The Shasta courier., 1868-08-29
The American Watch Factory at waltham.


Mass.
That which brings labor and capital to-
gether benefits both the laborer and the
capitalist. Even in Great Britain, where
capital acts but too often like huge tyrant,
and labor is its slave. as in the collieries and
great manufactures, political economists
have still observed this as a fundamental
principle. How much more then, must such
an institution as the Waltham Watch Factory
be regarded blessing to the community.
Here the most perfect of all machinery,
backed By an abundant capital. that suffers
nothing to remain imperfect for want of
means to rectify it, and the most experienced
and skillful labor, at wages Of from Sl.75 to
81 and SO per day, are combined in the pro-
duction of watches all registered SO as to run
in the most perfect time, like chronometers.
So perfect are they that if any part whatever
| is broken or injured. a new piece can at once
be supplied There are now. three of these
companies in the United States, but this one
at Waltham is the oldest, and for the last
nine or ten years has been a source of pros
perity to the proprietors, and still more OBJ
viously so to the seven hundred persons en-
ployed in the various departments: The
watches thus produced are so superior in uni
formity to any that are or can be made by
hand, that the time will soon come when we
shall cease to import all but the very cheap
est and commonest sort made, perhaps for
show and sale, but not for use. Already
there is considerable demand for them
abroad, Notwithstanding their high rrice,
and we hope the day may not be far distant
when our city may be able to boast that this
manufacture is carried on in addition to all
the others in which we now excel.
The building forms three sides of square
1t is light, airy, wholesome, and beautifully
clean and we'll finished in every one of its
twenty five different apartments. Water is
on every floor. and in almost every room, for
drinking and las well as fifty fire extinguish-
ers) as precaution against fire. The build
ing is heated by steam. and in all it's ap-
pointments nearly perfect.
All those employed exh bted degree of
neatness, responsibility and refinement such
as is scarcely to be found elsewhere. The
main-springs are, we believe, mainly bought
in Philadelphia, and the wire for the hair
springs is brought on the reel from Europe
but, except these, everything, including the
finest steel tools and machinery, are made on
the premises. One complicated machine, for
cutting one piece of the hard steel, works in
three different ways, and cost over a thou
sand dollars, though invented by one of the
workmen in the establishment. The steel
screws used in some parts of these watches
are so fine that to the naked eye the thread
is invisible. These are sometimes sold sep
arately to watchmakers. 1t takes three hun
dred thousand of them to make pound, and
the iron, which at first may have been worth
two or three cents, is thus converted into
value of $4,000 Such is the beauty, perfec-
ton, and value of skilled manufacture The
preparation of the jewels for these watches
forms of itselfa most interesting department.
At first they used to be imported from Eu
rope, where they were made by hand !; but
now they are all cut, shaped. polished and
drilled in the establishment and by machine
ry, far more exactly and uniformly than any
made elsewhere in the whole world. The
sapphire and the beryl are used where the
hardest and best stones are required. These
are first cut with wheel Of tin, into which
diamond dust has been forced by the superior
hardness of the best steel This cuts up the
stone MS 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 one
uniform, exact size. To bore with the point
of diamond the pivot holes. first half way
through on one side, and then from the other
side the other half, till both meet smoothly
in the middle and form a microscopic tunnel
through the jewel, in which the pivots may
run smooth and frictionless, is the work
which the delicate fingers of only two or
three of the giils employed in the whole es
tablishment. guided by the jewellers glass,
can, with all the aid of machinery accomplish
with sufficient exactness. Even then the
most accurate tests and measures for every
hole are used, and every thousandth part of
an inch is carefully noted against the num-
Der 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
a perfection Of accuracy which nothing but
machinery such as this, and the most skilled
and practiced workers can insure. Most of
the finest work seems to be done by females
each devoting her whole time to one process.
A single part of the watch will often in
volve from twenty to seventy of these bro
cesses. When it is all done, and tempered
and polished, the parts are put together
made to run, and regulated, After this il
is all taken to pieces and the brass is all
gold-washed by the electrotyping process. and
then put together again. But so accurately
do all the parts and screws fit that this last
work of putting together seems hardly TO
take five minutes.-Pu6iic Ledger.
Antiquity of Brandreth,s Pills.