The Iron Age 1889-04-18: Vol 43

‘THE Railroad Tunnel. A grand railroad tunnel beneath the bed of the river St. Clair, at Port Huron, Mich., to cost probably $5,000,000, is among the most important of modern en- gineering projects. The engineers Sooy- smith & Co., of New York, contracted with the Grand Trunk Railway Company for the work and preliminary surveys were made some months ago. The company now take charge of the project. The work of excavation on the American side will begin about 2500 feet back from the river, from which point there will be a steady decline to a depth of about 50 feet. The drift from the tunnel proper will be 22 feet in diameter, and the distance from Submarine one river bank to the other is 2200 feet. | ROLLING MILL, The tunnel will have a drop of 90 feet to the mile, the lowest end being on the Ca- nadian side. The work of excavating in the tunnel will be done with large steel ‘*shields,”’ 22 feet in diameter, driven into the earth with 24 powerful hydraulic jacks. A large hydraulic engine will be used to work the jacks, and as fast as the earth is excavated it will be loaded on small trucks for removal. A gang of men will follow with the lining of the tunnel, which is cast iron. The tunnel will thus be completed as the work progresses. A blowing en- gine will force air into the tunnel through a 24-inch pipe. A force of 125 men will be employed on each side of the river night and day. The Collector at Port Huron reports that it will take about three months to put the plates together in the required form. The finished tunnel will comprise 2500 feet on the American side, 2200 under the river and 3000 on the Canadian side. It is estimated that the work will cost $2,500,000, although well- informed men predict that it will cost nearer $5,000,000. President Sir Henry Tyler and Manager Hickson have been heard to remark that it will be completed if it costs $10.000.000. The United States BUILT IRON AGE THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1889, Treasury Department decides that the steel | 0? three or four cents a day and get decent plates for the tunnel must pay the regular | clothing for $5 a year The Admiral says duty. there is no reasen except the timidity of ? | American capitalists te prevent our having | a large share of the trade of this great and — | growing country, soon to make itself felt The accompanying illustration repre- }among the family of nations. He cannot sents a 4-ton rolling mill recently built for| see why they should not have American the Chicago Tire and Spring Company by | machinery or why there should be a fleet the Coulter & M’Kenzie Machine Com-| of 50 merchant steamships built by the pany, of Bridgeport, Conn. It is designed | English instead of by Americans. He can particularly for tapering the 5 x 4-inch see no reason why our present commerce steel plates used for locomotive truck with Japan should be carried in English springs. All the parts liable to wear or | bottoms any more than the date crop of break are made of steel. Persia should be brought to us by the | On the front of the machine is a sliding| English. As an illustration of the way | table, arranged for squeezing and straight- | the English ships do it, the Admiral says he | ening the blank. The faces ef the rolls|came home in an English ‘‘ ocean tramp ” are so formed and so placed in relation steamship, which started at Yokohama Snel Rolling Mill. TTT tit nu gm BY THE COULTER & M’KENZIE MACHINE COMPANY. and stopped at various ports in China and came through the Suez Canal, picking up cargo for New York all the way, and arriving here with about 5200 tons of freight, realizing $60,000 for the ship at at a cost of only about $30,000. This ship was managed by a crew of about 43 men all told, with all modern appliances, aud needed only four men on deck to keep her running. She came through the Suez Canal with nine other ships, eight of which were English. to each other as to give to the ends of the blank the taper found in spring plates. This action of the rolls spreads the ends }and increases the width of the plate at | those points. This excess is reduced by the sliding table, which moves transversely in front ef the rolls, and is operated by a pitman connecting one end with a crank or eccentric on a shaft driven by the upper | roll-shaft through beveled gearing. This }machine may be used for forming file) bianks, or similar work now usually done | under the hammer, Tapering, squeezing | and straightening are performed at one heat, and can be carried on as rapidly as the blanks can be heated and fed to the ee An underground railroad project just brought out in Philadelphia causes much machine. /excitement. The scheme invelves the ex- ——— |penditure of at least $25,000,000. The Progress in Japan.—Admiral Shu-| corporation has been erganized as the feldt, just returned from Japan, gives a| Broad and Market Streets Underground glowing description of that country, with| Railway Company. P. P. Bowles, manager its postal service as good as our own, ex-|of the Fairbanks Scale Company, is the cellent telegraph system, free public| president. Ex-Gas Trustee James E. schools everywhere, a national mint and | Salter is the secretary and treasurer. The banking system similar to the American, | plans are for the constructien of a four- &c. The Admiral saw few beggars in| track road. Two tracks are to be set Japan or large prisons and almshouses, | aside for fast trains and the other two for Neither is there any great accumulations | traing that will step at stations to be of wealth. The common people can live | erected about half a mile apart. 