Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-09-30
TOOTHPICKS.
Place Where They Are Made by the Million
"A Unique Industry.
Rnnhnctnr ITnion and Advertiser


Rochester Union and Advertiser.
There are, have been told, but three
toothpick factories in the United States.
One of them is located at Belmont, Alleg-
any county, n. Y, just on the edge of the
town and near the banks of the Genesee
river. In going over most factories one
is generally ushered in at the wrong end:
that is. where the completed work is ready
for shipment. This factory was no ex-
ception to the rule but [ will take you
below stairs first, and we will then work
upward gradually. The factory makes
two articles of commerce; toothpicks,
as already stated, and allumettes, or lamp
lighters. To commence at first prin-
ciples. We started in the basement, and
after exploring the engine-room betook
ourselves to where the woodwork was in
it's first stages. We found in this sec d
room piles of circular blocks of wood
about sixteen inches in diameter by per-
haps five in thickness. This wood was
Ehard and "soft' maple and pine. These
are put into a revolving machine which
4 strips them of their bark; they are then
sent up to the first floor. Here they are
again put into another revolving,
machine, which cuts them into fine strips
which are then cut into the required
shape for toOthpicks. The 'picks" are
dropped out at one side while tine refuse
falls from the other into shaft, and Is
carried down to the basement and subse-
duently used for firing. Some are round,
some square. This little machine which
makes them appear simple enough to the
uninitiated, but in reality is quite eompi-
Gated containing, we were informed
several hundred knives. These small
articles of after-dinner service are then
taken up to the second story, where they
are kept in a heated room until sufficiently
dry for packing
Descending to the first foOr-for we
have followed our miniature guide up
stairs and down-we enter a room where
several girls and women and two or three
bows are at work. One girl we find
stamping thin pasteboard boxes with
press and then folding these boxes by
hand with rapidity impossible to be
followed by the eye. The experienced
fingers grow very nimble. Or the other
side of the room girls were sorting and
arranging the "picks" and putting them
in boxes. The work was executed with
an alertness only acquired through long
practice. The plan of arranging them IN
bundles preparatory to boping IN this:
Il rom Un6 large u6lp III LIOAu uLo" q
smaller quantity yet several times larger
than the proposed bundles. These little
sticks lay at "sixes and sevens" as con-
fused as the most contrary pile OF jack
. straws. The first motion is to draw the
pile toward the worker the second to draw
the hands across the pile laterally and
carry off any offending sticks that lay in
their way, and then close in the pile as
the third motion again scattering and
arranging. Reiterating these motions
with more or less variation soon brings
order out of chaos, and the pile grows
beautifully less as compact, neat bundles
assume the desired shape and proportion
They were then quickly boxed and thrown
aside ready for market. In the man
ufacture of the allumette the wood was
cut into long strips of two different widths
four and halfinches for the narrower
and as [ remember about eight inches for
the wide, and thirty second of an inch
in thickness. These were then hung from
beams in drying and the draped,
ribbon-l1ke effect of the room was very
pretty. They were afterward put by the
quantity into a cutting machine attended
by a boy, whence issued the useful allu.
mette ready for building and boxing.
This factary is not only one of the
sights" of AIegany county, but, indeed
of New York state. for, to the best of my
belief, it is the only one in New York.