The Democratic advocate., 1874-06-27
Wire and its Manufacture.

tn the following interesting facts regarding
the manufacture of wire in New England,
and the various uses to which 1t is en-
ployed:
There are now sixteen wire-drawing es-
adjustments in New England, Of which
two are located in Maine, two in Connec-
tieut, and twelve in Massachusetts,. OIL
these lasts, Boston claims two. Among
the Massachusetts wirc-drawing mills, that
of the Washburn 4 Moen Manufacturing
Company, of Worcester, is probably the
largest in the country.
There are few branches Of metal manu-
facture whose products are in wider use.
Wire is employed for the thousands of
miles of telegraph lines; it is woven by
machinery, strong enough to make fences,
and of such delicacy as to make the finest
wire cloth; large quantities are used for
galvanic batteries and for other scientific
purposes; it is twisted into the powerful
cables of suspension bridges, and furnishes
cables for submarine telegraphs, and ropes
for ships, for use in mines, and for other
purposes. From steel are made crinoline
wire and wire to be drawn into needles Of
all kinds. A large business has sprung up
in the manufacture ofwire forpiano strings
and Of the delicate plated wire for covering
the strings. Timed broom wire makes a
considerable item. OF lato years there has
been great sale for white wire culinary
and ornamental table utensils. 1t is used
in the manufacture of card clothing, he'd
dies, reeds, and other machinery, Woven
wire of Iron, brass and copper, appears In
-four, paper, and other machinery; 1t makes
its way into baskets, screens, sieyes, cages,
Tenders, dish covers, nets, and an infinite
variety of similar forms. Coppered pail
bail wire is considerable product Gold
and silver wire is plated or woven into ex-
quisite ilagree work, into chains, and into
threads for making gold lace; and wires
of the various metals are employed for
scores of other purposes, in articles useful
and ornamental.
The wire rods, varying from a quarter
to half inch in thickness, which are re.
ceived from the rolling mill in bundles,
are heated and re-rolled in grooved rollers,
one above another, so that the rod can run
from the first roll to the second, and so on,
without reheating, The rollers run with
great rapidity, and the final groove reduces
the rod to a coarse wire, about one-eighth
of an inch in thickness, which is ready for
the first hole in the draw plate.
The draw plate, the most distinctive
piece of mechanism in this manufacture,
is fiat piece of hard steel, with holes cor
responding to the various numbers or sizes
to which wire for different purposes is
drawn. The best ones are made of com
bined plate of highly tempered wrought
iron and steel, the steel face being on the
side through which the wire is to come.
The holes are tapering, the smallest end
being on the steel side. For drawing very
fine wire, In which the greatest uniformity
is necessary, the plates are prepared with
perforated rubies or other hard stones.
The wire is annealed and drawn cold.
The machinery for doing this includes
draw bench, which lifts the wire from a
reel to the first hole in the draw plate. The
wire passes through this to another reel or
drum, on which it is wound, ready for its
journey through the second orifce. The
same process is continued down the series,
until the wire is reduced to the required
size. The wire has to be often annealed
and cooled during the process, since it be-
comes less ductile and more brittle as It is
drawn down. Grease and wax are used
for lubricating. A method has come into
use lately of covering brass wire with a
thin film of copper. which is of great help
In drawing, while the copper can be wholly
removed at the last annealing.
The ductility of the metal and the size
of the wire regulate the rapidity of draw
ing. Zinc is the least ductilc of the
metals used, then brass, next iron, steel,
copper, silver, platinum and gold. As the
wire becomes attenuated the speed may be
increased, Iron and brass, according to
sligo may be drawn from twelve inches per
second to forty-fve inches per second and
the finer sizes of silver and copper are
drawn at the rate of sixty or seventy inches
per second.
Silver wire has been run through plates
of rubies to the length of one hundred
and seventy miles, in which the most
delicate test conld detect no difference in
diameter in any part. Gold and platinum
have been drawn to spider line" for the
field of telescope, by coating the metal
with silver, drawing it down to the finest
number, and then removing the coating
by acid, leaving the almost imperceptible
interior wire, which, in an experiment made
In London, was so attenuated that miles
length weighed only grain.
Our grandfather, Adam, was very gal
liant gentleman, if we believe Milton, and
used very honied phrases to mother Eve,
which the good lady must have listened to
with rapture, as he spoke these words, that
is, If she didn't deem them fattery
Adam to Eve.