Wichita eagle., 1890-01-30
IN A CORK MANUFACTURE.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AN
uNPRETENTIOUS INDUSTRY.
Where the Bark Is Obtained and What
1t Carbohydrates neutrality-suspicious.
Other Than the Bottle StopPer-A Bust
ness Surrounded by Mystery.

1t Costs-Noisel.ss neutrality-suspicious.
Other Than the Bottle Stopper-A Bust
ness Surrounded by Mystery.
There is veil Of mystery hanging over a
cork mandatory which is difficult to pierce.
Of the twenty factories in America none
will receive visitors. Their employees labor
behind barred portals and only differ from
state charges in not wearing barred clothes.
OF these twenty factories four are in this
city. four in Boston. three in Lancaster,
Pa, three in Canada, one in Baltimore, one
in Pittsburg, one in Norwich, Conn, and the
rest in unfrequented places. Six importers
feed these concerns with stock.
A cork factory is an oGd place Scarcely
sound comes from the buildings where the
industry is carried on. Noiseless machinery
whirls with great rapidity. The only sound
heard is that of esca ping steam.
THE EARLY STAGES.
Cork Is soft and elastic, as everybody
knows. and is the bark of species OF oak
which grows abundantly in Portugal, Italy
and Spain, principally in Spain. The trees
grow to a prodigious size and live to the ripe
old age of $50 years. At Is they begin to
bear. and continue to furnish new crops OF
bark every five wears The harvesting oc-
ours III the early spring. At that season OF
the wear a large number of laborers are
| turned loose in the wilderness and the bark
ing begins. Incisions are made around the
trees and the bark is stripped off. 1t Is then
| boiled to take out the sap, after which 1t
| passes through the pressing process. When
dry it is cut, scraped, trimmed and put up In
bales like cotton for shipment. The bark
,.ol, fp0- hal n
incnes and the price fluctuates from three to
thirty cents a pound.
At the factories it is placed in 4 square box
and steamed to soften it, SO that 1t can be
easily worked Then it goes to tie saw and
is cut into long strips These saws are differ
ent from ordinary saws, inasznalch as they
have no teeth. They are provided with a
razor like edge instead. They make ], 900
revolutions u minute, and if one should be 50
unfortunate as to feed his finger instead OF
cork. amputatson would be just Is complete
and clean.
From the saver the strips go to the punch
ing machine This is a simple piece OF me
chanism, furnished with punches CT all sizss,
from three-eighths of an inch to five inches
in diameter 1t is operated with lever and
does its work as fast as man can bundle it.
requires no little Judgment to guard against
irnperfections in the bark 1t Is here that
the greatest waste in the material is expert
enced. From a strip of bark srisie over a
foot long only dozen corks can be made,
and half of the material is lost. But the
waste does not end here. 1t goes tagging the
cork all ove, the factory Even those that
are SO successful as to be nodded insoa useful
ad md
are rejected So that waste is one of the
characteristic features of the manufacture
of cork. Within the last few years, how
ever. uses have been found for these scraps
which have considerably lessened the. manu-
facturer's loss.
SOME OF THE THINGS MADE.
After being punched into circular form
the corks go to the tapering machine, where
| their final preparation coI,ies Inns Is by
| far the most interesting part of this interest
| ing industry. Not so very many years age
the only tapering machine known was an
ordinary man and his lnife. Now hand
made corks are unknown This finishing
machine is nothing more or less than lathe
the knife of which moves after the manner
of an old fashioned apple peeler. The cork:
are put into an iron hand, which convey:
the knife and the shavings fly. The finished
cork then drops out of place to make room
for another. When running the machine
resembles hungry man. Its capacity is
about LOO gross per day.
But bottle shoppers are not the only things
which are made of cork. Many specaalties
! such as cork washers of various sizes, caps
for pocket TASKS and kerosene oil canS and
ol,< he fa< ~eS6 ale
cork is used for insoles. 1t is also used in
silk machinery where friction occurs The
cork washers are fast taking the place OF
rubber ones, and are now considered the only
thing with which to pack valves, as the
| Troublesome oil, which eats up rubber, has
| no effect on cork.
| Before uses were discovered for the waste
some hundreds of tons were burned up every
| month, and thousands of dollars were los
in this way. Things are different now
| however. All the waste Is shipped to thu
city and made into he preservers, cork jack
cts. cork sprinkled pepper, in which glass i:
packed, and lnoleum. This puverized stuff
is also extensively used to pack Malaga grape:
in, being handy, safe and light Bed mat
tresses and Yacht cushions are also made OF
the shavings and are superior to those mad.
| of other materials. In fact they are so SUI
| perfor and come so high that but few car
afford the luxury. Every we'll furnished
yacht, however, is thoroughly equipped with
them.
The cork business is probably the only in
dustry ku own to the civilized world which
has no broker, dealer or go between. Blu
there are so few manufactures, andso LIMITED
demand for the goods, that such an indi
vidual could not exc out an existence in i
alone. Consequently the owners are thGl
own ageniss and they make their own sales
mostly to druggists and mineral water bot
tiers, the corks being put UP in bags and solt
by the gross--New York Tribune.