Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-11-17

in w. Ran dolph during the past season was
the rebuilding of the u. S. Screen factory,
which was destroyed by fire Feb. "a, 1892
Rather than allow this industry to leave
our beautiful village, quite a number of
our citizens organized a stock company to
erect a building and to furnish motive
power for carrying on the business. The
contract for erecting the factory, dry
house and engine house, also for setting
the boiler and engine, was given to the
Screen Co., which consists of Messrs. j..
w. Atwood and J. II. Burt and they have
reason to feel proud OF what they have
accomplished.
Early this week the writer called at the
factory and had the pleasure of being
shown over the entire works by one OF
the proprietors.
We first entered the boiler room, which
is 35x11 #. and rs #. in height. In this
room Is q fine Atlas boiler OF 125 horse
power, containing 81 four-inch tubes.
The top OF the boiler is completely cover
ed with asbestos. The floor OF this room
is made of cement, the walls are OF brick
and the doors leading into the coal room
and engine room are covered with heavy
sheet iron, thus making the room fire.
proof. Directly over the boiler room is
an Arlington & Curtis Dust Collector,
which enters through the roof and feeds
the shavings and sawdust made in the
factory into the furnace under the boil
er. In front of the boiler is the coal room
with a capacity OF 20 tons. This room is
so arranged that the coal can Le shoveled
directly from the car into it.
We next visitedthe engine room. Here
we found a fine piece of machinery, an
Atlas Automatic Engine, which at l4O re.
volutions will develop93 horse power and
at $50 revolutions, 125 horse power. The
bed of the engine is cast in one piece,
making il very solid. The band wheel is
eight feet in diameter and carries a is
inch belt. The engine is provided with
all the latest devices for lubricating its
bearings, such as wipe oil cups, etc. The
engine room also contains Jacobs Hot
Water Heater of 100 horse power for heat
ing the water before ii enters the boiler.
This is done by the exhaust steam from
thema in engine passing through the heater
The piping connections between boiler,
engine and heater are the best that we
have ever seen. Not leak is visible and
all the valves are in easy reach OF the en-
gineer. The water connections of the
boiler are so constructed that the village
water is used; and, by means of Hancock
lnspirator, water can be injected into the
boiler from private tank, without using
the village pressure
We next entered the basement Of the
factory Here we found the main line OF
shafting, 81 It. long, covered with pulleys,
whirling at the rate of 300 revolutions per
minute. Reaching out on both sides were
the belts, some straight, some creased,
driving the different counter shafts which
drive the machinery on the floor above.
Here also was the finest arrangement for
heating buildings we ever saw, i, e., the
Sturtevant heater and fan with engine ;the
heater is a large steel case, IT. by it,,
It. high, containing 800 ft.of one-in. pipe;
attached to this heater is fan, standing
so in. high, which as ii revolyes draws the
cold, fresh air from the outside through
the 1.S00 fl. OF pipe in heater tthis causes
the air to become heated) and blows
the heated air all over the building through
large galvanized pipes. By this arrange
ment the factory can be heated to 60o in
the eoldest weather and the dry house
1909 besides doing away with the trouble
OF taking care OF steam pipes, also max
ing it much healthier for the employees as
this arrangement supplies fresh air, and
keeps il in circulation. The fan is driven
by a five-horse power Sturtevant engine,
which is supplied with steam from the
boiler 80 It. away, Independent of all 9TH
er pipe connections, thus enabling the Go.
to use this engine night and day. lnsidethe
main heateris,a small section of one-in. pipe
about 300 It. OF " hich takes the exhausted
steam from small engines which also helps
TO warm the cold air before entering the
rooms above.
A-shNAuE Aht DdSNlhtliA VIC NAilNA AAiN ACN
er room, 96XI0, which contains the
principle power machinery used in the
business. Nothing out of the usual line
of woodworking machinery is seen here,
with the exception of the gang saw and
one or two others. The gang saw can car
ry six saws at once on the arbor and is self
feeding, thus doing the work of four ,as
it can saw six sticks at a time. In this room
we found two fine c. B. Rogers mould
ers with a special attachment enabling
them to run two sticks at time.
A little farther on we found the Auto
matte Tub Fastener machine, which turns
out 100 tub fasteners every minute, with
the date of patent stamped on the back of
each one. Midway of the lower room was
reaching out from it in all directions were
galvanized pipes Of all sizes, which were
connected with every machine in the
building. This exhauster draws all the
shavings and dust of all kinds made in
the factory ard throws them into the dust
collector on the roof of the engine house,
and from there the refuse of all kinds is
discharged into the furnace, so the visitor
does not see a shaving while passing
through the rooms.
We next entered the dry room, 40x1s TT.
Here the lumber is loaded directly from
the cars onto private cars, which pass thro'
the room to the cutting-off saw. The
StoCk tutu goes 10 tue NdFiouS HudCuluSo,
in the line of a circle, until it reaches the
elevator when it is ready for the next floor.
We now entered the room on the second
floor, 96x40, which contains six power ma
chimes and seven foot power machines,
such as glue-up benches, folders, etc. This
room is the window screen department.
Here the frames are glued and sandpa
pered. The screencloth is then tackled on
and the screen is ready for the packer, who
inspects each screen as it is put into the
crate.
From the packer the crate goes to the
a building S0x20 and two sto-
ries high, not quite completed, where they
are put aboard cars to be shipped to all
parts Of the country.
The third floor is the screen door depart
ment. Here we found machine which,
by simply pressing down the foot, drives a
door together as quickly as a small screen
is made.
From this machine the doors go to the
stain tank (Which is heated by steam)
and then to the varnish rack, back to the
tackers and then to the storehouse.
Taken all in all, the Screen Co.'s build