REPORT
ON THE
MANUFACTURES OF .INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM ..
dOMPILED, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF PROF. W. P. TROWBRIDGE, CHIEF SPECIAL AGENT IN THE DEPARTMENT o:I!' POWER AND M.A.CHTh'ERY EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURES,
BY
CHARLES H. FITCH, D. pJ., SPECIAL AGENT.'
611 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL ••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• v !.-THE MANUFAC'rURE Ol!' FIRE-ARMS .....•...... •..••....•...•.••..•••••.•••..••..•..•••.••...•..•.••....••..•...• 1-29 HISTORICAL AND DESCHIP'l'IYE SUMllIARY ••••••••••••••••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• : • ••••••• , ••••••••• 1 The materials used ...•...... ••••...... ••.....•..••.•.•.••..•.•...•...•.• _•.••••... __ ...••..•...• 1 The g. neral character of the work ...... ••••...... ••...... ••••...•...•...•.•.•.•.••..••••..••••.••.•.••• 2 The development of the American system ...•...... •....•...... ••••.•••••....••••.•.•.....••....••..•...... •• 2 Adoption of' the American system in foreign conntries ...•....••.•..•....•••.•...... •..••.•...•••.•••••.•...•..••...... 3 The conditions of' uniform manufacture ...•••...... •••..•..•.•.••.....•••...•.•.....•...•. _.....•.....••... 4 The returns of capital. ..•...... •....•••.••••...•...... •.••....•.....•....•...... •..... 4 The division and efficiency of ln.bor ...... •....•...... •. ~ ..•.••..•••...•••..•...... •..•.•.... 5 THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN-BARRELS •••••••.....•••••••••••••••• ,...... 6 Drilling ...... G Forging and rolling ...... 7 Boring ...... •.....••.....•...... •..•••...... •...... •...... •..••...... 9 Turning ...... ••...... •.••.••••...... •.....•...... ••...•••••..•.•..••...... ••.. _...... •••. 9 Proving .••••.•...... ••...... •.•...•.••••.••...... •••..• _...... _. _•.• _. _ ... ___ .... __ .... _. _..... ___ ....•. _.... _.. 10 Truing or straightening .•.••...... •..••.....•...... •.••...... •...•.•....•••••...•.••...•...... •..... 10 Reaming and polishing ..•...... •...•.•...... •....•. _.....•...... __ .. ___ •.•.....•• __ ...... •..•...... 10 Rifling ...... •..•.•••..•••...... _. _...... •.... _.•.. _____ •••. _.• __ . __ .....••• , •• __ ....•.. __ •.... _..••.. 10 Terminal cuts ...... --- •. 12 Review of' processes ••.•...... •.•...... •.•...... ••.....•••.....•.••.....•...... •... 12 lfiachines required ...... •...... •....•.••••.•...•...•....•...... •...... ••....•.•...... 12 Making pistol-bn.rrcls ...••...... •...... --·· ...... •..••...... •...... - ... --...... --... -- - . 12 THE l\IANUFACTURE Ol!' GUN-STOCKS ••••. - • - •••• - ••• -- •••••••••••• - ••••••••••• - •••• - •.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 13 Operations in stocking ...... - - ..•. -...... • --• - · · · · - - · · · · -· - · · · · - · · 13 'fhe Blancharcl machinery ...... • _...•..•...•.....•..•..•...... •...... ••...... •.••••••....•.••...... 13 Stocking machinery at Harper's Ferry ..••...•.•••.....•••...... •...•...... •...... •...... ••.••..•.. 14 Stocking machinery at Middletown ...... ••...... •....•.....•...••...•..••••...... •••....••.....•...... •... 15 The Ames machinery ...... •.....•...... •••...••....•...... •...... : .•...... •••...... •...... 15 Turning to patterns ••...••....••....•..•.••••.••••.••.••.. , .•.•••.....•...... ••.•... - ..•....•.•.. -...... --- .• - ·. - l(i lfiilling to patterns ...... -... --....••...... "' . · · • · · · .. · 17 Bedcling and drilling machinery ...... 17 Estimate of labor ...... ··••···· 18 Pistol-stocks ...... _....•...... ••.•...••.... _•...... •...••...... •...... •...... •...... 19 FORGING GUN COMPONENTS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • • •• • •••• • • • • • • - • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • · • • • • • • • 19 Drop-forging ...... ••.....•..•...••••••...... ••...... •..•.....•...•.•...... ••...... •....••. 1D Rolling •...... _...... _.•..•••...... • _...••..•.. _.... _..... _••...•...... •.... ___ . 20 Bayonet-rolling ...... - . - ... -·- -·· · .• · - ·· 20 Jumper dies .•...... •.....•...• : ....•••••...... •.....•..•..•.•••••...... -······························ 20 Drop-hammers ...... •..•.••...•••••..•..••.••••..••..••••...••..•.•• ··-···················-···········-········ 20 Cold-pressing .••.•...... •••...•.....•...•.••.•.••...•...••.••...... •...•.••.....•....••...•..••.•••...••.•... 21 Improved methods at the Springfielcl.A.rmory ..•..•.••.••••..••.•••••.••••.••...... •.••...... •..•.•••...... 22 Machine Illant ...... ·-···· ···•·· ··••••· 22 MACHINING GUN COMPONENTS •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • - •.••• - • · - • • • • • • • • • • · • • • • • • • • • 22 Milling ...... •..•...... •• _.. _.•.•. _...•..•. _•... _ ...•.•...... _... _...... _•.••...... •...... _•...... _.. . 22 Profiling ...... • . . . . • . . • . . • • . . . • . • . . . • • . • • . • • • • • . .••.• ., •.....•..••••.•••.•.•.... - ...... 26 Drilling ancl cluicking .••• ...... -· .••.•.•.•..•....•..•• · -· · ·· ··• · 27 Screw-making ...... ••...... •••..•.•.•.••..••••...••.... ~- ....••...••••....•...... •....•.•....•.•.... 28 Turning ...... ••....•....••. _..•. _•... _.... _.....••....•.•••••.••• _. _.....•..... _...... _.... _ . _ 29 Slotting and clrifting ...... - . 29 Finishing processes ...... - . -.. -•..••••...•.•.. · · -- . · · • - · · · · · · · · -· -· · · 29 II.-THE MANUFACTURE OF AMMUNITION ...... ••... -··· ...... ·······•···••·····•••·········•·· 30-32 M WHINE PROCESSES AND THE DEYELOPlll:ENT OF THE MANUFACTURE .••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• -- • • • · • • • • - • • • • • • • • 30-32 613 . 1V TABLE OF CONTENTS .
Pago. III.-THE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING-MA.CHINES...... • . • ...... • . • • • . . • • . • • • . . • • . • . • • . • 33-43 Foundery work ...... ••...... •...•...... -...... ••• -•... -...... 36 Forging . . . . • . . . . . • ...... • • • . • • • ...... • . . . . • . . . . . • • ...... 36 :M:achiniug ...... - . -.....•...... -. . . • ...... • ...... 37 N eedlc-making...... • • • . . • . . . . . • • ...... • ...... • ...... • . • • . . • ...... • . . • . . • . . . • • . 41 Other work ....•...... _...... • • ...... • ...... • . • . . . . • • . •• • • . • . • ...... • • . • . . • • • . . . . • • • • • • • • • . . • • . . . • • • • . 43 IV.-THE MANUFACTURE OF LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY·'·· ...•...... ···-··...... 44-59 Foundery work ...... _...... • . . . . • ...... • ...... • . . . . . • • • ...... • . • . • • • • . . . . • . . • . . 49 Boiler aud t.ank work •.•.•... _...... • . . . . • • ...... • . • . • . . • ...... • ...... • . . . • . • • . . •...... • . . 50 Machining ...... •.••...... •...•...... ••. ····-· ...••. -~--...... 52 Erecting and other work ...... -·...... 57 V.-THE MANUFACTURE OF WATCHES...... •.••. 60-67 VI.-THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOCKS·············-·· ...... •••••••••••.• -···...... 68,69 VII.-THE MANUF.ACTURE OF .AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS ...... • ...... •...... •• ..•••. •••• •• ...... •. .• 70-85 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION •.•.••.. -- •••••••.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 70 THE CHARACTER AND DIRECTION OF THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH ...... - •••••••••• .' •• - • • • • • • • • • • • • • 72 MATERIALS.'...... 79 CAPITAL • • • ••• • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • •• •• •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• •••• •• • • • • • • • • • • .. • • • • • • 82 LABOR···-·····-·· .•...... ······ ...... ······ .... ······ ...... •...... •...... ••. -- .. •...... • 82 SYSTEM AND PROCESSES • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 82 614 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
NEW HA YEN, CONN., Ootober l, 1881. Hon. FR.A.NOIS A. w .A.LKER, Superintendent of Census. DEAR SIR: I have the honor to transmit here'Yith the reports of Mr. Charles R. Fitch, of New Haven, Connecticut, special agent of the Tenth Census, on the interchangeable system of manufacturing in the United States. Mr. Filch, a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, was selected for this duty from my personal knowledge of his acquirements and his unfailing industry and zeal in whatever work he is called upon to do. The general growth of the "interchangeable system" in manufacturing, which it was your wish to include in the statistics of power and machinery, has had an influence in the development of manufacturing, agricultural, and other industries which but few have heretofore n,ppreciated. It may not be too much to say that, in some respects, this system has been one of the chief influences in the rapid increase in the national wealth. Two of the great industries which constitute the basis of this wealth, agriculture and manufactures, depend uow largely upon the existence of this remarkable feature in manufacturing, which has reached its highest clevelopment in this country. The growth of the system is due to the inventive characteristics of our people, and their peculiar habit of seeking the best and most simple mechanical methods of accomplishing results by machinery, untrammeled by traditions or hereditary habits and customs. The practice of making single objects of general utility, such as steel-pens, pins, and needles, by machinery or by successive processes, in which different workmen have special operations to perform in succession on the same object before it is completed, is an .old one. The art of making complete machines or implements, each part of which may be introduced into any machine of the same kind, and especially the adaptation of special tools, by which hand-work in fitting the parts is often entirely avoided, is, I 1Jelieve, of American origin. The gradual change which has taken place in methods of farming during the last twenty or thirty years has been chiefly due to the fact that the farmer can now supply himself, at reasonable cost, with machines or implements which reduce manual or muscular exertion to a minimnm, and render almost a pastime work which formerly taxed his endurance to the utmost. The introduction of these machines aud implements has, moreover, reduced waste and effected economy in production. The manufacturer is now able to furnish the modern agricultural implements to the farm.er at reasonable cost only through the peculiar system of manufacture which is now followed, it being possible to furnish such machines at low prices only by making the separate parts of each machine in large numbers or quantities, by means of special tools, and assembling the parts which are required for a complete machine at a single and separate operation. This constitutes the fundamental idea of the interchangeable system. One of the direct results of the system has been, moreover, a great improvement in the strength, durability, and working performance of the machines thus made. These two great interests, agriculture and manufacture, have thus reacted upon each other. While, on the one band, there has been a great increase in the manufacture of such implements to supply the demand createcl, on the other hand agricultural processes have become to a large extent but the application of labor-saving or labor mnltiplying machinery, requiring more exercise of the intellectual faculties and less of muscular force. Perhaps the most conspicuous illustration of the capabilities of this system of manufacture is found in the· sewing-machine; a machine so complicated in some respects in its mechanism, and requiring such ~ perfect adjustment of its parts, that it is doubtful whether it could.be made by hand with its present qualities of durability and perfect action under long-continued use. Yet these machines :find their way into the homes of the poor as well as of the rich, a0nd through years of continual use are always ready and never-failing in their action. 615 vi LETTER OF TR.ANSMITT .AL.
To the special tools by which the parts are made, and the interchangeability of the parts, may be attributed ·the growth of a new manufacturing industry and the great benefits which have been derived from the invention of this useful machine. I need but refer to other branches of manufacture, such as watches, fire-arms, railroad cars, and locomotives, of which great numbers, identical in parts and dimensions, are to be made; all such constructions are now produced to a greater or less extent under the application of this system. It may be said that a new business principle has been introduced into the art of machine manufacture, viz, that diminished cost and more perfect workmanship may be secured by interchangeability of parts, and for certain kinds of mamtfacture the carrying· out of this principle is essential to financial success. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. P. TROWBRIDGE, 616 Special Agent. INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM.
I.-FIRE-.ARJ\18. V.-W.ATCHES. II.-.AMMUNITION. VI.-CLOCKS. III.-SEWING-MACHINES. VII.-.AGRICULTUR.AL UIPLEMENTS. IY.-LOCOMOTIVES.
I.-THE MANUFAOTURE OF FIRE-ARMS.
NoTE.-For statistical information reganling the manufacture of fire-arms, see Tnble II, page 10, and Table III, page 38.
HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY. T:rm .MATERIALS USED.-In the manufacture of :fire-arms the relative cost of constituent materials varies with the character and finish of the product. With a fine grade of sporting guns it is sometimes as small as 3 or 4 per cent. of the value of the product. In one instance, of all the constituent materials used, by weight, about 90 per cent. was domestic decarboujzecl steel at 6 cents, 5 per cent. foreign steel at 15 cents, 4 per cent. iron and steel wire at 8 to 40 cents, and 1 per cent. Norway ancl refined iron at 0 to 9 cents per pound. Some parties import all their gun-iron and nearly half their steel; but the percentage of foreign iron and steel used is, on the whole, small, some concerns using American iron and steel only. The gross weight of the material used is someti111<;-s double the net or :finished weight. Refined iron was once the principal material in gun-making, bllt it is now almosu 1lisplaced by clecarbonized steel. In 1826 cast-steel was considered a curiosity; blacksmiths were unable to weld it, and it was not used for bayonets, ramrods, and springs until after 1842 in either national or private armories. The cost of constituent material, relative to the product, is sometimes upwarcl of 13 per cent., being usually greater for pistols than for guns, greater for cheaper than for more finished grades of arms, and greater for military rifles made in large quantities than for sporting guns manufactured with less wholesale facilities. The principal mill supplies are fuel, tools, oil, :files, emery, glue, and soda. An average equivalent of about 3 tons of coal per annum per operative is required in the Ia,titudes of Connecticut aml Massachusetts, about 20 per cent. being estimated for heating purposes in factories during the year. The fuel required for power is, as in other manufactures, usually in excess of the best economical results obtainable with good stoking and the most suitable boilers and engines. In the returns for establishments classified as fire-arm factories the ratio of material to product will be found to have a wide range. This variation is due partly to the incessant .fluctuations of the metal market, both local and general, and partly to the inclusion of manufactures ofse1wing-machines, ammunition, harcl ware, and machinery (having a higher relative cost of material); but there is sometimes a marked appearance of inconsistencies in making the returns, the cost of material being, as reported in some cases, barely sufficient to cover the purchase-price of of constituent materials, while in others it assumes a relative value, which would indicate that the cost of new macl1inery or other expenses were included. 617 2 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM.
TnE GENER.AL orrA.R.A.OTER OF THE WORic.-The manufacture of fire-arms comprises the fabrication of a great number ancl variGty of parts, and the assembling of these parts into arms. The making of gun-barrels and stocks may be conveniently considered as separate departments of the work; bnt the lock-systems and other small parts exhibit such variety, both among themselves and in the different arms nia.nufacturecl, that their fabrication may be better classifiecl in respect to the similar kinds of work done upon them, rather than in regard to the pieces themselves. The detail of the methods of operation is a variable matter, exhibiting in different armories, and in different parts of the same armory, different methods of effecting similar results, with all the variation in productive efficiency thereby entailed. From month to mouth, and from week to week, the ingenuity of foremen and of contractors is applied to improve these details. Some· classes of automatic machinery, involving a heavy ontlay, obtain a 11igh output, and are only profitable on heavy orders, and, when these fall away, the less efficient bnt less expensive usages are resumed. Some of the ehanges introduced by individual ingenuity are found to be experiments, mther than improvements. While these transitions nrn.yprevent the utmost exactitude in general statements ofth.e condition of the imlustry, its outline may still be fairly drawn. .A.s a prelude to such presentation of the subject, an account is introduced of the growth of the interchangeable or uniform system, which has so notably modified the character of tho manufacture, both in its mechanical and in its administrative features. TIIE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM.-The development of the interchangeable system has been a gradual process, extencling over a considerable period of time. Sample guns, with parts to interchange, hacl been made in France as early as 1717, and again in 1785, at each of which dates the attempt to reduce tl!is desirable feature to a practical manufacturing result failed, presumably through prejudice, improper system, and lack of machinery. Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton-gin, who took up the idea in this country nl)Qut the beginning of the present century, systematized the work, and by making the parts in lots of large numbers, II employing unskilled labor for filing them to hardened jigs, and by close personal supervision, succeeded in executing a contract under circumstances which caused the failure of other contractors, who employed skilled craftsmen,. filers, and gunsmiths to do the work. While with him, as with the gunsmiths of that time, the stocks were made by hand shaving and boring, the barrels were forged by hammers upon anvils and :finished .by rude drills and by grindstones, and the lock parts were ground and drilled and filed approximately to patterns and fitted together; he also made the lock parts more uniform by the systematic use of hardenecl jigs, and classified the work on a more intelligent and economical basis. If gun parts were then called uniform, it must be recollected that the present generation stands upon a plane of mechanical intelligence so much higher, and with facilities for obser\Tation so much more extensive than existed in those times, that the very language of expression is changed. Uniformity in gun-work was then, as now, a comparative term; but then it meant within a thirty-second of an inch or more, where now it means within half a thousandth of an inch. Then interchangeability may have signified a great deal of :filing and :fitting, and an uneven joint when fitted, where now it signifies slipping in a piece, tnrning a screw-driver, and having a close, even fit. Gunsmithing was a great craft at that time. There were separate establishments for the manufacture of gun-barrels, and armorers were scattered through the country, as blacksmiths now are, and some of them had a local notoriety for the cunning work of their hands. But whatever of mechanical ingenuity may have been devised at this period, in default of more specific evidence, general accounts of machinery remarkable in design ancl precise in operation can be construed to signify little more than drills and bo1'ing and slabbing machines of a rude description. · The making of arms with interchangeable parts continued to be attempted, although generally held to be I impracticable. In 1812 it is stated that alarm was taken at the rapid increase of' damaged muskets on the hands of the government. Whitney; Hall, North, and other contractors exhibited samples of interchangeable work at early dates, and the desirability of interchangeable work seems to have been very generally expressed. In 1815 it was recommended by Oolonel Wadsworth, after advising with Messrs. Stubblefield, of' Harper's Ferry, Prescott & Lee, of Springfield, and Whitney, of New Haven, that pattern muskets ancl rifles be made and distributed to the various armories, public and private, for the purpose of insuring practical uniformity, no deviation from the patterns to be tolerated after the work in hand should have been finished off. The assembling of the lock parts is considered a crucial test of interchangeability. .A.fter hardening, the parts cannot well be filed or milled. If, then, they are harclened before fitting, the parts must be macle interchangeable; but if they have to be :first assembled and fitted soft, and the same parts have to be marked or kept separate to avoid mixing after hardening, it is evidently on account of a lack of uniformity. It is stated that in 1814 Oolonel ~ orth, at Middletown, Connecticut, commenced the manufacture of pistols whose lock parts were made so uniform that they did not require to be assembled and fitted soft as was then the usual ~ractice. In 1819 Hall commenced practical operations at Harper's Ferry, and in 1827 h~d so far perfected his imp~ovements that a r~port made ?Y three gentlemen, Messrs. Carrington, Sage, and Bell, to Oolonel Bomford, testifies that 100 Hall nf:les, made m 1824, were stripped and the metal parts mixed and remounted on 100 new stocks, the parts all coming together well. This notable achievement so well authenticated is the more notable 618 ' '
\ FIRE-ARMS. 3
because it appears to have been due to the machine methods employed by Hall; to the die-forging, ancl to tlw system of making machine-cuts for all the essential fits, rather than to ordinary forging and hand-filing. The joints were not close, nor was the work fine, but the interchangeability was a practical fact, and uniformity was approached on a more sustained plan than that of merely :filing to jigs or patterns. The joint ot' the breech-block was so fitted that a sheet of paper would slide loosely in the joint, but two sheets would stick. From 1817 to 1822 the improvement in manufacture at the 11 ational armories was stated, considering the better workmanship and uniformity, to involve an advantage of 20 per cent. This was the period of the introduction of barrel-turning, forging under trip-hammers, an{l the Blanchard method of maehining stocks. Yet even then the pattern rifles famished to guide contractors and insure practical interehangeability do not appear to have attained a higll degree of uniformity themselves, for it is stated that after Colonel North commenced the manufactnre of Hall's rifles, in 1823, he was furnished with two pattern rifles, which were found to be so unlike that one Imel to be thrown aside, while the work was gauged to the other; and it hi saill that some of the contractors used to stipulate for a case of pattern muskets, resting assured that if, upon inspection, any fault were fountl witll the guns manufactnred something equally defective could be found in the case to match it, aml thus to define the degree of . practical ''uniformity" desired. The Hall rifles made at Middletown appear to have been uniform, although the machinery of Hall's design was not used in making them. It is stated of those made by North that the locks were :first assemblecl after hardening, that the stocks were machined without :fitting the lock parts (the machinery being designed by Selah Goodrich o~ the Blanchard principles), and that after the Florida war a lot of damaged carbines thrown into the Watervliet arsenal were repaired, ancl tlle parts, old arnl new, interchangecl witllout difficulty. In 1829 the Hall rifles, made by R. & J. D. Johnson, of Middletown, were referrecl to in an ordnance report as being of superior make. Inspection was now more thorough, and receiver-gauges were used. But the muzzle-loading muskets were still mn.de at the national armories with the lock parts so far from uniform that a device of Blanchard's for adapting his stock-bedding machinery to conform to their irregularities was still in use. In 1840 Thomas Warner, master-armorer, introduced improvecl methods and ma.chinery at the Springfield armory. He secured interchangeable work by the use of milling machinery, by jig-filing, and by careful inspection. Receiver gauges were usecl, and His stated that at this time the locks were not marked for hardening. This improvecl system was introduced by Warner at Whitneyville in 1842, where, prior to this time, the locks had been assembled and fitted soft and marked for hardening in sets of ten. In 1842 Albert Eames introduced interchangeable work in the manufacture of' Jenk's carbine and pistol for the Ames Manufacturing Company. He used a fine set of gauges and jigs, and, on inspection, the efficiency of the system was repeatedly tested by stripping ten guns, mixing the parts, and reassembling them at random. In 1842 the manufacture of the new model percussion musket was begun at Springfield, and model jigs, taps, and gauges were i)l'ovilled for the work. Although from this time there was gradual improvement in the machinery usecl, the books of account for piece-work show that the custom of assembling and marking locks "soft"-that is, before the hardening process-in sets of ten was practiced at least from 1844 to early in 1849. In 1853, as a test before the British commission, Major Ripley ordered ten guns of the manufacture of ten years, from 1843 to 1853, to be stripped, and the parts mixecl and reassembled promiscuously, which was successfully done. The practice of assembling locks ''soft" appears to have been discontinued in 1849. A system of interchangeability largely dependent upon hand-filing is clifficult to sustain, even with the aid of ,jigs. In the earlier attempts tiling was the principal means of making interchangeable work; but the inspections were not then severe, nor were the pieces required to be so well made a.s to fit fine gauges. Filing close to hardened jigs is also very destructive of files-an important element of cost. It is scarcely a matter of wonder that the systems of interchangeability so repeatedly introduced were not well sustained until after the introduction of the practices of close forging with steel dies and metal working, with efficient machinery for making sensibly exact cuts, witl10ut dependenee upon the era.ft of the operative. Drilling with jigs is still the common practice, but filing to jigs was snpersecled by milling· and edging with cutters, which were themselves formers, whose exactness was tested and maintained, in case of wear, by the careful ganging of the work. The present excellence of fine machine work enables almost any desirable degree of accuracy to be obtained, both in cutters and gauges. For ordinary work receiver-gauges, into which the work must fit accm:ately, are sufficiently nice, although for the finest work upon the dimensions of chambers ancl other parts, verniers, micrometers, and multiplying arrangements are often usecl. Limit-gauges, or, as they are called, go-in and not-go-in gauges, are in common use; that is, a set of' two close gauges, one of which will receive a piece which will not go into the other, thus establishing a limit of accuracy both for openings ancl for exterior outlines. On(\hunclred ancl fifty-four fine gauges are used in testing the siccuracy of the parts of the Springfield rifle; that is, 154 pieces, many of them being so contrived as to gauge a great variety of measurements with a single instrument. ADOPTION OF TIIE AMERIO.AN SYSTEM IN FOREIGN OOUNTRIES.-At the world's fair of 1851, London, a number of J\fississip1)i rifles, as made by Robbins & Lawrence, of Windsor, Vermont, for the United States government, were exhibited, and received the award of a medal. The locks of these were not marked for hardening, and their workmanship and uniformity attracted much attention. Thh; exhibit, and the reports of the Blanchard stocking 619 4 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. machinery, caused the British government to send a commission to this country to examine the methods of manufacture. The interchangeable system, with its astonishing results and its ingenious plants of machinery, was still distinctively American. The inspection of its workings at Colt's armory, the national armory at Springfield, the Robbins & Lawrence armory at Windsor, Vermont, and other works, led to :immediate orders for American macllinery. In 1855 an American firm supplied British agents with 20,000 interchangeable Enfield rifles and several sets of machinery, the :first comprising 157 machines, valued at $44,360 (exclusive of boxing, transportation, and sundries), and including 8 universal milling, 57 milling, 3 double-milling, 4 screw-milling, 2 clamp-milling, 12 four-spindle drilling, 5 tapping, 7 edging, 8 drilling, 1 grooving, .2 squaring, 5 threading, 1 chucking, 1 broaching, 5 screw-slotting, 3 screw-pointing, 3 screw-clipping, 1 chasing, 3 six-spindle drilling, 2 screw-thread :finishing, 1 punching, 1 hand-planing, 1 index. milling, 1 turning, and 2 rifling machines. These machines were extensively copied in England and in Germany. The universal milling-machine, which was designed by Frederick W. Howe in 1852, is found, in all essential features, illustratecl in the London Engineering, nearly a quarter of a century later, as a machine of English design. The universai milling-macb'ines were sold at $850 each; the plain milling-machines at $300 each. At the same time the stocking machinery at the Springfield armory had been found to handle with ease the tough stocks which were brought over to test its efficiency, and several English orders for stocking machinery were given to an American manufacturing company. Thus introduced, and manifesting its superiority beyond all question, large antl numerous orders for American machinery followed, which were :filled by various parties. Within the next fifteen or twenty years the governments of England, Russia, Prussia, Spain, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Egypt, antl other countries were supplied with American machinery for the manufacture of arms, while its essential and labor-saving features have been introduced and copied throughout the civilized world. The civil war gave a tremendous impetus to arms manufacture in this country, ancl after its close the capital invested sought a foreign market, and millions of -,p arms were exported. In 1867 the visit of agents of the Danish government to E. Remington .._rvi Sons resulted in n. contract for between 35,000 and 40,000 arms, with machinery for their manufacture. In the same year the Swetlish government contracted for 10,000 arms, 20,000 lock-systems, and machinery for their manufacture. In 1808 the Spanish government contracted for arms. In 1869 the Egyptian government ordered 00,000, ancl later 100,000 additional guns, and machinery for a gun-factory, to be built at Alexandria (an order never completely :filled). Japan, the Argentine Republic, Chili, Peru, Mexico, ancl other countries have been largely supplied from tho same source. During the Turkish war both the Russian and the Turkish governments were very heavily supplied with arms and munitions of war from American armories, notably by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, of New Haven, Oonnecticnt; the Providence Tool Company, of Providence, Rhode Island, and the Union Metallic Cartridge Oompany, of Bridgeport, Oonnecticut. Perhaps no more creditable instance could be adduced of the superiority of the best .American gun machinery than is furnished in the supply by the Pratt & Whitney Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, of gun-making plants for the Prussian government armories at Spandau, Erfurt, and Danzig. This machinery was designed to execute ~tll the work upon parts of the Mauser rifle, except the stocking and part of the barrel-making. A testimonial was furnished by the Prussian government, expressing its satisfaction with the work, from which a few sentences (in translation) may be properly quoted. Tho paper was elated April 27, 1875, and stated that ''the said machinery and tools were to furnish the parts of the guns automatically, and with sucll precision of :fini~h as to render them :fit for the polishing process without hand-work"; and also of the machines, "that the system upon which tlrny are founded has rendered the government in no small degree incfopendent of' the skill and power of the workmen. In addition, a very material economy has been obtained, amounting already to one-half of the wages formerly Ilaid." Nor should it be considered that the methods displaced with such advantage were so very rude or primitive. Milling ancl profiling machinery was in general use, ancl the other machines were at least of a fair order, although susceptible of great :improvement, as the above statements would plainly indicate. About the same time tile Prussian government was furnished by the Billings & Spencer Oompany with 42 tons of :finishecl dies for forging gun parts. But instances such as the foregoing only indicate a tithe of the world's indebtedness to American machinery and system in gun-making, methods and machines being introduced only to be followed and duplicated upon a more extensive scale. THE CONDITIONS OF UNIFORM ::IIANUFACTURE.-A large demand assured, and fine workmanship required, are the prime conditions of a uniform system. These conditions first existed in a pre-eminent degree only in gnu manufacture under government contracts. The advantages of the system in making :fine workmanship profitable in kindred manufactures secured extensive profitable markets for the manufacturers :first availing themselves of it, while the advance in the concUtions of comfort ancl convenience, dne largely to this very agency, has continued by increased demands to advance the practice of the interchangeable system. THE RETURNS OF CAPITA.L.-Inadequate returns of capital employecl in the manufacture of :fire-arms aro sometimes due to the fact that, while parties owning their real estate report its full value, parties renting it will report only such capital of current funds as may provide for the rental for a short period. In one case of a large factory, the main shaft and part of the machinery were found to be reckoned with land and buildings as real estate, all being leased from the heirs of the former proprietors-a capital as actively employed as ever, but practically withdrawn from the personal or corporate return of the parties manufacturing. Work-room and facilities can lle 620 FIRE-ARMS. 5 provided at a lower rate per man for a large than for a smail number of operatives, but the return of capital per operative is usually less for a small shop. Overratings, on the other hand, maybe considered to result from the inclusion of capital foreign to the lmrpose of the manufacture, as is notably the case in the return from Hampden county, Massachusetts, which ex~ibits a high rating of capital, clue to the inclusion of the extensive arsenal property of the government. It is also obvious tllat returns may be properly augmented beyond the usual average rier operative by the high valuation of real estate in cities, and by plants of machinery disused, but still potentially capital. The valuation of real estate, carrJ'ing of stoclrs, and funds for rnuning expenses, present so many special conditions that these requirements cannot well be generalized. For gun-work, the cost of machinery alone (exclusive of engines and boilers, the cost of which, in r>roportion to the number of power-machines, is much greater in a small than in a large factory) will average from $300 to $350 per operative, tools and :fixtures costing ha.If as much more. In some cases noted, llangers and shafting cost $8 to $12 per power-maclline, ancl belting about half as much; ancl in one large factory the investment for steam and water piping is as great as for pulleys, hangers, and shn,fting. In this connection one matter ought to be distinctly emphasized. The capital return is no indication of the capability of tllis country to produce small-arms in case of au emergency. Large plants of gun-machinery exist which are but partia,lly used, and which are returned at a gTeatly reducecl valuation, and, in addition to this, the vast plants of macllinery employed in the manufacture of sewing-machines anc1 other light mechanism could be diverted to arms manufacture with a great degree of facility. THE DIVISION .A.ND EFFICIENCY OF L.A.BOR.-In large gun factories, under the· stimulus of hea1y orders, the finest military rifles are sometimes produced at the rate of 200 per annum per operative employed, on tlle basis of 312 working days of ten hours each in the year, and foe operative labor is divided among the several departments in proportions roundly expressed in the following percentages: Making stocks, 6~ per cent.; barrels, 15 per cent.; locks and otller parts, 66if per cent. (comprising forging, 111\- per cent.; filing, 9i\- per cent.; machining, 36fi per cent.; polishing, 7% per cent.; sundry processes, 1-fi per cent.); and inspection, assembling, and proof, 11-fi per cent. Different factories present different requirements and divisions of labor, filing, for example, often requiring a smaller proportion than stated of the wllole number of opemtives. In addition to this tllere is some clerical and common labor-packing, teaming, and the like-and a small but important factor of special tool-making. The variation in such estimates, due to difference in breech-loading systems, is considerable, but for purposes of general statement may be considered to fall within such limits of workmanship and productive facilities as cannot be satisfactorily defined. The eflect of wholesale manufacture may be expressed in the estimate that, in manufacturing at the rate of 1,000 rifles a day, 3 men will do as much work as 7 to 9 men in manufrwturing at the rate of 50 a day. Some of the methods commonly in use in the two cases, as generally practiced in this country, migllt be contrasted as follows: In the former, the barrels would probably be rolled down from drilled molds upon mandrels; in the latter, they would probably be drilled full length (a method preferred by some manufo,cturers in any case). In the former, the stocking would be more tlloroughly done by machinery, while in the latter the chisel and the file would do a larger proportion of the work. In the former there would usually be two-tllirds as many men as machines, and in the latter two-thirds as many machines as men, while much time would be wasted in waiting for machines to finish their work, in changing the appliances of milling-machines, and in changing operatives from one kind of work to another. · But either extreme of present usage stands in sufficiently markecl contrast with the practice in 1819, when it was stated (Ordnance Reports, vol. 1, p. 57), in evidence of the superiority of American methods, that 250 men would at the national armories fabricate 12,500 stand of arms a year, while as many men were required for the fabrication of 10,000 stand in French armories. Nor can these rates of 40 and 50 muskets per operative per annum be compared with the numerical output of fine breech-loading rifles of to-day, for if present facilities were applied to the wholesale manufacture of these old muzzle-loading muskets an output of over 300 per operative per annum could easily be attained. The division of labor at that time was also very different. So far as machinery llad been introduced, its construction was rude, and its use exceptional. Hand-sllaving and chiseling for the stocks, and hand-forging, grinding, and hand-filing for the metal parts, constituted nearly all of the work. Tlle filers-skilled workmen-were then mostly foreigners, and the consumption of :files was enormous. Apart from all consideration of the earliest usage of specific machines, it :i;nust be said that tlleir introduction did not make itself felt as a great industrial agency until within twenty-five years past, in instance of which it may be stated that in 1839 there were at the Springfield armory about six men to one machine, and the ratio at other works seems to have been equally large; for of the private armories most reputed for early improvements one is statecl at this time to llave had but a single milling-machine, and that a rnde one; and at another armory a single gang-saw profiling-machine was the principal stocking machine in use. It was some ::fifteen years later before the manufacture of milling, edging, and other important gun machinery was conducted on a scale sufficiently extensive for the general outfitting of large armories. · In the present manufacture of the :finest revolvers (of .44 or .45 caliber), under favorable conditions upward of 250 may be produced per annum per operative, the operative labor being divided among the several departments . . 621 6 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. in proportions roundly expressed in the following percentages: Forging, 12 per cent.; machining, 50 per cent.; :filing, 10 per cent.; polishing, 12 per cent. ; assembling, inspection, and proof, 11 per cent.; sundry IJrocesses, 5 per cent. In the best practice the workmanship is much finer than that attained in 1870, bnt there is in the manufacture a considerable variation in the size and quality of the pistols produced; so that a large proportionate output may be indicative of less uicety in the inspection and finish, rather thtm of the most approved facilities. In the past, no basis of comparison is afforded prior to the advent of the inventor, Colt, who did not establish his pistol works at Hartford until 1848. In 1854 his factory at Vauxhall, London, with 200 hands, turned out 100 pistols a day, or lGG per operative per annum; and alt.hough, both in America 11nd in England, he then used ingenious machinery in the whole manufacture, tliere is no doubt but that, taking quality into account, the introduction of improved designs, speeding, and system iu the mechanical work has since more tlum doubled the productiYe efficiency. It may be said that the manufacture of double-barreled shot-guns is usually conducted under less effective conditions, besides involving more labor per arm tlian that of military rifles; ·so that a numerical output of from one-half to one-fourth as great per operative is not unusual, while barrel-making, filing, and ornamental work employ larger relative proportions of the labor. Relative to the skill required iu the manufacture, it may be said that, since most of the work is special and done by the piece, few of the operatives may, in any case, be placecl under the schedule caption of ordinary laborers. The foremen upon the several jobs or sub-contracts (who may be usually rated a~ 1 foreman to 30 or 40 operatives), the blacksmiths and the machinists proper, the tool-makers and the barrel-straighteners, are considered skillecl workmen, but the machine-tenders and other operatives, however proficient in their special duties, are not so considered. The skilled men thus specified will generally constitute less than 20 per cent. of all. But in many factories much of the machinery is tended by experiencecl men, drawing the wages of skilled workmen, and the employment of unskilled labor, often adduced as an advantage clue to improved machinery and the interchangeable system, seems largely available only on heavy contracts, when it may be utilized with a careful system of oversight. J\fachinery may contract the province of certain skilled trades whose identity is as .firmly esti1blished as that of the three learned professions, but the fact remains that the increased fineness and accuracy required in the manufacture of fire-arms demands the most skillful ancl experienced oversight, and unskilled labor can only be employecl with the best results upon limited portions of the work. Thus we will find that at most of the larger armories the greater \ proportion of the operatives draw the wages of skilled men. Some details of the subject thus outlined may now be supplied by a consideration (with comparisons with past practice) of the methods employed, the power and the machinery required, ancl the productive efficiency obtainable in the various departments of the work.
THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN-BARRELS. DRILLING.-Barrels for military guns are now commonly made from 2-inch round steel, which is cut off into lengths of about 9 inches, in which, after centering, a ~-inch hole is drilled. The cutting off ancl centering are 01Jerations involnng little time or labor, the latter being clone by a tool iu the head-stock of a lathe, while the mold-bll:Lnk is rested in ways. The drill is sometimes pressed down by a weightecl spindle in a machine similar to that shown in the illustration (Fig. 1), a four spincUe machine, designed by Frederick W. Howe for Robbins & Lawrence, at Windsor, Vermont, in 1852, and then applied to the full length drilling of steel barrels, in which work oue man could tend two or more machines, and each spindle woulcl drill 5 barrels a day, the barrels being n-inch bore and 23 inches long. Prior to this a similar four-spindle drill was made by Albert Eames for drilling the steel barrels made by Remington & Sous for Jenks' carbines (iu 1846), and an illustration is given (Fig. 2) of' a barrel-drill designed by E. K. l~oot for Colt's armory, in which the spindles were located about a center. These vertical barrel clrills superseded drilling by hand or by means of horizontal drills, which were less accm'ate and efficient, and in some cases quite rude, af:!, for example, the clevice (in use at Watertown, :Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 6~2 FIRE-ARMS.
New York, in 1832) in which the barrel was restecl in V -grooves in wooden blocks, and by means of hand levers was forced against drills of several successive lengths, placed in the head-stock of a lathe. ·weighted spindles may be arranged for clrilling the short molds for barrel-rolling with considerable rapidity, one man tending 6 spindles, and each s1)indle drilling ~-inch holes in about 50 11ine-inch mold-blanks in ten hours, a weight of 450 pounds resting upon each spindle; but these vertical weighted drills, which were in the first instance designed for drilling fnll length barrels, are in turn becoming superseded for drilling both molds aml barrels by com11act geared drilling-machines, h1 which grea,ter steadiness and ra,pidity of drilling may be secured. Such a 5-spinille multiple drill, self-feeding, with lb quick return feed, and with a chill speed of au inch a minute, will drill linch holes in about 300 nine-inch wrought-iron blanks in a day; and an illustration is shown (Fig. 3) of a special gun-blank drill (Thorne, DeHaven & Co.), with self-feeding tool, drilling at the rate of three-quarters of an inch per minute for a if-inch hole in steel, one boy being able to attend a battery of four or :five machines. FORGING AND IWLLING.-The rolling out of decarbonized steel-molds n1)on mandrels occupies three men (1 foreman roller and 2 helpers) to a set of rolls, such as sllowu in the illnstration (Fig. 4). There is more or less variation in the practice of rolling barrels, wllich IDfil'Y be generally described as follows: The :first Fig. 3. heating of the barrels requires about 8 minutes, and after each time that they are passed through the rolls over mandrels they are replaced in the furnace to maintain the heat. Sometimes two, but more generally four barrels are manipulated in one lot, passing successively thi·ough the rolls six or eight times, the first two grooves being cylindrical, ancl tlrn remainder having the taper of the barrel. The alteration of form attending this oper ation is approximately exhibited by the sections shown in the cut (Fig. 5). Six or eight mandrels are used, reducing the bore (~ inch) about one-half. Tlle ends of the mandrels have knobs or enlarged, hanlenecl bearings, upon which the barrel is pressed by the rolls. It is important to have the rods extend just to the center of the rolls, for if they go too far the ha,rclened bearing of the mandrel will be torn off, an / proper length of mandrel is determined by a stop, with washers upon the rod, Fig. 4. bringing up against a bar in the frame. The foreman takes the molcl from the furnace, slipping the mandrel into it, and thus passes it through the rolls. The :first helper, standing upon the other side, receives it upon a, rocl and passes it to the second helper, who !@> E.::::.-.-:-.:.:::::·_-.:: :-:::.:::.-:.:::.-::::::::.-.::::::. - ::::.-_ ::.:_-_-__.::_: __-..:-- :::::::.-_-.::.--::-.:--) (-;:;\.v ~------)------ !.______, Fig. 5. straightens it by slapping it upon a :fiat table, and then replaces it in the :fire. After the reduction of the bore, the barrels a,re final1y passed from three to six times through a groove of the rolls, and back over the top, '''ithout 623 8 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. mandrels or reheating. The daily product of a set of rolls is about 200 for 10 hours, or at the rate of 1 barrel in 3 minutes. Barrel-rolling was introduced at the Springfield armory in 1860 by James T. Ames, who had been sent to England, as agent of the United States government, to examine machinery for making gun-barrels ancl to make purchases. The method then employed in England was to roll out tubes, which were first made of skelp, bent together and welded. James H. Burton, who had been master-armorer at the Harper's Ferry armory, and who had charge of the improved machinery ·made by the Ames Company for the English armory at Enfield, patented a method of rolling barrels from the solid drilled tubes, the present prevailing method for military guns, which was first extensively adopted by the Remington works at Ilion, New York. Their rolls are still in charge of William Onyans, who came from England to operate the barrel machinery purchased by Mr. Ames for the Springfield armory. Prior to the use of drilled molds attempts had been made to use short, punched molds, and also steel molds cast with a core. The first barrel-rolls built in this country were made by Wood, Light & Co. for Nathan Washburn, Worcester, Massachusetts, and soon after rolls were built for the Providence Tool Company and other armories. These rolls were turned by means of a special tool, designed by Mr. Aurin Wood, for turning them with the requisite taper and jog, by means of a cam-ring, which, in revolving, forced back the tool-holder, allowing it to sprtngforward at the conclusion of the turn. The fuel required in barrel-rolling depends largely upon the economical arrangement of the f11rnaces. As much as a net ton of coal })er 100 barrels is sometimes used. At the Springfield armory, by an improved constrnction of the furnaces, with a method of blowing in slack, the coal per 100 barrels is reduced to as low as 500 i)ounds. A set of rolls, with the auxiliary mechanism, cutting-off machines, and appurtenances, appears to require about 15 horse power. The engine is sometimes driven by waste heat from the barrel furnaces. It ought, however, to be stated that while military barrels are, in this country, generally .rolled down upon mandrels, the barrels for sporting guns are drilled full length, as is the practice at the Winchester armb~y and at Colt's armory. It is also significant that at Enfield the English method of barrel-rolling, so generally introduced into this country, and the present practice at the United States armory and other large works, has been abandoned for the former and more expensive method of drilling the barrels full length. This is also the method approved in the Prussian armories, where the barrels are drilled at high speed in double horizontal drilling-machines, using a straight, half-round bit, cut across diagonally at the lip, so as to bring one outer edge forward, and thus cut out the circumferential in advance ·of the central portion of the bore. In general, it may be sa.id that barrel-rolls are more especially adapted for turning out great numbers of barrels of uniform size and taper. Apart from all considerations of quality, in sporting work it is unprofitable to have a set of rolls for every size and taper required. In some armories the two methods will be found to be practiced side by side-barrel-rolling for military, anci fnll length drilling for sporting rifles. Barrels were first forgecl by hand, but in 1817 the method of welding them under a trip-hammer was patented by Asa Waters, of Millbury, Massachusetts. The trips were geared to make 400 strokes a minute, running by water-power. vVhen barrels were welded by hand two strikers were em.ployed-a lap of about 6 inches was welded at one heat, and 6 barrels a day was a fair day's work. When the trip-hammers were introduced, but one striker was required; from 14 to 16 barrels a day were welded, and the work was more nearly perfect. The practice of welding barrels under trip-hammers, instead of by hand, was not introduced at Harper's Ferry until 1836. The earliest use of decarbonized steel for gun-barrels is generally credited to the Remingtons, who made steel barrels for North & Savage, of Middletown, Connecticut, and for the Ames Manufacturing Company, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, as early as 1846. It is also stated that some time about 1848 Thomas Warner, at the Whitneyville works, incurred so much loss in the skelp-welding of iron barrels that he voluntarily substituted steel-drilled barrels in his contract, making them of decarbonized steel, which was believed by him to be a novel expedient. The use of a soft cast-steel was begun at Harper's Ferry about 1849. After 1873 all small-arm barrels turned out at the national armory at Springfield were made of decarb011izecl steel (a barrel of which will endure twice as heavy a charge as a wrought-iron barrel), Bessemer steel being used until 1878, and afterward the Siemens-Martin steel. The loss on barrels welded from the skelp sometimes ranged as high as from 10 per cent. to upward of 20 per cent. on account of imperfections in the wrought iron and in welding. The loss on drilled and rolled-steel barrels is only a fraction of 1 per cent., and in some large contracts has been within one-tenth of 1 per cent. Dama,c;cus barrels are made from gun-rods, assorted, packed in bundles, rolled or forged small, and then wound, ribbon-like, upon mandrels and forged into barrels, the colors being brought out in the browning, in a twist dependent upon the arrangement of the different kinds of gun-rods. Pistol barrels were at one time forged at the Colt works by the use of the Ryder forgi.ng engine. It comprised four dies and one shear, all operated by eccentric presses from a single shaft above the dies. The lower dies were adjustable, and a hanclle, with a lever, served to bring up the lower member of the cutting-off press. The dies used were 1flat,1point-grooved,1 curved, and 1 round-grooved, the barrel blank being then cut fro0 the bar by the shears. The tending of this machine is said to have required more skillful handicraft than any other orei:ation at the Vauxhall works. Pistol-barrel blanks are now genera.Uy drop-forged in dies with great rapidhy, the 624 FIRE-ARlVIS. 9 appearance of the forged blank being here illustrated (Fig. 6), ancl the operation being similar to the other operations of drop-forging, which will be elsewhere considered. After the rolling of the gun-barrels, they are placecl, while yet reel-hot, in a press, whose jaws (with formers) gently reciprocate as the barrels are turned by a workman with tongs, or revolved by other appliances. This occupies two or three minutes, when they are laicl out upou grooved plates, and, after a partial cooling, are cut to length with a cntting off saw. The cutting off sometimes precedes the machine straightening, and, after annealing, another straightening is necessary, which is clone un of grinding is now reduced from a principal to an auxiliary one, the barrels being surfaced, after turning, upon large grindstones. To gnicle the grinder: more accurately in his work, a portion at the muzzle of the barrel is sometimes milled or turned to the taper. PROVING.-In proving the barrels they are set in a frame, so that a la.rge number are discharged at a time by the action of one hammer outside the proof.house. They are loaded with heavy charges of powder and solid slugs of lead, which are firetl into a sand-bank, which may be conveniently formed within an old boiler. Although only a small percentage (for decarbonized steel barrels about one-sixth of 1 per cent.) is burst in the proving, in the long run the heavy timbers of the proof-house become well scarred with the marks of these violent explosions. TRUING OR STRA..IGHTENING.-The straightening of gun-barrels remains a skilled craft, in which mechanical contrivances have not yet superseded hand labor. The straightening is clone by shade, the workman looking through the barrel at a horizontal line in a framed glass or upon a window-pane, and the lines of reflection in the bore showing any deviation from straightness: This method superseded straightening by the string or silk cord, which was in use long after the introduction of truing by shade, and sometimes at the same time and place, since truing by shade requires a knack which some :find it difficult to acquire. Truing by shade is said to have been practicecl by Eli Whitney at an early date; to have been introducecl at North's factory, Middletown, Connecticut, by an English workman named Peter .Ashton in 1830, and at the Springfield armory and at Waters' factory, at Millbury, l\Iassachusetts, by an English workman named Thomas Smith, and to have been introduced at Harper's Ferry about 1822. It is also stated to have been introduced at Harper's Ferry by Smith after he had left Millbm·y. These statements seem conflicting, but the earliest practicalintroduction of the method as a skilled craft was probably in 1830, by Smith, whose skill was so great that at a time when journeymen's wages were commonly $1 a day he was paid by the gun-barrel, and received. $21 a <1ay for himself and boy. His blows tipon a twisted barrel (to quote Mr. A.H. Waters) followed each other like the taps of a woodpecker, leaving scarcely a square without the marks of his copper hammer. He was not long left to enjoy this profitable monopoly, as his method was watched ancl copied, first by Thomas Warner, who afterward became master-armorer at Springfield. In 1832, at Watertown, New York, barrels were still straightened by the use of the bow and the silk cord. In straightening, the place of the deviation must not only be seen, but the barrel must be properly laid upon the anvil and struck at exactly the right place, or else the blow causes a new bend, instead ofrectifying the former ' one. Straightening usually accompanies smooth-boring, and is done by the same man while the boring is in progress. At this work 40 or 50 barrels a day are considered a fair clay's work. On large orders men are sometimes employed to devote themselves entirely to straightening. .A specially skillful operative has been known to straighten 124: barrels in a day, keeping two men busy smooth-boring; but this was an unusual rate, some men not being able to straighten more than 30 or 40 in a day. Straightening becomes more difficult with the small-bore barrels of the present day than with the larger bores formerly used. RE.A.MING .A.ND l'OLISHING.-The quick-reaming and the smooth-boring of barrels are done with squared cutting rods or bits-augers of rectangular section, one or two of the corners being sharpened, and these reamers being backed by strips of wood aml oiled })aper. In this work the barrels are passed to and fro over the rods several times, and the depth of the cut is extended from time to time. As an example of former practice, smooth-boring was done in two successive operations, taking off about one-hundredth of an inch at each. It is now clone in from three to five orierations, taking out from. two to five thousandths of an inch at an operation. The machinery usecl is simple, consisting of power-turning heads for carrying the rods, and carriages, with a rapid traveri;;e, for moving the barrels back and forth .. The chip cut is exceedingly :fine, like powdered plumbago; and if a gauge-plug be slipped into a smooth-bore thus :finished, the joint, although free, is air-tight, so that if the other end of the barrel be closed the plug rests mobile upon a spring or cushion of air, and upon the inversion of the barrel will not fall, being sustained by the atmospheric pressure. The draw-polishing of barrels is usually performed on a 5-fold barrel-polishing machine. In this machine wooden jaws, fed with a paste of emery and oil, are pressed against the barrels, which are held vertically, and are revolved by a square spindle, passing through one of a set of geared pinions carried with the barrels by a reciprocating frame, the bearing of the spindle (which, through the pinions, gives a rotary motion to the barrels) being in the :fixed frame. The operation being a brief one, a man tending two 5-fold machines can perform this work on a great number of barrels in a day. .A ring at the breech encl of the barrel is first polished on a buff wheel, the barrel being held by this end in the draw-polishing machine. 1-tIFLING.~Two methods of rifling gun-barrels are now employed-floating-out or file-tool rifling and hook rifling.· .An illustration is given (Fig. 8) of a rifling-machine for short barrels operated by the former method, made by the Pratt & Whitney Company, which will serve to illustrate the general character of rifling-machines. The crosl!l-head of the connecting rod carries a rack with a pin, which, moving in a vertical adjustable slide, serves to actuate a small gear and turn the barrel. A rod attached to the cross-head at the back of the machine actuates the mechanism for setting forward the cutters, so that they will act in new groov-es, and also serves to expand them in the following manner: The cutters are in the faces of small oblong plates, so set with flat springs in a tubular rod that, an inner rod. being gradually shoved forward, pushes them out and deepens the cut. At each stroke the end of the inner rod touches a plate, which is very slowly fed forward by click and ratchet work, and thus the cutters are expanded. 626 FIRE-ARMS. 11 The machines in use at the Springfield nrmory are of' different design, and a chain-feed has been substitutecl for the crank-feed, which change in these machines, by avoiding the inertia clue to a crank movement is stated to have effected a large saving in the wear ' and tear of rifling rods ancl tools. In other factories, however, the traverse by the crank movement is preferred to that by the chain (the machinery for which was :first designed by H. B. Bigelow, and introduced at Whitney ville, where it has now been discarded), ancl the movement is most commonly effected by the use of horizontal screws, or by ropes or bands, whose continuity of movement prevents shocks in the transmission of the power. In file-tool rifling one man can tend eight to twelve machines, ancl from twenty to thirty minutes are required for rifling a gun-barrel. The cutter-rod is turned ttfter each cut, so as to secure uniformity by bringing every cutter successively in every groove. The expanding cuttel'>'3, as now used at the United States armory, are not applied to effect a gradual deepening of the groove from muzzle to breech, but simply to feed out the Fig, 8. cutters gradually in making grooves of uniform depth. The chip is a very ftne one, and, by a device employed at the United States armory, at the conclusion of the cut the cutters are allowed to traverse the grooves a number of times without advancing in depth, which serves to polish out the grooves, which would otherwise have to be l)Olished in a separate machine. In file-tool rifling it is chtirned that there is less liability to variation than in hook rifling, the tool being stiffly supported, and the gradually increased deepening of the cut being so much smaller that any possible variation in the hardness of the barrels is not likely to deviate or dull the tool. This method is considered the better of the two at the United States armory at Springfield. It is also the metholl employecl in the Prussian armories. Rook rifling was tbe English method, and was introduced, ·with some improvements, by E. Remington & Sons, at Ilion, nbout 1861. In this there is lli reguln,r phming cut, and barrels can be rifletl in five or ten minutes, one man tending two or three machines. Perhaps it is sufficient commendation of this method to say that the Remington Creedmoor rifles are machined in this way, and that it is the methml in most general use in this country, although some armories employ the other method, and some use both methods. It has also been applied in cutting expanding grooves. The hook lies back against a wedge, and the cleepening is eftected by a rocl striking against a pin, which is slowly fed forward by a screw and wheel with a click. The hook is thus pushed ol1t, and at each return lli finger, actuated by a spring, shoves it back, so that it will not scratch the barrel in returning. The barrel is turned by a gear moved by a rack with a pin in a straight horizontal slicle, and is feel forward and back by a large screw. The setting forward to a new groove is a dependent movement, effected by a weighted vertical rack, notched wheel, and click. The earliest rifling-machines bad wood frames, and the twist was obtained by the passage of a twisted rod of square section through a square hole. Such machines were used by Hall at Harper's Ferry, and in 1832or1833 he introducecl power rifling-machines. Tryon, of Philadelphia, had power rifling-machines built prior to 1840. William Ball, of Chicopee, designed improved rifling-machines for the Whitneyville armory about 1842. These were run with oval pulleys, to equalize the crank motion. Ball's machines used only one cutter. Rifling-machines, cutting three grooves simultaneously, with expanding cutters, operatecl by a central cone in a tubular rod,. are stated to have been first used in 1853 at Frankford arsenal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1854 a rifling-machine was designed by H. D. Stone, nt Windsor, Vermont, for the English govemment, which cut three grooves at a time, the twist being given by a vertical rack, actuated by a roller moving in guides. This was afterwftrcl used for the Springfield model of 1861, with expanding cutters for cutting grooves lleep near the breeeh and shallow at the muzzle, which was clone by a telescopic rod, the cutters being carried by a tubular rod and bearing against the inside rod, ancl being pushed out by it as the barrels were drawn over them, the cut starting from the muzzle of the barrel. Robbins & Lawrence made 2,300 stand of muskets in 1855, for the use of the English government in the Orimean war1 with riflecl barrels 42 inches long, rifling having been previously attempted only on barrels 33 inches long. Jn 1861 macliines for rifling 627 ··• 12 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. two barrels at a time were built by Bement & Dougherty for the Providence Tool Company. In these the output per operative was increased by greater facility in handling ancl placing the barrels, the rifling being with the hook tool. In leading or polishing-out rifle grooves a fourfold vertical machine is commonly used, the tools, which are set in rods, having· a vertical reciprocating movement from a crank above, while they are free to turn, simply following the groove. TERi\UN.A.L CUTS.-Of the remaining cuts upon the 'barrel there is more or less variation, according to the lock system employed. The most general of these operations are squaring, breech-turning and filing, muzzle-turning and · filing, chambering, counterboring for cartridge heacl, milling ancl slotting for cartridge extractor, threading breech screw, and milling, drilling, and tapping for front and rear sights. .All such operations, which might be classed together as terminal cuts, J)robably 1·equire from one-third to one-fourth of the labor upon the barrel. The breech screw is considered to be the last gun part made uniform and interchangeable. This was accomplished in 1853 at Frankford arsenal, wllere, according to Colonel P. V. Hagner, a method of threading breech-screws a.ml tapping barrels by machinery was introtluced, wllich produced identical screws. It was also clone independently at the Springfield a.rmory, where Cyrus Buckland devisecl a machine for starting the thread at the same point in screw ancl nut, breech-screws having before this been ftttecl by hancl to each barrel. REVIEW OF PROCESSES.-In the operation of browning, power-brush and carding wheels are used in cleaning ancl surfacing the barrel. .At the United Sta.tes armory the barrel is inspected after the rolling, nut-boring, slow boring, finish-turning, finish-reaming, milling to taper, grinding, ancl proving a.fter the rifling, lathe-filing of muzzle and rounding of muzzle-end, after the emery-fi.uislling, and after the browning. The operations are, besides browning (which, with the repetitions, constitutes about 30 processes), cutting off, centering, drilling, rolling, sawing, straightening in press, annealing, straightening on anvil, nut-boring twice, slow-boring (with squared bit), milling ends, turning for clog or llolder, casting center-bearing, turning center-bearing, turning former half, tlll'ning latter half, straightening by shade, finish-turning, reboring (with squared bit), milling to taper, grinding, pwving twice and stamping, rough-filing muzzle, smooth-milling breech end, seating front sight, brazing sight, milling front end of sight, filing about sight, smooth-milling muzzle end, reaming, finish-reaming, polishing breech encl, draw-polishing, rifling, lathe-filing muzzle, ha.nd-filing muzzle, jig-filing front sight, rounding muzzle end, milling to length, turning· screw blank, turning blank tenon, squaring shoulder, stamping center-mark, threading breech-screw, drilling holes for sight-base screws, counter-sinking for cartridge head, hand-reaming chamber, profiling for breech-block hinge, slotting for extractor, tapping lloles for sight-base screws, draw filing, and finishing with emery clotll. MACHINES REQUIRED.-The kinds of machine~ used are, in general, cutting-off lathes, centering macllines, barrel-drilling machines, barrel rolls, iron-sawing machines, straiglltening presses, drop-hammers, nut-boring and reaming macllines, barrel latlles, grindstones, buff wheels, draw-polishing, rifling, and breech-threading macllines, drill presses, tapping lathes, profiling- and milling-machines, and common turning la.thes. In a set for barrels drilled full length the cutting-off, rolling, and iron-sawing machines and straightening presses would be omitted. In the usual practice, leading or groove-polishing machines would be required. The number of' machines required would be dependent not only upon the output, but upon the manner of hancliing. Probably an output of 50 barrels {drilled full length) per day would require 30 to 35 machines, exclusive of power motors, and requiring about 20 horse-power and 25 to 30 operatives. Probably an output of 200 barrels (rolled from the drilled molds) a clay could be obtained with 80 to 90 machines, exclusive of motors, requiring about 75 horse-power and 50 to 60 operatives. MA.KING PISTOL BARRELS.-The work on pistol barrels involves only such special features in machinery as result from the short length and easy handling of the barrels. Improvements in detail have been made upop. some of the machines used by Colonel Colt twenty or thirty years ago, although these were very ingenious and effective. In the Colt barrel-drilling machine the barrel is clamped by screws in a hollow-turning a.rbor. The drill-carrfage is held in position by an eccentric clamp below the becl of the machine. The drill is fed forwarcl by a hand-wheel, with a screw working in a ha.If-nut, which, supported by a hinged leg with a roller and handle, may be tripped up and dropped out of bearing with the screw, so as to allow the tool a quick, sliding return. Probably other forms of drilling machines now in use do more effective work. In the Colt barrel-boring machine the barrels are clamped in notched bars on a traversing carriage, and are thus drawn over helical cutters upon revolving rods in tension; the reaming-machines being similar, except that the bit is a square section reamer, with two cutting edges. Pistol-barrel rifling-machines exhibit the same essential features as those for gun-barrels. In the Oolt machine the barrels are held in hoJlow axles, with notched disks, operated by puppet bolts and shifting rods for moving them and holding them in position for tl?-e cutting of the several grooves. The rifling stems move horizontally in a carriage sliding in ways, and moved by a crank and connecting rod from the main shaft and are carried by spindles witll spur wheels, which are turned to make the spiral grooye by a rack actuated by a' link or connecting rod, one end of' which is pivoted to a projecting arm of the frame, while the other, moving with the carriage, actuates the rack. Floating-out cutters are used, which are expanded in the usual manner, a disengaging gear operating to stop tbe machine when the full depth is cut. Of the pistol-barrel rifling-machines designed by Howe, at Windsor, in 1853, one machine would rifle 100 pistol ba.rrels in a day. 628 FIRE-ARMS. 13 THE M.ANUF.ACTURE OF GUN-STOOKS. OPERATIONS IN STOOKING.-The stock of a gun is sometimes in a single piece, and sometimes (depending upon the breech mechanism and design) in two parts, the tip-stock and the butt-stock. Beneath the latter there is sometimes added a projecting piece, called the pistol-grip. If the stock is in a single piece, the upper angle of the junction of butt and tip is called. the head. The operations upon a plain gnu-stock for tlle Springfield rille may be enumerated as follows: rough sawing; cutting off butt and tip ends; marking fom points in butt end and one in tip end for fastening in turning lathe; turning tip and butt; spotting (or by means of a circular-saw gang marking places on each side of butt and tip, and several on one side of the stock between the head and tip, as a guide for additional operations); cutting barrel-groove; cutting for receiver and tang and tenon of breech-screw; :finish-cutting barrel groove; squaring tenon mortise; planing sides and edges of stock to a former; sawing off butt and tip to gauge length; cutting butt-plate curve; bedding butt-plate tang; boring and tapping for butt-plate screws; bedding for lock-plate; boring for tang of sear _and for bridle and sear screws; cutting recesses for main-spring bridle, tumbler, and sear spring; countersinking for head of bridle screw; bedding for guard plate; boring for guard-bow nuts ancl trigger-stud; cutting mortiseforbladeoftrigger; boring holes for gnard, tang, aml side screws, and counterboring for side-screw washers; finish-cutting top, upper, and lower bands, and between bands, and forming shoulders for bands, and shoulders and tenon for tip; finish-turning from heel of butt to head and from head to lower band; bedding for ramrod-groove and stop and forming holes for studs; cutting recesses for the band-springs and boring holes for their tangs; boring ramrod-groove; cutting barrel-groove for receiver; cutting groove for arm of hinge-pin; boring hole for tip-screw; finishing with hand shaves, scrapers, and sand-paper, and oiling with linseed oil. These last few hand operations require about :five-eighths of the labor upon the stock, all the va1·ied and curious cuts made by machinery requiring only three-eighths, which is a very forcible exhibit of the value of lal)or-saving machinery. The enumeration of the foregoing operations outlines a complete system of manufacture which has, since 1820, been gradually evolved. from the whittling, boring, and chiseling by hand, which then constituted the single craft of stocking. · THE BL.A.NOH.A.RD MA.OHINERY.-In 1818 the first gun-stocking machine wa.s made by Thomas Blanchard at Millbury, Massachusetts. One of his earliest machines, built about 1822, is still at the Springfield m·mory, and is here illustrated (Fig.9). Ithasalargewoodframe of 6 to 7i inch timbers, the pattern and the stock-holder far apart, and carried by a swinging frame, lmng upon pivots nearly 8 feet above thefl.oor. The cutter-wheel and the guide are each 18 inches in diame ter, and are carried by a very heavy iron frame, which was fed forward by a small screw spindle (with a weak V-thread) atthe back of the machine, the spindle pulley being driven by a small pulley, shown at the top and extreme left in the cut. This heavy frame moved on one V and one fl.at guide, and the reverse movement was given by a strap or a rope, wound upon a roller turned by a handle, upon the automatic disconnection of the feed screw, which was effected bythe throwing out of a half nut. The cutter wheel was turned by a belt from a large drum, and the stock ancl the pattern were turned by a belt from a pulley on the same shaft, the stock and pattern being geared together by a train of four spur wheels. This machine did excel lent work in rough-turning stocks, Fig. 9. 629 14 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. as is exemplified by samples still extant. By 1827 Blanchard's stocking and turning machinery had been Men per hundred stoalcs per day. · 1Defore Blanch- Blnnchar -~~~~~~~~~~~~~--~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Machine-work ••••••••..••.• ···-----·····--.···-·· ••••••..•.•. --········ ...... •..... ------.... ___ •.••.•...••.• __ w 5 ~ Iland-work ------·--· ...... ••••••...... ····--••••.. ·---·------·-· .••. -······ ...... __ 75 7 7 G ~--~~-1-~~~~ Total-·····---·-··-·-·····-----·-·· ....•••••••••. ------·····--·······- ...... 17 12 Ul STOCKING M1WHINERY AT HARPER'S .FERRY.-The precursor of the mill-cutter was tlle gang of circular sa"Ws, set together on a spindle. These were arranged so that the teeth broke joint irregularly, which prevented the splitting up of the grain of the wood. This saw-gang was used in mill-planing or profiling, the gang being placecl between the two siUes of the slide bearings of a jig-frame, in which the rough stock was clamped, the s1)inc1le of the gang being underneath and in direction perpendicular to the slide bearings, and the jig-frame having the outline of the profile of a gun-stock, and being moved over the slide bearings, which were on a. level with the cutting edges of the gang. The saw-gangs usecl were from a quarter to half an inch thick and 3 to 7 inches in diameter. This was the principal stocking-machine used at Hall's works, at Harper's Ferry, prior to the introduction of Blanchard's machinery, and as late as 1844. By its use the stock was brought to a square-edgecl 1)rofile, top, bottom, and sides, but much of the work remained to be done by 8having and cutting with hand tools. Of the other stocking machinery in use at Hall's rifle works at that time, to quote the statement of Mr. James B. Burton, "a circular saw (slabbed' the fa,ce of the stock, or the surface in which the barrel was subsequently bedded, and the surface, so faced and straightened, became the base or bearing for the subsequent operations of gigging or profiling. Another circular saw-' cross-cut'-was employed to saw the ends off to the i)roper length. Another machine, carrying a revolving cutter on a horizontal axis was employed in connection with another 'gig' for roughing out the groove for the barrel. Then still another ma~hine was em1)loyed to 'spot-groove' the becl for the barrel. This machine carried a spindle (horizontal), say about the length of a barrel, the surface of which was turned off so as to leave standing at intervals in its length of, say 3 to 4 inches narrow belts about three-sixteenths of an inch wide, which were cut with diagonal teeth of shallow depth, the spi~dle being in the first place turned ancl finished to the exact longitudinal profile and diameter of the barrel. This s1)indle was of necessity provided with m. t erme cl'iate supports, to i)revent it from springing when in use. The gun-stock previously' rough-grooved• ' out for the barrel, being secured in proper position in a sliding frame, was lowered to the'slowly-revolving cutter spindle until arrested by a properly-adjusted 'stop'. The result was that the roughly-grooved bed for the barrel was 'scored' at intervals of 3 or 4 inches of the exact diameter of the barrel at corresponding points in its length. These 'score~' 630 FIRE-ARMS. 15 became the guide for the band-workman in planing out the bed for the barrel, and were the means of saving much time in :fitting by hand. The gun-stock was finally rounded and shaped by hand, the draw-knife, tlle spoke-shave, and files being the tools employed, in connection with suitable gauges for determining the cross-sections at various points." In 1844 J. H. King devised a bedding-machine, which was used at Harper's Ferry. In this there was a vertical drum, 2 feet in diameter, inclosecl in a cylindrical frame on the same axis, the frame bearing six vertical spindles in its circumference. This frame could be moved about the central shaft and held by a spring-catch striking into notches. 'rhe drum was on the driving shaft, and belts from it ran to pulleys on the six tool-spindles. The copying pin was set in the frame carrying these spindles. Its height was atljustable by set nuts. During action the pin remained and the tool revolved in one position. A.11 the feecl motions were obtained in the bed, which was mounted on a vertical slide, balanced on a hinge by a weight, as is a drill-press table. The bed had two horizontal slides at right angles, the slides movable by levers, and one slide being mounted upon the other. The work and tlle pattern, or former, were thus actuated, but the motion lacked sensitiveness on account of' the weight of the becl. It was, however, an ingenious machine, and was universal so far as it served for the letting in of all the component fittings for a gun-stock; tllat is, the lock, guard, side-plates, band-springs, and butt-plates. Stock-turning machines were not usecl at Hall's works until several years later. _ STOCKING MACHINERY AT MIDDLETOWN.-Stocking machi11ery, designed by Selah Goodrich, was in early use at Colonel North's factor;)" at Middletown. This was used in nrnking interchangeable stocking work for Hall's rifles, on a government orcler given in 1823. The stocks were made and boxed up apart from the trimmings, and required no :fitting fof the lock-frame parts. Of the details of this machinery little is now known, exce11t that a machine for mill-planing to a former, now in use at the Springfield. armory, is stated to be of a design derived from one of Goodrich's machines. THE .AMEs MACHINERY.-Tlle principle of cutting to pattern in irregular turning, bedding, and profiling was thus gradually put into application at all of' the armories, but in many of them only to a limited extent, and with very rude and imperfect mechanism, by which the full benefits of the method were by no means obtained. Of the f)tocking- machinery of this period few relics remain. In 1853 the Ames Manufacturing Oompany1 of Chicopee, Fig. 10. Massachusetts, commenced the manufactnre of Blanchard stocking machinery from improvecl designs by Cyrus Buckland, which may be considered to mark a new epocli, not only in the improvement of the machinery, but of its more extended application throughout the world. The .A.mes machines are in use to-thty both in American and in foreign armories, the earliest foreign orders coming from the British government, the British board of ordnance, the Lonclon .Armory Company, the royal artillery clepartment of Spain, the Bil'miugham Small-Arms Company, ancl the Russian government. 631 16 MANUF AOTURES OF INTEROHANG EABLE MECHANISM. These early orders were for between 400 ancl 500 machines, beside :fittings. The machines were for the most part modified clesigns of the Blanclmrcl stocking machinery, but also included machinery for milling, edging, and barrel-boring, ancl other metal-working, and forging and proving machiuery fo~· gnu pa.rts; in fact, almost every machine then employed, from a drop-lrnmrner to a milling or a barrel-polishing maclline; dynamo. meters and experimental macl1inery for proving and testing; edging, drilling, tapping, reaming, grooving, barrel-squaring, chucking, broaching, stamping, spriug-sett.ing, and other machines, beside more or less comrilete sets of stocking machinery. It is to be remembered that stocking macllinery is so prolific in output that a comparatively small number of machines will do the world's work. TURNING TO l'.A.TTERNS.-The illustration of the Ames butt-stock turning-machine, here iutrocluced (Fig. 10), is naturally comparecl with that of the primitive Blanchard stock-turning machine. The more compact arrangement of the later machine will at once be noted. The frame is of metal. The swinging arm, carrying the guide ancl cutter-wheels, is llivoted below the becl on ~t shaft, from which the cutter-wheel is driven by a belt, the wheel beiug helcl to its work by a ·spring pressing against the arm. The crtrriage containing the pattern and stock-holder has a longitudinal movement, the gearing for turning the stock and pattern being driven by a belt from a countershaft above the machine. Fig. 11. In the stock-turning machine in use at the Springfield armory the stock-holcler is placecl above insteacl of by the side of the pattern, the cutter-wheel being above the guide-wheel. The traversing belt for the carriage is dispensed with, and all the motions are obtained Fig.12. in train from the shaft beneath the bed, the traverse of the carriage being obtained through a screw and worm-wheel feed motion. Other forms of machine have the stock-holder and former driven by a long, spurred shaft admitting· of longitudinal traverse, ancl some of the most recent designs have the stock-holder and the former side by side, aml the caniage driven direct from a couuterslrnft, but the guide and cutter-wheels, instead of being .mounted on a swinging arm and held to the work by springs or weights, are mounted on a transverse slide carrfage, moving in ways and actuated by a weight. 