The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-09-01
now CLAY PIPES ARE MADE.


mand for millions of cigarettes annually
"a trade that hardly existed ten years
ago-the widely spread custom among
smokers of making their own cigarettes
and the large importation of cheap and
durable wooden pipes the business of
making clay pipes has never been more
fiourishing than it is now. OF import
ant clay pipe factories there are three in
Brooklyn, two in Detroit, three inWOOd-
bridge, n. J., and one each in New
York city, Union Hill, Newark, Provi-
dence, Cleveland. Syracuse and ROuse's
Point. In addition to these there thir-
ty or forty small concerns scattered over
the country that manufacture only to
supply local demand, and give employ
ment from one to four men each. Can
ada also maintains three considerable
factOTies-one in Quebec and two in
Montreal These are all engaged in
turning out cheap clay pipes of the sort
usually retailed at one cent. But few
years ago twO-thirds of the common
clay pipes smoked in this country were
imported from Scotland and England,
but now hardly one-sixteenth of the de-
mand is supplied from that source, and
/ it is this change in popular preference,
as well as an increase in the number OF
smokers using these articles, due, doubt
less, in a measure, to the great number
of emigrantS constantly arriving, that
makes this particular branch of manu-
facture particularly lively just at pre-
sent.
1t seems to the locker on an excessive
ly simple thing to make clay pipes, a
work that any smart, intelligent boy
ought to learn in two hours, yet Singu-
/ larly enough. this is one of the few
trades i'll which long apprentceships are
| still the rule rigidly enforced. The re-
! gulaT term for apprenticeship in this
country is three years and in Great Bri-
tain five years even now. Many work
men who are employed here have served
| seven years apprenticeship in England,
| 4 skilled pipe moulder earns from eight
1 to sixteen dollars a week according to
/ his industry and quickneSs. The clay
of which most of the pipes in this coun-
1 try are made is obtained in pits in either
I Woodbridge, n. J., or in Maryland,
near Baltimore. The Detroit and Cana
| dian factories get theirs from Liverpool,
! water transportation, making it cheap
er to them than the American product.
| All these facts about the trade and
many more a reporter CLEANED the other
( day from the superintendent and two or
/ three intelligent looking Scotch and
English pipe mOuldeTs i'll the principal
/ factories of Woodbridge. n. J., while
] Il. L
room in which they worked was long
! and low, hardly more than pleasant,
| well lighted shed, with an earthern
/ floor, crowded with men and the ma
/ chinery which they use, walled with box
! eS and trays and crooks, and piles and
J piles of pipes in all stages of completion.
/ In remote end several girls were finish
/ ing pipes for baking and in the middle
4 fairgrounds the superintendent busted
! himself with packing the clean. white,
| newly-finished pipes, among soft hay
and fine shavings, in three-grOss boxes.
/ In through the green open door, past
! the now idle clay grinding mill, blew a
| pleasant breeze, bearing myIiads of fe-
( Ocious mosquitoes that paid no atten-
tion to the seasoned wOrkmen, but set
tied upon the reporter. All the men
| looked CHEEKY and worked with surpTis-
| ing Tapidity and steadiness while they
! talked, except one man who now and
then looked up to chiTp to a young pet
robin in the cage before him, or to shOv-
ell little corn meal and water into the
always gaping mouths of the three new
ly hatched brown thrushes in the nest
by his side. And, in the desultOry chat
that went on, now by one, and then by
another, the reporter continued to learn
things:
The white clay is worth So. so per ton,
and river red clay, which is dug out at
Germantown. near New Brunswick, n.
J., is worth s.. 50 per ton. In the pits
near Woodbridge it is obtained from a
depth of fifty to sixty feet. 1t is not in
regular veins but in pockets, or lumps
here and there among inferior clay that
must be carefully kept from it, The
clay that is blue when it comes out of
the ground--sEeaking now of that which
is fine enough and otherwise suited for
pipe making-tuTns white, when burn
ed, excepting one English variety, that
becomes red the white clay turns vel
low under the action of fire, and the red
clay retains its color.
| The English clay not only has. in a
flushed state, finer natural gloss than
the American, but it is tougher and
whereas, the American, will not stand
moulding we'll into a stem more than
seven inches long, it is not at all un-
common to make stems thirty inches
long from the English clay. For smo-
ing, however, the English pipe is not so
good as the American, being less pOr-
Gus and consequently the best clay pipe
IS the POwhatan, which is made only
from clay obtained in Powhatan county,
Virginia. y close imitation Of it comes
from near Baltimore, but ii is not in the
judgment of experts. up to the stand
ard, Now, as to the making of the
pipes.
The clay, with such addition OF water
as may be necessary to temper it proper
ly, is first ground thoroughly IN a mill
Thenrthe roller, placing a great mass of
1t beeide him enc bench, mOulds it in
to tips. He works with both hands,
nipping off with each a chunk about the
size that experience has taught him will
be enough for one pipe, sandsdeftly pinch
es and rolls the two pieces, simultane-
Ously, so that each, lin a seconds time.
assumes the form Of rough blob withsa
long tail to it. 4 dozen of these he
sticks together. Tightly in a lump, and in
this form they lie for several hours, un-
til the clay has attained, by partial dry
ing, the proper hardness for successful
moulding. They then pass to the mould
! er.
Each mouldeT sits at a low bench
with the simplest possible form of a le-
yer press before him, merely an arm
from which an iron stopper depends.
He has also an iron mould. hinged to-
gether The interior of this mould is
covered with whatever emblems or let
ters is intended that the pipe shall bear
in relief upon its surface Taking up a
tip of clay and touching it lighly with
oil to prevent its sticking, he LAYS it in
one half of the mould and runs through
it long steel needle, which makes the
stem. Then he closes the mould, puts