The Portland daily press., 1883-07-10
The Cocheco Print Works.
BY MRS, GEO. A. oAswELL.

OF something besides a water privilege"
but at present nobody seems to give any 9TH
er reason for her being SO large. Having
been begun, she went on climbing up one
hill and down another. When a house
found itself perched too high above it's neigh
Dor, 1t terr.ced down bit, or even good
! deal if need was, and made itself generally
| agreeable to that neighber-but paid very
little attention to anybody else. If 1t was
not convenient to put garden on the same
level as house, Dover never struggled
| against circumstances, l should say, but
| dropped her gardens here and there, high
| and low, just as she did her houses. The
result is large, pleasant, scattered town,
rambling about under beautiful overhang-
| ing elms and naples quite at her leisure,
some houses having a snowy, modern look,
1t is true, but for the most part with an old
lady-like air of doing as people did when she
was young, and of doing so because she
wants to-eyerybody knows she could be
fine if she chose. 1t is very becoming air.
She is not in the least like mill girl with
cheap finery aud filtration ways.s She sits
calmly on the bill and fans herself, as it
were, cooled by river preezes, and forgetting
all about the oily, noisy, smoky mills that
stand below with their feet in the river, and
work, work, work that she may live. She
hears never sound of the clatter and rustic
and whirr of belts AID bands aud swift
| moving wheels.
The business mart of Dovar Is emo II anonnh
| to be overlooked, and perhaps the best way
will be to say nothing about it. 1t is, not to
put too fine point upon il, dirty. Dover
will have you to know, in one way or anoth-
er, that she is city, inasmuch as she has
water (other than the "water privilege'')
gas, horse cars and a mayor. This seems
| pity, because as city she lacks essentials,
and she would make very superior village.
But am not writing biography of Dover.
Out OF wooden mills, cotton mills and print
works / chose to visit the Cocheco print
works. And here let me say, that if you 60 TO
Dover, you'd better not let yourself be found
| speaking of mills when you mean acorks. l
am unable to say why you shouldn't, but the
smallest child will take you up if you do and
| will let you know at once that you were not
born in manufacturing town-more's the
| pity.
| Perhaps everybody but me had been
through print works before yesterday. But
have never had that respect for calico at
tve cents yard and upwards that shall
| feel hereafter. When | comprehended the
designing and sketehing and engraving and
etching and smuggling and scraping and
steaming and baking and oiling and starch
| ing and sprinkling and ironing and polishing
and Keeling and folding and stitching and la
bellng and trucking and packing that 90 to
every yard of calico be it even .'polka dot,
or LAWN tennis stripe'-which Fate for
bid!-l made my respects to calico. No won
der five cent calico is thin! The wo2der is
| that 1t can go through so much and not be
worn out. One of the first things done to
the cloth on its az al at the works is to
set IL running alta high rate of speed through
a machine which presents flames below and
YES abOve-singeng the superfIuous
threads from one side and scraping them
from the other
1t seems pity that factories of whatever
sort should be turned out of the builders
hands so much like brick barracks. As
matter OF fact, am told, the Cocheco works
are in very good condition; but to one who
only half knows what he sees, the floors,
slippery here from age and there from new
ness, make them seem in every stage of de-
| cay and repair. have fairly uncanny rec
objections of the elevator" so-called. 1t is
an elevator in principle, but is otherwise
large, hat board, without ratings, which
drops you down and takes you up from one
story to another, while you wildly clutch
| your nearest neighbor and wait to knock
open the trap door above, with your head.
You are not left to do this, however, and |
can't lind out either that anybody ever fell
oil the machine or why nobody ever did. If
| you should chance to utter a sarcastic wish
that so large corporation were able to do
this transportation little more handsomely,
there is a reason why they can't, but have
forgotten it. | suppose they don't want to.
For the same reason, no doubt, they send
fourteen-yeas-old boy as guide through the
works. Or perhaps it may be because he
Knows nothing about the works, ii being par
ticularly important that visitors should car
ny away as little information as possible TO
be used afterwards.
Designs are furnished to the works by
| their own designer in Boston. The sketch
ing and engraving are done in the works, and
are very Interesting and curious. The en-
| craving of the copper ''sheIls'' or cylinders.
from which the calico is printed is beautiful.
There are machines, and there is also much
hand work. In the 'spentagraph-room''
there are machines which the operative
seems to play like an organ, using his feet
and his hands at the same time. He draws
upon upon tablet under his hands the de-
sign five times as large as it is to be when
finished, and as he does this many diamonds
cut the same figure, reduced to the proper
size, upon the copper shell two feet above
| the workers head. When the design is
wholly transferred to the shell, certain parts
| are protected by paint, and the shell is sub
| Jected to the process of etching Each color
| in the print" requires separate shell.
| These shells, as long as calico is wide and
| six inches in diameter, bright as gold and
| covered with designs, are ranged in rows of
hundreds, and with the sunlight full upon
| them are very beautiful.
The engravers are almost wholly English
| or Scotch men brought here by the corpora
| ton. So are the printers and the BOSS
| color-mixer," These are the highest paid
| laborers in the works and are ranked as la
| borers. Then there are overseers, and SO on
| up the scale. The color-mixer must be
| fairly good chemist and must have his ideas
at command. The present agent, or super
intendent, an EngIishman, is keen-eyed,
nervous young man, who sees everything
and seems to see nothing. He came to these
works three or four years ago as color-mx-
| er, at three thousand dollars year, and is
| now agent of the corporation at ten thous-
| and. Wages range from a dollar and fifteen
cents day to fifty or sixty dollars week.
| There are five hundred employees, and of cal
| icoes, lawns, cambfcs, monte cloths, fou-
lards, and satines there are printed forty
million yards year. The machines used
are mostly of American manufacture, but
many are made by English machinists,
brought to America for the purpose Others
made in Worcester, Massachusetts, are
| wholly American. Most Of the modern in
yentions or improvements, and those most
important are English.
| thought it something to have seen the
shuttles flying in and out through the heavy,
fine Anthrop silk yard or SO wide and very
well able to stand alone If you know how to
handle IL. have considered paper mill
worth seeing in Its time; but beside this de-
signing and etching and sketching, silk and
paper dwindle, aud calico towers into the
| region of fine art.
Anything more nearly internal, however,
than the print-room it would be hard to find.
| Here the shells are immersed in various
| dyes and the design is printed on white
cloth. Some designs include eight colors
Il Il 4. r.