The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-09
BY GEORGE F. KUNz.
AMERICAN WATCHES ALONE.

step is TO chip IL with a large SQUARE
edged hammer on an iron plate, or slit
IT by means of a circular disk of thin
sheetiron placed horizontally, and made
10 revolve by simple machinery. Dia-
mond dust, mixed with sperm or other
OIL is applied to the edge of the iron
plate. a raised edge around the table
pteVenhlng the loss of dust A small
quanLily is put on the disk, and from
llme 10 time renewed When cI1t +he
stone is ground on horizontal wheels
called laps, made of lead, iron. conner.
TN or alloys, and sometimes of wood of
dlderent degrees of hardness. On these
spread emery, diamond, or corun
dunn powder. For some gems wheels
are used covered with cloth, leather. or
nara brushes. The emery, finely ground
gradually imbeds itself firmly in tbe
lead or other soft metal, of which the
Wneels are made. The stone firmly ce-
Hlented to gem stick with shellac and
orlck dust, is pressed against the wG1lseg
ne facets, or fiat surfaces which give
DflIilancy to transparent stones, are cut
ny d simple continuance. By the side
OF the horizontal grinding wheel is
placed an upright, heavy cIub-Iike niece
OF wood, resembling a long-necked, very
narrow bottle reversed. In this, in
inherent places, notches are cut. AS it
feVoIVes the gem presses on the wheel,
anu the surface is cut away To make
a new facet, the rod holding the gem
is held against notch which gives a
new inclination. or a. new angle. A
wooden instrument is used by some
laDidaTies to hold the gem stick. the
facets being adjusted by mechanical
continuance. Only in the very common
est imitation work is the stone held in
the hand. The diamond powder used
is made from bort, or imperfect coarse
diamonds, selling from 70 cents to So
a carat. The worknen acquire wonder
full facility in shaping and polishing
stones. and from a given pattern will
produce the required object with great
rapidly.
The finest cutting of precious stones
is done in London, Paris, New York and
Boston, and in the Jura: of seni-prec-
1ous stones in Paris and the Jura; of
garnets in Bohemia; of amethyst, cit
rine, Spanish topaz Drown topaz in
Paris, Oberstein, etc. of blue, white
and green topaz, amethysts, green gar
nets, jaspers, agate, rock-crystal, etc,
in wonderful prfection in the UraI
mountains. Imitation stones are cut
in Paris and the Jura; in Turnau and
r. 1.
Until the fourteenth century. all
gems were either cut en- cabochon, that
Is, convex on one side like a carbuncle.
or in the form of beads drilled from
both sides in such a rude manner that
me TWO perforat.ons met very imper-
fectly. The latter may have been the
oriental custom brought to Europe by
Phoenicians, or other merchants from
that quarter or introduced during the
period of the crusades. Some of the
finest gems in the crowns of Austria.
Germany and Russia are sapphires and
emeralds that have been pierced in this
manner.
The Orientals polish precious stones
in all manner of irregular shapes. ac-
cording to the form of the piece when
found, and even lately in India. gems
nave been cut partly with facets and
partly rounding. and drilled in a num-
Der of places to be suspended by wire.
Rubles, sapphires, chrysoberyls, al
exandrites, moonstones and Indian
garnets are almost entirely 'cut in Lon
don, Paris and the Jura- These are
sent to Europe, principally to London.
where the commission houses receive
offers on the various parcels from
America, France and other quarters of
the globe.
Gem cutting is carried on in CeyIon.
but almost entirely in the primitive
Ceylonese style, viz, with little regard
for beauty, but simply for the purpose
OF retaining as much weight as posi-
BILE. The English Oriental stone cutters
are preferable, although some of the
most remarkable work ever done is
that of the French lapidaries.
In modern times the cutting of gar
nets has been almost entirely confined
to a single district in Bohemia. where
the industry has fiourished since the
early part of the sixteenth century. 1t
may be that many OF the garnets found
in the early Etruscan and Byzantine
remains, consisting of fiat plates. gar
nets set in gold, as we'll as beads and
gems on which were incised mytf1olog-
ical subjects, were originally brought
by traders from Pegu and other local
tiles in India, rather than from the Bo-
hernia district. where the are now 500
miners, 500 cutters and 5000 dealers
engaged in this single industry in the
kingdom. AT Jeypore, in India, are
also situated large cutting works en-
pfoying native worknnen who have been
taught the art by foreigners.
About 100000 watches with jeweled
works are annually manufactured in
the United States, requiring about
12,000,000 jewels, or from seven to twen-
ty-one for each watch; OF these $780,
900 are ruby and sapphire, and 1000. 900
are garnet jewels, valued at over $780,
600. Most of them are imported, but
one large company does its own cut
ting, employing about 200 hands, and it
is hoped that American jewels will soon
be used. To be of value for this pur-
pose, the material need not be of fine
color and braliancy, but must be flaw
less, of some decided shade of red or
blue and of greater hardness than
quartz.
Many of the aboriginal stone objects
found in North America and elsewhere
are rnarvels of lapidarian skill in chip
ping, drilling, grinding and polishing.
Few lapidaries could duplicate the ar
row points of obsidian from New Mex
leo, or those of jasper agate, agatized
wood and other minerals found along
the Willamette river Oregon. No 1api-
dairy could drill hard stone object
truer than some of the banner stones,
tubes and other objects made of quartz,
green stone and granite that have been
found in North Carolina. Georgia, and
Tennessee; or make anything moro
graceful in form and general outline
than some of the quartz discoidal
stones found in these same states. The
latter objects are often from four to six
inches, and occasionally seven inches
in diameter, ground in the center until
they are of the thinness of paper and
almost as transparent, and the great
regularity of the two sides would all
most suggest that they had been
turned in a lathe.
In the museum 'fVolkerkunde' at
Berlin is a remarkable specimen of lap
diary work. 1t is an obsidian ear orna-
ment two and one-half inches in dame