1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



185 



AMONG THE MACHINERY. 



A few days since, we received a polite invitation 

 to take a look into some of the workshops in the 

 city of Worcester, and also at some of the farms 

 and stock in the neighborhood of that city. Our 

 tendencies being pretty strongly in that direction, 

 we suggested to our friend, as the first thing, to 

 go through the shops where the Buckeye Mower 

 and Beaper are being built under the direction of 

 A. B. Barnard, Esq., a gentleman well known to 

 a large number of the farmers of Massachusetts. 

 We first entered the room where the wood work 

 is made, and were quite careful to take due notice 

 "what sort of stuff" was Avrought up to be cov- 

 ered with oil, paint and varnish. It was gratify- 

 ing to find this of the best quality of oak, ash 

 and maple, and all thoroughly seasoned. The 

 machinery to work it was new, and combining the 

 latest improvements. Each workman was con- 

 fined to a definite part of the machine, so that if 

 engaged in gettting out the shafts or pole, for in- 

 stance, he would saw out several hundred sets, 

 when they would pass to another person to cut 

 the tenons, and still another to take off the cor- 

 ners. Even this last operation is done by ma- 

 chinery, and in so skilful and finished a manner 

 as not to require any smoothing by sand paper, 

 or other means. This is the process pursued in 

 all the shops, so that great perfection is gained 

 by the workman in that part under his especial 

 charge. It requires, therefore, almost as many 

 persons to make a machine as there are different 

 bolts, bars, wheels, screws and springs contained 

 in it. Before being sent out, every machine is 

 put together and run by steam power, until it is 

 found to move easy and in perfect condition in : 

 all its parts. Some eight hundred machines were i 

 in process of construction, orders for about one- 

 half of which, one of the proprietors informed us, i 

 had been already received. 



From the wood work shop, we passed through 

 all the others, where we witnessed the same good 

 order as in the first, — the same system was every- 

 where apparent. Our visit at this establishment, 

 ended in the paint shop, where the finishing toucli- 

 es were put upon the machines, and from which 

 place, eight or nine per day, completely ready for 

 work, are trundled off into another building. 



At the establishment of Lucius W. Poxd, 

 Esq., we saw a variety of most excellent machin- 

 ery, such as immense "planers," cutting off the 

 rough surfaces of huge iron work and bringing it 

 to a smooth and common level, — and lathes cut- 

 ting screws from 20 to 40 feet in length, and seem- 

 ingly as accurate as the moving works of a watch! I 

 In another part of this establishment. Bund's Ba- , 

 teni Bockei Bisiol is made. Here, also, each work- j 

 man has his specific work. These pistols have a 

 high reputation, and from a pretty close inspec- 



tion of them, we should judge a reputation well 

 deserved. Every part of this establishment in- 

 dicated an active, leading mind. There was 

 neither hurry or confusion anywhere, while each 

 blow or turn of a wheel, gradually fashioned some- 

 thing into its desired shape. 



In another part of the city we visited the 

 "Macfarland Malleahle Iron Works" and our visit 

 here was exceedingly gratifying. Malleable iron 

 is employed in making a very large number of 

 articles in constai.t use, and would now be con- 

 sidered indispensuble in the arts. It is softer 

 than "cast" iron, and is much more tough. We 

 had always supposed that its peculiar qualities 

 were secured by some chemical process through 

 which the common ore passed before the article, of 

 whatever kind, was manufactured. But this, we 

 learned, is not so. The "fingers," for instance, of 

 the mowing machine, are cast from common iron 

 ore, and when they come from the mould are almost 

 as brittle as glass. In this condition they are put 

 into large cast iron pots, packed down with the 

 scales that peel from castings in the process of 

 finishing up. The pots are then sealed with clay 

 and deposited in a furnace some 8 by 10 feet, un- 

 til the furnace is full. At an opening at one end 

 of this, bituminous coal is laid upon a grate, sprin- 

 kled with coal tar, ignited, and a powerful blower 

 forces the blaze through the entire length of the 

 furnace, causing an intense heat. This is kept ttp 

 through eight days and nights, when it is allowed 

 gradually to cool off, and the "fingers" that went 

 in brittle cast iron, come out ductile, malleable 

 iron, merely by being deprived of their carboti^ and 

 thus freed from brittleness ! Such is the wonder- 

 ful power of Science. There is scarcely a con- 

 ceivable thing used in the house, barn, workshop, 

 carriages, plows, or anything else requiring iron, 

 but we found upon the shelves of these enterpris- 

 ing gentlemen, laid by as specimens of their han- 

 diwork. 



Many other works and objects of interest ar- 

 rested our attention at every turn, in this busy 

 hive of human industry, but we have not space 

 to notice them now. One portion of the city 

 seems filled with shops for tlie manufacture of 

 heavy articles of iron and wood, — and especially 

 of articles adapted to the farm. 



So much of our time was devoted to the me- 

 chanic arts, that but a brief space was left for a 

 look at some of the farms and stock in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the city. Wherever we called, 

 however, we found excellent land, good buildings 

 and attractive homes, — enough we saw to induce 

 us, at a more favorable time, to accept some of the 

 kind invitations received, and to look more care- 

 fully at the agricultural features of the place. 



God often strikes straight strokes with crooked 

 sticks. 



