The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-08-25
DANA ON TIN PLATE.

L
factory in Brooklyn that must have
been of genuine interest to all its read
ers. The Mugwump press has taken so
much solid comfort in ridiculing the
American tin-plate industry that de-
tailed description by the leading Demo-
cratic paper of America of tin-plate
plant which is pronounced without an
equal" cannot fail to attract attention.
"The Somerton Tin Plate Works.
says the Sun, is one of the finest If not
the very finest of its kind. Everything
about the building is substantial and
fireproof. The plant" it proceeds in
| further description, sis $40 feet in
length and 76 feet wide. 1t is two
stories high and has a basement twenty
feet deep, in which the boilers and en-
| gine are located. A Corliss engine of
1000 horse power Here is where RHODE
ISLAND comes in. will furnish power for
the rolling machines. 1t is six-mill
plant, and the quantity Of tin plate that
it is capable of producing will be aston
ishing." These admissions are calcu-
lated to make the astonished free
trader rub his eyes. People don't put
up fire-proof buildings with 1000 horse
power Corliss engines in their Easements
to turn out a little sham product for
campaign purposes, and these, the pro-
spective supporters of Cleve and Steve
have been assured, is all the tin plate
''bluf'' amounts to.
"In one corner of the MILL" the in
cautiously frank Sun continues, sis
ponderous automatic picking machine,
where the steel plates are picked in
sulphuric acid before they are put in
the roller. The machine is a complicated
piece of work and cost the firm thous-
ands of dollars" The man who has had
it dinned into his ears for two years that
nobody did and nobody could make tin
plate in this country is by this time
thoroughly awake, and he Fuckers up
his brows in perplexed inquiry as he
comes to the next paragraph.
in position in the centre of the mill.
These machines, like the picking, are
complicated machinery. To the timing
machines are attached bronze cradles,
into which the steel plates go, after
which they are submerged in an acid
trough. When this process is COM
pleted the steel is heated in furnaces
and then put through the roller, pro-
ducing thin plate" The puzzled Demo-
crat is quite ready to cry Where am
at" but the Sun is not yet through
with him. ''Ihere are annealing fur
naces, also, for white plates as well as
black plates. The plates are put into
wrought-iron pots and sealed. Each
pot is of half-ton weight. The plate
is heated to red heat in the annealing
furnace and afterward allowed to COOL"
All this is hard and sad, but the Sun
rubs il in. Besides the engine in the
basement there is system of six-inch
driven wells which will supply the con-
densers of the engine with pure cold
water, and will wash the vats, besides
being used for other purposes in the
mill. The wells will turn out 1000
gallons of water minute. In the
north end of the basement is also
a small tunnel I'm which rail-
road track is to be laid and through
which the metal is to be carried in small
cars from the boats in Gowanus Canal"
IL will occur to many Of his party that
Dana might have kept dark about these
things until after election. Instead of
keeping dark, however, he lights up the
situation with the handsome acknowl-
edgement that there are few shafts in
America as large as the one that will
transmit power for the manufacture of
American tin plate" aud that the plant
has cost its owners "more than $780,
0O0"
The mill Is to start September and
turn out 5000 boxes per week. Brer
Dana gloats over it, and whether
his gloating is induced by his
unselfish love Of truth for. truths
sake, or by his willingness to
"queer" the canvass of Brer Cleveland
in the interest of Brer Hill the NEWS
does not at this writing pretend to say.
II is due to the venerable Charles A. to
acknowledge that single-handed he has
consistently upheld the doctrines of the
Randall Democracy. He has had no
thanks for it and will get more kicks
than half-pence this time, but it is
enough for Republicans to take their
enemys acknowledgment and serenely