Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-05-29

a tank full of water, few wheelbarrow
loads of white clay being mixed with it to
make it work we'll. The clay is then
churned by rapidly moving machinery I'M
til it reaches about the consistency of but
termilk when it is passed into strainer |
and pumped into broad shallow drying |
watts which are open to the sun on the out
side of the building. The bottom of these |
watts are lined with cotton cloth, through
which the water slowly filters and in or
10 days the clay sediment has formed a
solid, tough cake, two or three inches
thick, still soft enough to work. 1t is then
cut up, brought into the house, ground
and kneaded by machinery until it is got
ten into rectangular blocks weighing Is or
80 pounds. These blocks of clay are put
into queer machine, furnished with
flat-headed piston which forces the clay
in long round strips through sort of
pepper-box affair. with holes about an inch
in diameter. A bunch of these clay rolls
is put on rack, as fast as they come from
the pepper-box, and by one motion of
frame furnished with strong little steel
wires tightly stretched across it, the
bunch of rolls is cut into number Of
| pieces two inch long, each one of which is
rudimentary pipe. The dodgers, as
| they are called, soon find their way to the
moulding room where they pass, one at
a time. through the hands Of lot
| of little black urchins who grease
them by rolling each one over board up
on which there is mixture of lard and
kerosene oil, which is done to keep the
clay from sticking to the moulds. These
creased dodgers" then come into the
hands of the moulders who put them sing
ly into iron moulis, the slZe and shape of
the pipe and by pressure of the foot upon
treadle, bring down by the same move
ment rounded stamp which forces the
clay into the mould forming the bowl. and
punch working laterally which forms
the hole for the stem. The pipes next
come into the hands of the trimmers, who
tim off the rough pieces and polish them,
when they are placed upon trays and put
by the tens of thousands into the drying
house where they are dried perfectly. AZ
ter this they are placed in large earthen-
ware crooks holding peck or more each,
run in the bake oven and cooked hard,
when they are taken into the packing
room and handled by young ladies who
wrap each one in piece of soft paper and
pack them in boxes or barrels to suit pur-
chasers. The boxes contain from SO to
100 pipes. and the barrels from $500 to
$500 each. The stems which have been
cut the proper length and polished and
trimmed by machinery, are placed on top,
all is fastened up and they are ready for
Fshipping. Some of the work Is done with
marvellous rapidity. The little negro boys
can grease rs dodgers in minute, che
box hands make Is boxes in minutes,
the girls with their deft little fingers wrap
| 100 pipes in a minute and pack box of
100 in another minutes. They are paid
by the thousand and can make from Is
cents to dollar day.
And now if the tobacco smokers of the
Valley want to know anything more
about pipe making in Appomattox, they
will have to go. as did, to the Pamplin
| Pipe Factory, where they make every va
riety, from the dainty little Zoo" to the
''Shaker" and the large "Hamburg," sew
enteen different sorts. land see for them
selves. T. G. M.