Shirt Collars by the Bushel

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The city of Troy has long been famous for shirt making and its shirt collars. The "Troy Whig" says:— " There are here a large number of manufacturers, who employ from five hundred to fifteen hundred females each, on their Work, besides some half dozen establishments in which the article is manufactured by machines. We know of one house in which about forty machines are used, and another where there are some thirty, and they are increased as rapidly as they can be supplied. We are told that the collars made by machine are quite as good as those made by hand. Cost by machine, per dozen, for making :— Running ..... 4 cents Turning 3 " Stitching ..... 4 " Banding , , . , , 12 " Thread and ironing (before stitching) 2 " Total .... 25 Throwing out the cost of machines (which is about $125 each for those used here,) the expense ot keeping them in order, &c, ind there is an apparent difference of about 12i cents. It is probable, howeyer, that after making a proper allowance for this, the difference in the expense of the two systems will be slight. But a very slight saving on a dozen, where so many thousand dozens are turned off, must affect materially a year's profits. Those who manufacture machinery peculiar arrangement' of belt and pulleys, by which the main driving pulley is made to pinch the band at the points in the intermediate pulleys with any desired force. It obviates much of the friction attendant upon the ordinary modes of driving saws and other machinery. In the figure A represents the crank to drive the power wheel, C. B is the main shalt of this wheel, and D is an arm (there is a similar one on the other side) on said shaft, excular saw, and one man enabled thereby to saw through a three inch plank. * This mode of banding pulleys apppars to us to be a most excellent improvement, and is specially adapted to almost all portable machines, as well as those driven by steam power. It is well adapted, as we have seen for ourselves, for circular and scroll sawing, both for ripping, cross-cutting, rabbetting, &c. The claim is as follows :—" Arranging the driving pulley (C) in reference to pulleys (G I) that the band passing over these pulleys is not only pressed with any desired force against the periphery of the driver (C), but is also pinched between CI and C G, they operating upon the band as feed pulleys, in the manner represented and described. This method of banding may be seen applied to portable circular sawing at D. Miller's, 110 East Thirteenth street, between Third and Fourth avenues, New York City. have an advantage, from the fact that their business may be kept principally under their own eyes. While those who continue under the old system, must send the greater proportion of their work to a distance, frequently more than fifty miles. On the other hand, those who employ hand sewers, avoid rent, fuel, &c, which have to be provided by machine workers.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 8 Issue 32This article was published with the title “Shirt Collars by the Bushel” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 8 No. 32 (), p. 256
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican04251853-256c

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