~HOW CHINA IS MADE~
Many different kinds of raw materials are required to produce the clay
from which china is formed, and these ingredients come from widely
separated localities. Clays from Florida, North Carolina, Cornwall and
Devon. Flint from Illinois and Pennsylvania. Boracic acid from the
Mojave Desert and Tuscany. Cobalt from Ontario and Saxony. Feldspar
from Maine. All these and more must enter into the making of every
piece.
[Illustration: Grinders for reducing glazing materials.]
These materials are reduced to fine powder and stored in huge bins.
Between these bins, on a track provided for the purpose, the workmen
push a car which bears a great box. Under this box is a scale for
weighing the exact amount of each ingredient as it is put in, for too
much of one kind of clay or too little of another would seriously
impair the quality of the finished china.
[Illustration: Mill for pulverizing materials.]
From bin to bin this car goes, gathering up so many pounds of this
material and so many pounds of that, until its load is complete. Then
it is dumped into one of the great round tanks called “blungers,” where
big electrically driven paddles mix it with water until it has the
consistency of thick cream. From the blungers this liquid mass passes
into another and still larger tank, called a “rough agitator,” and is
there kept constantly in motion until it is released to run in a steady
stream over the “sifters.”
These sifters are vibrating tables of finest silk lawn, very much
like that used for bolting flour at the mills. The material for
china making strains through the silk, while the refuse, including
all foreign matter, little lumps, etc., runs into a waste trough and
is thrown away. From the sifters the liquid passes through a square
box-like chute, in which are placed a number of large horseshoe
magnets, which attract to themselves and hold any particles of harmful
minerals which may be in the mixture.
After leaving the magnets the fluid is free from impurities, and is
discharged into another huge tank called the “smooth agitator.” While
the fluid is in this tank a number of paddles keep it constantly in
motion.
[Illustration: Pressing the water from the clay.]
From the smooth agitator the mixture is forced under high pressure into
a press where a peculiar arrangement of steel chambers packed with
heavy canvas allows the water to escape, filtered pure and clear, but
retains the clay in discs or leaves weighing about thirty pounds each.
From the presses this damp clay is taken out to the “pug mills,” where
it is all ground up together, reduced to a uniform consistency, and
cut into blocks of convenient size. It is now ready to use. Automatic
elevators carry it to the workmen upstairs.
[Illustration: Molding Dishes. The racks to the left are full of molds
on which the clay is drying.]
[Illustration: Molding sugar bowls and covered dishes.]
~HOW THE DISHES ARE SHAPED~
The exact process of handling the clay differs with articles of
different shapes. Some are molded by hand in plaster of paris molds of
proper shape, while others are formed by machine. To make a plate, for
example, the workman takes a lump of clay as large as a teacup. He lays
this on a flat stone, and with a large, round, flat weight, strikes it
a blow which flattens the material out until it resembles dough rolled
out for cake or biscuits, only instead of being white or yellow it is
of a dark gray color. A hard, smooth mold exactly the size and shape
of the inside of the plate is at hand. Over this the workman claps the
flat piece of damp clay. Then the mold is passed on to another workman,
who stands before a rapidly revolving pedestal, commonly known as the
potter’s wheel. On this wheel he places the mold and its layer of clay.
He then pulls down a lever to which is attached a steel scraper. As the
plate rapidly revolves, this scraper cuts away the surplus clay, and
gives to the back of the plate its proper form. The plate, still in its
mold, is placed on a long board, together with a number of others, and
shoved into a rack to dry. One workman with two helpers will make 2,400
plates per day. It is fascinating to watch the molders’ deft hands at
work swiftly changing a mass of clay into perfectly formed dishes. Such
skilled workmen are naturally well paid.
[Illustration: Interior of a kiln showing how the “saggers” are packed
for firing.]
When the clay is sufficiently dry, the plate is taken from its mold,
the edge smoothed and rounded, and any minor defects remedied. It
is then placed in an oval shaped clay receptacle called a “sagger,”
together with about two dozen of its fellows, packed in fine sand,
and placed in one of the furnaces or kilns. Each kiln will contain on
an average two thousand saggers. When the kiln is full the doorway
is closed and plastered with clay, the fires started, and the dishes
subjected to terrific heat for a period of forty-eight hours. The
fuel used is natural gas, piped one hundred miles from wells 2,000
feet deep. Natural gas gives an intense heat, and yet is always under
perfect control--features which are vital in producing uniformly good
china.
