Slate Shanties
Reference for this article was taken from the archives at Easton Library. Article was written for the Easton Daily Express.
It is very interesting to watch the work in one of the shanties. The splitter, with his mallet and v-road steel chisels, sits on a block, and taking a slab of slate between his legs, drives in his chisel a little way at one end. He moves it a little with a firm, gentle pressure, and you can see the split begin to start as straight as a die. He repeats the operation at the other end. Then he drives his chisel in the middle and easily pries the slab in half. The split pieces are split and split again until they are of required thickness. As fast as they are split, a man who stands by the splitter takes the slates and runs them through the dressing machine. This is a cast-iron form set on five legs, with a steel extension piece or arm about four feet long. Suspended over this is a steel knife, which is attached to spiral spring and worked by the foot of the dresser. A gauge board guides his eye and he puts his slate against it, presses his foot on the treadle, and down comes the knife, cutting the edge clean and straight. He makes the four edges straight, and lays the slate in piles according to size. Just as fast as his foot can work, a good dresser keeps his machine going. The spliter and dresser work together and are paid according to the quality they turn out.
Diamond saws are also used. They have a reciprocating motion, and make 140 strokes per minute. They cut only one way, however, and are lifted by a cam for the return stroke, a constant stream of water clearing the diamond teeth of the accumulated slate dust. The planers are similar to those used for planing iron, and the polished bed is a disk of cast iron fourteen feet in diameter, making thirty revolutions per minute. The machinery is driven by an engine of 100 horse power. What is especially curious about the place is that the factory, engine house, and smokestack are all built of slate blocks. There are several houses in the borough built of the same material.
The quarries of Bangor, East Bangor, and Pen Argyl are increasing in productiveness daily. They are hampered only by the scarcity of skilled labor. So many quarries are being opened that labor is scarce. The towns are growing so rapidly that after an absence of a month from home a resident finds new streets open and new houses built.
Pen Argyl History | Keller Massacre | Carousel | Slate Industry | Slate Shanties | Leo Godshalk, Quarry Worker | Michael Curcio Interview | Food of the Slate Belt | Maryella Correll Interview
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