Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-16
AN UMBRELLA.
It illustrates What Can Be Done by
American Methods of Manufacture.

From the New York SUM-
1t Is not surprising that simple objects
can be turned out for two or three cents a
hundred in a finished condition in two or
three separate operations, but it is certain
~ marvel that an article like
brella. In which much hand labor is neces-
sary to fasten these parts together, adj
just them, complete the structure, test it
and make it ready for the market, can be
manufactured so cheaply that the concrete
article can be made to pay three profits
and reach the buyer at forty-nine cents.
The cheapest umbrella made contains twice
forty-nfne pieces. large and small Each of
these pieces requires from six to twenty
mechanical operations before it is in place,
besides the details of raising, spinning,
weaving and dyeing the fabric and mining
and converting the ore and celebrating the
steel members.
Altogether the modern umbrella is one of
the best of all exemplifcations of what
can be accomplished by American methods,
machinery and ingenuity. The umbrella
rod of steel tubing, nicely japanned in
brown and tipped with substantial fer
rule and solid steel point, is in itself a re-
markable structure. 1t may be an OPEN
seam tube OF one which is brazed. but in
either case It requires repeated landings
and machinery of great nicely to turn 1t
out Its brass latches are accurately
stamped out of sheet metal in two opera
tons and are fixed in place by hand. The
dbs or bows and the spreaders are made
from strips of thin sheet steel drawn
through dies to give them form which
produces the greatest strength for the
weight of metal.
They are then supplied with the little
round tips and the reinforcements are
clamped upon them and holes are pierced
in them, all by special machinery. After
ward they are dipped in japan and baked
in an oven at high heat. All the parts of
a modern American umbrella are made to
accurate gauge and are interchangeable
The business of making frames is general
ly separate from that of covering and sup
plying handles. 1t will be noticed that 30
per cent of the cheap modern umbrellas
have one style of handle. natural wood
crook, which makes it convenient to hang
the umbrella upon the arm Nearly all of
these bent handles are imported, and the
preparation of the wood begins a year or
more before the living growth is cut.
The wounding of twigs and saplings for
canes and umbrella handles goes on year
after year in foreign countries. Men and
women and children go around with knives
and carving gougeS and stab the bark of
the sprouts of oak and other woods at
close intervals and in straight lines or spi-
rails The implements pierce the soft wood
under the bark and nature soon begins TO
repair the injury. The cuts are made heart
shaped, v shaped, in the form of a horse
shoe, or in zizzag lines and straight dashes.
When the twigS are cut in the following
year and the bark is removed these marx.
ings are found raised above the surface of
the wood The wood is bent into the crook
form by heating 1t in hot sand and is tied
In shape while hot. Afterward comes the
work of trimming, boring. staining and
polishing the handles mounting with sill
yer or baser metal.
1t might seem that the handle upon a half
dollar umbrella must cost nearly as much
as the rest of the material, but these bent
wood handles are so cheap that they are
employed in preference to any other Kind.
In recent years there has been consider
able wounding of oak sprouts and harvest
ing of canes and umbrella handles in this
country, but it is said to be all done by
aged foreigners, with whom the practice
almost became second nature in the father
land The difference between a dollar UNI
brella and one which costs ten times as
much Is not great now as It was a rev
Years ago. 1t is a matter of covering and
ornanentation rather than Of construction.