The Iron Age 1888-07-19: Vol 42

‘THE THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1888, IRON AGE The Iowa Distance Tariff. —_—__ The Jobbers’ and Shippers’ Association of Dubuque, Iowa, have been informed by the Iowa Railroad Commissioners that the new distance tariff for Iowa railroads = jm Joye NY —_— A RSS Citi TERY spn Nis WAQVF IV ps aT : -2i0- sks SS fj YN ; oy omen \ : Lin aocm <a DOO Ay a Ee | I ers. Under the law the suits must be; Turbines at the Terni Steel Works. brought by the latter whenever a viola- tion of the law is called to their notice. The penalty for the first offense is a fine of not less than $1000 nor more than $5000; for each subsequent violation not \ \ \, f RS . ; ee Fig. 1.—Elevation, ‘Th —_ a Ty 1) HE i AS = ll —————<——— Lo } it } J J Jun J So 3 Fig. 2.—Plan. 4 J ea 7 Sf 4, 2 I} Si / j //, fy Turbines, with vertical or horizontal axes after the Girard system, have for some time been employed in preference to those of other systems wherever the quanti han. &___A., NWN : as AWN “ | ~ eT ; -- AK WN CG VERTICAL TURBINES AT THE TERNI STEEL WORKS, TERNI, ITALY. went into effect on the 10th inst., not- withstanding the intervention of the courts invoked by the railroads. As a consequence, the Dubuque shippers now announce their purpose to prosecute any company making a freight charge in ex- cess of the rate fixed by the Commission- less $5000 nor more than $10,000. The Commissioners may dismiss suits with the consent of the Attorney General of the State. The officers of a railway company making excessive charges may also be in- dicted and the penalty recovered by crimi- nal prosecution, Cc ties of water to be utilized are variable, where the hight of fall to be utilized is constant and the lower level of water con- sequently does not rise or vary. A certain number of these turbines has been set up at steel works at Terni, Italy, by the con- structors, M. M. J. J. Rieter & Co., of ae Ne ae ‘3 : es “e er ae eo ae ee a > mt) R oo ‘ > ci b a = eh Po . ae , e on ee Aa a i. a = tee _ Ee 84 | es * a et ee ald . — 3 ae 7 PP ao ve a ie wad whmanite sity ->9 er ee ~S or as _ a Ma Paid rae © “¥ ae a 2 ae at * 4 s = - oo 80 THE IRON AGE. July 19, 1888. Winterthur, Switzerland, to furnish the| ciently above the ground to permit its | quickly stopped and set in motion again. motive power require work the following mac 1. These hines: motors Designation of the machines and appa- ratus, horse power. Motive pow- in ler 1,000 800 HOO General rolling mill. Mill for rails.... ‘ Mill for tires......... Train of 500 mm. mill Train of 280 mm. mill Movable crane.. Great pump Great shears......... Mill for iron plate... Small pump...... . 500 450 280 200 240 200 250 850) 850 450 450 600 180 to 240 being easily worked. The motion of this |The high pressure brought to bear upon 'wheel is transmitted by means of bevel | the distributing apparatus would not have gear to a cog-wheel, which is placed | permitted this quick arrest and restart 'in the interior of the sluice, and the ad-| without a very complicated disposition of ' vance or recoil of the latter is thus pro- | the sluice. | duced. met’s 2.400 2.500 1.800 2.500 | 1.950 0.565 1.070 | 1.070 | 0.800 | 1.070 | ‘than that of the whole turbine. Small shears.......... 450 The total amount of motive force 1s equal | to 3030 horse-power, and the quantity of | water corresponding with this is 1708 liters | per second, The turbines of the steel! works of Terni may be divided into two principal groups: 1. The small motors of 20 to 50 effective horse-power, which are mounted on a cast-iron frame, and can be | removed and attached to the machines to be set in motion as required. The | great motors, each placed separately on masonry and concrete foundations. The engravings which we publish and | for which we are indebted to Les Annales | Industrielles, sh@w one of these great | motors. This turbine works a mill for | the production of railway rails; its force | is equal to 800 horse-power. There are guides bolted on to a large pipe, which is fixed to a solid foundation, oa from which a water-pipe branches on the opposite side to the distributing apparatus. This pipe is 600 mm. in diameter inside, and allows for a discharge of 450 liters per second. The head of water is 180 m., equivalent to about 270 pounds on the square inch. 9 we ‘ tn order to resist this great pressure, the ~ SS } 0 A ty w, 4 AS VERTICAL thickness of the water-pipe, as well as those of the movable wheel and of the fixed guide-wheel, is considerable. The interior diameter of the movable wheel is 2.5 m., and it makes 200 revolutions per minute, so that it has had to be constructed with great care. Referring to the resistance of the wheel- rim to the centrifugal force which is de- veloped, it should be noted that the cast iron employed for the wheel is very hard; the rim of the wheel is further strength- ened by two steel rings welded up and shrunk on. It is united to the boss by a stout disk, so that the whole constitutes a very massive construction. The admission is regulated by a hand-wheel placed suffi- | mill that the turbine should be easily and TURBINES AT THE For this reaeon the admission Figs. 4 and 5 represent the sluice | valve is only employed in exceptional and a part of the wheel on a larger scale | cases, and the sluice is worked by means The dis-|of the wheel previously described, and tribution apparatus is furnished with two | which can be managed by a single man. admission orifices, by which 0.345 m. of | But in order to avoid damaging shocks to water can be introduced. The radial | the pipes when the admission is abruptly SR a bet Heb} es Hee | | ‘ | Cy c poral PZ Dees pens 650 we buys oS 4 YY fe — 77, Gy U Z d Ly G WY Muss iy Ces oye Go ff Yyyfff Z his Ls YY “Uf Uy Yyy Yl thy alae = GY % Z yy VL” We Yy ew 4 ty LLY, SS IAG . RSA WS Go EB ey GY Y he YEE: We baa = \ a } | l WK lll SLL, MM a Ue ZIELLy SS ‘ fo . i WAS WHEEL TIL -- Z WELLE: Figs. 4 and 5.