The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-07-08
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/ New YORK san.l
Inaqneer littla room IN a queer old
hoase ai The end Of an cld.tashioned
6rick.pa ell allegwhy. snowy.bearded
uian, pdhbling over with good nature,
AT alta low bench yesterday, clipping
sorls with q cafying.knite as keen q 4
ralor. A little wooden sign over the al.
leyway had the single word HCorksp
painted on Il. ''corksn was scraWIed
with chalk on the door Of tie room in
which the usy man sat, and ne, him.
self was enthroned on Sn Old stool
among great mounds Of Corks OF all
kinds and sizes. They Wero scattered IN
heaps on tue bench, stored in great %.
per Tags athis feet, and piled high IN
wooden boxes behind him. He sttopped
the keen blade Of the knife against che
edge Of the bench every little while, and
clipped the corks before him With the
regularity Of machinery, while he chat.
ted with q visitor about the odd indus.
try Of making new corks out Of old ones.
He vase Pop Aaokiu, the pioneer Of
the trade Of renoyating secondhand
corks.
There are more people at the bust
ness now" he said, than anybody
would dream Of They 70 around buy.
Ing up all the secondhand corks they
can get at s. a barrel. A barrel will
hold from twenty seven 10 tWenty.nine
gross Of corks. They get the old corEs
from retail liquor stores, and then sort
thOm out according to size. Then
they're dumped into q big tub Of cold
water aud soaked till tie dirt Is all
rinSed ont. After that they're tossed
into q toiler Of hot water and stamped.
The steaming Is done by covering the
boiler tightly with . piece Of heavy car.
pet. It keeps the steam imprisoned
and drives Il through the cork. The
corks are In all sorts Of curious shapes
when they are put in the steam bath,
but no matter how they have been
crushed in by the neck Of the bottle or
by the wire and twine fastenings- and
some Of them are tough.loooking corks,
too-they come out OF the bath per.
fectly shaped again. After the bath
tho cofks are allowed to dry, and then
We trim them with a sharp knife, and
they are Just as good as new.
"But how" the visitor asked, 'can
you hide the damage where q cork.
screw has been bored through corkip
Easy enough" the old man re-
sponded, with a laugh, as he picked out
a perfect little cork; that trick was
done with q cutting machine. The fact
Is, that a corkscrew only damages, as q
rule, tho top and bottom Of o cork. The
damaged cork Is sent through u cutting
machine, and pared down until the
damaged part Is all cut away. Some.
times II has 10 90 through tho machine
two or three times before 1t Is perfect,
but after that 1t is as good as any cork
that was ever made. Corks cut that
way are called accommodation corks,
and are sold in great quantities tU dis.
tilleries where they want corks to ram
tightly into all sorts Of bottles"
How many corks can a man prepare
dailyF
ut depends upon the corks; but an
industrious man can sort, wash, steam,
and trim about fifty gross OF corks.
They are sold by the gross again. Some.
times the profit is only 81 a barrel,
sometimes more"