Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-05-16

Where They Are Made and Whs1
They Are Made OF.

Nearly all the crutches made In
this country, for use here and for
export to foreign countries, princi-
pally to the West Indies. to Mexico.
Central America and South America,
are made In four or five factories in
New England. and two or three fac
tories in other parts of the country.
Perhaps threc-fourths or more OF
them are made in New England.
great number being produced by q
single factory in New Hampshire. A
few crutches are made TO order ont
side Of the factories, but they are
very few. Almost without exception.
and including those made to order.
crutches are made in the factories.
Most OF the factories are located
where they are SO as to be as near as
possible to forests OF suitable timber,
and because Of the greater cheapness
OF labor. Practically no crutches
are imported.
Rock maple Is the wood most used
in the manufacture of crutches ;they
are made also OF Lakewood, rose
wood, hickory and other woods, and
OF bamboo. The great majority Of
crutches are now made OF the mod
ern style, the spread or double
bar crutch 80 familiar to the eye;
but the old style crutch has by
no means gone entirely out Of
use. Perhaps ten per cent.
of our crutches are still made
of the old fashioned style, a single
straight bar, with on arm piece
across at the top. Clutches of this
kind are sometimes made OF ash or
oak; they are more commonly sold
where but single crutch 10 desired,
and where, therefore, greater
strength and stiffness are needed.
1t us not unusual for women who
use clutches to have two pairs, one
for ordinary use and the other for
more formal occasions; the pair
more commonly used might become
more or less scratched or marred.
Some women have two pairs, one pair
OF light colored wood, the other of
dark, the better to match the gowns
they might wear. Men are not SO
particular as this, but many OF them
buy crutches of fine materials, finely
made and finished. In Spanish
American countries men like crutch-
es handsomely and more deliberately
mounted.
Clutches may be bought at almost
any price; a pair of modern double
bar crutches with rubber tips can be
bought for ~, perhaps for less. From
that they run upward according to
material and finish. Clutches are
often made with solid silver trim
mings, ard not infrequently with
gold trimmings and with ivory han
dies and with ivory armpieces.
Probably $40 to $25 pair would cover
the cost of most of the finer crutches;
some, however. cost $50, $50 and
more.
Crutch armpleces are finished in
various ways; many are covered with
leather, many are finished in polished
wood; one OF the newest styles is q
polished wood top finished in the
shape of o cows horn and so called.
There are patents on crutches, prin-
cipally on one end or the other. the
top or the tip. Rubber tips have
been used for many years, but there
have been various improvements in
them. Formerly piece of rubber
was simply tackled onto the end OF
the crutch. An improvement on this
was ferrule on the end of the crutch
and projecting beyond the end of it,
forming a socket into which the rub
Der could be inserted. There is a
clamp tip which car be opened and
closed, so that the worn rubber can
be taken out and renewed. Most of
the rubber tips have openings into
which ice spikes can be inserted in
icy weather. A recent device COM
bines ice spike, rubber and ferrule in
such manner that the ice spike can
be used or not, as desired.
Dealers say that the demand for
crutches increases more rapidly pro-
portionately than the increase Of the
population. This is accounted for by
the increasing accidents attending
the extended modern use Of machin-
cry in one form and another, and in
some measure it is attributed Incl
dentally to improved methods of
surgical practice and the better man
ner in which fractured limbs are now
supported, so that patients are not
only permitted to go out on crutches,
but are urged to go as soon as they
can safely do so.
While there are many regular users
of crutches, still there are thousands
who use crutches only temporarily,
perhaps in getting over broken leg
or a sprain. and who never have oc-
casion to use them again. Some peo-
pie keep their crutches for the recol-
lections that attach to them; some
hang them on a wall like trophy;
thousands give them to institutions
where crutches are needed. A large
dealer said that the annual produc-
tion Of crutches in this country