The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-07-25
In a Cork Mandatory.
From New York Tribune.

lneIC IL II we'll VI
a cork mandatory which is difficult to
pierce. Ofthe 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 Nor
witch, Conn, and the rest in unfrequented
places. Six importers feed these concerns
with stock
A cork factory is an odd place. Scarce
" n sound comes from the buildings where
the industry is carried on. NOiseless ma
chinery whirls with great rapidity The
only sound heard is that of escaping steam.
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 prodigious size and live to the
ripe old age of $50 years. At 10 they
begin to bear, and continue to furnish new
crops of bark every five years. The har-
vesting occurs in the early spring. At
that season of the year large number OF
laborers are turned loose in the wilderness
and the barking begins. lncislons are
made around the trees and the bark Is
stripped off. 1t is then boiled to take out
the 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. The bark varies in
thickness from half an inch to five inches,
and the price fuctuates from three to
thirty cents pound.
At the factories it is placed in square
box and steamed to soften it, so that 1t can
be easily worked. Then it goes to the saw
and is cut into long strips. These saws
are different from ordinary saws, inasmuch
as they have no teeth. They are provided
with razor like edge instead. They make
1000 revolutions a minute, and If one
should be so unfortunate as to feed his I'm
ger instead of cork, amputation would
be Just as complete and clean.
From the saver the strips go to the
punching machine This is simple piece
of mechanism, furnished with punches of
all sizes. from three-eighths Of an inch to
five inches in diameter. 1t is operated
with lever and does its work as fast as a
man can handle it. The strips are punched
with the grain, and it requires no little
Judgment to guard against impcrfections IN
the bark. Its here that the greatest waste
in the material is experienced. From
strip of bark a trihe over 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
over the factory. Even those that are so
successful as to be nodded into IA useful
form have to be sorted and goodly num-
Der are rejected So that waste is one OF
the characteristic features of the manufac-
ture of cork. Within the last few years,
however. uses have been found for these
scraps which have considerably lessened the
manufacturers loss.
After being punched into circular form
the corks 90 to the tapering machine, where
their final preparation comes. This Is by
far the most interesting part of this inter
esting industry. Not so very many years
ago the only tapering machine known was
an ordinary man and his knife. 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 corks are put into an iron hand, which
CONVEYS them to an imaginary mouth, when
M comes 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 100 gross per day,
But bottle shoppers are not the only
things which are made Of cork. Many
specialties. 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 machinery where fric-
ton 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 mOnbn, anu llOuSdhuo VI NNA'..I "o
lost in this way. Things are different
now, however. All the waste is shipped to
this city and made into life preservers, cork
Jackets, cork sprinkled paper, in which
glass is packed, and liuoleum. This pull
verified 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 SUI
perior to those made of other materials.
In fact, they are so superior and come so
high that but few can afford the luxury
Every well furnished yacht, however, Is
thoroughly equipped with them.
The cork business is probably the only
industry known to the civilized world which
has no broker, dealer or so between. But
there are so few manufactures, and so Inn
tied demand for the goods, that such an
individual could not exc out an existence
in it alone Consequently the owners are
their own agents and they make their own
sales mostly 10 druggist and mineral water
bottlers, the corks being put up in bags
4 l.. al,