The Iron Age 1889-05-09: Vol 43

THE IRON GE THurRsDAY, MAy 9, 1889 New Mechanical Air-Valve Gear. | ™eet this condition automatic releasing |steam cylinders are entirely different. ” gears have been applied, involving an} Under the dry heat of compressed air From the recently issued catalogue of | amount of complexity which cann >t com- | slide-valves are very apt to cut and score the Rand Drill Company, of New York, | mend itself to sound mechanical judg-| themselves and their seats, and so become we take the accompanying engravings and| ment. The following gear fulfills per-| leaky. This requires replaning or boring description of their new mechanical air- | fectly the varied requirements imposed by | the seats, which is a machine job and in- valve gear: the discharge-valves, and instead of being | volves expense and delay. Apart from Many attempts have been made to | an added complexity, it actually reduces|the tendency to cut, such valves are un- provide a positive movement for air-!the number of parts in a marked degree. ! favorably situated for tightness at best. Sheet Lron flue to bring \ air from out of doors, Fig. 2.—Vertical Longitudinal Section. NEW MECHANICAL AIR-VALVE GEAR.—RAND DRILL COMPANY. valves. The problem, as related to the|It retains the poppet-valve, which long|The flat head of a cylinder, seriously suction-valves, is a simple one, but as re- | experience has demonstrated to be pe-| weakened by the cutting of long ports lated to the discharge-valves is difficult of | culiarly adapted to the requirements of | across it, is certain to spring under the solution, and on this account all such|air-compressors, for the reason that such | alternate application and release of heavy plans have been complex and objection-| valves have little tendency to wear leaky, | pressure, and with valves extending clear able. The difficulty of the problem arises | and, moreover, any slight leak that may | across these springing heads, tightness is from the fact that the discharge-valves| develop is easily repaired by hand-grind-|impossible. This is a matter of great should not open at a fixed point in the/ing at the first convenient shut-down. | importance, as tight air-valves are a neces- stroke, but at a point depending upon the | All experienced compressor-builders know | sity if good results are to be reached. pressure of the air carried, upon the alti-| that slide-valves (whether flat or rotating) |The discharge-valves may leak seriously, tude above sea-level, the barometric press- lare not adapted to use under heavy air | allowing a large percentage of the air to ure and other factors beyond control. To| pressure. The requirements of air and| pass back into the cylinder and the loss ce 4 a ee EL Le Bai eT. Bets Le, ad ay 4 } == Zi y Pa i —o 5 yt onan = ew Mae aS) 2313 if = = ~T* - eS (Ure lh OS eee eee ere ae hlUre a a4 ahs Sa ae . ject ee past #. if } 77 Tie * ie a id p —* r= 7p ee £ 3 4 Z = B a ~semenapnZe a eg soe nae — — ~~ a Sd ane is SS ae a on = aie teas ar < Se » : Hire+das <=. . as + “er: fy 2 eo } Acid he ps 7D a fe £3 < 690 THE IRON AGE. May 9, 1889 be unsuspected. Even the indicator gives no certain indication of this leak, which is the explanation of the fact that com- | pressors with slide-valves do not give the | volume of air which is due to their cyl- inder capacity. y of the ordinary poppet form chatter more or less, and to reduce this as much as pos- sible it is usual to give them a small lift, making up the required area of passage- way by putting in additional valves. If any one valve could be allowed to open | widely and freely it would provide greatly increased passage-way, and this would dispense with the necessity for so many valves. This device stops the chattering, and hence allows us to give the valves a| full lift and get the full passage-way due to | their area, thus making one valve the equiv- alent of seven or eight of the usual kind. Fig. 1 illustrates the appearance of an | air cylinder with the new movement ap- | plied, and Fig. 2 shows the method of its working. simple as its construction. The usual form of valve chatters because the air tries to pull it open while the spring tries to pull it shut, and first one and then the ether prevails. This device simply re- leases the valve from the pressure of the spring while the valve is open. The spring is used to close the valve, and is made strong enough to do this positively, but before the valve opens and _ while it remains open it is leased from the pressure of the spring, and hence it goes wide open and stays there. In Fig. 2 A isa sliding bar, driven by the main steam-valve stem in the class A and B compressors, by the Cor- liss wrist-plate in the Corliss engine com- pressors, and by an eccentric in water- power compressors. Arms a, }, a’, b’ are keyed to the bar. In the position shown, arm a has engaged the washer i and moved it to the left, away from the nuts j, thus releasing valve g from the pressure of the spring c. Similarly arm %’, through rod e’ and tube 7”, has released valve h’ from the pressure of its spring. The two valves are thus at liberty to open wide and stay there. At the proper moment the springs are relaxed, and as the crank passes the center the valves close. The most pecul- iar and remarkable feature of the Soiies is that it fulfills perfectly the varied re- quirements of the discharge-valves with- out any additional mechanism whatever. The movement of the bar A is so timed that the discharge-valve spring is lifted before the valve is ever wanted to open, the pressure of the air upon the valve (ag- gregating from 500 to 1000 pounds) being ample to hold the valve to its seat. The spring being relaxed, whenever the press- ure in the cylinder equals the pressure in the receiver, no matter what that may be, the valve is ready to open and does open widely and freely. The movement of bar A is so timed that the compression of the inlet spring occurs some time before the piston reaches the end of its stroke, con- sequently when the piston commences its return stroke, the spring being already | compressed, the valve is at liberty to go wide open at once, instead of waiting for the slow movement due to an eccentric, as is the case with the absolutely