal being caught, and his hair, or bristles, as the case may be, being shaved off, only the preliminary step has been taken in preparing the material obtained for being converted into brushes. As the bristles are received by the manufacturer, though they may appear to have been carefully washed and cleaned, yet they have to go through an elaborate cleansing process before they are really fitted for his purpose. The necessity for doing this 16 280 BRUSHES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. thoroughly makes the item of soap a by no means inconsiderable one in an estimate of the cost of production of brushes. Then, or before being washed, the bristles are sorted according to their color, unless they are obtained by the manufacturer in this condition. The classification thus made is into white, black, gray, yellow, and lilies, or pure white. The white are then bleached with sulphur, or by other chemical agents, and the bristles are again sorted, according to their length and their quality. The process for doing this is simpler than it would seem. A bunch of them is taken in the hand and passed through a species of comb, which catches and removes the coarser bristles. By repeating this process, using each time a finer comb, the bristles are assorted into heaps of as many different sizes as desired. Care must be exercised, during this process, to keep them always arranged in a uniform way, all of the large ends or the small ends pointing the same way. This process of combing, which is tech¬ nically called dragging, is done upon benches, upon which the combs are fixed. When the bristles are thus assorted they are then ready for the brush-makers. In the process of brush-making each operator makes his certain special variety of brush. There is no division of labor, but the entire process is done by a single hand, except in the cases where, as with hair brushes and some other kinds, the brushes have to pass afterwards into the hands of a cabinet¬ maker to be finished for market, by having backs glued on them. The packing, papering, labelling, and other processes of pre¬ paring them for shipment, are generally done by boys or girls. In arranging the fibres for paint brushes of all kinds, the chief object is to so place them that their ends shall come to a central point; and in the finer kinds of brushes, especially those to be used by artists, skill in manipulation is required to do this suc¬ cessfully. In making other kinds of brushes, in which the bristles are set into holes bored into backs of any various material, the bunches of bristles are dipped into hot pitch or glue, then tied, dipped again, and quickly inserted in the holes prepared, where a twist¬ ing motion is given them, and the hardening of the pitch secures them. A stiffer brush is made by doubling the bristles, so that it makes a loop, with the two points projecting. SHUSHES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 281 In other brashes the bristles are fastened with wire. The backs having been prepared, with holes bored in them, a bit of wire bent into a loop is passed through the hole, and a number of the looped bristles being placed in it, the wire is drawn back, bringing the bristles into the hole. The process is repeated until all the holes are filled, when the wire is secured. For the best tooth-brushes a silver wire is used. This process is called drawing the bristles , and an expert hand can fill five hundred holes an hour, though one hundred is nearer the general average. Where the brush is to be used for acids, or other substances which would tend to corrode the wire, a string is used in its place. Another method of drawing the bristles is to have the back prepared with the holes bored not quite through it, and crossed by other holes bored transversely through the sides; the bristles, being then inserted into the holes, are secured by wires thrust through the transverse holes. These holes are then stopped up by plugs of the same material as the backs, so that frequently they cannot be seen, and the brush appears to be made of a single solid piece. The delicate brushes for artists are made by taking the delicate hairs from the furs of animals, which are sufficiently soft, and arranging them into a bundle of the proper shape ; they are then! fastened and run through the larger end of a quill until they pro-- ject sufficiently beyond the other end. The quill having been- soaked beforehand, in order to enlarge it, shrinks sufficiently on drying to hold the brush securely. Brushes of this kind are also often made by being mounted in metallic caps. Round brushes, for washing bottles and other cylindrical 1 ves¬ sels, are made by fastening the bristles, which, project upon both sides, between two wires, which are then firmly twisted together. The chief manufactory of brushes in the United States, and, most probably, the largest single establishment of the kind in the world, is that of E. Clinton & Co., of Philadelphia. In this establishment brushes of every sort and kind are made. The fol¬ lowing items from Messrs. Clinton & Go .’s price list will show the variety of the wares they produce-: ■ Ground paint brushes of all kinds, wire-bound varnish brushes, sash brushes, plasterers’ brushes, nail brushes, painters’ dust brushes, kalsomine brushes,. hand scrubs, shoe brushes, sweeping brushes, counter dusters, double dusters, window brushes, shaving brushes, crumb brushes, 282 BRUSHES AND TIIEIR MANUFACTURE. stencil brushes, flesh brushes, hair brushes, cloth brushes, hat brushes, hearth brushes, horse brushes, tanners’ scouring brushes, jewellers’ brushes, tooth and nail brushes, artists’ badger blend¬ ers, flat and round lackering brushes, bear’s hair mottlers or spelters, red and black sable brushes for artists, marking brushes, varnish brushes, dusters for gilders, camel’s hair tips, graining brushes, bristle poonah brushes, fresco brushes, feather dusters, carriage dusters, picture dusters, &c., &c. The founder of this well-organized and successful manufactory, which is the only one in the United States doing a general busi¬ ness, and at the same time making a specialty of artists’ brushes, is Mr. E. Clinton. He was born on his father’s farm, in Massa¬ chusetts, and, having migrated to Philadelphia in 1838, com¬ menced working at the brush-making business, at wages of a dollar a week. Having become interested in his business, he resolved upon commencing the manufacture of brushes for him¬ self, despite the obstacle of want of capital which then stood in his way. His chief dependence for success was in his resolve to introduce new styles of brushes. Having succeeded in making a few brushes of new designs, he managed to sell them to the dealors. As an evi¬ dence of the spirit and the motives with which he entered upon his career, and the firm maintenance of which has led to his suc¬ cess, it may be mentioned that some of the brushes he thus com¬ menced with are in use still. They were made so excellently that thirty years of service has not destroyed their value ; and, in fact, it would seem that they could never be worn out, with proper usage. At this time the brushes made in America were poor in quality, as well as in grade ; and it was this condition of things which Mr. Clinton sought to revolutionize. Fine brushes at that time were all imported, and the supply was small. Dealers maintained that there was no demand for fine brushes ; and it was this mis¬ taken opinion which, Mr. Clinton found, presented one of the chief obstacles to the increase of his business. By steadily persisting, he, however, was enabled to dispose of some fine brushes ; and, by economy and hard work, he succeeded finally in saving some two or three hundred dollars, with which, as a capital, he com¬ menced a regular business in Second Street, Philadelphia. Ilis first step was to secure some one to assist him ; and, with the good fortune which is so frequently ascribed to chance, but BRUSHES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 283 which results always from the exercise of good judgment, he obtained the help of a good natural mechanic who has continued with him until this day. Having met with the success which attends indomitable busi¬ ness energy, when united with conscientious pride in maintaining the excellency of the work produced, Mr. Clinton felt finally able to treat his family to the luxury of a piano. As it was being brought into his store, on Chestnut Street, he overheard one of his workmen saying, " There goes the sweat of our brows.” ** No, George,” he replied ; “ yours goes down your throat; this is what represents mine.” Such a candid statement of the truth, unaccompanied with any of the pretentious dignity which, founded simply upon pride of purse, fails to recognize the humanity of all those connected with us, regardless of their different social conditions, had its natural effect. The next day "George” took occasion to remark to Mr. Clinton that he was right; and from that day having resolved upon following a different course himself, he has now in his pos¬ session a comfortable property which he has saved instead of squandering. The course of thought and action indicated by this anecdote Mr. Clinton has constantly followed in his relations with those in his employ. Recognizing the rights of labor, he applauds instead of condemning its endeavors to improve its condition ; and, feel¬ ing that the interests of employers and employed are the same, instead of being antagonistic, he takes an interest in the welfare of his workmen, and has so organized the work in his manufac¬ tory, that each workman can make higher wages than elsewhere. There is but little doubt that the unity of purpose thus introduced into all the operations of the firm has been in a great measure the chief cause of the successful career of the enterprise. The supply of brushes provided by the government for its navy-yards, its forts, workshops and offices, is chiefly obtained from Messrs. Clinton & Co.; and this test of their excellence shows how highly they rank in the market of the world. In the commencement of his industrial career Mr. Clinton bought imported brushes, of certain kinds, at the rate of two dol¬ lars and a quarter the dozen; but in a few years, by the organiza¬ tion of the manufacture, he imported the material, and produced brushes of the same kind which he sold at the rate of nine dol¬ lars a gross. 284 BRUSHES AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. At first it was necessary to import the workmen who were skilled in making brushes of the finest kind; but now that the American workmen have been instructed in the various processes, they have acquired a skill which enables them to make better brushes than the imported ones. In the organization of this industry it is possible to employ only such workmen as can be relied upon implicitly — who have an industrial conscience and a pride in the result of their labor which will prevent their shirking the details, or doing their work in a slovenly way. The spirit which Mr. Clinton has carried into the whole busi¬ ness has permeated through the entire establishment and influ¬ ences every one engaged in it ; giving them the collective conscience which makes each of them feel that the reputation of the business is, in ratio to the part he performs, dependent upon himself. Industry thus conceived and carried on resembles more an orchestra than the usual task-work of the world. As in an orchestra, each man is aware that his part is important in the grand result, and that a portion of the credit is his due ; and in one case as in the other, the result is harmony instead of discord. In a business as extensive as that carried on by Messrs. Clin¬ ton & Co. the greatest economy can be realized with the best excellence. Engaged as they are in making brushes of every variety and every grade, the material can all be employed to the very best advantage, that which is not suited for one branch being consumed in another. With these objects in view—excel¬ lence and cheapness — Messrs. Clinton & Co. will in the future unquestionably maintain the position they have earned as the leading house in the country in the important industry of brush¬ making. CORDAGE. RUDE ROPES IN ALL AGES AND ALL NATIONS. — INTRODUCTION OF ROPE¬ MAKING IN AMERICA. — CULTIVATION OF HEMP IN VIRGINIA. — WILD HEMP IN NEW ENGLAND. —INDIAN NETS AND LINES.—CORDAGE MADE BY THE COLONISTS. —MANUFACTURES IN KENTUCKY. —INTRODUCTION OF STEAM POWER. -NEW MACHINES. -PRODUCTION OF EXTENSIVE ESTABLISHMENTS. — ROPE-MAKING BY HAND.-THE MODERN PROCESSES DESCRIBED. — LARGE FACTORIES. —- COMPLICATED MACHINERY. — SUPERIORITY OF AMERICAN CORDAGE. — AMERICAN MACHINES ABROAD. — WIRE ROPE. — ADVANTAGES OVER HEMPEN ROPE. — ITS USES. Cordage is the general term for all kinds of hemp rope, from cables twelve inches in circumference, and weighing more than three thousand pounds in a length of one hundred and twenty fathoms, to a common clothes line, and is especially applied to ship rigging. Rude ropes of some kind — made from bark, wood fibres, vines, leathern thongs, willow, flax, and other materials — have been known in all ages, and among all peoples, for ropes and cords were among the earliest mechanical necessities of man. The history of the introduction and progress of the manufacture of cordage in America is interesting. It was one of the first in¬ dustries that engaged the attention of the colonists. Among the occupatiows laid out in London, in 1620, for the Virginia settlers, special mention is made of the manufacture of cordage from hemp, flax, and “ especially silk grass,” which was superior for the pur¬ pose, and was so esteemed that every family was required to cul¬ tivate it. The wild hemp of New England, which the Indians used in making their nets and lines, attracted the attention of the Puritan settlers, who employed it for the same purpose, and in 1629 hemp seed for cultivation was received from England. It was thirty years later, however, before the colonies of Massachu¬ setts and Connecticut took decided steps for raising hemp, espe¬ cially for cordage for ship rigging, although John Harrison had (285) 286 * CORDAGE. made cordage in Boston the year after (1630) hemp was intro¬ duced ; and John Ileyman was “ authorized ” to make ropes and lines in Charlestown in 1662. The business spread rapidly through the colonies, and in 1698 there were several extensive rope-walks in Philadelphia. Provi¬ dence and Newport were early engaged in cordage manufacture, and in 1730 had several manufactories. In 1790 the Maryland ship-yards, at Baltimore, built more vessels than any two other states, and the manufacture of cordage was in proportion. In 1794 Virginia, as well as Maryland, had more rope-walks than any two of the northern and eastern states. A spinning and twisting * mill for making cordage was patented in the United States in 1804. In 1808 the Massachusetts manufacturers of twines and lines peti¬ tioned Congress for a duty on the imported articles, though then, and for a long time afterwards, much of the hemp and flax worked into cordage came from abroad. In 1810 the domestic manufacture of cordage of all kinds was claimed to be equal to the home demand; and, besides the manu¬ factories on the Atlantic coast, Kentucky at that time had no less than fifteen rope-walks — at Frankfort, Shelbyville, Louisville, and Lexington. In 1811, though the country was still importing im¬ mense quantities of hemp, principally from Russia, the Secretary of the Navy advised an annual appropriation for American hemp for the use of the navy. In 1827 rope factories run by steam were started in Wheeling, Virginia, and at Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. At the same time there was in use in this country a machine in which the threads on revolving spools passed through perforated iron plates, and then through an iron tube, of different diameters for various sized ropes. In 1834 a new machine was introduced in New York which spun rope-yarn from hemp without the preliminary hatcheling, and saved from eight to tei? per cent, of the material. And so, from the earliest manufacture of cord¬ age in this country, rapid progress has been made, — from hand¬ work to horse-power, and then to steam-power, — till the latest inventions and improvements enable large ropes to be made as easily as twine, and a single establishment in three days, or less, can manufacture a complete u gang ” of rigging for the largest ship. Rope-making requires, in connection with the main building or buildings containing the material and machinery, a rope-walk of twelve or'thirteen hundred feet in length. By the old process of rope-making by hand, this was literally a “ walk,” for the work- CORDAGE. 287 man walked from one end to the other and back again. The method was as follows : After the hemp was hackled by means of a steel toothed comb, and sometimes a series of combs, to straight¬ en out the fibres, the spinner wrapped a bundle of hemp about his body, and. drawing out the fibres in front, and twisting them in his hand, which held a woollen cloth to compress the fibres and keep the cord of uniform size, he walked along, making his yarn as he went, the spinning being done by a wheel turned by an as¬ sistant, and the spinner seeing that the fibres were equally supplied, and joining the twisted parts at the ends. Two- or more spinners might be going down the walk at the same time, and at the end two spinners joined their yarns together, each then beginning a new yarn, and returning on the walk to the end where the second spinner again took his yarn off the “ whirl ” and joined it to the end of the first spinner’s yarn, so that it continued it on the reel. When a sufficient number of yarns were spun, they were wound from one reel to another, passing between the two through hot tar, and were then ready to be twisted into ropes. This was the process of rope-making up to fifty years ago, and horse-power was employed to twist the strands into ropes. The first machines for twisting the hand spun yarns into strands and ropes were imported from England ; but, in 1834, American inge¬ nuity devised a machine for spinning the yarns, and numerous other inventions, greatly facilitating all the processes which are now wholly conducted by machinery, soon followed. The modern method of rope-making by the latest improved pro¬ cesses has compelled the erection of large factories, in which the machinery is driven by steam engines of two hundred and fifty horse power, while in some establishments as many as three hun¬ dred hands, many of them women, are employed. The hemp is hoisted to the top story, where it is oiled, placed in layers, and then “ scutched ” by a machine which removes the tow. From the “ scutcher ” the hemp goes to another cylindrical machine called the “lapper,” which extends the fibres and lays the hemp in a long bundle. From the lapper it goes to the “ drawing- frame,” in which, by a series of rollers, the hemp is drawn into a “ sliver ” (of the size for the particular work required), which goes with other slivers to a second drawing-frame, and from thence by a conductor to the floor below to the spinning-frames. There may be a hundred or more of these frames on one floor, with two girls to every five frames to see that the sliver is regularly supplied 288 CORDAGE. and the filled bobbins are replaced. By this machinery each full set, consisting of one scutcher, one lapper, two drawing-machines, five spinning-frames, attended by three men and six girls, ought to give twelve hundred and fifty pounds of yarn in a day’s work, and the daily product of a factory is in this proportion, according to the number of 11 sets ” and hands. The next process (if for tarred ropes) is to pass the yarns through a trough of tar at the temperature of boiling water, the yarns passing through holes in a plate, thus removing the super¬ fluous tar. The yarns are then twisted by machinery into strands, the machine running on rails the whoje length of the walk. The machines for twisting the strands into ropes of various sizes are ingenious and complicated, and for full explanations require dia¬ grams. The final process is coiling and tying in readiness for the ship or warehouse. There are machines, also, for making flat or band ropes; and for ropes of all sizes, for all uses, from the smallest to the largest cable-laid and hawser-laid, and of almost any length. American made cordage has a high reputation, and is largely exported, and American machines have been extensively introduced into Europe. The principal factories in the United States are at Boston, New Bedford, Plymouth, New York, Brooklyn, and Phila¬ delphia ; and cotton rope is made at Norwich, Connecticut, and elsewhere. Some of the large establishments make an average of nearly ten tons of hempen and other rope per day. Wire ropes (see Wire Drawing) have been in use in some of the European mines for the past forty years, and the manufacture has been extensively carried on in England since 1838. The advan¬ tage over hempen ropes is more strength and durability, with less weight. The wire ropes are made of iron of the best quality, and sometimes of steel, and they can readily be spliced. For certain purposes they are invaluable, and their universal application in ship-rigging, for mines, for suspension bridge cables, for submarine telegraphs, and for other purposes, has led to their extensive manufacture, and to numerous patents and improvements in the processes. CURTAIN FIXTURES. THE EARLY NEED FOR CURTAINS. — BIBLICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR MANU¬ FACTURE. — HOW THEY SHOULD BE HUNG. — TACHES, WHAT THEY ARE. — SUBSTITUTES FOR CURTAINS. — MODERN INVENTION APPLIED TO THEIR FIXTURES. —THE PENDULUM FIXTURE. — THE SELF-ADJUSTING FIXTURE.— STATISTICS OF THEIR MANUFACTURE. As sood as the human race had sufficiently progressed to feel the promptings of modesty, something in the character of curtains was contrived. And, too, man has ever possessed a love for orna¬ mentation. His taste, which first found expression in the decora¬ tion of the person with the brilliant plumage of birds and the ele¬ gant skins of wild beasts, led, after many ages, and as the nomadic tribes slowly emerged from barbarism, to the arts of weaving and of dyeing fabrics. These fabrics were employed first for draping the body, and next for hanging the walls, and for separating apart¬ ments of human habitations, in lieu, probably, of skins, which were doubtless before employed. Thus, far beyond the confines of history, among the nomadic tribes of the Indo-European and Semitic races, the use of curtains originated. During the brilliant civilizations, which were devel¬ oped in a very remote antiquity, by India, China, Babylonia, and Egypt, all the decorative arts took great steps forward. The manufacture and arrangement of tapestries and curtain draperies, for the interior walls of temples and houses, then received as much attention as any of the nobler arts. The truth of this assertion, as regards the last named nation, is demonstrated by the interest¬ ing bass-reliefs which still remain, rich and almost indestructible pastorals of the past splendor of one of the strangest and richest civilizations the world has yet seen. » * The curtains employed by the ancient Egyptians were made of woollen and linen; they were ornamented with various figures. / . ( 289 ) 290 CURTAIN FIXTURES. These people, as also the Hebrews, attained great skill in orna¬ menting textile fabrics by embroidery. The ornaments were formed by colored yarns worked in by the hand, and also by the loom, and in the finer specimens of the art threads of gold were intro¬ duced. Among Eastern nations the richest fabrics used for cur¬ tains were studded with precious stones. The author of Exodus, recording the specifications made by the Lord to Moses, and by him transmitted to the people, for the manufacture of tabernacles, w’rites in the twenty-sixth chapter of the book,— “ Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet; with cheru- bims of cunning work shalt thou make them. “ The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits ; and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. “ The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. “ And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling ; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. “ Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. “ And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches ; and it shall be one tabernacle. “ And thou shalt make curtains of goat’s hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle ; eleven curtains shalt thou make. “ The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits ; and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. ** And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the fore front of the tabernacle. “ And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one cur¬ tain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. “ And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.” CURTAIN FIXTURES. 291 The “ taches ” spoken of above were buttons, or knobs, a por¬ tion of the curtain fixtures of those times. It is evident from the foregoing that the art of arranging and hanging curtains was quite advanced in the time of the writer of Exodus, if not of Moses, about whom he discourses. Curtain fixtures doubtless existed long before the author quoted wrote, otherwise so much would not have been written in a style which implies much pre¬ vious knowledge of the curtain-making art. In view of the . special honor which has been rendered to this art, by its being treated or regarded as having been worthy of divine attention, in the manner set forth in the book from which we take the directions cited, the curtain-makers of to-day, and the curtain-fixture makers as well, might be pardoned if they were to consider their art a very select one, possessing perhaps aristocratic or hierarchic claims to consideration. Further on in the chapter (v. 32) we find that gold rings con¬ stituted a portion of the curtain fixtures. The whole work, according to the description therein given, must have been very neat, and at the same time gorgeous, evincing a very far pro¬ gressed civilization at that time, and which must have had, as its precursors, many thousand years of human development. The elaborate construction of the curtains could have only been the outgrowth of the mechanical inventions and struggles of many ages, and the metal work which they used for the curtain fixtures probably required for its development still many more ages. At that early day mankind dwelt mostly in tents, and their curtains were appropriate, or practical and convenient, as the race was divided into wandering tribes. They could easily take down and transport their tents and their appurtenances as occasion re¬ quired. In more modern times communities have become more fixed, so that permanent dwellings are required, furnished with windows to admit light within, and to permit looking out there¬ through. Many substitutes have been used from time to time in place of expensive and elaborate curtains of old, among which we may mention those made of rushes, then shavings of wood, light strips of board, muslin, paper, etc., with many contrivances to fasten them in place. The most common method has been to affix the curtain or shade to a roll or stick, and roll it up to the desired height and secure it with a string, dependent from the top, or by moans of an endless cord running over a pulley at the end of the sticks, or else by weights to balance the curtain and retain 292 CURTAIN FIXTURES. it in the desired position, so as to obscure or obstruct the whole, a part, or more of the view. These methods are more or less objectionable, very liable to get out of order, and thus cause con¬ tinual trouble and annoyance. Many attempts have been made to remedy the defects of the methods we have spoken of above, some of which attempts were in a degree successful, but in some respects lacking perfection. Some twenty years since, Mr. S. S. Putnam, of Boston, invented and patented what is known in the market as the “ sell-adjusting ” curtain fixture, which is so simple and neat a device of mechanics, that we have thought it worthy of repre¬ sentation to our readers. This retains the shade or curtain in any desired position ; never gets out of order; is easily put up with¬ out the aid of much mechanical ingenuity, and is furnished to the public at a very moderate expense ; thus achieving what is ever the most desirable end of all mechanical contrivances, namely, simplicity, reliability, and cheapness. By means of a spiral spring inserted in the end of the roll, which comes in contact with a loose wooden pin upon which the roll revolves, and is retained in its place b} r the cap or spool, a pressure is obtained, which, acting against each bracket at the separate ends, causes a friction, which is sufficient to hold the cur¬ tain at any desired height. By pulling the cord which is attached to the spool the curtain is drawn or rolled up ; and by drawing the curtain down, the cord is wound on the spool, thus always being in readiness for use. The extensive demand for this curtain fixture, is but a merited compliment to its success as a mechanical contrivance. In addition to this, Mr. Putnam has invented, and secured by letters patent, an important improvement, whereby the curtain or shade is attached to the roll without the use of either tacks or screw’s. This improvement is simply the cutting in the roll of a groove about three-fourths of an inch square, and fitting into it a movable bar of wood. Removing this, and putting the end of the curtain in the groove, and replacing the fastening bar, the curtain or shade is held firmly in its place in the most perfect manner. The curtain can be easily removed from the roller when necessary to be cleaned or repaired. So extensively have these fixtures come into use that they can be found in nearly every city or town in the Union, and no doubt the majority of the readers of this article are familiar with them in their own dwellings. CURTAIN FIXTURES. 293 Mr. Putnam has received many letters patent for improvements in curtain fixtures. At the large factory of S. S. Putnam & Co., at Neponset, Massachusetts, now in one of the wards of Boston, many thousand gross are annually made, consuming in their manufacture not less than five hundred thousand feet of pine, fifty thousand feet of birch, thirty thousand feet of bass and maple lumber a year. Thirty tons of metallic castings and some three tons of brass spring wire are also used. The best of lumber, and kiln dried, is required in the manufacture of the curtain fixtures. This company also manufacture the perfected pendulum fixture, which is so made that by removing the clutch, by raising the pen¬ dulous portion of the fixture, the curtain falls or is unwound by its own weight, and is held in such position as is desired by means of the clutch upon the roll, and is operated by the suspended cord. They also manufacture the balance curtain fixture ; in these, weighted or loaded tassels balance the weight of the shade and retain it in any desirable position. Though not precisely pertinent to this article, yet as a matter of mechanical interest, and the invention of the same Mr. Putnam of whom we have before spoken, we notice a very pretty kind of clothes hooks, which is manufactured by Messrs. S. S. Putnam & Co. The hooks are made to swing on a bracket, so that when not required for use they can be turned aside flush with walls or par¬ titions, and thus be entirely out of the way. They are made of malleable, or very strong iron, and bronzed or silver-coated, and are very neat in appearance. The hooks are mounted on black walnut strips, about three feet in length, with screw eyes therein, so that they can be readily hung up or taken down, without incon¬ venience or injury to the wall or partition. This, though a recent invention, is rapidly attracting pub¬ lic attention, the demand for it being very considerable already; thus showing that a really good article, however simple, may grow into vast proportions as a matter of manufacture, and become one of the great industries of a country. The engraving represents the simple design of the clothes hooks. Mr. S. S. Putnam was born in Hartford, Washington County, New York. At an early age he entered the store of a jeweller and watchmaker in Syracuse, as clerk, where he remained some four years. This situation developed the natural mechanical turn 294 CURTAIN FIXTURES. of his mind ; for, without any particular instructions from his em¬ ployer, he was in a short time able to do the repairing of the most delicate watches. Finding this employment too confining for his health he left, and went to Boston, where he entered a dry goods store in the year 1843. Whilst in this situation his attention was drawn to the operation of an upholsterer in putting up window shades, and the difficulty he had to secure the shade to the roll to make it run true. This led him to think upon the subject, and in a short time he invented and patented his celebrated self-adjust¬ ing curtain fixture. Seeing in this a prospect to build up a large and profitable business, he quit the dry goods business and com¬ menced the manufacture of these fixtures, which have obtained a very extensive reputation. Some idea of the magnitude this business has obtained, may be had when it is understood that the quantity of brass wire annually consumed, and which forms the small spring in the end of the fixture, if laid in line would reach a distance of 3300 miles; or the rollers, if laid in one continuous line, would reach half around the globe. HORSE SHOE NAILS. m HORSE SHOES. THEIR IMPORTANCE. — THEIR HISTORY. — EVIDENCE CONCERN¬ ING THEIR USE BY THE ANCIENTS. - FIRST MENTION OF, IN MODERN TIMES. - USE AS A CHARM. — MADE BY MACHINERY. - HORSE-SHOE NAILS. - MADE BY HAND. — MACHINE FOR MAKING THEM. — ITS SUCCESS. — THEIR USE IN THE LATE CIVIL WAR. — THE WORKS FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE. The vast importance of the iron protections, or shoes for the feet of working horses and cattle, is obvious to every one, and doubt¬ less the necessity that the means by which the shoes are held to the feet be reliable, in order that shoes may be made most useful, is equally obvious. Perhaps in regard to no one simple means or power in mechanics has more study been expended, or more ex¬ periments been made, than concerning the horse-shoe nail. When the horse shoe was first invented history leaves wholly in obscurity. We find no intimation anywhere that the ancient Greeks or Romans were in the practice of shoeing horses, or otherwise protecting their hoofs by any mechanical means. Indeed, when the hoofs of war- horses had become broken, we learn that they were allowed to rest; sent out to pasture until the injured hoofs could grow and become sound again. The feet of camels were sometimes encased in a sort of leathern shoe, and the feet of oxen were, sometimes protected, or dressed, when injured, by bandages made of the fibres of plants woven together. Suetonius tells us, in his Life of the Emperor Nero, that the latter, on some of his journeys, but not long ones, was drawn by mules, the feet of which were provided with silver shoes ; indeed, some of them with golden ones. But these were probably simply ornamental bands around the hoof, and not in¬ tended as protections to the feet. Many have contended that passages in Homer prove that the art of shoeing horses was in practical use in his day, but others declare that the phrases supposed to indicate this are metaphorical. 37 ( 20 . 5 ) 296 HORSE SHOE NAILS. George Fleming, an English veterinary surgeon, has issued a vol¬ ume, in which all the evidences on the subject, from Xenophon down, are carefully collected and collated, so as to clearly exhibit both sides of the question. lie makes it clear that the daring experiment of driving a nail into a horse's hoof was not ventured upon in classic times. There is no doubt, however, that different coverings were in use from a remote period, both in Greece and in Italy, to protect the hoof when sore from travel, or when passing over rough roads ; but there is much negative evidence that these were never very generally adopted, and that they were awkward and clumsy in construction, and were only used from sheer necessity upon hard and stony ground, or in cases of foot-soreness. When we read that Poppcea or Commodus shod their horses with gold, it is evident that this must mean (as we have intimated above in the case of Nero), that some sort of gilt sandal or sock was drawn over or fastened to the hoof, plated, perhaps> with metal in the sole. At Pompei, Poman stables have been excavated, and in them have been discovered the bones of horses, and the very ring-bolts to which they were tied, but nothing like an iron shoe. There is nothing in ancient literature or relics to prove that iron plates were nailed lo the hoofs of horses in Greece or Italy at any period be¬ fore the fall of the Western Empire. The first mention of “ iron shoes and their nails" occurs in the “Tacita” of the Emperor Leo VI., where they are set down as among the articles requisite in the equipments of a cavalry soldier. Leo VI. was reigning A. D. 900 ; and though horse shoes were doubtless in use before that time, this is the first known mention made of them. From the remains discovered in tumuli, it has been well established that the Celtic nations used metal horse shoes, fastened with nails, at a much earlier date, which has been variously conjectured to have been at, or as some suppose, before the Christian era. It is supposed by some writers that horse shoeing was intro¬ duced into England by William the Conqueror. Henry de Ferrers, who accompanied him (and whose name is supposed to indicate the fact), held the office of inspector of farriers to William. Six horse shoes were displayed upon his coat of arms. Something mysterious was supposed, at a very early age in the history of horse shoes, to attach to them, and they have consequently been, at different periods, more or less objects of superstition. They have been considered among the lower classes in England, and in HORSE SHOE NAILS. 