Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1895 — Page 6

HOW BIKES ARE MADE.

PRACTICALLY NEW INDUSTRY QF VAST MAGNITUDE. TT Fine Material* Used la the HighGrade Wheel*—Simplicity, Llghtneee, StrepEth and Durability Prime Hequieitea—Why They Coat So Much. Demand Exceeds Supply. Why do bicycles cost $100? Lots of folks ponder over that question every day, and fall to find a satisfactory answer. Many people think that wheels are made like sewing machines and turned out Just as easily. That isn't so a bit A trip through a bicycle factory shows where some of the heavy cost comes in, and a talk with the manufacturer, who tells of the enormous amounts spent In advertising and mar-

MACHINE FOR TRUING UP RIMS.

ketlng his product, makes up the rest of the hundred. And there Is no denying the fact that the same competition that has brought the price of wheels down from the $l5O mark of two years ago has also made the expense of putting them on the market considerably greater than it was. The making of bicycles is an interesting process to watch even for the layman who knows nothing of mechanics, patents and such like things. Some of the machinery employed In the make of wheels is almost human. It is mostly special and very expensive. That is another reason why wheels cost as much as they do. The fact that the best skilled labor Is employed In turning them out Is another reason. Labor, in fact, is the greatest item. The difference between the cost of the

DROP PRESS AT WORK CUTTING COLD SHEET STEEL.

best material and the poor Is said to besoi slight that, except In the cheapest grade wheels, there is little object lit Using the poorer kind. V . Parts of the Bicycle. r Just where to start in telling how a wheel Is made is a. difficult thing. In the making they start in a dozen places or more at once. In a general way there are four different parts to a bicycle—the wheels, the frame which gets as the connecting support for all, the running gear and the steering apparatus. Carrying the analysis farther, the wheels are made up of spokes, hubs, rims, tires, spoke nipples, ball valves, cups and cones, and the washers that .go with them. The frame is composed of the diamond-shaped set of tubes that join the wheels together, the head through which runs the steering tube, the rear fork, the seat post and the crank hanger. The steering apparatus includes the handles, the steering tube, the fork sides around the front wheel, the fork crown and

SETTING UP A TANDEM FRAME.

the balls, cup apd, cones on which the steering tubes turn. The running gear takes in the pedals and crank which operate on the sprocket wheels, the chain which connects them and carries theldrlving power and the ball bearings on which these things revolve. The, saddle is also a necessity which properly belongs with the frame. These are the minute parts of the whdel, and each separate piece, whether big or little, requirea separate handling many times before it finally enterw into the make-up Of a complete wheel. Each-piece passes through numerous bands before it id finished, each person who handles it taking it a little lijLJHaking the rims for wheels, for insfcincefethe workman finds hts materi»Hn of.rteel four feet broad,

perhaps, and twenty feet long. He puts It Into a cutter that rips It into proper widths and then cute it to requisite lengths. From there each piece is sent through < -machine that bends it Into circular form and on through others that turn up the edges into concave shape to hold the rubber tire. When that is done the two ends are brazed together, holes are drilled for the spokes and the rim is complete except for the nickeling and polishing. The spoke, spoke nipples, hub and washers are all handled separately. With the new method of making the frames comes the greatest reduction in the weight of wheels. Instead of using small bars of solid steel, as formerly, lighter hollow steel tubing is employed. This lessens the weight without sacrificing the strength, for a tube of steel is said to be stronger than a solid of the same weight In making the joints, too, there Is a great saving of weight. Instead of the old heavy castings and reinforcements, the Joints are now brazed, one piece into the other, which adds strength and decreases the weight In place of the heavy castings used, for Instance, in the fork-crown, a vital part of the machine, drop forgings are now employed to the increase of strength and safety and the decrease also of weight. In making the running gear the greatest care is exercised, both in workmanship and the selection of material. Each piece Is handled a dozen times, made with the utmost precision, tested for every possible strain, and not put into a wheel without every assurance that It will be able to perform its functions properly. Special machinery Is used for most of it, and the best of skilled workmen are employed. If there Is but one part about a wheel that requires particular treatment it is the running gear, and it gets it.

