The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-11-30

All the burlaps on and of which oil
cloth is made is manufactured IN Dun
dee. Scotland. 1t is made from an India
grass 1t is sized first, when 1t IS ready
/ for uainting.a 1t isn't painted with brush
es. but with knife. A great long KNIFE.
The end of the burlnps IS passed under
the blade. When paint is Labeled On the
| burlaps by the gallon, machinery takes
hold Of il and draws it between roller
| and the knife and the blade scrapes OIL
an the sllperfuous paint as 1t passes
through. No brush could lay the color
or so evenly. They paint sixty yards OF
4 br1rlaps in a minute Then when 1t IS
dry it is sand-papered by machinery ana
other coats ot paint go on. From four
to nine coats of paint are put on, accord
ing to the quality Of the oil-cloth. All
| the blocks from which oil-cloth is printed
| In these-and. with few exceptions, all
/ the manufactures in the United States
| are made in Hallowell, Me. The block
| is about eighteen inches square, and is
made of three pieces, the inside block IS
pine and outside blocks are maple. Inc
printing surface is sawed across at right
| angles with very fine saws, which works
! automatically, and don't need any super
! intendence after they have been started.
/ When it reaches the factory the surface
+ of the blocks look like box of matches;
the designer then paints his design on
paper. lined out in tiny squares, per-
| feet duplicate of the block. In copying
| the design on the block, the operator
works one block each color, and the
copying is done with chisel, the oper-
ator cutting away all the little squares
! made by the saws, except those covered
bv the pattern. It is like worsted work,
| 'ffour SQUARES to the right, three straight
| up. five to the right, three down, and
( four to the left" The same old 'three
greens and then q brown" business. The
DESIGNER is limited to few colors, and has
/ 70 make the most of his combinations.
These blocks are then fitted with han
! dies, and the printers go to work. The
palette Is a great revolving table with
pads of the different paints laid upon 1t.
| Two men work ut each table, and the
operation of printing is like stamping
letters at the mailing table IN the post
office The printer slaps the black on
Dad. then strikes it on the Oll-cloth.
First the white, say. And there 10 a
scattering meaningless picture OF little
white squares. Then the red Is struck
on, more little white dots that look like
aothiag. Then the green, and you think
you can see something like leaf. Then
another shade, and another, until you see
4 cluster of leaves and bir' in figure,
outlined by very distinct color, and the
printing is ready for the ''masher,
which is block just like the others, only
all the squares left on, not one struck
out. This is pressed down on the figures
by q hand press, and the printing is
pressed down evenly and smoothly. Ii
the printer wants to give square or
"'pegged" appearance to the finish of the
oil-cloth, the masher is sawed both ways,
In the bunch of matches style. If he
wants to cline" the finish, the ''masher"
he uses has only been sawed one way,
and the oil-cloth has '1ined" appear
ance on the surface. This work is all
done by hand, guided only by guages,
but so perfectly Is it done that the tig
ures never lap, and you will have hard
work finding where the blocks join on
your ol-clOth. They print each day at
each table, 100 yards of oi-cloth. Then
the cloth goes into the 'ice house" to
dry The ice house is frozen by steam.
Superintendent Dun very kindly told me
to put on my OvercOat before / went II.
I put in on, and when [ got in there the
thermometer marked IT'S degrees above.
and still going 1 took off my overeoat.
The cloth is then ready to varnish Ihia
is done with brushes, fourteen brushes.
which a man works with a crank. Here
in these works they varnish fourteen
thousand yards week. And if you want
to know any more about oil-cloth, write
to Salem. I can make it myself. bnt J
haven't time to write any more about it.
Burlington Hg10keye.