The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1903-02-26
A SUCCESS.
Montpelier Man Invents Machine for
Sharpening Tools.

sharpening Tools
James Pirie, who lives mt % Eos
ter street in this city, is the in
ventor of machine which promises
to work revolution in one branch of
the granite business 1t is tool
sharpener and such is its effectiveness.
as shown by work done recently, that
those granite men who have investi-
gated unite in saying that 1T is won
derful machine and that it ought to be
worth II fortune to the inventor. They
think it will do away with hand tool
sharpening or, as one Italian who does
small business said, II gass tn
blacksmith, he go to HI sh ore ~
Just VIII VI the machinery is and what
process of tempering is employed is
known only to Mr.. Prize and his
eighteen ears-old son who assists him.
Last September Mr.. Prize secured the
privilege of partitioning off part of
Dillon d Haley's stone shed and of
using the shed power in carrying on
his experiments. This room is care
fully guarded and since that time only
two or three men have been allowed
to enter. 1t is believed that the pro-
cess includes shaping in dies by trip
pering is something along the lines of
the cold air blast furnaces of the great
steel companies. 1t is known that he
uses compressed air. and also that it is
fearfully hot in his shop. a Waterman
reporter called on Mr.. Pirie, Friday
afternoon and in spite of the cold
weather one of the shop windows was
wide open and large revolving fan
| could be seen working inside.
Mr.. Pirie claims that with the one
machine he has built, a man can do all
the tool shal pening for six gangs of
fourteen men each, or, in other words,
the machine and a man will do the
work of six blacksmiths.
The amount of work that Mr. Pirie
has done with the machine seems to
bear out his claims. He further saws
that this IL small machine and that
there is no reason why much larger
ones cannot be made. The first work
done with the machine was not long
ago and not until last week did Mr.
Pirie ask granite men to let him show
them what he can do. In the week of
trial several conservative granite men
have seen the way the machine does
its work, and they all say the tools are
sharpened better than any blacksmith
can do them. Dennis Ryle, of Ryle g.
I Mccormick, had been trying his work
| last week and told the reporter that
he could not speak too highly of it..
Mr.. Ryle is very enthusiastic and
! thinks the invention will drive the
! blacksmiths from the stone sheds. Mr..
Ryle said he knew nothing of the ma.
| chine Or the process of tempering but
he did know that it turned off a grade
of work that no blacksmith can. The
| tools are uniformly hard and still the
process used leaves them so they are
not brittle, and they last much longer
tnan do hand sharpened tools.
The reporter talked with some of
the men who had been using the tools.
All said they were better than they
had ever used before The concensus
of opinion seemed to be that the differ
ence is more marked on the small
points and cuts, though the large
! points and chisels are also better. The
main advantage is that Prizes tools
don't break. The shape of the tool is
good.
| Bugbee and Alexander of Barre sent
I some work to Prize few days ago, and
on Friday Mr., Alexander telephoned
| that he never had blacksmith do SO
| good work.
Mr.. Pirie says the machine is so
| simple that anyone can run it after a
little instruction. He, himself, is a
! stonecutter by trade and not black
! smith and is in such i'll health that he
| can do almost no work personally. He
directs matters in the shop, while his
son does the work Ill health is in a
way the cause of the invention being
perfected, for it was not until Mr.
Prize had to give up his trade that he
turned to this business. Up to this
time he has made no charge for the
work he has done, being satisfied to
convince the stone men that it is good
and show them the powers of the
machine.
The value of the machine. if it can
| do what is claimed for it is readily
seen. If it will take the place, with
one man, of six blacksmiths, that
! means that five men at about So. 90 a
day can be cut off from the pay roll,
making net saving of 800 week for
every six gangs of men. Various local
! capitalists are already trying to get
into partnership with Mr. Pirie for
| the manufacture and sale, or renting
of the machines Mr.. Prize has an APP
plication for patents in, but expects to
make improvements as he runs the ma
chime, and for that reason keeps every
one out of his shop. Everyone who is
interested in the growth and develop
ment Of the granite industry can but
rejoice with Mr. Pirie at the success
he has already achieved and give him
encouragement in carrying it further.