The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-20
AMERICAN MATCH FACTORY
SUPPLIES THE ENGLISH TRADE
Antiquated Britirh Methods Routed by the American
Invasion--Bryant and May Concern Merged
Into the Diamond Match Company in
*.~ Preference to Extinction.

and a biscuit in the morning "a bowl OF
hot soup at noon ana at D. m they
are again served with tea and biscuit
There are large kitchens in the basement
and the provisions supplied by the man
ayers are pieced out with the food the
employees bring from home or they car
buy their meals at cost price. A good
dinner is served for 6 cents and single
dishes for / or 3 cents. The result is
that the factory is a most desira BILE place
of employment. There is more than
enough good labor always on hand, and
the best ~orkmen are secured
= The effect of the treatment has been
a surprise no other employees of labor
English factories are adopting similar
methods .ras -r e. -
About Matches Not Made in Heaven.
But Come with me and take a look at
the factory. i have called II a Yankee
institution and so it Is in its machinery
and in the money that runs It. The most
of the employees are English and the
matches are sold all over England under
the advertisement Made by British Ia
bor.' 1t IL at the top of the great build
Ing where the. most of the matches are
made. The room covers more than an
acre. and there are sixteen machines in
it which take the blocks of cork pine
from the United States or Canada and
cut them into matches. They dip the
end of the match into paraffin. coat 1t
makes the fire and then dry 1t. The ma
chine is automatic, and 1t packs the
matches into boxes and delivers them on
the round revolving tables where girls sit
and put the covers on. In the whole pro-
cess the girls hands are not in contact
with the matches until they are dry, and
they are, therefore, in no danger from the
contact.
1t is wonderful how fast the machines
go and what an enormous amount of
work thew do Each machine cuts fOrtY-
eight matches at a stroke. and the larger
ones make go strokes minute. As the
matches are cut they are automatically
stuck in flexible cast-iron band, from
which they project like bristles. This
1and travels over wheel after wheel, dip
pinE the matches and carrying them by
ventilating machines until they are dry
md ready to pack. The machines are alb
oroken matches. and the dust and the
breakage drop out and are carried down
into the furnace under the boilers. 1t
takes about twelve hands to work one
OF these machines, and each machine will
turn out more than 100000 matches in
Making Wax Tapers.
Leaving this department, I went into
the rooms where wax tapers and paper
matches are manufactured. The paper
lights are made of cardboard, being put
into a machine which prints an adver-
the proper length. Other machines dip
the matches and dry them. They also
put on the safety heads and arrange them
in boxes.
Wax matches have a basis Of fine cot
ton. The start is with the thread. which
Is twisted and drawn through bath OF
heated paraffln wax. and then through
a die containing a number of holes. When
the paraffin coat has been put on the
threads look like white wires of about
the thickness of a match. They are
wound on big drums and the rest OF the
process Is much like the making of the
wooden matches above described.
In other rooms the boxes are made by
box-making machinery. being turned out
by the millions a day. The boxes are of
ali shapes and sizes. The greatest num-
Der are OF pasteboard and paper. many
of brass and tin, and not few of wood.
Some OF the straw-board box machines
will turn out seventy boxes minute;
The total output -ofthe factory runs into
hundreds OF millions of matches a day,
and It is enough to- keep these 5000 900
people in lights ana to furnish an enorm-