CHAPTER XI.

PALACE OF MECHANIC ARTS.

A Remarkably Beautiful Structure — It is 850x500 Feet and Cost $1,200,000— The Allis Engine the
Largest in the World — An Aggregated 24,000 Horse Power — 17,000 Horse Power Required to
Provide Electricity — Two Dynamos Each With a Capacity of 10,000 Lights — Ten Engines
Averaging 2,000 Horse Power Each— A Fly Wheel Thirty Feet in Diameter— An Engine Whose
Combination of Iron and Steel Weighs 225 Tons— Its Wheel and Shaft Alone Weigh 100 Tons-
Machinery of Every Description in Operation — Manufacturing Devices and Machine Tools by
Thousands — A Highly Interesting Description of All the Engines and Boilers — How Many Things
are Manufactured Right Before One's Eyes — Grier's Ingrain Lumber Machine — An Interesting
Relic— A Striking Contrast— Sketch of Chief Robinson.

HE Palace of Mechanics Arts — or, as it is generally called
Machinery Building — is regarded by many as the most
beautiful of all. It is certainly a magnificent structure, and
a model of symmetrical lines throughout. It is immediately
south of the Administration Building and is midway between
the lake and the western enclosure. It is 850 feet in length
and $00 feet in width, and cost, with its annex and power
house, $1,200,000. It has an aggregated 24,000,000 horse
power, which makes it the largest power plant in the world.
Of this 24,000 horsepower, 17,000 is devoted to electricity,
there being two dynamos, each with a capacity of 10,000
lights. These two dynamos are run by the renowned Allis engine, which has
nearly twice the horse power of the famous Corliss engine which was one of the
wonders of the Centennial, and the largest engine in the world at the time.

The power plant contains more than forty steam engines which operate 127
dynamos. Ten of the engines average 2,000 horse power each. The entire Allis
combination of iron and steel weighs more than 225 tons. Its wheel and shaft
alone weigh more than 100 tons. The fly wheel is thirty feet in diameter.
Machinery of every description is seen in operation. Manufacturing devices and
machine tools covering every branch of the business are completely shown.
Machinery may be seen manufacturing other machinery and all sorts of articles
appearing as one vast manufactory.

To a great many people there is no sight at the Exposition to be compared
with the power plant. It consists of a vast aggregation of immense steam engines,
covering a space 100 feet wide and 1,000 feet long, lying along the south wall of
Machinery Hall and a good distance along the south wall of the annex. This
space constitutes one-fourth of the whole floor.

314 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

All these engines, and fifteen more scattered through the othet quarters oi
Machinery Hall, are regular exhibits, and yet they are not running merely for fun
nor for show. Every one of them performs indispensable work. The Exposition
needed over 5,000 arc lights and 120,000 incandescent lights and it had to have
power to operate the acres upon acres of heavy machinery. It has it.

To begin with, power is distributed to the machinery in Machinery Hall by
a vast system of line-shafting. That is, some of the engines are used to drive !ong
iron shafts, on which are innumerable pulleys, all revolving fifteen feet above the
floor, and every exhibitor who wants power throws a belt on the nearest pulley and
helps himself. Now, there are six lines of shafting, each 766 feet in length, in
Machinery Hall, making a total of about 4,600 feet, and there are six correspond-
ing and continuous lines in the annex, having a total length of about 2,680, so that
there is a grand total of about 7,280 feet.

Yet almost none of this force is derived from the power-plant proper. It is
almost all furnished by engines located in different places around the building for
that purpose. Accordingly the shafting is divided into eighteen sections and, as a
general thing, each section is driven by its own engine, though some drive more.
A Sioux City engine drives a section on each side of it, and a German engine drives
three sections.

Many people will be interested to know what engines drive the line shafting.
The English furnish one Galloway engine and two of Millar's engines, which drive
all the English machinery in the building that requires power. The Germans
furnish one Schichau engine, one Wolf engine, and one Grusonwerk engine, which,
in a like manner, drive all the German machinery. The American engines and
their minimum horse-power are as follows: Ideal tandem, 300; Bates, 300; Golden
State, 200; Green, 225; Sioux City, 350; Payne's Corliss, no; Erie City, 300, and
Allis simple, 250.

