The Iron Age 1888-01-05: Vol 41

HE Apparatus for Heating, Setting and Removing Tires. We present on this page an engraving of an arrangement recently put on the market | by Messrs. Pedrick & Ayer, of Philadel- phia, Pa., for putting on new tires or tak- ing off old ones without removing the wheels from under the engine, unless there is work to be done on the wheel centers. It will do all the work connected with tire heating, setting, removing, shimmering and replacing. Witn this apparatus and system of doing the work, it is claimed that less than one-tenth of the time is con- sumed, and the paint on the wheel centers is not injured. In case of a loose tire it is |Then the hoop is placed around the tire, IRON THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1888. air pressure, a needle-pointed valve for reg- ulating the flow of oil, and an injector arrangement for forming and mixing g and air for burning in the hoop around the tire. The operation of it is very simple. After the oil reservoir is filled and the oil as | cocks shut off so that no oil will enter the | retorts, a fire is built in the furnace with | any fuel desired. In about half an hour the retorts will be hot enough to make gas. connecting it to the connection containing the injector arrangement. The air-pump | is started up until there is an air pressure | of from 15 to 40 pounds, and the needle- | pointed valve is opened very little, until a | rich smoke escapes through the holes of | AGE Heights were forced to shut down until an arrangement was made with the Hacken- sack Water Company, which supplies water to Hoboken. The broken pump is said to have been used for ten years. EE — Power Press Problems.* In its essential features a power press, as usually built, is really a very simple ma- chine, consisting chiefly, as far as its mov- ing parts are concerned, of a slide-bar con- nected to a crank on its main shaft by an adjustable pitman—this shaft being de- tachable from the fly-wheel or gear which runs loose upon it by an automatic ‘stop clutch” actuated by a treadle. Such a APPARATUS FOR not necessary to take down the connec- tions. In taking off or putting on new tires the connections are taken down. -A short time ago we published an engraving showing the device mounted on a push- car, while the present illustration shows it arranged’ stationary. We may repeat here that in all cases the engine is jacked up so that the wheels will clear the rails about 24 inches to allow the burning hoop to be placed around the tire. This hoop is not a continuous ring of pipe; the ends are plugged up and are left a little space apart so they can be placed on the wheels while the connections remain on them, and small studs are placed in hoop to hold it off from the tire ata proper distance. The machine consists of a furnace or generator in which are four (4) cast-iron retorts, three of them for making the gas, the other one for heating the air that is used with the gas; allowances are made in the construction of the furnace for contraction and expansion. In addition to this generator is an oil res- ervoir for holding common kerosene oil; an air reservoir, a gauge for registering the HEATING, SE TTING SHOPS, AND REMOVING WEST TIRES AT PHILADELPHIA, PA. the burning hoop. Then the air-cock is opened to allow air to mingle with the gas, and, when a proper mixture is made, a torch is applied and an intensely hot and blue flame will strike the tire, penetrating it very quickly. As very little oil 1s re- quired, a fine thread screw is made on the needle valve, so that it is very sensitive. The gas is made only as fast as used, and as there is no accumulation there is no danger from explosion and no waste. When the tire is hot enough the supply of oil can be shut off, the flame stopped and the generator also. A 44-foot and a 5-foot burning hoop are furnished with each machine. At the regular standard of shrinkage tires can be taken off or put on in from four to ten minutes each. The cut shows the plant as erected at the West Philadelphia shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. ea —— The duplex pumping engine used in the high water service of the Jersey City water works broke down on Friday, and all the factories and silk mills situated on the THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD machine, to a casual mechanical observer who had not studied it as a specialty, would seem to be far easier to design than machine tools proper, but after taking it up as aspecialty his judgment would be reversed and he would find several knotty problems to keep him awake at night while the builder of lathes or planers was quietly sleeping the sleep of the just. This dif- ference arises partly from the fact that power-press building is both a newer and a smaller industry than the making of ma- chine tools. It has not been so fully ex- perimented with, either in point of time or in regard to the number of experiments. In other words, these machines have not arrived at the same stage of development in the evolution of their race as have the older and more numerous tribe of lathes and planers. A more important difference, however, lies in the fact that machine tools are sub- jected to very little percussive action, * From a paper by Oberlin Smith. Presented at the Philadelphia meeting of the American Societ f Me chanical Engineers nt wel a s0m~ to) Abe te re i ee ee ee ou eet SPE anager en while all the parts of a power press are constantly endeavoring to hammer them- selves and each othe TO pieces This is due chiefly to the fact that the work in the dies offers a sudden resistance to the mov- ing parts hen it is struck, and, inci- dentally, to the sudden stopping and start- iny of several heavy members of the ma chine while the wheel which drives them revolves at a constant spe ed. As a conse- of these conditions of the problems arising is how to fasten the parts together so that nothing will jar loose or come apart while In action This difti- culty can usually be overcome by the uss of lock-nuts upon all screws and by driv- fits where screws cannot be used. Such fits, however, are objectionable wher facility of taking things apart is properly provided for, and none of the presses in the market yet