News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-01-03
CLOTHES-PINS.
Where They Come From, and How They
Are Manufactured so Cheaply.

Where They Come From, and How They
Are manufactured SO Cheaply.
Where do all the clothes-pins go to :?
We know where they all come from,
and that is from New England. The
that the market for this useful article
is found all over the civilized world.
There are ten firms in London which
carry stock of 10000 boxes each, and
there are ten firms in this city which
carry similar amount. One of the
greatest clothes-pin factories of the
country is located at Vaceboro, Maine,
which is almost on the dividing line
between Maine and New Brunswick.
This factory, for its purpose, is about
as complete as possible. The process
of manufacture is a very interesting one.
The wood used is mainly white birch
and beech, which abounds within the
limits of the town. The logs are cut
and hauled to the shore of Lake st.
Croix, or streams which flow into it, and
foated directly down to the mill, where,
as fast as they are required, they are
sawed into lengths varying from six
teen to twenty-five inches. The six
teen-inch lengths are converted into
pins, while the twenty-two-inch lengths
are sawed into boards, out of which
the packing-boxes are made. We will
follow one of the sixteen-inch lengths
in its transformation from the block to
pins. 1t is first sawed into blocks of
the required thickness by means of a
single machine, and then into
strips of the proper size by a gang of
twelve circular saws, and these strips
are in turn cut into lengths of five
inches each by gang of three saws.
By this time the logs, as will have been
seen, 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 elevator belt, car
ried into an upper story, and returning,
to the first floor, they are deposited in
troughs, from whence they are fed to
the turning lathes, of which there are a
number lathe having capacity
of turning eighty pins minute. They
are next taken to the slotting- machine,
which is a very ingenious continuance,
in which a peculiar arrangement of
knives, inserted in circular saw, gives
the slot the correct fange, and after
this operation the pins are automatically
carried by an elevator belt to the dry
ing bins on the second floor, where they
are subjected to quite a strong heat,
generally by steam pipes, until they
become thoroughly seasoned. OF these
drying-bins there are several, the
largest having a capacity of 100
boxes, or $4,000 pins, and the smaller
for one-half that quantity. After
seasoning the pins are ready for pol
ishing and packing. This polishing
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 if individually polished by
hand with the finest sandpaper. just
before this polishing is completed
small amount of tallow is thrown in on
the pins, after which a few additional
revolutions gives them highly glossy
appearance. The polishing drums are
suspended over the packing counter on
the first floor of the mill, and being
Immediately beneath the ceiling of the
floor above are readily flied through
scuttles from the drying bins on the
second floor, and as easily emptied on
the counter below, where they are
sorted into first and second grades, and
packed in boxes of five gross each, the
sorting and packing being done by
girls; $50 boxes are daily packed