Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-01-31
MAKING RAILROAD MAPS.
An Interesting Description of the Method
Used in Their Production.


/
The method of making railroad maps
is described as follows: Up to 1870
maps were engraved on stone, copper,
or steel. The process was slow,
tedious. and expensive. The plates
soon wore out, and maps were cost
". About this time the process of
making maps on wax was invented.
1t revolutionized one kind of map
making, and they became almost as
cheap as newspapers. The map-maker
works in room the temperature of
which can not 60 below 90 degrees.
Few men work at it longer than four
years, though years of apprenticeship
are required to make them expert. The
heat becomes uncomfortable in the end,
and they go into some other employ
ment.
Preparatory to making the original
plate, melted beeswax and some
/ hardening ingredient are poured on
highly polished metal table. For fine
work the wax is as thin as a piece of
paper, but for the coarser kind the
waxen sheet is an eighth of an inch
thicker. Rough pen and ink draw
| ing of the work to be done are given
operators. They draw the hair lines
with sharp-pointed instruments by the
aid of straight edges. The dotted
lines indicating county or township
boundaries are made with little wheels
on whose narrow edge are cut the
! peculiarly designed lines. All crooked
lines are made by hand and require an
artists eye. The names of towns,
rivers, counties, and the like are i'm
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 is made
! face down. When all the lines and
letters are in the wax is placed under
| a cooler temperature. which hardens
it. The wax is then covered with
black lead, and the steel plate with its
waxen cast is suspended in an electro
tipping solution. The copper in the
| solution covers the black lead and
| forms hard plate, which is called the
! original. The wax is then pulled off
and the printing surface is presented.
! The thin copper plate is backed up
with type-metal and the plate is ready
for use. 1t is usually preserved, how
ever, for the making of stereotype
plates, from which the actual printing
is done.
In the preparation of the etchings
great care is required to keep the wax
at the proper temperature, as degree
too low would make it hard to work,
and degree too high would melt and
probably destroy it. Often many hum
dred thousand maps are ordered, and
from the original. If the maps are
small, so many of these plates as can
be conveniently used are placed side
by side on the presses, and a sheet of
maps is printed at each impression.
The ordinary advertising map is
finished when it leaves the press, but
the 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-represents the
time, labor, and money expended upon
these articles. The method of prepar-
ing maps for places of learning and
for the use of those engaged in selling
property is much more elaborate and
costly, and this fact will be fully
realized when it is stated that a map
lately finished in this city, measuring
sixty-fve inches square, was nearly six
years under way, and, when finished,
cost $40, 000.-PhiIadeLphia Record.