Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1877-12-18
MIscELLANE Gus.
HOW A NAIL IS MADE.

The description which we give Is applicable
simply aud solely to the, manufacturies IN
Wheeling, The ore OF which the nail is
made comes principally from the Iron Nouns
tain mines in Missouri, or the mines on the
Great Lakes, especially from those on Lake
Superior. Some little ore from the Low
moro mines, nine. miles from Covingtou,
Va, is also used. The cost of the ore ranges
from 81 to IS per ton, and one ard half
tons of ore make about one ton of iron.
With each ton of iron ore are mixed 5000
pounds of limestone, and from 500 to 600
pounds of mill cinder. This mill cinder is
the refuse from the boiling and heating fur
naces aud Is worth about 81 so a ton, though
to furnaces that'use this cinder for nails it is
worth much more. The ore is taken into
the furnace, placed in a hosting machine
and carried to heighth of eighty>6ve feet
to the top of the furnace. 1t is there put
into sort of hopper, which has bottom
called "beli." and when the hopper is
filed the 'bel" is lowered and the ore falls
into the great melting furnace beneath. where
the temperature is from fourteen to fifteen
hundred degrees The gas which comes
from this terrible heating arrangement is
carried OF in pipes and by very simple and
ingenious plan. is made to assist in heating
the furnace, thus saving an immense deal of
coke. The molten iron runs from the fur
mace into sand moulds, and iron chills shaped
like the bar Of pig iron that every one is
iamilisr with, the pigs averaging a hundred
or more pounds each. When they are cold
they are carried out aud dropped across a
breaker" of solid iron and broken into two
pieces.
Tho boiling furnace next comes into play.
Tic fragments Of pig iron foot and half
long, thrown into this furnace, until
they amount to five hundred pounds This
is called a "hest." and although the first
piece or two that are tossed in, arc entirely
melted in fifteen minutes, it takes from
hour to an hour and quarter to complete
the cheat" which has to be carefully stirred
and kept iu motion. The pig iron, if al
lowed to, will burn out furnace in a very
short time, and to prevent this a superior
ore that s-from New York is pulverzed,
mixed with water and daubed around on the
interior OF the brick work aud chills, and
forms n crust that preserves the walls. The
cheat" is taken out in balls, weighing about
hundred and twenty-five pounds, which are
put on little trucks known as "bugeics" and
taken to tho "sGueczcr." BEFORE describing
the latter We should say that 9 500 weight
of pig iron, will make from 2,400 TO $500
pounds of muck iron, which will produce
about - kegs of nails. The 'squeezer" is
a cylinder with a corrugated face, something
like cog wheel, which Tevolves horizontally.
within six inches Of concave plate, with
similar ridges upon it. There is opening
on side of the plato and when the shape
less 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 it drops out at
the opposite end from which it entered, and
and is then q bar or '.bIoon," sixteen inches
long and six in diameter. 1t then goes to
the "muck roller, passing between two roll
lers like clothes through wringipg ma
chine, and is formed into bars four or five
inches vide and three f0urths of an inch
thick. a powerful cutting machine, called
the "muck shears" clips these into blocks
of ditFere ut lengths. The blocks are made
into ''ples" ard placed in the heating
furnace where they are welded together. A
pile" is a number of blocks varying as to
size-for instance, for ten-penpy nails the
''piie" would be II by II 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 70 into the factory. From the
forging department We Uow 60 into the nail
room, where . hundred meu are busily at
number of telegraph instruments in full blast
The nail machine is a little larger than
sewing machine, but of course is heavier and
has more complicated work upon it.
The feeder oman or boy who feeds the ma
chDe) sits on high stool and has in his
hands his s'feeding rod )" which is in reality
a pair Of powerful spring Dippers with
handle like a broom. One end of the rod
is held By fuTked rest" behind the feeder
and the other holds the strip of iron to be
made into nails. If the rest is slsDted TO
the right hand side it gives the nail sharp
point aud 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 of,
so "a 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 ia called the bed knife and is i'm
movable, but the upper one moves up and
down every time nail is cut.
Behind the movable knife is a guage
which is reeulsted by screw, and is moved
at will. When the slip of iron ia pushed be-
| tween the knives the guage will only allow it
| 10 enter far enough TO make the clipping for
! the nail and no more. The piece that is
! clipped is held against the bed knife by a
spring attached to the guaee. and then car
! ried down to the lip of the ''back piece"
! when a nipper catches il and turns it under
| the lip aud into the bed die. The latter
contains ''score" or groo' the shape OF
nail, and half of the nail is pressed into 1T
! by moving die containing the other haif
| of the nail mould. While the DaiI Is thus
in the grip of the moulds. the ''headeI "a
sort of small hammer with one blow Iorn'S
the head, and then the parts recede and the
nail drops into the box below, coD2ieted'