Tools and Machinery of the Granite Industry, Part II

* Five minute start of day warning whistle or starting whistle, which indicated that quarry workers should be down in the hole and dressed;

* Morning water whistle, which warned during the winter that hot water was going to be sent through the water lines. When hot water came out, each valve was closed down to a trickle;

* Lunch whistle and end of lunch whistle;

* Afternoon water whistle, which warned during the winter that the water lines were going to be blown out with compressed air; and

* Closing whistle, which was important since the ride box started out of the hole at exactly 3-.30 P.M. and if a quarry worker missed it, he had a lot of ladders to climb. (Note the many ladders in the center and on the left of the cover photograph.)

The third article in this series, which will be published in December 2006, will begin the description of the granite finishing process. Please see "Tools and Machinery of the Granite Industry, Part I" The Chronicle 59, no. 2 (2006): 52 for a list of references.

Author

EAIA member Paul Wood is a retired electrical engineer, who worked his entire career in the computer industry. He is interested in the tools, implements and machinery of the granite industry and of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century farming in New England.

Copyright Early American Industries Association Sep 2006
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