Some of the Machinery Used. A great deal of machinery used Is automatic, and can be operated by boys and girls. The making of oil cups, for Instance, and the many nuts and rivets used In a wheel is done by machines that bite off pieces of steel, turn them about a few times on automatic lathes, and then throw them out finished and complete. Sprocket wheels are made in this way. First they are cut in circular form from a plate of steel by a heavy drop hammer, then strung together in lots of a dozen or more in a machine whose teeth «<at out spaces In the rims and make the notches, one row at a time, on which the propelling chain turns. Saddles are first cut out of bit sides of leather, soaked and put through a lot of forms, till they are pressed into the proper shape. Most of the work is done by girls. Putting the spokes in hub and wheel Is a puzzling job, which has been well learned by ai lot of boys, and they do it as well as

men. Putting tires in the rims Is simply a trick, too, but they tell you at the factory they will give anyone a wheel who can pull an inflated tire away from the rim. The enameling, nickeling and polishing of the different parts are done by the same processes always used in finishing the same sort of material in the same way. The assembly room is the place where all the parts come and are put together. Each part is there tested again for every kind of strain it will have to bear.

His Savings.

A horny-handed workingman in Meriden, whose wages have never been over $2 a day, has saved $9,000 from them, which he keeps at interest in the savings bank. He must surely have lived very closely; he must have been mean toward his four children, three girls and one boy; he must have cut down his family supplies to a low notch during the forty years in which he has been laying by his riches. It is time for us to say that we cannot hold him up as an example to be followed by all other workingmen. It would not be well for them to live as he must have lived all his life, never enjoying half a pint of peanuts or a saucer of ice cream, never giving any of his children a stick of candy or a doll, hardly ever buying a new dress for his wife or a suit of clothes for himself, or a copy of • a Meriden newspaper. The word in that household from morning till night, at breakfast, dinner and supper, must have been scrimpi. He is surely a stingy man, something like a skinflint, or how could he have saved so much out of his small wages? We can’t say that we admire his style. It is good for a man to live pretty ’well, If he can afford It, and to get the best out of his money as he goes alpng, always, of course, avoiding anything like wastefulness, always practicing economy. It is good for him to put some money in the bank, If he can; but not much more than he can spare. It is right for one to feather his nest, but wrong to stuff it so full of feathers that its occupant cannot breathe freely. Certainly, oh, certainly, you should lay up something against a rainy day, but still you need not squeeze all the juice out of life, like the stjngy $2-a-day man of Meriden.—New York Sun.

Glass Floors.

A new warehouse in Paris has been built with glass floors. The initial cost is consderably over that of the ordinary floor, but in view of the fact that toughened glass is so much longer lived than wood, the experiment is likely to prove cheaper in the long run. Every day Dr, Price’s baking powder Is * source qf comfort to the cook.

MARQUIS OF SALISBURY, ENGLAND'S NEW PREMIER.

FIRST WHITE HOUSE BABY.

Mr*. Wilcox I* a Clerk in the Treasury De partinent. The number of children born in the White House is small, being so far only six. They have not all bad happy lives

MRS. J. A. WILCOX.

nor ones pleasanter than most people’s notwithstanding the glory of their infant days. The first White House baby was a girl, and made her debut during the far away reign of Jackson, back in 1830. There was a space of sixty-three years between the first and the last White House baby. Who was the first? She was the daughter of President Jackson’s niece, who was the wife of Andrew Jackson Donaldson. This latter gentleman was the Thurber of his day, and performed as Jackson’s private secretary. Mrs. Donaldson, Jackson’s niece, not yet 20, came with her uncle to the White House to preside as its mistress. The first White House baby, Baby Donaldson, grew yp and married a Mississippi gentleman—once in Congress—named Wilcox. Gen. Wileox has now been dead full thirty years, and Mrs. Wileox, who was the first baby to try the White House as a place wherein to be born, has, since Grant’s time, been a clerk in the Treasury Department. The first White House baby Is an old gray lady now, and the day Baby Esther Cleveland was born, she was busy at her desk in the treasury, not 100 yards from the last baby’s cradle. Yet the first baby has witnessed much of the world. Her father, Donaldson, following his term as Jackson’s private secretary, was at various European courts as Minister. He came home to plunge into politics, and once ran for the Vice Presidency. But whether it was the property of her father other husband, or both, the fact remains that the war swept away what riches the first White House baby—Mrs. Wil-cox-possessed, and President Grant gave her the position which she now holds, and which she will probably hold until death claims the first White House baby for himself.

