The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-10-21
QUARRYING MARBLE
VERMONT.

.~A4t w SGb 4bdti0ods 6ubu0Etoub
Faiis, and lesser points in the vicin-
isy. The Vermont Marble Company
is. IN fact, domiciled at all three OF
these places. It has finishing works
at Centre Rutland, quarries at West
Rutland. and both quarries and mills
az sutherland Falls. At the first
named point no marble ia excavated,
ont there is q splendid water.power,
which naturally Ia not neglected, and
hers che can observe every stsge in
the process except the qnsrryiDg it
self. Inc marble is brought to the
mills Ia massive cubes, is sawed,
.urned, obiseiled, polished. mounted
and fmerges AZ ,embstonee, capitals,
carnices, touon m snteI pieces. ard
tabi-- ops. Much OF thIs work, es-
Declaily the EsbG-work, can. OF
course, be studied In every place
where people die and have mouu-
ments set up by the local stone-cCster
oyer iheir graves, but the heavier pre-
Iimin Try labor Is best to be seen near
the quarries themselves.
Tee marble ia delivered at the mills
in elongated cubes--psrallelopipeds,
| suppose Euclid would say-iorm ten
to fifteen feet long ard three to five
feet square, and placed on the frames
for saving. An expert will then de-
eide ~ to the manner of reduction,
that is, the thickness and number of
the slabs, according to the quality,
the shape and sizs of the block, or
the special nature OF the orders to be
filed. In outward appearance q
gang" as set Of saws is called.
resembles the old-fashioned upright
saw.mill. except that the vertical
frame contains not one but many
saws, arranged at different intervals,
corresponding to the desired thickness
Of the cuts. One process, therefore,
divides an entire block into slabs.
The saw has, it should be added. no
teeth. The cutting is the joint effect
of the hard edge of the steel blade
ard the wet sand which is fed into
the opening. and thus produces an
incisive friction. The ordinary pro.
gyess 10 about two and a hall inches
an hour, and the gangs work night
and day. The polishing of small
pieces is done on q revolving iron disk
some twelve feet in diameter. The
marble is thrown upon this. and
caught by fixed wooden strips like the
rsdii of circle. while the motion OF
the wheel. which ia supplied with
sand and water, furnishes the attri-
ton. It takes two or three hours to
polish 9 sur e down lone inch.
Heavy pieces are smoo.ned by hand,
with the of pumice.stone. Marble is
turned into circular shapes in lathe,
exactly like iron, and is bored with
An ordinary dry drill.
The West Rutland quarries are
not, like those OF Dorset. in the eide
OF great mountain, but seem to
form the bed of . low hill or ridge
rising very little above O level. The
excavations follow, therefore, nearly
vertical lines directly into the earth;
snd the cuts themselves, which are
shaped to the seams of the stone, have
at tbs surface an eastward inclina-
ton of about forty degrees, then OF
sixty, and again of twenty. until in
some places they are almost perpen-
diculsr. The cute are marked of
from fifty to seventy feet long, twelve
to sixteen feet wide, and about fou.
ieet deep, and are afterward subdi-
vided Into desired VI convenient sizss.
Some OF this work. under Lodges and
ia close quarters, is still necessarily
done BY hand; but the substitution OF
machinery for manual labor is now
here more strikingly illustrated
than in Vermont marble quarry.
Three OF the machines thus used may
be described. For the diamond
borer or drill the power is steam,
and the work Is done by two drills
terminating in diamond points
about one foot apart. By going
frequently over the course a close
line Of holes is formed, not unlike
the perforated division between
postage stamps, and as the instru.
ment works with great rapidity, it
makes cut one foot deep and sew.
enty-five feet long in one day. It
can be adjusted to any angle near
the perpendicular, and is used for
upright drilling. Another machine,
the Wardwell, for vertical work, Is a
species lof locomotive on q track,
along which it moves back
ward and forward, and makes
complete cuts by means of systems
of chisels acting on the trip-hammer
There are two of these,
four or five feet apart, and both
sides Of block are therefore cut at
once. The horizontal cut is made
by the Ingersoll drill. 1t is a small
hanging and movable
on fixed cylinder. and adjustable
there to an angle either above or
below the horizontal. The power
is supplied in the form of steam in
rubber pipes. Besides these three
leading varieties there are other
machines, differing in slight details,
all of use for special kinds Of work,
)ut difficult to describe in the Ian
5uage of a layman.
The final rupture between block
md its ancient bed is an interesting
process. Let US suppose the two
'uts co be made, one nearly vertical
md the other or horizontal one, at
'ipht ANGLES fO If and both ono or