Coming now to the power-plant proper, the engines that supply electric
power are at the north end, then come those that supply incandescent lights, then
those that supply arc lights, and then at the south end the air compressors, which
include engines. The engines that generate power have an aggregate of 5,000
horse-power, and send this amazing energy over wires to the Administration
Building to run the elevators, and to the Mines and Mining, Electricity, Manufac-
tures and Agriculture Buildings to operate exhibits and do chores. It is distributed
inside these buildings by line shafting; and, curious to relate, in the Electricity
.Building it is used to run the dynamos that are on exhibition there.

Such splendid service makes a list of these magnificent engines interesting.
Their names and horse-power are as follows: Ball cross compound, 480; Armington
& Sims simple, 400; General Electric triple expansion condensing, 1,000; Phoenix
triple expansion condensing, 500; triple tandem condensing, 250; Phcenix simple,
250; E. P. Allis cross compound condensing, 500; two Woodbury tandems, 600
each; A. L. Ide simple, 200; A. L. Ide tandem compound condensing, 225; and
McEwen tandem compound condensing, 220.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 315

The greatest engines in the building, however, are nine that are devoted to
producing incandescent lights for the grounds and buildings, and they are capable
of furnishing 120,000 lights, though not quite so many are required. At the head
of the list stands the E. P. Allis quadruple expansion condensing, with a minimum
2,000 horse-power, and a possible 3,000 horse-power. This is no doubt the greatest
machine in the Exposition. The others are Fraser and Chalmers' triple expansion
condensing, 1,000; four, Westinghouse, Church & Kerr compound condensing, two
of 330 each, and two of i.oooeach; Buckeye triple expansion compound, 1,000;
Atlas compound condensing, 1,000, and Mclntosh & Seymour double tandem com-
pound, 1,000.

But the Exposition would be an uninviting place by night or on dark days
without arc-lights, and the little giants that furnish this luxury are as 'follows: Two
Ball & Wood simple, 150 each; two Ball & Wood tandem compound, 150 each;
Ball & Wood cross compound, 200; Buckeye cross compound condensing, 300; two
Buckeye simple, 125 each; Buckeye simple, 190; Buckeye tandem compound, 150;
two Russell double tandem compound condensing, 506 and 216; Lane & Bodley
cross compound condensing, 300; Lane & Bodley tandem compound condensing,
300; Lane & Bodley simple, 200; Boss cross compound condensing, 224; Atlas
tandem compound condensing, 500; Watertown double tandem compound -con-
densing, 250; two Skinner simple, 150 each; New York Safety simple, 150; three
Russell simple, total 400; and Siemens & Hotske, horse-power not given.

Away down in the southern end of Machinery Hall are six machines which
are not, properly speaking, steam-engines, as they are adapted to only one use.
These are the steam air compressors, which supply the compressed air engines in
the other buildings. One of these compressors is by Ingersoll Sergeant, one by
the Rand Drill Company, and four by the Norwalk iron works. They furnish com-
pressed air at a pressure of 125 pounds to the square inch, and it is conveyed in
two six-inch iron pipes, one of which runs to the Mines and Mining Building and
the other to the Transportation Building, to exhibit the utility of compressed-air
engines in those departments.

But engines would be of no use without steam, and when the visitor steps
through any of the south doors of Machinery Hall into the immense corruga ed
iron shed adjoining it he will be satisfied at a glance that there is no lack of steam.
Such a battery of steam boilers was probably never constructed before, and the
necessity of more steam than ever in consequence of the progress of electrical
science looks as if Watt's idea was not exactly on the decline. At the first flush it
looks as if the battery were a mile long, but inquiry shows that it is only about 650
feet in length. These boilers are also exhibits by seven different manufacturers
and illustrate every new or good point in the construction of a steam boiler.

