The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-07-06
MARBLE CUTTING A SCIENCE.
Sights to Re Seen at the Corcoran Gall
lery in Washington.

eishts TO lie Seen at the Corcoran Gall
lery in Washington.
They do wonders in cutting marble
nowadays. If you want to be con-
WINGED of it, 60 and see it done at the
building now in progress of erection
Tor the new Corcoran art gallery, near
h state, war and navy building.
Thirty thousand cubic feet of marble
are to be put into the structure, and
the stuff is brought by rail in huge
blocks from Georgia. Some of the
chunks weigh as much as fifteen tons,
1t takes twelve cubic feet to make n
ton. To begin with, you will see 4
great block being sawed into slabs.
The saws are mere strips of steel, ar
ranged IN a frame so as to work back
n forth on the block. 1t is as if you
would cut a cake into slices with
several knives at once, holding the
blades parallel. The saws have no
teeth. strange to say, but a nick is
filed on their edges here and there to
make them catch the sand better.
They are kept constantly supplied
with water and sand, and the latter
really does the cutting. Just beyond
IS what is called the planning machine.
1t Is = gigantic, horizontal screw, on
which a carriage runs back and forth.
Upon the carriage is placed a block of
marble. As it runs along it is cut by
a knife of the finest and most highly
tempered steel. Thus the holdings for
cornices are cut. The knife makes a
hideous noise but it does the work
ever SO much quicker than would be
possible by hand tools. The planer is
quite a new idea, having been used for
marble only within the last year.
Marble, though a form of limestone,
IS extremely hard. In respect to hard
ness, however, even that from one
quarry varies very much, and a
single block will be harder quite
often on one side than the other.
The harder it is the better, because the
hardest marble will take the finest
finish. OF course all marble is made
up Of the shells of molusks, foramini-
fera and other animals which once
lived in the sea. You can not see any
traces of forms of the shells in it, be-
cause the stuff has been altered since
. y was A1N1 IL % Il SCdlLLlChldTy uc-
post, being crystallized by the action
of the heat. Another machine in this
temporary marble shop looks almost
exactly like the continuance that is
used at the bureau of engraving and
printing for perforating postage
stamps, only that it is on a very much
larger scale. 1t is a series of steel
wheels strung on a single long axle.
Against these wheels a block of mar
bic is showed, and they cut out of it
pieces at regular intervals, so as to
leave a sort of ornamental fringe
of teeth. That is to say, projecting
points are left to form a border
and relieve the eve. Architects call
these teeth, rather appropriately,
'dentals." This work also is done at q
rate Of speed much quicker than would
be practicable by hand labor.
Speaking of ''dentals," there is an
other machine that is used for finishing
off the dentals, and for other similar
purposes. 1t looks exactly like the
continuance employed by dentists for
boring out decayed teeth. Nor is this
taken directly from the dentists APP
pliance referred to, being merely a
modification thereof, and very much
magnifed. The drill is held at the end
of Il rubber tube, and all the workmen
have to do is to grasp it with one hand
and direct it, as the dentist employs
his little tool.-Washington Star.