bolt to be cut and press against it opposite to the 

 cutting tool. Both guide and cutting tool were firmly 

 clamped to the carrier, and pressed forward and held 

 in position by set screws through longer arms than 

 the tool-carrying cross. The handle of the carrier 

 was wood, about five feet Ion", with a drop handle of 

 some 1 8 inches or two feet. When the chasing was 

 to be done, a steel bar with a narrow edge for the 

 carrier to slide on was substituted for the iron bar-rest 

 used in turning; this was well lubricated. The guide 

 tool was shaped to fit into the thread of the template, 

 both snide and cutting tool being adjusted in its 

 thread. This generally placed the guide and the 

 cutting tool about 3 inches apart. The cutting tool 

 was what might be called a stubby hook tool. In the 

 first adjustment, the guide was set just as deep into the 

 thread of the template as experience had taught the 

 first cut could be made. The operator rested the long 

 handle of the carrier on his left shoulder, grasping it 

 in his left hand, steadying it by the drop handle in his 

 right. The first cut required considerable skill on the 

 part of the operator; the following not so much, as 

 less care was required to adjust the guide and cutting 

 tool. When the depth of required thread was cut, 

 the screw was finished by a toothed comb that 

 smoothed the work and gave a slight taper to the 

 thread; the final polishing was done between dead 

 centers. The brass nuts on all the wrought iron 

 screws were cast on them, the screws being heated 

 and well coated with rosin and lamp black over an 

 open charcoal fire. 



In chasing the large cast iron screws, the template 

 or screw guide was not carried by the square tit, as 

 in the case of the wrought iron screw, but simply by 

 a steel pin in coinciding holes in screw bolt and tem- 

 plate. The cutting tool also differed, as both guide 

 and cutting tool were carried by a deep collar that 

 was slid in to the template, fitting both it and the 

 screw bolt; this collar had an arm that held it from 

 turning by the lathe rest on which it slid, the guide 

 tool being on the collar next the poppet head, the 

 cutting tool on the opposite or advance side, and, as 

 in the above described hand [tool,] the cutting tool 

 going in advance of the guide — in fact, a screw cutting 

 die with a single cutting point. When this die had 

 traveled to the end of its cut, the cutter and guide were 

 withdrawn and the die or collar slid back by hand, 

 the tools readjusted and again started. 



I recollect on one occasion my grandfather asked 

 Mr. White why he did not adopt this simple plan to 

 cut his wrought iron screws. The reply was, because 



it has no feeling; that no two bolts of wrought iron 

 were ever alike in texture. He then expatiated largely 

 on the necessity and advantage of a piece of ham 

 skin, the fat side next the screw, that he placed in 

 the lower part of the bend of his tool carrier that 

 clasped the back of the screw. By bearing down the 

 long handle of the carrier, this ham skin was pressed 

 up against the bottom of the screw being cut. and, as 

 he expressed it, so increased the sensitiveness of the 

 touch that with his eyes shut he could detect the 

 slightest dulling of the cutter, or, should a corner 

 break off of it that might interfere with the guide, 

 he was notified of it before the eye could possibly 

 have detected it: again, he claimed that considering 

 he could take a heavier cut when he could feel his 

 work, and the time lost in backing the tools, sliding 

 the collar carrier and again readjusting the tools, that 

 he had an advantage that nearly doubled the amount 

 of chasing per day. 



On a simple plan being suggested to him of revers- 

 ing the lathe and automatically starting and stopping 

 that would run the tool back rapidly ready for a 

 fresh cut, his comments were very characteristic of 

 the man, and, no doubt, many other hand workers 

 opposed to innovations. He had listened very at- 

 tentively, and after what appeared to be due con- 

 sideration, he said: "Nathan, I have no doubt what 

 thee proposes would act just as thee suggests; but 

 when I hire a workman I hire his brains as well as 

 his hands. They are naturally careless enough, and 

 if thee would save their thinking and give part of it 

 to the machine, it would only make them more 

 heedless, and I would be the sufferer. If I were to 

 spend money to adopt thy jimcracks, I would still be 

 obliged to have the man to watch them, to set the 

 tools and keep them sharp and in order, and why not 

 let him do the work? It is better for him than to 

 stand with his hands in his pockets; they would soon 

 be in mine." 



The heavy cast iron nuts for the cotton press and 

 paper mill screws were bored by head and cutters on 

 a vertical boring bar, guided both above and below 

 the nut, which was clamped on a wooden platform, 

 the boring bar and head being worked capstan fash- 

 ion by men walking around pushing levers. For 

 cutting the thread, the boring bar had a screw thread 

 the pitch of that to be cut, on which was clamped a 

 two part nut secured to the upper guide of the boring 

 bar. When a cut was run through, the cutting tool 

 was brought back by the men reversing the direction. 

 At the time I am writing of, this primitive mode of 



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