The boilers in the power house are furnished by eight exhibitors. Begin-
ning at the east end of the boiler-house the arrangement, number of boilers and
rated horse-power are as follows: Abendroth & Root, four boilers, 1,500 horse-
power; Gill Water Tube Boiler Company, four boilers, 1,500 horse-power; Heine
Company, eight boilers, 3,000 horse power; National, four boilers, 1,500 horse-

THE ALLIS ENGINE.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 317

power; Campbell & Zell, nine boilers, 3,750 horse-power; Babcock & Wilcox, ten
boilers, 3,000 horse-power; Stirling, four boilers, 1,800 horse-power. In the annex
are four Heine boilers of 1,500 horse-power, three Climax of 2,000 horse-power and
two Stirling of 900 horse-power. These boilers, while separated from the main
boiler room by the south entrance to Machinery Hall, are connected with the main
system the same as any of the other batteries. The Jumbo of the boiler-house is a
Climax of 1,000 horse-power.

The Abendroth & Root boilers have 126 tubes, four inches in diameter, by

18 feet in length, arranged in courses 14 wide by 9 high. They have 7 drums 14
inches in diameter, by 20 feet length, and one header 30 inches in diameter by 12
feet in length. The Gill boilers have 360 tubes, 4 inches in diameter, 18 feet in length,
3 steam drums, 42 inches in diameter, by 21 feet long. The National boilers have
180 4-inch tubes, 18 feet long, and 3 steam drums 36 inches by 20 feet. The Camp-
bell and Zell boilers have 236 4-inch tubes, 18 feet in length, 3 3o-inch water drums

19 feet in length, and one steam drum 52 inches in diameter by 12 feet length. The
Babcock & Wilcox boilers have 126 4-inch tubes 18 feet long, arranged in courses
14 wide and 9 high, a mud drum 12 inches in diameter and 8 feet 6 inches long, and
two steam drums 36 inches by 18 feet. The Climax 500 horse-power boilers have a
main shell 42 inches in diameter by 29 feet high. The main shell is ^ of an inch
thick, with vertical seams welded. Each has 475 tubes 3 inches in diameter and u
feet 6 inches long before bending.

The monster 1,000 horse-power has a main shell seven-eighths of an inch
thick. It is 56 inches in diameter and 35 feet three inches high. It has 864 3-inch
tubes which were 12 feet 6 inches long, before bending. It is capable, it is said, of
developing 1,800 horse-power.

These boilers, with the exception of one Campbell & Zell and the three Cli-
max, are arranged in batteries of two. Each pair of boilers feed steam into one
common pipe which delivers into the 36-inch steam headers under the gallery floor.
Of these headers there are seven; five in the main boiler plant and two in the
annex, the longest being 150 feet in length. The headers are connected by pipes
ten inches in diameter, except that between the main boiler plant and the annex,
which is twelve inches in diameter. These connecting pipes are arranged with
elbows and nipples to allow for expansion. The expansion in so large a system is
considerable. If the header had been made in a single piece the expansion in the
800 feet in length would have been about twenty inches. Such an amount would
have been utterly unmanageable. By means of the connecting pipes the same
effect is produced as though there were but a single header. The main headers
are securely fastened in the center to large masonry foundations. They are further
supported every few feet by rollers placed on foundations of masonry. These
rollers permit the headers to expand freely in each direction.

A four-inch drain pipe runs the whole length of the boiler plant and dis-
charges into a large tank outside. The headers are connected with three two-
inch drain pipes, so that in case of emergency, if a battery of boilers should get to
foaming, for instance, they can be quickly emptied. The water of condensation is

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

carried back into the boilers by Westinghouse loops. The Westinghouse loop is
simply a pipe carried from the bottom of the header up some distance above the
top of the boiler, thence across to the rear of the boiler-house down below the
water line, and then into the boiler through an ordinary check valve. The height
of the vertical pipe is so calculated that the weight of one column of water in it
added to the pressure in the header, which of course is somewhat less than the
boiler pressure, shall be sufficient to overcome the excess of pressure in the boiler
and so carry the water of condensation and entrained water through the valve and
into the boiler. Water glasses are placed on the headers so that if water should
accumulate by any chance it can be readily discovered.