5 HeR 406 OP) we ae we wa ta WEB }i” ieee s SHA) ce a eC Pe MANS vr jl ae a) AE e/a A / aoe ‘| i ‘ = g ~ ™. — aw . oe J i ntl calle a. 7 Ja Pt) 2) Ve eee a -——~ 72s et ae a . ast i ts SNR TRRS. SO Shae rue = be Se 2 :g@ 23:3 es ee y £9 #e ac at, “a en, 578 THE IRON AGE. April 18, 1889 The New Inman Steamer City of Paris. According to reports of English news- papers, the new steamer City of Paris, which recently made her first trip across the Atlantic, bids fair to rival in speed the present ocean greyhounds. When steaming toward the Alfred Dock, Birkenhead, she performed the remarkable feat of turning almost around in her own length, increasing the interest of the spectators who were watching her. The new vessel is a fac-simile of the City of New York, but is expected, in regard to her steaming quali- ties, to far distance her prototype. Ac- cording to the present plans, she will first be submitted to a thorough and practical test of one or more voyages to New York in order to insure easy working of her machinery. The reports state that on the trial trip, when the water was a trifle rough and the wind strong, the ship was driven at 15 knots, then at 18, then at 20, the engines all the time working with complete satisfaction. The final trip was an extended run, during which 21.59 knots an hour were registered. During the run from Greenock to Liverpool, with strong head winds and through a choppy sea, the ship made 20 knots an hour, this rate being continued the greater part of the night. Although the City of New York and City of Paris are sister ships, laid down at the same time and built from the same designs, the latter has occupied six months longer in construction, The building of thereby greatly the City of New York was pushed forward | to meet the press of traffic; but the City of Paris has been carefully and elaborately finished, and her engines have received the most minute attention, and the result is that, although new, the machinery has worked without the slightest hitch. Two years were occupied in the Except that in the newer ship the Company have discarded some of the patent apparatus which in the City of New York | worked unsatisfactory, the two vessels are in every detail identical. Like the City of New York, this latest addition to the Inman line is 565 feet long over all, 63} feet broad, 42 feet deep, and 10,500 tons gross regis- ter. Her engines are capable of develop- ing 20,000 horse-power. She has five decks, and the depth of the hold is 394 feet. Accommodation is provided for 2000 passengers—700 first-class, 390 second- class, and the remaining 910 steerage. regards her decorations and appointments, the vessel is literally a floating palace, re- plete not only with every comfort, luxury. She has a promenade deck ex- tending from stem to stern. Below, the saloon dining-room is capable of accommo- dating 300 passengers; it is the width of the ship, and has an arched roof 20 feet high, with alcoves along the sides. At the after end of this spacious saloon there | is a large hall, in which is placed a grand staircase leading down to the luxurious drawing-room and library. reom, another elaborately fitted apartment, is on the upper deck. It is 45 feet long and 27 feet broad, and will hold 130 votaries of the weed. It is a feature of the City of Paris, as of her sister ;ship, that there are provided for saloon passen- gers a number of elegantly appointed private sitting-rooms, as well as private bathrooms. Altogether the state-rooms for first-class passengers number about 480. For the second-class passengers there have been provided a tastefully decorated and elegant dining hall, 40 feet wide, 27 | feet high, and capable of holding 150 diners. There are also 96 second-class state-rooms. The ship is divided into water-tight compartments, without doors, and would be perfectly seaworthy with three of these divisions flooded. She has | a double bottom, capable ef holding 1500) building. | Inman | As | but | The smoking- | | tons of water ballast, and to prevent her rolling is fitted with a water chamber, extending the width of the ship and half filled with water, by which any tendency to oscillation is so successfully counter- acted that on the passage from Glasgow the motion of the ship was scarcely per- | ceptible. She is hghted by 1000 incan- descent electric lamps, fed by a from five powerful electrical machines | stationed in the engine-room. A \watural Gas vs. Coke and Coal. Prof. S. A. Ford, chemist of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, at Braddock, Pa., recently contributed the esting article to the Greensburg Press, which we reproduce: So much has been claimed for natural | regards the superiority of | its heating properties as compared with that following inter- | (Pa.) gas as coal some analyses of this gas, together with calculations showing the | gases we find that 100 liters current | comparison between its heating and that of coal, may be of to your readers. These calculations are, of course, theoretical in both cases, and it | must not be imagined that the total amount of heat in a ton of coal or in 1000 cubic feet of natural gas can ever be | fully utilized, In making these calcula- tions I employed as a basis what in my estimation was a gas of an average chemi- cal composition, as I have found that | from the same well varies continually in its composition. Thus, samples of gas from the same well, but taken on different days, vary in nitrogen from 23 per cent. to nil, carbonic acid from 2 percent. to nil, oxy- gen from 4 per cent. to 0.4 per cent., and | so with all the component gases. Before giving the theoretical heating power of 1000 cubic feet of this gas I will note a few analyses. The first four are of gas from the same well, samples taken on the same day that they were analyzed. The last is from another well in the East | Liberty district. I also oe a few analyses of Siemens producer The immense heating power interest | gas | gas, may be seen at a glanc e when compared bulk for bulk: Natural Gas. | 1 s 4. 5. | eee | ee — (| Oct. | Oct. | Oct. | Dec. | Oct. When | 28, | 20, 24, 4, 18, Tested..... (| 1884. | 1884, | 1884. | 1884. | 1884. | cdiecinten es poe —— | Per Per | Per! Per| Per | cent.| cent. cent.) cent.) cent. | Carbonic acid.) 0.8 0.6 nil. 0.4 nil. C’rbonic oxide 10; 08 0.58 0.4 01 Oxygen........ 1.1 0.8 0.78, 0.8 2.10 | Olefiant gas...| 0.7] 0.8!) 0.98 06) 0.8 | Ethylic hyd’e. 3.6 |) 5.5 7.92; 12.3 5.2 Marsh gas......| 72.18) 65.25 60.70 49.58 57.85 | Hydrogen.....| 20.62! 26.16 29.03 35.92 9.64 Nitrogen...... nil. nil, nil. nil. 23.41 Heat units... .|728,746 698,853 627,170 745,813 592, Siemens Producer Gas.* Carbonic acid. 3.9; 87] 9% ; | 1.5 1 C’rbonic oxide) 27.3 | 20.0 | 16.5 | 23.6] 22.3 Hydrogen..... wf 2. 6 | 6.0 28.7 Marsh gas..... 14] 13] 371 30 1.0 Nitrogen. 