The Iron Age 1888-10-18: Vol 42

‘THE Teh IRON AGE Heh il ty ’ | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1888. 404 i Fig. 1.—Section through A B, Fig. 2 3000-TON SHEAR, A Three-Thousand Ton Shear. The illustrations which we present here- with, while they show the construction, fail utterly to convey an adequate conception of the dimensions of what is undoubtedly the largest shear in the world. HOMESTEAD STEEL WORKS, CARNEGIE, It has been | descent of the smepaeinen a - sae _ Beadhire tae cate hs a ~divwen! ee 7 Wrelterere thei =. wae ae —= 4wumu’.: fe Ve wee one } <n. dk ni he ES Re eed ’ nl ; ; ; 4 pao 3 4 bit ] > ; eae ; { ; ¥ A i! bh. sim = > a ae we ad ae e sate Cet ee — —_—— dans = Be, + es eon mh ‘ i ea <2 8 ER De eee del ot le a —————K————— a re # Cashel 5 ee Ba ~ ee eee ‘AA A 6 OTR ae Be ee el thd ee ee a ee : a SS E lll. te > ota, as * a me i i > ne eee Fen om ee abe z aa} th ee “vby | “Sa i et 3: ? a} id yd, i at 8 ik 4! YR od Wad “SES Fig 2?—Front Ele ration. PHIPPS & CO. in successful use for some time past at fected by the introduction of water at a the Homestead Steel Works of Carnegie, | pressure of 4000 pounds per square inch, Phipps & Co., at Munhall, near Pitts-/| into the cylinder shown in the lower part burgh, Pa. It is rated at 3000 tons, and! of our engrawinge. The plunger is station- is a.part of the famous slabbing mill. ary, the cylinder proper being forced Briefly stated, the shear is operated by the | downward. This motion is transferred to upper blade, which is ef-| the casting, which carries the upper blade 576 the two 15-inch bolts shown in the drawing. These two bolts, it may be stated, are forgings specially made by W hit- worth forthis shear. The cylinder, if it may so be called, is a ve ry heavy steel casting, weighing, as it does, 54,600 pounds, It is 13 inches thick on the bottom and 174 inches thick on the sides, and is 37 inches dee D. Its width from center to center of the two 15-inch bolts is 6 feet 6 inches, and its total width 8 feet 11 inches. The cross plece carrying the upper blade was a particularly ditlicult steel casting to make. It will be observed that it is brought back into lace bya special lifting cylinder placed on top of the shear. The small hydraulic cy linder shown back of the blade in Fig. 1, with its long plunger, is the gag to hol | down the slab or billet to be sheared when it becomes so short that its weight is not great enough to prevent its tipping The shear has a capa ity to cut steel 48 inches wide and 24 inches thick. The blades proper are made of crucible steel, double diamond in section. These knives are being used in all the shears at Homestead. The shear was built by the Morgan Engineering Company, -of Alliance, Ohio. <A_ study of the dimensions inscribed in our draw- by while the shear is operating. ings will afford some idea of the magni- tude. It is over 15 feet high over all, the top of the frame proper over 11 feet high. —— — Electric Welding. In a paper on ‘* Electric Welding,” pre- senved at the Scranton meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, this week, Mr. C. J. H. Woodbury eXx- plained that the process enables the weld- ing of any two pieces of the same metal or alloy ranging from the most refractory metals to the alloy which fuses at 162° F, It will join dissimilar metals when the welding point of one is not too far im ex- cess of the fusion point of the other. These results seem to indicate that the classification of metals into welding and non-welding has been due to imperfec- tions in the ordinary ‘and time-honored methods, rather than any peculiarity in physical constitution warranting such ar- | bitrary classification. The process is far | cheaper than that of hand welding, and also extends to other methods of manu- facture, but the comparative expense dif- fers according to the previous conditions in every place where it has been applied thus far. Its applications in practical work thus far have been contined to butt- welding for many purposes, such as con- tinuous wire work, carriage work, axles and tires, cotton bale ties, barrel hoops and wire cables and many miscellaneous purposes, Axes are made of drop forg- ings, joining the tool steel edge to a mild steel poll, bars are heated in the middle and upset, forming collars, and pipes are joined together—a matter of great value in ice machines. The list might be con- tinued to greater leneth, but this indicates the range of its practical uses at this early day. The value of the process, for most pur independent from any scientific interest or mechanical ingenuity shown in the apparatus, must be that of the resist- the It re adily understood, however, that, as this process act omplishes many things hitherto impossible, aside from any ques- tion of ultimate strength, it fitted for applications in many constructions where it labor and time; provided only that the joints be in all cases sufficiently good for the purpose for which the article is designed. A large field thus opens up in the execution of ornamental design in metal work, where it will supplant screws, rivets or solder for fastenings, and in other evident applications. We would add that Pp Ses, ance of welds under tensile stress. will be is saves THE IRON AGE. the machines by which the welding is ac- complished were illustrated and described in The Iron Age of July 12, 1888. EE Hot-Air Heating and Ventilating. The system of hot-air heating and venti- lating by means of a fan in connection with a steam heater, through which the air is forced wherever required, is now being rapidly introduced, In view of the interest attached to it need offer no apology for again referring to the subject, illustrations of some of the details of the plant having appeared in The Iron Age for February 2, 1888. the special advantages of supplying an ample quantity of fresh air, but many others that make it preferable to steam- heating by direct radiation. In this system a combinatien is made of the heating and ventilating arrangements, thereby reducing the running expenses which wou!d be incurred by the two run- ning independently. Simply stated, the method of application is as follows: Fresh air from out conducted to a specially constructed