positive movements. As will be seen, the inlet valve is provided with a guard, and, to lessen the clearance which exists between the valve and guard of the usual form, the valve is here made hat-shaped, as will be understood from the illustration. The clearance due to this form of valve is two- tenths of 1 per cent., which is much less than with the usual form of valve with guard, and is believed to be lower than with any form of valve that has been pro- posed. We aiso previde the discharge- valve stems with a safeguard to prevent their getting into the cylinder in case of breakage. This is not shown in the cut, owing to the small scale. As is well known, valves | The principle of this gear is as | entirely re-| The Illinois Steel Company. — The Consolidation Effected. The consolidation of the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company and the Joliet Steel |Company, under the name of the Illinois Steel Company, was successfully accom- plished last week. The programme laid |down in our issue of the 2ist of March | was carried out in every respect. The , stockholders of the three companies met on | the 1st inst. and voted in favor of consoli- dating. Meetings were held on the days following to arrange the details, and finaily on the 4th inst. everything essential 'had been consummated and the organiza- tion of the Illinois Steel Company was announced, with the following list of offi- | cers: O. W. Potter, chairman of the Board of Directors and chairman of the Executive Committee; A. J. Leith, president, with ‘his office in New York; W. R. Stirling, first vice-president; E. C. Potter, second vice-president ; R. C. Hannah, secretary and treasurer; Y. B Haagsma, general auditor. The Executive Committee, who are the governing power of the corporation, are | composed of O. W. Potter, J.C. Morse, A. J. Leith, W. R. Stirling and E. C. Potter. The Board of Directors consists of O. W. Potter, Nathaniel Thayer, Francis Bart- | lett, William J. Rotch, H. H. Porter, J. C. Morse, Marshall Field, A. J. Leith, John Crerar, W. R. Stirling and E. C. Potter. H. A. Gray is agent of the Chicago, South Chicago and Union Works. John VU. Stir- ling is agent of the Joliet Works. John C, Parkes is manager of the Chicago and South Chicaga Works. Robert Forsyth ‘is manager of the Union Works. H. 8. | Smith is manager of Joliet Works. Francis Hinton is manager of the Milwaukee Works. Julian L. Yale is general sales and purchasing agent. The works now in»peration are the South Chicago, Milwaukee and Joliet, the latter | having been started again on the Ist inst. The North Chicago and Union will not be operated at present. The first of these to be started will be the Union, and hopes are entertained that the rail trade will be brisk enough to take its product in at fur- |thest two months. The Union blast-fur- | naces are being overhauled, remodeled and thoroughly modernized during this period |of idleness. As speedily as possible the policy of the company with regard to un- dertaking the manufacture of a complete | line of structural shapes and other prod- ucts will be considered and settled by the | Board of Directors. | The Illinois Steel Company are capital- ized at $25,000,000. The total annual ca- _pacity of their five works as at present ,constituted is as follows, according to ; Vice-President E. C. Potter: Pig-iron, | 850,000 tons; steel rails, 900,000 tons; structural shapes, 50,000 tons; wire-rods, 50,000 tons: merchant-bars, 60,000 tons; railway splices, 40,000 tons; nails, 15,000 tons. The grand total of these products is 1,965,000 tons. Steel billets are largely made for the open market, but as they are rolled on the rail trains their tonnage is necessarily included in that of steel rails. With respect to tonnage of product the Illinois Steel Company is now the largest \steel company in the world, The number of men employed averages about 10,000, but the force will be increased as the demand for iron and steel improves and as additional departments now con- templated are constructed. The consolidation of these three com- panies is one of the most remarkable events in our industrial history. Each company was conducting a successful busi- ness, each was managed by men of more manufacturing operations on a large scale, and each had reason to look forward to years of prosperity as solidly-established enterprises. But their managers concluded that it would be possible to conduct them even more satisfactorily to their stock- holders if united in one concern, and they proceeded to do so. It remains to be seen whether any manufacturing establishments in other parts of the country will follow their example, or whether the founders of the Illinois Steel Company will have ac- complished an achievement unique in its character and impossible of imitation. LL Adjustable Clamping-Block. In our issue of August 23, 1888, we de- scribed an adjustable clamping - block made by the Energy Mfg. Company, of Philadelphia. Since then several impor- tant changes have been made in the block, as shown by the annexed cut. This block is used for filling under clamps and work when clamping to various machine tools. The top of the block is fitted with a set screw,so that it can be used as an adjustable screw-block when blocking up work, and Adjustable Clamping Block, in a number of other ways will be found handy about the shop. The base of the block is taped so that if it is necessary it can be fastened to the machine on which it is used, as on the face-plate of a lathe when used as a block or driver for pul- leys, &c. They are made in five sizes, filling under from 24 inches to 21 inches. - ————— Cost of Storage-Battery Power.