MONEY IN MANUFACTURE.
How a Blacksmith Got Rich--The Story of Pullman--The Story of the
Columbia Bicycle--A Recipe for a Fortune--A Mica Secret--How to
Make Marble--Another Great Secret Given Away--Rubber as Good as
Goodyear’s--A Way to Smash the Trusts--Wanted--A New Railroad
Car--Sidney Smith’s “Wooden Pavement.”
Vast profits accrue from manufactures, but the best returns for
investments in this line are realized when the manufacturer is able to
make a new article, or to make an old article by improved means. David
Maydole, a village blacksmith, was requested to make for a carpenter a
hammer as good as he could make it. He made a better hammer than had
ever before been seen, and the carpenter’s mates all wanted one. The
village storekeeper ordered two dozen. A hardware dealer, passing
through the place to sell his wares, left an order for all the
blacksmith could make. The hammer-maker built a large factory, and this
was the humble origin of the celebrated Maydole hammer, and the
foundation of a great fortune. Another fascinating chapter on
manufacture is the “Story of Pullman,” which reads like a fairy tale,
but is all strictly true. Mr. Pullman began in a small way to build
parlor cars, making one or two as an experiment. The traveling public
were quick to appreciate the luxury, and Mr. P. had to enlarge his works
again and again. He built the town of Pullman, which is now valued at
$30,000,000, and the capital stock which now has a market value of
$60,000,000, has paid dividends with the regularity of a government
loan.
344. BICYCLE FACTORIES.--These have proved veritable bonanzas during the
past few years. In 1878, Col. Albert A. Pike began the manufacture of
bicycles, making fifty that year. To-day he has a phenomenal business,
employing a capital of $5,000,000 utilizing four factories in Hartford,
Conn., and making 600 bicycles a day.
345. DOUBLE PROFIT FURS.--Here is a way to make a double profit from the
skins of animals: Soak the furs in limewater till the hair is loosened,
then wash and hang it up to dry. Lay it on a board with the hair side up
and apply a solution of glue, care being taken not to disturb the
natural position of the hairs. When the glue is dry and hard, hold the
hairs so firmly as to allow the natural skin to be peeled off. Now you
can apply the artificial skin by pouring over the hairs liquid
India-rubber, boiled drying-oils, or other waterproof substances, which
on drying will form a continuous membrane supporting the hairs. The glue
is then removed by steeping the fur in warm water. This plan has the
double advantage that the fur so prepared is moth-proof, and the old
skin can be used for the manufacture of leather.
346. MICA SHEETS.--Large sheets of mica command a great price. There are
only a few places where the mineral can be mined in sheets of one foot
square or larger, but the vast heaps of waste mica can be utilized by
building up the sheets artificially. This can be done by treating it
with shellac. There are fortunes in waste mica quarries for those who
know how to utilize the countless tons of fragments. The field is
especially promising in North Carolina and Georgia, where immense
quarries abound.
347. ARTIFICIAL MARBLE.--There is room for profitable investment in the
manufacture of any article which is procured from nature at great
expense. This is the case with marble. It is scarce at best; the
quarries are remote from the centers of population, and the mining and
transportation make it a very costly article. Marble can be manufactured
by imitating nature’s processes--the percolating of water through chalk.
The popular verde antique can be made by an application of an oxide of
copper. The slices of marble are then placed in another bath, where they
are hardened and crystallized, coming out exactly like the real article.
In Italy, a fine black marble is made from common white sandstone. The
manufacture is carried on by the owners of the local gasworks, who thus
reap a double profit from their plant. Here is a hint for American
manufacturers.
348. ARTIFICIAL WHALEBONE.--Whalebone is in great demand. It is worth
from $3 to $4 per pound. No artificial substance has as yet been found
to take its place, but we are surely on the eve of that discovery. No
one substance is at the same time so hard and so elastic, but
experimenters will yet find a combination which will answer the purpose.
One has already been found which draws the surplus demand when the
genuine article cannot be obtained. The inventor who can advance another
step and produce an exact imitation will have the whalebone market in
his hands. This field is rich with possibilities.
P. S.--Since writing the above we have the secret. Here it is: Treat the
rawhide with sulphide of sodium, remove the hair, immerse the hide
twenty-six to thirty-four hours in a weak solution of double sulphate of
potassa, and stretch it upon a frame or table, in order that it may not
contract in drying. The desiccation is allowed to proceed in broad
daylight, and the hide is then exposed to a temperature of fifty to
sixty degrees. The influence of the light, combined with the action of
the double sulphate of potassa absorbed by the skin, renders the
gelatine insoluble in water, and prevents putrefaction, the moisture
being completely expelled. Thus prepared, the skin is submitted to a
strong pressure, which gives to it almost the hardness and elasticity
which characterize the genuine whalebone, with the advantage that before
or after the process of desiccation any color desired may be imparted to
it by means of a dye bath.
349. ARTIFICIAL INDIA RUBBER.--A man while experimenting recently with
cottonseed oil for the production of a varnish, obtained to his
surprise, not a varnish, but a rubber. By its use, with fifteen per
cent. of genuine rubber, an article can be produced so exactly like the
real as to defy detection. The process is so simple that a patent is not
obtainable. So, manufacturers, the field is open. Rubber is high and in
great demand.
350. ARTIFICIAL CAMPHOR.--Here is another trade secret. The genuine
camphor is scarce. The artificial is made in England, shipped to
Hamburg, and then re-shipped to England as the real article. Here is the
way it is made: Pass a current of dry hydrochloric acid gas through
spirits of turpentine cooled by a freezing mixture. The liquid deposits
crystals, which are dissolved in alcohol and precipitated by water. The
separated crystals are drained and dried. They are perfectly colorless,
with an odor like camphor. At the ordinary temperature, its vapor
tension is sufficient to cause it to sublime like ordinary camphor in
small brilliant crystals in the bottles in which it is preserved. It is
insoluble in water, and gyrates when on the surface of that liquid like
true camphor.
351. CAR BUILDING.--Some day another Pullman will arise, but with
developments in car building in a totally different direction. We quote
from a recent magazine article: “The time is sure to come when a new
railroad genius will arise and make an end of the game of brag between
American general passenger agents. This reformer will probably
substitute light and easily cleaned bamboo seats for those now in use;
he will save a good deal of the money now spent in useless
ornamentation, and spend it in better ventilation and lighting; and he
is likely to design frames and trucks much lighter, and at least as
strong and durable, as those which carry the average day car of the
present time. It is possible, too, that he may accomplish a good result
by lowering the center of gravity of the prevailing type of passenger
car, thus preventing it from rolling at high rates of speed, and
obviating the supposed necessity of placing two or three tons of old
rails in the floor to keep it steady.” It is perhaps needless to say
that such a man as Mr. Pullman or Mr. Wagner will become a
multi-millionaire through this much-needed reform.
352. THE TRANSVERSE WOODEN PAVEMENT.--One day the celebrated wit,
Sidney Smith, was talking with some vestrymen of the church of which he
was a member about laying a wooden pavement around the sacred edifice.
“Well,” said the famous jester, “we have but to lay our heads together
and the thing is done.” But here is a pavement which some capitalists
will one day lay their heads (funds) together to produce, and it will be
no joke. It has been ascertained that the most durable pavement is made
from blocks of wood sawed transversely about twelve inches in thickness.
The larger and smaller blocks are fitted together, the smaller
interstices being filled with wooden wedges. Here is a chance for some
enterprising firm.