Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-27
CLIO rHES-PINS.
Where They Come From, and How
They Are Manufactured So
Chesply.

Clothes. pins are articles of univer-
sal necessity, and their consumption is
something marvellous. A good ques-
tion for some village lyceum to debate
would be. Where do all the clothes.
pima 60 to? We know where they all
come from, and that Is from New
England. The Boston Daily Evening
Traveller says that the market for this
useful article Is found all over the civ.
ilized world. Within the past four
months 5000 boxes have been ship.
ped to Melbourne, Australia. There
are ten firms In London which carry q
stock of 10000 boxes each, and there
are ten firms In this city which carry
a similar amount. One of the
greatest clothes-pin factories of
the country Is located at Vance.
boro, Me-, which 10 almost on
the dividing line between Maine and
New Brunswick. The factory, for Its
purposes, is about as complete as pos.
sible. The process of manufacture Is
a very interesting one, and a descrip-
tion of it will, we feel certain, prove
agreeable to the readers of The Trav.
eller. The wood used is mainly white
birch and beech, which abounds with.
In the limits of the town. The loga
are cut and hauled to the shore of
Lake st. CroiI, or the streams which
empty into 1t, and foated directly
down to the mill, where, as fast as
they are required, they are sawed into
lengths varying from sixteen to TWEEN.
ty.two inches. The 16.inch lengths
are converted into pins, while the 90
inch lengths are sawed into boards,
out of which the packing boxes are
made. We will follow one of the 16.
inch lengths In It's Transformation from
the block to pins. 1t is frat sawed
into blocks of the required thickness
by means of q ahipgle machine, and
then into strips of the proper size by
q gang of twelve circular saws, aud
these strips are In turn cutinto lengths
of five inches each by a gang Of three
saws. BY this time the logs, as will
have been sesn, are cut up into blocks
about five inches long and three.
quarters of an inch square. As these
blocks leave the saws they are, by an
elevor belt, carried Into an upper
story, and returning to the first floor,
they are deposited In troughs, from
whence they are fed to the turning
laths, of which there are q number
each lath having a capacity of turning
eighty pins a minute. They are next
taken to the splitting machine, a Pc
culiar arrangement of knives, inserted
in q circular saw, gives the slot the
correct flange, and after this opera
ton the pins sre automatically carried
DO an elevator belt to the drying bins
on the second floor, where
they ere submitted to quite
a strong heat, generated by steam
pipes, until they became thoroughly
seasoned. OF these drying bins there
are several, the largest having a caplc.
lily of 100 boxes, or ~ 1000 pins, and
the smaller for one.half that quantity.
After seasoning the pins are ready for
polishing and packing, This polish
Ing process Is accomplished by means
of perforated cylinders or drums, each
capable of containing forty bushels, In
which the pins are placed and kept
constantly moving until they become
as smooth as II individually polished
by hand with the finest sand paper.
Just before this polishing Is COM
pleted a small amount of tallow Ia
thrown In on the pins, after which a
few additional revolutions gives them q
highly glossy appearance. The pol
ishing drums are suspended wei the
! packing counter on the first floor oil