The Wonder Book Of Knowledge Part 48

Not only was it necessary to meet the demand for card index conveniences, but it was also important to equip the Model "A"

Addressograph with an electric motor for increasing its speed of operation and insuring a greater output. As was to be expected, the card index and electrically operated features caused thousands of concerns, large and small, to adopt the addressograph. Large mercantile houses, addressing thousands of names--who had formerly held aloof from the addressograph because of its limited advantages for making changes and additions--now placed their orders with instructions to rush delivery.

With business houses all over the country rapidly changing from bound books to loose-leaf card index records, the demand for chain addressograph models diminished and more and more orders were received for the rubber card index addressographs. Business men, generally, were now taking a real interest in mechanical addressing and the saving which the addressograph made possible in their offices. This interest was increased materially with the growth of mail-order businesses and the constantly increasing use of direct-by-mail advertising by business concerns, large and small. Firms having mailing lists were increasing them. Those firms which had not previously used direct-by-mail advertising were now coming to realize the many advantages of that modern selling short-cut and were compiling large lists of names. The rubber card index addressograph had by now proved itself a wonderful time and labor saver in addressing and maintaining lists of names of average size. But, with the advent of large lists, the high cost of rubber type presented a serious objection to many firms regarding the installation of the addressograph. Furthermore, large lists of names were subject to many changes and additions--and in this connection, setting up the address plates in rubber type proved quite slow and expensive. So, to bring the addressograph abreast of modern conditions, Mr. Duncan combined the card index filing idea with the embossed metal plate which he had previously worked out for use with the chain addressograph. With the coming of the metal card index addressograph and the modern graphotype for making the metal address plates, the addressing machine business was "revolutionized," as Mr. Duncan put it.

With the graphotype, address plates for changes and additions could be made at almost typewriter speed. The card index address plate required less filing s.p.a.ce than was true of the rubber card index address plate, printed cleaner impressions and from every standpoint was superior to the rubber type system. In order that customers could make their changes and additions right in their office, the graphotype was further developed and furnished in two models, one operated by motor, the other by hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELECTRIC GRAPHOTYPE WHICH EMBOSSES TYPEWRITER STYLE CHARACTERS ON METAL ADDRESS PLATES]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAND GRAPHOTYPE WHICH EMBOSSES TYPEWRITER STYLE CHARACTERS ON METAL ADDRESS PLATES]

Attachments Increase Utility of Addressograph.

The first addressographs were intended for printing names and addresses consecutively on envelopes and post cards. And so much time was saved on this one application that customers soon began applying it to other kinds of work in their offices. To do this effectively, it was necessary for Mr. Duncan to work out additional parts called "attachments" which permitted the addressing, listing and imprinting of names and other data on office forms of every nature. To ill.u.s.trate: the dating attachment enabled users to apply the addressograph to their statement work. With this attachment--which can quickly be thrown in or out of operation--the current date is printed at the head of a statement simultaneously with the printing of the name and address. Further, to use the addressograph effectively for statement work, it was necessary to devise a skipping attachment--manipulated by the operator's knee--permitting him to skip the printing of impressions from address plates of those customers who had paid their accounts. By working out the listing attachment, Mr.

Duncan made it possible for users to list names in one or more vertical columns on pay sheets, drivers' route sheets, dividend and trial balance sheets. This attachment automatically feeds the paper and s.p.a.ces the proper distances between the printing of each address. Then came the electric bell signal and automatic selector attachments. Users of cla.s.sified lists of names were enabled by these attachments to place tabs in sockets at the top and back of the address plates to indicate the different cla.s.sifications on the list, such as "Buying Seasons,"

"Kinds of Products Wanted," "Territories," "Expired Dates," etc., and by means of these attachments, automatically select for addressing certain address plates, skipping the addressing of others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOMATIC LISTING ATTACHMENT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HIGH SPEED AUTOMATIC FEED ADDRESSOGRAPH. CAPACITY, 7,500 ADDRESSED ENVELOPES PER HOUR]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUTOMATIC ENVELOPE FEED ADDRESSOGRAPH. SPEED, 5,000 ADDRESSED ENVELOPES AN HOUR]

