India Rubber

1895

A Comparatively Recent but Potent Factor In Science and Progress.

In our own day it really seems as if we couldn't possibly get on without India rubber and gutta percha. Though both are of comparatively recent introduction, the number of purposes to which they are applied is so immense that our civilization without them would at least be very different from the form in which we actually know it.

To lump a few miscellaneous examples in a single paragraph: Without those two submarine cables would be almost impossible; telegraphy would assume many unlike modifications; goloshes would not exist; waterproofs and mackintoshes would be a beautiful dream and a rubberless world a hideous reality; elastic, in the sense in which ladies use the word, for tying hats or making garters would never have been evolved; tobacco pouches would still be of silk or leather; our combs would be of horn, and our buttons, paper knives, penholders and pipes much dearer than at present.

As for machinery, where would it be without India rubber cinctures and tubes and cups and valves and buffers? Where would engineering be without the endless minute applications of the elastic gum? Where would surgery be without the innumerable devices, the syringes and squirts, the belts and bandages of which India rubber forms the sole, and, as it seems to us now, indispensable basis? Fancy putting out fires without the invaluable hose; fancy whirring manufactories without the inevitable gearing. The bicyclist would miss his pneumatic tires; the artist would miss his ever handy eraser.

When we go to the dentist, which is always in itself a delightful excursion, a happy hour is made happier for us by the India rubber sheet with which he dexterously contrives to check undue loquacity. When we go to the gymnasium, half the apparatus we employ is based on it. And what would life be at the present day without India rubber hot water bottles? — Longman's Magazine.

Patents Hatchway Device

1915

Invention Slides "Strongbacks" Instead of Removing Them

Capt. R. T. Anderson of San Francisco, Cal., has been granted a patent on a device for sliding the "strongbacks" in a hatch to either one side or the other, instead of lifting them out singly and placing them on deck while the cargo is either taken on or discharged.

Under present building plans each of the "strongbacks" is lifted out and laid on deck after the hatch covers have been taken off. This requires some time. Under the Anderson plan these heavy beams are slid back to either one side or the other and then are pulled to position again and pinned in place after the work in the hatch is completed.


Invents Seat for Motorman

Revolves and Can Be Adjusted at Any Angle

A new motorman's seat invented by a Vermont man is said to have an advantage over the ordinary motorman's seat in that it has both a revolving and stationary top. It can also be adjusted at almost any angle by means of a mechanism.

This seat has been in use on all of the cars of the Burlington Traction Company for several weeks and has been found to be satisfactory. It is specially designed for air controlled cars. The work of their manufacture will be begun on a small scale at first, or until a factory can he built or secured.


Here's World's Smallest Saw

Quarter-Inch Diameter and Made for a Purpose.

Probably the smallest "buzz" saw in the world is one that has just been made by Ambrose Thomas, a violin maker. Thomas made the saw blade by hand and it is only one-fourth inch in diameter. The teeth are constructed the same as those on large saws. The blade is attached to a foot-power dentist drill and will saw the hardest of lumber with ease. Thomas uses it for sawing groves in the edge of violins to insert the variegated wood.

A Street Incident and Royalty

1896

A significant circumstance occurred during a visit of the Emperor of Germany to England. The kaiser was for one day the guest of the lord mayor, and the city of London received him and several of the queen's children on that day.

The old city was splendidly decorated, and set for a great public function. The streets from Buckingham palace to the lord mayor's mansion were lined with infantry and cavalry, back of whom was a solid mass of people.

Between these lines the royal carriages slowly passed. They moved in almost absolute silence, save for the perfunctory salutes of the soldiery. The queen was not present, and for mere royalty as royalty, there was apparently no popular feeling save that of curiosity.

When, however, the carriage of the Princess of Wales appeared, and her sweet, kind face was seen, the applause grew enthusiastic. Suddenly a burst of cheers was heard, as a low, black wagon came swiftly down the thronged street. It was the ambulance of a hospital, which has precedence everywhere, carrying some wounded man to receive succor. The crowd paid homage to charity in a sincere though inappropriate fashion.

In it was a hint which the scions of the ruling families of Europe present should have understood. Queen Victoria knows that her people pay allegiance to her more as a wise, good woman, wife and mother than as one of the House of Hanover.

"The divinity which doth hedge a king" must now have its bases in humanity and personal respect rather than in descent or etiquette.


Standardize the Bike

A proposition has been made recently by bicycle riders to several agents and manufacturers of bicycles that the manufacturers get together in a convention and agree to reduce numerous parts of their different machines to standard proportions.

The Douglas Shoe

1900

The best advertised and consequently the best known shoe in the world today is undoubtedly made by the W. L. Douglas Shoe Co., of Brockton, Massachusetts.