The boilers are fed by pumps and injectors of various makes, all being listed
as exhibits. The Abendroth & Root boilers are fed by means of six Watson in-
jectors and two Deane pumps 7^x4^x10 inches. The Gill boilers are fed by two
Korting injector and two Barr pumps, one 10x6x12 inches, the other 10x6x10. The
pumps supplying these boilers are regulated by a Thomas automatic feed water
regulator which keeps the water at a constant level without the intervention of an
attendant. The Heine boilers are supplied by eight Penberthy injectors, two
Knowles pumps, 10x5x12, and two Blake pumps, 8x5x12. Four Hayden & Derby
injectors and two Davidson compound pumps 12 and 20x10^x20 are required to
supply the National boilers. The Zell boilers are supplied by six Nathan injectors,
one Cameron pump, one Laidlaw & Dunn 7^x4^x10, one Wilson Snyder 14x8x18,
one Canton, one Worthington and one Boyts Porter pump. The Babcock & Wil-
son boilers are supplied by Hancock inspirators and three by Snow pumps; one
is compound 8 and 12x7x12, the others are 10x5x10 and 8x5x10 respectively. Two
Buffalo pumps 10x6x10 and 7^x5x8 and one Gould pump run by an Ideal engine
and Schaefer & Budenberg injectors are used to feed the Stirling exhibit. In the
annex two Marsh pumps supply the Heine boilers; the Climax boilers are fed by
one Blakeslee and one Smedley, and the Stirling boilers are supplied by one Hall
and one McGowan pump. Thus intending purchasers or any one interested in
power plants may see most of the leading injectors, inspirators and pumps in prac-
tical operation and judge of their relative merits for himself. On every make of
boilers is a feed header into which the pumps of those boilers deliver. From this
header separate pipes are run into each boiler.

Oil is the fuel used. The oil is atomized by a steam jet as it is discharged
from the burner into the furnace. The various makes of oil burners are shown in
operation. Any one interested in comparing the various makes will find twelve
Reid burners under the Abendroth & Root boilers, sixteen under the National and
forty-six under the Campbell & Zell; thirty Larkin burners under the Babcock &
Wilcox and twenty-eight under the Climax; sixteen Arms burners under the Gill
boilers. The Heine boilers use seventeen Graves, sixteen Burton, eight Wright
and twelve Reid burners; the Stirlings use eight Burton and eight locomotive
burners. The oil is fed from an oil vault half a mile from the boiler house. Two
mains run from this vault into a five inch header which runs the entire length of the
* boiler house. This header is tapped frequently and every make of boilers is sup-

t I

320 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

plied through a separate pipe. The pressure as allowed by the underwriters, is six
pounds. Running along the tops of the boilers from one end of the boiler-house to
the other is a two and a half inch steam pipe with valves between each make of
boilers. A two-inch steam pipe feeds into this from each boiler. From this two
and a half inch pipe steam is carried into the oil burners for atomizing the oil. As
steam is necessary to burn, the oil pipe obviates the necessity of using wood to
start up any battery of boilers after it has been allowed to cool down so long as any
other battery has steam up. The Gill and Campbell & Zell boilers have indepen-
dent steam connections with the burners in addition. The safety valves, which are
the ordinary pop valves, are set at 125 pounds.

The entire room is in charge of George Ross Green, who is known as the
superintendent of the boiler house. His rank is that of second assistant engineer.
Each exhibitor furnishes firemen and water tenders to care for its boilers. They
work n watches of eight hours each, one or two men being required, according to
the number of boilers in the exhibit. In addition the exposition furnishes a gang
of thirty men under three foremen, who look after cleaning, oil and oiling, repairs,
alterations and so on. One man's duties consist of watching for smoke and
promptly reporting any offenses in this particular. He sits in a little house back
of the boiler-room where he has a clear view of all the chimneys. Electric com-
munications with every furnace is provided, so that as soon as a chimney begins to
smoke the fireman is warned by a bell to look after the matter. Another man looks
after the valves, of which there are 108 on the headers alone, and a grand total
of 1,200 in round numbers in the boiler house.

