Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1906-05-15
,Waiflru Prizes.

AAAOAAS V4AS HAA6S1 OhN3O ~ ~@&~
Paris Academy of Sciences to in
ventors is one Of $4,000, founded
by Pierre Guzmann, which is to go
to the person who finds a way of
communicating with the inhabitants
of another planet. Another prize
the Breant-awaits any one who dis
covers an infallible remedy for All
ATTIC cholera.
S<een Machine Knives That Shape,
Turn, Shave and Taper the slabs
Stripped From the Tree-TbO Way
the Waste Product Is Utilized.
Cork, as most persons know, is the
outer bark Of an evergreen oak tree
which grows in Spain, Portugal, AL
geria, Morocco and to some extent in
Italy. Its peculiar properties, especial
ly its lightness and its compressibility,
| make it valuable for scores of pur-
| poses, but its original use, in the man
ufacture 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 a
generous provision of nature the tree
may be periodically stripped of it's
outer bark without losing it's life.
Twenty years is the usual age at
which the first cutting is made. After
that the cork may be harvested about
fnr WOO Tho fiPcf TIIf 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 $50 years
old.
In Spain and some other European
countries corks are still made by hand,
each one being pared from a square
block by common knife. In this
country, where are made the finest
corks in the world, the work is done by
machinery, all of which is Of American
invention and manufacture. Every boy
who has ever whitfield a cork for O
fishing bob or popgun pellet knows
how difficult the material is to cut
smoothly. To do it well his knife must
be as sharp as razor and must be
used with a drawing motion, not
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
40 fA cnftnr Hpcf IN
the stripping machines, which reduce
it to slabs Of size proportionate to
the corks 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
tiers back away automatically, while
plungers like pistons working in the
cylinders come forward and punch out
the cores, which for some purposes are
already finished corks.
Tnnxy ORC of Oo11,,co narfo0fiU pu1in-
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, 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 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 a perfect
truncated cone, with a fine satin-like
surface and an even and regular taper.
BY hand very rapid and skillful cut
ter can turn out twelve or fourteen
gross in day. With these machines
one girl will produce 420 gross.
There are few businesses i'll which
the quantity of waste material is so
large as in the manufacture of corks.
Tn tbo hast mana God factories it ranges