297 this country in early times, and, indeed, it may be said by many of the higher classes, as protections to houses against “.witches n when nailed upon the jambs of doors, preventing* the poor witches passing in. It is said that in the latter half of the seventeenth century nearly all the houses in the west end of London were thus protected. Ilorse shoes have, since their invention, ever been made by hand, until 1835, when Henry Burden, of Troy, N. Y., invented a machine for making horse shoes, which from time to time he improved upon. As was the case with horse shoes, so with the nails for fastening them to the hoofs. They have always been, until of late, made by hand, being forged out on the anvil by blacksmiths. In many parts of Europe whole villages are devoted to this branch of business. A bundle of rods of iron is received from the chief manufacturer by the head of a family, who takes it to his home, and with the assistance of his wife and children makes it into nails, the product being returned to the capitalist generally after a depreciation of the stock in weight of about twenty-five per cent, for waste. For many years these nails found •a ready market in this country, under various brands or marks, such as the “ G ” or “A ” horse nails, as they could be imported at a much less cost or expense than that at which our own black¬ smiths could make them. But the busy, inventive genius of the country was constantly endeavoring to discover some mechanical mode by which horse nails could be cheapened in price, and the number of machines by which the whole nail, or a portion of it, could be made, which have from time to time been set in operation, is not inconsiderable. The great desideratum, namely, a machine by which not only the actual labor could be performed and the nails made, but by which they could be rapidly made, was not reached at once. The evo¬ lution of the desired machine from the teeming brains of inventors, guiding the hands in the construction thereof, was slow; a growth step by step, rather than an independent, or novel and perfect in¬ vention or discovery as a whole. Of late years much attention and large amounts of capital have been devoted in this country to the manufacture of horse nails by machinery, and various methods and devices tried to produce nails equally as good as those made by hand. Good serviceable horse nails require to be made of a very tough, stiff, strong article of iron, and free from flaws of the slightest kind, for in driving them 203 HORSE SHOE NAILS. into the horse’s hoof, which is less than one-half of an inch in thickness, it is of the utmost importance that no sliver oi splinter shall be formed from them and be driven into the “ quick,” or tender portion of the foot, whereby the horse would be lamed, or perhaps ruined. No kinds of iron have yet been found to possess the proper qualities for nails uniformly equal to the Norway and Swedish, for which reason these are the most generally used. Machines have from time to time been made to cut or punch the nail from sheets or plates of iron rolled to a proper thickness, either hot or cold ; but it has been found impossible to produce a nail as compact, firm, tough, and strong as can be made by hammering it out on the anvil, whereby the grain of the iron is compacted, refined, and made more ductile and tenacious ; and though many nails so cut or punched out have gotten into use, yet the best order of smiths refuse to use them. In the j^ear 1850 Mr. Silas S. Putnam, of Neponset, Mass., conceived the plan of forging horse nails by machinery from the red-hot rod, in a manner similar to that of the blacksmith ; and devoted much time, money, and severe thinking in projecting and perfecting a machine which would make nails equal, if not superior, to those made by hand. After several unsuccessful attempts, each of which lacked some small item of perfection, he at last con¬ structed a working machine capable of making a nearer perfect nail than is possible to be made by hand, and possessing all the desir¬ able qualities of the very best hand-made nail, at a much less cost. So great, however, was the prejudice among smiths generally against any machine-made nail, that in many cases they refused to use Mr. Putnam’s nails, even when given to them without charge. The experience which nearly every inventor of a matter of real merit undergoes, was suffered by Mr. Putnam. It is a strange fact, that a meritorious invention usually enjoys less early success than one of no great importance, and must work its way into public adoption or approval by slow stages, and through many trials. Before it becomes well established in the public’s esteem as a staple article of the popular market, a dozen novelties, invented at the same time with, or after it, and of a comparatively worthless nature, may have enjoyed a heyday of success, bringing to their inventors’ pockets considerable sums of money, sometimes fortunes, and have gone into oblivion, never to be heard of again. In the order of human, real progress, only the substantial, worth¬ ful things survive the tests of time and use. PUTNAM & CO.’S WORKS, NEPONSET, MASS . ‘ ; * HORSE SHOE NAILS. 301 By dint of constant perseverance and energy, however, these nails were .brought into public notice, and at last their superior excellence commanded for them due recognition, and they are now in use in all sections of the United States. At the commencement of the late civil war, the Boston Light Artillery, before leaving for the seat of war, supplied themselves with “ Putnam’s Horse Nails,” and when they were stationed at Baltimore, the superiority of these nails, in finish and quality over others, attracted the attention of the government officials, who brought them to the notice of the quartermaster-general of the army. The severe tests to which the nails were subjected, and the complete satisfaction which they gave, commanded that officer’s indorsement of them, and caused their adoption into general use by the army, as the “ Government Standard Horse Nail.” Many hundred tons of them were used by our cavalry and artillery forces in all sections of the country. On the occasion of the defeat of General Pope in Virginia, the rebels succeeded in capturing a government train of quarter¬ master’s stores, among which were several hundred boxes of these nails. These were taken to Richmond, and were considered one of the most valuable articles of the capture, as the South was greatly deficient in horse nails, being obliged to use many of their horses unshod. In fact, had it not been for the horse nails thus captured from our train, the Southern cavalry would have been a weak instead of a strong ally to the Confederate forces. Some few years since, finding more room necessary for carrying on this rapidly increasing business according to its demands, Mr. Putnam purchased a tract of land lying on the Neponset River, and now embraced in the sixteenth ward of Boston, where the exten- give works of S. S. Putnam & Co. are now located. These works use a two hundred horse power Corliss, engine to drive their machinery, and employ some two hundred operatives in making these now staple articles in the market, known as the “ Putnam Forged Horse Nails.” From small beginnings, they have in¬ creased their yearly consumption to about one thousand tons of Norway iron, using in their manufacture a thousand tons of coal. Eighty thousand boxes are required annually for packing these horse nails for market. In making a horse-shoe nail by hand the blacksmith gives some twenty blows with the hammer in order to form the same into shape, and can make but from ten to twelve pounds as a day's 302 IIOIiSE SHOE NAILS. work ; but with the Putnam machine the nail receives some sixty blows from the hammer, leaving- the iron much more compacted in fibre, and more nearly perfect than is possible to be done by hand, while from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds are made daily by a machine. Mr. Putnam has obtained several letters patent for improvements on his machines, and is still constantly making new improvements upon the machines, whereby the manufacture of the nails is simpli¬ fied and the expenses lessened. The company use only machines of Mr. Putnam’s invention, the first of which was put in operation in 1850. The influence of this advanced step in mechanics, — the making by machinery of a better article of nails than was formerly made by hand, or by manufacture, in its proper signification, — must yet be very great on all sorts of handicraft, as it suggestively • leads to the invention of machinery for the purpose of accomplish¬ ing other ends in the constructive arts, which it has heretofore been thought impossible to accomplish except by actual manipula¬ tion, with certainty of reaching the desirable perfection. Of course the machinery which secures the ends attained by that of the Putnam & Co. can be made to perform like work in other branches of art than nail-making, and will work valuable revolutions in the manufacturing arts and industries of the country. PETROLEUM. WHERE PETROLEUM IS FOUND. — KNOWN TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO.—THE WELLS OF liURMAH. — SOURCE OF PETROLEUM. — DIFFERENCE IN SAMPLES. — SUPPLIES IN THE UNITED STATES. -HOW THE INDIANS USED THE OIL. — ITS USE IN SURGERY. —THE FIRST DISCOVERIES IN OHIO. — BORING WELLS IN PENNSYLVANIA. —BREAKING OUT OF THE OIL FEVER. —ADVENTURERS, CAPITALISTS, EXPLORERS, AND SPECULATORS. — FORTUNES MADE IN A DAY. — FORTUNATE FARMERS. — GROWTH OF THE OIL BUSINESS. — DEVELOP¬ MENT OF NEW INDUSTRIES. — OTHER KINDS OF BUSINESS BENEFITED.— PROCESS OF SINKING WELLS. —YIELD.— SUPPLY UNLIMITED. — REFINING \ PROCESS. — USES FOR PETROLEUM. — EXPORT. is wBmw ' ... . . K Petroleum, as the name indicates, is a rock oil, which exudes from the earth, or is pumped from wells or bores of different depths. It is found in many parts of the world. It was known more than two thousand years ago to the Greeks and Romans. For centuries the springs and wells of the Rangoon district on the Irrawaddy have supplied the entire Burman empire and portions of India ; B ikoo, in Georgia, on the west shore of the Caspian, supplies Persia with the means of artificial light ; for more than two hundred years Parma and Modena have furnished petroleum f»r lt;ijy ; it is found in the island of Trinidad ; Cuba produces it; i! is soerl-floating on the water in the vicinity of volcanoes; near Vesuvius a petroleum spring comes up through the sea; and new discoveries are constantly occurring in different parts of the world. Whit petroleum—which is known also in trade as naphtha, sixolino, cazeline, and b}' many more names — really is, and from what it is derived, is a matter of dispute. By some it is believed to be of animal origin, and that vast deposits of once existing m nine animals have been converted by heat and pressure, as coal b »Is are formed, into petroleum. Analysis shows that the rock- oil is nearly identical with the fluids distilled from bituminous coal. Samples from different regions show different constituents, or dif- ( 303 ) i PETROLEUM. 3i4 fercnt proportions of the same constituents. The Burmese oil affords about eleven per cent, of paraffine, which has been suc¬ cessfully employed in England in the manufacture of candles. Other samples contain neither paraffine nor benzole ; various oils differ aUo i:i density; but an ordinary sample will give filly per cent, of burning oil, and twenty-two per cent.of lubricating oil. in the United States, petroleum is found in great profusion in North-western Pennsylvania, in New York, in Ohio, in Virginia, in Kentucky, and to some extent in Louisiana, in Utah, and in other sections of the country. The oil near the head of the Gen¬ esee River, in New York, and that of Venango County, in Penn¬ sylvania, was known from a remote period to the Indians, who used it for medical purposes, and who called the attention of the whites to it more than a century ago. Under the names of “ Gen¬ esee oil 77 and “ Seneca oil, 77 it was for a long time, and still is, in some sections, a popular and efficacious remedy for rheumatism; and petroleum is now employed in washing wounds, and its cura¬ tive properties are highly commended. But for a long time after pet:oleum was known to the people of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vir¬ ginia, and New York, there was no thought of it in connection with the many uses to which it is now applied. In sinking wells for salt water in Ohio, in 1819, petroleum exuded in such quantities that, according to an article in the Ameri¬ can Journal of Science, in 1826, it began to be in demand for illu¬ minating purposes, and was used to a considerable extent in factories and workshops. Oil Creek, in Venango County, Pennsyl¬ vania,— the most prolific source of petroleum supply in the country, — was so named by the earliest settlers; but it was not until 1845 that any attempt was made to procure the oil in quanti¬ ties, and what was produced was used almost wholly for medical purposes. Yet in this region there arc remains of old oil pits, which may have been dug by the French early in the last century, or by the Indians, showing that supplies beyond what oozed from the ground or floated on the streams were sought for. That it existed in any quantity, or that there might be regular and easily controlled sources of supply, does not seem to have been imagined till 1845, when a bore for a salt well, twenty-five miles distant from Pittsburg, developed two oil springs that yielded a barrel in twenty-four hours. Thi s was the beginning of the “oil fever. 77 Nine years latex companies were formed in New York ; land and rights were pur- PETROLEUM. 305 chased, and experiments were made in the purification of the oil. In 1859 a New Ilaven company bored a well at Titusville, on Oil Creek, which, by pumping, gave a thousand gallons of oil a day. Soon after, wells of from five hundred to six hundred feet in depth flowed at the rate of three thousand barrels a day from each well. An immense excitement was the natural consequence. Adventurers, capitalists, explorers, and speculators flocked to the oil region of Pennsylvania; farms and rights were sold at fabulous prices ; a lew farmeis, who were the fortunate possessors of well- located lands, suddenly found themselves in receipt of incomes of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the country went 1‘aiily wild over petroleum speculations. Before the close of 1863 more than two thousand wells were sunk in the vicinity of Oil Creek, seventy-four of which were re¬ ported as yielding daily eleven hundred and sixty-five barrels, which, at the then price of twenty cents a gallon, gave ten thou¬ sand dollars. Large fortunes were made — and lost — in the busi¬ ness. The trade had its periods of success and depression ; but when the business ceased to be speculative, and settled down upon a solid basis, with a large home demand, and an extensive export trade, the production of oil steadily increased, new wells were dug almost daily, and a new and most important source of wealth was added to the industries of the country. Every busi¬ ness in any way connected with the oil received an immediate and immense impulse. The railroads which carried the oil to the cities and to the coast were busy transporting it by night and day. New cars, with very large iron tanks for conveying the crude oil in bulk, were constructed. Oil refineries were started in several cities. Iron founderics found work in casting pipes for the wells. For the pumps there was a large demand for steam engines. And thus, in various pursuits apart from the immediate production of the oil, employment was furnished to thousands of mechanics and laborers. The process of sinking the wells is quite simple, and is similar to that of boring artesian wells. As the boring descends, iron pipes of ten or twelve feet in length are driven down through the bored earth and rock till oil is “ struck .” Frequently, when a well is apparently exhausted, or when the flow is feeble, further and more abundant supplies are obtained from the same well by deeper boring. Of course the oil rises by the pressure of water in the springs beneath ; and when a well is first opened, very often the flow is profuse and spontaneous, though after a while to nearly 306 PETROLEUM. every well a pump must be applied. The yield of wells, even of those which are side by side, differs greatly, and wells sunk in what promised to be the most productive section have been any¬ thing but profitable. The best localities, without reference to the precise spot for particular wells, —for this is beyond human ken, — are well known ; and so far as discoveries to this year (1871) ex¬ tend, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia offer the best oil grounds. The supply of petroleum may reasonably be believed to be inex¬ haustible. The process of refining petroleum is the same as that applied to coal oils, and, indeed, most of the establishments formerly em¬ ployed in the rectification of crude coal oils have, since 1860, been converted into petroleum refineries, which do a large and profitable business. The crude oil, as it comes from the wells, is used for many purposes, and the refined furnishes oil for illumina¬ tion, lubrication, medical purposes, etc. The general use of petroleum, which has almost taken the place of sperm oil, has also developed a new and remunerative industry in the manufacture of lamps adapted to the fluid, and numerous patents have been taken out in the United States for inventions which make petroleum and its products subservient to domestic purposes in generating heat and light. It must not be supposed because petroleum has ceased to be an “ excitement,” or a mere matter of speculation, that its production has been diminished, or tiiat its importance has decreased as an article of foreign and domestic use. The increase in the flow of oil ldi Pennsylvania since 1867 has been nearly fifty per cent. The export of petroleum in 1860 was only one and one-half million of gallons; in 1868, it was ninety-nine million gallons; in 1870, the export was one hundred and forty-one million gallons. GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. THE DERIVATION OF OUR WORD LAMP. — THE HISTORY OF APPLIANCES FOR LIGHTING. -LAMPS AMONG THE ANCIENTS. — LAMPS IN ST. PETER’S. — GAS. — THE MANUFACTURE OF GAS FIXTURES. — DESCRIPTION OF THE FACTORY OF MESSRS. CORNELIUS AND SONS.—BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE FOUN¬ DER OF THE HOUSE. Lamp — from the Greek word lampein, which signifies to shine — is a generic term, which properly includes all sorts of lights and their holders, candlesticks, gas fixtures, and other burners. In close proximity to the axe and the plow, the article of lamps, or holders of the materials from which light is evolved, has place among the artificial necessities of man. The enjoyment of light in the night season could not be realized practically to any great extent without the means of vessels, or other mechanical devices of some sort, to contain in place, or convey to the action of heat, the fuels, oils, gases, etc., from which light is drawn. We have no historic account of any article of utility or ornament of a more remote antiquity than the lamp. Fire-worship would seem, from all we can gather from the meagre intimations of history, to have been one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of cults, — sun-wor¬ ship, perhaps, • preceded it,— : and probably led to the lamp or candb stick be ing regarded with something like reverence in the early historic period. Lamps of varied and beautiful shapes have been found among the ruins of Poinpei and Herculaneum. The Museo Borbonieo at Naples, is rich in relics of beautiful works, among which are lamps in great numbers, taken from these ruins. According to the legends of the Chinese, their ancestors far back, thousands of y-'ars beyond the dawn of the historic period of the Western nations, must have been familiar with the lamp. But we need m dvvt 11 further upon its remote antiquity. Some of the ancients, w no told, endeavored to make a lamp which should burn per- ( 307 ) 308 GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. petually ; which should need no replenishing with oil. Strange as must have seemed to their contemporaries, the hallucinations of these ambitious inventors, something akin to the eternal-burner which they sought, is now found in the “ gas fixture ,” or metal tube of to-day, and its contents of bi-carbureted hydrogen. Had the gas fixtures of to-day been invented in antique times, we can probably hardly conceive to what power they would have been ascribed, for our modern illuminating gas supposes a deep¬ er acquaintance with science than all the magicians and philos¬ ophers of antiquity together possessed. In St. Peter’s Church at Rome, as well as in many other Roman Catholic cathedrals and churches throughout the world, lamps are kept constantly burn¬ ing. The custom is supposed to be of early origin, and to have been borrowed from a still earlier one, the object of which was, among the superstitious, to keep off evil "spirits, who, it was thought, could only flourish or do harm to man in .the dark. But the enlightenment of modern times demonstrates that the most evil spirits among men may walk abroad at noonday, and do their nefarious work in the full light of the sun, to say nothing of gas-light. The manufacture of ga£ fixtures is of modern date, and has be¬ come one of the most important industries of the day, considering both the utilities it serves and the sense or love of beauty to which it administers. A few years ago the majority of gas fix¬ tures used throughout the world were manufactured in Europe, principally in England and France, and chiefly by small manufactur¬ ers. To-day a single firm or establishment in this country, that of the Messrs. Cornelius and Sons, of Philadelphia, Penn., makes nearly one-half of all the gas fixtures manufactured in the United States, which, together with the unsurpassed, if not wholly un¬ equalled character as well, of their wares, renders them the repre¬ sentative manufacturers in their line. There are several other manufacturers of gas fixtures in the United States, who nrake good wares, both as to quality of workmanship and the ornamental character of their designs, but it would be almost impossible, if not quite so, to exercise more care and study in manufacture and ornamental designs than are observed by the Messrs. Cornelius in the manufacture of their goods. In treating of the great industries of the country, it is a matter of extreme satisfaction to the writer, as interested in both the per- GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. 309 fection of a specific ware, and the bearing it has upon the weal of the nation, to be able to find among the manufacturers thereof men whose pride in the accomplishment of perfect work, for sake of the pleasure of making it, seems to be at least equal to their ambi¬ tion in money-making. The Messrs. Cornelius would seem to be so circumstanced, that however inclined they might be to slight their work for money-making purposes, they cannot willingly do so on the score of honor. Having a reputation for making per¬ fect wares, upon which their vast establishment has been built up, they have a peculiar pride in sustaining it. In the writer’s large acquaintance with the modes of manufacture, he knows of no establishment for the production of any ware in which the pro¬ cesses of work are more systematized and nearer perfect than in that of the Messrs. Cornelius’ Gas Fixture Manufactory. The extent and importance of the manufacture of gas fixtures in this country will be apparent on reflecting that in nearly all the houses of the great cities, and in nearly every village having a population of four or five thousand, they are now in use. There are a great number of isolated residences in the country, the owners of which manufacture their own gas by private methods, and whose houses require the gas fixtures. The de¬ mand for these wares is increasing every day. In order to ac¬ quaint himself with the mode of manufacturing the gas fixtures, the writer recently paid a visit to the establishment of Messrs. Cornelius among others. All the processes pursued in other manu¬ factories, and which are of any worth, are to be found in operation in this establishment, besides many improvements secured by letters patent, and which are not to be found elsewhere. A description therefore of what is to be seen at this establishment will cover the whole subject for the general reader. Messrs. Cornelius & Sons’ principal establishment is situated on Cherry Street, in the city of Philadelphia, and is also in busi¬ ness communication with another large establishment of theirs on the corner of Columbia Avenue and Fifth Street, in the same city. The Cherry Street building is an immense structure, some four hundred feet in length of its facade, and vast wings', and is five stories in height. It is built entirely of brick and iron, is in the form of a hollow square, and fire-proof throughout. As a building for its purposes it is a model of convenience, and is divided into some eighteen separate and distinct departments, or work rooms, all well lighted, thoroughly ventilated, and heated 810 GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. by steam. It is, without doubt, one of the most perfectly organ¬ ized establishments in the United States. Entering the establishment, the visitor proceeds, perhaps, first to the modelling rooms. The firm have in their employ several designers or artists who occupy separate rooms, in different parts * of the building, and who do not intercommunicate, each depending upon his own unaided genius in devising sketches for the models. Thus greater originality of design is accomplished. Following a design which is given him, sketched upon paper, the modeller pro¬ ceeds to mould into required shape a mass of prepared wax. Alter the design is “ roughed out,” he consummates his task with the aid of tools made of hard wood or steel. When the pattern, frequently the work of weeks, is completed, it goes in the hands of the “ caster,” who makes a mould of it in brass, which is sent to the “ chaser,” and is elaborated into a standard pattern, from which the caster may multiply an infinitude of copies. It is a very nice operation to make a mould from the original wax pattern, the fragile material rendering it necessary to use every precaution in obtaining a brazen fac-simile of the original. Much depends upon the “ chaser.” When the first brazen copy of the pattern is placed in his hands, the embellishments on its surface are f int, and require to be deepened. The partially developed fibres and veins of leaves and flowers, the feaihers of birds arid fur of ani¬ mals, are by him made distinct. lie uses small steel chisels, of various shapes, with which the necessary indentations are made by sharp blows of a light hammer. The completed pattern is re¬ turned to the caster. In casting a drooping feather or a crumpled vine leaf, for instance, it is found more expeditious to flatten the pattern. After the casting is finished, the proper curves are given to the hitherto flat surfaces by means of wooden mallets and other tools. In the casting-rooms, where many men are emplojmd, the heat from the furnaces is very great, and becomes almost stifling, in conjunction with the sulphurous fumes of the liquid mass of mingled copper and spelter, forming brass, which is glowing and seething in black-lead crucibles placed in the midst of fiery anthra¬ cite. Each caster works at a wooden trough, into which he care¬ fully silts prepared sand, slightly moistened. This sand is of a kind peculiarly fitted for moulding, and found in the region of Philadelphia. Thus prepared the sand is placed in flasks, and the process ol moulding, sufficiently understood by general readers, is GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. 311 proceeded with. After the crucibles have been emptied into the moulds a few minutes suffice for the lately molten brass to chill into a hardness which permits the flasks to be opened, by remov¬ ing* the clamps, when it is a matter of surprise to note how faith¬ fully the finest chased work has been transferred from the original pattern to the copy. The castings are conveyed from the foundery to the filing depart¬ ment. Here scores of files create a constant din, not musical to all ears. The castings are first “ edged up ” with course rasps, and then finished with finer tools. In many instances a number of castings must be joined to form one piece. The several parts are conveyed to the soldering room, where they are properly fitted to¬ gether, care being taken to leave one edge more prominent than the other. The sections are then put into their proper places, and retained in position by iron wire. Particles of brass solder, which look like brazen saw dust, are wet with water and carefully ap¬ plied along the projecting edge of the section. The entire piece is then placed in a furnace, where the solder is melted. The work then undergoes another filing. The joints must be made with the utmost care, for the subtle gas would escape through any tiny opening left in the work. Before the castings leave the filing and, soldering rooms, there is frequently much to be done in the way of the twisting of branches, crumpling of leaves, drilling of holes, etc., etc. The castings are taken after the re-filing, etc., to the dipping room. Here everything is done by means of chemical agents. The room is a perfect laboratory in itself. There are ranges of monstrous stone jars filled with divers colored acids, of different degrees of strength ; pans and kettles filled with various liquids ; and hot, lukewarm, and cold water is flowing in abundance. When the castings leave the hands of the filers they are dirty and dis¬ colored, and more or less sand or other foreign matter clings to them. The first act of the dipper is the taking up of a casting with a pair of tongs, and dipping it into a jar of acid. Only a moment is required to remove by this process every particle of dirt from the surface of the piece. The chemical would soon de vour the piece itself if sufficient time w T ere given it. But the dipper speedily takes out the cleansed metal and places it in water, which arrests the ravages of the acid. This operation of plunging the metal into acid is called “pick¬ ling.” The color of the metal is rendered by it essentially brass- 312 GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. like, as the “ pickle ” lias devoured the foreign substances on its surface. The article thus cleaned is then dipped into a jar, the contents of which are a mystery to us. This has the effect to give the surface a rich sulphur color. This operation occupies but a moment. The piece of metal is again washed in clean water, and is then plunged into a chemical combination called an “ or¬ molu ; ” in a few minutes the color of the metal is changed to a dii-ty* yellow. The ormolu is then washed off, and the surface of the metal is found to have been eaten into minute molecules. One more dip into an acid, which gives the brass a rich, pale gold color, finishes the chemical ordeal. After the piece is again cleansed in water, it presents a rich and uniform, though dull gold color. This dulncss forms a good foil, and contrasts finely with the prominent parts of the design, which are afterwards richly burnished, the or- molu having prepared the surface of the metal for that operation. % In an apartment adjoining the dippers is another one in which the coating of the brass which has passed the ormolu process is carried on. The galvanic battery is here put in use. The piece of brass is put in connection with the battery, and is made to form the negative pole of the instrument. A bar of pure silver acts as the positive pole. The brass is then held in a solution, and the bar of silver is played around it under the surface for a few seconds, which suffices to precipitate upon the negative pole, or piece, a coat of silver thick enough to bear without injury the action of the burnishing instrument. Burnishing is an important process in the manufacture of gas fixtures. In the burnishing room of Messrs. Cornelius & Sons, a little army of burnishers is employed. The tools used are of a. great variety of shape, and during the process of burnishing are frequently dipped into a dark-colored liquid, which on inquiry we find to be simply small beer. The parts of the surface of the metal which are not burnished are “ dead,” or “ matted,” as they come from the ormolu. Much of the beauty and character of the work depends upon a judicious selection of the parts to be bur¬ nished. It is, to the proper development of the design, what lights and shades are to a good picture. The process of lacquering, which is a very important one, is carried on in a room supplied with stoves, which are kept in all seasons constantly heated. Here the various articles are placed upon hot iron after being carefully brushed. When heated to a certain degree, the articles are taken to a table, where the lacquer is GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. 313 applied with fine, flat brushes. Some articles are dipped into the lacquer, and 11 slung ” backwards and forwards, in order to make it certain that the lacquer is properly spread over their surfaces. The lacquer must be scientifically prepared and skilfully applied to insure a rich and lasting gold color, unaffected by the action of the atmosphere. t The different parts and ornaments after undergoing the processes described are ready to be placed in the hands of the fitter or finisher, and are selected and taken to the respective places for putting them together. One room is occupied entirely by a number of men who are constantly employed in fitting together such gas work as chan¬ deliers, pendants, brackets, etc. ; another room is devoted to the numerous class of solar lamps designed for standing upon the table, or to be suspended from the ceiling or against the wall. Some of the ornamental work is painted in party-colors, to please fanciful tastes ; some is bronzed in different shades, while other work is covered with a coating of fine gold, or tastefully enamelled. We have now noted the processes by which blocks of spelter and of copper are converted into articles of use and taste. But many of them to which we have alluded are only th6 branches or outer flourishes of a grand design. The construction of a chan¬ delier involves much more than we have noted. The main body of a chandelier is a hollow shell of metal, technically called a “ bowl.” Formerly the making of the bowls was a tedious pro¬ cess. A plate of brass was hammered into shape by hand, and often .occupied eight or nine hours for the forming of a bowl. Now, by the improved machinery of Messrs. Cornelius & Sons, one man can turn out several hundred a day. A plate of brass is cut or stamped out in a circular form, a small hole being also cut in its centre. It is then taken to a turning lathe. A block of wood of the desired shape is fixed firmly in the lathe, and the brass plate is secured at its centre to the block. The “ spinner” then lubricates the surface of the plate, that his tools may work easily. The lathe is set in motion, and the wooden block, with the brass plate attached, is made to revolve rapidly; and the “ spin¬ ner,'” by means of a smooth iron tool, presses the plate over the wooden mould, until it covers it closely in every part. This forms one half of a “bowl.” The process is expeditious, but requires both strength and skill in the operator. After being spun, the bowl then undergoes the processes of turning, filing, fitting, dipping, 18 8 14 GAS FIXTURES AND LAMFS. burnishing, and lacquering, and is ready to form the body or centre of the chandelier, to which the branches, etc., are fastened by means of several vases, and a variety of other articles are spun in the same manner. There is a vast amount of turning of metals required in the prosecution of this immense business. The drilling machines, tapping machines, and screw cutters, would of themselves form the interesting subject of a long article. One apartment is de¬ voted to the grinding of keys, or faucets of the gas fixtures. This work requires the utmost care, as an aperture almost imper¬ ceptible would occasion a serious leak. There are other rooms on which tin and coppersmiths are engaged at their special branches of business. The packing rooms of this establishment reveal the vastness of the business ; tons of paper being annually used to wrap the goods for transportation. The “ Pattern Room is a museum of art. It is large and well stocked, kept under lock and key, and watched with jealous care. Here a copy is preserved of every pattern worthy of being re¬ tained made by the proprietors since the commencement of their business. The collection is valued at a high rate. The articles could not be* replaced. The gas fixtures of this establishment arc to be found in the majority of dwelling-houses lighted by gas throughout the land, and their lamps are everywhere seen, while nearly every capital in the United States, together with most of the large public build¬ ings and churches in the cities, are lighted with chandeliers made by the Messrs. Cornelius. Their work enjoys no less high repu¬ tation for its faithfulness, than for the conscientious manner in which it is constructed throughout. The large aorona chandelier for the Columbus Avenue Church, Boston, in Gothic style, gilt re¬ lieved with blue and crimson, with a cross pendant, may be cited as an example of the great beauty in form and finish of their work. But it is needless to specify the magnificent works of this establishment. The public favor which, in recognition of the great art, skill of the establishment, and the fair dealings of the high-toned gentlemen who conduct it, has made the establish¬ ment the first in importance in the world, is assurance enough that the wares of this house are of the highest character possi¬ ble to the art. About five hundred workmen are employed in this vast estab¬ lishment, and with the splendid improvements in the machinery GAS FIXTURES AND LAMPS. 