Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1886-01-09
TERMS.--s2.O0 PER YEAR
MAKING NAILS.
From the Metal In tho Ore to the Nails u
the Ksg.

| thing which strikes one is the arrange
ment of the puddlingfurnaces, they be-
| ing built so as to form a hollow square.
| Each furnace is dOuble-that Is, one
stack is divided into two parts, max
ing two pudding furnaces. In the
space within the square is placed tho
"squeezer, the train of rolls, and tho
engine, which latter furnishes the power
to drive the machinery and supplies
| the blast for the furnaces. The pig
iron is brought from the blast furnace
in cars and carts, and at q certain
place is broken in halves, weighed and
apportioned to the puddlers.
The iron is placed in the furnaces,
q blast of hot air is driven
over it by means of ian, and
as it meIts the puddler stirs
it continually with q long iron irstrn-
ment called puddle tool" This
process is kept up until every yestige
ofimpurity has been driven out. Then
the workman gradually eoois down
his furnace by dsmping the fire, being
| careful to note the consistency OF the
mass. Then he rolls into O ball shape.
withdraws it from the furnace, and by
means OF q ponderous pair Of tongs
running freely on an over-hesd rad
| way conveys it to the sqUeerer, o
| piece of mecnanicism worth describing.
In former times the squee1er rrsen,-
bled the Jaws OF monster crocodls.
| from which it derived its nAme. Now
| the apparatus is called q "rofee-mn
| soueexer," and, indeed, it looks very
much like a big coffee mill The ball
is tossed into q squeeDer, which sesses
it and sends il rolling sroQDd and
| around, the space borommiug mar
rover as the outcome is approached.
When at last the mass emergvs
it has taken the shape of q rod OF
| cotton batting. A man on the "iook-
out" for it grasps it with tongs, and
| the overhead rigging is again brought
into play to carry the bloom, as 10
is now called, to the rolls. The rolls
are constructed with numerous
grooves graduated to the size OF tho
| bar desired to be made. The "bloom"
has now gone through the puddle rolls
and is fiat, say four inches wide.
three-quarters of an inch thick. and
twelve feet long: it is termed puddle or
muck bar. When used for nail-mak-
ing it must be cut into short lengths
| of foot. These are piled in GER
tain manner, weighed and taken to a
| department, the "sheet mill" This
mill has within it several heating fur
naces and two trains of rolls-one to
break down the pile and another to
finish the sheet. The heaters arrange
the piles OF iron on the furnaces pre-
cisely as the baker does his loaves in
the oven. When it is sufficiently heat
ed it is conveyed by means of the ever
useful, overhead railway to the
rolls, there To be again flatten-
ed and drawn into long thin
sheets. Now we have come to the
nail factory. The sheets are taken to
the "slitter," who cuts them into dif-
ferent sizes, as the kind of nails desired
to be made requires. The nail
plates are then packed in numbered
| boxes to be delivered to the nail-cut-
ters. The large-sized nails are cut hot,
and for the purpose OF heating the
| plates a furnace is at hand in charge
| of q man whose business it is to sup
| ply the nailers with iron. Now we
have reached the last process OF this
| rather intricate manufacture. We
hear the busy hum OF 12O machines,
| which in the course of eleven hours cut
| ], 100 kegs of nails. An invention OF
recent date, which at one time threat.
ened to revolutionize the cutting OF
nails, has been introduced i'm this fac
tory. 1t is called self-feeder. but as
it only cuts middle sizes the
trade OF the nail feeder Is not
jeopardized. The ingenious machines
are almost human in their work
ing. An attendant takes up
nail plate, prizes open the stiff jaws
of his nippers, places one end OF the
plate within and by a skillful thrust
has set the machine going. ltcertain-
ly Is more accurate in its action than
any feeder can be. One person can,
if dilieent, attend to two self-feeding
machines. Each machine consists OF
a cutting knife. heading machine,
bed-plate, fiy-wheel, and splint ana
miss-cut separator. The last ~ the
invention of one of the workmen In
the factory. There is another process
to be told about, and that is the blue
ing. This is done in an inclined revolv-
ing cylinder, pierced wire holes, and
kept at a dull red heat. The nails are
poured in ut the elevated end, and, a.
they slowly roll down the incline, take
on the pretty blue tint we haveso often
admired. The nails are now taken to
the packer, who weighs them packing
100 ponnds in each keg. The pack
ing Is done by means Of a machine
which, by an ingenious application OF
mechanics, has vertical as well as q
revolving motion. The keg is placed
between the knees of the packer" !"
and as it dances up ana downhe grad
ually fills 1t from large iron weigh
ing-scoop. The keg is now turned over
to the header, who deity inserts the
head, applies the top hoops, drives .
nail here and there into the chimes,
gives it a whirl, and away it goes to
the brander, who numbers 1t and
stencils the firms name and trade.
mark, which latter is an anchor. And
now our nails are sent to the ware
house to be put into cars destined foI