ORDER XVII.—BUILDERS, BRICKLAYERS, STONE AND SLATE WORKERS, CONTRACTORS

Sub-order 1.—Builders, Bricklayers, Stone and Slate Workers; Contractors

576.—Slate Workers and Slate Masons

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boxer (enamelled slate)

a slate mason (q.v.) who clamps enamelled slate sections of mantel-piece together with iron bars and bolts.

chimney piece maker (slate)

a slate mason (q.v.) who cuts slate slabs, for manufacture of chimney pieces, with a circular machine saw, and fixes pieces together, in the works, with plaster.

cleaver

see splitter.

culler

sorts rubble, i.e., odd lumps of slate, and makes slates from those pieces of sufficient size; cf. splitter.

cutter, slate cutter

sets gauges and cutting saw or knives of machine which cuts slates to various sizes with saw or knife; places slate slab on bed of machine; controls machine by means of levers; removes and stacks cut slates.

cutter, slate hone

saws slate into "hones," for sharpening knives, etc., and smooths them on sand tables.

dresser, slate dresser

rubs surface and edges of slates or slate slabs by hand on sand tables to smooth them.

enamelled slate sander, finisher, slate finisher

see polisher.

floatsman, slate floatsman, floater ; turntable hand

smooths slate by holding it on revolving sanding table; pushes heavy iron block by hand or by machine over sanded slate slabs too large for table.

grinder, slate grinder

as for stone grinder (575).

machinist, slate machinist ; slate mill worker

adjusts tools of machine for cutting, planing, sanding, drilling, and otherwise treating slate; switches on and off power-drive of machine; places slate slab on bed of machine; usually also grinds tools of machine on a grindstone or on an oilstone.

mason, slate mason, mechanic (slate slab factory) ; slate tank maker

(i) marks out and prepares slabs of slate, for machine hands to plane, cut and polish; finishes slabs to get perfect joints; drills, with hand or electric drills, holes in slabs intended for manufacture of tanks, to receive nuts and bolts which fasten pieces together; or, fits together smaller articles of slate with plaster or with small metal fittings

(ii) (billiard tables ) planes slate slabs by machine, which he himself sets and operates; bores holes in slate on a boring machine; screws together requisite number of layers of slate; cuts holes in slate with hand saw, where pockets are to come; finally smooths and polishes surface with a special type of hand plane, dragged over surface with silver sand as an abrasive.

planer, slate planer

a slate machinist (q.v.) operating a slate planing machine; adjusts machine to suit various thicknesses of slate being worked.

polisher, slate polisher ; enamelled slate sunder, finisher, slate finisher

prepares slate for enamelling, etc.; rubs surface with emery paper and sand paper, by hand; usually also does work of slate enameller (592) (q.v.).

polisher, writing slate ; writing slate finisher

polishes surface of slate, either by hand or on revolving drum covered with emery cloth.

river, clog

local term for slate river (q.v.)..

river, slate river

rends large masses of slate as quarried, at quarry, into rough slabs, with hammer and chisel ready for splitter (q.v.).

sawyer, slate sawyer

saws slates into slabs, (i) by using (for small slabs) an ordinary toothed circular saw or a notched hand saw;

(ii) by using (for large slabs) a circular saw set with steel nails on the periphery; sometimes specifically named, e.g., enamelled slate sawyer.

slabman, slab maker (quarry)

a sawyer (q.v.) who cuts ends and sides of rough slabs, at quarry, with circular machine saw.

slate maker

see splitter.

slate mill cleaner

a labourer who clears cuttings and slate rubbish from slate working machines.

slate mill worker

see machinist.

slate pencil maker, slate pencil worker

sets gauges and cutting tools in machine which forms pencils from slate or soapstone, when this is not done by machine setter (211) (q.v.); i places slab of slate on bed of machine; controls machine by means of levers; removes pencils when cut to bins.

slate tank maker

see mason.

splitter, slate splitter ; cleaver, slate maker

splits blocks, lumps or "clogs," of slate into roofing slates with chisels, or chisel-faced hammers of special shape, or by machine.

turntable hand

see floatsman.

writing slate finisher

see polisher, writing slate.

writing slate maker

a splitter (q.v.) who saws off rough edge of slate by circular saw; then splits slate by hand; may also smooth surface, cf. writing slate polisher.

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From: A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921,
Ministry of Labour, 1927. Digitised by Peter Christian, August, 2016.   This text is in the Public Domain.