632 FIR.E-ARl\iS. 17 The machine for turning between bands, as used ttt the Springfield armory, is shown in tl!e illustration (Fig. 11). The cutter-wheels are carried by swinging frttmes, and the form is gi-ven by guide-plates striking against former-· cams npou a spindle. This machine has a hand-feed and motion for the stock and the cam-shaft. MILLING TO PAT'l'ERNS.-For mill-planing to a former the machine used has a milling-cutter and a guide wheel on one vertical spindle a.ctnatecl by power, the jig-frame former and the stock-clamp being n1iou a long a.rm or leyer resting upon a pla.te. This ar1i1 is pivoted in a horizontal slide and operated by luwd, so as to bring the former against the guide-wheel, while the cutter mills the stock to the same form. BEDDINC} .AND DRILLING l\UOHINERY.-An illustration is here given (Fig. 12) of the Ames barrel-bedcling machine. The machine now used at the S11ri11gfield armory differs from it only in having one aclllitionnl vertical svim1le. It may best be tlescribecl in a review of the operations of barrcl-be ··!Springs serving to lift the cutters back from the work, ancl the coilell springs aml 1Jatches to regulate the chr.cking :·movement a11out the center and the successive engagement of the spindles, give an appearance of com11lexity to Fig. 15. the machine. In more recent designs these ends are attaine 1 cutting-off saw bench ...... ·---···-----·----· ...... Ot 1 profiling saw bench ... ___ ... ___ ...... ____ •. ·--- ••.. _... __ .. ··--·- ...... __ ...... O! 1. rough-profiling machine ...... _____ .. ____ ··----·---·- ... - .. _...... ·-· .. _... ___ ...... O;t J :finish-p1•ofiling machine ...... _. ____ ...... __ ...... ·- •• ·--·-· ...... -- . , 01 634 FIRE-ARMS. 19 1 barrel-bedcling machine ...••....••...••...•.....••••...... ••..•..•.•..•.••••••...•••••••••••..••••••..•.. ·1 1 band-turning machine...... •...... •••...•••.••••...... •...... •••.•..• ~ . • • • • . •• . . • . • • . . . . • . • . . . Ot 1 between-lmucl and nose-cap t.urning machilie ...... _...... •..•.•....• ~ ...... Ot 1 butt·1)latc cutting machine .•.••.•... ··"· ...... •••••.•.•.....••...... •...•.•.•••••.••••...... ••.••••.•• Ot 2 butt-stock turners .•...... ••...... •.•....•••..•.•.•.•.•...... •••...••...... •.••.••.....•...••.••.. 1 1 macltine for cutting bntt-1Jlatidity of the operatives in handling the work. PrsTOL-STomrn.-The work upon a pistol-stock can harclly be comparecl with that upon a gun-stock. The IJistol-stock is usually composecl of two small sides of wood, hard rubber, horn, ivory, or other materia.J, fastenecl upon a drop-forged iron frame. The bedding, pressing, or milling of these pieces involn1s no heavy item of labor, .and the whole work is similar to that upon cutlery handles. FORGING GUN COMPONENTS. DROP·FORGING.-The forged lock parts and trimmings of a gun (pieces which are technically known as gun <1omponents), being of various shapes and sizes, are subjected to different methods of treatment in tlle forging. Some imrts, such as the larger screws (tlle smaller being machined direct from the rod without forging) and fl.at :Springs, are die-forgecl under pony hammers, and are afterward annealed and pickled. Flat springs are also drop forgell, the forging before the fin is trimmed oft' appearing very much as shown in the cut (Fig. 16). Of the larger 'l'Lml less Tegularly formed parts some are ch'Ol)ped in dies in several operations without reheating, the first blow blocking out the material, and one or two additional blows sufficing to bring it to slla1Je. Parts of considerable complexity of form Fig. 16. can thus be gradually swaged out, which, by a single blow, or by the use of an unsuitable succession of dies, would only be cracked and spoiled.( a) The rough or blocking-out dies are of cast iron, the finishing dies of steel. The accurncy of the form is proved by nuiking n leacl casting between the dies. The forgiugs are sometimes brought closer to form by dropping in dies and trimming and reheating before the secoml dropping. Parts like the bands of a barrel, having an open central space, are sometimes second-dropped upon a mandrel. The butt-plate, a curved piece requiring· a weight of iron of about 12 ounces, is blocked from the rod by twice clrop11ing in d~es, is then trimmed, reheated, and redropped, annealed, pickled, aml dropped eold, ancl the body ancl tang are trimmed in two 01Jerations. The pickling to remove scale is done in vitriol; the annealing in charcoal, brought to a proper heat in fnrnaee boxes, ovens, or retorts. For softening, the smaller l)ieces are sometimes placed in a charcoal box in an annealing oven, the fhime being carried under the box, on both sides of it and above it, aml a tube passing through it revealing by its color the proper temperature for dam1)ening the fire. All the smaller parts are forged from rods or bars of Fig. 17. merchant iron or steel, the butt-plate, for ex~tmple, from ~-inch by f-iuch iron, the large pins ancl screws from round, and the springs, hammers, :and other parts from square or fl.at steel or iron. The eml of the rocl or bar is heated in the fire, and the piece is blocked out in the dies upon the rocl; the rocl being used as a. handle for the insertion of this encl-piece under the seYeral drops, aml the piece not being cut from the rod until the final blow, leaving the piece, as shown in several illustrations (Figs. 17 and 18), with a fin to he sheared off in the trimming·1)ress. Fig. 18 . .An illustration is shown (Fig. 19) of a pistol frame as made by the Billings & Spencer Company, of Hartford, Oonuecticut-a company which has applied die-forging to a vast variety of complicated forms in small mechanism, being pioneers in this class of work. Such a J)istol frame can be drop-forged in dies at the rate of 60 an hour, a In the unsuccessful effort to make interchangeable work in France iu 1785, die-forging was trietl as a,u impOl'tant means accessor~ to this end, anc"\. was ii,b11>udonecl on account of the. pieces being spoiled and cracked by imprOJ/0l' llwl\ging, 635 20 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. involving the use of 3 pairs of dies ancl 3 different forging operations, beside the trimming, annealing, and i)ickling. A pistol-hammer is drop-forged in three operations, a man and boy in attendance, in half a minnte or less. For the heaviest pieces the stock has to be worked under a trip-hali.nmer very much as the stock for axes and hammers is worked. The ROLLING.-The forging frame of the Remington of stock by rolling is ap shot. gun is made from pliecl ·wit!J. advantage in 2-inch square Norway iron, some cases. Simple ex cut to lengths. The pieces amples of t!J.is are fur are heated and drawn out nished in the rolling of under a, hammer to form the metal for front sights, the tang, antl are the rocl being rollecl to the then forge beingthus four-fold. On each drop are two puppet bolts actuated by ilat springs. These bolts strike into notches in two sets of rods, one set moving with the reciprocating column, and the other being .fixed to the pillars of the frame. By the Stlccessive operation of these bolts and the movement of the lifting colnmn the drops climb to a height determined by a clog·, which covers one of the notches, preventing the .first puppet bolt from striking into it. Disengagement is effected by a sliding section of the notched rod in the frame, which, actuated by a treadle, pushes out the second puppet bolt, letting the weight fall. .An illustration is given (Fig. 20) of part of the.interio:Ji of the Fig. 20. <:Jolt drop-shop, showing a number of these machines. The compound four-fold screw-drop was also of Root's design, and was superseded at Oolt's armory by tlle crank-drop, which was built npon a similar principle, but with more rapid action. In this screw-drop four hammers climb by means of a large vertical screw, and are stopped ancl detached at desired heights by the action of dogs and springs. This would forge a pistol-lock frame in two minutes. In 1861 ten drops were built by Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, of Windsor, Vermont, for die-forging at the .Springfield armory, the drops previously in use there having been of a rough character. The present form of drop most generally approved for die-forging is the plank-drop, in which the weight is held by a plank of tough wood, which may be instantaneously grasped at any point by a pair of cast-iron rolls, one of which has its bearings in a movable yoke. With this arrangement the force of the blow can be instantly varied at the will of the forger. An illustration (Fig. 21) ·is given of such a hammer (Pratt & Whitney Co.). This machine weighs 11 net tons, tho 11ammer weighing 1,200 pounds, and having a fall of 6~ feet. OoLD-PRESsING.-In 1875, at the Springfield armory, the process of cold-pressing began to be used, effecting a ·Considerable saving in milling cuts. .As an illustration of the novelty and capability of this process, the aclaptatio1 637 22 :MANUFACTURES OF INTERGHANGEABLE MECHANISM. of a large number of old bayonets to guns of smaller bore than those for which they were made may be described as accomplished at the Springfield armory. It was necessary to reduce the size of the shank nearly one-sixteenth of an inch in the diameter. This was clone by pressing it, cold, upon a mandrel between two dies. The fin at the joint of the dies was very slight, the metal being simply condensed by the powerful pressure. In a gun-lock hammer of fine finish four or five milling operations are saved by cold-pressing. By cold -pressing alone, without milling, a good gun-lock hammer may be produced by the use of proper dies. The parts so produced are of superior toughness and hardness. By the use of fine steel dies they can be made much more exact than the so-callecl interchangeable work of early clays. Other lock parts and ~rimmings may be similarly treated. The band is cold-pressed upon a mandrel, and would not require to be edgetl were it not for the slight burr left after facing. The power press used at the Springfield armory has a capacity of upward of 800 tons, having two 8 by 12 inch risers, but it is none too heavy for work which requires such a degree of condensation of cold steel. It is believed that parts thus pressed acquire properties approaching those which have been proved to exist in cold-rolled iron. Hydraulic pressure is also used in cold-pressing. Cold-pressing of elaborate forms requires expensive machinery and considerable power, and the process is as yet applied only to a limited extent. Flat pieces are often cold-dropped, which is a very rarlicl and simple operation. IMPROVED M:ETJIODS .A.T THE SPRINGFIELD .ARMORY.-In reviewing the progress of gun manufacture we have seen a number of skilled crafts practicalJy obliterated by •the advent of improved machinery. But, with the growth of the processes of die-forging anll pressing, the craft of die-sinking becomes of greater service and consequence. Even here, however, we find that the labor may be greatly lessened by typing-that is, by making steel types or models of the form-which is then dropped in hot steel, giving the reverse impression desired. These forms may in almost every case be more easily made than the corresponding recesses in the die·plates. .A little finishing by the die-sinker will then complete the die in good shape, and it may he hardened and employed as usual. This method of economizing in a highly skilled branch of' labor is in use at the Springfield armory. In theillustrationgivenofthe plank-drop there is shown a wronght Fig. 21. iron die-bed secured by a key. This saves the trouble and expense of redressing the main bed in case of damage: .At the Springfield armory there is employed a method of keying the die-plates themselves into a solid die-block, so that the die-plate llroper may be made small and light, and the trouble and expense of using a heavy block for every die may l>e avoided. MA.CHINE PL.A.NT.-Exclusive of barrel-forging, the machinery required for forging the parts of between 50 and 100 guns a day might be enumerated as 5 or 6 drop and 3 or 4 pony hammers of graded sizes, 2 or 3 shear and trimming presses, a blower, a die-sinking machine, and 12 to 20 firing stands, beside tools; and a considerably larger outimt could be obtained without any proportionate increase in the machine plant. M.ACHINING GUN COMPONENTS. MILLING-.-Of all the machines used in the manufacture of gun lJarts none are so numerous or so characteristic of the manufacture as milling-machines. They are applied to an infinite variety of work under a great variety of conditions, and the development of their efficiency has been due more to higher speeding, closer workmanship, and better adjustment of the weight and strength of parts than to inventions of mechanical design. Their important place .may be illm~trated by a few examples. Of a plant of 205 machines for turning out 50 breech-loading rifles a day, with an attendance of 175 men, over one-fourth of the machines were milling-machines. Of a plant of over 600 pieces of power machinery for turning out 400 fine revolvers a day, 28 r>er cent. of the machines were milling machines. Of a gun-making plant of 850 machines, 216 were milling-machines. Of a pistol-making plant of 225 machines, hand and power, 30 per cent. were.milling-machines. These figures are exclusive of edging, profiling, and Other machines, OU Which mill-cutters are used, but refer only to milling-machines proper. .Another large plant has about 30 per cent. of its total number in milling- and edging-machines. When any machine may be used 638 FIRE-ARMS. 23' .. in such numbers and for such a variety of work, it may be said, within limits, that the larger the ont.:fit.the better:·· equipped is the establishment. In considering the efficiency of output we find that men and machines, if we may so speak, can rarely be rated as commensurate quantities. Economy in attendance is procurecl at the expense of· economy in machinery, and, with an assurecl clem.ancl for the product, an idle milling-machine does not cost as much as a man, who, however industrious, is obliged to pursue his work under conditions which render him. as inefficient, as though he ·were idle. a good part of the time. Every important part of a gun requires more or less milling, and upon some single pieces as many as 12 or 15 machines may be usecl to advantage for a large output. Although by change and arrangement of :fixtures the number of milling-machines may usually be greatly reduced, yet from, the fact that the machines are built by manufacturers in large numbers for the trade, while the :fixtures are usually made by job work, after special designs, the cost of the :fixtures not infrequently exceeds the cost of the machines ... An illustration is here intro Fig. 22. foreground, with small lathes back of them in the front row, ancl behind these a row of th.e Root jigging or profiling machines, with vertical shafts. But to get an adequate idea of the machine-.shops of 11-P.Y one of our large ~re-arms factories we must expand the small area which may be shown in such a view into ~ores of floor-space thickly set . with similar machinery. 639 24 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. In an example of practice, nine machines (including milling, profiling, broaching, aml drilling machines) were ·used in sh'apiug a common pistol hammer. The milling operations upon the fl.at hammer, shown as a drop-forging fa a previous illustration, might, after trimming, be as follows : Designating the main 11art of the forging as the body, and the three upper projections as the head and upper and lower combs, there would be two side cuts, an -edge cut at some convenient spot (according to the arrangements of the holders and :fixtures) to furnish a bearing or basis for subsequent cuts, an edge cut on the .front of head and body, an edge cut under head, an edge cut on top .of upper comb, and an edge cut between the combs. The lower part of the body and the under side of the lower comb, and perhaps the top of the upper comb, might be :finished bJ'" edging cuts upon a profiling-machine. In milling, a single cut usually finishes the surface ready for grinding or buffing, but roughing and finishing cuts are .sometimes made, especially where much metal has to be removed, and in l)earing parts, where great nicety is to be obtained. In l)rofiling, two cuts-roughing and iinishing-are more usual, as tho milling-cutter is then subject to greater variations of work, and does not usually make as smooth a cut. Profiling cuts save a greater number of milling cuts, and the expense of many irregular milling-cutters; but they are not generally a,vailable for such cuts as that between tho combs, or under the head, where there are re-entering angles, nor are they desirable for flat and nearly flat cuts, such as those upon the sides aud front edge of the hammer, which may be better arnl more steadily executed in a milling-machine. Cuts may often be savecl bl. number, if desirable, by the llse of mil1s of more irregular forms, but the expense of making these n,ml keeping tliem true to gauge ma;y render it undesirable. This expense is, however, reduced by tlle use of the milling-cutters for irregular forms made by the Brown & Sharp Manufacturing Company, of which an example is shown in the illustration (Fig. 23). These are made on a system which admits of exact duplication in the . cutters (important for interchangeable work), and they may be sharpened by grinding without cbanging the form. Ordiirnry cutters, after becoming drilled, . require to be annealed, recut, and reliardened at considerable cost. Fig. 23· Where two opposite faces of a piece are to be milled, whether they be parallel ,or at a slight m1gle, the two operations may be performed at once by a double-head face-milling machine. Such .a machine for mi11ing the lock-frame of the Colt revolver is shown in the illustration (Fig. 24). In this there are two face mills, which may be adjusted (with their spindles) so as to make a slight angle with each other. The spindles ancl the sliding tables, with the screw-feed for moving the cn~ters forward and back, .are adjustable at an angle on -vertical pivots. A. side fixture holds the lock-frame1 by means of a clamp, during the i)erformance of work upon it. The machine is shown rigged with oil-tank, drip-pan, and oil-pump, with driving g·ear. A double-face milling-machine of a different .description is sometimes used on the light work of facing triggers. In this there are two face mills, oiie on a fixed ancl one on a sliding head, .and neither of them revolves. A. pin set in the center of the fixed mill bolds the trigger, in which the hole has been previously drilled, and a Tevolving arm, with a projecting pin or :finger coming; against the trigger, forces it around in rapid revolution. The milling-machine was of earlier introduction th.au the planer. Milling, or, as they were called, slabbing machines, were used for making narrow plane surfaces, while broader ones wern made by chip ping and filing. But while the principle may be considered indefinitely .old, its introduction as a great industrial factor in gun-making was .approached by slow and awkward steps. Fig. 24. Colonel North, at Miclclletown, Connecticut, is stated to have used milling-machines, with cutters of irregular ·form for milling the pan and between the bolsters iu the flint-lock musket, prior to 1817, and they are stated to have been used at Harper's Ferry and at Whitneyville at early elates. The iron-cutting machines used by Hall at Harper's Ferry prior to 1827 did with cutters anc1 saws work usually clone elsewhere with grindstones, chisels, ancl :files. A. milling and drilling machine was used for milling screw-pins, as well as for drilling, reaming, and countersinking '.holes. This had a screw adjustment and conical sockets. A. straight cutting machine was used, which appears to '.have been a milling-machine, for the production of fl.at and :fl.utecl surfaces, and which, as was then suggested, might nave been applied to. the milling of irregular forms. A lever cutting machine was used for mortising through the :receiver for the cock and for boring the irnn, and appears to have been similar in operation to some forms of hancl willing machine now in use. A. cu.rye cutting machine was used, which was lJrobably a bridge-milling machine, ·Or a lathe with a former. There was thus at Hall's works a small plant of milling machinery by which the system .and economy of the manufacture was somewhat altered. By these mach.ines, however, it is statecl that there was .obtained in 1827 an efficiency of only one-thirll greater than by filing-an improvement which does rn;>t appear large 640 ' FIRE-ARMS. 25 from the present standpoint. The machinery was, however, excessively solid an cl heavy, and was run by hand. In 1836 we find that Middletown contractors, who had commenced the manufacture of Hl1ll's rifles, and had made milling, drilling, and edging machines of some sort, were making tlie rifles at a contract price of about $4 per stand iess than the cost to the government with Hall's machinery. At the Springfield armory milling and edging machinery was not introduced until a more recent date. The .first milling-machine used in Springfield is said to have been a fixed-spindle machine used for rough flat-milling monkey-wrenches in 1834. About this time Thomas \Varner, at the United Stutes armory, devised a plain milling machine to make lock-plates of uniform thickness. This clasi,; of machinery was then known to have been in use at Middletown, fOT the master-armorer at the Springfield armory sent there in 1835 to get a Mr. Barker to buikl a milling-machine. In this machine the cutter-spindle was adjusted at a distance above the work by being carried by a lever movable (with a screw adjustment) about the spindle.from wllich the power was obtained. About 1830 Ethan Allen is stated to have devised the method of using cutters of irregular outline for milling· the forms of pistol-locks. A small fixed-spindle milling-machine is still to be seen at the Whitneyvmc armory, and, although of uncertain date, is said to have been built by Eli Whitney, sr. This has a work-plate with a power-screw feed actuated by a worm gear, so as to disengage at the encl of the cut by tlle dropping of a screw-spindle-a method still applied in machines of tlle present clay. Soon after tlrn introduction of phiin milling machinery at Springfielcl Messrs. Robbins & Flagir, contractors at the ViTaters' armory at Millbury, built a machine for milling the irregular edges of lock-plates. This worked well, and was introduced at the Springfielu armory. Other devices for milling were also introduced, and in 1840, under Thomas "\Varner, milling-machines were built with SJ)indles adjustable in -vertical slides, as at present. Five machines were at first built, comprising, with their fixtures, a complete set for :finishing the bayonet in all its parts, dispensing with grinding and greatly reducing tlle labor required. These machines hall power-screw feed and disengaging gear, aml their predecessors at the Springfield armory are described as temporary :fixtures, rigged upon lathes aml genem1ly of rude construction. The first milling-machine used in Hartford, Connecticut, is sakl to have been brought there by l\fr. R. S. Lawrence, who took an important Fig. 25. part in the development of improved gun machinery, both by his own designs and by his efforts to combine the best appliances then known; a policy finding exi)ression in many features of the im1Jl'oved machinery buil~ at Windsor, Vermont, about 1850. The general manufacture of milling-machines dates back only twenty-five or thirty 41 MM . 641 26 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. years, and twenty years ago there were but three extensive manufacturers of milling-machines. The demand for them in the m1Jic1 growth of gun and sewing-machine manufacture after 1855 was very largely supplied by George S. Lincoln & Co., of Hartford, the Lincoln pattern being a well-known and standard machine, of which au illustration is here giYen (Fig. 25). This machine is provide around which the cutter-spindles may be i;hiftetl in rotation. They are lowered to the work by handles with gears, which actuate vertimtl racks, and one or both of the feed motions is furnished by slides in the bed. Tile formers used cannot be of the same pattern as the piece cut unless double slides are rigged U})On the bed m1d all the motions obtainecl from them. It may be usecl for making four successive profiling cuts upon a single piece, or in making single independent cuts upon four different pieces. Tip-turning or oval-cutting machines, sometimes used, are in principle profiling-machines. Two steel tips are turned at once, being clamped together on the power-spindle and forming an oval. A. carriage, bearing a guide-disk and a milling-cutter, either rests entirely on springs, and lrns a universal movement, or moves in a slide, and is pressed by springs in only one direction. The carriage-plate bears the cutter and the guide-disk upon horizontal spindles, placed at an angle with the power-spindle, upon which the work and the pattern are set. The mo~ TURNING.-As an example of a labor-saving contrivance in svecial turning· may be cited the arrangement used at the Springfield. armory for facing off bands, in which a lever se.rves to morn up two cutting·-off tools upon a carriage, separated at a, distance determined by a stop, facing· off both sides of the baml at one operation. It is very common to see butt-plates turned, instead of being profilecl or bridge-milled. Iu this case, the plates are clamped upon a center-piece, and the turning tool thus machines a muub~r of them at a time, as though it ·were turning a single piece. SLOTTING A.ND DRIFTING.-Slotting and broaching cuts are used in making holes and openings, which, on account of their depth or angular sha1Je, cannot be milled or edgell. The opening in the frame of the Colt reYoh'cr, through which plays a pawl called the hand, is an example of a cut requiring to be slotted. The body of the metal is first faken out by drilling a series of holes, and the opening is then slottell; the depth is then extended by deeper drilling, followed again by slotting, the tool in the machiue usml having· a horizontal movemeut. The vertical revolving-head mortising machine is a form of slotting-machine here illustrated (Fig. 30) 1 the machine being designed to obtain for slotting cuts the same economy ancl facility as is obtainerl in the turret and the horizontal clrncking-macliines for turning aml tluemliug cnts. The bed of the machine is llH}trnted upon a balanceu slide, hrwing an up aud down movement, am~ the tool is stationary during the 01ieration, being lwlll in a chucking tool-stock, so thn.t fonr tools may be successively appliell to the work upon the bed. A double slide upoii tlw bed secures, with vroper stops and jig frames, the position and extent of movement required for the work. Through-mortises and openings of an angular form are nsually broacherl, the broach being very slightly taper, or (depending upon the elasticity of' the metal) without m1y appreciable ta.per, of the form of the opening, and bandecl about ·with a series of strong square-cutting edges. Broaches are sometimes as mucli as 8 inches deep, with 16 or 18 cutting edges. They are forced through the openings by heavy power-presses, smoothing aml enlarging them as they imss through. By broaching or drifting, cuts are executed which could not be economicall:Y done in auy other way. For exa1111Jle, in 18521 a mortise being required to be cnt for the Sh~Lr11's rifle, it was estimated at the high cost of $1 50 each; but a broaching machine was built by Mr. R. S. Lawrence which '' tlirl the work" for 4 cents each. FINISIIING PROCESSES.-The small parts are polished upon emery wheels or npou leather-covered wheels spread with glue and surfaced with emery. These >Yheels 30 sometimes ham edges of special conformation for polishiug peculiar forms, but A.re Fig. • more usually flat wheels. The face-polishing machine is a :fl.at, revolving plate coverecl with emery, 11pon which the pieces are i1ressed. We may estimate that 25 or 30 frnmes or lathes fur polishiug will be required for 100 rifles a day, an ri i i II.~rrHE MANUF AOTURE OF AMMUNITION. NOTE.-For statistical information regarding the manufacture of ammunition, see Table IV CB), page 96 for Connecticut, page 131 for Massachusetts. MACHINE PROOESSES .A.ND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANUFACTURE. "" To the report on the manufacture of fire-arms is herewith appendecl a brief statement of that of ammunition a manufacture naturally associated with the other, and the methods of which ltre distinctively .American in their origin, and marked by great ingenuity, a wonder folly prolific output, an cl a quality surpassing anything ~tpproached by methods employed in foreign countries, or in any country prior to the past decade. The nature of the manufacture is consistent with great procluctiveness, the parts to be made being few, and tlle processes being uninvolved with each other and establishing a natnral system of procedure. The work is mostly press work, which is usually rapiu, and permits the employment of unskilled or slightly skilled labor to a large extent, and without detriment to the accuracy of the work. Women are largely employed upon it, sometimes constituting over one-half of the whole number of operatives. The ordinary copper percussion-cap was patented in 1822 by Joshua Shaw, who was in 1845 compensated by Congress in the sum of $20,000 for this valuable invention. But brass ancl copper shell cartridges did not come into use until some thirty years ago, when their importance in making gas-tight joints in breech-loading systems began to be recognized. The prominence which their manufacture has now attaiI).ed in this country in supplying foreign nat.ions with ammunition is due not only to the ingenuity which has developed the mechanical methods .l ~ em1)loyed, but also to the purity and ductility of the American copper used in the manufacture. ' From a statistical standpoint, the most noticeable difference between the manufacture of fire-arms and th!1t of metallic ammunition is that, from the greater efficiency of the machinery, the latter product involves less labor than the former, the value of the material being relatively greater. This difference is most strongly marked in the manufacture of lead shot arnl slngs, in which, speaking roundly, an adcled value of from one-tenth to one-fifth is given the material, while in the manufacture of fire-arms the value of the material is sometimes increased more than five-fold. In the mtunufacture of ammunition on a large scale a considerable amount of capital is required in order to carry and to properly store aml handle the costly ancl dangerous materials employed, but the value of capital required for the machine plant is relatively less for the manufacture of cartridges than for the manufacture of :fire arms. A center-fire cartridge is composed of shell, anvil, inside cup, reinforcing, primer, ancl bullet, beside the })Owder and fulminate. The great majority of the mechanical operations are performed upon the shell, and power-presses for this work constitute the great majority of the machines. The shells are first cut and cupped from brass and copper sheets, one attendant to a press, one press having a daily capacity of from 40,000 to 120,000 sllells, according to size. This operation is followed by annealing, pickling, and washing, repeated annealing being necessary to preserve the ductility of the metal. · Then follows the drawing, an operation which, from its repetitions and less rapidity, requires :fi.ve times as many presses as the cutting and cupping. Cartridge shells are drawn from two to :five times-generally three or four according to size and material, the drawing being more rapid ttnd less often repeated for the smaller shells, and less ra1)id for the later than for the earlier drawings. The large presses have an attendant each, but the smaller presses are often rigged with automatic feeders, so that one person can attend several. The shells are either set by the operative in a rotating plate, which passes under a punch, or else the automatic feed is effected by dropping them into the plate from a duct leading from a hopper or other receptacle. Annealing, with the subsequent pickling in a I \· solution of sulphuric acid, ancl washing in a potash solution, usually intervene between the operations of drawing, ! the shell being annealed in perforated cylinders, subjected, ~bile in rotation, to a fnruace heat, and the washing I machines being inclined cylindrical vessels, in which the shells are tumbled and rinsed, after which they are dried . at a moderate heat (1250). · ! 046 I !j I AMMUNITION. 31 The trimming and heading are executed upon the same machine for most sizes of cartridges: although separate trimming and heading presses are employed for heavier work, st~ch as the cartridge shells for machine guns. The smaller presses are automatic, with one attendant for several machines, the larger are hand-feel with one attendant each. The heading is usually done in presses acting horizontally. This method of heading is said to have been devised by Ethan Allen, of Allen & Wheelock, Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1859. His :first machine was built upon a lathe-bed, and hea~led GO to 80 cartridge shells a minute. The cartridge was dropped from above ancl taken upon a horizontal rod, operated by an eccentric upon a horizontal shaft. The rod carried the shell forward through au opening, when it was headed by a single l>low, the rim being formed in a countersink about the opening, and the header being removed for the thrnsting out of the headed shell, which was ejected by the next shell brought forward by the rod. At this time other parties headed cartridges by spinning up the cnp-a slower process, and one liable to cause the shell to be tllin at the center. The circle feed for trimming or cutting off was also used at this time. Anviling is the insertion of the anvils, which are pressed into the shells by power-presses, the anvils being first ·ctlt and shaped in a quadruple press, making 4 anvils at a stroke, having one attendant, and turning out 150,000 anvils a day. The reinforcing rings of the head are insertecl by power-presses in a similar manner, these being -first cut, drawn, ancl trimmed. In the nozzle-annealing, or annealing for the tapering, only a portion of the shell is annealed. The shells are set in plates, andtlby their movement are passed in procession between rows of gas-jets. The next operation is the pricking or venting and priming, by which the primer is inserted, the daily capacity of a press for this work being upward of 40,000. Impressions in cups to receive fulminate are made at the rate of . .SO a minute. The first operation in the manufacture of primers is comprised in the cutting, cupping, and dra.wing in automatic-feed presses, one attendant to several presses, ancl each press having a capacity of upward of 40,000 a day. The next operation is varnh;hing. The apparatus for this work operates by dipping and dropping shellac from a great number of points, which is clone automatically, an attendant being oecu1)iec1 in sifth1g the primers in to feed-1>lates ready for the operation. The next operation is tlle priming proper, or charging the primer with fulminate, the placing of the primer in the shell being also called priming. The fulminate is in some cases spread upon feed-plates by hand, ancl dropped through holes in the feed-plates into the primers, set in corresponding rilates, upon the withdrawal of an intervening plate. The attendant is occupied in spreading the fulminate. Then follows the operation of foil-pressing. The foil is pressed upon a row of primers at one operation, and the capacity per maclline is upward of 150,000 per day, one attendant to three or four machines. An ingenious form of automatic machine is made to perform the work of charging the primer and priming the shell at the rate of 35 a minute. This is in principle like a vertical chucking-machine, the parts between whicll action ensues passing over and under eacll other and pausing during reciprocating movements, by which the fulminate is trans1iortecl from a magazine .and pressed clown into tlle shelfs. The shell thus charged and furnished is next generally taperecl, one tapering press, with one at.tendant, llaving .a ca1)acity of 20,000 a clay. Burring and trimming in presses and polishing in lathes are additional operations performed upon certain classes of fine and farge shells. After inspection and gauging, the shells are loaded with powder and bullet. The loading machinery is especially ingenious, the powder being helclin a fi.mnel-shaped receiver and dropped by charges into the shell; and, being pressed down by a rod or piston, it is so contrived that if, from an;y caui;;e, the charge is too great, one bell rings, and if the charge is too small, another bell rings, thus warning the attendants aml insuring the uniformity of the charge. One loading machine, with two attendants, has a mtpacity of 25,000 a day. The slng or bullet then insertecl is sometimes formed from cylindrimtl bars at the rate of 50 per minute, or else is -cast, s1ng furn aces and apparatus being used, two attendants each, and theeapacity per furnace being upward of 50,000 a clay. The slugs are cast in hand-molds of 18 to 25 slugs at a time. They are tben 1Jassed through swaging or bullet forming presses, which are or may be automatic, in which case one man can attend as many as nine machines, the .slugs oeing feel to them out of boppers or receivers. They are then jiggecl-,--a term used to designate the rilacing of the lmllets in feell-plates-which is done partly by hand, but assisted by machinery, which imparts a vibratory motion to the plates. This is preparatory to what is called channel-rolling, the jigging being for the purpose of l)lacing the bullets all upright and in position, so that they may be placecl upon a revolving plate, which carries them through a channel between cutters, which groove the bullet. One such machine has a daily capacity of upward of 100,000 bullets, and one man attends three machines. Certain grades of bullets are now passed through .au extra close-gauge trimming press, and tlle bullets are gauged and inspected. The next operation is bullet-patching, or covering the rifle bullets with paper, to prevent tlle clogging of the gro9ves of the barrel with lead. This is sometimes done by hand, sometimes l)y machinery. In the bullet-patching machine the bullets are fell to the machine by hand, and the patch is presented to the bullet and secured by a minute drop of mucilage, fed automatically, and is rolled closely aronncl the bullet, and the end is folded up by the friction of flexible rolls, 45 or 50 bu,llets being patched in a minute, and, including stoppages, full 20,000 in ten hours. Two attendants are required. · 647 32 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. After the loading of the shell, it is crimped into the grooves of the bullet, and the cartridges are tumbled in sawdust and lubricated by sifting upon feed-plates and clipping, or otherwise the lubrication is performed by machinery, which forces the lubricant into the bullet grooves through the perforations of cylinders through which the bullets are lJasscd. In the early introduction of breech-loading guns, naked bullets were used, which clogged up the bore. In 1851, at the time of the visit of Kossuth to this country, R. S. Lawrence, who was making the Jennings rifles at Windsor, Vermont, was telegraphed by Mr. Oortlanclt O. Palmer to_ come to New York a,nd bring a breech-loading gun that would hit a man 10 times out of 25 at 500 yards. On the trial, which took IJlace at Ravenswood, near .Astoria, Long Island, after a few shots the bullets struck 10 or 15 rods from the mark, the leacl building up and fouling the boro. But next morning Lawrence tried lubricating the bullets with tallow, having previously grooved them, when at the seconcl trial he was able to hit the mark two times out of three continuously. Mr. C. P. Dixon ordered a box of the lubricated bullets, and within fifteen days they had been sent to Paris, France, and immediately after came into general use. Cartridges are found to deteriorate from the chemical action between the salts of the gun1)Qw<.ler and the material of the she11s. This is prevented by coating the shells with an impermeable elastic varnish, which is effected by one of the most ingenious automatic machines used in the manufacture. The shells are placed in a hopper, and the arrangement for feeding is similar to that in the automatic wood-screw machines, the cartridge shells being pickecl up by hooked arms and delivered to a tubular duct, from which they are pla~ecl in chucks and varnished. The shells, after the varnishing, pass around a large circular disk or wheel, holding 40 shells, all set in 0hucks; which rotate, causing tbe varnish to set uniformly. All the operations performecl are entirely automatic, one operative attending as many as three machines, supplying the reservoirs for shells and varnish, and exercising a general oversight. The hopper holds se.