The Savannah morning news., 1903-02-08
MANUFAcTrRE OF TOYs AND DOLLS
Ingenious Machinery and the SIM
plest Hand Labor Working Side
by Side.
From the Scientific American

ny SAGS'
From the Scientific American.
In quarter of New York's East
Side" imbued with the half European,
half-American atmosphere so charac-
teristic of Bohemian, Hungarian and
Polish settlements in America, a toy
factory is situated which furnishes the
children of our Eastern states with
cheap, gayly-colored playthings. The
factory, industrially considered, is a
picturesqe combination of modern la
bor-saving and old-fashioned labor
employing methods; for the most in
genious machinery and the simplest
form of hand labor work side by side.
There are some things that machinery
can never do, and for that reason the
factory girl cannot be dispensed with
in a toy factory at least.
Historically considered, the toy in
dustry may be said to have begun in
Nuremberg. The development of the
industry that made the old town SO
famous may be easily traced in the
collections of the Germanic museum.
There completely furnished dollhouses,
with cellars, Vestibules, staircaseS, SER
wants quarters and drawing-rooms, are
set up, and faithfully represented the
home life of olden times. The old
mechanical toys which are here to be
seen are the work of locksmiths; for
besides working at his trade the MUIR
emberg locksmith made many a
clever toy. Thinkers opened a new
field for the toy industry by the in
PRODUCTION of optical instruments, such
as magic lanterns, and of magnetic
toys, ships and swimming animals. The
use of steam, powder and later of
electricity gave the industry another
impulse.
From roof to cellar the interior of
the New York factory referred to is a
chaos of f1aring color. Paint-red paint,
green paint, yellow paint, paint of
all possible hues-is spread with lavish
hand on the tin. The factory girls are
besmeared with it; every floor reeks
with it.
The tin used in making the toys is
purchased in large sheets. By treadle-
operated shearing machines fitted with
reciprocating knives the sheets are
cut into strips or pieces of various
sizes and shapes. Some of the sheets
are embossed with designs, and are
then passed through the paint-covered
rollers of painting machine, by which
the EN- bossed surface is coated and the
intaglio left in it's original bright me-
tallic condition. These embossed and
colored sheets are variously utilized in
the making of kitchens, seashore- sand
pals for boys and girls, shovels, comb
cases and the like.
From the shearing-f1oor the cut
sheets are taken to another floor to
be stamped into various forms or
pressed" as it is technically called.
The presses used comprise each sub
stantial frame with a horizontally
Nv
with plunger carrying a die. With
but a single downward movement of
the plunger a piece of metal is given
any desired shape. Kitchen utensils
such as cups, saucers, plates, dishes
and the thousand and one articles
that are made in toy factory are
stamped out by these machines. Many
Of the products are taken to another
room and turned in order to remove
the Jagged edges.
Besides the presses peculiar forming
machines are used, which are of eX-
ceedingly simple construction, and
which serve the purpose of forming
tin tubes from long strips of metal,
and of crimping the edges of various
utensils. The tube-forming machines
consist primarily of a table having
semi cylindrical groove, and of a
plunger carrying a die the length of
the semi-cylindrical tube. By dextro-
ously manipulating a long strip of tin,
an operator causes the die to force
the strip into the groove. in order to
form a perfect cylindrical tube.
After the various articles have been
made by the presses and forming ma
chimes, they must be painted. For that
purpose they are turned over to girls
who apply the color by brush. No
machine could possibly perform this
work; for the girl must know exact
ly where the color is to be applied
and how to apply it. Almost every toy
that is made must eventually pass
through the hands of the painters.
Railway cars are striped, kitchens are
ornamented, horns are encircled with
bright bands, and horses are given
colored coats and furnished with
painted harnesses. The painted toys
are dried in a special steam-heated
room.
Many of the toys either before or
after they have been painted are turn
ed over to men whose duty II is to
rivet in their places parts which can
not be applied by machinery. Railway
cars, for example, must be furnished
with wheels. Certain workmen are
therefore supplied with miniature
axles upon which a single wheel is