The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-08
MAKING THE BASEBALLS.
Nearly Four Million Turned Out H.
One Factory a Year.
Philadelphia Record.

One Factory n Year.
Philadelphia Record.
a large proportion of the worlds base
balls are made in Frankfort, in a factory
as clean as a pink she'll Here $50 young
men. young women and little boys pro-
duce 1900 balls daily and 100000 an
nually. for winter and summer, in sea-
son and out of season. the factory is in
operation.
1t is a big building of red brick, at the
corner Of Tulip and Palmer streets, and
it belongs 10 A. ]. Reach & Co.. the firm
that makes the balls used by the Ma
tional League. the American League and
the American Association. These profes-
sional people in every game put in play
from four 10 six new balls. which they
never use again except for practice. ANA
tours put in play two, three four balls,
according TO their wealth, and thus the
consumption continues on down the line
TO the teams that put in play only one
ball and stop the game If that gets lost.
Three and half million is a great num-
Der OF balls 10 make in a year. but that
is the output, and the consumption equals
it, for at the seasons end no balls are left.
What ultimately becomes of them-whether
they sold for waste yarn or whether
they are simply thrown away-is an inter-
esting question, but one that no one seems
to be qualified to answer.
The baseball of the best grade - the
$50 sort that the professionals use - is
nine inches In circumference, three inches
in diameter and five ounces in weight. 1t
IS composed of a rubber center, a round
piece of Para rubber one inch in diameter;
a layer one inch thick of wound wooden
yarn a thin coating Of a plastic compo-
sition or cement. two more layers one inch
thick of wooden yarn. another coating or
cement and cover of alum-tanned horse
hide, stitched with cotton.
The winding room of the factory is on
the first fiOor-a huge place where some
fifty boys tend machines that wind
strong. pure yarn into balls much more
evenly than the human hand could do.
Each boy has a box beside him filled
with the slate-colored centers of Para
rubber. He places one of these centers
within the ingenious machine that stands
at the height of his breast before him.
and the machine winds about the rubber
a four-ply, blue-miXed yarn - a wooden
yarn-that is to say, of the thickness of
a straw, and very strong and durable
When enough of the yarn has been applied
the machine stops of itself, for 1t works
automatically. and the boy then removes
the ball. which is now two inches in diam
eter throws il into a box, sets another rub
Der center in it's place and starts the ma
chine awinding again.
Some little boys, meanwhile, go from this
machine TO that. gathering up the partly
finished balls and carrying them to the
dipper-a young man who dips them In
transparent fluid that is called plastic
composition" or cement. This fluid is
ceedingly adhesive; its application causes
the balls TO retain permanently their shape;
the guarantee accompanying them, indeed
is that If they are ever batted out of shape
new balls will be given in exchange for
them.
In another machine similar to the first
one each ball is now wound, first with
three-ply white yarn and then with three
ply yarn of blue, until il has reached the
requisite size of nine inches in circumfer-
ence and three inches in diameter. 1t is
dipped afterward in the cement again and
now il is ready 10 be covered.
Automatically through these various
stages the machines have wound it, and,
so far as the eye can tell, they have
brought it precisely to the right size. But
weigh scales tended by boys. are here and
there, and upon these the balls are thrown
from time to time. and thus the various
layers of blue and white and four-ply and
three-ply yarn are regulated to a nicely.
HOrsehide, alum-tanned. and as white and
sole as the gloves that are worn in the
evening. is the balls covering One hide
makes only eighteen covers, for only the
strongest and finest part of it can be used
First 1t is knee-staked. A muscular youth
pulls 1T back and forth over a knee-high
stake with all the strength of his back and
| shoulder muscles, and this takes the
stretch" out of it, brings it to it's ultimate
size. Then ii is passed to a young man
who sits in row of fellow-workers before
Il
perforateS for sewing a half cover. The
| cover is in two pieces, each shaped like an
/ 5, and these S-Shaped sections, pierced along
| their edges for the needles passage. the
| cutting machines punch with great accu-
racy and speed out of the hides
| Only mentor the work requires mus
/ cle-sew the $50 balls. They sit on sad
/ Gles astride and clampers of wood rise
/ before them, in which the balls are placed.
| The covers are first fastened on with brass
| staples, and then, with an awl in one hand
| and a needle in the other the sewer be-
/ gins his work. II takes him, on an aver
| age. fifteen minutes 10 complete a ball.
| In the sewing the thread used is a very
| excellent grade of cotton, cOlored red and
! blue. At one time silk was used, but the
| alum in the horsehide rotted ii. then linen
was tried, but batting broke the fibre of
the linen thread. Cotton, ii was found.
made the most durable stitching that could
| be devised.
The sewing leaves a ball rough on the
| seams. 1t is, therefore, rolled after sewing,
| first by hand. and then. the next morn
| ing, by machinery. and this process
| smoothes it perfectly. The stamping the
| the packing in separate boxes complete
! the manufacture of the ball II is ready
| now 10 go out into the world and to be-
| gin its brief life on the diamond The whole
process of its making takes just thirty
minutes.
| Only Americans play baseball. and A.
| j. Reach & Co. did no exporting until Uncle
| Sam began his career of conquest. They
| export halls now to Cuba and TO the Philip
! pines, and during the Boxer uprising they
| exported quite a number 10 China. For
| wherever the American soldiers and sailors
! are they must have baseballs 10 play with
| in fine weather.