When the plate is taken from the kiln after the first baking, it is
pure white, but of dull, velvety texture, and is known as bisque ware.
In order to give it a smooth, high finish, the plate is next dipped
into a solution of white lead, borax and silica, dried, placed in a
kiln and again baked. When it is taken out for the second time it
has acquired that beautiful glaze which so delights the eye. In this
condition it is known as “plain white ware,” and is finished, unless
some decoration is to be added.
[Illustration: Taking the dishes from a kiln.]
~HOW CHINA IS DECORATED~
Most people are surprised to learn that the greater part of the
gold which adorns dishes is put on by a simple rubber stamp. Two
preparations of gold are used. One is a commercial solution called
“liquid bright gold,” the other is very expensive, and is simply gold
bullion melted down with acids to the right consistency.
Decorating in colors is now done almost exclusively by decalcomania art
transfers. These are made principally in Europe.
After the gold and colors are applied, the China must again go through
the oven’s heat for a period of twelve hours. Then the piece finished
at last, is ready to grace your table. The dull gray clay has become
beautifully finished china, which will delight alike the housekeeper
and her guests.
How Do Birds Find Their Way?
The most interesting phase of the movement of animals from place to
place is found in the flight of birds during the spring and fall. In
the spring the birds come north and in the fall they go south. This is
called “migration” and the reason given for the ability of some birds
to come back every year to build a nest in the same tree is usually
attributed to the “instinct of migration,” and yet that is more a
statement of fact rather than an explanation of the wonderful ability
of the birds to do this.
How Does a Captain Steer His Ship Across the Ocean?
Man, the most intelligent animal, can also find his way about, but
he has had to learn to do this step by step. When an explorer first
travels into the unexplored forest, he carries a compass which tells
him in what direction he is traveling, but this is not sufficient to
tell him the exact path he came and return the same way. In order that
he may do this, he must make marks on the trees and other objects
to find his way back. When these marks are once made, other men can
follow the path by their aid, and eventually a path becomes worn so
that men can find their way back and forth without the aid of the marks
especially.
A trained ship captain can take his ship from any port in the world to
another port. He can start at New York City and in a given number of
days, according to how fast his ship can travel, land his passengers
and cargo in the port of London or Johannesburg, South Africa, or at
any desired port in China, Japan or any other country. But he cannot do
this by any kind of instinct. He takes his directions from information
that was furnished him by some one who went that way before him--some
other captain of a vessel who made marks in his book of his position
in relation to the sun and stars. This is practically the same as the
traveler in the forest who made marks on the trees to make a map of the
way back and forth. Even with these charts, compasses and other guiding
marks, however, man, even though he is the most intelligent of all the
animals, makes very grave mistakes and sometimes brings disaster upon
himself and the lives in his care.
Why the Birds Come Back in Spring?
The birds, however, have no charts or compasses to guide them. We do
not know as yet absolutely what it is that enables the bird to find its
way back and forth to the same spot year after year. As nearly as we
have been able to ascertain, the birds after they mate and build their
first nest and bring up their first family, develop a fondness for that
particular spot which is much the same as the instinct in man which we
call the “homing instinct.” Man becomes attached to one particular spot
which he calls home and wherever he is thereafter, he is very likely to
think of the old locality when he thinks of home, and there are very
few of us but have yearnings to go back to the old “home locality”
every now and then. The environment in which a bird or human being is
brought up generally becomes to a greater or less extent a permanent
part of him in this sense.
Why Do Birds Go South in Winter?
We know why birds go south in the winter. The necessity of finding
food to live upon has everything to do with that. As food grows
scarce towards the end of summer in the farthest northern places where
birds live, the birds there must find food elsewhere. They naturally
turn south and when they find food, they have to divide with the birds
living there. The result is that soon the food becomes scarce again
and both the new-comers and the old residents, so to speak, are forced
to seek places where food is plentiful. So both of these flocks, to
use a short term, fly away to the south until they find food again
and encounter a third flock or group of the bird family crowding the
locality and exhausting the food supply. So in turn each flock presses
for food upon the one in the locality next further to the south until
we have a general movement to the south of practically all the birds
until they reach a point where the food supply is sufficient for all
for the time being.