The one idea of this company has always been to sell a shoe for $3.50 which equals in every way the $5 shoes of any other concern. They are able to do this on account of there being no middle man's profit, as the goods are sold direct from the factory to the wearer. In 60 of the principal cities of the country they have their own retail stores. The goods are made in all sizes and widths, and few shoes equal them for style and durability.

The factory at Brockton employs over 3,100 hands, and, all labor troubles are settled by the state board of arbitration. Nothing but union labor is employed, and pay is about the best average wages of any shoe workers in the United States. The factory payroll amounts to $17,435 per week. This company makes shoes for men only, and it is their proud boast that over one million men wear them. — Denver (Colo.) Post.


Geese and Sages

One day in presiding at table at his country home in Windsor, Vermont, with a swarm of grandchildren about him, Senator William W. Evarts is said to have asked: "What is the difference between this goose before dinner and me after?" After much futile guessing, he answered, in quiet glee: "Now the goose is stuffed with sage, and soon the sage" — pointing to himself — "will be stuffed with the goose."


Words

In coining such modern words as "telegram," "photography," etc., the Japanese have recourse to the Chinese language, as we do to the Greek.

The Uses of Asbestos — A Wonderful Substance

1896

Being Incombustible, It Is a Valuable Compound in Many Industries

Asbestos is a wonderful substance. The name comes from a Greek word meaning inconsumable. Fire will not burn it, acids will not gnaw it, weather will not corrode it.

It is the paradox of minerals, for it is quarried just like marble. The fibers of which it is composed are soft as silk and fine and feathery enough to float on water. Yet in the mines they are so compressed that they are hard and crystalline like stone.

Although the substance has been known for ages in the form of mountain cork or mountain leather, comparatively little has been learned as to its geological history and formation. A legend tells how the Emperor Charlemagne, being possessed of a tablecloth woven of asbestos, was accustomed to astonish his guests by gathering it up after the meal, casting it into the fire, and withdrawing it later, cleansed, but unconsumed.

Yet, although the marvelous attributes of asbestos have been known for so long, they were turned to little practical use until about twenty years ago. Since that time the manufacture of the material has grown until it can take its place with any of the industries of this country. Indeed, so rapid has been its progress and development that there is almost no literature of any kind on the subject, and, to the popular mind, it is still one of those inexplicable things.

Up to the late '70's nearly all the asbestos used to come from the Italian Alps and from Syria, but one day explorers discovered a rich deposit in the eastern township of Quebec. Companies were formed, and, in 1879, the mines were opened. Remarkable as it may seem, however, although the Canadians started factories, in the operation of which they were substantially backed by English capital, it was an American concern, with headquarters in New York, that developed the industry most rapidly. The company has now grown so large that it has branches in nearly all of the large cities of the country and the machinery used is specially made and peculiarly adapted to the manufacture of asbestos articles. There are also a large number of factories in England.

The veins of chrysotile, as the Canadian asbestos is called, are from two to four inches in thickness, and are separated by thin layers of hornblende crystals. The nearer to the surface the vein runs, the coarser are the fibers and the less valuable. The mining is done by the most improved machinery. Holes are drilled in long rows into the sides of the cliffs by means of steam drills. They are then loaded with dynamite and exploded simultaneously in such a way that a whole ledge of the rock falls at once. Then the workmen break out as much the pure asbestos as possible, load it into tubs or trucks, which are hoisted out and run along to the "cobhouse." Here scores of boys are kept busily employed crumbling or "cobbling" the pieces of rock away from the asbestos and throwing the good fiber to one side, where it is placed in sacks for shipment to the factory.

The greatest work in connection with the mining of asbestos is in disposing of the waste rock and the refuse of the quarry. Only about one-twenty-fifth of the material quarried is real asbestos, and the rocky parts have to be carried to the dumps at great expense.

As the asbestos comes from the mine it is of a greenish hue, and the edges are furred with loose fibers. The more nearly white asbestos the better its grade. The length of fiber is also of great importance, the longest being the most valuable. From the mines the asbestos is taken to the manufactories in the United States. — Engineer.

How They Make the Common Sewing Needle

1909

We are so accustomed to seeing the little steel sewing needle in everyday use that we accept its presence as a matter of course, quite as if it grew on a tree like an apple.

It is true that needles have always been used but not always in their present form. In times when skins of animals were worn for clothing the needle was made of fishbone, bone or ivory, without an eye and of goodly size and strength, in order to pierce the skins easily.

Since the latter part of the fourteenth century steel needles have been made. Various are the kinds and sizes which are now required for everyday use by a world of people for sewing by hand, by machine, for packing, upholstery and leather work, wonderful needles for surgical purposes and many others.

The material used in the manufacture of the needle consists of one steel wire, which is supplied in coils. These coils are cut with powerful shears into lengths each sufficient for two needles.

Several thousand of those lengths are placed together in a bundle, heated to red heat and then quickly straightened by pressure and rolling.

