The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-30
GREATEST TENT
 MANUFACTORY IS IN BRIDGEPORT
(continued iron. Page D

(Continued from Page D To grasp the magnitude of the indus try brought here it will suffice to state
 that the Barnum & Bailey show alone
 uses nearly a score of tents, large and
 small, the canvas in, which if spread fat would cover about IA acres The biggest tent is 56o feet long by 204 feet
 wide, composed of ends 250 feet round, extended by six 50 foot sections, each requiring a massive center pole. and several half and Quarter-poleS to SSlS- tain it's weight This tent is so con structed that it's top may be packed in | 20 separate bundles, each weighing about 1 100 pounds when dry and much more after a wetting. The sides re- Quire IT bundles to ship. To con struct this tent requires nearly a car l1oad and a half of eight ounce twill ing Commonly called duck1 and about a carload of rope, which if measured
 would be. about 15o,o00 feet or about 38 miles.
 While the main top is considered big, yet the nagerie tent is not much smaller, being $50 feet long by 128 wide. followed in size by the
 horse tent 325 by 90, ring stock. tent 250 by 80. and so on down to the small sidershow tents, into each of
 which thousands of yards of material are put.
 l As one walks into the main floor of the big tent factory he must be 1 impressed by the yastness of the en- terprisea for stretched out before him as in an enlarged sail loft may be, seen a sea of canvas and rope, ap- parently in the utmost confusion, yet l so arranged that it could be instant
 ly put into place as unit in the
 whole of a circus tent. Seated at machines; on benches, or saiIor-fash-
 ion amidst the bil1owy mass are the sewers cutters, basters rope men, | l51a1f <af young, who have served their ap- l prenticeship at sail and tent making on the briny deep, in the sail-nak- ing shops of famous racing ships, and l on the circus lot-brought together and trained in tent cutting and stitch
 ing. (which it may be said differs materially from saiI-nnaking in that lit is back-hand worlx3, by Lushbaugh, 1 the dean of tentmakers, whose name has been famous in all 1ancs since 4 the Barnun & Bailey and Buffalo Bill shGGgs toured Europe with his l handiwork over the heads of the amazed experts of England, France and Germany.
 l Other interesting facts in relation | to the present venture, of especial in l terest to the many in this city who are acquainted with tenting, is that owing to the European war, it has l this year been impossible to secure l any of the special Russian 1 3-S inch | where the greatest. strain is found It has therefore been necessary to 1 use a double rope, and this necessity has led to new invention which is 1 expected to make tents practically
 cyclone-proof. Heretofore high winds 1 has been the circusrnan's greatest fear, and the sound of the danger
 whistle has brought every man from l his s1umbers or idIeness to help save 1 the big canvas It has now been arranged that a double system of l ropes, side by side, will lead from
 each side-pole to the guys, with a
 loop so arranged at each side-poIe that a storm rope may be quickly in
 eluded, thereby diminishing the 1 strain which has formerly been felt at any one spot and distributing it
 equally over the entire section of 1 canvas.
 | Another patent which will be new I in circus tent manufacture will be quarter-pole drummets. which i'm stead of being rope rings, cased in leather, often wearing away and I causing torn canvas, will be manu- l factuFed of metal
 ] All throughout the big winter I quarters today similar improvements may be noted, recording progress in the circus world resulting from the I ingenuity of Manager McCracken and the various heads of departme ents In | the wardrobe room, where work will begin soon on another $1OO,000 or 1 $15O,0O0 worth of pageant costumes, in the wagon works, the car works, and the paint shops this economic ef- ficiency may be noted.
 One of the most notable examp1ee
 of economy and speed may be taken
 from the paint shops where the pa H rade wagons are now getting their an
 nua1 coats of paint, and bright colors A predominate. In painting today but Il little brush work is needed. The<big
 room has been equipped with color .l grinding machinery, where from the dry pigment is turned into paint thai