Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-28
THE TOOLS OF TODAY.
An Interesting Contrast with the
worISshop of FIFTY Years Ago.

| An Interesting Contrast with the
Workshop Of FIFTY Years Ago.
| An interesting contrast between the tools
and engines with which a modern mechanic
executes his work and those which were used
only so long ago rs when men now elderly
were young, was brought out in an address
delivered recently by President John Fritz
at meeting of the American Society of
/ Mechanical Engineers, says the New York
| Sun. Mr.. Fritz was well qualified to treat
such a subject, for he began work in coun-
! try shop sixty years ago, and making his own
way. first as a mechanic, and then as an
| engineer, has risen to the engineering con-
troll of one of the greatest iron works in the
! world at Bethlehem. Pa, and has acquired
the complin entary title of Dean of the steel
| trade" His address was upon The Prog,
ress in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel
in America and the Relations of the Engl-
neer to II.
/ MY memory of machine shops dates
back" he said ito 1882. Within a short
distance from my house there were three
/ cotton mills-and large ones for those days
! two woolen mills, two. carding mills and
several grist mills. At one of the large
cotton mills they had machine shop, where
! the principal repairs for all the mills of the
neighbornOOd were generally made. My
! father being a millwright and machniSt, as
! we'll as a small farmer, did all the important
| repairs for all The mills. In this shop con-
! sequently, | spent all the spare time | could
get off the farm, and it was rare treat for
me to get there
THE tools consisted of two small lathes
! for turning iron and one for turning wood, a
machine for cutting light gears (Which was
! to me great curlCsity), several viSes and lot
of small tools. One OF these latter was called a
doctor 1t was used to correct drunken
threads as all screws of any Importance
were then cut with the chaser, The lathes
were all made with wooden shears or beds
In 1888 | went TO learn my trade. In the
machine shoO where | was apprenticed there
were about the same number and character
of lathes as in the mill shop, but they were
, larger and one of them was a double-ender
for the purpose of boring out wheels that
were too large to swing over the shears.
There was also drill press, made cut OF a
lathe-head casting, bOlted against a l2Xl2-
inch wooden pest. This was not a very
slightly machine, but it did good work. We
made small brass castings, built small boil
ers and engines and did all kinds OF country
machine and blacksmith work, and made our
own patterns for casting without any draw
| ings.
Here" he continued. bringing forth
! tool lis the very hook-nOsed lathe tool with
which did work sixty years ago. How many
are there of you now who could even show
me how to hold it? Here" he continued,
lis a tool which belongs in the lathe the
drawing of which you see in full size over
my head"
older hal a cutting part made of a bar of
steel half an inch thick and three-f -fourths
| of an inch deep, and this was set in round
I handle of wood. The handle was perhaps
| eighteen inches long by an inch and a half
! in diameter, and near the end where the
| tool was Inserted was a side handle which
| was clamped on so that 1t hung downward
| near the tool rest when the tool was in
| use. The new tool on the other hand, was
| of bare steel four feet long, four inches deep
and half an inch wide. 1t was curious to
note that the form of the cutting ends OF
both tools vas alike. The drawing to which
! Mr.. Fritz referred was of a lathe used at
| the Bethlehem Iron works to cut up ingots
| of steel into portions to make steamship
| shafts and other big articles, or for cannon,
and 1t is capE BILE of receiving, turning and
cutting up ingots which weigh 100000 pounds.
| 1t was depicted as holding an ingot of sixty
| five tons, and the drawing extended clear
across the wall back of Mr.. Fritz and for
a number OF feet on each of the two side
walls. There, too were shown the enormous
! tool posts in which the four-feet-long tool
exhibited would be clGsped instead OF being
held to its work as of old in the hands of
the workman, and the lathe was provided
with posts enough to have fourteen of these
tools at work al once.
II look back, too," said Mr.. Fritz "to
my early days and call to mind the eduip-
ments in the shop for making drawings
and compare them with those of today.
Today every shop of note has great draw
every needed sort and with facilities for
producing blue prints by the score. Our
facilities for making drawings sixty years
agu were very different The complete shop
outfit consisted of a board, a carpenters
square, a pair of compasses, a bevel a lead
pencil, and piece of chalk and jackplane
with which to prepare the surface of the
board for fresh drawing. After a time we
adopted the plan of making models in skele-
ton of full size, especially when any motion
was to be worked out, and also made when
1t was possible, all the drawings of full
size. and this practice | am not ashamed to
follow at the present time, as it has many
advantages.
1.-The machine shop of today Is a marvel
in completeness of equipments for doing
work correctly and with rapidlty having
special small tools for all purposes. The
accuracy with which their round gauges
are fitted up is such that a machinist of
fifty years ago could not possibly realize.
Suppose that in his presence you had separ-
ated a one-inch gauge and held the plug
to warm in your hand for a few minutes,
then handed it to him with a request to put
II in its place again. He would have
thought there were witches about when he
found 1t would not go back
'The invention and construction OF instru.
ments of precision and the methods of cali
bratlon and adjustments which enable
measurements to be taken within the So
000th part of an inch; machines which
enable the mechanic to fit taper work with
almost the same facility and accuracy as
straight work, are refinement OF practice
OF which a mechanic of fifty years ago
could have had no conception"