Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-18
A TALK ABOUT TIN.
N. oUAO's INSTRUCTIVE LECTURE
TO THE BOYS.
Preparation Of the Plate-A Trip Through
the Stamping Company's Factory
Not So Slow as the Soldering
PrOcess-NOtes.

M Quad in Detroit Free Press.l
Well, let's talk little about tin. The sight
of it is as common as dirt, as many Of the
utensils of everyday use are made OF it
Save iron there is no other one metal brought
into such general use and yet you may ask
a hundred men hand-running what tin is
without receiving a correct answer What
is itl The tin Of everyday use, my boy, Is
mostly what you may call sheet-iron polished
up. These metal sheets which shine like
polished silver arc black enough under the
surface. Everyssheet of tin coming into this
country, and most of the tin used in the
world, is shipped from Wales. Cornwall
Is the great center, and right there Provi-
dence placed all the material necessary for
making the tin of commerce-sron, coal
and tin ore.
The iron, after being duly prepared, Is
rolled into sheets just the thickrsSs Of the
tin You see at the tinsmith's and Is cut in
regular sizes. The tin ore is melted the same
as iron, AMI while it is in liquid state the
plates Of sheet iron are dipped into 1t and
then run between iron rollers, which smooth
them off. The plates, ore and rollers must
all be kept hot, and you may believe that
this part Of the work is terribly trying on
the men After the plates pass the rollers
they are polished BY being fed through
another machine, and are then assorted and
made ready for packing.
Let's take little trip through the stamp
ing company factory and pest ourselves a
bit. Here is great room full of men and
women and curious machinery, but before
We go in let US look into the system Of
management little. An enormous quantity
of tin must be used here each week, and
without some careful system to govern AL
there would be an enormous waste. Ihs
work, then, to a great extent, is given ont
by the piece. A workman is instructed to
make, say, 200 wash-boilers. 1t Is known in
the office exactly what materials he will
need, and he is given an order on the keeper
of the stock-room for so many sheets OF tin,
SO many of stamped copper bottoms, so
much wire, so many handles, SO much
solder When his lot Of boilers is finished
his stock is accounted for to q penny's worth
and there has been no waste.
You may have picked up seamless pie-:in
and wondered how it could bs made in that
manner Here is the machine which does
it. 1t is solid and compact, and meant to
exert great pressure. On what may be
called the lower jaw Of the machine is a
fiat iron bed; in the center Of this is a steel
mold, or, as you may call it, steel pie-tin
The sheet of tin TO be used is cut to a GER
tain size, being an inch larger on all sides
than the pie-tin. 1t is laid on this steel
mold, and, as the machine works, a steel
head is pressed down into the mold and
turns the tin up on every side. 1t Is taken
out an almost perfect pie-tin, only needing
to have the edges prossed down by another
machine TO be ready for market. While l
have been telling you how the one tin was
made the machine has turned out a hun
dred
All the salves which you buy Of the drug
gist are put up in tin boxes. Here is one of
the very few machines in the United States
which make them. The principle is the same
as the other, and as you realize the economy
practiced you can't help but feel astonished.
Ask tinsnith to make you box to hold two
ounces of salve and he must take his compass
ard mark at the top and bottom and cut
them with the shears. He must then cut his
side pieces, bend them in a machine and use
his soldering iron. Il will take a smart
workman from twenty minutes to half an
hour to finish your box, and NO matter how
handy he is there will be certain rough
ness in his work
Now watch this machine. A workman
takes piece of tin cut to a certain width
and feeds it in on the mold, the steel head
comes down with click, and one-half your
box drops to the floor. The next blow drops
the other half and the box is made, except
that the lower half if taken in hand by an
other machine which mills the edges and
prevents the cover from slipping down too
far. This machine turns out $500 boxes
per day, with the least pcSsible waste in ma
terial Fifty tinsmiths could not do its
work.
You NAV have discovered that wire is
run around the edges of the larger articles of
tinware, such as pals, dish pans and boilers.
Where these articles are make of sheet metal
there is no need OF it. but when stamped from
tin the wire is pat in t. render them sitter
and stronger. The tinsmith measures q piece
from his coil of wire, files it off, and then
bends it in a circle as well as he can by his
imperfect machinery. The only way he can
straightsn piece of wire is by hammering,
and using his eye as guide.
Here is a machine which works faster than
a hundred tinkerS. The wire is taken of a
reel, Strengthened, cut in any length, and
bent to any shape desired faster than you
can count and no mistakes are made.
In the making of cups, kerosene cans, tea
and cofee-po dippers and few other
articles with handles, the soldering-iron
must come into play, but basins, pans, cups,
wash-dishes and pie-tins can be stamped and
made ready for market with a rapidity to
astonish you. All the ware in which seams
have had 10 be closed with solder are sent to
the basement when finished. Down there is
tank OF hot water, and every article Is
forced down into this and held for few
seconds to detect any leak which the solder
ing-iron may have left behind it.
An hour in such factory as this is worth
a month in any school in the land. All such
fatories-all the great machine shops-all
tt locomotive works, -four mills and pack
g-houses are open for the inspection Of any
boy who earnestly seeks for information, and
the lad who remains i'll ignorance Of the
things Of everyday life has only himself to
blaIneL