Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1886-05-01

SODA WATER.
rhc Different Kinds of Laborers Employed
In Pop Factories"

| In ''Pop Factories"
While certain proportion Of skilled
labor is required the majority of the
"hands" employed in soda water estab-
lishments come, as rule, from the
bottom strata of the laboring classes.
OF late years machinery and the gem
eral use Of siphons, so far as city trade
is concerned, has SO simpliticd the
work of manufacture that very little
| experience at the work will make n
person tolerably proficient Neyerthe-
less there is large element of danger
in the employment, and TO green
hand not little bodily pain. Despite
the multiplicity of fountains in
drug stores, rcireshment shops and on
the street corners, n vast amount of
the soda water consumed every day is
sent from the factories in bottles, and
IL is surprising to learn through how
many different hands a bottle of soda
water has to pass before ii is ready for
the consumer Whether an empty bot
tie is returned" or comes out of the
packing straw new from the manufac-
tory ii is carefully washed, rinsed and
dried in the soda water establishment
by men employed to do this work and
nothing else, II requires more prac-
tice than a novice would imagine to do
it rapidly and thoroughly. The wash
els don't know what it is TO have on
dry clothes while at work, They rig
themselves out in cast-oif garments
and splash around all day until they
are as wet as so many wharf rats.
After they are dried the bottles are
stacked in crates and carried of to the
"fllers.' If intended for lemonade
or lemon soda they go first to another
squad of men, who dip in the required
amount of syrup with ladlc. In bot
tling the aerated water is pumped into
the bottles just as il comes from the |
generators with II pressure of fifty |
Hounds and over to the square !
iNh. IL bottle has flaw |
in it or the man handling it is |
careless the glass will burst into frag-
ments and scatter all over the room.
An accident of this kind usually modns
trouble, sometimes quite serious, for
others than the man who happens to
be ~hQndling the bottle. In most
factories<Aa men protect themselves
with devices f6r1-~aAlipg the head and
arms, but every season sd1s- 70 the list
of men disligured for life through their
own or somebody clse's carelessness-
an eye gone, a finger or two missing,
or SCARED face The young surgeons
in the city hospitals are frequently
called upon to attend such eases
sits close beside him. 1t Is the wircr 5
duty to draw n wire over the cork and
fasten it securely around the neck of
the bottle with pair of pinchers,
This, also, is work requiring nlmblc
fingers and solrc-sAts+i. 1t is a painful
process for new hand to learn to
wire. The thin wire lacerates the
flesh badly, and it is a common thing
to see II lad hands running with blood
after Il brisk days work. After few
weeks at the business, however, the
fingers get callous, just AS oalum
pickers' fingers do, and the wirers get
along very comfortably. When the
wirers are through with the bottles
they are staicd in crates and carried
away for another washing. A few
pals of water are thrown over them
and they are left to dry before going
to the labclcrs. After labelling and
polishing they are put away in eases
ready to be sent off IN delivery wagons
AS fast rs ordered. The process of
filling siphons and patent bottles of
numerous make Is much simpler, more
rapidly done and with less risk. But
they are not suited to all branches OF
the trade.-M J. Times,