The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1890-06-06
HOW R II MADE.
Interesting Facts About an Umpire
tentious Industry.
rhs only business which Employs Nc
Brokers OF Go.Betweens, the Manu-.
fActurers Being Their Own Agents
and Selling Their vi Goods.

-
and Selling Their Own Goods.
There is y vail of mystery hanging
yer = cork mandatory which, 90
cording to the New York Tribune, is
difficult to pierce. OF the twenty fac
tories in this country non 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 New York, four in Boston, three
in Lancaster, Pa, three in Canada one
in Baltimore one in Pittsburgh, Pa,
in Norwich, Conn.,, and the rest in
unfrequented places. Six importers
feed these oncerns with stock.
A cork factory is an odd place.
Scarcely a sound comes from the build
ings where the industry is carried on.
Noiselcss machinery whirls with great
rapidity; the only sound heard is that of.
escaping steam. Cork is soft and
elastic, as every body knows, and is the
bark of q species of oak which grows
abundantly in Portugal, Italy and Spain,
principally in Spain. Tho trees grow
to a prodigious size and live to tho ripe
old age of $50 years. At fifteen they
begin to bear and continue to furnish
ncw crops Of bark every Ave years. Tho
harvesting occurs in tho carly spring.
At that season Of the year a large mum
Der of laborers are turned loose in tho
wilderness and tho barking begins. In
cisions are madc around the roe and
the bark is stripped of. 1t is then
boiled to take out tho sap, after which
it passes through the pressing process.
When dry it is cut, scraped, trimmed
and put up in bales like cotton for
shipment.
At the factories it is placed in q square
box and steamed to soften it, SO that it
can be easily worked. Then it goes to
the saw and is tut into long strips.
These saws arc different from ordinary
saws, inasmuch as they have no teeth.
They arc provided with a razor-likc
edge instead. They make 1000 revolu-
tions a minute, and II n should be SO
unfortunate as to fccd his finger instead
of cork, amputation would be just rs
complete and clean.
From the saver tho strips go to the
punching machine. This is a simple
piccc of mechanism, furnished with
punches of all sizes, from thrce-cighths
Of an inch to five inches in diameter.
1t is operated with a lever and does its
work as fast as q man can handlei 1t.
The strips arc punched with the grain,
and 1T requires no little Judgment TO
guard against imperfections in the bark.
1t is here that the greatest waste in tho
material is experienced. From a strip
of bark a trile over q foot long only .
,lozcn corks a be mako and half of the
material is lost. But tho wastedocs not
end here. 1t goes tagging the cork all
ovcr the factory. Even those that are
so successful as to be nodded into q use
full form have to be sorted and q goodly
number arc rejected. So that waste is
ono OF tho characteristic features of the
manufacture of cork. Within the last
few years, however, uses have been
found for these scraps which have cor.
siderahly lessened tho manufacturers
loss.
After being punched into circular
form the corks go to tho tapcring nla-
chine, whore their final preparation
comes. This is by far tho most interest
ing part of this interesting industry.
Not SO very many years ago tho only
tapcring machine known was IN ordinary
man and his knife. Now handmade
corlls are unknown. This finishing ma
chine is nothing more or less than a
lathe, the knife of which moves after tho
manncro of an old-fashioned apple-peeler.
Tho corks are put into an iron hand,
which conveys them to an imaginary
mouth, when upcomes the knife and the
,ilavings fly. Tho finished cork then
lrops out of place to make room for an
cther. When running tho machine re-
scmoles U hungry man. Its capacity is
about one hundred gross per day.
But bottle shoppers arc not tho only
things which arc made Of cork. Many
specialtics, such as cork washers of
various sizes, caps for pocket TASKS and
kerosene oil cans and sliced corks are
manufactured also. Sliced cork is used
for insoles. 1t is also used in silk ma
.hinery 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 tho troublesome oil, which
,.ats 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 lost in this way. Things
arc different now, however. All the
waste is shipped to this city and made
into lifc-prescrvers, cork jackets, cork
sprinkled paper, in which glass is
packed and linolcum. This p~ulverized
stuff is also extensively used to pack
Malaga grapes in, being handy, safe and
light. Bed mattresses and yacht cushions
are also made of the shavings and are
superior to those made of other mate
iials. In fact they are SO superior and
come so high that but few can afford the
luxury. Every well-furnishcd yacht,