—Detail of Guide and Buckets. TERNI STEEL WORKS, TERNI, ITALY. width of these orifices is 125 mm., that shut off a pipe has been placed in front of ‘of the bucket-wheel is 140 mm, at the! the large valve, which contains a smaller ‘smallest part and 510 mm. at the largest. lone. These two valves are united together | The horizontal shaft of the turbine is sup- | by a gearing, so that the opening of the ported on one side by a bent tubular / one causes the closing of the other, and | bracket fixed to the foundations by means | pice versa, and there is no fear, therefore, ‘of holding-down bolts. On the other side | of a rupture of the water pipe. The ne- |the shaft turns in a massive block, also|cessary quantity of water to work these bolted on to the foundations. The bear- | turbines is brought by along canal through ings are made of a composition which has; two tunnels. The interior diameter of the | succeeded very well so far. Two grooves | pipes is 770 mm ‘are hollowed in the shaft to receive the ~ steel rings, which are shrunk on after fixing the wheel on the main shaft, so that the latter is well collared. It is important to the efficiency of the a The spirit of opposition to all corporate power is seen in the passage by the House of a general land forfeiture bill, as a sub- stitute for one previously passed by the Senate of a less sweeping character. July 19, 1888. IRON AGE. ing Schools.* In a paper read last month before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, one of the ‘members who has practically contributed to the progress of the printing | press, presents ‘‘ A Plea for the Printing | Press in Mechanical Engineering Schools.” It is an honest plea, courteously uttered, and with an evident desire in no way to| disparage the value of the training secured in engineering schools. The writer main- tains that while the printing press shares perhaps alike with the steam engine, the | fame as a great civilizer, no attention is given to it in any specific way in the lead- ing engineeriag schools; that no books relating to it are studied or referred to; no lectures delivered detailing its mechanism ; that its factories are not inspected by the students, and that no sample machines adorn the schools’ laboratories of engineer- ing. All this is inferred by the writer from a perusal of the catalogues. Usually judgment as to the course of studies pur- sued, if based solely on the catalogues themselves, is a dangerous procedure, apt to lead to fatal errors, but in this case no mistake is made, for it isa fact that the printing press receives but little, if any, attention in the engineering schools. What should be the relation of the course of study pursued in the schools of mechanical engineering to these ever in- creasing important industrial engineering applications? Should every new, important mechani- cal device, especially if it brings with it new fields of practical employment and labor for the engineer, immediately find its place as a study in the engineering school? If this beso, the school of mechanical en- gineering will have to extend its term of study an indefinite extent, and ere long it will come to pass that the young student, entering as a beardless youth, will gradu- ate from the school as a gray-haired man in the decline of life. For, surely, if every important machine is to be the sub- | ject of special study in the technical school, a lifetime will only suffice to cover the ground. And the result? The result would be that the engineering schools would be of no use to the world, for the world’s engineering work would be being done by outsiders, while the gray-haired students, plodding along, would be kept busy studying this very work and not be active agents in its development. It is the mission of the technical school to in- culcate the principles of engineering, to train and mature the powers of observa. tion and mechanical judgment, and, after teaching the laws of physics and mechan- ics, to give the ability to apply these laws to problems arising in machinery and the industrial arts. The special machines and appliances dwelt upon in the school should serve this one purpose; a knowledge of them should not be the end, but the means. Because we can best inculcate and supplement a correct understanding of the physical laws and a knowledge of how to apply them to the design of machinery by studying the successful applications made, therefore such study should form | an important factor in the course of the technical school. These engines, motors, machines, factories and engineering works should serve as the constant tests and checks of the student's efforts at individual design. When the studeut has once acquired the ability to put physical principles and experimental | data into the hest engineering forms, bear- | ing in mind economy of matcrial, with least sacrifice of strength, best method of handling, management and the like, he| * From Presidential Address delivered before the Alumni Association of Stevens Institute of Technology, June 13, 1888, by A. R. Wolff THE chines of which he has had no previous special knowledge. The school cannot give to the student all this desirable latent power, or stored energy, for much of it must come in later life from individual, un- |aided effort; and the experiences of daily application (often coupled with some de- gree of failure) must be the teachers which ;never leave the side of the devotee of en- | gineering science. But these teachers are most efficient, if the student has been trained in the engineering school both and ever to reason before beginning work, and to check his previous reasoning by the re- sults secured. If we regard the technical school from this aspect, it is plain why the various prime movers play so important an element in the course of instruction, to the disad- tant machines. laws of physics, and the intelligent discus, sion of the prime movers calls for quite a knowledge of these laws, both in experi- mental and mathematical form. The prob- lems of mechanics are splendidly embodied in the design of the various parts, and in many diverse ways, modified as is the ap- plication by the strains to which the parts are submitted, the strength of the materi- als and the practical methods of their working. Every conceivable strain, sim- ple and compound, since it enters the working of the steam engine, for instance, comes up for consideration, while all the leading materials enter its construction. The prime movers act as fine