Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-12-02
THE SHOWS FALLS BOOM.

| BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANl
WHICH THE LINEN MANUFACTURING
CO. Is BUILDING.-ITs NEW PROCESS
AND NEW PRODUCT.
For many years the Little Androscog'
gin River has poured its waters down
over the lodges at Shows Falls without
being made to turn the wheels of indus.
try. Formerly there were industries
there, which made use of q portion OF
the power furnished by nature at that
spot, but they all encountered fire OF
flood, or other difficulties, and for a gen.
Grafton nothing has permanently held a
| place there, and the waters in their de-
scent have served only an aesthetic and
not utilitarian purpose.
Now, however, preparations are being
made-and well made-to utilize the
power of the fall, which is very constant,
and is larger than many people realize.
The Linen Manufacturing Company is
building n plant there for the manufac-
ture of linen fibre, and John F. Wood
of Boston, treasurer of the company,
who has for number of years had an
interest in the Shows Falls water power,
is there in general charge of the work,
which has now been going on for four
months or more.
The business which the Linen Manu-
featuring Co. is to carry on is new
industry, owing its existence to an inven-
ton of B. c. Nudge, now superintendent
of the company and engaged in the work
of fitting up the plant at Shows Falls.
Mr.. Nudge. who is graduate of the
Massachusetts, Institute of Technology,
is an expert and enthusiastic chemist,
and was for some time employed in that
capacity in one of the large mills in
Lawrence, Mass.
The raw material of the industry is
the tow which is the waste product of
linon mills. as we'll as that which is left
to rot. or is perhaps burned to get it out
of the way, thousands of tons year, on
the fiaxseed farms of the West. This
tow has heretofore been used only for
upholstery, as packing material, or for
other cheap purposes; but by the process
of this company it is converted into a
white, pure linen fibre, suitable for man.
ufacture into high-grade paper or absorb
ent linen for surgical purposes, or per-
haps even to comb and spin and weave
into the coarser grades of linen fabrics.
The tow with which the process starts
out is, as those of former generation
we'll understand, compound of dust,
fibre, and sticks, or, as they are strictly
called, shives, which give rough, harsh
feeling to the tow. To get this into pure
fibre is the object of the process. The
tow first goes through machine called
a buster. which shakes and blows the
dust and dirt out of it. 1t is then pitch
forked into the hopper of what is known
as a deshivng machine. Here, by means
of cylinders with peculiar sort OF
surface, about ninety per cent
of the shives are removed from the tow.
The other ten per cent still remain.
Up to this point the process is me-
chanical: the rest of it is chemical, eX-
cept such mechanical means as are nee
essary in handling and drying the prod
uct. The shives which remain in the
tow are really fibre bound firmly togeth-
err. and it is the secret of diSsolving the
binding material and disintegrating the
shives which Mr.. Nudge has discovered.
The tow, with its percentage OF shives,
goes into huge digester, and when it
comes out il is all fibre. 1t is then
practically finished, and after being
wrung out and dried by steam heat, is
ready for baling.
The work of the company on the plant
is being thoroughly done. As one in
stance it may be mentioned that the solid
and comparatively new wooden penstock
which carries water to their wheel has
been encased in masonry, so as to make
il permanent. All the masonry about
the establishment is solid and subStan-
tial, and the foundation is most of it on
solid ledge.
North of the three-story building
which has stood for few years two
story mill has been built, extending from
the old building to the highway west of
the bridge. The new building is sheathed |
with metal and has monitor roof. On
the west side of the main buildings is a
wing containing the boiler, pump, coal
room, &c. A warehouse and other de-
tached buildings will give when COM
pleted total floor space of nearly $4,000
feet.
A so horse power boiler, pump, dyna-
mo. two deshiving machines, the big |
iigester, a drier, and some other machin-
cry are already in place, and other ma
chinery is now in process of manufacture.
The arrangements for fire protection
will be very thorough. The buildings |
are equipped throughout with automatic |
sprinklers, a head of water being fur
nished both from standpipe which |
extends up through the mill TO consid-
cradle height above the roof, and a
reservoir which has been built on the
hill some distance above the level of the
roofs. A powerful pump has been
installed.
Electric lights will be used in the mill, |
and perhaps in some of the nearby
houses, and an electric forge will be used |
in the blacksmith shop.
The Grand Trunk, whose main line
runs only few feet from the mill, will
put in a siding 1900 feet long. so that
freight can be loaded and unloaded at |
the door of the mill.
When completely equipped according |
TO the present plans, the nliii VIII requlie
a crew of twenty-five or more men. For
economical use of the processes, it is
the purpose to run the mill day and
night. 1t will have capacity of about |
ten tons day of the finished product.
1t is hardly necessary to say that the
people of Paris are glad to see these
for permanent industry of
this magnitude in town. Already the
houses in that vicinity, some of which
have been vacant for years, are all occu-
pied, and some of them are being re-
paired and improved. With the devel-
opment of the manufacturing there, it
may be expected that ere long there will
be busy little village there, with mill
running day and night, electric lights
glowing throughout the twenty-four
hours, and tons of new product, de-
veloped from former waste substance,
shipped away daily.
THE OUTLooRS BOOK NUMBER.
Most prominent and perhaps most
interesting among the many special
l.