The Osceola times., 1884-08-02
MAKING BASE BALL.
Only Eight Factories In the United
States.

Only Eight Factories In the United
States.
"The base ball manufacturing business
has had rapid but prosperous growth" !"
said manufacturer TO New York Trib-
une representative recently. at is con-
fined to few men, and probably will
not be encroached upon by SPECTATORS.
There are in the United States to-day
only eight factories of any importance,
and yet these are entirely sufficient to
supply all the base balls that are wanted
in this country. Recently there has
been sort of boom in the ball mark
ct. This is caused by the practice of
clothing houses through the country of
giving to juvenile customers base balls
as presents. Wannamaker of Philadel-
phia ordered $4,000 for this purpose.
The balls are of different grades and
prices. The kind that are given away
are, of course, cheap but quite durable.
Perhaps you would like to see how base
balls are made. Follow me and / will
show you the whole process"
On the upper floor of the establish
ment sat several men with baskets of
dampened chamois and buckskin clip
pings at their sides. Before each work.
man stood stout piece of joist in the
end of which was inserted mold hem
spherical in shape, in which the balls
are formed. Taking handful of cuttings
from the basket, the workman pressed
them together in his hands and then
worked about the mass few yards of stout
woolen yarn. Placing the embryo ball
in the mold, he pounded it iHo shape
with heavy flat mallet, and then wound
on more yarn and gave the ball another
pounding. After testing its weight on a
pair of scales and its diameter with a
tape measure, he threw the ball into a
basket and began another. When the
newly made balls are thoroughly dried
they are carried to the sewing-room on
the floor below, when they are to receive
their covers. Forty young women sat at
tables sewing on the covers of horse hide.
Grasping ball firmly in her left hand,
with her right hand one ofthe young wo-
men thrust three cornered needle
through the thick pieces ofthe cover and
drew them firmly together. In less than
ten minutes her work was completed. A
smart girl can cover two or three dozen
of the best and eight dozen of the cheap
er grades of balls in a day. The wages
earned weekly range from 81 to 50. The
balls are atterward taken to the packing
room, where the seams are pressed down
and the proper stamps are put on. The
best balls are entirely of yarn and India
rubber.
MY brother was one of the pioneers
in this business" said the manufacturer.
"He was the inventor of the two-piece
cover now in general use throughout the
country. If my brother had only paten-
ted his invention the members of our
family would now be wearing diamonds
instead of bits Of white glass in our shirt
fronts. Ball covers are made, al
most without exception of horehide,
which costs SO side. We used
to obtain our supply from John
Carl, a leather dealer in the Swamp for
nearly thirty-five years. We are oblig-
ed to go to Philadelphia now, there be-
ing no merchant here who keeps horse
hide leather. The capacity of our fac
tory when we get our new molding ma.
chimes in working order will be about
5000 balls daily, each mscbine being
expected to turn out 200 balls day"