The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1879-09-17
The Manufacture OF SpOOIs.

It may have occurred to some Of our
lady friends while using the common
sewing thread, that q vast number of
pools are required annually by the
manufacturers of that article, but it may
not be generally known that the Province
of Quebec furnishes its quota of spools
to the English and Scotch thread manu-
facturers. Such, however, is the case,
and while on flying visit to the roman
we had the pleasure of visiting the spool
factories there in operation.
Drummondville is situated on the St.
Francis river, and the northern division
of the Southeastern railway passes
through it. Several years ago the pre-
vailing wood which grew in the vicinity
was white birch, which does not, we
believe, make first-class firewood, but
which appears to be the best for the
manufacture of spools. Inis probably
was the reason why Drummondville
locate these factories, and the farmers in
the vicinity can always find a ready
market for this kind of wood at aborS
50 so to SO per cord The wood, after
being delivered at the factories, is first
sawed into pieces about four feet long
and from an inch to an inch and half
square, according to the size of the spool
it is destined to make. These pieces are
put into a dry-house and thoroughly
dried; from thence they aretaken to the
factory and given to the roughers,"
who in an incredibly short space of time
bore a hole in the center about two
inches deep, turn about the same space
round, and then cut off the length re-
CURED for spool. The machines used
for this purpose are revolving planers,
in the center of which is a revolving
gimlet or bit, and Immediately to the
right small circular saw with a gauge
set the proper size for the spools The
9 roughers" receive cent and a half
per gross for their work, and experienced
men can turn out from 100 to I3O gross
per day. The round blocks pass from
them to the :" finishers," who place them
In machines which give them the shape
OF spools and make them quite smooth
1t is quite interesting here to notice the
men at work. A man stands with his
left hand upon small lever and with
the right be places the blocks, one at a
time. in the lathe, then draws the lever
toward him for an instant and the work
is done; the lever is pushed back and
the spool drops down into box below,
while the right hand is ready with
another block. These blocks are han
died at the rate of twenty-five to thirty
per minute. Inc nnlSnefS also re.
ceive one cert and half per gross, and
they can each turn out from 100 to l30
gross per day. The spools are then
thrown loosely into large cylinder,
which revolves slowly SO that the spools
are polished by the constant rubbing
upon each other for some time On be-
ing taken out of the cylinder they are
placed in a large hopper with an open
ing at the bottom. through which they
pass down a slide for inspection. Here
the inspector sits and watches closely to
see that no i'm perfect spools are allowed
to pass, and a very small knot or scratch
is sufficient to condemn them. The
spools then pass into the hands of the
packers, who handle them very lively.
They are packed in large boxes made
the proper size, so that the layers of
spools exactly fill the box and no addi-
tional packing is needed These boys
receive a quarter of a cent a gross for
packing, and smart boy who is accus-
toned to the work can pack about 200
gross per day, One proprietor ships
from $4,000 to $4,000 gross Cor over two
million spools) per month to England,
and another firm ships from 5000 to
5000 gross Cor over one million spools)
to Glasgow, Scotland. - Toronto Globe.