The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-02-22

means or nut The gauge is set &C., eOrding to the width of stripes re- quired-this width being the length Of the finished cork-and So insures each strip cut to the exact measure ment. After the gauge has been set. the workmen can cut up length after length of cork without i. further measuring, for the gauge. projecting over the back of the blade. runs along the freshly cut edge, and thus causes the next cut to be parallel with the one last made. And the 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 cutter took up one of these same strips and, without al- tering the gauge on the knife, began deyiding it into a number of little cubes. The first cuts (to produce the long strips) were done across the grain; the others ran with the grain, these latter being the way of the fir- ished cork. -.. The grain must run down the ar tiele," explained the seIf-constituted lecturer, otherwise the cork would break in half. So first we cut across for the length of the cork, then we cut with the grain for the width of the cork. Now these little pieces are ready to be turned into the finished article" Picking up one or two of | the cubes, the cutter moved across the floor to where one of the machines twas standing. Don't put your fingers ! near the blade" he cautioned, hastily. There's nothing sharper than the blade of this knife. It's made of the very best and hardest steel there is' Then, just as the auditors were about to murmur Sheffield" he continued: |, Made in France, that blade was the very best steel there is" (curi- ously enough, this is also the case with the hairdressing trade; the best scis- sors are nowadays French ones). ss | Twenty-six inches of sharp blade were quite sufficient to scare away uninitated fingers. .Nothing requires a sharper blade than cork cutting: 1t must be absolutely perfect or the stuff is torn; and if that blade goes wrong it takes me one complete day to grind it into order again. A very hard days work it is, toe!' How do you manage to keep it sharp?" asked one of the party. The man laughed. Tt is ground after each cork is cut he replied. If not, the second cork would be perceptibly inferior to the first one" -.. ..ss: ss
 So much sharpening seemed to i'm 1 ply a vast amount of labor until he l pointed to, a couple of small dark 1 wheels fixed to the machine in such a manner that the blade passed along them each time it was drawn back These small wheels were of the finest possible emry, and automatically ground the blade after every cork in turn. No oil was used at all, 50 he ex- plained, and he then proceeded to dem- onstrate the working of the machine
 Pushing wide basket close to the other side of the machine, he took up his position on the lefthand side, drew a tray of pieces of cork to him, and, selecting a short length, set 1t against q small wheel which was placed al- most against the blade and at right angles to it. Then he pressed with his foot upon treadle, and instantly 3 short point moved forward, pressing | on to the other end Of the piece of cork and thus holding it against the wheel.
 l When secured between these two, he removed his fingers, grasping the up- right handle of the. long blade and pushed it steadily forward; and in. the twinkling of an eye the place of rough cork had assumed familiar aspect. | aP n1 fhn cork caused the little wheel tand with it, of course the cork) to revolve; and in it's turn the same spinning allowed the knife to cut evenly all the: way round the cork. By the time the blade had been pushed to the .furthest extremity of the machine. the cork had been neatly pared all around;
 then the treadIe was released and the cork rolled away with a final spin into the basket awaiting it on the other side. It was also shown that the ma chine can be set to produce any taper tdesired.
 But the most curious part of the 1 trade was explained when one of the audience, catching sight of a basket
 ful of old corks, demanded the reason of their presence. From the cork merchants account it appeared that
 large trade is done in remodelling old corks; that is to say, those used for wine bottles are brought in in- mense quantities, cut down by the ma chine into smaller size, and sold to the publicans for stopping pint bot ties. Having once had the corkscrew
 through them they are useless for any thing else, and indeed, there would be la heavy fine for selling them to 1 chemists--with whom a large propor- tion of the cork trade is carried on--- but they are used for temporarily stopping the pint bottles taken out of the public houses by children under IA years of age. ..s-t-
 The act requires these bottles to be l securely fastened down and so sealed