Comb (tool)

“ A thin steel saw bow, mounted in an iron or wooden handle, is the implement used by the comb-maker to cut the bone, ivory, and wood into slices of from a twelfth to a quarter of an inch thick, and of a size suitable to that of the comb. The pieces of tortoise-shell as found in commerce are never flat, or, indeed, of any regular curvature, such as the comb must have. They are therefore steeped in boiling water sufficiently long to soften them, and set to cool in a press between iron or brass moulds, which impart to them the desired form which they preserve after cooling. ”

“ There are several other motions of the comb having the same end in view; and by using the gutta-percha or cork combs, in conjunction with the fine steel, an infinite variety of grain may be produced. Steel combs, with one or more folds of thin rag placed over the ends of the teeth are a style of comb which has nothing to recommend it. A natural variation in the grain may be produced by one comb alone, according to the manner in which it is held. ”

“ This is far more severe labour than any subservient to machinery, and is carried on in rooms rendered close and hot by the number of stoves requisite to heat the combs, and so enable them to render the fibres soft, flexible, and elastic. This is a task at which only robust men are engaged. They use three implements: 1. a pair of combs for each person; 2. a post, to which one of the combs can be fixed; 3. a comb-pot, or small stove for heating the teeth of the combs. Each comb is composed either of two or three rows of pointed tapering steel teeth, b, fig. ”

“ The rubber combs should be coarse and fine—that is, the spaces between the teeth of the fine rubber comb should measure from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch and the coarse one from one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch. Sometimes a rubber comb with the teeth cut graduated looks well introduced among the other work. Where the work is to be shaded or over-grained it is better to cover the teeth of the rubber combs with a thin cotton rag before using, taking a clean place on the rag for every time the comb is used, but on cheap work this may be omitted. ”

“ To appreciate this we have only to look at the increase it has effected in the production. A comb-maker of the old school could not perhaps, with all his skill, cut more than eighty or a hundred combs per day; while with this machinery a man and boy will cut upwards of two thousand of the same kind, and with a consumption of only half the material. The finer dressing-combs, and all small-tooth combs, are still cut by circular saws in the next department. ”

“ Heart-work may be done in the same manner, but the combing should be done with a steel comb, the color for putting in the grains being but little darker than that with which the work is rubbed in. It is sometimes necessary to go over the whole with a fine steel comb. An occasional dark piece introduced among wiped work tends to relieve the sameness and looks more like the hardwoods; it also gives a better opportunity (where a job is not to be overgrained) to make distinct mitres and joints. ”

“ It is impossible to state a relationship between combs and spindles, owing to the great variety of the yarns and fabrics made from worsted. Although no radical improvements have recently been made in the comb, the efficiency has been increased about thirty per cent in the last twenty years. In 1870 the product of a comb was from four hundred to four hundred and fifty pounds a day. The same labor will now produce from seven hundred to eight hundred pounds, yielding a better quality of product. ”

“ When a piece of work is rubbed in, if it is desired to represent "champs," or "lights of oak"—better known as quartered oak—the rubber combs are first used and carefully drawn through the color—not necessarily in a straight line—and the coarse or finer, or both the steel combs, are drawn lightly over the track of the rubber comb; the work is then blended lengthwise with the flat brush, which has previously been rubbed out clean, and the champs or veins are put in across the grains previously made by the rubber and steel combs. ”

“ If you moisten the hair with oil, the comb will still be excited and exert attraction; but, if you moisten it with water, the excitement ceases; a comb passed through wetted hair has no power over the lath.
After its passage through dry or oiled hair, balance the comb itself upon the egg; it is attracted by the lath. You thus prove the attraction to be mutual: the comb attracts the lath, and the lath attracts the comb. Suspend your rubbed glass, rubbed gutta-percha, and rubbed sealing-wax in your wire loop. They are all just as much attracted by the lath as the lath was attracted by them. ”

“ If two Leyden jars L, L were hung upon the conductors which supported the combs, with their outer coatings put in connexion with one another by M, a series of strong spark discharges passed between the discharge balls. The action of the machine is as follows: Suppose one paper armature to be charged positively, it acts by induction on the right hand comb, causing negative electricity to issue from the comb points upon the glass revolving disk ”

“ We come now to treat of the grand era in the comb trade—of the time when it was destined, like the great staple manufactures of our country, to undergo a revolution. The introduction of machinery and steam-power, with the division of labor, is suggestive of an important stride in the progress of the trade. About the year 1828 Mr. Lynn invented a machine of a singularly ingenious design, having for its principal object that of cutting two combs out of one plate of horn or shell; and two years afterwards Stewart, Rowell & Co. commenced the manufacture in Aberdeen. ”

“ A rubber comb can be used to make portions of the heart by occasionally using it in the finer portions of the wiped-out hearts, taking care that the lines made by the comb closely follow those made by hand, and that they are equally distinct, or the places where the comb has been used can readily be distinguished from the rest of the work, and they look very bad. ”

“ Again wool is to be treated like hair. Hold the strand in the middle as before. Comb each end with the fine comb. Notice that the fine comb is removing the short fibers and leaving the long fibers between the fingers. This is the second process of combing, and is called combing.
5. The long fibers are called tops and the short fibers are known [Pg 284] as noils. [23] Combing is the process which separates the long fibers known as tops from the short fibers known as noils.
6. The combing machine in the mill is a very complicated one. ”

