The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-05-07
NO 20

The older had cutting part made of
steel half an inch thick and three
fourths of an inch deep, and this was
set in round handle of wood. The
handle was perhaps Is inches long by
an inch and half in diameter, and
| near the end where the tool was in
serted was side handle which was
clamped on so that it 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 was alike
The drawing to which Mr.. Fritz referr-
ed was of lathe used at the Bethle-
hem Iron Works to cut up ingots of
steel into portions to make steamship
shafts and other big articles, or for
cannon, and it is capable of receiving,
turning, and cutting up ingots
which weigh 1000 pounds. 1t was
depicted as holding an ingot of IS tons
aud the drawing extended clear across
the wall back of Mr.. Fritz for num-
Der of feet on each of the two side
walls. There, too, were shown the
enormous tool posts in which the
four foot long tool exhibited would be
clasped instead of being held to its
work as of old in the hands of the work
man, and the lathe was provided with
posts enough to have fourteen of these
tools at work at once.
81 look back, too," said Mr.. Fritz,
"to my early days and call to mind
the equipments in the shop for making
drawings, and compare them with those
Of today. Today every shop ofnote has
a great drawing room equipped with
tables and tools of every needed sort
and with facilities for producing blue
prints by the score. Our facilities for
making drawings sixty years ago were
very different. The complete shop out
fit consisted of board, carpenters
square, a pair of compasses, bevel,
lead pencil, and piece of chalk and
jack plane with which to prepare the
surface of the board for fresh draw
ing. After time we adopted the
plan of making models in skeleton Of
full size, especially when motion was
to be worked out, and also made, when
it was possible, all the drawings offull
size, and this practice | am not asham-
to follow at the present time, rs it has
many advantages.
"The machine shop of today is
morvel in completeness Of equipments
for doing work correctly and with rap
dity, having special small tools for all
purposes. The accuracy with which
their round gauges are fitted up is
such that machine of fifty years ago
could not possibly realize. Suppose
that in his presence you had separated
a one-inch gauge and held the plug to
warm in your hand for Il few minutes,
without calling his attention to this,
and then handed it to him with re
quest to be put in its place again. He
would have thought there were witch
es about when he found it would not
60 back.
"The invention and construction of
instruments of precision and the meth
DDS of celebration and adjustments
which enable measurments to be taken
within the so, OOOth 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
mechanic of fifty years ago could have
had no conception"