ideally perfect in this respect Another problem which has not been solved in a wholly satisfactory manner is to make an adjustment of the slide-bar which is long enough in range, and yet which combines simplicity and cheapness of construction with such strength and security of fastening as to withstand the heavy blows and pressure to which it is subjected. Among the most simple de- vices for this purpose is perhaps some form of eccentric, either at the upper or lower end of the pitman, but the chief objection to these is their short range of adjustment—since it is difficult to clamp them firmly enough in place so that they will not revolve if their eccentricity is very vreat. Various kinds of flat wedges have also been used, but are open to the same objection. In some kinds of presses a screw-thread upon the pitman itself, with lock-nuts or other clamping devices, has proved successful, as has a special screw between the slide-bar and the bear- by which the pitman is attached thereto. The latter, however, lacks sim- plicity, and all these screw deyices, though giving almost any desired range, take too much range for the compactness of design which is usual for punching presses for heavy metal. <A very good long-range ad- justment can be gotten by making the bed of the press to set up and down; but this again increases cost, especially if made as strong as the rest of the press frame. A third and more difficult problem is to make an automatic stop-clutch, which, by a slight motion of a treadle or hand-lever, will instantly throw the main shaft into gear with the driving-wheel which is re- volving upon it, and which will at the same time lock the shaft and wheel to- gether securely against rotary stresses in either direction. By ‘‘instantly” is meant within a small part of the wheel's revolution, say from one-third to one-sixth, but it is better if the actual starting is not instantameous, that time may be given for the inertia of the shaft and attached parts to be overcome, so that they may start gradually. This has been attempted by various forms of friction clutches, which, if successful in all respects, would not only tend to lengthen the life of the press by avoiding the sudden hammer blow in- cident to the ordinary clutch, but would, by the quietness of their action, minister soothing balm to the nerves of the operator und all other persons unfortunate enough to be working in shop or counting-room in the near vicinity. My own experience has, however, led me to believe that this friction-clutch business is a very difficult one to deal with, as the amount of power to be conveyed to the shaft at the time of doing its hardest work is much greater than in the case ordinary friction pulleys and clutches for shafting. <A can undoubtedly be made enough to do the work prop- the friction is applied out rim of the it will considerable but the que nce one ing also ing ot cleEVICce strong erly if near the t witl Wheel, where ke veragve, PHE IRON AGE. difficulty then is that the parts of the mechanism which are attached to the shaft are so bulky that they give too much mo mentum for the sudden stopping of the crank at the top of its stroke when the clutch is thrown out. The experimenter with such a clutch, where he may have to stop the crank at every revolution not more than 5° or 10° from a fixed point, perhaps as often as 100,000 times a day, with th enormous locking pressure necessary, will find that he has in hand a very different matter from that of stopping and starting a line of shafting, where the time of sev- eral revolutions may be used for full en- gagement or disengagement. In my own practice, after experimenting with friction and with various forms of springs to give an elastic blow, I have fallen back for the present on the old principle of a positively locking clutch as the best practicable thing, in spite of the noise and jar which it cre- ates. Such automatic friction clutches as I have observed in commercial use seem to be adapted for light work only, and do not run as quietly gs they should. It is ear- nestly to be hoped that time will solve this problem in favor of a clutch of som kind. W he n power presses were tirst invented their use was such a great improvement upon previous methods that it was consid- ered good enough to wait for the wheel to come around to a certain single point of locking with the shaft, and then to have no provision against *‘ backlash.” In these days, however, competition in getting out presswork rapidly has made it necessary that the shaft shall start as soon as possi- ble, and it is considered desirable to have from three to six interlocking points upon the wheel, according to the speed. It has also become necessary to avoid backlash, on account of the frequency with which ‘ spring-drawing dies,” so called, are used. In these there are very powerful springs which have to be compressed by the down- ward action of the slide-bar, and which, in reacting, tend to push it upward dur- ing its up-stroke faster than its normal rate of speed. In such cases, if the wheel and shaft are not rigidly locked against relative motion, the shaft gets ahead of the wheel, so to speak, for a time, and, soon as this action ceases, there is an unpieasant blow from the wheel catching up again. As before intimated, this rigid interlocking is difficult at the high rate of speed at which the clutch is usually thrown into gear, and the tendency of the shaft to run away from the wheel on the up-stroke has to be stopped by a friction brake. This, however, if set tight enough to work properly, wastes a great deal of power, unless it is made automatic, so as to act only at the particular time desired. This, again, makes additional expense, and de- tracts from the simplicity so desirable in machines of this kind. A fourth problem is to throw the clutch out of gear automatically as to make the shaft stop exactly in the angular position desired. This would be easy enough were the speed, lubrication and tightness of ad- justment of the wearing parts uniform, as well as the weight of dies and other at- tachments on the slide-bar; but, under existing conditions, there is great varia- noiseless as tion in the position of stopping, principally caused by a variation