CORK CUTTING. The nature of cork is explained in an earlier article [Berm]. In the snaking of ordinary corks, the material is entirely shaped by very sharp, smooth edged broad Latives, without the aid of any machinery; it is one of those employments in which everything depends on the manual skill gra dually acquired by the workman.
The attempts to make corks by machinery have been very numerous. In one among several American patents for this purpose the quadrangular pieces of cork, cut to proper lengths, are held between two revolving spin dles which grip them ; and as they revolve, the cork is cut round by a revolving cutter wheel, the arbor of which is horizontal and has its bearings in a sliding frame. Other apparatus allows the spindles to disengage the cork when cut. The edge of the cutter-wheel is kept sharp during the operation by means of two rotating discs, one acting on each face, and each covered with leather and emery. The blocks or pieces of cork are placed in a box, from which they are taken by a jaw which slides forward and places them between the grips of the revolving spindles.
Another plan was patented a few years ago by Messrs. Cutler and Hancock. A horizontal spindle, running in suitable bearings, carries a hollow conical cutter at each end. The largest end of the bone, which is outwards, is made very sharp ; and a small opening length wise of the cutter has also a cutting edge, for reducing the cork to a proper size and shape, as it enters the cone. A convenient number of these spindles are mounted in a frame, to which a traversing motion can be given by means of a screw and handle. A rapid motion is communicated to the spindles by a number of belts from a large drum moved by a steam engine or other source of power. Pieces of cork are placed in a holder; and the holder being placed in front of the cutters, with a proper support behind, they are urged forward by the hand screw until the cork has been cut through. The corks, as they are made, are pushed out by rods, which slide within the spindles.
A 'Patent Cork Cutting Company' has been lately established, for the manufacture of corks by machinery. The patentees assert
that the corks so made are both cheaper and better than those made by hand,—a matter which will soon be determined by the pur chasers. The same company manufacture cork gun-wadding, used in military services. Many substitutes for cork have from time to time been introducod,as stoppers for bottles. Mr. Brockedon has invented bottle-stoppers made of india rubber. The core of the stop per is made of cotton twisted into strands ; several of the strands, lapped with flax thread, Ire laid together longitudinally, with loose fine cotton roving laid between them. They are then lapped in a cylindrical form with flax thread, and the india-rubber solution applied to it while warm. It is only for peculiar pur poses that these stoppers can be used as substitutes for corks ; when applied, they must he slightly wetted to make them slide down the inner surface of the neck of the bottle.
Mr. Betts, the distiller, has introduced a patent capsule, for stopping bottles containing patented and other liquors. The material employed consists of thin plates of metal, formed of a layer of tin united to a layer of lead ; and this material is brought to a shape which enables it entirely to cover the corked mouth of the bottle.
One of many modes suggested of employing cork for stuffing beds and cushions is that patented a few years ago by M. Bachelard. According to this suggestion, the cork is used in the state of saw-dust or shreds, instead of in bulk. Any mode of preparing it may be adopted, provided it be in very small frag ments. It may be used alone, or combined with wool or horsehair. The patentee states that if a substratum of the cork be covered with a layer of horse-hair or wool, we shall have all the smoothness of a horse-hair or wool mattress, combined with the lightness and elasticity of cork. When used at sea, such a mattress might be light enough to act as a life-preserver, in case of exigency.
The unmanufactured cork imported in 1848 amounted to 3,028 tons. The French corks imported in a manufactured state amounted in 1849 to 151,861 lb.