Norwich bulletin., 1922-08-11
SERVICE CLUB INsPECTs
 PALMER MILL AT FIT

The Associated Service club of New London enjoyed an outing Wednesday at | the Palmer Bros. company's mill at l t'itehville. The Fftchville mill is the largest of the three owned by Palmer | Bros The entire process of the making of l mattresses, from the time when the ra | stock goes into the machine until the final sewing of the edges of the mat tresses was shown by Superintendent Bidwell to the members as they made their way through the plant. At 2.3o D. m. the members left for Fitchville i'm mediately. After going through the riant the members, 13 in number. ad- Joarned to the grounds of the Palmer mill and took part in corn and hot dog roast. At about s.30 the journey home | ward was begun
 ] After the visitors had been greeted by Superintendent Bidwell they were first ! taken to several huge pieces of mechan- l ism where the raw stock sucked by air
 was fed into the machine and came out
 in layers which, by putting one on top
 of another, formed a large roll of the
 cotton. The stock Is taken through large pipes and the air current, which
 guides it through the pipe, is made by I propeliors. In this operation the cot | ton, which also contains a slight per 1 centage of linen, is made into small par ticles so that when 1t comes out of the
 machine 1t is very light
 The next operation seen was that of | cutting the cotton in rolls within the
 covering and the placing of the cut | lengths into forms prior to the frs.
 sewing process. This was done by
 hand When the mattresses were thus far in form with the proper length of
 cotton layer between the covering so much was placed in edging machines | and the edges were roughly seWed up. I Some of the best operators of this ap- 7aratus were able to sew as many as 150 | mattresses per day. The edging depart
 ment, which was the next objective, was entirely operated by girls. Here tho edges were finished off.
 l One of the most interesting of ali processes seen In operation was that of the figured designs being sewed in the mattresses. Most Of these machines were operated by girls and the mechan- ism which was required in this opera tion was watched with absorption. It is unique, though simple, and everything seems to be mass of cogs where a
 travelling gear, regulated by these cogs, guides the stitching apparatus and thus
 the center design is sewed.
 Then came the straight scanning pro- cess where hand work was required on
 account of the necessity for accuracy
 The straight seams in the mattress are
 all done in this department. Another
 quarter of the mill showed the method
 by which the cloth for the covering in
 three breadths is sewed together in one l operation. This cloth, 1t was explained
 by the superintendent, was nearly all printed in it's many beautiful designs by the Palmer Bros. establishments.
 !. The testing department was also ar
 interesting place. Here men cut the rolls of cotton as they come from the
 very first process into layers and tes them for their proper weight. This fl done hourly in order that the mattressei , may be of uniform weight.
 , The thousands of boxes were made by the Robert Gair Go. and were especially 3 built for use in packing the mattresses
 They were made to contain each ont
 mattress. Even the shipping labels wer,
 cn each box with each one contanin, the mattress just as when they leav the Roebuck plant ready for mailing The baling room was not in operation 2 but it was an interesting process ant . fully explained by Superintendent Bid 8 well. Some of the finished products ar n shipped in bales. There are F in 6 bale and the banng machine Is capabl : of preparing four bales in five minutes
 The mill as seen from the outsid
 looks considerably different from tn
 ones built today. One corner of tn
 mill is provided with a tower such a :, was customary for an ancient castle bu . 1 which is entirely lacking in present da ! | mills It is built entirely of stone an II well finished off. The mill was buil :. years ago by a man named Fitch. H II had lived in that place which wa named after him. After years Of al e sence, before which time he had been e poor man, he came back with two mi " lion dollars and started the mill. H Il was a man who liked the running ( e water and the entire estate where th
 mill stands is still to a great exter n decorated with fountains and grottc ,e from which water formerly flowed, fe u by a reservoir on top the hill.
 The source of all power was the fnt k' objective of the club members. I'll se power is obtained from water larr dam retains the water from the rivi ol so that 1t may run through the wat, IS wheel furnishing the power for the elac It, There are two wheels which taken t pr getfer develop 450 horse power. Th'
 the members betook themselves to u
 woods to prepare for their refreshment
 After taking 2 hli of food the m' ,n played duck-on-the-rock until with t
 h