checks on the student’s individual efforts at design, for they represent the embodiment of centuries of application and development by the best | engineering talent. They give opportunity for experimental verification of the laws of physics and mechanics as well. I fully appreciate the view that it is com- mendable, indeed desirable, that the stu- |dents, when graduating from technical schools, should possess some _ general | knowledge of the leading machines in the | market, but the first essential thing is that they should have acquired the ability to be useful workers in every field, by being pos- sessed of a knowledge of the principles } and methods of procedure which underlies all engineering works and machines and their design. * It has occurred to me that some of the theoretical preparatory studies pursued, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and the like—and I purposely omit lan- guages, belles-lettres, and those general academic branches having a less intimate connection with the engineering course— seem not to be carried out in some particu- lars so as to secure the highest efficiency from an engineering point of view. * * * * Let me call your attention to this point: Is it not remarkable that essentially the same text-books on physics, chemistry, analytical mathematics, descriptive geom- etry and the like are studied at engineer- ing schools as at the ordinary academic course of a university? |of itself almost imply that the studies, as | pursued, are not made to specially adapt studies of the engineer? Could not some | abstract developments, now dwelt upon at ‘length, be advantageously emitted, while | physical experiments and applications in } E * : | | heat, electricity and the like be more co- | piously introduced as exercises, both with the view of imparting a thorough hold on the abstract taught, and also as imparting requisite useful information and methods |of procedure? problems, even the mathematician, and | certainly the engineer, can best test and |master a knowledge of the mathematics themselves. How common is the experi- comes equipped to struggle with new ma- vantage of other possibly equally impor- | They are the most direct | | applications of very important and leading | Does not this fact | themselves to the needs of the applied | It is my opinion that, 1 | the application of mathematics to physical | 81 ence of those who, having acquired in the | usual way, even from the best of masters, | what they considered a pretty fair hold on | calculus—and this embraces the experience |of many gifted students—when they tried |to apply this knowledge in the study of | the mechanical theory of heat, they found | they really had no thorough grip on the } calculus as they had presumed, and had, | in fact, to start anew, with a decided loss |of time, which might, it seems to me, | have been avoided. I concede the value as fully, and am as anxious as any one to guard the pursuit of knowledge in the abstract on its own acccunt. Still, I say, why not in plane, solid, descriptive and analytical geometry, and in calculus and other analytical math- ematics, gain some time now devoted to the elucidation of abstract propositions and detailed elaborations in various forms of the same propositions, of no direct value, and some time now devoted to ap- | plications, which, designed to test the un- derstanding, are really essentially numer- ical substitutions, so as to find leisure to supply physical problems as atest. The latter problems best serve to call forth a true knowledge of the principles. It is only in such application that we discover whether we have really grasped and act- ually secured the full meaning of the prin- |ciple. So, too, in the course of physics, }as pursued in mechanical-engineering schools, some details now studied, from force of habit and as being the regular thing in a complete course of physics, might, it appears to me, be advantageously omitted and replaced by special and more extended work in heat, electricity, elas- ticity and the like. —— EE ve Propeller Blades. | Anti-Corrosi According to recent English accounts Mr. John Willis, of the firm of John Wil- lis & Co., Specialty Steel Works, at Atter- icliffe, claims to have discovered a new method of preserving iron and steel pro- pellers, blades, &c., from corrosion. Sea- going engineers and shipowners know that corrosion sets in very quickly upon the | back of propeller blades, and to a greater extent in steel than in cast iron. The first cost of manganese bronze or gun-metal blades weighs seriously with shipowners; and it is, therefore, of the highest impor- tance to look to the improvement of iron and steel blades. Mr. Willis’s invention consists in a coating of copper united to the casting. This is effected by the cop- per. plate, properly bent to shape, being placed in and forming part of the mold into which the iron or steelis poured, with the result that the copper is firmly united by fusion to the iron or steel face. All anti-corrosive metals are covered by the patent. Several of these are now under- going tests to ascertain the most suitable | for this purpose. Specimens of steel and copper united in this manner have been exhibited. There appears to be a perfect joint, the steel and copper being fused together and thoroughly united. It may be added that the blades can be totally coated if considered desirable. —_—_—_wwwwaee——— — The Hibernia Works, of Sheffield, an- nounce, under date of July 2, that Albert Marples has retired from the business, and that it has been arranged that Harry Edgar Marples and Edward Albert Mar- ples, sons.of the senior partner, shall be taken into the firm, which will be con- ducted under the firm of William Marples & Sons, as heretofore. If carried into execution, the contem- plated improvements of the Point Breeze, |N. J., company, will secure for business purposes extensive piers and basins to be excavated from the mud flats on the New Jersey shore. Joints of Pipes and Fittings. It is a noticeable fact that with the gene- ral and increasing use of pipes the question of joints has been little discussed, and the methods of making joints have re- mained almost unchanged. The cast-iron hub and spigot joint, Fig. 