steam-heater, through we It possesses not only of doors is 3000-Ton Shear. —Figq which it is rapidly drawn by means of a} fan which discharges from its mouth the} air thus heated. By means of a properly | arranged system of distributing ducts this | air is delivered to the various rooms of the | building. The air passages should if! possible be built into the walls, hut under | other circumstances may be constructed | of galvanized iron. The position of the| outlets may be varied to suit local con- | ditions. In manufacturing establishments | where galvanized iron ducts are used, they | are usually suspended from the ceiling and | extended centrally the entire length of the | room, and branches or outlets are taken | out at desirable points. In order to save material and to preserve an equality of | pressure, the main pipe is usually reduced | in diameter proportionally to the branches | taken out. The apparatus in its most approved form is manufactured by B. F. Sturte- vant, of Boston. The heater is made up of | independent cast-iron sections, into which | are screwed wrought-iron pipes which con- | nect at the top and serve as a passage for | steam from one end of the section to the other. A circulation of steam is kept up through these pipes and bases, the water | of condensation being removed by means | of a steam trap. It is claimed that a great | reduction in the amount of pipe required | to doa given amount of heating is made| when the hot-blast steam-heating apparatus | used. The high velocity of the air crossing the pipes causes a very rapid con- densation of the steam, and only one-third is | heated air. | between October 18, 1888. to one-fifth the pipe is required that is necessary in the system of direct radiation. The entire heater inclosed in a steel- plate jacket, which precludes all possi- bility of fire. The steam fan immediately joins the heater and is of a type specially designed for ventilating, being able to handle large volumes of air at a very small expenditure of power. Motive power for the fan is derived from a direct-connected upright engine, the exhaust from which is used in the heater. The cost of running the blower is thus reduced to practically nothing, for the heating power of exhaust Is steam is only about 3 per cent. less than that of live steam. The engine cylinder may, consequently, be considered as sim- ply an enlargement in the steam-pipe on its way to the heater. Instead of a large number of air-cocks and valves through the building there are in this apparatus only the few valves on the heater and engine to be attended to, and these are but a few feet apart. The entire apparatus occupies but little space, and that where it is generally of little value, Registers in the inlets into the separate rooms serve, at the discretion of their occupants, to preserve the proper 3.—Section through C D, Fig. 2. atmospheric conditions, The amount of air and its temperature and humidity are directly under control. In theaters and halls of audience this system finds its most complicated, but, nevertheless, its most satisfactory applica- tion. Naturally, in such buildings, where the occupants are very closely seated, the greatest need is felt for perfect ventilation, and no system is successful that is not pos- itive. and none is positive except that de- pendent upon the propulsion of the air by means of afan. Commercially speaking, however, as an accessory to different proc- esses of manufacturing, it is the most val- uable. Inthe various methods of drying such materials lumber, wool, cloth, grain, tobacco, glue, &c., the effort has always been to secure a circulation ot the Certainly nothing can be more reasonable than to make the circulation sure and positive by means of a fan, as a A direct telephonic line has now been es- tablished between Paris and Marseilles. The charge for tive minutes’ conversation the two cities has been fixed at about 60 cents. Conversations between Paris and Lyons will also be practicable by the new line, as well as between Lyons and Marseilles. Iron ore from Catorce, in Mexico, will be shipped to the United States as soon as a branch of the Mexican National Railroad can be constructed. October 18, 1888. English Engineering Supplies. What is probably the most complete English catalogue that we have yet seen has just been sent us by Messrs. John Birch & Co., engineers and merchants, of Liverpool, England. It reiates to railroads and rolling stock, giving the cost of plant and material for portable, hyvht and main lines, and containing also chapters on river steamers and light craft and dredging plant. Those who have be- come familiar with the ordinary run of English trade catalogues will find the present one a decided departure from the general type, the care which has been given to its preparatiou putting it, so far as the giving of information is concerned, on a level with many of the elaborate and pretentious American specimens. It is a book measuring 84 x 12 inches, and em- braces 232 pages, and is profusely illus- trated, the engravings showing all the different forms of devices and machinery which the firm are prepared to supply to intending purchasers. One of the prin- cipal features of the catalogue which will strike the examiner at once is the complete system of code words which has been adopted, and by which not only each article, be it either a railway car or a loco- motive has its word for reference and cable, but every probable modification and extra which would be required in con- nection with it is also coded. We need not, therefore, specially point out that the book would be of great benefit particularly to the buyer or engineer in distant coun- | tries, for whom apparently it has been specially designed, and who without such | a book would probably be obliged to ecor- respond for many weeks with agents in manufacturing centers. As intimated, the book treats of both portable railways and main line works, the former being taken up first. Then come descriptions of cars and rolling stock generally, followed by particulars and engravings of locomotives, turn-tables, water tanks and columns, dredges, &c. Concluding chapters are given on light railways, steam launches | been partly completed and will be finished }as soon as next year’s appropriation be- and dredging plants, these latter often | being useful in connection with railway | systems and contractors’ work. fully prepared index also is given, which adds very much to convenience in looking up any particular piece of machinery. A number of blank sheets make up the final portion of the catalogue, and are intended for the convenience of inserting supple- | mentary pages which may be issued from time to time. nena A New Torpedo.