Mr. Green has devised an ingenious yet simple scheme for keeping a record
of the condition of the boilers and engine. On the north wall of the boiler-house
near the east end of the gallery, hang two huge blue prints. On one is a diagram
of the boiler-house and machinery hall, showing the location of every boiler and
engine, each being numbered. The key to these numbers is given on the bottom
of the blue print. A brass peg is screwed into each spot occupied by a boiler or
engine. At one corner ai'e stacks of red, white and black tags about half an inch
wide and two inches long. A white tag hung on a peg indicates that that particu-
lar engine or boiler is working; a red tag shows that the boiler or engine is hot and
ready to be put in operation at a moment's notice; black shows that the engine or
boiler is not in use for some reason. Whenever an engine or boiler is started or
stopped the foreman on duty goes to the diagram and hangs a suitably colored tag
on the peg which stands for that engine or boiler. Thus the record is constantly
kept up to date. On the second blue print is a diagram of the header and header
valves with similar pegs and tags. Whenever a request is made for steam for an
engine the foreman in charge sends the valve man to open the valve and hangs a
white tag on the proper peg to show that it it open. In changing watches the fore-
man coming on duty can see at a glance just how things stand. This saves a vast
;imount of labor in making out lengthy reports at the end of each watch.

An elaborate record is kept in the boiler-room showing when each boiler is

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 32!

started up, when shut down, when valves are opened and when closed, the steam
pressure, furnaces that smoke, repairs made and so on.

All who are particularly interested in this chapter must understand that there
are too many machines to mention — all kinds of printing presses, cotton thread mak-
ing machines, pin and nail making machinery, looms of many descriptions, paper
making machinery, planers, matchers and molders, jointers, shaping, mortis-
ing, boring, and dovetailing machines, spinners, carders, more than 200 tool-
making machines, and hundreds of others that cannot be mentioned. Towels,
napkins, handkerchiefs, and many other articles are made while the visitor waits,
such as gold bead necklaces, watch chains, and a variety of other articles to the
number of two dozen in Sec. 32 on the north side of the Hall by Samuel Moore &
Go's, gold bead machinery. Four sizes of beads can be made on the same machine
by changing the dies. The machine is about four feet in height and about sixteen
inches in width and breadth. A plated tube through which a small brass dumbbell
wire to form the connecting links has been thrust is introduced into the shaft,
which is hollow, until it is caught by the dies. These dies work on the end of L
shaped levers, which are operated by a double cam on the main shaft. The dies
are opened by brass springs. They work in pairs alternately, two being placed
vertically and two horizontally. On the face of each die is a series of eleven gradu-
ated hemispherical cavities. On reaching the first pair of cavities a section of tube
large enough to form a bead is cut off and partly formed. When the shaft has
made a half revolution the vertical dies open and the lateral dies come together,
cutting off a section of the wire to form the connecting link of the next bead.
These dies are moved outward by a cam just the length of the bead, thus drawing
in another section of tube. The partly formed bead is thus passed along through
the series of cavities by the lateral motion of the horizontal dies, each pair being
smaller than the preceding until the last, when it passes out of the machine a per-
fect bead. The beads are held firmly together by the dumbbell wire. The capacity
of the machine is from six inches to one foot of beads a minute, according to size.
The string of beads is now cut up into suitable lengths, tied up in stout cotton
cloth and placed in a shaker containing a strong solution of soap-suds. It is shaken
for about fifteen minutes and is taken out polished. After being dried in sawdust,
the chain or necklace is ready for sale.

An interesting relic of colonial days is shown in the north aisle of Machinery
Hall by the Campbell Printing Press Company. It is nothing less than the first
printing press ever used in New Hampshire. It was made by Thomas Draper in
Boston, 1742. Daniel Fowle purchased it Oct. 17, 1756, and it was afterwards
owned by John Melcher, the first State Printer in New Hampshire. Later it passed
into the possession of Frank W. Miller of Portsmouth and finally became the pro-
perty of the company by which it is exhibited. Only a few portions of the original
wood have had to be renewed. The plate is but half the size of the bed plate, so it
was necessary to take two impressions to print the full size of the form. It forms a'
striking contrast with the huge perfecting presses exhibited on either side.

