The Washington times., 1923-10-08
AMERICAN GEM
CUTTERS USE
CURRENT
Electrical Power Has Replaced
Ancient Methods Still in
Use Abroad.

greatest centers for the cutting and
polishing of precious and semipre-
cious stones in the world and rep
resent the extremes Of methods. To
see the half.naked native sitting
cross egged on the floor Of his tiny
workroom, twirling his cutting wheel
by hard, and to visit an up-to-date
electrically run lapidary shop in
New York shows how the new
world has progressed in moderniz-
ing the industry.
Comparatively little Is known
about beginnings Of this fascinating
art of fashioning rough chunks of
unassuming mineral into the COW
eted and guarded bits Of colored
fire that CLEAN in the jewelers. win.
dow. But the handicraft Is an age
old one, the industry having slowly
grown from the most primitive be.
ginnings to the highly up-to-date or
gantzation that 1t now Is. Still.
even today, in less accessible parts
Of the world where recent innova-
tons have not penetrated, the time
honored methods Of the ancients are
followed.
Splitting Fine Stones.
To split a stone the first process,
whether in India or New York, the
primitive lapidary Yields a rude
hammer, the idea being to get the
stone, stil in the rough shape an
found in the mine, into size easy
to handle.
For the next step, that Of cutting
"a 70 h
self before a simple arrangement of
metal disc fastened vertically to
q horizontal bar wrapped with sew.
nral feet IF rope. by pulling on
this rope he causes the disc to re-
volve with sufficient speed to cut
the stone held against 1t by the
other hand. Children spinning tops
have discovered the same principal
by which this stonecutter works.
Obviously the patience Of q Hindu
Job Is needed for the close, tedious
work, and only an Oriental with no
conception of the value OF time
would be content with such q slow
process.
Germans Lead Way.
It took the Germans, pioneer com.
mercializers, to utilize foot power
instead OF hand power, and even
now in the more remote corners of
Europe this elementary method Of
gem cutting is used.
Modern Germany, however, runs
its lapidary shops ma My by water
power. Rows of whir1ing discs line
the cutters shop. Before massive
grindstones the workmen lie on
their stomachs, believing this to be
the most comfortable position for
work. The upper part of the shop
is a maze of rapidly moving belts
and nywheels, filling the room with
distracting, conglomerate noises.
Once American inventors became
interested in the gem cutting in.
dustry, however, they recognized
the superior value of electrically
run mach mes and so installed cleo
trio motors to replace hand and
water power.
Simple machines, attached by
belts to small individual motors,
now do the work of the Hindu's
hammer and crude cutting tools.
While considerably complicating tho
actual mechanical processes, they
really are simplifiers, working with
vastly more speed and a greater
accuracy than their predecessors.
Through them noise is reduced to
| a min mum. an important factor
in large shop where many work
men are engaged in gem cutting
| and polishing.
The machinery for diamond cut.
ting and polishing, a separate in
| dustry, has also grown from slow,
| jerky, hand-propelled wheels to the
| nice mechanism Of electrically re-
volved discs on which the stones
| are placed for pol shing. In this.
| as in the cutting of other precious
stones, the skilled eye and practi-
cal hand Of the workman are the
essential factors in producing the
brilliantly faceted and polished
gems. Still, the workman's atten.
ton and energies, formerly claimed
In part by the purely mechanical
problems. have been released by the
electric solution, and all his long
aiming and marvellous instinct can
be turned toward producing the
finest specimens of his art.