, 1892-10-31
MAKING TIN PLATE.
How the Product is Turned Into
Utensils.

Wages In Wholesome of the Char
acteristIcs of the People who
work the Metal - The Process
Through and Through.
There is not a household in this broad
land where tin utensils of some sort are
not in daily use, says the New York Re-
corder, yet it is safe to say that not one
person in thousand knows what tin plate
is, and probably not one in 10000 has any
knowledge Of how it is made.
Yet thousands are employed in the max
ing of this staple of industry in the quaint
English principality, Wales, and here, in
our own country, recently discovered rich
deposits of the metal and the fostering pro-
lection Of the Mckinley bill have already
resulted in the establishment of mills for
the manufacture of this useful article, the
beginning of which is destined to be among
the most important of our manufacturing
interests.
immigration Commissioner Judson N.
Cross, who spent considerable time in
Wales studying the tin-plate industry, is
quoted as saying that skilled workers in
I
IN two years, and that there are not so
many secret processes in tin plate making
as the Welshmen claim there are.
/ There is no secret at all in the manufact-
ure of tin plate. The only difficulty hith-
erto has been the block tin. The process
is, after ALL a very simple one After the
pigiron has, in turn, gone through the
hands of the puddler, the hammersman,
the bar roller and the chopper, it is passed
! through the roller furnaces, where the
black plate is extended in folios by the
doublers who double them to the desired
thickness. The sheets are then annealed
to remove rust, then taken to the wash
house and dipped in palm oil at temper
ature of 240 degrees Fahrenheit. Immedi-
/ ately afterward they are dropped in a Sc
cure cradel into the seething mass of boil
ing block tin and then dipped once more
! into the palm oil to give them that smooth
surface which the best tin needs.
! When cooled the plates are transferred to
/ the bran bins. The bran absOrbs the palm
oil and Is brushed of. The tin plate, after
/ being trimmed to the required length, is
/ then ready TO be packed for the market.
The bran is sold to the employees, who gem
/ orally raise pig or two for curing during
the winter. The only wood used in Wales
| for boxing is elm, and it is doubtful if that
/ wood could be used for any other purpose
on account Of its grain and knOtty cOmpo-
| sition.
The Welsh tin works, on an average, en-
/ plOy from 800 to $500 in three turns of
eight hours each. The wages of the tin
plate operatives vary. First comes the
/ rOllerman, frequently earning in this coun-
try SIG day; in Wales he gets on an aver
age Sl2.l6 to SIG week. The doubler comes
next. His earnings vary from S12 to SIS.
/ The furnaceman earns from $40 to $14.
| Then follows the "behinder," /" who with
swinging stay and a long pair of tongs
/ sends back the white heated metal through
/ the lower pair of rolls. He receives on an
average from 81 to $40 week. Annealers
earn about 81 a week, while the young men
who attend to the cold rolls earn S4 o$4.50.
In the wash house Ire manipulators- Of the
crane and cradle earn SO to 50, and the
women who bring off the plates, from So to
! $3.50. Besides these there are young women
helpers earning from S125 to 50 a week.
The Welch have many interesting char
| acteristics. They are eminently distin-
| guished for their love of music. For thir-
teen consecutive years the South Welch
choir has won the queens challenge cup
for choral singing in the Crystal Palace
| against competitors from the British Isles
and the continent. They devote them
| selves to music during the long winter
months and patrOnize popular readings
and various entertainments. Usually once
a week they assemble in the village churches
for recreation. Besides these, their out
door Amusements includes excursions to
places of interest, reviews of the citizen
volunteers on some broad, expansive
meadow, trips across the Bristol Channel to
lovely watering places like Ilfracombe,
Tenby and so on, or trips over the hills to
a picturesque spot ofscenery, where picnics
and athletic sports are enjoyed.
They are an exceedingly law-abiding peo-
pie, The records of the courts show that,
according to an old custom, the high sher-
ifs of several counties in Wales have pre-
sented the judge Of assizes with pair of
white kid gloves as a token that not
single indictment had been found for the
/ term and that there was no case to be tried
within the jurisdiction of the high court.
The Welsh are very thrifty. 1t is very
seldom that an artisan of genuine Cymric
/ origin, however small his earnings, does
not put by little for a rainy day. While
not misery, they deny themselves many
| litLle lnxnriea and live ON the nlainnsL Gnnd