Why Don’t the Birds Stay South?
The result of all this is that the south-land is crowded with birds of
all kinds and the food supply is enough for all. But soon in following
the laws of nature in birds, as in other living things, comes the time
for breeding. The south-land is warm enough for nesting and hatching,
but it is so crowded that there wouldn’t be enough food for all the old
birds and the little ones too and so the birds begin to scatter again.
Just think of what would happen in the south-land if all the birds that
stay there in the winter built their nests there and brought up a new
family. A bird family will average four young birds, so that if all the
bird families were born and raised in the south the bird population
would quickly multiply itself by three and there would be the same old
necessity of traveling away to look for food. To avoid this the birds
begin to scatter to their old homes before the breeding season begins.
How Do They Find the Old Home?
The return of the birds to their old homes and how they find their
way back to the same spot every year, to do which they must sometimes
travel thousands of miles, is one of the most marvelous things in
nature and has not as yet been satisfactorily determined. The nearest
approach we have to a satisfactory answer to this is that birds do have
a memory, that they can and do recognize familiar objects, and that
their love for the old home causes them to fly to the north until they
recognize the landmarks of their former habitation. In this it is said
that the older birds--those who have gone that way before--lead the
flocks and show the way.
There is no doubt that birds have a more perfect instinct of direction
than man. They can follow a line of longitude almost perfectly, i.e.,
they can pick out the shorter route by instinct, and this is, of
course, a straight line. They just keep on going until they come to the
familiar place they call home and then they stop and build their nests.
That it is not memory and sight of places alone that guides the birds
is shown by the fact that some birds when migrating fly all night when
there is no light by which to recognize familiar objects.
Why Do Birds Sing?
The song of the birds is a part of the love-making. The male bird is
the “singer,” as we call them at home, when we think of the canary in
the cage near us. The male bird sings to his mate to charm her and to
further his wooing. This wooing goes on after the eggs have been laid
in the nest and while the mother bird is keeping them warm until they
hatch out, but almost instantaneously with the birth of the little
birds, the song of the male bird is hushed. Take the case of the
nightingale. For weeks during the period of nest-building and hatching
he charms his mate and us with the beautiful music of his love song.
But as soon as the little nightingales come from the eggs, the sounds
which the male nightingale makes are changed to a gutteral croak, which
are expressive of anxiety and alarm, in great contrast to the song
notes of his wooing. And yet, if you were at this period--just after
the birds are born, and when his song changes--to destroy the nest
and contents, you would at once find Mr. Nightingale return to his
beautiful song of love to inspire his mate to help him build another
nest and start all over again to raise a family.
What Causes an Arrow to Fly?
It is caused by the power generated when you bend the bow and string
of the bow and arrow out of shape. The bow and string have the quality
of elasticity which causes a rubber ball to bounce. When you force
anything elastic out of shape, this quality in it makes it try to
get back to its natural shape quickly. In doing this it acts in the
direction which will take it back to its normal shape most quickly. The
arrow is fixed on the string in a way that will not interfere with the
bow and string getting back to its shape and, when they bounce back,
the arrow goes with it. The real cause for the arrow’s flight, however,
comes not from the bow, because the bow cannot put itself out of
shape, but comes from the person who causes it to be out of shape and,
therefore, the person who pulls the string back really causes the arrow
to fly.
Why Do Children Like Candy?
Children crave candy because the sugar which it contains largely is in
such a condition that it is the most suited of all our foods for quick
use by the body. It is actually turned into real energy within a few
minutes after it is eaten.
All the things we eat are for the purpose of supplying energy to our
bodies to replace the energy that our daily activities have dissipated.
Nature takes the valuable parts of the foods we eat and changes them
into energy. The waste parts she throws off. Many things we eat have
little real value as food and many also nature has to work upon a long
time before their food value is available in energy. Sugar, however,
represents almost energy itself.
