The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-03-19
now FEATHERS ARE MIXED.
Trade that is Hard to Learn-Method
o. Sorting the Srades.

Feather mixing is one OF the hard
cat trades to learn, but When mas
tereu Is also one of the best-paying
A'eIEot5 OF earning living. The
WorEer who intends to make this
tFa~e his liiework must start Wien he
is young for it takes on an eyarage
,Alte. years for a man to work up
iIom pillow filler to feather mixer.
IcA,her5 that have been rMc;ed
Hcm mems, ducks, turkeys and geese
are the only kind of feathers ina, ar,
used, says ,ne Chicago Tribune. one
EIhu OF feathers at a time Is placod
IN the drum, TO be beaten and 10 be
steIii@ed by hot air process. Tao
tfGn Is a large machine not uYiitr
th' washing machines used IN iaua-
ufios. In the centre Of each macl. re
Is an axle with eight beatcis attach
cd. The beaters make over 200 rpyg-
Iutions minute, beating the dust
OUT OF the feathers and cleaning them
thcrouGAly. A thin screen on t.e
froHt and back of the machine lets
tie drs. out.
Ihls part OF the feather work IL
the most unhealthy, for the windows
III the drum room are not allowed
TO be opened and the dust that comcs
from the feathers is inhaled By the
workers. nany of the drum m.a
contract consumption in a year or
more doing this work, and are COM
pelied to give up and seek other cm-
pIuFment. The work is not so uu-
healthy as it was in tormer years.
FOR the men now are clloweI 10
leave the room while the machine ia
in operation.
After the feathers have been beat
er and steriizsd in the drum they
are placed in the blowing machine
To be sorted and to be deodori2ei By
the cold blast AS in the drum the
Kind of feathers are put in the blow
er separatelyS The blower is tho
most simple and yet The most pow.
erful machine that is used in the isa-
ther business: The machine is bull;
with a large funnel-shaped moutl. on
top, and always is placed at one enu
of a large room.
The feathers are placed in the fun
mel. through which they fall down In
to the centre of the machine. The
co.i air blowing from the fan deoa-
orizes them, and they leave the ma
chine in a steady stream. flying al
over the room. The worker finds
himself in what looks IKE a minis
ture storm. for the feathers fly around
as high as the ceiling. An onlooker
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 pres
sure Is so arranged that the heaviest
feathers which are also the cheapest.
will fall precisely in a bin about five
feet away from the blower. The next
heaviest will fall in bin fifteen feet
away from the machine. and the rest
OF the seven different grades of fea-
theirs will fall accurately in bins that
have been provided for them. The
down, which is the most expensive.
flies around in the air the longest, but
when 1t comes down it fans in bin
that is placed over rs feet away from
the blower. Thus the seven diff
erent grades of feathers have been
sorted, each kind in a bin and with
out having been touched since leay-
ing The blower.
The drum and blower man. after
putting in five years at tins kind OF
work and also learning the different
grades of feathers takes anothe ep
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 stuffing pillows. In
few years he probably will know
how to mix some of the combina-
tions but usually it takes five years
of experience before an assistant can
become a mixer.
The combination used in the cheap
est pillows is hen and turkey feath-
ers. Duck and turkey combination
is used in little better grade of pill
lows and the best combination of all
is duck and goose feathers. The
most expensive filling is made of
downy feather from geese. These
ordinations have different prices,
and the mixer must know these prices
and, when he can, experiment with
the various kinds of feathers to try
and get cheaper combination that
will last as long as the dearer kind