67.4 | 61.4 62.9 65.9 9 weigh 267.9 grains; then the 1000 liters, | feet | 789,694 heat units and 1000 cubic feet will | or 1000 grains, | heat units. | power of the natural gas over the Siemens } ae 41, Heat units... 93,906, 97,184) 99,074'114,939) 16,416 *See Vol. XI . p. 300, Transactions of Ameri- can Institute of Mining E ngineers. We will now see how the natural gas compares with coal, weight for weight, or, in other words, how many cubic feet of gas will contain as many heat units as a given weight of coal—say aton. In order to accomplish this end we will be obliged, as I have before said, to assume as a basis | for our calculations what I consider a gas of an average chemical composition, namely : Per cent. IR IE, i. cvndssinscidiunisdse eas . 0.6 ” DD chick vpccuscseekes d5558 SERS 0.6 PO ws No SP ae WAbKattonehebaneewe 0.8 CR oo cs a cick ceemunesesaradise Was 1.00 Py CIN irc. ccd ecns Seunveeeen 5.00 Cs coc. tind 4s, ad Remon tedwaubeear ae 67.00 Hydrogen.... ee ee ee eee ee 22.00 PN ice ccbwntceLeknGeees acess (Gakcloesc: MO Now, by the specific gravity ef these of this cas will weigh 64.8585 grams, thus: Marsh gas........ . 67.0 L. weighs 48.0256 grms. Olefiant gas.. - no = 1204 ° Ethylic hydride... 5.0 = 6.7200 * Hydroge Me bisacans 22.0 = oF Ge | Nitrogen ee 3.0 se: 8.7652 * | Carbonic acid 0.6 ni 1.2257 = oxide... 0.6 - 0. 7Th26 PR so sccaskce 0.8 e 1.1468 ‘ . | ae 64.8585 Then if we take the heat units of these gases we will find that: Grams Heat Marsh gas........ 48.0256 contain 627,358 units. Oletiant gas..... 1.2534 14,910 °* Ethylic iydride. 6.7200 “ Toi Hydrogen........ 1.9712 “ 67,939 Nitrogen. er 3.7630 = fi Carbonic oxide... 0.7526 Lae | ” acid.... 1.2257 = ans “ Oxyegen.. : 1.1468 vs WR xcs ketene 64.8585 ” 780,604 64.8585 grams is almost exactly 1000 grains, and 1 cubic foot of this gas will or 64.8585 grams, or 1000 grains, is 3.761 cubic - 3.761 cubic feet of this gas contains contain 210,069,604 heat units. Now, 1000 cubic feet of this gas will weigh 265,887 grains, or, in round numbers, 38 pounds avoirdupois. We find that 64.8585 grams, of carbon contains 52.4046 heat units and 265,887 grains, or 38 pounds, of carbon contains 139,398,896 Then 57.25 pounds of carbon will contain the same number of beat units as the 1000 cubic feet of the natural gas— viz., 210,069,604. Now, if we say that coke contains in round numbers 90 ~ cent. carbon, then we will have 62.97 pounds of coke equal in heat units to 1000 cubic feet of natural gas. Then if a ton of coke, or 2000 pounds, costs $2.50, 62.97 pounds will cost 7,5, cents, or 1000 cable feet of gas is worth 7,5, cents for its heat- ing power. We will now compare the heating power of this gas with coal, taking as a basis a coal slightly above the general average of the Pittsburgh coal—viz. : NG os Kv escnid Gamaecs x2. 75 PRs sad aha (oR ea Rese. 52 RES 1 Ey chia br dw ataer wane 1.04 a... Mie: tenes Was sace oaks 0.95 Ps st ceKi Kao een eS eaeR ees ORMREERS 4. 64 BSS Behe -Kadenan Kenk,t lOCeS See es 5.31 We find that 38 pounds of this coal con- tains 146,903,820 heat units, then 54.4 pounds of this coal contains 210,069,604 heat units, or 54.4 pounds of this coal is equal in its heating power to 1000 cubic feet of the natural gas. If our coal costs us $1.20 per ton of 2000 pounds, then 54.4 pounds costs 3} cents, and 1000 cubic feet of gas is worth for its heat units 3} cents. As the price of coal increases or decreases the value of the gas will naturally vary in like propertions, Thus, with the price of coal at $2.50 per ton, this gas will be worth 6,5, cents per 1000 cubic feet. If 54.4 pounds of coal is equal to 1000 cubic feet of gas, then 1 ton of coal is equal to 36,764 cubic feet. In these calculations of the heating power of gas and coal no account is, of course, taken of the loss of heat by radiation, &c. My object has been to compare these two fuels merely as re- gards their actual value in heat units. in collecting samples of this gas I have noted some very interesting deposits from the wells. Thus, in one well the pipe was nearly filled up with a soft grayish-white material, which proved on testing to be chloride of calcium. In another well, soon after the gas vein had been struck, crystals of carbonate of ammonia were thrown out, and upon testing the gas I found a con- siderable amount of that alkali, and with this well no chloride of calcium was ob- served until about two months after the gas had been struck. April 18, 1889 THE IRON AGE. 579 Hand or Power Molding Machine, | 22 army of 15,000 men, supplemented by | and an almost entire immunity from acci- This machine may be operated either by hand or power, so that, if desired, the compression may be produced by power, or, in the absence of power, it may be pro- duced by hand. The two platens are arranged one above the other, the lower moving up and down and the upper swinging backward and forward; when the latter is brought forward over the other the mold on the lower is forced up against the upper platen to compress the sand, and then as the lower platen drops the upper is thrown backward for the re- moval of the prepared mold and the prep- aration for another. The lower platen is supported upon two vertical slides working through guides in the bars of the frame. Placed in bearings in the lower part of the frame is a rock shaft having a backwardly projecting arm, upon which rests a strut bearing against the under side of the lower platen, so that when the shaft is turned it HAND OR POWER MOLDING will raise or lower the platen. The shaft is operated to produce the eompressing movement by means of an elastic lever. The upper platen is carried by two rods hung on trunnions at their lower ends. In operation the flask and sand with the | mold are placed upon the lower platen, when the upper platen is drawn forward | and the lever moved to raise the lower platen and compress the sand in the mold. Power is applied to the machine by a cam working against the back of the spring lever and mounted upon a shaft to which | The construction is | power is transmitted. such that the rock or cam shaft only rises to produce compression when the upper platen is in its forward position over the lewer; a single revolution of