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VOL. XLIV. No. 7.
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 MadisonAve., New York, February 16,1907
REVIEW OF TRADE CONDITIONS.
Dealers Report Better Business for January
Than Last Year—Question of Advancing
Prices Settled—Bad Weather Interferes With
Shipments—Travelers Planning for
Road
Trips—Player Hardware in Demand.
in construction and tone. The sales of the Re-
gina piano have been an extremely important
factor in their business, and the satisfaction
which they have given the purchasers is amply
attested by a book that is well filled with their
testimonials. The Sublima piano, which is a
coin-operated instrument of extraordinary merit,
has also won a host of admirers.
A few dealers paid their respects to the manu-
facturers in the Bronx district during the past
WELL LIGHTED FACTORIES
week, but most of them were from nearby points.
They report starting in with fewer orders on Are Most Important in the Music Trade In-
dustry Being Helpful to the Men and to the
January 1 than is usually the case, but having
Quality of Work Turned Out.
done a better business during the month than
they did last year. Supplies continue rather
A problem that seldom receives the close at-
short, and in some of the factories there was con-
tention
it deserves is that of lighting factories
siderable complaint regarding the non-arrival of
and
work
shops in a manner that will prove
shooks, and the consequent inability to pack
most
efficient
without injuring the eyes of the
pianos. The matter of advancing prices seems
to be entirely settled, and in one form or an- workmen. The question is more regarding the
other the dealer will pay the difference in cost. manner In which the light is applied than the
The heavy snowfall of Monday and Tuesday of actual quantity, for the most harm is done by the
last week seriously interfered with shipping light falling directly on the eyes or being so ar-
pianos, as traffic in this district was at a stand- ranged as to be thrown in the eyes through re-
still. The traveling contingent who are not al- flection. Reflectors properly used afford the best
ready on the road are packing grips and pre- means of applying light, and it must be realized
paring to skirmish after orders. It is generally that the reflecting surfaces are not alone con-
believed that the demand will be considerably in fined to lamp shades.
The use of good reflectors suggests some-
excess of last year, and the reports coming in
from those on the road seem to justify that be- thing more than lamp shades. The walls and
lief. The supply manufacturers have had no let- ceiling, the machinery and the floor have a
up in the demand for their products, and say value in each case. The effective lighting or il-
that for this time of the year the piano maEufac- luminating power of any source of light is capa-
turers have never placed larger orders, or for so ble of being increased in a particular direction
far ahead as at the present time. The action by the appropriate use of reflecting surfaces.
manufacturers in particular have had big orders, This is done at the expense of the candle-power
and they are almost duplicating the early fall elsewhere. A German investigator claims that a
months of last year in the matter of output. The plaster of paris surface will reflect 80 per cent,
hardware makers are also feeling the continuous of the light falling upon it, and if this is the
demand, and in certain lines say the January case then there is much benefit to be had by
business made a new record. Player hardware simply whitening the walls of a shop and mak-
has become a prominent factor in the supply ing an effort to keep them white. The diffused
trade, and has created a new field, and this year's light reflected from that sort of a surface is by
catalogues and priqe lists of staples will show no means the irritation that comes direct from
several new lines of parts connected with a naked light of any kind. In regular shop use
this branch of the piano industry.
the whitened wall becomes a gray and is in no-
wise a glaring surface.
A more vivid idea of the importance of a
room that is well supplied with good reflecting
REGINA CO.'S FINE SHOWING.
surfaces would be to consider that one is en-
December's Increase of 60 Per Cent. Has Been
tirely white, and that 80 per cent, of the rays
Outdone by January, Which Foots Up 115
of light are reflected. Then the total illumina-
Per Cent. Increase of Business.
tion from the primary source and the diffused
light is five times what it would be if the entire
In a statement of the great growth of their interior of the room were blackened surfaces. Or
business the Regina Co., of Rahway, N. J., have in other words a 20-candle-power lamp in a white
sent an open letter to their employes at 41 room has the same effective illumination as a
Union Square, in which they say: "The last two 100-candle-power lamp in a blackened room.
months have shown the most remarkable in-
Of course this refers to the general illumina-
crease of any similar period of the history of tion of the room. A definite bright light near
the Regina Co. In December our increase over and directed at your work means a lamp or gas
one year ago was 60 per cent.; in January, ^15 jet right there, but even then the illumination
per cent. This is a remarkable showing, and if at that point can be 50 per cent, greater with a
we can keep up this rate of increase for the fiscal good reflector.
year until July 1 we will almost double our
A student of good lighting has stated that the
previous year's business." The constantly grow- benefit to workman and work is greatest where
ing popularity of the Regina products, of which incandescent lamps are renewed when their light-
they are producing an assortment so varied, has ing efficiency falls, say, 25 per cent. Where the
had its effect on the trade and the dealers, as supply of current is generated In the shop plant
well as the city salesmen recognize the fact that and not at an outside source of energy, It can
the name Regina is a guarantee of quality both easily be seen whether the voltage is kept normal
SINGL
,!.OO°PE]PVEAR ENTS -
or not. A higher pressure rapidly drives off the
carbon particles from the filament and these coat
the inside of the glass globe with a black deposit
that makes the lamp very inefficient. The high
pressure gives a good light for a short time only,
and after that the illumination ialls off for the
reasons given. The filaments also break more
readily under the high-voltage conditions. As a
matter of fact a lamp should not be used until
the filament breaks. When the light becomes in-
efficient for the workman, it pays to break the
lamp, anyway.
Good eyesight means more accurate and faster
work, and shop and factory owners and, in fact,
every employer of indoor help, should give the
matter serious attention, as it will react on his
profits.
FREIGHT RATES BOUND TO GO UP.
James J. Hill Says It's Becoming Unavoidable.
"An advance in freight rates seems inevitable,"
said James J. Hill, the great railroad magnate,
in a recent talk on the business situation. "It
may come first in the Eastern trunk lines, but
it will probably spread all over the country.
Wages of labor and the prices of materials and
operating conditions have been making steadily
for smaller net earnings. The commodities of
the country have been advancing in price while
transportation* rates have been showing de-
creases. This is an order of things which can-
not last and the time is at hand when an ad-
vance in rates is unavoidable."
MACHINE TO LOAD CARS.
Pennsylvania
Railroad
Will
Pittsburg.
Install
It
at
A new device to expedite the handling of
freight Is to be tried out by the Pennsylvania
Railroad at the Duquesne freight station, Pitts-
burg. Contracts have been signed for the in-
stallation of an endless chain arrangement for
hoisting and lowering goods from and into cars.
This method of stowing is used on some of the
largest steamship lines, where there is but one
lift from the dock to the ship's hold. The eleva-
tor at Pittsburg will take freight from cars and
deposit it either in the basement or on the land-
ing stage or on one of the three floors of the
storage warehouse.
The contract calls for an elevator which will
carry packages weighing up to 600 pounds, not
more than five feet long and three and one-half
feet wide. Four bundles of this size will be
taken each minute either into the cars or to the
storage platform. The conveyor is so arranged
that packages will be removed to any landing
desired.
J. Garner, one of the leading piano dealers of
Auburn, N. Y., has added the motor boat build-
ing industry to his other business. Experts in
boat construction pronounce his designs as rank-
ing among the leaders on the market. He will
not neglect the piano field, on which subject he
is an enthusiast, but will devote himself to both
industries.