— The following figures are given out by the Julien Electric Traction Company as actual results attained on the Fourth avenue sur- face road, New York City, in running cars with storage batteries. A car can run in actual work 574 miles without recharging. During 40 days that the car in question has been at work neither batteries nor motors have required attention or expense for repair or renewals. The batteries of one car that had been running since Sep- tember 3, 1888, were examined on the 8th ‘ult. for the first time, and are stated to be |in as good condition as when put in. The cost of motive-power is calculated at $3.10 per car per day of 60 miles. This is the cost of energy at 2 cents per horse-power, at which it is offered to be supplied by the electric companies, and $700 per annum for maintenance of batteries and motor. ‘i —— a The Governor of Pennsylvania has signed a bill making September 30, Labor Day, a than ordinary shrewdness in conducting | holiday. May 9, 1889 Steel as an Engineering Material. | ——_ | While the growing use of steel as an| engineering material testifies unmistak- | ably to its superior stability for general | purposes, yet the Engineer holds that there | are situations where it appears to be re-| jected in favor of iron, and these instances | seem lately to have been on the increase in England. The greater liability of steel to | corrosion is in many cases the cause of this } | oC © _ THE IRON AGE. meeting just held of the South Stafford- | shire Institute of Iron and Steel Works | Managers. A paper was read by Mr. G.| The engine of which we herewith pre- H. Walkeden, entitled ‘‘ Notes on the| sent drawings was built by E. P. Allis & Lancashire Boiler,” and in the course of | Co., of Milwaukee, Wis., for the Hinkle discussion this topic of electrolytic action | Furnace of the Ashland Iron and Steel was touched on by Mr. A. E. Tucker, | Company, of Ashland, Wis. It is one of metallurgical chemist, of Smethwick. He | the finest of its class, and 1s designated as knew, he said, of cases in that district in|a ‘‘ vertical direct-acting type,” having which boiler explosions had been clearly |steam-cylinder below and _air-cylinder attributed to electrolytic action set up by | above. The steam-cylinder is 34 inches Ashland Blowing Engine. preference for the older metal, especially | the combination of iron and steel in the | in diameter by 4 feet stroke, and is fitted in boilers where the feed-water is bad. | construction of the boiler, and by the| with a Reynolds Corliss valve gear. The Much has been said anent Thames mud, | presence of brass fittings. This action | air-cylinder is 78 inches in diameter by but it is doubtful whether it is worse than | had sometimes been set up by the use of | 4 feet stroke, and has the Reynolds patent positive-motion air-valve. The two fly- wheels weigh 31 tons, and the total weight |of the machine is 92 tons. The speed of the engine is controlled by a fly-ball governor attached to the cut-off cams of the steam-valve, and the speed can be BL 3 Fig. 1.—Side Elevation. varied from 12 to 50 revolutions by simply turning a hand-wheel, the engine remain- ing absolutely under control of the gov- ernor. The special feature of the machine is the valve gear of the air-cylinder, which was invented and patented by Edwin Reynolds, superintendent of the Reliance Werks of E. P. Allis & Co. In each cylinder head are two rolling valves, each 16 inches in diameter, one being the inlet and the other the discharge. The inlet-valves, shown to the left in Fig. 2, are opened and closed positively by means of a direct connection with a wrist-plate. The discharge-valves shown ‘at the right in the same drawing are closed at the proper time by the same wrist-plate that drives the inlet-valves, but are opened automatically when the air in the cylinder reaches the same _press- ure as the air in the blast-pipe leading to the furnace. In other words, while the inlet-valve is opened unvaryingly by means | of its connection with the wrist- plate, the delivery-valve is so constructed and ar- ranged as to open automatically and in- stantaneously to its full capacity when the pressure in the air-cylinder is nearly or quite equal to that in the receiver. The construction by which this is accom- | plished is exceedingly simple, reliable in its action and capable of adjustment to meet desired requirements. The wrist- plate is driven by an eccentric on the main shaft of the machine through suit- able connection. The connection between the wrist-plate and the delivery-valve is by means of a rod slotted to receive a pin on the actuating arm of the valve, and is positive in its motion only at such time as the rod is moving toward the cylinder head and acting upon the valve to close it. When the motion of the wrist-plate is re- versed the slotted end of the rod permits i the reverse motion of the wrist-plate and rod to take place, while the delivery-valve remains closed, being held in that position by a hook or catch until it is automatic- ally released and allowed to open. At- THE ASHLAND BLOWING ENGINE. tached to the stem of the _ valve the ingredients of Staffordshire canal water ; anyhow, the latter element is a serious nuisance to the steam user. This perhaps is why one sometimes hears of such cases as a Staffordshire steam user paying as much as $2000 for a boiler 30 feet long by 8 feet, and insisting, as one of his chief conditions, that it should not be made of steel. In many cases, however, steel is doubtless condemned unnecessarily. An iron-master put steel in the bottom of his boilers, and had to have them rebottomed before it had worn three months. He put in iron, and the iron continued very much longer. Ina case like that there must, one would think, have been some serious defect somewhere. More often than steam users think, failures in boiler working | arise from electrolytic action where various metals are in conjunction. A notable in- is an arm, provided at its outer end with a pin and block, on which is tie rods of manganese bronze and phosphor | also attached by pin and rod a weight bronze and similar materials. The inten-| working in a dash-pot. To a fixed pin is tion had been to prevent corrosin, but the| pivoted a hook provided with a tail-piece effect was just the reverse, for the electro. | engaging with the block. The piston-rod lytic action had been very marked at both | of the piston of a small supplemental cyl- ends of the tie rods, and the steel plates |inder is so arranged as to disengage the had been correspondingly corroded at | hook at the proper time to allow the weight those particular points. Doubtless many |to open the delivery-valve. When this instances of the kind adduced by Mr. | valve is closed the piston-rod is free of Tucker could be recorded where