Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-05-31
Machinery Hall.

TO many visitors Machinery Hall is the
most interesting building on the Cen,en.
NAL grounds. Its construction closely re-
sembles the Main Exhibition Building II
is l ,"f0 feet long and $50 feet wide: It
CT. ers about fourteen acres, and cost
$542 300.
On entering the edifice at the western
end the sight is picturesque and impres.
sive. Almost every sort of machine in
existence, from locomotive to paper.
folder, is in active operation. The per.
sons employed to work them are now
fairly started in their tasks, and the pros.
pect of six months in the building seems
to make them feel at home. The central
object of interest is the magnificent Cor
liss engine made in Providence, r. l..
which furnishes the motive power for ali
the machinery that is not self-propelling.
1t consists OF an immense y-wheel, thirty
feet in diameter, two feet in thickness and
fifty-six tons in weight, caused to revolve
at the rate OF thirty six revolutions min.
ute by the riston-rods of two cylinders:
aud SO silently does it perform Its work
that even when close beside it YOU can
hear the lowest tones OF your companions
voice Below it is the main shaft, which
meets with eight lines of Skating, each
$50 feet long, running lengthwise under
the roof, and communicating their motion
by leather belts to the various machinery
on the floor
This machinery is of the most ingenious
and various description, and consists of
apparatus used in mining; in working
metal, wood and stone; in spinning,
weaving, telling and paper making; in
sewing and the manufacture of clothing
and ornamental objects; in type-settng,
printing, stamping, enclosing, book
making and paper-workng; in produc-
ing and transmitting power; in pumping,
hosting and lifting by hydraulic and
pneumatic force; in manufacturing loco
motives and railway rolling stock; IN pre-
pairing agricultural products; and in
aerial, pneumatic and water transports
ton. While sauntering along the aisles
one can witness the process of rock drill
ing, of well and shaft boring, of coal cut
ling, Of electroplating, of planting, saw
ing, veneering, growing, mortising,
and carving; of drilling, slOtting, turn
shaping and polishing; OF rolling iron,
Si glass, NustiuS lllCtbiS huu IlNCt-
ing, mailing, boiling and lacking them by
steam of manufacturing silk, cotton,
wooden and linen goods, rope and Irvine,
paper and telling, india rubber goods,
mixed fabrics and wire cloth; of prepar-
ing and working leather, making clocks,
watches and pipes for smoking; of print
ing, enclosing and lithogrsphing, type
casting ana stereotyping, bookblnd-
IN Nd Col %
power by boilers, wheels, hydraulic
rams, steam, air. gas and electro magnetic
engines, and of transmitting it by shaft
ing, betting, cables, gearing and screw
propellers; of lifting and moving liquids
and solids, and moving and COMPRISING
air or gas; of eXtinguishing fire and es-
Gaping from it; OF manufacturing soda
water, bottling it, and corking the bot
tles OF diving for the recovery OF sunken
treasures; Of manufacturing locomotives,
carriages, brakes buffers, couplings and
snow-plows, wheels, tires, axles and
springs, switches, signals, turntables and
watercrapes, street railways and horse
cars; of grinding grist, refining sugar,
making candy, preparing tobacco, oil,
spices and fancy goods, and brewing beer
and distiiling liquors; OF building sus-
pension bridges, Transporting cables, send.
ing balloon boats and sailing vessels, and
finally of transporting telegraph cables
and railway trains. and of steering and
propelling ships and steamboats,. Indeed,
IT Is not too much to say that an extraor'
binary lifetime might be spent in examin-
ing the apparatus, the processes and the
results presented in Machinery Hall. The
vast structure, with the exception, per
ha2s, OF some OF the persons who are VS.
iting ii, does not contain single Object
not interesting or instructve.-Ph iIidss-
phtd Cor ~ Y. Eceaing Post.