St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-03-09
MAKING RAILROAD MAPS.

MAKING RAILROAD MAPS
ADsseripessa - the lGsthsAs New b uss
h the UsitsA 8tosss.
Tho method Of making railroad maps
Il described - follows: Up to 1870
maps were engraved ON stone. copper
or steel The process was slow. ~
dious and expensive. The plates soon
wore out. and maps were costly.
About this time the process Of making
maps on wax was invented. II revol,-
tionized ono kind Of map-making. and
they became almost - cheap - news
papers. The map-maker works IN .
room the temperature Of which can
not go below so. Few men work ut
IL longer than four years. though
years Of apprenticeship are required
to make them expert Tho heat b.
comes uncomfortable in the end. and
they 60 into some other employment
Preparatory to making the original
plate, melted beeswax and some hard
ening Ingredients are poured On .
highly polished metal table, For Ans
work tho wax is as thin - . piece Of
paper. but for the coarser kind the
waxen sheet 10 nm eighth Of m inch
thick. Rough pen and ink drawings
Of the work to be done arc given the
operators. They draw the hair lines
with sharp pointed instruments hy the
aid of straight edges. The dotted lines
indicating county or township bounda-
ries are made with little wheels. on
whose narrow edge are Gu: the pecu-
liarly designed lines. Ali crooked
lines are made by hand. and require
an artists eye. The names OF towns.
rivers, countries and the like are Inn
pressed in the wax in type. letter By
letter. Every impression must cut
through the wax to the polished steel
plate beneath. for the map 10 made
face down. When all the lines and
letters are in. the wax il placed under
. cooler temperature, which hardens
It. The wax 10 then covered with
black lead. and the steel plate with its
waxen cast Is suspended In an electro
tipping solution. Tho copper in the
solution covers the black lead and
forms hard plate, which IL called the
original. The wax Is then pulled on
and the printing surface IL then pre-
scented. The tin copper plate Is bached
up with type metal and the plate l.
ready for use. 1t is usually preserved.
however. for the making al stereotype
plates. from which the actual printing
is done.
In the preparation Of tho etching
great care u required to keep the wax
at the proper temperature. rs adegree
too low would make It hard 70 work.
and a degree too high would melt and
p,obably destroy it. Often many hun
dred thousand maps are ordered. and
from twenty to forty plates arc made
from the original. II the maps ara
small. SO many Of these plates - can
be conveniently used are placed eide
BY side on the presses, and q sheet OF
maps is printed at each impression.
The ordinary advertising map is I'm
ished when it leaves the press, but tho
others must 60 through more hands
before they are ready for use. But
this is the smallest part Of the map. The
unseen work-the preparation OF the
original draft-represeuts time. labor
and money expended upon these ~
ticles. The method Of preparing maps
for places of learning and for the use
OF those engaged in selling property 10
much more elaborate and costly. and
this fact will be fully realized when II
is stated that q map lately finished In
this city measuring sixty-five inches
square. was nearly six years under
wav. and. when finished. cost esc.OOQ
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