Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-01-10
MIRACLES or MACHINERY,
The Enormous Increase of Output
Through Labor Saving Devices.


The Enormous Increase of Output
Through Labor Saving Devices.
A few years ago, when cigarettes
were made by hand, smart girl could
manipulate six pounds of tobacco in a
ten hour day and roll 1000 cigarettes.
Then came the invention of the ciga-
rette making machine, which single
operator manages with ease. In a day
it makes 100000 cigarettes, thus saving
the wages Of ninety-nine girls, a sum
Of very nearly $4,000 year.
Equally important is a recent innova-
ton in the way of breadmaking ma
chinery. The various materials are
poured into huge glazed tub shaped
rather like the cover of paddle wheel.
The tub rocks to and fro, and paddle
revolves inside, mixing the dough more
thoroughly than human hands can do
it and, Of course, far more clearly. In
a few minutes a quarter of ton of
dough is ready on huge board divided
accurately into quartern or half quar-.
tern weights. These are rapidly shaped
and passed into gas heated oven auto
matically, set at the correct tempera.
ture. The whole half ton Of bread is
ready for the consumer in three hours
and fifty-four minutes. The same
amount took fiftyfour hours of hand
work according to the old fashioned
method.
In the preparation of other foods the
revolution is just as startling. 1t takes
a good plucker all his time to pluck one
dozen chickens in an hour. In a big
factory where 500 dozen chickens are
daily put up in tins the plucking is
done by hanging the fowls in recepta-
Gle surrounded by electric fans working
at 5000 revolutions minute The say
ing in wages amounts to some $4,000
a year.
A million eggs a day are received
from abroad at one Of our northern
ports. All these eggs have to be test
ed. The old method has been to pick
up the eggs one by one and hold them
singly against a light. The new Lyons
egg testing and grading machine does
away with all this labor. The eggs
are simply unloaded from the packing
cases into the machine They spin
along an endless chain past the opera.
tor, who sits opposite a reflector. The
only light which reaches this reflector
must come through the eggs, twenty
Of which can be seen at one time, yet
every speck and spot in them is plainly
visible The eggs are then passed on
to an automatic packing tray. By
this wonderful machine $4,000 eggs
have been tested in four and half
hours, By the old method it would
have taken a week or more for the
same work.
At the laundry exhibition held last
year at the Islington Agricultural hall
machine was shown that will wash
shirts at the rate Of 200 an hour and
starch one a minute at the same time.
Another finishes collars and cuffs at
the rate of 1000 an hour A third
marks linen in one-sixth the ordinary
time. 1t is said that a large laundry
with turnover of $4,000 year can
save $4,000 by the adoption of these
miracles in steam and steel.
1t takes an oriental weaver a day to
produce single square yard Of choice
carpet. The new Hallensleben double
pile" power loom turns out in the same
space Of time, and without the aid Of
skilled labor, thirty-five square yards
Of exactly similar carpet. So great is
the saving Of this device that it is
said that manufacturers will be able
shortly to sell the best Turkey carpet
at just one-third of the present price
and at the same time increase their
own profits.
Perhaps no modern machine will in
the long run be responsible for the say
ing of more money than Marconi's
wireless telegraphic invention. The
money sunk in submarine cables is
over $5O,OOO,O0O. Their upkeep gives
thirty cable ships constant work. Mes
sages cost from to 8 shillings word.
Compare this with the simple appa-
ratus of the Italian electrician and his
sixpence a word transatlantic rates.
London Answers.