the shaft | then produces the compression, when power is automatically detached. When it is desirable to operate the machine by hand the power attachment can be easily disengaged. This machine is made by Reynolds & Co., of New Haven, Conn., who also manufacture other forms of molding ma- chines which have been long and favorably known, em The grand ship canal between Liverpool and Manchester is being made with won- derful rapidity. An English paper says colossal steam diggers, scoop out day by day the pathway along which steamships will ere long glide to and from Cottonop- olis and the sea. ee The Past and Present of Pittsburgh Nn. Natural Gas. = ~ - Si oe al cae A recent circular, relating to a proposed new mortgage loan of $2,500,000 of the ‘* Philadelphia Company,” Geo. Westing- house, president, and Chas. Paine, vice- president and general manager, who practically control the natural gas supply in and around Pittsburgh, gives a succinct statement of the past and present of this great product: Organization.—The Philadelphia Com- pany were reorganized May 24, 1884, under the provisions of a special charter, origi- nally granted to the Empire Contract Com- MACHINE, MADE BY REYNOLDS & CO. pany by an act approved March 20, 1871. The rights, powers, privileges and fran- chises conferred by and in said act of in- | corporation are exceptional in their nature and value, and are enjoyed by no other natural gas company. | Business.—Notwithstanding the liberal scope of its charter, the business of the | company is at present confined to the min- ing, conveyance and sale of natural gas. | Although the existence of this wonderful product has been known for centuries, and its utilization attempted in a small way ages ago, the year 1875 marked its first in- troduction in the manufacture of iron, and not until the product of the famous Mur- irysville Well was piped to Pittsburgh in 1883 did the people of Western Pennsy] | vania realize its value and recognize in it the fuel of the future. The Past and Present.—Entering the |field in 1884, the Philadelphia Company | found it already occupied; but, equipped | by the inventive genius of their promoter, Mr. Geo. Westinghouse, Jr., with many | appliances for the safe conveyance of gas, and backed by a capital of $5,000,000, ——— increased to Philadelphia Company soon distanced their competitors. So great*was the advantages gained by an unfailing supply of gas, su- perior facilities for delivering the same, 7,500,000, the! | dent, that finally most of the competing | companies sought and obtained the _privi- lege of incorporation with the Philadel- phia Company, or placed their lines in their | hanfls for operation under lease. Thus | the company practically control the gas Lsipply of the cities of Pittsburgh and Alle- gheny and their suburban villages; also 13 surrounding towns and boroughs. Ref- | erence to the accompanying map (not en- | egraved) will show the extent of the com- pany’s mains and their favorable location. Originating in the three greatest anticlinal reservoirs yet discovered—Murrysville, Grapeville and Canonsburg—they carry the product of 200 producing wells to Pittsburgh by 19 different routes, supply- ing on the way the towns and villages men- tioned. By a comparatively small ex- penditure the adjacent fields of Bakers- town and Belle Vernon, where the com- | pany have large tracts of promising gas ter- | ritory in reserve, can be made tributary te | the company’s supply. The Low- Pressure Syste m.—The cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny are supplied with gas at low pressure through a system of mains and service lines aggregating 258 miles in length, of which 206 miles, owned in fee by the company, cost considerably more than $2,500,000. This portion of the company’s work is practically completed, | nearly every street of any consequence having already been piped. The principal mains are of unusual size, being from 20 to 36 inches in diameter. All city lines have been constructed in the most approved and substantial manner, with double joints, escape-pipe, and other patent appliances, which, with automatic regulators and cut- offs, reduce the chances of accident to a minimum. | | | The company’s plant now is: Miles. | Pipe lines owned in fee.. ... 524.18 | Pipe lines operated under lez 185,29 | ——. 79.47 Acres. | Gas lands owned in fee....... ones 381 | Gas and oil rightsin fee..... «xee ae | Gas and oil leases.......... vo cae | —- 7,126 Gas and oil rights and leases of leased companies................ 16,77 | Total gas territory controlled by Philadelphia we .. 33,899 | Number of producing wells...... 200 Miles. | Telephone lines owned in fee..... 121.75 | Telephone lines leased............ 65.50 — 187.25 | Consumers.—On January 1, 1889, the | Philadelphia Company were supplying 750 | manufacturing establishments, including | 38 iron and steel works, &c., and 23,080 | houses. The quantity of gas required for this service approximates 500,000,000 cubic feet per day, whichis equal to about 25,000 tons or 2500 carloads of coal displaced. Earnings and Expenses from October 1, 1885, to December 31, 1888. Earnings. Expenses. Ch ctcétisdbavdsisetdaaneeass $533,495 $189,297 1886 edkheea nse nnewewerae 1,635,886 579,743 1887 an auxhumdnadman 1,756,769 735,055 Wh aks ucvinddvudesccassaccum 2,524,159 741,653 UR ehscs. Widersw Saenese $6,450,309 $2,245,748 Me Ne SON oc saccdevukucounds fe teee ses 225,657 Field pipe lines, station buildings, right of way and telephone lines... 207,000 Rents paid leased companies....... . 411,572 Total operating expenses, &c..... Net earnings......... 3 Less dividends paid............. $3,089,977 3,360,331 2,423,280 Surplus invested........ $937,051 Since January 1, 1888, gross operating expenses include the total cost of all new wells, field lines, telephone lines and other items that might be charged to capital. 3ased on existing contracts, the estimated gross annual revenue new exceeds $3, 100, - 000, an increase of nearly $600,000 over | the gross revenue of 1888. Since Novem- | ber 20, 1885, the company have paid 40 | consecutive monthly dividends of 1 per cent. each on the capital stock. ‘ » ' 4 te 482? Oh oR eee SAP PO NET e ag © a vig be : wm hy 4 tak 6 1 ama 7 ‘ Pi PWV * Fae ¢ a 2Bx aw iGei mele ¢ Bie poe & es = oh SF . tt, — s ‘s LIP 580 Assets and Liabilities. Available assets—Cash, bills receiv- BUND, BD... 006. ss sonn0ouseerenves $884,897 Unav ailable—Re al estate and plant.. 