—For some time past experiments with a new form of torpedo | 8¢ Ive L | tion within its walls last year, which num- have been conducted at College Point, L. L, by the Naval Board of Ordnance. The torpedo is the work of Messrs. George A. Haight and William H. Wood, and is of the well-known cigar design. It is propelled by carbonic acid gas and is controlled by electricity. It is about 40 feet long and 24 inches in diam- eter, and is supported under water by a second cigar-shaped float of somewhat greater length. Tests which were recently made with the Navy Yard tug Nina seem to have given very satisfactory results. The Nina was used as a target, being an- chored behind a torpedo net about } mile from the point of discharge For the trial the netting was not of very strong make, and the explosive charge consisted of only a small can of powder. The distance was traversed in a little less than three min- utes, the torpedo cutting clean through the netting, showing that under practical working conditions it would have brought about disastrous results to the target. It is of some interest to note that the French Minister of War has published in Instructions sur Tarmement de Vinfantrie A care- | fan illustrated description of the much- THE IRON AGE, talked-of Lebel rifle, of which 350,000 are now being issued to the Frencharmy. The construction of the rifle has for some time been a jealously guarded secret, and the publication accordingly is denounced by many French journals as a serious mis- take. TT The Rapid City Sehool of Mines. A representative of The Iron Age had occasion lately to visit the School of Mines, at Rapid City, Dak., and was much sur- prised to find such a noble beginning made for a technical school in that distant locality. There are two buildings, both built of brick, located far enough apart to | make wings for a main building which is | intended to be located between them, ac- | cording to the original design. One build- ing contains the Dean’s office, a well- equipped laboratory and a furnace-room | on the ground floor, a large lecture-room | and classrooms on the second floor, and a} very large cabinet of mineralogical speci- mens on the third floor. The other build- ing is not completely finished, needing a little more work on some of the rooms, but | it contains several rooms to be used for laboratories, and one large room on the ground floor which is now supplied with a complete plant for milling and concentrat- ing ores. A 40 horse-power steam engine furnishes the power to crushers, stamps, cornish rolls, jigs, vanners, &c. Mill runs | are made of gold, silver and tin ores, &c., which are brought here tobe tested from various parts of the Black Hills. The school having been erected by the Terri- tory of Dakota, and, being supported from the public funds, its facilities are open to the public, who are asked merely to pay the cost of the tests which they wish to have made. All experiments in the use of machinery or in milling and concentrating | ores of diverse characteristics are open to all who choose to apply forthe results. A furnace for smelting tin concentrates has comes available. F. R. Carpenter is Dean of the school, and among the faculty is Prof. H. O. Hofman, late of the Institute of Technology, Boston. This institution is hardly three years old as yet, but it is exerting a marked influ- ence in directing the intelligent develop- ment of the wonderful mineral resources of the Black Hills. The plan upon which it is based is regarded as so eminently adapted to its purpose that it has been taken as a model by one or more of the Australian colonies in organizing a similar school. Over 40 students received instruc- ber will probably be increased this winter. A peculiar feature of the school is the number of practical miners who avail themselves during the winter of the op- portunity presented to them for acquiring a thorough knowledge of mineralogy. The situation of the school is highly ad- vantageous by reason of its proximity to gold, silver, lead, zinc, tin, iron, coal and other mines, which are all within a few hours’ ride, so that the student can with little loss of time from his studies observe the practical details of mining almost all the minerals in ordinary use and some which are quite rare. ee A correspondent of the London Eeono- mist reports that an English syndicate has just bought a large concern in Hagen, Westphalia, whose specialty is the manu- facture of iron and tools, and is about to make a joint-stock concern out of the same. According to a perhaps prejudiced statement, it would look as if it was in- tended to evade the British Merchandise act by providing the goods manufactured in Hagen with the stamp of a British firm. | nificient The Growth of West Superior. The growth of West Superior, among the rising cities of the Northwest, is unique. Within three years its real estate valuation has risen from $500,000 t6 hardly less than $10,000,000. In 1885 the first transfers of lands, and which now forms the | siteof West Superior, were made tothe Land jand River Improvement Company, of New Jersey, a corporation organized for the special purpose of building a city at the head of Lake Superior. Its stockholders ‘and directors were New York capitalists, merchants and lawyerg and Northwestern railroad men. Their entire purchase in- cluded a trifle over 4000 acres, constitut- ing the apex of a peninsula formed by St. Louis River and Bay and Superior Bay, including a shore line front of over ten miles, and bearing about the same relation- |ship to the great harbor at the head of Lake Superior that Manhattan Island does New York Harbor. The original Bay of Superior (now divided into Duluth Harbor, Superior Bay and Allouez