The Iron Age 1889-09-19: Vol 44

H Fore-and-Aft Compound Engine. In our issue of September 5 we illus- trated a steeple compound engine built by the Shipman Engine Company, of Boston, Mass., which was particularly intended for use on yachts because of the very small | amount of space occupied. We this week present engravings ofa fore-and-aft com- pound engine built by the same company, and which is not unlike the average fore- and-aft compound engine. The cylinders are 44 x 9 inches, the stroke being 5 inches. The engine is provided with the usual double eccentrics and link motion, and both the high and the low pressure valve gears are operated by arms secured to a shaft moved by the lever. The cast-steel shaft is 2} inches in diameter, is made in one piece and is provided with balanced disks. The shaft-boxes are extra The cranks are placed at 90°, thereby Ce) MT we ) ii i ‘i. a , i aa aw THE §S avoiding dead-centers. All the wearing parts are adjusted for the taking up of lost motion and are provided with oil- cups. The engine is neat in appearance and compact. EEE Standard Rail Sections and Uniform Tests. At the business meeting of the Seabright convention of the American Society it was resolved to appoint certain special commit- tees to report on _ various subjects. Whether or not these committees shall be appointed must be finally determined by a letter ballot of the society, and accord- ingly ‘the resolutions are submitted, with brief statements of the arguments for and against. The vote will close October 2. STANDARD RAIL SECTIONS. Resolved, That a committee be appointed by the Board of Direction to be author zed | and instructed to report to the society a set of standard rail sections of weights, be- ginning at 40 pounds, and advancing by increments of 5 pounds to 100 pounds per lineal yard. Argument For.—It was shown by the} mover of the resolution at the annual con- vention that the Pennsylvania Steel Gom- pany have rolls for 24 sections of rails, ex- F, long. | IRON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1889 tending from weight of 40 pounds per yard to weight of 69 pounds per yard, of which 10 are for weights of from 56 pounds to 624 pounds per yard, inclusive: that the Cambria Iron Company have rolls for 30 sections, embracing weights from 40 pounds per yard to 67 pounds per yard, of which 10 are for 60-pound sections and 20 are for weights of from 56 pounds to 6234 pounds per yard; that the Edgar Thomson Steel Company have rolls ‘for 32 embracing weights of 50 pounds to 85 |pounds per yard, of which 17 are for weights of 56 to 63 pounds per yard. It is evident that if a set of standard sections were adopted 13. sets of rolls would be | sufficient to embrace all the sections from 140 pounds to 100 pounds per yard, ad vancing by increments of 5 pounds, that the saving in expense of rails must inure to the benefit of the railroad companies using the rails, and that if it were possible Set tions, HIPMAN FORE-AND-AFT COMPOUND to adopt also a uniform standard of drill- | ing, rails of the sections most in demand could be kept in stock by the rolling-mills, which would have the‘ twofold advantage of enabling the mills to run when orders were slow and of enabling railroad com- panies to get orders for such sections filled upon short notice. The saving on the whole would probably amount to not less than $1 per ton of rails made. Argument Against.—There were no ob- jections raised to the resolution at the convention. The only objection known is that the adoption of standards tends to check experimentation and thereby to a certain extent to prevent improvements. In this case the probable effect would be torelieve the engineers of railroad com- panies of the burden of designing new sections. The adoption of standard sec- tions would do away with a great many of the rolls now in use, but it is believed that the rolling-mills will not object to this in view of the advantage of procuring those standards. There is a feeling among some of our members that there are questions con- nected with the determination of the best rail section not yet sufficiently determined | to warrant the promulgation by a commit- | tee of the society of a section to be called ; Standard. (s KL UNIFORM Resolved, That a committee of members of the society be appointed by the president to recommend uniform methods of testing the materials used in metallic structures. Argument For.— The testing of materials used in metallic structures is becoming more general every year and engineers are beginning to insist upon knowing all the characteristics of materials used by them in the construction of these structures. A large number of tests are daily being made, the results of which, subsequently pub- lished in the transactions of this and other societies and in the technical press, would be of more value to the profession were these results comparable. The deplorable lack, however, of uniformity in the methods pursued of making these tests has hitherto rendered their results non- comparable. For example, in comparing rESTS. seven ENGINE. the specifications of various railroad and bridge companies it will be observed that the ‘‘ elongation test” is to be measured in some cases in 8-inch and in others in ten times the smallest diameter of the test specimen, and again in others in 12 times the same diameter. It will ob- served that the sizes of the test specimens required are variable, although these variations are not so great as in the lengths specified for the determination of elonga- tion tests. For these reasons it seems that if a uniform method of testing materials could be formulated worthy of recom- mendation by this society it would prove of much value to the profession in render- ing comparable the results of the tests made by different experimenters. Itis also thought desirable that methods commended in pursuance of the foregoing suggestions should be such as will subject test specimens to a treatment approximat- ing as nearly as possible to the service conditions of such materials under actual working stresses. If an acceptable code of testing can be so devised not involving excessive cost in preparation of necessary test samples, and one that, while per- fectly fair to the manufacturers, would be convincing and satisfying to the engineer, united to aniform laboratory practice, it could not fail to greatly add to our present + t also be 436 THE IRON AGE. September 19, 1889: knowledge concerning the qualities and resistances of structural materials, en- couraging the manufacturer to increase his efforts to raise the standard of the same, and also affording him a guarantee that the results of such efforts will be duly recognized, appreciated and intelligently recorded in a mode affording a just and equitable comparison with others, Arqument Against.