A CONVENIENT MONEY DRAWER

Which Has Several Points That Commend It to Shop-Keepers. The object of this money-drawer, which has just been patented, is to defeat any attempt of a purchaser to

NEW MONEY DRAWER.

make the merchant believe that he gave him a bill of larger denomination than he really did, and to prevent errors in making change. The drawer is provided with a sliding tray for small change, as such drawers

THE FIRST MAN AT THE SUMMER RESORT.

are usually arranged. Beneath the tray it is divided into four compartments for bills, the first for ones, the second for twos, the third for fives and the fourth for tens and larger bills. Over these compartments are three separate movable covers, which slide to one side or the other, thus always leaving one compartment open, it being the object of the device to leave open the compartment in which is placed the bill Just received, so that it may be in sight until the transaction is completed, and may be the only bill seen when the drawer Is next opened. The position of the lids is secured by a locking device at the back, and a separate alarm-lock la fitted in the drawer.

INDIAN’S PEA-GREEN HOME.

Mas-Que-Canock’e House in the Kickupoo Country u Curiosity. On a beautiful bottom land allotment In the Kickapoo country, says the Kansas City Star, lives an Indian named Mas-que-canock. When Alloting Agent Neal went among the Klckapoos to get their names he came across this coppercolored gentleman and had great difficulty in understanding his name, so be put hlm<flpyyn as Master Mechanic and let it go at that And that is the name that passed before Congress and the Secretary of the Interior and went into history. Mas-que-canock Is a supercilious young buck, who lias one of the best allotments in the country. On it he has built himself a beautiful pea-green

AN INDIAN CONTRAST.

house, two stories high, but all one room. He has two tiny window's in each end of the house and his door opens into his back yard, leaving the inhospitable looking blank side of the bouse toward the road. By the side of this new house stands the squat and squalid bark thatched wickiup, in which he lives w'ith a fallowing of squaws, children and dogs. In his Ifeautiful pea-green house he stores his harness and saddles and rusty plow and other implements.

A Giant Barber Pole.

At the entrance of Point Defiance Park stands a giant fir tree at least 150 feet in height and six feet in diameter at the base. At the very apex of that sturdy trunk one day last week a shaft of lightning struck. From the point where it first struck the tree, straight down one side for fifty feet, the bark was torn away from the body of the tree, leaving bare the surface of the wood; thence as though actuated by some spirit of mischief the bolt began a spiral course around the trunk, tearing the bark off for a width of six or eight Inches, twice completely encircling the tree in a distance of 100 feet before entering the ground.

Ought to Feel Cheap.

First boy—l bet Mr. De Broker feels cheap. - Second boy—Why? First boy—Last week he paid §2OO for a dog and to-day a $2 dog lidkfed him.— Street & Smith’s Good News. We have an idea that embalming fluid has a smell similar to that of beef tea.

THE YELPING COYOTE.

Habit* of This Queer Inhabitant of the • - Plain* Whatever else may be said for or against the coyote, there are three points upon which his enemies, as well as his friends, have agreed—that his true aim in life is to satisfy the cravings of his inner anatomy. That his chief affliction is an undying curiosity, and that his principal amusement is to pour forth his soul in accents of yelping melody. There is no ease on record where a coyote was of the opinion that his famine was filled; it is against his creed to even dream of having enough to eat When one of them goes on a little raid by himself, and is so fortunate as to catch a young and unsuspecting calf out for a moonlight stroll without his mother, why supper is assured as far as the coyote is concerned, and he will carve out the choicest morsels first and then gorge himself on the more substantial portions until he resembles* a packed grip on legs. Yet not even then is the coyote ready to depart for home—not if he knows himself; but if the remainder of the feast be not too heavy he will throw it across his back, and, holding one end in his mouth, carry the remnant of the luckless calf to his den for future reference; when, if he be a coyote of family, his spouse and cubs will be allowed to assist him in taking care of what is left ere it spoils. But should the calf be of such a size that the remainder can not be removed, the coyote simply camps on the spot and eats by installments until the approach of day, when, with many a longllng glance and reluctant howl, he drags himself homeward. The Curiosity of a coyote is absolutely beyond his control. Should anything unusual happen on the range, as a stampede for instance, every place ot vantage in the immediate neighborhood is liable to be adorned with one or more coyotes, standing like silent interrogations, only to be transformed a ‘moment later, when the maddened herd has thundered by, into howling exclamations of joy, as they think ol the trampled victims from whose fat

