Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-12-23
File Manufactures.
The New York correspondent of tn


The New York correspondent of the
Boston Post writes thus:
1.-The wonderful success and almost
incredible profitableness of the file
manufacture in this country Is known
onlv to the lucky holders of stock In
the few companies which enjoy sort
of monopoly In the business. In fact.
very few people uncounected with me-
chanical branches of industry can posi-
=. blv form any estimate of the extent to
which files are used, and what an i'm
portant item this article forms both IN
the list of manufactures and importa-
fions 1t may be piece of interest
ing information to state that no less
than from "a, 0O0, 900 to $1,000, O0O
worth of files are annually imported in
to the United States, and from s., 600,
600 to SC, 900 QUO worth annually man
ufactured here, and yet this supply,
large as ii may appear, does not exceed,
and indeed often fails to satisfy the
49, demand The want of skilled labor in
this branch of industry. both here and
in Europe is so great that it tax, the
utmost energies of the manufacturers
to supply the constantly increasing de-
= mands of the trade, and also tends to
continually enchance the cost of pro-
duetion tt should be stated here that
in ordinary machine shops it requires a
file of the cerV hest make and quality to
last a good workman Singie day,
and but few files in fact, last so long.
1t may be added that some of the large
iron works as well as the government
and railroad machine shops, use from
$50 900 TO Sl00, 600 worth of files each,
per annum. This will explain the enor-
Fs- nous consumption of files, and
sufficiently answer the inquiry, what
becomes of them all? The system of re-
cutting files is practiced to some ex-
sr-s tent. But here, again, the want of
skilled labor Is encountered and oc-
Al II H..
$3.50 =. primary manufacture, the same process
having to be pursued IN reeutting as in
making a new file and the high price
charged. together with the fact that the
- files are Iessened in weight and the
- temper of the steel destroyed, renders
the process by no means SO economical
s. rs it would at firstappear.
= While the Whipple File Company, of
,f Providence, pursues the even tenor of
81 its way, and divides quietly among its
g. ~ stockholders sixty eighty per cent.
per annun, from its profits on the MAN.
addcfure of files another company, in
New York-the Russell File Company
s-r lis doingfas neat a thing, for the for
fttndti who hold its shares, by recruiting
and Te-manufacturing the tons of worn
out and useless files. which. otherwise
-,sF wouId be thrown aside as scrap steel.
BY, process exclusively IN. the posses
sion of the company, partly patented and
.tt7, partly secret, old files are renewed, and
made IN all respects equal 10 new IN a
.-qts very few minutes, and at comparatively
/. trifing expense. AS. many eight
- .sf.. hundred dozen of files have been reno
waited in a single day by this process,
and with a force of only fifty men. This
statement would seem incredible if it
SO. 2 were not vouebed for by trustworthy
q -.s men, who have witnessed Interpretations
e. of the company. Whether this process
bea proftable one or not, may easily
~ be inferred from the fact that, after only
$50 three or four months work, the COM
pany has paid the neat little dividend
ef ten per cent on its capital, besides
- vita retaining On htna surplus s'uiclens 70
49, cent in March, when the next quarter
ly dividend viii be payable &.
.124C& AEsN
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