The Iron Age 1889-09-05: Vol 44

{Ot Se ny 4 = - = HE IRON AGE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER, 5 1889 Eight Horse-Power Steeple Compound. | less than car lots will be #7} cents and on | Stone-Sawing with Helicoidal Wire ——— car lots 15 cents; pig-iron rates $2.50 per The accompanying engraving illustrates | ton from Pittsburgh to Chicago and $2.20 a ‘‘steeple” compound engine having | from the Mahoning Valley. The advance high-pressure cylinder 3}, low-pressure | is about 25 per cent. by altering the classi- cylinder 6, and stroke 5 inches, manu-|fication. The freight committee of the factured by the Shipman Engine Com-| Mahoning and Shenango valleys met at pany, of Boston, Mass. The engine is! Cleveland and arranged the iron tariff in especially designed to econ- omize room, both over the ordinary steeple compound in hight and the common fore-and.aft compound in length, being especially de- sirable where a maximum of power is wanted in a small boat with the least possible amount of space oc- cupied. The engine and boiler designed to accom- pany it make a complete plant which occupies but little room in comparison to the power developed. As will be seenfrom the cut it is a single ‘‘ gib” en- gine, having large steel col- umns to support the other side of the cylinders, and is fitted with the Joy patent reversing gear, which ob- viates the use of eccentrics, eccentric straps, &c., is almost noiseless in operation and gives the best results. The reversing lever is fastened to the bar by a small hand screw, andmay be placed at any point on it, thus giving the engineer the advantage of ‘‘ cut-off” at any part of the stroke he may wish. The valves themselves are of the piston type on the high-pressure cylinder and of the slide pattern on the low- pressure cylinder. It will also be noticed that there are but two stuffing-boxes, one on the valve-stem and one on the piston-rod. This fact will be appreciated by users of this style of engine who have heretofore been obliged to take care of six stuffing-boxes. Inthe space between the high and low pressure cylinders, formerly occupied by the other form of stuffing-boxes, there are placed two long brass bush- ings, each scored by two rings. Tests show that there is little or no leakage be- MN tween the two cylinders. The = pa Hi mt crank-shaft is in one piece 7 _— i and is made of cast-steel, = the crank-pin placed between balanced disks, the size of shaft being 1% inches. The feed-water pump for the boiler and the air-pump for condenser are driven from J NNO Eight Horse-Power Steeple Compound Engine. Cord. The Journal Society of Arts describes a method of cutting stone by means of sand carried by a helicoidal wire as practiced by M. Paulin Gay, of Marseilles. A con- tinuous wire cord, varying from 5, to 32 inch in diameter, is com- posed of three mild-steel twisted wires and is moved at a speed of from 15 to 17 feet per second. This wire, which led to the stone, being guided by grooved pulleys mounted on universal joint bearings which permit their adapting themselves to any change of direction. The cord is kept taut by a weighted truck moving or an‘inclined plane. The pulleys are mounted in standards and are fed down by endless screws rotated au- tomatically if the stone be uniform, but preterably by hand if there is reason to suspect irregularities in its texture. Sand and water is allowed to flow freely into the cuts, the sand carried along by the cord into the spiral interstices between the wires causing a uniform at- trition of the stone. The twist of the cord causes it while traveling to turn upon itself and thus become worn evenly. A cord of average length, say 150 yards, will cut about 70 feet deep in blocks 15 feet long, or produce 490 square feet of sawn surface before being worn out, when it may be used for fencing. The sand must be sharp and not used more ‘than three times. The nature of the sand is determined by the hardness of the stone; thus quartz sand will cut granite and porphyry, which it has hitherto been fourd impossible to saw, or, indeed, cut in any other way than by pick or chisel. An hourly advance of 1 inch in granite or porphyry and 4 inches in marble is regularly obtained in blocks of 15 or 16 feet long. At the Brussels Exhibition of last year, where the system was awarded a First Prize of Progress, the same cord which cut marble also cut a block of concrete composed of quartz pebbles. Not merely does the heli- coidal cord saw blocks of stone, but it even cuts them out of the solid rock in the quarry. Todo this it is neces- sary to sink shafts of 2 feet one pin on the end of shaft, the two being | conformity with the new basis adopted at | or 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, in order to connected by a ‘‘yoke.” The wrist-pin | Chicago, $2.20 per ton on pig-iron from | and crank-pin have each split boxes of|the valleys to Chicago. Rates from the | composition, and all other wearing parts | valleys to Cleveland were fixed at 80 cents | are provided with means for the taking! for pig-iron and 4 cents manufactured up of ‘‘lost motion.” All heavy running | 1ron, and to Pittsburgh 80 cents pig-iron parts, such as the shaft, wrist-pin, crank-|and 5 cents manufactured From the pin and slide, are fitted with oil-cups. | valleys to Boston the rate September 3 will The cylinders are neatly lagged in black | be 20 cents and 234 cents carload and less walnut bound with brass bands. | than carload lots manufactured iron and ame | $4 per ton pig-iron. That will make the | . #. | Cleveland rate on manufactured iron to The Central Traffic Association will ad- | Boston 214 and 25 cents carload and less introduce the pulley-carriers. If there is a free side to start from one shaft is suffi- cient for a triangular block; but for a quadrangular one, which 1s_ preferable, two shafts are necessary. They are bored by a mechanical perforator, consisting of a hollow-plate iron cylinder, having at its lowerend a slightly thicker collar which acts with sand and water in its latest de- velopment. The cylinder is made to re- volve at a speed of 140 revolutions a minute, by means of a tele-dynamic cable, vance rates on iron and steel September 16. | than carload respectively. The