Milford chronicle., 1888-09-21
HOW A SWORD IS MADE.
FROM THE CRUDE IRON TO THE
HIGH TEMPERED BLADE.

AHdfN EWTEnEO bkADEs
Resting the Finished Weapon on a Stone.
Process of Preparing the steel-The
"erind AIm'-Great Skin of the Grind
er-completion.
Here you are, he said. "see if Won
can knock piece out Of the sword on
that stone"
took the handle in both hands and
struck the stone with all my might. But
to my astonishment piece few of the
stone, while the sword did not show even
the least evidence Of the blow.
Every one of these weapons has to
stand that test, I was informed cor we
do not put the mark of our firm on It.
nor do we deliver it as a first class
weapon"
went all through the factory, which
employs over 200 men exclusively In the
manufacture of fine weapons. They are
now filling an order for the German gov
ernment for new bayonet. Eight hun
dred thousand are to be made, and the
firm delivers 1900 day. The weapon is
twelve inches long, and the government
pays six marke for each Of them when
finished.
Before piece of steel is converted into
such an instrument of war it has to 90
through quite a process. To show me
this Mr. Koch took me into large space
at one end of the factory, where at once
noticed pieces of steel varying In length
from ten to twenty feet, standing all
around the walls In the center Of the
room stood large machine, where one
man and boy were occupied.
THE RAW MATERIAL
''Ihis is where the steel is cut beforeit
has received a stroke yet toward the
shape Of sword, so we might call this
the storeroom for raw material" Thus
my kind informant began his sexplanation.
The long pieces Of steel, which wero
about p inches wide. were then put under
the machine and by the turning of a crank
pieces Of aboue twelve inches fell one
after-the other into a. basket The boy
then handed the man another piece Of
steel, put an empty basket under the
machine and carried the short pieces into
an adjoining apartment. We followed,
and from the number of fires all around I
guessed that we must have arrived at the
forges. And 50 It was. Each one of |
these pieces of steel was put into the
fire, and when it was white with heat, a
man put it under steam hammer, which |
struck the heated steel In rapid success
sion about twenty times ON every particle /
of its surface. When It was pulled out, |
the pieces was about eighteen inches |
long. 1t was now thrown into a large /
barrel filed with water. Now the would /
be sword had gone through the harden
ing process, and q number of bows /
gathered them again into baskets to carry .
them to the rolling department In the /
front of each of these rolls had my at
tentioR called to a big coke fire This fire
was stirred up to an enormous heat, and
then the pieces of steel were one by one
put into the fire. There are two men 'oc-
cupied at each roll, viz.--the roller and
his helper. As soon as the steel is hot
again 1t comes under the roll, from where
It emerges about one-eighth Of an inch
thick, and the eventual shape of the
sword stamped on it.
Again the pieces of steel are carried
of, and this time they go to the center
presses, where they are put under con-
trivance which cuts the margins off the
steel, and when they leave here You can
see that the thing looks like a sword.
hitherto, however, you have seen moth
ing but dark blue piece of dirty steel,
while we now come into the departments
where the metal Is frightened. There is
at first the grind mill" This is a large
place which looks like barn. From one
end of the room to the other I observed
rows Of immense grindstones, some Of
them eight feet in diameter.
THE GRINDERS SKILL.
In this factory saw forty stones, and
IN front Of each sat grinder. He has a
little wooden seat, wears a woolen shirt,
no cap and pair Of overalls. But over
the latter up to his knees he has wooden
TntfnTu rnhda ont ~ forr,, ,,fooo., .--ooI
His feet are also inclosed in wooden shoes. ,
The stones are turned by steam and ,
gatered automatically. In the front Of
his stone the man sits from O'Clock in
.he morning until 10 o'clock at noon.
Then he has an hour for dinner, when he
ITS down again from / o'clock until G
reloek In the evening. He has a boy who
rings him the instruments as he wants !
hem. The grinding department is the !
most important In the entire factory. and
he grinder has to be very skillfui. He !
las to have a keen eve; he must know :
vhen to press the steel hard against the =
tone and when not A single scraping I
the stone too much spoils the whole .
Weapon, and it has to be thrown away. :
lost of the other work is mechanical,
Thile here 1t Is intelligence that does the e
york satisfactorily. 4
from the grinding stone the piece of n
teel comes bright and sharp. 1t is now :,
2ken to the furnishing rooms This part y
the work is chiefly performed by boys, :,
no vary in age from 10 to 10 years. In :,
his place there are a number Of wheels, y
ut they are very small. Some of them 3
re of stone, Others are covered with =
'ather, which, If the al5iclehas to receive 4,
polish, IS covered with. powder which =,
'nds the blade high polish. The knob y
nd the back Of the handle are now bril- y
antly Furnished, and the weapon is al :,
sady very dangerous. But still it is un- y
nished. The different holes which are =,
lade IN the handle, the one which fastens "
lablade on the gun and several others .,
70 now bored. This is done, however, =.
y machinery, and takes but a very short n
me. Then the handle is covered with n
ather, and now that the blade itself is N
loroughly completed, it is taken to the "
room.
In this department we find, as a rule, a w
umber Of old men who have been at y,
ork for the firm for long years. They e
q not able to do actual hard work, but at 81
ill In this department their services are ~
ldispensable. Their duty is, in fact, to 81
famine the article and see whether there Il;
a blemish anywhere. As soon as he -, -,
elects flaw ho knows where it was - -
me, whether In the furnishing, the %
'inding, the rolling, or any other de-
lrtment, and the man who is found to
we made the mistake has to make it
)od, or, in other words, he has to pay &C
2 the damage. -SOlingen Germany Cor. du
ttsburg Dispatch. hi