The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-01-09

ing and Dividing the Jewels before
They Reach the Workroom.
Not all diamonds used in this part of
Europe are cut in Paris OF in Amster-
dam; but in Geneva, close by the Quai
| lie la Poste, there is the "Taillepeid Dia-
mants' of the Dupuis Bros. Not only
that, but most of the diamond cut
ters here are young women, tires in
| telligente," and most attractive. They
receive, too, for work of the same
kind as that done by men the same rate
Of compensation, and many OF them
earn, though their hours are not long,
| from ten to fifteen dollars week. The
establishment of Dupuis Freres is in a
handsome granite building, just at the
head of the Coulouvreniere. and occu-
pies its second etage. The building is
triangular in form, with its private Of
fees near the apex. The first of these
offices is coy room where the precious
stones are kept after cutting in a huge
iron safe, which will be brought at your
desire.
Quarter and half and almost pound
packets of the beautiful gems that are
| like showers of dew in brilliant sunshine
asyou bury your hands among them.
There are all sizes, from the tiniest rose
diamond to others that are like second
kohinoors as they fash from the velvet
beds, for these larger diamonds are kept
carefully selected in cases instead OF in
the little tissue paper covered packets.
The variety of tint is simply wonderful
brown diamonds, green diamonds, yell
low diamonds, purest white diamonds,
and rarest Of all, the MN. Dupuis told
me, blue diamonds. Nearly opposite the
private Office is the bookkeeping and re-
cording room and the counter at which
| the elder M Dupuis sits asserting the
gems as they come from the cutting, and
| if diamond in the rough is of such
shape that his skilled eye tells him it
could not be cut to advantage as found
! he divides it into two or three parts be-
| fore it is carried to the workroom.
Both the asserting and the dividing re-
q1lire the greatest skill and most perfect
| knowledge-both intuitive and practice
gained-of the stones, which in their
crude condition resemble, it seems to me,
bits and pieces of different tinted gum
arabic more than anything else. AS |
have told you, the senior member of the
firm asserts and divides the diamonds,
while the junior partner himself keeps
all books and records and apportions the
stones to their cutters, five at a time to
each, marking the weight, date and all
opposite the cutters name, until they are
returned completed. In this room, too,
| diamonds are received for repair and re-
| cutting. That reminds me that in cut
ting almost ore-half the original weight
Of the stone is lost, or, more properly,
cut away, for not grain of the dust is
lost, as you will see.
| The chief workroom or atelier is a
large, bright, airy room, splendidly ven
tilated and exquisitely neat. In it, about
| the walls that form two sides Of the tri-
angle, there are sufficient number Of
cutting machines for about seventy-fve
employees, and back of these close by
| the windows are seats and benches for
the girls who place the diamonds in the
solder, beds for the machine cutting. an
operation that must be completed very
deity, for, first, there is the placing of
one solder oval in the cup of the instru-
ment that receives the diamond, and
that much resembles the cup of cup
and ball. handle and all; then the other
half must receive just the right degree Of
fusion at the gas and be applied SO as to
finish the oval. It is in the top of this up
per part that the stone is placed while
| the solder is warm enough to be nodded
back sufficiently to leave one little face
of the gem visible. When ready for the
machine the entire oval is a little larger
than robins egg. Dipping quickly in a
| dish of water hardens the solder, and
then the cup and ball, with the stick end
up, is applied to the machine, which
does the cutting by revolving 2 400 times
a minute, so as to hold the diamond face
closely down to steel disk perhaps a
| foot in diameter and covered with mi
croscopic lines, on which diamond dust
has been scattered and is held in place
by minute particles of oil dropping from a
quill above. The dust from one diamond.
being caught on this disk, serves to pol
ish the next diamond. So, as you see,
nothing is lost. The girls to whom this
work is intrusted must necessarily give
| it their undivided attention.
In the lower center of this room the
walls are SO constructed that second
triangle is formed, also with pleasant
outlook. At the counters facing these
windows the actual diamond cut dia-
mond" process, one Of the first to which
the stones are subjected, is seen. They
are imbedded in wax, and then one is
used to cut another by the most skillful
workmen. It is this process that pro
duces the chips SO much used in small
jewelry. At the other side of this inner
triangle men are always busy repairing
and inspecting the machinery, especially
the disks, whose condition must be abso-
lutely perfect.
There is one female operative in the
atelier of great natural ability and many
years of experience whose aid is very
valuable, because she can instantly
judge the weight of even the most min
ute stones handed her for inspection.
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