Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-21
AMERICAN INV NTIONS
V-Manu factures.
By Frederic j. Haskin.

V-Mdnu dctureS.
By Frederic j. Haskin.
/ When the early statesmen of the United
| States declared it was useless to think of
the nation ever becoming anything else
but a nation of agriculturists they did
not take into consideration the genius of
| the American inventor. That the manu-
| featured products of the country today
possess such a vast value is due to the
many kinds of machinery for making
things evolved by American genius. The
manufacturers is able to take piece of
| iron and transform it into a giant boiler
or into hairsprings for watches worth
| thirteen times their weight in gold. Or
| he can make the iron into watch screws
so small that 100000 may be put into
ady's thimble, each screw possessing a
| perfect thread.
| 1t is in planning machinery for manu-
| factures that the inventor performs one
! of his most signal services. To devise a
| huge hydraulic forge able to exert a pres
! sure of 1900 tons. on the one hand and
| TO make a machine which will cut
thread with 80 turns to the inch on the
other. represents d wide range of ingonu-
| ity. and the inventor has been able to do
both. One machine will produce a giant
cable. while another will make a wire
only one-tenth the diameter of woman's
| hair. Another machine will weave an
| iron netting heavy enough for the front
| of a tigers cage, while another will pro-
| duce a steel gauze SO finely spun that 1t
has 10000 meshes to the square inch.
The manufacturer Is able to make a cut
ting machine which will cut slices of ma
| torial SO thin that thousands may be piled
up in a layer an inch high, and on the
other hand makes huge steel saws which
4 md a -
| steel with as much ease as a knife cuts
slice of bread.
| A large proportion Of the labor saving
machinery OF the world has been pro-
duce by
Labor-Saving Machinery the Amer
Made in America. IAN n
Dor in this country always has received
| better rewards than in other countries
and this has made the necessity of labor
| saving machinery all the greater The
result has been great stimulation in the
effort to solve the problems of mechanical
production. One of the first labor savers
invented in the United States was ma
chine for making nails 1t was the in
| vention of Ezekiel Reed of Bridgewater,
world has undergone many improvements
since the day of Reed, and nails are pro-
duced so cheaply now that. like pin. it
is cheaper to pass one by than to stoop
and pick it up. Carpet tacks seem to be
small things, yet q single western factory
produces 100000 pounds of them every
year. AS the cut nail was the product
of American ingenuity, so also is the wire
nail of which there are approximately
100000 kegs year used in the United
States today.
The modern machinery for making wire
is also a product of the inventive Ameri-
can mind. Wire Is now so widely used
that 1t 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 j. j. Howe of New York in 1881 |
a single pin, and the process was an ex-
pensive one. but the modern pin-making |
machine. with single operator, turns
them out by the millions a year. After
on by automatic hammers and the points
properly ground they are then placed in
bath made of sour beer and cream Of |
tartar. This produces the we'll known
and timed, after which they are ready
to be placed in papers by automatic ma
chinery
The possibility of carpets for the mil
lions was brought about by an invention |
OF Erastus Bigelow of Boston, who in !
1874 brought out power loom for the |
weaving of ingram carpets. The modern |
methods of felt making are the result |
OF patents issued to j. r. Williams In |
1920. Mechanical rope weavers also were
given to the world by American invent |
ors These enable a few operators to |
manufacture more rope In a year than a |
hundred could on one of the old-time |
rope walks Of Kentucky.
The Hoe printing press Is only one step |
forward in the application Of mechanical |
knowledge, and yet q modern newspaper |
press operated by five men will produce |
more papers in an hour than pressman |
and his assistant could turn out in a hun.
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 quarterly |
provided the demand for papers were as |
great The new printing press has made |
Union to produce hundred times as |
many papers as were turned out in the |
whole country q hundred yearssago.
$50 #* xf's., 49,
The modern elevator. which has made |
the tall buildings Of the world possible |
and therefore |
Modern Elevator modern city
American Invention. ,n~ented hS
an American. The first ideas in safety |
devices for elevators were in the shape Of |
air-tight chambers at the bottom of the |
shaft. It was figured that II the ele- |