St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-02-23
STAMPED TlN.WARE.

STAMPED TiN.wARE.
How tho Unsu.peetinE Public Buy Tis
and Get lrc~.
II doubt not that It will be surprise
TO great majority of purchasers.
said Charles w. Ellsworth, OF the Chi
cago Stamping Company, ito learn
that the tin OF common use is not the
real article, but only shcet-iron or steel,
with an infinitesimal covering Of tin on
the surface. 1t is this fact that. in a
measure. makes dupes of the public
and works to the disadvantage Of rep
utable manufacturers In a box OF
good tin-plate which weighs 1l2 pounds
there are only about Ave pounds Of tin,
so you can see how delicate the film is.
Yet tir-plate is imported constantly
that weighs but ninety pounds to the
box. Besides there is difference in
the quality OF the filling. or black
sheets. as we call them. COke-Gnished
iron sheets are much inferior to char
cOal-iinished. and these. in turn, to
Besscmer steel. Hence there is wide
field for inferior manufacture, and the
market is glutted with goods that re-
tail ut a lower price than serviceable
articles could possibly be manufactured
for. When the public can get neat
looking stamped ware made Of infcrio,
plates ut mere song the better staple
Of goods is run out Of the market.
1.-The cost OF manufacturing poor
stamped ware is approximately the
same as it is for the best. The differ.
encc in the retail price of the two lief
in the stock. Poor plate tin requires
more intermediate steps before the
manufactured article is finished. since
the brittleness Of the filling will not
bear much OF strain without being
scanned and cracked. After being
stamped into the form required tho one
takes more rubbing to get out the tiny
crcascs than the other. 1t is all ma
chine work. you see. The beaded rim
on the inferior goods Is an imitation.
merely, there being no wire inserted to
strengthen the rim as in the case Of the
better staple. The masses think that
tin is tin and that it is the process oil
stamping that makes the articles retail
so cheap. They ought rather to think
that most tin is sheet steel. and that
when they want good stamped ware
they should go to a hardware store and
EOt TO 99-cent counters"
'.DOes the manufacture OF stamped
tinware require much skilled lab0r?'
NO; less, probably. than any other
class OF tin-wOrk. A man OF ordinary
intelligence can learn to operate q
machine in a day or two,
since all he has to do is TO put the
sheets in proper form under the die.
out creases, turning rims. and
redipping in molten tin, when this is
done. can scarcely be called skilled la
Dor. 1t is rather little higher form OF
labor. Boys do most OF the light
stamping. In fact, in tin manufacture
the wOrkmen require less preliminary
and get better wages in pro-
pOtOOu W tuC WOTA QOuC tudu Al duy
other industry l know Of. There is not
n detail OF the trade that bright man
could not become proficient in in from
eight months to year. and be compe-
tent to earn from $l2 to go week by
piece work. In stamped tin-work the
wages run ekout q or e25O a day.
Even girl solderers earn from = to $l2
r week on comparatively little exper-
fence.
"A significant fact regarding the
of stamped tinware is that
the workmen do not advance or grow.
as the phrase goes. The work doesn't
offer facilities for development Of per-
sOnal skill. 1t is chiefly feeding ma
chimes, and in a certain sense tho mon
become machines. A man Of ten years
experience is Of little more value than
a recruit OF month or two's standing.
A boy fifteen years Of age is worth As |
much for light stamping as he will be
-en years later, since the machines ne
or induce a certain degree OF |
speed or dexterity. Chicago NeUs.