Bay), is a mag- stretch of water, 7 miles in length and 1} in breadth, perfectly guarded from lake tempests by two narrow strips of land, which reach out across the head of the lake from both the Minnesota ,and the Wisconsin shores. West Superior, connected with five of the great railway systems of the Northwest, claims special advantage as a point of shipment between Nebraska, Colorado and Dakota to other points on Lakes Erie, Huron and Ontario, and has full confidence in her commercial future. Besides extensive mercantile docks, one of them 2900 feet in length, elevators of 8,300,000 bushels capacity and large’ steamship, grain and coal in- terests, West Superior has in course of establishment a large steel works.and fur- nace plant under the auspices of the Land and River Improvement Company. Last July the work of construction on the toundry building, 356 x 85 feet, was commenced, and the various auxiliary buildings let to contract. The plans as drawn contemplated a plant covering 200 acres of land. Dredging for a large cual dock has been going on ever since, and the walls of the foundry building are al- most up. A very large furnace plant was included in the plans, and it was expected that one 200-ton furnace would have been erected this fall, but there is unexpected delay. It is in contemplation, however, to expend fully $500,000 next year, with the result of bringing ihto existence one of the largest manutacturing plants in the West. EE New Armington & Sims Engines. — The Armington & Sims Engine Company, of Providence, R. I., have recently brought out several new designs of engines, which, in many respects, are interesting, and of which we have been supplied with photo- graphs. One of these shows a plant re- cently furnished for the United States cruiser Boston, for electric lighting, the engine being of the double-cylinder, double-acting design, to which we had occasion to refer some months ago. The yalves for both cylinders are controlled by the well-known Armington & Sims auto- matic governor. The engine itself is very compact and can be run at high speed. It is connected to the dynamo by gearing. A plant of the same general type, but to couple direct to the dynamo with a flex- ible coupling, is at present being built for the cruiser Baltimore The second pho- tograph shows a compound condensing engine of 100 horse-power, being one of five built for the machine shops of the Ordnance Department, at the Washington Navy Yard. The cylinders are placed side by side, with the cranks opposite. The engines are perfectly balanced, can be run ata high speed and are particularly we _ a = As - aa aw oo, — rm, ae ee AT FES = : ar “ear. Sg 2 as oe ae a 2a ~ she SR Sake wees ly ets os ER a eee oe: Tin 3 om = a eee ee b \ + —.% Aon ee iia il ous eae tL 6 2 den? kd he ae ee ee Pimawwas We ab bee 4 tiene 4 Se ee he ee tt ee A: ag c ?) : if well adapted for electric lighting. Com- pactness in both designs is a very notice- able feature, and will no doubt do much | to commend the engines favorably. Captain Jones’s Reply. Captain William R. manager of the Edgar Thomson and Homestead Steel Works, has sent a letter to the Tronmonge r, in which he replies to the curious comments made by our con- temporary on American steel practice, taking Captair Jones’s meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute as | a text. the close Jones, general | editorial comment, and may now the incident, as the French politi- cians put it, by quoting the following: The remarks I made at the Edinburgh meet- ing were prompted by a remark made by Mr. | Clark—viz., that good way to test Mr. with punching the steel was a it: and he was followed by Cooper, who stated that from conversation American‘ engineers he was surprised at their lack of confidence in steel as a material for bridge construction. The story I told of seeing a heat made in eight minutes I will tell again, and more fully. Visiting a steelworks making at the time of my visit soft steel, I saw them blow the heat in eight minutes; as soon as the vessel was turned down the ferroman- ganese (which had been drawn from a heating furnace, but at the time of being put in the ladle was cold) was added. The metal was at once poured into the mold, and I believe the reaction is still going on in that steel. I might | add to this by saying that the gifted genius who made steel as described above was so uni- | formly successful in making bad steel that he involuntarily retired from the business; but in the meantime he had done a great deal to lead | We printe@ both the report and | THE IRON AGE. | Automatic Feed Pump and Receiver. | October 18, 1888, | pump stops entirely. The hollow copper float cannot fill with water by ‘‘ sweating” We present on this page an engraving | or by actual leakage, as it is drained from | of a new design of feed pump with re- | the bottom through the hollow arm and |ceiver just brought out by the | Steam Pump Works, of Boston and New | York. The combination is specially in- |tended for draining coils, radiators, ers, drying cylinders, steam jackets, &c., | and feeding the water of condensation in| T its hottest condition direct to the steam boilers. It reliable and entirely auto- matic in its operation. It does away with | the expense and annoyance of traps and | is | remarks at the | tanks and returns the condensed steam to continuous flow as | fast as it accumulates in the receiver above | y« the boiler in a steady, |the pump. Itis not affected by the varia- engineers to believe that Bessemer steel was | not a reliable material. The average daily | output of the leading Bessemer works in | America will range from 900 to 1100 tons, and the work is done easily and readily, and done | thoroughly well; and in my judgment no better steel made anywhere, either Bessemer or open-hearth, than is made in America. After reviewing the principal Bessemer works on this side, I am compelled to believe that the | American steel makers have good reason to be proud of their and we certainly are | the equals of any in producing good, reliable steel. is success, I A New Roller Bearing.