old iron | advancing about 1 inch per hour in mar- The rate between Buffaio and Chicago on! tariff from Cleveland was re-established. ‘ble. An annular space is cut in the rock, is of any desired length, is \ \ ~ 354 THE IRON AGE. leaving a core, which may be utilized as aj ished in 1613, and its shares were then column. The diameter of the shaftway | sold for £100 each. Portions and fractions depends upon the diameter of columns | of shares have since been sold, but only at most in demand, provided asufficient num- | rare intervals. Prices have steadily gone ber be sunk and the intervening angles | up for these fractions, until in 1878 a certain broken down, so as to afford sufficient | fraction was sold at the rate of £91,000 room for the pulley-carrier. for a whole share. This was an advance In the case of stratified rocks, the shaft-| from the original price of $500 to $455, - Cuts are carried down to anatural parting, |000. At the sale a few weeks since the but in unstratified rocks a nearly horizontal | price had advanced still further, the cut may be made with the cord, sufficient | enormous sum of £122,800, or $614,000, inclination being given to insure the flow | having been paid. of sand and water io the bottom of the New River dates from 1608, and owes cut. Such is the method of working| its existence to one Hugh Myddelton, a practiced at the Traigneaux Quarry, near | simple citizen and goldsmith of London, Philippeville, in Belgium, where 15,000) who was afterward made a baronet for the cubic feet of marble are extracted yearly | successof his enterprise. It is the distinc- with a 30 horse-power engine and only | tion of New River that it furnishes Lon- 30 hands in summer and 20 in winter, | don with water. Atthis late day more than besides the lads who tend the wire cords. | one-fourth of the city’s supply comes trom 1 Side Elevation of Steeple Compound Engine. September 5, 1889 The dividend in respect to the share re- cently sold for the year ending Christmas last was £2610, but the value of the share is greatly increased by the reversionary interest which it carries to ‘* important future accretions.”’ The nominal capital of the company, as shown by Parhia- mentary returns, amounted at December 31, 1884, to £3,369,933. In 1869 the re- 7 for water amounted to £268,238, and in 1888 they amounted to £511,356. The receipts depend upon the annual value of the properties supplied, and are not dependent upon the amount of water consumed, The company have the exclu- sive right of supplying water to fill the northern suburbs, including Hampstead and Highgate, the whole of the city of London proper, a large part of Westmin- ster, wealthy parishes at the West End and more distant parts of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. In addition to this mag- niticent source of revenue there are estates belonging to the company which embrace sondianaie tracts of land and important properties in the counties of Middlesex and Hertford, various premises in the city of London, and the Myddelton-square es- tate, which comprises about 50 acres in the very heart of the metropolis, for the most part covered with buildings the leases |of which expire in about 20 years, wheu the company come into possession of the rack rents. In addition to all this a bonus is occasionally declared, one in 1874 being at the rate of £1008 on each share, The acquisition of the share sold entitles one to a seat at the board. The auctioneers called the sale an ‘‘ un- precedented auction,” and that descrip- tion was justified. The room set apart for the sale was crowded in every part. ‘‘ No such sale,” said the auctioneer, ‘‘ as an en- tire share has occurred during the three centuries the New River has been in ex- istence. Therefore I think I am justified in describing it as an unprecedented auc- tion. There is a clear title for 52 years, which is good enough for anything. We have been solicited to sel] this property by private contract, but having taken time to consider we have determined that the property should go by public auction, and we have refused the offers made to us. I leave the property absolutely to you. Practically this is an unreserved sale. What is your price for this particularly unique freehold estate, with its income of £2610 a year up to last Christmas, which income has doubled within 20 years?” A voice, ‘* £80,000.” The auctioneer, ‘‘Thank you. Now, what is the next offer?” A voice, ‘‘ £81,000; another, ‘* £85,000;° another, ‘‘£90,000.” The Standard’s account says the bidding then advanced by £1000 at a time to £95,000; then a pause. After some further remarks from the auctioneer a bid was offered of £96,000. Then other voices, ‘‘ £97,000,” ** £98,000;"" in two places, £99,000,” ** £100,000." Then the biddings advanced by sums of £250 and by hundreds up to £102,000. Then a pause. There ap- The*system is also employed at granite and marbleJquarries in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Algeria, Tunis and other countries, where it said to be giving satisfactory and economical results. New River. Some springs and chalk wells 20 miles north from London furnish the water for this stream, which flows down to the great reservoirs, 40 acres in extent, at Stoke Newington. and thence to New River Head, near Sadler’s Weils Theater. Thence the water is carried direct to other 18s I Six Hundred Thousand Dollars for a Share of Stock. In a London auction room a few weeks] which belonged to Hugh Myddelton and igo a remarkable sale was effected. De-|the other half were taken by James I, who | scribed?as ‘‘ one entire and undivided share | in 1613 gave Myddelton his title. King | in the Adventurers’ moiety of the estates|James’ shares were afterward sold by and interest in the New River,” it was a lot such as had never before been submitted |ton for a fixed of £500 yarts of London orto high-level reservoirs in Claremont Square and at Highgate. | Originally there were 72 shares, half of Charles I to the second Sir Hugh Myddel- to public competition since this river was finished. Finished is the right word for the fact, because the river was virtually the*creation of men’s hands. It was fin- payment per annum, which is still continued. The net return on these 