The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-09-05
be hosting up old brass cannons and then
gold will come by the bucketful"
FRUIT BOXES.
How They Are Made From Chips 1000
Feet Long.
From the San Diego (CaI.) Union.

Feet Long.
From the San Diego (CdI) Union.
How many of those who every morning
buy box of berries, cherries. plums, or
other small fruit, of the grocer or vender
at the door, know how the little wooden
boxes which hold the fruit are madea
Light and fragile, thinner than pasteboard,
and apparently simple in construction
they are by far the best thing yet devised
for the handling and marketing of small
fruits.
They are made of shavings The thin
sheets of wood which forms the SIDES and
bottom of berry box, are nothing more
nor less than small pieces cut from great
pine, fir, or whitewood shaving, and bent
and fastened together in the shape of box.
These shavings, of course, are not IKE
those which fall in graceful curls from the
carpenters plane, but are great long sheets,
In each of which is almost the entire wood
of big log, and from Il single shaving is
frequently made from 1900 to 5000 berry
boxes.
To one who has never witnessed the man.
ufacture of berry boxes, every stage of tie
process is extremely interesting. A re-
porter recently visited tine works of the
Coronado Fruit Package Company, across
the bay, and there had an opportunity to
witness the operation of the machinery and
see the boxes made.
The logs, which are brought down from
the northern coast, are unloaded in the
waters of the bay and f1oated into the boom
close to the shore where the factory is To-
Gated From there they are hauled up on
tramway running down into the water, so
that the logs can be hoated upon the car.
When brought up, the logs are cut by Il
drag-saw into uniform lengths as desired.
These sections of the log are then placed in
a large steam box, of which there are sew
eral convenient to the machinery, and left
for twelve hours subjected to the effects of
the exhaust steam from the engine. This
softens the wood SO thatit can be cut into
the thin sheets desired, without checking or
splitting into fragments.
A section of a great log, three feet in
diameter, was rolled out from the steam
box by two men, and after the center had
been marked at both ends. was hoisted by
a small derrick and swung over machine,
the principal feature of which was a long
bevel-edged knife, firmly set in a strong
iron frame, in very much the same manner
as the blade of a carpenters plane is set.
In1eed the cutting portion of this machine
is great monster shaving plane, with the
edge of the blade fixed upward. The log
WIGS next lowered by the derrick to it's pro
per position. the operator of the machine
pulled a lever and two great clamps. with
strong. sharp pointed jaws two inches long,
advanced and pushed their iron teeth into
the marked centers at each end of the log.
The great wooden cylinder was now held
firmly in front of the blade of the immense
shaving plane, and when the operator
pulled another lever, the log commenced to
revolVo toward the cutting edge, exactly
like the strip of wood in a turner's lathe
revolveS toward the chisei. Another pull
by the operator, and the frame holding the
great blade began to move up to the re-
yolving log. When the knife came in con
tact with the steaming wood the outer edges
were peeled off in thin strips without
sound ct cutting, and the broad sheets
rolled ont under the blade as easily and
noiselessly as would slice of cheese under
a sharp knife.
After the water soaked, outer portion of
the log had been trimmed off In this man
ner; the operator adjusted, on the side of
the log opposite the cutting knife, a num-
Der of small chisel-like instruments, at the
end of each of which was small, sharp
cutting edge pressing against the log.
These little cutters are placed at various
distances. carefully measured by the opera
tor, and evidently formed an important
feature of She operation. When the log
again began its revolutions against the
the blade of the great shaving machine
there came out from under the knife a long,
wide, thin srip of wood, which the men
pulled out and rolled and folded up like
wall paper.
An examination of this great white
steamiug shaving showed that its entire
length was marked by parallel lines, cut
partially through the wood, made by the
little cutters at the back of the log, The
purpose of these lines was a mystery until
the operator earelessly broke off an end of
the great shaving, making a strip two or
three inches wide and quickly bent it into
the form of berry box complete excepting
the bottom. the points of bending were
the parallel liHes cut in the wood, which
made the operation of shaping the box
nothing but a simple mechanical move
ment.
The wood bent readily at the partial cuts
and formed the angles Of the box. Making
the bottom, of course consisted in exactly
the same operation, except that the strip
used for this portion was not so long, hav
ing only two cuts and three segmentS. The
middle segment formed Of course, the bot
tom of the bx, and the two at the end,
extended upward inside the frame formed
by the longer strip.
All but the small core of the log is turned
off into this long shaving, one-twentieth of
an inch in thickness and nearly LOCO feet
long, which is Solded and broken into CON
venient lengths for handling as fast as it
comes from the Hnlfe.
The machinery which thus in few min
utes converts a rough log into long paper
like sheet of wood, is called rotary We
neer machine, and in the factory are sew
eral of them of various sizes, the largest of
them being adapted to the shaving of logs
10 feet inches in length. This, by the
way, is the largest rotary veneer machine
in operation in the United States. The
thin sheets of wood, as fast as they are
taken from the machine, are placed upon
long table near at hand and pushed under
a knife operated by steam power, which
cuts the wood into narrow strips, length
wise, and of the proper width for The sides
and bottom of a berry box. The knife
which cuts the long shavings crosswise of
course cuts leng5hwise of the grain. The
narrow strips, at' fast as they are cut, are
taken away by boys and carried on an ele
vator to the s1o)nd d or of the building,
where a number of boys and girls rapidly
bind them into box form. The last step in
the manufacture, which is done by girls, is
fastening of the bottom and side strips to-
gether. This is done by peculiar looking
machine called a stapler, but which might
very properly be called wire sewing ma
chine. The girl operator has simply TO
turn the side Of tho box to be fastened over
q little plate, press her foot upon pedal
and the small wine, which is fed from a
cylinder, passes through the two strips, and
is clinched on the Other side. The work is
done very rapidly, and an immense num-
Der of boxes can be GJrned out In day.
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