A MIDNIGHT SERENADE.

quarters entire suppers are to be carved at will. The yelping howl of a coyote produces a strange impression on the mind of one who hears it for the first time. As long as a coyote is heard to express himself in long-drawn howls, uttered at irregular Intervals, it is a sure sign that no game is in the wind. But whenever one be'gins to pour forth his soul in whole volleys of staccato yelps and agonizing shrieks it is an unfailing indication that he has either just eaten or has brought his game to bay and needs help in taking it. The ‘ti+ue when the coyotes do their best and most scientific yelping is uetween day break and sunrise. Then it is that one coyote will make as much noise as a large family of cur dogs; and a dozen reciting in chorus will create an uproar that could not be equaled if a flock of mad geese were shut up with a whole regiment of hound pups. The strangest part of it is that the coyotes, when giving these morning concerts, do not stand still and look solemn; but whirl round and round, and roll over and over, and leap wildly into the air, their antics resembling very much the gyrations of the man with a bumble bee up his ti-ousers leg.

“Now I Hear You.”

Father O’Halloran had a telephone put into the parsonage In connection with the church, the parochial school, etc. Patrick McFee, his reverence’s handy man, was instructed in the use of the Instrument, and it was only the next day when Pat, dusting out the church, heard the clatter of the telephone bell. Taking down the receiver, he was pleased to hear Father O’Halloran’s familiar voice asking him something or other about his work Pat, in essaying to answer, remembered that his reverence was a long way off, and Pat consequently nallooed into the transmitter at the top of his voice. “I don’t understand you, Patrick,” said the telephone. Pat tried again, but with no better success. On his third trial, he came near splitting the telephone; but again came Father O’Halloran’s voice, “I can’t hear what you are saying, Patrick,” Pat had by this time lost something of his patience, and as he stood gathering breath for a fourth blast he couldn’t refrain from soliloquizing in a low tone, “Ah! may the divil fly away wld the ould fool.” Bi/t Pat dropped the telephone like a hot potato and fell to his knees in dismay, when he heard Father O’Halloran’s voice once again, “Now I hear you perfectly, Patrick.”—Boston Evening Transcript.

Kitchens in the Tropics.

The kitchens of tropical countries, such as are to be found in our SpanishAmerican lands, are like cells, from the thickness of the stone walls—often two or three feet deep—and the projecting, omnipresent veranda, which gives a grateful shade, and which looks out on a court The cell resemblance is enhanced by the iron bars at the windows and the heavy double doora, which look as if they could resist a siege. The walls are whitewashed and the floors are of tiles. The dining-room is often separated from this room by a long staircase; outside the kitchen, in the court, will stand table and closets, to supplement the scant furniture of the small, hot apartment with a furnace-like fire. Bass—And of which variety is your wife, the clinging vine or the self-as-sertive? Cass—A little of both. When she wants a new dress or a new bonnet she generally begin# intheclinglng-vine foie; If that doesn’t bring the money, then she changes to the self-assertive; apd—well—she .invariably gets the dress oc the bonnet—Boston Transcript.

AMERICAN TOURISTS IN EUROPE

They Usually Travel in Parties and Are Considered Liberal Spender*. The summer exodus has become so completely a part of city life that, like the spring cleaning and the circus and the winter variety show and the voice of the huckster, it is taken for granted, and nobody, except those immediately interested, pays much attention to It So far as the population of a great city is concerned, it may be loosely divided Into two classes; those who form a part of the summer exodus and those who stay at home. The latter are by far, of course, the more numerous, and, by the way, are by no means less respectable ttikir the minority who depart with the first warm wave, for the number of wanderers would not be missed from the busy crowd that fills the streets in summer, as in winter. But in “society” going away is an in-

PLANNING THE ROUTE.