-eral hundred shells at a time. Forty shells at a time are iu process of passing through the machine, which, with a product of 2,000 varnished shells per ma0l1ine per hour, or 00,000 per operative per day, gives 1minute15 seconds for tbe time for the varnisli to set in rotation, it being afterward thoroughly dried and hardened. The Pratt & Whitney Company have supplied these machines to a number of foreign governments, twenty machines to the French government alone. Rim-fire cartridges have the ·priming contained in the rim, instead of having a separate primer inserted. Their manufacture is therefore more simple than that of center-fire cartridges. .After the heading of the shells they are primed with fulminate, loaded with powder and bullet, crimped, tumbled, lubricated, and packed. Iu the operation of priming rim-fire cartridges the average number of attendants per machine is less than 1 to 5, and each machine has a daily capacity of 60,000 to 70,000. The loading with powder and bullet is done in presses with multiple presser-plates, one })late containing the shells anu another the charges, which are thus pressed together in large numbers, 60,000 to 100,000 cartridges a clay being loaded by one press, attended by one man with two girls, who prepare the.plates. In the manufacture of ammunition, each separate procluct may be considered tb constitute a sepamte branch of manufacture, which maybe traced from beginning to encl without indistinctness or confusion with any other ptut of the work. Thus the manufacture either of caps or of paper shells constitutes a complete and separa,te system l)y itself. The process of making caps is similar to that of making· primers. They are first cut and formed in n. press, 150,000 a day, 4 at a stroke, with one attend.ant. The trimming is done by antom::ttic macliinery, 4 or 5 mncltiues to an attendant, and the caps are then varnished, a long row of them at one operation; the fulminate is clroppecl into the cap from multiple feecl-plates, and the foil is pressed clown over it, a long row of mtps being completed at every stroke of the press. : ; i In the manufacture of paper shells the paper is first cut into slieets the length of four shells. It is then pasted and rolled by hand. From the tubes thus formed the body of the shell is then pressed to size and cut up into lengths, the reinforcing being formed in a similar manner. The wads are rolled by special machines anclformed in a press, ancl a succession of presses is used for inserting wad into reinforcing, reinforcing into body, and bocly in.to brass case. The brass head is then inserted, and the shell is primed. The presses for the last six operations mentioned have a capacity each of about 40,000 a clay. ': NOTE.-A.fter the publication of tlrn reJlOrt on fire-arms and ammunition in its prelimi11ary form, the family representatives of Mr. Benjamin Moore, onee master armorer at Harper's Ferry, called attention to his claims to be considered the originatoi· of tho interchangeable system as applied to fire-arms. While Mr .. Benjamin Moore is undoubtedly entitled to much credit for improvements in the manufacture of small arms, tho publication hero of the extended testimony regarding conflicting cl!!ims of priority would give undue prominence to the personal clements , I , I of the ease, which are now being presented to Congress in connection with a cln.im for compensation. 648 SEvYIN G-MAOHINES. 33 III.-TIIE MANUFACTURE OF SEWING-MACHINES. N OTE.-For statistical information regarding the manufacture of sewing-machines, see Tahle III, page 71. The materials used in sewing-machine manufacture are pig-, bar-, and sheet-iron, iron and steel wire, bar- and sheet-steel, malleable iron, japan varnish, and power and maclline supplies in general, woods for casing (largely walnut and poplar), beside a considerable rang·e of other materials. Tbe cost of material used may usually be rated at from one-third to one-fourth the wholesale value of the product, the constituent material being the chief item of cost, and is ratable at about 20 lll~r cent. of the wholesale value of the average machine, although subject to incessant fluctuations, both local aml general. ·while coal is obviously cheal?.est in the great coal-prodncing states and those adjoining, the cost of iron, which is only about one-fifth as bnlkY, exhibits mucll less variation, the prices ruling low in n,11 the commercial sections aud high in those regions whose manufacturing requirements are not such as to delllu,ml great facilities for transportation, even though geographically near the mines. The sea.board states also have the advantage of a foreign supply, especially in certain grades of pig- ancl wrought-iron, although the finest castings are made frolll the proper combinations of iron from American ores. The proportionate loss of weight, or wastage in the working of the material, is not as great as in gun-making, probably notrii::ing above 20 per cent., that is, for the metal parts; and it is obviously greater in the small steel and wrought-iron than in the cast-iron parts. The weight of metal cast is usually from 85 to 90 per cent. of the weight of pig and scrap used. The weight of the metal parts of a treadle machine is usually from 60 to 65 pounds, the greater part of which is in the cast-iron legs and stand. The weight of the head, which includes the arm, the bed-plate, and the finest and most essential mechanism, varies from 12 to 25 pounds in the llifferent styles of family machines. It is unquestionable tllat in the whole industry much more material is now lutndlecl by the same number of operatives than in JSGO or in 1870, which, other conditions being t·qnal, as they often are not, woulcl require a greater capitnl, a less ratio of value of product to cost of mn,terial, n,nd a greater ratio of cos~ of material to wages. The returns appear to bear ont these naturnl conclusions in mrrny cases, although not iuva,riably. The manufacture of sewing-machines mny be regarded, for all the proper machine parts, i1s a manufacture of a fine class of special lumlm1re, with n, system for the assembling of these parts into machines of accurate and finely-balanced action, the small working IHlrts comprising a great variety of cams, hooks, shuttles, levers, connectiug-brHs, pln,tes, pins, ancl tla,t and spiral spriugs. Of the whole munber of metnl parts, some 75 per cent. may be roundly reckoned to be nuttle direct from maunfactured wfre ancl pla.te, foll 50 per eent. being screws, and the rest pins, studs, punched, bent, and S\v-aged plates, arnl i;prings. The rema.ining imrts are gray and malleable castings and forged arnl 1mwhinell parts of varions descriptions. · The operations in sewing-machine manufacture may be enumerated, in kind, us follows: In general, there is gauging, inspecting, assembling, testing, and packing; on the wood work, milling, kiln-drying, re-sawirig, planing, scraping, forming, gluing, turning, grubbing, wood-filling, and vamishing; on the metal work, milling, polishing, and drilling are the most genern,l operations; the principal remaining operations being the piclding ancl japanning of cm;t, wronght., and sheet metal; the cutting of wrought aml sheet metal and of needles; the annealing aml plating of wrought and sheet metf1l; the swaging ttnd stamping of sheet-metal 11arts and needles; the casting, cleaning, tumbling, and ornamenting of cast metal parts; the for,ging, turning, :filing, aucl hardening of wrought-metal parts, and the tempering, scouring, n,ml straightening of needles. Of the meta.I work, the bulk of the material passes successively from the founclery through tbe tumbling-room, annealing, japanning, drilling, turning, milling, grinding aml polishing, ornamenting, varnishing, adjusting, and proving departments. The t0ol-making, serew-mn,king, ltttiicllment-making, ancl needle-making departments are auxiliar;y, and the woocl-workiug and cabinet-making departments coustitute a separate and distinct manufacture. In tile proper maunfacturing departments of sewing-machine works the operaJives are not commonly employecl by the cfay. There may be considered to he two systems, which. are often more or less merged, viz, subcontract ancl piece-work, under salaried foremen. In the former the greater part of the work i.s done by 5,19 34 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. subcontractors, who, under the superintendent, exercise the functions of foremen, and usually give the work their lJersonal supervision, employing their hands by the day or by the piece. It is to their interest and profit to increase the productiveness as largely as possible, and to the devices of this class, in the development of minor details to secure the greatest result from the smallest outlay, the improvement in productive efficiency in this and in kindred manufactnrP.s is largely due. The system of employing head machinists by piece-work or contract may aimost he esteemed a germinant principle in the development of special machinery and a higher productive efficiency in the manufacture; but works are now very commonly conducted under salaried foremen, No. 1. some classes of operatives working by the piece and some by the day. The strict subcontract system, des1)ite its advantages in the hands of men of mechanical genius, depends for its continuance upon a rapidly-changing condition of manufacture and the promise of liberal margins of profit, ancl this was the state of the sewing-machine industry until the expiration of patents, closer competition, and the collapse of inflated values after the civil war wrought sucq. a change that in some factories the system was a.bandoned. It was said in these cases that the efforts of subcontractors to maintain their profits caused them to make shift with an underpaid class of help, while by 650 SE WIN G-MAOHINES. 35 the direct employme.nt of operatives by piece-work under salaried supervision the proclnct w.as improved both in qtrnntity and in quality, and a body of operatives of' superior competence was securecl, to whom higher rates of ·wages could p.rofitably be paid. At the factory of' the Wilson Sewing-Machine Company, Chicago, Illinois, there is employed a uniform method of accounting for material used and work done under the piece-work system by means of tickets. In the assembling department duplicate checks are used. There are, in the assembling process, a number of classes of work, each but a small ])art in the whole economy of the work. It is, however, an important part, and of growing importance, drop-forgings being sometimes substitutell for malleable castings, making a stronger but not a cheaper article. Among the earlier instances of the introduction of drop-forging with dies was its use by Albert Eames, in 1856, in the manufacture of the hook of the Wheeler & Wilson machine. This hook, being of peculiar form, required an ingenious snc9essiou of dies for the upsetting and swaging of the metal, so that H might be brought without cracking or injury from the merchant bar to the form ready for machining. As a large factory may require only a few drops and hammers, and as in some forms of sewing-machines very few special forgings are used, most of the parts being machined directly from forms of merchant iron or from gray and malleable iron or steel castings, the !)lace of this work in the general s;rstem of manufacture need not be considered at great length; but it may be ,...... ------·------•..... noted that the manufacture of shuttles from drop-forgings for the supply of ,,/""' ---- sewing-machine makers ii; specially carrietl on by a company at Hartford, i.,,, ,,./] 1 Connecticut, under a process of forging the shuttles from solid bats, instea(l '-----'--, ,, , ,,-·<./-' of, as previously, making them by bending up pieces of sheet-metal ancl brazing ' ... ,,, ---,,( \/ / : I a speell for piece-work an cl at too low a speed for time work. As an example of work in milling, a "''iVilson" feed-plate undergoes seven milling operations-three on hand- and four on powercfeed machines. A man· aud aboy will tend eight milling machines, and will in a month of 260 hours do the milling on 5,000 feed-plates, o,000 long ancl 5,000 short connections. The average time. of a. milling operation is two or three minutes, including setting and stopping. In steel the speed of cut is about two-thirds as great us in cast-iron, most of tlle cast-iron being either soft iron as cast or else softenccl by annealing. In case of facing-mills and mills of irregular form the speed is rated for the greatest diameter, the surface speed in inches per minute; that is, the tangential velocity of the greatest No. 3. circumference is for heayy cuts in steel as low as 120, . . . and in cast-iron as low as 180 inches. A surface speed as high as 500 inches is more common for orclmary cuts m soft cast-iron and 300 to 400 inches in steel. Smoothing cuts, which take oft' only a few thousandths of an inch, are sometimes made with mills running at a surface speed of upward of 1,000 inches per minute. Cam-cutting is one of the most peculiar operations in machining sewing-machine parts, and it is usually effected by special machinery, supplanting ordinary profiling-machines. The sewing-machine }lart shown in the figure (No. 2) is called a feed-cam. Upon this the edges and faces of two small cams have to be cut the cams being shown as though one were slightly in advance of the other, the entire ' 13.53 38 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. part being a single solid piece. A machine for cutting these cams is here illustrated (No. 3). The head.stock carries upon its spindle two mills, one for facing the upper surfaces a.nd the other for forming the cams. The work is held upon a rock-shaft spindle, antl lrns a turning feed, while its position relative to the cutter is determined by a cam pattern which guides the rock shaft. After one cam has been milled, a single motio1!- of a pin throws the work forward and shifts it to a new position fo1· the milling of the second cam. Its capacity is 200 a day, two facing and two circumferential edging cuts in an average of three minutes. One man is capable of tending three or four macliines. The heart-cam milling-macliine embodies a peculiar principle, namely, that of turning modified by profiling. The heart-cam groove is of a peculiar form, approaclling tllat of a portion of a. circular rillg, bnt is not circular, although the profiling is based upon a rotary oscillat ing movement, tlie work-pln.te upon the spindle shown. in the illustra,tion given (No. 4) liaving 'such a mov~ ment, while the variation from the circular i1::1 eifocterl by the movement of a slide, also shown, which is. actuated by a former. One of these machines, at an average of two cuts, roughing and finishing, in threo minutes, working in steel, will cut 150 heart-cams a day, one man tending three machines and cutting 4130 No. 4. cams. This machine displaced profiling, at which ono man is required to a machine. Probably one operative with three heart-cam machines will do four or five times as much work as one operative with a profiling-machine. Another form of feed-cam niacliine is also shown (No. 5). This exhibits a swinging spindle, on which are the former cams, which are pressed against a guide roller by the action of a weight, the feed cam to be milled being carried by the "former" spindle, which is dri vcn by bevel gears. Another machine of high efficiency completely finishes the band-wheels of sewing-machines. With ordinar,y nrn chine tools the cliucking, boring, aud grooving of the rim and squaring of the hub could not be done by a man at the rate of 25 a clay. With the macliine illustrated (No. 0) upward of 110 a llay are completed. vVheu the work revolves and the tool is held in place the operation is called chucking. The wheel is first chucked, that is, placed in a rotary holder, in which it is successively acted upon by five tools in a turret-head, viz: an entering drill, a through drill, an enlarging drill, a reamer, and a face mill for squaring up tlle frou-t side of the hub. A tool actuated by a handle is then pushed forwanl through tho power spindle, which is hollow, and tlrns faces off the back of the hub, and the groove in the rim it; then turued by a tool advanced in a tool-rest .at the side. Even more ingenious is the machine for turning the compound ba.lancc and band-wheel, which, in addition to all the foregoing work, has to turn the rim of the large bala.nce-wlteel to a half ronncl. This is done by a side tool fed in a seniicircle. An entire wheel, with its eight distinct machine cuts, is per fectly finished at the cost of labor of l~ cents each, ra.tiug the boy tender requiretl for the work at $1 50 a. da~1 • No. 5. In an ordinary gear-cutter, working on the small bevel gears of machines of the Singer and other types, about forty gears can be cut in a day, bnt with a special gear-cutter having an automatic feed one man can tend two machines, each cutting 150 bevel-gears EL day, or at the rate, per operative, of one gear in two minutes, each gear having about 25 teeth. An illustration is shown (No. 7) of a valuable special form of milling-machine, a donblc spindle machine, for rnilliug the heads of sewing-machine arms, the term "head,; being sometimes applied to the top of the machine, and again in some styles of machine to the fore-end of the arm. This machine does away with 654 SEWING-MAOHINE8. 39 the difficulty of setting or bedding the arm for the second or finishing cut, aml thus gives an exactitude of cut very necessary in tllis part, beside a saving of upward of 25 per cent. in tile labor. The second setting, or bedding, increases liability to inaccuracy. The shuttle-race mi11iug-machine here illustrated (No. 8) is a curious form of two-spindle machine, roughing and finishing. It cuts the curved shuttle-race in the bed, which in the machinery is fastened upon vertical work. plates actuated by sector gears and turning upon pivots. Such a double-head machine, or such a pair of machines as shown, will rough cut and finish 300 shuttle-races in a cfay, requiring but one attendant. In lapping rolls and arbors as done by hand one man reduces from 80 to 100 in a day; bnt as done by special machiner;y, one man reduces 400 a day with much greater precision, the machine occu11ying only about half of his time, leaving the rest for attemlance upon some other work. In surface and round grinding a great deal of effective work is done by the use of solicl emery or corundum wheels. Considerable a No. 6. employed in setting the work in lathes. The number of machines he can tend will then be directly as the time spent by the tool in passing the length of the work. One of tlle most effective arrangements is used in the turning of small sewing-machine arbors. The lathes are arra.ngecl side by side in sets of six, the attendant being at the ends toward the tail-stocks, awl he is thus enabled to l)lace and remove the work for two sets, or for 12 lathes, but has no time for false motions. Such sets of machines are sometimes given the ex1>ressive name of batteries. Machine work of this kind is like t:ype-setting; the amount of work that may be done depends on individual alacrity, and some workmen will hy practice attain a phenomenal efficiency. In turning band-wheels by special machine1·y, one man tending eight automatic-feed machines (having four consecutive operations without resetting the work) is fully equivalent to five men turning with ordinary lathes. In drilling great strides have beeu made, and in many instance.s the efficiency is two, four, or even ten or twelve times as great as by the metl1ods in use in the same work in 1870. Many examples of such sa,ving might be stated, and there is scarcely a factory from which such instances might not be drawn. .A boy tends two machines, each drilling two holes at a time, one-quarter of an inch in diameter and 1~ inches deep. Each drill is statecl to feecl at the rate of over 12- inches a minute, anc.1 the holes tire drilled at the rate of six a minute. Other machines drill three or four holes at a time. In a machine for drilling castors, one boy in attendance, there is a chucking arrangement, the work-holder turning on a vertical vivot and three drills working at a, time, there being a set of three holders on eacl1 side of the ]Jivot. While the holes on one side are being drilled the tender unclamps the holders on the other side, turns a hinge, ancl throws out the castors and chips, and by the time he has 655 40 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. placed the blanks the other three holes are drilled. Thus one boy will drill 2,000 castors a day, it being merely a question of placing bhmks. Other and larger \York is drilled ou chucking arrangements of a similar character. On such a one a treadle-bearing is eonnterbored, and the pitman-pin on the treadle turned, not only at one operation, but tllree or four at one operation. With a drilling and counter-sinking machine for another description of large special work, one man tending two machines does as much \vork as twelve men could do with common drill-pressm,;, or as sixty men could do in drilling by lrnnd with ratchets. The speed of the In the wire-griping ancl feeding chucks the grip is effected by the closing in of jaws by a simple slide movement, and the feed is obtained by a movement of the chuck, or, in some cases, by a simple stop pressing agaiust the back end of the wire rod and actuated by a weight upon the release of th.e grip. Some of the tools in use are illustrated (No. 11). The die-holder (which may be made to hold a tap instead of a die) has a shank revolving in a sleeve, which engages with the holder, by a right- and left-hand chuck, to prevent jar or break in the reversal of the movement. The box-tool is a holder made to receive a number of cutters. Automatic turret-lathes require one man or boy to four or more machines, sometimes as many as eighteen '' for the slower work. The machines for turning out small work require more attendance, but each machine turns out a much greater number, llJJward of 4,000 a day for the simplest and smallest screws·. In some forms of machine the throw and stoppage of the turret are effected by the action of a lever with a pin moving in a cam groove iu a disk. The machine known as the Brattleboro' screw-machine is a peculiarly ingenious but complicated construction which performs all the operations, including slotting the head; but it lacks simplicity, and a higher efficiency can be -obtained by using automatic turret-lathes in combination with separate slotting-machines. Ta.king the run of sewing-machine screws in a large factory, it is found that the slotting-machines averaged nearly 300,000 screws per machine per month, making fifteen or twenty slots a minute. .A lathe attachment for slotting screw-heads is shown in the cut (No. 12). This is fastened to the bed of the lathe and carries the blank, a horizontal movement No. o. of the lever opening the jaws for its insertion, while a dowuwn,rd movement governetl b~' a stop brings the screw-11ead U}l against the mill or saw, wllicll is. placed upon an arbor bet.ween the centers of the lathe. With this an actiye boy can slot from 10,000 to 15,ooo screws in a clay. In machine work on sewing-machines it may be said, in general, that screw-machines average about one attendant to six; milling-machines, one to six; cam-cutters, one to three or more; and engine lathes, one t.o three. Most of the other operations require an attendant to. a machine. In polishing, one man on an average appears to l)Olish the equivalent of the polished parts of :fifteen or twenty machines, althougll the work is of course a1)portionec1 among tho operatives according to the kinds of }Jarts to be polished. Tool-making constitutes a considerable factor in the machine work, sometimes employing 15 or 20 per cent. of all the operatives engaged in machining, this prominence being clue to the requirements of :fine gauging and foterchangeable work, and to the great consumption of tools by rapid working, and because much of it, being job work of a special nature, has Dot shared in the increased efficiency of other work. .. NEEDLE-MA.KING.-.Neeclle-making constitutes a distinct branch of manufacture, and the }Jroduct bears no necessary relation to the product in sewing-machines. Some of the operations in needle-making are: cutting, grinding, tipping the blank, swaging, cutting to length, rough-pointing, tipping, grooving, eye-1mucl1ing, buning, hardening, tempering, polishing, brushing, scouring, and buffing. The machinery used is largely of private designs, ~-- ~ 42 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. of which a detailed description is not permissible; but it is essentially wireworking machinery, involving, perhaps,. no new principles of metal-working, but with features of special adaptatioµ. which have resulte(l from costly experiment and experience. · The steel wire is first straightened, then turned to taper, cut off and passed between two small mills, that groove it; but as the groove does not extend the full length after grooving, the rough needle is in automatic machines.. grasped by a small lever with jaws, withdrawn, and deposited in a tra.y. This gr'ooving is sometimes done in a,. separate machine. The punching of the eye is done with great rapidity, either by a sniall punch press or by a miniature drop. In polishing the needle ancl the needle eye, rolling, burring, and other finishing operations, ingenious contrivances. are used, but the straightening after annealing bas still to be done by hancl-hammer and anvil. The productive efficiency in needle-making has been greatly increased by automatic movements, and by combining mechanism so as to effect a transfer of the J)iece from one operation to the next without resetting by the human hand. In these respects needle-making· has simply kept pace with other wire-working processes) in which such grea.t development. has been made within the past ten or fifteen years. From 6 to 8 per cent. of all the operative, labor on sewing-machines may be considerecl to be employed in needle-making, WOOD-WORKING.-Oase-making for sew-. ing-machines is a manufacture which, it is. most obvious, may be entirely different from and independent of the manufacture of the, · sewing-machine movement; but since it is. embraced among t.he departments of a com plete sewing-machine factory, under one com mon system and management, it is here briefly considered. In sewing-machine work prope1" the value of product per operative is but little more than in the case work, but in the former· the value of material used is about one-fourth, while in the latter it is about two-fifths the value of the protluct. In the former the horse· power required is about one-fourth of oue. horse-power, while in the latter it is upwarll of two-thirds of a horse-power per operative, w and in the crueler operations of woocl-working as much as four or five horse-power per opera tive. .A.bout six times as much power per machine is required for the wood-working as for the other machinery. While in sewing machine work proper ten machine-tenders on tlle average attend seventeen to twenty ma-. chines, in case-making ten machine-tenders on the average attend eleven or twelve ma· chines. In cabruet.shops the machine-tenders are less than half of all the hands. In the 1\o. IO. other departments of sewing-machine work (including the foundery and other non-machine work) the machine-tenders constitute as many as 60 per cent. of' all the hands, aml of the machine-sl10p WOl'k alone a very much larger proportion. Of the machine plant required for case-making nearly 50 per cent. of the whole number of machines are sawing-machines, about 12 per cent. drilling and boring, 10 per cent. molding and carving, 10 per cent. sand-parieriug and polishing, 6 per cent. turning, 6 per cent. planing, and the rest machines for jointing, matching, dovetailing, sticking, ancl so on. l~ut it is obvious that the numbers of many wood-working· machines are increased fol,' convenience of access rather than for anything like continuous use, ancl the output, as a measure of mechanical efficiency, becomes an impracticable consideration, as is the case with many machine tools. One saw-table, with an attendant, might, for example, suffice for doing the saw-table work on a vast number of table-tops of a specitie notable improvements, especially that of the molding ancl dovetailing class, and that used in the shaping of knobs, fancy moldings, and ornaments. In one case, in a nice operation of' molding formerly done hy hand, one man tending a. special machine does a work equal to the hand-work of fifteen men. Between metal- and wood-working machinery there may be stated this prime distinction: In metal-working the man has most frequently to wait for the machine, but in wood-working the operaition is so much more mpid, and the material requires so much more handling, that the machine may he said to wait for the man. In the former case the problem is to devise rapid. or semi-automatic ma chinery which will enable a man to utilize all his · time; in the latter case the problem is to give a higher value to time already fully occupied, which may be best clone by a wholesale manufacture, in whioh each man, by devoting himself to a single kind of work in repetition, insures a great saving of cost as compared with orc1ina1;y mixed cabinet work, a saving often four- or five-fold. .A special machine will, for example, turn knobs faster than a boy can place them. Its highest efficiency is attained when the boy is fully occupied, and its productiveness is then so great as to reduce the cost to a ver;r sma.Il suni compared with other por tions of the work. It will not be profttable to No. 11. introduce expensiYe mechanism for setting lmol>s faster than a boy can do it. 'rhis is citecl to explain the absence of automatic machinery iii wood-working and in many kinds of metal-working. In order to make it iJrofitable to save labor by expensive macliinery there must be a large principal of labor to be saved, and if this labor is already slight, by reason of the expedition of methods in use, tlle subject becomes less interesting to the capitalist than to the ingenious mechanic. The cost of other labor, a.nd of handling, marketing, tariff duties, and so on, becomes so disproportionately larg~ relative to the item of labor to be sa\ed that the saving will not 1:1ecure such a reduction of price as will, by an increased demand for the product, warrant the expenditure. No one who examines the fitting and jointing of a '1)iece of fine wood-work can fail to see the importance of interchangeability in the manufacturing system, although the parts may not be designed to be separated after finishing. Interchangeability saves a great amount of fitting and job work in th~ m!linufacture, and \;y carefnl kiln-drying ancl the filling and finishing of the wood, so as to prevent dessicati~n or reabsorption of moisture with the consequent shrinkage or expansion of the finished wood-work, a high aml en.during degree of interchangeability is attained in the most careful and substantial work. OTHER WORK.-The small working parts of sewing-machines are annealed in oil. Being heated in furnaces, in iron boxes, the boxes are removeq. by suitable tongs f'rom the furnaces, the lids are struck off, and the small pieces are poured into an oil-tank with a sieve-bottom, which can be raised for their removal. In japanning, the legs of the stand are usually dip-japanned, the head being painted with japan of a differenF quality. Dip-japanning saves a great deal of labor, and in some cases, by special methods, it is ~pplied to the finest; work with results unexcelled by brush-work. Until within five or six years. past ornamenting has for the most part been done by skilled labor, some of the operatives attaining great efficiency in the work; but at some factories the work, by a process analogous to stencil work, is done by boys. · The assembling, setting up, and running of machines occupies a man on the .average, with the division of labor~ to from two to four machineaoper day. A girl employed in testing machines by stitching will try upward of twenty machines a day. In the matter of boxing, with the division of labor, one man will make aml pack boxes for as many as twenty machines a day, using about 200 feet of lm:)1ber. For all the work about one foreman to thirty-five operatives and one clerk to fifty operatives ma.y be considered average ratios; Teaming, J)orterage, and common labor occupy a considerable number of men, the common labor being J)artly general and partly divided among the several departments. Such figures as the foregofog are intendecl to convey average ideas of the division .and efficiency of labor in large factories. .As such, they are offered without apology, although for different factories such No. 12. ratios will often vary greatly. For the information embodied in this section of tbe report, the writer is indebted to many parties; but for courtesies extended, especial acknowledgment is due to Hon. Nathaniel Wheeler, of Bridgeport, and Mr. F. A. Platt, of Hartford, Oonnecticut. G59 44 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. ·IV.-THE MANUF AOTURE OF LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY. .A. re]lOrt on the manufacture of locomotives must needs be prefaced by some account of the product, and this may best be defined by briefly recounting the changes in that product from the earliest da;ys until, by years of experience and by changed requirements, there bave been gradually developed the salient features of the present tnJes of .American locomotives. It is nearly ftfty years since locomotive building· was inaugurated, and when fairly beyond the experimental stage more men were requhed in th~ work per locomofrre per annum than are now required. The locomotive of that time cost nearly as much as a standard passenger locomotive of the present day, while the latter is, on the average, tllree or four times as beavy, even more powerful in proportion, and incomparably superior in finish to the former. In 1832 the "Old Ironsides" was built by Mr. M. W. Baldwin. It was modeled after the English "Planet" type, with a stiff wooden frame and inside connections. Up to 1840 most of the Baldwin engines were built with inside connections, as were also the earlier Rogers engines; but outside connections afterward became more generally approved, inside-connected engines having now become practically obsolete. Mr. Tholl\as Rogers was an early advocate of outside connections, and in 1837 :filed in the patent office a specification for counterbalancing, which was not in general use until some years later, and eYen then was considered less essential to tlle inside- than to the outside-connected engines. In 1839, irr Mr. Baldwin's practice, the outside frame was abandoned, and the machinery, truck, and i}edestals of the driving-axles were attached directly to the boiler. From that time the wood parts of the frame were gradually displaced by iron. About 1837 equalizing beams were used on the Eastwick and Harrison engines, some metllod of equalizing being necessary to distribute the weight upon the t110 pairs of drivers then introduced. In 1841 Mr. Baldwin built some engines for freigllt traffic with the drivers geared, lmt in 1842 his six-wheel connected engine met with more general favor. In this the four forward wheels had inside journals running in boxes held by wide and deep wrought-iron beams, one on each side and disconnected, the engine frame on each side having a spherical pin bearing in a socket midway between the axles of the frame. The cylindrical boxes usecl could also turn in the pedestals, and the connecting-rocls hacl ball-and-socket joints, with play enough to enable the engine to pass short curves. The driving-wheels of "Old Ironsides" llacl cast-iron hubs, wooden spokes, and wrought-iron tires, aucl the driving-axle was placed in front of the fire-box. The ''half-crank" for inside-connected engines was patented by Mr. Baldwin in 1834. The" E. L. Miller" (1834) hacl driving-wheels of solid bell-metal, which soon wore out, but later driving-wheels were built with hubs and spokes in a single iron castfo.g, and wood follies, breakiug joint in tllicknesses, and bound with wrought-iron tires, secured b:y bolts. In 1834 l\fr. Baldwin built his engines with tlle driving-axle back of the fire-box, and Mr. Norris built engines with drivers in front. The latter plan gave the greater adhesion, and the former the longer wheel-base. To obtain the nec,pssary adhesion, Mr. Baldwin bad recourse to the Miller patent for throwing part of the weight of the tender upon the driving-wheels of the engine. It was at this time considered impracticable to cast a chilled car- or truck-wheel in one solid piece, ancl the hubs were cast in three i}ieces and banded together with wrought-iron, the interstices being :fille(l with lead or spelter. Tlle "Brandywine", Baldwin's eighteenth engine (1835), had brass tires, to give more adllesion, but they soon wore out. Mr. Rogers began the manufacture of wrought-iron tires in 1834, but in 1838 S. Vail & Co., Morristown, New Jersey, are s~icl to have been the only .American manufacturers of tires, whicll were t:P.en m~icle only 1-2- inches thick. In 1838 Mr. Balclwin began using chilled wheels for trncks, the trnck-wheels having in·eviously been made with tires; and in 183G Mr. H. R. Campbell patented an eight-wheel engine with two pairs of driving-axles, one before ancl one behind the fire-box. This combined the i)Ians of Messrs. Nords and Baldwin, and, with the addition of equalizing sp1·ings, was substantially of the same type as the standard .American locomotive of to-day. The last half-crank engine was built at the Balclwin works in 1849. Steel axles were tried as an experiment about this time, and chilled tires for drivers began to be used a few years later. The use of steel tires shrunk upon the wheel centers was not begun until afte1; 1860. These tires were then imported. In 1863 the Rogers works built their first engine of the "Mogul" type (three pairs of drivers with a pony truck), and the first engine of the "Consolidation" type (four pairs of drivers with a pony truck) was built by the Baldwin works in 1866. Iu these large freight locomotives some of the 660 LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY. 45 many drivers are made without :flanges, to facilitate the turning of curves. In 1870 the practice of shrinking on steel tires, without the use of bolts or rivets, was begun at the Baldwin works in building some locomotives for the Kansas Pacific railroad. In 1868 the introduction of narrow-gauge roads began to create a demand for suitable locomotives. Some of these narrow-gauge locomotives have been built of a weight of not less than 25 net tons, and within the past tlecade the manufacture of steam and compressed-air street cars ancl motors has been fairly inaugura.ted. The use of four-wheeled swiveling-trucks was one of the fea.tures which characterized the early American as distinguished from the English locomotives; but one of the most notable improvements of .American practice was in the invention by Mr. Baldwin of ground steam-joints, insteacl of joints made with canvas and reel lead, then the · English practice. With this change the steam pressure employed was raised from 60 to 120 pounds. "Old Ironsides" had a loose eccentric for each cylinder. These loose eccentrics were reversed by a pin in a stop on the axle working in a half-circular slot. This was ch:mgecl to a fixed eccentric for each cylinder, with rods extending from the eccentric straps to the arms of a rock-shnift beneath the foot-board of the engine, the 1·eversal being effected by shifting the connection between the rods and the rock-shaft arms. In these early engines fixed eccentrics were commonly used, but Seth Boyden's "Essex" (1838) had Yalves workecl without eccentrics, moving by levers from the cross-heads, each cross-hea.cl communicating· motion to the valve of the opposite cylinder. In 1838 Mr. Baldwin adopted the use of double eccentrics, each terminated by a, straight hook and reversed by a lever. He used, under specifica.tion, a form of link motion in 1840, an cl in J 842 a link motion similar to that used by Stephenson. (The link motion had been used by William T. James, of New York, in 1832.) In 1845 :Thfr. Baldwin adopted the half-stroke cut-off, in which there were two slides operated by separate eccentrics, the cut-off eccentrics being set at half-stroke. The same year Mr. Rogers began using independent cut-off valves, · operated by various combinations of links ancl V-hooks, and in 1850 he introduced the present form of shifting link. Meanwhile Mr. Baldwin continued experimenting, introducing several forms of variable cut-off, one of which had a wrapping connection 011 a quadra:ut ancl curved link, for varying the position of the block. He then used the "Cuyahoga" cnt-off, with lever and shifting link. Finally, in 1857, after putting 011 a number of them, under specification, he adopted the present form of link motion. The" Old Ironsides" had a D-shaped. smoke-box with sides concaved, to make room for the cylinder. The boiler was 30 inches in diameter, with 72 one and one-half inch copper tubes 7 feet long. The" Sandusky" (Rogers, 1837) had a bonnet smoke-stack with deflecting cone. Most of the early engines had high domes over the fire-boxes. In 1835 l\1r. Baldwin commenced the practice of driving copper ferrules on the outside of the copper tubes, to make a tight • joint with the tube-sheet, instead of, as before, driving the ferrule or thimble inside the tube. At present, with iron tubes and copper ferrules, the encl is swagecl clown, the copper ferrule brazed on, and the iron projecting encl turned or riveted over against the ferrule and tube-sheet. For copper tubes wrought.iron thimbles had also been used. These were found liable to leak, but about 1850 this. defect was obviated by the use of cast-iron thimbles, a device of Mr. W. S. HudsoU': In 1844 iron flues or tubes were first used in the Baldwin engines. Morris, Tasker & Co. had made