Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-04-20
Biting OF Nails.
BY oLIy9 THoRNE.

J.
DON'T you think itamust be q curious
pair of jaws that can bite off a chunk of
iu nand1 lrC $fSS = easy 'HsSF'1 ~ = : 'i12 4sIH
You can hatdlySbslieve itsI.Wait till
I tell YOU. ! l,nr '.9IonI .slJiI' e
One of the most interesting places l
eyer visited was a room filed with these
monsters with the sharp steel jaws,
called nail machines -iJ FA LNHTt5a
In the first,place, the ,nolse made by
several of these machines in one room
| is something absolutely fearful. want
ted to stuff my eafAs with cotton; but I
thought that wouldnot be very civil to
my guide, and after . little Il got used.
to it, and soon. found myself SO much
interested that. l really forgot, the
noise. l''''' '.'' - i-IN - ., ,''.
Somez naohinesjnip off the tacks SO
fast that stream of finished tacks runs
down 9, tin lube into 4, ,reserEOirntthnolu-
Listen to the ticking Of the clock.
and reflect that every time it ticks at
least twenty tacks are snapped off, %
But l must tell you how they do it.
81 First the iron bar, as it comes from
the iron works, is put between immense
rollers, which ifiatten it out as nicely as
cook can roll out pie-crtIst with roll
| ing-pin. The bar of iron is thus made
into a sheet, just thick enough for the
nails they want to make. 1t goes next
to the Sitting machine, which makes no
more fuss about Sitting. it into the pro-
| per widths for nails than our scissors
Inake about cutting paper. - -.
~ 1t is cut a'little longer than the nail
! IS to be, because the heads are to be
made, t.,.tEf-.. ..ii....-r .....
When the strips of iron are all ready,
a man takes one, slips the edge into the
steel jaws 1 told you of. p p Z
These jaws are worked by steam
power, and instantly they bite off nail,
while furious little hammer springs
out suddenly, and with one blow on the
snd9gf s,s t1sBi, e e fiOn fstssspgt' AND
IL If you 3nnfjtS know What sbiowthst
must be, take a piece of iron and try to
bpounaia head ON il Yourself oI[. y
~ TheiihstaIit thSk6ad Sdhadet the Jaws
!, open, ,rahd tlieI hail drot otsIout finish ed
Of course it's done hdohE quicker than
have been telKngi you; for d machine
irpan make btads (which Il Ineedn'tl tell
the boys are AnalT ;IiEils>. without.
heads) at the rate-of three thousand a
roin1IYts OiJii"oR 5di StG5nThr ifRilF )
a" It is said That HifgdfesI won't lfe;s and
T hope they 'i*onP i, bdt4 must admit it
is hard to believe that story "hi 10 tT1
, After theStacks come ot4t of thehnna!
chinert hey are >" blued ~ as it is called.
It is done by heating them oin'. an oven
or an iron plate. .Sig, 81 al ''f TO-
Then they goSto the pael5ingroom,
where one girl can weigh and put into
papers two thousand papers of tacks in
a day. .s ~t-r-- st.'u..,.' o.. .- :
That's anotherstough. story but my
guide assured me it was true.
How many kinds of nails can you
name? Yourwill probably be surprised
to hear that two hundred kinds of nails
1are made in one factory-beginning
with spikes which weigh nearly half
pound each, and ending with the tiniest
kinds of tacks nota quarter Of an inch
long. '7iT'' ''''' 'l' - 'i
Men didn't always have machines to
make nails for them :: and, of course,
they had to make them by hand. That
was no easy matter and, in fact, they
couldn't make them of cold iron, but
had to heat every one. -.7Z ''' ss.'!'-' T.
In some parts of England they are
very slow to get machinery and theiig'
norant people, thinking their trade is to
be, spoiled, will break up and destroy
So they work at Matchmaking, as their
,grandfather did.q
u Every man has q little forge-such as
you have seen in blacksmith's shop,
if you live in a Village-and a small an
vii. Every child IS put to work to
make hailsE at eight or nine years. of
age; because they-ea SO little that
evefy one Of family must help earn
.theif bread OF tcoprseYt those children
have nd time to 4earn to read, and many
grown men and woman can neither
This IS The way they make the nails 7
TheyJbuy rods just the right size
for the nails they make; for one family
always make the esame size of nail. .5They5
take one of these rods, heat it red hot
at the forge, LAY it on the anvil, and cut
off the length Of a nail then, laying
away ike rest of the rod, they take the
piece they have cut off, pound it out to
a point at one end, and pound on a head
at the other. A very slow operation,
you seey when you think of how the
machines snap off cold iron. A whole
family can scarce ever earn more
than five dollars week at the work,
and part of that has to go for the coal
they use. .'r. ... " .r.iHrHu|
% One of the nail factories in our coun-
try, that have read about, uses one
hundred and fifty tons of iron in a
week; all OF which Is bitten up into
nails.-Irdspendeat 4 - ,-
3 THERE is curious law in Russia con-
cerning operatic matters, the object of
which is not precisely to encourage ma
tive talent. No Russian musician,
singer or dancer may receive from
State theater more than 1,143 roubles
in any one year and this principle has
been extended for the benefit of COM
.posers, who are not allowed to receive
more than 1,143 roubles tabout !e17ot
for anyone, work! The native artist
may carry his talent elsewhere but in
that case he ,forfeits his claim to pen--
sion. If he wishes to remain on the
books of, one of the Government estab-
he must content himself
with the grotesque sum of l,143 roubles
as annual salary and 1,143 roubles is,
in any case, the largest sum that can be
paid for an opera to a Russian COM
poser. Verdi received fromthe man.
agement of the italian Theater 700
roubles for his Forza del Destino; but
then Verdi is not Russian. The late
Russian composer, Dargomijski, having
dacIorad hv will that an onara of his