The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1906-02-08
A THIMBLE OF GOLD
IT IS MADE or METAL ALLOWED DOWN
TO FOURTEEN cARATs.

The Process of Manufacture, From
the InKots of Pure Gold Fresh From
the subtreasury to the Finished
Shining Product.
Out Of whatever part Of the earth 1t
may originally have been dug, the gold
from which thimbles are made In Phil
adelphia was bought at the United
States subtreasury in the city In the
form Of snug little lngots, brick shaped
and about two and half inches long,
an inch and quarter wide and about
an inch thick.
These little ingots would be Of con-
venient size for paperwelghts. But
they would be rather heavy for such
use and probably too expensive Tor
most people, for each one contains, OF
pure gold, "a carats fine, metal OF the
value of about 5000.
Gold of this flneness would be much
too soft for thimbles, and 1t Is alloyed
down to ID carats, In which condl-
ton It is rolled into sheets OF suitable
thickness. In the first process OF man
ufacture sheet Of this gold Is run
into a machine which cuts out OF 1t a
disk in size sufficient to form a thin
Bile, the same machine stamping this
disk also into the form Of a straight
sided capsule with irregular edges.
Then the thlmble blank goes into an
other machine, In which die stamps 1t
Into its conlcal shape. Out of this ma
chine It goes Into an annealing fur
mace for tempering and from that into
an acid bath for cleaning and the re-
moval Of the fire coating
Then the thimble is put into lathe
to be turned down to its final shape
and dimensions. 1t Is dull colored
when 1t goes into the lathe, but at the
first touch Of the keen edged cutting
tool It shows a gllstening narrow band
of bright gold surface, which Is WIDEN
ed In moment to cover the whole
length Of the thimble as the slillful
WOTktE lAiS wv oiVNb'
With repeated application Of the tool
the operator brings the crown OF the
thlmble into Its perfect form and cuts
down along the thimble's sides to bring
the walls of the thimble to the reQui-
site thickness, and he defines and fin
ishes the smooth band that runs around
the lower part of the thlmble and
brings into relief the rounded rim that
encircles the thlmble at Its opening at
once TO give 1t Il finishing ornamental
grace there and to stiffen 1t. The glis-
tening little gold shavlngs that he cuts
off in these various operations all fall
into canvas trough suspended be-
tween him and the bench upon which
stands the lathe.
with that last touch to its rim In this
stage of making the former has grown
marvelously more thlmble-like In ap-
pearance, but somehow II still lacks the
breath, 80 to speak, of thlmble llfeI 1t
lacks yet the familiar lndentations In
It's surface that serve to support the
needle and to hold 1t In place. These
the thlmble maker now proceeds to
make, and the making Of these Is nice
work indeed.
1t Is done with tool called q knurle.
There is an end knurle and side
knurle. An end knurle Is simply q ham
die having set In II tiny thin revolv-
ing wheel of steel, upon whose periph-
cry IL continuous enclrcllng row OF
little bosses or knobs corresponding In
size to the lndentations to be made.
The side knurle has in place Of such q
wheel a little steel cylinder of a length
sufficient to cover that section Of the
thimble that is to be lndented on Its
sides, this cylinder having knobs all
over its surface, as the end knurle
wheel has around Its edges, and turn
ing, like the wheel, on Its axis.
The thlmble in the lathe Is turning
with 1880 revolutions a minute, and II
seems as though the application to its
surface of any sort Of tool with pro
tubernnces on 1t must leave there only
a tangled and mixed up lot of irregular
marks. But now with the end knurle
the thimble maker makes an indenta'
tion In the center of the top of the thin.
Bile, and then he proceeds rapidly and
with perfect certainty with the end
knurle to describe around that center
coneentric rings OF indentatlons, with
the indentations all perfectly made and
the rings all perfectly spaced, from the
center to the circumference of the top,
You may see him do this, but you
can't tell how he Is able to do it, And
then with the side knurle he makes the
lndentations in the sides Of the thin.
Bile, making there as well, as he DEITY
presses the tool against II, indentauons
that run absolutely uniform and true
and that end at their lower edge in O
perfectly true snclrcllng line.
It Is astonishing and pleasant thing
to see how 1t develops and comes to
itself with the making of these IA
miliar infentations, and now there no
mains to be done to 1t only the polish
ing inside aud out and you have the
finished gold thimble,-Philadelphis