The record-union., 1896-05-03

Necessity is the mother of inven-
ton. Necessity has been the mother of
invention for a long time-so long, in
fact, that the memory Of man runneth
not to the contrary. After the creation
of the world, master was needed, and
as material was scarce, he was made
out of dust. An iron man no doubt
would have lasted longer if he had been
properly painted, but up to date the dust
article has answered the purpose fairly
well
Nor was that all. Even the children
know how woman was invented, for
she also was deemed necessary-and has
subsequently proven such to be the
case
And since that date inventions have
been born of necessity almost every day.
Noah invented the Ark during the high
water some time ago, and Philip
thought out and perfected the AIacedo-
nian legion, and 1t was a marvel.
The age of invention, therefore, is not
new, as we have been taught to believe,
but it is progressive, and old Mother
Necessity draws a line to which men
work; but the finest lines drawn and
worked TO in California to-day are those
carved out by the workers in the pat
tern shop division of the car machine
shop of the Southern Pacific Company,
OF which Ira c. Shaw is Foreman.
ArchimedeS was a philosopher of no
small repute, and was the first mathe-
matician of his time, but had one of the
elaborate and complicated drawings
been laid before him which are daily
turned into the pattern shop, he would
have scratched his head and concluded
that his early training in mathematics
had been very limited indeed, and that
his philosophy was antiquated- In that
same pattern shop invention keeps step
with necessity, and necessity makes
new demands every day.
When you visit this shop you will
first glance at its independent motor
power, which is capable of setting each
machine in the noon in motion, and
fhen you will pause while the foreman
explains to you that the patterns for
every casting ever made in the shops
were made here, after which it will be-
gin to dawn upon your mind that you
are In the most important of amy of the
divisions of the Southern Pacific shops.
Here are made patterns for castings
for cars, locomotives, steamboats,, and
for all the tools used in every depart
ment Here are made patterns of all
kinds, from the monster shear press to
the most delicate brass tracery. and
each and every pattern must be ac-
curate to a hair.
Then you will stop before an auto
matte arrangement for grinding the
tools used in the shop. The tool you de-
sire to grind is placed in a clamp and
set at the desired angle SO as to secure
the bevel needed; the power is turnd
on, the wheel begins to revolve and
there you are. If that arran cement
had been perfected 80 years ago.
benjamin Franklin would never have
written UP his experience on turning
the grindStone," nor pointed a moral
from the tale,
Ihere are five turning iathes of differ
ent sizes used for turning wood, and
lney dlffer from other wood lathes only
IN nhat the timber to be turned is kept
III place by adjusting nuts, devised by
the FOREMAN for the purpose
standing upon the end of a table is
an Insignificant looking contrivance.
consisting Of two small rollers which
ocme together like an oId-fashioned
clothes-wringer, except that the top
one contains different sized tongues or
rolls, which fit into corresponding
grooves In the one below. This is called
lead hllet machine, and was also de-
signed by Foreman Shaw. a strip of
sneet lead is merely stuck into one of
the rolls the crank turned. and your
nilet is ready to be tackled upon a pat
tern having irregular corners. which
must be rounded of, and thus a long,
tedious and particular piece of hand
carving is dispensed with 1t is one of
the latter-day inventions which neces-
sity has demanded and secured. It is a
noteworthy fact that some years ago a
Yankee, with an eye set to business
(Yankees' eyes usually are set that
way, visited the shops. became inter
ested In the little machine, went back
home, made model, got a patent for
1T, and then tried to sell one to the
Southern Pacific Company and got
laughed at for his pains.
Then you will be shown a dowel ma
chine, the product of which plavs q
prominent part where patterns are COM
posed of two or more pieces. A dowei
literally, is a pin or block of wood fit
ting into holes in the abutting portions
of two pieces. being partly in each piece
to keep them in their proper relative
position; and the dowel machine is
constructed only for the purpose of
turning pins from one e-sixteenth Of an
inch to one inch in diameter, and II
does its work we'll The dowel must
be permanently fixed in one piece Of the
pattern, and when the two pieces are
Joined the model is as firm as IL il con-
sisted or single piece. The machine
was designed in the shops, and is a la.
bor-saver OF considerable Importance
Formerly when the cogs or teeth were
set into wheel pattern, a dovetail
mortiee was made in the wheel into
which a corresponding tenon on the
tooth was forced. The dowel does away
with all that work, the tooth being
fitted upon the fiat surface of the wheey
and held in place by two dowel pins
and small screw.
Then you see big lathe used for t,,rn-
ing inside ana outside tapers. 1t is ca
papie or turning out tapering pieces OF
timber with as much exactness as ar
engine lathe, and viii readily work ur
timber seventy-two inches in diane:
ter on the outside and thirty-four inches
on the inside. The taper may be SET
at any desired angle, and it is the most
valuable tool of its kind ever used in a
pattern shop.
Then you win see a neat little machine
called combination planer and joiner
1t Is an extraordinary useful tool. It's
knives are set on a shear, or draw. and