1, caulked with iron borings, is probably the old-| kind of joint. This still gen- est is THE IRON AGE. July 19, 1888, and the use of a gasket of rubber, copper, | pipe, and the internal projection of the paper or cement, with bolts for drawing | the faces together. These joints for cast- iron pipes have not been changed except- ing for some of work where a lip and recess, Fig. 3, is formed on op- | posite flanges, which make the internal | surfaces smooth and aid in preventing the gaskets from being blown out. In wrought-iron pipe work the general classes thickness of the pipe and that of the thread of the fitting increases materially the fric- tion due to the interior surfaces of pipe and fitting. This class of joint requires care in the tapping of the fittings and in the cutting of tapered threads on the pipes, and much trouble is caused by an inaccurately cut thread, as it may throw a line of pipes several inches out of place and erally adopted in hot-water heating of | practice in making joints between pipes’ put fittings and joints under undue and Cre a certain class, and was formerly used with low-pressure steam. A fairly regular smooth internal surface is obtained, and once made tight, is very durable. Cast- iron flanged pipes have also been a long time in use. These joints were first made with a wrought-iron ring gasket, wrapped closely with yarn, A, Fig. 2, which was sometimes dipped in a mixture of red and white lead, It was then placed between the flanges, it being of such a diameter as to fit within the bolts by which the joint was screwed up and a nest or iron joint, B B, caulked outside the annular gasket between the faces of tne flanges. next step in cast-iron flange pipe-joints was the facing or turning up of the flanges The JOINTS OF PIPES AND FITTINGS. is a wrought-iron coupling, Fig. 4, with tapered threads at bothends, These coup- lings are liable to extend or expand under the internal pressure of the tapered end of pipe while being screwed in, to prevent which heavy cast-iron couplings or flanges are used in certain classes of work. The pipes do not meet at theirends, and a recess of about }-inch or more long by the depth of the thickness of the pipes is left at every pipe end. A similar tapered thread is used in connecting the cast-iron fittings, elbows, tees, &c., Fig. 5, to the pipe, and a large recess is necessary in each fitting to allow for the tapping of the threads. Thus the inside diameter of the fitting is larger by 4 inch than the outside diameter of the Wy SS > ated |: YY aaa aebeddd ) = — ae oe, SSS AAAAAAAAOANA WSS SSS SY WANA 2 — —a irregular strains. The right and lef threaded nipple, Fig. 5, is used as a finish ing connection joint and between fittings To make up this joint time and care are necessary, and even then its tightness is problematical until tested. e right threaded end on nipple should be first firmly screwed with the tongs or wrench into the right threaded end of fit- ting, then slacked out and screwed u again by hand until tight, when it is screwed back by hand, at the same time counting the number of threads it has en- tered by hand. The same is done with the left threaded end of nipple and fitting. If the right and left threads of nipple have counted the same number of threads, each July 19, 1888. thread, when m: sking the joint up, should enter the fittings at “the same time if pos- sible, and particular care must be taken that the fittings are exactly opposite, to facilitate catching on, prevent crossing threads, and that no irregular strain comes on the nipple while being screwed up. If these joints leak when tested and if screwed in further when warm, or after being treated when cold, the joints of both threads are not always certain to tighten up equally and at the same time. The right and left coupling, Fig. 6, involves the same amount of work and care. The long screw-nipple, with coupling and faced lock-nuts, is another method of joining pipes and fittings. It consists of a nipple with a long parallel thread on one end, of sufficient length to receive coup- ling and nut, the other end having a short tapered thread, which is screwed into the | THE [IRON AGE. time is occupied i in counting fitting and screwing them into position. When top and bottom connections are made between sections of radiators, each right and left nipple has to be screwed in alternately half a turn at a time to prevent binding or crossing threads, and to remove a section from between others the radiator has to be moved apart a distance equal to at least the length of the nipple. To avoid the use of these right and left nipples in con- necting sections of radiators a long boit through or near one set of joints is “used, while “close nipples are used in the other joints. It is not, however, generally con- sidered good practice to risk from five to thirty joints on one bolt, especially when the compression which the sections undergo from expansion is taken into account. However, this bolted point has in some instances given good results, but not in all. C. PEDESTAL TENONER, BUILT BY fitting. The long screw end of nipple is brought close to end of pipe to which it is to: be connected; the coupling is then screwed tightly up on tapered thread on pipe, leaving about half the coupling on long screw of nipple, and the lock-nut is screwed up against coupling, packing be- ing inserted sometimes between the faces of it and the lock-nut. Close nipples are used for another joint. It is a short nipple with all its external surfaces threaded, it having tapered right threads from the center to the outer ends. These nipples are liable to be cut inaccurately on account of the difficulty of holding them. They are used where fittings come close together and in connecting the links or sections of direct radiators having no bases. There are, besides, right and left threaded nipples of malleable or cast iron, with hexagonal or round centers between the threads, by which the nipples can be turned, and also close right and left threaded nipples with interior flats or pro- jections for an internal wrench. These are used for connecting sections of indi- rect and direct radiators. Much accuracy B. ROC is & CO., NORWICH, CONN, Another joint 