36 shares for the past year | amounted to £93,960, or nearly 200 times the fixed payment. | peared to be five groups bidding at this | time, and the price ran up by a hundred at l/a time, as fast as the auctioneer could }count, to £119,000. Then one or two groups became silent, and still the bids went on by a hundred at a time and some- times by leaps of £300 and £500, until | £122,000 was offered amid cheers. ‘‘Go on,” said the auctioneer, but all the would- | be purchasers had nearly done, and in a | few moments the share was knocked down, j}amid considerable excitement, for £122,- 800 to Mr. W. J. Lancaster, secretary of the Prudential Assurance Company. When Hugh Myddelton, the Welsh jew- |eler, determined to provide the then cir- cumscribed city with water, the first re- quirement of life was both poor in quality and scarce in quantity. The supply was mainly derived from two or three conduits in the principal streets, a few in the north- September 5, 1889 THE IRON AGE. 355 ern suburbs, and the springs in the neigh-| direction indicated by its natural flow. | by a distance exceeding the width of the borhood of the Fleet Ditch. Leaden/The results obtained by the American | pulley. Two endless chains (made up of tubes bore the water from these conduits to various points, and the city records contain an entry of how a dishonest citizen was punished for tapping the pipe where it passed his door and surreptitiously | diverting the water to his own well. | Hugh Myddelton resolved to bring an| ever-flowing stream—a New River, as the town termed it—from the clear springs and wells and streams of Hertfordshire. Finding, when the water had been brought as far as Enfield, that his own resources were unequal to the cost of completing sought help of the King, on the under- standing that his Majesty should, by pay- ing half the outlay, receive half the profits. In this way originated the ‘‘cov- eted King’s shares.” James’ money did more than supply the means of digging the reservoirs and theditches. It silenced the opposition which otherwise might have defeated the object of the active- minded jeweler. Even after the water was got into the city, with much pageantry and some bad poetry, nearly 276 years ago, the profits of Myddelton and his royal partner were meager in the extreme. With ‘‘classes”” and ‘‘ masses” arrayed against him, it is not to be wondered that for a time the London jeweler had to stick to | his shop more closely than ever, and that the sanguine King began to have his doubts of the promised fourfold return for his ‘‘gude Scots merks.” There is, indeed, still extant a legend to the effect that Myddelton ruined himse‘f, and after a life of want, unrelieved by the bounty of the corporation, died a pavior in a Shropshire village. In reality, he lived to the year 1631 as a prosperous gentleman, though his income was not derived to any great degree from the revenue of his New River. For a long time after the works were com- pleted the water was used to only a limited extent. For 19 years the annual income was barely 12 shillings a share. In 1634 one might have been had for a very moder- ate price, since its income did not amount to more than £3. 4/2, while its profits were practically nil. By 1636, aftera bad year or two, each moiety brought only £115. 10/ of profit, and toward the close of the last century the return was no more than £431. 8/8. As late as the second decade of this century a share was thought to have attained an extrevegant figure when it fetched £11,500 at auction. But of all the original 72 shares, none is | nowadays in the hands of either the ‘‘ Ad- venturer’s” or the King’s descendants. The last Sir Hugh Myddelton died so poor that his mother subsisted on a pension of £20 a year from the Goldsmiths’ Company. It will be seen, then, that all the wealth of the New River has been of recent growth. I — Our attention has been called to errors of statement in our comments on the ex- hibit at Paris of the American Screw Com- pany, of Providence, R. I. The most serious grew out of a typographical error, through which we made it appear that the rate of rolling was 60 screws a minute, against 70 screws in cutting, when we had written seven for the latter. We are in- formed that the figures stand 53 tor the rolling, while a cutting-machine will rarely average five a minute of the same size. The statement made in our com- ments has been misinterpreted: ‘‘ The leading principle which is followed throughout the work is that any effort to force the metal to assume the shape in- tended is found to result in failure, It must be carefully coaxed by causing it to flow naturally.”” What we intended to express was that any effort to do vio- lence to the metal wher forcing it to assume the shape intended results in fail- ure, that the work must progress in the Screw Company prove to what length it is possible to go in shaping metal by cold rolling. It proves, too, that success can be attained only by treating the metal in the right way. SEE Belt-Shifter. | From a paper read by J. T. Henthorn | flat limks) are carried by this shaft and \supported by the guide-rolls before re- ferred to. A portion of the chains, or flexible apron, is provided with 2-inch wooden rolls, the same extending across |and uniting the two chains; the under side of the rolls being some 4 inch or more above the periphery of the pulley | when the belt is shifted. In order to shift the belt the dynamo is and C. R. Remington at the recent conven- | first operated by the usual screw or equiva- tion of the National Electric Light As- lent device to slacken the belt somewhat, sociation, on the new central station of|to be immediately followed by operating the enterprise, the ‘‘Adventurer” be-|the Narragansett Electric Lighting Com-!a lever which carries the wooden rolls 48-——4+— {cc N.QF DYNAMO Belt-Shifter. pany, Providence, R. I., we take the fol- lowing description and accompanying drawings of the belt-shifter there used: The device adopted for shifting the dynamo belt is such that loose pulleys and clutches are entirely dispensed with, the pulleys being rigidly secured to the shaft. The arrangement consists (for each dynamo-driving pulley, the same being 60 inches in diameter) of a curved