The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-16

How Silks, Wooiens, Groceries ana ClSar1
That Are Saved from Fires Are Rejuve-
mated and Sold as Good as New to an
Unsuspecting Public.
There is but one house in the city, or in
fact in the country, that makes business Of
rehabilitating the salvage OF great fires, and,
as that house takes care Of salvage Of any
and all kinds from fourteen diGerentstates,
something of the scale upon which it is con-
Quoted can be imagined. As, OF course, ell
the goods saved from the flames are badly
| injured by water, they must ali be subjected
| to drying process. For this purpose there
| is upon the second floor Of the main building
| an immense drying room, which occupies the
| entire floor. In one corner Of the room is an
engine, with huge pipe extending the length
Of the room, from which short pipes open
downward, above / triple row of Stats about
( fifteen feet long, which extend across the
room at right angles to the wall the entire
| length of the building at intervals of three
feet These stats are set in galvanized hooks
and depend from strong timbers; from them
! when visited by the writer hung festoon
upon festoon Of cloth Of every hue and kind,
some scorched at the edges, others whole and
! perfect, and all soaked.
! The steam caused by their rapid drying
and tie intense heat Of the room made the
atmosphere almost unbearable, although ths
air is kept constantly in motion and con-
stantly changing by the great revolving fans
in the open windows.
TIE PROCESS OF DRYING.
Connected with the engine is an ingenious
arrangement for renewing the pile of plush
and velvet goods injured by water. II CON
sists Of large square box filed by steam
from the engine. This box has perforated
zinc top, and while the manipulation turns
the plush from side to side it is brushed by q
revolving brush; the air from the revolving
fans, near one of which it is placed, constantly
circulating over tho surface Of the goods,
dries it al the same time by evaporating the
steam. When this room is given over to the
drying of dried fruits, nuts, beans, rice, to-
bacco, coffee, cigars, and groceries Of every
kind, they are arranged upon huge perfor-
ated trays set upon Stats in tiers one above
TIE other The air, at a moderate heat, is
kept circulating over and around them by
means Of fans, and they are thus dried by
evaporation without injury.
Flour is very little injured by water, as a
paste forms upon the outer surface which
preserves the -four within from damage;
therefore it is simply necessary to remove
the slaves of the barrel, scrape OFF the outer
paste from the -four, and place it in a large
bin, from which it is sifted through an i'm
mense sieve, and reweighed and barreled.
Tea preserves itsalf in somewhat the same
way. A quantity Of tea saved from the
burning Of a tea warehouse aggregatinS 200,
0C0 pounds had been dried and was ready
for reboxing, whenit was found by chemical
analysis to be unfit for food on account Of
the river water with which it had been satu-
rated. Although to all appearances it was
as good tea as one ordinarily buys, and there
was nothing unusual in its taste, being unfit
for food it could neither be sold nor given
away. What was to be donel
AS a last resort it was decided to feed the
furnace with it, and for five months was the
entire building five stories heated with tea
for fuel.
HOW THE SALVAGE IS HANDLED.
Upon leaving the drying room and ascend
ing to the third floor the writer found num-
berlesS women and girls busy asserting the
dry goods which had just been returned from
the drying room. Some that were SO badly
burned at the edges as to be useless for any
other purpose were thrown aside to be sold
to manufacturers of cottage carpets, or to
the paper mills, to whom thousands OF tons
Of such refuse are sold every year. Other
pieces, mainly cotton CLOTH which is very in
Aammable, while not too badly burned for
use, are still damaged so much as to be IN
salable. These goods ara given to aid socie-
ties and the poor, and, when suitable, TO hos
pitfalls for bandages.
The fourth and fifth floors are devoted to
measuring goods, making them into bolts,
and clipping OF burned edges, the clipping
being done by a huge knife worked by lever,
which clips and presses a whole bolt by a
single movement They are then tic5eted
and made into lots and are ready for market
Hats and caps ere subjected to pressure to
expel the water, and are then dried and re-
blocked. 1t was interesting to observe the
busy worBmen and watch them take from
the bin, which must have contained many
thousands Of hats, a crushed, shapeleSS thing,
and watch it under their hands become as
perfect a hat as could be bought from a
fashionable halter.
The other buildings, which are part Of
the retaining establishment, are devoted
mainly to the care Of groceries and tobacco,
to rebagging coffee, spices, nuts, ETC., and TO
the renovation of cigars This branch Of |
the business is skillfully done. Tobacco, !
which quickly mods when wet, must be |
slowly and carefully dried IN order that its /
favor may not be injured, as must also /
cigars. The original packages are carefully /
counted. and an affidavit Of their number /
made TO the revenue department of the gov |
eminent, which furnishes free of charge the |
stamps for the new packages. Cigars receive /
new wrappers and boxes, and are sold in /
wholesale lots
All the processes described have been in /
vented and experimental with one by one. /
1t has been the work Of lifetime 70 bring |
them to their present perfection. The appa- /
ratus which is used for measuring cloth as
well as the many contr;va1ces for brushing /
and polishing goods Of all kinds injured by |
smoke and water, from pecan nuts 10 brass |
bedsteads, was invented bY the head Of the /
house, as well as all the other processes re
ferred TO in this articla
Great skill is required in removing stock |
from the ruins, as lack Of skill in this partic
ular would add greatly to the loSe<
The large cheap stores. as well as many
wholesalers, are the purchasers of reclaimed .
salvage. The goods when they come into 1
their hands are almost as perfect as when |
they came from the factory Chicago Trib-
une.
The Superstition of Three.
There is much sUperstitious regard Fer the .
number three in the popular mind. and the |
third repetition Of anything is generally /