'n wr ‘ought-iron piping is known as the “ union,” Fig. 7. A union is composed of three pieces and the washer, and when placed complete in position six threads have been cut and tapped, and care must be taken to have the faces of the union square, exactly opposite one another, and close together. Unions are also made with ground joints, washer dispensed with. Radiator valves are now generally connected by them, but if the hole in the radiator is not tapped accurately the union when drawn up will not be tight, or if tight the valve will not be straight. The flange union, is another Fig. 8, and the oO nw these Senges is first ascertained, and the exact length that the pipe has to be cutis approximated in order to allow for the screwing up of the threads of the pipe and flanges. In screwing up the flanges, the holes for the bolts have to be located so as to meet those in the existing flanges. The pipe with flanges is then lifted into place, and the gaskets dropped between the flanges, the bolts are inserted and screwed up. The gasket joint between flanges may be tight, and the threaded joints of pipe to flanges may leak, and if the leak is serious there is only one remedy, which is to break the bolted joint and screw up the flange another turn. To summarize the peculiarities of the present method of joining wrought-iron pipes and fittings, it is only necessary to call attention to a few facts. With the union as well as the flange union, three joints have to be made tight, to obtain one required joint. In the wrought and cast-iron coupling, be it with right, or with right and left threads, two joints have to be secured to obtaim one connection; and inthe pipe and fitting, no single joint can be tightened up while in position without the “loosening of an- other joint. No pipe between ordinary fittings can be removed without breaking the fitting or cutting the pipe. Thus it is that so much time 1s wasted in fitting up a pipe system, and an improvement in the construction of joints will aid materially |in a still more general adoption of steam and hot-water heating. — TI New -Pedestal Tenoner. Messrs. C. B. Rogers & Co., of Norwich, | Conn., and with warerooms at 109 Liberty street, New York, are bringing out a new pedestal tenoner shown in the accompany- ing engraving. In the design and con- struction of this machine they have em- bodied all of the best features of the style of tenoner formerly produced by them, and in addition have introduced new and thoroughly practical ideas. As will be seen in the cut, all of the working parts of the machine are supported on a heavy iron | frame, cast in pedestal form, and to which at either side are attached the boxes for the main countershaft. Attached to this |column, and cast with it, is an arm with V track that supports one end of the car- riage or table, the other end being sup- ported by a smooth-way attached to am |extension of the foot or base of the ma- chine. With this arrangement of the way the operator is enabled to follow the car- riage right up until the work has passed the cope cutters. The cutters’ heads, with straight cutters set for a draw cut, are attached to heavy steel spindles, run- ning in self-oiling connected boxes, to which are also hung the cope-heads, the whole being gibbed tothe upright. By an ingenious arrangement the heads are raised and lowered independent of each other, or may be adjusted together to any desired hight above the carriage without altering their relative positions. The copes being hung on the same yoke with | the tenoning heads, when once set, require |no further attention; they are, however, | provided with both horizontal and lateral independent adjustment. the cutter-head spindles, The pulleys on as well as the jmain driving pulley on the counter, are joint generally used on wrought-iron pipes | above 4 or 5 inches in diameter in making | connections to valves, &c., and on smaller pipes in positions where it is a convenient joint. cast-iron flanges with the requisite num- ber of holes for bolts, and central hole tapped tapered to receive thread of pipe. The abutting faces of the flanges are gen- This joint consists of two circular | erally turned and the holding bolts fitted linto the holes. To fit up a piece of| placed between the bearings, and all the other pulleys placed close to the bearings, adding much to the stability and capacity of the machine. The arrangement of this machine is such that every necessary adjustment may be made from the opera- tor’s position in front of the carriage. a The frequency of lead poisoning in Newark, J., excites much inquiry re- specting the cause. One physician sug- is required in their manufacture and the | wrought-iron pipe between two flanges | gests that it may be the use of patent stop- tapping of the holes for them, and much | already in position, the distance between | pers, such as are used in bottles. 84 Underground Electric-Light Wires in Europe. A Milan (Italy) correspondent of Jndus- tries contributes the following interesting particulars to the subject of underground wires for electric hghting in that city: Milan was one oi the first cities in Eu- rope in which the distribution on a com- mercial basis of electric light from a cen- tral station was attempted. The Milan station has been in continuous operation for nearly five years, and has steadily in- creased its capacity year by year, main- taining its claim to be the largest electric light station on the Continent. It has passed through various phases of develop- ment, supplying at first only incandescent lamps in multiple arc, and then success- ively adding arc lamps supphed from the incandescent lamp circuits, an independent arc system, and finally the alternate cur- rent system. These systems require dif- ferent types of conductors, with varying degrees of insulation adapted to the differ- ent currents and pressures. At first. while the station supplied only incaudescent lamps on the Edison two-wire system, the requirements as regards insulation were moderate; but with the application of new systems, operated with pressures of 1500 to 2000 volts, and both direct and alter- nate currents, new conditions presented themselves. and more particularly in the circuits