Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1890 — HOW HORN COMBS ARE MADE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW HORN COMBS ARE MADE.

BY EMMA VILO.

*) Jw OMBH are made from horns gathered in Australia and South Ameriand from • buffalo ' /:ff » j IjAhorn brought from vari- ' |ju4 * quarters. Each ErV 1 IUrO mar ket supplies a horn of a distinct character, the characteristic 9 * 8 c^°9e V v maintained in the production of the i / oombs. The processes & dopted in manipulative ing the horn are. how-

ever, one and the same for all kiods. The first operation is to cut the horn in several different ways, so that when it is opened it shall be of rectangular shape. This cutting involves the loss of several large pieces, and also of the tios so far as comb-mnking is concerned; but the pieces are sold to manufacturers of other commodities, so that the total loss is comparatively slight. To assist the action of the knife, the horn is heated to a certain degree over the lire, by the side of which the operator sits. When cut, the horn is often softened and opened by tongs and placed between screw plates, wherein, under the influence of a strong pressure, the pieces are flattened out. It is a characteristic of the horn to remain when cold just as it is shaped when warm; so that, when the pieces are removed from the screw plate, they do not warp or curl up again. Such piecei as are intended to be used for imitation tortoise shell are subjected to an enormous pressure between heated and oiled iron plates. This heavy pressure, however, weakens the horn and renders it liable to split. Omitting the drying stage, the noxt process is to cut the pieces into suitable sizes and shapes for combs, and the teeth are cut. Originally this was done by hand. Now it is done by circular saws, some of which are so fine and thin as to cut from seventy to eighty teeth per lineal inch. They revolve at a very rapid rate; but, instead of traveling up to the horn, the horn travels up to the saw. After each cut the horn is automatically moved forward tho exact breadth of a tooth, and it is possible to arrange that a fine or a coarse tooth shall be cut at pleasure. This in itself is sufficient to stamp the machine as a most ingenious piece of work. After the tooth cutting, the combs are next thinned or tapered down to their outer edges. This is done on ?rindstones, and in due succession the eeth are rounded, pointed, or beveled, as the case may require, by a special kind of tile, or rasp. If from this stage it is necessary to treat the horn, to make it an imitation of tortoise shell, the object is effected by first applying a dilute nitric acid, which imparts a light-yellowish tinge, and afterward by dropping over certain spots a composition containing caustic soda, litharge, and dragon’s blood. After some time the blood is washed off, but the spots beneath it are found to be slightly swollen up, and stained to a deep orange tinge. It then only remains to polish the combs, whether they are in plain horn or in imitation of tortoise shell. This is dor.o by first sandpapering, to get a smooth surface, then buffing on leather wheels, aDd finally polishing on wheels made up of circular pieces of calico, with frayed edges, which, though so soft in themselves, present a hard face when being rapidly revolved.