The manufacture of anchors and cables is now almost exclusively located in Staffordshire, having entirely left the sea coast except at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The making of chain cables and anchors is for the most part carried on in factories and exclusively by men and boys with the aid of machinery, but the smaller chains for a variety of purposes, and especially trace chains, are made to a large extent by women and girls in shops attached to the cottages. There are many hundreds, probably a thousand or two, of the shops in question spread around the district of Cradley Heath and Old Hill in the county of Stafford. It cannot be said that such work is unsuitable for women and girls within certain limits; but there is no doubt that close inspection under the Workshops Act is necessary, and that there should be strict limitations of the hours of labour. The tendency is not only to work children of tender years, but to do so until late at night, especially at the end of the week, to make up for lost time in the earlier part of the week. It is computed that the Staffordshire chain and anchor trade as a whole consumes annually about 50,000 to 70,000 tons of iron, according to the state of trade, and the annual value, when trade is fair, approaches one million sterling. The workpeople earn from five shillings per week—the wages of a woman or girl—to fifty shillings per week, the wages of a large cable maker. It is a singular fact that anchor makers are to a considerable extent either Irish or of Irish origin, the descendants of the original stock imported from Liverpool by the late Mr. Noah Hingley. Their work is laborious and the wages continue high, varying from thirty to sixty shillings per week, and for the most part they spend it freely.
Die Sinking.—[G. Sherriff Tye.]—(B. 560.) For brooches, buttons, &c., a block of iron is moulded by the forger on to which a piece of cast steel is welded. Medal dies are all steel, as the powerful pressure applied would flatten them were they of iron. When a sharp blow is given, instead of pressure, the part-steel die stands the blow well, though it will not withstand a squeeze. While the steel is soft the die is cut out with steel cutting tools and finished by gravers, previous to the final polishing. The die sinkers of Birmingham make dies for the following purposes, among others: buttons, military ornaments, brassfoundry, plated wares, tea trays and tin work, gun work and small iron work, medals and coins, jewellery, seals for wax and paper embossing, brass dies for paper wrappers and bands, as used in the wholesale linen trades; needles, papers, etc., wheels and rolls for ornamenting metal tubes or sheets.
Saddlery Trade.—[Thomas Middlemore.]—(B. 463). Obsolete Articles of Manufacture.—The articles supplied by the Saddlery trades being for use rather than for ornament, it follows that fashion can have little effect in making any of them obsolete. Old wants have still to be satisfied.
It is yet worth noticing that whilst a very large trade was done some 30 years ago in shot belts, shot and cap pouches, and powder flasks, this trade has now become practically obsolete, since the breechloader has superseded the muzzleloader. Cartridges, both for military and sporting purposes, are now carried in a bag, or a bandolier, i.e., a shoulder or waist belt, to which is fastened transversely a series of pockets, each of which holds a cartridge.
New varieties introduced.—For welts of saddles, “hide bellies” split very thin have for the most part taken the place of seal skins. Crocodile skins have been used occasionally for saddles with indifferent success, but for bags, purses and pocket books, they, along with snake skins, have been largely and successfully employed. Calf skins for the latter purposes have been superseded by hides split specially thin. Kangaroo skins are now used in the whip trade for covering whips, but still more for making the whip thong. Hog skins, for which formerly the sole use was the saddle manufacture, are now prepared for furniture purposes, bookbinding, and bags. They have the advantages of being very durable, and of having a unique and handsome grain.
Saddles—The old “spring bar,” to which the stirrup leather is fastened, is gradually giving way to the “safety bar,” the object of which is to release the rider in the event of a fall, and to remove the danger of his being dragged, which is an universally admitted fault of the old “spring bar.” Further, increased safety is secured to lady riders by various “safety stirrups” which render dragging by the foot impossible. For the comfort of the horse the following inventions are worth notice:—“Gaussen’s corrugated rubber pannels” which break the jar caused by the weight of the rider—“Inflated air pannels,” which have the same effect—“ventilating pannels,” which are at the same time movable; these last prevent the danger of sore backs, and are very readily cleaned; they promise to become of general use.
Harness.—The changes that have here taken place concern rather the furniture or metal work, than the general form. For cheaper kinds of harness, electro-plating has superseded close plating. Again, electro-plating in its turn is being superseded by the new white metals, which are alloys having the colour of silver, and of analogous composition to German silver. The advantages of the new metals are, that they are uniform in their composition, and therefore durable, cheap, and of good appearance.
Military.—The regulation saddle of 20 years back, called the “Nolan,” has been superseded by an “Iron Arch Saddle,” and now another regulation, introduced in 1884, made entirely of steel, with the exception of the wooden side bars, is being used along with the “Iron Arch Saddle.” The old “knapsack” has given place to the new “Valise Equipment,” which was designed to distribute the weight of the pack more evenly. On the introduction of the Camel Corps, a special equipment was designed. Large quantities of this pattern were used in the Egyptian campaign.
Travelling Appointments.—The “Gladstone Bag,” a combination of a bag and portmanteau, has become more popular than any kind of either the one or the other. Tin Boxes have quite replaced the old wooden trunks. The quality has, however, of late years, been so reduced in order to force a sale, that unquestionably a reaction has set in against them. When damaged they are unsightly, and cannot be repaired. Baskets covered with canvas or leather are now, in consequence of their cheapness, lightness, and strength, much used for ladies’ travelling trunks. The introduction of Bicycles and Tricycles has created a new and vast trade in saddles, satchels, and the like for wheelmen. The trade is now only second in importance to that for ordinary English riding saddles.
Increase since 1865.—In the year 1864, the declared value of the exports of saddlery and harness for the United Kingdom was £345,419. For the year 1885, the total value was only £385,687. This increase, of less than 12 per cent., compares unfavourably with that of the sixteen years from 1849 to 1865, which was more than 300 per cent. The exports for the first four months of the present year were £122,093, which is less than the exports for the same period in 1865 by £8,569. This declining prosperity, which has occurred during the past five years, is due to a strangled trade in South Africa, and droughts in Australasia. Good seasons, and a rise in the wool market, give promise of an immediately better future for the saddlery trade.