The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-07-11
HOW FEATHERS ARE MIXED
A Trade That Is Hard to Learn
Method af Sorting Grades.

Feather mixing is one of the hardest
trades to learn, but when mastered is
also one of the best paying methods Of
earning living. The worker who in
tends to make this trade his lifework
must start when he is young, for it takes
on an average Is years for a man to
work up from the pillow filler to feath-
ers mixes.
Feathers that have been plucked from
hens, ducks, turkeys and geese are the
only kind of feathers that are used, says
the Chicago Tribune. One kind of feath-
ers at time is placed in the drum, to
be beaten and to be steriized by hot air
process. The drum is large machine
not unlike the washing machine used in
laundries. In the center of each machine
is an exile with eight heaters attached.
The beaters make over 200 revolutions
minute, beating the dust out Of the
feathers and cleaning them thoroughly.
A thin screen on the front and back Of
the machine lets the dust out.
This part of the feather work is the
most unhealthy, for the windows in the
drumroom are not allowed to be opened,
and the dust that comes from the feath-
ers is inhaled by the worker. Many of
the drum men contract consumption in
year or more during this work, and are
compelled to give up and seek other en-
ployment. The work is not so unhealthy
as it was in former years, for the men
now are allowed to leave the room while
the machine is in operation.
After the feathers have been beaten
and sterilized in the drum they are
placed in the blowing machine to be
sorted and to be deodorized by the cold
blast. AS in the drum, the kind of feath-
ers are put in the blower separately.
The blower is the most simple and yet
the most wonderful machine that is US
ed in the feather business. The machine
is built with large funnel shaped
mouth on top, and always is placed at
one end of large room.
The feathers are placed in the funnel
through which they fall down into the
center of the machine. The cold air
blowing from the fan deodorize them,
and they leave the machine in a steady
stream, flying all over the room. The
worker finds himself in what looks like
miniature storm, for the features fly
around as high as the ceiling. An onlook-
er well might wonder where the sorting
comes in of the maze of feathers.
1t is here that the wonderful part of
the machine lies, for the air pressure is
so arranged that the heaviest feathers,
which are also the cheapest, will fall in
bin Is feet away from the machine,
and the rest of the seven different grades
of feathers will fall accurately in binds
that have been provided for them. The
down, which is the most expensive, flies,
around in the air the longest, but when
it comes down il falls into the bin that
is placed over 70 feet away from the
blower. Thus the seven different grades
of feathers have been sorted, each kind
in bin and without having been touch
ed since leaving the blower
The drum and blower man, after put
ting in five years at this kind Of work,
and also learning the different grades Of
feathers, takes another step upward in
the business and becomes an assistant
to the mixer. His work consists of
weighing feathers and learning the
different combinations that are used in
stufing pillows. In few years he pro-
badly will know how to mix some Of the