dlspensablllty in the summer season, for everybody who is anybody goes, and what everybody does is manifestly the proper thing to do. Among the summer birds are those who prefer the lakes and those who like the seashore, but both these classes, while estimable in their way, are not to be compared for a moment to those who are able to spend their summers abroad; that is to say, who are willing, for the sake of the name of the thing, to be swindled and cheated from one end of Europe to the other just to be able to say that they have been abroad Americans generally contribute liberally to the enjoyment of life by Europeans, and in more ways than one. All classes of people who live on travelers find Amercicans their best game, and although they may indulge In a covert sneer at our ways they yet treat the American tourist with profound respect. But the respect that is shown to him in England is nothing to the reverence that is exhibited for him on the continent, for every untraveled Frenchman, German and Italian has an idea, somewhat ill-defined, but nevertheless an idea, that all Americans either have a gold mine or a cotton plantation, and so are able to scatter dollars like handfuls of grain. The porters bow down to the earth, and the guides take off their hats, and the hotel people put their heads in the dust, and they all have reason to do so, for one wealthy American will spend more money in Paris or London than two German princes and not be particularly extravagant, either, for an American. With reason, therefore, do the hotel people show their reverence, for every year over 100,000 Americans cross the watei to leave money and bring back experience. They take with them at least ar average of .SI,OOO, and when the aggregate expenditure is figured out the innkeepers, and steamboat owners, and railroad magnates, and .ither people of that kind, get a goodly share of it, and the storekeepers and curio dealers get most of the balance. For, besides his experience, every American must bring home something, and if he can smuggle

THE PACKING.

what he brings through the custom house in New York, so much the better does he appreciate it And he is richer, if he brings only experience, for so different are the Europeans in most respects from ourselves, so greatly do they vary from us in many important details, in short so much Is there to be seen that we have not, that a summer spent on the other side is of Itself a liberal education.

An Accommodating Road.

“In Santa Rosa,” remarked a commercial traveler, “the street railway company lives up to its public announcements: ‘Every courtesy shown travelsers on our line.’ “The last time I was there the conductor stopped the car and sat down to read a newspaper. “ ‘What's the matter? Broke down?’ I asked.- . ' ’ “ ‘No; Joe Thomas wanted to collect a bill from a fellow in that shoe shop. He’s owed it about three years and this is the first time Joe has seen him, ’ explained the conductor. "In the next block the cbhductor w’alt* ed for Will Keenan to buy a steak for dinner and lock up his blacksmith shop. It’s an acconamodating company.”—San Francisco Post.

Corrosion.

When steel is exposed to the action of sea water and the weather it is said to corrode at the rate of an inch in eighty-two years; an inch of iron under the same conditions corrodes in 190 years. When exposed to fresh water and the weather the periods are 170 years for steel and 630 years for iron.

Lime.

For heavy land there are few better correctives or disintegrators than lime. It is also useful on light soils, but on clays and marls its effect is most marked. A moderate quantity sprinkled over the clods of clay in trenching will crumble them up as nothing else will do except frost. Smart —Whatever induced your uncle to marry the widow of a man wh<|> was hanged? Simpson—He has been married to widows before, and said he was tired of having the virtues of former husbands flung in his face.—Spare Moments. The man who tries to show off what he knows; shows that he neglected to learn one very important thing.

OUR BUDGET OF FUN.

