The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1906-05-17
CIothespln King
Maine Man Makes b 600 900 a Year
Also 10000 900 Pail Handle.

Maine Man Makes b 100000 Year
Also 10000 900 Pail Handie.
Few persons ever stop to N.BdeI
, where ciDthpns came from; Nv eyrl
hear Of Bryants Pond, jialue, aud ye'
there IL man there who for years ha,
been quietly turning trees iuto cIothspiDi
and supplying the world with thrm
amassiug in the process as comfortable
fortune as many mau makes in q
more pretentious business In come money
centres. HIS name is Lewis Mann. and
he began with a capital of $500 with
which he purchased an old, disnsed mill
aud began the manufacture Of cloths
pima. Today he is the largest indivi.
dual maker of this necessary domestic
article in the world
1t was in Norway IN 1871, when but %
years of age, that Lewis Mann under.
took his first venture With only the
$4O0 capital in his pocket, yet rich In
determination and energy, be leased The
disused mill and started in small way
to manufacture cloihspins His ma
chinery mas of the most primitive type,
and his output per week az but ffac
ton of what hia mills now turn o1lt IN a
day; yet by dlnt of economy and care he
managed to save enough IN two years 10
purchase an old chair factory at SHOWS
Falls whittier he moved his MACHINES
aud where he operated for about another
two years He finally sold out 10 q
paper manufacturing company and
moved 10 est Paris, where he remain.
ed six years.
In 1892, the business having ontgrown
the capacity of a single mill Lewis
Nann sold the establishment to his
hVftF b 1
where he purchased the Pioneer char
factory and transformed It into a cloths
pin mill
Encouraged by his success, he looked
about him for sill another site, and bit
on Bryant's Pond as a promising loca-
ton. Mr.. Mann's practice has ALWAYS
been to establish his mills near good
lumber tracts in order to obVate ex
pense in shipping stock
Ii was in 1900 that he extended his
business to Bryant's Pond, purchasing
a large mill
Mr.. Mann has persisted with the aid
of his SOD, Edwin. who ia an inventor
of ability, in constantly perfecting
methods, extending his market and in
creasng his output, until now he con
trolls the production of the better
grades of clothespins and pail handles
for the entire country.
How large the clothespin industry
really is may be gathered from the fact
that no less than 1880, 900 fiye-gross
boxes are manufactured every year in
the United states alone. Much of the
best machinery now used by Mr. Mann
Is the result of his own inventive
genius and that of his son, Edwin. SIR
! Mann's machines turn out 80 600 600
pail handles while of high grade
clothespns they produce more than
! $4,000 tye-gross boxes. or SO GOO COZ a
/ year
At the time the clothespin Makers
Association similar to a trus was
| formed, Mr.. Mann was invited to ally
: himself with it, but declined, prefer.
/ ing independence and supremacy in his
particular field of work
Not less interesting than the growth
| and expansion of this business are the
various processes whereby big birch
! logs from the rugged mountain sides
are rapidly worked up into the indis-
! pensi Die pail handles and clothespius
of everyday use.
! During the winter great piles of logs
are accumulated about the mills. to
feed the immense SAWS which snip
! them INTO II feet lengths as easily
az though they were SO many matches.
| These lengths are rapidly split by an
other saw into thin elabs, which are In
turn converted into long square strips
! by gang saws. Deft hands toss these
strips on to a revolving drum which
bears them against still another saw
and Turns them ont in the form of
0blong blocks.
Falling upon a moving belt, the
blocks are whirled away to a number
of lathes If the blocks are to become
pail handles they are bored and turned
in most ingen GUS fashion at high
rate of speed. If they are destined for
clothespins the boring is, of course,
dispensed with, and they are simply
turned into the desired shape
| From the laihes a belt CONVEYS the
clothespins to a 'slotter," which rapid
| ly cuts the slot; the pins emerge with
two symmetrical legs, and are swiftly
b arne by still third belt to the upper
floor where they and the pil handles
are dried in vast heaps at a high
temperature in the dry room "bl each.
with wax In a huge revolving drum.
Then they descend again to the pack
ers. Here they receive a final inspec
| ton, and all the pins that are not re-
/ jected are packed in boxes labelled "A"
or "B" according to quality.
The rate of production is amazing;
yet very few are injured in the making
nearly every pin and handle emerging,
after its tortuouf journey, in perfect,
! polished form.