The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-09
MARVEL OF MATCHMAKING.
. Machine That Turns Out 1000. 900
Matches m Hour.
From the Chicago Record.

From the Chicago Record.
In the Barbert0n tOD factory Of the Dia-
---sd Match Company $40 American men,
r.uen. boys and girls turn out more
matches day than the S,001 work people
.- the largest English match factory can
--.fuce in the same time. The Ohio match
makers. however, are aided by thirteen
.+ the wonderful continuous match
~sallg machines, which have add j
So TO every share OF Diamond match
SOCK since the beginning OF the year.
These marvellous pieces OF mechanism,
v.h take blocks Of wood and trans
.-m them inlo perfect matches. packed
r. boxes ready for shipment, have re-
.re-l the cost Of labor in making matches
from. p cents gross Of boxes To 4 cents
Tlay are the invention Of L. b. Beecher,
lluncclcut yankee, ana large stock
rH.Ier in the company, and have been ia
successful operation only few months
Zach machine is complete in itself. II
Ir-- converts the wood into splints, tips
lie spints with the igniting chemical
dries the tips, delivers the matches ana
packs them IN boxes, with never a hand
laschlng a sphnt or a match from the
time the feeder places the block Of WOOD
jos the feeding trough which leads to the
RAPIDLY revolving series of knives. At
s times while the machine is working
taare are 1,4e000J splits and matches pass
Ing through IT, so that during
working hours the thirteen machines al
Ill shed matches.
The blocks of wood. which are about two
in-les square and just as long as a match
are fed 10 a series OF revolving knives that
rotate at nigh speed. The knives reduce
The solid blocks TO splints either square or
round, III cross sections Then a most in
-eulOus device sets the splints evenly and
exactly in the holes of steel ferns or dies
Which are links in an endless chain of
forms that is continually moving over
large drums and wheels, up and down.
back the siXty-ive-fOOt length of the ma
cIine. 10 return 10 the splint-making me-
clanisE again.
The loaded steel forms move away from
the loading device with the exposed ends
of The spl-nts hanging down and away
from the face Of the wheels. Soon after
leaving the loading machine the splints
pass through the chemical mixture which
lips TEN and makes matches of the splints
The adjustment IS such that just the pro-
per length of splnt passes through the
emitting material which IS kept hot and
liquid, so that each splint receives its pro-
per amount of the mixture.
After leaving the igniting mixture the
matches Deg,n slowly travelling, still con-
fined in the steel forms, up and around
large wheels, moving slowly, so that the
tips Will be hard, polished and dry when
the travel is finished AS each splint is is
olated. and the igniting mixture is main
tanned at the right consistency, there is
small chance Of the matches sticking to-
gether at the tips. The endless chain of
steel forms travels so slowly that it takes
an hour and half for the matches to pass
from the chemical bath to the front part
OF the machine, where the packing device
is placed.
This packing machine is the joint inven-
ton Of experts and of the superintendent
OF the company. It is revolving table
aoout eight feet in diameter and attended
10y three girls. The match boxes are car
RED by a cOnVeyOr to a girl who sits above
the machine. She simply sees that the au-
tomatic box feeding device attends strict
ly 10 business. The empty boxes which
are formed, sanded and printed by auto
matte machinery a the rate of 300 500 and
Su a minute, depending on the size of the
boxes, are fed TO the packing machine
Wthout the lbs. The lids are heaped to-
setner in circular bin in the middle of
The round table. Each box fits into a re-
cess IN the table, so that its top is flush
with the surface of the table When the
nnlshed matches reach the right point in
the travel of The endless chain they are
stripped from the steel frames and deliv-
cred into boxes, the right number of
matches going into each box
Occasionally match falls crosswise and
must be laid straight by the nimble fingers
of one of the three girls who sit around
tae table. The girls do nothing but put
the lids on the filled boxes as they come
around, and stripping device takes the
boxes out of the table and carries them to
the table where they are made up into
gross lots for shipment
Each machine turns out 500 gross boxes
OF matches every ten hours, and the HUI
man labor required calls for one boy to
feed the blocks of.wood to the machine. a
girl to .ook after the automatic box feeder
and three girls at the packing table In
addition TO these there is one boy who re-
p4CulslleS the AGStl NOlIS uOlQluB the l&QlL-
ing mixture for the thirteen matches. The
entire working force at the Barberton fac
tory comprises $40 people inside and out
side of the factory.
In Akron, o., the company has had in
operation for several years a continuous
machine, but this requires the handling
of the splints and matches three times
during the process The continuous ma
chimes used in Baberton have already
invaded Europe. In Liverpool is a match
factory belonging to the American COM
pany one-third larger than the Baberton
plant -Four continuous machines have
been installed there and more are to
follow.
In France all matches are made by the
government and the government engineer
was sent to BabertOn to inspect the match
making machines. His report was so ia
Vorable that the government decided to
adopt the American invention and thus
do away with the horrors of the disease
caused by the fumes of white phosphor-
Gus. Italians, Austrians and Brazilians
are after the machines, for hand labor
no matter how cheap, cannot compete with
a machine which makes matches at a cost
Tor labor of 4 cents a gross of boxes.