the blame | the hook, and vet so near that a short rests neither with bad feed-water nor with | movement will cause it to bear against and the quality of steel, but with unsuitable | release the hook. The small cylinder is combinations of metals. | connected by pipe in its top with the re- a | ceiver or blast-pipe leading to the furnace, Mills for the manufacture of cotton in| while a second pipe connects the other the Southern States are multiplying/ end with the end of the main cylinder, so rapidly. Within a short time 15 com-| that on one side of the piston there is al- panies have been organized, three of them| ways the pressure of the air in the re- in Alabama. In several instances capital-| ceiver, while on the other side there is ists from Philadelphia and New England | whatever pressure there may be in the stance of this kind was mentioned at aj are concerned. | main air-cylinder. . ues ie LEO 74 Le ; 12 4 my 4) -” h ~ u ; ‘3 a “a = * f J 7% t ¥ (4 ¥ : . 4 | ta] i 7 i ae ae ia att a | Ne 4 | os ~~ <r — aeetn - eee Sat Ee ” . - ey inset — > it fet at oe A ast =) 1G we FR ~~ my + o fe ot) , es lg , ame, 2 } aN es i (Zs € iWin) i ; ra = Hah eo! | am Lic eo Ae me mee ee ae . ee Fey F* cgemdel ae py fe" Oy : “ pa Roa Ps s BS oy Brey ? } bs te > * . be rs . ey Rat po’ 2 4 & EIEN 2k cf = ' TE RY ae + x i ai { i . ’ yw lly tg : b+ Qe > N sgt Twas ‘ ¥ & F $ 692 THE IRON AGE. May 9, 1889 SSS The action of the mechanism is as fol- lows: As the wrist-plate and rod operat- ing the delivery-valve move toward the head the delivery-valve is closed posi- tively, and as the extreme limit of motion of the wrist-plate is reached the hook is | thrown forward, engages with the block and holds the valve closed. As the mo- tion of the wrist-plate and rod 1s reversed the forked end of the rod slides back upon and independently of the pin on the valve- stem arm, and consequently allows the de- livery-valve to remain closed until such time as the pressure in the air-cylinder, and consequent pressure on the under side of the supplemental piston connected with the air-cylinder by a pipe, is sufficient to overcome the pressure on the op- posite side of the piston connected with the receiver, when the piston will move forward and its rod will strike against the hook and thereby disengage it from its block. When this takes place the weight instantly opens the delivery-valve to its full extent, and it remains open until again closed by the action of the wrist-plate and its rod on the reverse stroke. It is evident that, if deemed de- sirable, the receiver pressure on the upper surface of the piston in the supplemental cylinder can be counterbalanced so that the piston will move forward to trip the hook and allow the valve to open before the pressure in the main air-cylinder equals that in the receiver. The complete action of the valves on one end of the air-cylinder may be briefly described as follows: Atthe beginning of the stroke the delivery-valve is closed and the inlet-valve begins to open, Opens very quickly, and remeins open until the piston reaches the opposite end of its stroke. Just as the piston be- gins its return stroke the inlet-valve is closed and is retained against its seat by the receiver-pressure on its back. As the piston moves back the air before it is compressed until it equals the pressure in the receiver, when the piston in the small cylinder moves _ for- ward, disengages the hook and permits the opening of the delivery-valve instantly to its full extent. At the time of its opening the delivery-valve is in equilibrium, so that the amount of power required to move it is very small. The construction of the steam-cylinder valve gear will be understood from the drawing Fig. 3. At 50 revolutions this engine has a capacity of 13,000 cubic feet of air per minute. It is believed that this machine has all the points desirable in a blowing engine—namely, maximum quan- tity of air with a minimum consumption of steam and a great range of speed with a high economy at any number of revo- lutions. a __ The Duty on Crop Ends.—In ac- cordance with the recent action of the United States Court for the Southern Dis- trict of New York in directing a verdict for the plaintiff in the case of Dana vs. Magone, the Treasury Department has di- rected the collector at New York hereafter | to assess the duty on steel crop ends, consist- ing of imported steel rails or ends cut from steel rails in the process of manufacture, and of ends cut from steel blooms, at 45 per cent. ad valorem, instead of at iy cent per pound, as has been the practice here- tofore. — asia eens ele For many years in war ships no other than the horizontal engine for screw ves- sels was used, on account of the necessity for the most complete protection involved, and on this account the efficiency of the machinery arrangement was considerably reduced. Within a comparatively few | years, however, ingenuity and skill have triumphed over this difliculty, it having development of other industrial improve- thus fitted. The advantages gained by | ments, difficulties and obstacles were met the use of the vertical engine instead of | with that it needed much patience in ex- the horizontal are very considerable, the | perimenting to overcome. engine working far more smoothly, wear-| The practicability of the process depends ing more evenly, and all parts being much | simply on the facts that volatile matters more accessible for inspection. are now burned up in coke-making very ———— much in excess of what can be y sonal : ie applied in the manufacture of furnace Economics of oe aa aa and that increased economy of heat Reference has already been made in | can be effected by covering the charging- ‘these columns to the new method of cok- | hole or top-eye of the coke oven and lead- ing introduced by the National Coke and! ing off the waste products of combustion ° has in all such cases invariably been | | | | Fig. 2.—Air-Cylinder Valve Gear. THE ASHLAND BLOWING ENGINE, Fuel Company, of Chicago; and it is now | by a flue placed about 10 inches above the | proposed to give some further details of | surface level of the charge of coal and at ‘the results that have been obtained. Mr.