lap-welded tubes in 1838, and butt-welded tubes prior to that year; and Ross Winans had also made iron tubes by haml for his locomotives. Experiment showed no appreciable advantage in copper over iron tubes. Mr. Rogers first used expansion plates to iwovide for the lengthening of the boiler under steam, and about 1850 the wagon-top was substituted for the dome boiler. Prior to this time there had been many experiments, with the view of blll'ning anthracite coal, and in 1854 deflectors in the fire-box began to be used, sheet-iron, water-leg, a,ncl :fire-brick deflectors being tried. Iu 1856 there were built at the Baldwin works for the Pennsylvania railroad. locomotives luwing straight boilers with two domes, and in 1859 locomotives having "Dimpfel" water-tube boilers were built for the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad. Fire-boxes of low steel began to be built in 1861, and had come into very general use by 1866; and in 1868 all-steel boilers (fire-boxes, barr~ls, and tubes) were built for the Pennsylvania railroad. In present practice both stra.ight ancl wagon-top boilers are built. In 1876 steel boilers, with corrugated sides, were built at the Baldwin works for the Central railroad of New Jersey. The "Old Ironsides" had 91! by 18 inch cylinders, tbe "Sandusky" 11by16 inch cylinclers; in 1840 the largest Balclwin pattern had 12:\! by 16 inch cylinders. The "Gov. Paine'', a fast passenger engine (1849), had 17l; by 20 inch cylinders, and in 1852 a freight locomotive, weighing 56,000 pcmnds, had 18 by 22 inch cylinders. The first "Consolidation" engine (18GG) had 20 by 24 inch cylinders, and the '~Uncle Dick''. (1878) had 20 by 26 inch cylinders. The cylinders of the ea.rly engines were generally inclined, but by 1865 horizontal cylinders hacl become tbe rule. Mr. Baldwin was the first American builder to use an outside cylinder, which was made with a circular flange, boltecl to the boiler. In 1852, on some engines for the Mine Hill railroad, these flanges were brought around, nearly meeting, with only a spark-box between, and later each cylinder and half saddle was cast in one piece, and the sacldles set face to face, and when horizontal cylinders came into general use the rights and lefts were made interchangeable. The early engines had neither cabs nor sand-boxes. Oabs were first used in New England, and the :first Baldwin engines provided with sancl-boxes were built in 1846. "Olcl Ironsides" was estima.ted. to dra.w 30 tons gross 40 miles au hour on a level. Iu 1838 Mr. Baldwin believed that an engine weighing 26,000 pounds, loaded, and with 12~ by 16 inch cylinders, was as heavy as would ever he 661 46 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. called for; but the requirements of heavy freight aud passenger service demanded, for economy no less than for convenience, larger and stronger engines, the heaviest ever built at the Baldwin works ("Uncle Dick", 1878) weighing, with water in the tank, 1151000 pounds. In 1849, at the Baldwin works, there were built a number of fast passenger engines of the type of the "Gov. Paine" (Vermont Central railroad), which could start from rest and rnn a mile in 43 seconds; but these engines lacked sufficient adhesion. Within the past few years some attention has been given to the manufacture of fast passenger locomotives, a number having been built which, with light trains, will run 60 miles or more an hour. Of these, a locomotive for the Bound Brook line has a single pair of 6z-foot drivers ancl a patented arrangement for varying the distribution of the weight between the drivers antl a pair of trailing-wheels . .At the Brooks locomotive works the average weight of locomotives built in 1809 was 28 tons for passenger all(l 30 tons for freight engines; but the average is now 35 tons for passenger and 42 tons for freight engines, showing · a rapid increase in weight, and it is believed by many that 50-ton consoliuation engines will soon become the prevailing type ancl size for .American freight service. Examples of the performance of engines might be given at great length a11d in great variety. For the Baldwin engines the loads are calculated on the basis of the utilization for adhesion of fully one-fonrth the weight on the driving-wheels. .A standard ".American type" passenger locomotive, with 35,000 pounds on the driving-wheels, will pull l,000 tons gross on a level, and on 1, 2, an cl 3 per cent. grades will pull 259-, 12g., and 7k per cent. of that loacl :respectively; a consolidation engine, with 94,000 pounds on the driving-wheels, will pull 2,740 tons gross on a level, and on 1, 2, and 3 J:ler cent. grades will pull26!, 139-, and8 per cent. of that loa,d respectively. In some heavy freight- and switching-engines the entire load is upon the driving-wheels, consolidation locomotives having usually 85 to 88 per cent., Moguls 80 to 85 per cent., standard .American passenger locomotives 60 to 70 per cent., "double enders" about 50 J?er cent., and fast passenger locomotives as little as 35 to 40 per cent. of their total weight upon the driving-wheels. The endurance of an engine in service is very great, but the necessary repairs will average from lk to 6 or 7 cents per mile, according to service. Steel tires last six or seven years before wearing out. In the tmnsitional stage of locomotive building, engines capable of much longer service were not infrequently broken up, laid aside, or made over on account of the introduction of improvements in design. .At present the high quaility of material and of wo1'kmanship promises a degree of enduranceJVhich will require many years to ascertain, and the uniformity of parts cannot fail to lessen the cost of repairs. It must, however, be remembered that the service required of a locomotive is much heavier aml more ex?icting than it was ten years ago, cars often being loaded twice as heavily, and the weight of trains actually drawn averaging nearly twice as heavy for the same size of locomotive. The present .American locomotive may be fairly considered an .established criterion of excellence. It is • characterized by accuracy and beauty of workmanship and strength, combined with flexibility and adaptability to many clifficult conditions of service-an adaptability which bas given itthe precedence where such conditions haye to be met. .Although the great demands of railroad traffic ancl tl'avel in this country have absorbed the greater part of the product, .American locomotives have been supplied to foreign countries using railroads in such numbers as to make them an im1Jortant factor in the extension of facilities of travel and communication abroad. The manufacture of locomotives in locomotive-works is so far based upon the use of costly and partly-:finishecl materials that the additional labor and expense involve less than half the value of the final 11roduct. The iron and steel plates, steel tires, sheet-brass and iron, copper pipe, smoke- and feed-pipes, chilled wheels, bolts, rivets, hardware, :fittings; boiler-tubes, fines, and other materials are in themselves costly products, and some of the forgings and the steel and iron castings are often produced for the work by separate establishmenlis having spechtl facilities. On the whole, the raw material, properly speaking, has its value more than trebled before it is brought into the locomotive-works as material for the manufacture. In comparing the manufacture of locomotives with tbe manufacture of small engines or of sewing-ma.chines, where the value of material in locomotiye manufacture is doubled, in that of small engines it is nearly trebled, and in sewing-machines quadrupled; but in locomotive building the same increment of acldecl value requires the employment of a considerably greater number of artisans (at similar ra.tes of wages) than are employed in the manufacture of smii.11 engines; principally because the prices of locomotives are ruled by the wholesale purchases of la,rge railroad corporations, while the prices of small engines and machinery are ruled to a great degree by small buyers makil1g single purchases. In short, in the manufacture of locomotives, the cost of putting the product upon the market is reduced to a minimum, and of the same added value given in the manufactur13 and marketings about 50 per cent. additional goes for the employment of artisans in locomotive building, as compared with the general manufacture of steam-engines. The composition by weight of the various crude and :finished materials in a locomotive and tender weighing about 45 tons (net) may be stated as follows: .About 32 per cent. pig-iron, 18 per cent. bar-. and Immmerecl iron, 9 per cent. boiler-iron and steel (about one-fifth of which is for the :fire-box), 8z per cent. steel tires, slides, springs, and the like, 7 per cent. wheels, 7 per cent. wood for cab, tender, and lagging, 5 per cent. axles and connecting-rods, 4 per cent. flues, 39- per· cent. tank-iron, 2 per cent. lead, tin, copper, smoke-pipe, glass, hard ware, and fittings, lk per cent. bolts and rivets, lk per cent. cast- and sheet-brass, and 1 per cent. sheet-iron. The market value of a locomotive in 1880 was less than three-fourths as great as it was in 1870, the descent in value being very gradual, with the exception of a very notable rise in 1873 and a slighter a)1preciation in valne after 1879. 662 . LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY. 47 "These fluctuations have mainly followed the general shrinkage of money values and the fluctuations in the cost of material, influences great enough to conceal any evidences of improvement in the methods of manufacture such as might here be looked for .. Nevertheless, there has been a very general advance in the details of system and machinery, which is confirmed in aggregate results of the capability of a given number of men to perform a given work. Locomotive-works have each their individual status, some having had less room for im1wovement at the beginning of the dem1de. Although interchangeability of parts is coming to be so general in ~lmost every line of inachinery, the system of gauging may still lack thoroughness, partly requiring measuring-rods aucl adjustable calipers till a well-m::tintained system of standard gauges is seemed. The character of such standard gauges is very well .shown in some illustrations here adduced from the practice of the Grant locomotive works, of Paterson, New Jersey. 'There is shown (No. 1) a locomotive frame, with pedestals and i:ittings ancl a number of the gauges, the most Ko. 1. noticeable of which is a long gauge with hardened bearings for drilling. In the second illustration (No. 2), showing eccentrics, eccentric straps and gauges, there is on the right a jig-frame, which is of the nature of a gauge, being a frame designed to hold a machine part while certain exact operations are performed upon it. In planing, the 1\o. 2. hardened templates used are of the sections of the forms to be plauecl, and limit the operation. In turning, collars and rigid calipers are commouly used. Now, while by such devices there is secured a practical uniformity in all the proper machine parts of a locomotive of the same class and make, ;yet, if there was not such a multiplicity of standards or different designs of locomotive, the advantages of the syste.m would be much greater. As nearly every leading railroacl and nearly every locomotive establishment has its special designs, the system is largely impaired, not through any lack of standard sizes or accuracy of worknrnnship, but because standard is 011posed to standard, and the expense of changing designs is an obstacle to uniform standards. Thus it is the uniform system that stamls in the way of its own advancement. If the locomotives of a great railroad were built without reference to any close degree of uniformity, it would. be comparatively easy to gradually effect the introduction of any uniform system; but if, as is the case, that railroad already has great numbers of locomotives of a SJ)ecifiecl design and standard, the effort to bring its standard into conformity with that of any other road or of imy locomotive-works meets at .once another standard and a standing obstacle. On a great railroad the slightest changes in equipment are usually ·.the subject of careful and conservative thought, because a small innovation, running through tile whole equipment, becomes a serious matter of exi1ense. But when we consider how large a proportion of the whole railroad service is engaged in the work of railroad 1'epair-shops the importance of a uniform system of standard locomotives becomes sufficiently obvious. On this .subject I quote the following from the circular of the Baldwin locomotive works: By its means the expense of maintenance and repairs can be reduced to a minimum. A limited stock of duplioa.te parts, either •On1erecl with the locomotive or at any time thereafter, can be kept on hand by the purchaser and drawn from to re:vlace any worn-out or broken part when i·equired. Repairs can thus bo rnaclo in the shortest possible time, and the use of the loconwtive lost for only a few :hours or clays, or not at all. The first cost of cluplicates will be muoh less thau the cost of manufacture in the sho1) of the rnilroacl .company; in many cases it will bo less than the cost of carryiuo- the stock of ra.w ri:utterial necessary for the pur11ose; while if the line :is equippell with a limited unmber of classes of standard iuterchan~eable locomotives, the quantity of du111icates necessarily carried in stock ·will be small and c01uparativelyinco11siderable in the amount of oa1}ital representec1. Much of t.11e ordinary ontllLy for shops, runchiuery, ·drawings, and patt.erns can be savecl, ancl the necessity of maintaining for the purpose of repairs a large forc_e of skilled workmen at a .constant expense may be in grent measure obviated. 663 48 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. Without uniformity of parts repairs of locomotives, like any other species of tinkering, are costly out of proportion to the original expense of manufacture. As the requirements of a railroad in the matter of repairs vary greatly from time to time, the surplus force of skilled workmen, which must be maintained to meet contingencies, is usually employed in the building of locomotives, many repair-shops turning out a few locomotives per month or per year. But while the advantages of the uniform system might be of still greater avail in the economy of railroad management in the manufacture of locomotives, this system has within the past twenty years wrought a great change, improving the procluct both in quantity ancl in quality, securing a more economical division of labor, putting the more skilled work into the hands of fewer men, and preserving administrative conditions of order ancl simplicity. The advantages derivecl may not appear great in descriptive c1etail, but they u,re by no means small in the aggregate. It may be said of machine work in general that the following were some of the evils to which the okl methods of working were strongly liable: The lack of uniformity began in the drawing-room. The drawings• were of various shapes, sizes, ancl scales, u,ncl when sent to the blacksmith-shop would often become so singed aml discolored that new ones hacl to be made. In the machine-shop the machinist would need to be skillful in interpreting· 'I the drawings, and when in doubt as to the meaning of lines or figures intendecl for other parts of the work, or as to cliscrepancies between figures ancl scale, he would need to consult the foreman or the draughtsma.n. No two men will measure exactly alike with a graduated rule or an adjustable pair of calipers capable of being sprung, aml when these are nsed slight discrepancies will occur. And so when it came to the erection of the work, filing aucl ·:fitting and making over, and perhaps conferences of the various fallible parties to apportion the blame for mistakes, Ii were not unusual. Old castings and materials were often left lying about the shops, to the inconvenience of sldllecl workmen, and the whole work was carriecl on with trial and fitting ancl the apprehension of occasional mistakes. In contrast is presented the following outline of the system pursued at the Baldwin locomotive works, where the interchangeable system was introduced about 1860. Standard office clrawing·s to a uniform scale, with all parts :fignrecl, are first made of any new design proposed to be manufactured. Small sketch drawings, mounted on pasteboarcl and shellacked, are furnished to the pattern.makers for castings, to the machinists for each finishecl part, and to the erecting shops to show the relative positions of parts only. These cardboarcl sketches are on uniform slleets, and are carefully numbered and recorded, with all necessary reference to the engine to which they refer, in a considerable system of book-keeping. They are given out as tlle work demands, and are reqnirecl to be promptly retnrnecl to the accountant on its completion. But the drawings for the blacksmitll shop are so liable to become destroyecl that, with a view to this, they are made on tracing material, aml the record is preserved in the original of the tmcing. Each sketch, before being given out, is examined and verified by three men, the measnrements which concern the work of each class, aml these only, being figured on the sketch, which is not generally drawn to scale. The gauges are made in a gauge-tool shop, which constitutes a separate clepartment. From this shop the gauges are furnished as drawings are furnished from the draughting room, and to it they are returned for comparison with standards. The calipers, rods, and templets made for the work in the gauge-tool shop are the only standards of measurement allowed in the machine-shops, no gradnatecl rules or scale§ being used. Most of the machinists have only to work to the templets given them, and cannot possibly misunderstancl or make errors. All the bolts, :fittings, and small parts for a particular engine are kept in a separate cupboard, in readiness for assembling, and are interchangeable for the same class of engines. It is the· duty of one class of laborers to remove to their proper places all refuse l)ieces of material which may be left abot1t on the floors of the shops, ancl to keep all material stowed away with economy of space. In short, the whole system,. is so ordered that each m~n has a simple work to do, in which he is unfettered and unhampered, and in which it is scarcely possible for hill1 to err. No mistakes are made, nor is time or material wasted. These considerations. are so ·rnlnable that in lai·ge works· the saving in such a system, displacing less thorough and orderly methods, may be ratecl in the labor of hundreds of men. At the Baldwin locomotive works a,11 parts of the locomotive. are made interchangeable,· except the :fitting strips for the boilers. It was formerly regardecl impracticable to make check-pipes and vrLlves interchange, on account of the variation in tlle length of the boiler; but they are now made interchangeable by starting measurements 11niformly from one end of the boiler. Valve-gears are made interchangeable to the setting of the valve. The eccentric straps are drilled to'templet, and the work would generally interchange, bnt as a precaution the eccentric is drilled with the strap :fitted. The fra,mes are planed ancl slotted to ga,uges aucl drilled to. steel-bushecl ternplets; the cylinders are bored and planed to gauges; the steam-ports, val yes, ancl chests are· finished and fitted to gauges; and the tires are bored to gauges. The centers are turned, and the axles are :finishetl to gauges; every bolt is made to gauge, every hole is drilled and reamed to templet, and the cross-heads, guides,. guide-hearers, pistons, connecting-reds, and parallel rods are :finished in a similar manner. At the Grant works the ports in the valve-seat are milled to size by a cutter from a gu,uge which is boltecl upon the valve-seat. This cutter works in a block, which slides in slots in the gauge corresponding to the ports. The guide-blocks also are faced off in a special chuck (which receives a full set) to an exact thickness. Some parts of the work are :finished by jig-filing to hardened templets. 061 LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD lVIAOHINERY. In respect to capital .required, it will be found in general, although with the exceptions to which this item is specially liable, that if the number of operatives be taken as a basis of comparison the capital reported will range somewhat less for locomotive building than for the wholesale manufacture of certain classes of smaller mechanism, such as sewing-machines, fire-arms, ancl small steam-engines. The capital required iu a manufacturing business may be classified into that necessary for carrying stocks of material ancl finished goods, for the cost of real-estate· i1lant and of machine plant and power and the floating capital necessary to cover the conditions of trade, and the payments for labor and expenses until the avails are realized. In locomotive building the cost of carrying material is a large item, but in point of fact, as far as the mere weight is concerned, a single operative will on the average turn out nearly as many thousand pounds product in a large sewing-machine factory as in the locomotive-works,·ancl although the material is more costly in the latter case no finished stock has to be carried. As to machine plant, the power per operative will not average much greater for the locomotive-works than for· a sewing-machine factory (perhaps one-thircl horse-power per operative in one case and one-fourth horse-power per operative in the other). The estimated value of machinery per operative is often greater in sewing-machine than. in locomotive work. As to real estate, where a given acreage suffices for the turning out of a given weight of: locomotives, the same acreage is found to be utilized by the larger sewing-machine factories in turning out a less weig·ht of sewing-machines, aml in some instances a less value and less than half the weight for the same area of: ~~~ . And, :finally, in the marketing of goods, the maintenance of agencies and city offices, and the contingencies of. trade, the manufactures of smaller mechanism often require a capital which pfaces the aggregate beyond the· requirement for locomotive building. Taking as an approximate unit of compaJ:>ison a stanclarcl eight-wheelecl engine of the American type, with temler, the engine weighing about 30 tons net, and being worth in 1880 about $8,000, we may estimate for the· various functions of locomotive manufacture under the usual range of work that to make 100 locomotives per: annum will, on the average, require about six (generally between five and seven) men per locomotive, and that about 28 per cent. of the operatives will be occupied in erecting (including some :fitting, :finishing, wood-working,. cab-making ancl common labor, but not including boiler-shop work), about 17 per cent. in the foum1ery (including the laborers, who will comititnte a lar~fe proportion), about 22 per cent. in the machining (including machine-tool work in the erecting-shop, but not tlle machining of boilers), about 10 per cent. in the forging (exclusive of boiler work), about 14 per cent. in boiler and tank making, and about 9 per cent. in clerking, teaming, and general anu unspecified service. It should be saicl, however, that these proportions vary greatly from the different ranges of work and conditions embraced in the manufacture, and that it is not easy to draw a definite line between some of' the cle1)artments, nor to eliminate the uncertain factor of common labor. Increaeed efficiency appears to resnl t more· from improved general system than from devices of mechanism, the gain in erecting and some other branches of' the work being so great in some cases as to leave the machining a greater percentage than before. But the sa.viug. in labor in some actual cases has been from one-fifth to one-third, as evidenced by Yarious methods of comparison .. The number of locomotives prodncecl per annum per acre of plant is found to range from 20 to as high as 50,, ancl three or four operatives (all included) may be estimated per piece of power machinery and about one horse;· power per power machine, about two-fifths of the power being for steam-hammers. FoUNDERY WORK.-In heavy foundery work there has been no such notable improvement as in the castiu g of: light hardware. In locomotive-works comparisons between the same foundery in 1870 and in 1880 are not always: tignifi.cant, since steel and other castings may be manufacturecl at separate establishments, and whlle the output. in locomotives is increased the founclery may not be proportionately enlarged. Cast-steel, which is usually made by· separate concerns, is coming into more extended use, displacing cast-iron, on the one hand, on account of its threefold..~ greater strength, and displacing difficult wrought-iron forgings on the other, on account of its less expense ... Oross-heads, rocker-arms, wrist-pins, links, and blocks are very commonly macle of cast-steel and purchasecl as material for the work in the form of manufactured castings, not costing half as much as forgings for the same· parts, and being so much closer to size that there is also an economy in the machining. Steel castings for these- 1)l1rposes range at about 10 cents per pound. Within the :past few years steel cross-heacls have very generally displaced cast-iron cross-heads. Springs are of cast-steel. Tires were formerly macle of wrought-iron, turned aml welded; but cast-steel tires are now usec1, being first cast, then punched an cl hammered under the steam-hammer,. then hammered upon the beak of an anvil to bring them to size for rolling, three rolls being employed, tlle central and largest one carrying the tire, while the others roll upon it. The achance in the nse of cast-steel, it may be here observed, bas been common to many manufactures. In 1831 it displacecl double shear-steel for sworcl blades (in the practice of the A.mes Company), and over ten years later began to be used in the manufacture of fire-arms, in which it has now displaced wrought-iron to a great extent. In agricultural implements (notably in plows, in which it was used at an early elate) and in machine })arts its use llas been continually advanced, and since 1860 it has hacl a steady growth in locomotive building, as in other manufacturing. In some cases the foundery facilities of locomotive-works are partly applied in making heavy castings for turn-tables ancl other work, so that the weight of lnmp coal and pig-iron (with clue allowance for wastage) appears 665 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. in excess of the weights that would be required in the castings of the locomotives turned out. For a standard passenger locomotive the weight of iron castings may be reckoned at a little over a third of the total weight, or, to give it roundly, for a 30-ton locomotive the weight is 11 tons net, of which a large proportion is in the wheels and the two cylinders and half-saddles, the balance being made up in the weight of eccentrics and straps, mud-hole }_)h1tes, smoke-box front, dome and sand-box bases and t.o11s, smoke-stack base, 11edesta1 wedges, saddles and seats for springs and trucks, glands, steam-chests and covers, piston-heads and followers, shaft stands and brackets, axle ·collars, boxes, counterbalance weights, dry pipes, T-pipes in smoke-box, slide- and throttle-valves, coupling castings, mud-rings, grates, roof-ribs mid furnace castings, and sonietimes pumps, cross-heads, and other parts. The average weight of' metal cast per clay in locomotive founcleries is observed to be about 75 pounds per operative per day, .. which would require 11bout 100 men to make the castings for 100 locomotives per annum. Oylinder iron is sometimes specifiecl as Lake Superior charcoal. Grades of .American iron from native ore furnish castings of great excellence ~or various purposes. Cylinder iron is bard, being commonly of a, mixture of the grades known as No. 2 and mottled, No. 3 being the hardest grade usually run out of the furnaces, which will sometimes run one grade of iron aml sometimes another. The pig-iron is sorted to :l.nsure the fl.owing of the desired grade from the foundcry cupola. FoRGING.-Of the wrouglit-iron used in locomotives, the heavier parts, such as the frames, axles, and connecting and riiston rods, are commonly of hammered iron, the lighter parts, such as truck-frames, roof ribs, bolts, and rock-shafts, being made of' bar-iron. But of the aggregate weight o{ wrought-iron, exclusive of lJlates, sheets, bolts, rivets, and tubes, the greater part is of' bar-iron. In the early 11istory of klComotive manufacture a. blacksmith was not able to welcl a piece of iron upward of 2"2- inches in diameter, but since that time there has been a great growth in the facilities for forging. Some parts of locomotives are, as staple goods, largely merchantable in a more or less finished form, and improved facilities may sometimes not only effect~ greater division of labor among the men of a factory, but in a 'Wider commercial sense among parties and companies. This, however, for locomotive 1Juilding, should not be overstated, as the great body of the work remains intact, and any diminution of work which may result from such causes is more than compensated for by the greater requirements of' finish and workmanship. Each manufanturei· is disposed to make all the parts of' his machine, where a specially large investment is not required. If, for example, locomotive-works were capable of consuming the entire product of a rolling-mill, jt might profitably be established as a department of the works; but since such an. establishment would generally involve the general manufacture of boiler-plate and sheet- and merchant-iron, it is left in separate hands. The manufacture of cold-rolled iron, which illustrates this point, deserves some mention in this connection. The superiority of this material as compared with ordinary turned and machined wrought-iron is sufficiently established by a series of tests made by Messrs. "Whipple, Fairbairn and Wade, and more fully by Professor Thurston, showing it to be from 25 to 40 per cent. more tenacious, 50 to 80 per cent. stronger in ultimate resistance under transverse stress, 80 to 125 per cent. stronger iu 1·esistance to permanent set, whether of' twisting, tension, or bending, and much more capable of enduring shocks, and more uniform in strength ancl density. While the introduction of steel, cold-rolled iron, and other improved materials is, so far as these materials are made by outside parties in partly-finished form, a guarantee of the better quality and endurance of locomotive work, the manufactory is obviously relieved of this portion of its duty. The use of cold· rolled iron saves some forging, and even lessens the work of machining, as it may be more easily worked than hot-rolled iron, and for round section and other forms of bar may be rolled exactly to gauge, requiring little further · 1)reparation. Itis now made as large as 4~ inches round, and is applied for a few locomotive parts, sucl! as gnide bars and pump- and piston-rods. · • While in the special manufacture of large forging·s, such as axles, upward of 400 pounds of forging·s are sometirµes turned out per operative per clay, in the forging-shops of locomotive-works the forgings, large aml sm~ll, will average about 80 or 90 pounds per operative, and there are about two-thirds as many fires as blacksmiths. Snch forgings as axles, rods, and shafts, which, from their regularity of form, can Q.e easily hammered or rolled, are made chea1ier than steel castings. Blacksmithing, on the whole, involves more skilled labor than any other department of the work. The weight of .steam-hammers in active use ranges near 145 ponnds per operative in the blacksmith-shop for a number of works, 10 or 12 horse-power being required per ton of hammers, and about 24 tons of soft coal, for blacksmithing and boiler-making, are required per locomotive produced. Such statements as these may serve to convey tolerably ·correct icleas, but the conditions are so diverse in all this class of' work that it is difficult to find any fact or ratio which can be stated as the invariable rule. Of two locomotive-works of almost the same capacity, one may, for exam11le, be equipped with much heavier hammers than the other, and, so far as can be estimated, may, from the character and condition of its machinery, consume a very different amount of power. BOILER AND TANK WORK.-In boiler and tank making about 00 pounds of material, boiler- and fnrnace-plate, tank-iron, tubes, bolts, and rivets, will be handled per operative per day. The barrel of the boiler is usually specified to be of the best cold-blast charcoal-iron, although sometimes it is of flange.iron or of steel. English locomotives are generally built with fire-boxes of copper, which., although more costly, is considered by .American builders as inferior to a proper steel. Steel fire-boxes began to come into general use ten or twelve years ago. 666 LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY. 51 Formerly either copper or laminated iron (made by rolling three plates together) was used. Such iron had a sufficient tensile strength, and was used in wood-burning locomotives, but would not suffice for the fire-boxes of coal-burning locomotives, on account of the imperfect welding, unequal expansion, and the strain between the plates. This was in some degree remedied by hammering the iron before rolling, but steel was found to answer the purpose better. Crucible steel was first used, afterward Siemens-Martin steel. The foreign steel was found to work less satisfactorily than the .American, being of too lligh a grade and containing too much carbon (abot1t one-fourth of 1 :per cent.); but the .American manufacturers began to produce a low steel, containing from one-sixth to one-tenth of 1 per cent. of earl.Jon, and sometimes called llomogeneous iron, which, on account of its uniformity and excellence of quality, w No. 6. improvecl machinery and system, and the introduction of improvecl machinery has been a source of increased productive efficiency. The power required will usually average about three-fourths of one horse-power per power machine, exclusive of steam-hammers. In the planer, of which an illustration is presented (No. 8), three or four tools operate simultaneously, and in some instances, in actual practice, three times as much is done as can be done with an ordinary single-tool planer. A machine more specially characteristic of locomotive work is the locomotive frame slotting-machine, shown in the illustration (No. 9), and which may be seen at any of the large locomotive-works. This standard machine has two opposite heads and saddles traversing n 24 to 36 foot bed. The maximum stroke is lG~ inches, and each head umy be independently driven with two speeds, the movement of the saddles upon the bed being independent of foe driving and feeding. The longitudinal a,nd cross feeds are independent and variable, and the cross-slit1e can be set at a sufficient angle for slotting the inclinecl edges of ja,ws and pedestal.s. The saddle has a elem· ai·e~• of 34rr inches across by 17 inches vertical1y, so that two frames may be piled together and slotted at one operation. No. 7. In slotting locomotive frames the advantage in the use of this machine is at least four to one, as compared with the use of ordinary slotting-machines. One of these machines has a capacity of one pair of frames for an engine, class 8 to 30 D (Baldwin's locomotive works' designation for an eight-wheel, 18-inch cylinder engine, witll six clriving wheels, "Mogul" type), in twenty-one hours, ancl for an engine of class 8 to 30 0 ("American" t.ype) in :fifteen hours. In general, it may be said that locomotive frames are more solidly built than formerly, although the front end of the frame is commonly made fast to the pedestals by bolts, so as to facilitate taldng apart for repairs. The frames are :first planedto templets in horizontal planers, and are then slotted. · As locomotive building antedates the introduction of power planers into this country, the plane work on the earliest locomotives had to be done by chipping nncl filing, hand-planing, and slabbing. Probably the earliest . 669 54 ·MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. · power planer built in the United States was in the fall of 1839, at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where it is still doing good service at the shops of Messrs. Silver & Gay. This great tool was justly considered :a wonder of the time, planing 22 feet long, 3.g. feet wide, and 3k feet high, and was used in making machinery for the Concord railroad shops and for the shops of the Erie railroad at Dunkirk. The slides were ·set upon stone blocks facecl with iron plate, there being one V-ridge and one plane-slide, as it was then out of the question to make two V-guides true enough No. 8. to work together. The V-guide was itself planed by the use of a temporary wooden carriage. The upright slides were chipped anc1 filed, and as it was im1Jracticable to make both sides parallel one pair of slides was brought to a true plane, while the variations in the other were compensated by heavy semi-elliptic springs upon the vertical carriage, which springs yielded to the inequalities as they slid over the less even slides. There was a heavy cliain feed, the links being of wrought-iron, with 8teel studs. The belt shipper was operated by a clog, acting through a long connecting rod and levers. On the reversal of the chain movement, the end arbors, on which the chain was I No. fl. carried, began to move in the opposite direction, which movement was shared by a halved arm, bolted upon one of them, until it struck a stud of the frame, when it slipped and stopped. This movement, by means of a connecting rod, drove a wheel, which, as a pulley, drove a tool-flip by a train of small pulleys with an endless cord, and as a disk-c:i:ank, with slot, pin, and connecting rod, actuated a vertical rack with two sets of teeth, whose gears, by click motion, effected the vertical and horizontal feeds. In all the earlier planers the v-slides were made as ridges, instead of being, as now, grooves capable of holding oil. The account of this machine is introduced not only as a remarkable example of early achievement, but in 670 . LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY. 55. illustration of the difficulties of workmanship in the earlier stages of the work. The advantage in labor-saving and in quickness and quality of work derivecl from the use of the close-fitted, accurate, aml conveniently designed. special tools, of which some examples are given, will then appear more manifest. In turning and boring machinery the most notable improvement is in the Sellers cylinder-boring and facing-. machine. This being a special machine for performing the special work of boring locomotive cylinders, its work may be satisfactorily compared with former and less effective methods in terms of piece-work, being capable of boring, facing up the flanges, and counterboring the largest sized cylincler commonly used in express passenger engines, viz, 18 by 24 inches, in three and a half hours. Before the construction of this machine the quickest known time for~ No.10. this work was nine hours, and the usual time was upward of thirteen hours in this country> while from two to four· clays were occupiecl in the work in the practice at some foreign shops, where the staten~ents of its performance were received with positive incredulity. One cut with a fine feed takes out the greater part of the metal. While this roughing cut is being made, t.he sinking-head of the casting is cut off by fodepenclent slide-rests. provided for facing off both ends of the cylinder, and the flanges are turnecl. Two finishing cuts are then run through with a feed one-half an inch broad, and the cylinder is afterwartl counterborecl at the ends for the clearance of the 1)iston. If the flanges are turned up separately, when no other cut is in oper11tion, the whole work can stiH be done inside of five hours. The macl.J.ine which is shown in the illustration (No. 10} b,as six changes of boring; No. 11. feed, with a quick hand-feed, cutter-heads to bore from 10 to 22 inches. The speed of cut on a 22-inch cylincler is 18 feet a minute for 140 revolutions per minute of 18-inch pulleys on the counter-shaft. John .Anderson, LL. D., C. E., Woolwich arsenal, Great Britain, in the report accompanying an award at the ~nternational exhibition of' 1876, says of the above machine: This grand tool is an embodiment of all the tool virtues that can be enumeratecl, resulting in tb,e trn.namissiou of mathematical truth and accmracy to the work :performed, combined with great rapidity of execution and snbse . separate quartering machine. This machine has a 79-inch swing, ten changes of speed to one and five to the other face-1Jlate, the face-plates being driven separately or together at the same or at different speeds, and the feeds being variable and self-acting at any angle, and are derived from an overhead rock-shaft, in connection with the gearing shown upon the tool-rests. This machine suffices for the turning of the wheels and tires. The vertical turning- and boring-machine shown in an illustration (No. 12) is a tool almost indispensable in 1ocomotive work. The face-plate has twenty changes of speed, and the feed is self-acting at all angles with four changes. An economy may generally be effected by h~wing several tool-slides upon the croi;s-head, but the nature and position of the work usually limit the number of tools to two, or th1·ee at most. This class of machines dates back as early as 1850. A vertical turning- and boring-machine, capable of operating thret tools at once ancl turuing l t3 feet diameter work, was built at Chelms ford, Massachusetts, i~ 1850, aml is still in active service. The machinery at Chelmsford was at the time considerably in aclvauce of the general usage. In 1848 horizontal lathes were used in boring car-wheels, and b;y this means two or three wheels were bored in a clay. About this time a vertical boring-mill was introduced at Windsor, Vermont, by which three times as great an output was ob tained, the present output being still greater. The double cutting-off and centering ma chine for axles, here Hlustrated (No. 13), is a labor-saving machine, which, from its special a}Jplication, can be compared in efficiency witl.J. the piece-work of former practice. With No. 12. an attendance of two men forty car-axlrs can ·be cut off ancl centered in a day, both ends of the axle being operated upon simultaneonsly, the axle revolving· in self-centering jaws. There are three changes of speed, and each.bas an acceleration of speed as the tools approacl.J. the center of the axis. As compared with cutting off ~tnd centering axles iu a common lathe, the acl>antage to be .derived from the use of this machine is. at least :fivefold. No. 13. A bolt-cutter, much used in locomotive building for making bolt>; for accmate work, is designed to su1Jersede the methocl of chasing them in a screw-cutting lathe. The bolts are placed upon centers exactly as they are secured in the screw-cutting lathe, but are threaded by running into dies. Where a skilled workman is reqnirecl in chasing screws in a lathe, an ordirntry hand is enabled by the use of this machine to threacl from six to ten times as many bolts in the same time. The dies may be set to the required length of the thread, aucl will then open automatically at that i)oint, while the bolt-carrier is thrown back to receive a new bolt. This featnre, beside insuring a uniform length of cut an cl avoiding clanger of breakage, enables one operative to tend two or more machines. In drilling, besides the use of multi1Jle drills, which are employed principally on boiler parts, an improvement 672 LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY. 57 is to be noted in the use of belted instead of the common form of geared drills. An illustration of such a belted drill is here given (No. 14). Gearing transmits power by a constant succession of shocks, which, however small, are the means of wearing out the drill. With belts the motion is smooth and without shock, so that the drills last longer and ma,y be run at a higher speed. The hydraulic wheel press is a machine characteristic of the manufacture, ancl as such is illustrated (No. 15). The primitive method of pressing wheels upon axles was by screwing up bolts upon rods. In car work, at Wimlsor, Vermont, in 1848, a power wheel press was built which was considered a novelty and an improvement on previous methods. It was powerful enough to double up a 3?!