—The board report that they have found no arguments against the adoption by the society of this resolu- tion, except that the labor devolving upon the committee would be very great. SPECIFICATIONS FOR MATERTAL. Resolved, That the same committee be requested to report such requirements for these materials as, in their judgment, may conduce to further improve the grade >f such structures. Argument For.—In comparing the speci fications issued by the principal railroad companies, defining the qualities as to strength, &c., of the materials used by them in their structures, a considerable difference of opinion is found as to what these requirements should be. <A few manufacturers have agreed upon and is- sued what they call a standard specifica- tion, covering certain requirements as to quality of materials. In many cases en- gineers whose practice in this line has been limited and who are not familiar with the manufacture of materials have been led to adopt the manufacturers’ specifications, on the ground tL at the manufacturers ought to know what they can best produce. Manu- facturers, however, are not always the best judges of what qualities materials should have, as they are of necessity biased and desirous of having specified such qualities as can easily and economically be secured in current munufacture. Engineers em ploying these materials in construction should have full liberty to specify such qualities for these materials as in their judgment are necessary to improve the grade of such structures. For which rea- sons it seems desirable that this committee should report a general specification cov- ering all requirements for materials used in metallic structures, which, although not necessarily called a ‘‘ standard speci- fication,” nor indorsed as such by the so- ciety, would serve as a guide to such members of the profession as are not fa- miliar with processes of manufacture and enable them to specify such qualities for materials as seem to them best suited for their intendeu uses. Argument Against.—The adoption of standards in forms and sizes tends to dis- courage experimentation and thereby to prevent improvements. The specifications in regard to maximum strains to be al- lowed depend in many instances upon State laws, which vary in the several States, and therefore standard specifica- tions in this respect would not be prac- tical. Also, the work of a committee intrusted with the presentation of the report de- manded by this resolution would interfere with that individual direction of and re- sponsibility for work which should be left entirely to the engineer in charge. ee The Russian oil wells along the shore of the Caspian Sea, the prodigious yield of which has exceeded in quantity the most noted wells in Pennsylvania, as might have been expected, have more quickly exhausted the subterranean store of oil from which their product has been drawn. The yield for the last year has fallen one- half below the estimate, ani the deficit will have to be made good in America. Upto this time the petroleum producers of the United States have encountered no rivalry except the low-priced petroleum of Russia, which has interfered with their trade in foreign markets. THE PARIS EXPOSITION. Exhibits of Freneh [ron-Makers.—I. Continuing the review of the exhibits in the French iron and steel section, we meet as we progress a greater number of larger producers of heavy goods, while the exhibits of products of higher finish fall off in number and importance. The | Société Métallurgique du Périgord, with | works | specialty of cast-iron pipe. who make a Among other articles they exhibit a 3.2-foot pipe, of which about 38,000 feet were used for the syphon which conveys water from Budos to Bordeaux, and a 1.1-meter (3.6-foot) pipe, of which 4500 meters (14,474 feet) were required for the Vanne syphon of the Paris water supply. H. Rémaury, Fumel own at their (Lot- et-Garonne) have blast-futnaces, 81 Rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, formerly connected with the Ars- | sur-Moselle and Pompey works, and F. Valton, who was identified with Terre- tral lining by displaying a number samples of steel. They claim great ad- vantages for chrome ore for the bottom for cpen-hearth furnaces, which has been put into use in France, Spain, Russia, Italy and England. If we remember cor- rectly, Bell Brothers, at Clarence, near Middlesborough, have experimented with it. Among the smaller exhibits in this part of the section are fair malleable castings by Veuve Jules Jacquemart, of Charleville (Ardennes), and a fine lot of circular saws by Paul Hug & Cie., Paris. Axles, wheels and heavy shafting, I. de Schryver & Cie., Hautmont (Nord), Armand Chappée, of Mans (Sarthe), with works at Autoigne (Sarthe) and at Port Brillet, makes cast- iron pipe and architectural castings. A handsome showing is made by the Com- pagnie des Forges de Champagne, of Vassy, with four furnaces at St. Dizier and Mar- naval and rolling-mills and steel-works at the latter place and at Rachecourt. The company produce annually 60,000 tons of pig-iron, 17,000 tons of puddled bars, 6000 tons of steel in two basic open-hearth furnaces, and 20,000 tons of merchant iron and steel. They make wire, angles, tees, and particularly neat special shapes. The only French barb-wire maker your corres- pondent found in the exposition was Th. de Hennau, of Creil (Oise), who produces also wire and wire nails. Rounds, bars, chains, tacks, brads and wire nails are ex- hibited by J. Marcellot & Cie., of Eureville (Haute-Marne), while Ernest A. Lorin, of Gros-Noyer-St.