|the back of the oven, or in other words | R. H. Lewis, the general manager of the directly opposite the door. Another ad- Calumet Iron and Steel Works, where’ vantage of this arrangement of flues is that these experiments have been tried, says| these hot waste gases being conveyed they got from every ton of coal coked | through a large main flue-way running the 15,000 cubic feet of fuel gas, equal in| whole length of the bunch of ovens, con- | quality to that from Siemens producers; 3 | siderable of the residual waste heat can be to 5 gallons of coal oil, which sells in the | usefully applied in the production of steam crude state for creosoting purposes at 10) or otherwise, and the gases then led, ata cents per gallon, and liquors containing temperature of about 400° F., into a tall }ammonia equivalent to about 3 pounds chimney, by means of which an almost ‘of sulphate. The process used has been | unvarying draft is maintained and the op- known abroad for some years, under Mr. eration of coking thus rendered much | J. Jameson’s patents several plants in the | more uniform. All admit that in the been found possible to sufficiently protect | North of England having been continu- manufacture of blast-furnace coke there the cylinders of vertical engines from | ously operated for several years with vary-| may be no recovery of by-products that danger by projectiles, and this type of en- | ing success. In this, however, as in the | involves deterioration in the quality of the May 9, 1889 THE IRON AGE. 693 main product. It is for this reason, |tillation from its uncer and inner surface.| 18 months, and now the patents on all among others, that none of the many|Clearly in the production of say 15,000 | construction improvements as well as those such processes of coke-making in re-| cubic feet of gas per ton of coal coked | covering the principle or groundwork of torts or close ovens has come into| the average rate of withdrawal from each | the process have been secured by this general use. The National Coke and | oven will be only about 34 cubic feet per|company, in which several well-known Fuel Company’s recovery process is, | minute. It is this, together with the fact | Chicago men are largely interested. Ex- so far as known, the only one permitting|that exhaustion equal to about 8 periments have been instituted directed to of that most essential condition for the | inches head of water must be maintained | the separate collection of the richest por- production of furnace coke, an intensely |in the passages immediately beneath the | tions of the fuel gas and to their further high temperature in the interior of the oven. | oven floor, which gave rise at several places | enrichment by the aid of recovered oil or SiTikiiiti{iturtinhhnsss Uda liad), NG VN BEE SG Fig. 3.—Steam-Cylinder Valve Gear. THE ASHLAND BLOWING ENGINE, This method consists in the withdrawal through a hollow floor, by gentle ex- | haustion, of a certain proportion of the volatile matters distilled from the coal in an ordinary beehive oven, advantage being | taken of the fact that soon after an oven load of coal is lighted on top in the ordi- | nary way a pasty seal of melted and de- composing coal is pressed around the sides and on the upper surface of the charge. This ‘‘ seal” in the progress of the burn- ing advances inward toward the center and downward toward the bottom of the charge or to the surface of the oven floor. Its existence permits of the con- tinued exhaustion of the first products of dis- to partial failures and to disappointing re- sults with this process. It had to be dis- ‘covered by tedious and costly experiments made near Durham, England, that.the access of very little air to the hot gases beneath the oven floor was fatal to good results ; that the means which were in the first re- lied on to prevent such access yielded after a time to the deteriorating influence | of sudden and violent changes of tempera- | ture, and that special methods had to be devised and proved for securing not tem- porary, but permanent, immunity from leakage. The tests made by the National Coke and Fuel Company have extended over less valuable crude petroleum and the ap- plication of heat now wasted at the ovens. The company are advised by an eminent gas engineer that this gas thus enriched could be easily fitted for illuminating pur- poses. What may be their immediate in- tention in regard to the application of this process we do not know; but nothing can | be more clear and satisfactory than the great benefits which will ultimately accrue to the country from the universal applica- tion of such economic improvements. ee Damages for Insufficient Car Service. At Pittsburgh last week Riddle, Dean |& Co. brought suit in the United States Court, under the Interstate Commerce act, against the New York, Lake Erie and West- ern Railway Company. The plaintiffs are agents for the sale of coal on commission for mines near Pittsburgh. In November, 1887, they claim they received orders from Cincinnati for coal, and placed the order | with mines on the Pittsburgh, Chartiers and Youghiogheny Railroad, a branch of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie. The latter road connects with the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which is operated by the defendant | company, at Youngstown. On September 26, 1887, a coal tariff was issued from the mines of the Pittsburgh, Chartiers and Youghiogheny and Pittsburgh, McKees- port and Youghiogheny railroads to points on the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, }including Cincinnati, at $1.10 per ton. | Acting under the tariff the plaintiffs gave an order to the railroad company for five cars per day. At the same time the Lake | Shore mines, on the Pittsburgh, McKees- port and Youghiogheny Railroad, gave an |order for from five to ten cars per day with which to supply an order from Cin- }cinnati. A few days later the railroad | company issued an order to stop all cars en route and to load no more with coal for Cincinnati. On January 3, 1888, the | company withdrew the rates to Cincinnati |on ‘coal and refused cars for there. The | order of the Lake Shore mines, however, | was filled. The plaintiffs claim damages | by reason of the treatment they received from the New