Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-12-14

Il
expense, but with accuracy and fin.
ish entirely unattainable by the or
binary systems of workmanship
practice. In addition to the above
departments there is the milling de-
partment, the lathe room, the ad-
justing and finishing, the inspecting,
the polishing, the assembling, the
mounting, the ornamenting, and the
shipping departments. There are
also store rooms of all kinds, a lum-
Der yard cabinet finishing shop, a
tool room, a repair shop, and pat
tern and carpenter shop.
In the tool room are built all the
special machines used in shaping the
various parts of the sewing machine.
Of these special machines, there are
many which may be seen only at
one other place in the world besides
Elizabethport, and that place is the
etAnpany's factory at Glasgow.
These are usually the invention of
some of the foremen or engineers in
the company's service. The rapidi-
ty and precision of the work done by
these special tools is almost marvel
Gus.
In the milling department there
are no less than two hundred and
fifty milling machines. These are
used for every purpose in which the
planning machine would be used in
ordinary machine shops. Each ma
chine has its own operation to per-
form, and some of the smallest piec-
es in the sewing machine have oper-
ations performed upon them by six
or eight different milling machines.
one of the most surprising things
seen in this department is the most
perfect automatism of the machines.
For instance, six machines in a row
doing the same kind of work, such
as cutting the teeth in small bevel
gears, are all tended by one man,
and all he has to do is to put in the
blank wheel and remove it when fin
ished; the machine does all the
rest. The only limit to the number
of machines which a man can attend
to seems to be the number of pieces
which he can put in and remove.
In all these machines the mechanism
is so regulated that when the proper
cut is taken the machine stops itself,
so that the only effect of neglect by
a workman is to reduce the quanti-
ty of pieces turned out by him, and
thus reduce his wages.
In the lathe work the same auto
matte feature is carried out. In
turning pieces to size, all that the
workman has to do is to put them in
their position in the lathe and re-
move them when finished. One man
in this way can attend to twenty or
twenty-five lathes.
In the packing box factory, some
idea of the amount of work done
may be known from the fact that
100000 feet of white pine is con-
sumed by it annually.
In nearly every department the
work is done by contract, and the
accuracy of the work is secured by a
thorough system of inspection. Ev-
cry piece has to be true to gauge, or
it is rejected and returned to the
contractor.
The works were completed less
than four years ago, and are de-
signed to meet a vast increase III the
demand when it shall occur They
are now running to but little more
than half their capacity, employing
I,7OO men eight and one half hours
per day, and turning out $500 ma
chimes per week. The wages are
generally good, the principle of the
management being to use as little la
bor as possible but to pay it well.
The company does not employ any
member of the Grades Union" No
employee is permitted to do more
than one kind of work. And no
contractor can employ a man who
has worked for another contractor,
without the consent of the General
Manager-for these reasons it is i'm
possible to get up a strike in the
company's works. The comfort of
the men while engaged in their
work is well attended to. All the
rooms are well lighted, ventilated,
and have high ceilings. Even the
vacant space in the large grounds
inside of the works is laid out like a
garden ond planted with flowers, so
that cheerful as well as a comfort
able appearance is always presented.
The entire square in front of the
main factory has been purchased
and laid out as a park by the com
pany at, cost of $4,000. The COM
pany has an arrangement with the
New JesDJ General railroad, by
which two trains morning and even
ing, are run to and from the facto-
ry, carrying the employees to and
from their homes at reduced rates of
commntation-by this means about
900 employees reside on the line ol
the road between New York and
Roselle.
The works in South Bend, lndi
ana, were located in that place il
order to easily obtain the vast sup
plies of bllck walnut lumber whicl
are needed for the cabinet work. Al
much as 100000 feet of lumber il
kept in stock.
The works of Elizabethport sent
machines to all.parts of the Ameri
can continent, and to the whole o
northern Europe, including Russia
From the general agency in Sal
Francisco machines are sent to Chl
ma and Japan, and the Sandwich is
| lands.
From the factory in Glasgow ma
| chimes are sold throughout the Brit