9,635,584 RE cisiesnesva. ixcaedis is $10,520,481 Liabilities. Capital stock paid in............. ; $7,500,000 Accounts payable... ..... cane 111,736 Bills payable.........-- eradees tala Kagel 1,971,693 Undivided profits........ Set 937,052 Total ... . «+ e-eeee $10,520,481 The circular further points out that to duplicate the Philadelphia Company’s sys- tem of mains and service lines—con- structed under the most favorable cir- cumstances and occupying the vantage ground at every point—and, at the same time, to acquire an amount of gas terri- tory equal in value and extent to theirs, if not impossible weuld at least require double the capital they have invested. And as to the chance for increasing busi- ness, the circular states that adjacent to the company’s mains in the cities and towns already piped there are more houses to use gas for fuel than the num- THE IRON AGE. | House books in New York showing that ten times as many diamonds were imported last year as were sent into the country 20 years ago, and a single firm sells more diamonds now than were numbered in the entire imports of former years. — —— masse Electrically-Operated Drawbridge. The usual method of operating a draw- bridge is by means of a pinion mounted on a vertical shaft in bearings on the bridge and engaging with a circular rack secured to the top of the pier, power be- ing supplied by two or three men working a long lever fitting on the vertical shaft, or by a steam engine through suitable gearing. The electric motor has now been brought forward to do this work, and during the past few weeks one has been most successfully operating the Bridge- port, Conn., draw. This bridge, which is 180 feet long, 60 feet wide and weighs 320 tons, was formerly turned by three men, sees te Eager hale li lly ea a es an DRAWBRIDGE AT ber of those already supplied. struction of mill furnaces on the regener- Fig. 1. BRIDGEPORT, CONN., OPERATED BY April 18, 1889 nected in series. The double switch 16, fuses, reversing switch 15 and rheostat 14 are nates: in a water-tight box, 13, in the frame-work of the bridge, and are easily accessible from the road-bed. The bridge-tender has everything under com- plete control and can easily regulate the speed and the direction of rotation of the bridge. The motive power is furnished by a 74 horse-power Thomson-Houston motor, 1, securely fastened to the draw by iron braces. On the end of the armature shaft, which revolves at the rate of 1500 turns a minute, is a pinion 4} inches in diameter engaging with a gear 15 inches in diameter. The shaft of this gear carries a beveled pinion 5 inches in diameter engaging with one 15 inches in diameter mounted on a vertical shaft. Power is then trans- mitted through a train the five pinions of which are 7 inches in diameter and the five gears 14 inches in diameter, the faces of all being 4 inches. On the bottom of the last or slowest revolving shaft 3 is an 11- inch pinion, 4, which engages with the ELECTRIC MOTOR. The recon- | but this method was found to be open to | circular rack, 5. The shaft 3 is 34 inches serious objection and attended by con-| in diameter, the one next is 2} inches and ative principle now being made the condi- tion of continued supply, the extensive introduction of gas-saving appliances and the sale of gas for domestic use by meter | only is expected to do away with the waste that has heretofore existed, and so reduce the consumption of gas at least one- half. This saving, it is believed, will en- able the company to furnish the houses still unsupplied and thereby greatly in- crease their revenue. By the employment of | incandescent and other patent burners, the use of natural gas for illuminating prom- ises a handsome income in the near future. To take up the floating indebtedness of | the company and provide for an extension ! of the main lines and distributing system | as soon as desirable, the stockholders have authorized an issue of mortgage bonds to the amount of $2,500,000, of which the company propose to place at present | $1,500,000. The mortgage provides for a payment annually of 10 per cent. of the amount of the bonds, less the accumulated | interest on the sinking fund in the hands of the trustees, so that the bonds secured by the mortgage will be extinguished on November 30, 1898. é — ; The increasing wealth of the United |siderable expense, as it necessitated the |the others 2 inches. Some idea of the constant attendance of the men, and un- | power tranamitted to the shaft 3 may be der favorable circumstances the bridge | could not be opened in less than six min- | first made of steel, utes, thus causing a jam on both sides and greatly impeding tratiic. By means of | the electric motor the draw can now be opened and closed in two minutes, and the expense is limited to the salary of one | formed from the fact that this shaft was 24 inches in diameter, and was so bent that its pinion cleared the rack when the motor was started while the | ends of the bridge were so blocked as to /make it practically immovable. This installation was built by the New man and the charge of the electric light | England Electric Supply Company, after company supplying the current. designs by J. M. Orford, who has applied | The current is conducted to the motor|for patents upon tbe apparatus. The | through two submarine cables, the core | shafting and gearing were made at the | being equal to No. 4 B. & 8. copper wire, 'two Thomson-Houston lightning arresters. |The shore ends are connected to the in- | candescent lighting current of the Bridge- | port Electric Light Company by a double- | pole switch, so that the current may be ‘shut off at the pleasure of the draw-te nder. | The other ends are connected to vertical | Stationary posts 7, 8,which are carefully in- 'sulated from the structure,and which carry lon their upper ends a pair of brushes, 9, 110, which are in contact with two in- | sulated copper bands, 11, 12, attached to |the drum of the bridge. A rheostat, 14, | is used to regulate the speed of the metor land a rev ersing switch, 15, to change the States is indicated by the importations of direction of rotation of the armature. diamonds, an examination of the Custom- | The armature, rheostat and fields are con- which are protected from lightning by | | Follansbee Machine Works, Bridgeport. a The Strong Locomotive’s Time.