—Mr. Hent, of San Francisco, Cal., vented an improved roller the class bearing directly on shaft and casing, and a separating rollers of smaller diameter bearing neither on the shaft nor casing, | but on the bearing rollers, to keep the lat- ter separate from each other, and in which | the separating rollers are kept from con- | tact with the shaft by their bearing on the bearing rollers and from contact with the | casing by their bearing on an encircling | ring. This ring having only the separating rollers for its bearings, 1ts axis is liable to shift from the axis of the shaft, and the object of Mr. Hent’s invention is to limit this shifting by interposing the ring be- tween journals of the bearing rollers on its periphery and journals of the separating rollers on its inner side, the two series of rollers being so arranged relatively to each other and their journals made the proper dimensions to insure rolling and prevent rubbing act. This ring bears at its periphery on journals of the bearing rollers as well as at its inner side journals of the scperating rollers. It aimed that this roller bearing is specially adapted for journals in whic h there is littl as window — levs and sliding It is controlled by t] Bearings Company. R. W. has in- bearing of both the series of cont on is cl such y door roll rs. 1e San Francisco Roller wear, - LL The Swinerton locomotive, with polyg- onal drivers, tirst brought to notice about a year has again appeared on the surface. A number of improvements are said to have been made in her machinery, and the engine is now reported running | on the Boston and Maine Railroad. ago, IMPROVED AUTOMATIC PUMP AND STEAM PUMP tion of steam pressure, and is claimed to entirely prevent all snapping and ‘* water- hammer” in pipes, so often caused by the use of tri aps having intermittent ac tion. The pump and receiver can, of course, be used for other purposes than those just mentioned, as, for example, the regulation of brine circulation in refrigerating ma chinery and circulating vener- ally. The operation of the outfit will, doubt, be readily understood. The con- densed steam or other liquid enters by the inlet nozzles at the top, shown at the right, and gravitates to the bottom the re- ceiver. As it to a certain level it raises a float, which through lever connections, shown in the engravings, starts the pump. water and forces it into the boiler. The speed of the pump is regulated through the float, and depends upon the quantity of water flowing in—the larger the quan- tity of water, the faster the pump moves. The pump slows down as the supply of |water drops off, and when it ceases the purpt Ses no of soon as rises The latter takes off the! Knowles | heat- | laxis. The interior of the float is in com- |munication with the outside atmosphere. It will be noticed that in this new design the receiver is placed alongside the pump | instead of overhead as in the older form. | out, RECEIVER, WORKS, rhe latter, however, is also being turned The outfit is made in three sizes With capacities ranging from 9 to 58 gal- lons per minute. a In a book on surveying, published in Germany, by Jacob Koebel, about 340 ‘ars ago, the author gives the following instruction, accompanied by a wood cut, as BUILT YORK. BY THE KNOWLES NEW to how the length of a foot is to be found: ‘To tind the length of arood in the right and lawful way, and according to seciea- tific usage, you shall do as follows: Stand at the door of a church on a Sunday and bid 16 men to stop, tall ones and small as they happen to pass out when the service is finished; then make them put their left feet one behind the other, and the length thus obtained shall be a right and lawful rood to measure and survey the land with, and the sixteenth part of it shall be aright and lawful foot.” ones, Twenty-seven boys on the nautical school- ship St. Mary’s graduated at the anaual examination last week. Since the school was established, in 1873, 477 boys have graduated, and fully 72 per cent. are now at sea. After dinner the boys gave an ex- hibition of seamanship aloft, after which the boys were mustered on deck and Cap- tain Crowninshield addressed them. Ship- owners and others were appealed to by Captain Samuels to provide places for graduates on American ships. October 18, 1888. Friction of Piston-Packing Rings. At the Scranton meeting of the Ameri- can Society of Mechanical Engineers this week Mr. J. E. Denton gave an account of some measurements of the friction of pis- ton-packing rings in steam cylinders with a device consisting essentially of the fol- lowing arrangement : A cylinder, M, 6 inches bore by 9 inches stroke is fitted with a piston, A, long enough to permit a packing ring, C, 1 inch wide to occupy the position shown. The ordinary packing mngs B B prevent the access of steam into the space * imme- diately surrounding C. The latter is sup- ported upon the outer ends of the levers DD. which are pivoted at ©, and have their inner ends coupled to the rod E, Motion is given to the piston A and its attachments through the piston-rod_ P. Motion ceing in the direction of the arrow, the friction of the ring C tilts the levers D, thus compressing the spring F. The resulting movement of the rod E, re- lative to the incasing tube N gives mo- tion to a pencil lever, J, through the pit- man G and the crank H. Consequently Apparatus for Measuring Friction of Piston Packing Rings. the motion of the pencil 8 perpendicular to | the plane of the paper is proportional to the amount of friction of the ring C. is The pencil makes a diagram resembling a rectangle upon paper fastened to a board, K K. The ring C is cut once and is provided with a device, by the means of | which its tension may be adjusted by a spring. Means are also provided whereby the ring may be drawn together so as not to touch the sides of the cylinder. When} in the latter condition the spring F is cali- | brated by loading the rod E at Q with known weights and noting the resulting | movement of the pencil 8S. The spring actually resisting the motion of the levers | D is the torsion of the pivots O. The spring F is merely shown as an illustration of spring action. Fac similes of diagrams obtained were presented. The horizontal distances on each side of a center or zero line represent *This space is kept drained of condensed | steam. THE IRON AGE. the friction