Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-07-11
A CHAT on CORkS.
A BUSINESS THAT IS RAPIDLY GROW
ING IN IMPORTANCE
Thousands of Sizes and Grades Keeping
Out Heat with GranuIHt"d Cork
Refuse I>cd on Picture
Frames Wooden Ware.


chicago Herald
ITS funny what prejudice will do. "
said we'll known cork merchant W t
are compelled to import every wear scv-
era thousand dollars worth of hand cut
COrks These come chiefly from tcr
many. They are not So good as'thC ma.
chine cut Curks of our own country. a.
they vary in size and are but approx
matrlv round \ machine cut cork Will
always nit the bottle II l. made for ! ct
some of our old German brewers. hottlcrS
and druggists are SO pre- udlCrd IN favor
OF the products of fathcrand that they
will buy hand cut Cork> every time. or
course price may hav" something to do
with il. for IL Isa WUCuIlul iart, and one
showing how cheap labor can get, that
those curks. cut one by one Toy hand in
Germany. are brought over here. tarlil
paid and then sold a little cheaper than
our maChiuc-,ut Corks. The cork bust
ness is growing very rapidly. This is a
great country for bottled goods, and bot
ties must be Corkcd with something
There are twenty three cork fat tories III
the country. hut the one in littshurg, Of
which we are the branch. works up II
little mc re- than one half Of all the bark
imported every year.
cork. you know, is the bark. not the
wood, of cork oak All our harks
come from spain aud Portugal There
they keep cork woods Ii doc>n Kill the
tree to take its bark away. and il can h,.
skinned every six or eight years. About
81 900 .OUJ of the raw bark Is brought TO
this country every year There is no
tariff On II. but tariff of - per cent on
the manufactured product Ihe impor
IatiOnS Of manufactured COrks run abruI
Sl3O. 900 a year The cork has to be-
steamed up before it is cut torkS are
uIadc in thousands of sizes and grades
from the sizes of a pin head up TO for
meters in diameter. We keep COO 81 e.
aud grades in stock There's u little cork
that sells at cents a gross. and Vet cVCrs
cork has TO be handled three times in the
manufaCturc-unCr in cutting once in Ia
prring. and the IaSt time in asserting one
grade from the others.
None of the bark that come, over in
the ships goes to waste We used 10 burn
the refuse, but We know better now. p
between the joistS. right under the roof OF
this building, we have packed nftecm
inches Of granulatCd cork Last summer
this upper floor was rs cool aS any floor in
the building The heat cant get through
llidl NNlIh ll'tit'I llt lAld't Nhl
builders use the SAME stuiT TO pack under
the floors Of their cars TO draden the
sound and under the roofs TO keep the
heat out | sold Fifty car loads If grauu
lated bark 10 certain gentleman 10 p; ok
unGer the roofs of his rrfrigcrator cars A.
a non conductor Of heat Ilc has saved
thousands of dollars in ice 10y the use of
that substance, and has holcd that none
,,g nn,nr.atitarS Npas1ll catch nj IL.
scheme But he hoped in vain.
The finest of the refuse is used by pic
ture frame makers in decorations The,
sprinkle it on their hronlcd or iaIanucl
frames see that picture? Well, this
old castle along the thine. the rocks
hills trees. vineyard. flowers and birds
an exquisite landscape, is it notr-all
made from cork, pressed like papicr ma
che. 1t is a German novelty. and -
neat one. Fruit and egg cases. ice houses
and ice machines, are often packed with
the granulated cork. which costs only :
cents a pound.
We beat the Old world at cutting
COrks. but ii is rather strange that Amer
lea should import tons Of straw. Yet We
DO every year buy immense quantities Of
straw in Germany in the form of bottle
covers These covers cost SS per !. 900.
and they are hand made They cannot he
made for one fourth the sum in this Coun
try, until somebody gets up machine To
do it with. We import someth NJ like
lUO, 900 OF these covers every month All
of these little tinfoii caps for wine and
soda bottles come from Paris \ New
York firm has tried to compete, hut they
can t do il. We have $50 600 at the depot
;ust arrived from Paris They are shipped
in Theoretically sealed cases.
But this country leads in wooden ware
Perhaps you don't know it, but the best
wooden ware maker in the | nitcd States
carried on business in Chicago for twenty
five years He is now over in Michigan
in the timber country, making faucets,
bungs. bung starters. wooden shovclS.
cork drivers and vinegar measures and
tunnels each out OF one piece of wood
without Joint or seam As for bung>
Cincinnati might property he called the
bungtown of America. rs there are made
ali the bungs used in this country. Onr
factory there ships 200 barrels Of hungs
every day.