standard or frame secured to and extending up from the floor somewhat above the center of the shaft. Each side of the frame is provided with a series of narrow guide-rolls, the centers of which are arranged in a half circle whose diameter is somewhat less than that of the pulley, the curved frame in cross-section being U-shape; the pulley continuously revolving in the space lying between the two sides. To the rear of the 60-inch pulley, between it and the dynamo and inter- mediate of the upper and lower sides of the belt, is mounted a short shaft parallel with the main shaft, having two chain wheels thereon, separated from each other ahead from the normal position, thereby engaging the inner face of the belt, and as the chain advances lifts the belt radi- ally away from the pulley, the belt then being stationary and the pulley revolving. To start the dynamo the operation is re- versed—that is, the flexible apron is re- volved rearwardly, thereby carrying the rolls from the proximity of the pulley and allowing the belt to re-engage the pulley, the dynamos at the same time being actu- ated to tighten the belt. I Mr. Licht’s report on the beet crop gives the following estimates for 1889-90, based on previous years’ root and sugar yield: Germany, 1,030,000 tons; Austria, 630,000 tons; France, 505,000 tons ; Russia, 500,000 tons; Belgium, 145,000 tons; Holland, 47,000 tons; other coun- tries, 58,000 tons; together, 2,915,000 tons, against 2,735,000 tons in 1888-89, 2,451,950 tons in 1887-88, 2,730,206 tons in 1886-87, and 2,219,073 tons in 1885-86. \ ‘\ 356 THE IRON AGE, September 5, 1889 the majority of whom it is a novel sight.) Figs. 5 and 6 show a plan of the great The [lluminated Fountains at the In all the exposition fountains there are | fountain in the lower basin and a section . o,8 48 distinct jets. The methods employed | through the subterranean chambers solidly Paris Exposition. to make every one of them appear like| constructed in Coignet cement. It indi- i a glowing mass of water issuing from|cates the lines by which the colored : ee darkness are interesting. glasses are handled and slows the posi- { The cheap facilities offered for brilliant Single isolated vertical jets or groups of | tions of the different lights, forming a m4 illumination since the perfection of elec- | jets are arranged in the manner shown in| group of 18, while the total number of Ha) tric lighting have aided to make exhi-|Fig. 1. The supply-pipe is carried slong! powerful lights is 48, 30 being arranged at es bitions attractive at night where formerly | over a glass plate placed a trifle higher | other points. visitors were limited to day-time. In fact, | than the level of the water in the basin, an oo - it is not too much to say that the popu-| arrangement which applies to all those The Work larity of recent shows, particularly in| parts of the fountains which arise from the 7 Europe, has been largely due to the brill- | water in the basin. The light is thrown ‘ ; iant spectacle offered by profuse illumina- | into them from below, an electric arc light From a recent issue of the Albany Argus tion. It is not surprising, in view of the| being placed under it with a reflector, | VW take the following notes regarding the love of the average Parisian for out-door| which throws the rays in a direction ap-; WOTk being done at the Watervliet Arse- evening enjoyment, that the managers of | proximately parallel. The light, when it | nal : at Watervliet Arsenal. the great exposition made efforts to outdo | once gets into the jets, follows their curves, FOUNDRY AND SHOPS. any achievement in that direction. Fol- | because by the laws of reflection it cannot| The present foundry, or shop, was built lowing in the footsteps of the English, who | escape. Between the electric light and | for a lumber shed, but it is large and very made illuminated fountains a feature in| jet are interposed sheets of colored glass, | substantially built and has served very the exhibition in London in 1884, in Man- | The arrangement shown in Fig. 1 is that | well the purposes to which it has been put. chester in 1887 and in Glasgow in 1888, |of Galloway & Sons. The French firm| It is long and narrow, extending nearly they introduced them on a grand scale, | Sautter, Lemonnier & Co, use the plan| north and south. Through the middle Coupled with the lighting of the cascades | ishown in Fig. 2. Instead of the hori-| runs a track, and close to the walls on of the Trocadiro and the blaze of light | zontal hand-regulated arc of the English | each side is a single rail, the two forming from the Eiffel Tower, the illuminated | firm they use the vertical automatic type, | a track very nearly the width of the build- fountains, which stretch from the latter to | A reflector placed at an angle of 45° throws | ing ; on each runs a derrick having a a point near the main entrance of the ex- | the light upward. capacity of 15 tons. This is necessary for position buildings, constitute a dazzling| The most interesting and novel part of | handling the big guns and heavy forgings. picture. They have certainly proved a|the work was the problem of lighting the| Right here it may be said that no cast- wonderful attraction. Your correspondent ! parabolical jets issuing from the horns of'ing is being done at the foundry. The Z LLL ZZZZZZZEZZZEEZ CAAA Z LY YYZ: Fig. 2. Fig. 5 Fig. 4 THE ILLUMINATED FOUNTAINS AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION, has noted crowds occupying seats there | plenty and dolphins’ mouths of the central, parts or forgings are brought from, other hours before their playing began, content | statuary and the bases of the urns. It is| places and simply made into a gun there. to wait patiently in the blissful certainty | based on Colladon’s experiment, but it| Jackets and bands of various weights and that they would have an unobstructed| was soon found that with the intense | thickness lie about the shop, awaiting the view. The fountains consist of a group | light used and the great dimensions the | day when they shall become part and par- by Coutan of heroic size, from which aj jet could be illuminated for only a short} cel of one of those havoc-creating mon- series of jets issues, others falling