on an up or a down stroke of the piston, the scale employed in the cases presented having been 250 pounds per inch. EE The Coke Trade. The one serious drawback to the coke industry at the present time is the short- age of cars, and the outlook for better shipping facilities in the near future is not encouraging. It is believed that if the car supply were equal to the demand the shipments of coke from the Connellsville region would be larger than at any time in its history. This statement is based on the present demand, which is greatly in excess of shipments, owing to the shortage of cars. For the months of August and September the output has steadily in- creased, until last week it aggregated 116,095 tons, which is an increase over the previous week of 550 tons. This increase is accounted for in part by the firing up of | 100 ovens at the plant of the Connellsville | Coke and [ron Company at Leisenring. | The output for the month of September | aggregated 438,307 tons, an increase of 5,035 tous over August, when the output | was 393,272 tons. The shipments for the week closing on Saturday, the 6th inst., amounted to 5648 cars, distributed as fol- lows: West of Pittsburgh, 3348 cars; | Pittsburgh and rivers, 1100 cars; east of Pittsburgh, 1200 cars. These figures show a falling off of 695 cars over the previous | week. The falling off was general, the Western shipments alone having decreased 425 cars, Pittsburgh shipments 100 cars, and Eastern shipments 170 cars. The shipments for September reached a grand total of 25,326 cars, distributed as follows: | West of Pittsburgh, 13,916; Pittsburgh | and rivers, 5270; East, 6140. This is an} increase of 876 cars over August ship- | ments. The September shipments aver- aged 1012 cars per day, as against 906 dur- | ing August. The active ovens in the| region now number 11,339, leaving but | 1721 idle. One month ago there were 10,103 active and 2975 idle ovens. Prices remain at $1 per ton, although some sales have been made and are still being made at | $1.15 and $1.25 per ton. It is not ex-| pected that there will be any advance in the price for some time yet. The con- tinued heavy shipments of outside coke to | the various centers of supply, together | with the disadvantages of the car short- age, will prevent the prices from advanc- ing. No further attempts have been made looking to the formation of a coke syndi- cate, and all efforts to form one have been abandoned for the present, at least. ——=E—™_E In the line of high chimneys, some in- | terest is attached to the stack which has | just been completed for the Clark Thread | Company, at Newark, -N. J. It is the | highest chimney in the United States, and, | for that matter, probably in the world, | Three higher stacks are cited as existing | in Scotland, but they were built for car | rying off noxious fumes from chemical | works, and not for creating a draft for | steam-boiler furnaces. These chimneys | are Townsend's, at Port Dundas, Glasgow, which is 454 feet high; Saint Rollox, at Glasgow, 4364 feet high, and Dobson & | Barlow's, at Bolton, 367 feet high. The Clark chimney is 335 feet high, and sup- plies draft for 23 boilers, having an ag- gregate capacity of 4000 horse-power. The cost of the chimney is said to have been $35,000. It is much to be regretted that the ques- tion of a uniform coupling for continuous steam heating has not been decided ere this. The want of uniformity will do much to retard the settlement of a question that in other respects is progressing in a very satisfactory manner. D 579 | New Coal-Drilling Machine. The Western Machine Works, of Ot- j}tumwa, Iowa, are bringing out the im- proved coal-drilling machine which we | illustrate on this page. The cut will en- able any one to understand, almost at a glance, its arrangement when in working position, making a description practically unnecessary. The machine is light and easily adjusted. By attaching the boot (which accompanies each machine) to the post extension a coal grip is available, which is seeurely fastened in the face of New Coal-Drilling Machine. the coal with the accompanying taper wedge, on which the side or direct motion will operate the same as on the post. This enables the miner to use the machine in any depth coal. _— I — The Cost of Making Car Wheels.— E. Warne, of Easton, Pa., has printed | figures, obtained from the Taylor Iron Works, at High Bridge, N. J., on the cost of making car wheels. It is based on the use of three-quarters of charcoal pig at $26.50 per ton and one-quarter old wheels, at $19 per ton, equal to $24.62 per ton for the stock, four wheels: being made from one ton: MN eiien nV dunks sumac edestauneskeununeka $6.16 REGIS, CONG CUVEE 6 i dig ciic ccwcuwenss 20 Sand, molds and cores, flour and facing.. .15 Foundry labor of molding and casting.... 85 Outside work, unloading materials........ 10 Repairs, wear and tear, taxes, insurance, motive power and delivery charges.. .. .40 eo eee Wititwbeddsess@euen With wheels selling at $8 apiece, this would leave a profit of 14 cents per wheel. — a - It is of some interest to note that a class in the theory and practice of steam engi- neering will be formed next month by the Young Men’s Christian Association, of New York. The class will commence on November 14, and will meet Wednesday and Friday evenings from 8 until 10 o'clock, the term closing on April 29, 1889. The purpose of the class is to give instruc- tionin those subjects which must be mas- tered to enable one to pass an examination for an engineer's license before the New York Police Department. Only iron- works employees or those who are work- ing in machine shops or fire and engine rooms will be admiited as pupils. The services of Mr. William H. Weightman as | instructor have been secured. => as ———-* i zs... ~ Jn = ~~ ~ — “— —— oa a ee Pore _ % womans eg ee ee oe ai ehh ee FARA a oes - . = ee ‘Se eet oF S ~~, Zs a cw apc shee 2 ee 4 ane < et. pee Ge x eee ae Gh 1 2 — as po a - aro - + ME. ~ a * aogier ore Bn a OP ee eee anes shir ete oe ee ee _ Poe —- ee 4 ee re f pn — me oe ee en RS _ ae See eee ew ———— . =) : vite’ By Le eat «| “ ‘4. 