The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1899-07-26
WILL IT WORN.
A Machine for Manufacturing
Cigars.


RI II Is Success its Effects will be
Far Reaching VIII be felt even In
Morgantown-Local Cigar Makers
think 1t impossible for Machine to
do some OF the work required.
Cigar manufacturers IN all parts
of the country are watching with
deep interest for the practical re
suits Of experiments being made in
Lancaster eounty with newlypat-
ened machine which is expected to
make 300 complete cigars, filed,
wrapped ard tucked, in one hour
says the Times. More deeply inter
ested than the manufacturers are
the cigarmakers who have learned
of the experiments. Lancaster,
York, Berks and neighboring coun
ties manufacture millions of cigars
every year, and thousands of men,
women and children are employed
in the trade. Many little towns
practically live on the cigar making
industry, and the success Of the
machine will he a serious blow TO
them. Fortunately, however, the
manufacture of silk, stockings,
shirts and other knitted goods is
rapidly developing in the smaller
towns Of the cigar region, and the
collapse Of the handmade cigar in
dustry would not be as serious as
| it might have been at one time.
A somewhat eccentric individual
named Miller, who is well up in
years, has been working at the ma
chine for a long time. Interested
in it with him is Thomas III. Keller,
of Lititz The machine has been
constructed in an old mill in the
country, where il is kept under lock
and key. A patent has been grant
ed, but the machine as 1T works now
is slow. 1t turns out rather rough
looking but well filled and wrapped
cigar, and the inventors expect to
perfect it in short time.
The possibility Of making salts
factory cigars by machine has long
been doubted by many manufactur-
ers, but Others believe it to be only
a question of time until machine
will do all the work, from stripping
the rib out Of the leaf to putting the
cigars in boxes, ready for the reven-
ue stamp. 1t is only a few years
since the cheap cigar trade was rev
olutionized by the filling machines
which do rapid and satisfactory
work. But it was still necessary to
put the ''bunches," as the unwrapped
cigar is called, into molds, and then
"roll' them, or put on the wrapper,
by hand For this operation the
leaf must be cut into narrow strips
and the small end of the cigar is Sc
cured by peculiar twist and tuck,
after corner has been cut, with
difficult movement of the forefinger
nail and a bit OF favored paste. Only
one person in thousand who have
seen this operation would hope to
perfect machine which would put
this end on cigar.
The wrapping apparatus of the
new machine is clever continuance
Of metal, fingers and thumbs. Few
persons have been permitted to see
it and the description in the patent
office gives but vague idea to the
average mind Of how it works. A
member of the Pittsburg firm of Dill
worth Bros, who operates large
cigar and toby factory in Lancaster
county, called on the inventors sew
eral weeks ago.
Morgantown toby rollers and ci-
gar makers when asked about the
above story stated that they believed
it was a fake. A machine could
never cut the wrapper the proper
shane nor give it the peculiar turns
that it would have to do in order to
roll the cigar.
There are number of cigar max
ers in the town and their interests
would probably be affected by the
introduction of machine of the
character mentioned The copsum
ers of the fragrant weed would also
be interested but in different way.
They would get their smokes cheap