The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-04-14
The American watch Factory, at
Mailman. MnsaRchnseffs.

4 AkA0AAg 44AnSbaSAAN8SSA0s
That which brings labor and capital
4 together benefits both the laborer and
the capitalist. Even In Great Britain
where capital acts but too onen IKE 9
huge tyrant, and labor is Its slave, as
in the collieries and great manuIacto-
ries, political economists nave sun o.
served this as a fundamental principle
How much more, then, must SUCH an
institution as the Waltham Watch FAC
tory be regarded as a blessing TO the
community. Here the most perfect OF
all machinery, backed by an abund-
d ant capital, that suffers nothing to re-
| main imperfect for want of means to
| rectify 1t, and the most experienced
and skillful labor, at wages Of from
81 75 TO 81 and per day, are combin-
ed in the production of watches, all
| registered SO as to run in most perfect
lime, like chronometers. So perfect
are they that if any part whatever
piece can at once be supplied
| There are now three of these companies
in the United States, but this one at
WalCham is the Oldest, and for the last
nine or ten years has been source OF
prosperity to the proprietors, and still
more obviously to the seven hundred
persons employed in the various de-
partments. The watches thus produced
are SO superior in uniformity to any
that are or can be made by hand that
tho time will soon come when we shall
cease to import all but the very cheap
est and commonest sorts made, perhaps
for show and sale, but not for use.
Already there is a considerable demand
for them abroad, Notwithstanding their
high price:
square. 1t ISL light, airy, wholesome
and beautifully clean and well-finished
in every one OF its twenty-five distinct
Inr pkF NNafnR Ia finnF
and in almost every room, for drinking
and las well as fifty observation-disclosures
as precaution against fire. The
building is heated by steam, and in all
its apartments nearly perfect.
All those employed exhibited de-
| refinement such as is scarcely to be
| found elsewhere. Everything. inclu-
ding the finest steel tools and ma
chinery, are made on the premises.
One complicated machine, for cutting
one piece of the hard steel, works in
three distinct ways, and cost over
thousand dollars, though invented by
one OF the workmen in the establish
ment, The steel screws used on some
parts of these watches are SO fine that,
10 the naked eye, the thread is inYisi-
| bic. These are sometimes sold sepa-
| rntely to watchmnkers. 1t takes 200, UOO
| of them to make u pound, and the ironi
which at first may have been worth
two or three cents, is thus converted
into n value of $4,000. Such Is the
beauty, perfection, and value of skilled
manufacture. The preparation of the |
Jewels for these watches forms OF itself
a most interesting department.. AT |
first they used to be imported from
Europe, where they were made by |
hand; but now they are all cut, shaped,
polished and drilled in the establish
ment, and by machinery far more ex-
aCtly and uniformly than any made
elsewhere in the whole world. The |
sapphire and the beryl are used where |
the hardest and best stones are re- |
uuired, These are first cut with q
wheel of tin, into which diamond dust |
has been forced by the superior hard |
ness OF tho best steel. This cuts up the
stones as marble is sawn. Then Clipped
round like the old flint arrow-heads of
the Indians, further revolutions, with
the aid of diamond dust and proper
machinery, hollow out little cup, and
polish the whole, of ono uniform, exact
size. TO bore with the point of "A dia
mOnd the pivot holes, first half way
through on one side, and then the 9TH
or side, the other half, till both meet
smoothly in the middle and form mi
croscopic tunnel, through the jewel, in
which the Pivots may run smooth and
frictionless, is work which the deli
cate fingers of only two or three OF the
girls employed in the whole establish
ment, guided by the jewelers. glass,
can, with all the aid OF machi-
merry, accomplish with sufficient ex-
aciness. Even hen the most accu-
rate tests and measures for every bolt
are used, and every thOusandth part OF
an inch is carefully noted against; the
number of each watch, in case they
should ever want replacing. Twenty
thousand of these jewels per month are
sometimes used. Brass wheels and
steel cogs have all to be cut with per-
lection OF accuracy which nothing but
machinery such as this and the most
skilled and practiced workers can in.
sure. Most of the finest work seems |
| to be done by females, each dsvoting |
her whole time to one process. A sim
gle part of the-watch will often involve |
from twenty to seventy OF these pro-
cesses. When it is all done, and fem
pered and polished, the parts are put |
together, made to run and regulated.
Alter this it is all taken to pieces and |
the brass is all gold-washed by the
electrotyping process, and then put to-
gether again. But so accurately do all
the parts and screws fit, that this last
| work of putting together seems hardly
tOtake five minutes.-Phit. Ledger.