of speed of the driving power. This difficulty has been partially overcome by a friction brake upon the shaft, but, as before said, it fre- quently wastes a good deal of power by the holding down of the treadle, without being stopped at each up-stroke, especially where the press is running continuously. In the practical working of these presses many other minor problems arise, due to the accelerating or retarding action of the various attachments which are fre- quently put on presses for feeding and gauging the work, &c. In general, it may be said that all press miukers have found it RRS January 2 somew lint brake difhcult to contrive a clute} urrangement which is simple. durable and cheap; but which ean be put upon all presses of a given out to take its chances farious conditions which the user ally not machinist, as is the machine tool) may impose upon it may Consist of speeds too fast or too wearing adjustments set too tight or to« loose; slide-bars normal or heavil) shaft normal or loaded with various cams. gears, &c.. for automatic attachments: ordinary dies or dies titted with strony reactionary springs; dies for thick punch ing which do their work during a consid erable portion of the stroke, or embossing dies which meet heavy resistance only at the end of the stroke, and perhaps cause an upward reaction by the resilience of the press frame itself—which in front presses is often very powerful, owing t the elasticity of the metal. Furthermore. if, for the sake of uniformity in manufact uring. the standard clutches, &c., ure also used in various geared and non-geared drawing and other double-action still other conditions arise—and the mol cules of the press-maker’s brain fiber must swing in orbits still different to meet and conquer them successfully. ana size and sent among the multi ven iser ot rr These SION mae: open i presses. a The Manufacture of Carbon Electrodes, The abuse which has been arc lamps for their flickering and unsteadi ness has not been without justification, but still a considerable part of the blame. which has been directed to the mechanism, might, with more propriety, have bestowed on the carbons. It is quite in possible for a steady illumination to be ob tained with electrodes composed of many heterogeneous substances, some of which will burst out into flame under the heat. and entirely alter the condition which thi regulation of the lamp is designed to mcet. Yet, if coke be the material from which the pencils are made, it is impossible t exclude many elements which do not add to the general good effect and great), reduce the steadiness of the arc. Silica is a great offender in this respect, while most of the metals color the Hght with unex pected and undesirable» tinges, The best arc lamp ever designed must fail of pro ducing the highest results, if it be supplied with carbons which are not perfectly homogeneous from end toend. The use of coke made from coal has therefore bee: abandoned by the best makers of carbons. and in place of it some form of pur carbon is employed. In a recent articl on the subject Engineering describes in a interesting manner the method of manu facture adopted at a prominent Englis}i establishment. The material employed is the residue from the distillation of mineral oil. It is brilliant in aspect, very light and brittle, and its appearance is just what would |x expected from a distillation process carric« on until scarcely anything but carbon re- mains. This coke is broken into a very fine powder in a disintegrator, an operation which is very readily effected, as it can |x easily crushed in the hand. It is heated and then mixed with a tar, the smell and taste of which revez!s the presence of heavy oil as one of its con stituents, while pitch 1s probably another. A charge of 65 pounds of the mixture, con- taining about three parts of coke to one part of tar, is then ground for 45 minutes under edge-runners, to thoroughly incorporate the two substances, after which it is ready t« be molded into rods, plates, or any other forms in which it may be wanted. The molding process carried by ma- chinery, which recalls that by which lead pipe is manufactured, The hydraulic cylinder is horizontal, and is titted with, showered o beer next so-called is out hid Bisice ~9 Ee January 5, 1888. ram capable of being moved both out aud in by the water, which in the latter case acts on asmall annular area. At the outer end of the ram is a plunger which enters the molding cylinder and compresses the plastic material with a pressure of 54 tons on the square inch, forcing it out through a die which varies in diameter, according to the size of the rod desired. The issuing stream of carbon runs in a trough provided with rollers to lessen the friction, and when it has attained the length of three rods it is cut into three parts by knives on a rocking shaft, operated simultaneously } by hand. The rods are then picked up and made into a pile, a little carbon dust being scattered over them to prevent them sticking together. When core carbons ar being manufactured, the die is fitted with a central needle which converts the rod into a tube having a bore of about 4 inch. The molding cylinder is fitted with steam pipes by which it can be heated, but at the time of our visit it was working cold, The rods are straightened by being rolled by hand, and are then dried sufficiently to bear being packed in iron boxes. These boxes are placed in furnaces fed with gascous fuel from a Wilson producer, and are raised to a bright red heat for several hours, during which time the gaseous elements of the materials employed are driven off, leaving a perfectly pure carbon of great density, and emitting a sharp metallic sound when struck. The core carbons are filled by being forced into the conical open ing of a die through which a fine stream of specially soft and plastic carbon compound is being expressed, which entirely fills their bore. This core, as most people are aware, burns away more rapidly than the wall surrounding it, and by this action keeps the arc in the center of the carbon, instead of permitting it to travel round and round as it has a natural tendency to do, When the carbons come from the fur- | nace their conductivity is tested by an