The Press., 1905-10-18
CORKS ARE CUT
TURNING THE PLIABLE BARK INTO
BOTTLE SHOPPERS.


outer bark of an evergreen oak trea
which grows in Spain, Portugal. AL.
ger1a, Morocco and to some extent in
Italy. Its peculiar properties, especial
ly it's dghtness and its compressibility,
make 1T valuable for scores Of pur-
poses, but its original use, in the man.
uracture OF corks, or shoppers for bot
ties, still consumes the greater part Of
all that is brought to market.
The cork oak varies in diameter
from six inches to three feet. By q
generous provision Of nature the tree
may be periodically stripped Of its
outer bark without losing its life.
Twenty years is the usual age at
which the first cutting is made. After
that the cork may be harvested about
every ten years. The first cut, which
is called virgin bark, Is Of little value,
as it is coarse in texture and deeply
scanned. The tree may be expected to
live and yield cork until it is 100 years
old.
In Spain and some other European
countries corks are still made by hand,
each one being pared from a square
block by a common knife. In this
country, where are made the finest
corks in the world, the work is done by
macainery, all of which is Of American
invention and manufacture. Every boy
who has ever Whitfield a cork for q
fishing bob or a popgun pellet knows
how difficult the material Is to cut
smoothly. TO do it we'll his knife must
1N0 c.l,n
used with Il drawing motion, not a
mere pressure, and if the cork be wet
so much the better The same difficult
ties confront the manufacturer by ma
chinery and are met in the same way.
The bark, after having been wet and
then allowed to remain for a time In
damp cellars to soften, goes first to
the stripping machines, which reduce
it Il slabs of size proportionate to
tEtasorks to be made. These machines
are merely small iron tables, through
which appear very thin steel disks,
like circular saws, except that they
have no teeth. They are really keen
edged steel knives, as thin as paper
and running at high rate Of speed,
but SO smoothly that they seem to the
spectator to be standing still.
The little slabs or strips Of cork go
next to the "blockers." The cutters
here are cylindrical steel punches, or
tubes, with razor edges. They are ar
ranged in rows, or gangs" and In
stead of being simply pressed through
the cork are also revolving at high
speed and so cut their way through.
Having perforated the slab, the cut
ters back away automatically, while
plungers like ptstons working In the
cylinders come forward and punch out
the cores, which for some purposes are
already finished corks.
They are, of course, perfectly cylin-
drical-that is, without taper-and in
that form they are preferred by bot
tiers Of effervescent liquids, because
their shape enables them the better to
resist the pressure of the restrained
gases.
But for the use of druggists, who are
the great users Of corks and need the
very finest, a tapering stopper is pre-
ferred, and this necessitates another
operation. The tapering machines are
run mostly by young women. Each
machine consists Of a little lathe,
which centers the cylindrical cork au-
tomatically and then brings it into con-
tact with the edge Of the cutting knife,
which, like the cutter Of the slicing
machine, is very thin steel disk. AS
the cork touches this knife a thin
shaving rises and curls away, like as a
puff of smoke.
One who knows nothing of the ma
chinery could see no reason for 1t, but
during the second that the cork has
been in contact with the apparently
motionless disk some dozen yards OF
flying, razor edged steel have been
at work, and the cork is now perfect
truncated cone, with a fine satin-like
surface and an even and regular taper.
By hand a very rapid and skillful cut
ter can turn out twelve or fourteen
gross in a day. With these machines
one girl will produce 420 gross.
There are few businesses In which
the quantity Of waste material Is so
large as in the manufacture OF corks.
In the best managed factories it ranges
from 60 to 20 per cent, but American
ingenuity and Industrial development
have succeeded in Transforming it into
source Of profit. By grinding the
waste to various degrees Of fneness
and pressing it with glue or shellac In
to various shapes it is made useful for
the inner soles of shoes, for bathroom
mats, for insulation in refrigeratng
plants and the deadening Of sound In
apartment houses, the making Of bicy-
Gle handles and the grips Of tennis
rackets, fly rods and golf clubs, and
there are dozens Of other uses for the
waste which are quite as interesting
Some years ago one manufacturer Of
corks was paying teamster dollar
load to cart away his waste and
dump it on refuse heap. Today he
receives $50 a ton for the very cheap
est quality Of this waste. = Edward
Williston Frentz in Youths Compan-
ion.