Hillsdale Whig standard. (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1846-1851, 1851-03-18

+ faeture TO be yet its infancy. Tho hrst ope
rations are performed by steam power. Th'
sheets of STEEL after they are received from
Sheffield, are reduced TO the requisite tenu
ity by successive transts through the rolling
mill-operations which are tended by mel
and boys. When reduced in this manner 4
the thinness of a steel pen, and to the length
Of about two feet and half or three inches
the sheets of steel arc ready for the next
processes. which are entirely performed BY
women and girls. Describing the rooms &C.
cording to the order OF the processes. and
not according to the arrangement Of the
tho building, the first to be entered IL that
whore the "blanks' arc punched out. Ran
ged in double rows along large and roomy
workshop. with windows at both sides. and
scrupously white and clean in floor, roof, and
walls, are seated from fifty to hundred
girls and women, from the age OF fourteen to
that of forty and upwards. Tho only sounds
TO be heard are tho working of the hand
press, and the clinking of the small pieces
of metal as they fall from the block into the
receptacle prepared for them. The process
is performed with great rapidity, one girl,
Of average industry and dextorty, being g.
! bio to punch or cut out about a hundred
| gross per day. Each division of the work
shop is superintendent by tool maker, whose
business il is to keep the punches and press
as in good working condition, to superintend
the work generally, and TO keep order among
the work people.
Tho next operation is TO place the blank in
a concave die, on which slight touch from
a convex punch produces the requisite shape
that Of the semi.tube. The Sits and a.
pertures, which increase the elasticity of the
pen, and the makers or vender's nsmo or
mark, are produced By similar tool. The
last operation is that of Sitting, which is al
80 performed by girls and women. Previous
ly TO this, however, the pen undergoes va
riety of processes in different part Of the
factory. and unde- the hands ola different
class of workpeople. When complete all
but tho slit the pen is soft and pliable, and
may be bent or twisted in the hand like
piece of thin lead. Being collected in "gross.
es" or "great grosses"--th former contain
ing 144 and the great gross twelve times
that number-the pens are thrown into littlo
iron square boxes by mon, who perform oil
the work in this department, and they are
placed in furnace, where they remain till
box and pens are of white heat. They are
then taken out, and thrown Kissing hot into
DdllS VI lulhs Vi piOc0So Ouito
them oftheir softness by making them brittle.
When taken out of the oil, they may be bro
ken with as much ease as if they were 80
many waters. As a great deal OF oil adheres
to them. they are put into a seive to drain
There they remain until no more oil will run
from them; but. notwithstanding all the drai-
ming which they have received, the oil is
not effectually removed. To cleanse them
thoroughly, they were formerly thrown into
pits or heaps ofsawdust, and stirred about;
but as, by this process, the sawdust became
clotted into oil cakes, and was rendered un-
serviceable, tho ingenuity Of Mr.. elliott was
taxed TO discover some means by which sa-
wing both Of oil and sawdust could be efec-
ted. He was not long before the thought
struck him, that, if the pens were made to
revolvo rapidly in perforated cylinder, tho
last drop Of oil might be twinkled from the
pens liko moisture from mop.
The experiment was tried and succeeded
admirably, The pens, after being allowed
TO drain in the sevc until no moro oil would
run off them, were placed apparently dry.
but greasy looking, in tho cylinder, but twirl-
ed round with great rapidty. until the oil ran
off in oopious stream. The mingled oil
and sawdust formerly constituted nuisance
and it was necessary to change the sawdust,
and burn il, three OF four times day. IL
now lasts for week. BY this means--a re-
instance Of economy of manufac-
tures-Mr. elliott has diminished his oil ac-
count about f200 to f300 per annun. This
operation once completed, tho pens are once
more placed in revolving cylinders, whore
their friction against each othor produces
the necessary polish. Each pen is thus made
TO clean and polish its neghbor. The next
process is to roast or ahneal these brittle ar
ticles, and give them the fexibility of the
quill, and produce upon them, at the samo
lime, the color which may be desired, wheth
or bronze or blue. The fexibility and color
lro both produced by heat, and il becomes
delicate matter so to arrange and regulate II
is TO attain the exact results desired. From
his department they are once more consign
I'd to the female part of the establishment,
Shero, by tho operation of the cutting tool,
zach pen receives the required shit. One
yirl, with quick and practical finger. can
ilit, by this means as many as 200 gross, or
Is, 900 in day. They arc now ready for
,ounting and packing, in boxes or crosses,
or the wholesale market This last stage
,f the business is wholly performed by young
girls Cor. Morn. Chron.
Defeat Of the River and HarbOr Bill.
This is a serious blow to western interests,
nd is Justly chnrgeable to the democratic
,arty After the bill passed the house, the