The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-01-04
FROM WOOD TO TIN PLATE.
ADVANCES MADE IN A GENERAT ION
BY DAIRY FARMING.

Timed Plate II Made in South Wales
Oniy-In Effect, Therefore. 1t Is . Raw
Material In tho United states-rhe Tariff
Thereon Is Nonsense.
People of middle age can well remem-
Der the old wooden and earthenware
utensils used in dairy farming thirty
years ago. The cows were MIXED into .
small wooden pitcher, and then the milk
was passed through hair strainer with
wooden sides. Then the milk found its
next resting place in large, cool. earthen-
ware pans, where it remained until the
cream came to its surface.
Az soon as this happened the skinned
milk was given to the calves for food,
i while the cream was turned into butter
or cheese. Everything was hard work
in those good old days. There was much
scalding dairy utensils. and everything
had to be kept scrupulously clean. But
all this was before the introduction Of
timed plate for general use.
Timed plate contains very little tin.
The body of timed plate is now COM
posed of the finest Bessemer or Siemens-
Martin steel. Formerly, it was made Of
sheet iron. These steel sheets are first
rolled out of bar steel and afterward
dipped in pure melted tin. Then the tin
is thoroughly incorporated by means Of
| acids with the surface of the steel sheets,
and the sheets. consisting of 95 per cent
of steel and 5 per cent. Of pure tin, are
polished, cut in squares and packed in
wooden boxes.
There is apparently only one place in
the world where the operation of max
ing timed plates can be carried out on a
profitable basis. Even at that place it is
a very poor business. There are no more
miserable wage earners in Great Britain
than the South Wales timed plate work
ers. But the process is largely one car
ried out by simple hand labor. In one
sense the work is unskilled, but, like the
manufacture Of horseshoe nails, it seems
to run in families. The entire cost of
making and packing timed plate in
Wales is only 8 cents a pound. In the
United States the steel plates alone would
cost cents pound without the addi-
tional cost of timing.
Nothing ever struck the American
people as being so useful as timed plate.
It could be turned into pots and pans
and light saucepans 1t made conven.
lent nutmeg crater. and still more con
venient spice box. 1t drove out the
clumsy wooden dairy utensils used in
dairy work. 1t found place on ROOT
tops to keep out the rain. No other ma
ton could have found the innumerable
uses for timed plate that this country
has done: but then no other people have
our practical inventive powers.
When timed ware began to be exten
sively used in dairy work, it created {
revolution in this industry. For thu
first time it became possible to transport
fresh milk to points distant from ths
dairy. It is not so many years bach
since the milk supply of New York city
was obtained from dairy farms withir
} walking distance. Now procession o.
milk trains. from points eighty to hun
dred miles distant. each morning rol
into the railroad stations around and il
the city.
Timed plate utensils are not 80 easily
kept clean as glazed crockery ware, bu
} then the timed plate vessels are no
: broken so easily as crockery ware. Blu
2 timed plate is much cleaner for dair,
purposes than the wooden ware whicl
it drove out.
? No timed plate is made in the Unite'
States. To all intents and purpose
timed plate is a raw material as
reaches our shores. As q raw materia
it gives rise to many very large indus
tries. The canned goods industry ha'
. its rise and enormous development il
the cheap tin wrappers which could b
put around meats and fruits to preserv
g them, and which could be afterward
, thrown away as practically valuelesf
D The size of this trade may be inferre
> from the fact chat 600, ,OOO,O00 time
j. cans are used in it every year.
o The petroleum refners are also larg
users of timed plate. Last year the
e took 102.00o,O00 l10-pound boxes {
q timed plate. But nearly one-third {
e the total quantity of tin imported int
y this country is used in dairy farming.
J. In all these industries it is importal
l. that the raw wrapping material shoul
n be as cheap as possible Every or
It would grumble if they had to pay ha
y a cent to the United States governmel
6 on every piece of paper with which the
d wrapped up a parcel If it was in W,
e time or with an empty treasury, it wou
# not so much matter. But in time
o peace. with overflowing Golfers, it woul
o soon be intolerable.
Yet every tomato can pays half a Gel
y duty to the government through tt
n tariff on timed plate. Every forty qua
C milk can has in like manner paid dut
(. to the amount Of thirty cents. Thir,
n cents is not much in itself. but when it
+ found that fully $2,5O0. 900 is paid ever
d year in duties on timed plate which 20
to make dairy utensils. tho effect ougl
3 to be startling.
v Farmers are slow to realize their shal
t Of this tax. But let each dairy farm,
n who reads these lines 20 around his far
. and count up all the half cents he hi
e given unnecessarily to the governmen
y then all the cents on larger article
d finishing up with thirty cents on h
2 forty quart milk cans. When he h.
done this let him add them up and figul
= out what he could do with the money
!, It was in his pocket where it ought to b
. In the first eight mdnths of 1883, thirt,
. five woolen mills failed. with liabilities
D $2.500.000. In the first eight months (
Q the present year forty-six woolen mil
4 e.,~l .Al ~: t.,:A:~. q y, nnn nNn IN =.