The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-24
STUDENT BLACKSMITHS
AT FORGE AND ANVIL.
Wealthy Young Men, Who Would Become Engineering Experts
Learn Details of Shop Work-Amerca Leads the World in
Teaching Youths to Handle Tools

| training that has the double purpose OF
| making the student careful and exact in
an intelligent commandep p Of Of sabordinate
workmen-the American schools of tech
| nology are to-day undoubtedly the best in
the world, although they differ materially
| In their method Of approaching the
problem.
Many of the important American fnsti-
buttons, for example. follow a system OF
construction that differentiates it from
the Laboratory method represented. In
iron working. by the forging laboratory
in Boston that would probably 50 interest
the shade of Louis XVI. and the virtue
of these respective systems affords tech
biological educators a field of discussion
almost as vigorous as the Shakespeare
Bacon controversy.
In outward appearance the shop and
the laboratory are more or less similar;
the method. however, is essentially differ
ent;
contains power hammer, seven black
smiths vises, a blacksmith's hand drill, a
power shears In which great bars of metal
the big scissors of a dressmaker. and thir-
ty-two FORCES for the individual student
blacksmiths.
The blacksmiths forge includes both fire,
anvil and the dozen or more different
types of tongs and hammers with which
the blacksmith handles his different shapes
of raw iron and forms 1t into the various
Transformation into bolts. bars rings,
keys or the larger parts Of more comph-
Gated mechanisms.
These thirty-two FORCES. therefore, rep
resent single group of students and are
occupied at different hours of the day by
student blacksmiths who are In various
stages OF development each provided with
work which he is drawing" Twisting"
bending or forming into shape on his
anvil; This plan is an exact statement Of
the dimensions of the finished product and
Is SO calculated that the amount Of raw
material given out with it Is exactly suffi-
Gent to produce the required result-a
scheme that begins in the very beginning
waste his own material nor to permit
such waste on the part OF blacksmiths
whom he may hereafter be called upon to
supervise.
MARKS THE RESULT.
When piece of work is finished the in
structor, who has first performed a sim
liar task in the presence of the students
as an object lesson in the correct method
OF handling it, marks tho result in much
the same fashion as q public school teach-
er marks an examination paper.
As may be easily imagined, blacksmith
an appreciable number of well-to-do per-
sons In the neighborhood Of Boston who
take private lessons In iron working as
form OF amusement. among them a
prominent Boston lawyer, who has be-
come al expert iron worker under the
same instructor who supervises the black
smithing OF the future mechanical en-
g1neers of the Institute of Technology
and 1t Is even difficult to keep the stu
dents from devoting more time to labora-
tory work than is considered altogher
necessary to the general scheme Of their
As matter of fact each student black
smith has only about no hours of black
smithing during his residence in Boston,
were consecutive.
The proof of the system lies In the
practical ability as blacksmith that can
be developed in the average student dur
Ing this comparatively short period, this
portion of the iron work needed in the
of the various other technolo-
yy laboratories Is turned out by student
MAKE ToNGS AND BOLTS.
Although the work Of the forging labor
atory Is first intended for rapid and eff
ficient instruction. the problems are SO far
rs possible useful-the making of a pair
Of tongs. for example. an eye bolt or
some other piece Of iron work which. al
though comparatively simple, nevertheless
involves several Of the eight or ten DIFF
smith handles his hot iron during the
very brief period at which it is workable.
The student blacksmith, in other words. |
must acquire the habit of quick decision
md unusually exact visual Judgment
or even his simplest problem involves |
FLOWS only the briefest imaginable time |
% measure-as well as serviceable ac- |
luaintance with the tools Of one of the |
oldest human industries