Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1888-07-21
QUEER WORK FOR GIRLS.
ONLY IRON MILLS IN THE COUN-
TRY WHERE WOMEN LABOR
Barbed Wire Mills of Pittsburg
Work the Girls DO.

A Glance at the Bolt Factories and
Barbed Wire Mills of Pittsbure
Work the Girls DO.
There are probably thousand womer
in the city of PIttsburg who work il
iron mills making bolts, nuts, hinge.
and barbed wire. Over three years agC
the men who had been working in tn,
bolt works gave such dissatisfaction that
the proprietors decided to try girls Il,
the same work. The venture was such
a success that nothing would induce
them to go back to the boys and men,
Just about the same time the wire mil
was removed from Illinois to Pittsburg,
and as the girls were such success III
the bolt works it was decided to give
them trial in the wire mill. Once again
they made success, and the doors of the
hinge factory were thrown open to them.
For just this purpose the factories were
visited to see what KIND of people worked
three, what prospects they hal in life and
what they aimed at. At the first sigh,
of the bolt works one cannot believe ,ha,
anything bright or interesting could live
inside. At the call of the o. 80 \. VI.
whistle girls are seen coming from all
directions toward the factory. They are
generally dres ed tidy and well, and with
heir lunch baskets on their arms ar e not
unlike any working girl one may see.
The first thing they do after entering the
building is to change their street dress
for one to work in, tie up their hair, roll
up their sleeves, and, putting on cof-
fee-sack apron, are, ready to begin the
days labor. At o'clock the last whistle
blows, the wheels groan and screech as if
they were weary to resume another day s
work, but in little while they begin to
move with more rapidity and the noise
amounts to something terrific.
! The bolts and nuts, as they are called,
are fashioned by the brawny men on the
first floor. In crude state they are sent
ing touches are applied by feminine
fingers, ofttimes by very delicate ones.
The bolts are dumped into different bins,
according to size and length, and each
girl has one special kind to work on
The first work on the bolt is to point
it; that is, to make round end so that
it will enter the machine which cuts the
thread on it. The pointing machine has
an immovable socket at one side and
steam revolving knives facing it. The
operator, who is known as a pointer, :"
places the head of the bolt in the socket,
presses her foot On pedal. and the
sharp steel knives are forced against the
iron. Little bits of the iron fly, aud in
an instant she removes her foot and the
pointed bolts falls down slide into an
iron deposit box on the floor. While
the one hand and foot has been accom-
plishing this the other foot supports the
girl, goose style. and the other hand has
got bolt ready to be placel into the
socket the moment it is empty. Thus
for days, weeks and years, the pointer
handles one bolt after another for liv-
ing, being paid by the thousand. Ex-
pert workers have pointed 10000 bolts
day.
When the bolts are pointed they are
taken to the cutting quarters. These
machines are large, with deep sinks filled
with thick black oil. The bolts are
placed in slides and pushed by the
worker up into sharp steel dies. In an
instant the thread is cut on them. The
work is rather dangerous and care must
be exercised to keep the operators fin
gers from going into the open dies and
having their ends cut off instead of the
iron. The oil in which the girl is CON-
PEELED to work in order to keep the bolts
from getting hot and thereby breaking
has a very offensive odor and gradually
smears the worker from the root of her
frizzly bangs down to her run over heels.
Girls of any age, sixteen to fifty, work
in this department. Their pay by the
thousand averages from fifty cents to 81
day.
Little girls from six years up to twelve
put the nuts on the bolts and pack
them. The 'nutting on is also accom-
plished by machine power. The worker
puts nut on the plate, then, after
catching the head of bolt in the Jaws
above, she presses her foot on the pedal,
when, presto! the work is DONE At
long tables, built of substantial wood,
are rows of young girls, interspersed
with a scattering of women whom life
cast forth in their old age. They pile
the bolts, row after row, alternate heads,
then wrap them up in strong paper.
The wire works in South Pittsburg
are the only ones of the kind in the world
where female operators are employed.
The building covers about two acres.
and, being three stories high, gives six
acres of floor space. This is packed with
girls of all sizes, kinds and descriptions.
making barbed wire The wire proper
is made by men in another mill and
brought to this one in large coils of
about two feet in diameter, weighing
from one to 200 pounds. The first work
the girls do is to fill the spoo's. The coil
is thrown over wooden drum which
resembles bucket, bottom upward. on a
round table. The girl then puts in the
jaws of piece of machinery a large
spool which exactly resembles the bob
bin used in some sewing machines except
that it is of mammoth size. She then
loosens the end of the coil, fastens it to
the spool and starts the machinery. 1t
being automatic, she has nothing to do
but watch that things keep in order.
One spooler can attend two machines
and will supply all the wire they can use
in a day. The filled spools, or bobbins,
are distributed among the barbing
machines. These ma, hines are long
structures, holding the spools o. wire at
one end, table filled with barbs at the
centre and a wooden reel at the other.
The operator threads the ponderous ma
chine with the spooled Wire, the lever is
turned and the work begins. With both
hands she feeds the twisting wire with
barbs. The work looks painful because
the operator must keep her hands NOV
ing rapidly and dare not turn her head
aside lest piece 60 by unbarbcd, in
which case she would be fined the cost of
it.
All the machines are operated in a