-inch axle. From the foregoing examples a fair idea will be derived of the nature of a machine plant for locomotive work and of the improvements which are in process of introduction, the full benefits of many of which have not yet been made available. ERECTING .A.ND OTHER WORK.-The work of erection, which has been diminished by the introchiction of tho No. 14. uniform system, still requires the equivalent of upward of a year's work by a single man. "Old Ironsides" was a year in building, but in 1873, at the Baldwin works, a small locomotive was made from the raw material in sixteen working days, and in 1878 forty heavy'' Mogul" locomotives were built for Russian railways inside of eight weeks from the receipt of order, the :first being turned out in three weeks. From the annual product and the number of locomotives in course of erection at locomotive-works something may be judged of the usual time spent in erection and :finishing. This may average four or five weeks for erection and a few weeks for the preliminary work, but the time is of course varied to suit the exigencies of the case. The manufacture of springs sometimes constitutes a small separate department in the locomotive-works, and the wood-working is also a small department, the small number of machines required in making the wood-work for several hundred locomotives in a year affording marked evidence of the rapidity of wood-working processes. ~MM m 58 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE lVIECHANISlYI. In general railroad repair work many labor-saving and convenient machines have been introduced, some of them, such as the special car-box drill, for removing broken bolts from car-boxes, indicating the vastness of an interest which demands special devices for convenience in such minor details. No. 15. One of the most notable awl llrolific machines in use for any class of railroad work is the Bement fish-IJlate punching-machine (No.16). The fish-plates are eleven-sixteenths of an inch thick, and the holes are oblong, :fifteen sixteenths by one inch and thirteen-sixteenths A 25 horse-power engine is required to drive the punch, which is capable of operating (four holes at a st.rake) as rapidly as the plates can be supplied, and in actual usage does turn out 110 tons of fish-plates in ten hours, eleven car loads in a clay. The last example of a labor-saving machine which will be here noted is the truck frame drilling-machine (No. 17) for railroad-car trucks, introduced nine years ago, and now in extensive use. This will drill one truck frame every minute continuously, the truck irons being usually 3 inches wide by 1 inch thick, and each requiring six holes to be drilled. There may be no exact comparison between the work of this machine and the sf1me work by hand; tile machine may do thirty times as much work as the average operative with a hancl-clrill, and it may do forty times as much or more, depending upon the diligence and activity of the average operative. The introduction of labor-saving and automatic ma chinery is always slowest and most difficult in heavy work, because of the greater expense of innovations and tbe 1:elative smallness of the numerical demand. In locomotive building the great growth of railroad facilities has supplied the condition of large demand, .and tbe responsive enterprise of locomotive builders has pushecl the work to its present high efficiency; but the conditions once admitting of the introduction of labor-saving ma chines, tl1eir application is seldom limjted to the industry which has first called them into play; aucl as the conditions No. 16. of fire-arms manufacture introllnced the interchangeable system aucl improved machinery into a great range of small manufactures, tbe conditions of locomotive building 674 LOCOMOTIVES AND RAILROAD MACHINERY. 59 are exercising a like influence in the introduction of uniform and labor·saving methods in the manufacture of marine engines and other heavy work. No. 17. In conclusion, acknowledgment should be made to the officers of the Rogers, Grant, Danforth, Brooks, ancl Schenectady locomotive works, and more especially to Messrs. Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co., of the Baldwin locomotive works, for the kindly extension of courtesies and the facilities of inquiry upon which the foregoing; review of the mauufactnre has been ba'secl. Also to Messrs. "William Sellers & Co. and William Bement & Son. 675 60 MANUFAO'rURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. V.-THE MANUF A OT URE OF W.A.TORES. NoTE.-For statistical information regarcling the manufacture of watches, see Table III, page 84. The constituent material in watch-making comprises a small portion of the cost and a small cost also relative to that of the factory supplies and materials used, which are of great variety. The jewels, mostly garnets aud rubies,with some sapphires, are of no great value when in the rough, most of their value in the works of a watch being due to the labor of making and setting. The brass, steel, and copper punchings are the most essential materials. ~bese are largely furnished, even for remote sections, by the brass-works of Waterbury, Oonnecticnt, being pnncbecl from dies furnished by the watch manufacturers and sold by weight. For hair-springs the best imported steel wire is used. The range of work in factories usu\111Y extends to eYery part except the largest punchings. In some cases also the mainsprings, and in otllers the jewels, are bought, since in the making of jewels the improvement in mechanical facilities has not been as marked as in some other portions of the work. In order to insure imrity, the diamond dust is sometimes ground, an The percentage of the numbers of persons occupied in the Yarious duties of watch-making is here given roundly in an average of the practice at several factories, viz: The spriuging and finishing, inclnding the train-finishing, 1 i~ per cent.; the pinion roughing and finishing, 15j! per cent.; the screw, flat steel, and escapement work, 122- per cent.; the jewel-making, 7~ per cent.; the jeweling·, 7l }ler cent.; the plate work aml engra\ing, 7.Z per cent.; the 1.Jafance-mu,king,· etc., 7 per cent.; the machine-shop work, 02· per cent.; the dial work, G per cent.; the carpenter and blacksmith work, clerical work, watching, and time-keeping, 6 per cent.; the stoning and gilding, 3l per cent.; t.lrn mainspring making, lz per cent.; the nickel-finishing, 1} per cent. The 1)ercentage of female operatives to the whole number ranges as follows in those parts of the work upon which females are employed: In pinion roughing and finishing, 70 to 80 per cent.; in screw-making and fl.at steel and escapement work, 30 to 64 per cent.; in gilding, 36 to 50 per cent.; in jewel-making, about 50 })Cl' cent.; in bala~1ce making, 44 per cent.; in sprhiging and finishing, 21to43 per cent.; in plate work, 20 to 39 per cent.; in dial-making, 17 to 37 per cent.; in jeweling, 30 to 35 per cent.; in nickel-finishing, etc., 10 to 33 iier cent.; and for the whole work, from about 33 to over 40 per cent. Relative to the employment of female labor, we may quote from the report on horology by Professor .James C. Watson, at the intemational exhibition of 1876, as to the practice of the American Watch Company: There are many im110rtant operations in the manufacture of watches hy this method where the delicate manipulation of female hands is of the highest ccinseqnence, and i bought to be mentioned here that for this labor the amount of wages paid hy the com1)any is t1etermined by the skill and experience required, not b;r the sex of the operati'l"e. Upon much of the work either sex might be employed, but it may be of interest to note some of the items of work upon which women are usually engaged, viz, the cutting and setting of pillars, the drilling of pin- and screw holes in plates, the cutting of the teeth of wheels and pinions, the leaf-polishing, the gilding, the making of hair springs, the setting of springs, the making of pivot jewels and balance screws, the putting of movements together, and the fitting in of roller jewels and jewel pins. Beside the machine-shop aud general work and si1perintendence, some items of work usually performed by men are the punching and press work, the brazing, enameling~ :firing, and lettering of dials, the plate-turning, :fitting, and engraving, the :fitting of wheels and pinions, the uprighting· ancl end shaking, the stoning and oxidizing prior to gilding, the rosette-turning, cutting of scape wbeels, milling of pallets, balance-making and handling, ancl the final work of finishing and adjusting. From the minute division of the work it will be seen that it is almost entirely specialized, and that the labor required is sldlled. In a few cases, such, for example, as the cutting of pinions, the machinery may be so far automatic or conveniently arranged that the operations of attendance are simple and easily performed; but even here tlrn smallness and delicacy of the work and mechanism and the rapidity of action demand much more careful oversight than in a similar duty in the manufacture of coarser work. We can scarcely indicate one of the numerous departments mentioned where trained intellige11ce and skillful ma11i1mlation are not required in a high degree by the nature of the operations. The operatives are for the most part of American birth, and although some arc young, none can be classecl as boys or girls or unskilled laborers; and despite the many instances of manual skill which may be witnessed by a person in passing through a watch factory, he may, on the whole, be no more iinpressed by the dexterity of the :fingers than by the high intelligence of the faces of the operatives. The number of watches produced (correct time-keepers of a good medium grade) may be rated at .over 150 per operative per annum for all hands employed, the number at some factories ranging higher for an average of all grades produced, all being fine full-jeweled watches. At some factories the productive capacity per operative has within the decade been more than doubled-an advantage attendant upon an increase of the gross capacity of the factories no less than upon the introduction of labor-saving methods. The power required may be rated at about one-tenth horse-power J)Cr operative and one-fifth horse.power per power machine, and although watch-making machinery is in most cases very light, it is very rapid running, and rapid movement consumes great power at a srnfLll stress. In fabricating the movements from six to eight hundred processes are estimated to be cmployecl, there being upward of 100 and sometimes more than 150 pieces in a watch, over a fourth of which are usually screws. . The manufacture of watch movements usually commences witll the punching, but in ca,se-making the material is first rolled iuto sheets. The old style of sets of rolls for rolling silver plate had the driving spurs of the same size as the rolls, so that large rolls had to be used to get })inions large enough to resist breakage. The spacing of the rollers was effected by a loose square coupling, involving knocking and lost motion. A form of rolls has been devised by .Mr. Charles V. Woerd, in which the rolls carry large spurs, driven by smaller pinions and movable in a vertical slide, tlle pinions turning upon spindles in set positions. The space between the rolls can thus be considerably varied withoi1t sensibly affecting the engagement of the gears, which, nevertheless, luwe epicycloidal teeth. The lleaviest press used in this country in watch-making is at Waltham, and has a capacity of 2,700 tons. The frame weighs 9 tons, and is cast of gun-iron, which may be reckoned at double the strength of ordinary cast iron. The uprights of the frame are two solid 12-by-12 inch pillars, and the moving die is forced up by an eccentric upon a shaft below. This press is used for sih... er cases, but for the heaviest plates, bridges, and the like, the metal is rolled and punched at Waterbury, Connecticut, the punchings being one of the products of brass ancl one 678 WATOBILS. 63 of the materials of watch manufacture. The smaller punchings are pressed out at the watch factories by com1)aratively sma11 presses. One man with a 20-ton ptmch will blank out 10,000 watch wheels a day. In the die-presses used by the American Watch Company the blanks as they are formed are forced up into the upper member of the press, passing into a cavity opening outward and with a sloping top, so that in the process of the work there is a column of blanks being continuously pushed up and out. In punching the dials one stroke cuts the blank from the copper strip, punches the holes for hour and second hands, tnrus up the edge of' the plate so as to retain the cm1ting of enamel afterward put on, and makes the impressions into which the dial feet are brazed. Three men will do the work of punching and brazing dials for 200 movements in a day. The plate work may be considered to inclutle the following lH'incipal operations: The turning or facing-off of tlle pillar plates (which is done in lathes, the plates being set in revolving heads and the tool being brought np on a slide-rest by a lever); the drilling of holes for screws and steady pins, which is done in jigs of hardene1l steel; the countersinking of tbe holes to rernoye the burrs left after drilling; the mitting of threads in a tapping lathe; strndry finishing operations on britlges, poteuces, and the like; the numbering of' tho parts by stamps; the screwing of steady pins into the plates; the fmish-tnrnillg of steady pins; the milling of steady pins; the fitting of plate parts together; the turning of' plates to fit cases; the uprighting of jewel holes, and the drilling of pivot holes. Over one-fourth of' the labor is in the turning of the plates. The eight last-named operations are briefly , executetl, one man doing the work of each operation for from 100 to 200 movements a clay. There are considered to be some 275 operations of turning, beside about 100 other operations upon the plate work. In drilling holes the plate is lmt into a jig. In one instanc2 26 holes are dri1led by one operative, using five different sizes of 1hills before the removal of the plate. A variety of raised circles, part circles, rim cuts, and grooves have to be made on both sides of the plate. At the outset the bottom plate is a disk one-sixteenth of an inch thick, half tlie weight being afterward machined away. Tile largest hole clril1ed is usna11y one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. Tlle countersinking of the holes is done upon lathes by cutters running at a high speed. 'rhis lathe is the most essential piece of. mechanism usell in watch-making, and the vast majority of the whole number of machineH are latbes more or less fitted with appliances for special work. Iu cutting and setting case pillars one operative, with the Elgin pillar cutter ancl setter, cuts 27000 pillars a day; by hand-work one man would cut and set only 30 in a day. In cuttfog threads upon pins they are run into a little die which :finishes the thread. The finest pitch cut is about 250 to the inch, and in drilling pivot holes the finest drills are near the size of a human hair. In one instance the pivot containing the drilled hole and the wire polishing the same are revolvell at high speml in opposite directions, making an aggregate relative revolution of 14,000 turns a minute. After completion, ithe watch parts are distributed in trays of ten corn1)artments each, ten watch plates to a tray. The device most commonly employed for holding the plate, case, and other work is a simple chuck with three jaws, so characteristic of the manufacture as to be sometimes called the first element in watch machinery. Iviachines in which cutters work to formers are used in cutting bridges of irregular outline. These m·o simply neat little profiling-machiI\es. The power is communicated from a horizontal drum at tlrn back of the machine to a pulley on the vertical cutter-spindle, which is carried by a frame with a transverse tntverse and verti.citl adjustment by a handle in a universal pivot, while the bed carrying the former and the work holcler (against which the guide-pin and the cutter respectively bear) has a horizontal traverse perpendicular to that of tbe frame. In some factories there is a single depa1'trnent comprising the plate work, pinion roughing ancl finishing, and train work, nuder the style of train, plate, and motion department. In the pinion room are usually made the balance and center staves, the center, minute, third ancl fourth wheels and pirdons, the scape, cannon, and winding pinions, the barrel, the barrel-head, the barrel and pallet arbol·s, the intermediate and stem-winding wheels, the dial feet, and the hair-spring collets, beside the handling of other i1arts. The stem-wind work sometimes constitutes a separate department. In one factory thirty different parti:i are made in the pinion roughing room; and in general it may be said that pinion roughing comprises the cutting of teeth and some operations of threading and turning to size from brass and steel wires and brass blanks. The brass and steel wires are usually received in three-foot lengths. A cutting-off machine, operated by one person, is capable of cutting 6, 000 pieces an hour. Turning to length aml size is clone ui)on lathes. In cutting teeth, one operative. with machine, will cut 60 piles of 20 eighty-leaf watch wheels (1,200 wheels, 96,000 teeth) a day. In pinion cutting, the finishing cuts, which give a fine epicycloidal shape to the :finest leaves, are sometimes made by au index pinion cutter, the index reguhtting the turning of the blank so as to aclmit of cutting variable· numbers of leaves, them being a three-mill rotary tool-stock, the pinion blanks reciprocating for the traverse and the pinion holder shifting for every leaf, and stopping the motion when all are cut with one mill. The tool-stock then turns, aud a second cutter repeats the operation, the work being :finished by a third. Another form of automatic pinion cutter has a horizontal chuck for holding the pinions, a.ucl a three-cutter horizontal tool-stock perpendioular to and above it, with a feecl motion of the cutters and a piYoted lift to bring them clear of the work for the Teturn movement. The term chucking is applied to the intermittent tnrning of the pinion blank so as to bring tooth after 679 64 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISl\.L tooth under tile cutter. Strictly speaking, chucking is the placing, centering, or acljmiting of work in a chuck, although a chucking-machine is somr.times understood to signify a machine in which the tool remains stationary while the work revolves, being held jn a chuck. In cutting the wheels they are piled together and a large number are cut at once, the process being the same as in })inion cutting. Some machines for cutting wheels with long sleeve-bearings cut only one wheel at a time, a cutter with a horizontal axis moving vertically, while the wheel being cut chucks about a vertical axis. .All of these machines are exceedingly prolific in output. Even with hand machines the output is large. The cutting mills usually make about 7,000 revolutions a minute. In the hand machines the mills are given a reciprocating motion from a lever operated by band. The indexing or chucking is also done by a band-click, the attendant operating the index wheel with the left and the reciprocating feecl of the cutter with the right hand, the mills, of course, being driven uy power. The mechanical requirements for wheel and pinion cutting may be briefly recapitulated. The work, if wheels, must be carried on an arbor and helcl fast; if pinions on staves, they must be held fast in a centering chuck. The work must automatically or manually turn and stop as many times in a reYolution as there are leaves to be cut. This is usually accomplished by a click and ratchet-wheel or some other arrangement of intermittent link work. If it is desired to make the machine adjustable for cutting different numbers of' leaves, an index ratchet-wheel is used, with an arrangement for regulating the stop so as to pass a given number of teeth in the ratclrnt-wheel, either by varying the throw of' the click or introducing change wheels in the train. In automatic machines, after the leaves have been cut all around, the machine must stop itself'. This is effected by a disengagement in the train, sometimes by the pushing out of a catch, allowing a bearing to drop, or removing a half-nut from the screw thread in which it works. The cutter must of course be upon a power spindle; and if' there are several of them, they must c1mck or turn and stop to work successively upon the pinion, each in turn engaging with a driving spindle. Either the work or the cutter must move longitudinally to furnish the feed. If the work moves longitudinally, the return movement may be utilized to turn the work into position for a new cut. In case the cutter with its carriage mo1es longitudinally, its power motion has to be continued by means of a drum and belting, as in profiling machinery. .An automatic pinion cutter of fine design, used at the works of' the Hampden Watch Company, is stated to have cost $4,000, and to be capable of cutting pini011s for fully 100 watches a day. In one instance the output of pieces from the pinion-roughing department was 160 per operative per day. The :finest piece made is the pallet arbor, a pivotal bolt, which for a small size of watch has a thread of' 260 to the inch, weighs u-l0- 00 of a pound, and undergoes twenty.five operations, costing 2.27 cents for all. l\leasurement& are gauged to 2 5 i\ 0 6 of an inch, sometimes ca1led a degree. Pinion finishing comprises leaf-polishing, wllich is done with fine crocus in reciprocating apparatus, sometimes called ''wig-wags" (the pinion being turned and the polishing piece passing over each tooth space in succession); facing or polishing the ends of leaves; burring and turning under (sometimes done by hand with a graver), and staff polishing by reciprocating machinery. The train work, in the practice of one factory, comprises the finishing of' the brass barrel, the end-shaking, the truing and inspection of' the wheels, and operations of fitting, such as fitting the cannon pinion to the hour wlleel, the arbor to the barrel, and the staves to the wheels. In this case about a fourth of the operatives engaged in the train work are occupied in :fitting staves to wheels, and nea1'ly as many in end-shaking. End-shaking is usually gauged to TOhu and side-shaking to Tiffi of an }nch. These measurements are effected by dial gauges, with trains of gears for multiplying the discrepancy. These gauges are sometimes furnished with a screw adjustment of the height of the table, with a set screw, so as to take up wear and adjust the pointer to the zero of' the dial. The eml-shaking machinery is sometimes made to measure from each actual arbor to determine the depth of bearing to be drilled. The drill is driven by a belt., and is pushed down to the required depth by a handle with a pin, which arrests the motion by ::;triking a stop upon a fixed frame. The rod of the handle is divided below the pin, the separate ends being held in place by :1 yoke. Between these ends the arbor is inserted, and by its length determines the heig·ht of the pin above the stop and the consequent depth of' the hole drilled. The manufacture of' dials is ii:J all its details a special and interesting process. At the works of the ..American Watch Company the muffle furnaces are of a specially ingenious construction, designed by J\fr. Woerd, being built of interchangeable fire-brick blocks (which can be quickly replaced), and so arranged as to insure a vastly greater endurance of the muffles and a considerable saving of fuel. The enamel is ground with pestles in Wedgewood mortars. In the form of' paste it is spread upon the co1)pe1 dia1s, being retained in place by the mised rim. The dials are then heated to about i,1000 F. in the muffles ; are removed for surfacing, fired, reheated in the muffles, and then the figures and lettering are put on in black enamel, there being in all four operations of firing. The most expeditious method of putting on .the hour figures is found to be by coYering the figure ring with black and ruling out and scraping off all but the lines of' the figures. But the fine lettering is done by skilled hand-work with brushes. Dial sinking is the process of cutting out the seconds and other circles of the dial and cementing in circles at lower levels, to give an ornamental appearance to the face of the watch. 680 WATCHES. 65 Stoning and gilding are usually done iu the same room, stoning being the smoothing of the surfaces of the brass parts of the train and plate work preparatory to gilding. It consists in rubbing the pieces upon .A.yr-water stone, the pieces being sometimes set in cork. After stoning, the pieces are strung upon wires, immersed in a hot alkali, and then in an acid bath, and are then "oxidized", which consists in brushing the pieces in brass-wire brusbing macllines, the brushes revolving in a hath of beer. Tllis giYes them a frosted surface. Then follow, in succession, gilding with a galvanic battery, wire-brushing, regilding, drying (after an alcohol bath) in boxwood sawdust, and wrapping in tissue paper ready for the :finishing department. In gilding, a cold solution is sometimes used "\vi th the best results, thus avoiding the poisonous fumes of tlle cyanide of potassium. Sixteen operatives will stone and double gild the work for about 240 watches in a day. For the ordinary work of engraving, the impressions of names, lettering, and ornamentation are stamped, and afterwarll finished with a graver. Hand-stamps are commonly used, but elaborate presses are sometimes employed, in which the position of the work is nicely adjusted by verniers. In jewel-making the jewels are :first sawed into slabs one :five-hundredths of an inch thick. These slabs are shellacked to plates, in which are concentric rings or grooves, so that the slab may be better trued to the plate. They are then surfaced upon one side with an ivory lap, ancl that side, being in turn shellacked to the plate, the other is similarly surfaced. From these slabs the separate jewels are obtained by sawing or by marking out and breaking. In making the pivot bearings the jewel is fastened by shellac to the end of a spindle, which during the working the operative heats at intervals by a smo.11 lamp. Thus held, it is in position to he worked on one side. The jewel is, in form, similar to a plano-convex lens with rounded edges. It is also drilled through the center, and there is a depression or cavity in the center of the convex side for an oil-cup. The cutters are diamoncl points carried by a holder, which :first moves the cutter upon a long radius for surfacing the face of tlle lens, and is then unshipped and brought up on one side of the spindle to round the back edge. Diamoncl dust is also used for polishing, and sticks of pith for cleaning the jewels. The jewel, prep·ared for its bearing, will weigh about an eighty-thousandth of a pound troy. In turning the oil-cup side and edge of the jewel one operative does from 200 to 300 a clay, the flat side not taking as long. On the average, one operative :finishes over 150 a day. The jewel is put into a setting, and the setting is then trued, so as to bring the jewel hole exactly in t~e center. The holes are opened to the required size with diamond dust. After washing, they are ganged on a needle g·auge and distributed in boxes according to size. The pivot holes are also gauged, and records of these measurements are preserved. The jewels are then :fitted into pivots of corres1muding size, and all are fitted into the plates. A. machine has been devisecl by Mr. 0. V. W oerd for the side-shaking of jewels, by which each pivot setting is borecl to correspond with its jewel. In this the tool is carried upon a rocking-frame, and at double tbe distance from its center is the measuring device, an edge upon the rocking-frame approaclling a :fixed edge, so that the jewel or arbor placed between them will throw the boring tool half the cliameter of the jewel off center, causing the tool to bore a hole to :fit the diameter of the jewel. The jewel bearings are polished by a wire with diamond dust, and afterward by a pointed splint of wood. In the straight gauge for measuring the holes in jewels the jewel is run upon a :fine graduated wire point as far as it will go. The lloint is then pushed back against a spring, the jewel actfog as a stop and determining the movement of a pointer along a scale, one of whose divisions is equivalent to the twenty-five thousandth of nu inch in the diameter of the jewel hole. Machines in which cutters work to formers are used in nickel-finishing, and also in cutting rosette work upon the watch-case. The rosette-entting machines have a spindle for holding the work, llivoted .below upon lJarallel bearings. The formers are esQ:~lloped or fluted wheels upon this swinging spindle. In its revolution these bear upon a guide which moves the spindle relatively to the cutting tool, causing these wavy lines to be reproduced upon the watch-case to a diminished scale. Very beautiful ornamentation is executed upon the nickel work of watch pl'ates, a great variety of curious forms being produced by the mov-ement of fLU ivory style or steel point over the nickel surface, tlle movement of the style being obtained by elliptic gearing, escalloped wheels acting as formers, or other aggregations of cam motions, to vary the position of the style as tlle rotation progresses. This is called nickel-finishing-. The stem-winding movement usually comprises some twenty-five or more additional pieces, the most characteristic being bevel gears, requiring bevel-gear cutters and angle grinders and polishers. The movement usually consists of a train with bevel gears for stem-winding, and another train for stem-setting, which engages upon pressing a button or pulling out the stem itself, so that the hands are also moved as the winding proceeds. In the common screw-machine for watch screws the wire is :first stopped and shouldered; the die is then carried over it, and the motion is reversed, running the clie off, when the screw is run into a screw plate and the wire is cut off, leaving the i1ead. A. screw plate full of screws with plain heads is thus obtained, which is placed under a mill for slotting the heads. In this way one man can make 1,200 screws a day, not inc1uc1ing the slotting. "\Vhen more than one operation is performed on the wire blank before cutting off a pivoted tool·stock is used. Such tool-stocks for this and for otller work in watch-making, instead of being like ordinary turret lathes, are often centered back of the work so that the cutting tools converge toward instead of diverging from a center. ' 681 66 l\1ANUFAOTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MEOHANISU. The unsJotted screws are sometimes run into a cylindrical holder, so that they may all be slotted by one operation of turning. Automatic screw machinery, which is very prolific in out1rnt, is used by the American ·watch Company, having been designed by l\Ir. Woerd in 1872. With the same attendance it will tum out .f:i.ne watch screws about as rapidly as the most prolific automatic scrmv machines used in sewing-machine work will turn out the smallest sewing-machine screws. l\fost of the movements in these screw machines are derived f~·om cams on a side shaft. Such a cam causes a chuck to feed the wire forward and gives it a rotation by means of fast and loose friction pulleys; another cam moves a toothed sector, which by a pinion actuates t,he chaser-screw spindle1 ·which drives the die spindle by a pair of adjustable gears; another cam operates, after the wire has been tlireaded hy the die, to throw over an arm pivoted upon anotlier spindle, which arm carries a small griping chuck, or bolder, and on coming into line with the die (which is drawn back by a cam) is allowed to spring forward and take the screw just as the heacl is formed by cutting off with fl, straight automatic tool. Finally, another cam operates to lift and lower upon a pivot the frame carrying the mill, which is driven by pulleys with round leather bands, and slots the screw head after it has been brought into position by the return of the pivoted arm, which successively trm1sfers the pieces from the die spindle after they have been threaded and cut off. The smallest watch screws weigh only about 12 ~\ 0 0 of a pound. In polishing the heads of screws they are inserted in a metal disk, and are then passed over a glass and emery surface, being given an eccentric rotary motion, moving from the center toward the circumference. The scape-wheel has 15 teeth. They are cut in piles of ten or more by a machine with eight sapphire cutters. With this one man in a day can cut 3,000 wheels, and, delicate as is the work, with the wheels once set the operative might turn the handles with his eyes shut. The hair-spring studs go through sixteen operations. In grinding and polishing· these studs one man will do 250 a day. The watch pallet is first punched from sheet-steel in the press-room, and is then slotted and milled on latlies fitted with suitable chucks and holders. Slips of jewel are inserted to form the acting surfaces and to take the wear. The pallet is often made in curious forms merely for ornamentation. The lJallet jewels are sawed in strips with diamond saws, are polished. by fine diamond laps, and in ten hours one man will com1llete 300 of these 1 jewels, one of them weighing 150 000 of a pound. 11.oller jewels are made from long bits of jewel, which are fastened in a revolving spindle ground and polished to size. One man will make 200 a day, and one will weigh 25 0\ 2 0 of a pound. · An apparatus called a horizontal bar and pole is sometimes used for surfacing steel wo-rk, the pieces, by means of it, being brushed over a stone-that is, held ancl imbedded in a brush, which is swept over the stone. The tempering of the steel work and the hair-springs requires experienced judgment, but is only a small item of labor. In balance-making the steel blanks are first pressed out and brass rims are fused or brazed upon them. The blanks are then repunchecl, an cl the sections, lea1fog tlle single arm, are also punched out. This cross-piece, or arm, is sometimes formed by four milling cuts, and the rest of the steel disk is turned out, excepting a narrow l'im of steel within the brass. Screws of gold or brass are placed in the rims. Two rnacliines, one operative attending each, turn out 400 balance screws a day, 1 pound of brass being enough to make 2,000, and 1 pennyweight of gold 50 screws. One operative can drill upward of 2,200 screw boles for the balance-wheels in a day. There are 80 operations upon a balance-wheel, 66 of them being drilling, threading, and countersinking holes. The drills revolve at 4,800 turns a minute. The balance, which at first is a steel disk rimmed with brass, weighs 72 grains, but aftei.' machining· weighs only 7 grains, and, fitted with l6 gold screws, 7.20 grains. The hands ·are punched in two operations, the :finishecl weight being one-fifth of the original weight of the blank. The final operation of assembling is called the gilt training·, in distinction fro~ the assembling before gilding or in the gray1 and the :finishing and adjustment of the balances is co1nmonly called the balance ba,nclling. In the Ji.nishing one operative will in a day set 90 mainsprings and fit them into the movements. The mainsprings are cnt from rolled sheet, the remaining operations being tempering, polishing, and winding. The temper is very nt'n,tly drawn by bench apparatus with burners. The polishing and working are usually done by band, the tools bemg drawn to and fro over the springs, which are extended fiat ancl fastened in vises at the encls. The hair-springs are made from spools of fine wire. These wires are polished by drawing them between diamond points, and are cut to length, coiled, hardened, and tempered. The coiling of the hair-springs is a very simple 01leration. The ends of two or more, generally of three, springs are inserted in holes in a small a,rbor, which is placed in a small cylind.rical box and turned until the springs wind themsekes within the box, the thickness of one or two springs being ~he space thus determined between the coils of a single spring. These boxes, with tops wired on, are bnnched together, and the springs, after tempering, retain their form. Hair-springs are sometimes made of gold, and this is the case in the movements for the Y11le time-locks for vaults, as steel is specially subject to corrosion from the dampness aml condensation of moisture. . In common watches the fast and slow regulation of the hair-spring is effected by moving a lever on which are pins, which clasp the spring and extend or shorten its vibrating length by a little, causing the vibration to be slower or quicker. The inner end of the hair-spring is fastened by runningit through a hole in, the collet of the balance pin, where it is clinched by pushing in a tiny brass pin, made long enough to be driven from outside the spring 682 WATCHES. 67 :aucl then nipped off close to tlle collet. The point at which the outer encl of the hair-spring is hclll, in respect to tlie position of insertion of the inner end in the collet, having been once properly fixecl, cannot be greatly varied without impairing the isochronism of the movement of the balance. In watches of the finest time-keeping qualities the balance is therefore carefully selected to accord with the strength of the spring, so that the least riossible adjustment may l1e necessary in shortening or lengthening the spring. The balances are weighed to the fourteen hundredth part of a grain, and the strength of the spring is gaugecl relatively by winding and unwinding against ~ given spring. The time-keeping of a watch is perfectecl by a trial, so as to adapt it to a wide range of circumstances, and is subjected to higb. and low temperatures, and made to rnu with 6 np, 12 up, 3 up, 9 up, face down, and so on. The adjustments resorted to in.consequence of the results of these experiments are such as seem justified by a long course of experience, and are of a nature ancl nicety which cannot well be explaine(l. The foregoing illustrations of the prOC\3SSes of watch-making outline more or less superficiall;y the character of the work. The examples cited have been drawn from observation of the practice at all of the larg·er factories, aucl .acknowledgments are due to the officers of the ~merican Watch Company, of Waltham, Massachusetts; the Elgin National Watch Company, of Elgin; the Illinois Watch Company, of Springfield, Illinois, and the Hampden Watch Company, of Springfield, Massachusetts, for courtesies kindly extended. 683 68 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. VI.