Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1886-03-04
MAKING NAILS.
From the Metal In the Ore to the Nails In

the Keg.
Upon entering the works the first
thing which strikes one is the arrange
ment of the pudding furnaces. they
being built SO as to form a hollow
square. Each furnace is double - that
is, one stack is divided into two parts,
making two pudding furnaces. In
the space within the square is placed
the ''squeezcr," the train of rolls, and
the engine, which latter furnishes the
power to drive the machinery and sup
plies the blast for the furnaces. The
pig-ron is brought from the blast fur
naces in cars and carts, and at GER
tain place is broken in halves, weighed
and apportioned to the puddlers. The
iron is placed III the furnaces, blast
of hot air is driven over it by means
of fan. and as it melts the puddler
stirs it continually with long iron in
strumcnt called ''puddle tool. "This
process is kept up until every vestige of
impurity is driven out. Then the
workman gradually cools down his
furnance by damping the fire. being
careful to note the consistency of the
mass. Then he rolls into ball shape,
withdraws it from the furnace. and by
means of ponderous pair of tongs
running freely on IN overhead railway
conveys it to the squeezer, a piece of
mechanism worth describing. In form
er times the sdueeZer resembles the
jaws of II monster crocodile, from
which it derived its name. Now the
apparatus is called u "coffee mill
squeezer," and, indeed, it looks very
much like a big coffee mill. The ball
is tossed into u squeezer, which seizes
it and sends it rolling around and
around, the space becomes narrower
as the outcome is approached. When
at last the mass emerges it has taken
the shape of n roll of cotton batting.
A man on the lookout for it grasps
it with tOngs, and the overhead rig
ging is again brought into play to car
ry the "blOOm," as it is now called, to
the rolls. The rolls are contracted
with numerous grooves graduated to
the size of the bar desired to be made.
Tie "bloom" has now gone
through the puddle rolls and is
flat, say four inches wide, three-quar-
ters OF an inch thick, and twelve
feet long; it is termed puddle or muck
bar. When used for nail-making it
must be cut into short lengths of a
foot. These arc piled in certain
manner. weighed and taken 70 de-
parLment. the "sheet- mill" This mill
has within it several heating furnaces
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 precisely
as the baker does his loaves i'm the
oven. When it is sullc emily heated
it IS conveyed by means of the ever
useful overhead railway to the rolls,
there to be again ilattened and drawn
into long thin sheets. Now we have
come to the nall factory. The sheets
are taken to the ''sltter," who cuts
them into different sizes, as the kind
OF nails desired to be made requires.
The nail-plates arc then packed in
numbered boxes to be delivered to the
n'il-cutters. The large-sized nails are
cut hot, and for the purpose of heat
ing the plates furnace is ut hand IN
charge OF man whose business is to
supply the naiers with iron. Now we
have reached the last process of this
intricate manufacture. We hear the
busy hum of 120 machines, which i'm
the course of eleven hours cut LOO
kegs OF nails, An invention of recent
date, which ut one time threatened to
revolut onize the cutting OF nails, has
been introduced i'm this factory. 1t is
called self-feeder, but rs t only cuts
middle sizes the trade of tho nail feed
er is not yet jeopardzc. The ingenious
machines are almost human i'm their
working. An attendant takes up
nail plate, prizes open the still Jaws of
his nlppers, places one end of the plate
within and by a skillful thrust has set
the machine going. 1t certainly is more