— The official report of the recent trial of the Strong locomotive on the Erie Railway gives the followi ing report of time made : ‘**On the eastward trip, the Buffalo Divi- sion was covered in 155 minutes, the Sus- quehanna in 208 minutes, the Delaware in | 159 minutes and the Eastern in 141 min- jutes. The times made up were respect- ively 8, 18, 21 and 13 minutes, or 60 min- utes in all. The fastest mile noted was made in 55 seconds, and many were made in 60 seconds each, On the Delaware Di- vision the distance frem Callicoon to Han- cock, 28 miles, was covered in 34 minutes, /and from Hancock to Deposit, 13 miles, in 20 minutes, the grade being up, On April 18, 1889 the Susquehanna Division the distance from Binghamton to Union, 8,°; miles, was covered in 12 minutes; from Union to Owego, 13,4; miles, in 17 minutes; from Owego to Waverly, 19,1; miles, in 23 min- utes; Waverly to Elmira, 17;%; miles, in 22 minutes, and from Elmira to Corning, 17,5, miles, in 25 minutes. On the Buffalo Division the distance from Hornellsville to Canaseraga, 12} miles, was made in 184 minutes; from Castile to Warsaw, 10 miles, in 15 minutes; Warsaw to Attica, 17/5 miles, in 22 minutes.” en The Dominion Government is being urged to build a railway bridge across the St. Lawrence at Quebec, to cost $6,000, - THE IRON AGE. 581 barges of 1000 tons each, to be built in New Haven, and go on the line between the New Jersey coal docks and Providence, R. 1 TT Norton Brothers’ Can Factory. One of the most remarkable aggrega- tions of automatic machinery is assembled under the roof of Norton Brothers’ can factory at Maywood, near Chicago. In the character of the work performed and the results accomplished it is claimed to be superior to anything else in the line of automatic machinery. Norton Brothers are manufacturers of tin cans of every de- scription. They have manufactori°s at Fig. 2. CONNECTIONS OF BRIDGEPORT DRAWBRIDGE. DIAGRAM SHOWING ELECTRICAL 000. Already there are two bridges, at Montreal and Lachine, which unite the Colonial system with the Western lines, and a bridge in progress at Coteau will give a third connection for an all-Canadian route between the Atlantic and Pacific. The coal barge lines in the New York and Eastern trade are increasing their fleets by adding several vessels of the largest capacity adapted to the outside route. At Norwalk, Conn., six barges of about 1300 tons each are building for the New London Outside Towing Line, which is en- gaged principally in the bituminous trade with Virginia. The Boston Towboat Com- pany is enlarging its scale ef operations by | building a large number of 2000-ton barges, regular sea-going vessels, previded with sufficient sails to be navigable even though the steam escort should be com- pelled to cut loese. The New England Transportation Company in like manner Chicago and at Maywood and are inter- ested in similar establishments at San Francisco, New York and Hamilton, in Canada. \ property of the Abbott Iron Company at Baltimore, and propose to convert the buildings formerly used for rolling malls into a can factory to supply tin cans to the oyster and fruit canners of that part of the country. They own the special machines used in all these factories, which are the invention of Edwin Norton, whose genius in devising and perfecting automatic ma- |chinery places him in the foremost rank of those American inventors who have aston- ished the world with their achievements. The consumption of tin plate in these works is enormous, far exceeding that of |any other works in any branch of manu- 'facture in the world. A recent visit to | their works at Maywood was full of in- terest. Upon entering the factory, the first de- Recently they purchased the| | is the machine-shop, in which all the ma- | chines and tools used by the firm are built. ‘It contains an excellent equipment of | planers, lathes, drills, &c. A novel feat- /ure about it is the tool-room, which is kept }on an original plan which is worthy of | general adoption. This room is connected by an electric system, similar to that used in hotels, with every part of the machine- shop and other portions of the factory in | which tools are likely to be called for by |the workmen. A hotel annunciator hangs in a conspicueus part of the tool-room. When a workman wants a tool he pushes a button near him and immediately a ‘*bell-boy ” runs to him from the tool- room with a slate and pencil, on which he writes his name and the tool desired. The |numbers on the annunciator correspond with the numbers of the buttons, te fix the location of the summons. The boy hands the slate to the tool-room keeper, who has a list of the workmen’s names, | numbered according to the order in which they are placed on the list, but without reference to the number on the annunci- ator, which is an independent matter. A rack hangs conveniently near with a suf- ficient number of pins on it to hold small brass checks numbered to correspond with the workmen’s numbers. Each pin holds a stock of several checks of the same num- ber. The toolroom-keeper takes one of the checks of the man who sent for a tool, puts it in the toel-rack from which he takes the article wanted, charges the workman with it in a book kept for the purpose, and sends the boy back with the |tool. The time of the workmen is thus saved, there is no confusion in the shop from men loitering to talk with others on their way to and from the teol-room, and a perfect record of the tools is always kept. When the tool is to be returned the boy is }again called, the workman is credited | with it on the books, and the check is re- stered to its place on the rack. This is }an instance of the methods employed throughout the whole factory, care being | taken in every respect to have operations cenducted systematically, economically | and with the least friction. Entering the can-making