315 which they operate, and the perfect arrangements for combination of labor which the establishment possesses, are able to complete annually an amount of work, which, under the processes that obtained a few years ago, it Would require an army of thousands of men to perform. Christian Cornelius, the founder of the house, was born in Am¬ sterdam, Holland. His father was a mathematical instrument maker, and he learned the trade of a silversmith. He came to this country, landing in Philadelphia, about 1800, where he soon acquired a reputation as a very skilful worker in metal. He soon commenced business upon his own account as a manufacturer of silver plated ware; and having associated with him his son Robert, the present senior partner of the house, the firm, about 1827, added to their specialty the making of lamps and chandeliers. Robert Cornelius was born in 1809, in Philadelphia, and after passing through the schools of that city, commenced to take part in his father’s business, going practically through every department of it. At the same time he studied chemistry under Dr. Troost, of Nash¬ ville University, and drawing, under James Cox, the artist. The good result of this training was seen in the improvements he sug- ' gested in many of the operations of the business, and in the mechanical devices he invented to facilitate many of the processes of manufacture. In 1831, Robert was admitted to the partnership, under the style Cornelius and Son ; and as soon as the use of gas was intro¬ duced, the firm began to turn their attention to supplying the necessary appliances for its consumption. Robert Cornelius had also invented and patented a solar lamp, for burning lard or sperm oil, which was largely used ; and besides his attention to the in¬ crease and perfection of the processes in his own business, his in¬ terest in chemical studies led him to experiment with the daguer¬ reotype, when that new art was first suggested, and he was the first who made use of bromine, by which the time needed for taking a picture was reduced from ten minutes to ten seconds. He also experimented with, and improved many of the processes of plating, by electric and galvano-electric methods, and applied the “ electrophorus,” — an arrangement by which the gas is lighted by electricity, and which is not affected by the weather, and works only with the simplest movement. The firm at present consists of Robert Cornelius and his three sons. (Christian, the founder of the house, died in 1851.) The 316 GAS FIXTURES AND LAMFS. younger members of the firm have received all the advantages of education and careful scientific training which our modern times afford, and then entering the manufactory, have acquired a thorough, practical knowledge of all the mechanical and chemical processes of the business, and thus are fully able to take part in keeping the organization of their enterprise abreast with the new demands of the time, and the growing love of artistic, as well as other merits. The wisdom of this course is proved by the success which the firm has made, and the universal demand which they have created for their wares. / PIANO-FORTES. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ART IN THE UNITED STATES. — INVENTION OF THE FULL IRON FRAME, THE OVERSTRUNG SQUARE AND GRAND PIANO. — INTRODUC¬ TION OF THE IMPROVED UPRIGHT PIANO. — THE MANUFACTORY AND WARE- ROOM OF MESSRS. STEINWAY AND SONS, THE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE OF THE UNITED STATES. — STEINWAY HALL. — THE AMERICAN PIANO TRADE AND INTERNAL REVENUE STATISTICS. The state alike of civilization and education of a people must undoubtedly be measured by the degree in which it cultivates the fine arts. If these premises be correct, the United States have attained a development of civilization which, but a few years since, would have been regarded as impossible; since, notwithstanding the existence of the most gigantic, sanguinary, and destructive civil war which the world has ever witnessed,—a war which caused the American continent to tremble from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and which raged with uncontrollable fury for the space of four years,—the United States have succeeded in bringing to perfection an art industry, the inventive creations, developments, and culminating results of which are devoted to the Muses. The true place of this art is at the altar tff “ home,” where it shines calm and effulgent, animating or soothing, in turn, in the form of domestic musical harmony. For the elevation and development of this class of music, so genially acceptable, and so intrinsically valuable in the home circle, America received the instrumental medium from Europe — that medium was “The Piano-forte,” to which this educating and enno¬ bling mission was intrusted. Until the commencement of the present century the attempts at piano-forte making in the United States were few, and the results achieved without any practical significance. From the year 1825 the first steps of improvement in American piano making may be ( 319 ) 320 PIANO-FORTES. traced. In that year the first attempts were made to give "the body” of the instrument more durability and increased power of resistance against "the pull” of the strings, by the application of a full frame of cast-iron in place of wood. These experiments were naturally first tried on Square Pianos, as these instruments were the most used, and those almost exclusively manufactured in America, for the imported " Upright ” Pianos did not satisfy even the most moderate requirements under existing circumstances. Hence there arose a strong and deep-rooted prejudice against this class of piano-forte, and it is only within the past five years that Messrs. Steinway & Sons of New York, and one or two other firms, are manufacturing Upright Pianos in large numbers to meet the growing demand for this class of instrument. In the year 1825 Alpheus Babcock, of Philadelphia, obtained a patent for the construction of a cast-iron ring in a Square Piano, for the purpose of increasing its power of resistance to the pull of the strings. By this invention the principle was first practically intro¬ duced of casting the iron hitch pin-plate, together with that por¬ tion which supported the wrest-plank, in one piece. In 1833 Conrad Meyer, of Philadelphia, exhibited at the fair of the Franklin Institute, in that city, a Square Piano, .which was constructed with a full cast-iron frame. The introduction of the full iron frame was aided to a great extent by the excellence of the quality of American iron, and the perfection which the art of casting had already attained at that period. The fact was indisputable that the pianos thus made stood better in tune than those previously constructed; but one great defect was their thin and disagreeably nasal character of tone. For these salient reasons the new invention soon had quite as many opponents as admirers, so that until the year 1855 a large majority of the American piano-forte manufacturers made no at¬ tempt to use it. The New York piano-makers achieved in their instruments the capacity of standing in tune, at least to a degree not previously accomplished, by great solidity of construction, and a heavy bra¬ cing of the case, and more particularly by the use of a solid bottom, or bed (of a thickness of fully five inches), which, however, to some extent marred the elegant appearance of the instrument. By de¬ grees a new difficulty manifested itself in the instruments thus made, for as their compass gradually extended, and finally reached seven or seven and one third octaves, it was found impossible to PIANO-FORTES. 321 obtain the necessary power of resistance against “the pull” of the strings, even by the most solid construction of the case, when wood alone was the material used. It therefore became necessary to apply the iron frame, but in such a manner, however, as to avoid the deleterious influence, pre¬ viously ascribed to it as so objectionable, in order that the piano might lose none of its fulness and power of tone. This successful % result was first achieved by the firm of Steinway & Sons, of New York, who in 1855 constructed a piano with a solid front bar and full iron frame, the latter covering the wrest-plank; the wrest- plank bridge, however, being made of wood. The brace, which in the treble connected the “hitch-pin plate” with the wrest-plank plate, was slightly elevated above the strings, and ran in a differ¬ ent direction to the latter; namely, exactly to the angle at which the wrest-plank had to sustain the pull of the strings. The bridges of the sounding-board were grouped in such a manner that they were moved considerably nearer to the middle of the latter, and at the same time the lineal length of these bridges was increased by placing the bass strings of the instrument — or over-stringing them—over the others, over three nearly parallel bridges, increas¬ ing the length of the latter, over the sounding-board, viz., from forty to sixty-eight inches, their position being removed from the iron-covered edges of the case, nearer to the centre of the sound¬ ing-board. The results achieved from this novel construction were in every way most successful. The first instrument made on this plan received, by a unanimous verdict of the jury, the first prize, a gold medal, at the exhibition of the American Institute, at the Crystal Palace in New York, in 1855. This new method of con¬ struction very soon became the standard for all manufacturers in that and other cities, and as far as can be ascertained all Square Pianos manufactured in the United States at the present time are, to a more or less extent, constructed in accordance with this system. In 1859 an improvement of great importance was made in Square Pianos by Messrs Stein way & Sons, and patented by them. This consisted of an iron frame with a downward projection, which ran 'parallel with the wrest-plank, abutting against the same — thus giving it an extraordinary degree of firmness and solidity. Into this projection “ The Agraffes ” (invented by the gifted Sebastian Erard, of Paris, and first applied in his Grand Pianos) were screwed — this being the first successful application jff Agraffes to the 322 PIANO-FORTES. treble of a Square Piano. This application of the Agraffes only be¬ came practically possible after the invention of a drilling machine, peculiarly constructed to achieve the object in view. This new Agraffe arrangement was used in all Grand, and the highest priced Square Pianos, manufactured by Messrs. Steinway & Sons, and subsequently in all their Square Pianos. This firm has for years past manufactured and sold the average number of forty Square Pianos per week. The Grand Piano, beyond a doubt the most perfect and magnifi¬ cent of the three ordinary species of piano-fortes, had, up to a comparatively .recent period, received but little attention from either the manufacturers or public of the United States, until towards the year 1840. The sale of a Grand Piano was an event of rare occurrence, and European pianists, visiting the United States, almost invariably brought their concert instruments with them. Several piano makers of New York and Boston made Grand Pianos occasionally, but the demand for this class of instruments was so very limited that Messrs. Steinway & Sons, prior to the year 1856, did not deem it advisable to give a new impulse to this class of instruments by commencing its manufacture. The first Grand Pianos made by this firm were constructed with a straight stringed scale and full iron frame, a treble piece of brass or iron, and with Agraffes in the middle tones and the bass, screwed in the wood. These Grand Pianos soon became extensively popular, and were so favorably regarded by professional artists and the public, that they were soon brought into extensive use in the concert-room, and large numbers of them were made and sold. The firm obtained, subsequently, several patents for new Grand Piano actions and improvements; but the most important improve¬ ment of all in the construction of these instruments was patented by Messrs. Stein way & Sons on the 20th of December, 1859. This improvement consisted of the introduction of a complete cast- iron frame, the projection for the Agraffes lapping over and abut¬ ting against the wrest-plank, together with an entirely new arrange¬ ment of the strings and braces of this iron frame, by which the most important and advantageous results were achieved. The strings were arranged in such a position, that in the treble register their direction remained parallel with the blow of the hammers, whilst from the centre of the scale the unisons of the strings were gradually spread from right to left in the form of a fan, along the PIANO-FORTES. 323 bridge of the sound-board,— the covered strings of the lower oc¬ taves being laid a little higher and crossing the other ones (in the same manner as the other strings), and spread from left to right on a lengthened sound-board bass bridge, which ran in a parallel direc¬ tion to the first bridge. By this arrangement several important advantages were obtained ; by the longer bridges of the sounding- board a greater portion of its surface was covered—the space between the unisons of the strings was increased, by which means the^sound was more powerfully developed from the sounding- board—the bridges, being moved from the iron-covered edges nearer to the middle of the sounding-board, producing a larger volume of tone, whilst the oblique position of these strings to the blow of the hammers resulted in obtaining those rotating vibra¬ tions which gave to the thicker strings a softness and pliability never previously known. The new system of bracing was also far more effective, and the power of standing in tune greatly increased. The first Grand Piano constructed in this novel manner was played on publicly, for the first time, at the New York Academy of Music, on the 8th of February, 1859, and created a great and marked sensation. The best proof that can be adduced of the success achieved by these new Grand Pianos (in which many subsequent improvements were introduced) is the fact that Messrs. Steinway & Sons, during the last ten years, have manufactured and sold an average of ten of these instruments every week, and that in 1871 the demand for these pianos became so extensive in America* as well as abroad, that the firm was unable to manufacture even half of the Grand ' Pianos demanded by the public. The valuable improvements in Upright Pianos made by Messrs. Steinway & Sons, the most important of which were patented June 5, 1866 — are essentially .as follows, viz.: the introduction of a complete double iron frame — the front plate and back brace- frame being connected with each other, and cast in one solid piece. One side of this double iron frame is left open, and into it the sound¬ ing-board is inserted, being' received and sustained in its position by an apparatus consisting of a number of screws, which press the outer edges of the sounding-board towards its centre. A clear, powerful, as well as unusually long and singing tone, of pure and sympathetic quality, combined with unexampled durability and capacity of standing in tune, are the important results obtained by this new invention. 324 PIANO-FORTES. The application of the same species of apparatus to Grand Pianos has resulted, in an equally favorable manner, in largely increasing the “ singing ” quality and beauty of the tone ; for, by its use, the necessary pressure against the inner portion of the sounding-board can be readily regulated to the greatest nicety, and the tension of the sounding-board placed forever under control. Another most important improvement applied by Messrs. Stein¬ way & Sons to their Grand and Upright Pianos since 1868, is their Patent Metallic Tubular Frame Action, by which the touch of these instruments has been brought to its present perfection. The sensation which has been created and the demand that has arisen for these new Upright Pianos is so large that the firm has found it impossible to fill the orders received for them ; and it is more than probable that Upright Pianos will, in course of time, be as generally used in the United States as this class of instrument is in Europe. Piano-Forte Manufactory of Messrs. Steinway & Sons. The Piano-forte Manufactory of Messrs. Steinway & Sons is located on Fourth Avenue, in the City of New York, on which its frontage occupies the entire block between Fifty-second and Fifty- third Streets (201 feet), the depth of the front building being 40 feet. The wings of the main building, extending down Fifty- seQond and Fifty-third Streets, are each 165 feet in length by 40 feet in depth; the entire building, including the basement, is six stories high. Adjoining the Fifty-third Street wing is located a building of 100 feet front and four stories high. These factory buildings have an uninterrupted frontage extent on the avenue and streets named of 631 feet. The architecture of the building is of the modern Italian style; it is built in the most solidly substantial manner, of the best brick, with lintel arches of the same, and brick dental cornices. The basement walls are two feet thick, set in concrete ; the first story walls 20 inches, and the upper walls 16 inches, in thickness. The factory buildings proper cover seventeen city lots of ground, twelve others being used for seasoning lumber, etc. The side-wings are separated from the main front building by solid walls, extending from basement to roof, passage-ways running through them, each of which is provided with double iron doors on either side, so that in the event of a fire occurring, only that portion of the building in which it originated can be destroyed. PIANO-FORTES 325 In the yard, which is surrounded on three sides by the front building and the wings, are two independent buildings, two stories in height, the dimensions of which are respectively 40 by 78 feet* and 100 by 20 feet; the lower floors of which are devoted to the steam drying-rooms and the packing-box factory. In the upper floors of these buildings all the actions and dampers are manufac¬ tured by the most skilful workmen to be obtained, and aided by a series of the most perfect and ingenious machinery that exists for the construction of these parts. STEINWAY & SONS’ PIANO-FORTE FACTORY. The floors of the factory buildings have a surface of 160,480 square feet. In the rear of the buildings there is an open space of ground containing an area of 40,000 square feet, on which 3,000,000 feet of lumber are constantly stored in the open air, for seasoning purposes; each separate piece of which is exposed to all the atmospheric changes for two years, and then kept in the steam drying-rooms for three months, prior to being used. These drying-rooms are divided into five compartments, each of which contains about 80,000 feet of timber, so that about 400,000 feet are constantly under the process of kiln-drying. Each of the com¬ partments is heated by 2000 feet of steam-pipe. Beneath the yard alluded to, there are fire-proof vaults for the storage of coal, and 326 PIANO-FORTES. here also are placed four steam boilers, of the aggregate power of 320 horses, by which the necessary amount of steam is gener¬ ated for the 70,000 feet of pipe used in heating the drying-rooms, as also heating the workshops and driving three steam engines of respectively 125, 50, and 25 horsepower; these, in turn, putting in motion no less than 102 different machines. The entire factory is built on a foundation of solid rock, and the largest and heaviest portions of the machinery are placed in the basements of the building, and bedded on this immovable founda¬ tion. Beneath the wing on Fifty-third Street, no less than five planing-machines are /located, which prepare the thoroughly sea¬ soned and kiln-dried wood for the use of the workmen. The largest of these machines (Daniels’s patent) makes 1200 revolu¬ tions a minute, and planes a superficial surface of 16 feet in length and 42 inches in width, requiring seven-horse power to drive it; this machine alone represents the labor of 27 workmen. A second machine, of three-horse power, planes boards 16 feet in length and 34 inches in width, making 3200 revolutions a minute, representing the labor of 28 workmen. It would require the extent of a goodly- sized volume to describe the 102 different planing, sawing, jointing drilling, mortising, turning, and other machines used in this fac¬ tory, and to elucidate their various objects; it therefore must suf¬ fice to state, that, from careful and moderate estimate, they replace the hand-labor of at least 500 skilful workmen ; added to Which, they do all the hard and difficult work, which formerly, to so great an extent, endangered the health, and even the lives, of the work¬ men employed in this description of labor. On the first floor of the wing on Fifty-third Street, the bottoms, wrest-planks, and other portions of the piano are glued up and shaped by machinery, ready to be put together. In the second and third stories the finer machinery is located. The floor above, as well as the wing on Fifty-second Street, is occupied by the case- makers, who fit together all the parts made below, veneer the cases, and prepare them for varnishing. On each floor of the case-mak¬ ers’ department there are three large heating-boxes, constructed of sheet-iron and lined on the inside with a sufficient amount of steam-pipe to produce a heat of 200 degrees. The varnishing- rooms occupy the entire top floors of the front building and side- wings, and extend a length of 531 feet. From these last described floors the completely finished and varnished cases are transferred to the floor beneath, in the front PIANO-FORTES. 32* building, where the sounding-boards are fitted into the cases; on the next floor below the pianos are strung, and the action and key¬ boards are fitted in, which latter are manufactured on the corre¬ sponding floor of the wing on Fif’ty-second Street. Here, also, the ready-varnished tops, the legs, and the lyres of the instrument are adjusted and put on; after which, on the next floor, the action and touch are carefully regulated and equalized to the greatest degree of accuracy. After this is completed, the thoroughly finished Piano is sent to the sales-rooms, where it receives its final polish prior to being delivered to the purchaser. On the same floor of the build¬ ing on Fifty-third Street, the office of the establishment is located, from which, by the medium of a private magnetic telegraph, the manufactory is brought into direct communication with the ware- rooms on Fourteenth Street. Next to the office is the store-room, where the actions, felt, leather, screws, ivory, strings, tuning-pins, etc., used in the con¬ struction of the inner portions of the piano, are stored. Of these articles Messrs. Steinway & Sons invariably keep a vast supply on hand, the average value of which is from $40,000 to $50,000. The basement of the building contains the iron and the machinery neces¬ sary for shaping its use to the various portions of the instrument. Throughout the entire building no fire is used, every portion of it being heated by steam-pipes, and lighted throughout with gas. Four large steam elevators — two in the front building and one in each wing—are used for the transportation of all heavy articles, either up or down. In the three extreme points of the building “tell-tale clocks” are placed, for the purpose of testing the trust¬ worthiness of the night-watchman; from these clocks wires are carried to every floor, which, if not touched at certain prescribed intervals of time, the watcher has neglected his rounds, and the fact is recorded on the face of the dials. This vast manufacturing business is divided into eighteen de¬ partments, each of which is placed under the control and constant personal inspection of a skilled foreman, these, in turn, being con¬ trolled by a head foreman. No workman is permitted to work at more than one branch of the business ; thus, from the fact that every workman is continually making only one and the same arti¬ cle, he achieves an absolute perfection in his work, unattainable in small factories, where such strict subdivision of labor cannot exist. Again, in this great and Strictly adhered to division of labor, the article, until it is finally completed, passes through the hands of a 828 PIANO-FORTES. number of different workmen, none of whom receive it from the previous workman in that stage of manufacture unless it is per¬ fectly faultless in every respect. The control of the factory, the warerooms, the various pur¬ chases, is under the direct personal supervision of the members of the firm of Messrs. Steinway & Sons. All inventions and changes in the manufacture of pianos, and all other important business acts, are the result of common consideration and debate among the members of the firm, and to this harmonious coopera¬ tion and unanimity of action, a large proportion of the unexampled success which the firm has achieved may be attributed. / The Warerooms and Concert Hall of Messrs. Steinway & Sons. This building is located on East Fourteenth Street, between Union Square and the Academy of Music (Italian Opera House). It has a frontage of white marble, four stories high, and 50 feet wide, by a depth of 84 feet ; from this point the buildings are 100 feet wide, extending to Fifteenth Street, a distance of 123 feet. The entire first floor from Fourteenth to Fifteenth Streets, a depth of 207 feet, is exclusively devoted to the exhibition and sale of the piano-fortes manufactured by the firm. At the left of the entrance on Fourteenth Street is a room for Square Pianos, 17 feet high, 23 feet wide, and 84 feet deep. Contiguous to this room is the office of the firm, from which a private telegraph extends to the factory, two miles distant. From this office doors lead to the room devoted to Grand Pianos, which is 17 feet high, 25 feet wide, and 80 feet deep. In connection with this hall are two smaller rooms for the tuning and regulating of Grand Pianos. On the opposite or westerly side of the building are the ware- rooms for Upright Pianos, rooms for tuners and polishers, and the regulating room, where every piano is carefully examined, pre¬ pared for the climate of its destination, and thoroughly regulated, prior to being shipped or sent home. The main entrance to the warerooms and upper floors of the front building is through an elegant marble portico on Fourteenth Street, 17 feet in width, supported by four Corinthian columns, leading to a large vestibule, from which a door on the left con¬ ducts to the warerooms, and one on the right to the ticket office, which is located in a large vestibule with two wide entrances from Fourteenth Street. From this latter vestibule a staircase, 14 feet wide, and from the other vestibule a staircase 7 feet « PIANO-FORTES* 329 wide, lead direct to a large vestibule on the next floor above, 42 feet in height, thoroughly lighted and ventilated. From this latter vestibule three large doors lead to the main floor of the Concert Hall, and two separate stairways to each of the two balconies above. The hall is 123 feet long by 75 feet wide, and 42 feet high, and has 2000 numbered seats. The lighting by two patent sun-burner apparatuses of Defries & Son, London, is brilliant in the extreme. The hall, as well as the whole building, is heated entirely by steam, and the ventilation is most complete. The hall, with its splendid ontfit and frescoing, and its boldly arched galleries, at once creates the impression that it is an opera hall, without its losing the noble simplicity of a grand concert-room ; and according to the unani¬ mous verdict of artists, the musical public, and the newspaper press in regard to its perfect acoustic qualities, is admitted to surpass every other music hall in the United States. In connection with this large hall, which is supplied with an organ of forty-two registers, there is also a smaller hall, on the same floor and level, opposite the stage, 25 feet wide and 84 feet long, which, by means of colossal sliding partitions, can either be opened into the large hall or shut off from it. In this smaller hall 400 persons find comfortable accommodation. The American Piano Trade. The rapid growth of the manufacture of pianos in the United States is a marvel alike to those who study the industrial resources of our own country, and those European makers who once nearly monopolized the piano trade of America. Now the reverse is the case : instead of being large importers, we are large exporters of pianos, and since the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, the fame of American pianos, especially those of Steinway & Sons’ make, has spread throughout the length and breadth of Europe, and large numbers of Steinway Grand and Upright Pianos are now annually sold in Berlin, Stockholm, Madrid, Paris, Odessa, and other Euro¬ pean musical centres. The following Official Certificate of the International Jury on Musical Instruments (Class X), and extract from the Official Re¬ port, will show how complete was the triumph of American Pianos at the Paris Universal Exposition, in competition with over 400 instruments of all the celebrated piano makers of Europe : — t 330 PIANO-FORTES. “ Paris, July 20, 1867. “ I certify that the First Gold Medal for American Pianos has been unani¬ mously awarded to Messrs. Steinway, by the Jury of the International Exposi¬ tion. First on the List in Class X. Melinet, President of the International Jury. Fetis, Official Reporter, “ “ t r __ The following is an extract from the Official Report of the In¬ ternational Jury on Musical Instruments, published by the Impe¬ rial Commission in August, 1868, comparing the relative merits of the pianos exhibited : — “ The Pianos of Messrs. Steinway & Sons are endowed with the splendid sonority, and that seizing largeness and volume of tone hitherto unknown, which fills the greatest space. Brilliant in the treble, singing in the middle, and formidable in the bass, this sonority acts with irresistible power on the organs of hearing. In regard to expression, delicate shading, variety of accen¬ tuation, the instruments of Messrs. Steinway have over those of their competitors an advantage which cannot be contested. The pianist feels under his hands an action pliant and easy, which permits him at will to be powerful or light, ve¬ hement and graceful. These pianos are at the same time the instrument of the virtuoso, who wishes to astonish by the eclat of his execution, and of the artist who applies his talent to the music of thought and sentiment bequeathed to us by the illustrious masters; in one word, they are at the same time the pianos for the concert room and the parlor, possessing an exceptionable sonority.” It will be seen by the list of piano firms given on page 331, that they are residents of New York, Boston, and Baltimore, and that the aggregate total of their sales amounts to $5,248,571. Besides those given in tabular form, there are a number of small firms in the three cities named, and also several in Philadelphia, Albany, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and even San Francisco, which will increase the total amount of annual production and sales of pianos in the United States to fully 25,000 instruments, netting over seven millions of dollars ($7,000,000). New York, the Empire City of the Union, possesses in the world-famed mammoth manufactory of Messrs. Steinway & Sons not only the most extensive establishment in the United States, but by far the largest in the world, as shown by the fact of this firm returning, as made and sold during the year 1869, no less than 2200 pianos, for the aggregate sum of $1,205,463, while for the year 1871 Messrs. Steinway & Sons manufactured and sold 2410 PIANO-FORTES. 331 piano-fortes, the proceeds of which reached the sum of $1,352,000. The demand for these celebrated instruments for America, as well as Europe, is so great that Messrs. Steinway are compelled to constantly increase their manufacturing facilities. Boston, the renowned " Hub,” possesses the second largest piano manufactory in the United States, and Baltimore has the third. The following statistics of the gross amount of sales of new pianos made and sold by the twenty-six most prominent piano makers in the United States, for and during the year 1869 —the amount being given by each manufacturer under oath, and taxes paid thereon, — were officially published by the New York Tribune of March 15, 1810 : — Sales for the Year 1869. Names. Location. Amounts. Steinway & Sons, New York, $1,205,463 Chickering & Sons, Boston, 822,402 William Knabe & Co., Baltimore, 383,511 Haines Brothers, New York, 281,051 William P. Emerson, Boston, 232,119 Albert Weber, Ne.w York, 221,444 Joseph P. Hale, New York, 201,355 Hallet, Davis & Co., Boston, 118,549 C. F. Lighte & Co., New York, 155,000 Ernest Gabler, New York, 149,484 H. F. Miller, Boston, 148,359 George Steck & Co., New York, 145,500 Hallet & Cumston, Boston, 131,998 G. W. Vose, Boston, 118,413 Decker Brothers, New York, 118,000 Hazelton Brothers, New York, 104,661 Grovesteen, Fuller & Co., New York, 96,825 Stieff Brothers, Baltimore, 81,410 Marshall & Mittauer, New York, 80,112 J. & C. Fischer, New York, 69,308 Lindeman & Sons, New York, 62,980 Kaven, Bacon & Co., New York, 51,531 Calenberg & Vaupel, New York, 51,381 Gaehle & Co., Baltimore, 44,903 Central Piano Company, New York, 44,000 Kranich, Bach & Co., New York, 42,622 19 Total $5,248,511 MOWERS AND REAPERS. THE SLOW PROGRESS OF MECHANICAL INVENTIONS RELATING TO AGRICULTURE. —- FITZHERBERT’S “ BOKE OF IIUSBANURIE ” CITED. — TIIE PRIMITIVE SICKLE AND THE MOWER, A CONTRAST. — VARIOUS METHODS OF GATHERING GRAIN AND GRASS, FROM REMOTEST ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT TIME. — REPRESENTA¬ TIONS IN BAS RELIEF ON THE TOMBS OF EGYPT. - THE “ ANI ANI ” OF JAVA. -THE REAPER IN ANCIENT GAUL; PLINY THE ELDER’S ACCOUNT, PALLADIITS, ARTHUR YOUNG, WALKER. -FIRST LETTERS PATENT GRANTED IN ENGLAND FOR A REAPER, 1799. -OTHER PATENTS. — TIIE FIRST MOWING AND REAPING MACHINES VERY COMPLICATED. — SALMON’S, BELL’S, AND OTHER MACHINES. —AMERICAN REAPERS. — HUSSEY’S MACHINE. — ONE-WHEELED MACHINES SUPERSEDED BY TIIE TWO-WHEELED. -MR. RUFUS DUTTON’S INVENTION. — GREAT TRIAL OF MACHINES AT AUBURN, NEW YORK, 18G6. -REPORT THEREOF. — MR. DUTTON’S GREAT VICTORY. -TIIE “CLIPPER MOWER AND REAPER COMPANY” NOW THE REPRESENTATIVE MANUFACTURERS. - THE NUMBER OF MOWERS AND REAPERS ANNUALLY MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES. — THE SELF RAKE. Whatever relates to agriculture must be of primal interest to . man, “ of the earth, earthy ; ” and, in fact, the history of agri¬ culture from the remotest period down to this time would neces¬ sarily involve what has been most important to the race in all time. It is a natural law, that man shall live by the sweat of his brow ; that from the bosom of the earth he shall, by greater or less toil, draw his sustenance. And when surveying the wide field of manufactures, one is struck with astonishment at the com¬ paratively few inventions and improvements which have been made in the field of labor-saving machinery adapted to agriculture. In a large portion of the world, the primitive or simplest forms of im¬ plements of husbandry are still in use. The plow now used gen¬ erally in the Roman states, and, indeed, throughout Italy, is but a slight improvement on that there used two thousand years ago; and the straps or ropes by which it is attached to the cattle which draw it are fastened about their horns, the shoulder yoke not (332) MOWERS AND REARERS. 