The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-12-05

thimble, three-eighths Of an inch n d.
ameter, to the heavy business affair,
three-quarters of an inch wide, built for
her old-fashioaed mother. The price
of silver thimbles at retail ranges from
So cents to 81; that of gold from $3.50
to So. They can he had at much higher
prices, according to the ornamentation
wanted.
To look at q thirnble is simple
enough affair, but it takes science to
make one. The silver is brought from
the Sub-Treasury, New York, in ingots
and melted down, when an alloy OF
copper is added and it is then run into
bars about ten inches long, an inch and
a half wide and perhaps half an inch
thick. A bar weighs usually about for
ty ounces, and is worth forty-tive dol
lars. Great care must be taken in mix
ing the alloy, as upon this depends the
strength of the thimble and the conse-
quent prevention of a needle breaking
th,sdgh the barrier and making the
fair user think evil things. When the
metal has been sufficiently cooked and
run into bars, tie latter are squeezed
between huge rollers until of distressing
thiuness, ofttimes no thicker than an
egg shell. One of these fGSty ounce
bars can thus be expanded into strip
of shining silver twenty feet long, an
inch and q half wide and too eain to
mention. When properly squeezed the
strip is taken and run under a dia. This
cuts out one hundred and sixty disks
an inch and half in diameter ard
jams them into rude shape, so that they
resemble a flat-bottomed acorn shell.
Two more dies respectively ta,se out
the wrinkles and give the eiSbryO la'm-
BILE shape, while third turns up the
rim. Then the thinbles go to a man at
a lathe, who does the actual finishing
His lathe is carefully guarded, for the
little shavings cast Off by the filing
wheel represent many dollars. With
a tiny chisel and def fingers the work
man brings out the ornamentatiGn of
wavy lines and dots. and small cor
rugated wheel indents the little depres-
sions against which the needle leans
preparatory to starting in business. Be-
yond washing and polishing the work
is then done.
The more elaborate silver thimbles
are stamped out in little tent-shaped
bits of metal, the same machine emboss-
ing some design, running from fancy
scroll to a whole village, on its surface.
1t is then fashioned by hand, sol Tered
up and polished.
Gold thimbles take more work. In
the first place they are much more ex-
pensive and more elaborate in design
than their silver sisters. The gold
comes from the Sub Treasury in tricks
of twenty-four carats fineness. 1t is
boiled down and tangled up with
enough copper to reduce its aristocracy
to fourteen carat tone. in order to
give it the necessary backbone. Then
it is run into eight-ounce bars, worth
eighty-five dollars each, and is ready
for working up. The tenacity and ex-
pansive power of the alleged metal are
marvellous The little bar, after it has
been run into rollers, is ten feet in
length. one and one-half inches wide
and thinner than Boston dude. The
process of making is similar to that
above-given, until it comes to Orna-
menting. That is done wholly by hand.
The artist for such he is, places the
thimble in convenient grip, and with
his graver quickly carveS a design on
the polished metal. Some of the work
is very elaborate and beautiful. Many
thimbles wear whole forest or aquatic
scene with running deer, flying birds
and melancholy storks poised amid
the water-grass beside place for the
owners name. The thimbles are then
washed in plain soap and water, favored
with ammonia, carefully dried in meal
and FURNISHED. and are ready for the re-
taller. The inside gloss is attained
by using an oil stove polisher fitting
within and held firmly while the lathe
whirls round.
This factory is one OF the Oldest in the
land. Its business commenced away
back in the thirties and has always
Drospered. Its eighteen men turn out
i've thousand finished thimbles week
Is the year rolls round, and the demand
keeps up with the supply. All thimbles
made here have closed tops. The open
top thimble is played out. Absent
minded ladies We're too prone to forget,
and oftentimes hurt their fingers. This
broke up the sale.
The sweepings of the room amount
to many hundreds of dollars annually,
and the very water used in washing
has its worth. Each year carpenter
is glad to replace the floor and take the
planking as his price. He tries it out
and makes money by the operation;
more than he would in other mining.
1t may be said that a gold thimble can be
stepped upon with the same ease as the
brazen article. 1t will also suffer the
baby to swallow it with like brazen
equanimity; but when it comes to sheer
personal beauty and lasting honors,
the gold thimble leads the world
Brooklyn Eagle.