Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-05-07

themselves 10 doors and door and window
|, to system which seems to leave little o.
no room for future improvement. The ex
cent to which the manufacture OF doors hai
u been improved is marvellous. 1t was al
; immense saving of labor, and of courst
i effected great saving in the cost of doors
when machinery was introduced to cut the
mortices in the stiles. and when machine.
made doors, manufactured for the whole
: sale trade, began to supersede the old home
made article. But the progress made since
then, IN the machinery used and in the ex-
tent to which machinery Is made to supply
the place of human muscles is equally won
derful. No longer than two or three years
ago, or when We last undertook 70 describe
q sash and door factory, though the heavi-
est part of the work was done by machines
much was left to be done by hand-as shap-
ing the teEons, planning the doors after they
were put together, and smoothing them with
sand-paper ready for painting. Machines
now do all this work; and we do not see
how the manufacture, as conducted in the
establishment We are describing. can be
much simplifed. till some Yankee inycnts
machine which shall take the place of the
whole factory, and into which the rough
saw logs shall be fed at one end, while
from the otner the finished doors are shot
through spout into the cars.
The factory Of Taft L Morgan is connect
ed with the Pioneer Shops and IS supplied
with power from the large engine of the
shops. The proprietors haze recently ex-
tended the building by an addition Of b
feet, which gives them large and commo-
dious factory, Of two stories. The lumber
Is received through a small door in the side.
on the lower story, and passes at once to
the saws which cut it into the needed
| lengths and widths or if it is to be plaued
to the planners. The various pieces find their
way IN due course to the various machines
which cut the grooves. form the lemons.
and chlsel the mortices. There are some
fifteen mortlces in an ordinary door, and
with one oftheir morticing machines a good
workman will cut the mortices for 300 doors
IN day something OF an advance from
the old times when it took a carpenter with
mailet and chisel hall 4 day to mort,ce a
single door We notice that a siuple ma
chine. cOntrived by Me,srs Taft d Morgan.
saves most of the labor of driving out the
chips from the mortices, which till very re.
Gently has always been done bv hand An
other exceedingly effective continuance. by
means Of combination of circular saws
and cutters, does what is called the relish
ing -. c. the shaping ofthe tenons of the
panels-and cuts from them At the same
time the small wedges used in fastening the
lemons in the mortices. This is done with
great rapidity. aad saves great amount OF .
hand labor. The doors. when loosely pnt
together, are taken to the lighthouses and |
thoroughly kiln dried The drying rooms
are six in number. each 20 by % feet. heated |
by steam, and are in convenient proximity |
TO the main factory.
The doors are then glued, and the lemons
driven home and wedged. The doors are
now Hacking only the mouldings) about in
the condition in which they used to be
shipped TO market. But NOWADAYS. a
good deal Of finishing is added in the fac
tory. The diagonal planer''-an inyen-
ton of great value to door makers-does
good deal of this. The entire door Is planed
by it, the diagonal arrangement Of the cut
tiers permitting both the transverse and
longitudinal pieces to be planed at once.
with equal facility small circular saws at
the same time trim the edges. The sand
papering IS next done, also bv machinery
A whiTlng disk, covered with sand-papor.
attached to the end OF donbie-iointed
arm, Is carried over the surface by a work
man, and the door comes from under it.
smooth enough for the painter. It only
remains to attach the mouldings Though
this is still done by hand, it Is done much
more rapidly than OF old, by aid of modern
invention. The workmen does not touch
a brad with his fingers The brads are fed
by dozens into small machine which the
workman carries by his left band rapidly
over the mouldngs, stopping at the prop
er spots, at each Of which a blow from a
mailet on plunger sets and drives home
a brad. 4 door is thus braided almost in
mo time The finished doors are stem
cilied with the proper numbers indicating
the dimensions, etc, and are then piled
ready for shipment The final processes
take place on the second story. 10 which the
materials are taken by "a inside elevator.
When shipped they are loaded on to an
outside elevator which lowers them direct
ly to the carts whi,h take them to the cars.
Every part OF the establishment shows cy-
perienced and thoughtful care to save time
and labor and the result. has been an i'm
mense Increase in the production of the
factory. Two years ago this factory
averaged from 500 to COO doors week.
Last week. with fewer hands than then. it 4
turned out 1872 finished doors; aud it
averages over thousand week AIessrs.
Taft Morgan have added recently about
81, 500 worth of improved machinery and
by such means and by thorough system. ;
they hold their own agains, the sharp Z
in their business, and main {
tain a high standard of quality for their ;
doors. which ensures a quick and steady !
market for them. While many other similar
factories have been obliged to shorten pro
iuction, they have run full time and full I
gangs all winter. and have been at all S
times behind their orders They employ !
,hirty-fye hands. and consume in their
business over a million feet Of Canada and
Michigan lumber 4 year. They make a
lumber of styles Of doors. from the palmer
Kind to the veneered black walnut and but
ernut doors, considered by many superior
o the solid. Their work bears a very high a
equation in the Boston, Providence and
'ther New England markets and we doubt Q
lot that their factory and their business is
destined to continued growth in the D
uture. T
Pitt L. Hewett died in Charlotte d lew
lays ago. He was born in Pawlet in the
ear 1874. At the age Of SIX years, on the
leath of his father, be went to live in Rut- )
and, where he renamed until be was %.
lie was one of the remaining two that an :
wered the call for draft in the war of h
SIP. serving in Capt. Browns company C
rom Rutland. For the last fifty years he
las lived in Charlotte. where his family d
low resides. b
John P. Phair, the convicted murderer o
# Mrs Ann Freeze, at Rutland, under his a
entence of hard labor, has been put to work
With the pegging machine in the shoe shop I;
f the Vermont State prison. c
DECORATION DAY IN BURLINGTON. As