department, a long row of machines is seen, which stretch with their connections from one side of the large uilding almost to the other. In these 1 achines the tin plate is fed, cut into pie es of the proper size for can-bodies. It is drawn ito tubular form over a mandrel, double seamed, and passed on into a carrier. The subsequent operations of heading, soldering, testing for leaks, drying, counting, and delivering either into the warehouse or the car for shipment proceed steadily onward without the inter- vention of a hand to direct any of the movements of the machinery orto perform any part of the manufacture. The disks for the heads are cut on a number of presses, with the dies so arranged as to cut out the greatest possible number from a sheet of tin plate. The dies are arranged in gangs, and cut out alternate disks at one oper- ation and the intermediate disks at another, | as their frame-work would not permit them |to be set close enough to cut all out at ‘once. From the largest spaces of tin plate | left between the holes thus made a set of | gang-dies cuts out can tops, and from the remnant still existing another set of gang- dies cuts out small disks for button covers to be sold to button manufacturers. Use has thus been made of the tin plate as far | as possible in these works and the residue | is sold for scrap to sash-weight manufact- | urers. The caps for cans are already prepared | with solder for the soldering iron when | they are shipped to the canning factories. This solder is cut out of sheet solderin the form of a ring of the proper size and it is |forced on the rim of the cap. It was |found necessary to devise a special ma- will during the season add four ocean | partment into which the visitor is ushered | chine to do this in order to use the solder- : —" : gE SONY Be ee ante el mews) € det) Mb ae B/S ws a i a ee ™ SR) iP. Sai wah 1) mo ne CS Me BSF PB —_ i , — . —_ ae =p) 2 + ¥ ee _- Bee Grane - sb Va i- - ea" atm ate +. | Rit roe a4 hs a PH pe 2 _~ wpe . + 2 7 & OMe bp SBS 4): CP HY Sater oer s sui Se « tte 582 THE IRON AGE. ing machine which Norton Bros. manu- facture for canning factories. The solder being in place, it is easily fused and is in just the proper quantity. The edge of solder on the cap also preserves it from rusting if the caps and cans are carried over from one season to another, and thus avoids what might be, and often has been, a serious loss. The manufacture of sheet solder is carried on in this factory by an original method, which is in itself a revolution in metallurgical methods, and will be more fully described in an addi- tional article. It is sufficient to say here that Edwin Norton has solved the problem of rolling molten metal directly into | sheets, which has so long batiled the lead- ing metallurgists of the world, from Sir Henry Bessemer down. For months in | one corner of this factory a machine has been in successful operation, producing from molten solder beautifully rolled sheets from 6 to 8 inches wide, ;}5, inch thick, at the rate of 400 feet per minute. A very large stock of tin plate is carried, and a special storehouse has been con- | structed for it, with every facility for making it a bonded warehouse in case the duty should be advanced as contemplated, when a much heavier quantity would at once be laid in,to be drawn upon as needed afterward. An addition is just being built to this factory, which is 208 feet long by 137 feet wide, to be used tor storage. This build- ing is constructed of wood, with sheet- | steel roofing and siding, to make it fire- | proof externally. It is intended to hold | 25,000,000 cans. It extends for its full length along the Chicago and North- western Railroad tracks, with doors placed at regular intervals of a car length apart, so that a number of cars can be loaded at the same time. In connection with the other buildings of the factory there is a frontage of 600 feet on the railroad, with doors arranged in this way for the whole distance. An elevated railroad runs from the car department through a covered passage to the new warehouse, and the cans roll along it by gravity to their destination, which is controlled by suit- able switches, traveling over 1000 feet from their starting point. With such facilities it is not strange that a car can be loaded in an hour and a half and that over 100,000,000 cans can be shipped in a season from these works. ome I Railroads in Europe. The French Government has recently published the following statistics showing the length in kilometers of the railroads in Europe at the close of the year 1887 and the new construction during that year: Length of the Railroads in Europe. Additions to that city this season. If the record for March could be taken for an average, the total for the year would be $6,000,000 or $7,000,000. A Milling Tool Lathe Attachment. The piston of the Crown water meter is made of vulcanized rubber, and in shape | somewhat resembles a widely-spaced gear, as Shown by the outlined white part of the | aa] Fig. 1.—Section of Mold and Piston. April 18, 1889 | rubber is pressed into shape. Bolted to | the shears of the lathe are the two blocks | A, Fig. 6, each of which is formed with (two bearings. This construction was adopted in order to increase the rigidity of the bar B, which, fitting in the bear- ings, is supported at four points. ‘This is an essential feature, since, as the size of this bar is controlled by the opening in the mold through which it passes, it is necessarily limited thereby, and all-spring- tS = :eomemmeser OS “i i ATTACHMENT. ing of the tool must be prevented in order to insure accurate cutting. One end of this bar is bored to form a bearing for the driving shaft C, which is driven from the headstock. The milling cutter E is mounted on a transverse shaft located a little below the axis of the bar B, and is placed within an opening cut through the bar, as shown in Figs. 3and 5 Theend D of the driving shaft C is formed with four Railroads roads in 1887. end of 1887, = ——-~———_. wo : ; : Kilo- | Kilo- Per Fig. 6.—Sectional Elevation of Bar Bearings. Country. meters. meters. cent. IT iiss scene 39,570 121 3.18 Austria-Hungary . 24,708 1,308 5.59 2 ; DR. iScsassnKe 3s .. 