The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-12-12
AAAkINe TlN-PlATEs

MAKING TEMPLATES
How Tsn-PIAtes Ars Made In VvaIes-A La
n2s,ons aEd UnUholesome AsznsfActurs
Asks the Country 40 UaGertahe-PayInSr
SH5soOc.oOo 10 Get WeI-hmen Come 80
EEnrrioa and Earn s3s7OO. 600 In WaEeA
AS the American people arc now to
be compelled by law either to make
Their own tin-plates or else to pay n
very high price for them by reason of
| the Mckinley tariff law, it is interest
ing to know just what is the process of
ttn-piste manufacture What is known
as tin-plate is composed of sheets OF
steel with a thin coating of tin, the lat
| ter being only about five per cent OF
the weight of the finished product
/ The FIRST step in the manufacture IS
/ to prepare the steel sheets These are
made from open-hearth steel for the
| best quality of tin-plates, or from low
/ carbon Bessemer steel for the cheaper
/ qualities a bar of steel fifteen inches
/ long, seven inches vide. from one-haIt
| to fve-eighths of inch thick, and
weighing nineteen pounds, is rolled
! into sixteen sheets measuring I4x2O
/ inches This bar is first heated red hot
and then put through the chilled rolls,
after which it is relocated and rolled to
= thinness VII 'ch will permit it to be
easily doubled. After it is doubled it
| is heated again. rolled three times in
! succession, and doubled at the Same
| thickness This mass is then sheared
through the middle, and girls with
hatchets separate the sheets from each
other.
The sheets are now ready for the
! picking house. Here they are put in
to cradle, or cage. which is lifted by
| hydraulic power and lowered into a tank
containing dilute sUlphuric acid, the
whole mass being made to revolve in
the acid for some tine. The cage is
then dipped into fresh water and again
! reVclved in order TO remove ALI tho
acid. When taken out the sheets are
found to be bright and clean, and are
now ready for the annealing process
They are shut up in iron annealing pots
al a brIght-red heat for twelve TO six
teen hours
After being taken out they arc passed
three or four times between cold rolls,
which arc highly polished, and must be
set with the utmost accuracy. The
sheets are now annealed again at a
lower temperature, and arc once moro
p'cklcd in 4 weaker acid After a final
ing they are gone over carefully.
no at a time and such sheets as need
it arc secured with sand, the worker
using a pad of hemp
But all this is only half of the pro
cess we have as yet only steel sheets
These are now taken to tho tin house
and are placed in a trough of clear
| water TO await the ttnrnan- lie taxes
up the sheets separately and puts them
in pot containing palm oil, in which
they are soaked for short time. Tho
sheets are now placed in n large iron
pot containing molten tin, on which 4
covering of palm oil floats Tho tin
man removes the sheets from this first
| pot and passes them over to the wash
man." who immerses them in 4 second
pot of molten tin. After they have
soaked awhile he raises them singly
| with tongs, as he requires them, brushes
| off both surfaces and gives each sheet a
final dip in another pot of molten tin.
The sheets are then run through rolls
which work in a IL "go pot of palm oil.
a boy passes tho sheets one at a time to
a girl who rubs them moment in bran
to remove the grease. Another girl
| finishes this part OF the work, and the
| sheets then go to the asserting room
Here the good plates are selected and
assorted according to quality, and de-
fective platos rejected. They are then
counted by young women and made up
into bundles and piles for packing into
boxes The boxers now take charge of
these piles and pack them into elm
| boxes holding los pounds. The final
process is to brand the boxes, and they
are then ready for shipment
Tho timing process here described is
| that known as the ''palm-oil process. -
| by which the best tin-plates are made.
Another process is known as the acid
| flUX process" in which tho pots of
motion tin are covered with mixture
| of zinc BYdrochl orate and water, in
| place Of the palm-Oil- This process
| does not produce such good tiR-piates
as the ''palm-o1 process"
! An American manufacturer who has
| seen tho whole process in Wales, where
pract cally all the tin-piates used in tho
world are made, desert bes the work as
being extremely unhealthy in some
I parts of the process. In the picking
rooms" he says. the employees all loso
their teeth and are otherwise so scarf
fed as scarcely to appear human. The
other part Of the work is not specially
unhealthy, but owing to the rank odoF
of the oil used, is very unpleasant and
| filthy"
The Welsh people have long been en-
gagged in the manufacture OF tin-pIatc,
and so expert have they become that
only % 600 or 80 600 persons, at least half
of whom are boys and girls, are required
to produce the worlds supply As an
other evidence OF their skill it may be
stated that the price of these plates has
been greatly lowered within the past
ten or fifteen years In 1874 tin-plates
; sold in England as high as cents a
; pound but according to the Treasury
reports our tin-plates as entered
at the the custom houses in 1889 were
2 valued, exclusive of duty at cents a
pound. Tho imports for 1890 came in at
about 8 cents Under the Mex .nley
; duty of 90 cents a pound oar importers
l will be compelled to pay cents 4 pound
or more.
: In order to SEQ just what this McKin-
s ley duty means It IS necessary to deal
s with our total tin-plate imPOrtat ons-
During the fiscal year ended June 80.
1890. we imported $50 SIS. 625 pounds at
, a cost exclusive of duty. of $50. 92i, 220.
The duty on this, under the old rate of
{ one cent per pound, was Sc, T9s, 900.
4 Under the Mckinley duty of .. cents
3 the duty on the same amount VIII be
a | SI4 056 OO0
' What is to be the gan to the country
) for this increased taxation? Even II
: we should ever succeed in making all
the tin-pistes that VIC need, the num-
l Der of additional laborers who will thus