ex- ceedingly ingenious automatic machine. They are placed in a tapered hopper, the bottom of which is closed by a rotating cylinder. Lengthwise of this cylinder there are four equidistant grooves of such a size that as each groove presents itself to the hopper a carbon falls into it and is car- ried forward out of the hopper. When the rod emerges its ends pass under two springs, and an electrical circuit is estab- lished between the two through the car- bon. In this circuit there is included a battery and an electro-magnet. Attached to the armature of the magnet there are two fingers which ordinarily lie in two | circumferential grooves in the rotating cylinder, but which are lifted out of these grooves when the magnet is fully excited. Now, if a carbon of good conductivity pass under the springs the fingers are raised out of its path, and it eventually falls out of the groove into a hopper. If, on the contrary, the carbon rod offers too great resistance to the passage of the cur- rent, the fingers switch it out of its groove, and direct it into another hopper. Those that pass the test are ground square at one end and pointed at the other, and are then packed, unless they are required to be cop- pered, in which case they are suspended for five minutes in a solution of sulphate of copper, and electro-plated with a thin covering of that metal. SEE According to the Wochenschrift des Osterr. Ingenieur und Architekten- Vereines a company has been formed in Valencia, Spain, to establish an electrical plant, which is to furnish all the power required and about the city. It is to be capable of producing 3000 to 4000 horse-power, and to transmit it to distances within the limit of 35 English miles. The plant is to be run by the water-power of the Turia River. THE IRON AGE. The Billings Improved Scratch Gauge. The Billings & Spencer Company, of Hartford, Conn., have just brought out the improved scratch g@nuge which we show in the annexed engravings The scratch gauge is fully as useful a tool to the mechanic as the surface gauge, and in the tool shown the objection here tofore existing in setting the head to the exact desired distance from. the marking Fig. 1.- Gauge without Serew Adjustment ives the bar An eye ooit, provided with a hole of the same size as that in the head, passes through a hole drilled in the bottom of the center of the slot This hole is enlarged at the bottom to receive a spiral spring that encircles the sh ink{of the eve-bolt, the shank projecting above the head and being provided with winged thumb-nut The tightening of this nut Graws the eye-bolt up and forces the head pon the bar When tl tis un Fig. 2 Gauge with Seren tdjustment, IMPROVED SCRATCH GAUGE, MADE BY THE BILLINGS & SPENCER COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN point has been overcome. The tool is drop-forged of the best steel for the pur- pose, and finished in a thorough and workmanlike manner. In addition to the sliding head there is also a sliding snug, | split and held in place, in any position on | the bar, by means of a thumb-screw. This | snug is connected to the head by means of in the various manufacturing industries in a screw inclosed by an open spiral spring. The screw passes through a hole in the snug and is fitted with a knurled head thumb-nut for clamping the head to the bar. A slot is cut at right angles to and somewhat deeper than the hole that re- screwed the spiral spring acting upon the eye-bolt gives sufficient friction to prevent the head from moving too easily when set ting to the desired measurement. In operation, any movement along or around the bar of the head, with screw adjust- ment, will be accomplished by the head in consequence of its connection with the screw, but the head may be moved by turning the thumb-nut on the serew con nected to the head acting with the spiral spring, so that. while the snug is held firmly in place by its binding screw, the head may he accuratel, | Mercurial Air Pumps. Ata recent meeting of the British So- ciety of Arts, a paper, dealing in a very complete manner with mercurial air yuMps, was read by Professor Silvanus Thompson. The author stated that in 1643 Torricelli discovered the possibility of producing a vacuum above the top of a mercury column, by filling with mercury a tube closed at one end and then invert ing it into a cup containing mercury, and this discovery forms the basis of all true mercurial air pumps. These may be divided into six classes: I. Those which drive the airup a_ barometric tube II. Those which drive the air down a_ baro metric tube. IIL. Those which drive the air up one barometric tube and down an other. IV Injection pumps dependent in their action upon the velocity of efflux of a stream of mercury VI Mechanical = mercurial pumps. The oldest mercurial air pump, properly so-called, belongs to Class | und was invented by Swedenborg before Combination pumps. \ 722. The apparatus « msisted of a table standing on three legs, and into the top of this is let a brass plate, forming a stand for the receiver from which it is desired to exhaust the air In the plate are two holes, one of which is closed by a tap, and is simply designed to allow air to enter the receiver when the experiment is finished, but the other communicates through a valve opening downward with a conical iron vessel placed beneath the top of the table. This vessel is provided with an- other valve opening upward which com- municates with the outer air, The lower end of the above-mentioned vessel ends in a flexible leather tube, to which is adapted 1 piece of iron tubing ending in an open mouthpiece, which can be alternately raised and lowered. To work the pump, mercury is poured into the mouthpiece, which is raised till the mercury com pletely fills the conical vessel previously mentioned, driving the air contained therein through the valve communicating with the atmosphere If the mouthpiece is now lowered the mercury in the cone will fall, and air will pass from the re ceiver into the space thus left, and on ag@ain raising the mouthpiece will, by the rising of the mercury, be driven out into the outer air By repeating the process several times a fairly good vacuum could be obtained Since Swedenborg’s time great improve