-Prix (Seine-et-Oise), makes a specialty of chains and differential pul- leys. Proutat, Thomeret Freres & Creus- vaux, of Arnay-le-Duc (Céte d’Or), display a very handsome line of files and rasps, The Forges de Manois, Comte Henri de Beurges, at Manois (Haute-Marne), show bars; Jules Grigné, 12 Rue de Malte, Paris, a small but good lot of malleable vastings, and Mineur ses Fils & Wilmot, of Vireux-Molhain (Ardennes), angles, shapes and beams. M. Dalifol & Cie, Quai Jemappes, Paris, exhibit a very handsome series of malleable iron and steel castings. Particularly interesting are a number of the very finest art castings on plaster-of-paris molds, The Robert process comes forward with strong claims to attention in the notable collection of articles by the Société Anonyme des Hauts-Fourneaux, Fonder- ies, Forges et Laminoirs de Stenay, of Stenay (Meuse)—giving them the benefit of their full title. They show a splendid lot of steel castings, including wheels, gears, car-boxes, frogs, rolis, axes, picks, &c., many of them giving evidences of a remarkable capacity to stand torture. Among other articles, your correspondent | . | oughly established. |observed a cast rudder weighing 2.35 /tons and a 1.927-ton stern-frame for a third-class French cruiser, a shaft for a coal-washing machine, with 18 bends, and the piston of a Greind] pump. Numerous specimens bear testimony to the welding qualities of the steel. Your correspondent may state in this connection that he had occasion to see a Robert converter at work in a foundry in Paris, meeting there M. Robert himself. The apparatus itself was not calculated to deeply impress the be- holder, nor were the ioc submitted as to waste, &c., definite and final enough to dispel doubts. Thus the claim that the waste was 12 per cent. was likely to make those conversant with Bessemer practice decidedly skeptical. The most striking fact was, however, the length of time the metal retained its heat and the ease with which the casting operations, distributing the metal among numerous flasks, were carried out It is claimed that the same thing can be done from any small con- verter properly handled. We must con- fess that we have seen it done. However, ; ithe process is being tested at so many noire, seek to-make converts to their neu- | of | points in this country that its merits and its drawbacks will soon be pretty thor- Probably it will be found that its range of utility lies some- where between the extreme; claimed for it by its advocates and the lines drawn by its sharpest critics. Incidentally your cor- respondent may state that it is in use at Stenay, where two acid and two basic converters are running, at Paris and at the Forges de St. Nazaire, in France; at Angleur, in Belgium; at Vanzetti, Milan, Italy, and at Blaen Avon and John Brown & Co.’s, in England. The largest cast-iron pipe foundry in France, the Société Anonyme des Hauts- Fourneaux et Fonderies de _ Pont-a- Mousson, at Pont-di-Mousson (Meurthe- et-Moselle), have distinguished them- selves by not alone displaying their prod- ucts, but also by submitting histori- cal data bearing on their business in the form of graphical charts. The werks were started in 1856 by Mansuy & Cie. with a paid-up capital of 1,600,000 francs, and in 1886 passed into the hands of the company, who have a capital of 2,047,500 francs. It is stated, however, that since their foundation about 6,000,000 francs have been spent on the works, the greater part of it being drawn from the profits. The company have four coke furnaces, making about 45 tons each of foundry iron per day, the whole plant giving employ- ment to 1300 men. The maximum prod- uct from year to year was marked as fol- lows, the table giving the length of pipe made: Meters. ahi cake re Sih SG ee enna ie 162,000 DNS itn eiaalin. ican eR ea 313,500 eA cat od ditt basa pialens a vil ciate 334,500 SC Gest Dh ved canst aa adee Cake 351,500 DN oe eee pevaceccat 555,200 Rc cuchucwin va sins Rie wie eooneese 943,500 The following table gives the averages in periods of four years: Avera Produc- Cost. annua tion. Francs wages. Years. Tons. per ton. Frances. 1864-68........ 5,080 151.60 843.36 55.70 911.46 151.20 1,121.55 123.60 1,175.70 94.60 1,201.55 The figures of production are, of course, not equal to those of several of our large foundries, but they are interesting as proving rapid development. The figures for the furnace work are as follows: Consump- Pro- tion of fuel duction of Used by per ton furnaces. company. of pig. Years, Tons. Tons, Kg. OE ae oNiiccies 15,635 5,766 1,685 Es, 4.0640 9% 23,620 6,570 1,588 1874-78 ., MOTE 51,907 15,309 1,489 1879-83...... 51,601 22,320 1,360 eer 39,605 30,609 1,220 September 19, 1889 Among the large Pont-a-Mousson were the 1.8-m. pipe for the sewer from Paris to Saas. The Usines de Marquise, of the firm of Le Blanc, Georgi & Cie., Marquise (Pas- | de-Calais), are producers of pig-iron and make a specialty of heavy architectural and machinery castings, a specimen of the latter being exhibited in the form of a large fly-wheel. An exhibit of some interest is that of the Oury weldless chains made by the So- ciété des Chaines eu Acier Sans Soudure, of 69 Rue de la Victoire, Paris, whose works are at Massardiére, near St. Etienne, The system followed is that which, we believe, has been experimentally tested independently here of rolling a bar having a cuneiform section and thus forming the links. The different stages of the process of manufacture were shown, but nothing could be learned by your correspondent touching the commercial and manufactur- ing success of the enterprise. Cement steel and products thereof are shown by Berthomieu & Cie., 109 Rue Saint-Charles, Paris. The famous works of Hardy-Capitaine & Cie., of Nouzou (Ardennes), have a very attractive displ: Ly of malleable and crucible steel castings. including a cast bust of the founder of the works, a self-made man. A very fine exhibit of wrought-iron pipe and fittings comes from Mignon, Rouart & Deliniéres, of Montlucon (Allier), who show also the hollow connecting-rod the armor-clad Le Vengeur. Contrasting with the iron and steel ex- hibits surrounding it is the display of the Société Anonyme Ferro-Nickel, whose works are at Lizy-sur-Oureq (S. et M.) They manufacture a wide range of nickel alloys, marketed in the form