Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-03-22
Little Things That Count.

Many Titles make a mickle'' in
America as well as in Scotland. That is
good point for boys to remember who
are inclined to slight little things in
their own or their employers service.
a very small matter may at times turn
out to be of Importance in the ''muckle"
of success.
Only little thing was a vest-pocket
note book which young man in the
employ of big wire company worked
out. The company which employed
him had number of factories in vari-
Gus parts of the country. Whenever a
contract was sought it was necessary
70 figure out for the nearest factory
the cost per foot of the size of wire
wanted, the elements being the current
price of a pound Of copper, the weight
of a foot of wire, and the fixed cost
per foot of making that size wire in
that factory. The amount of computa-
ton in a year was enormous.
The young salesman, seeing a chance
to save labor and to guarantee accur-
| acy, figured out in his spare time the
the cost of a foot of wire of every
standard size at each of the factories
of the concern for every eighth Of a
cent fiuctuation in copper, over a margin
of ten or twelve cents a pound. These
he arranged and copyrighted in note
book, each page of which represented a
| factory. Across the top of the page
/ lo
sizes of wire, and down one edge were
the prices of copper. By selecting the
| proper size and the proper price and
| following column and line to their in
| tersection, the price of that foot of
wire in the required factory at the
moment was found, which with single
| multiplication gave the cost of the con-
tract, less freight.
The ease and rapidity with which
the salesman furnished estimates at
tracted the notice Of his employers, who
found the book so valuable that they
! bought it of him, and furnished copies
/ to. all their statesmen.
Another little thing of the kind that
interests every American boy is now
working on a pier at Burrwood, La,
little town on stilts at the end of
| Southwest Pass. where the new jetties
| for the Mississippi river are under con-
struction. In the jetty work great
mats are made of willow brush, bound
together with timbers pinned with
wooden pins. Many thousand feet of
timber are used every day, each piece
bored with eight one-inch holes at exact
Intervals. and cut to given length.
Formerly each hole was bored by
hand by a carpenter after the ends
had been squared, and the intervals
carefully measured The superintend-
ent in charge seeking both accuracy
and economy in the interest of his en-
ployers-and moved by that love OF
Improvement which is the mark OF
the successful workman-designed a SET
of eight bits and two circular saws
mounted in a frame and driven by a
steam engine. Lumber, fed upon rollers
| is brought into the machine and locked
into place: by a turn of a lever the
ends of each piece are squared and the
eight holes bored simultaneously in a
fraction of a minute, each exactly In
the required spot
There is no chance for error. AS a
result the work is done faster and
cheaper, and it is certain that " hen the
timber comes to the weaving frame
each hole is exactly where the pin
should go.
! A fitting complement to this, and part
of the same machine, is a sharpener
exactly like the 5-cent pencil-sharpeners
used by schoolboys, but large enough
to take in an inch stick. Round sticks
an inch thick are fed to this. which au-
tomatically sharpens the end and cuts
off piece as long as a pin should be,
drops 1T, and sharpens the cut end
again.