into the | distance. Investigation proved, however, | sters. basin from the urns at the base of the | that success could be obtained by throw-| Entering at the south end of the building, statues ornamenting its sides. The water | ing the beam of light into the center of | the engine-room is the first place of inter- drops, in a cascade 120 feet wide, into a| an annular jet of water, as shown in Fig jest. It contains a 60 horse-power Buck- lower rectangular basin representing a/3, an_ elliptical form being finally|eye engine, a hydraulic press with a river, twelve smaller fountains rising in it | adopted. It was found that a jet nearly| capacity of about 200 tons, used for along the sides. Thence it flows into an|} inch thick could be illuminated fall-| making gas-stops for the guns, and a octagonal basin in the center of which is|ing from a hight of nearly 15 feet. It| powerful pump. Just beyond the engine- a large fountain composed of one great |is remarkable how thin the annular body | room on the same side of the building is central jet around which play six smaller | of water may be without allowing any of} the furnace, or, more properly speaking, fountains, the whole surrounded by ten|the light to escape. The general arrange-| the oven in which the bands and jackets lower jets. The effect produced by con-| ment adapted for these honzontal jets is| are heated preparatory to being shrunk on ! verting all these jets and cascades of spark- | shown in Fig. 4. the guns. On the right side of the build- far ling water into columns glowing alternately | In order to hide from the spectator the|ing, just opposite the furnace, is the in the most delicate colors of the rainbow | source of the light and thus make the il- | shrinking-pit, above which rise two der- cannot be described. It possesses a /|lusion complete, the lower parts of the jets|ricks, one on each side. A few steps : fascination which few can escape. Your | are surrounded by an ornamental cast-iron | further on is the big room where the guns hime § correspondent has seen tens of thousands, | ring, shown in Fig. 2. are bored and rifled. Two lathes and ee, fascinated for hours, struggling good- Five sets of colored glass are interposed|the big 15-ton derrick already de- naturedly to obtain a better view. Small! between the electric lights and the jets| scribed constitute about all the fur- as it is, the fountain in the court of the | of water. All of them are connected, so|niture of the place, but just at present Grand Hotel at Paris has a similar power | that they can be moved simultaneously by | there are two monster guns and a gigan- of attraction, especially to Americans, to handling a lever at the central station.'tic mortar there as ornaments, The September 5, 1889 lathe which is"now in use is 90 feet long and is capable of carrying anything that has been made at the shops thus far. Be- yond the room containing the big guns is the shop in which light field-pieces are be- ing made. Rows of benches line both sides of the shop and a corps of machinists are busy turning, filing and fitting por- tions of the breech mechanism. At the upper end of this shop stands one of the new guns on a light field-carriage, its nar- row black muzzle pointing down the track that runs through the building. This gun needed only the introduction of a project- ile and a cartridge to be ready for immedi- ate use, 80 Colonel Whittemore took it as a model on which to give me my first lesson in gun-making. He got right down to first principles without delay, BUILT-UP GUNS, All the guns made at Watervliet are known as ‘* built-up” guns, and are made THE IRON AGE. 357 of the tube, making everything secure. | edges until it completely fills the rear of Preparatory to being placed upon the| the chamber, shutting off the escape of all gun, the jacket is heated until just large | gas through the breech. Another im- enough to be slid into its place. No un-| portant piece of mechanism is the vent- necessary heating is done, the object being stop. When the breech is opened to have a tight fit when hot. How tight | after a discharge a thin strip of steel it is when cold can better be imagined | slides forward over the vent and remains than described. The seventh part of the| there until the last movement is made in gun according to the above division is the | closing the breech. The object of this is base ring. This is back of the chamber | to prevent the introduction of a friction and receives the breech-block when the | primer before the proper time and so piece is closed ready for firing. guard against any possibility of a prema- After briefly explaining the different | ture discharge of the piece. The gun as parts of the gun Colonel Whittemore pro- | it stood in the shop, field-carriage and all, ceeded to explain | weighed just aton. The gun itself weighed | 800 pounds and the carriage 1200. Its bore | is 3,2, inches, and it fires a projectile weigh- The breech was open, affording a view | irg 14 pounds with a charge of 3} pounds clear through the bore. The breech-block, | of powder. A battery of these guns was a cylindrical piece of steel with a small! sent down to New York at the time of round hole extending through it longi-| the Washington centennial celebration, tudinally and with an interrupted or|and was the admiration of artillerymen slovted screw cut on its circumference, was | from all over the country. They are very THE BREECH ACTION, ZZ Fig. 5.—Plan, TUNNEL FOR Fig. 6.—Section. THE ILLUMINATED FOUNTAINS AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION. by a series of bands or rings upon a steel tube. One of the field-pieces may be di- vided into sevep parts for purposes of de- scription, and this description will answer in all the essential details for one of the heavy guns, though the latter have many more bands, being re-enforced clear to the muzzle. Naturally the tube is part one, serving as it does as the toundation for the gun. Next comes the jacket, the broad heavy band shrunk on at the breech and extending about one-third the length of the gun. Next comes the trunnion band, which is shrunk on just forward of the breech, and which, in addition to serving as a strengthener, carries the trunnions which support the gun on the carriage. In | swung clear of the breech, exposing the} easily handled and are effective up to a chamber. In closing the breech the block |long range. The shops can turn out was swung into place, the threads on its | these small guns quite rapidly, at the rate surface fitting the slots in the base-ring|of about 50 a year. The 3,,-inch size is and vice versa. So finely was everything | the only one that they have been at work adjusted that the block swung into posi-| upon thus far, but they will soon com- tion with scarcely perceptible friction.