383 being’ much employed. But the experiences of one country, or climate, are not like those of another ; and the customs of hus¬ bandry adapted to one portion of the earth are seldom suited to another portion ; so that one nation has not borrowed so much from another, or profited so much from its real progress in the line of agricultural inventions, as in those of many other arts of peace, or of the art of war, especially ; for in the latter, one na¬ tion must keep pace with another, or consent to be reckoned as an inferior power, and suffer the consequences of weakness or want of skill— be “ absorbed,” “ annexed,” or “ trampled out of existence,” it may be. We have not the space, to indulge in speculation or philoso¬ phizing as to the various reasons which have retarded progress in the line of labor-saving implements of husbandry ; but we may remark, en passant, that in ancient times more than now, man seems to have been more of a pastoral animal than an agri- culturist proper. He lived more with and upon his flocks, and upon the fruits of trees and vines, and less upon the cerealia and cultivated vegetables, than the race now does. We find Sir An¬ thony Fitzherbert declaring himself as follows in his “ Boke of Ilusbandrie,” in 1534 (the first agricultural work published in England) : “ A housebande cannot thryve by his cornc without cattell, nor by his cattell without corne ; shepc, in myne opinion, is the most profitablest cattell that any man can have.” Sir Anthony had then had forty years' experience as a farmer, and undoubtedly uttered the then prevalent opinion on the subject. The contrast between the primitive Sickle and the Mower and Reaper of these days is as wide almost as between that of dark¬ ness and light; or more fitly perhaps, and less exaggeratedly, may be, between the classic “fig leaf” of the primal garden, and the toilet of the modern belle with her deftly woven silks, her laces subtly wrought by aching fingers, her cashmere shawl made of the exquisite wool of unborn lambs, and her diamonds, found after years of the discoverer's ceaseless searching, and set in braided gold. A pertinent comparison or contrast of the past condition with: the present state of mechanics as related to agriculture might be made between the Norman Plow and its driver (as represented in the article on “Axes and Plows ”p. 114,) and the Mower “ at work ” in the field, as it appears in this article, with its wondrous con¬ junction of power and celerity of operation, “ its weird icombina- 334 MOWERS AND REARERS. tion of mechanic powers,” and its marvelous adaptation of means to the ends of victory. But we cannot probably better serve the reader at this point, than by presenting him with the various methods of gathering grain, grass, etc., from the remotest antiquity to this time, in a description which, we trust, will not be found wanting in pleasing interest and positive value. The time-honored sickle, still in use, is the earliest known reap¬ ing implement. We find it mentioned both in the Hebrew legends, and the Christian scriptures. That it was used by hand only, and not as a part of a machine, may be inferred from a passage in Isaiah xvii. 5. This was obviously the case in Egypt, judging from the has reliefs upon some of the buildings and tombs, where reapers are represented using sickles, some with smooth, and others with serrated edge. Two of these ancient Egyptian iron sickles, much rusted, are displayed in the 11 Gallery of Egyptian Antiquities/’ in the British Museum, London. In Java, an instrument has been in use from time immemorial for reaping grain, which is described in Sir Thomas S. Raffles’ history of that island. The description of the “ ani ani ” being very vague, it is difficult to form a correct opinion of the manner in which it is used ; and the figure does not remove the doubt. We surmise, however, that the reaper takes one of the parts in each hand, and in passing them, like the blades of shears, over each other, the straw is cut, and by the same act the head of grain is thrown into a basket or apron worn by the reaper. The first account of a machine to reap grain appears to be that given by Pliny the elder, who was born A. D. 23. He says, 11 In the extensive fields in the lowlands of Gaul, vans (carts) of large size, with projecting teeth on the edge, are driven on two wheels through the standing grain, by an ox yoked in a reverse position. In this manner the ears are torn off and fall into the van.” Such an idea of a reaping machine is very like that of the ancient war- chariots, to the sides of which great blades were fastened, and the horses thereof driven into the ranks of the opposing army, thus to reap a harvest of human heads. As Palladios (an Eastern prelate, born A. D. 391) gives a similar account of this machine in the following words, it is more than probable that its use was continued through centuries. After describing the forms of the van and the attachment of the animal, he continues, “ All tly' ears are caught by the teeth, and fall in a heap into the MOWERS AND REAPERS. 335 A cart, the broken stalks being left behind. The driver, who fol¬ lows, generally regulates the elevation or depression of the teeth, and thus, by a few courses backwards and forwards, the whole crop is gathered in the space of a few hours. This system is useful in open level places, and in those where straw is not absolutely wanted .” In vol. iv. p. 205 of the “ Annals of Agriculture and other Useful Arts,” collected and published in 1785, by Arthur Young, F. R. S., etc., appears what is believed to be the earliest proposal for a mechanical reaping machine in Great Britain. In vol. viii. p. 161 of the same work (1787), there is an account of a reaping machine, suggested by the de¬ scriptions in Pliny and Palladius, and invented by William Pitt, of Pendeford. It consisted of a reaping or rippling cylinder, com¬ posed of numerous parallel rows of curved teeth. This tooth cylinder is suspended in front of a two-wheeled car, and motion communicated by means of a pinion and cog-wheel, connected to the car-wheel by a band and pulley ; the iron combs of the cylin¬ ders hatcheling off the heads of grain and dropping them into the box behind. In “Walker’s System of Philosophy in Twelve Lectures ” (1799), there is a description of a reaping machine, though by whom invented, or when, does not appear. The move¬ ment of the cutters is represented as being circular. The knife wheel is put in motion by a pulley fixed on its axle, and made to cut like shears against the sharp edges of steel points projecting beyond it into the standing grain, the cut wheat being removed from the platform by a lever attached to the axle of the cutter- wheel. The whole is pushed forward by a horse. The first patent for a reaping machine in England was obtained by Joseph Boyce, of Pine Apple Place, Mary-le-bone, on the 4tli of July, 1799. On the 20th of May, 1800, letters patent were granted to Robert Mears, of Somersetshire, for a machine reaper. This was an apparatus worked by hand, although propelled upon wheels. On the 15th of June, 1805, Thomas J. Plucknett, of Kent, England, obtained a patent for a.reaping machine, in which the mo¬ tive power or “ team ” was placed behind, and the cutting apparatus suspended beneath and forward of an axle connecting two large driving wheels, and worked by gearing. The cutter was a plain, circular, smooth-edged plate. The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, vol. i. p. 262, gives a description of a reaping machine, having an ar¬ rangement for gathering grain, and delivering it in small sheaves, produced in 1806, by Mr. Gladstone, of Castle Douglass. In this 336 MOWERS AND REAPERS. macliine, “ the horse goes in front beside the uncut grain.” This is the first mention of a harvesting machine where the horses go before the machine, and beside the uncut grain ; and it is the first reap- i.;o’ machine we have an account of which had an arrangement for gathering the grain, and delivering it on the ground in sheaves or bundles. The cutter was a smooth-edged circular knife, acting upon the grain confined against strong wooden teeth which projected forward and above the blade. The cutting edge was kept sharp by means of two small circular pieces of wood, coated over with emery placed below and above it, and made to revolve rapidly against it. On page 422 of Loudon’s “ Encyclopaedia of Agriculture,” there is an account of a reaping machine designed by a Mr. Salmon, in 180U Its cutting operation is like that of a pair of shears, to which power is transferred from the driving wheels by gearing similar to that very generally adopted in reapers at the present day. Up to this time all the different devices for reaping machines were very complicated. The invention of Ilenry Ogle, school¬ master of Remington, in 1822, marks the commencement of a new era in reaping machines. Mr. Ogle seems to be the first who in¬ vented and used a reciprocating cutter. His machine was one of extreme simplicity. From a trial of this' machine, it was esti¬ mated that it would cut fourteen acres per day with ease ; but Mr. Ogle, schoolmaster, says, “ Some working people threatened to kill Mr. Brown (the maker of the machine) if he persevered any further in it, and it has never been more tried.” Up to this period, notwithstanding the ingenuity which had been expended upon reaping machines, none had been produced which has stood the test of time, or which embraced all the principles that have been incorporated in the effective reapers of the present day; but in 1826, the Rev. Patrick Bell, of Scotland, invented an apparatus for reaping grain, which is the oldest known ma¬ chine that is still in use. This may be said to be the advent of successful reaping by machinery. In this (Bell’s) machine there was the adjustable reel, as in Ogle’s clipping cutters ; a method of raising the cutters, and also a mode of delivering the cut grass in line on the ground, to allow any number of bind¬ ers to work after it. Various trials were made with this ma¬ chine in 1828 and 1829. One made in September, 1828, in the presence of fifty farmers, elicited from them a signed declara- MOWERS AND REAPERS. 337 tion, that moved by one horse it cut an acre per hour of oats. In September, 1829, the same machine was worked at Monckie, in the presence of a large number of persons, who also attested that it cut half an acre of heavy lodged oats in half an hour. It was also tried in a number of other places in the same year. It is described in Loudon’s Encyclopsedia of Agriculture. Although there is unquestionable proof respecting the success¬ ful working of this machine in 1828, it does not seem to have attracted much attention, as it was lost sight of entirely, until England was awakened to the utility of reaping machines, in 1851, at the Great Exhibition. “ The credit of effecting this (the whole English press has declared).is undoubtedly due to American inventors, whatever may be the ground for disputing the novelty of the two rival American reapers” (McCormick’sand Hussey’s). After the accounts regarding the American reapers at the World’s Fair were published abroad, it was claimed that the American reapers were no more than copies of British reapers, and that one of Bell’s machines had been early sent out to America, from which, it was hinted, the American inventors had supplied them¬ selves with ideas. One of Rev. P. Bell’s horse power reaping machines was imported by John B. Yates, in 1834, who used it about two years, until the time of his death, after which we have no account of its being continued in use. It is not probable, therefore, that the inventors of American machines are at all in¬ debted to Mr. Bell or any other foreign inventors for their ideas. About this time the attention of inventors, in different parts of the world, seems to have been awakened to the importance of harvesting machinery. One was invented in Odessa, in 1831, one in Vienna, in 1839, and one in Australia, in 1845. From this period up to the time of the Great Exhibition in London, in 1851, there were nine letters patent issued in England for reaping ma¬ chines and improvements thereon. The World’s Fair was the commencement of a new era in the department of agricultural machinery — of reaping machines particularly. From the clos¬ ing of the Crystal Palace, in 1851, to the end of the year 1852, there were no less than twenty-eight inventions registered, and English patents granted for inventions relating solely or partially to reaping and mowing machines. Few of them are of sufficient interest and present importance to demand a notice. The foregoing descriptions embrace the history of reaping ma¬ chines in foreign countries up to the year 1853. 338 MOWERS AND REAPERS. American Reapers. The attention of our countrymen was directed at an early period to the importance of reaping* machines, and we find that a patent was granted on May 17, 1803, to Richard French and J. T. Haw¬ kins, of New Jersey. In a letter written by the son of the in¬ ventor, he says that his father constructed a working machine, and tried it in a field of rye, and that it cut a large quantity of the grain. Why it was dropped he cannot tell. The reaper was sup¬ ported on the wheels — one wheel extending into the grain. The horses drew in front, or rather at one side, opposite the cutters, which were a series of scythe-knives, revolving on a vertical spin¬ dle — a rotary reaper. Beneath the cutters were long wooden fingers, extending some distance into the grain, and supporting the grain to the action of the revolving cutters. Directly behind the cutters were fingers that passed between the cradle fingers, and removed the cut grain, which fell to the ground ready for binding. Obed Hussey's machine was patented in 1833, and contained nearly all the main features of those used at the present time. His machine was intended to cut both grain and grass, and had a reciprocating knife and a slotted guard finger, both of which are now used on all harvesters. As Hussey's, therefore, is still in use, and was a successful machine from the first, it must embrace features peculiarly fitted to accomplish its work. The first public trial in the harvest-field with Hussey's reaper took place on the 2d of July, 1833, before the Hamilton County Agricultural Society, near Carthage, Ohio. Dr. Wallace, secretary of the society, gave a certificate, dated the 20th of November, of that year, in which he states, 11 that he saw the machine operate on a field of wheat, which it cut clean and with great rapidity, and that it established one point satisfactorily, namely, that it was constructed on a principle to operate." There was also a certificate of nine witnesses of the same trial, in which they state, “ that although the machine was not well constructed (mechanically merely), its performance far exceeded their ex¬ pectations." In 1834 this machine was introduced into Illinois and New York, and in 1835 into Missouri, .in 1837 into Penn¬ sylvania; and in 1838 Mr. Hussey removed from Ohio to Baltimore, Md., where he continued to manufacture his reapers. MO WE IIS A2sD REAPERS 339 We will now let Mr. Hussey speak for himself. “ There is no account of any successful reaper in ancient times, and it is well known that England and Scotland never produced any up to the time of the London Exhibition of all Nations, in 1851 ; it conse¬ quently follows that the claim of priority is clearly confined to tho United States. The question therefore is, who originated the suc¬ cessful reaping and mowing machine ? “ I do not desire to urge any unjust claim for myself, but I wish to maintain the credit which is justly due to me. It is known to the country, and by farmers in particular, that there are at the present day several successful reaping machines,’which are known 840 MOWERS AND REAPERS. by different names ; but it is not generally known that all of them, without exception, embrace substantially the principle invented by me, and exhibited by myself in successful operation, in the • harvest field, as long ago as 1833 ; and however surprising and unexpected this statement may appear, it is nevertheless true, that there is no successful reaping and mowing machine now in use without it. Most of the reaping and mowing machines ol the present day are of recent date ; nearly all of them are little more than copies of my invention. The old Rortia* machine seems to have been little more than a cart, backed up to the wheat. This mode of approaching the grain was followed by the Scotch and English inventors from the remotest period in the history of reapers down to 1854. The earliest of these English and Scotch machines appear to have been constructed on the rotary principle, the cutting instruments being placed on the periphery of a large horizontal wheel, which revolved near the ground. Bell, of Scot¬ land, at a later period used scissors. His machine presented to the grain a row of pointed blades, which operated like a series of tailors’ shears, but it was soon pronounced a failure. “ Tiie American reaper woke up from a long sleep in 1851. It was resuscitated, and flourished for a brief season, took the English and Scotch prizes in 1851, by especial favor, and was again con¬ demned at the late meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, held in Lincoln (England), the present year (1854).” The first machine made by Hussey, as well as others made at that time, were what might be called two-wheeled machines ; that is, having two large wheels to support the frame, of equal or nearly equal size, and with the finger-bar extending out from the side of the machine. Hussey afterwards changed his machine by substituting one wheel for the two-wheel previously used : so did McCormick. The two-wheel machines seem at that time to have gone out of use (1850), and came into use again about the year 1854, or 1855, when two-wheeled machines having the lunged finger-bar were introduced, foremost among which were the “ Buckeye ” and the “ Cayuga Chief.” There are other improvements connected with the two-wheeled machine, such as making both wheels drivers, regulating the height of finger-bar, etc. ; and although the one-wheeled machines are still used to some extent as reapers, those having tw r o wheels have already almost entirely superseded them as mowers, and are largely used as reapers. CLIPPER, MEDIUM SIZE. <* • . * •3 * . •i •* -. . • 1 . . . MOWERS AND REAPERS. 343 The leading principles in the operation of harvesting machinery, may now be considered as fulty established, and the attention of inventors and manufacturers will, no doubt, be directed to further simplifying the construction of the parts, and adding to their con¬ venience and ease of management. In the application of principles already established, there are now used in all first-class mowers, two driving wheels, which sup¬ port the body of the machine, and give motion to the knives, through the gearing; a frame which supports the gearing, and to which is attached the cutting apparatus and the draught-pole ; the gearing; the cutting apparatus, consisting of a reciprocat¬ ing knife, operating in and supported on a finger-bar, with shoes at each end, and having guards or fingers projecting in front to protect the knives and assist in cutting. In addition to these, the reaping machines have reels and platforms for the purpose of gathering the grain, and delivering it on the ground in gavels suitable for binding. Although the general arrangement of these parts is similar in the machines now most prominent before the public, there are many, and in some instances material points of difference in their construction ; and we mention, as some of these points, the style of driving wheels, some being made of cast and wrought iron, others of cast only ; the manner of connecting the driving wheels to the geariiig, so as to best admit of throwing the machine in and out of gear; the.number of gears, some having two, and others three pairs; the frame, some using iron only, others wood ; besides dif¬ ferent devices for uniting the finger-bar to the frame, so that it will conform to the inequalities of the ground, and be raised, to clear obstructions, while at work, and secure convenience in transporta-, tion. Some finger-bars are made of iron, and some of steel, and differ in shape. The guards or fingers also differ in shape, and are made from different kinds of metal. The manner of attaching the draught is of the utmost importance, in order to avoid, as far as possible, what is called “ side draught/ 7 and differs in some of the leading machines ; also the location of hand levers convenient to the driver, to enable him to adjust the cutting apparatus, with as little inconvenience as possible, to the surface of the ground, and to raise it over obstructions. Particular attention has been given within the last few years to the cutting apparatus, which includes the finger-bar, knife, and fingers. The first finger-bars were made of wood, but now 344 MOWERS AND REAPERS. wrought iron and stool are exclusively used. The knives have been the subject of many experiments, to determine the proper motion, and the best size for a blade or section. The fingers or guards were first made of wood, next of cast iron, then of wrought and malleable iron, afterwards improved by the use of steel cut¬ ting plates. A solid cast-steel guard is used on the so-called “ Clip¬ per” machine. The earliest machines made would cut only dry and coarse grass, and work on uplands ; and it was thought, until within a few years, that it would be impossible to mow grass while the dew was on. A good machine of the present day, however, will mow in all kinds of grass, whether wet or dry, coarse or fine ; and some builders warrant their machines to work well in any place, where the farmer is willing to ride or drive. The competition among builders has been, and is now, very great, and has stimulated invention, until more than two thousand patents pertaining to harvesting machinery have been granted in this country. Probably the machine which has been brought to the greatest perfection at the present time is the'Clipper mower. It is the invention of Mr. Rufus Dutton. We quote from the report of the great trial held at Auburn, N. Y., in 1866, when fifty-four different machines were on exhibition, including nearly every har¬ vesting machine of any importance in the country. ■“ Among the candidates for the favor of the agricultural public, few have made more determined or more ingenious efforts to carry away the palm, than the inventor of this machine. ITe has proposed to himself to construct a machine which shall have the greatest strength with the lightest material, aided by the best possible workmanship, combining security for the driver, convenience of management, and adaptation to uneven surfaces ; and, in short, which shall meet all the wants of the farmer in the greatest pos¬ sible degree. . . . The mechanical execution of this machine reflects the highest credit upon Mr. Dutton, the inventor; in this respect it surpasses all the rest. All the bearings are as smooth as machinery can make them, all the joints are closely fitted, all the working parts are mathematically in line, all the materials of which it is composed are of the best that can be procured.” In 1867 the “ Clipper Mower and Reaper Company” was or¬ ganized, with a large capital and ample facilities for manufacturing these machines, and has already become the representative house WORKS OF THE CLIPPER MOWER AND REAPER COMPANY, YONKERS, I MOWERS AND REAPERS. 347 in this line of manufactures. The company constructed exten¬ sive and expensive machinery expressly for this purpose, and now manufacture the “Clipper” machines, greatly improved in every respect, both in materials used and in workmanship, also in style of finish, over those used at the Auburn trial in 1866. The engravings represent this celebrated machine in the field at work. Their manufactory, of which we present a view, is at Yonkers, N. Y., the company’s business centre being New York city. For four or five years past, from eighty to ninety thousand machines have been made annually in the United States, and the 348 MOWERS AND REAPERS. capital employed is not less than ten million dollars. A large number of establishments are now engaged in this business, among which may be mentioned, as the most prominent, those making the “ McCormick,” the “ Buckeye,” the “ Kirby,” the “ Wood,” and the “ Clipper” machines, each of which turns out a number of thousand every year. But perhaps one of the best, among the late improvements on mowing machines, is the steel guards, controlled by letters patent, and used exclusively on the 11 Clipper ” machines. These have » been perfected at a great cost of time and money, and are worthy of especial notice. They are forged from solid cast steel, and after being shaped under a drop-hammer, the slots are cut, by milling machines, perfectly smooth and uniform in all respects. The cut¬ ting surfaces aud points are then hardened, while the remaining parts of the guards, to secure the greatest strength, are left un¬ tempered. The hardened points do not become dulled or bent by stones, or other obstructions, so as to catch fine or dead grass, or anything else ; after being ground and polished they are ready for the finger-bar. No arguments are required to convince any one of the superiority of steel for this purpose, as it is more than twice as strong as the best wrought iron, and three times stronger than malleable iron. These guards will not break with the rough¬ est usage. On over twelve thousand machines, hardly an extra one has been required to supply breakage — a fact which will suf¬ fice, we think, to demonstrate these steel guards as an advanced and needed step in the line of a great progress. t IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. THE IMPORTANCE OF IRON. —ITS GENERAL DIFFUSION. — AMONG THE EGYP¬ TIANS. — MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE. — AMONG THE GREEKS. —AMONG THE ROMANS. —IN MODERN TIMES. —CAST IRON. —ITS FIRST PRODUCTION. — IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS. —PUDDLING IRON. — INVENTION OF THE BLAST. —THE USE OF ANTHRACITE. — THE ORES OF IRON.-THE MAKING OF IRON IN THE UNITED STATES. — EARLY ATTEMPTS IN VIRGINIA. —IN MASSACHUSETTS. —THE FIRST FURNACE. -WORKMEN EARLY ENGAGED IN THE MANUFACTURE. —CASTING IN SAND. — PROHIBITION BY PARLIAMENT. — THE COST OF A FURNACE. — THE EFFECT OF THE REVOLUTION. —THE POL¬ ICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. — THE BESSEMER PROCESS.—APPLICATION OF SPECTRAL ANALYSIS. Iron, while being the most useful of all the metals for the vari¬ ous arts, is also one of the most generally diffused of the products of nature. In one form or another, it is almost universally dif¬ fused through the organic and inorganic world. Not a stone or a rock can be found without a trace of this metal. Nothing is visi¬ ble around us which is wholly devoid of it. It is found in our blood, and intensifies the brilliant colors of the rose, while spec¬ tral analysis has traced its presence in almost all the stars. The history of its discovery and use is lost in the remoteness of antiquity, since, from its affinity for oxygen, and its consequent tendency to rust, and thus lose its form, it can hardly be expected that any tangible evidence of its use in ancient times should have been preserved to our day. It appears, however, from Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon, that the Assyrians were well acquainted with the manufacture of iron, and that they employed it, together with bronze, in useful and in ornamental works. They had also the art of coating iron with bronze, and objects thus prepared have come down to us, the iron having been preserved in its metallic state by its bronze covering. The East Indian natives still prepare iron so excellently, though 20 * ' (349) 350 IKON AND ITS PREPARATION. their methods and appliances arc of the rudest and simplest kind; and as we know that they have had this ability from before the time of Alexander the Great, it is probable that the use of iron was known quite generally at a very early stage of history. In the tombs of Thebes, which date about four thousand years ago, pictorial in¬ scriptions are found which represent persons using iron utensils. •Iron is frequently mentioned in the Bible, and from the mention of the " frying-pan ” in this verse from Leviticus vii. 9 : “ And all the meat-offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is dressed in the frying-pan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it,” and other similar passages, it has been supposed that the art of preparing sheet iron was known at this time. Though this is questionable, since the frying-pan used by the priest may not have been made of iron, but of some other metal, yet there can be little doubt that the Hebrews learned of the Egyptians the art of preparing iron from the ore, since an ancient mine worked by the Egyptians has been found in Egypt, at Ilammauri, between the Nile and the Red Sea. The iron of this mine is in the form of specular and red ore. Layard found iron weapons of various kinds at Nimroud, but they fell to pieces on exposure to the air. Iron is mentioned by Homer, and from what he says, it is inferred that it was scarce and valuable then, and that it was only as malleable iron that the Greeks of his time were acquainted with this metal. In Sparta, however, Lycurgus is said to have enforced by law the sole use of iron as money, on account of its abundance. From Plutarch we gather an idea of the value of this iron currency, lie tells us that it required a two-ox cart to carry a wagon load of the value of ten minm ; the value of a mina being estimated at about fifteen dollars. Aristotle speaks in his works of the iron mines of Chalybia, and of their methods of working the ores. These mines were famous in antiquity, and from them was derived the term chalybs, given by the Greeks to steel, which has continued in use until this day, forming as it does the root of our term chalybeate water, for those waters which contain iron in solution. Strabo, who wrote about the commencement of the Christian era, speaks of the various iron mines then known, and among them mentions those of England, from which it is supposed that the native Britons understood the working of iron some time before. Various other Latin writers mention iron. Pliny speaks of its IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. 351 magnetic properties, but it does not appear from any such record that the ancients were acquainted with the process of making cast iron, or that their production of steel was anything else than acci¬ dental. This will appear more evident when we remember that they were totally unacquainted with any of the chemical processes of analysis in use to-day, and that their only method of industry was traditional and empirical. During the first seven centuries of the Christian era we have but little record of iron making in Europe; yet in the sixteenth century the discovery of slag heaps in Sweden and Norway, in France and Silesia, and elsewhere, overgrown with trees, which ex¬ amination proved were frequently six centuries old, showed that the mining and working of iron must have been extensively practised at an early age. Yet the process used in extracting iron from the ore was most probably a very rude one, and it was a long time before any improvements were introduced into it, and then they were dif¬ fused with the slowness which marked the dissemination of intelli¬ gence during those times when the methods of circulation were so tardy and inadequate. The first production of cast iron took place in the fifteenth cen¬ tury, when larger furnaces were introduced. The first articles mentioned as being cast were guns, and in 1490 stoves were thus made in Alsace. In 1550 George Agricola published his work De lie Metallica, which was the first modern treatise devoted to the manufacture of iron. The high blast furnace is supposed to have been introduced by the Belgians. In England, cannon were cast by John Owen in 1535, and by Ralph Iloge in 1540, though the high blast furnace is supposed to have been introduced there only in 1558. On the continent, with the improved method of blasting, it was found that the refuse heaps from the old Roman workings, and those of the ancient inhabitants, could be most profitably re-worked. Some of these supplies are said to have furnished material for the new furnaces for a period of two hundred years. In England the progress of the iron manufacture was more rapid. The iron was melted with charcoal as a fuel, until, in 1612, a patent was granted to Simon Sturtevant for the use of bituminous coal for this pur¬ pose. Next year another patent was granted for the same im¬ provement to John Ravenson, and in 1619 another to Lord Dudley, who was so successful that his patent was taken away, and the m IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. conservatism of his opponents prevented the use of his process, putting back the general introduction of this improvement for nearly one hundred years. In 1784 a second patent, the first one being dated the year be¬ fore, was granted to Henry Cort, for “ shingling, welding, and manufacturing iron and steel into bars, plates, and rods, of purer quality and in larger quantity than heretofore, by a more effectual application of fire and machinery.” This was the invention of the art of puddling iron, for the in¬ vention of which Cort has been called the “ father of the iron trade of the British nation,” and the use of which is estimated to have, during this century, given employment to six million persons, and added $3,000,000,000 to the wealth of Great Britain. * Yet Cort himself died poor, the government having involved him in law¬ suits, on account of his partner, which beggared him. The only restitution given him was a pension of one thousand dollars a year, which he received six years before his death, and which was re¬ duced to six hundred and twenty-five dollars to his widow. In his experiments to perfect his process Cort had, however, spent from his private fortune over one hundred thousand dollars. The next great improvement in the manufacture of iron was the introduction of heated air to the blast, which was first applied by Mr. Neilson to the Muirkirk furnaces. The date of this applica¬ tion is variously given by different authorities as 1824, 1827, and 1828. The patent for it, however, is said, upon the authority of a letter from the inventor himself, to have been issued in 1829, Neilson was more fortunate than Cort in obtaining the benefits <>f his invention. From a single infringer of his rights he received a check on the Bank of England for $750,000. In his invention, however, Neilson used a separate fire for heat¬ ing the air used in his blast, and thus the saving of fuel in the manufacture, though important, was not all that could be made. In 1837, M. Faber du Four, at Wasscralfingen, in Wurtemberg, introduced successfully a method for using the waste gases from the iron ore subjected to the smelting process, for the purpose of heating the air used in the blast, and also for generating the steam for the boiler. The use of anthracite coal as fuel for the smelting furnace was tried as early as 1820 at Maucli Chunk, Pennsylvania, but-without success. In 1827—8 it was tried on the borders of France and Switzerland, at Vizelle. An account of these experiments may bo IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. 