Jii'('-l,-rt'jiiiii'/ III ]' ic/oi'ia. 



113 



water. Wax being lighter than water, the top of the pack is more or 

 less above the surface of the water, and the sheets do not warm up evenly 

 when iu contact with one another. If the stack of plain sheets is kept 

 handy alongside the warm water, no time is lost in warming the sheets 

 singly, for while the warmed sheet is taken out of the water with one 

 hand another sheet is dropped in from the other, so that one sheet is 

 always in the water while another is going through the mill, every sheet 

 being warmed for the same length of time. 



If in the dipping of the plain sheets, previously described, the correct 

 temperatures for the different thicknesses are observed, only two dips 

 will be needed for each board instead of three or four, as given in some 



Fig. 5. — Trimming Comb Foundation. 



of the text-books, and while the reversing of the boards makes a much 

 more even sheet than repeated dipping from one end, it still leaves one 

 end slightly thinner than the other. It is this thinner end which is 

 entered between the rollers; the latter are turned till suificient of the 

 sheet is through ; this is rapidly picked loose with the finger-tips, the 

 loose end caught in a gripper, and a slight strain kept On the sheet with 

 one hand while the handle is turned with the other, when the rolling is 

 done by one operator only. It is important that the right end should 

 go through the machine first, when reversing the boards has been 

 practised in dipping, because the rollers can then be set closer, resulting 



