The Press., 1894-01-18
A UNIQUE FACTORY.
THERE ARE WONDERFUL MACHINES,
 BUT NO VISIBLE P2GoUCT.

Whirring Belts aud N:airting P"lieys In
 Noisy Workshop-~ some of the odd
 Things Done by NomeI--Suggested a
 Lunatic Asylum to the Reporter.
 Without any question whatever, it is the most unique factory ill New York. When you enter the door, the whir and buzz of machinery abstracts your ears. You see belts and pulleys in rapid mo- tion; you feel the heat of the engine which keeps all the machinery going, and you know that you are in place where something or other is being manu- factured.
 It Is hard, however, to discover just what the manufactured product may be, and the polite attendant who meets you at the door gives you no clew of it as he ushers you into the noisy workshop.
 I visited this establishment the other day at the suggestion of a friend, who said it was the queerest place ill Gotham and had never been written up."
 The machinery was placed on one side of long, sunny room. On the other side of the room were about dozen vel vet couches, on which were reclining muffled up figures. AS I entered, a fig ure arose and walked over to one of the machines. It was the figure of a wom- an. She drew up chair, sat down and placed her hands on a little horizontal metal bar. The bar jerl1ed and trembled and the fingers gave little spasmodic jumps ill response. This queer perform ance continued for several minutes, and then the woman changed her position and placed her. feet in a sort of square stirrup at the side of tue machine.
 The stirrup immediately shook back ward and forward, half revolved, spring ing back and revolving again with most astonishing eccentricities. The foot was shaken into the semblance of half doz- en feet, and the movement was all from the ankle joints. What any foot had ever done to deserve such treatment, or what good to the foot the treatment was supposed to do ultimately, was to me an inexplicable mystery.
 At another machine second woman sat. with her arm clasped by two rubber and metal plates which rapidly revolved, receding and returning, pressing the arm until it looked like a wee flat band of scarlet ribbon (the woman wore red gown) and then receding again, whirring and whirling with wonderful velocity.
 I was mystifed at first, but as the minutes flew by I began to be a bit alarmed. did not relish the idea of be- ing in a lunatic asylum, where the pa tients ran machinery and thrust their limbs into the revolving wheels without any apparent fear or reason.
 The attendants, however, seemed to take everything as d matter of course and left me to my own resources. One of these attendants went to a couch on which a young woman was lying face downward, and without moments warning one end of the couch rose to an upright position, leaving the young woman ill an attitude which would be easiest described as standing on her shoulders, her hands clasped over her head. The couch was lowered and raised again, and this performance was repeat ed four or five times. Then the young woman lay down and went to sleep.
 One machine was worked by hand ap- parently. It consisted of horizontal bar, padded with leather, in front of which was movable rod of metal fur nished with resisting spring. Every few minutes some one would brace against the leather arm and pull the rod in front. When it sprang up, it carried the subject almost into the air, and to retain the grasp of it the subject was obliged to breathe hard, stand on her toes and pull with all her might. A casual observer asked to guess what this machine manufactured would certainly reply, "Long arms"
 But the queerest machines of all were two couches, in the center of which were moving wooden balls. These balls moved slowly up and down in regular motion.
 Just as l was getting very much inter- ested in this apparatus some one gently pushed me aside and placed herself on one of the couches, lying deliberately on top of the moving balls. Ear from being disconcerted or annoyed, this peculiar parsonage seemed to enjoy her restless resting place, and after few minutes stay she went to the other couch-to test the effects of the other balls presumably,
 All this was very interesting, of course, and in the intervals of manufacturing every one struck attitudes, swung them selves around by placing their feet firmly together on the floor and grasping iron rings far above their heads.
 Another unseemly game which they in dulged in was to kneel on a couch, with some one holding their hands and some one else holding their feet, and then fling themselves forward the entire length of their bodies. They were certainly ener- getic, and the expression of dignified gravity on their faces as they performed these peculiar gyrations was ludicrous in the extreme.
 This peculiar factory undertakes to manufacture-haveyo you guessed?-health without medicine-rosy cheeks, painless bodies, supple muscles and sound organs and good digestions just by mechanical exercise.
 Recruits from the ranks of the lame, the halt and the blind come here ex- pecting to be cured. Hysteria, tight lacing, rheumatism, send patients here, and that is why every day they act, to the inexperienced, like 50 many ire sponsible lunatics. It is simply another version of the Chicago boast that in that western city they have machines in one end of which they put pig which comes out the other end a plump and luscious sausage. You begin at the foot shaker here and end by being able to play football-so they sly.-New York Advertiser.
 SEE THE WORLDS FAIR FOR FIFTEEN CENTS. Upon receipt of your address and fifteen cents in postage stamps, we will mail you. prepaid our Souvenir Portfolio of the Worlds Columbian Exposition. The regular price is Fifty cents, but as we want you to have one, we make the price nominal. You will find it work of art and thing to be prized. It contains full page views of the great buildings, with descriptions of same. and is executed in highest style of art. If not satisfied with it, after you get it, we will refund the stamps and let you keep the book. Ad- dress H. E. Bucklen & Co.,. Chicago, III.