THE MUSSEL FISHERY AND PEARL-BUTTON INDUSTRY. 
307 
cutters, and at some of the factories it is drawn into a tube by a current of air. The 
cutters ill the smaller works often cover the mouth and nose Avitli a cloth. 
The saws are made of Hat steel strips about H inches wide, and of various lengths 
corresponding to the sizes of the buttons. These strips, after being provided with 
tine teeth along one of the sides, are accurately bent into a cylindrical form and 
Saws and sawholders used in making buttons. 
fitted into heavy iron holders; the latter are adjusted to a lathe in which they revolve 
on a horizontal axis. As the blanks are cut they pass back into the saw and holder 
and drop into a box beneath the saw. 
From the cutting machines the blanks are taken to a weigher and recorder, who 
credits each man with the number of gross he cuts. 
