, 1885-01-20
A TALK ABGgF TIN.
NJ. ouAD's INSTRUCTIVE LECTURE
TO THE BOYS.
Preparation of the Plafe-A Trip Through
the Stamping company's Factory
Not So Slow as the Soldering
Prooess-Notes.


M. Quad In Detroit Free Pressl
Well. let's talk a little about tin. The sight
OF 1t Is as common as dirt, as many of tho
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. h
Is iti 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. Every sheet Of tin coming into this
country, and most OF the tin used in the
world, Is shipped from Wales. Cornwall
is tho great center, and right there Provi-
dence placed all the material necessary for
making the tin Of commerce-fron, coal
and tin ore.
The iron, after being duly prepared, is
rolled into sheets just the thickness Of the
tin you see at the tinsmith's, and Is cut In
regular sizes. The tin orc is melted the same
as iron, and while 1t Is in q liquid state the
plates Of sheet iron are dipped into it and
then run between iron rollers, which smooth
them of. 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 mon After the plates pass the rollers
they ara polished By being fed through
another machine, and are then assorted and
made ready for packing.
Lots take a little trip through the stamp
ing company factory and post ourselves a
bit Here is a great room full Of men and
women and curious machinery, but before
we go In let us look into the system OF
management a little. An enormous quantity
of tin must be used here each week, and
without some careful system to govern all
there would DO an enormous waste. The
-wcrIr than 81 n .rnof a-fanf IL rfuon 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 meny sheets of tin,
50 many Of stamped copper bottoms, SO
much wire. 80 many handles, so much
solder. When his lot of boilers is finished
his stock Is accounted for to a penny's worth
and there has been no waste.
You may have picked up a seamless pie-ti
and wondered how it could be made in that
manner. Here is tho machine which does
it. It Is solid and compact, and meant to
exert great pressure On what may be
called tho lower jaw OF the machine Is a
fat iron bed; in the center Of this is q steel
mold, or, as you may call 1t, q 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 tho 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 pressed down by another
machine TO be ready for market. While l
nave 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
practced you can't help but feel astonished.
Ask a tinsmith to make you box to hold two
ounces Of salve and he must take his compass
and 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. 1t 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 a certain rough
ness in his work.
Now watch this machine. A workman
takes a piece of tin cut to a certain width
and feeds it In on the mold, the steel head
comes down with a click, and one-half your
box drops TO the floor. The next blow drops
the other half and Che box is made, except
liz liz " - - n ~ haAAA = al
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 possible waste In ma
terial Fifty tinsmiths could not do its
work
You may have discovered hat a 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 nc need Of 1t, but when stamped from
tin tho wire Is put IN to render them sitter
and stronger. The tinsmith measures a piece
from his coil of wire, files 1t off, and then
bonds ii in n circle as well as he can by his
imperfect machinery. The only way he can
straighten n piece of wiro is by hammering,
and using his eye as a guide
Here is a machine which works faster than
a hundred thinkers. The wire Is takon off a
reel, ~straightened, 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 coffee-pots, clippers and a few other
articles with handles, the s~oldering-iron
IN come into play, but basins, pam, 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 70 be closed with solder are sent to
the basement when finished. Down there is
a tank OF hot water, and every article is
forced down into this and held for a few
seconds to detect any leak which the solder
ing-iron may nave left behind it.
An hour in such a factory as this is worth
a month in any school in the land. All such
factories-all the great machine shops-all
the locomotive works, flour mills and pack
ing-houses are p for the inspection OF any
boy who earnestly seeks for information, and
the lad who remains in ignorance OF the
things of everyday life has only himself to
blame.
TO-, TuI..-..nt,r.