Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-11-22
HOW IRON CHAINS ARE MADE
Some Valuable Information for Inquisi-
tive BOYS.

Some Valuable Information for 1nQuisi.
tive Boys.
1t is safe to say that there is not boy,
with eyesight, who has not seen an iron
chain, perhaps only common dog-chain, o.
perhaps the great chains from which ships
anchors are suspended. There is nothing
striking about chain except as an emblem
of strength, but to the ordinary boy there is
a mystery about the method of manufacture
which this article from the Pittsburgh Dis
patch may dispel:
1.-THE first operation is the making of the
links. The material comes in coils, each con.
tanning from eighty to one hundred and
twenty feet of round iron rod, which is of
uniform diameter and of various size, cor
responding to the different styles of chains.
"a piece of this wire is placed in the
groove of a powerful machine, the wheel is
started, a twisting motion impaired and the
iron comes forth in a spiral roll, looking as
the outer strand of a rope might If sep
arated from the component parts.
"Tbe groove into which the iron is
pressed, and the spindle-like arrangement
about which the coil is formed, make the
coil exactly uniform throughout, the links
being the same distance apart and of the
same size. The machine does its work rap
idly; but little time is consumed il convert
ing the eighty or more feet of rod into
shape for chain links.
1.-THE next step in the manufacture of
a chain is the cutting of the links.
The spiral coil goes from the hand of the
first workman to another who places it in
long sheet-iron trough, suspended as high
as a mans head one end being considerably
lower than the other.
zone end of the coil is then submitted to
the operations of the cutting machine,
which, at single blow, strikes off enough
of it for chain link The machine is regu-
lar and rapid in its motion. The workman
has only to hold the iron in position, and
from two hundred 10 two hundred and sew
enty-five links are cut every minute. They
drop into spout, and roll therefrom into
small cart, which Is hauled away when full
to the welding department.
$50 far, all the work has been done with
out the agency of heat, but the chain can
not be completed without the agency of
fire. The final operation is welding the
links together. Standing beside furnace
In which hot natural-gas fire is blazing,
the workman seizes piece of the white-hot
metal with his tongs, places it on die, and,
putting his foot on treadle, causes a
spring hammer to descend, giving shape to
the link.
1.-TWO other turns and two more blows of
the hammer, and the link is completely
formed and welded together. Another piece
is then taken from the fire and the open
end deity slipped around the link just
formed. 1t is then operated upon just as
the first link was-another is added, then
another; the chain is growing rapidly-so
fast, indeed, that two feet or more of it has
been finished before the red glow has died
out of the first link welded.
''Of the small chain, which the workman
is now making, the welding Of three thou
sand links is considered good days work
More can be made of smaller size and
less of larger. 1t is hot and noisy work"