The workingman's advocate., 1876-07-01
OUR PHILADELPHIA LETTER.
FROM oUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT.
PHILADELPHIA, June "a, 1876.

Il
PHILADELPHIA, June "a, 1876.
In Memorial Hall, the building devoted
to statuary, and oil painting, the United
States makes a comparatively poor dis
play, and the pivotal picture, 50 to speak,
is the battle Of Gettysburg, bloody abor-
tion, by Rothermel, that unhappily escaped
the Chicago fire. In the main building,
the United States makes a good display,
but the interest in home exhibits is to a
certain extent obscured in the general de-
sire to see the less familiar shows of for
eign countries. We can see any day the
best efforts of our own shOpmen on Chest
nut street, Philadelphia, OF Broadway,
New York, OF in a score of cities, while
the opportunity to see and compare, right
in our midst, the varied industrial produe
tions Of those old civilizations that we
have known only through history, has
come only once in hundred years. But
there is at least one roof covering precise
ly fourteen acres under which the United
States has no rival, and can have no rival,
no matter on what continent an Interna-
tional Machinery Hall may be erected.
Machinery can not be described in me-
taphors and glittering generalities, and
| will write specifically and descriptively
Of some Of the more common mechanical
devices that impresses me as having supe-
rior merit in their class, reserving for a
future letter mentien of machines of rare
and unique use.
The Touring mill exhibited by Edward
Harrison, of New Haven, Connecticut, is
a compact barrel like machine, nine feet
in length by four in diameter, costing four
hundred dollars. From its dimensions it
will be seen in what small room it can be
operated. The entire mill is not larger
than common case Of goods that can be
transported over the country, and yet the
-four made by it is better than that made
in the picturesque structures that we see
in the rural districts.
The moment the grain enters the hopper
the process Of converting 1t into flour or
bran begins, and almost the moment the
hopper is empty the mill is clear, and
ready for another grist. This was told
by practical millers is point Of great ex-
cellence, since q man who has selected .
superior quality Of wheat for his own use,
gets it mixed in the ordinary mill with the
remnants Of the previous grist. In this
mill every men gets the flour from his own
grain. To large number Of experts pre-
sent its operation was surprising; that the
grain should enter at the top Of 30 small a
machine, and that the best quality Of
-four should come from one part Of the
mill and the bran from another, they
seemed to consider almost magical.
] cannot avoid an aversion for these ter
rlble cute little Innovations; like Henry
Clay, | have ridden to mill on sack Of
wheat, and tished or swan in the river
while it was ground; later, have been in
love with the miller's daughter. These
memories are mine, and they cannot be
taken away from me. You may break,
you may shatter the mill if You will, &c.
But what, alas will become Of future
generations, when every farmer aud every
country merchant will have one Of these
devises, when the old mill by the brook
shall live only in poetry, fiction, and on
canvas, and when miller's daughters shall
not be a blessed reality, but barren ira
dition.
There are on exhibition in Memorial
Hall number Of brick machines, but the
one which attract most attention from the
the ladies, making very pretty toy brick,
impressed me as a complicated devise, and
altogether inferior to an unpretendine
machine exhibited by Duran and Marais,
Of Paris. This mill is q one horse power,
and may be operated by two men, or .
man and boy, who can turn out ten thous-
and bricks per day. 1t makes the brick
from comparatively dry clay, pressing it
together with immence force, and making
the subsequent slow drying process before
it is burned unnecessary. 1t is used also
for the compression Of small coal and coke
dust, and for the manufacture Of artificial
falls Of various kinds, its simplicity mad