York, Lake Erie and Western | Railway Company to the extent of $10,290, | the amount of loss on that contract. The | case was before the Interstate Commerce Commission, but was decided against the plaintiffs, who have now brought it before the United States Court. a _ Congressman Springer, the chairman of |the House Committee on Territories, is elated about Oklahoma. He says it is a | greater event than the California gold dis- |covery, and that in ten years Okla- homa will be as popular as Kansas. He believes it will settle the Indian question. The land not required for the Indian will be occupied by white men, and they will become his co-workers in the production of wealth and the development of the re- sources of the country. Mr. Springer said he hoped that within a few weeks or ;}months the Cherokee outlet, containing | over 6,000,000 acres, would also be opened 'for settlement, while that part of the Seminole and Creek purchase west of the 98th meridian and north of the Canadian River, containing about 3,000,000 acres, would also be opened at an early day. He believed that Congress would at once pass a territorial bill for Oklahoma, ra 5 = / ee > — A i i +i a ee b | ' 4 —— wai22. 9 ‘se 7 * EC cae me 4 ii ou ae = ae F. # 5 ma & ae | {ey oe - => oo ae EE EEE Es 694 THE IRON AGE. May 9, 1889 The Newport News Dry-Dock. The formal opening of the great dry- dock at Newport Newsa few days ago is regarded as the initial step in a compre- hensive scheme for building iron steam- ships on Southern soil. This dock is the largest in the country, the length on top being 600 feet. At the Portsmouth Navy Yard there is a Government dock 500 feet long, while the one that is being built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is about the same length as the one at Portsmouth. The Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Company, who have constructed the im- mense dock, expect, on account of its vast dimensions, to secure the docking trade of all the ocean steamship lines. The cost of the dock is $525,000. The dimensions are as follows: Six hundred and thirty feet long from head to outer sill, 130 feet wide at top and 50 feet at the bottom, and 33 feet deep, with a | slope in the bottom of 24 inches to the 560 feet. The approach to the dock is piling, 250 feet long and 150 feet wide, while on each side piers 80 feet wide afford ample wharf room. The caisson is aniron structure 96 feet long on top, 50 feet at bottom and 33 feet deep. The dock is supplied with two centrifugal pumps of a capacity of 40,000 gallons: per minute, each of which empties it in 1 hour and 36 minutes. The combined power of the two engines is 500 horse- power. At high tide the dock contains 8,500,000 gallons of water, and ata recent trial with two pumps was emptied in 1 hour and 37 minutes, which is equal to each pump throwing about 44,000 gallons of water a minute. Besides docking and repairing ships, the company are preparing to build iron hulls ef the largest dimen- sions, and to that end have already placed alongside the dry-dock an extensive plant of machinery, to which additions will be made from time to time as the magnitude of the work increases. oe Sinking shafts in soft earth or quick- sands is a difficulty which has been over- come by the Poetsch Sooysmith Freez- ing Company, and an operation of this kind in the collieries at Wyoming, Pa., is watched with special interest. Two shafts are to be put down by different methods— one by the pneumatic system and the other by freezing. The earth through which the shaft is to be sunk is of a soft nature, and much of it has to be driven through a bed of quicksand. In the new system of freezing iron pipes are driven into the earth to be excavated, and through these a cold solution is circulated, causing the sand and dirt to freeze solidly. It can then be dug by the workmen without any attendant danger, and is forced by means of compressed air tothe surface. The size of the shaft is 25 x 25 feet, and it will be sunk in this manner 105 feet before rock is reached. A little English road, the Lynton and Lynmouth, which is expected to be opened early in July, will probably have the steep- est gradients of any in the world, the in- clination being 1 in 1} throughout its short length of 300 yards. Starting from the esplanade at Lynmouth, the carriages will ascend a vertical hight of nearly 500 feet in one minute. The motive-power will be water, conveyed in a line of pipes nearly 1 mile from the West Lynn River. The carriages will run on steel rails, and there will always be an ascending and de- scending carriage, the two being connected by two steel wire ropes, so that when both carriages are empty, or when both are equally loaded, one balances the other. When the ascending load is heavier than the descending one the difference will be made up with water, let into the tank be- neath the descending carriage. The car-j|access to the tuyere opening, a rope is riages are fitted with eight brake blocks, | passed through lugs N and O, the blow- which may be instantly and automatically | pipe released as before and the key P re- applied to grip the rails, which latter are| moved. This permits the movable section bolted to the slate rock through which the | C ot the stock to revolve on the center R | cutting is made. This method of counter- | to the position shown by the dotted lines. balancing the weight of the ascending car- | Of course, no claim to originality is made /riage by means of water admitted to the! by Mr. Roberts for the ball joints and side descending carriage was, if we remember | suspension bars, these being used in other rigbtly, first employed by Fulton. Plans | designs for tuyere stocks. have also been prepared for a similarly | | operated road in the Catskills. icant. is The Roberts Tuyere Stock. - FEF | Sodium Manufacture in England.