The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1899-11-08
MANY USES FOR JUNK
HOW WORKOUT AND DISCARDED
METAL is UTILIZED.

Old Aorseshoes May Reappear az Ra-
sors, and Battered Kitchen stoves
MAJ Go Up In shvscrapers-Lucky
Finds In tho J~unkshopB,
The other day 1 wandered into a
large yard containing great heaps OF
scrap iron and old metals Of different
kinds. Workmen were sorting out the
masses of rusty, misshapen and tan
gled metals, each Of which evidently
had Its particular value In the market.
1 wondered what became of all the
castaway metal and what peculiar
transformations 1t underwent. In seek
Ing some information ON the point
from the proprietor Of the place he
said:
"This business doesn't look as If 1t
possessed any elements of interest, ed
ucatio al or romantic, md yet it has
something of both of these. Now,
there's an old horseshoe. 1t may
shave n Monaghan in China, though
what n Monaghan has to shave 1 don't
clearly see. or course it will be con-
verified first into n razor. 1 ship large
quantities of these wornout horseshoes
and wagon tires to the Celestial king
dom to be worked up into razors,
knives and other useful domestic anti
Giles. The Chinaman engaged In his
particular Industry gets IL cents n day
for his labor. These horseshoes and
wagon tires are wrought iron and are
preferred to other forms Of this metal,
because they are the most conveniently
handled.
When you go across the bridge to
the borough Of Manhattan, you proba-
bly, notice some Of the new 90 oV
story buildings goinc sr tnere ana the
big iron ,oiuinns and girdcrs used in
their construction. You probably think
that those columns and Orders are all
new metal, but it is likely that they are
not. They are scrap iron, pure and
simple, Of nay be mixed with some
new ore in the melting and recasting
Of the scrap metal I'm the foundry or
rolling mill where oil the scrap goes.
->Yonr disca led kitchen stove .1ay re-
appear in one of the columns or grid
ers of n skyscraper. The owners Of
these lofty buildings may think they
are getting new iron material and may
pay for 1t, but they are probably not
getting 1t. Perhaps there isn't much
difference in the durability of the re.
cast metal and the new.
when you are riding In a trolley car,
you may rehec that the metal in the
axles Of the wheels and in the railroad
tracks may have formerly served In
stove CRATES. Such are some of the
new forms n uses which scrap metal
u
"We dealers alight upon some strange
finds among the old metal which we
gather. 1 have at home six solid
bronze plaques, as one Of this class of
finds, which I wouldn't take S75 for.
I've also got ut home an iron and
bronze aquarium, another Of these ne
culiar discoveries, which l wouldn't
part with for $50.
1T Is curious to think how such valu-
abl articles get into such poor COM
pany as scrap iron. Perhaps the orig
inal carelessly permit them to
get mixed UP with some old junk
which they disposed Of to the funk
man who brings his collection Of stock
to us, or perhaps they deliberately
throw theR-~aWay through simple
%eafiness Of their possession. Then,
again, the articles may possibly be
NeS w ~ ~
There are other interesting finds we
meet with in our business. Not only
the common but the finer metals, such
as jewelry and silverware, fall into our
hands. Possibly you've heard your
wife remark II day that there was a
silver spoon missing, and she might
suspect that the servant has stolen Il.
Eut the truth Is the spoon has acct
dentally gone astray and passed un-
noticed into the ash can or garbage
tub and In the course Of time, possibly.
we pick 1t up out Of the dumps. MANY
a spoon, knife and fork with Tiffany's
or Benedict's stamp on it I have
bought at Barren island after being
k out Of these dumps. Othor stray
waits In this class which 7 have gath
cred from the Barren island dumps
are silver pocketknives and match
boxes. gold and silver thimbIes and
cuff buttons, gold rings and a ladies'
gold purse which I sold for $50 as old
gold. Some time ago q ring with a
transparent stone was picked QUO ot
the dumps. A business rival Of mine
just got ahead Of me in the purchase
of tue ring, which he got for $40. The
stone proved to be q genuine diamond,
anu the purchaser got $3.50 for the
ring. 1t looked like a ladies' engage
ment ring and tho sympathetic thought
struck me that its possibly fair owner
was at that moment suffering unim-
aginable distress at its loss.
80 you see," continued the dealer.
there are q few interesting and some
what romantic features associated
with our vety prosy looking business"
Brooklyn Citizen.