that were laid underground. The Milan installation, as at first pro- jected, supplied only Edison lamps from a general underground network, as usually adopted in Edison stations, and in which a constant pressure is maintained by feeders. Edison tubes were at first ex- clusively used, but on the introduction of the arc lighting system a new type of con- ductor had to be adopted. The conductors for the supply of the Edison incandescent lamps are all underground, and comprise at present over 13 km. (8.1 miles) of Edison tubes (two-wire system) and 1 km. (0.6 miles) of Siemens cable. For the series are lighting the Thomson-Houston system is used, only part of the circuits being underground. For this purpose single conductor, lead covered and armored Siemens cables are used, and of this type about 63 km. (4 miles) have been laid. <A Siemens double-conductor concentric cable, having a length of 1.8 km. (1.1 miles), supplies a number of incandescent lamps at some distance from the station, on the Zipernowsky-Deri system. installed in Milan at present a total length of underground conductors amounting to 22.3 km. (14.2 miles). These several lighting systems are representative of the various conditions of supply which a well- equipped station is called upon to meet, and a few details of the various conductors | used, and their electrical properties, may be of interest. The construction of the Edison tubes is too well known to merit a detailed descrip- tion, Suffice it to say that in Milan the two-wire system tubes are used with the lamps in simple parallel. In the under- ground conductor network the tubes are of two classes—mains and feeders. The for- mer have a constant sectional area of 92 sq. mm. (0.14 square inches), and repre- sent a total length of 8 km. (5 miles). The feeders have sectional areas varying from 250 sq. mm, (0.386 square inches) to 650 mm. (1.02 square inches), and lengths varying from 118 m. (387 feet) to 690 m. (2260 feet), representing a total length of 5 km. (3.1 miles) in tube lengths of 6.2 m. (19 feet) each. In the case of feeders, the large number of joints which the of such short conductor lengths entails is not advantageous and not neces- have no derived circuits, and run from the station straight out to the point at which they are attached to the distributing mains. These Sq. use sary, as feeders conductors | carry currents as high as 400 and We have thus | THE IRON | July 19, 1888. GE. 500 am- | ing of 2 parts of fine sand to 1 part of tar, peres, with a pressure of 110 volts, and | forming a durable and perfect protection. require to be fairly well insulated, as a| Some tinned wrought-iron gas pipes that short circuit of heavy earth in conductors | were laid in Milan 35 years ago, and pro- of such a large sectional area might com- | tected with a layer of similar composition, promise the regularity of the station serv- | were dug up a short time ago and the tin- ice. The insulation resistance between the | ned iron surface underneath the asphalt copper segments is usually higher than the | was found as bright as when first laid insulation to earth, which in the different | down. feeders, after having been in use for five Turning now to the conductors for the vears, varies from a minimum of 4 megohm | Thomson-Houston arc-light system, in up to 150 megohms. Cables are to be pre- | which the use of ahigh pressure requires ferred for feeders, as they may be laid |a more perfect insulation than in the case without intermediate joints, or with a of the 110-volts circuits, the four dynamos relatively small number of such joints, | installed in the Milan station have each a rendering it less difficult to obtain and capacity of 30 are lamps connected in maintain a higher insulation resistance | series and generate a normal current of 10 than in the case where tubes are used as |amp?res. Each dynamo has an independ- feeders. For one of the feeders a Siemens | ent circuit and two of the dynamos have single conductor lead covered and armored | only their outgoing wires under ground, cable is used for each pole of the circuit. | the return being through an aérial line, The cable has a sectional area of 625 sa. | while the other two dynamos have both mm. (0.96 square inches), formed of 35 | of their circuits under ground, and in this strands of wire, each wire having a diam-| case the under-ground conductors are, eter of 4.77 mm. (No. 7 B. W. G.). The| therefore, subjected to the full pressure resistance per kilometer is about 0.0253 ‘of the dynamos. The under-ground con. ohm. | ductors are all lead-covered and armored |cables, with a single No. 8 B.W.B. wire. Two types of conductors have been used, one in which the armoring consists of spirally wound iron wires, and a later type |in which (as in the case of the previously described larger cable) the armoring con- sists of two spiral iron bands wound in opposite directions, the outside diameter of the cable being about linch. Although these cables have been in continual use for two years subject to a pressure qf 1500 volts, no decrease of their insulation resist- ance has been observed and no difficulties of any kind have ever been encountered in their use. They were furnished in lengths of 300 m. and had an insulation resistance of about 1200-1500 megohms per kilometer, which, after laying down The cable is provided with a testing wire, which permits of the application in | the station of a voltmeter showing the pressure at the feeder terminals, where they are attached to the distributing mains. The stranded core has an insulation of specially prepared hemp, over which fol- | lows a lead covering, which is in turn | served with a layer of tarred hemp, and | the armor consists of two spiral iron bands | wound in opposite directions, and _ served | on the outside with a layer of tarred hemp. The external diameter of the cable is about 2.2 inches. The cable has a total length | of about 1000 m. made up of lengths of | 100 m. each, joined by heavy copper | \clamps in suitable junction boxes, which | —_ filled with a special insulating com- | with joints and connections, became re- pound. The insulation to earth of each | quced to ‘about €00 meaohme ver kilo- pole of the cable has not varied