-THE MANUF .AOTURE OF CLOCKS. NOTE.-For statistical information regarding the manufacture 9f clocks, see Table III, page 28. The manufacture of clocks exhibits a much more rapid growth during the past ten years than in any preceding decade, there having been, in 1850, 82 per cent. as many operatives as in 1860; in 1860, 73 per cent. as many as in 1870; aml in 18701 47 per cent. as many as in 1880. At the same time the reported value of material handled and of prodl,lct per operative is less than in 1870; against 47 per cent. as many operatives in 1870 as in 1880, there being a return of about 77 per cent. as great a value in the product. There thus appears a change in the character as well as in the extent of the industry. The value of material formerly trebled is now little more than doubled in the process of manufacture. At the same time it may be said that a smaller proportion of the labor is now devoted to the clock movement, more being expended upon the manufacture of ornamental cases in great variety, bronzes, ancl the like. It is obvious that much less labor is expended upon the same weight or even upon the same value of material in clock- than in watch-making. A greater value of material is therefore handled by the same number of operatives, and the relative value of constituent materials for movements is three or four times as great, and the aggregate value of all materials is for the same number of operatives greater in clock than in watch manufacture. Clock materials are almost entirely domestic, except a small proportion of foreign woods used in casing. Copper and zinc, the chief constituents of sheet-brass, are obtained in this country in unsurpassed purity and excellence; the steel and iron wire are also commonly American, and native black walnut is the wood in most general use for cases. Clock-making was one of the earliest outgrowths of Connecticut ingenuity, and clock parts being coarse as compared with watch parts, practical uniformity has foUowed more in consequence of wholesale manufacture an cl the necessity of correct gearing for uniform velocity ratios than as an end deliberately sought or utilized for the interchanging of parts. The work upon the common clock movement is for the most part of two kinds: plate work and wire work. Dies for punching the plate parts determine their uniformity, and the wire gauge determines that. of the arbors, pillars, and trundles. Even the wires are not formed into complicated shapes, and in common clocks screws are not used, the plates being riveted like lock-plates. But clock-making, having been so long practiced (and the primitive processes being suscept:ble of such great improvement), exhibits perhaps more forcibly than any other manufacture of mechanism the great strides that have been made. The successful manufacture and general use of many kinds of mechanism has been consequent ·. .' upon the prior existence of manufacturing mechanism, but from the single-handed manufacture of wooden toys ' clock-making has gradually come to be conducted in large establishments, having all the ad vantages of labor-saving I machinery. Some of these produce an average a.bove two clocks per working minute. The departments of the work are prfocipally two, devoted respectively to the manufacture of movements and of cases, of which the latter often requires the greater space and the greater number of operatives, although the material for the movements usually costs more than that for the cases. Metallic cases also are made for many styles of clocks, involving both metal working and foundery facilities in their manufacture. The capital required is notably smaller in clock than in watch manufacture. The returns for the United States in 1880 show an average of $1,236 i)er operative for watch and $756 per operative for clock manufacture, the total products in the two cases being nearly equal, the total capital being twice as great in watch as in clock manufacture, and the average number of hands being about four-fifths as great in the latter as in the former. In the earliest work of wood clock-making in Connecticut it took a man upward of a week, sometimes several weeks, to make a clock; but by 1820 the average time was about three and a half days. In 1820 thirty hands made 2,500 wooden clocks in four different styles in the course of a year, or 83 clocks per operative per annum. These clocks were made with cherry wheels and laurel pinions, the teeth being set in. But in 1880, though the number of different styles made in a single establishment is fifteen or twenty times more, and many of them are of an elaborate ornamental character, an average of over 520 brass clocks per operative per .annum is attained, and for the cheaper styles the output would of course be considerably greater. It may be said roundly that one operative will upon au average in a given time perform the work upon four times as many ordinary 684 CLOCKS. 69 clocks, including casing, as upon orclinary watch movements. Of large calendar clocks, more than 125 are turned -0nt per or)erative per annum, and since 1870 an improvement of as much as three or four folcl is stated in some instances, the advantage being due to improved machinery and to the practice of manufacturing clocks of the same kincl in very much larger lots at a time than before . .A large proportion of the labor in clock-makinJ?; is unskilled, about 10 per cent. of all the hands being children and youths, while practically no children or youths are employed in watch-making. In clock-making, about 12~· per cent. of the operatives are females, in contrast with 36 per cent. in watch-making. Of the operatives, we may consider roundly that about one-third of them are machine-tenders, and the remaining two-thirds bench-workers, varnishers, packers, and so on. The number of power machines ranges from as many to half as many as the number of operatives, but many of the machines are not in continuous operation. In clock a,s compared with watch manufacture the machine processes are generally similar, but without the same degree of refinement. The large proportion of wood-case work is also peculiar to clock-making. In 1807 Eli Terry, of Plymouth, Connecticut, commenced using machinery in making wooden clocks. Clock gears were then marked out and sawed by hand, a much slower and more laborious work even than fret-sawing. Such movements were sold at $25 each, but by 1840 the cost of a wood movement had been reduced to $5, and at th.is time the manufacture was fairly revolutiunizecl by Chauncey Jerome, who introduced tlte one-day brass clock, the movement for which can now be made for less than 50 cents, three men being able to level the sheets and punch out wheels for 500 such clocks in a day. Mr. Jerome sent ills ftrst consignment of clocks as a venture to England in 1842, ancl the ex1Jort business thus commenced bas grown to such an extent that some .American manufacturers have their "catalogtrns printecl in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, and Portuguese. Not only is the civilized world supplied, but American clocks are found to have preceded the American traveler in semi-barbarous lands. The labor on a handsome wood clock-case often costs a surprisingly small sum, and the common zinc faces are cut, painted, and lettered at 3 or 4 cents apiece. In the case-making the processes are of great variety. Knobs and ornaments are turnecl and carved; stencils are used in laying out patterns to be carved; and curved, round, and half-round cases are formed by deeply scoring the wood at intervals upon the inner side and bending it to shape. Some of the most elaborate ornamentation is executed by pressing compositions of glue and sawdust, which, when finished, a1lpear like fine wood carvings. Ornaments iu glass are etched by acids. Wheels covered. with sand-paper are used in smoothing W'ood work, the wheels for ·ftuishing moldings being molded to correspond to tlle work. Planing, sawing out, drilling, mitering, gluing, varnishing, bronzing, painting, ancl. polishing comprise the balance of the work on ordinary cases. · Most of the work upon ordinary clock movements is done by those machine methods well known to be of the greatest rapidity, viz; Press work, turning pins and arbors from wire, and cutting small gears in piles. The making of main-spring·s and the riveting and other kinds of bench work are also rapidly performed. Index gear ancl pinion cutters are commonly used, these being sometimes automatic. .Among other instances, automatic machines are used for placing pinion blanks upon arbors. The blanks and arbors are held in proper feed receptacles, tb.e blanks being allowed to drop successively into grooves, when the arbors are thrust through them. The arbors with the pinion blanks exactly placed are then thrown out ready for the pinion cutter. The little staves in the lantern pinions are placed by girls. There is much work of turning, and the turning tools are commonly set upon arbors, which rest in sockets parallel with the lathe spindles, the tools being brong·ht against the work by handles set in the arbors, which will accommodate a number of tools })laced radially in various positions. It is, however, obvious that between the fine and the heavy, the plain and the fanciful, a great range of work is involved in clock-making. No mechanism is too exact for the manufacture of fine astronomical clocks, and tower docks are large and heavy machines, involving nice work, and being sometimes built by special contract. The other extreme is in the manufacture of small alarm and other cheap clocks, upon which, however, the exactness of machine metbochl in wholesale manufacture enables a very excellent quality of work to be done at a low cost. The power required in clock manufacture may usually be rated at from two-fifths to one-half horse-power per operative, of which the grea,ter part is commonly consumed in the case-making. 685 70 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. VII.-THE lVIANUF AOTURE OF AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. NOTE.-For statistical information regarding tho manufacture of agricultural implements,. see Table VII. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. In agricultural implements we have a product whose manufacture has a widespread geographical distribution. :M:any manufactures of interchangeable mechanism, as :fire-arms, sewing-machines, wn,tches, clocks, nncl llardwo.rc, will often be found in groups of factories in !)laces within easy access of large cities. For agricultural implemeu ts accessibility to city markets is a matter of minor importance, and so small a proportion of the product is consumed by export trade that location iu or near seaports is, in the present condition of tlle industry, a matter of nn consideration. · Yet the manufacture is more centralized than the population. We find in l\faine an average of 448 operatives, nearly all in Kennebec count;r, the product being mainly scythes, shovels, hoes, hay-forks, etc. In New Hampshire, of 178 operatives, over llalf are in Grafton and Merrimack counties, and the product is mainly scythes, lmnd-rn.kes, am1 hay-cutters. In Vermont, of 464 operati"ves, 297 are in Rutland, Windsor, and Windham counties, and tho product is mainly sc,ythes, hand-rakes, hay.forks, separators, aml sirup-evaporators. In Massachusetts, of 073 operatives, over half are engaged in the great shovel and plow factories of Bristol county, and the manufacture or hay-cutters, tedders, horse-rakes, etc., is largely pl,usued in Hampden county. In Connecticut, of 565 operatives, over half are in Ilfaldlesex and Litchfield counties, scythes, hoes, plows, lawn-mowers, and fodder-cutters being the chief products. In New Enghtnd the factories are commonly located upon river-courses, the seaboard counties producing few manufactures of this class. Rand implements, involving wooden ware, are of the most general manufacture. Plow manufacture does not require a large factory organization, but from the great demand for plows and similar products the manufacture is often conducted upon a large scale, as well as at small shops wiclely clistrilmtecl through nearly all parts of the country. .It is obvious that the mltnufacture of grain-cradles mul scythe-sno.tlls may be conducted on a small scale, but tlle manufacture of mowers, reapers, and thrashing-machines, aud of similar com1)osite products, necessitates a factory organization for their economical production. Such composite products are mainly manufactured in the great belt of states from New York to Illinois, inclusive, which in 187() employed 6!) per cent. and in 1880 66 per cent. of all the operatives engagecl in the manufacture of agricultural implements. Through these states tlle mechanical facilities are of a high order, n,ncl the factories are widely distributed; but the centralization of the greater part of the work is strongly marked. In New York, of 6,462 operatives, over half are in :five counties-Cayuga, Rensselaer, Monroe, Onondaga, and Saratoga; in Pennsylvania, of 2,617 operati\es, over half are in fom counties-York, .Allegheny, Philadelphia, and Lancaster; in Ohio, or 7,53G operatives, over half are in three count.ies-Olarke, Stark, and Summit; in Indiana, of 2,471 operatives, over llalf are in two counties-Saint J osepll and Wayne; in Illinois, of 7,300 operatives, over half are in five connties Rock Islaud, Cook, Winnebago, Warren, and De Kalb; also, in Michigan, of 2,004 operatives, over half are in four counties-Calhoun, Jackson, Kalamazoo, and Kent; in Wisconsin, of' 2,067 opei·atives, over half are in two counties-Racine and Rock; and in Minnesota, of 11197 operathres, over half are in Washington county. But this predominance of a few localities is equally noticeable in states in which tlle manufacture is not as largely pursued. In New Jersey, of 206 operatives, nearly ha.lf are in three counties-Mercer, Warren, and Som.er set; in Delaware, of 66 operatives, over llalf are in New Castle county; in Maryland, of 356 operatives, over half nre in two counties-Baltimore and Washington; in Virginia, of' 530 openttives, over half are in two counties-Henrico and Dinwiddie; wllile in West Virginia, of 63 operatives, 58 are in the little tenon of the state between PE\nnsylvauia. anll Ohio, com1Jrisiug :Niarshall, Ohio, aucl Brooke counties; in North Carolina,, of 202 operatives, over half a.re in Mecklenburg, DaYiclson, Edgecombe, Chatham, an pulverizer; but the latter may cost five to ten times as much as the former. There is one man to a hoe, a11d one man to a riding cultivator; but the cultivator may cost fifty times as much as the hoe. There is one man to a hancl rake, and one man to a, horse-rake or a hay-tedder; but the latter may cost twenty to fifty times as much as the former. There is one man to a scythe or a grain-cradle, and one man to a mower or a reaper; but the latter may cost seventy to one lmndred times as much as the former. We ilnd one man t.o a flail, and a few men to a sepamtor and engine; but the latter may cost a thousand-fold more than the former. When, therefore, knowing that machinery of high cost has gradually superseded inexpensive hand tools, we still find that since 1850 the va1ne of farm implements and machinery, instead of increasing, has fallen off, relative to the value of farms for the entire Union, and most notably so in the beavier farming sections, it wonld appear tha.t an estimate of double the amount of labor for the hancl tools upon the same acreage woulcl be an inadequate estimate, despite the increased value of farm land and the inclusion of wagons, harness, etc., among farm implements in either case. But if only half the labor has been saved, it it! easy to estimate how great a body of men fa relieved of the work of farm labor pro mta by every man engaged in the manufacture of agTicultural implements. It is, in fact, estimated by careful men, thoroughly conversant with the changes that have taken place, that in the improvement made in agricultnral tools the average farmer can, with sufficient horse-power, do with three men the work of fifteen men forty years ago, and do it better. It is ns a condition in the manufacture of agricultural implements that this saving in farm-work is here treated, and it explains the growth of great factories, the wholesale demand for their products, and the cheapness with which those products may be furnished to the farmer. But a comprehensive exhibit of this saving can on1y be made by reference to farm work, which is more or less desultory, tlle seasons of plowing and seeding in spring and fall, of cultivating growing crops, of hay-making and harvesting, m:eating imperative demands for the prompt exercise of much la,bor, other less exacting duties being made to fill in the time between these working seasons. The first of these classes of work is naturally tbe preparation of the soil. The labor of plowing may be more distributed than that of har1esting. For stony soils less saving seems feasible in this duty than in any other. Harrows and scarifiers liave long been in use, but their extensive employment for saving replowing is a modern ]_)ractice, the advance of which is shown by the immense relative increase in their manufacture. In preparing land for turnips after wheat two scarifyings (inclmling seeding) and one plowing displace four plowings and seedings, and as the draft of a scarifier may be estimated at from one-half to one-fourth that of a plow for the same speecl and width of Janel passed, the horse-labor saved is about in the ratio of four to one and two-thirds, and for six-horse gangs of cultivatol's or harrows-compared with single-plow furrows, the width of land being about as 5 feet to 5 inches-it will be seen that the saving in men's labor will be even greater. For ordinary plowing the amount plowed will not exceed that of thirty or forty years ago, lmt the comfort and the rapidity of working have been increased by sulky- or riding-plows. In the east many side-hill or reversible plows are nrnde in place of ordinary land-side plows, which leave a dead furrow, that may later interfere with the convenient opemtion of horse mowers, tedders, and rakes. The form of point, share, and mold for the best results obviousl~T differs for ever;y condition of tenacity of the soil and depth of furrow, and to meet these conditions a great variety of forms is made. Thus a prairie-breaker or a road-plow has a longer, sharper share than a stubble-, a deep-soil-, a sod-, or a trench. plow, and the heavy clay soils of Indiana and of Ohio, the sngar-lands of Louisiana., and otbeiv sections have each their series specially adapted to their crops and soil, each manufacturer making a specialty of a number of such established series. For alluvial or black, sticky soils a plow that will scour well is necessary. This is secured by making the shares of cast-steel or of chilled or patent hard metal. Of the whole number of plows made per year in this country, probably about half a million are cast-steel plows for the alluvial soil of the Mississippi valley. Some degree of interchangeability was practiced in making plo,Ys at an ea,rly period. For the same size aud series the shares are macle interchangeable, and the slip-share points and other plow pa.rts are often made remo1able aucl interchangeable, so that a single plow stock may serve for a variety of attachments, while the change of slip-share points saves shares and keeps the IJlow in running order at a comparatively small expense. But in the manufacture of plows the advantages of uniformity as an administrative feature of the work are not to be rated above other benefits resulting from the most easy and natural methods. The same is true in the manufacture of many other agricultural implements, where the forms are given by casting and finished by grinding, and it is only in such wrought-iron work or in such fine cast-iron work as requires cutting or paring by machine tools that nuiformity of work exhibits distinctive advantages in the division of labor and the system of working·. The usage of different sections in the employment of farm machinery may occasionally throw some light upon items enumerated as units, but at the same time having great differences among themselves. Thus the term plow covers all kinds, from a smaU and cheap stirring-1Jlow to an expensive sulky-plow. Handled plows are used everywhere, but the sulky-plows principally in the western farming states, being manufactured by a comparatively few large factories in that section. A single style of' sulky-plow is estimated to be in use on 60,000 farms. Two-horse and riding cultivators a1'e largely used in the West, and the screw pulverizer, which does such peculiar and effective service, was em111oyed on over 35,000 acres ofland in 1880. In New England the cultivator is mainly used with one horse for cultivating between rows of corn or of root crops. It also takes the place of the harrow in covering grain. Handled cultivator1:1 have wl1cels or runners to gauge the depth of working. The simplest 692 72 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. products. In Minnesota a large proportion of the operatives are engaged in making thra.shers and separators, and in Kansas and Nebraska plows, harrows, cultivators, and stone-gatherers are the principal products; The agricultural manufactures of California are mainly plows, separators, and horse-powers. The large ranches are necessarily supplied with jobbing shops of some sort, and these sometimes suffice for the erection of tlt~ large headers and separators forming a feature of farm practice in that country. Much of this machinery is brought from the East. THE CHARACTER .A.ND DIRECTION OF THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH. A machine for thrashing· and separating is in the great majority of cases reported as one separator, but sometimes as one thrasher, and in a few instances, from the identity of numbers returued, there is a strong inference that the same machine has been returned as one thrasher and one separator. So in the return of grain-drills the production does not seem to have kept pace w~th the increase of operative labor in the manufacture of agricultural implements, but a portion of the return is doubtless absorbed under the heads of grain-sowers and seed-sowers. .A. variety of machiues (corn- and cotton-planters, grain-drills, pulverizers, and even harrows and hay-rakes) may be adapted for sowing seed and grain, and also guano, plaster, or other fertilizers. Such machines will usually be returned in accordance with the function considered most essential and important, but there is liability to duplication. The third. class of farm machinery liable to be reported ambiguously includes the following items : Harvesters, mowers, reapers and mowers, reapers. All of these are included. under the title of harvesting machiner;r. The term harvester woulcl not be aprllied to a mower, but might be applied to a reaper, or to a reaper and mower. Gavelers, droppers, hand-, chain-, self-, and sweep-rake reapers, as well as twine and wire self.binders, are liable to come under the caption of harvesters. The numbers of harvesters and reapers produced are given : 1880. Harvesters ...... 25, 537 ~:rowers ...... ~ ...... 72, ODO Reapers and mowers ...... 54, 884 Reapers ...... 35, 327 The movements in the manufacture of particular classes of farming machinery are of significance as exhibiting developments in methods of farming, no less than the mere transfer of the manufacture from one region to another, or its greater centralization or diffusion. The inadequacy of the returns as to the numbers of implements made in 1870 through enumerators prevents detailed comparison with that year, but the general relations of the two years are fairly evident. The manufacture of cane-mills in 1870 was confined to Kentucky and North Carolina, most of them being made in Kentucky. In 1880 their manufacture had become vastly increased, and was not only diffused through the sugar-cane growing states, but was also made an important item of manufacture in northern states. Thus, m round figures, about 27 per cent. of all tlle cane-mills were made in Mi8souri1 18 per ceut. in Kentucky (but over four times as many as in 1870), 17 l)er cent. in New York, 11 per cent. in Indiana, 6 per cent. in Tennessee, 5 lJer cent. in Yirginia, about 4 per cent. each in Georgia and Wh~consin, 3 per cent. in North Carolina, 2 per cent. in Arkansas, over 1 per cent. in Texas, and the residue in six other states. In 1870 clover-hullers were manufactured in but three states, and nearly all in Pennsylvania. They are now manufactured in six states (38 per cent. being made in Indiana, 31 per cent. in Ohio, and 21 per cent. in JYia,ryland), and the manufacture appears almost to have disappeared from Penns;rlvania and to h~we diminished greatly, consequent n1Jon cllanges in farm methods, much clover-hulling being now clone by attachments to thrashers. In 1870 corn-planters were made in seven states, chiefly in Illinois and iu Missouri. They are now made in twenty-one states, 63 per cent. in Illinois, 21 per cent. in Ohio, and over 6 per cent. in Wisconsin. In 1870 all of the cotton-planters we.re made in Georgia, but since that time the introduction of cotton-planting machinery has progressed greatly, and its manufacture is now increased nearly tenfold, and is pursued in fourteen states, but specially in Ohio, where two-thirds of all the cotton-planter::; are made, about 8 per cent. being made in Pennsylvania, and about 8 per cent. in Georgia. In 1870 plows were made in thirty-three, harrows in twenty-three, and cultivators in twenty-four states ancl territories. In 1880 plows were made in thirty-six, harrows in thirty-four, and cultivators in thirty-three sta,tes and ter.ritories, the percentages of the entire numbers made in the states in which the manufacture was most largely pursued being, for plows: Illinoi::;, 20 per cent.; Incl.iana, 13 per cent.; Kentucky, nearly 10 per cent.; New York, 7 per cent.; Pennsylvania, 6 per cent. For harrows, in 1880: Illinois, 29 per cent.; Michigan, 21 per cent.; Kentucky, 11 per cent.; New York, 8 per cent.; Wisconsin, 7 per cent. For cultivators, in 1880: Illinois, 42 per cent.; Georgfa, 11 per cent.; Michigan, 9 per cent.; Kentucky, 7 per cent.; Ohio, 5 per cent. The relative falling off in the number of plows manufactured indicates that their.function is bejng performed to some extent by other implements. We may say that in 1870 one harrow appears to have been made to evexy ninety.four plows, and in 1880 one to every ten plows; and that in 1870 one cultivator was reported to every ten, GSE' . AGRICUL'rURAL IMPLEMENTS. 73 and in 1880 one to every four plows. In the great agricultural state of Illinois the reduction of the ratios seems even more decided, viz: In 1870 one harrow to one hundred and twenty-five, and in J 880 one to seven plows; in 1870 one cultivator to five and a fraction, and in 1880 one to two plows. The change has been going on during the decade in the use of cultivators, displacing plowing and hoeing, and of cultivators and harrows, saving much of the labor of plowing in the preparation of land for crops. In the English four-year rotation the cultivator has, it is estimated, saved half the labor of plowing; but upon prairie land in this country the use of harrows, cultivators, sulky-plows, and pulverizers has lessened labor to an extent variable with the comlitions of crops and of seasons, but undoubtedly to a much greater extent than in England. As compared with approved metllods of putting in a,nd tending crops with plows, harrows, and cultivators, the screw pulverizer alone is claimed to save from one-third to one-half the labor of preparing land for corn and from one-third to one-half in the whole cost of cotton-raising up to the picking. A screw pulverizer is not adapted to a hilly or stony country, but on level, stoneless land will go over 20 acres a day, fitting land at the rate of 7 to 10 acres a day in thrice or twice going over. By it oats may sometimes be put in on stubble land after once going over, and it not only cuts stalks and seeds at the same time, but saves after-harrowing. The manufacture, and, by inference, the use, of cultivators and harrows is also shown by the statistics to be more general in level states like Illinois than in states whose land is more hilly and stony. The manufacture of fanning-mills was in 1870 conducted in eighteen states, 23 ller cent. being made in New York, 15 per cent. in Iowa, and 12 per cent. iu Michigan; and in 1880 in twenty-one states, 38 per cent. being made in Wisconsin, 27 per cent. in Michigan, and G irnr ceut. in Ohio. Grain-cradles were in 1870 made in twelve states; in 1880 in twenty-four states. Scythe-snaths were in 1870 made in three states; in 1880 in nineteen states. Of grain-cradles, in 1870, 38 per cent. were made in Indiana, 33 per cent. in New York, and 1G ller cent. in Michigan; in 1880, 27 per cent. were made in Indiana, 23 per cent. in Michigan, and 22 p.er cent. in New York. Of scythe-snaths, in 1870, 74 per cent. were made in Vermont, 22 per cent. in Pennsylvania, and 4 per cent. in Maine; in 1880, 34 per cent. were made in Vermont, 14 per cent. in Iowa, and 13 per cent. in Michigan. Such manufactures are often predominant in well-woocled states, although it is obvious that witll the transportation facilities for light freights this may easily become a secondary and obscured influence. Hand-rakes were in 1870 made in fourteen states; in 1880 in twenty-five states. Hay-forks were in 1870 made in fourteen states; in 1880 in seventeen states. Of hand-rakes, in 1870, nearly 70 per cent. were made in Michigan alone; but in 1880 over 71 per cent. were made in New York alone, this including both bay- and garden-rakes. In 1870 hay-forks were most li1rgely made in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio; in 1880 most largely in Pennsylvania, Vermont, Ohio, and Michigan. Scythes and sickles were in 1870 made in nine states, most largely in Connecticut, New York, and ltl.10de Island; in 1880 they were made in thirt-0en states, scythes most largely in Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York, and sickles principally in Ohio, Maine, and Connecticut. Of grain-drills, seed-sowers, fertilizer distributers, and grain-sowers, in 1870 the manufacture was confined to fourteen states, and was most largely conducted. in Ohio, Indiana, and New Hampshire. In 1880 these implements were manufactured in twenty-six states, and most largely in Ohio, Ind.iana, and \Visconsin. In 1870 there were built, as reported, 24,062, and, in 1880, Ul,527 thrashers and separators. This numerical decrease may be attributed to the greater use of combinell thrashers and separators, so that while the aggregate number of botll is decreased the fnncl;ion of the governing unit may in many cases be considered to be doubled. In 18i0 the mannfactme of these machines was conducteLl in twenty-two states, most largely in Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; ancl in 1880 they were manufactured in tweuty-si:s: states, most largely in New York, Ohio, and ·wisconsin. The great growth (eighteen-fold) in the manufacture of lawn-mowers simply bears evidence of the increasing custom of keeping lawns closely trimmed. In 1870 nearly all of them were made in New York, but they are now macle in six states, notably in PeuusylYania, Ohio, New York, aucl Connecticut. Hay- and fodder-cutters were i11 1870 made in thirteen states, most largely in Massachusetts, Omrnecticut, and Ohio. They are now made in twenty-five states, and most largely in :Massachusetts, New York, Kentucky, Michigan, Connecticut, Ohio, and Virginia. Hoes in 1870 were made in twelve states, most largely in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York; and in 1880 in thirty states, most largely in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Michigan. Stump-pullers, whose manufacture is of course indicative of forest clearings, were in 1870 made only in Pennsylvania; but in 1880 the manufacture was extended into eleven states, most being made in \Visconsin, Michigan, and Indiana. Of horse-powers in 1870 about 37 per cent. were made in Ohio, 10 per cent. in New York, and 12 per cent. in Michigan; in 1880, 17 per cent. were made in Ohio, 16 per cent. in Wisconsin, and 13 per cent. in Pennsylvania, the manufacture being more generally distributed. Of sirup-evaporators 24 per cent. are made in Vermont, 21 per cent. in Missouri, ancl 16 per cent. in Kentucky. 44 M J.11 689 74 MANUFACTURES OF IN1"ERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. The change in the numbers of operatives employed in tl.J.e manufacture of agricultural implements in the several states is shown for the last four census :years to be as follows, the states being grouped according to the tendencies in growth or decadence of the manufacture within their limits: 1800. 1870, l8SO. ______s_in_t_es_. ____--,- __ __1_s_uo_._·~~~~--1i------S-ta_t_es __ · ______,__ 1_s_u_o_. 1 --~ ----- Continuous increa-sc. I Increase after 1870. Ohio ...... ······----·--··----...... 765 I 2, 239 5,124 7, 53G I Virginia...... 374 418 267 5oO Illinois...... 040 1, 7UO 3, 935 7, 300 i1 Jlfarylnncl...... 333 308 205 356 New Yo:rk...... 923 2, 905 4, 953 6, 402 j! North Cnrolina ...... 52 100 78 202 Pennsylvania ...... _...... 947 1, 465 2, 280 2, 017 I 'J:cnnr.ssee ...... 143 110 110 178 138 44 139 ~~:::sl~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~~~ ~~: ~:~:~ ~:~~~ I~:~a~~~·;;::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ...... ;~· lHl 50 66 Michigan ...... -...... _.. 35 666 9li9 2, 004 I JIIississippi...... J 113 127 a4 01 Minnesota...... 42 107 J,197 Alabama ...... ! 23 84. 0 36 Kentucky ...... 217 462 624 1, 033 Massachusetts ...... , 786 630 477 973 Iowa...... 15 208 552 809 South C~rolin11...... • ...... 53 30 88 Missouri...... 89 2~1 L37 72G Vernwnt...... 178 155 372 404 Californht ...... 12 68 295 Jlfniuo ...... I 325 189 210 448 29 103 Georgia...... 205 37 59 274 ~:a:n~;;~;~;~::::::::::::::::: ::: ::: :::: :::::: ::: :1...... ~- 55 63 Arkansas...... 14 10 16 24 Nebraska ...... 9 54 .DecreaBe aJttr 1870. Oregon ...... '...... 7 10 18 Connecticut ...... 297 408 593 ' 505 ; i NewJersey ...... 80 260 206 OontinuflUS decTclUle. 3661 New Ifampshire...... 147 00 184 178 Louisiana ...... 29 28 15 Rhode Islaml...... 70 10 81 16 From the growth of the West, aucl also from the change in farm methods, the facts cited relati,·e to the manufacture of specified implements show that the manufacture has been greatly diffused; but apart from this growth the tendency is toward concentration into fewer establishments. The following table shows the number of operatives per establishment in the Unitecl States and in the several states for 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 in that order, fractions being discarded: States. 11850. ~I_!_~~-' tsso. I States. 1850. ~i---mo. r"'°·. The Unitecl States ...... --·~ .___ 7_ --2:_ ----~ New Ilampshire...... 5 7 10 1 JO 1 1 al OMo ...... ---4-1--12 ---2; ~--48-, ~~~:i~i~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ...... ~. 7 7 I 10 Minnesota...... 3 6 37 Maryland...... 4 10 sl 0 Massachusetts...... 14 11 12 33 Missolll'i ...... • ...... 4 14 0 Illinois...... 7 8 18 33 Kansas ...... 0 Connecticut...... 8 10 1 15 26 Tennessee...... 2 'i 4 5 Indiana...... 3 6 10 25 West Virginia ...... : ...... 5 7 New York...... o 8 I 14 24 De!nw1ne ...... 5 0 5 5 Wisconsin ...... ! 5 8 16 J9 Louisiana...... 2 2 15 5 Maine . ... . 1' o 4 6 16 Mississippi ...... :...... 3 3 5 Michig~~::::.:::::::::::: ... ::::::.:::::,· 2 6 j 14 NmthCarolin11 ...... 4 3 5 ;:~:~:ia ...... +... 7 94~ I 61 14 New Jersey ...... 7 12 ! 5 5j 13 Oregon ...... ~ ...... 1 2 4 8] 13 Rhocle Islancl ...... • • • ...... • .. 23 16 4 ~::.~~~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::] :~ 4 i 10 1 13 Nebraska ...... 4 4 JI.entucky ...... j 4) 12 Arkansas...... 1 16 2 South Ca:rolina ...... I 4 i ~~ IAlabama ...... 11 4 8 J Pennsylvania ...... 1 4 I :I ';I ! While in the entire Union the number of operatives has steadily increased, the number of establishments has now begnn to fall off. In six great agricultural states the number of establishments culminated in 1870, viz: I ------1 186 187 1850. 1860. 1810. I 1880. ~ewYork ...... ~.t~~~~: ...... 1~:~5 :~3 I :~7 II ts•::, 11. =··· .- •• ~ ..'.:~ .-...... 161 182 210 156 Illinois ...... ! 84 201 I 294 220 I Mir.higau ...... 13 108 164 143 124 00 260 j 2861 220 I Indiana ...... 58 loa I ~ennsylv:~.:.:~~:_:_--~_'_:_:_::~==-~- 1 'l'l1at is, in 1870, or later, the growth generally ceased to consist in the making of new establishments, and was concentrated in the enlarging of established factories, some small establishments being absorbed. 6!)0 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 75 In two states, Connecticut and New Hampshire, the growth in the number of establishments culminated in 1860, and in two other New England states, Maine and Massachusetts, the number of establishments has decreased since 1850. In only six rapidly-growing states has there been a continuous increase in the number of establishments, viz., Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, California, Kansas, and Nebraska. In Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, Dela';rnre, and Oregon, and in all of the southern states except West Virginia, there was a falling off in the number of establishments in 1870, generally followed by an increase in 1880. The progress of growth and conceu !;ration in the states in which an average of over 500 operatives is employed is shown graphically in a diagram of the relative numbers of' establishments: IS.ill. 1870. 188G, P.EN NSYt:VAN IA,-· o"fuo.