As the various uses for the addressograph increased, so the demand for different special attachments increased, until today, the addressograph addresses, lists and imprints names, addresses and other data upon every office form. The history of the addressograph has been one of constant development. With the growth of large lists, the demand for greater speed in addressing was answered by automatic feed addressographs. The Automatic No. 1 Addressograph was designed to automatically feed and address envelopes and cards at the rate of 4,000 to 5,000 an hour. In the Automatic No. 3 Addressograph we find the highest development of the system. This machine automatically feeds and addresses public service bills, insurance premium notices and receipts, cards, envelopes, circulars, etc., at the great speed of 6,000 to 8,000 an hour. The wrapper addressograph answered the demand of publishers for great speed and 100 per cent accuracy. This model of the addressograph automatically feeds wrappers from a roll and in addition to printing the name and address exact typewriter style, also prints the name of the publication and postal permit from electrotypes, indicates mail routes on the back of the wrappers, separates into a separate drawer the address plates of those people whose subscriptions have expired, and cuts the wrapper to the proper size--all at the speed of 7,500 per hour.

Small Users not Overlooked.

But, while Mr. Duncan and his a.s.sociates have given every attention to the needs of users of large lists of names, he has not overlooked the lodge secretaries and other users of small lists of names. In the hand addressograph, which sells for as low as $27, he has worked out three practical models having an average speed of from 750 to 1,500 names and addresses an hour. Thousands of these little machines are in daily use and, like the larger models of the addressograph, are driving drudgery out of the office--freeing thousands of hands from the monotonous, laborious task of writing names and addresses by pen and ink--in short, elevating the position of the office worker far above that of a mere automaton and making it possible for him to earn more money and enjoy a happier existence by doing brain work instead of manual labor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WRAPPER FEED ADDRESSOGRAPH. SPEED, 6,000 TO 8,000 ADDRESSED WRAPPERS PER HOUR]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAND ADDRESSOGRAPH (PRINTS THROUGH A RIBBON). SPEED, 1,000 TO 1,500 TYPEWRITTEN ADDRESSES AN HOUR]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHOWING HOW TABS ARE INSERTED IN BACK OF ADDRESS PLATE FOR PURPOSES OF INDEXING AND CLa.s.sIFYING LISTS]

The Addressograph--Its Place in Business.

Twenty-five years' use of the addressograph in over 300 different lines of business--manufacturers, wholesalers and dealers, insurance companies, public service companies, government departments, a.s.sociations, clubs, churches, lodges, hotels and schools, laundries, commission merchants, publishers, railroad and steamship companies--in truth, every business, large and small, where a list of names is frequently addressed--have proved the utter folly of slow, tiring hands attempting to compete with swift, untiring wheels. Wherever names are written, there you will usually find the addressograph in use, saving time and money, guaranteeing 100 per cent accuracy and insuring maximum efficiency. There are many different models--some operated by hand or foot-lever, others by electric motor; some are entirely automatic. So, no matter how many names and addresses are written--fifty or a million--the addressograph, like the telephone or typewriter, has come to be recognized as a modern business necessity.

What is "Dry Farming"?

Dry farming is a method which has been recently developed and which is coming into even wider use. The United States Department of Agriculture, through its experiment stations, has made a careful study of the conditions, possibilities and limitations of the practice, and the following is a brief abstract of the results:

In defining the term dry farming it is explained that the practice includes (1) deep plowing before the rainy season sets in, in order to provide in the soil a capacious water storage reservoir and an ample s.p.a.ce for root development; (2) light, deep, even seeding or planting in a well-prepared, moist soil; (3) frequent, thorough, level cultivation before as well as after sowing or planting; (4) the use of seed bred and selected for the conditions prevailing; (5) the use of machinery of large capacity; (6) the adoption of methods for the concentration of crops.

Crops must be selected or developed that will fit the environment, and there is ample field for investigation in the improvement and development of crops suitable to dry lands. Wheat stands at the head among cereal crops. The durum or macaroni wheats do especially well; but other varieties are also grown, as are oats, rye, barley and spelt. The millets are among the best paying dry-farming crops. There are few legumes that have shown value on dry lands, but peas, beans and alfalfa are the most promising of development. Vegetables and both shade and fruit trees are being grown in districts where dry farming is practiced.

Fall seeding of cereals, wherever the conditions will permit, is preferable to spring seeding, and it is important to retain the snow upon the land, especially in sections where it forms the chief part of the total precipitation. The snowfall may be retained by leaving the ground rough after the late fall plowing, by throwing up borders across the field at right angles with the prevailing winds, or by planting hedge rows or shrubbery across the field at short intervals. Usually less seed should be planted per acre under dry-farming conditions than is used in humid sections. The less precipitation, the smaller should be the amount of seed planted.

