The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-02-01
How Cigar Boxes Are Made.

The reporter climbed up five flights OF
stairs in one of the largest blocks in the
manufacturing district of the city where
the largest cigar-box factory is located.
A part of the large floor was occupied
by the strips of wood cut into the re-
quisite thickness, one dimension for the
bottom, sides and cover and another for
the ends. The strips of wood are run
through rip-saw, sawed in long strips,
and cut into the required lengths by a
second machine. The ends are then
planed as smooth as the sides, and the
pieces are ready to be made into boxes.
Lids and sides have to pass through
printing presses, of the same pattern as
used in ordinary job rooms. but much
heavier to have the brand, trademark,
ETC., printed upon them with indelible
ink. Then the pieces go to the mailer,
who uses machine for his work. The
mailing machines are somewhat similar
in appearance to type-setting machines,
and require but little experience to be
quite generously handled. The nails
are fed into hopper on the top, pass
ing through small brass pipes into little
tubes at the proper distances for the
parts to be nailed together. By the
pressure of the foot on the foot-board of
the machine the operator forces the
nails out of the tubes into the wood, and
accomplishes with the aid of the ma
chine six times as much work as the
most experienced workman could do
with hand and hammer; besides, the
work is of necessity done far more ac-
,urately. The first operation is the
Mailing together of an end and head
piece which are placed in large piles,
and then two of these pieces are
nailed together, forming the sides of
The box. Boys nail on the bottoms and
girls tack on the cover temporarily.
While other girls paste on the cloth
hinges. The half-completed boxes are
then piled up until they are perfectly
dry. An experienced mailer averages
about $50 boxes per day, receiving %
cents for 100 boxes, while the boys and
girls are paid by the week, earning from
a TO so per week. After the boxes
re dry they are brought under rap
dly revolving planer which removes all
overhanging woodwork, while whirling
sand wheels smooth off the edges. A
arg loICC VI SiIiS 10 culpiOy GU III put
ing on the finishing touches, which
means to paste on the edgings. inside
Labels, Innings and flaps. For this work
The girls are paid 80 cents a hundred,
and they earn from s. to 80 per week.
The lumber used in the manufacture
Of cigar boxes is, with few exceptions,
either Eastwood or red cedar. Bass
wood grows in almost unlimited quanti-
lies in Michigan, Minnesota and the
aorthern part of Wisconsin. 1t is
shipped to this city in rough boards,
which are recut, planned and stained by
peculiar process, so that it closely re-
sembles cedar-wood, from which is is
different in color and lacking in that
sharp, pungent odor which is deemed
of particular value for the packing of
cigars. Eastwood boxes are used for
The ordinary quality of cigars. The red
cedar grows in Mexico, Cuba and Cen
sral America, and forms an important
:rticle in the exports of these coun-
:ries. Cedar costs in Chicago in the
leighborhood of forty dollars thou
sand lineal feet Of the ordinary lumber
! dimensions.