--- NEW"'lORK, V:lR01NfA,--- While the manufacture of agricultural implements is, of course, dependent upon agriculture, it is mainly dependent upon an agriculture revolutionizecl by agricultural machinery itself-a nrnnufactnre which may be said to have made itself necessary, and which has created its own demand. Already the influence of this industry has had a significance of which but few are fully cognizant. In other arts curious developments have been macle and great iwogress has been achievell, but this progress and these developments have been accomplished mainly by tbe labor freed from the necessary tillage of the soil by the manufacture of agricultural implements. This manufacture, now pursued by only thirty or forty thousand operatives, has been the si1111)le means of' taking hundreds of tl10usands from farm work, of feeding them, clothing them, educating them, and establishing them iu every species of manufacture, art, and profession, and this is one of the prime causes of the rapid development of this country. It is in the immense applicability of these improvements that their great 1wwer lies, as they lessen the labor of millions of men engaged iu raising food products. Their economic influence is greater than any other in the :whole range of laboi pulverizer; but the latter may cost five to ten times as much as the former. There is one man to a hoe, a11d one man to a riding cultivator; but the cultivator may cost fifty times as much as the hoe. There is one man to a hancl rake, and one man to a, horse-rake or a hay-tedder; but the latter may cost twenty to fifty times as much as the former. There is one man to a scythe or a grain-cradle, and one man to a mower or a reaper; but the latter may cost seventy to one lmndred times as much as the former. We ilnd one man t.o a flail, and a few men to a sepamtor and engine; but the latter may cost a thousand-fold more than the former. When, therefore, knowing that machinery of high cost has gradually superseded inexpensive hand tools, we still find that since 1850 the va1ne of farm implements and machinery, instead of increasing, has fallen off, relative to the value of farms for the entire Union, and most notably so in the beavier farming sections, it wonld appear tha.t an estimate of double the amount of labor for the hancl tools upon the same acreage woulcl be an inadequate estimate, despite the increased value of farm land and the inclusion of wagons, harness, etc., among farm implements in either case. But if only half the labor has been saved, it it! easy to estimate how great a body of men fa relieved of the work of farm labor pro mta by every man engaged in the manufacture of agTicultural implements. It is, in fact, estimated by careful men, thoroughly conversant with the changes that have taken place, that in the improvement made in agricultnral tools the average farmer can, with sufficient horse-power, do with three men the work of fifteen men forty years ago, and do it better. It is ns a condition in the manufacture of agricultural implements that this saving in farm-work is here treated, and it explains the growth of great factories, the wholesale demand for their products, and the cheapness with which those products may be furnished to the farmer. But a comprehensive exhibit of this saving can on1y be made by reference to farm work, which is more or less desultory, tlle seasons of plowing and seeding in spring and fall, of cultivating growing crops, of hay-making and harvesting, m:eating imperative demands for the prompt exercise of much la,bor, other less exacting duties being made to fill in the time between these working seasons. The first of these classes of work is naturally tbe preparation of the soil. The labor of plowing may be more distributed than that of har1esting. For stony soils less saving seems feasible in this duty than in any other. Harrows and scarifiers liave long been in use, but their extensive employment for saving replowing is a modern ]_)ractice, the advance of which is shown by the immense relative increase in their manufacture. In preparing land for turnips after wheat two scarifyings (inclmling seeding) and one plowing displace four plowings and seedings, and as the draft of a scarifier may be estimated at from one-half to one-fourth that of a plow for the same speecl and width of Janel passed, the horse-labor saved is about in the ratio of four to one and two-thirds, and for six-horse gangs of cultivatol's or harrows-compared with single-plow furrows, the width of land being about as 5 feet to 5 inches-it will be seen that the saving in men's labor will be even greater. For ordinary plowing the amount plowed will not exceed that of thirty or forty years ago, lmt the comfort and the rapidity of working have been increased by sulky- or riding-plows. In the east many side-hill or reversible plows are nrnde in place of ordinary land-side plows, which leave a dead furrow, that may later interfere with the convenient opemtion of horse mowers, tedders, and rakes. The form of point, share, and mold for the best results obviousl~T differs for ever;y condition of tenacity of the soil and depth of furrow, and to meet these conditions a great variety of forms is made. Thus a prairie-breaker or a road-plow has a longer, sharper share than a stubble-, a deep-soil-, a sod-, or a trench. plow, and the heavy clay soils of Indiana and of Ohio, the sngar-lands of Louisiana., and otbeiv sections have each their series specially adapted to their crops and soil, each manufacturer making a specialty of a number of such established series. For alluvial or black, sticky soils a plow that will scour well is necessary. This is secured by making the shares of cast-steel or of chilled or patent hard metal. Of the whole number of plows made per year in this country, probably about half a million are cast-steel plows for the alluvial soil of the Mississippi valley. Some degree of interchangeability was practiced in making plo,Ys at an ea,rly period. For the same size aud series the shares are macle interchangeable, and the slip-share points and other plow pa.rts are often made remo1able aucl interchangeable, so that a single plow stock may serve for a variety of attachments, while the change of slip-share points saves shares and keeps the IJlow in running order at a comparatively small expense. But in the manufacture of plows the advantages of uniformity as an administrative feature of the work are not to be rated above other benefits resulting from the most easy and natural methods. The same is true in the manufacture of many other agricultural implements, where the forms are given by casting and finished by grinding, and it is only in such wrought-iron work or in such fine cast-iron work as requires cutting or paring by machine tools that nuiformity of work exhibits distinctive advantages in the division of labor and the system of working·. The usage of different sections in the employment of farm machinery may occasionally throw some light upon items enumerated as units, but at the same time having great differences among themselves. Thus the term plow covers all kinds, from a smaU and cheap stirring-1Jlow to an expensive sulky-plow. Handled plows are used everywhere, but the sulky-plows principally in the western farming states, being manufactured by a comparatively few large factories in that section. A single style of' sulky-plow is estimated to be in use on 60,000 farms. Two-horse and riding cultivators a1'e largely used in the West, and the screw pulverizer, which does such peculiar and effective service, was em111oyed on over 35,000 acres ofland in 1880. In New England the cultivator is mainly used with one horse for cultivating between rows of corn or of root crops. It also takes the place of the harrow in covering grain. Handled cultivator1:1 have wl1cels or runners to gauge the depth of working. The simplest 692 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 77 form of cultivator is a V- or an A-frame with cast-iron duck feet. The cultivator may l1ave pulverizing voint teeth, or these may be replaced by hoes, scooters, bull-tongues, colters, hilling wings, etc. Tobacco- and cotton-ridgers are sometimes providecl with marking wheels for making equidistant boles for seed. In the horse hoeing-machine the hoes are of an inclination adjustable by handles, so that the weeds may be neatly removed and the soi.l stirred about hills or rows of plants. It is but a moderate estimate to say that in corn a horse-hoe will do the work of five men, beside keeping the weeds under better. It also enables the farmer to finish hoeing before the haying season begins. Of harrows there is a great variety, the simplest form being an A-frame, with teeth. In order more fully to pulverize and go over the soil harrows are commonly made in sections, hinged so that they will vibrate. Spring teeth are also employed as well as ingenious contrivances which rotate the teeth as they are drawn through the soil. In fallowing (or cross-plowing) a well-known form of disk-harrow, which operates by cutting the soil into thin slices and breaking these by the oblique setting of the disks, is claimed to do more a.ncl better work than six plows. · Seed-drills and fertilizer distrilrnters are commonly also cultivators. The walking-drills have tongues, shovels, hoes, or brake-pin teeth, and the riding-drills have points pressed down by springs, the seed being automatically fed through ducts or so-called shoes or boots, the quantity being adjustable. Seed-drills sow from one to eight or more rows at a time, the spacing of the rows being sometimes variable. Cottonseed, with the fiber, is sowed after being preparecl with ~"solution, to i1revent the seed from sticking- together. The first two-rowed cotton-JJlanter was made in 1879, one-ro\ved planters being previously used. The seed is pressed by following-wheels. vVith the two rowed planter it is claimed that one man and a mule will do the work formerly requiring six men and four mules. Combining as they do cultivating and seeding, seed-drills effect their saving doubly as compared with haml seeding and hand cultivating. A one-horse check-row corn-planter plants 8 or 10 acres a day; a two-horse eight-shoe planter plants 16 or 17 acres of rice a day. In hay-making a good tedder will llo the work of ten or :fifteen men in spreading and turning hay, and self. dump riding-rakes enable a farmer's boy to do the hand work of about five men. Of .band-reaping nearly a thircl of the labor is in binding into sheaves. The performance of this haml work by machinery was begun during the past decade in the introduction of self-binding harvesters, working with t\vine or with wire, and these machines involve a high degree of mechanical ing·ennity in their design, as well as of efficiency in operation. Under ordinary conditions, reapers will go over 15 or 20 acres a day. A. :;;elf-binder will CLlt and bind 15 acres a day, and one of these machines has been known to work a.t the rate of 30 sheaves a, mhmte. It is considered that with the average of mowers, reapers, and hmTesters one man and a pair of llorses will do the work of eight men. Mamrnl delivery reapers are used by the smaller farml101llers in the East or elsewhere. In thrashing, the capacity of machines varies with the size and the speed of cylinders. Tbe efficiency of the means of separation also varies. On headers in California one 25 110rse-power thrasher has thrashed over G,000 bushels of wheat in a day, requiring- ten ll.eaders (reapers that cut off the hencls of the gra.in) and thirty-six header. wagons, and keeping four men busy filling and four sewing sacks. With ordina.ry thrashers perlrnps ten bUl->hels of wheat per horse-power per hour is a good average, although better showings are often obtained. Oats slrnll easily and thrash twice as rapidly as wheat. In the great wheat states large thrashers or separators itre usecl with steam power. If horse-11ower is used, the lever-powers are more common; but in New England and the East the tread powers are preferred, being commonly used with one, two, or three horses. The so-called ground-hog thrashers (not mounted upon wheels) are somewhat used in Kentucky and Tennessee, and similar fixed machines are used in New England, the power beh1g the lever in tlle former and the trea(l in the latter case. With a simple hand-thrasher used in New England, one man turning and one feeding, 10 bushels of oats per hour may be tllrashed. The efficiency of the simple work of thrashing by machine and by fl.ails may be est.imn,ted in contrast n,t twelve or :fifteen to one for the human labor emvloyecl, without regarcl to the separating llone by the machine, wllich, com11ared with baud winnowing, would probably show an equal saving. Horse-power is recommended for thrashers requiring six horse-power or less and steam-power for thrashers requiring 8 horse-1Jower or more, and it is said that a steam-engine wm pay for itself on a farm of upward of 200 acres. In the more settled sections steam is cheaper than horse-power, and horses are necessary for many classes of work to which steam-power has not been adapted; but for heavy work in thrashing, steam-power is notably cheaper and more rapid than horse-power, and in some sections the power applied in thrashing during the harvesting· season is at other times used for wood-sawing, cotton-ginning, mming, or light mannfact1uing. Much of the labor saved by improvement in agricultural tools is not to be found in any financial equivalent, but it exists in 1ihe greater ease of farm life, the shortening of the day's labor m1cl of seasons of heavy work, ancl in other comforts of living. In the matter of householcl furnishing, persons brought up in the enjoyment of many luxuries do not comprehend that they are the result of saved labor, beQause the;y have no realizing sense of the bare :floors, the unplasterecl walls, the thatched roofs, and unpainted exteriors common to the ordinary conditions of farm life half a century ago-conditions as luxurious aR a roan could earn with the ox-plow, the hoe, the spade, the scythe, 603 78 MANUFACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM the cradle, the hand-rake, the hay.fork, the fl.ail, and the hand-fan; and to gain an idea of how many fold in the intrinsic results of labor present conditions are superior to those of the past we must coutmst their cost with that of the barest necessities of livh}g. In former times, moreover, agricultural produce was not subject to so much frejghting a11d mercantile handling. The mercantile handling of some products (notably fruits and hay) has lmd an immense growth within the past few years; but in former times a much larger population lived in the country upon the immediate products of farms, and a relatively smaller number in the manufacturing and commercial centers. Smaller money ya,lnes, therefore, were used in moYing and handling food, and a person whose mind naturally reverts to the most plenteous harvests whose })roduce was given away or destroyed, but who has come from the farm to a city or town life, in which every article of food must be bought witll money, may hav-e no realizing sense of the fact that food is obtainable in greater quantity and variety for a less ex1)e11diturc of labor now than ever before. These considerations are stated, not cligressivcl~y, but simply to show that the remarkable statements of labor saved from the use of agricultural machinery are not inconsistent with the present prices of farm produce or the pr1:;sent conditions of farm life. Since the majority of farmers ai'e already farm proprietors, employing an av-erage of less than a laborer each, ancl since many conditions combine to forbid the enlargement of farms7 it may be considered that the avaihible labor-saving efficiency has been nearly reached. Almost every comparison of agricultural statistics illustrates the influences of improvement in agricultural machinery. The relatively larger employment of horses in place of working-oxen, as evidenced by statistics, is chiefly due to improved machinery. The ox is not swift enough for labor-saving riding implements; and harrows, riding cultivators, sulky-plows, screw pulverizers, and the whole range of haying and harv-esting implements, are drawn by horses, the ox being only employed for carting and heavy plowing and harrowing. Taking three stntes for example, we form the following table : MASSACHUSETTS. Ratio of horses Year. Horses. Work-cattle. to work cattle. 1------1 ----'!------1850 ...•••••••••.••••• 42,210 40, 011 o. 91 1860 .•••••••.••••••••. 47, 780 38, 221 1. 25 1870 .•••••••• - •••••... 41, 039 24, 430 1.68 ------~~~·------ OHIO. 1850 .••..••••••..••... ! 403, 397 I 65, 381 7. 09 I 1800 •••• ---········· ·:1 025, 340 08, 078 9. 91 1870 ..•••••• - ••..••••. GOO, 722 23, 606 25.82 I I ILLINOIS. 1850 ••••.••••••••••••• 207, 653 I 76, 150 3. 51 1860 ••••••••••..•..••• 563, 736 90, 380 0. 28 1870 ••• --···········-· 853, 738 10, 766 43.19 I These figures from former census years are very instrnctiv-e in exhibiting the tendencies in the growth of the usa.ge of improved agricultural tools. They also illustrate the difference in rapidity of working practica.ble on the prairies of the West, as compared with the stony and hilly land of New England, especially in tlle preparation of the soil. \:Vhile the value of agricultural implements manufactured per annum in the entire Union has increased nearly ·one-third since 1870, the production has generally fallen off in the New England and the middle states on account of the employment of the facilities for other manufacturing pur11oses. But in Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont the development of large factories devoted to agricultural specialties has more than compensated for the general falling off, the in·oclnction in Maine having nearly trebled, while in Vermont it has increased b;r over one-third and in Massactmsetts by nearly two-thirds. In New.York also, in which state t:he production has fallen off slightly, and in Pennsylvania, where it has barely held its own, the general falling off has been much greater, having been more or less compensated by the growth of a few centers of manufacture. The increasecl production in the southern states has been relatively considerable, but not great in itself, with the notable exception of Georgia, in which state the production has increased nearly eight-fold, a rate only exceeded in Minnesota. In Indiana the production has more than doubled, while in Michigan the rate of increase has been nearly in the same ratio, and in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin it has increased by over one-half. 694 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENrrs. 79 MATERIALS. After a careful study of the statistics of the manufacture of agricultura.l implements, it can only be said that the varfatio11s in tbe implied ratios of product to material appear due to a confluence of causes, of which no assignable ones are sufficiently distinctive to estabfo:h very decided rules; but the high ratios of product to material will often be found in those sections wbere manufacturing is not pursued effectively, or in large factories, and the low Tntios in the great centers of manufacture for agricultural implements. Where for a similar class of work the value of the material appears only doubled or less than doubled in large factories, in sections where the manufacture must bL1 imrsue<1 on a small scale the value is sometimes'increased four or five fold. The principal significance of this is that labor is applied with greate1· system am] advantage in the large factory, ancl its value rnlnt.iye to the Yalue of material is thereby diminished; but of course inefficient aud desultory labor can only com11ete with highly orgimizecl h1bor to an e:xtent limited by Jocal demand, trans11ortation facilities, and other conditions of trade. The influences tlue to organized 8ystem in rua1rnf'acturo in determining the ratio of prmlnct to material will be found more marked tJian ilrn iufluenccs of tlie cost of materials in different sections of the country, or even than those due to the different kinds of implements manufactured. In the cost of the more essential materials the variation is more nota.ble from time to time than from section to section. The sources of' supply for pig-iron, wood, and eoal are so widely diffused, and the mearrn of transportntion are so readily available,, that the cost of wood ancl of iron at least will be found to vary onl;r 12 or 15 per cent. for tlie more important manufacturing sections, while a few months may show a greater fluctuation in the market at New York. The cost of eoal is not of sufficient importance to determine the location of factories in sections where it may be most cheaply obtained unless these sections are also great agricultural fields. In New York and in Illinois coal is higher tlrnn in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio; and in Wisconsin, Michignu, Minnesota, Iowa, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Georgia, antl other important manufacturing states it is very much higher, sometimes two or three times as high as in the five prominent coal states meutionecl. For the limited manufactures of less-settled sections a small quantity of material is often obtainable at a small cost, while the locality woulll be unable to contiune tlie sbowi11~· upon a larger scale. Tlrns, in a frontier state, where IJig-iron rules bigh, an anomalous appea,rance might result feom the purchase of a lot of scrap at lower than iron region prices. The statistics of manufactures are fall of such special instances, which make exception to metliodical ratios and caution us to rest our conclusions only upon a wide survey. The more elaborate the product the le.ss, of conrse, sliould be the relative value of materials, but the extremely variable conditions of fabor and of demand in tlie different sections are sufficient to obscure tlie distinction. More labor is also expended relative to the quantity and the value of' material employed n1)on some hand tools than upon more complex constructions. Thus tlie same value of material put into shovels and into riding-harrows would acquirn a considerably greater value in the former than in the latter case. Under similar conditions, and apart from occasional exceptions, the Yalue of material relatiYe to product is greatest in common drag-harrows, plows, and wood tools; next in horse.rakes, seed-drills, and cultivators; next in fanning-mills, thrashers, and separators; and least in mowers and reapers Plows, bei11g mnde nearly everywhei'e, exhibit the widest. range of ratios; but the manufacture of complex mechanism, such as that of harvesters and se11a1'ators, is, with few exceptions, confined to those factories where the work is pursued effectively with l1 system of interchangeability and the division of labor which it entails, so that, despite the intrinsic work done, the value of the product is often less than double that of the material. Given a well-organized system of manufacture, with a close division of labor, and complex products can be produced as cheaply as simple ones, and the added labor and expenses do not give a large increase to the value of the material. In sections whose facilities permit the manufacture of composite machines only fo the old-time way, one man or a, few men doing all tihe work upon a machine, tbe process is so slow as to be almost prohibitory when (by means of transportation) it is brought into corn1)etition with the results of modern and im1wovecl systems. But simple products, which involve little or no division of labor, can be made upon a small scale, perhaps not as aclvantageousl;y as in large quantities, but still at a disadvantage so small as to be counterbn,lanced by neamess to a limited and local market. Hespecting the values of wood ancl of iron and steel used, the value of wood is usua1ly the greater in fanning· mills, corn-shellers, grain-cradles, etc., and sometimes in thrashers and separators. In 11lows, cultivators, and harrows, and in mowers and reapers, the Yalue of iron and steel is the greater, as it also commonly is in horse powers, horse-rakes, and gra.in-drills. The classification in this respect is an obvious one, the wood tools and set machinery framed in wood being on one side, and the plows and riding machinery, largeJy composed of iron castings, on the other, the relative values of the materials being less distinctly emphasized in the lighter riding machinery. In every state plo'.vs and agricultural castings are manufactured so largel,y as to rednee the relative value of wood, which is usually less than 40 per cent., ancl in the majority of states less than 30 per cent. of the value of all materials. The manufacture of iron mowers an cl some forms of seecl-clrills requires a refatiYely smaller value of wood thain for plows, and has its influence upon the aggregate ratios of such states as New York and Ohio, 695 so M.ANUF.ACTURES OF INTERCHANGEABLE MECHANISM. while in Vermont t!le manufacture of bay-rakes, etc., and in Minnesota and in California of thrashers and separators, may be instanced as producing a contrary effect. Of the values of metal ancl of woocl used the followiiJg table gives the ratios by states: ====-===--===-----=-=-======~:=P=e=rc=e=n=ta=g=e~l=P=e=~=ce=n=ta=g=e==c=ll======-~-=-=-=;-=-=P=e~=.ce~.n=t=ag=o=7r=P=-ct=·-c::::-;e- States. I of wood, of ironsteel. and II """'· o< woo ~:l~~:::~~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::J ~~I !~ 1: ~~~::!:~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~:I ~~ Delaware...... 40 i 51- ,; North Carolina...... 24 70 25 75 ~:~~e~;;~~~~~1_::: :::: :: ::: :::::: ::::::::::: :: :::::::; :: i ~~ ii!•', ~J;:ciaon:~s111':n::::::.::::: ::::-.· :_::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 25 75 Vermont ...... [ 38 1 24 76 Oregon ...... ' 38 02 jl :ll~ss.ac:ms:tts ...... 23 77 :Minnesota...... ! 30 I o~ " ::U1ss1ss1ppi...... 22 78 ltho :Nebraska ...... j 34 ! 21 70 Rausa" .. ·--···-·--...... ·•·•••··• ...... 1 33021 17 83 ~khigan ...... ' 1 16 8-l lfarylun I . ,P ' Per cent. of j Per <'Ont. of Op erativos I material . Operatives mntoriltl States. JlCl" est ab- I unspecified i States. mr cstab· unR11cci1lell lishment. to all i Iishment. to all materhlL i material. ------1--·---1 I ------Ohio ...... 10 2-2 Minnesota ...... !~ ! !~ II ~~:~i·~·.-.·.·_-.-.-.-.-.-.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 10 14 Massachusetts ...... 33 811 Muryland ...... 0 13 Illinois ...... •• .. ·: • .. • ••• •••••• · · .. · 33 28 Missouri...... _...... 9 6 Uu11necticnt . -- .. -- ...... _.. __ - -- . -- ...... - - . 7 15 Indiana ...... :: ~;, )I ~=:=::s·c·~::::::·.:::::::::·:.-.·.-.·.-.·.-.:::::::::::::::::: 5 10 New York ...... 7 20 'Visconsin ...... ··-·--...... 22 Maine._ .... -----· ...... ---·--- ...... --- ~~ ~~ :I EE:~::~i~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 5 8 Micl1iga11 ...... 14 37 :I Mississippi ...... 14 California ...... 14 21 II North Carolina ...... 5 22 I, Georgia ...... 5 25 Vermont ...... 13 ~~ I ~::;::':~~:::: : ::.'." _- ::: :::: ::: : ::: : : : : : : : : :: ::: : : : :: : 4 18 Iowa ...•.....•....•• : ..•.•••••••.••...•...•••.••••... 13 22 Rhode Island ...... 4 17 Kentucky ...... 1 12 31 Nebraska ...... 4 5 South Carolina ...... · 1 12 25 Arkansas ...... 2 30 Pennsylvania: ...... 111 18 . .Alabama ...... 22 Newllarnpshlro ...... IO I 281 I Exceptions will, of course, be noted, but if we take the averages of over ten ancl under eleven operatives per establishment, as given by states, the value of material other than wood, iron, ancl steel will appear as 24 per cent. in the former against 17 per cent. in the latter case. Of the more notable exceptions, ~Llso, in Massachusetts and in Oonnecticnt, tbe most important items of manufacture are shovels and hoes, which require but a small value in mill supplies, and in the case of Arkansas the peculiarity of the showing is due to one or two shops, whose product conveys no apparent justification for the disproportionate -value of other material consumed. l!'or the three census years, 1860, 1870, and 1880, the values of material, product, and product less material per given number of operatives, compared with the showing of 1850 as a unit, appear as follows: 1850. 1860, 1870, 1880. I ------I Material ...... 1 1.12 2.51 2. 35 I Product ...... 1 1. 24 I 2,17 1.83 Product less material .•.... 1 1. 31 1. 90 1. 54 f I 696 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 81 The ratio of product to material wa,s, in 1850, 2.80; in 1860, 3.11; in 1870, 2.42; and in 1880, 2.18. In 1870 the prices of materials may be said to have been high, with a stubborn downward tendency; in 1880 much lower (we may say roundly one-sixth), but rising with great fluctuations. It is considered that 10 per cent. moro material was actually handled per operative in the manufacture of agricultural implements in 1880 than in 1870. The falling off of the ratio of product to material, which has progressed since 1860, is doubtless due in part to the labor saved by more wholesale manufacture, but probably in some degree to the more direct influences of competition, and also to the fuller returns of mill supplies in the later census years. There are require CAPITAL. The returns of capital employed in 1880 in the manufacture of agricultural implements are comparatively satisfactory. Capital is often invested with pecutiar vagueness. Investments are maintained by continual and often ill-accounted expense, which may sometimes amount to more than the preservation of the former conditions, and thus become an additional investment. Most factories grow, not by oue investment, nor even hy a few well-defined investments, but by gradual accessions more or less merged with the necessary running expenses. But the returns in this instance are as definite as the conditions will admit, showing both diligence in the enumeration arnl integrity in making the returns. The ca1)ital investment sl10uld include the value of lanu, buildings, and machinery, and the surplus funds necessary to provide for stock, wages, and other expenses. Some of these expem;es, such as rental, might be consistently esteemed the interest of a larger principal really invested in the business. The capital investment returnetl seems full enough to cover the items which have been enumerated as essential to the manufacture, and to express what the manufacturers unclersta.nd their inyestment to be. It is therefore consistent with itself. The manufacture of agricultural implements may, as a whole, be classified into blacksmithing, foundery work, wood-working, machining, grinding, and fitting or assembling. These may be ranged in the order of the capital usuaUy required : 1. Machining and assembling. 2. Wood-working and assembling. 3. Foundery work, machining, and assembling. 4. Fo1mdery work and grinding. 5. J3lacksmithing and grinding. Under the first head we would na,turally place the manufacture of the finer class of iron and steel machinery; for example, reapers and self-binders; butfoundery work will, in connection, form an important item, and may bring the req11ire111ent below that of the second head, under which would come the manufacture of thrashers, separators, etc. Plows and agricultural castings would come mainly under the fourtll, and shovels, hoes, and agricultural forgings under the fifth head. Any high degree of assembling requires co11siderable capital, as it implies an organized system of making interchangeable work and machinery for making tolern,bly exact cuts, and also requires large :floor and storage space. Wood-working often requires large space, much power, and costly machinery, and foundery work requires a larger expense for real estate, fuel, :flasks, etc., than is usually requirncl for the blacksmith's forge, even when it is associa,ted with a few :trip-hammers and bending presses. In this manufacture as a whole the capital i)er hnudred operatives was, for the entire Union, in successive census years, as follows: · .A.mount. Rutio • 1850 .•.••• -····· ..•..•....••.... ------···•·· -----· ..•.•• ------·-· ..•••..••••• ····-- .•.. $49,3G5 1. 00 18GO ••...•.•...... ••.••.•••••.•..•..•. _. ___ •..•.••.•..••••.•••. _. •... ___ •• ______••••. 77,47G 1. 57 1870 -• -•• - ••• - • - .••••• -•. - ••• - • - -. - - • - .• - •. - ....•· ..••••..•.••. --. -. - - - -•• - •. -•.•• -. - .•••••... - 137,9G4 2.79 1880. - -. -.•••.• - -•. -•• - - . - •••• -•••••. - •• -... -• -...•. - - '. -.••.• -- • - .••••..•• - ••.•• - -•... - .••••. 156,921 3. 17 being now about three times as great as in 1850 and twice as great as in 1860. These figures are believecl to mark with great accuracy the progressive development of organized system in the manufacture. LABOR. For the principal fourteen counties the average of wages paid lJer operative per annum is $449; for the rest of the United States, $355; but if the labor is one-fomth more costly per man for the large factories, the value of material handled per man is as $1,055 to $657, or over 50 per cent. more, and the product per operative is as $2,178 to $1,494. SYSTEM AND PROCESSES. Ii+ the cases of locomotives, sewing-machines, gnus, and other products the known conditions of rnannfacture are so far uniform that the numbers of a speciiiecl piece of mechanism that may be produced }Jer operative per annum may be stated with some degree of ap1iroximation, showing progress in contrast with what it lrns been in the past. But the manufacture of agricultural implements, except in its cruder and simpler products, was not developed until after the era of improved machinery began, and at the same time the work is so largely pursued in all imrts of the countr,y that, while a great number of illustrations are readily obtainable, the conditions of mauufaetnre, the character of the defi1ied impleinent, and the efficiency of the la·bor are much more variable. Apart from other investigations, the statistical tables themselves afford scope for some curious comparisons, bntnot without f~ sufficiently definite understanding of the chamcter of the proclucts enumerated. For some of the simpler implements the weight is a partial criterion of the expense of manufacture. By th<: pound~ a plow costs about double the cost of a cultivator and about treble that of an ordinary harrow. A handled 698 AGRIOUVI1URAL IMPLEMENTS. SB plow also costs more per i)ound than a riding-plow, the proper plow parts usually costing more for the same weight than the running-gear. The weight of a plow of a given style will increase very nearly in proportion to the wiclth of cut, being about 50 pounds for an 8 and 100 pounds for a 16 inch cut; but foreign plows usually weigh vastly more fort.he sa.rne deptll and width of furrow. A riding· culth·ator may weigh about 300 pounds, and a sulky-plow of the "Gilpin" type weighs 450 pounds, while large harrows, as commonly used, will weigh between 100 and 200 ]JOtrnds each. ~f we fake an average plow of about 12 inches cut, weighing 75 pounds, we may estimate an average product per operative for large worlrn at about 120 plows pet annum; or, if we take a plow weighing as much as au ordinary famil;v sewing-machine, it may cost the bu;yer about half as much as the sewing-machine, but the number made per aim nm rier opern,tive will be about the same as in makin'i sewing-ma< hines. In this comparison much must be allowed for the higher organization and effectiveness of sewing-machine manufacture, and in practice the productive efficiency in i1low manufacture is often much less tlian sta,ted. It is found that where Omen make plows at the rate of ()6 per annum each, 180 men make a similar plow at the rate of 110 per annum eacll, wholesale work nearly doubling the efficiency per man. Whether we take the prod1i.ct in value or in numbers of implements, it will usually be, per 01)erative, much smaller for small shops than for large factories; but occasionally in the statistical tables a large apparent product per man will be obt.ainecl in a very small shop, which is due to the fact that the labor of the proprietor assists, but is not reportecl with that of the one. or two men employed. Iu like manner we might estimate that, per operative i}er annum, the average thrasher and separator mjght be produced at the rate of 8 or 20, the average mower at the rate of 40 or 50, the average harvester at the rate of 15 or 20, the average horse-rake at 50 or 60, disk riding-harrows at about 125, shovels at the rate of 200 dozen, and hoes at the rate of 300 dozen-results accomplished by organized system and division of labor; but these figures are intended to convey an idea of average and not of the most effective production. For this whole range of manufacture the founclery may be considered the most essential department. In this the principal source of improvement is in more convenient forms of flask, and, simple as the change may seem, if an improved hiuge(l fl.~1sk is capable of only slightly increasing the daily work of a molder the aggregate a(lvantage for a large force is very great, often greater than may be derivecl from more pretentious labor-saving appliances. If we compare the practice in a large plow foundery with that in a large sewing-machinefouudery, we fi.ml that per man less weight of metal is used and the ca.stings for fewer plows tha11 sewing-machines a1·e made; but for the same floor space a greater weight of plow than of sewing-machine castings is made, and there are more men to the same floor space for the plow than for the sewing-machine parts. The difference in ]}roduction may be in great measure attribntetl to the employment of molding machinery in the latter case. For large plow-castings molding machinery is not used, but it is em1}loyecl to a limited extent in making the small agricultural machine <;astings to which bench molding is applicable. Cast-steel plow parts are commonly forged from the cast-steel by hammers or rolls, but the cast steel is sometimes recast into plows. In plow-making·, if the })lows are chilled, hard metal, or recast steel plows, the foundery is tlie principal de])artment, but if the plow parts are forged from C Page. Page. Agricultural implements, geographical c1istribution ofmn,nu- Drilling truekframes ..••....•••..••••. ·-···· --·· •.•. ·-·-·· 58 fo.cture __ ...... - .... _... --.•... __ •... - • -- . -••••.. - -- . -. . . 70 Drilling watch-pivots ..•.. ---·: •..•.•••...••....•....•••.• 63 Agricultural irnplemouts, growth of industry .. _ .•.. -. 72, 73, 74, 75 Drills, belted .... -.. - .....•.. -..•. -.. ---... -.. - ..•.. -- . -- . - 57 Americn,n system adoptecl in foreign countries ...• -.... _ • . • • 3, 4 Drivers, locomotives with gen.reel. .••.•..••••. ·- .. -- ··-..•.. 44 Americn,n system in fire-arms, historical sketch of...... 2 Drop-forging gun-pn.rts ...•.... __ ... _. _... _•...... •.. rn American system in watch mn,king...... • . .. 60 Drop-forging, machines used in __ ..•.•.. _•...... -. _•..••.. 20,21 Ammunition, manufacture of. .•.•...•. -... - • -...•.. -- . --- .. 30 Drop-forging sewing-machine hooks ..••..•••. --·-·····---·· 37 Annealing cn,rtriclge shells .... -...... -· --- --· ___ ••.... --. -· 30 Drop-forging shuttles .. __ ....••••.•••••. __ ..•. _..•. ___ ..... 37 Annen,ling sewing-mn,chine parts ...... ·---·· .•.•.. ·--·--·· 113 Edging gun-parts ...•..•...... •.••...... •... ··--·· 26 Anviling cn,rtridges ... - ...... _...... - .. - ----·. -- --- . -- -- 31 Edging trigger-guards . _•.•.....•....••...•.••..••.••...... 26 Attendn,nce on sewing-machine tools ..•••••.••• _. _. _- ... _-. 41 Edging watch-briclges ···--·· •.•. -···-· ·----· ....•. -··· ••.. 63 Balance-making (wn.tches). -_.. ____ •• __ . -.•.... __ ...... - . . 66 End-shaking jewels .• _.•• __ .....•..•.•. __ .•.. __ .. ----. ___ .• 65 Barrel-bcdcling...... 17 Equalizing ben,ms in locomotives ..• _._ .. _•.•...... ••••• 44 Batteries of lathes ...... : -- ...... ·--. --- ..•...... '... 39 Export of agricultural implements ...•...... •.••. ·-·· .•.... 85 Bayonet-rolling . __ .....•....•• _.. -• _.... _- .. _.. _...... 20 Face-milling ·····- ..•.....•. ···- .•..••...••. ····-· .•...... 24 Betlding stock trimmings ...... •••••. _.. _. . • • . • . . . . • • . . . . . 17 J;'iling to jigs ...... ••..••••.•.••.... _..... -• --..•.. _ .• -- .. 3 Bol t-cntting .....••.. -. - .••••••.....•. ___ . _.. _.. _ . -.... -. . . 56 Flonting-out rifling .••. -· ___ • __ ._ ...... __ 10 Brazing on sights ...... ----·-·.------·...... 29 J;'orgiug gun-barrels ....•. _..... _.••. _.. _....•• -.•..•...... 8 Broaching mortises 'in gnu parts . _. _.... _ . _. __ ...... 29 Forging locomotivo ft am es .. _.-.- ...... _...... --.. 50 Building locomotives, time of .••••.... __ ..••••.. _...... • . . . 57 Forging pistol-barrels···-- •••. --·· ...... ••••...... 8 Bulfot-makiug ...•••...•. -.•..•••...... - ... __ •.•• -...... 31 Fork-niaking ... - ...... -- -· ...... -.· .....•. -- .. -·. - 83 Cain-cutting ... - _•....• -.... -... - .. -. . . • ...... • ...... 37 Foundery work, im1irovements in plow manufacture •...... • 83 Cabs (locomotive) first used ..•••... -...... __ ...... -. . 45 Foundery work, improvements hl sewing-machino manufac- Capital in arms manufacture ..••••...... ••..•..••.•. ·--··· 4,5 turo ...• _ ..... _ . _.....•.•....•.• _•••. _____ .••.....•.•..•. 33 Capital in locomotive manufacture ...... ·----·-----·----·· 49 Gauges in locomotive work .... ---· ...•...... •••. ---- ...... 47 Capital in manufacture of agricultural implements ...... 82 Gaugos, receiver, in gun work . _..... _- . - ...•.••.•.••...... 3 Capital in manufacture of sewing-machines . -. _. _ ..•..... -- 33, 34 Gear-cutting in clock work ..•.•..••.• _ . _. --.. - .••..• -.... . 69 Capital in watch making . _...... •...... 61, 68 Gear-cutting in scwiug-run,chiue work ..... -•. -- .•...... - .. . 38 Cartridge varnishing ...••••..•. _.... _.•... _...... --. . . • • . . 32 Gear-cutting in w1tte11 work ...•.•• ··-·-· ...... ···'-···-··· 63 Center bearings in turning gun-barrels .... _•..•. _- .. -...... 9 Geographical clistributiou of mannfaetnre, agricultural im- Channel-rolling bullets ..•...... -.••.•. _- ...... • .• .. 31 plements .•....•••...•...... •..•..•...... -··· •.•....••. 71, 75 Chilled truck wheels--··...... 44 Gilcling watch-movement'!.--··-··- .....•.••..•.••.••.. ---- 65 Chipping arnl filing locomotive work.-----··-----·······-·· 53 Grinding gun-barrels .....•.•...••••. ··-····-·-··...... D Chucking lathe, three-way ..... --·· ... -- .... - _..... --·. ·-.. 40 Grinding, surface ancl round, in sewing-machine. w01·k. -· ••• 39 Chucking lathes in gun work -... __ ...•.•••.••.•••...... •.. 27 Grooving needles ...•..•.••.. ---·-· ...•..•.•••. -···--·-···· 41 Chucking machinery for pini.ons •..••••.•. __ ..... -.. -... -.. 64 Gun-bitrrels, manufacture of ...... • _••.... - .. -• . • • . • • . . • . . . 6 Chu eking machines iu sewing-machine work ..• _•..•...... 38 Gun-Rtocks, manufacture of .• -• -..•.••.•..... -- . -•.••.. - . • • 13 ~ Chnek for plate work in watches .... ___ -··--- .••••...... -· 63 I-fair-spring making ....•••...•·• _••.••••.. -..•..•• -• - . --- •• 66 Coal. (See Materials.) Hcacling cartriclge-shells. _- .. _. - _. .•••••.••· •... -..• - ....•• -. 32 Coal used in arms factories··-·-· .••••..••••••••••....••••• 1 Heacls, milling sewing-ma.chine·----· .••••.••.• ···- .... --·· ~'18 Coal used in barrel-rolling ..••••..•.••.•.••••••••.... ·---·· tl I-Iook-rifling ... : . _..•• _••.•..•.. _.••.•.•...••.•..•.••... -. . 11 Cold pressing ...... •••..•.••..••••...•.••.•••....•. 21 Iuside-connectecl engines .•....••• -•. _.•...•..•. -- . --... -. . 44 Cold-rolled iron .•....•.• -··· .••••...... •••....•....•••..• 50 Interchangeability in gun work .•.•..• - .. - .•.....•.. -- .. - . 2, 3, 12 Counter-boring treaclle bearings .• _.. __ .... _.. __ .•.•.••....• 40 Interchan"eability in locomotive work ...... • --··...... 48 Consolidation type of locomotive .. __ ....••.. _..••.•.. -.•.. 45 Iuterehau~eability in plows .••. -· --- ..•••• , •....••.••. ---·-· 7G Cupping cartridge shells .....•..•.... ··--·· ..•• -··· ••••.... 30 Interchangeability in watch work .•.•• _.... -- ....•.•••.••. - 60 Cuts on sewing-machine parts .•••.• ···--· .••••. --·· .•...... 37 Interchangeable breech-screws .•. -- ..... - ....••..•.. - , .• . • . 12 Cutting off and centering axles _•... _•••..•• -•.. _••••.•. - .. 56 Interchangeable system, tlevelopment of the...... 2,3 Cutting watch pillars ...•..•••••.•. _...•• -••••.• -...• -.... 63 Interchange attem1itecl in France -··· •..•.••...•••. -··· .... 2 Cylinder-boring machine •... -··· ·-·· ••••••••••••..••..••.• 55 Jewel-making ... -- __ .. _..•....• -••.... -·· ... -.•••.•.. - . ... 65 Cylinders, locomotive .••.•.•.•••.•.•••••..••••..•.. ·-.·· .•.. 45 Jigging or edging machines .•••••.•.••..•.•.. --·-··...... 26 Dial making .... ·---·· ..•••....•..•••••.••••.••••... ··---- 64 Jigs usecl iu gun work .•.••.••. -- -· .••.•••...... •.. --·- 3 Die-forging. (Sec Drop-forging.) Labor, clivisiou and efficiency: Dies, jumper ··--·· ··---· ·--·-· ----·· ···--· .•..••.••••••.•. 20 In gun-making·-··-·---···-·-·······-·· ...••.....•... 5 Drawing cartridge shells .....••••.••• ~--·-···-·---···-···· 30 In locomotive work .•.•.....• ·-·-···-•....••.•. ··--·· 49, 50 Drifting mortises in gun work ...•...... --·· .•••.•..•...•... 29 Iu pistol-making .. _._ ..•••••..••• - ...•..•.•• -. . . • • • • • 5 Drilling boiler-plate ..•••.•...••..•.•...••• --···--· ..•. --·· 51,52 In wateh-making ...•.... _....•••••.••••.•.•.... -- .•• 64 Drilling castors ..•....•.••..•••••.••••...•• _...••...... - 39 Labor, female: Drilling for 1·amrods ..•• _••.• _•... _..• _. - .•.••..•...... 18 In clock-making_ ..••••..•.•..• _.•..•••.•.•• --•.• - . • . 69 Drilling gun-barrels ••••...... •...... •..••••. ······-·· 6,7,8 In watch-making ...•.... _..•.•.•••. _- .••.. - .••..•. -. 62 Drilling to jigs ..••.. ···--· ..•.•.•••...••...•••.• , .•. --···· 27 I Labor saved by cold pressing···--·...... 22 703 ' 88 INDEX. Page. Page. Lalrnr save