Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-21
MACHINES H.MOT|ON
Wonderful Processes Seen at
the 81. Louis !. Exposition.
SAVING HUMAN LABOR
ALMOST MARVELLOUS DEVELOP
MENT OF INVENTIVE GENIUS
Industries in Daily operation-Inter-
esting Historical Papers Exhibited
Treasures of the Vatican.
SAVING HUMAN LABOR
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS,


ST. LOUIS, October o, 1904
Never before has been gathered at
single place such an interesting collection
of machinery to show the economy and
the multiplication of labor in mechanical in
dustries. There are machines here that can
do everything but talk, and by wandering
through the different buildings you can wit
ness marvellous processes which accomplish
remarkable results without human assist
| ance, and only require slight supervision.
There seems to be a machine to do every
thing.
l told you the other day about the auto
! matte telephone exchange and the mechan-
| ical telegraph sender, and how a song or a
sermon could be sent along beam of light.
In the adjoining building you can see Shoes
hats, clothing and furniture manufactured
all by machinery. Boxes and packing cases
need not be nailed by hand any longer, for
over in the machinery building is an ap-
paratus used in great factories by which
the covers can be placed in position, fitted
and nailed down without being touched by
hand. The box is carried along on an
automatic truck to the machine where it
stops under half dozen tubes, each filled
with nails. Then somehow something hap
pens; nail protrudes from the tip Of each
tube, and by some invisible power is driven
through the cover into the sides of the box
Then, instantly, the box Is turned around
automatically and the performance is re-
peated on the other side.
There is a machine which will carry any
thing you like Of any weight or size to any
part of the machinery building, like the
little baskets that are used in the depart
ment stores to carry money to the cashier.
Automatic Conveyors.
In the big boiler house of the exposition
500 tons of coal are fed to the furnaces every
day by automatic stokers, and the ashes
are cleaned out of the CRATES and hoisted
and dumped on a waste pile in a similar
way. One man does the work of forty.
| Many of these things are familiar to man.
ufacturers and engineers, but they are en-
tirely new and are generally fascinating to
the general public, who never tires In
watching them. Years ago everything was
| carried by hand. but now machines do the
| work easier and quicker
There Is a large variety of "conveyorS,
| as they are called. There are link belts so
arranged that packages can be sent any,
where. not only in straight line, but round
| curves and at right angles, up and down
| stairs, and from one building to another.
! The enconomy of labor is remarkable.
These contriyances can garry packages of
| any weight or size from paper of pins
| to freight car loaded with thirty tons of
| coal or stone. Iron and coal are shoveled
| out of mines by automatic machinery. There
| is a dredging shovel on exhibition which
picks up a ton of mud at a bite. A 5000
| ton vessel can be loaded or unloaded in
| twenty-four hours and ships can be coal
ed at sea from golfers half a mile away
| by automatic coaveyorS which glide back
| and forth across the water.
There machines in the Wonder House
| which perform miracles If you feed them
| we'll with bars sheets of iron they will
| give you any kind of nail or screw or bolt
| or steel in any form you want One of the
| funniest things is a machine that will make
| a barrel or a caSk while nobody is looking.
| All one has to do is to furnish the slaves
! and the hoops and 1t does the rest
| There is automatic coupler for railway
| trains in operation which looks as II The
| problem has finally been solved so that
| the thousands of lives and limbs that have
been sacrificed to the juggernaut every year
| will now be saved.
| There is a miniature piano factory in
| operation. 1t is six stories high, built on
| a scale of one-half inch to a foot, and
| filed with tiny machinery which illustrates
| every operation from the time the lumber
| Is unloaded until the piano is ready for the
| performer. Minute electric lamps light up
| the interior and show little puppet work.
men engaged at their tasks.
| Industries in Operation.
In the manufactures building is a shoe
| factory In continuous operation. The leather
| is tanned elsewhere so as to avoid the muss
| and odors, but it is taken out of wet tanks
| in the presence of the visitors and finished,
and then made up into shoes at the rate
| of three hundred pairs day ana packed
and sold on the spot.
! St. Louis company manufactures rub
| Der boots in the same section, and weaves
elastic webbing, which is very interesting
process. There is a machine making mems
SUBSCRIBERS, and turns out a hundred at
| time Derby hats are manufactured on the
north side of the manufactures building,
| and near by is machine That turns out
paper boxes fast as you can count tnem-
| Artificial flowers, penknives and pens are
made in sight of the visitors, and over in
| the varied industries building is woman
| weaving wire mattresses with a simple
! looking machine.
The weaving of silk ribbons and dress
| goods attracts a great deal Of attention
| 1t is one of the most interesting OF the l1v-
| ing pictures but that which fascinates the
public more than anything else is the manu-
facture of lace and the embrofdering ma
chimes An embroidering machine mas 1OS
needles, and there is a woman there who
does nothing but thread them. No machine
vet contrived is lpetent to perform her
| task. And she is i wonder. 1t Is worth
| visit to the exposition to see her work The
machine is operated by man who guides
| what he may call the master needle along
| the outlines of a pattern traced upon the
| material Wherever he moves the master
needle its 1OS disciples Will follow; Then'
when they are all in position. he pulls lit
| tie lever and the pattern he Is embroidering
| Is duplicated 10S times
| Most Of the machinery in motion is Amer
| lean. The French have two or three proc
| esses, and in the English section Platt
| Brothers & Co. OF OLDHAM, England, are
| running an electric cotton gin, carding
and spinning outfit and'lQther cotton ma
chinery. &C., Ill
| Interesting Historical Papers.
There is an unusual nunber of interesting
historic exhibits upon the grounds. I men
| toned some Of them the nether day while
was writing about the Houses that have
been erected by the several states. but
there are many more inYppftant elsewhere
| documents and other objects, and those of
| greatest interest bear upon the purchase OF
| Louisiana territory. The management has
| endeavored to assemble here every relic of
that epoch In our nationaiIhistory. 1t Is a
| great pity that the entire. collection could
| not have been placed in a single room. 1t
is scattered in half dozen different build
ings to crafty the prid9s1f the exhibitor
| rather than serve the convenience OF the
visitor. We have maps, portraits. papers.
| furniture. an devon jeweiry belonging to
those who participated In the great event.
In the Department Of State section Of the
government building, alongside OF the Dec
laration OF Independence, is the treaty by
| which Napoleon ceded louisiana territory