Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-06-22
OF MECHANICAL TURN
G1eanings from Recent Trade and
Technical Journals.

Gleanings from Recent Trade an,
Technical Journals.
An important Improvement in tn
cotton gin is the invention of a veteran
southern machinist, James [. Doig O
Gainesville, Ga, after 80 years of eX
perimenting. There has always beel
great difficulty among ginners of cot
ton to obtain the full length of tn,
various staples, the machinery in us,
tearing the Int before the entire Length
of the fibre had parted from the roll
ers. Mr. Doig has completed a set O.
patterns of d cotton gin with all The
latest improvements and adjustment.
adapted to the various lengths of sta
pie. The machine is so constructed a:
to allow all changes to meet thes,
various lengths in staple to be made
without even having to stop the opera
tor from his work, whereas the Gin now
in use not only necesSitateS the Stoppins
Of the machine, but requires a vas
amount of time in which to make the
change, besides the appliances being
such as to warrant the necessity of 3
practical machinist to work the same
Another great Improvement over the
old gin, and one which in itself is
enough to warrant the necessity of q
new one, is an appliance in connection
with the inner blade, consisting of q
spring which allows it to give when
the pressure of cotton passing through
the roller is too severe, thus preventing
the inner and outer blades from com
ing in contact with each other. This
appliance is also of great value in say.
ing the wear Of the roller
A large class of customers who have
found long distance telephony of great
value and whose methods of doing
business have been modified through
the facilities it affords them. saws the
Magazine, are the large
be the practice for manufacturing firms
to lease 4 telephone line for q certain
time each day, say from IL a. IN. to
noon, giving direct communication be-
tween the head office in New York and
the factory, perhaps somewhere up in
Connecticut. The president or general
manager of the company, with all his
before him. speaks di-
rectly to the factory managers and
heads of departments, and the effect
is to practically place office and factory
under the same roof, without sacriiit
tho oI 10 crn nthn,e, Cf /,
difference in price of real estate in
city and county. The ultimate result
of such a utilization of telephone com
is that heavy or vari Il
stocks no longer have to be carried III
the city Store-rOOmS, as even small
orders can be transmitted at once to
the factory and filled from the stock
maintained there. Probably one of the
most striking effects on general trade
Of the firm establishment of IOngdis
lance telephony will be found in the
of the middleman'S field of
operation. The talking wires bring con-
sumner and producer into the most direct
and closest communication possible
without placing them face to face in
Lne same room
An Inspector of the Hartford boiler
lnSurace company calls the attention of
boiler owners to point often over
looked by them. He says In a GER
tain mill some of the men were in the
habit OF going up on the top of the
boiler settings to eat their dinners. The
boilers are 80 inches in diameter and 16
feet long, and carry so pounds of
steam. They are fitted with common
safety valves, 3 IL inches in diameter
blowing off into the boilerroom. The
weights were hung close to the ends of
the levers, with on hook or catch to
prevetn them from slipping Off One
front Of the discharge opening of one
day, while several men were sitting in
)f the valves, somebody, in climbing up,
off the ball, and of course the
charging the steam and half the water
valve Immediately opened wide, dis
charging the boiler directly upon the
men. Two of them were scalded to
death, and others were seriously but not
fatally burned. Now hook on the end
Of the lever would probably have pre-
vented this accident and saved the
ne1's lives. Too little attention is paid
to this point. Only the other day I
found a 10O-pound weight hung close
to the end Of a frail, shaky, threef foot
ever, and the lever was inclined down
dropping off. I called attention to it,
and the owner Of the boiler had the
ever changed at once.
In remarking upon some Of the won
yenuity has brought to pass, a recent
French writer declares that, as com.
pared with any sort Of machine that
IAN be named, an ordinary watch is a
marvel. In proof of this it is simply
necessary to consider, he says, the few
facts which render the consummation
IF such an instrument possible--the
spring actuating the barrel, the motion
IF this being transmitted through three
wheels to escapement, whose wheel
strikes the anchor, or the cylinder of
The balance wheel, at an average rate
IF 5000 blows per hour, with differences
If from 5000 to 1000, according to
he system; another gearing retards the
motion transmitted to the hour hand in
he ratio of II to 1; all the motions of
the instrument are discOntinuous-
sected in little equal jumps-the num-
Der of these also exceeding 2OOOO0,0OO
/ year in certain watches. Again. at
the end of 20 years, a well made watch,
md one that has not been disabled pre-
naturely, must undergo change, but
+ is after several thousand millions of