I bought from a stone-dressing company that had failed a rubbing machine called the Jenny Lind rubber, from the fact that it was started the same year in which that songstress was brought to the United States by Mr. Barnum. This rubbing-machine was quite a success. From a central vertical spindle a jointed arm extended in three lengths, each about 12 feet long. The sections of this arm were very deep, so that there was no sag at the end, where the rubbing-plate was driven by belting and could be moved from stone to stone around a circle of 36 feet radius. Half of this circle was sufficient for our use. I made only one change in this machine. The pulleys, two pairs on each joint, one at the top and one at the bottom, about two feet in diameter by three inches face, were of course horizontal. The makers were afraid the belts would fall off; so they made these pulleys with two square grooves, ¹⁄₂ inch wide by ¹⁄₄ inch deep, in their faces, and had corresponding strips of leather sewn on the belts to run in these grooves. I threw all these away and substituted ordinary pulleys with their faces slightly crowning. Never had the least trouble. Indeed, these pulleys did better than I expected. I supposed the belts would need to be taken up occasionally, on account of becoming stretched, but they did not. Perhaps they would have done so if the strain on them had been greater. This rubbing machine resembled the stone-dressing machine in one respect: everything about it was arranged for continuous operation and the largest output.
The business was carried on the first season under the management of Mr. John McClave, a master stone-cutter, and the second season under the management of the firm of Brown & Young, stone-cutters. Mr. Hugh Young, of this firm, has since been prominent in the stone-cutting business in New York.
The machine was found to possess a remarkable advantage over hand work. The sun was called by stone-cutters “the great revealer.” When its rays fell at a small angle on a surface finished by hand they showed very considerable irregularities. The same test showed work in the machine to be true planes. It won a high reputation; stone-cutters were anxious to get their surfaces done in the machine, and we had more work offered us than we could do.
The following incident illustrates the favorable impression made by the machine upon everyone who witnessed its operation:
At a meeting of the Directors of the Company at which I was present Mr. Daniel S. Miller, a gentleman somewhat prominent in financial New York, was late. He made the following explanation. “I thought that before the meeting I would visit the stone yard and see how the work was going on. I stayed longer than I had intended, and I want five thousand dollars more of the stock of this company.”
We were much elated over our success, and plans were made for enlarging the business. I completed the drawings for an additional machine, wide enough to take in platforms, for which provision had been made by me in the plan of the building. The only change suggested by our two years’ experience was the use of air-cushions behind the hammers in place of steel springs.
But the best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, the poet tells us,
“Gang aft a-gley;
And leave us naught but grief and pain
For promised joy.”