The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-09-21

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Special Correspondence OF the anderson Iueligeneer.
a3 PHILADELPHIA, Sep. Is, 1876.
Not far from the main entrance Of
Machinery Hall is mighty engine,
whose ponderous wheels are the embodi-
ment of rugged, shaggy strength. If I
may be permitted an animal illustration,
there are engines there. that have the
quick spring of the lion and the tiger;
theyyare sleek, and polished. and fine
the engine I am speaking Of now is in
comparison to them-a grizzly bear or
,hippotamus. A sewing machine makes
more noise, and yet in these pistons, and
levers, and wheels, is the power of
thousand horses. Turn your back for q
moment and place your ear to the railing.
You are now in position to catch the
most delicate vibration. You hear dis
tinctly the ticking Of the watch in your
pocket, yet here work two mighty levers,
q giant piston, and ponderous Ay-wheel
twenty feet in diameter; and yet SO
noiselessly this leviathan moves that an
infant might sleep beside ID and nsyer
have its slumbersl disturbed. The most
startling characteristic of the machinery
of to-day is the utter absence of noise
and the ease with which it performs its
tasks. The great engine described above
is for the grinding of sugar-cane, and it
scarcely seems as if so much power would
be required for such purpose.
A little beyond the sugar mill we come
to the ice boats. Elegant affairs they
are. On. good ice and with fair wind
they are capable Of making their seventy
miles an hour. Pleughs for cutting ice
and providing us with those luxuries of
ice cream, not to mention smashes, san
gerees, cobblers, and all those fascinating
beverages inswhich the average American
doth SO much delight. It would appear
that there is nothing in the range of
household economy which is considered
too Insignificant for American genius.
One man devotes his life to the success
of double-action rolling-pin, and an-
other to the improvement of a two-story
pepper-box. Washing machines innu-
merable have lifted theload of Atlas from
the weary shoulders; of the housewife;
and now blue Monday comes around
without its angry terrors-thanks to. the
labors of these unwearied benefactors Of
mankind. Who does not recollect the
time when in his miserable boyhood ne
was bounced, out of bed at five o'clock
in the morning to grind the coffee. and
how you stood on candle box to do it,
and the mill was screwed so tight you
could hardly turn it, and how the handle
came off and the box upset, and rubbing
your shins you said "cuss" words that
you didn't want the old man to hear.
These reflections were induced by looking
at a coffee mill made by the Enterprise
Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia.
Why did not they invent it thirty years
ago? What lickings they might have
saved ME-. The mill is highly orna-
mental affair, with couple Of ay-wheels,
and so admirably is it constructed that
when you once set it going it would al
most run itself. And then there was q
wonderful faucet, by the arrangement Of
which you could measure any amount OF
molasses or syrup from half-pint to a
dozen gallons; a marvellous cheese knife,
with which you could cut off half a
pound to half cheese; a tobacco cut
ter that could nip plug Of cavendish in
two as easy as if it were brown paper
presses FOR all kinds of meat and fruits,
and something that will make woman
kind rejoice 80 long as their husbands
shall wear white shirts and their own
dimity has to be immaculate. This great
invention is a sad iron; I think it ought
to be called glad iron; the handle is OF
wood and round like the handle on a
carpenters plane, it takes off from the
iron while it is heating; no burned fing-
ers, no blistered hands, no inward swear
ing when they would have you think
shey, were singing, "I want to be an
angel nothing but peace, serenity and
good ironing. 1t is indeed fortunate that
while. we have our 'Corlisses, and oul
Campbells, and our Walters, and ou'
Krupps, that we have also a class Of mer
like those representing the Enterprise
Manufacturing Company, who devote
their genius aud their lives to lifting the
lighter loads from the shoulders of suffer
ing humanity, and choosing those thing
which the greater inventors consider
altogether beneath their notice