The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-09-21
THE MONITOR.
w~ooDsrows. FnrDAY, SEPTEMBER p, lsss.
MAKING JET



The Processes by which These Earn
iliar Things Are Produced.
Jet buttons ? What you call jet but
tons are not jet buttons at all, they
are merely glass, but they serve the pur-
pose Just as well, look just as well, and
are very much cheaper. SO said n manu-
facturer of Jet buttons in Brooklyn the
other day. Then be led the inquiring re
porter into the factory where the buttons
were in the process Of manufacture.
Until recently nearly all the buttons Of
this kind came from Bohemia, but they
are now made in this country, and Ameri-
can manufacturers are able to compete
with the foreign trade.
The process used by this manufacturer
is known only to himself, and its secrets
are jealousy guarded. They apply, how
ever, more to the finishing and the differ
ent effects given by chemicals.
In a large room which the reporter en-
tered a dozen or mora men were busy at
little work benches. Thehum of shafting
and the squeaking Of Il bellows at regular
intervals lent their din to the scene of in
dustry, while the workmendeftly handled
the long black rods OF glass from which
the buttons We're made.
These rods, which are round, are about
four feet long and t~hree-fourths of IN
inch in thickness, and they are made III
Brooklyn. Three of them are taken at u
time by the button maker, held together,
and so placed on the bench that one end
Is Kept constantly over o tongue of fire,
the gas used being blown by wind from
the bellows, which is worked by steam
power, and is connected by pipes with
each work bench.
With little steel rod, held in one hand,
the button maker picks from the newly
molten mass of glass Il large drop. This
he skillfully holds in such a manner that
n mold made in two sections, like an iron
wise, shuts, catches the drop in It's mouth,
so to speak, presses it into the shape of
the dies and then swallows it. Upon be
ing swallowed, the button falls through
a pipe a couple of feet long and drops into
a pail beneath.
A feature of the pressing of the button
is that the eyelet is pressed into the but
ton at the same time, it having previously
been placed in the die. The buttons are
next washed in cold winter, and then the
rough edges left from the molds are cut
off by boys with scissors made for the
purpose. From here they are carried to
the edgers. The edgers are girls, ana
their work consists in giring the buttons
a finish with emery wheels.
The cutting and edging would be lone
away with, the manufacturer said, when
he got in some new molding apparatus
which he had devised himself.
The buttons at this stage nave the APP
p~earance of an ordinary black jet button.
Polishing them IN IL wheel of some pecu-
liar foreign wood, on the surface of which
q preparation is put, gives them n glossy
appearance. The mourning orcrapc effect
is attained by the pattern of the die, and
then by soaking the buttons in certain
chemicals.
Other effects and colors are made by the
use also of chemicals in conjunction with
heat.
With the new and approved appliances
fifty gross of buttons "a be made on one
press in n day. The eyelets used are made
of brass wire, which is run from Il spool
on to a small revolving rod. When taken
off this it has the appearance Of along
coil spring. This is placed in an enclosed
arrangement, and II circular saw of very
hard steel cuts it into as many little rings
as there are turns in the wire.
From the manufacturing department
the buttons are taken to the carders, gem
orally girls, who in another room place
them on cards and fasten them with
needle and thread. The cards are placed
in boxes and the buttons are ready for
market.
On a sample card shown the reporter
there were glass or jet buttons of nearly
every imaginable shape, color and effect,
from the sombre Grape to one sparkling
with silver and gold and countless other
colors.-New York World.