353 found in the third and fourth volumes of the Annulus des Mines, in the third series of that work, and also in Johnson’s Notes on fie use of Anthracite in the Manufacture of Iron. In 1833 Frederic W. Geisenhainer, a minister of Schuylkill, Pa., having experimented with the use of the hot blast with anthracite, obtained a patent for the process, and in 1835 produced the first iron so made. In 1841 the process of consuming the gases generated in the process of smelting, was adapted to the use of anthracite by C. E. Detmold, and has since come to be used very generally in the United States, producing a saving of from two to three dollars a ton in the use of fuel. The ores from which iron is obtained are various. Iron in its native state is rarely met with, especially when of terrestrial ori¬ gin. Meteoric iron is not so uncommonly found, and is generally an alloy of iron and nickel. In the cabinet of Yale College is a mass of this composition, weighing 1635 pounds, which was found on the Red River in Texas. The meteors of this description are generally supposed to be portions of matter which are revolving in space, outside of our planet, but which, by the attraction of the world, are finally drawn to its surface. Though not of frequent occurrence, yet the numbers which have been found is very large. The only place in this country where native iron, not meteoric in its origin, has been found, is in Canaan, Conn. ; and as the pre¬ cise locality cannot be designated, it is. still a mattfer of uncertainty whether it has been thus found. The iron ores are alloyed with sulphur, arsenic, or phosphorus. The first of these is.a sulphuret of iron, and is called 'pyrites. This rock occurs abundantly in rocks of all ages, from the oldest crys¬ talline to the most recent alluvial, and often in fine crystallizations, which, from their yellow color, are mistaken for gold. For its iron this ore is of no use, though its other compounds afford valuable- materials for commerce. White iron pyrites is a similar compound of iron, but its crys¬ tals are of a different form. It is called Marcasite. Still another sulphuret of iron is called magnetic pyrites. It. consists of about forty per cent, of sulphur and sixty of iron. Leucopyrite, an arseniuret of iron, and Mispickel, a sulpharseni- uret, are, as their names indicate, combinations of iron with arse¬ nic and sulphur. They are both of common occurrence, but neither are of any value as iron ore. I 354 IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. Schreibersite, or phosphate of iron, is found only in the me¬ teorites. Specular iron is an oxide of iron, with two atoms of iron to three of oxygen. When pure, it consists of seventy per cent, of iron and thirty of oxygen. It is widely diffused, and has re¬ ceived many different names. The cost of working it prevents it being generally used. Magnetic iron ore is a magnetic oxide of iron. It is the native loadstone, is widely diffused, and yields an unrivalled ore. It differs from specular iron in its crystalline form, in being magnetic, • and in giving a black powder instead of a red one. Franklinite is an ore of iron containing zinc and manganese. It may be considered both as an ore of iron and of zinc. Limonile is a hydrated peroxide of iron, which, when pure, contains 85.58 peroxide of iron and 14.42 water. This ore, under various names, forms the coloring matter of so many stratified rocks, and is so universally disseminated through the geological formations, that it is more difficult to say where it does not exist than where it does. Of the carbonates, phosphates, and arseniates of iron, the vari¬ ety is very great, but the only important one, as an ore, is Spathic iron. This is a carbonate of iron, with 37.94 of carbonic acid, and 62.06 of protoxide of iron. It is almost never found pure, but contains manganese, and generally more or less alumina, lime, and magnesia. 'This is, perhaps, the most important ore of iron, not generally in its sparry state, but as a mixture with clay and the hydrated oxide which, resulting from its decomposition, and constituting a part of the great carboniferous formation, occurs, consequently, with the coal required for its reduction, and makes it of great importance. The arseniates and phosphates are not ores, but on the contrary are highly injurious to the quality of those with which they are found occurring. The manufacture of iron in the United States dates from a pe¬ riod very soon after the settlement of the country. From a tract entitled A True Declaration of Virginia, published in 1610, only three years after the successful settlement of a colony at James¬ town by the London Company, we find that in this year Sir Thomas Gates testified before the Council in London that in the country there were diverse minerals, especially “ iron oare,” some of which having been sent home, had been found to yield as good iron as any in the world. IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. 355 From A Declaration of the Slate of Virginia, published in 1620, we find that among those recently sent out to the colony, there were ** out of Sussex about forty, all famed to iron workes.” In his History of Virginia, Beverly speaks of an “ iron work at Falling Creek, in Jamestown River, where they made proof of good iron ore, and brought the whole work so near a perfection, that they writ word to the Company in London that they did not doubt but to finish the work, and have plentiful provision of iron for them by the next Easter.” This was in 1620. In 1621, three of the master workmen having died, the company sent over Mr. John Berkeley, with his son Maurice, with twenty other experienced workmen. On the 22d of May following, Berkeley and all his company, except a boy and a girl, who managed, by hiding them¬ selves, to escape, were massacred by the Indians, together with three hundred and forty-seven others of the settlers. By this un¬ toward event the manufacture of iron was stopped, and was not revived until about IT 12. It is a singular coincidence, and one which should modify our judgment of the barbarism of the Indians, that about the same time, in England, a mob destroyed the works erected by Edward Lord Dudley, for smelting iron ore by the use of coal in his pro¬ cess patented in 1621, and that this similar employment of violence put off the general introduction of this process for nearly one hun¬ dred years. In a pamphlet written by Edward Williams, and published in London in 1650, with the title of Virginia, more especially the Southern Part thereof, etc., the author, speaking of iron, says, “ Neither does Virginia yield to any other province whatsoever in excellency and plenty of this oare; and I cannot promise to my¬ self any other than extraordinary successe and game if this noble and useful! staple be but rigorously followed.” To check too excessive attention to the raising of tobacco, which at the time ruled at very low prices in England, where it was sent to be sold, and to encourage the consumption of iron, and its manufacture into the various articles needed for their own use, in ship-building and other industries, the exportation of iron was, in 1662, prohibited, on penalty of ten pounds of tobacco for each pound of iron exported. This prohibition was removed in 1682. With the enterprise for colonizing Massachusetts Bay, the Court of Assistants in London, who took an actiye part in this measure, contemplated the production of iron. The journal kept of the 356 IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. proceedings of the court states that at a meeting held on March 2d, I 028, “also for Mr. Malbon it was propounded, he having skill in iron works, and willing to put in twenty-five pounds in stock, it should be accounted as fifty pounds, and his charges to be borne out and home from New England ; and upon his return, and report what may be done about iron works, consideration to be had of proceeding therein accordingly, and further recompense if there be cause to entertain him. 77 • Three days after, an arrangement was made with Thomas Graves, of Gravesend, Kent, to visit New England, at the expense of the company, as “a man experienced in iron workes, in salt workes, in measuring and surveying of lands, and in fortifications, in lead, copper, and alum mynes. 77 On his part, Graves agreed to serve the company six or eight months for a free passage out and home, and five pounds a month with board. If he remained three years, the company were to transport his family, and support them until the next harvest, pay him fifty pounds a year, give him a house and one hundred acres of land, with a share in the land allotment; while any additional compensation w 7 as at the company 7 s discretion. Whether Graves, who settled at Charlestown, discovered any mines, does not appear. No steps were taken towards the manu¬ facture of iron until fifteen years after this date. In November, 1 GST, the General Court of Massachusetts granted to Abraham Shaw one half of any “ coles or yronjstone w th shall bee found in any comon ground w ch is in the countrye’s disposing. 77 At an early period, the bog iron ore, which is deposited in the peat bogs and ponds of Eastern Massachusetts, was discovered at Saugus or Lynn. These ponds, which are abundant on the sea¬ board of New England, are scooped out of the drift and tertiary formation ; and at their bottoms, the water which has percolated through the surrounding hills of gravel and sand deposits large quantities of the sesquioxide of iron. This sediment, mingled with vegetable mould, and partially solidified by combining with the water, forms masses of soft and spongy bog iron ore, or crys¬ tallizes into a more compact hydrate. When this is removed, the deposit is re-formed, at intervals of time varying according to the impregnation with iron of the springs by which the ponds or bogs are formed. These deposits are quite frequent in the county of Plymouth, Massachusetts. . ’ The necessity of iron for various purposes, and the difficulties IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. 9 r -r OOi in the trade with England, led soon to the attempt to introduce the manufacture into the colony. In 1643 Mr. Bridges carried with him to England specimens of the ore from the ponds near Lynn, and, in connection with Winthrop and others, formed a “ Company of Undertakers for the Iron Works. 77 The sum of one thousand pounds was subscribed, and with this Winthrop, with a corps of workmen, returned to New England the same year. Others joined in the enterprise, and on March 7th, 1663, the Gen¬ eral Court granted them the exclusive privilege of making iron for twenty-one years, provided that within two years they made sufficient for the use of the colony. They were allowed the use of any six places not already granted, provided that within ten years they set up in each place a furnace and a forge, and “ not a bloomery onely. 77 The stockholders were exempted from taxation on their stock, their agents from public charges, and they and their workmen from trainings. It has been questioned whether their first forge was set up at Braintree or Lynn, but Lewis, the historian of Lynn, avers that the first works were erected there, on the west bank of the Saugus, upon land purchased from Thomas Hudson, and near a chain of ponds abounding in ore. The village about the works was called Hammersmith, from the native place in England of some of the workmen. Operations were continued here with varying degrees of success for more than one hundred years, and the heaps of scorirn about the place still mark the spot in which this important industrj' was commenced and carried on. Not the least difficulty in the way of the successful working of the iron works established by the company was the want of ready money among the undertakers of the project, and also the want of money among the inhabitants to purchase the wares produced. The court, in reply to a letter from the proprietors in 1646, wrote, “ If your iron may not be had here without ready money, what advantage will that be to us if we have no money to purchase it ? 77 In August, 1648, Governor Winthrop wrote concerning it: 11 The iron work goctli on with more hope. It yields now about seven tons per week, but it is most out of that brown earth which lies under the bog mine. They tried another mine, and after twenty- four hours they had a sum of about five hundred, which, when they brake, they conceived to be a fifth part silver. There is a grave man of good fashion come now over to see how things stand here. He is one who hath been exercised in iron works.' 7 358 IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. The company, in 1677, after having been several times sued for debt, succumbed to the force of adverse circumstances, and the property passed out of their possession into the hands of Samuel Appleton, who sold them about ten years after to James Taylor. The chief importance of the establishment of these works was, that they introduced the industry into the country, and brought over to the colony many skilful mechanics, the result of whose labors have not yet entirely disappeared. Among the first workmen engaged at the foundery were Henry and James Leonard, who aided in making the first castings in the United States, and were the first of a long line of iron masters of their name who have been scattered all over the- country. Joseph Jenks, of Hammersmith, near London, was another skilful work¬ man who was connected with this undertaking from its commence¬ ment. Mr. Lewis, in his History of Lynn , says of him : l< Joseph Jenks deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance in American history as being the^/trs/ founder who worked in brass and iron on the western continent. By his hands the first models were made, and the first castings taken of many domestic implements and iron tools. The first article said to have been cast was a small iron pot, capable of holding about a quail. Thomas Hudson, of the same family with the celebrated Hendrick Hudson, was the first proprietor of the lands on the Saugus River, where the iron foun¬ dery stood. When the forgo was established, he procured the first casting, which was the famous old iron pot, which he preserved as a curiosity, and handed down in his family ever since.” In March, 1739, Joseph Mallison, who was interested in the management of a furnace in Duxbury, memorialized the Legislature for a grant of unimproved land in consideration of his having in¬ troduced the use of sand moulds for casting hollow ware, such as pots and kettles, of which he claimed to be “ the sole promoter, whereby the province saved annually at least twenty thousand pounds importations .” This improvement he had made some years before, and the General Court, in acknowledgment of his claim, granted him two hundred acres of unimproved land. The introduction of casting in sand instead of clay moulds has been ascribed also to Jeremy Florio, an Englishman, who practised it at Kingston. Among the early settlers of this country, and during even the last century, many domestic utensils of iron, which are now to be met with in the humblest dwelling, were quite unknown, or else IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. 359 highly prized for their rarity. The wills and inventories of per¬ sons who were among the well to do, frequently enumerate such articles as iron pots, and their entire stock consisted often of only one or two, and these were bequeathed to relatives or friends as marks of affectionate esteem. A century ago tea-kettles were made of wrought iron exclusively, and the rarity of cast iron ves¬ sels shows how limited was their production, even in England, from whence the supply was chiefly obtained. The plentiful sup¬ ply of these conveniences at the present time is due chiefly to the introduction of anthracite in the place of charcoal for fuel in the furnaces. In 1750, when the act was passed by Parliament for encouraging the importation from the colonies of pig and bar iron, and prohib¬ iting the erection of any slitting or rolling-mills, plating forges, or steel furnaces, there were found to be in existence in the colo¬ nies two slitting-mills in Middleboro’, one in Hanover, and one in Milton, as also a plating mill with a tilt hammer, and one steel furnace. The rolling-mills were chiefly employed in making nail rods, to be worked up by hand. This account of the early growth of the manufacture of iron in Massachusetts, will serve as an indication of how the same indus¬ try became established in other of the colonies. To treat it with the same detail for each of the states would require too much of our space, and it is sufficient to remark that this industry was, at the time of the revolution, carried on to a greater or less extent in each one of the thirteen colonies. An idea of the general character of the furnaces used in the last century can be best gathered from an account written in 1804 by Dr. James Thatcher, who was one of the proprietors of the Federal furnace, erected in 1794, in Carver, a town seven and a half miles from Plymouth, and which is printed in the Massachu¬ setts Historical Collections. At the time this description was written, pig iron had about ceased to be produced in this country, but the blast furnaces were in operation for casting. Ten forges were also employed for making bar iron from scraps and old cast iron, to the extent of about two hundred tons annually. The furnace was about twenty feet high above the hearth, and eight feet wide in the boshes. The blast was produced, as was then usual, by two bellows, twenty-two feet long and four wide. These were driven by a water-wheel twenty-five feet in diameter, and worked alternately. Every six months two or three blasts, of 3G0 IRON AND ITS PEEP A R AT I ON. sixteen or eighteen weeks each, were made, producing about tlirce hundred and sixty tons of hollow ware, with other articles, the whole estimated at about 1200 pounds a ton. The cost was : — 2130 cords of wood, making 1420 loads of charcoal, at $2.50, $3550 00 72G tons of ore, at $6,. 435(5 00 Two sets of stones for hearth,. 153 32 Wages of founder, at $1 a ton,. SG0 00 Wages of other workmen,. 2331 CO Total.$10,750 32 This furnace produced also iron cylinders for slitting mills, pot¬ ash kettles, stoves, fire backs and jambs, plates, gudgeons, anvils, large hammers, cannon balls, and a great variety of machinery for mills. With the war of the revolution, the legislative interference of Parliament with the industry of the colonics ceased. It was this narrow-sighted policy of interference which.had forced the colonies to appeal to arms, after having exhausted every method of peace¬ ful protest, and reasonable attempts to vindicate their rights. During the continuance of the war, the increased demand for iron in the manufacture of weapons, and for domestic consumption, to¬ gether with the total stoppage of all foreign supply, caused a great increase in the production, and led to the successful inauguration of many branches of manufacture. The general congress and the local state legislatures recommended to the people that greater at¬ tention should be paid to the development of the natural resources of the country, and encouraged many branches of manufacture by bounties. At the close of the war, many kinds of industry which had been stimulated by the previously existing unnatural condition of isolation, and by the attendant legislation, were ruined by the im¬ portations of cheaper products from Europe ; and, under the then existing confederation, there being no harmony or uniformity of action between the states, their conflicting legislation, actuated by narrow and selfish views of their individual, instead of the general interest, produced such a depression of commerce as made it evi¬ dent that a better political organization must replace the old con¬ federation. Fortunately, however, the war had strengthened, instead of weakening, the convictions of the people in the necessity for free- ch m in their political relations, and intensified their wise jealousy IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. 361 of too much governmental interference with their individual condi¬ tions for social, political, and industrial development. They had been trained to self-reliance, and desired to be citizens, not sub¬ jects ; to be members of a commonwealth, and organize a govern¬ ment for their own purposes, to be their servant, not their master. Especially fortunate was it that, at the same time, the financial policy of the government was in the hands of Alexander Hamil¬ ton. The credit of the government was destroyed, its circulation was almost worthless, and being without any national traditions, with no organization of the national service, the crisis looked grave, and it needed a man with a mind comprehensive enough to embrace the necessities of the case, and with a logic sure enough to see that by the industry of the country alone could the stability of the new nation be assured, and that' the duty of the govern¬ ment was to foster and direct, not to control and hamper, the play of the energies of those to whom it owed itself, its existence, and authority. If ever at any time an attempt upon the part of a government to interfere with the natural development of industry was justifia¬ ble, it was just at the period succeeding the revolution. Not only were the circumstances at home such as would seem to call for governmental protection, but the course of the mother country was such as would seem to have justified it as a measure of re¬ taliation. By an act of 1785, Parliament prohibited, under severe penal¬ ties, the enticing of artificers or workmen skilled in the iron and steel manufactures out of the British kingdom, or the exportation of any tools used in these arts, and also all machinery, engines, or parts of such, or all models or plans of such. Hamilton’s report upon manufactures, as Secretary .of the Treas¬ ury, and his suggestions for the protection of those branches which required it, is an admirable document for its careful and temperate tone. But it was chiefly to his administration of the treasury, his introduction of order and method into this depart¬ ment of the public service, to which all industry must be subser¬ vient, and to the freedom of our political relations which fostered the enterprise of individuals, that the wonderful growth of our industry during this century is due. Labor was taught to depend more upon itself, its energy, and its ingenuity, than upon govern¬ mental protection ; and, as the history of almost any special 362 IRON AND ITS PREPARATION. branch of industry will show, it is to these qualities that American industry owes its successful and independent character. During this century the iron manufacture has steadily increased, though its progress has fluctuated in consequence of the changes in the tariff. Yet American industry has contributed its share to the improvements in the methods of manufacture which have been detailed above ; and the furnaces of the United States will com¬ pare favorably with those of any country for their appliances to attain excellence and economy in the process of manufacture. One of the most important improvements in the manufacture of iron has been introduced by some of the founderies of the West, and consists in the welding of cast iron. This is done by pouring molten iron on the edge of the shaft, or other fractured surface to be mended, until it becomes melted, and then, the mould being closed, the needed part is cast upon it. This most important dis¬ covery is entirely American. The chief improvement of late date is that known as the Besse¬ mer process, which is described in the article upon Steel. Per¬ haps it is not too much to say that, by this process, in due time, the whole method of manufacture will be changed, and the in¬ creased demand of our growing industry be supplied at much cheaper rates than we have yet seen. The last suggestion in the process is the use of the spectral analysis of the light from the combustion of the gases from the furnace, as a test of when the decarbonization of the ore has been carried to the desired point. Thus the most delicate ahd accurate discoveries of pure science arc found to be the allies of the rudest industry. SAWS, AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. • SPECULATIONS AS TO THE ORIGIN OF THE SAW. — THE GREAT PART IT PLAYS IN CIVILIZATION. — SCRAPS OF ANTIQUE HISTORY. — THE INVENTION OF THE SAW ASCRIBED BY THE GREEKS TO DAEDALUS, OR PERDIX, EMINENT SCULPTORS WHOM THEY DEIFIED. — THE SAW AMONG THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. — DE¬ SCRIPTION OF THE EARLIEST KNOWN SAWS. — BECKMANN, EMY, HOLTZAPFFEL, KARMARSCH, WRITERS UPON THE SAW. -APPLICATION OF WATER, WIND, AND STEAM AS MOTIVE POWERS OF THE SAW. — INTRODUCTION OF SAW-MILLS INTO ENGLAND VIOLENTLY OPPOSED BY THE PEOPLE, AND THE MILLS RAZED TO THE GROUND BY THE MOB. — SUPPRESSION OF MILLS BY ACT OF PARLIA¬ MENT. — REVIVAL OF MILLS, AND INCREASED DEMAND FOR SAWS. — THE SAW IN THE UNITED STATES. — PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE. -THE CHIEF MANUFACTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. — THE KEYSTONE SAW, TOOL, STEEL, AND FILE WORKS. — BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON MR. IIENRY DISSTON, THE EMINENT FOUNDER OF THE KEYSTONE WORKS. * The saw has ever played a most conspicuous part in the economy of manufactures, and its importance will readily be admitted, when we consider how essential a bearing it has upon our every-day life, and how conducive it is to the development of those useful arts upon which, to a great extent, the very ex¬ istence of civilized humanity depends. Its extended and univer¬ sal employment in the higher class of industrial art Iras, in great measure, contributed to the advancement of civilization and pros¬ perity, by administering to the production not only of those things which are necessary to our being, but of those which tend to cultivate the taste and to refine the mind. The art of sawing must have been known at an exceedingly remote period 9 (even, it is probable, in prehistoric times), as it is impossible to suppose that such magnificent and gorgeous structures as are described in the Hebraic Scriptures, and elsewhere, could have been formed without some knowledge of the use of the saw ; but the full extent to which that knowledge existed, and the modes of its practical application, cannot be educed from the insufficient (36 3J 3G4 SAWS AND TIIEIR MANUFACTURE. evidence at our command in these times. The ancient Greeks ascribed the invention of the saw — as also the chisel, compasses, and auger, with other-implements — to Dmdalus (or, as some say, Talus)-, or his disciple Perdix, renowned architects and sculp¬ tors, who were accustomed to employ these instruments in the production of the Dmdali — wooden images of the gods, orna¬ mented with gilding and real drapery, and usually represented standing with the feet in an advancing posture. There is every reason to believe, however, that the derivation of saws is infinitely more remote, as they have been discovered clearly represented in the midst of the hieroglyphics inscribed on the obelisks of Egypt. According to the hypotheses of sundry ancient writers, the jaw-bones of the snake with its teeth, or the vertebrae of a fish with its protruding small points, first sugg-ested the plan of the saw ; but it is equally as likely that a common brier upon Which some antique “ genius " may have torn his flesh, or his fig leaves, if he wore any, may have suggested the idea. The great wonder is, so useful an implement is the saw, that we have not been assured by some ancient writer that the notion of the saw was-divinely inspired. The Greeks did indeed deify the sup¬ posed inventor of the saw, thus intimating that, in their opinion, the conception of it was beyond the powers of the human mind. The saws used by the Grecian carpenters were made like the •straight frame instruments qf modern days, the blade having been *$et across the middle of the frame, with the teeth perpendicular to the plane. The block of wood was held down upon a liable or bench by clamps, and the sawyers, on opposite sides of the bench, at each end of the saw, pulled it back and forth. The investigation of the history of the saw affords an interest¬ ing field to the archaeologist, although the materials or means of information are limited, so far as specific facts are concerned ; but there is wide scope for intelligent inference. But such investiga¬ tion, thoroughly carried* out, and the results thereof stated, would hardly come within the purview cf this article, which is intended in the main to be utilitarian. Those who desire to make more ex¬ tended researches, are referred to Beckmann's “ History of Inven¬ tions," containing an account of the earlier saw-mills, together with certain speculations on the origin of the saw. Emy, in his “ Traite de l'Art de la Charpenterie," also makes some allusions to the same subject of an instructive character, as likewise does Iloltzapffel, in the second volume of “Turning and Mechanical 365 SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. Manipulation,” and Karmarsch in the “ Handbuch der mecha- nischen Technologic,” vol. i. Ilanover, 1866. Saws are made of the many forms and sizes required by thousands, according to the particular purposes for which they are designed ; and hardly any instrument for man’s use is more varied in size than the saw, when we consider the full range of its species, so to speak, from the watchmaker’s delicate saw for piercing and inlaying, which measures about one thirtieth of an inch in width, and one hundredth of an inch in thickness, up to the immense mill and mulay (mullet?) saws in use in cer¬ tain portions of America, and the peculiar band-saws in com¬ bination with rack-benches, employed in ripping logs of timber of almost any dimensions. The oldest forms of the saw are made of a straight piece of steel, “ toothed,” and set in a frame, or with handles on either end, to be moved by one or two persons, according to the form given ; or the saw-plate is made sufficiently stiff to be propelled by one handle, and worked by a single person holding it in one hand, like tin' saw most in use among joiners and carpenters in. general. In modern times has been invented the circular saw-blade, which re¬ volves, and with its teeth in the periphery, .may be made to cut with incredible speed; a saw of two feet in diameter, for example, being driven at the speed of from two thousand to twenty-four hundred revolutions a minute. But the chief important improvement, for a long time, relating to saws, is one recently devised by Mr. Henry Disston, of Phila¬ delphia (and patented January 14, 1868), which, since it com¬ prehends one of the most valuable achievements of progress, in any art, namely, economy of means or in products, is highly worthy of note. To make this great improvement most clear to the reader, it should first be observed that the rapid wear of cir¬ cular saws demands the frequent sharpening of their teeth ; and that this, in ordinary saws, not only requires tedious manipula¬ tion, but results in the rapid reduction of the saw in diameter. To rescue the saw from tin’s rapid reduction is the object of Mr. Disston’s successful invention. The better to explain this great improvement, we introduce the two accompanying cuts, designated “ Fig. 1 ” and 41 Fig. 2,” respectively., (For the use of the plate of the latter we are in¬ debted to the courtesy of Messrs. Henry Disston & Son, of Phil¬ adelphia.) Fig. 1 represents a portion of a circular saw with or- 21 366 SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. dinary teeth, which must be sharpened by reducing both the front edge a and back b of each tootli; a duty which requires much time, and which cannot bo per¬ formed without much waste of material, as will be readily understood by reference to the dotted lines, which illustrate the condition of the blade and waste of material after frequent sharpening. To obviate these objections or difficulties was devised the plan above alluded to, and shown by Fig. 2 (on next page), by which it will be observed that the back of each tooth is a continuation of a curved line, Z, spirally arranged on the blade, and that the sharpening of the tooth is accomplished by the reduction of a portion of the front or throat only ; thus, in reducing the tooth, the course pursued by the cutter (the contrivance by which the tooth is cut) is spiral, so that while the rotary cutter is in the act of reducing the front of the tooth, D, it is at the same time pro¬ longing the back of the tooth, C, prior to the reduction of the front of the same. The teeth can be sharpened from time to time, by simply filing the bevelled ends (as seen in Fig. 2) ; and this mode of sharpen¬ ing may be continued until the bevelled point of cach*tooth reaches nearly to the end of the throat, when by means of a ro¬ tary cutter a further portion of the throat may be removed. Fig. 2 (representing the so-called “ Patent Gullet-Tooth Circular Saw,” secured by patent to Messrs. Ilenry Disston & Son) fur¬ ther illustrates, in its double capacity, a saw, B, as worn down from a larger saw, A, the teeth having been 11 carried back,” or cut (by the use of the same firm’s patent “ gummers ”), on the periphery lines, Z, instead of on the centre line, G, by the old method of filing. The engraving represents a two inch tooth or gullet. When the saw has been worn down by this method from C to F, on centre line,* it has been reduced but six 9 inches, but has presented a point or cutting surface on the pe¬ riphery line from G to Y, a distance of twenty-four inches. The majority of saws, however, arc run successfully with a one and one-fourth inch tooth ; and of course the smaller the gullet the less the waste of the saw. Anterior to the adaptation of mechanism to the saw, large timber SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 3G7 was universally converted through the agency of the pit or whip¬ saw. This instrument varies in size from about six feet to eight feet in length, and is furnished at the upper end with a tiller, and at the lower with a box to adapt it to the hands of the saw¬ yers. The balk, or beam, after being sorted and lined out by the converter, is then placed over the saw-pit, in order that the saw Fig. 2 . may be used in a vertical position by two men, called, respectively, the topman and the pitman. The men are favorably stationed so that their positions shall enable them to give the saw a nearly perpendicular traverse of three or four feet; but in the up-stroke it is withdrawn a few inches from the end of the cut, so as to allow the sawdust free escape, and likewise to avoid blunting the teeth. 