Children are, of course, more active than grown-ups. They are never
still. They are, therefore, almost always burning up or using up their
energy. They are also, therefore, almost always in need of food that
can be made into energy, and as sugar does this almost more quickly
than any other food, nature teaches the children to like candy or
sweets.
Why Does Eating Candy Make Some People Fat?
Eating as much as one can of anything at any time will produce fat,
provided you do not do sufficient physical work or take enough exercise
to counteract the effect of generous eating. When you see a person who
eats a great deal and is growing fat, you may know that he or she is
not taking sufficient bodily exercise to work off the energy produced
by the body from the food that has been eaten. When this happens the
energy in the form of fat piles up in various parts of the system.
Candy will do this more quickly than any other thing we eat because it
contains so much sugar and because sugar is so easily changed by our
system into usable energy. You generally find a fat person who eats
much candy to be a lazy person.
What Makes Snowflakes White?
A snowflake is, as you are no doubt aware, made of water affected in
such a way by the temperature as to change it into a crystal. Water, of
course, as you know, is perfectly transparent. In other words, sunlight
or other light will pass through water without being reflected. A
single snow flake also is partially transparent, i.e., the light will
go through it partially, although some of it will be reflected back.
When a drop of water is turned into a snowflake crystal, a great many
reflecting surfaces are produced, and the whiteness of the snowflake is
the result of practically all of the sunlight which strikes it being
reflected back, just as a mirror reflects practically all the light or
color that is thrown against it. If you turn a green light on the snow,
it will reflect the green light in the same way. When the countless
snow crystals lie on the ground close together, the ability to reflect
the light is increased and so a mass of snow crystals on the ground
look even whiter than one single snowflake.
What Makes the White Caps on the Waves White?
In telling why the snowflake is white we have practically already
answered this question also. Instead of little crystals formed from the
water, the foam produced by the waves of the ocean are tiny bubbles
which have the same ability to reflect the light as the snow crystals.
What Good Can Come of a Toothache?
Very few of us realize that an aching tooth is a good thing for us,
provided we have it attended to and the ache removed. Any one who has
had toothache will hardly agree that there can be a blessing attached
to this excruciating pain.
But the good comes from the warning it gives us of the condition of our
teeth on the inside of our mouths. The arrangement of the interior of
the mouth and the use we make of it in passing things into our systems,
favors very much the development and increase of microbes, and when
they once get in they are difficult to remove. It is said that the
greatest percentage of cases of stomach trouble come from teeth which
are in bad condition and that a very large percentage of people who
have bad teeth are in grave danger of blood poisoning or other troubles
due to the microbes. When these microbes lodge in the mouth, they find
conditions favorable to their development when there are bad teeth, and
spread through the system.
How Can Microbes Spread Through the Body?
The various parts of the body, including the gums, are connected by
a lymphatic tissue, which is practically a series of canals. If the
teeth are not properly attended to and kept in good condition, both as
to cleanliness and repair, the microbes or germs collect on the gums
and teeth, and increase in numbers. Soon the mouth is over-populated
with microbes and are pushed off the gums or teeth into the lymphatic
canals, where they succeed in developing a disease in your body.
Now the ache in the tooth becomes a blessing very promptly if it
begins soon after the tooth begins to decay, because in that event the
dentist is visited and the tooth filled or pulled. Therefore, while
it hurts terribly, it might be well to remember that a toothache is a
timely warning of danger which, if not heeded, will likely develop into
something quite serious.
What Causes Toothache?
The ache comes when the tiny nerve at the heart of the tooth is
exposed to the air. When the tooth begins to decay, it starts to do so
generally from the outside, and after the decaying process has gone far
enough, it reaches the nerve in the tooth, which aches when exposed to
the air. The ache is the signal which the nerve sends to the brain that
there is an exposure and a cry for help.
Of What Use Are Pains and Aches?
All pains and aches are helpful in sounding a warning. A headache may
be the result of improper sleep and rest and, therefore, warns us to
take the needed rest or sleep. A pain in the stomach is only nature’s
way of telling us that we have been unwise in our eating and drinking.
As a matter of fact, short though our lives are, they would probably
be still shorter, on the average, if it were not for pains and aches,
because without these warnings we would never have sense enough to stop
doing the things we should not do if we lived normally.
