The pictures with which this story is illustrated were all made by the
photographic department of the company, and are but a few of the
thousands on file, portraying details of every operation in the
manufacture of a car. The department is completely equipped to take and
produce motion picture films of the highest quality.
The growth of this department, in its own peculiar field, has kept pace
with the growth of the company as an industrial factor. But a few years
ago, this department was an incident only. The quarters were small, the
staff was composed of two men, and the entire work was confined to
making photographs of the cars and parts for advertising literature.
A modern studio is now maintained on the fourth floor of the
factory--the staff of skilled operators numbering twenty.
The moving picture portion of the company’s work is, in volume, the
largest conducted by any industrial concern. As a matter of interest, it
is estimated that the operations of this department in the “movie” field
are equal in magnitude to the efforts of many of the better known
film-producing studios which specialize in such work. And, large as the
scope of operations already is, it is still growing, in response to an
increasing demand for pictures of the factory as well as of events of
general interest.
* * * * *
The expression “The tune that the old cow died of” has been used to
express the giving of advice instead of material help, because of an old
song which told of a man who had nothing to feed his cow upon and so
played her this tune: “Consider, good cow, consider. This isn’t the time
for grass to grow.”
How do Big Buildings Get their Granite?
Stones suitable for important building purposes are usually found at a
good distance below the surface. In the case of unstratified rocks, such
as granite, the stone is most frequently detached from the mass by
blasting, a process by which much valuable stone is wasted, and a
different method is employed whenever it is found possible. In the case
of stratified rocks, blocks are separated by hand tools alone. Small
holes a few inches apart are cut along a certain length of rock, into
which steel wedges are inserted. These are driven in by heavy hammers
until the stratum is cut through. The large blocks necessary for
monumental purposes are generally obtained in this way, and before they
leave the quarry they are usually reduced as nearly as possible to a
rectangular form.
Granite is a fire-formed rock which has been exposed to great heat and
pressure deep down in the earth. It is one of the most abundant of that
species of rocks seen at or near the surface of the earth, and was
formerly considered as the foundation rock of the globe, or that upon
which all sedimentary rocks repose. Granite supplies the most durable
materials for building, as many of the ancient Egyptian monuments
testify. It varies a great deal in hardness as well as in color and for
that reason must be selected with care when desired for building
purposes.
Granite abounds in crystallized earthy materials, and these occur for
the most part in veins traversing the mass of the rock. Of these
minerals, beryl, garnet and tourmaline are the most abundant. The
decomposed felspar of some varieties of granite yields the kaolin used
in porcelain manufacture. Granite is not rich in mineral ores.
It is abundant in America and is largely quarried in the United States
for building purposes, especially in New England. The best known
quarries are those of New England. There is a great deal of granite
found in South Carolina and Georgia, but much of this, as well as that
of some parts of California, is in a singular state of decomposition, in
many places being easily penetrated by a pick. Granite quarried anywhere
in which felspar predominates is not well adapted for buildings, as it
cracks and crumbles down in a few years.
[Illustration: GRANITE QUARRY
A large quarry near Barre, Vermont. The rock occurs in what is known as
“sheet formation.”]