In the west end of Machinery Hall is Grier's ingrain lumber machine that

322 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

i|.t •

was patented last October. Basswood board, worth $30 a thousand feet, passed in
at one side comes out quarter-sawed oak, worth $60 a thousand feet, on the other
side. That is, it looks like quarter-sawed oak. The essential feature of the
machine is a drum thirty-six inches in diameter and thirty inches face. The design
is first painted on the face of the drum, the champs being painted black on the pat-
tern. The grain is left unpainted. The drum is then hung up on end and set with
steel knives or type. These type are. i % inches deep, by 1-32 of an inch thick,
made of high grade steel. They can be cut up in widths from % inch to i inch.
The operation of placing them on the cylinder is something similar to typesetting,
the knives being held into position by a clamp. When the drum is filled with type
cement is poured into the interstices. This holds the knives firmly in place.
The machine is capable of taking in lumber from J4 inch to 6 inches
thick. It is drawn through by means of a feed roller ten inches in diameter. After
passing over the drum the lumber next passes over a filler pan containing a
specially prepared filler, which is pressed into the cavities made by the knives by
two smooth, steel geared rollers. The board is held down against the filler rollers
by another feed roiler placed directly above them three inches in diameter. Any
surplus or filler is removed by a scraper, a stee^ blade thirty inches in width. The
adjustment for various thicknesses of lumber Ts made by four screws operated
by bevel cog gear. The drum makes three revolutions a minute. It has a maxi-
mum capacity of 60,000 feet a day of ten hours. Fifteen varieties of wood can be
imitated on this machine, such as oak, ash, bird's-eye maple, mahogany, cherry, and
Hungarian ash.

No man ever leaves the Machinery Building a bit disappointed. If he sur-
veys all that is to be seen carefully and intelligently he has obtained an amount
of information concerning mechanic arts that he had never dreamed of.

The Krupp exhibit in Machinery Hall represents samples of mining machin-
ery, powerful ore crushers and grinders, also improved assaying machinery. A
very interesting exhibit is made by a Berlin firm which constructs machines for the
manufacture of safety matches and match boxes. These are the matches which
can only be ignited on the surface of the box they are packed in. Both box and
natch are prepared which a certain chemical substance. The manufacture of these
matches and boxes is shown here in a practical manner. One person can work a
single machine, and in Germany this is mostly done by girls. The process for the
manufacture of the boxes is started by a machine which does the shaving of a
block of wood (cottonwood) into very thin sheets, then another machine does the
cutting, folding and labeling of the 36,000 boxes per day. Two peeling machines
can cut 24,000,000 matches out of prepared blocks of wood per day. The dipping
process — placing the chemical preparation on one end of the match — is also done
by a very ingenious contrivance, whereby 2,200 matches are dipped. To prevent
the matches sticking together they are placed in a frame with a holder for each
one. Thus the process is facilitated, and one operator can dip almost two million
matches per day. Although poplar and cottonwood are chiefly used in Germany,
the process at the exhibit is being demonstrated with willow. Another interesting

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 323

feature of the process of the manufacture of matches is the filling of the boxes.
With the aid of automatic machines a girl can fill 1,800 boxes per hour.

The agricultural part of the German machinery exhibit is represented by
kneading and mixing machines; machinery for manufacture and working of paper
by combined rolling and friction calenders with from ten to twelve rollers ninety
inches on surface, and a downward pressure of fifty tons on each end of the jour-
nals; these mammoth calenders being driven by two twin engines.

The electrotyping process for rotating printing presses is demonstrated by
an Augsburg firm. Prominent German illustrated papers, such as the Fliegende
Blaetter'and. Leipziger Illustrirte Zeitung, etc., use electrotypes for their rotating
presses instead of stereotypes. The single and double page ruling machines ex-
hibited by a firm from Leipsic is of .interest to the representatives of the book-
binding trade and to manufacturers of stationery goods.

Printing Press Row in Machinery Hall is one of the greatest attractions. It
stretches along the north aisle just west of the north entrance, and is one of the
great centers of attraction. It contains two Hoe, three Goss, two Potter and one
Scott press, which are used to get off part of the last edition of five afternoon
papers. The sight of these marvels of mechanism biting into a continuous roll of
paper and throwing off printed papers, folded and bunched faster than can be
counted by the spectator, is a decided novelty to the majority of visitors.