4,702 168 3.71 MILLING TOOL LATHE Denmark ..... «+00. 1,969 4 0,20 Boeie....-.- eer 183 1.97 France...... vee Bh 234 sol 2.67 . F y : ; Great Britain anes GS — a drawing, Fig. 2. This piston is made by -ece ossa> Who t +4! ° . ° api ee 11.615 438 3g2 | pressure in a steel mold, which, in order Netherlands and Lux- ; ‘ | to insure the perfect and easy working of » ure s Q 3.2% ° ° . © ao a oh Jew | the piston, which governs largely the ac- Roumania. .. ... 2,861 42 =. 21.25 | curacy of the meter, should be formed as Russia... ar ” aan | nearly true as it is possible to make it. The Servia wees . ole e te , . . . annem aeuk Norway. 8,950 lll 1.26 | tool herewith illustrated was designed by Turkey, Bulgaria and se |the inventor of the meter, lL. H. Nash, — ne eos a | solely for the purpose of attaining this = —|object. It consists of few and easily-made T . ay ar 6.47 2°o . + “ rotals i 930 71 3*1) parts—really only three—is easily ad- This is equal to 129,210 miles, or far less than the railroad mileage of the United States. I —- A Cleveland, Ohio, paper says it looks very much as if $4,000,000 or $5,900,000 would be invested in new buildings in/and IJ the dies between which the hard | the driving curves. | justed on the lathe, and has been found to be most admirably adapted to milling the interior of pieces of such small size as to cramp the tool. The form of the mold and of the pisten is given in Figs. 1 and 2, G representing the piston, F the mold segments of what we may term volute curves, with which the teeth of the cutter E engage. It is now evident that as the shaft C is revolved it will turn the cutter E, the cutting edges of whose teeth are not subjected to wear, as only their rear edges come in contact with the edges of This forms a rigidly- April 18, 1889 THE IRON AGE. 583 3 held and simply-driven cutter. The mold | blank is passed over the bar and the feed parallel with the bar, to bring the lower or projecting edge of the cutter into ac- tion. The cutter shown in Fig. 5 is for cutting the deepest parts of the mold, two others, one for each angle, being needed to complete the work. We are indebted to Mr. Nash and to the National Meter Company for the loan of drawings from which our cuts were pre- pared. TT —— Steam-Jet Chimney Draft Improver. al This machine is applicable whenever m-_ sufficient draft exists in chimneys which are too small for the purpose, or when the adjacent buildings are so high as to destroy the natural draft. It is constructed in ac- cordance with the principle of the induced current, and while not decreasing the area, will create sufficient draft under all circum- | stances. The machine is composed of nozzles of gradually increasing area placed concentrically one above another. Enter- ing the lowest and smallest nozzle is a| steam-pipe leading from the boiler. The | supply of steam is controlled by a valve | RS] SY ROMO DSO RS SOO By SS s SSS | SS SS SSS BS RSS AX WAVY Shae) Sad SESS DSSS PSE MM ARVHVQ AW ESS ES DOSVAVRN AAV SS BS SE DAA i Steam Jet Chimney Draft-lmprover. located near the outside of the chimney. A slight opening of this valve is sufficient to induce a current of air through the side openings of the nozzles, which, multiply- ing as it ascends, produces a powerful suction at the base of the chimney, with | very small consumption of steam. It is) stated that these machines, which are being | introduced by Amos Aller, 19 Liberty | street, New York, have proved very suc- cessful wherever used. - ——— Now that the Sandwich Islands have passed from the control of a puppet king into the hands of foreigners—mostly | Americans and English—San Francisco | papers suggest a movement on the part of the United States directed to the occupa- | tion of the strategic points, rather than await a threatened invasion by some other power. The Hawaiian group is becomin an important center of production cat commerce, The sugar crop tlis year is | reckoned at 130,000 tons—nearly twice as much as the Louisiana crop. Of rice the | islands yield some 10,000,000 pounds annu- | ally, and the product of fruit and hides is | large. Coffee has not yet been a success | on the islands, but that will come. This fine territory, we are reminded, is ‘‘ abso- lutely in search of an owner.” Japan has 2000 miles of railroads, 10,000 miles of telegraph wires and 30,000 schools, besides the Imperial University at Tokio. ithe juc | within any of the six causes named. Legal Decisions, PROMISSORY NOTE — COMPOSITION CREDITORS — NOTE FOR DEBT. WITH BALANCE OF A. made a composition agreement with his creditors, but he was induced by T., one of them, to give him a note for the balance of his debt. paid, and an action was breught upon it, to which H. set up the defense thai it had been given without consideration, and he defeated T., who carried the case—Tinker vx. Hurst—to the Supreme Court of Michi- gan, where the judgment was affirmed. The Chief Justice, Sherwood, in the | not pay he sold his stock of goods to their attorney-at-law in payment of their de- mands, who took possession of the stock and store, excluding E. therefrom. The signs of E. were taken down. A few days later H., a judgment creditor of E., seized tke goods in the store in execution, and This note was not | opinion, said: ‘‘It is very clear that the | plaintiff should not recover in this case. All of the creditors by the composition agreement materially contracted with each R. and L. sued in replevin to recover the property as belonging to them. On the trial of the case—Rogers vs. Thurston, sheriff—E. was a witness for the defend- ant, and he was permitted, against objec- tion, to testify to the facts: 1. That he had delivered the property to R. and L.’s attorney on the express understanding that he was to still have them to sell until H.’s judgment was paid. 2. That he had informed H. about two weeks before the sale that the goods were worth about $3000. On this testimony the defendant ‘had judgment, on the ground that the other that the defendant should be dis- | charged from their debts after the execu- tion of the deed, and therefore any agreement between the debtor and any one | of the creditors which gave the latter any special advantage is in fraud of the other creditors, and it cannot