These straightened lengths are then pointed at both ends on a revolving grindstone. A grinder will point as many as one hundred thousand needles in a day, while machinery invented for the same purpose will point three times as many as a skilled workman.

Next comes the eying of the needles. You will remember that each length of wire referred to is sufficient for two needles. At the centre of each length, therefore, is stamped the grooved and rounded impression of two needle heads, end to end, and then perforated by steel punches.

Through the double eye holes thus formed (of, say, one hundred needles at a time) is threaded fine wire, giving an appearance of a two edged comb. The needles are held rigid and then broken apart with comparative ease between the eyeholes.

The needles are next hardened and tempered by being subjected to red heat, plunged into an oil bath, reheated again and gradually cooled.

After this they must be scoured and polished by friction combined with softsoap, oil and emery powder. Washing, drying and more polishing follow – in fact, there seems to be no end to the polishing and finishing processes – but when the work is finally completed the needles are as near perfection as modern machinery and human skill can make them.

Lover Fell From Tree, Washing Machine Company President

Cincinnati, 1903

LOVER FELL FROM TREE

Andrew Smith Driven to Sore Straits by Teasing.

CINCINNATI, March 2 — The ambulance of F. & W. Siefke was sent to Groesbeck, Ohio, at an early hour this morning for the purpose of removing an injured man to the City Hospital. The request for the ambulance came from the postmaster of that village.

According to meager information received by Mr. Siefke the injured man is Andrew J. Smith, who is the President of the "Latest Invention Triple Action Washing Machine Company," at 812 Elm street. Mr. Smith was violently in love with a young woman, and that as a result of his courtship he was subjected to the jibes of his associates. This affected Mr. Smith greatly. Last evening, in his wanderings, he climbed a tree, lost his balance and fell, sustaining internal injuries. Now the jokers are sorry.

—The Daily Republican-News, Hamilton, Ohio, March 2, 1903, page 1.

Comment: It'd be terrible to wake up and see this about yourself in the paper. Plus, the report could be a bit mangled up, since there doesn't seem to be any obvious connection between the jibes and his climbing the tree and falling out. That the jokers are sorry is probably an unwarranted conclusion of the reporter, since it all happened at an early hour just this morning.

Note: I made a change. The name of the company in the original article had the word "Sriple" that probably should be "Triple," going with Action a lot more. And isn't that a great old-fashioned name from those days of inventions and progress, "Latest Invention Triple Action Washing Machine Company." Thinking about it, it doesn't sound right yet, but, we must let it go...

Professor in Rags Talks to Workers

1920--

Tells Clothing Shop Hands Perils of 40-hour Week

BOSTON, Mass., May 20. -- Exhibiting the tattered lining of his coat, Professor William D. Ripley of Harvard told the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' convention here that the public could not afford to buy clothing at present high prices. The workers had just pledged themselves to cut their working hours to forty a week at present wages.

"If you will look at the clothing of more than one-half of the people of the country today you will see that it is well worn, old, or made-over clothing," Professor Ripley said. "You have the problem to work out. Remember that if you ask large profits to divide up between you and forget us, the public will not buy, and there will be nothing to divide."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.

Auto Engineering Feats

When the automobile first appeared twenty-five years ago, it was regarded as a mechanical marvel, though it was a very simple and crude affair. Today the automobile is really a mechanical marvel and nobody is aware of it except a few engineers who know what difficult and complicated problems have been met and solved in producing the up-to-date motor car.

According to George S. Waite, sales manager of the Grant Motor Car corporation of Cleveland, the general public makes a similar mistake in its appraisal of the cars of today, and looks upon the production of a few high priced cars as a much greater manufacturing and engineering feat than the production of large quantities of medium or low priced cars.

"The production of a car like the Grant Six, which is today the lowest priced six in the world, can only be fully appreciated when we stop to realize that between the performance of a six selling for less than $1,000 and a six selling for twice as much, there is probably only a difference of a few percent. In other words, the manufacturer of the lower priced car is expected to deliver a car that is within a few inches as big, within a few miles per hour as fast, and within a few horsepower as powerful as the more expensive car. This does not mean that the higher priced car is not worth every cent that the manufacturer gets for it, but it does mean that it is a much easier car to design and to build because the manufacturer is not handicapped.

"The popular priced car like the Grant Six is the result of scientific management in the widest sense. Its manufacturers must necessarily be far in advance of the ordinary manufacturer in resourcefulness. It would surprise the average manufacturer to learn how far ahead the popular priced car maker has to look and how wide a field he must study and draw on for solution to his problems.

"Until recently the watchmaking industry was the stock example of standardized interchangeable assembling, but the manufacturer of an automobile with twice or three times as many parts as a watch is accomplishing a feat beside which watchmaking is child's play."

--Des Moines Register, Nov. 4, 1917