The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-04-25

ties, from good to best
l asked as to the number of hands en-
tployed.
1--WE average he replied. 200 men
and women; about one third females
"All Americans ?
NEARLY ALL he answered; we have q
few foreign workmen in the different de-
lpartments, but nearly all the employ es
are native born, and mostly New Eng
land men. Waltham and its neighbor-
hood supply most of the females, and
many of these are among the most skill
full and valuable hands we have We
pay good wages, and require intelligent
operatives. The situations are soon fill
ed. You will see how we keep the fac
tory we intend that every room shall
be as clean, com Portable, and pleasant
as parlor, and that is one reason why
we always secure first class help
There is harily any work in the facto
ry Iron muscles do everything of that
sort. All that the operatives are needed
for, after the machines are made, is to
watch and guide them.
| THE FAIRIES HOME.
We now requested that he would show
US something of the factory.
With pleasure he replied TO be-
gin at the beginning, here is the engine
room, where four boilers OF 80 horse
power drive the two huge genii that in
turn drive a little army Of iron FAIRIES all
day long to their several tasks. No cum
ming wee body of a screw maker or q
pivot polisher so made that it can stop
and waste its time in playing while these
surly old genii in their dens are busy
Dens Why. is this neat room, which
has its wall adorned with portrait of
Lincoln-decorated with Union flags
and many pretty devices, and which un-
der its window that looks out on a green
lawn, has several dozens of thrifty con
servatory plants growing in pots--is this
the Engine House !! Sure enough, this
is the place. There, suilen and silent,
but beautiful, lies the grim power which
drives half of the factory fairies at work.
Let us go up stairs. This long, clean
room, filed with lathes and machinery,
but neither odorous nor noisy, although
the hum of mechanical and human in
dustry never ceases in it-this is the ba-
sis of the whole factory; the machine
shop 1t is 165 feet long, and thirty
first-class mechanics are kept at work in
it, only in making and repairing the ma
chimes and tools which are without ex-
ception of the best and costliest charac-
ter. Like all the rooms, this is light
and pleasant But in the next room
to use the words of the excellent Rich
ard Swiveller-there was a staggerer. 1t
was little side room. 1t had floor |
clean as any, walls entirely undisfigured |
with smoke, neat stalls and shelving for |
the assortment Of steel and iron, and |
l pinched myself to see whether I was |
asleep or awake-nice white curtains |
hanging at the windows. 1t was the |
shop! There were forges, |
and the trip hammer, and, the anvils,
but there we're those curtins. l felt that
was no longer problem. |
The anvil and the Athenaum are WOO
ing.
FAIRY WORKMANSHIP.
.Lookr said my guide, what do you
suppose those are?
He held up little vial, such as home-
pathic globules are kept in, which was
filled with, what seemed to be grains of |
coarse sand of the color of blue temper
ed steel.
l placed one of those grains under a |
and it proved to be per-
feet screw.
Now said he, 'vou may note that it |
takes 100000 of these screws to weigh /
one pound, and that they are worth from
$4,000 to $500 q pound.
Again, they showed me microscopic |
bit of steel, the points Of which, under
glass, appeared to be exquisitely pol /
iShed.
l took up a couple of screws and tie
balance staff by wetting my finger, and |
put them carefully into apiece of paper
'sNot that l wish to make you think /
that you are taking valuable property
said the manager, but how much do you |
suppose that stuff is worth ?
The foreman made the calculation.
They are worth $40, 900 pound, he |
said, .or about 25 cents piece. The |
screws are worth a dollar and quarter |
a hundred. 1t takes ffty-two of them |
to weigh a grain!
ell.' said 1, ''if they cost so much, |
how do you make watches so cheap?'
The use of machinery to it's utmost |
limit, and the division of labor as far as
possible accounts for ALL rejoined the
Every machine in the factory
does one thing only, and it can do moth |
ing else. But it does that oce thing
necessarily, with incredible rapidity and
with unvarying accuracy. Thus, all our
in all their parts. 1t is imperative that
the watch should be entirely made in a
single factory and under one superin-
tendence- Now foreign watches, the chea-
per sort-can have only a relative simi-
larity. They are made in parts every
where, and get together in Geneva and
Paris and London. There are not Q
score of Partisan watches made in Paris
any wear The pieces are made in the
rural districts or in Switzerland, and they
are sent on to Paris to be fitted together
Many of the English watches are made
in the same way-ready manufactured
on the continent, and put up in London.
There is no great watch factory any
where, excepting ours, where all the pro-
cesses are conducted and the movements
adjusted under the same roof. We pro-
duce greater number of watches than
any other establishment in the world
ssAre you ouite sure 2 i asked. that