The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-26

Wilmington's new quarter of a mil
lion dollar cotton factory, the Delgado
mills. began operations yesterday and
the various departments will be start
ed up in rapid succession and run TO
full capacity, so that ere long the mill
will be turning out 25, 900 yards of fir
ished cloth per day and giving regp-
lar employment TO go or more orepa-
tives.
The principal machinery put in regu-
lar operation yesterday was the pick
ers. of which there are five. one very
large one, termed an opener. and four
smaller ones, known as finishing pick
ers. The opening picker has a capaci-
~ for picking and clearing twelve
bales of cotton per day.
MRS. HOLT FED FIRST COTTON
INTO PICKERS.
BY special invitation Messenger rep
resentatives were at the mill yesterday
afternoon TO see the machinery start
ed, which was done in the presence of
a party of aides and the mill officials.
The party consisted of Mr.. and Mrs.
E. e. Holt, Mr.. and Mrs. r. F. Bellamy
(Mr. Holt and Mr.. Bellamy respective
ly president and vice president of the
Delgado Company, Miss Eliza Bella
my, DR.. w. j. II. Bellamy, Mr.. j. w.
; Williamson Secretary and treasurer of
the company, and representatives OF
the press.
To Mrs. Holt, wife of the president,
! was accorded the privilege of feeding
the first cotton into the pickerS, and
| Mrs. r.. r. Bellamy and Miss Eliza Bel
lamy came in for second and third hon
ors, while the gentlemen of the party
made Simultaneous effort for the next
! degree of honor in feeding the fleecy
fibre into the machine.
MILL SPLENDIDLY EQUIPPED.
After the pleasant ceremony of start
ing up h machinery, The Messenger
representatives were escorted through
the mill by President E. C. Holt and,
while all the machinery has not yet
/ been thoroughly geared up ready FOR
service, the work is so near completed
that every part will be il thorough
readiness for regular operation as fast
as, in the regular order in the process
of manufacture, the raw material is
prepared.
In the spinning department on the
irst floor 10, 300 spindles were bein run
without fabric for the urpos of, as it
! were, limbering up the machinery n
getting it in thorough working order
when the raw material is prepared to
pass through the spindles. That they
are already pretty we'll supplied up"
is conclusively evidenced by the fact
that sections of. these marvellously
complicated machines were making
10, 900 revolutions per minute. The
spindles were manufactured by Howard
& Bullough, of Powtucket, r. L., and
are of the most improved patent.
On the floor above the spinning room
are the loom, 40 in number. manufac-
tured by the Compton-KnowleS Loom
Works, of Wooster, Mass.
The slashers and finishing machines
q e also on the second floor, and in the
finishing department either a soft or
hard finish can be impaired to the cloth
in the bolt.
The whole mill will be in operation
by March 1st, at the latest, and the
entire output, which will be probably
$4,000 yards of cloth per day, will be
disposed of through a commission
house in New York.
THE MONSTER ENGINE.
The engine room, in which all the
power needed TO run all the machinery
in the mammoth factory, is a place of
especial interest. The engine is 500
horsepower and the drive wheel is
twenty feet in diameter. There are
three immense boilers and the power
plant is equipped with an improved
steam trip which forces all the steam
and condensations from the steam pipes
all owe the mill back into the boilers.
This is a great saving, probably of one
fourth, in the expense of generating
the steam power. There is also an i'm
proved fire pump, which is to be used
in case of fire, which has a capacity
for throwing $50 gallons of water per
minutes.
There has been provided an almost
J inpyh9lISt9h1a SInnlV of water there
being a 100, 900 gallon reservoir just
pack of the factory.
WILL DOUBLE THE CAPACITY OF
THE MILL.
A prominent stakeholder in the mill
said yesterday that in all probability
work will be commenced on the erec-
ton of an addition to the mill by June
LIST, which will double the capacity of
the mill.
The present main building is 245x125
feet, two stories and so designed as to
admit of an addition on the west side.
Foundations are already placed for an
additional 500 horsepower engine and
the necessary additional boilers.
The dye house and similar depart
ments are now being equipped with
double the present capacity the mill re-
QuireS, with the enlargement in view,
the drying department having a 5000
pound capacity. For the first two or
three months only white goods will be
woven.
THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS.
AS previously announced, Mr.. J. c.
Reed is superintendent of the mill. The
weaving department IS under the SUI
pervision Of Mr.. d. F. O'Brian, and
Mr.. James EZel1 is in charge of the
carding and spinning rooms. Then, too,
Mr.. Holt, the president, is a practical
mill man, thoroughly versed in the
practical work Of every department.
THE DELGADO VILLAGE.
There are already about forty fami-
lies OF operatives settled in h cosy
cottages erected for them about the
mill, and fully fifty other families are
yet to arrive; in act, they are arriving
almost every day. As previously stat
ed, bou go operatives will be requir-
ed to operate the mill to its present ca
pacity.
i want to let the people who sunef