sensibly | meter. At this point it has remained. In since it was first laid down some six months especially exposed places the oniules are ago. This cable ane been daily wie te Fy laid into tarred wooden troughs and the current of 350 amperes at 110 volts, anc space around the cable filled in with | the insulation remained constant at about cement | 750 megohms per kilometer of ¢ ‘tor. a : lr alt ao — as : " memo | The introduction of the alternate cur- | £Me cable was delivered In COllso -» | rent transformer system called up new re- | which were mounted on a drum supported quirements, and to meet them we have | by an axle spanning the ditch into which | the double conductor concentric cable. the cable was to be laid, high wheels on | my. Zipernowsky-Deri system is used in ae at to oe along drum | yilan for the lighting of two theaters that , > > Os > we » o y e ee are too far from the station to be econom- ically reached by the network of the Edison system. These theaters are situ- ated respectively at 1200 and 1800 m. The conductors (tubes or cables) are laid in ditches at a depth of 25 to 3 inches below the street level, and the |cables are unrolled from the drum right into the ditch. The conductor (tube or cable) having been covered with a layer of earth to 3 or 4 inches, a rough charred and tarred plank is laid over them, to give warning tu any future diggers of the prox- imity of the conductors, and the ditch is | then filled up and the’paving made good. this simple expedient of laying a board over the cables has saved them from many | from the central station. The concentric cable conveys the 200-volt primary cur- rent from the station to the theater, where it is transformed into a 110-volt current | supplying Edison incandescent lamps. , In | general construction and protective armor 'the concentric cable is similar to those already described, with the exception that |it has two conductors placed concentric- ally. The internal conductor is a single a pick hole. The Edison tubes were given | an extra coat of tar paint before laying in | the trenches; but in Milan, which is sadly | in need of a complete sewage system, the | (No. 20 B.W.G.), with a heavy hemp in- leakage from the roughly constructed |sulation separating the two circuits. At sewage conduits has in many places at-|a point 1000 m. from the station, the cable tacked the iron of the tubes. The streets | divides into two branches, one of 260 m. are built up over the débris of the habita-| and the other of 600 m., making a total tions of past generations, and the soil in| length of 1800 m. such localities would in time have ruined | ——— wire of 6 mm. (No. 4 B.W.G.) diameter, and the outer conductor is composed of 44 strands of wire of 0.88 mm. diameter. the tubes. 2000 tubes laid in Milan from becoming corroded to an extent that might in course of time endanger their insulation, it was decided to protect them with a layer of asphalt. The tubes as they lay in the ditch were scraped free from the attached earth, and a tarred wooden box slipped around them, leaving a space of 4 inches between the tubes and the sides of the box. Into this space was poured an as- phalt in a semi-liquid state, and consist- | To effectually preserve the | | gross tons daily. | Chamberlain, Wheeler & Co., of Col- umbus, Ohio, have been appointed sole | sale agents for the Sheffield and Birming- |ham Coal, Iron and Railway Company’s |}plant at Sheffield, Ala., which has just | been completed. Within a few weeks the | three furnaces will be in blast. The esti- |mated aggregate capacity will be 420 The company will use brown hematite ores exclusively, a fact which gives promise of a high quality of product. July 19, 1888. The Sheet-Iron Meeting. A special meeting of the Sheet Iron and | Sheet Steel Maaufac turers’ Association was held in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, 11th inst. N. E. Whittaker, of Wheeling, W. Va., was chairman, and W. C. Crone- myer, of Pittsburgh, acted as secretary. About 15 firms were represented. The object of the meeting was to discuss the | proposed reduction in the tariff on sheet iron and sheet steel. It was decided to send the | Manufacturers’ | at THE IRON AGE. the Mint confirmed this: of cents was really suspended for that oar I purchased the remains of the disused nickel works in Camden, N. J., and the Gap nickel mine in Lancaster County, Pa., which was then idle and full of water. These I put in order and wrestled | for seven years with the inherent and the | artificial difficulties of the business, Mr. John Jarrett to Washington to protest | against the bill at the meeting of the Sen- ate Committee on Finance, which took up the bill on Thursday, the 12thinst. A member of the association made the fol- lowing statement after the close of the meeting as to the action taken and the present condition of the trade: ‘‘ The low price of sheet iron at present is directly | alloy | of due to the low tariff on the English product. The Mills bill will reduce it | even lower, until we are driven out of the | business altogether. glish sheet steel and get it cheaper than they could from Pittsburgh. The present tariff schedule does not cover sheets of soft steel, and the consumers, taking ad- vantage of the present laws, import soft sheet iron, on which they pay but an ad valorem duty. This places the Pittsburgh manufacturer at a disadvantage in favor of the Englishman. ‘‘Tt was at first proposed to wages to make up the deficiency until the reduce : | a moderate profit, the customers were well tariff laws could be amended, but as we | S#tisfied and my wickedness was not yet For the past year or | two people in the East could import En- | : : er I had increased in 1866 to 15 per cent., see the men will not accept a reduction | we must do something to save ourselves. A number of manufacturers, instead of making their own sheets, find it more profitable to import those of English make. The difference between the wages paid in this county and England for the same work is from $6 to $8 per ton.” —— Joseph Wharton on Nickel. The following letter from Mr. Joseph Wharton, the only producer of nickel in the United States, and Bell, of New York: You call my attention -to