The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-11-20

Brought from France Processes OF
Manufacture.
There are several umbrella factories in
Brooklyn | was taken over one of these fac
toric, the utl her duJ- and was soon made to
see thu: thrr' are many more different things
used il i.t iu. a.l umbrella than l had at
frs lip. ,--,i Their, are FIRST the stick, made
OF w.se!. r.. :, rrctch,rs and springs of steel,
the laf-. l.. gr..ucr notch, the ferule, cap,
bar -.s... st.,- IL brass nickel; then there
ar. T., .--us, s.iz. tine runner guard, which is
o. s. '-.s..r the inside cap, the often
T.. -aGi,, which may be of ivory,
boz. :a-,. r.al,tIs tusk, or even mother of
pea. -.,.,f. kind Of metal, and if you look
sharp ,'n. VII find rivet put in deftly
her ANA there. For the sticks great va
riety of woul j. used; although all the wood
must I,n hard, firm, tough ard capable of re
cciving bot, polish and staining. The cheaper
sticks arc sawed out of plank, chiefly of ma
pie and iron wood. They are then turned
that j.. made round-polished, and stained.
The runner, rerule, cap, band, etc, form
what Is called umbrella furniture, and for
these articles there is a special manufactory.
Another factory still cuts and grooves wire of
steel into the ribs and stretchers. Formerly
ribs made out of cane or whalebone, but
these materials are now seldom used. When
the steel is grooved it is called a paragon
frame, which is the lightest and best made.
II was invcntc,l by an Englishman named
Fox about twenty years ago.
Most of the silk used for umbrella covers Is
brought from France, but we make all our
umbrella gingham which is woven into varl-
Gus widths to suit umbrella frames of differ
ent size. and along each edge of the fabric
border is formed Of large cords. As to al
Taca n dive house has been built near Phila-
L. Y,Ia gf We ipnSpS =
that our home made alpacas may be dyed as
good and durable black as the gingham re
ceives; for although nobody minds carrying
an old umbrella, nobody likes to carry a
faded one Although there are umbrellas OF
blue, green and buff, the favorite hue seems
10 be black.
And now that we have all the materials to-
gethcr to make an umbrella, let us go into
mandatory and see exactly how all the
pieces an put together. First, here Is the
stick. which must he mounted-that is, there
arr two springs to be put in, the ferule IS TO
bc rut r,i the top end, and if the handle is of
other material than the stick, that must be
nut on. The uglieSt of all the work is the
cutting nf the slots in which the springs are
put These are first cut by a machine, but II
the man who operates it is not careful he Will
get some of his fingers cut off. Even after
the slot cutting machine has done its work,
there is vet something to he done 10y another
man with knife before the spring can be
put in. After the springs are set the ferule Is
put on, and when natural sticks are used, as
all are of different sizes, it requires consider
able time and care to find a ferule to fit the
stick, as well as in whiting off the end Of
the stick to suit the ferule.
After the handle is put on the stick, and n
band put on for finish or ornament, the stick
goes to the frame maker, who tastenS the
stretchers to the ribs, strings the top cord OF
the ribs on n wire which i fitted into the run
ner notch" then he strings the lower ends of
the .'stretchers' on wire and fastens III the
runner and then, when both runners are
securely fixed, the umbrella Is ready for the
cover As this is very important part of
the umbrella, several men and women are
employed in making it. In the room where
the covers are cut You will at first notice
great number of shaped things hanging
against the wall on either side of the long
room These letter vs. are usually made of
wood, tipped all around with brass or some
other fine metal, and are of great variety OF
sizes They are the umbrella cover patterns,
as YOU soon make out. To begin with, the
cutter lays his silk or gingham very smoothly
out on a long counter, folding 1t back and
forth until the fabric lies eight or sixteen
times in thickness, the layers being several
has been hcmmed by a woman on a sewing
machine before it is spread out on the coun-
ter When the cutter finds that he has the
stuff smoothly arranged, with the edges even,
he laws on his pattern, and with sharp knife
quickly draws along two sides of 1t and IN
twinkling the pieces for perhaps two umbrel-
las are cut out: this Is so when the material IS
sixteen layers thick and the umbrella cover Is
To have but eight pieces.
ont 1IsafNn *
fully examined by a woman to see that there
are no holes nor defects i'll it, for one bad
piece would spoil whole umbrella Then a
man takes the pieces and stretches the cut
edges This stretching must be so skilllully
done that the whole length of the edge be
evenly stretched and il is necessary in order
| to secure "a good fit ON the frame. After this
| the pieces 20 to the sewing room, where they
| are seyycd together by woman on n sewing
machi.,r in what i called u pudding bag
seam The woman must have the machine
tensi,. ;l>t right or the thread of the seam
| will break when the cover Is stretched over
/ the frame.
The next step in the work is to fasten the
| cover tu the frame, which Is done by a
woman After the cover is fastened ut the
| top ard bottom, she half hoists the umbrella
and has Il small tool which she uses to keei
the umbrella in that position; then sh-
fastcns the seams To the ribs, and quick
| workwonreu viii do all this III five minutes
as well a. sew ON the tie, which has beer
made by another pair of hands. Then The
! can is nut on and the umbrella is completed
1 But before it i scnt to the saieSroom &
| woman srnooths the edges of the umbrella al
around with Il warm fiatiron. Then another
woman holds it up to a window, where there
is a strong light. and hunts for holes in it. i
it is found 10 be perfect the cover Is neatly
arranged about the stick, the tie wrapped
about it and fastened, and the finished um
! brella goes TO market for buyer. From th'
time the stick is mounted till the umbrella
finished it takes but fifteen minutes.-Brook
lyn Eagle.