of plates, | rods, castings, buttons, sword-hilts, cases, caps, chains, watch-charms and mono- | grams. They produce also a special alloy, No. 3, which they claim is specially well | udapted for covering small caliber rifle-| © balls. They submit tests of a 5 per cent. nickel alloy, with 0.3 carbon, showing an elastic limit of 30, a breakine strength of 46.8, an extension of 10.5 per cent. in 8 inches and 13 per cent. in 4 inches, and of a second alloy containing 5 per cent. of nickel and 0.22 carbon, showing an elastic limit of 28.6, a breaking strength of 40.7, an elongation of 20.5 per cent. in 8 inches and 25.7 per cent. in 4 inches, Eugene J. Legénisel & Fils, Vaucouleurs, Paris, is evidently a producer of particularly fine die-steel, besides mak- ing steel and malleable castings. Plans of two furnaces at Micheville (Meurthe-et- Moselle) are shown by Ferry, Curicque & Cie., of Micheville- Vi.lerupt, who produce also plates and sheets at the Forges du Laval-Dieu (Ardennes), and bars, rods and shapes at the Forges de Crespin (Nord). One of the largest French concerns is the Soeiété Métallurgique de l’Ariége, of | Pamiers (Ariége), with a capital of 5,000, - | 000 francs, who make a high-grade pig in their furnaces at Tarascon and at Ber- | doulet. Cement steel is produced at Saint- Pierre, near Foix, the principal establish- | ment, however, being at Pamiers, where there is a puddling-mill with 16 furnaces, | an open-hearth plant with one 15-ton, one 13-ton and one 4-ton furnace, a crucible furnace, six trains of rolls, a_ tire-mill and a forge with six hammers up to 15 ton. The concern make smaller calibers of guns, produce as a specialty shells forged on a mandrel by a special process | up to 27 mm., and manufacture on large scale very handsome tires, shafts, axles, wheels, springs, tool-steel, bolts, carriage-springs, wire and castings. A splendid exhibit of wrought-iron pipe, attractively grouped, is that of the Société d’Escaut & Meuse, 58 Rue de la Verrerie, Paris. Your correspondent noted an enormous coil, gradually taper- | ing, an iron strip 60 m. long, 3mm. gauge, 28 Passage a | little over 23 | Illinois and Missouri. | ful | with New York, and of whom more | TE i E IRON AGE. castings er by | tubes with copper ends, scarfed, and pipe 5.9-foot) | with internal ribs, patented by Jean Serve de Givors. a 437 to the square mile. In either event this would be one of the most thickly populated of the globe. But General | | countries Rails, beams and shapes are shown by | Meigs is not disturbed by forebodings be- the Société France, who Aciéries at des collieries Anonyme have at Villefranche and steel-works at Isbuer ges. A wider range of products is niniie by the Société Métallurgique de Gore V; Gorey par Longwy (Meurthe-et-Moselle), who have iron mines at Montiers, in the same department, and at Musson, in Bel gium, and Titelberg, in Luxembourg. They produce pig, wire, bolts, nuts, chains, 12, ro¢ Is, spikes, washers, wire nails and tacks and attaches Interest 50-ton bench. roll shapes and beams. to their bars drawn on a a The Next Century of the Republie. | Next year the eleventh census of the | United States will be know exactly what taken, has and we been our growth in population during the last 100 years. | When the first census was taken, in 1790 the population was found to be a little short of 4,000,000, in exact figures 3,929,214, and there was great disappoint ment over the result, for the estimates had been extravagant and boastful: but subse- quent censuses proved that the returns | were substantially correct. In other words, the number of inhabitants in the whole Union a century ago was only about equal | to the present population within a radius of 50 miles from the City Hall. Even at the middle of this century, or in 1850, total population of the Union was only a States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Since that time in the short period of 40 years, the ver of inhabitants in the Union creased by nearly threefold, Mont gomery Cunni ingham Meigs, an unusually accurate and sagacious observer and skill mathematician, estimating in Selene that the census of the next vear will show our population to 67,240,000. The number in 1892, according to that very reasonable estimate and the average ratio of our growth, will be about 72,000,000. of whom about one-half will be within eas \ railroad and steamboat communication than one-quarter will be in this State and States contiguous to New York. But General Meigs’ very striking article is devoted rather to a consideration of the probable growth of the Union during the next century, or from 1890 to 1990. Our mean rate of increase during the last 100 years has been 33.46, and he thinks it not num- has Gen. be rash to assume that during the coming | century it will be 33.3. On that basis he thus calculates our probable population : eee 67,240,000 | 1950 381. 763.837 1900... 89,653,333 | 1960. 509,018,449 1910... 119.7 77 1970 678,691,265 1920. 159,650,377 | 1980 904,921 686 BO: cvicues 212,867,177 | 1990... 1,206,562,248 SE sie xexe 283,822,877 Mr. Gladstone not long since wrote an article for a Boston periodical, in which he followed somewhat the same line pur- sued by General Meigs, b:t he questioned, and not unreasonably, whether our future growth during so long a period as a cent- |ury would be proportionately so great as the past. Yet he deemed it not improb- able that 100 yeors hence our population would equal 700,000,000, and he pointed | out that here indubitably is to be the great |home of the English-speaking race an¢ | here its overmastering power. If General Meigs’ estimates are justified by the fact, the density of population will be 399 to the square mile, or a little more de | Aubin, ‘ransae eyron) and Le G ead mines | pliances of civilization Cran (Aueyron) and Le Gua, lead mi liar f lizat at shall } >| mously.” the | ,000,000, or about equal to the | combined present population of the five *, or] in- | jon of so vast a body of people. He is | Sanguine that the improvements in the ap- and social regu- | lation will so far multiply during the cent- lury that the 1,200,000,000 can live on this continent in comfort and happiness. ‘Armed with all that science teaches and