4 “+ * gs i oa 2 a) ' A elt ; »* -—e yy +7 . # aH Pal P v fh Moisture in Iron Ore. Several iron importers have been engaged in a legal contest with the United States Government respecting the payment of duties on moisture in iron ore, or only on the ore itself. At Philadelphia, on the 12th inst., Judges McKennan and Butler, of the United States Circuit Court, took up the suits by John W. 8. Earnshaw, an im- porter of that city, and by Sebastian B. Schlessinger, Clark L. Lehman, J. Mitchell Clark and Ludwig Dreier, of the iron house of Naylor & Co., of Boston and Philadelphia, against John Cadwalader, collector of customs, Mr. Earnshaw brings his suit to recover an alleged excess of custom duties amounting to $71.61 on three importations of iron ore. Co. claim $371.61. The bill of complaint alleges that in importing say 1000 tons of ore, the article will contain at least 10 per cent, of moisture, and if the ore is placed | in open air where the sur can strike it there will be a shrinkage from 1000 tons to about 900 tons. It is urged that the 75 cents per ton duty can be collected only on the real importation and not on the moisture. Mr. Isaac Fegeley, president of the | Warwick Iron Company, of Pottstown, was one of several witnesses called by the plaintiffs, who testified that iron ore is bought and sold on a basis of being dried | at 212°. William W. Thurston, president Naylor & | THE IRON AGE. |which referred exclusively to domestic ores. The salient points of the case were presented in writing both by the defend- ant and the plaintiffs, and in the charge to and then addressed the jury upon the tes- timony. Without going into the detail of the charge of the court, or attempting to touch upon the various points made, it is fair to assert that the principal issue which the jury had to decide was whether sut- ficient evidence had been presented to prove that the custom, even in handling foreign ores, is to sell them as ore dried at 212° F., or whether this provision was not expressly stipulated in all or many of the While the Government might have strengthened its case in several points, it was in the main well conducted, and not- withstanding the fact that the ruling above mentioned interfered somewhat with the trial that the plaintiffs would not be able to sustain their claim, It was no sur- | prise, therefore, to find a verdict for the Government returned by the jury after | they had been out for the hour which the | court took for recess at noon. A Improved Bench Dog. A new bench dog has been brought out by | Larson & Frauman, of Anoka, Minn., who of the Bethlehem Iron Works, and who|®#re the sole manufacturers, It is the in- employs 3000 men, testified that he had | purchased iron ore since 1883, and dealers always, with one exception, treated the | water, which was mechanically and not | chemically, combined with the ore, as dis- tinct, and not a part of the ore, and trade was done on a basis of its being heated to | 212°. At the close of the plaintiff's case, | Assistant District Attorney Carr made a | motion for a non-suit, on the grcuid that | the meaning of the term iron ore had been | determined by the Supreme Court as ore in the crude or natural state, and it is a question of law for the court to pass upon, and is without the province of a jury. The motion was overruled, The defense wa; | then opened by Mr. Carr, who tried to show that the commercial designation of iron ore is ore in its natural or crude state. William D. Rees, of Cleveland, Ohio, who is ina company who produce 225,000 tons yearly, testified to the same fact. Other witnesses for the defense were Joseph D. Weeks, David F. Houston, president of the Crozer Steel and Iron Works, R. F. Smith, James Pickands and Thomas Wilson. Powell Stackhouse, vice-president of the | Cambria Iron Company, said that the per- son had to take his chance as to the amount of moisture contained in the ores. In re- cent years, 1881 and 1882, allowance for moisture was made, vogue in isolated cases before then, but did not become general until later years. Frank 8. Witherbee, of Fort Henry, N. Y., who is with a firm second in the United States as a producer of iron ore, testified | that the term iron ore means the ore with water both chemically and mechanically combined. If a pile ot 900 tons was placed by the side of a pile of 1000 tons, and the smaller pile was made wet with rain, so that its weight increased to 1000 tons, the intrinsic value of the two piles would be same as before, and they would The custom was in | vention of Frederic Larson, to whom letters essential features. The accompanying cut its use. As shown here, a block is held in position by the dog, but it is intended illustration is slightly imperfect in repre- sentin , an upward curve at the toothed end of the dog. As the device is now made, the dog lies flat, s@ that a very thin board can be held by it, even down to |,*;-inch in thickness. It consists of a longitudinally reciprocating bar, provided | with rack teeth on the side to engage with a toothed segmental lever, which is pivoted |to the frame and cap-plate. A pawl is placed in front of the segmental lever to secure it in place, a stiff spring causing the pawl to operate automatically as the dog is tightened up to the board by the lever. The objects of the device are, to inclose, protect and guide the sliding dog by a frame extending substantially its whole length, and to afford facilities for securing the dog at both ends to the top of a bench. both be ore, although the water does not increase the metal. Louis E. Stanton, of Crocker Bros., of New York, corroborated the testimony of the water witnesses. The remaining witnesses that were called were George H. Ely, president of the Western Iron Ore Association; William D. Marvel, J. Wesley Pullman, Robert C. Thomas and John M. Hartman. The interest in the suit was very much restricted by the court practically ruling out testimony To fasten the dog to a bench, it is pro- vided at each end with adownwardly pro- jecting pin slightly inclined to the rear to enter holes which are bored in the top surface of the bench, 24 inches apart. The dog is specially adapted to use in cabinet sheps for hard wood when very thin ma- terial is being worked. It can also be used with advantage by gunsmiths to hold their guns in finishing. It is made of the best malleable cast iron. nickel plated, is 7 inches long, and weighs about 1 pound. to hold a board of any length, limited cf! course by the length of the bench. The| the jury the court gave written affirma-| 4 Cleveland correspondent says: ‘* On ac- tions or objections to these various points, ! contracts which were made for dry ore. | | very nearly double those figures. the plan laid out it was evident early in! October 18, 1888, The Lake Fleet.