The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-02-07
MAKING AN ENVELOPE.
TEN MILLIONS TURNED OUT m THIS
COUNTRY EVERY DAY.


which case lt should be pronounced
as II French-ahn-v-lope The French
spelling Is, however envelope The
word without the final IS pronounced
en-Yellup Dean Swift made the fol
lowing rhyme
Lend these to paper-sparlng Pope,
And when ha sits to write,
NO letter with an envelope
could give him more delight"
The trade does not say ahn.v-lope.
but en-yellup. The United States En-
yelope Company, with a capital OF S..
VOO'OOO, Is the largest manufacturer
OF envelopes in the world, comprising
as It does no less than nine big con-
Germs in New England and one in
milwaukee. In the United States we
haoye, all told. 30 large firms engaged
IN this manufacture, 20 Of which do
not belong to the trust.
Over 100000 envelopes are made
IN this country every working day, or
more than 5000, 100000 a year. The
pin product amounts to 3O0O0.O00 a
day, or nearly 10000 100000 annually
The American output of lead pencils
is 5000 gross or 100000 a day, max
ing the annual production of 225 900.
Buttons we make by the million gross,
and great quantities of steel pens
In the latter product England is far
ahead Of us, 1t is said we do not
make the right kind of steel Tor pens.
The biggest little thing is the match,
OF which We make and use annually
over 125,000,0 100000. It is estimated
that the consumption is five matches
a day for every man, woman and child
of the population, which makes AGO.
100000 day single machine
R&rns out 100000 matches an hour,
or 5,2S0,000 each working day of
eight hours.
The Oldest envelope manufacturing
firm in the United States is in William
street, which boasts many ancient
houses in other lines. If you wish to
see the old, the solid, the safe and
the sound IN our commercial life go
to William street between, say, Lib
erty and Beekman. Samuel Raynor
was the original envelope manufac-
turer in New York, and the firm in
William street is his successor. When
he began business our fathers were
folding their letters with the writing
INSIDE and concealing the contents by
hns of waters and sealing wax.
THat was about so years ago. For a
long time envelopes were made by
hand and the cost was considerable.
The establishment of to-day turns out
with so machines 100000 every eight
hours, and the present cost of enve-
lopes is so small that we hardly take
Is into serious consideration.
n confess to a feeling of disappoint-
ment since going through this factory
with Mr.. Johnson. thought an en-
velope machine could eat rolls of pa
per and turn out millions of the finish
eu product, packed in Doxes ready for
the customer. Match machines are
fed on blocks of wood and ,ne COM
p9eted product is set before you
p6eRed in boxes containing from 65
to 500 each. However, the envelope
machine is ingenious enough. The
blanks are first cut with steel dies,
which are forced through from 400 to
zoo sheets of paper at single i'm
preston. They are then placed in the
front of the machine, which picks
them up one by one, gums the flaps
folds them, dries them and delivers
them in blocks of Is to the operator
The latter is invariably woman. All
she has to do is to keep up the supply
of blanks and band the envelopes as
they are turned out. The smaller the
envelope the faster the machine, the
capacity ranging from $4,000 to $4,000
3 day Of eight hours.
Some Of the envelopes made here
n arsl yeritable works of art. Splendid
examples Of lithographing are seen in
immense sheets of paper, some with
4 gorgeous pictures so intricate that the
man with the die must be Philadel
phia lawyer to unravel the puzzle. The
number Of sheets to be cut into blanks
at one impression must be of perfect
register, else the envelope will be
ruined in the folding. The old plan
was to drive steel pins through the
400 or more sheets, seeing that in each
a mark made by the photographer was
punctured. So varied is the demand
for envelopes that no factory could
keep in stock sufficient number Of
aies and machines for making odd
yles. therefore the ancient hand
~brk is carried on In a secluded cor
"a young man in a wire cage has q
mAllet and some queer shaped stee