Evening star., 1926-06-13
Federal Shop Workers Follow Unbazed Trails in Mechanic

plants are sure to command your at
tentiOn. There are more than 900
United States abattoirs where Federal
meat Inspection is practiced. From
10 to so different rubber stamps are
used in marking the meat products at
each of these plants. Then there are
hundreds of other varieties of rubber
stamps used by the agricultural spe
cialists in their offices and Laboratories.
The composition work associated
with the production of a rubber stamp
Is similar to that followed in the aver
age print shop, where type is made
and set or where Stereotyping is done.
Rubber instead of metal is used in
making the stereotypes. There are IA
distinct and related operations con
nected with the manufacture of each
rubber stamp, no matter whether ii be
as small as Il penny or q S large rs Il
loaf of bread. After the rubber stamp
itself is produced from the original
matriX the supplementary task of cut
ting out the wooden base of the
stamp, providing ii with a handle and
gluing the rubber into place on the
base remains to be done. An impress
sion of every stamp made in the me-
chanical shops is maintained and in
dexed as a part of the Government
agricultural records.
x X
| THE Department of Agriculture uses
approximately $500 typewriters in
| Washington. This means added work
| for the mechanical shops, as its two
typewriter experts maintain, repair
| and adjust more than $500 machines
annually.
| The awning shop, a neighbor to the
| typewriter repair room, iS also kept
busy constantly, making and repair
| ing awnings, canvas covers, tarpaulins
and fabric and leather work of differ
ent kinds for Secretary Jardine's Fed
! eral department. There are about
] 800 awnings now in use on the agri-
cultural buildings, while more than
| 1000 yards OF canvas and other dura-
| Bile material are used annually in
making awnings and covers. The
leather ship tryers" for sampling
grain as il is being loaded on or un-
| loaded from vessels are all made in
the awning shop. Department suit
| cases and brief cases are also repaired.
incinerators and milk driers are cover
ed with insulation. and all the silk
| draperieS, curtains and burlap used by
| the Office of exhibits are also made in
| this shop. There has never been a
| job of sewing or fabric repair which
has developed in the Department of
Agriculture but that the awning shop
| could do it satisfactorily.
The mechanical shops operate
| regular hardware store as a supply
base. 1t carries a stock of $4,000
worth of plumbing material and fix
lures, valves. bolts. nuts. sheet iron,
galvanized pipe, screen wire, auto
mobile and electrical supplies, paint in
| colors, and the miscellany of ma
terial essentials for all kinds of con-
struction. The reclamation storeroom
is filled to capacity with fundamental
equipment and supplies reclaimed
from former jobs and all ready for
potential service.
A complete blacksmith shop, ma
chine shop, wood milling shop, cleo
trical shop, carpentry and cabinet
making shops, paint shops, design and
drafting rooms and offices are other
work rooms in this unusual branch of
the Federal service. If you have
visited Arlington Farm on yonder side
of the Potomac or the Be!tsville ex-
perimental farm a dozen miles out the
Baltimore pike. or If you have stop
ped at the contagious animal disease
station at Bethesda or the insect
laboratory in northern Virginia, you
may have seen many strange pieces
of scientific equipment. pens, stalls,
cages and appliances. All of these
have been made at the mechanical
shops. One of the dairy buildings at
Beltsville was constructed by these
Government employees. The wool
laboratory at Beltsville is the most
| complete of its kind in creation. 1t
has been equipped largely with ex-
| traordinary apparatus made by the
agricultural "shopmen.''
A lettuce preceding outfit has
recently been built and will be tested
out in the lettuce producing sections
of South Carolina and Florida. 1t
| weighs tons, uses ice as the refrig-
Grant. and is designed expressly for
lowering the temperature of lettuce
before shipment. so that it can
be delivered on the northern markets
in the best possible condition. If the
experiments with this pre-cooler turn
out satisfactorily. it will be used COM
mercially during future shipping sea-
sons.
| Another invaluable little device
made in the Government shops during
the last few months consists of Lilli-
putian yardstick which measures the
annular rings of growth on forest
shade and fruit trees. The economic
| Importance of this device is that of
a detective which determines the in
sect infestation of diseased trees. 1t
is essential in such research to make
dbOul oUU ODSoTNdtlODS III tne case or
a tree 100 years old. The handy and
efficient little gauge speeds up this
work which would otherwise be very
slow and expensive process.
Thermostatically controlled electric
heaters are used in another form of
technical apparatus, to provide favor
able growing temperatures for expert
mental sweet-potato plants, and by af-
fording constant temperatures to elimi-
nate the effects of other factors. Elec-
trio propellers are used to circulate
moisture in maintaining constant
temperature and humidity conditions
In this experimental apparatus, the
aim has been to provide conditions
| which would facilitate the exclusive
study of the disease organisms which
prey on the sweet potatoes.
During the last decade. the mechan-
ical shops have turned out more than
100000 completed jobs on requests
from the many offices, divisions and
bureaus of the Department of Agri-
culture. Many of the educational ex-
hibits which they have made have en-
tertained millions of Americans. Some
of them have even been sent to foreign
countries. Among all the Government
departments in Washington, Agricul-
lures mechanical shops are without
rival. They constitute the most I'M
portant consolidation of practical ex-
perience and technical and research
skill in the National sa~-ice. And in
the future, as in the past, they will
not fear to attempt any mechanical
task, no matter what difficulties 1t in
wolves.