a
stripping wheel, the reverse of a plating wheel, which removes all the
fire-markings, and all the other impurities that exist, leaving the
metal clean.
The
rings are then polished by rapidly revolving wheels of hair,—at times,
of other materials. After this, the stones are set. If the rings need
engraving, they are then passed to an engraver and are finally
polished, leaving the metal entirely finished.
In
former times, and now also, by hand methods' one man would frequently
make an entire ring. By modern methods, the ring passes through the
hands of a number of workers: first, the blank-maker, then in
succession the man who operates the drop press, the jeweller, the stone
setter, the engraver, and finally, the polisher.
As
to the statistics of ring-making, with the great demand throughout the
United States a single factory has produced 3,000,000 rings a year,
some selling for less than $1.00 each, and on up to $5.00 and $10.00
each; very occasionally for higher prices, up to $50.00 or $60.00.
Recently to fill an order for a chain of popular shops, this factory
turned out 2,000,000 rings to be sold at ten cents apiece. In the
region of Providence, Rhode Island, and the nearby Attleboro, Mass.,
the total value of the annual ring output, which gives employment to
some two thousand persons, is put at $5,000,000. In a factory of the
largest kind, frequently the various parts for making up a ring may be
kept in small boxes, because a stamper, in making an intricate ring, is
able to produce more in one day than a jeweller can finish in a week.
In simple rings, however, the jeweller finishes as many rings as the
stamper can produce in a day.
There is no piece of jewellery that is more generally worn nor whose possession causes more joy, than a
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