ments in detail have been made by various experimenters, among whom must be mentioned Geissler, of Bonn, who con structed his first pump in 1855, which, though considerably altered in detail. has formed the basis of most of the pumps now used for exhausting glow lamps. In 1864 Professor Robinson suggested that the pump might be shortened by partially exhausting the air from the surface of the mercury in the supply vessel, and this device has been idopted in most of the pumps at present inuse. In 1881 Schulles described two very ingenious forms of valve. In one of these the pipe leading to the pump-head was made by fusing a piece of tubing, which had been drawn down to a conical point, into another piece of tube, so that the passage through the tube was contracted at the tip of the cone, leaving an aperture having a ‘diameter of only about 3 mn Through this the mer cury freely passes on its upwgrd path to the pump-he ad, but on coming! down again the last dre ps ¢ i mere ury remain behind at this spot, and form, owing ito capillary ittraction, a Litt ip over thy tip of the cone, giving a very perfect fofm of valve, Che autotype of Class II. is S$prengel’s air pump, which was devised in YS65, ind has since undergone great Improvements at the hands of Crookes, Gimingham and oth rs, and a method of working thjs pump at high temperature was devised by Professor THE IRON AGE. | Rood in America, who also introduced a bend in the fall pipe, and with this arrange- ment claims to have obtained a vacuum amounting to ,}, millionth of an atmo- sphere. The degree of exhaustion, it may be remarked, is measured by a Macleod exauge, which was invented in 1874, and depends on the principle of compressing a known volume of the rarified air into a smaller space, which is then measured. The other classes of pump, though inter- esting from a scientific point of view, do not appear to come into much practical use, and we will, therefore, not refer to them further. In all, rather more than 40 different forms of pump were mentioned by Professor Thompson, At the close of the paper the chairman, Mr. William Crookes, F. R. S.. observed that opinions as to what constituted a perfect vacuum had greatly altered since the days of the old mechanical pump, with which instru- ment an exhaustion down to =to of an atmosphere was considered extremely good. With the Sprengel as first introduced xu perfect vacuum was supposed to be ob- tuined, but the introduction of the Macleod gauge showed this idea to be erroneous, The best vacuum Mr. Crookes had per- sonally obtained was equal to ;}, mill- ionth of an atmosphere, corresponding to ! inch on a barometer 200 miles high, but even at this pressure there would be 10,000,000,000 molecules in a cubic centimeter of air. The discussion was opened by Mr. J. Swinburne, who preferred the long pumps to the shortened ones, as it was very diffi- cult to preserve the partial vacuum above the mercury in the reservoir. He doubted the accuracy of the Macleod gauge, as Regnault had, he believed, stated that the vapor pressure of mercury was about fifty- one millionths of an atmosphere at ordi- nary temperature. The Geissler pump he had found to give more perfect vacuums than the Sprengel, and he therefore pre- ferred it. In answer to a question from Professor Thompson he might state that he had found silicate of soda made a very good cement for making. air-tight con- nections \fter «a few remarks from Professor Ramsey, who has also investigated the vapor density of mercury, and shown that Regnault’s results are very inaccurate, Mr. Vernon Boys stated that he had found the improvements in the Sprengel pump, men- tioned in the paper as having been intro- duced by Professor Rood, of the utmost value, as the heating seemed to make the mercury stick close to the glass, while the crook in the fall-pipe did away with the hammering in the mercury. In replying to the discussion Professor Thompson stated that the advantage of the shortened pumps was that the air clung less closely to the mercury, and a better result can therefore be obtained. Referring to Mr. Swinburne’s remarks as to the inaccuracy of the Macleod gauge, Mr. Crookes stated that he believed that if proper precautions were taken its indi- cations might be fairly well relied on; thus the mercury vapor might be kept out of the gauge by putting a fragment of iodine in the connecting tube, and, to pre- vent vapors from this passing into the gauge, a further fragment of sulphur is inserted, which absorbs vapor of iodine, and, finally, to prevent vapors of sulphur passing over, finely powdered silver is used, which completely absorbs them. “o = a On the 2d of November Hon. Carl Schurz addressed i letter to the Hon. T. F. Bayard, Secretary of State, asking him whether the State Department would ac cept 20,000 copies of a work to be pub- lished, free of cost to the Government, With a request that they be distributed through the consular service at such it Lye places ibroud where they mis ri January 5, 188s, expected to attract custom, Mr, Bayard replied favorably a few days later. The plan outlined by Mr. Schurz is the publi cation of what is to be called ‘** The United States Export Almanac,” to con tain a series of general descriptive articles on the resources of the United States, with special reference to fostering the export trade. Among the contributors we note Hon. S. 8. Cox, Edward Atkinson, David A. Wells, Robert’ P. Porter, J. 8. Moore, Paul Loeser and others. lr ee Hydraulic Hammer. \n interesting piece of machinery, shown at one of the several recent English exhibitions, was a 300-ton hydraulic ham mer or squeezer made by the Blaydon Iron Works, of Blaydon-on-Tyne, and embody- ing quite a new mode of applying hy draulic power for forging steel and iron ingots. Our contemporary, Industries, in arecent issue, published engravings of it and described it as follows: It consists of a vertical cylinder 204 inches diameter, fitted with gun-metal glands and steel studs and nuts, and capa ble of working to 2000 pounds per square inch. The cylinder is supported by four wrought-steel columns, which form the guide for the cross-head of the ram, the whole being carried wpon a massive cast- iron bed-plate. The ram is 