— The Alkaline Reduction Syndicate, Lim- ited, says the Chemical Trades’ Journal, have leased ten acres of land belonging to ~~ lhe main difficulty that has been expe-| Charles Tennant & Partners, chemical rienced with existing tuyere stocks in | manufacturers at Hebburn, and adjoining which one section is movable has been|the Tharsis Copper Works at the same | the great weight of the movable part and | place, for the purpose of producing metal- | consequent inconvenience in handling. | lic sodium by a process patented by Cap- Frank C. Roberts, Philadelphia, has de- | tain Cunningham. The alkaline syndicate | signed a tuyere stock with a view to avoid | also propose treating certain refractory SOA ERN FBO n Ieee Pros i sci) STOCK. THE ROBERTS TUYERE this difficulty, the object being accom- | metalliferous ores, and have already com- plished by making the movable section |menced the construction of their works, short in length and, asa result, light in | which will be on a moderate scale at first, weight. The full lines in the accompany- | but which the firm expect will ultimately ing illustration show the stock when con- nected to the furnace, while the dotted lines show the position of the movable section when disconnected to allow free access to the tuyere opening. The stock proper is divided into two parts, A, B, attain very considerable dimensions. Cap- | tain Cunningham and his son are to be the chief engineers. The metallic sodium | produced by the syndicate at Hebburn is /to be sent to Wallsend, where it will be used by the Alliance Aluminium Company the lower section, B, being suspended |—who have made arrangements for erect- from A by side bars, C. Ball joints are | ing large works there—in the manufacture provided at D and E. The seating of|of the metal aluminium on a very large these joints is adjusted by means of keys, | scale. The object of the Alkaline Reduc- FG. The blow-pipe X is brought to its | tion Syndicate at Hebburn and the Alli- | seat in the tuyere by means of the bail H | ance Company at Wallsend is to produce }and set-screw I; the operation of the lat-| aluminium by the new and extremely | ter causing the movable section B of the | cheap process. In the production of so- stock to turn on the center J of the ball dium the syndicate have so far conducted joint D. The length of the blow-pipe is | their work in an experimental manner, and | adjusted in the ordinary manner by means | the experiments are now to be put to a of the screw thread K working in the | practical test by erecting works on a man- socket L. ufacturing scale. If the test is successful, | When it becomes necessary to replace a then large works will be built at Hebburn | tuyere, the blow-pipe is disconnected by | for the production of sodium to be sup- | knocking out keys G, loosening keys F, | plied to the aluminium company at Walls- raising the adjusting bail H tothe seat M end. The Hebburn syndicate and the and turning the movable section B on the Wallsend company are separate and dis- center J. The tuyere may then be taken | tinct firms, but each is composed of well- out. When it is desirable to obtain free ' known and influential capitalists, May 9, 1889 695 The Wells Light. Although this lamp was only put on the THE IRON AGE. ers with .oil led through suitable pipes. | purpose of building up the merchant market last season, it has been widely | adopted in England, and is now being in- soteced into this counntry by Wallwork & Wells, whose temporary address is 7'h¢ Iron Age. There are over 200 1n use on the Manchester Ship Canal, and the con- tractor states that if it had not been for this portable light night work could not have been carried on as effectually as it has been. It is especially adapted for lighting railway work, bridge buildings, coal wharves, docks, foundries, &c. We illustrate two of the several forms made | —the portable, and that arranged either | for heating or lighting. The tank is made of the best steel boiler plate and will stand rough usage. By means of a small hand-pump screwed into the top, and which can be quickly taken out for the renewal of leathers, &c., oil is Fig. 1.—Portable. pumped into the tank from a bucket or| ports in the United States and important {trading with foreign countries. cask until the air already in the tank is compressed to about 25 pounds pressure. The burner is then heated by burning a little oily waste in the cup. The valve being opened, the oil is forced up by the air pressure into the heated burner, and being converted into gas, issues from the | jet and burns as a large brilliant flame. The heat of this flame passing through the | generating tubes continuously turns the fresh ascending oil into gas. continuous in operation, as the oil can be pumped into the tank while the light is burning. When charged with air, at 25 pounds pressure, the lamp will burn for four or five hours, or until the pressure is reduced to 8 pounds, without regulating the oil-tap feed. The falling pressure does not diminish the power of the flame. The great difference between this lamp and those ot the Lucigen class is that it requires no outside connections or contin- uous motive power, such as air or steam; and as the oil is driven out and burned as a gas, and not as a spray, there is no loss The lamp is | of oil when the flame is deflected by wind. | When the light is used in a foundry or | p large works,one tank supplies all the burn-! admit that these subsidies are for the The necessary pressure is obtained by con- necting the tank with the town’s water- | supply. The water can be regulated to | any pressure by a reducer, and the only expense for driving is 1 gallon of water to 1 gallon of oil. When the water has pushed all the oil out of the tank,as shown by the glass gauge, the water is drawn off and the tank again filled with oil. The lamp burns a cheap creosote oil, obtained in the distillation of coal tar, and which costs in England 2d or 3d per gallon. te Maintenance of Steamship Lines. One of our commercial contemporaries has a plausible argument favoring special measures by Congress, or at least the Post-office Department, for the permanent communica- between establishment of steamship tion, under the American flag, Fig. 2 THE WELLS LIGHT. foreign markets. It says: It is useless to attempt to disguise the fact that the British Government not only pays liberal mail subsidies, but the amount is usually fixed far in excess of any reason- able compensation for the mere transpor- tation of a few bags of mail matter from one port to another, and this is done with the avowed object not only of transport- ing the