What is a "Drying Machine" Like?

This is a machine used in bleaching, dyeing and laundry establishments, consisting of two concentric drums or cylinders, one within the other, open at the top, and having the inner cylinder perforated at its side with numerous small holes. The goods to be dried are placed within the inner cylinder, and the machine is then made to rotate with great velocity, when, by the action of centrifugal force, the water escapes through the holes in the side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Copyright by Brown Bros._

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE

This is the only photograph ever made of the interior of the New York Stock Exchange, the financial heart of the country. Each stock listed is allotted to one of the posts seen on the floor, which, during a panic, become the scene of the wildest excitement. The exchange is connected by private telegraph wires and "ticker" wires with every important financial center.]

How does the New York Stock Exchange Operate?

The New York Stock Exchange is typical of most American stock exchanges, the leading ones of which are located in Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Denver, San Francisco and St. Louis. American stock exchanges differ somewhat in their operation from the foreign stock exchanges, the princ.i.p.al ones of which are those of London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Vienna and Petrograd.

A stock exchange is really an organization of professional brokers, which conducts speculation and investment in securities, the paper representatives of transportation, industrial, mining, commercial and other properties. On the American stock exchanges one broker may specialize in the shares of the Union Pacific Railroad, for instance, another in those of the United States Steel Corporation, and so on. Some brokers deal particularly in "odd lots"--blocks of less than one hundred shares--and some members, called "room traders," speculate entirely for their own account and do no commission business for customers. The commission charged for buying or selling is twelve and a half cents a share, so that on the usual order of one hundred shares, the broker receives twelve dollars and a half.

The business of buying and selling shares is done in a large room known as the "floor." Scattered over the floor are a large number of high posts. Each post bears the name of the stock or stocks which may be traded in at that post. This provision is to bring buyers and sellers in any security together as quickly as possible. A broker desiring to buy shares of a certain stock will go to the part allotted to that stock and call out its name with the number of shares wished and the price he will pay. This is his bid. Other brokers may offer the stock to him at a slightly higher price, or his bid may be accepted at once. As soon as a price is agreed on, each broker--the buyer and the seller--makes a memorandum of the transaction, which is reported to the offices at once by telephone. Meanwhile the broker also hands another memorandum of the transaction to an errand boy, who takes the memorandum at once to the telegraph operator, who in turn sends it out onto the little instrument called the "ticker."

Transactions on the New York Stock Exchange may be made in three different ways: "Cash," "regular" or on a "limited option" to buyer and seller as to the time of delivery or acceptance. "Cash" means that stock bought in this manner is taken up and paid for the same day; "regular"

transactions mean that the stock bought in this way must be taken up and paid for by a quarter past two o'clock of the following afternoon.

Upon the outbreak of the European war, panic ensued among holders of securities, and the stock exchanges of the world were closed to prevent the selling of stocks at prices which would have brought ruin to banks and other financial houses. Practically none of them were opened until December, 1914, and then only under severe restrictions which were held in force until confidence had returned.

How did the Term "Cowboys" Originate?

The term "cowboys" was first used during the American Revolution. It was applied to a band of Tories who infested the neutral ground of Westchester County, New York, stealing cattle from both parties and doing other mischief.

It has been used of recent years to designate the skilled hors.e.m.e.n who have charge of the cattle on the great ranges of the West. Many of them enlisted in the Rough Rider regiment of the Spanish war and proved daring soldiers.

The Story in a Chemical Fire Extinguisher[29]

A little smoke, a flash, and a waste basket, a curtain or something else is in flames. A few years ago an excited person would fail to extinguish the blaze with water or with any other first aid at hand and would call for the fire department. When that arrived the fire frequently would be beyond control.

Modern methods have wrought great changes. Nowadays, in case of fire, any man, woman or child can reach for a fire extinguisher and after a few strokes of the pump the fire is out.

This change did not come all at once. The fire extinguisher has been developing ever since man learned to fear fire. Devices for extinguishing fire are almost coeval with that element itself. In the second century before Christ, the Egyptians had pumps worked by levers to put out their fires. The Roman, Pliny, refers to fire extinguishers but gives no account of their construction. Apollodorus, architect of the Emperor Trajan, speaks of leathern bags with pipes attached. Water was projected by squeezing the bags. Medieval Europe used various forms of water pumps, and it was not until the opening of the nineteenth century that chemicals were used to combat fire.

[Ill.u.s.tration]