Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-08-23


ferior Court.
The Wilmington manufa curing Company.
It is pleasant to leave the routine OF the
s1,ctuns. even in these days of political ex-
citement and turmoil, and stroll among
the great industrial corporations, which are
doing more, we hope, to build up the pros
perity of our city and section than are the
politicians to pull it down. 1t is refreshing
to turn away from our exchanges and lose
sight of the bitter strife, the jealous aspi-
rations and the black expositions by which
despicable demagogues and desperate place
hunters are amassing fortunes from the
Public Treasury, to witness our noble me-
chanics and enterprising business men
earning livelihood &c in the sweat OF their
faces" In our visits to the latter our out
ward garb may be covered with the dust OF
honest toll, which can be removed by the
application of brush, but the dirt and
filth of the former will leave its damning
stain upon the heart.
A day or two since, actuated by such feel
ings, we visited the WILMINGTON MANUFAC-
TURING COMPANY, incorporated by the last
Legislature, for the purpose of manufac-
turing Impermeable Spirit Casks. The
great demand for these barrels in our mar
ket suggested the idea of their manufac-
ture by machinery to our enterprising fell
low-citizen, MIR. THOMAS E. ROBERTS. Hay
ing purchased the valuable and convenient
property known as the Clarendon Iron
Works, the Company was rapidly organized
by the election of JAS A. Webb, as Presi-
dent, Thos. E. Roberts, Vice President,
Henry Roberts, Secretary, and Mr.. Wood
ruff, General Superintendent.
We were SO much pleased with the oper-
alton of the manufacture of the casks, and
believing it to be matter of much inter
est to our readers, we are tempted to
give thom slight insight into the simple
but skillful naodus operandi of barrel max
ing by machinery. The machinery used is
the Hutchinson's Patent Barrel Machinery
in connection with the apparatus used by
the American Impermeable Cask Company
for rendering barrels air-tight.
Upon the ground-foor of the main build
ing there are eight classes of machines,
through all of which the slaves and heads
must pass, from the time they are received
as shapeless sticks of timber, until they be-
come perfect parts of barrel. These ma
chimes are small, with great mechanical
powers, perfect and rapid in their opera
tions. First, the blocks of wood are re-
duced to the dimensions of slaves by means
of saw. These, of course, are cut with
the grain, obtaining all the advantages of
those riven by hands. The next machine
in order makes them of the proper length.
We have now rough, straight board, of
the required size, but without the proper
shape. To meet this difficulty they are
passed through a small double planning
machine of great capacity. This machine
is composed of two sets of knives, the one
concave and the other convex, which not
only nicely dresses them, but gives the
upper surface the convex, and the under
the concave shape, necessary to form per-
feet stave.
The next process, and by no means the
least important, is that of seasoning the
green, half-fnished slaves The barrel
cannot be made perfectly tight unless all
the water is taken from the wood to pre-
vent any, the least, shrinking. To do
this, the slaves are placed in steam-chests
and allowed to remain sufficient time for
all the sap to be dried from the wood
In the plant shape in which this leaves
them, by means of iron frames they are
bent into the shape necessary to give the
proper bilge to the barrel. 1t requires
the aid of convenient and easily applied
lever TO bend them, where they are fast
ened and held. In these frames thew are
placed upon cars and run into an immense
dry kiln, capable of holding fifty thou-
sand slaves, this kiln being over one HIM.
dred feet long. Here they remain for ten
or twelve days, subjected to tempera-
ture of from 100 to 100 degrees Fahren-
heit, until they are perfectly dry. They
become almost as light as cork and are
perfectly loose in their iron frames.
The slaves are now returned to the
Machine Room, where they are passed