19} inches diameter, 15 inches length of stroke, and is fitted with gun-metal packing-ring and studs. The cylinder is fitted with a valve box for controlling the water supplied from a tank, and an arrangement of valves and cylinders fgr automatically releasing the water when the maximum pressure has been reached. The engine and pumps consist of a vertical engine having a cylin- der 16 inches diameter, 12 inches length of stroke, fitted with metallic packed piston, gun-metal glands, neck bushes, drain cocks, and cased with sheet bronze. The crank and pump shaft are of steel, and carry a massive fly-wheel 9 feet diameter, weighing 2} tons. The three-throw pumps have gun-metal rams 4 inches diameter, 6 inches length of stroke, and the valve box in connection is fitted with three gun metal suctions and three delivery-valves with seatings and fitted with spring relict valve. The arrangement of working is somewhat as follows: The ram is brought down to its work by a head of water, and as soon as the die comes upon the ingot to be forged the pressure of the pumps comes into play, and the squeeze is completed by the momentum of the fly-wheel. By this means a powerful and contparatively slow squeeze is obtained, and an accumulator is dispensed with, and more effect is gained than by a great number of blows from a steam hammer. When what we may term the pressure blow is complete, the hand lever is thrown out of gear by a self-acting valve, and the ram Is raised, then the ingot is turned partially round for another pressure blow, and so until the ingot is reduced to the intended size. There appears to be decided advantages in this system of applying hydraulic power, both as compared with the ordinary method of using hydraulic power by means of an accumulator, and as compared with steam hammers. With one engine and pump several hammers can be worked, and the steam consumed by the engine is propor tionate to the work done. The accumu lator is dispensed with, causing great economy in working. Although this ham- mer, says Jndustries, may not appear to work so rapidly as a steam hammer, yet the amount of work actually performed is greater and more effective, as it has been found that, in dealing with large masses of steel, a powerful squeeze is more efficacious in consolidating the ingots than a succes sion of blows as applied by the steam ham me TI blows, being comparatively January 5, 1888. light, produce a hardening and consolidat- | ing effect upon the external surface of the ingot, but leave the interior more or less porous, This latter defect, it is well known, has often caused steel forgings to be con demned after much valuable work had been expended on them. It may also be pointed out that in consequence of the hammer be- ing self contained the foundations needed are light and inexpensive, and there is an absence of noise and vibration. It is also noteworthy that by this system there is a constant circulation of water through the whole machine and back through the tank in connection with the pump, so that there is little liability of the water freezing. EE The Improved Valley Steam-Pump. Other things being equal, probably thi best direct-acting steam-pumps in the mar ket are those which have the most positive Fig. 1, Lervspective THE IMPROVED VALLEY STEAM and durable methods of moving the second- ary or auxiliary steam valves. We take pleasure, under the circumstances, in pub- lishing engravings of the Valley Steam- Pump in its recently improved form, as built by the Valley Machine Company, of Easthampton, Mass. It will be noticed that a lever is attached to a cross head on the main piston rod, its upper end working in a bearing made for the purpose. On the face of this and near the upper end is a circular projection, or lug, which fits between the heads of a loose spool on the valve stem. As the main piston rod works back and forth, viving a swinging motion to the lever, the lug slides the spool along on the valve stem, at the same time giving it a rotary motion, until it comes in contact with the tappet buttons which are firmly fastened to the valve stem. Then the auxiliary valve is carried along until the main piston reverses. By this method of moving the auxiliary valve blow is given to the tappet button, as in the old form, and there is no noise from this source. The formation of the valves and their arrangement will be understood with littl difficulty from Fig. 2. In this the main and auxiliary valves are marked B and A respectively, and the ports 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. One of the changes from the old de ho | panies conduct THE IRON AGE. sign which will be noticed at once is that the valve stem now connect both ends of the auxiliary valve formerly it was con- nected only to the end nearest the stufting box. In the new desion the web connect- ing the two faces of the auxiliary might be broken and the valve stem would still carry it. In describing the valve mo tion we will consid ronly one « nad, since the valve oye ration would be precise ly similhar for the other one. Placing the main valve B in its proper position it will cover the six rectangular mai ind exhaust ports, the groove or channel! in the face of this valve straddling the web which connects the two faces of the auxiliary valve. We should r mark here that the valve stem lies in a eroove in the web that connects the two faces of the auxiliary valve This will be which by far the greater majority of boiler insurance Companies are worked. It is well known that many boiler explosions have taken place of insured boilers, and that many of them had not beer examined for from three to eve 1) thoroughly n ten years, vet the policy of insurance was renewed vear after year, on the pre mium being paid, the company contenting themselves by simply writing the firm to the effect that their boiler had not been thoroughly examined for such a time, but searcely ever refusing to renew the policy of insur ance, should the boiler not prepared for given date, risk and order to swell the the shareholders thorough inspection before preferring rather to take the cost of inspection, ] Save nh it the end than running the risk of losing dividends for of the vear, understood by a glance at the