man has invented, who,” he asks, ‘* will wish to interfere with their happiness— who will attack them ?” He estimates that the urban population in 1990 will be 246.000.0000. and of New York 30,000,000, and draws from the calculation assurance of great increase | in the value of landed property and of all alone trade and commerce. ,‘‘ Those who be- | lieve in the prospects here set forth,” says | General Meigs, ‘‘ will rule their under- | takings and investments in the expectation | that property in real estate must advance in the next half-century; that commerce ;}and transportation must incre enor- He puts the period at 50 years very many living men will survive witness the growth. What have accomplished in the past seems small as compared with what is to come within that time. The | views, ase because + tO we Sun adds: ‘*These very striking startling in their optimism, are presented by a man who is now in his |seventy-fourth year, vigorous, sanguine, | and of indomitable spirit after more than 50 years of laborious public service Other during the war of the rebellion won a more brilliant fame with the people, but none among them displayed higher abilities or rendered services more impor- |tant than Q. M. Gen. Meigs. Never has any public officer retired from active | duty in any country or at any time who deserved higher honor than he for seru- pulous honesty and the wise and conscien- tious performance of multifarious duties | of vast magnitude and enormous difficulty. | officers Faithful service has brought to him the reward of a mind at ease and a spirit buoyant and youthful. May Gen. Mont- gomery C. Meigs be with us in New York in 1892 to celebrate tbe discovery of America and to join in the contidence of ithe future which will animate all his countrymen on that glorious occasion ee Chauncey .M. Depew, lately returned from Europe, gives his opinion of the French exhibition. He says: There is no use in belittling it. Never in the his- tory of the nations except the world have the products of all United States been so admirably presented to the view. More: there has never been anything which began to equal it. The buildings alone cost $11,000,000. All nations, even old Egypt and little Costa Rica, are display- ing their treasures of nature and art there to their fullest extent, except our own.” He saw nothing there to make him boast- ful of America. On the contrary, he was, on coming out, in no wise disposed to flourish the American flag, but ‘‘ could have put it in his vest pocket.’ Engineer Menocal, who is about to leave New York for Nicaragua, says the canal company have contracted for the purchase of six enormous dredges for the im- provement of Greytown harbor, as it is im- possible to land machinery or steel rails until this is done. He expects to complete the canal in six years, Sections of submarine cable have been taken up which show no sign of deteri- than that of England at present, which is oration after having been in the water for 389 to the square mile. If Mr. D Gladstone is right it will be about 232, or something more than that of Massachusetts now, 201 ' more than 35 years. Water, cially salt water, seems to be of insulating compounds, and espe- a preserver Friction-Cluteches. The drawings here presented show the construction of two styles of friction- clutches made by Edward P. Allis & Co., of Milwaukee, Wis., and light and heavy work. In designing these clutches the aim was to provide a simple, durable and efficient clutch for connecting shafts and one that would readily and quickly respond to its operating mech- anism. In the clutch intended for light work is a coiled spring, one end of which is connected to one of the shafts to be coupled, while the other end is free to move. The spring is expanded so as to frictionally engage a shell secured to the opposing shaft. The spring is of cast- iron, and is formed at its inner end witha collar, through which the shaft passes and to which it is keyed. To the other shaft is secured a shell having an overhanging flange, within which the spring is so ar- ranged as to come in contact when ex- The outer coil of the spring is panded, Sleeve FRICTION-CLUTCH formed with a shoulder a short distance from its free end, and from this point the | outer coil extends in a circular path within the shell. The spring is expanded by means of a wedge arranged to be moved axially between the free end of the spring and the shoulder. The wedge is adjust- ably mounted on an upwardly-extending arm of a forked lever, one end of which is pivoted between ears formed on the collar of the spring, while the other end is piv- oted to a sliding collar on the shaft by means of a link. The sliding collar 1s grooved to receive a ring, which is con- nected to a hand-lever. As the wedge is moved inward between the free end of the spring and its shoulder it forces the end of the spring outward, thereby caus- ing the outer coil to engage the inner face of the flange at all points, thereby secur- ing the shaft carrying the spring to the one carrying the shell. is withdrawn the spring resumes its nor- mal position out of contact with the shell. In order that the friction between the spring and shell may be such as to cause the one to readily partake of the motion of the other, the surface of the outer coil is covered with vulcanize 1 fiber. intended for | When the wedge | THE IRON AGE. | work differs from that just described in the form of the spring, but the method of |operating is the same. The arrangement |of the two shafts and of the spring and shell is clearly shown in the drawings. In | both cases the end of the shaft carrying ithe clutch is seated snugly, but so as to |turn freely, within the shell. The hub D is keyed rigidly to the end of the shaft B. | This hubis encircled by aring, d, connected | to the hub by a key, @’, diametrically op- posite which the mng is divided trans- | versely and its ends beveled in opposite di- | rections to fit the sides of the wedge E. Vulcanized fiber separates the spring and ishell. As the weage is forced inward by | the lever, shown in the longitudinal view, | it expands the ring, which engages friction- ‘ally with the shell. It will be noted that |the ring is free to move radially at all | points in its length. This, and the fact | that the hub is kept in a true central po- | sition by the bearing of its shaft in the | shell, insures a close contact and uniform | pressure between the frictional surfaces at ove Tt 16 Shifter Strap. FOR LIGHT WORK, MADE BY E. {all points. plied at two points on opposite sides, bal- ances in such a manner as to strains and the tendency of the clutch de- vice, shaft and shaft-bearings to wear eccentrically. Ee How canals sometimes operate as a check to extortionate freight charges in railway transportation is forcibly illustrated not only in the experience of the New York | State canals, but in the recent closing of | The | the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Washington Star reports that people liv- ing along its line who could get Cumber- land coal at $2.50 per ton while it was in operation are now forced to pay $5 per ,ton under railroad transportation, The same change in the transportation of the agricultural products and food staples of | that section is noted. The sentence of 23 Hungarians con- victed of rioting during the late strike in the coke region to one year’s imprison- ment each will teach a salutary lesson. They will learn that their rights can be | better secured by obeying the law than by ' defying the law. avoid side The friction-clutch designed for heavy | } if — yr, > sar WROUGHT/|RON® WY, V7 VULCANIZED FIBER ore September 19, 1889 HIGHWAY BRIDGES. NEED OF REFORM IN LETTING. The shocking state of affairs so far as iron and steel highway bridges—notably in the West—are concerned is described by J. A. L. Waddell, consulting engineer and agent of the Phenix Iron Company, at Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Waddell some time since is- sued a pamphlet in which he reviewed the present methods of letting highway bridges, and proposed general specifications, with the object of bringing out a discussion on the best means of bringing about a reform ; at the same time he proposed general speci- fications of bis own. He has just issued a second enlarged edition of that pamphlet, from which we quote the following chap- ters, in which he describes the ordinary routine of bridge lettings: A month or two before the letting occurs an advertisement is put in a local paper Friction Hub. P. ALLIS & CU. The driving-strain, being ap-|stating that on such a day at a certain | hour bids will be received for one or more /and often the width of roadway, but here bridges. Generally the spans are given the list of data usually ends. Sometimes, though, a fairly complete list is given, enabling contractors to make their designs before visiting the locality where the bridge is to be let. On the day of the letting, or perhaps a day earlier, from 10 to 20 ‘‘ traveling men,” some representing bridge companies, but others merely ‘*scalpers,’’ assemble for the purpose of ‘** putting up a jod ” on the county by get- ting as large an amount of money as the | commissioners will give in exchange for as light and cheap a bridge as they will accept. There is usually a secret meeting of the comprtitors, at which it is decided, 1, ‘*how much the bridge will stand "—i. e., what is the greatest sum they dare ask; 2, what the cheapest acceptable bridge ought ito cost; 3, who is to have the contract, and, 4, how the estimated profits are to be divided between the one who takes the contract and his unsuccessful (?) competi- tors. If these four points can be settled amicably all goes well; but as there are al- September 19, 1889 THE IRON AGE 139 ways wheels within wheels the meeting |est possible description, with the full in-|of it, is quite ingenious. Mr. A. at not infrequently is dissolved without an | tention of scamping the work in every way| tends the letting with two sets of understanding being arrived at. In this! that they dare. As the lowest bid is gen-| papers that at first glance appear™ t case the competitors ‘‘ go in on a fight,” | erally accepted (one bridge being as good! be exactly alike. A close inspection, as they term it, bidding far below the}as another in the eyes of most commis-| however, would show that they rep cost of a legitimate structure and often | sioners), the county is sure to get a dis- resent two bridges of widely varying below that of the cheapest bridge they | reputable piece of work. In certain States | weights. In one thick met il is used can erect, merely for the sake of spiting the law in the other the thinnest that makes it | throughout: for instance, Missouri FRICTION-CLUTCH FOR HEAVY WORK, MADE BY E. P. ALLIS & CO can be obtained. Mr. A. gives the heavy P Wj VAIN ~ Y papers to the commissioners for the crowd YY y CK to bid upon, and when the auction take UN 2 ee Uj N place he bids upon the basis of the weight hij — of the light structure, and consequently Uj if { “QS \ can afford to go lower than any one else. YES b- VG As “ ‘ 4 soon as possible after the work is knocked down to him by the auctioneer he } zs A , asks to see the papers and avails himself of f | the opportunity to effect an exchange. Q This plan of exchanging papers 1s by no ‘ rl means confined to auction lettings; it can f YD L / j be m ule to work at any kind of a letting. ¥ S Sos J j Sometimes the commissioners have some . A » ae / local engineer, or pe rhaps a brid ge-builder, >, YY Dry f prepare special designs for every ompeti \ Ghd tor to bid on. Unless the designer takes \ WS J care to use throughout the th inest shapes 7 KG WES lp that are rolled the chances are that the Gr. NSN . Ya brid ill be built of the latter, for the ™ YY” iron-work, of highway bridges is very sel ea cle touched with the calipers after it leave ie shoy Not only do some con ‘ : tr p lichter sections than are Section through Clyftel sp i l they ilso figure upon doing » when making out their estimates of st. In general, county commissioners, some other bidder. Occasionally two compulsory that the brid lettin be | before inviting tenders, make an appro- companies get into such a wrangle that done by public outery. In such cases the | priation for the work, the amount of their representatives cannot met at a lus operandi is this: The commission-| which bridge men make it their business letting without causing a ‘‘ fight ers select the pap rs of one of the bidders, | to ascertain. It is seldom, indeed, that The formation of a pool may be bad for and upon this basis the bridge 1s auctioned | the amount is found to be too small to the county, but ‘‘ going in ona fight’ is off to the lowest bidder. As faras pooling build some kind of a bridge. By short much worse. Inthe first case there isa chance of obtaining a passable structure, but in the second case there is none what- soever. The irresponsible bidders (and their name is legion) put in designs of the light- is concerned this auction method has no effect either way; but when a fight occurs, the party whose papers are chosen has a decided advantage which at first thought is not apparent. The explanation, though, is simple, and the scheme, to say the best ening the total length, substituting wood for iron, narrowing the roadway, de- creasing the live-load and increasing the unit a design can be made to come within the appropriation and still leave a little to divide among the bridge stresses, é Fd : Dy, Ki FRB HS 3} 440 THE IRON AGE. September 19, 1889 men, There is no surer of obtaining a dangerous structure. | The question of bribing commissioner need not entered upon here. That | they are pecuniarily persuaded sometimes | even the most hardened contractor will | not deny; he will merely assert that it | was some other man who did the bribing. From the foregoing it might be supposed that the author is unyieldingly opposed to | be the pooling system; on the contrary, he considers it a necessasy evil. What he | objects to is that it is carried toofar. At tirst it was used to insure the different bridge companies attending a_ letting against loss of time and traveling ex- | penses. In this respect it was legitimate, | for if the supervisors insist upon bidders attending lettings in person, it only | right that the former should pay for the | pleasure of their company. But finding it | easy to reimbursed for actual ex- pense, the competitors very soon conceived | the idea of making a little profit out of their misfortunes. Traveling men seeing | what a profitable business attending bridge- | letting had become, began to set up little | bridge companies for themselves, thus in- | creasing the number of competitors and | filling the country with a crowd of so- | called bridge-builders, whose offices and | shops often consist merely of desk-room somewher:, and whose only desire in at- | tending lettings is to extort blackmail. Purchasers of bridges have only them- | selves to thank for the institution of pool- | ing. Were contractors assured of fair dealing in every case they would prefer to | send their bids by mail, but unfortunate ly partiality is too often the order of the day, therefore in self-defense they have been forced to pool. The following amusing in- cident was related at the rooms of the En- gineers’ Club of Kansas City after one of the meetings at which the contents of the | first edition of this pamphlet were dis- cussed. It was published the next moru- ing in the Kansas City Journal, and as it | exemplifies very clearly one of the nu- | merous tricks of the trade, it repro- duced here, notwithstanding its rather in- elegant diction: ‘A bridge-builder was telling me a sort | of funny story the other day, and, I have no doubt, similar occurrences often hap- | pen. He was down in Southern Missouri some time ago to bid ona bridge. Of course he was pooling or he wouldn’t have been there. There were 14 bidders inthe whole | crowd, and 13 of them were to put in bids | away up out of sight, while the fourteenth | would put in a bid that would be just low Is so be is enough to be in sight, get the work and | pay the other 13 a commission. ‘*Some one ascertained that the Union | Bridge Company, of Buffalo, had submit- ted plans to the commissioners, but had no representative on the ground, and of course the pool was ‘busted’ unless the Company could be floored. ‘‘ Now, county commissioners don’t | know a bridge plan from a picture of Christ before Pilate. They look at them very soberly, and if no one around who has sense enough to see that they are holding | them upside down, they are quite liable to get a reputation for wisdom, *We had to ‘down’ the Union Com- pany or lose our traveling expenses, and one ot the bidders present said : ‘ru in and look at those Union | plans and see if I can find anything the | matter with them.’ ‘He went in and expatiated on his own plans, told the county commissioners that ail the rest of us were thieves, and then came out and said: 3oys, those plans are on the table in there, and I can't tind a cussed thine the | matter with them except that the lower | chord of the bridge is made of round iron | instead of flat.’ ‘Well, of course you know that hardly any difference at all Union is vO makes about the’ means than this |strength or durability life, I looked around | commissioners. of a bridge. It’s just a little unusual, that’s all, and I sup- | pose that the Union C ompany would have given flat iron at the same price. ‘Then I went in, and after telling the commissioners how good I was and how my plans were the greatest effort of my casually and glanced ‘Humph! Sprue-Cutter. We present herewith an illustration of a useful tool known as a sprue-cutter, and designed for use in brass foundries for cut- ting castings from the gates, It is oper- ated by foot-power and is built to take in a large range of work, having a depth of at the Union plans and said: throat from the cutting-edge of 104 inches That fellow’s pretty old-fashioned. Uses and a space up and down back of the slide round iron, don’t he ?