mail, but of affording such com- pensation as will insure the maintaining of the service against any foreign competitor. It is by this means that a trade is built up that in time renders the enterprise so far independent of Government aid that a re- ‘duction of the subsidy can be submitted to without crippling the service or im- pairing the profits which the shareholders have previously received and part of which has been drawn direct from the public purse. The fact 1s that, as an illustration of success, the policy of the British Gov- ernment in this respect is unanswerable, and until we follow it our mercantile marine will remain in the same humiliating position that it now occupies. Further than this, the English themselves openly |marine, as may be gathered from the | letter of a member of Parliament recently published in the London Times, in which he says, in replying to a criticism that England was losing £1000 a day by its ocean mail service: ‘Asa matter of fact these subsidies are not paid to make up a deficiency in the postal accounts, but in order to keep up the character of our merchant fleet.” The debates in Parlia- ment and official reports are crowded with similar testimony. According to the report of the British Postmaster-Gen- eral for the year 1885, the total amount paid that year for subsidies with ocean steamship lines amounted to £774,626, equal to $3,870,000, but by reference to the detailed statement of the specific sums of which this total is made upit wili be found that only about one-half is paid to jines running to British colonies, and that the other half is for steamers .—For Heating or Lighting. When Louis Napoleon sought to establish a line | of steamers trading with India and China, | he first of all granted the Messageries Im- | perial, as it was then known, a subsidy | that enabled it to compete successfully with the Peninsular and Oriental Company, that up to that time had enjoyed a mo- nopoly of the Eastern traffic and estab- lished the large and prosperous business that is now carried on by the Messageries Maritime. At one time the English Gov- ernment paid the Peninsular and Oriental over £400,000 per annum in order to sus- tain it against the competition that it had to face. These heavy subsidies not only ‘developed a trade that since then has sup- ported several lines of steamers, but in re- turn brought thousands of pounds in trade to British ports. LL It is stated that there is 20 per cent. less surplus of iron ore at Lake Erie ports this year than last. It is learned chat on May 1, 1889, there were 558,753 gross tons on dock, while on May 1, 1888, there were 703,720 tons. The winter shipments were 1,289,802 tons, or over 50 per cent. greater han during the winter of 1887-88. ie. Fe TH sis ol =~ , a } 5 a a ~~ t => ; i ¥ j i\- > i 5 - ~ - : ud i Pa ae yaa 1 ; ” wal - | ae A yl ad i | 'p : 3 3 ce o* ety ” : y +H oeis SEL bee) Bb veg es . peal i at e By Ai ay - » ap FA oemag* > : 696 THE IRON AGE. May 9, 1889 The Paris Exposition. (From a Special Correspondent.) The eleven years since 1878 have not been lost on the French people, and the exhibition about to be opened will show wonderful progress in all branches of en- gineering and mechanical works. While retaining the finish and perfection of de- tail for which they have always been noted, their ambition and their daring, which have been quite as prominent char- acteristics, have been turned into industrial channels. Having renounced, at least for the present, the hope of military renown, they are striving to win distinction in the peaceful rivalry of industrial progress. There is a good deal of political feeling, too, underlying their interest in this expo- sition. They desire to show the progress their country is making as a republic, and that under such a government a French- man can have quite as much to gratify his national pride as under an empire or a monarchy. They are, therefore, deter- mined to eclipse all previous exhibitions. The Eiffel Tower is nearly twice as high ag any other structure in the world. Their machinery hall is the largest room in the world without a pillar. Their buildings are all not merely houses to contain the exhibits, but beautiful architectural works, ornamented in the most lavish manner with mosaics, statuary, stained glass, paint- ings and decorations of every kind. The regulation of the exhibits, too, is carried further than at any previous exhibition, giving much better classification and an appearance of uniformity and symmetry that adds immensely to the general effect This is, of course, only true in part of the foreign sections. THE MACHINERY DEPARTMENT. In the machinery department things are in a more backward condition than in the industrial section, and it is probable that many exhibits will be incomplete on the day of opening. The blame for this must be borne in part by the management of the exhibition, which was very backward in its work on the building, and partly by ex- hibitors and their agents. Some impor- tant exhibits stand to-day with their boxes unopened, neither exhibitor nor agent hav- ing put in an appearance. An order has been issued by the French authorities that all boxes must be removed, and the officers are to-day engaged in doing this when the exhibitors or their agents are not here. The two lines of shafting running through the American machinery section are driven by two distinct types of engine standing opposite one another, so that the contrast between them is sharply brought out. One is the Straight-Line engine from Syracuse, N. Y., the other built by C. H. Brown & Co., Fitchburg, Mass. They are as differ- ent as possible in size and appearance, though both of equal power They are distinctively American in type. The Brown engine is connected with the shaft by a 20- inch belt, made by the American Leather Link Belt Company, designed to transmit 100 horse-power. This was the first main driving belt in position in Machinery Hall, and attracts much attention. Edison's electrical exhibit is the most prominent and occupies by far the largest space of any in the American section. Among the sub- jects shown the most prominent are electric lighting, ore separating, electric sub- ways and the phonograph and