What Causes Earache?
Earache is caused by the nerves in the ear being affected by something
either from within or without which produces a swelling of the parts
immediately adjacent to the nerves in the ear, and which press against
the nerves; as the nerves cannot go any place else they send a warning
to the brain that they are being crowded and pressed against. The pain
you feel is the nerve in the ear warning the brain that something is
wrong in the ear.
What Is Soap Made Of?
Soap is not a very modern product, although we have rarely read of soap
in olden times. As long ago as two thousand years, the Germans had an
ointment which was made in practically the same way as we now make
soap. A soap factory was engaged in making soap in France in 1000 A. D.
Even before soap was manufactured, people knew that ashes of some
plants, when mixed with water, gave it a peculiar, smooth, slippery
feeling, and added to the cleansing qualities of water. Although they
did not know it, this was due to the soda of potash which was in the
ashes. Pure soda and potash both have excellent qualities for cleaning,
but are likely to injure the skin, and other things coming in contact
with them.
Soap is made by boiling together oil or fat and “caustic” soda or
potash. Caustic soda is a substance made from sodium carbonate by
adding slaked lime to a solution of it. The slaked lime contains
calcium in combination with hydrogen and oxygen, and is known in
chemistry as calcium hydrate. When calcium hydrate is added to a
solution of sodium carbonate, the sodium present combines with the
oxygen and hydrogen to form a compound, variously called sodium
hydrate, sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda. A similar compound of
potassium is formed when the same kind of lime is mixed in a solution
of potassium carbonate. In both cases the calcium is converted into
calcium carbonate, which is not soluble in water and settles to the
bottom; but the caustic soda or potash is dissolved.
The word “caustic” means to burn. Both will burn the skin if allowed to
touch the skin for a short time.
The fats used for making soap consist of glycerine, in chemical
combination with what are called fatty acids. When these fats are
boiled with caustic soda, or caustic potash, the fat is decomposed; the
fatty acid combines with the sodium or potassium to form soap and the
glycerine is left uncombined.
In modern soap factories the manufacture is carried on in large iron
vessels. Some fat and oil are put into the vessel and a little lye,
which is really caustic soda or potash, is added and the mixture
boiled. The fat and the lye combine very quickly and form a whitish
fluid. More lye is now added and the boiling continued. This process
is repeated until nearly all the oil or fat has combined with the lye.
If yellow laundry soap is being made, some rosin is put in, and this
gives the yellow color. If toilet soap is being made, common salt is
put in instead of rosin. The addition of the salt has the effect of
separating the water and the glycerine from the soap. The soap rises to
the surface and is skimmed off. As soon as the separation is complete,
and the soap is then cut or pressed into cakes after it has become hard.
Soaps referred to above are the ordinary hard soaps. In making soft
soaps no salt is added to separate the soap from the liquid. As the
water and glycerine do not separate from the soap, the entire mixture
remains of a soft consistency. Soft soap is also made with a lye, that
is obtained from wood ashes. The ashes are placed in barrels and water
poured upon them. The water drips down through the ashes in the barrel
and dissolves the potash contained in them, making lye or caustic
potash. This lye is then in liquid form and is mixed and boiled with
grease or fat to make soap.
There are many different fats used in soap making. Palm oil is perhaps
the most common, but tallow, olive oil, cotton seed oil, and many other
fats are used. The hardness of the soap varies with the kind of fat
and lye used. Palm oil or tallow soap is very hard, and other oils are
sometimes mixed with it to soften it.
These are the main facts connected with the making of soaps. There may
appear to be different kinds all of which look and smell differently.
The difference in them is largely due to the presence of different
perfumes and coloring matters.
[Illustration: INDIAN SENDING MESSAGE WITH SMOKE SIGNALS.
The savage Indians found their system of smoke signals quite effective
in sending messages from place to place. With a good burning fire
before him, and a blanket or shield at hand, the Indian was equipped
to send his messages. The code consisted of the varying kinds of smoke
clouds produced. These were made large or small by covering the fire
at intervals with the blanket or shield, thus making interruptions of
various lengths in the rising clouds of smoke. By dropping moss or
other things into the fire, he made the smoke clouds either light or
dark at will.]