|mence the manufacture of 3,',-inch The gun was not yet ready for firing, | guns. though. The block was not locked and a| [Leaving the light guns, Colonel Whit- discharge, had one been possible under | temore led the way back to the shop con- such conditions, would have blown the | taining , breech wide open. One-sixth of a turn of | : the handle in the breech-block to the right | made everything fast, turning the block | in course of completion. The mammoth so that the screw-threads on its surface | breech-loading mortar was first inspected. slid into those in the base-ring, making | This is not in coarse of completion, but is the whole breech practically one solid | undergoing repairs. It was sent in from THE BIG GUNS front of the trunnion band is the sleeve, | piece. Another part of the breech mech- | South Boston to have a new breech-block similar to the jacket but smaller, and for-| anism not yet explained is the gas-stop.| putin. This grim-looking mass of iron ward of that is the collar and locking ring. | This has a mushroom-shaped head that} weighs 14} tons, has a 12-inch rifle bore The explanation for the arrangement | just fits the rear end of the chamber, and|and can throw a 600-pound projectile six of this series of bands is this: The recoil upon the discharge of the gun | a plunger extending back through the | miles with a charge of 70 pounds of pow- hole in the breech-block already referred | der. The breech mechanism of this giant would have a tendency to force the|to. The mushroom head is of steel backed | differs slightly from that of the field- gun back out of the jacket. Each suc- ‘ceeding ring shrunk on serves to bind the tube more firmly in its place, and the | | | by an asbestos washer, which is in turn/ piece The breech-block, a ponderous backed by a steel washer. When the) mass of steel, is hung on an immense brass charge is exploded the steel face of the | hinge that extends under it and is called a locking ring, the last one shrunk on, has | mushroom head is forced back a trifle, | consul. Two handles extend out from the an inside ring which sets into the surface squeezing the asbestos washer out at the ' back of the breech-block and a crank pro- \ ‘ 358 jects beyond the rear of the consul. The gas-stop and interrupted-screw system of locking is the same as in the small gun. To see the ponderous piece of mechan- ism as it hung there, one would think it a hard piece of work to close the breech. It was not, though. An easy pressure upon the block moved it easily and it swung smoothly and noiselessly up to the breech. As the big brass consul, which swung with the block, reached the breech, it was firmly latched in position by an automatic attachment. necessary to finish the closing process. First, the crank projecting from the con- sul came into play. to a double screw acting through the con- sul for moving the breech-block. A few Two more movements were | turns of the crank sufficed to slide the! block inte the breech. Then a turn of a lever to the right finished the locking process and slipped the vent-stop from the vent. Everything was as finely adjusted and worked as smoothly as a piece of clock-work. These 12-inch mortars can be made for one-tenth the cost of one of the 12-inch long range guns, and the ar- gument in their favor is that a battery of ten of them throwing shells a distance of | grooves. THE IRON AGE. September 5, 1889 as a single erratic movement of the cutter would have ruined the piece. After the gun had been bored it was adjusted on the lathe and elaborate preparations made for getting just the proper twist to the From the side of the lathe a long iron arrangement, looking something like a girder, stretched alony the floor, one end coming almost up to the lathe and the other descending a short distance through the floor. This arrangement was longer than the gun itself, and as it sloped down from the lathe it curved. The curve 'to be made in the gun was what was This crank is attached | known as a semi-cubic parabola, and the girder-like affair was a sort of guide. A long beam with a wheel at the lower end extended up into the air from the upper end ofthe guide. In its lower end was a wheel to run along the guide, and the beam itseif was geared to the shaft of the cutting-machine. The result of all that queer gearing was this: As the cutter moved forward the wheel of the upright beam slid forward, the wheel of the up- nght beam slid down the guide, and the gearing by which it was attached to the cutter-shaft sent the cutter around inside of the bore as it went ahead. The amount The Keasey Iron-Center Wood Split Pulley. six miles would be more effective than a single long-range gun under ordinary cir- cumstances. EIGHT-INCH RIFLE. The new 8-inch rifle was next inspected. Only one man was at work upon it and he was using a small piece of oil-stone rub- bing off infinitessimal irregularities on the surface. The breech mechanism had not yet been put in, so that the gun was noth- ing more than an immense steel tube. It is 23 feet 24 inches long and has a range of from six to eight miles. With acharge of 125 pounds of powder it throws a 300- pound projectile with force sufficient to penetrate a 10-inch steel plate at 1000 yards. It was a beautiful specimen of offensive armor as it lay there. In finish- ing it a new attachment will be tried. In- stead of having the breech mechanism built on the gun itself, a base-cap will be bolted to the breech for carrying it. The object of this is to save transporting the entire gun when a portion of the breech machinery gives out. Had the 12-inch mortar had a breech-cap, it might have re- mained at South Boston while the cap