The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-05-01
A TALK ABOUT TIN.
M. ouAD's INSTRUCTIVE LECTURE
TO THE BOYS.
Preparation of the PIate-A Trip Through
the Stamping COmpany's Factory
Not So Slow as the Soldering
Proeess-Notes.
III. quad in Detroit Free Press

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 il
Save iron there is no other one metal brought
into such general use, and yet you may ask
a hundred men hand-Tunning what tin IS
without receiving 6. correct answer What
is itl Tne tin of every day use my boy, is
mostly what you may call sheet-iron polished
ND. These metal sheets which shine like
polished silver are 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 the great center, and right there PrOvi-
dence placed all the material necessary for
making the tin of commerce-irOn, 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 ore is melted the same
as iron, AMI while it is in a liquid state the
plates of sheet iron are dipped into it and
then run between iron rollers, which smooth
them off. The plates, ore and rollers must
ell 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 ara polished By being fed through
another machine, and are then assorted and
made ready for packing.
Let's take a little trip through the stamp
ing company factory and post ourselves
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 all
there would be an enormous waste. The
work, then, to great extent, is given out
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 penny's worth
and there has been no waste
You may have picked up seamless pie-tin
and wondered how it could be 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
fat iron bed; in the center of this is a steel
mold, or, as you may call it, a 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 pressed down by another
machine to be ready for market. While I
have been telling you how the one tin was
made the machine has turned out 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
loI,o orr ona1
Ask a tinsmith to make you a 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 It 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 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 possible waste in ma
terial Fifty tinsmiths could not do It's
work
You may have discovered that 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 no need of it, but when stamped from
tin the wire is put in to render them sitter
and stronger The tinsnith measures 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
straighten piece of wire is by hammering,
and using his eye as a guide
| Here is machine which works faster than
hundred thinkers. The wire is taken off a
| reel, Strengthened, cut in any length, and
hent 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 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 rapldlty to
| astQnish you. All the ware in which seams
| have had to 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 have left behind 1t.
An hour in such factory as this is worth
| month in any school in the land. All such
/ factories-all the great machine shops-all
! the locomotive works, -four mills and pack
/ lighthouses are open for the inspection of any
boy who earnestly seeks for information, and
/ the lad who remains in ignorance or the
things of everyday life has only himself to
! blame