The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-15

ing and pointing the screw blank al
 one operation. By this screw making was limited to two machines in the
 place of four, and the cost of maliufal- ture was materially decreased, through
 rapidity of production and the Javing
 in material, the latter being about 4C
 per cent In addition to the above | the rolled screw has a decided ldVan-
 tage in strength and uniformity, its
 tonsorial strength being 50 per cent
 greater than that of the cut screw.
 This holds good for both the headed
 and the threaded portions, as all the
 original skin of the metal is preser 7ed
 and condensed by the rolling process. | This screw ifs superior for all work
 where an extra finished head is not
 required
 | MT. Rogers mentioned another screw which has not been brought out in this country to any great extent, and that | is termed the drive screw. There is a field for its use where cheapness and quickness of handling make it deslr- able. It is driven by a hammer like a nail, and revolves on it's axis, s2reW- ing Itself into the wood like an ordln-
 ary screw. It can be withdrawn |y
 the use of screw driver. Not much
 effort has been maGA to place this
 article on the market, as the price uf
 common screws has usually been so
 low that there was little inducement
 for buyers to look into Its merits. In
 England, however, one concern alone
 is making four tons per day of these
 nd ic c1,i ir1ri iy1c '
 parts of the globe. They are mostly
 used on metal cornicesey sheet metal
 roofing and similar work.
 One important result of the Rogers inventions has been the possibility of making cheaply a. small neck or shank, avoiding the use of two bits in hard wood and which other inventors. by large expenditures of money. have vainly endeavored to cheaply produce As to the commercial value of these processes, the American Screw com pany paid s15O,0o0 at the outset for the Harvey patents, with no expectation of using them. but simply to cover the business. Since then hundreds of thou sands of dollars have been spent for forging patents and machinery.
 A committee of shareholders of the American Screw compsny (consiting in part of such well known men of this city as John w. Vernon, Charles Alex ander Herbert J. Weles and Charlss E.. Humphrey said in their report Of 1898 regarding these inventions: To day the validity of the patents is un- challenged in this country and in Great Britain, where the Rogers patents were stubbornly contested by the .Net.le- fords. the courts of highest resorts have established them beyond cavll. | Some years of practical test have now | confirmed their commercial value, so that at present more than one-half or | the screw product of the company con- sists of screws made by the swaging ! or forging process, whereby large | product of better quality is produced at q less cost than can be secured by | the old cutting process. These patents are now regarded as one of the most valued assets of the company. and would not be sold for much larger amount than they cost
 More than 100 screw companies have been in operation in this country, and lnIy a few have met with success During the last twenty-five years the price of wood screws has declined from 55c. to 9 1-2c. per gross. Just prior to the boom of 1899 and 1900 It went down to 1-2c. but the abnormal y high prices of the past two years nave enabled many of the small nlak- ITS to become well established.
 It is interesting to note that at the present time English screws are sold n Great Britain at about 15c per gross, he comparatively high price ruling here being in a measure, due to tne 'act that the makers in the different produce their screws on dif- erent models. The prejudices of Eng ish consumers induce the into pay q much higher price at home than the English screw makers get for export, ind this serves as a better protection o the English maker than would a moderate customs tariff,-Providenca Journal.