and its attachments came to Watervliet for re- pairs. RIFLING. A peep through the bore of the gun showed an interior like glass with a num- ber of fine lines turning and twisting in a very puzzling manner. They showed the rifling of the bore. There are 48 grooves in the bore, each ,}; inch deep. The cut- taken off by the cutter at each trip was shy inch, necessitating ten trips to cut one groove, or 480 to complete the rifling of the gun. The 10-inch gun is now on the lathe being bored. The semi-cubic parabola and its uses may be briefly described as follows: Near the chamber of the gun the grooves are nearly straight, but take on an increasing twist as they progress until within a short distance of the muzzle, when the twist becomes uniform. The object in starting the grooves so nearly straight is to avoid too great pressure at the start. SHRINKING THE RINGS ON, Returning to the room containing the furnace and shrinking-pit, Colonel Whit- temore explained the uses of each. When a gun is ready to receive its jacket it is suspended in a vertical position in the pit. The jacket is placed upon a car in the oven and the fires lighted around the oven. When the workman in charge of the heating thinks that the proper degree has been reached the doors are opened and he makes a test. In testing he uses a stick with steel points, which are set at the required measurement. This stick is fastened crosswise to the end of a long pole. If the steel points on the end of the cross-stick will pass inside of the diam- eter of the jacket the proper degree has been reached; if not the heating must be continued. When the proper degree has been reached the car is run out, the jacket hoisted upon a derrick and swung over the ting was a very particular piece of work, ‘gun. Then itis carefully lowered into posi- tion. Great care has to be taken to pre- vent excessive heating, as that causes the metal to scale; yet it is necessary to heat it enough or it cannot be fitted upon the gun. THE NEW BUILDING. Just west of the shop now in use an im- mense shop is in course of erection. It is to be 566 feet long by 125 feet and about 50 feet high to the eaves. Throughout nearly the entire length of the building a space 75 feet wide in the middle will be occupied by lathes running across. <A railroad track connecting with the Dela- ware and Hudson road runs across the lower end of the building, passes down through the arsenal grounds, across Broad- way and down to the arsenal dock on the river front. The advantages of having the gun-foundry accessible both by rail and water are obvious. It is expected that an addition to the new building will be built on the southern end. I Iron-Center Wood Split Pulley. The Keasey Pulley Company, of Misha- waka, Ind., have been consolidated with the Great Western Pin Company, of To- ledo, Ohio, who now manufacture the pulley of which we herewith present illus- trations. In the Keasey pulley the hub, being of cast-iron, can be clamped rigidly to the shaft. In addition to this it is sup- plied with two set-screws, or is made with a key-way when desired. As the hub is clamped tightly to the shaft there is no danger of the set-screws throwing the pul- ley out of balance. The hub is made with recesses, into which the spokes are driven and a disk or bore flange is bolted to it, the bolts passing through the spokes in the same way as in a patent wagon-wheel. The rim is made of yellow poplar and is built up to one-half the seh as oe width; the center is laid on the half-finished rim and the spokes are let into it. The bal- ance of the rim is then ccmpleted, sawed in two, rebolted together and turned. The bushings are made of paper, those ,*; inch and under being entirely of paper, while above that size they are backed out with wood. Loose pulleys are furnished with sleeves of vulcanized fiber 2 inches longer than the face of the pulley, and which, it is claimed, will outlast an iron sleeve. It is claimed that this pulley will not warp, and that as only the edges of the spokes are presented to the air during ro- tation but little resistance is offered, and only a small amount of power is lost as compared with pulleys so made that their spokes act as fans, LLL The Illinois Elevated Railway Company last week filed articles of incorporation in the office of the Secretary of State at Springfield. The capital stock is placed at $10,000,000, and the incorporators are Michael W. Ryan, John Tyler, Edward C. Donnelan, William H. Bell and Paul Brown, all of Chicago. Michael W. Ryan was seen by a reporter and said: ‘‘I am not yet at liberty to give the names of the men back of this company, but will say that they are all Eastern men and have ample means. They have been here look- ing into the matter five or six months and have determined to build a system of elevated roads on the West Side. They have seen that it is needed here and that everything is about going to sleep over here for lack of just such an enterprise. These men will not float adollar’s worth of bonds, but will pay cash and build it them- selves. Of course this is on the condition that rights of way can be obtained, of which there is little or no doubt. These secured, work will begin immediately. It is not a speculative move, nor is it in the remotest degree connected with any similar scheme contemplated here.” . 5, 1889 Louisville Pumping Engines. With Supplementary Sheet of Engravings. The engine of which we herewith pre sent drawings of the principal parts was designed by E. D. Leavitt, of Cambridge- port, Mass, and Charles Hermany, of Louisville, Ky., and is now being built by Fig. 10.