Readers of newspapers who do not know how they are printed can see the
entire operation from the stereotype-room to the newsboy, for the stereotype plates
made from papier-mache matrices are made in an isolated building just south of the
west annex of Machinery Hall, and the presses are " dressed " in full view of every-
body. Newspapers nowadays are not printed direct from type, but a papier-mache
mold or matrix is made from the type and the stereotype plate is cast from it.
These matrices are generally made in the city and brought to the park by special
messengers and taken to the electrotype-room. The matrix is made as follows:
Several sheets of water-soaked paper, something like blotting paper, with waste
between them, are laid over the form (as the type is called when it is arranged in
columns and held together in a steel frame) . Two men with long-handled brushes
of stiff bristle drive the paper down on the type and thus secure a deep, sharp im-
pression. Some papers secure the same end by pressure in a press. A steam table
quickly dries the paper and makes it hard but flexible, so that the matrix, as it is
now called, may be curved so as to fit into the casting-box.

The stereotype-room at the World's Fair probably contains more different
kinds of stereotyping machinery than any similar room on earth. Its equipment
comprises full sets of Hoe, Bullock, Scott, Goss, and Potter stereotyping machinery,
all working at once. Lack of space and insurance precautions compelled the
authorities to put the stereotype-room in an out-of-the-way building, so that this
very interesting feature of a newspaper is not on general exhibit. When the
matrix reaches the room it is placed in a casting box, a ladleful of molten type
metal is dumped into the box, and the plate is cast, curved to fit the cylinders of

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 325

the press. Before it goes to press, however, the plate is trimmed and made of uni-
form thickness.

The next process is to dress the press; that is, place the plates on the
cylinder in their proper order. When this is done the paper is run through the
press, which is put to its full speed, and folded papers begin to drop out.

One of the presses shown runs four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen,
twenty-four or thirty-two paged papers. On four presses, running six and eight
pages, 48,000 papers an hour are printed; 24,000 on the ten, twelve, fourteen or
sixteen pages, and 12,000 on the twenty-four or thirty-two paged papers. Another
style on exhibition runs 24,000 four, six or eight-paged papers an hour, and 12,000
twelve or sixteen-paged papers. The other runs 40,000 four-paged papers an hour,
24,000 six or eight-paged papers and 1 2,000 twelve or sixteen-paged papers.

Still another pattern shown only prints an eighteen-page paper, and does it
at the rate cf 16,000 an hour A little mathematical calculation will give figures to
show the aggregate maximum number of papers that the presses can throw off in
an hour.

Old William Carson of Philadelphia is putting in his summer at the fail
pounding away at a high wooden carpet loom in the palace of mechanic arts, gen
erally known as Machinery Hall. Mr. Carson is taking it very easy, though. He
takes up one of his clumsy wooden bobbins, gazes at it in contemplative fashion, and
gives it a flirt through the warp; then he jams the thread down with a heavy hand-
bar, kicks a couple of levers, picks up another bobbin with another color of thread,
and does it all over again, so the result is that the ingrain carpet which the vener-
able weaver is working does not grow very fast. He does not seem to care, though,
he has the whole summer before him, so he goes through his weaving with mechan-
ical precision and slowness. The fact is William Carson has come to the fair to
show how not to weave carpets.

Over against his queer old wooden loom there is a nervous and noisy machine
that looks like a mass of steel painted green, a tangle of whizzing wheels, and a
great array of tightly stretched strings. This machine is -grinding out the gayest
sort of a carpet; it outspeeds William Carson and his hand loom about 100 to i.
This machine is the latest model of a power carpet loom made by the Knowles
company. It represents, perhaps, the least development in loom building, for
power looms for carpet weaving are things of recent date. The process of its work
is something marvelous to look upon.

This is not the only fine weaving machine in sight, though. The west end of
Machinery Hall is full of them, and the way they buzz and rattle is something ter-
rific. You can see pretty nearly any sort of a fabric being woven here if you will
look around long enough. Some of the machines are wonderfully intricate. The
folks in charge of them are willing enough to explain exactly how they all work,
but after they have done you go away with a confused idea of a high framework
full of wheels and levers and strings that behave in the most eccentric and unusual
manner. Shuttles seem to chase around as crazily as an electric launch without a
pilot.

326 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR,

Some of the looms weave dress goods, some silks, some cassimeres. But the
most interesting of all are the ones that turn out souvenir ribbons and handker-
chiefs. J. J. Mannion of Chicago has one that makes book marks. There are six
colors of silk in these book marks. At the top of each ribbon are crossed American
flags with the national shield between. Then there are two or three lines of letter-
ing in blue and red with gold shading. Underneath this is a particularly fine view
of Machinery Hall in delicate tints and beneath that a spirited view of a railway
train. Every line of this is woven into the fabric, each speck of color in its proper
place. The machine which does this is quite beyond the comprehension of an
ordinary mortal. It is big enough to grind out a dozen ribbons all at once.