HUMOROUS SAYINGS AND DO> INGS HERE AND THERE. Joke* and Jokeleta that Are Supposed to Have Been Recently Born—Saying* and Doing* that Are Odd, Cur ion* and Laughable-The Week’* Humor. Let U* All Laugh. Man with the gloomy liver. Cease to deplore thy fate} Get out toward the river And go to digging bait! --Atlanta Constitution. Visiting New-Yorker—Have you read “Trilby” yet? Philadelphian—No, but I have beard of it.—Somerville Journal. Son —Father, is the position of Senator higher than that of Congressman? Father —It comes higher, my boy.—• Boston Post Kingley—Does your wife try to boss you as much as she used to? BingoNo; she doesn’t even have to try now.— New York Herald. Figg—Are you at all interested In secret orders? Fogg—Only in connection with the soda fountain at the drug Store.—Boston Transcript Biggs—Why does Brown always write his jokes on such thin paper? DiggsSo the editor can see through them, I suppose.—Albany Journal. “Well,” said the monkey to the organ grinder as he sat on top of the organ, carried away with the music.”—Philadelphia Record. “Have you read my last poem In the magazine?” “No; but if it’s really your last just name the magazine, and I’ll buy it!”—Atlanta Constitution. “Yass,” said Cholly, “the guvnah gives me money to burn, but I don’t do it, y’ know. Going to the races is quickah.”—New York Recorder. Cholly—Why do so many of the girts get married in June? “June brides,'* you know. Polly—That’s easy. It’s because they’re asked.—Chicago Record. “What makes you think he cares sos you?” “Why, mamma talked to him for more than an hour last evening, and he really seemed to enjoy it.”—Punch. She—l was playing whist also lasi night It was the first meeting of our Young Ladies’ Whist Club. He—l wondered what made you so hoarse.—Harlem Life. Tommy’s pop—Why is It the little boy who lives across the street seems to have no friends? Tommy—Why, his father's a base-ball umpire.—Philadelphia Record. “When an 18-year-old girl says her mother won’t let her accept an invitation to a party it is certain that the wrong person has asked her to go.”— Atchison Globe. He —You see, the free coinage. of >sll» ver would inflate prices She—Would it? Then you’d better let me have some money so I can get in at once.—Brooklyn Life.

Casey—Phat made Mulligan fall off de ladder? Did his fut shlip? Reilly— It did not. Oi told him a joke an hour ago, an’ sure he jist now tumbled.— Philadelphia Record. Willie —What does alimony mean, pa? Does it mean all the money? Pa (bitterly)—Yes, all the money a man can scrape together, and more, too, sometimes.— Npw York World. “Talk about daylight robbery being the height of imposition,” said the man as lie shook his fist at the gas meter, “it Is not in it with gaslight robbery. No.”—lndianapolis Journal. I love to swing upon the gate, Say, just at eventide; That is, if it will bear the weight Of some one else inside. —New York Herald. “Do you know?” gushed Miss Mayflower, “I think Jack is very much interested in palmistry. He told me he paid $25 one evening last week just to look at another man’s hand.”—Boston Bulletin. She (in the art gallery)—l wonder If my hat is on straight; everybody stares at me so. He—Naturally they do; you're the most perfect picture here. And now the cards are out.—Philadelphia Record. Mrs. Mcßride (entering the kitchen)— Bridget, didn’t I see that policeman kiss you? Bridget—Well, mum, sure an’ yez wouldn’t hev me lay mesilf opin to arrlst for restrainin’ an officer, mum? —Harper’s Bazar.

Alberta—l do wish it were not the custom to' wear the engagemerit ring only on the third finger of one’s left hand. Alethea—So do I. I can’t get more than half my engagement rings on at one time now.—Life. Bass—Do you know that Fenderson is a regular lady-killer? Cass—l suspected as much from what he said about the woman in the big hat-just in front of him at the theater the other night.—Boston Transcript Blobbs—They say .an actor is never afraid to live in a haunted hpnse. Slobbs—l suppose because he is usually fuIL of “spirits.” anyhow. Blobbs— Yes, and then he always likes to see the ghost Record. Husband—This cake is very good, my dear; but it, seems to me there ought to be a little .tpore—— Wife (in ejear, incisive tones)—That cake came by mail and was made by your mother. Hus-band-Yes, as I was saying, there ought to be & little more of it.—New York Weekly. “You have been a good while getting upstairs,” said Mrs. Smarte, who with her lord and master was stopping at one of our hotels. "Yes,” replied Smarte; “I stopped to take an elevator.” “Oh, you need not have taken the trouble to tell me,” said Mrs. S., tossing her head. “I smelt your breath the moment you entered the room.”— Boston Transcript.

In Turkey.

Among the Turks bath money forma ah item in every marriage husband engaging to allow his wife a certain sum for bathing purposes. It it be withheld she has only to gutefigre the Cadi and tur.y her slipper upside down. If the complaint be not then, redressed it is ground for divorce.

Canadian Eggs.

In three years Canada’s exports of eggs to Great Britain has Increased from to $503,000. ’> *U i - An old lovj-affair is«acred only rintU a seebrid love’hiafr Aaslollowed