—The magnitude ot the commerce of the Northern lakes as described during the present season of navigation is the cause of wonderment. count of the very large increase in the tonnage on the lakes during the last few years it is impossible to give an exact state ment of the amount of tonnage passing through the St. Clair Flats Canal and the Detroit River, but a fair estimate can be made. In 1887 there were built on the lakes 60 new vessels, all but two of them steamers. Their aggregate carrying ca- pacity in gross tons was 108,525, and total cost $8,325,000. It is safe to say that the coming winter and spring will see that amount almost duplicated. Cleveland has at the present time a fleet of 229 vessels, with an aggregate registered gross tonnage of 155,188 tons, and a carrying capacity Of these 111 are wooden steam vessels, 10 steel and iron vessels and 109 sail vessels, Detroit _and Buffalo follow Cleveland very closely, their aggregate tonnage being not far from 300,000 tons. Chicago has about three- | quarters as much as Cleveland, and other patent have been issued covering its|that little channel for one year. illustrates the device and the method of | ports on the lakes nearly one and one-half times as much, This makes a total of 795,000 tons on the chain of lakes. This entire tonnage, loaded, makes on an aver- age one trip a week through the St. Clair Flats Canal. By reckoning the lake season as 30 weeks, from the 1st of May to the 1st of December, the enormous total of 23,850,000 tons is given as the record of Improved Bench Dog, Made by Larson & Frauman, Anoka, Minn. Beside these figures the Suez and all other canals fade into insignificance.” nM ee Some time ago we noticed the fact in these columns that the Pittsburgh suspen- sion bridge, connecting the cities of Pitts- burgh and Allegheny, was being tested, for the purpose of determining how the bridge has stood the test of wear since it was erected nearly 30 years ago The in- spection was under the charge of William Hildebrand, an engineer of New York City. The inspection was completed on Friday, the 12th inst., and in his report of it to the board of directors of the bridge company Mr. Hildebrand states that the bridge is in as good condition at the pres- ent time as when it was finished in 1859, and that with proper precautions the structure will last for 100 years more in perfect security. From the Marquette (Mich.) Mining Journal of the 29th ult., we take the fol- lowing table showing the shipments by ports up to date this season, in comparison with shipments for the corresponding por- tion of the two preceding years: Port. 1888. 1887. 1886. Marquette 612,212 645,740 684,775 Escanaba 1,545,714 1,606,525 1,151,116 St. Ignace 91,311 73,253 55,347 Ashland, Wis.. 822,501 866,203 542,340 Two Harbors, Minn 279,186 299,083 243,808 Total. ..... 3,350,924 3,490,804 2,677,386 October 18, 1888. Standard Reference Disks. When a gauge or caliper has been long in use the question arises whether constant service has impaired its accuracy. In de- ciding this question the Standard Refer- ence Disks, of which we annex engravings, are of use. They are also useful for other purposes, being excellent in most in- stances where there is need of referring to standards. In shape they are round, washer-like pieces, made of steel hard- ened and carefully ground. The sc are bright, the sides black—a good finish which does not rust. The disks are used, frequently without handles, for setting calipers, testing measuring tools and determining sizes in shop practice. With handles, they are used as internal cylindrical gauges. They are designed, however, to serve princi- pally as reference, not as working gauges. The diameter of each is stamped upon it in 16ths and also in decimals of an inch. A complete set consists of 45 disks and 6 handles, and is neatly arranged in a suitable box. The 4-inch and ,-inch disks are furnished with the handles "| THE IRON AGE. and will be ready about the ist of Decem- ber. Last week her engines had a pre- liminary trial and worked well. Besides the new cast 6-inch guns, the big 10-inch guns attract great interest. One of these was sent to Annapolis for testing long ago, but the official trial awaits the manufact- ure of a powder of a specified character by the Messrs. Dupont. Two other 10-inch guns will soon be completed, so that the three of this caliber may be proved about the same time. The Miantonomoh, which will be the first of the double-turret moni- tors completed, is to carry four 10-inch guns, and from present appearances by the time her successors are completed their | batteries will also be ready for them. The cost of a 6-inch gun weighing 11,000 pounds is about $7750; that of a 10-inch weighing 57,500 pounds is about $20,500. A — Torpedo-Boats for the United States Navy. In a_ recent number telligence, issued by the Bureau of Naviga- tion of the Navy Department, we find it stated that the Stiletto had her final offi- | cial trials in Narragansett Bay, on August 20, 1887. hours’ run over a measured distance. The weather was very favorable, sea smooth, and no wind. The total weight carried was 9 tons 640 pounds, which included 4 tons 540 pounds of coal. The displace- ment with this load was 31 tons. of water before trial, forward, 2 feet 9 STANDARD REFERENCE DISKS, MADE BY THE BROWN & SHARPE MFG. CO., PROVIDENCE, R. I. tached. They are turned out by the| Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Company, of Provi- dence, R. I. — ———— New Steel Guns. The two cast-steel 6-inch guns which are to be submitted to the prescribed test for | tensile strength and other qualities, and_ erhaps will contest the palm of superior- ity with the Government’s built-up guns, are now practically complete, and will before long b