° and die-bed of 12 inches. The hight over ‘‘Therg I went out and the next man all is 5 feet, and its shipping weight about 570 pounds. One of the important features of the machine is the simplicity of its cut- ting-dies and the easy manner in which went in, and after ten minutes’ free exhi- bition of the noblest public spirit Missouri ever produced, his eye caught the Union bridge plans, and he said: ‘ Well, that they can be repaired or replaced. They fellow is cutting in on his margin of consist of two pieces of unplaned tool steel, safety. I—should—say. Usesroundiron 4 x 1 inch, each about 5 inches long, ¢’ ground to proper bevel for cutting and then hardened. ‘The machines are substantially built, and are said by parties already using in his bridge, don’t he ‘Then che next man stepped up, and after the usual ten-minute course in civil BUILT ADT & SON, BY JOHN SPRUE-CUTTER, engineering furnished free to the com-, them to be superior to anything heretofore . . | rey mission on account of official position, he | offered for the purpose. They are manu- | said, the instant that his roving sight hap- | factured by John Adt & Son, New Haven, pened to be riveted by the glaring defect | Conn. in the Union plans: ‘Holy smoke!’ | Carnegie, Phipps & Co, Limited, of ‘ What's the matter /’ asked the bridge | Pittsburgh, call attention to the existing classification in force on all railway lines east of the Mississippi River, under which LT ‘Nothing at all, gentlemen; nothing lat all.’ material over 20 feet in length is billed at ‘**Anything wrong with those plans | first-class sage on a minimum of 1000 there ?° pounds for each shipment. When the ‘Gentlemen, if there was anything wrong you would have to find it out from somebody else besides me,’ and he went out, ‘After the commissioners had been subjected to ten more such experiences they threw out the Union plans and there were As commissions paid for one con- tract.’ weight oee’ is sufficient to yield a freight charge at the iron or steel rate equal to the amount obtained for 1000 pounds at first-class rates the ordinary | Iron or steel rates apply. Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Limited, allow the iron and steel | rate on actual weight only where their | prices cover delivery at destination. ——— The total foreign trade of Japan during It is officially denied that the capita] the first h: pie es year was valued | of the National Lead Trust has not been in | at —$61,152,147.2 imports, $30,345, - creased from $83,000,000 to $100,000,000 | 530.52: exports, “990,806 °616.68, 1889 ? September 19 Listing on the Stock Exchange. The American Pig Iron Storage War- rant Company, of which G. H. Hull is president, have sent out the following cir- cular under date of the 16th inst. : We hand you herewith circulars just issued by the New York Stock Exchange, giving the rules, &c., adopted by them to govern the sales of pig-iron warrants upon the floor of the Stock Exchange. At present only 4 grades and 15 brands of iron have been recorded for sale. Addi- tional grades and additional brands will be recorded from time to time as circum- stances may require. In the list of irons recorded as good, merchantable brands are included only those for which warrants are now in existence or likely to be issue: at an early day. Other brands will added to this list, and furnaces desiring to put their brands in a position to sell on Stock Exchange are requested to forward to the warrant company hand samples of their various grades. The matter of plac- ing different brands on Stock Exchange will be attended to by the warrant com- pany without cost to furnace, and numerous parties have expressed their de- sire to purchase iron by warrants it is be lieved that the sale of warrants will be promptly made and in as large quantities as they may be offered by the furnace in- terests. Furnaces can made by their regular agents, and the war- rant company will give to these agents all information and assistance necessary to enable them to effect sales. Furnace com- as Pig-Iron Warrants. instruct sales of warrants | | panies having no agents through whom | this business can be satisfactorily done | can send their authority for sales direct to the warrant company, and the warrant company will put it into the hands of commission houses who are fully equipped for these sales. Furnaces who do not wish to prepare warrant yards until after iron has been sold to go into said yards | can sell for delivery ‘‘ at sellers’ option ” within 60 days, which will give them time to prepare their yards and take out war- rants before time to deliver. The documents alluded to in the above | letter are, 1, the following set of rules governing the sale of pig-iron warrants, issued by the Committee on Unlisted Secu- rities of the New York Stock Exchange: Section 1.—The warrants shall issue of the American Pig Iron Storage Warrant Company. Each warrant shall be for 100 tons of pig-iron, and but one brand of iron and one grade of iron shall be covered by the same warrant. Sec, 2.—All bids and offers shall be for lots of 100 tons. Sec. 3.—All sales of, or contracts for, warrants (unless otherwise specified be --see the | THE IRON AGE. —eeEEeESE———:/:————!).).?”00O_ = ___ Sec. 6.—Sales of or contracts for war- rants covering a special brand, or a speci- fied grade, or special place of delivery, may be made, in which case only a war- rant for the brand, grade and delivery | syndicate is apparently to buy all the lead- | named can be delivered on such sales. Sec. 7.—A storage charge of 2 cents per | ton per month or fraction of a month, to | run from the first of the month following the date of the warrant, will be payable at the time of its surrender. The accrued storage on warrants shall be deducted from the price, in the same manner the freight, at the time of delivery of the war- rant. See as . 8.—There shall be kept by the ex change: 1. A record of such brands sidered good, merchantable brands. 2. A record of the official difference in value fixed by the exchange between No. 2 foundry and other grades that are de- liverable., 3. A record of the rates of freight different warrant-yards to New York. as are con ao from The second paper alluded to is the fol- ‘warrant bulletin,” Pig [ron lowing sent the Company out by Warrant American Storage Each warrant must be 1. For 100 tons pig-iron. For a good, merchantable brand. For No. 2 foundry or its equivalent. New York delivery or its equivalent. EQUIVALENT OF NO. 2 FOUNDRY. No. 1 foundry is deliverable at 50 cents per ton above No. 2 foundry No. 3 foundry is deliverable at 50 « per ton below No. 2 foundry. ‘ents Gray forge is deliverable at $1 per ton below No. 2 foundry. bie Good, [ merchantable Location of ~ brands yards. = > Per ton Sloss ....+-| Birmingham, Ala. $3.75 | Mary Pratt.....| Birmingham, A