Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-09-19
How Wooden Ware is Made,

ord says
The logs as they are cut in the for
est are foated down the Boardman
River 10 the millbooms, and, as they
are wanted, are hoisted into the saw
mill, where they are cut For the
butter dishes maple is the only wood
used. The outer slabs of the maple
logs are slashed off and cut to dimen-
sions for frswood. Then few layers
are sliced off for lumber. After the
slabs and lumber are cut piece of
timber about six inches in thickness
and eight inches wide is left the length
of the log, and this is the part reserved
for the butter dishes.
The heavy timber is cut into blocks
ten or twelve inches in length and
boiled in huge vats until thoroughly
softened. The hot blocks are placed
in machines which scoop out the but
ter dishes at the rate of 200 minute.
A curved knife revolving on a spindle
does the work, the block being auto
matically advanced with each revolu-
ton of the spindle, and knife work
ing up and down taking off a slice just
the thickness of the plate so as to leave
the surface the same as before. The
dishes are scooped out of the solid
wood exactly as they are found at the
grocery, and all that is done to them
after they leave the machine is to dry
and pack them.
As the dishes fall from the machine
they drop into funnel which carries
them to the dry-kilns. Through the
drying process they pass autOmatical-
ly and finally fall upon a long table,
where a row of girls sort them and pre-
pare them for packing 1t takes about
twenty minutes for the plates to so
through the drying process, and not a
hand touches them until the girls sort
them for packing. Ten machines are
working constantly on the oval butter
dishes, and the capacity Of the works
is approximately 100000 a day. Rare
ly is any department shut down
through lack of orders. The dishes
are shipped to all parts of the country
with New York, Boston, Chicago, Phil
adelphia and st. ! .uls as the chief
markets. Some fc gn trade is done
but the home demand has thus far
been so great that there has been no
time to work up foreign trade.
The most wonderful machine in the
shop is that which manufactures the
wire-end dishes. For these the logs
are cut into bolts, boiled and then con-
verted into veneers the thickness of
the material used in the plates. Still
hot and steaming, the veneers are fed
through a machine which cuts the We
neer to the required shape and size,
marks the folds, folds them and sews
the ends of the dish with wire, and f.
nally delivers the dish complete at the
other end. These machines turn out
the wire-end dishes at the rate Of 100
a minute and the factory facilities are
for 100000 day when running ct
full capacity. The patents on the wire-
end dishes have expired if they were
ever patented, and there are num-
Der of other manufactures in the coun-
try, but the oval scooped-out dish is
by far the most popular. The only
material used in producing the dishes
is white maple Elm, birch, ash and
basswood have been tried, but these
other woods are Objectionable owing to
the taste they are liable to leave, and
especially is this true with elm.
The oval dish sells for twenty cents
a hundred, and at that price the gro
Ger can well afford to give them away
or, rather, sell them at the price at
which he sells the commodity they con-
tain, as the dish is always weighed
with its contents.
In making clothespins Gull lumber,
which cannot be used for dishes and is
not suitable for high-grade lumber, is
used. The lumber as it comes from
the saw is cut into lengths the size o:
the clothespin. These blocks Of wood
are carried to a receptacle above and
rapidly fed down upon table, where
a nimble-hngered girl arrangss them
sidewise upon revolving metal belt
The belt carries them 10 the turning
machine, where the blocks are cut into
the shape Of clOthespin without the
fork. As the turned blocks drop down
another girl srranges them upon an.
other belt, which carries them to The
saw which forks the pins and gives
them the inner beyel on the ends
From this machine the pins drop into
a carrier, which takes them to the big