The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-12-05
HOW A NAIL Is MADE.
Something Of Interest 10 the Peopie
-.-----------ofshe Nail City.

city are aware that hofo noii' % 1880
here than in any other city in the world,
and that hundreds of thousands of dol
lars are annually brought into the town
by the sales of this article, the majority
of them have but vague and unreliable
idea as to how nails are made, and whether
much or little labor is required in their
production. The description which we
give is applicable simply and solely to the
manufactures in Wheeling. The ore OF
which the nail is made comes principally
from the Iron Mountain mines in Mis-
souri, or the mines on the Great Lakes,
especially from those On Lake Superior
Some little ore from the Lowmore mines
nine miles from Covington, Va, is also
used. The cost of the ore ranges from
81 to s. per ton, and one and half tons
of ore make about one ton of iron.
With each ton of iron ore are mixed 5000
pounds of limestone, and from 5OOto 6Oo
pounds of mill cipder. This mill cinder
is the refuse from the boiling
and heating furnaces, and Is worth
about $3.50 8 ton, though TO
furnaces that use this cinder for nails
il is worth much more The ore is taken
into the furnace, placed in hosting ma
chine and carried to q heighth OF eighty
five feet to the top OF the furnace. II is
there put into sort of hopper, which
he's q bottom called SHE'LL" and when
the hopper is filled the "bell" is lowered
and the ore falls into the great melting
furnace beneath, where the temperature
is from fourteen to fifteen hundred de-
grees. The gas which comes from this ter
rible heating arrangement is carried of In
pipes and by very simple and ingen-
ious plan, is made to assist IN heating the
furnace, thus saving an immense deal OF
coke. The molten iron runs from the
furnace into sand moulds, and iron chills
shaped like the bar. of pig iron that
every one is familiar with, the pigs aver
aging u hundred or more pounds each.
When they are cold they are carried out
and dropped across "breaker" OF solid
iron and broken into two pieces.
The boiling furnace next comes into
play. The fragments of pig-iron foot
and half long, are thrown into this fur
mace, until they amount to five hundred
pounds. This is called "heat," and al
though the first piece or two thst are
tossed in, ara entirely melted in fifteen
minutes, it takes from an hour to an hour
and quarter to complete the cheat"
which has to be carefully stirred and
kept in motion. The pig iron, if allowed
to, will burn out furnace in a very
short time, and to prevent this superior
ore that comes from New York
is pulverlzed, mixed with water
and dsubed around on the Interior of
the brick work and chIlls, and forms 3
crust that preserves the walls. The
cheat" is taken out in balls, weighing
about a hundred andtwenty- live pounds,
which are put on little trucks known as
..buggies" and taken to the ''squeezer."
Before describing the latter We should
say that $500 weight OF pig iron, will
make from 2,400 to $500 pounds of muck
iron, which will produce about l9 kegs of
nails. The "squeeZer" is cylinder with
q corrugated face, something like cog
wheel, which revolves horizontally
within six inches of concave plate,
With similar ridges upon it. There is
an opening on one side of the plate and
when the shspeless mass of white hot
iron Is brought from the furnace
it is showed IN between the two. The
cog like ridges grasp the lump and force
it around the squeezer until 1t drops out
at the opposite end from which 1t en-
tered and is then q bar or "bloom," six
teen inches long and SIX in diameter. 1t
then goes to the "muck roller" passing
between two rollers like clothes through
q wringing machine, and is formed into
bars four or five inches wide and three
fourths of al inch thick. A powerful cut
ting machine, called the "muck shears,
clips these into blocks OF different lengths.
The blocks are made into "piles" and
placed in the heating furnace where they
are welded together. A "plle" is
q number of blocks varying as to size
Tor instance, for ten-penny nails the
"pile" would be IA by ID inches, and
three inches thick. The "pIle" is then
run through the nail plate rollers, and
the result is long, thin plate just as
thick as the nail which Is to be cut.
These plates are cut into narrow strips
and go into the factory. From tne iorg-
ing department we now 60 into the nail
room, where hundred men are busily
at work and the machines sound like q
vast number of telegraph instruments in
full blast. The nail machine is little
larger than sewing machine, out OF
course is heavier and has more compli-
Gated work upon it.
The feeder imam or boy who feeds the
machine) sits on high stool and has in
his hands his "feeding rod" which is In
reality pair of powerful spring nippers
with q handle like broom. One end
of the rod is held by torked crest" be-
hind the feeder and the other holds the
strip of iron TO be made into nails. If
the rest is slanted TO the right hand
side it gives the nail sharp point and
when It is turned to the left the nail is
made blunt. The man turns the rod
every time piece of the iron is clipped
oil. so as to make each nail have the same
slant and the same kind of point. Two
knives made of very hard steel cut the
IRON. The lower one is called the bed
knife and is immOvable, but the upper
one moves up and down every time q
nail is cut.
Behind the movable knife is rusge
which is regulated by screw, and is
moved at will. When the slip of iron is
pushed between the knives the guage
will only allow it to enter for enough to
make the clipping for the nail and no
more. The piece tina! is clipped Is held
against the bed knife Jy spring At
tsched to the gusge, asa then carried
down TO the lip o, the hack piece" when
nipper catches it and turns it. under the
lip and into the bed die. The latter con-
tsins q "score" or groove the shape OF u
nail, and half OF the mil is pressed iato it
by moving die containing the o DER half
of the nail mould. While tie nail is thus
in the grip OF the mouis, the "aeader"
a sort of small hsmmer-with one
blow forms the Lrsd, and then the parts
raoeda snd tho Dail IrOpS into tho hoy