3G8 SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. It is customary, when deals or expensive woods of moderate dimensions are required to be sawn, to make use of the pit-frame saw, which is much thinner than the whip-saw, and therefore less wasteful of the material. The saw is attached to a wooden frame of a parallelogrammic figure, by means of two iron buckles or shackles riveted to the blade, and arranged so as to embrace the top and bottom cross-heads of the frame. The lower buckle is cleft for the insertion of a pair of equal or folding wedges, the office of which is to draw the saw-web stiff'and tense, and retain it in proper position. We clearly have in this apparatus the germs of the saw-frame, and mill-saws, and it only required popular demands and sufficient time to perfect them into the varied and complete instruments of the present day. We cannot fix the exact date at which saws by other than hand force first came into operation, although it may be affirmed, on reliable authority, that mills driven by water-wheels and the wings of wind-mills existed in Germany as early as the fourteenth century. They subsequently made their way in a very crude state into Germany and Holstein. Towards the close of the year 159G, a saw-mill worked by water power was erected at Saardam, in Holland. Saw-mills were not introduced in England prior to the seventeenth century, on account of the prejudice ex¬ isting against them on the part of sawyers, who, like many members of various handicrafts, repulsed any innovation likely to interfere with their trade, and lessen, as they maintained, their means of subsistence. In fact, so high arose the antipathy and obstructiveness of the sawyers, that Parliament was obliged to pass a law to appease them, whereby the use of saws driven by wind or water power was prohibited. For this reason, a mill erected by a Dutchman near London, in 1633, was abandoned. Nevertheless, in spite of this stubborn opposition, efforts were not wanting, persevering ones, and another mill, impelled by the force of the wind, was built in Limehouse, by a Mr. Houghton, in the year PiGO. Unfortunately, this only served to arouse in a still greater degree, the rage of the populace, who ended by throwing the mill to the ground, and demolishing the entire works. Efforts to introduce the water or wind mills, were suppressed from that time for a period of about sixty years, when an opulent and en¬ terprising merchant, encouraged by the Society of Arts, caused a wind power saw-mill to be erected again at Limehouse, under the SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 369 supervision of an able and experienced millwright by the name of Stansfield, who had learned in Holland and Norway the art of constructing and managing works of this nature. The attempt proved, however, as futile as those that had pre¬ ceded it. Crowds of the disaffected once more mustered around the building, and under the guidance of two or three desperadoes, irretrievably destroyed it, and ruthlessly scattered the debris. It is satisfactory, however, to add, that the government came for¬ ward, and indemnified the spirited entrepreneur for the loss he sustained by this flagrant act of injustice. It is a pitiful fact in the history of the arts, and sciences,—and the remark may be justly extended so as to embrace matters of agriculture and commerce as well, — that governments do not, far more than they have ever done, interest themselves in projects which are calculated to advance the general well-being of their respective bodies politic, and to succor individual enterprise. The tendency of the age is to cooperative enterprise. This is emphatically the age of guar¬ antee, of mutual insurance, and united effort — the palpable pre¬ cursor of those days of enlightenment which are to succeed civilization, in which shall be witnessed no more such violent struggles as we record above between impoverished labor strug¬ gling in its witless way to preserve food for its hungering mouth against the suggestions of genius attempting to lessen the general burdens of labor for humanity, and pushed on by capital. The war between labor and capital must ever continue, till an intelli¬ gent, inventive genius, equal to that which prompts and perfects the mechanical enterprises of individuals, is brought to bear upon the improvement and reorganization of that old machine which hac so clumsily run on for the ages, ever getting out of repair, often violently checked in its course, and making fearful couhter- revolutions, -—breaking its shafts, with ever a " screw loose*” here and there, and sometimes tottering, and swaying, and break¬ ing down with a crash of war and its attendant wrongs and hor¬ rors, and which miserable machine we are wont in its parts to call “ Government,” "Society,” — semi-developed, or further ad¬ vanced, and which, with a general term, we curiously enough name “ Civilization.” Shortly after the destruction of the mill which we note above, another one was erected in its place, and was permitted to flourish unmolested; and in a few years the general establishment of mills 370 SAWS AND TIIEIR MANUFACTURE. in the vicinage of London followed as a corollary. Beckmann asserts that a saw-mill of a most outre description, had been in action at Leith, in Scotland, some time antecedent to those erected about London. To General Bentham is commonly accorded the honor of hav¬ ing been the first to apply steam as a motive power for driving saw-frames ; and in a patent taken out by him in 1793, a machine of this class is specified for operating on wood, previous to its conversion into scantling for “ block shells,” etc. Since then, great progress has been made in this branch of mechanical indus¬ try. Iron and steel have supplanted wood for constructive de¬ tails, thereby, as English manufacturers assure us as the result of their experience, insuring greater stability and superior work, as well as conferring a simple and more elegant appearance upon the whole structure ; while, at the same time, ample strength and solid- it}' are provided to preserve it free from vibration and fracture. But in this country wood as a constructive material largely continues to find favor with sawyers, who maintain that its elasticity absorbs or counteracts the vibration of the saws, cutters, etc., and that thereby higher rates of speed may be attained than would be consistent with iron and rigid frame-work. But the writer’s observations lead to the contrary opinion, and practical English¬ men, who speak from experience, assure him that iron and steel are found preeminently qualified for the purposes of erection, and are, as well, greatly superior to the softer and more yielding mate¬ rial, by reason of the greater durability and freedom from in¬ herent decay. It was the application of water, wind, and steam, as motive powers, to the saw, which created that large demand for its use which has characterized the nineteenth century over all its pred¬ ecessors, and which extended its operations into many thereto untried fields of enterprise ; and for the perfect operations of the saw, as perfect settings or frames as may be, are necessary. In¬ deed, the saw and the frame are only necessary and co-operative parts of a whole, and must go together—as essential to each other as teeth to the masticating animal man, or as the man to the masticating teeth. The introduction of the saw into America was coincident with its settlement, the saw at that time being as feeble and simple, as an instrument, as were the colonies as bodies politic — and as out of small beginnings has grown one of the foremost nations of SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 371 the world, so equally has the science of the saw in its mechanical improvements and manufacture grown until to-day, when in the United States the best saws of the world are made. The capital invested in the manufacture of saws in this country is many mil¬ lions of dollars, employing large numbers of artisans. The process of manufacturing saws may be described in a few words. An ingot of steel is prepared, from which the plates are to be manufactured, and being heated to a requisite heat, is placed under a ponderous steam hammer, and subjected to severe manip¬ ulation, which tends to refine, densify, and toughen the grain of the steel ; it is then re heated, and placed under powerful rollers, and flattened out to the required thickness, and thereafter cut up into slits if need be. The edge intended for the teeth is then made true by trimming, and the plate is next taken to a toothing machine, a fly press, suitably provided with punches, regulated by gauges so that a suitable and uniform distance apart may be secured for the teeth, and then the plate is “ toothed ” rapidly. The punch or “ die ” leaves somewhat rough edges to the teeth, which edges are, as the next process, removed by files, and the teeth sharpened. The blades are next made to undergo the hardening or tempering process, which consists in their first being heated in large ovens, over an intense fire, to a red heat, whence they are withdrawn at a certain degree of heat, and plunged into vats containing oil, together with certain ingredients, such as resin, tallow, and bees-wax, in certain proportions. Of the precise proportions of these, together with anything like a minute description of the tempering process, it would, in every case, be difficult to assure the reader; for the art of tempering, especially in instances where it is a peculiar success, is kept a secret in the temperer’s own bosom. By this process the blades acquire great hardness; and he now subjects them to a new heat, until portions of the oil not wiped off begin to burn. This latter process is known as “blazing off.” The temperer regulates the degree of hardness according to the purpose for which the given saw is intended. That the stiffness of the plate may be uniform throughout, it is next ham¬ mered thoroughly upon a large anvil: this is called, in manufac¬ turing parlance, “ smithing.” The next step is to grind the plate, so that it shall, commencing at a given thickness of teeth, grow slightly and gradually thinner to the back (or to the centre, in case of circular saws). The process of grinding was exclusively, till of late, that of placing the plate upon a stiff board for a back, 372 SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. and pressing one side of it at a time against a grindstone ; but in the leading establishment in the United States, the “ Keystone Saw, Tool, Steel, and File Works” of Philadelphia, Pa., the grinding of saws is to a large extent done by a patented process, by which the plate is ground on both sides at once, with far more uni¬ formity in regard to thickness, as well as more expertly and eco¬ nomically than when ground on one side at once. After the saw is ground, it is taken back to the anvils for ro- il hammering,” in order to* take out whatever distortions may have occurred by the pulling and friction it has received in grind¬ ing ; then back again to the grindstones, where it is “ drawn,” as it is called. It is now ready for the ** glazing ” or polishing pro¬ cess, which being done, it is carried back to the anvils once more to be straightened, after it is 11 grained ” with emery, after which it is set. It is next passed through the process of stiffen¬ ing, or having the requisite 11 spring” or elasticity given it, which is done by a heating process. After it comes from this process, and is cooled off, whatever discoloration it may have received from the process of heating, or otherwise, is removed by acid, and then it is oiled. (At this point devices or names are etched or stamped on the saw.) It is now ready for sharpening, which done, it is “ handled” (if of the kind needing handles), and is inspected, and then packed for market. The most extensive, and without doubt the best manufactory of saws in the United States, and probably in the world, as the writer is confidently assured by one whom he deems to possess a larger knowledge of the saw and its manufacture than almost any other person living, is that of the world-famed “ Keystone Saw, Tool, Steel, and File Works,” established originally by Mr. Henry Disston, whose name is known throughout the world wherever a saw is used. The process of manufacture at the Keystone Works is sub¬ stantially as described in the general description above ; but it should be remembered, in honor of the intelligence that is made to bear upon the manufacture of saws at this establishment, thpt many of the details of the several processes are the inventions of Mr! Disston and his associates, and are secured to them by letters patent. These, in good measure, enable them to outvie other works in the accuracy of their manufactures, as well as in their cost of production. The Keystone Works successfully compete in all respects with foreign manufacturers, and in some respects sur- KEYS I ONE SAW WORKS; HENRY DISSTON & SON, PHILADELPHIA. f « - . ■ , . mm - ■ V - .« IJKtt M \ ;; 1 • • *' J 5a , • • ■ : ■ *:■ I. : ... ' r r . - v ; •• . »■ . * »■ ’ - , • . . • : . • , ■ SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 375 pass them. For example, the so-called “ No 7 ” saw, manufac¬ tured by these works, is said by the best authorities to be worth forty per cent, more than the best English saw. And here, in the not illaudible pride, we trust, of Americans in our victories over other countries, especially in the “ con¬ tests of peace ,” it is our great pleasure to note the following evi¬ dence of an American triumph not only over English skill, but that of the whole world in the matter of saws. Mr. Disston, some time in 1867, forwarded a circular saw blade to the great London dealers, Messrs. Holloway & Co., and received from them a voluntary and appreciative testimonial in the letter be¬ low, which we have been permitted to copy. “ London, England, Nov. 23 , 1867 . “ Mr. Henry Disston. “ Dear Sir : You will be pleased to learn that your circular saw blade reached us yesterday safely. We have tried it to-day, and it is more than all we expected of it. In every respect it is the best saw we have ever seen, and its equal cannot be produced in Europe. We beg to thank you for all your kind attention to our wishes, and are your obliged and obedient servants, “Holloway & Co.” % A testimonial like the above, and so well merited, should satisfy the professional ambition of any manufacturer in the land. It may be noted here that the Keystone Works frequently receive perhaps equally good testimonials of the perfection of their wares, in the shape of large boulders cut entirely through by their saws without breaking the latter, which boulders have by some means become imbedded in the huge trees of California or Oregon, it may be, and which as cut in twain, are forwarded to them by some admiring sawyer ; and in the largest iron saw-dogs cut completely in two by their matchless saws. The Keystone Works not only manufacture all kinds of saws, from the common wood and hand saw up to the largest circular saws ever made, inclusive, — mill, mulay, gang, cross-cut, drag, pit-saw, patent combination saws, etc.—but also do a large business in setting, sharpening, gumming, and hammering circu¬ lar and other saws for other establishments which have not the requisite facilities, and also do their own (silver or gold) plating, and plate for others. It should not be overlooked that they make, 376 SAWS AND TIlEIIt MANUFACTURE. for their own consumption, the steel ingots Ihey need for their saws, etc., after a perfect and patented process; and it is due greatly to this fact that their saws take precedence of all others. Their establishment is immense, covering over eight acres of ground, and employing upwards of six hundred laborers. They pay always over nine thousand dollars per week, the em¬ ployees receiving from six dollars per week for boys, who do the lighter work, to thirty and one hundred dollars per week for skilled workmen. Before our late civil war, wages averaged about one-half of what they do now. Workmen at the same trade in England get about one-half of what the Keystone Works paid before the war. The prices of the saws made by the establish¬ ment remain about the same as before the war, the superior and patented machinery of the Keystone Works enabling them to manufacture to such excellent advantage. Mr. Disston, the founder of this establishment, is a strong ad¬ vocate of “ protection ,” as against free trade, and believes that the success of the works, and the lucrative employment which it has been enabled to give to its large number of employees, providing thus f r hundreds of families, have been secured by the protective tariff, as well as by the eminent care and skill exer¬ cised in the manufacture of its wares. Not only do<5s Mr. Henry Disston stand pre-eminent in this country as the successful pioneer in the manufacture of saws, but his career is one of marvellous successes, secured through great intelligence, by untiring perseverance and the conscientious fulfil¬ ment of professional duties; and a short biography of this eminent manufacturer can be fitly made here, as instructive and encouraging to the earnest young men of the country. Mr. Disston is an Englishman by birth, but came here at an early age, and is an American in sentiment and active energy. Tic commenced business in a small cellar in the vicinity of Second and Arch Streets, Philadelphia; and the first coal he ever used for the purpose of hardening and tempering his work was wheeled by himself from Willow Street Wharf, nearly a mile distant, to his little workshop. The manufacture of hand saws had already been attempted by other parties, all of whom, however, failed, and it was reserved for Mr. Disston to establish that important and useful branch of industry in this country. But this was not accomplished with’ out many severe trials and struggles, and in order to prove to SAWS AND THEIR MANUFACTURE. 377 the merchant that he was determined to compete with the foreign market, he was frequently compelled to sell his saws at an advance of only one per cent, over the cost of production. At the age of eighteen years Mr. Disston became foreman of the shop in which he served his apprenticeship, and was fre¬ quently the recipient of presents from his employers for the im¬ provements he made in machinery, tools, etc. At this time it was the custom to send back to England all the scrap or waste steel made in cutting out saws, for the purpose of being re-manu¬ factured into sheets. On this material there had already been paid a duty of thirty per cent., in addition to freights and other charges. The same steel, after its re-manufacture, would be re¬ turned to this country, and again subjected to duties and charges. This told so heavily against the American manufacture, that Mr. Disston determined that such a state of affairs should no longer exist; and about twenty years ago he commenced to make waste steu-1 into ingots, which he caused to be rolled into sheets for the manufacture of the cheaper qualities of goods. The experience and confidence thus gained have proved to be ^f immense benefit, and although millions of dollars had been vainly spent in trying to produce sheet steel in this country, yet when our civil war broke out, and gold commenced its upward flight, Mr. Disston assumed the risk ; and a success more flattering than his most sanguine hopes had pictured has crowned his efforts, the works now producing upwards of thirty tons of sheet steel per week, the whole of which is consumed in the establishment. The finest qualities are made into saws, which far excel those of foreign manufacture. One of the great secrets of Mr. Disston’s success is his prac¬ tical knowledge of every department incident to the manufacture of saws. There is not a process, even the most minute, through which a saw passes from the crude and raw material to its finished state, but what can be successfully accomplished, in a mechanical point of view, by Mr. Disston himself. In the year 1846 Mr. Disston removed his small establishment, and rented a room in the factory of Mr. William Miles, then sit¬ uated on part of the site of the present works. In 1849 lie was - unfortunately burned out through the explosion of Mr. Miles's boiler — a disaster which might have cost him his life, as he was thrown a considerable distance by the concussion, but fortunately without sustaining any serious personal injury. 378 SAWS AND TIIEIll MANUFACTURE. Tliis event caused him to take up a small lot adjoining, sixty by one hundred and fifty feet, on which, in the short space of fif¬ teen days, his first factory, thirty by sixty feet, and four stories high, was erected, and formed the nucleus of the present immense establishment. As the rapidly increasing business demanded, it has been from time to time enlarged, until it has assumed its present colossal proportions — covering an area of over eight acres. Mr. Disston now enjoys the laudable pride, as one reward of his great industiy and professional ambition, of witnessing all the operations incidental to the making of saws of every description carried on here on a scale of unsurpassed magnitude; and not only saws, but all their constituent parts, together with all machines and tools used in their manufacture, are planned and fashioned within the works. Mr. Disston ma}^ indeed be classed as one of the celebrated men of this generation. Born in England, in 1819, he came to this country at the age of fourteen 3 r cars, in company with his father, who died fcliree days after their arrival in Philadelphia. Friendless and without means, with no one to advise or guide ♦ his youthful steps, he was indeed a stranger in a strange land. After many trials, vicissitudes, and struggles with poverty, he bound himself apprentice to the saw-making business, believing that the manufacture of saws was destined, at no ver}' distant future, to become one of immense importance in a young and rapidly-growing country abounding in almost trackless forests of lumber, and where new cities rise up as if by magic. The foretlrought and shrewdness which at that tender age seemed to guide him in the selection of a trade, fully developed themselves in after years, and combined with great energy of character, have placed him at the head of the saw-manufacturing business in America, and perhaps the world. The labor market of Europe has been carefully scanned, and the most skilled and experienced workmen obtained, without regard to cost. The beneficial effects of this enterprise are now becoming visible, as some of the finest workmen in the world owe their efficiency to the instruction re¬ ceived in the “ Keystone Saw, Tool, Steel, and File Works,” of Philadelphia. * ORNAMENTAL IRON WORK AND BRONZE CASTINGS. THE WORLD’S PROGRESS OYER IRON. — IRON THE CHIEF “ PRECIOUS METAL.” — FIVE DOLLARS’ WORTH OF IRON IN ITS CRUDE STATE CAPABLE OF RECEIVING A VALUE, THROUGH ART, OF TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOL¬ LARS. - IRON SPOKEN OF BY THE EARLIEST WRITERS. — A SLIGHT PICTURE OF THE DESOLATE STATE OF MANKIND, SHOULD IRON BE STRICKEN FROM AMONG “ THE THINGS THAT BE.”- IRON IN ITS STAPLE USES, AND CON¬ SIDERED AS A MEANS OF ORNAMENTATION. — ITS USE FOR THE LATTER PURPOSE IN EUROPE. - ORNAMENTAL IRON WORK IN THIS COUNTRY. - BRONZE CASTING IN EUROPE. — SUCCESSFUL COMPETITION WITH THE SAME AT LAST ACHIEVED IN THIS COUNTRY. - THE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE IN THE UNITED STATES FOR ORNAMENTAL IRON WORK AND BRONZE CASTINGS, ROBERT WOOD & CO., OF PHILADELPHIA, PA. ; MR. ROBERT WOOD THE FOUNDER. The progress of civilization may be said to be over iron ; for iron is not only a column upon which civilization rests, but lit¬ erally lies along the road, like rails, upon which it moves ; and there can be nothing more pleasing to the student of the arts, or the lover of humanity who is interested in the material elements, which, commingled, add so much to human happiness, and without which misery only would be the. normal condition of the races, than the subject of iron in its million ramifications. Not¬ withstanding the customary classification or nomenclature, iron is the chief precious metal. It can be made, even for the most delicate purposes, many fold more valuable than gold. A piece of iron worth but five dollars in the market in its simple state, may become, it is said, when combined with a proportion of car¬ bon, varying from one-half to one and a half per cent., as steel, and wrought into balance-springs for watches, worth two hun¬ dred and fifty thousand dollars. By no process could five dollars’ worth of gold in the ingot bo wrought up to such a value, espe¬ cially for practical, mechanical, or other possible purposes. Indeed, in the study of iron and its uses, along the line of his- (379) 382 ORNAMENTAL IRON AND BRONZE WORK. tory, the student finds much which is sublime as well as beautiful. With the very heart of the races is iron blent — in fact, it courses in the life-blood or spirit of the races, as truly as it mingles, as the physiologists tell us, in the life-blood of the individual man. In the fourth chapter of the Genesis of the Hebraic Scrip¬ tures, which is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of historical writing, we find even the “ the artificer of iron ” was the noted character or genius of his time ; and in the eighth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy of the same Scriptures, we are told of ** a land whose stones arc iron.” So, from the very beginning of historic times, iron has been a precious metal indeed to man. Every particle of gold and silver might be destroyed, and except in a few chemical preparations, useful in the fine arts, their ab¬ sence would not be practically felt by the world. Even the world of beauty would not appreciatively lose its gems ; for iron in these days can be wrought into as many beautiful shapes as gold and silver, and the pigments in the hands of the chemic-artist may be made to supply their fast colors or shades, while adding colors, too, as beautiful as their own, and which they cannot be made to imitate. But take away the gift or blessing of iron to man, and a moral chaos would ensue, equal to the phy T sical one of which Milton sings, and falling in its horrors and gloom but little below that which the most poetic geologist, in his rapt moods, is wont to picture,-when brooding upon the “ birth of creation.” Not only would the nations^ be obliged to revert to the lowest forms of civilization, but so long and in so many countless ways have mankind been in the habit of depending upon iron as an essential means, in some form or other, of securing their daily happiness, and of conserving their best interests as well, that in the revul¬ sion which the sudden withdrawal of iron from human goods would cause, a lower depth than the old barbaric life would be their fate — “confusion worse confounded ; ” for iron is as essential a “ staple ” as bread, and the teeming races of the earth with¬ out it, would be at a loss how to create the grains from which the latter is made, and starvation to millions on millions must ensue ; and the earth might witness, in densely-populated coun¬ tries, the dreadful spectacle of thousands of the hardly living feeding upon the carcasses of their dead brothers. In fact there are no bounds too great for possibility, which the picturing im¬ agination can reach, when contemplating the subject in this light. ORNAMENTAL IRON AND BRONZE WORK. 381 But even were not such a dreadful state reached at once, yet all progress or development would be arrested ; commerce would pall under the ruins of the wares upon which it thrives, and the fleets of the world fall to pieces in mid ocean, or crumble along the docks. All manufactures must cease, — all travel be sus¬ pended, and the travellers themselves imprisoned in herds in their own temporary homes, and in a short time find themselves naked, without further means of re-dressing than had Adam and Eve ; for without the iron or steel needle, they would want even the means, not only of keeping clothes upon their limbs, but the clothes themselves. And such as, perchance, should catch some lower animal for food, would be compelled to tear its flesh with their teeth and hands. Far more desolate and fearful to contem¬ plate would be the condition of men now, if suddenly deprived of iron, than anything which in the past the world has witnessed. Next to air and light, iron is a necessity to man, since it in some way helps him to work out all his other goods. And without these, what would even the air and light be worth to the denizens of the temperate zones in particular ? — and in these zones crowd the vast majority of the races. The astonished world would, in short, stand aghast, and each man, in his utter impotence, with uplifted hands inquire of the other, “ What shall we do to be saved ? — not from the perils which may environ a future of this life, but from the demoniac starvation, and the countless possible diseases which must come rushing in the train of such a revul¬ sion of the wheels of present progress, as it bears along the vans of civilization. Thus little of iron in its staple uses for man as regarding its employment in the wares of every-day use ; in the plows which cut the furrows in which grow the gimins for man’s consumption ; in the hoes with which the army of weeds and tares is kept from stifling the growing cereals ; and in the rivets, bolts, nails, and bands which hold the parts of those plows and hoes together ; and in the knives, and draw-shaves, and lathes by which their wooden parts are shaped ; in the axles upon which even the grindstones, which sharpen these domestic weapons revolve ; in the means by which the motive powers, the horses and cattle which work the plows are joined to it; the whiffletree hooks, the harness buckles and chains. But it is useless to attempt to recite in detail the forms which iron takes, and the necessities which it supplies, even in the basilar stratum of civilization. But there is another need of 382 ORNAMENTAL IRON AND BRONZE WORK man than that which simply supplies the wants of the stomach, and protects against cold or heat. The love of beauty is one of the chief elementary impulses to his progress ; and iron, ns a substance out of which countless ornamental devices are wrought, Iron Fountain. plays as large a part in the advancement of man’s moral nature as it enacts in his physical preservation and well-being, and is far more capable of serving the multitudinous purposes of artists than are the miscalled precious metals. Besides, iron is a cheaper substance than those, and in this respect more available for the purposes of beauty, administering to the delight of a vaster num¬ ber of beholding eyes than they ; adorning more households, more public buildings, parks, streets of cities, in brackets, and balco- ORNAMENTAL IRON AND BRONZE WORK. 383 uies, and posts, and mouldings, and turrets, etc., etc., than could all the other “ precious metals ” combined, to say nothing of its ten thousand other uses. In the older countries, in many portions of Europe especially, is everywhere seen in altar railings, gates, and gateways, palisades, fountains, and in other forms, gorgeous even, many of them, the wondrous skill of the blacksmith’s art — greatly the creations of other centuries; and the exhumations of Pompei show that no mean skill in the blacksmith’s field of art was exercised nearly two thousand years ago among the Roman races. In fact, it is impossible to note the time in the history of the art when the element of beauty did not enter into more or less of the black¬ smith’s work. And, indeed, to such heights has this art been carried, that out of iron have been called forth the most exquisite representatives of the tendrils, sprigs, and leaves of daintiest flowers, —vieing with those wrought with even the braided gold of Malta, — as well as the most elegant and slender twisted columns sustaining great weights, and mounted with volutes more beauti¬ ful than any which can be cut from stone by the subtlest art of the sculptor. And the art of ornamental iron work of elegance and great merit is not confined to the hammer of the blacksmith, but is seen in the foundery as well. In the United States, the use of iron for architectural purposes has been carried to a great extent. Immense capital is invested here and there, over the country, in the manufacture of iron into houses, and various ornamental work for the same, as well as for the fencing of public parks and cemeteries, and private grounds. Indeed, so extensive is becoming its use for ornamental purposes, that nearly every village in the Eastern and Middle States, containing a population of five thousand inhabitants, boasts its little foundery, or its machine shop, or smithery, where ornamental iron work is made; or, lacking these, has its depot for the sale of ornamental iron fabrics of some kind. And the art is now as well understood in some portions of the country as in Europe, —though it must be acknowledged, that the higher grades of work are yet mainly made by artisans of foreign birth and rearing, imported here by American manufacturers ; but the genius of the American mind is fast accomplishing the Histories of the art. Much of the work which now emanates from American shops com¬ pares favorably with the very best of the middle ages work of Eu¬ rope in all respects, and is given to the public at cheaper rates, thus 22 334 ORNAMENTAL IKON AND BRONZE WORK. carrying the comforts and solaces of a fine art into a large number of houses and homes which could not afford to enjoy them at the prices which ruled for the imported wares before American enterprise entered this field of iron ornamentations. In excellence of workmanship, flowing lines, graceful curves, and that exquisite “ touch ” of high art which cannot be told in the printed line, and which only the engraver’s art can fitly illustrate, and which is always so necessary to the perfection of any creation of the high arts, American artisans have become, in the manufacture of orna¬ mental iron work, equal to the best of the old masters. The iron railings, for example, which some of these manufacturers pro¬ duce vie with the palisades of the king’s tomb in Westminster Abbey; and their spiral staircases equal, in graceful convolutions and facial ornamentations, the famous water-tower of the Crystal Palace—while other of the stairways are fully equal, in scope and proportion, as well as grandeur, to the grand Scala of the Famese Palace at Rome. And in the more aerial styles of the art, so deftly formed of iron wire, and wrought into a thousand orna¬ mental shapes for counters, office railings, window guards, flower vases, and every conceit which human ingenuity has devised for human comfort, and to administer, at the same time, to the love of beauty, perfect success has been achieved — so much so, that the art of making ornamental iron work may be said to be as truly a solid business of America, as is the growing of to¬ bacco, or the building of railways. Greater amounts of orna¬ mental iron work are made in this country now, and distributed to a greater number of people, than are made and sold, perhaps, to domestic purchasers in all Europe. A visit to one of the manufactories of those wares well repays one. The leading manufactory of the country is situated in Phil¬ adelphia, Pa., and is the property of Robert Wood & Co., who, as manufacturers of twenty-five years’ standing, may be called the pioneers of the art in this country, as well as the representa¬ tive manufacturers in their line. The perfect character of their work for so long a time has left them no real competitors in the field, though they have many imitators ; and it is a pleasing phase of the American character, which the writer is happy to diverge to notice here, that whenever real merit has made its mark and taken the vanguard in any pursuit, all engaged in like pursuits, however much they may quarrel with each other, are ever ready to acknowledge it — so, everywhere is it that the ORNAMENTAL IRON AND BRONZE WORK. 385 house and works of Robert Wood & Co. are the boast and pride of other ornamental iron workers. — • • • i X. ..1 # *. t - » - The same house has of late years added to its ornamental iron making another branch of art, which, in some respects may be said to be a kindred one, in which, however, they have less imitators, and may be regard¬ ed as standing almost alone in this country. In fact, when considering the variety of the work which they have accom¬ plished under this head, as well as the perfect success they have attained therein, it may be said that they stand alone — and this branch is the cast¬ ing of life-sized figures, single and in groups ;• of animals, together with the pedestals upon which they are placed, and plinths, and columns, which add so much to the charming effects of garden scenery and landscape art. These are modelled on the best copies of the antique ; and the wealthy man of taste may decorate his grounds with everlasting ornaments which Brevoort Vase. would have graced the gardens of the Ilesperides —a delight to himself, and pleasing attrac¬ tions to every eye. Sharp, clean copies of the famous War¬ wick and other vases are produced by this house ; and they also accomplish everything beautiful in the line of garden chairs, settees, and fountains, together with complete summer houses, in a profusion of styles to satisfy the taste of the most critical, and fastidious. It should not be overlooked, in an article like this, that in. the line of ornamental iron work, made for the pleasure as well as use of man, may be comprehended many things made for the use of man’s chief servants among the lower orders of animals — the horse and the cow; and these articles take upon them ORNAMENTAL IRON AND BRONZE WORK. 386 more or less fanciful shapes. The matter of stable furniture and fittings, such as elegant racks, neatly-moulded mangers and troughs, unique posts for stalls, rings, peculiar devices for insur¬ ing cleanness to the favorite beasts, as well as to administer to their general comfort, is by no means an unimportant branch of iron work, and in the factory of Messrs. Robert Wood & Co. has received the best-merited attention. Bronze statuary is a branch of art which is legitimately united to that of ornamental iron work, in the uses of conserving beauty to which it is put, and in the founding-phase of its construction ; and it fell naturally to the lot of the house of Robert Wood & Co., after having achieved their leading successes in America in the line of ornamental iron work, to undertake its manufacture In this country. With larger facilities for accomplishing such work than are possessed by any other house in the United States, as the writer is confidently assured, while there is but one other house which attempts it, it was not to be wondered at, that with all their experience in administering to the love of beauty, or taste, and the excellent skill which their time-old workmen had for more than a score of years attained in the modelling of hard substances into exquisite forms of beauty — that this house should have at once, on entering upon it, carried the art of bronze statue-making on to a complete success. Their reputation as accomplished artists in this line of work has, in the short space of five or six years, become not only commensurate with the bounds of the country, but has reached the ears of sculptors and designers in Europe. It is proper here to note, that the colossal bronze statue of Lincoln, which stands on Union Square, New York, was cast by Messrs. Robert Wood & Co. Whatever critics may think of the modelling itself of the statue, there the statue stands, a proud evidence of the skill which took it from the designer’s hands in its crumbling materials, and g'ave it perpetual life in bronze — a tri¬ umph of American art of which every American should be proud, so far as the work of the founders is concerned. The ill or good taste of the designer, Brown, the sculptor, can neither detract from nor add to the merits of the founders. Hitherto, till of late, it had been believed by many wise in their ethnological studies and observations, that we, as a people, were not old enough by a century to accomplish such work ; but thanks to the enterprise and faith of these founders, the work has been accomplished in a style which is not surpassed by the world-famous founders ol Munich. ORNAMENTAL IRON AND BRONZE WORK. 387 A chief importance of bronze statuary among the historic and decorative arts is, that when it is properly composed and scien¬ tifically cast, it resists the deteriorating action of the elements, and gains, with time, that sombre dignity which is its artistic peculi¬ arity ; while statues cut from the finer stones are apt to deterio¬ rate rapidly when carried into other climates than that in which are situated the quarries From whence their materials were taken. The bronze statuary is also less liable to fracture, and, if injured, can be restored to its original brilliancy. The ancients understood this, and bronze statuary flourished in the highest civilization of the Greeks and the Romans. The famous Apollo Belvidere of the Vatican Museum at Rome, though a marble statue, is evidently only a copy of a bronze figure. The preference must, for various reasons, be given to statuary in bronze over that in marble ; and in view of the remarkable progress in public favor which the plastic art has made in the United States within the last few years, nothing can be more pleasurable to note than this great triumph of casting bronze statuary in perfection. Ward's d, the once poor boy, now one of the recog¬ nized substantial men of the great city of Philadelphia, presides — a man upon whom the good William Penn would have cast approving smiles, could he have looked through the “ horoscope of the coming days ” down to these times; for it is to such men as Mr. Wood that the solid wealth and happiness of Philadelphia are due. And while the writer of this article is noting the value to their respective communities, as well as to the world, of such intelligent mechanics as Robert Wood, he cannot forego the gratification of recording a pleasurable fact which he noticed, while visiting the great establishment of Robert Wood & Co. The power used in the establishment is steam. The engine and the engine-room are kept marvellously clean by the engineer, who reigns here su¬ preme, keeping his iron gateways locked against all. Even the proprietors must ask his consent to enter, so careful and laudably rigid in their rules are the firm. Master of all, and secure as Cyclops in his cave, here the engineer rules in his perfect apart¬ ments, and has fitted up for himself bath-tubs, and a book-case filled with choicest works, and a writing-table, at which he finds much time to devote, — showing that literary tastes are not in¬ compatible. with mechanical pursuits, and thus tending to elevate the latter. BILLEVEDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. BILLIARDS. —A NATIONAL GAME. — BILLIARD TABLES.