This loom is of the Jaccard type, as indeed all figure-weaving looms must be.
Jaccard was a Frenchman, who lived about ICG years ago. He invented a figure-
weaving apparatus that has never been much modified to this day. To the ordinary
man the Jaccard attachment looks like a multitude of cords and copper rods.
There is a large quantity of cardboard slabs too, all strung together and punched
full of little round holes. It is on these slabs that the pattern to be woven is marked
out.

It is the pattern making that afflicts the weaver's purse. There are only a
few good pattern makers in the country, and, as Mr. Mannion says, they have the
pleasure of fixing their own salaries.

The design for the little book mark with the picture of Machinery Hall upon
it costs $350. A pattern designer first makes a large sketch in colors of the design
he proposes to reproduce and then marks upon it a wilderness of little dots, which
indicates exactly where the pattern cards are to have holes punched. Then he
turns the matter over to a card puncher, who is not an artist at all, but just a coarse
mechanic. If you want to see just what is the effect of the holes after they are
punched you must go around to Machinery Hall and look for yourself — and after
you have looked you will know less than ever before.

There are Knowles looms in this same section that make portraits of Presi-
dent Cleveland and Mrs. Cleveland, and others that turn out kerchiefs woven with
large pictures of Machinery Hall. Then there is another, "the Empire skirting
loom." which weaves an elaborately flowered fabric of silk in exceedingly dainty
hues, The Crompton company has also a great array of looms. Some of them
weave rugs five feet wide and some of them turn out Columbian souvenir ribbons
all full of eagles.

Probably the fastest looms in the building are some Gingham weavers, oper-
ated by this company. There is one machine that makes brocaded silk of so fine
a design that the aisle in front is blockaded by women all the time. Off in another
corner the Willamantic Thread company has a fine array of spool machines whirl-
ing, giddily, and the Star and Crescent company weaves all manner of towels.

These looms are all in charge of pretty girls. They do not look a bit like
the overworked and abused factory toilers we read about in the story papers; they
do not seem to have anything to do but stand around, look handsome, and answer
questions.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

32?

One of the most generally admired as well as one of the largest and com-
pletest exhibits in the Palace of Mechanic Arts is that of Montague & Fuller, the
well-kncwn manufacturer of book-bindery machinery, which comprises the latest
and best labor-saving machines in use by the leading book-binders and publishers
throughout the world. Even to one not interested in such machinery in a business
way, this collection of beautiful objects in motion commands the admiration of the
beholder, and it is, perhaps, riot too much to say that the exhibit of Montague &
Fuller is one of the gems of the Palace of Mechanic Arts.

Chief L.W.Robinson is only 51 years old, but has had much experience.
He joined the navy when a youngster from New England, and was with Farragut
at Forts Jackson and St. Phillips, at the city of New Orleans, the passage of the
forts at Vicksburg in 1862, and other minor engagements in the Mississippi, also in
the capture of nine blockade runners in the gulf. He was chief engineer of the
Kennebec in the fight at Mobile Bay, Aug. 5, 1864, resulting in the capture of Forts
Morgan, Gaines, and Powell, and the Confederate fleet, and received special
mention in the report of his commanding officer for conduct during the engagement.
Chief Robinson was promoted to the grade of second assistant engineer, rank o£
master, July 30, 1863, was present at the second surrender of Galveston, Texas, and
was detached from the Kennebec at that place June 9, 1865, and was ordered north.
From November, 1865, to December, 1869, he was attached to the U. S. S. Sham-
okin on the east coast of South America. After two years duty at the Philadelphia
navy yards he made another cruise to the east coast of South America
from January 1871, to February, 1874, on the U. S. S. Ticonderoga.
He was then placed on special duty until Aug. i, 1875, when, obtaining leave of ab-
sec.ce, he occupied the position of chief of machinery at the Centennial, and since
th( a has occupied high grades of duty.

CHIEF ROBINSON.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

329