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National Geographic : 1920 Mar
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MASSACHUSETTS-BEEHIVE OF BUSINESS Photograph by Leon H. Abdalian REPAIRING BALANCE-WHEELS IN A MASSACHUSETTS WATCH FACTORY The balance-wheel must divide time correctly, to the infinitesimal fraction of a second. It plies back and forth nearly half a million times a day. To make one of these wheels re quires some six hundred detailed operations. the upper of a button shoe and more in a lace shoe. To have each bit of lining and each piece of leather meet its respect ice seam-fellow and counterpart, at the proper moment, in the stitching depart ment, is a task for the organizer. The linings go from the assembly room to be transformed from individual pieces into the canvas counterpart of the leather upper. The quarters are joined at the back and stayed with a reinforce ment. The vamps are cemented into shape ready for inclusion in the finished upper. The tips go to the toe-cap room, where they are perforated at the edge to give them a pleasing appearance on the foot of the wearer. Fourteen different proc esses are required to transform a piece of tip leather into a finished cap, with 233
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