El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-21

single western factory produces $1,000
O0e pounds of them every year. AS the
cut-nan was the product of American
ingenuity, so also is the wire nail, of
which there are approximately 13,000,-
600 kegs a year used in the United
States.
Nails and Pins.
The modern machinery for making
wire is also product of the inventive
American mind Wire is now so widely
used that it requires more than twice
as much to supply the demands of the
country as it requires of structural
steel Wire nails are made from drawn
wire, as are also pins. The first solid
headed pin-making machine ever used
was brought out by ]. 1. Howe, of New
York, in 1881. 1t formerly required
seven men to make a single pin, and
the process was an expensive one, but
the modern pin-m making machine with a
single operator turns them out by the
millions q year. After the pins are cut
and the heads hammered on by auto
matte hammers. and the points proper
" ground, they are then placed in a
bath made OF sour beer and cream of
tartar. This produces the well known
yellowish color. They are then washed
and timed, after which they are ready
to be placed in papers by automatic
machinery
The possibility of carpets for the mil
lions was brought about by an inyen-
ton of Erastus Bigelow, of Boston. 4
who. in 1914, brought out power loom
for the weaving of ingram carpets. The
modern methods OF felt making are the
result Of patents issued to ]. R. Will
iiams. in 1920. Mechanical rope weav-
ers also were given to the world by
American inventors These enable
few operators to manufacture more
rope in a year than hundred could on
one of the old-time rope walks of Ken
lucky.
The Perfecting Press.
The Hoe printing press is only one
step forward in the application of me-
chanical knowledge. and yet a modern
newspaper press, operated by five men,
will produce more papers in an hour
than a pressman and his assistant
could turn out in a hundred days,
working 10 hours a day, with an old
fashioned Franklin press If the world
obtained its newspapers as it did a
hundred years ago, the daily paper of
the present would have to be a quarter
ly. provided the demand for papers was
as great The new printing press has
made il possible for the smallest state !
in the union to produce a hundred
times as many papers as were turned |
out in the whole country a hundred |
years ago.
The modern elevator, which has |
made the tail buildings of the world |
possible, and, therefore, modern city !
conditions. was invented by an Ameri- 1
can. The first ideas in safety devices 1
for elevators were in the shape of air /
tight chambers at the bottom of the /
shaft. 1t was figured that if the ele- |
vator should fall, it would strike on a |
cushion Of imprisoned air, thus render |
ing the danger practically nil This /
idea was followed for q long time, and /
in the course Of experiments it was /
demonstrated that with a properly con- /
structed shaft an elevator could fall 2S7 /
feet without fracturing an electric |
light globe or breaking an egg she'll |
Since then the safety clutch has been
placed on the elevator and the air
tight chamber at the bottom of the
shaft has almost disappeared.
lee Making. an American Idea
An American first conceived the mod
ern ice making machine, and the many
blessings that have grown out Of arti- /
ficial refrigeration had their beginning
in the crude little plant constructed by
this southern geniTs. Recent expert
ments in the use OF the vacuum princi-
pie have demonstrated that in the fu-
1ure it will be possible to ship ice
cream and other perishables all over
the world, without their ever coming
into contact with ice, either in prepara-
ton or shipment. a consignment of !
ice cream was shipped last year from
Washington to Seattle and then back