Iron County register., 1900-06-07
CARRYING THE HOD.
net what It WAS Before Hoi.tiug ria.
chimes Came In, Bat Much os
1t Still Done.

the oId-fd shioned hod had quite gone
but of use, but as a matter of fact, the
hod is still far from obsolete. Of all
the bricks and mortar put into build
ings in the United States probably so
per cent. is still carried to the mason
in hods borne ON the shoulders of men.
In very large cities, in New York, for
instance, rs per cent. of the bricks
and mortar is now hoisted by ele-
vators; in small cities and in the
country IS per cent. of such material
is still carried to where it is to be
used in hods. So that, while the ele-
vator is still steadily encoaching upon
! the hod, the hod is still largely carried,
says the New York Sun.
Whether a hod-hoisting machine
shall be used. and what sort of a ma
| chine, depends of course upon the job.
On a one-story building. anywhere.
the bricks would be carried up in the
old way, as they might be on the small
er two or three-story building; but
here, on building of any size, after
it has gone up story there is put
in hosting apparatus of some sort,
either hand or power. \ hand holster
consists of strap chain running
around two pulleys, one below and the
other above, one of these being turned
by a crank. The hods used with this
apparatus have a hook on them. A
man fills hod at the brick hill in the
street and walks into the building with
it and hooks it onto that chain, upon
which it is slowly hoisted to where
the bricks are to be used; the empty
/ L I L L Al, H. "
descending side.
On some power hod elevators the
hods are hooked On a beam in row
by the men who bring them in from
the street, and hoisted quickly up, and
the empties sent back. In the use of
some power elevators the bricks are
wheeled in from the street in barrows
to the elevator and then transferred
to the hods, which are hoisted up and
removed above, and sent back again
to be filled again in the same manner.
Here it will be observed the hod is
eliminated below. And in the use of
some elevators bricks are wheeled
right into the platform of the elevator
in barrows, and barrows and all are
hoisted up and wheeled right up on
layer. The empty wheelbarrows are
sent down and pulled off the platform
and replaced with filled ones that the
hen in the street were loading when
.he others were going up and coming
down. In this operation the hod is
eliminated above and below. All these
things are determined by the character
and size of the job; the builder does
whatever can be done. to the best ad.
vantage. And still with all the hoist
ing done nowadays there is yet. as
has been seen, more or less hod car
rying done and the hod is still reg
ular article of manufacture and sale
and is sold in considera BILE numbers.
The size of the hod carried varies
somewhat with the region in which
it is used; thus the hod carried in this
city is little smaller than that usec
in New Jersey and Long Island. The
hod is made in three sizes, the small
est of the three for brick the middle
size for mortar, and the largest for plas
ter; the mortar hods are made water
tight by pitching the seams. Hods used
with hod-hoisting apparatus are made
a little smaller than those that are
hand carried. Hods are still most com
monty made of wood, but there is made
nowadays. also. a steel hod. This is
a western invention, and is more COM
monty used in the west than in the
east.
The hod carrier of to-day is an Ital-
ian, and hard worker; but hod car
rying. commonly exercised now with
in narrower limits than formerly, is
not the art that it once was. Thirty,
forty, fifty years ago. though he has
now far outgrown hod carrying, the
hod carrier was everywhere an Irish
man: a picturesque figare of whom
many pictures were made. and about
whom many things, intended to be hu-
morous. were written. But he was a
sturdy. able man. all the same, and not
without skill in his calling; and it re.
quired some skill, and training in the
work to enable a man to climb, with
a hod on his shoulder, the ladder they
mounted in those days, when the ma
son called down from above:
more mort!"
And it was a sight worth seeing. a
string of stalwart men, each with
hod on his shoulder. at equal distances
apart on the ladder. end climbing in
ceaseless and unwearying movement.
and all in step. up the face of some
tall building. There is an old. old story
about a hod carrier who, mounting sky
ward on a six-story building which was
nearly finished, struck the level of the
sixth story scaffolding just as the
clock in neighboring steeple began
to strike the noon hour, 12. 1t might
be supposed that the hod carrier would
have stepped around the sidepiece of
the ladder, one step, and set the hod
down on the scaffo,ding. but no; at the
first stroke of the bell, as the story
goes, he simply let go OF the handle;
and then started himself, down the
ladder.
Nothing of that sort could happen
nowadays, the hod is still carried. it is
true. but the glory of hod carrying has
departed
The Family Described.
A Savannah sportsman who recent
ly went on a fishing trip up the Sa-
vannah river tells story of an old
darky whom he saw on the bank of the
stream. To ems age the old man in con-
II