72 BUIvLETiN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



inch to I inch). Buttons of ocean pearl are sometimes made as small as one-fourth of 

 an inch, and the same size of fresh-water buttons is made in novelty works as well as 

 the larger sizes up to 60 lines (1.5 inches) or larger. 



The button-cutting machine is equipped with a three-step cone pulley so that the 

 speed may be adapted to the shell and line to be cut. For blanks of 14 to 20 lines a 

 speed of over 400 revolutions per minute may be used, while about 275 revolutions would 

 be used for 22 to 36 lines. The largest sizes, 36 to 60 lines, would be cut with a speed 

 of only about 180 revolutions per minute. The speed will, of course, be adapted some- 

 what to the shell and to the whim of the individual operator. 



The cost of a cutting machine installed was estimated four years ago at about 

 $24. (See page 44.) The number of machines operated in one plant varies from three 

 or four in small blank-cutting shops to one hundred or more in larger factories. 



Detached Cutting Plants. — While button factories commonly include cutting 

 rooms (PI. XXXVIII, fig. 2), where the blanks, or buttons in the rough, are cut from 

 the shells, there are yet a good many establishments devoted exclusively to the finishing 

 and grading. In such cases the cutting is done in detached cutting plants (PI. XXXIV, 

 fig. 2), which may be located at convenient points in different States and from which 

 the blanks may be shipped to the factory. There are also numbers of independent 

 cutting plants, or button shops, which may be more or less portable. The owners of 

 such plants take the shells from the river or buy them and cut out the blanks, which 

 are then sold to the manufacturers of buttons. It has frequently occurred that when a 

 new region of abundance of commercial shells has been discovered numerous small 

 cutting plants have sprung up along the banks or on house-boats. A single fisher- 

 man may purchase and install a single machine and small gasoline engine to cut the 

 shells that he and his family take, or a number of machines may be installed, labor 

 employed, and the product of other fishermen purchased. In a few cases the cutting 

 plants are cooperative, a number of shellers operating each a particular machine and 

 cutting and marketing his own blanks. The blanks may be sold to the owner of the 

 machines or in the open market. 



Most manufacturers purchase blanks when it is more profitable to do so than to 

 produce them in the factory; but generally a manufacturer prefers to produce his own 

 blanks, since greater care can be exercised in proper cutting. There are cases where 

 the independent cutting plants are particularly to be recommended, as where the shells 

 are too scattering for convenient shipment in carload lots, or, in remote localities, whence 

 the freight charges on the bulky shells are practically prohibitive. In some streams it 

 appears that the best solution of the marketing problem would be had by the operation 

 of small cutting plants on house-boats, which can be floated down the river, cutting the 

 shells as they are found and throwing the waste shell back into the river. The blanks 

 can be shipped from time to time from convenient points. This plan has also its 

 advantages where the shells are abundant but so spotted or stained that the proportion 

 of good shell to waste is relatively low. It is of interest to note that the freight charges 

 paid for transportation of shells and blanks in 1912 were reported at $131,000. 



Work and Wage of Cutter. — ^The cutters are men. Each cutter is ordinarily 

 expected to provide himself with a few tools, such as three to five saw spuns, a button- 

 cutter's hammer, shell tongs, saw, files, and hose and bibb. This equipment may be 



