The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1888-02-22
MANUFACTURE OF TooTHPIoKs.
A place Wh.re They Are Made by th
Million, and the Way The Are Made.

A place VIII. re They Are Made by the
Million, and the Way The. Are Made.
There are. have been told, but three
toothpick factories In tile U.G.ed States.
One OF them 10 located at Belmont. Allie
gary county. New Yoi k, jest on e.. g edge
of the town and near Tie tanks of the
Genesee r,ver.
In going over most factories one Is gen.
orally ushered In at the wrong end; that
Is, where the completed work is ready for
shipment This factory was no excep-
ton 10 the rule, butt will take you be-
low stairs first and we will then work up
ward gradually.
The factory makes two articles Of
commerce, toothpicks, as already stated.
and aliumettes, or lamplighters. TO
commence at first principles.
We started In the basement, and after
exploring the engine room betook our
selves to where the woodwork was In its
first stages. We found In tais second
room piles of circular blocks of wood
about sixteen inches In diameter by per-
haps five In thickness. This NO I'd was
Al hard and soft maple and pine.
These are put into revolving ma hne
which strips Them Of their bark they
are then sent up to the first floor. Here
they are again put into another revolving
machine winch cuts them into fine strips
which are then cut into the requ red
shape Tor toothpicks.
The "picks are dropped out at one
side while the refuse falls from the other
into shaft and Is carried down to the
basement and subsequently used for
firing. Some are round, some "a lare.
This little machine which makes them
appears simple enough to tho uninitiated
but in reality is quite comp icdtod, con-
tanning, weare Informed, several hundred
knives.
These small articles OF after-dinner
service are then taken up to the second
story, where they are kept in 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 room where
several girls and women and two or three
boys are at work.
One girl We find stamping thin paste
board boxes with press and then told
Ing these boxes by hand with rapidity
impossible to be followed by the eye.
The experienced fingers grow very MIN
bic.
On the other side OF the room girls
were sorting and arranging 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 boxing is this From the
large heap in front draw smaller guam
tity, yet several times larger than the
proposed bundle These little sticks lay
at skies and sevens as confused as the
most contrary pile Of jack sraws. The
first motion Is TO draw the pile toward
the WORKER, the second TO draw the
hands across the pile Iaterally and
carry of any offending sticks that Law 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 proper
tion. They were then quickly boxed and
thrown aside ready for the market.
IN Inc manufacture of the allumette
the wood was cut Into long strips of two
Inherent widths, four and half inches
for the narrower, and as l remember
about eight inches for the wide, and
thirty-second of an inch In thickness.
These were then hung froni l. INNS in
q dryldg-foom. and the DIR. ped. rio BON
ike effect oil Lac room was Scls ruaty.
Trey wereafterward put by the qaantity
into c'tttng machine, attended by a
Toy, whence sued the use,u allumetto
ready fof Dnadling ana boxing.
Ilis factory IS not only one of the
sights OF Allegany county, but Indeed
OF New York State, Tor, to the best of
my belief, tits the only one In New York.
Il Rochester Union.