valve A. the boiler, they knowing that it pays them The passage of the steam is as follows: better to run the risk than pay the price of Entering the port marked 1 it crosses to 2) efficient and thorough inspection once a ind passes up this to the space behind the yeal It is ve ry sad to this is By Ug } { - co Fiaq. |. Pian of Valve Seat and Section Valve and Steam Cylinders. MP, BUIL' BY THE VALLEY MACHINE COMPANY, EASTHAMPTON, PA. valve position. The exhaust is accom-, the case, but can it be wondered at when plished through the ports 3 and 4 to an_ boilers are insured for several hundreds of exhaust recess in the valves, thence through the port 5 into the main exhaust. The whole ac tion. it will be observed. is very simple The main valve, of is driven by the valve-piston to which if is attached course, I British Methods of Boiler Inspection. Two recent disastrous boiler explosions England have stimulated renewed in the methods practiced by En glish boiler inspection and insurance com panies. As 1 number of previous oc casions, it has again strikingly shown that the basis on which nearly all these com cannot be too strongly condemned, ruinous competition in quiry into ou business having rendered the so-called inspection service Wholly valueless tain in fact, in a cer aangerous, SeTis¢ \ « rresponde nt of Engin aptly portrays the situation in the following remarks: all ver! those companies would only inform their members that their policy is ‘‘insurance first,” inspection being only Boiler insurance is well in its way, if a secondary consideration with them, as in so doing they would be telling them the eandid truth. for th is the principle on po mds, at the remunerative rate of from half a guinea to fifteen shillings how can a boiler owner expect te boiler, and » get effi cient and thorough inspec tion of his boil Yet these are the in surance companie < whose chief engineers tell that ‘the present machinery for boiler inspection is adequate to insure free dom from explosion if the owner will pre per ers for such a sum? us pare his boiler for thorough examination every year, and will not insist in trying to get inspection for less than what it is worth,” yet they have agents and can Vassers running about the ountry trying to ascertain how much a boiler owner is paying for insuring his boiler, and when they do vet to to do it bv their company at a considerable reduction in the premium, and issue know they offer in most cases a policy of insurance without any inspection whatever except what inspection the agent could give assing for the boiler. It is high time that this system er insurance when cans of boi! a system adopted similar to the one carried Manchester Steam Users’ Asso was i stop to, and put l out by the ciation, and that is that they accept re sponsibility of no boiler without at first making a thorough examination of it (not a partial one), and this examination must be r peated once every 12 months, or the responsibility ceas s.” It isa matter for congratulation that American steam users ire not yet threat ened with similar dan vers, the tes of insurance having thus far not been forced down to a figure sé low as to prec de the possibilit f ett cient Inspectior TT Recent Liquid Fuel Tests in England We tind in alate issue of the London Enqine several tables of nteresting results of series ( experiments — wit! liquid fuel which were earried on in Liv erpoo! SHoTt time ago. The iwrange ments for burning the oil contemplate: the conversion of the oil into gas before combustior The liquid injected by steam into the center of retort places n the center of the steam generator furnace; the steam anc oil pass backward and forward throug! . } i | hydrocarbon is l 1 the retort. and become, on contact with its sides, converter nto gas. The gas issues in an annular rine from front end of re- tort, and, striking ’ turns around the outside edge of the re against a deflectory, re- tort, and the gas is here met with ap an- nular blast of air, producing a_ hollow cylinder of flame in the inside of which is the retort. encircled with flame from en to end. The itside periphery of the flame is in close contact with the per forated refractory only become incandescent and prevent the oxidizing actior l inings of flue, that not f flame on the plates, but prevent a too serous reduction in the tem- perature of the flame. The steam is prefer- ibly Kept at a temp rature above 50 pounds per square inch; at a pressure below 3( pounds per square inch the steam was found to reduce the temperature of the retort very rapidly at prevent the volatilization of the liq hydrocarbon By a simple equilibrium valve arrangement, an exact balance of air and gas can be established, duce a clear bright flame, whicl at irom purified gas. So per so as to pr resembles ti fect indeed is combustion that a clean sheet of note paper, we are told, held in the chimney for an hour was not in the least discolored by smut. The tests were con ducted t the Heela Engineering Works vith a} r of the marine type, ind seen to Tay I Mighl\ satisfactory bevery EES Snow Sheds on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In « nection with our recent short irticl n snow sheds on the Central Pa cific Railroad, the following particulars fron orrespondent at Dueean’s Sidney. Britis lumbia, will prove interesting, The refe similar structures on the line of padian Pacitic road We quote It ta . ver 6,461,800 fect of timber to build ‘ these sheds and 62,080 bolts 3 ches jong and 200.000 spikes 10 ine ng 1 do not refer ibove to the ordi: ry snow sheds such as used on th Inte n Ra lway, Thes mre used here also where snow is likely to drift -in. but . iking above | refer to what alwavs In the face of st [Ss ee) ind high mountains. One side (the hie properly be called snow slides. t at a point where snow slides ’ l sit of shed) is built up into the side of tl nountain am las a slant over the track son ng like a shed roof. They ire wonder y strong, and you may be sul much so, as the accumulated snow of many years may start from the top of thes fiy hills and come thundering down in masses 50 to 100 or 200 feet thick. wlth a force that nothing can resist The snow in passing down slides over the toy slide and passes on down