— Valve-Gear. the I. P. Morris Company, of Philadel- phia, for the Louisville Water Company. The engine is of the balanced ‘ in- verted beam” type, which is now used by Mr. Leavitt in all his designs of pumping-engines, as well as in a number of his large mining-engines. Both cylinders are vertical and inverte1, the high-pressure working on one end of the beam and the low-pressure on the | other end. The pump plungers have a shorter stroke than the steam pistons, | each having a piston stroke of 10 feet. Both | detected and re smedied. _ THE TRON AGE 85% being worked from nearer the beam center cylinders are jacketed on the = covered than the point of application of the steam by Mr. L eaviti’ s patents. It will be seen in links. The fly-wheel shaft is centered to Fig. 4 that each cylinder and its jacket is one side of the main part of the engine, cast ir one piece. The jacket is not con- and is worked by a connecting rod from tinuous, however, but has an opening the upper part of the beam. It will be about 3 inches wide all around it at about noticed that the whole arrangement is the middle of the length. This opening such that all parts of the engine are almost is covered by a copper expansion ring perfectly balanced in all positions, and at which is bolted tightly to both parts of the the same time friction is reduced to a jacket. This method of jacketing has Fig, 6,—Low-Pressure Inlet- Valve. Fig. i.—Low-Pressure Inlet-Valvre Seat. [| | Fig. 8.—High-Pressure Inlet-Vatve. | | | Ee «Ad heh lied et ! } Fig. 9.—High-Pressure Inlet-Valve Seat. minimum, both by this balancing and | the advantage over the method of using;a by substituting pin friction for slide fric- | separate- -working lining inserted into the tion wherever possible. The engine is| cylinder jacket that in the latter case the designed for a duty of 16,000,000 U.S.) ¢ learance at ends of cylinders and in steam gallons jor 24 hours, the maximum head | passages is not increased. above that which being about 185 feet. The steam pressure | would exist in an unjacketed cylinder. to be used is 140 pounds per square inch. | At the same time the difference of ex- The speed of engine at regular working ca-| pansion of the inner and outer walls is pacity will be 18 revolutions per minute. | perfectly provided for, and the expansion The high-pressure cylinder is 27 inc hes | arrangement is on the outside of the in diameter and the low- -pressure { 54 inches, | cylinder, where any breakage can be easily ad E 860 THE IRON AGE. September 5, 1889 There are separate gridiron steam (Figs. 6 to 9 inclusive) and exhaust valves for each end of each cylinder, worked by cams. The high-pressure valve-gear is | j shown in Fig. 10. These cams are} placed on shafts which derive their motion =) . rs by gearing from the crank-shaft. The 4, low-pressure cut-off is fixed, and the high- | i pressure regulated by a centrifugal gov- 3 ie ernor. In the Leavitt cut-off the valves - : eae always have the same travel, no matter how much the point of cutting off may be changed. The steam valve is opened by one cam and closed by another, the point of cut-off being determined by the position of the cut-off cam on its shaft, this posi- tion being regulated by the governor. The cut-off being a positive one is appli- cable to engines of any speed as well as to slow-speed engines like the one here de- scribed. The arrangement of the valves is such as to give a very small clearance, amounting to only about 1.6 per cent. of Onn eure | the piston displacement. The effect of io the constant length of valve travel is to make the wear very even and to make the valves keep tight. Valves designed by Mr. Leavitt on this principle were recently examined after 16 years’ constant use and found as tight as when first fitted. The exhaust from the high-pressure eylinder on its way to the low-pressure valve-chests passes through reheaters which contain an aggregate of 2900 copper tubes & inch outside diameter and 2 feet 6 inches long between tube sheets. Live | steam from the boilers passes through the tubes and the water of condensation is led directly back to the boilers, the same as water drained from the jackets. The connecting rod, forged of open- | hearth steel, is 14 feet long between centers, | The boxes are Eureka steel castings with | babbitted wearing-surfaces. Both rods are fitted with adjusting bolts and wedges. | The boxes are bored at beam end 9 inches diameter and 15 inches long, and at crank | end 134 inches diameter and 154 inches | long. The crank-shaft is built up with a| double throw-crank of 3 feet 6 inches | JannodoDNNONDOONODOooooOoOcoCo~ooda Fig. 3.—Plan. radius. The shaft and crank-pin are of | through its center, and the shaft has simi- | diameter. The main journals are 33 inches open-hearth steel and the cranks forged of |lar 5-inch holes. The shaft has three/and the outboard journal 32 inches best selected scrap-iron. The crank-pin | journals, one on each side of the crank and| long. These journals work in four-box has a 4-inch hole drilled longitudinally !one beyond the fly-wheel; all 17 inches‘ pedestals with babbitted bearing-surfaces. September 5, 1889 The boxes are adjustable in all directions, and those of the outboard bearing are self- adjusting by means of swivel-blocks. The beam (Figs. 11 and 12) is made of two massive hollow gun-iron castings, with steel pins forced in for the various connections. The beam center-pin has two bearings, 15 inches diameter and 30 inches long. The beam pedestals are similar to those for the crank-shaft. The fly-wheel is made of cast-iron in 12 segments. It is 36 feet in diameter and 15 inches wide on the face and weighs about 57 tons. The two main pumps (Fig. 13) are exactly alike in all re- spects and are of the differential plunger type. The plungers are of cast-iron, turned to a diameter of 24,!, inches for the upper 16 and 34 inches for the lower plungers. Both plungers have a stroke of 7 feet. Each THE IRON AGE. plunger and of the same stroke as the air- pump for forcing air into the air-vessels of | the main pumps. There are three boilers (one being spare) of the Belpain fire-box, horizontal tubu- lar type, each having 524 square feet of | grate surface and 2241 square feet of heat- | ing surface, making a ratio of 42.7 to 1. | Each boiler has two furnaces opening into a combustion chamber common to the two. There are 159 tubes in each boiler, 3 inches outside diameter and 16 feet long between tube sheets. The boilers are built of the best open-hearth steel that can be procured. The ash-pits, smoke-boxes, &c., are of cast-iron, so that each boiler is self-contained, and no brick-setting is required. An overhead traveling-crane of | | } 35 tons 91 dia; | 5 ao 9 — T Nass > SN ia -_ WSS ~ fk >> --——-—| | | --WZ GY = Ge we Ne Ts 6GOYZN ers NZ wwii SZS Y /, S S eS LLY ~ Ky ggg LZ 16 | nl NX ¥) SS y G YUU A SS