—THE EXTENT OF THEIR USE IN THE UNITED STATES. - THEIR INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL IM¬ PORTANCE.-THE MORALE OF AMUSEMENTS CONSIDERED. — THE COMPARA¬ TIVE MERITS OF BILLIARDS. — THE PSEUDO-MORALISTS, AND THEIR FALSE POSITIONS. —THE NECESSITY OF SOME RELAXATION FROM SEVERE LABOR. - THE OPPRESSED CLASSES. -THE OLD ROMAN AND THE EGYPTIAN STSTEMS OF AMUSEMENT. — CHESS AND BILLIARDS COMPARED. — THE ORIGIN OF THE CAME. — ITS SUPPOSED INTRODUCTION PROM PERSIA INTO EUROPE. — THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS IN THEIR CONNECTION WITH BILLIARDS. -THE GAME NURSED IN THE MONASTERIES OF EUROPE. -LOUIS XI. AND IIENRY III. OF FRANCE, MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, AND QUEEN ELIZABETH, GREAT PATRONS OF BILLIARDS. — SHAKESPEARE AND BILLIARDS. -THE MANUFACTURE OF BILLIARD TABLES. —THE VAST FACTORY OF THIS LEADING MANUFACTURERS OF BILLIARD TABLES, MESSRS. PHELAN AND COLLENDER, OF NEW YORK. — THE PARLOR BILLIARD AND DINING TABLE. —MR. MICHAEL PHELAN AS AN ARTIST, MANUFACTURER, AND INVENTOR. The game of billiards may properly be said to have become a national one in the United States, exercising no small influence in moulding the morals of our people, and evoking a manufacturing and commercial enterprise hardly second to that which the piano¬ forte creates. In almost every village of two thousand inhabitants, and, indeed, in many with less population, a billiard table (with usually an accompanying one) is to be found in some public house, the favorite hotel, or the most elegant “saloon” of the village; and here and there numerous “ village lords,” emulating the ele¬ gant amusements of the rich denizens of cities, boast their private billiard-rooms, and their favorite tables; while throughout the larger towns and cities of the Union, from the capital of Maine to the remotest southern and western boundaries of the republic, billiard tables are found in large numbers ; and, as the game con¬ stantly increases in public favor, so, in consequence, the number of billiard tables multiplies at a vigorous rate. That the game gives strength to the muscles when temperately and wisely ( 390 ) ill- BILLIARDS AXD BILLIARD-TABLES. 391 dulged in, and bestows upon the mind at the same time a healthy discipline, while its fascinations are so great as to give a charm to its pursuit, not a few, who would otherwise spend their time in gambling-houses and liquor-saloons, and cultivate therein perni¬ cious and destructive habits, cannot safely be denied. It is hardly within the purview of this work to discuss the moral bearings of any industry, or its adjuncts, upon which it dis¬ courses. The history of an art, together with the means and modes of manufacture of the wares which it creates, constitutes the chief object of this work ; but it will not be out of place, in an article upon a matter of so great importance as billiards and billiard tables, to give some consideration to the question of morals therewith. It may, in the first place, be safely remarked, that so long as the low standard which civilization at the best has only attained, so that labor in all its branches, labor necessary both to human existence, per se, and to the healthful well-being of the race, remains unattractive to ninety-nine hundredths at least of the wood’s population, some mode of amusement, more or less worthy, more or less temperately or internperately ex¬ hilarating or recreating, will prevail, in spite of all the mawkish philosophy of morals which the anchorites and cynics may dis¬ seminate in the way of fragmentary reforms, or by attempting to subdue the proclivities of man to freedom from excessive burdens, in the field of amusement and playful relaxation. The healthful infant in his cradle even, and especially when he has obtained the skill to creep, usually expends more of vital power in proportion to his general strength, and consumes more of his muscular fibre, in his gambols, than does the adult workman expend of his in his daily labors ; yet we call the infant’s labor or exercise “ play,” and speak of the workman’s as “ toil,” wearisome, onerous, ex¬ hausting. The infant’s “ labor ” is full of cheer ; that of the workman pitiable indeed, especially when long pursued. The difference in these two instances would seem to lie in the fact that the labor of the one is attractive, desirable, healthful, and prompted by nature ; that of the other distasteful, undesirable, not healthful in the best sense, and artificial ; for the same means are used to accomplish the one and to perform the other. Here, then, is a matter for the consideration of the social philosopher — how to so organize the labor forces of the world, or a given com¬ munity, that the labors of the adult yeoman or artisan shall be¬ come as genial to them as are those of the infant to itself. Until 392 BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. some intelligent effort shall be made by the self-elected “moralists” and social philosophers of the world to solve the problem of such an organization of society, in connection with its industrial forces, as shall make the tilling of the soil, and manufacture of all possi¬ ble wares, as attractive and congenial to the laborer as is the reading of books, for example, to the scholar, the petty philos¬ ophers and preachers, and the fragmentary reformers, will “prate, and prate on,” to but little purpose. The general good sense of the people is superior to their philosophy, even though the latter be clothed in the dignified solemnity of the Puritan, or wear the soft graces of the purely religious enthusiast. But on the subject of “ morals,” properly speaking, as related to the game of billiards, it might be tersely said that this amuse¬ ment is already without the pale of discussion ; for “ morals ” properly imports no more than “ custom,” as its etymology dis¬ tinctly shows, it being derived from the Latin mos (gen. moralw), which means only custom. Whatever, in short, is customary, generally permitted, or in use, is in itself “ moral ; ” and if not conducive to the well-being of a given “society,” cannot be said to be destructive of the same, since it is but the legitimate out¬ growth of such society itself. But in civilization, as it is with its countless unattractive forms of labor, whatever system of political economy does not embrace some hours of daily relaxation, and certain methods of amusement, is a false and pernicious idolatry of Mammon, having man’s best energies and happiness as the victims to be sacrificed upon its unholy altar. There are two extremes of population, especially, in which the sanitary uses of amusements are apt to be overlooked, and their consideration, as needs of humanity, expelled by the so-called “ sterner” necessities of life. Where the population is so dense as we find it in some portions of Europe, especially in the manu¬ facturing districts of England, not a moment can be spared from the incessant demands which competition (“ the life of business,” but the death of all that is best and noblest in the individual con¬ testants and strugglers) makes on labor. Labor is so redundant there that it loses its proper value, and nothing but strictest and most unremitting devotion to business can secure even the barest necessaries of life ; yet this is but a sad fact in the “ Christian civilization ” of one of the most elevated nations of the earth, nineteen hundred years after the Founder of the new religion or BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. 393 the “sublime heresy,” which broke upon the Jewish world and the old faith, as a new, enlightened, and startling- revelation of the King of kings fromoutof Nazareth, — nineteen hundred years after that Founder first announced to his followers, as the law of their moral and economical polity, that they, should “ take no thought for the morrow” as to “what 3 r e shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed ; ” evidently intimat¬ ing in this the coming of a time, and the practicability of the life thereof, when the general good will of the Christian world should be such that no individual need take greater care for the morrow’s needs than docs the beloved little child in the home of his loving parents. How little has the moral standard of the world advanced meanwhile ! When wealth is monopolized in the hands of a few, while the millions are forever hovering on the brink of starvation, it would be absurd to look either for a general diffusion of intelli¬ gence, or for any system of amusement superior to that afforded by the rum-shop, the dog-fight, or the lower scenes of the “ prize¬ ring,” which kind of amusements the oppressed classes will have when unable to procure better. On the other hand, where the population is disproportionally small, when compared with the large resources which lie around it, in a new and undeveloped country, where wealth lies unenjoyed, or runs to waste on every hand for want of labor to collect and garner it, — where every man is, in a sense, his own master, and is free to create a future for himself’independent of others’ aid, — in such a condition of society toil rises to unnatural importance; time is then reckoned not by hours, but by dollars; and hence it is we find that in the earlier settlement of the United States the grim, puritanical spirit of the original immigrants into the eastern portion of the land in particular, not only discouraged “ unprofit¬ able amusements ” (meaning thereby anything which moved the spirit to aught but serious thought and rigid economy) by preach¬ ing and denunciations from the pulpit, and long and bitter homilies at the fireside, but went so far as to prohibit innocent recreation by penal enactments. This short-sighted policy revealed great ignorance of man’s real nature ; for the desire for pleasures exists in man, as well as in the lower order of animals, as an innate instinct, prompting to the most important purposes. It teaches the child the use of his various faculties, inspires him with ambition, and gives him dex¬ terity ; and in manhood it is one of the best promoters of bodily BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. health, and so strengthens the mind as to enable it to sustain those serious toils which, unrelieved in some way, would succeed in degrading all mankind to that level which, alas ! is the su¬ preme height of too many of our fellow-mortals—that of mere human machines. True wisdom would seek to encourage the desire for pleasures, and direct it into such channels as would best promote the objects for the accomplishment of which we were endowed with it by nature ; and true policy would suggest that instead of following a plan of amusements like that of the old Romans, in which the public games embraced the mortal struggles of the gladiators, and deadly contests between wild beasts and men, we should rather adopt the older Eg} 7 ptian system, whereby the public recreations were made the vehicles of imparting all the most scientific truths, in a form so agreeable and simple, that the merest intellect was enabled to appreciate and store them up. Thus the original game of cards, as taught by the builders of the Pyramids, conveyed a knowledge of the whole system of practical astronomy — the “ court cards / 7 as they are now called, representing the different constellations which rule the year, and the numerals being marked in such a manner as to indicate precisely the different periods for the overflow and subsidence of the Nile, and the various agri¬ cultural operations dependent thereon. But cards have long since lost their character of primitive simplicity and instruction, and degenerated to far different service, though still valuable, in some degree, for the arithmetical combinations which they illustrate. But it is generally felt that they are fraught with peril ; and that they do not encourage that bodily exercise, without which amuse¬ ments fail to be healthful, is true. The splendid game of chess, which may be denominated a tournament of intellect, and which affords a field for the develop¬ ment of the highest efforts of genius, is, for the reason that it does not exercise the body as well as the mind, so serious a game that it fails to be an amusement proper. It often exhausts the brain-power; and the most noted victors in its field have been forced to shun its fascinating, though destructive, enticements. It is too rigorous and concentrated to be suited to the general intellect. But we have not space herein to dilate at greater length upon the comparative merits of various amusements ; suffice it that no amusement is precisely suitable for man, unless, in the first place, BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. 395 it exercises and disciplines the faculties, and calls upon the re¬ sources of both the body and the mind, without wearying the one or disgusting the other ; and, in the second place, the amusement should contain within itself sufficient mental excitement to keep up the spirits without the stimulus of extraneous inducement to pursue it, such as bets of money. The game of billiards (so ap- pears to be the popular testimony) answers the requirements of the above twofold rule. The precise origin of the game of billiards is involved in that obscurity which enshrouds a great portion of the inventions, etc., of antiquity. The speculators, rather than historians, who have written upon the subject, universally agree that billiards of a crude nature was an antique game ; although it .must be admitted that as a scientific employment, affording an exercise of the most pleasing kind, and natural to both the mental and physical energies, the game of billiards is a modern invention. By some writers it is held that the game was imported into Europe from Persia dur¬ ing the consulate of the Roman Lucullus ; while by others its introduction (from the East) is ascribed to the Emperor Caligu¬ la, during the first half of the first century of our era. But bo thi3 as it may, there is no authentic record of its existence until the return of the Knights Templars to Europe, on the termination of the first crusade, in the early part of the twelfth century ; so that, if known at all to the Romans in the days of Caligula, it must have perished, along with many other arts, on the overthrow of the empire ; and unless the excavators of Herculaneum and Pompei shall exhume the remains of a billiard table, the matter of Roman understanding of the game must forever remain a subject of uncertain speculation. In all probability, however, the game, like that of chess, is of Eastern origin. When the Templars brought it back with them from the Holy Land, it soon became the favorite amusement arid means of health to which the cloistered monks of that period were permitted by their superiors to have recourse ; and however much it came to be regarded as a “ carnal amusement ” in later times, we have abundant evidence that it was cradled in the monasteries, which were the fountain heads, or at least the chief depositories, of the Christian faith. But games so introduced by the Templars shared their fate, and disappeared along with their fortunes ; and it was not revived again until the peaceful disposition of Louis XI. of France (about the year 1445) induced him to prefer its pleasing strifes to the bloody tournaments 396 BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. ’ which were then the pastimes of his court. One of his successors, Henry III., largely patronized the amusement, and from him it re¬ ceived the appellation of “ the noble game.” Further on, we find that Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, complained in a letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow, and written the very evening before her death, that her “ billiard table had just been taken away from her as a preliminary step to her punishment.” Mary, having been married to the Dauphin of France, was probably introduced to the game during her stay in Paris. Doubtless, too, Queen Eliza¬ beth was a passionate votary of the game, as well as her beautiful cousin Mary ; and with this suggestion can we alone explain the anachronism which Shakespeare commits when he makes Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra, Act II. Scene 5) exclaim to Charniian, “ Let us to billiards ! ” for beyond question, we think, this was one of the compliments to the caprices and habits of his royal mistress with which the great dramatist w r as wont to interlard such compositions as he wished should find favor in her eyes. Before dismissing the matter of the history of billiards, it should, perhaps, be added, that the early history of billiards indicates a number of games which had been called by the same appellation. Some of them were played on the ground, others on elevated platforms and tables, — the latter of various shapes, round, square, oval, and oblong. The accessories, it would seem, were* more varied than the tables ; and among other things we read of iron arches, miniature castles, churches, and other buildings, figures of men and animals which, as well as balls and pins, were placed on the table. As has been before remarked in this article, the manufacture of billiard tables in the United States is a matter of great industrial and commercial importance — a fact which we cannot perhaps so well illustrate otherwise, as b} r taking the reader with us through the extensive and completely appointed works of the leading manufacturers in this country (and, as we believe, in the world), the Messrs. Phelan & Collender, of New York. There are sev¬ eral extensive manufactories in the United States, each doing a good business financially, and producing more or less worthy wares. It should be noted here that in no other country is the ' game of billiards so extensively practised as in the United States, and probably nowhere else can be found so many great experts in this fascinating art and healthful recreation. For the purpose of obtaining an insight into the mode of manu- PHELAN AND COLLENDERS WORKS, TENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. /- . • ' ■ '* ■ . ' '-t* r . ■ - ' • • ‘ '*-■’ « x - . / , \ . i % 1 , ■■ V' • ' f •v ' » »* f 4 .,' • . . 1 '> * ■> it .. V ■■ ,iY‘ *1 •' V . 4 . • , % * ' ? *1“ « 4 » ' . f. V f X \> •!4 ik . * « • . > V a • »l!; *** BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. 3 99 facturing the tables, balls, cues, etc., the writer visited the billiard manufactory of the Messrs. Phelan & Collender in the latter part of 1810, and there took notes for the purposes of this article. Their new and admirably appointed warehouse, at *138 Broad- wa} r , New York, is five stories in height, and covers a ground area of twenty-five feet wide by one hundred and six in length ; the first and second floors being for the business offices and warerooms, the third for the ivory room, and the fourth for the stock room. The manufactory of Messrs. Phelan & Collender is in 10th Avenue, extending from 30th to 37 th Streets, the grounds being one hundred by two hundred feet in area, and the building being five stories high, amply supplied with light on all sides, and com¬ manding from the upper stories a fine view of the Hudson River for miles. The factory is specially adapted for its manufactures, and furnished with the best improved machinery and tools, and has a capacity for the employment of about one hundred and twenty men, comprising about a dozen different classes of expert mechanics. From seven hundred to one thousand billiard tables are here made in a year, besides an immense amount of balls, markers, cues, etc., the value of stock on hand being usually about $100,000. The value of the billiard tables varies from one hundred to one thousand dollars each, according to size and style of finish. The more costly tables, however, are most in vogue ; and the size of the table now most popular is five feet in width by ten feet in length, suitable to a room fifteen feet wide by twenty feet long. On the first floor are situated the office, from which an electric telegraph communicates with their warehouse at 738 Broadway ; the packing room ; the engine room, supplied with a twenty-five-liorse stationary, cut-off engine ; the veneer room ; blacksmith’s shop ; the section for reception, sawing, and planing of lumber ; and that for drilling the slate beds. Here is in operation a horizontal drilling machine, the only one of the kind in existence, invented and made by the superintendent of the machinery in this factory. By this ingenious labor-saving machine, about fifty slate slabs can be drilled in a day, — four slabs being required for a bed, each bed containing fifty-six holes. In other factories this is done by slow and imperfect hand-work. The slabs are brought chiefly from the quarries in Vermont. In the veneer room there is generally on hand about $5,000 worth of stock, embracing the choicest 400 BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. descriptions of wood, such as rose, walnut, birch, and mahogany ; the other kinds of woods used in the tables being California laurel, maple, ash, oak, satin, etc. The value of the lumber used yearly is about $100,000. By means of two circular saws, on this door, it is cut into broad rails, heads, stretchers, cushion-rails, and bed- frames, before being transferred to the second door by a safety elevator, which reaches to every upper door. As a preventive against dre, the boiler room, containing a thirty-horse-power boiler, is in an adjoining building. In the extensive yard of the factory, the lumber is seasoned for one and a half to two years before being manufactured. On the second door the lumber is received from the sawing room and piled up, and when completely seasoned it is planed by a large planing machine ; after which it passes through various improved machines for tenoning, grooving, boring, and moulding. In another section is the setting-up room, where the various parts of the tables are completely fitted together, about eight at a time, the slabs and cushions being here carefully dtted to the frames. On the third door a section is devoted to the cushion room. Here are piles of variously shaped rubber, moulded and cut, and here they are added to the cushions by a process requiring great care and ingenuity. The cue, ball turning, and coloring rooms occupy other sections. Collender’s patent lathe, for turning billiard balls, is an ingenious machine, by which the balls, used by ex¬ perts in their matches, are made perfectly uniform in size and weight. Here, about six thousand markers can be turned in a day, and dfty dozen cues can be made. Here, also, are various tenoning, mortising, and turning machines, a steam-box for stock, a newly invented scroll saw, etc., etc. On this door there is at all times stuff for at least five hundred tables ; and although con¬ sidered sufficiently seasoned before it reaches this door, it here remains until the larger seasoned lots are first manufactured. Wo here saw about 30,000 cues seasoning in piles. This apartment, like all the rest of the building, is heated by steam, and amply supplied with daylight and gaslight. On the fourth door is a section devoted to the dnishing of all the parts of the cabinet work ; the veneers are put on, the heads made, etc. Another section comprises the store room for dnished stock of all parts of tables; and in another the cushions are covered with the due green billiard cloth, the best in the world, made in France and Belgium. BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. 401 The fifth floor has two sections ; one is for polishing and fine varnishing the various parts — the best of piano copal varnish being used ; the other, where the scraping, rubbing, and coarse varnishing are performed. All the markers and counters are here finished, about 100,000 being constantly on hand. Over two hun¬ dred sets of rails and legs (sixteen hundred of the former and twelve hundred of the latter) are usually found in this floor, on the east side of which is a balcony, which, with the roof, is used for drying purposes. From two to three hundred tables, of all sizes, are constantly in process of construction at this factory, which is three times as large as any other in the world, and is capable of turning out four times as many as any other, owing to the large number of ex¬ perienced mechanics employed, aided by improved machinery, by means of which a mechanical accuracy is insured equalled by no other establishment. It is the only one in the United States where all work pertaining to the business is performed, with the exception of the iron-work. Nine different letters patent, for improvements in billiard tables and cushions, have been awarded Messrs. Phelan & Collender by the United States, and similar ones have been granted them by the French and English governments, showing their great devo¬ tion to their art. The superiority of their tables and combination cushions is now generally admitted by professional players and impartial judges. The combination cushion was invented and patented by Messrs. Phelan & Collender, and none of the many attempts to imitate it, we are assured, have proved anything but failures — a good evidence that it is as near perfection as possible. The “ parlor billiard and dining table ” is one of the specialties of this house, originated by them ; and by means of portable leaves and an easily operated crank, it is made to subserve the purposes of the two tables in one. Its price is about two hun¬ dred and fifty dollars ; those of less size than five and a half by eleven feet being designed for the use of ladies and children. Like all the carom tables, it unites durability with elegance of design and finish. About six months are required for the completion of a billiard table. The proprietors are gentlemen of long experience and ce¬ lebrity in their line, and for years have sent their manufactures throughout the United States, Canada, West Indies, Mexico, Cen- 23 402 BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. tral and South America, the Pacific coast, Europe, and to China and other parts of Asia. They claim to have never made an inferior article, and their standard tables are to be found in nearly all first-class hotels in the country, as well as in the private residences of our opulent merchants and other citizens. By strict attention to business, and their conscientious dealing with customers, this firm has conduced largely to the creation and recognition of a great industry in the United States. Mr. Michael Phelan, the founder of the house, was one of those men of mark, strong, self-poised, and energetic, who have added so much lustre to the progress of manufactures in this country, and his career deserves a more extended notice than the limits of this article permit; but we have room for a partial sketch of the man and his successful career. Michael Phelan, who died October 7, 1871, was a native of Ireland. Ilis father emigrated to this country in 1819, and established himself in the billiard business, he having as many as three or four rooms in different parts of the city of New York at the same time, and is still remembered by some of its older inhabitants. Succeeding well, and liking the country, in 1825 Mr. Phelan sent for his family; and the above yoar dates the advent of Michael Phelan to American citizenship. Although only seven years old at the time, he remembers his arrival per¬ fectly. He also remembers the billiard table in one of his father^ rooms, and how captivated he was when allowed to shove the balls around with the mace ; and thus he has always dated his billiard experience from that time. Although he had stated terms in which he could practise, it was not until he had completed his fourteenth year that he was allowed to use the cue, and then, almost immediately, became a good player. When he arrived at the proper age, his father bound him ap¬ prentice to learn the art of manufacturing jewelry, to which call¬ ing he served his full term, and became a good workman. On attaining his majority, the attractions to billiards became so strong that he finally determined to adopt the business for a livelihood. Ilis father having previously deceased, Michael procured a situa¬ tion as an attendant to a billiard room. Being attentive, industrious, and obliging to all, he soon be¬ came an expert player, as well as a general favorite ; thus he was early enabled to secure the means of going into business on his BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. 403 own account. One of his first resolves was, that his rooms should be conducted on an entirely new basis ; his establishment was for practising' the game of billiards as an elegant amusement, and not as a vehicle for gambling operations; sharpers and loungers were ignored, and gentlemen patrons soon found that on retiring from a visit at Mr. Phelan’s, their pockets were only minus the small amount paid for the game lost and refreshments used. This was certainly a new experience, and from the rapid increase of patronage Mr. Phelan soon found it was a popular and a profit- »• • • able one. In 1850 Mr. Phelan had come to be looked upon as the most expert and scientific player in the country ; and in the same year he prepared a work entitled “ Billiards Without a Master,” which enjoyed a large sale. There can be no better testimonial of the value of individual services to the mercantile world than that furnished by rivals in trade. One has conceded this much : (( Billiards, probably, owes more to Michael Phelan than to any other man ; ” while another remarks, “ The ' World of Billiards ’ might almost be said to have been a world of his own creation in America.” Michael Phelan’s mission was purely creative. It was his aim to develop the billiard art, and maintain it as a fashionable amusement as fast as it should be developed. Thus he created the demand for tables, leaving it to others to supply that demand. No manufacturer has supplied it so acceptably in public estimation as Michael Phelan’s own business partner, if overwhelmingly large and steadily increasing sales are any criterion. Hugh W. Collender was born Decem¬ ber 19, 1829, in Cappoquin, County Waterford, Ireland. In Au¬ gust, 1849, having become involved in the revolutionary occurrences of that period, he was forced to fly from Ireland to avoid arrest. Arriving in New York, January 9, 1850, he for four years worked at cabinet-making — in this field acquiring the knowledge which afterwards became so useful in the manufacture of billiard tables. At the close of 1854 he was solicited by the late General Thomas Francis Meagher, who proposed to make the tour of California, to accompany him as secretary and business-agent. They journeyed through the state together, returning to New York via New Or¬ leans, and visiting the leading southern cities en route. In 1855 Michael Phelan returned from San Francisco to New York, intent upon introducing to public notice an improved model of a billiard table. Having in 1854 married Mr. Phelan’s eldest 404 BILLIARDS AND BILLIARD-TABLES. daughter, Mr. Collender was the first person to whom the inventor' communicated his ideas as to the improved table ; and with the view of bringing it before the public, Mr. Collender formed a part¬ nership with Christopher O’Connor, still prominent in metropolitan billiard circles, and whose father had been among the first in Amer¬ ica to manufacture billiard tables. The firm of O’Connor & Collender continued to make tables for about six years — Mr. Phelan being paid a royalty on each table. In 1857 Mr. Collender was granted a patent for the since famous Phelan & Collender “Combination Cushion.” In I860 Mr. O’Connor retired from the firm, Michael Phelan taking his place ; and the firm of Phelan & Collender, thus formed, continued until Octo¬ ber 7, 1871, on which date Michael Phelan died, generally regret¬ ted. Early in 1871 the firm introduced a novel design of billiard table, the invention of Mr. Collender, and since popularly known as “ The Bevel.” This improvement, illustrated below, has already made quite as great a revolution in the shape of billiard tables as the “ Phelan Combination ” did in billiard cushions. In addition to the patents heretofore spoken of, Air. Collender, who as successor to Phelan & Collender, conducts the business at 738 Broadway, N. Y. City, was on November 26, 1867, granted one for an improvement in billiard cushions. In the same year he received another for (he combined Li¬ brary, Dining, and Billiard Table ; and in 1871 he was accorded a pat¬ ent for what is now known as the Eureka (Wire) Cushion. BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. PARTIAL HISTORY.—ETYMOLOGY. -CONSECRATION OF BELLS.