“ The comb-like instrument is forced into it about 4 cm. from the end of the base and the teeth are held against the first finger by pressure of the thumb. The leaf length is then drawn up by the other hand and is cut into straws depending in width upon the fineness of the comb used. If the leaves are too young they will break in this process. The stripped segments are then usually tied up into bundles as large around as the fist, and hung in some shaded place exposed to the wind. ”

“ Of course it must be understood that a combing machine is used by only a small percentage of cotton spinners. For ordinary purposes a sufficiently good quality can be made without a comber. As there is from 15 to 35 per cent waste to this operation it may be readily seen that it is costly, and limited entirely to the production of the very best and finest yarns, such as those intended for sewing or machine thread, fine hosiery, lace curtains, underwear, imitation silks, and fine grades of white goods. There are combing machines that comb short staple cotton. ”

“ Make a currycomb with wire teeth: Have a sheet of metal proper shape perforated to receive the wire teeth, and rest at the bottom of the brush. After cleaning the horse pull the metal sheet up, thus cleaning the comb. For a window sash without weights follow the trolley curtain. If a stirrup had an open bottom, save a small cleet on each side to rest the foot on, in case the rider was thrown the foot would turn and come out.
I don't believe in the strenuous life. It is the "happy medium" that appeals to me. We must have time to think. ”

“ Within our recollection, comb-making was considered one of the most miserable of trades, and as destitute of any thing like an organized modus operandi as that of the perambulating artisans who possessed a certain skill in the fashioning of rams' horns into spoons and rejoiced in the expressive designation of Horners. On a late visit to Aberdeen, however, we found the manufacture of combs carried on there not only to an extent far exceeding our preconceived notions, but flourishing in a state of skilful organisation ”

“ For this purpose, he takes out a sample in his small ladle, and pours it into a mould. When the copper is solidified, but still red-hot, he forges it. If it is soft under the hammer, if it does not crack on the edges, the refiner is satisfied with its ductility, and he pronounces it to be in its proper state. He orders the workmen to mould it; who then lift the copper out of the furnace in large iron ladles lined with clay, and pour it into moulds of the size suitable to the demands of commerce. ”

“ The frame containing the honey standing on one end and leaning over a receptacle for the caps is held with the left hand, the knife in the right hand begins at the bottom of the comb and running backward and forward as it is moved upward shears off very neatly the covering of the cells. The knife must be very sharp, and skill in cutting is shown in just the merest film of wax which is removed. A pan of hot water should be at hand on an oil stove perhaps; every time a sheet of capping is removed, the knife needs to be scraped on a stick, which will not dull it ”

“ Attached to the axle was a frame or rack to hold the comb, whose outer face rested against a wire-cloth. The axle with its attached frame, which latter held the uncapped comb, was made to revolve by rapidly unwinding a string, which had been previously wound about the top of the axle, after the style of top-spinning. Replace the wooden tub with one of tin, and the string with gearing, and it will be seen that we have essentially the neat extractor of to-day. As the machine is of foreign invention, it is not covered by a patent, and may be made by any one without let or hindrance. ”

“ German silver, for example, plated with platinum can be used to manipulate strong acids. By the Bright process, platinum can be deposited on any surface which can be electroplated with other metals.
COMBINED BRUSH AND COMB CLEANER.
The invention herewith illustrated relates to a device for cleaning brushes and combs. It consists of a handle or body of suitable form, provided at one end with a brush, and at the opposite end with thin curved fingers of metal, or equivalent elastic material, adapted to enter between the teeth of the comb or the bristles of the brush. ”

“ The best of these machines for a small apiary is the Swiss extractor, which may be set over a kettle of hot water, like an ordinary vegetable steamer, which it resembles. The comb is placed in a wire basket, which has a cone-shaped bottom, over which the wax flows down as it melts and drains off through a spout into a pan in which it is to be caked. This machine costs only three or four dollars and is simple and excellent; though it takes but comparatively little comb at a time, it keeps up a continual performance and there is no danger whatever of burning the wax. ”

“ Passing over one or two intermediate stages after the combs are thus cut and twinned—such as "thinning" on the outer edge by means of grindstones, and "pointing," by means of peculiarly-shaped bevel-saws—we arrive at the next department, where the finishing is given by the hand. Here we meet with artificers who, with a pertinacious reverence for ancient usages, preserve among themselves the appellation of comb-makers par excellence, forgetting that the very boys and girls in their respective departments play as important a part in the aggregate production. ”

“ Perfect Flat Stripping can only be obtained with a Motion which keeps the Comb at an even and fixed distance from the wire clothing at all points over the entire width of the Flat. The Williams Patent Stripping Motion, for which we hold sole rights for America, meets this essential requirement and therefore does what no other Motion has succeeded in doing. In the old system, the Comb is kept at a fixed distance from the framing of the machine, which is correct as long as there is no variation in the position of the Flats as they pass under the Comb. ”

“ Improvement has followed improvement in composition, manufacture and heat treatment, so that to-day, instead of the cut at 30 feet per minute, which was a high figure with carbon steel tools, the modern lathe or shaper tool often works at 300 or 400 or more feet per minute, and, with sufficient power behind it, at somewhat lower speeds plows out 1⁄2 inch deep and 3⁄4 inch wide chips so fast that their removal to keep the machine clear is no mean problem. ”

“ The processes of casting and rolling copper into sheets are so much like those already described in the manufacture of iron that they need not be repeated, but the trade of the Coppersmith is distinct from those of the workers in other metals, though they mostly consist in forming the sheet copper into various shapes and utensils by means of hammers, of which the smoothing hammer, the set hammer, and the riveting hammer, explain their own uses by their names. ”