St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-01-19
MAKING RAILROAD MAPS.
A Description of the Methods Now in Us'
In the IInited States.

in the United States.
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, te-
dious and expensive. The plates soon
wore out, and maps were costly.
About this time the profess of making
| maps on wax was invented. 1t revolu=
tionized one kind of map-making. and
they became almost as cheap as news
papers. The map-maker works in q
room the temperature Of which can
not go below 900. Few men work at
it longer than four years. though
years of apprenticeship are required
to make them expert. The heat be-
comes uncomfortable in the end, and
they go into some other employment
Preparatory to making the original
plate, melted beeswax and sot1ie hard.
ening ingredients are poured on a
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 All eighth of an inch
thick. Rough pen and ink drawings
of the work to be done are given the
operators. They draw the hair lines
with sharp pointed instruments by the
aid of straight edges. The dotted lines
indicating county or township bounda-
ries are made with little wheels, on
whose narrow edge are cut the pecu-
liarly designed lines. All crooked
lines are made by hand, and require
an artists eye. The names Of towns,
rivers, countries 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 it's !
waxen cast is suspended in an e,actro-
tipping solution. The copper in the
solution covers the black lead and
forms a hard plate, which is called the
original. The wax is then pulled off
and the printing surface is then pre-
sented. The tin copper plate is backed
up with type metal and the plate is
ready foruse. 1t is usually preserved,
however, for the making of stereotype
plates, from which the actual printing
is done.
In the preparation of the etching
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 1t. Often many hun
dred thousand maps are ordered, and
from twenty to forty plates are made
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 sheet of
maps is printed at each impression.
The ordinary advertising map is fin
shed when it leaves the press, but the
others must 60 through more hands
before they are ready for use. But
his is the smallest part of the map. The
Unseen work--the preparation of the
original draft-represents time, labor
md moneg expended upon these ar.
icles. The method of preparing maps
or places of learning and for the use
# those engaged in selling property is
much more elaborate and costly. and
his fact will be fully realized when it
5 stated that map lately finished in
his city measuring sixty-fve inches
quare, was nearly six years under :
Iav. and. when finished. cost $50. 600.