The Portland daily press., 1894-04-27
DEERlNe TooTHPIcK FACTORY.
There Are But Two LIN Maiue And
Eight in the Country.


The Deering Plant Described-A Fascinat-
ing Process of Northumberland
of MIR. Scamman-An Order eff Five
Carloads from the West.
The toothpick factory at MorrilPs
Corner has received supply of logs
from the Sebago Lake region. 1t started
up again Monday. The great majority
of people have no conception as to now
toothpicks are made or the rare interest,"
that attaches to the process. which is
not to be wondered at as there are only
eight factories in all this great country.
One Of the two best ones is III our neigh
boring city of Deering. When all tue
newly patented machinery is set up 1t
will be the best one.
1t is worth while to look through 1T.
The birch and poplar logs are four feet
long and vary from the trunks Of great
trees, nearly two feet in diameter to
those only six or eight inches. Ihey
are first sawed into logs two feet in
length. These are placed on machine
in no time. The peeled log goes on to
an endless chain and is carried up to the
floor above, where the picks are made.
II is next placed on veneer lathe. 1t
revolves rapidly against two knives,
sharp as razors, and o placed that they
cut from the log two ribbons, as wide
as a tooth pick is long, and as long
as the diameter of the log admits of.
From log twenty inches through rib
bon 200 feet long can be taken. 1t comes
out and folds up in the hands of the OPP
orator like so much cloth. 1t is most
fascinating spectacle The log revolves
and changes, as it grows smaller in
yards and yards of that wooden ribbon,
and the only protest against this mar
vellous change is the foaming and drip
ping of the sap.
There are four veneer lathes. They
supply ribbons for 20 pick machines OPP
Grated by ten men. The pick machine Is
the most fascinating of all. The ribbon
of veneer enters and passes over the
knife. This is really two knives. They
are placed side by side with the edges
upwards. They are a short distance
apart in the middle and fastened togeth-
er at the end. The space between them
is just the shape of toothpick. 1t may
be varied at Will, so that the ends of the
picks are the same, or slightly different
as the operator sees fit. AS the ribbon
passes over these stationary knives, very
rapidIy, block of hard wood comes
down at the rate of 1000 times minute
and cuts out that number of picks from
the ribbon in that space of time. The
picks fall on one side and are conducted
into trays. The small pieces of waste
fall to the floor op the other side. The
knives of this machine must be sharp as
razors all the time They are used 1900
times minute and therefore must be
sharpened every two or three hours.
The test of their sharpness is the cutting
of a hair. They-are worn out in from
two to three weeks. The factory thus
uses up 200 lbs of. the best of steel every
year.
One of the veneer lathes has special
machine in connection for making num-
her one picks The veneer comes out, of
course, the same thickness. The ribbon
is placed into machine that is buzzing
away at great rate. 1t snatches the
ribbon and, presto, two very small rib
bons of rood shoot into the air with
the quickness and lin berness and grace
of Jets of water. The edges of the large
ribbons have been beveled in second,
and the points of thousands of special
toothpicks made. Then the beveled
ribbon goes into the pick machine over
the knives.
The completed picks in the trays are
placed in the "drier" and the hot air
from the fans and steam pipes below soon
extracts all the moisture. Then 20 girls
pack them in partltioned boxes. The
boxes come from Walpole, Mass, and
$50 are used each day. They come in
sheets, all cut ready to be folded into
shape.
MIR. Seaman, the manufacturer, who