The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-11-05

ists-BInde and Machinery Em-
 pIOyed. I
 It was Saturday afternoon and the men had gone off for the half holiday. The proprietor of the cork-cutting bus mess was also taking a rest a meagre, half-hearted sort of a holiday. however, since the shop door was open and the goods were spread out for inspection and sale. Only the silence of the three machines in the background served to show the day of the week, says the London Globe.
 All around scattered about the floor were shallow rush baskets filled with corks of different shapes and sizes each particular article having a bask- ct to itself. There were corks of substantial, even aldermanic, propor- tions; there were corks with beautiful slim figures and tapered waists. there were long lengths of cork in the rough, just as it had arrived in this country, and there was also the same material cut into short pieces. in preparation for the shaping that would follow.
 In fact, all stages in the life of cork were there; and because his GUS toners betrayed the symptoms of the interest they felt, the cork merchant offered, to give a demonstration of the whole process of turning the rough material into the finished article. First of all there was the cork cutters knife to be inspected: formidable affair. with heavy blade measuring about six inches across, and with a bevel at least one inch wide. The centre of the blade was very heavy, and the reason for so much weight was at once ob- vious as soon as the cutter proceeded to use the knife. Picking up a short length of rough cork, he held it firmly against a metal knob set into the side Of a table; then, having introduced the sharp edge of the knife into the material, he threw the whole weight of his body against the handle and liter ally drove the blade through the cork. There was no saving backward or forward; nothing but the steady pres sure; yet so tremendously sharp was the blade that the knife pushed un- ceasingly forward and in a moment or two the piece of cork lay in two fragments on the floor.
 The wide bevelled edge is necessary in order to prevent the cork from tear ing, while the knife has to be, heavily weighted to stand the strain of that amount of pressure. This knife has a small hole near the back, about half way down the blade; this was for the gauge, which Is fastened on by means lof a nut. The, gauge issset according to the width of strips required this width being the length of the finished cork and so insures each strip being cut to lthe exact measurement. After the gauge has been set the workmen can cut up length after length of cork without further measuring; for the gauge, projecting over the back of the blade, runs along the freshly, cut edge land thus causes the next cut to be parallel with the one last made. And Ethe audience was informed that the gauge could be set to the seventh part of an inch! When the cork had been cut into long, narrow strips the cut ter took up one of these same strips and without altering the gauge on the knife began dividing it into number of little cubes. The first cuts (to pro- duce the long strips) were done across the grain; the others ran with the grain, these latter being the way of the finished cork.
 The grain must run down the arti. cle;" explained the self-constituted lee turer, otherwise the cork would break in half. So first we cut across for the length of the cork, then we cut witt the grain for the width of the cork Now these little pieces are ready to bt turned into the finished article'' Picking up one or two of the cubes I the cutter moved across the floor tC where one of the machines was stand. ing. Don't put your fingers near tn, blade, he cautioned hastily. There's nothing sharper than the blade of tfi. knife. It's made of the very best ant 1 hardest steel there is < Then, just a: 1 the auditors were about to nurmu Sheffield, he continued: Made ir France. that blade was; the very best steel there is Cautiously enough, thi. ! is also the case with the hairdressins trade; the best scissors are nowaday, French ones.)
 Twenty-six inches of sharp blade were quite sufficient to scare away un initiated fingers. Nothing requires a sharper blade than cork cutting; il must be absolutely perfect, or the stuff 1 is torn; and if that blade goes wrong i takes me one complete day to grind il into order again-a very hard day: work it is, too"
 How do you manage to keep il sharp asked one of the party. Int man laughed
 Tt is ground after each cork is cut, he replied. If not, the second corl would be perceptibly inferior to the first one.''
 So much sharpening seemed to imply a vast amount of labor until he point. ed to a couple of small dark wheels l fixed to the machine in such manner that the blade passed along them eacf