-THE “PASS¬ ING ” BELL. — THE “ CURFEW ” BELL. — FEAST OF OSIRIS. — THE CODONOPIIO- RUS : HIS DUTIES. — SCHILLER’S “ BELLS.” — POE AND OTHER POETS. — ELEC¬ TRICAL BELLS. — MUSICAL BELLS. —LARGE BELLS. — GREAT BELL OF MOSCOW. — MANUFACTURE OF BELLS. -INSCRIPTIONS ON BELLS, ETC. In civilization the bell has played an important part, and its history is among the most interesting of narratives, whether it be of its rude early state, or of that period when science added to its vibrations the tones and harmonies of music. While the founding of bells is not so complicated a process as the manufac¬ ture of watches or steam-engines, yet it requires the exercise of the nicest discrimination ; for the delicacy, exactness, and perfect sense of adjustment of that sensitive organ, the ear, is to be grat¬ ified or displeased by the bell to be made; and in its power to produce agreeable sounds lies all its utility. The first manufac¬ ture of bells was necessarily very imperfect, — little better than common kettles, — since nothing was then known of that nice combination of sounds with reference to the effect of each and all upon the sound produced, or of the shaping of the instrument to modify the vibrations, or of the elevation and kind of tower in which to hang it — all affecting sound. To the genius of a later day was it left to develop these scientific facts, and fix their rela¬ tion to the efficiency of the bell. History gives us no definite account of the origin of bells. * Small, tinkling instruments are mentioned by the old Hebrew writers as having been used as appendages to the dress worn by high priests and persons of distinction ; but of their shape nothing is recorded. The origin of the name “ bell” is the antique Saxon word bellan, to bawl or bellow. The Hebrew word translated by our word “bell” is susceptible of other translations. The bell is used to this day in Catholic countries for a similar purpose to that recorded in Scripture.* Perhaps no instrument of music (for it is ( 405 ) 406 BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. ranked by musicians among the musical instruments of percus¬ sion) is more intimately associated with the religious and imagi¬ native, as well as with the most joyous and most sad feelings of the human heart. A quaint old writer has described the bell’s threefold duties thus : — “To call the fold to church in time, We chime. When joy and mirth are on the wing, We ring. When we lament a departed soul, We toll.” Small bells were used in the early ages for civil, military, and religious purposes, and bells of a larger size are in our day exten¬ sively used for similar purposes. The first use of bells in Christian churches to call people to service, of which we have records, was by St. Paulinus, in Campa¬ nia, about the year 395 of our era. By the Roman church, bells are solemnly blessed and consecrated for the work of summoning worshippers to their religious rites. The consecration of bells dates back to a very early period. In Charlemagne’s capitulary of 787 we find the injunction, ‘ 1 ut cloccce baptizentur ” (let bells be baptized) ; and in the old liturgies of the Catholic church is a form of consecration directing the priests to wash the bell with water, anoint it with oil, and mark it with the sign of the cross, in the name of the Trinity. The practice of naming bells is also an early one. The Vesper bell, which has been immortalized by poets, is the call to evening prayer. The “ passing bell ” was rung, among the ancient customs, in order to remind the hearers to pray for the soul that was leaving the world. From this old custom is probably derived that of tolling bells at funerals, as practised to-day. Some historians tell us that William the Conqueror introduced into England from France the custom of ringing the Curfew bell, which “ tolled the knell of parting day.” Others say that King Alfred introduced the custom. It consisted of ringing a bell at eight or nine o’clock in the evening, when every one was com- « manded to extinguish lights and cover up the fires in the house. (“Curfew ” is derived from the French words couvre feu — cover fire.) The practice of ringing a bell at certain hours was not peculiar to England, but obtained to considerable extent on the Continent. Most buildings being then of wood, it was intended as a precaution against fires, which were common. The passing BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 407 and curfew bell ar6 still represented in some American villages, especially in New England. As a signal to call people together in any concerted action, the bell has been used from remote times. The feast of Osiris, among the Egyptians, was announced by the ringing of bells ; and the same sound to this day notifies hungry mortals of the time to sat¬ isfy their appetites. The Romans announced the time of bathing by the ringing of bells ; and the early Christians made use of the method to designate the hour of prayer. In Britain, bells were applied to church purposes before the end of the seventh century. In England, as formerly at Rome, bells were frequently made of brass. . In times of public danger the bells were rung to alarm the country. Among the Greeks, those who went the nightly rounds in camps or garrisons, carried with them little bells, which they rung at each sentry-box, to see that the soldiers on watch were awake. A codonophorus, or bellman, also walked in funeral processions, a little in advance of the corpse, not only to keep off the crowd, but to advertise the flamen dialis to keep out of the way, lest he should be polluted by the sight, or by the funerary music. The priest of Proserpine at Athens rung the bell to call the people to sacrifice. There were also bells in the houses of the great, to call the servants in the morning. Bells were put upon the necks of criminals going to execution, to warn persons to avoid so ill an omen as the sight of the hangman or the con¬ demned man. We find in history the mention of bells on the necks of brutes, and taking them away was construed as theft by the civil law. The custom in this country of putting bells on cows and sheep, in order the better to find them if they stray away, doubtless grew out of this practice of the ancients. The various early uses of the bell have been summed up in the follow¬ ing old Latin distich : — “ Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco, eongrego clerum, Defunctos ploro, pestera fugo, festa decoro.” (I praise the true God, call the people and convene the clergy, mourn the dead, drive away the pestilence, and grace the feast.) Schiller has given us a “ Song of the Bell,” the motto of which is more terse : — “ Vivos voco, mortuos plango, fulgura frango.” In his poem all the joys, sorrows, pangs, emotions, terrors, and blessings, attendant on humanity, in connection with the part 408 BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. which the bell plays, are most vividly portrayed. The poem is so touchingly beautiful that we reproduce a portion of it here. “ What we are forming in the mould By dint of hand and melting flame, High in the church tower shall be tolled, And far and wide our work proclaim. “To distant days it shall remain; Its notes on many an ear shall fall; Its chimes with sorrow shall complain, And ring abroad devotion’s call. “ Whatever to us mortals here A shifting destiny e’er brings, Is struck upon its metal clear, Which to all ears the lesson rings. Clear and full with festal sound, It hails the lovely infant child First entering on his earthly round, Borne in the arms of slumber mild. “ When the manly and the fair. When strength and beauty form a pair, Then rings it out a merry song; Lovely in the young bride’s hair • Shines the bridal coronal; While the church-bell-cliimes so fair Summon to the festival, From the dome, Heavy and long Sounds the bell — A funeral song; Solemnly with measured strokes, attending Weary wanderer on his last way wending.” None the less beautiful, though of a different vein of senti¬ ment, is the poem of Edgar A. Poe, so familiar to nearly all read¬ ers. Whittier has also immortalized, in rich verse, the ringing of bells, to arouse the feelings of patriotism in the breast, on the passage of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. “ It is done ! Clang of bell and roar of gun Send the tidings up and down. How the belfries rock and reel, How the great guns, peal on peal, Fling joy from town to town! ” Longfellow, in one of his most delicious poems, has sounded the praises of the Christmas bells. And England’s poet laureate, BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 409 Tennyson, has given to the bells some of his choicest imagery, on the death of the year. • “ Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying clouds, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die,” etc. \ Electeical Bells. Electrical bells are used in a variety of entertaining exhibitions by electricians. The apparatus consists of three small bells, sus¬ pended from a narrow plate of metal, the two outermost by chains, and that in the middle, from which a chain passes to the floor, by a silken string. Two small knobs of brass are also sus¬ pended by silken strings, one on each side of the bell in the middle, which serve for clappers. Connected with an electrical conductor, the outermost bells suspended by the chains are charged, attract the clappers, and are struck by them. The clap¬ pers are repelled by these bells, and attracted by the middle bell, and discharge themselves upon it by means of the chain extend- © ing to the floor. After this they are again attracted by the outer¬ most bells, and thus, by striking the bells alternately, occasion a ringing, which may be continued at pleasure. Musical Bells. Music bells are still in use in some parts of Europe, and to some extent in this country, and are regarded as delightful. They are played upon by means of keys, not unlike those of a piano-forte. An old painting of King David represents him as playing, with a hammer in each hand, upon five bells, which were hung up before him. The music of the thirty-three bells which were suspended in the tower of the cathedral of Antwerp is highly celebrated. One of these bells was seven feet in width and eight feet high. The Swiss bell-ringers, famous for their per¬ formances, produce the most exquisite melody from hand-bells. The Peak family, and others, in this country, have also become famous for their bell-music. So skilful are they in the use of bells, that they will change from one to another with the greatest rapidity. The bells vary in size, from a large cow-bell to the .smallest dinner-bell, each with a key differing from that of the rest, and as many as forty-two are used by a company of seven persons. 410 BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. Large Bells. • Bells were introduced into use in churches about the year 395 of the Christian era. Since then many very large, and on this account prominent, bells have been made. As early as the sixth century churches were furnished with the campanile, or bell-tower, which still continues to be one of their distinguishing features. Several bells were used in a single church, as is still the custom when arranged in chimes, or, as is sometimes the case, without regard to harmony of tones. This practice of ringing bells in change, or regular peals, is said to be peculiar to England, and the custom seems to have been introduced in the times of the Saxons. There are many very large bells in use. The church of the Abbey of Croyland, in England, had one great bell, named Guthlac, presented by the Abbot Turketulus, who died about the year 870 ; and subsequently, six others, presented by his successor, Egelric, and named Bartholomew and Betelin, Turketel and Tatwin, Bega and Pega. But Russia exceeds all other countries in its foun- deries for bells. In Moscow alone, before the revolution, there were no less than seventeen hundred and sixty-six large bells. In a single tower there were thirty-seven, one being so large that it took twenty-four men to ring it, and this was done by pulling the clapper. Its weight is estimated at two hundred and eighty- eight thousand pounds. ' The great bell, cast by order of the Empress Anne, in 1653, and now lying broken on the ground, is believed to weigh four hundred and forty-three thousand seven hundred and seventy-two pounds. It is nineteen feet high, and measures around its margin sixty-three feet and eleven inches. The value of the metal alone in this bell is estimated at over three hundred thousand dollars. Whether this bell was ever hung, or not, authorities seem to differ. Clarke, in his Travels, says of the bells in Moscow, and of the great bell in particular, “ The num¬ berless bells of Moscow continue to ring during the whole of Easter week, tinkling and tolling without harmony or order. The large bell near the cathedral is only used upon important occa¬ sions, and yields the finest and most solemn tone I ever heard. When it sounds, a deep hollow murmur vibrates all over Moscow, like the fullest tones of a vast organ, or the rolling of distant thunder. This bell is suspended in a tower called the belfry of, St. Ivan, beneath others, which, though of less size, are enormous. BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 411 It is forty feet and nine inches in circumference, sixteen and a half inches thick, and weighs more than fifty-seven tons.” The great bell of Moscow, the largest ever founded, is in a deep pit in the midst of the Kremlin. The story of its fall is a fable, but continues to be propagated. The fact is, the bell remains where it was originally cast; it was never suspended. A fire took place in the Kremlin, the flames of which caught the building erected over the pit in which the bell yet remained. The metal became hot, and water thrown to extinguish the fire, fell on the bell, causing the fracture it wears. This bell is, indeed, a mountain of metal. It is said to contain a large proportion of gold and silver, for, while it was in fusion, the nobles and the people cast in as votive offerings their plate and money. But this story is probably fictitious. The natives of Russia regard the bell with supersti¬ tious veneration, and they will not allow even a grain to be filed off that it may be tested ; at the same time we are informed that the compound has a white, shining appearance, unlike bell metal in general; and perhaps its silvery appearance has strength¬ ened, if not given rise to, the conjecture respecting the richness of its materials. On festival days the peasants visit the bell as they would a church, and cross themselves as they descend and ascend the steps leading to the bell. In 1831, the Czar Nicholas caused the great bell to be elevated from the pit in which it lay, and placed upon a granite pedestal. Upon its side is seen, over a border of flowers, the figure of the Empress Anne, in flowing robes. The bell has been consecrated as a chapel; the door is in the aperture made by the piece which fell out. The room is twen¬ ty-two feet in diameter, and twenty-one feet three inches in height. The bells of China rank next in size to those of Russia. In Pekin, says Father Le Compte, there are seven bells, each weigh¬ ing one hundred and twenty thousand pounds. Excepting the bells recently cast for the new houses of Parliament, the largest of which weighs fourteen tons, there is no bell in England larger than that cast for York Minster, in 1845, which weighs twenty- seven thousand pounds. This is only seven feet and seven inches in diameter. The “ Great Tom ” of Oxford weighs seventeen thousand pounds, and the Great Tom of Lincoln twelve thousand pounds. The bell of St. Paul’s, London, is nine feet in diameter, and weighs eleven thousand five hundred pounds. One placed in the cathedral of Paris, in 1680, weighs thirty-eight thousand pounds. Another in Vienna, cast in 1111, weighs forty thousand 412 BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. pounds. The famous bell called Jusanne of Erfurt, is considered to be of the finest bell metal, containing the largest proportion of silver ; its weight is about thirty thousand pounds. It was cast in 1497. In Montreal, Canada, is a bell larger than any in Eng¬ land, in a tower of the cathedral of Notre Dame. Its weight is twenty-nine thousand four hundred fifty-eight pounds. In the opposite tower is a chime of ten bells, the heaviest of which weighs six thousand forty-three pounds; and their aggregate weight is twenty-one thousand eight hundred pounds. Chimes are a collection of bells struck with hammers ; or a set of music bells struck by hammers acted on by a pinned cylinder, or barrel, which is made to revolve by clock-work. These are frequently attached to time-pieces, and are so arranged as to pro¬ duce chimes, or tunes, at stated intervals. There are but few bells of very large size in the United States. The heaviest is the alarm bell on the City Ilall in New York. It was cast in Boston, and weighs about twenty-three thousand pounds. Its diameter, at its mouth, is about eight feet; its height about six feet, and its thickness at the point where the clapper strikes, from six and a half to seven inches. The bell now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, is celebrated as being connected with the Fourth of July, 1776, when it first announced by its peals the declaration then made, the most important event in the history of our country. It was imported from England in 1758, and, owing to its being cracked on trial by a stroke of the clapper, was recast in Philadelphia, under the direction of Mr. Isaac Morris, by whom was probably chosen the following inscription, which surrounds the bell near the top, from Leviticus xxv. 10 : “ Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. 77 Immediately beneath this is added, 11 By order of the Assembly of the Province of Penn, for the State House in Phil. 77 Under this again is, “ Pass & Stow, Phil. MDCCLIIL” In 1777, during the occupation of Philadelphia by the British, the bell was removed to Lancaster. After its return, it was used as the State House bell, until the erection of the present steeple, with its bell, _ « in 1828. Then it ceased to be used, excepting on extraordinary occasions. Finally it was removed to its present resting-place in Independence Hall. Its last ringing, when it was unfortunately cracked, was in honor of a visit to Philadelphia of Henry Clay. There are no other bells of special interest in this country. BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 413 Metals used. Bells have been made of different metals. In France, formerly, iron was used, and in other parts of Europe brass was a common material. In Sheffield, England, the manufacture of cast-steel bells has recently been introduced. This material is said to have an advantage over others in being of greater strength and less weight. But the tone of steel bells is said to be harsh ; hence such bells will probably never be extensively used. But the bell metal which is most generally approved is an alloy of copper and tin, in proportions varying from sixty-five to eighty per cent, of cop¬ per, and the remainder tin. But other metals are often introduced, as zinc, with the object of adding shrillness to the sound, silver, to its softness, and also lead. Cymbals and gongs contain eighty- one parts copper and thirteen tin. Manufacturers in this country think that the value of silver in bell-metal is purely imaginary, and condemn the use of anything but copper and tin. Three and a half parts copper to one of tin make, perhaps, the best propor¬ tion. The founders have a diapason, or scale, by which they measure the size, thickness, weight, and tone of their bells. The sound of a bell is produced by the vibratory motion of its parts, somewhat like that of a musical chord. The stroke of the clapper must necessarily change the figure of the bell, and from a circle convert it into an ellipse ; but the metal having a great degree of elasticity, that part beaten by the clapper and driven farthest from the centre, will return, and even incline nearer the centre than before ; and thus the external surface of a bell under¬ goes alternating changes of figure, and by this means gives that tremulous motion to the air, in which the sound consists. The pro¬ portion of metals, and shape and proportion of bells, all affect the sound ; hence the adjusting of a bell to produce a smooth, uniform, even sound, requires skill, and experience, and thorough testing. There are different theories as to the philosophy of sound pro¬ duced by the bell. One eminent writer maintains that a bell is a compound of an infinite number of rings, which, according to their dimensions, have different tones, as chords of different lengths have ; and when struck, the vibrations of the parts imme¬ diately infringed determine the tone, being supported by a suffi¬ cient number of consonant tones in the other parts. Bells are heard to greater distance when placed on plains than 414 BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. on hills, and still farther in valleys than on plains ; the reason of which seems to be, that the higher the sonorous body, the rarer is the medium, and consequently tire less the impulse it receives, and the less proper medium is it to convey sound to a distance. J : «' . * * It. *.4. 1* I ^ : "It . jJffjJ Manufacture of Bells. The European process of casting bells is, to make the mould in a depression in the sand floor of the foundery, piling up a hollow case of brickwork upon a solid foundation, in which a fire is kept burning to keep the liquid metal, when poured around it, from cooling too rapidly. The outer surface of the case is the shape of the inner surface of the bell. To form the outer surface, a cover of earthenware is fashioned to fit over the case, and leaves between that and itself a vacant space, to be filled with the metal. This arrangement is deficient in not providing proper escape for the gases which are engendered in heavy castings in the earth, and which are likely to make the metal porous, or, being highly inflammable, to explode with great damage. But an improved process has been introduced in this country, consisting of the use of perforated iron cases, the outer one in the shape of the bell, and the inner one of the case, which sets in the centre of its saucer-shaped foundations. Each of these receives a coating of loam, the outer one within, and the inner upon its outer sur¬ face ; but over the latter is first wrapped a straw rope, which, taking fire and burning slowly, as the metal is poured between the two cases, leaves a free space for the bell to contract in while cooling, without straining. The perforations through the cases let out the vapors, and also serve to keep the coating of loam in place. As the gas escapes through these holes, it burns with a pale blue flame, without risk. The best proportion of the height of a bell to its greatest diameter is said to be as twelve to fifteen. In conformity to the laws of acoustics, the number of vibrations of a bell varies in inverse ratio with its diameter, or the cube root of its weight. Inscriptions on Bells. Many of the inscriptions found on old bells are quaint and interesting, as indicating the superstitions and fancies of the ancients in connection with bells, as well as their great reverence BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 415 for them and fear of their power. They also indicate, in many cases, the customs of the people. These inscriptions were often in honor of some saint, or to commemorate some act of special mercy or charity, or deliverance. A peal . of eight bells in the tower of St. Helen’s church, Worcester, England, cast in the year 1706, bears inscriptions in couplets commemorative of Blen¬ heim, Barcelona, Ramillies, Menin, Turin, Egen, Marlborough, and Queen Anne. The following inscription has been common in England for three hundred years, and also much used in this country : -— . i * -• > • Si v ' / > ' •. a »!■#.»: € • “ I to the church the living call, And to the grave do summon all.” Selections of some Old Inscriptions. One upon a bell in Wiltshire, England, cast 1619 : — “ Be strong in faythe, prayes God well Francis Countess Hertford’s bell.” Upon one in Oxfordshire, cast 1667 : — “ I ring to sermon with a lusty boome That all may come, and none stay at home.” * \ t .. r . r-n . < "1 r % • < . - r Upon one in Nottinghamshire, cast 1603 : — “ Jesus be our spede.” Upon one in Wiltshire, cast 1585 : — “ O man, be meeke, and live in rest.” Upon one (a fire bell) in Dorsetshire, cast 1652 : — “ Lord, quench this furious flame ; Arise, run, help, put out the same.” ' ' • 1 ’ i ■ I .■ • • ?? ’ J * • Upon one in Somersetshire, cast 1700 : — “ All you of Bath that hear me sound, Thank Lady Hopton’s hundred pound.” Upon one in Hampshire, cast 1600 : — “ God be our guyd.” 416 BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. Upon one in Cambridgeshire (St. Benet’s, Cambridge), one of a peal of six, cast 1607 : — “Of. al. the. bells, in. Benet. I. am. the. best. And. yet. for. my. casting, the. parish, paide. lest.” Upon one in Warwickshire, cast 1675 : — “ I ring at six to let men know When too and from thair worke to go.” Upon one in Staffordshire, cast 1604: — “ Bee it known to all that doth me see That Newcombe of Leicester made me.” John Martin also makes himself known upon one (of a peal of three) in Worcestershire, cast 1675 : — “John Martin of Worcester he made wee Be it known to all that do wee see.” The great bell of Rouen, in France, presented to St. Mary’s church by George, Archbishop of Rouen, bore this inscription : — “ Je suis nominee George d’Ambois, Que plus que trente six mil pois; Et si qui bien me poysera Quarante mil y trouvera.” _ • (I am named George of Amboise, and [am of] more than thirty- six thousand pounds’ weight; and, if any one would weigh me well, he’d find [me] forty thousand pounds in weight.) One of three in Orkney, Scotland, cast in 1528, bears the fol¬ lowing : — “ Maid be master robert maxwel, Bishop of Orknay y e second zier of his consecration yc zier of Gode I m V e XXVIII., y e XV. zier of Kyng James y e V. be robert borthvyk; maid al tlire in ye castle of Edinburgh.” Most intimately is the voice of the bell associated with the religious and imaginative, as also with the most joyous and the saddest feelings of mankind. Cornell University Chimes. One of the finest chimes in the United States is at Cornell Uni¬ versity, at Ithaca, New York. There are ten bells, the largest weighing four thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine pounds, BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 417 and the smallest two hundred and thirty, with a total weight of metal of nearly eleven thousand five hundred pounds. They rep¬ resent, in the order of their weight, beginning with the great bell, the following musical notes: D, G, A, B, 0, D, E, F, F sharp, and G. The largest of the chimes bears the following inscriptions : “ The Gift of Mary, Wife of Andrew D. White, First President of Cornell University, 1869 ; ” ** Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men; ” 41 To tell of Thy loving¬ kindness early-in the morning, and of Thy truth in the night sea¬ son ; ” together with the following stanza, written expressly for it by James Russell Lowell: — I call as fly the irrevocable hours, Futile as air or strong as fate, to make Your lives of sand or granite: awful powers, Even as men choose, they either give or take. The nine smaller bells all bear couplets from Tennyson’s u In Memoriam,” commencing with the smallest, as follows: — First Bell. Ring out the old — ring in the new; Ring out the false — ring in the true. Second Bell. * O Ring out the grief that saps the mind; Ring in redress to ail mankind. Third Bell. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife. Fourth Bell. Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Fifth Bell. Ring out false pride in place and blood; Ring in the common love of good. Sixth Bell. Ring out the slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right. Seventh Bell. * Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old. 24 418 BELLS, HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. r * f Eighth Bell. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ninth Bell. Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand j Ring out the darkness of the land; Ring in the Christ that is to be. The ninth bell also bears the following : “ This Chime, the gift of Miss Jennie McGraw to the Cornell University, 1868.” The mechanical apparatus attached to the bells is simple, ingenious, and effective. One of the students of the University is always “ Master of the Chimes,” and during the day and evening, at dif¬ ferent hours, the bells “ discourse sweet music.” WIRE-DRAWING. OLDEST KNOWN METHODS OF MAKING WIRE. — CUTTING AND HAMMERING. — HAND-DRAWN WIRE.—WIRE-DRAWING MACHINERY. —PROGRESS OF THE IN¬ DUSTRY IN EUROPE.—INTRODUCTION IN AMERICA. — UNIVERSAL USE.- FROM SUSPENSION BRIDGES TO GOLD LACE. — PROCESS OF DRAWING. — ROLLING THE RODS. -THE DRAW-PLATE. — IlOW THE FINEST FRENCH PLATES ARE MADE. -THE DRAW-BENCII. — SIMPLICITY OF THE PROCESS. — DUCTILI¬ TY OF DIFFERENT METALS. — RAPIDITY OF DRAWING. — GAUGES. —PLATES FOR VARIOUS SHAPES. — PERFORATED RUBIES. —WONDERFUL DUCTILITY OF SILVER AND PLATINUM. — WIRES OF ASTONISHING LENGTH AND LIGHTNESS.— SPIDER LINES FOR TELESCOPES. —PROPORTIONATE INCREASE OF LENGTHS AND DIMINUTION OF DIAMETERS IN DRAWING. The manufacture of wire, particularly from gold and silver, is of very great antiquity, and the earliest method, according to the Book of Exodus (chapter xxxix.), was “ to beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into-wires.” The next step pursued by “ wire- smiths*,” for centuries, was to make wire from ductile metals by ham¬ mering. “ Wire-drawers,” who drew wire by hand, in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, flourished in the fourteenth century, and soon afterwards wire was drawn by machinery, propelled by water power. At first these machines were used almost exclusively for drawing gold and silver wire; but in the fifteenth century Eng¬ land was both manufacturing and importing iron and brass wire, and Germany was making the finest wire for hooks and eyes, cards, etc. In the seventeenth century England added copper wire to the list, and wire-drawing became an important industry in that country. The business began early in the present century in the United States, and there are now extensive wire-drawing establish¬ ments in New York, Providence, Worcester, Boston, and other cities. There is scarcely a branch of metal manufacture of more univer¬ sal application. Wire is twisted by machinery into the powerful cables which suspend bridges ; it furnishes cables for submarine ( 419 ) 11 420 WIRE-DRAWING. telegraphs, and ropes for ships, mines, and other purposes ; it supplies the thousands of miles of telegraph lines ; it is woven by machinery strong enough to make wire fences, and sufficiently del¬ icate to manufacture fine wire cloth ; steel wire is drawn for all kinds of needles ; woven wire of iron, brass, and copper appears in flour, paper, and other machinery ; sieves, screens, fenders, cages, baskets, dish-covers, nets, and an infinity of other forms ; it is drawn down to furnish the fine, hair-like wire for astronomical and mathematical instruments ; gold and silver wire is plated or woven into exquisite filigree work, into chains, and into thread for making gold lace. In making wire for gold lace, or for the finest filigree work, the wonderful ductility of gold and silver is exhibit¬ ed ; for silver, merely coated with gold leaf, may be drawn down to the smallest size, and still show a perfect coating of gold. For gold lace, wires so drawn are flattened between steel rollers to show a larger surface; and much of the “ gold 77 filigree work displayed in jewelry is really silver with a gold overcoat. Thus everywhere, in thousands of articles of use and luxury, the em¬ ployment of wire is indispensable. The process of wire-drawing is as follows: The wire rods, of one-fourth, three-eighths, or one-half inch in thickness, come from the rolling mill in coils or bundles, and are heated and re-rolled in grooved rollers, one above the other, so that the rod can run from the first to the second, and then to the third roll, without reheat¬ ing. These rollers run with great rapidity, and the final groove in the third roller reduces the rod to a coarse wire, say one-eighth of an inch, ready for the first hole in the draw-plate. The draw- plate is a flat piece of hard steel, punctured with holes correspond¬ ing to the various sizes or “ numbers / 7 to which wire for different purposes is drawn. The French draw-plates, which are considered the best, are made with the greatest care in tempering and ham¬ mering of a combined plate of wrought iron and steel, the steel face being on the side from which the wire comes through. The holes punched in the plate are tapering, with the smallest orifice on the steel side ; the reduction of size in the series is very grad¬ ual, and when the holes are worn by use, the plate can be heated, hammered, tempered, and re-punched. The wire, whether iron, brass, or copper, is annealed and drawn cold. The machinery, which is simple, consists of a draw-bench, which takes the wire from a reel to the first hole in the draw-plate, through which it passes to another reel or drum, on which it is wound ready to go WIRE-DRAWING. 421 through the second orifice ; and so on down the series to the re¬ quired size. As the wire is drawn down, it becomes less ductile and more brittle, and must be annealed and cooled before it is fur¬ ther drawn. Grease, and for the finer sizes, wax is used for lubricating during the process. There is a process also for cover¬ ing brass wire with a thin film of copper, which greatly facilitates the process of drawing, while the copper can wholly be removed in the last annealing. In annealing steel wire during the drawing, its carbon is retained by covering it with charcoal dust in the an¬ nealing oven. The rapidity of drawing depends upon the ductility of the metal and the size of the wire. Of the wire in common use, copper is the^ most ductile, then steel, next iron, brass, and zinc. Gold, platinum, and silver are far more ductile, and are capable of being drawn to greater length and fineness. The speed may be increased as the wire is attenuated ; iron and brass, according to size, are drawn twelve inches per second to forty-five inches per second, and the finer numbers of silver and copper may be drawn at the rate of sixty or seventy inches per second. It will be seen that the process of drawing wire is quite simple,- and gauges have been adopted which uniformly measure all the sizes, or' numbers, of merchantable wire wherever made. The draw-plates can be punched so as to draw oval or other shaped wires, and the ridged “ pinion wire ” used in timepieces. For drawing very fine wire, where the extremest uniformity is requisite for any length, plates are prepared with perforated rubies or other hard stones, and through one of these silver wire has been run one hundred and seventy miles in length, in which the most deli¬ cate test could detect no difference in diameter in any part. Gold and platinum have been drawn to the “ spider line ” for the field of a telescope, by coating the metal with silver, drawing it down to the finest number, and then removing the coating by acid, leaving the almost imperceptible, but perfect, interior wire, which, in the case of platinum, — in an experiment made by Dr. Wollaston, of London, —is said to have been so attenuated that a mile’s length weighed oidy a grain. In drawing ordinary wire, as the diameter diminishes one-half, one-third, one-fourth, etc., the length in¬ creases four, nine, sixteen, etc., times. STARCH. SOURCES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF STARCH. — STARCH IN QUEEN ELIZABETH’S DAY. — BEAU BRUMMELL’S CRAVATS. — DEMAND FOR STARCH. — COTTON- PRINTING ESTABLISHMENTS. — LAUNDRIES. — EDIBLE STARCH. — PATENT FOR POTATO STARCH. — PROPORTION IN VARIOUS GRAINS. —WHITE FLINT CORN. — PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE. — THE GREAT MANUFACTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. —HOW STARCH IS MADE FROM COEN. — THE AMOUNT PRODUCED. — USES FOR THE GLUTEN. — LUMBER FOR PACKING-BOXES. Starch plays an important part in the economy of Nature. It is found in greater or less quantity in all the cereals — very pure in rice, barley, and Indian corn, and associated with gluten, muci¬ lage, and saccharine matter in wheat, potatoes, peas, beans, oats, etc. It can be extracted from horse-chestnuts ; and every farmer’s wife knows how to make starch, if necessary, from wheat flour and potatoes, by simply kneading them through a sieve wdtli cold water, the settlings of the milky fluid which flows through the strainer being starch. Yet this article,, so necessary to cotton manufactories, laundries, and to every household, that the daily consumption in the United States alone is estimated at two hundred and fifty tons, was scarcely known till the Elizabethan era, when a very inferior qual¬ ity was used to starch the ruffs then worn. Beau Brummell was famous in London for his stiffened cravats, and long kept the secret of starch, as applied to that article of wear. But what was then an article of luxury and fashion for a fastidious exquisite is now everywhere an indispensable necessity. During the last century starch was used in England in printing cotton with colors, in stiffening linen, and in making hair powder; and soon after the beginning of the present century it became an important branch of manufacture in that country. The cotton mills at Manchester and elsewhere demanded enormous quantities, single establishments using more than three hundred tons in a year. The grains and vegetables commonly used in England ai?d ( 422 ) STAnCH. 423 L " ■ » f- •