int THEE [RON AGE the valley and on up, maybe several hundred feet up, the side of the mountain opposite. One can imagine what would be the result of such a slide striking a passenger train. Near where I am one of these slides happened The snow came down the mountain in a body estimated to be 175 feet thick. It struck the track and carried it bodily down the mountain to the valley, across the river, that flowed through the valley, and up the opposite side te about the same hight It was where the railway track was found after the snow melted, and where it was struck. Some cars. were wrecked at the same time, and were never found, probably the remains were carried down by the melting snow to the Columbia | River, and then out to the Pacific Ocean. TT Overhead Steam-Heating Pipes. The usual method of heating mills in this country is by means of lines of steam pipes placed near the floor at the sides of the room. But within a few years this method of heating a mill has been to a great extent supplanted by the system of hanging pipes below the ceiling and about 5 feet from the walls. This method, says an American correspondent of Kagineering, when adopted, received a great deal of criticism from those inclined to @ priori reasoning, rather than that examination of facts which Bacon declares to be the foundation of sciences. the first method of steam-heating used large cast-iron pipe hanging quite near the ceil- ing, but was justly abandoned on account of the unsatisfactory results, both as to heating and also to the health of persons whose heads were excessively heated in the low-studded rooms built at that time: so that the present method should be termed a renaissance rather than invention. The pipes generally used are of wrought iron, 1} inches inside diameter, and hanging in parallel lines of four or five, suspended from about 14 feet below the ceiling in a 13-foot room The advantages of such a method are apparent to all who have tried them. Their tirst introduction was at the instance of a mill insurance interest in the United States, who recommended the trial of the method in view of certain severe The re sults were of the most favorable nature. ind by degre Cs their adoption has increased until their use is well-nigh universal, <A circular letter of fire losses caused by steam pipes. inquiry addressed to forty-two users of such methods of heating, through a wide range of textile industries in mills situated at various places through an extent of 7° of latitude, received only two unfavorable answers. The result of experience with this method of heating shows that the temperature of the room is kept at a greater uniformity with reduced expenditure of steam, that there is neither noise nor injury to the pipes by reason of the contraction and expansion, as is the case with low pipes held in a rigid posi tion. that those working near benches are not subject to an excessive and fairly sick- ening temperature from their proximity to in excessive amount of heat radiated upon them. There is also greater convenience in manufacturing on account of the relief of the room near the floor from obstructions from steam pipes, as when placed in the usual manner. It will be assumed in antagonism to such a method of heating, that the room is heated by convection from the air heated at the bottom, and the circulation forced inthat way. But experiments, as well as the actual result, show that the method of heating is more nearly by direct radiation than by convection, and that the currents of air produced in a room by agitation of machinery and belting are far stronger and in excess Of any of those merely due to convection, As confirmatory of this opinion may be cited an experiment which was It is probable that r January 5, 1888. tried by rubbing the pipes of a certain room with oily waste and passing the cir culation of steam through these pipes, Al though the air in the room was presumed to be quiescent, as there was no machinery in motion, yet the smoke from the over head pipes radiated in all directions, soon tilling the room with smoke which ap pealed to all the senses in a most emphatic manner. The radiation from the pipes around the side of the room was very much restricted, owing to the obstructions from benches and articles naturally placed in front of the pipes, while the natural circulation of air in the lower corners of the room is always much more feeble than near the ceiling. Numerous thermometric observations, extending over a long time, show that the method of using overhead steam pipes heats factories more uniformly throughout different portions of the room and with an expenditure of less steam through a smaller amount of pipe. In large mill-rooms 13 feet high, 90 to 100 cubic feet are heated by one lineal foot of pipe, or in round numbers 200 to 250 cubic feet with one square foot of radiating sur- face; the pipes carrying steam at 1 pound to 5 pounds above the atmosphere, except early in the morning in extremely cold weather when ‘‘ direct * steam is used. EE Edison's New Phonograph. Edison’s new phonograph is described as follows in a recent number of the Scien tifie American The new phonograph is of about the size of an ordinary sewing machine. In its construction it is something like a very small engine lathe; the main spin dle is threaded between its’ bearings, and is prolonged at one end to re ceive the hardened wax cylinder upon which the sound record is made. Behind the spindle and the cylinder is a rod upon which is arranged a slide, having at one end an arm adapted to engage the screw of the spindle, and at the opposite end an arm carrying a pivoted head, provided with two diaphragms, whose positions may be instantly interchanged when desirabl: One of these diaphragms is turned into the position of use when it is desired to talk to the phonograph, and when the speech is to be reproduced, the other diaphragm takes its place. The diaphragm which re ceives the speech makes the impressions upon the cylinder. The needle by which the impressions are made in the wax is attached to the center of the diaphragm, and pivotally connected to a spring arm attached to the side of the diaphragm cell. The device by which the speech is reproduced consists of a cell