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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The machine that makes the tiny watch 

 screw is a marvel of mechanism. In the 

 morning it is given a long steel rod of 

 small diameter, and is then left to its 

 own resources. Now a tiny section is 

 turned into the shape of a finished screw ; 

 then the thread is cut ; next the slot is 

 cut in the head, and finally a mechanical 

 hand deposits it in a bath of oil, where it 

 stays until fished out with a tiny steel 

 net like a tea-strainer. A sharp eye is 

 required to recognize it as a screw. It 

 would take 50,000 of them to make a 

 thimbleful. 



A WIZARD OF MACHINERY 



The most dramatic machine in this 

 veritable maze of intricate and wonder- 

 working mechanisms is that which makes 

 the lower movement plates. 



On one side is a magnified dime savings 

 bank, mounted so that the "blanks" it 

 contains will present themselves one by 

 one at the bottom. A mechanical hand 

 reaches over, and, taking one of these 

 blanks, gives it to the first part of the 

 mechanism, which grasps the blank and 

 bores several holes. Then another me- 

 chanical hand takes the blank and pre- 

 sents it to the second section, which does 

 its "stint" in the process of plate-making. 

 A third hand next takes the blank and 

 presents it to the third section of the ma- 

 chine, which contributes its share in the 

 conversion. These three operations finish 

 one side of the plate. 



Thereupon comes a fourth hand and 

 passes the plate to a fourth part of the 

 mechanism ; but in doing so it turns the 

 plate over and presents the unfinished 

 part to the drills. A fifth hand, a sixth, 

 and a seventh pass the plate on to the 

 several remaining sections of the ma- 

 chine, and a final presents it, completed, 

 to the reservoir beyond. 



One hundred and forty-one operations 

 on one little disk of metal, all without 

 the aid of a human hand and each per- 

 formed with an accuracy of a fraction of 

 an inch that reaches to the fourth decimal 

 place ! 



A CITY FAMOUS FOR ITS JEWELRY 



One who wanders around the Bay State 

 looking for startling applications of ma- 

 chinery to the making of articles useful 



and ornamental will find things that 

 amaze in almost every town. 



Think of ten thousand different kinds 

 of watch-chain links produced in a single 

 establishment ! Or of a machine that 

 converts gold wire into watch chain by 

 the hour without let or hindrance from 

 any man ! Such machines are busy 

 throughout the year in Attleboro. 



Rolled jewelry is finding a tremendous 

 sale all over the world, and the Attleboro 

 factories are months behind in filling 

 their orders. 



In one plant the first step in making 

 a filled watch chain is to prepare an ingot 

 of copper and zinc alloy about a foot 

 long and an inch and a half in diameter. 

 Over this is put a sleeve of, say, 14-carat 

 gold, cast to a perfect fit. This gold- 

 filled ingot is then put into a machine 

 which hammers it, reducing its diameter 

 and increasing its length. The process 

 is repeated by other machines until finally 

 it becomes small enough to be drawn 

 through dies as wire, each time growing 

 thinner and longer until it has the di- 

 ameter of the wire in the chain link. 



From this stage the wire may be fash- 

 ioned into links and chains either by hand 

 or by machinery. In the latter case the 

 wire is automatically fed into the chain 

 machine. A small knife comes out and 

 cuts off the length required to form a 

 link. Two little jaws close and the bit 

 of wire becomes the shape of a capital U. 

 Then a tiny hammer taps the open U in 

 such a way that it becomes an O, which. 

 with another movement, has its position 

 switched from horizontal to upright. 

 Then the wire is fed through the finished 

 link and the process repeated, the chain 

 growing longer at the rate of many feet 

 an hour. 



MASSACHUSETTS MAKES EVERYTHING, 

 FROM SUSPENDERS TO SILVERWARE 



There are many lines of manufacture 

 in which Massachusetts is the nation's 

 leader other than those already noted. 

 The State makes seven-eighths of the na- 

 tion's whips; more than two-fifths of its 

 gum shoes, rubber boots, and linen goods ; 

 one-third of its leather belting, bicycles, 

 and motorcycles ; a fourth of its en- 

 velopes, fireworks, silverware, sporting 

 and athletic goods, stationery, suspenders 