Mr. mF. Wheeler’s remarks concerning my nickel business, and to the Meriden Britannia Company's reply, paper, and you ask for my comments. I know nothing about this Mr. Wheeler or his affairs. He is obviously no less ignor- ant about me and my affairs. Mr. Wheeler assumes that«I have grown rich by reason of a bounty paid to me in the guise of an | ; ,of New Caledonia, import duty on foreign nickel, virtually a tax, as free traders delight to call such an import duty, drawn from my helpless feilow-citizens by the Government for my benefit. He grieves that the Meriden Company were so oppressed by this tax as to be forced to build a factory in Canada, and he thinks that ‘if Congress had passed a law making him (me) Duke of Lancaster, and giving him (me) a pension of $20,000 a year,” it would have done, except in name, just what it has done. Mr. Wheeler's untruth about the Meriden Company having been demolished by that company I turn to his other points. Is it then true that I am an incubus on my countrymen, idly sucking their subsist- ence by means of a vicious tax for my pampered sustenance? No! It is not true. Itis a lie. In the year 1862, after having established in this country the manufacture of spelter or metallic zinc, I was informed that the &nited States Mint was unable to procure nickel for making one-cent coins, since the American at- tempts to produce that metal had broken down, and in no foreign country could an adequate supply be purchased. Inquiry is published in Lock | as published in your| | those years were, } | at the end of that time having what was prob- ably the completest nickel establishment in the world, though it has as yet yielded but little profit. In that interval my fac- tory in Camden had been burned down and rebuilt, with great improvements; the Government had abandoned coining nickel cents, but had afterward adopted, first a 3-cent coin and later a 5-cent coin a richer nickel alloy; the foreigners who, before I started, could not satisfy either our mint or our private bureaus, had been my fierce competitors for, the cus- tom of both; the price of nickel had aver- aged about 4s. 6d. per pound in England, and about $1.25 per pound here; the im- port duty, which was 10 per cent. in 1863, the latter being about one-third the average rate of duty on all other dutiable imported goods. The pampering of the wicked nickel-maker had not yet begun. In 1870 the duty on nickel was raised to 30 cents per pound, in 1872 it was reduced to 27 cents and in 1874 it was restored to 30 cents—about one-half the rate of duty on other metals. The business now yielded apparent, foreigners. In 1873 the German Government de- cided to adopt nickel alloy for certain of its coins, and thereby created a demand for nickel whieh absolutely stopped all except to some disappointed the coinage | | then recoup by higher prices. 85 had raised it to 95 per cent. (as gh as commercially pure nickel when the law was made), and all this was for years ad- mitted by Mr. Folger at the low rate of 20 cents per pound. Surely Mr. Wheeler should find some consolation, in this happy device of his friends. Next, after some years of depression, came the Tariff Com- mission of 1882. Congress then, not fol- lowing the recommendation of that com- mission, but acting upon it with an intelli- gence akin to that of Mr. Wheeler, set upon pure refined nickel the duty of 15 cents per pound, and upon a pound of nickel in matte cr in ore the same duty of 15 cents per pound, and so the law now stands. This charming arrangement, which shuts out all nickel material, while admitting re- fined nickel, the most difficult of metals to produce, at an inadequate rate equaling about 30 per cent. ad valorem, mad enough, one would think, to satisfy any free trader who is not unusually dyspeptic. Yet it is against this that Mr. Wheeler pipes his little complaint. Under it more than two-thirds of the nickel used here is imported, and my works pay no profit, not even any interest or rent on capital or plant. The effect of my persistence in running the works which Mr. Wheeler would like to close is that foreigners sell their nickel here at less than their home price plus our duty, hoping to break down my works and Here is no wicked pampering of a lazy monopolist, and I submit that the free trader who de- mands yet more for his foreign friends is almost too good a Mugwump to live in this sad world. I have refused to notice the variegated nonsense that has from time to time appeared in print about my nickel business, but it is perhaps my duty to put a stop to it. It is men of my kind, 1S |and not of Mr. Wheeler’s kind, who make shipments to this country from Europe | and carried large quantities of my nickel The had absolutely no resource but my works, but I kept them fully supplied at prices as low as those of Europe, not including im- port duty, and was kindly informed by one of my old English competitors that I sold needlessly low. My profits during of course, large, but it is hard to see how Mr. Wheeler could have prevented them. Then came a great de- cline, caused by the cessation of German coinage and by large shipments of rich nickel ores from the lately opened mines Year after year the price fell, and one after another the nickel mines and works of Europe succumbed to |to Europe. price there ran up| ito the unprecedented figure of 16 shillings per pound for a time, equal |to nearly $4 per pound, and for several years averaged about 12 shillings or $3 per pound. American nickel buyers the constant pressure of the lower and | lower prices established by the great nickel monopolist of the world, the French | company, Le Nickel, which owns the great mines of New Caledonia. The price | in Europe is now about 2 shillings a pound, and here about 60 cents a pound, No nickel mine and only two or three nickel works in Europe have survived the attacks of Le Nickel. am alone and Mr. Wheeler will kill me if he can have his way. A marked feature of the early years of this incessant fall was the urgency with which the foreigners shoved their nickel into this country, and the amiable willing- ness of Secretary Folger to connive at their cheating the customs. The duty on nickel being 30 cents per pound, and that