The Iron Age 1889-12-12: Vol 44

HE Roll-Lathe. We herewith illustrate a roll-lathe of new design, built by the Lloyd Booth Com- pany, of Youngstown, Ohio. The bed can be made of any desired length, from 14 fo 22 feet, and is heavily ribbed and planed the full length on the top face and on both sides. The head-stock is very heavy. The spindles are of steel and run in babbitted journals, which are well scraped and brought to a bearing. The cones have four changes of speed and the gearing is 163 to 1, giving ample power to work several tools at the same time on the face of a chilled roll. The lathe shown is fitted with two sets of housings—the small ones to take in rolls from 6 to 14 inches in diameter and the THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1889. ton. The successful development of the | Taylor producer will undoubtedly lead to much pottery-kiln firing with producer gas, EE Pneumatie-Railway System. The Pneumatic Railway Company of the United States, at its office in Phila- delphia, recently, gave a practical illus- tration of the propulsion of railway cars by its pneumatic system. On a_ track about 40 feet in length a car capable of holding 12 to 15 persons was run to and | fro and stopped at will, the power being supplied by a small engine connecting with pneumatic tubes which extended along the center of the track. The system, as ex- plained, ‘‘ consists of a cast-iron pipe laid larger ones to take rolls from 12 to 30/ in lengths, like water and gas mains, be- inches in diameter over the collars. As tween the rails of the line and attached to shown the rests are of the ‘‘ piano” pat- cross-ties which support them. On the tern, being made the full length of the top of the pipe is a narrow longitudinal SS Seer laut = A mi en mo Ta HNN, nil i i | ; I Ta ie ia ROLL-LATHE, BUILT BY THE LLOYD BOOTH largest roll to be turned. The tail-stock | opening, which for the purpose of render- is very wide at the base and well braced. |ing the pipe for the time air-tight is The housings, necking-rest and tail-stock | covered with a valve. The tube is of the | are held securely by bolts which fasten in | same diameter throughout, and has a pis- T slots running the full length of the bed. | ton fitted into it, likewise made air-tight, The total weight of the lathe complete is and which is provided with a ‘ coulter 20,000 pounds. | formed of strong plate-iron and projects ————— |through the longitudinal opening in the Firing Pottery Kilns with Producer | Pipe, forming a connection between the | Gias.—Several months ago a Taylor pro- piston and the passenger car. The tube ducer was erected at the International |.beimg exhausted in front of the piston Pottery, n Trenton, \. J., for firing their} by an air-pump worked by a stationary decorating-kilns with gas from anthracite | Steam-engine, the piston is acted upon| coal. It proved to be successful, bring- | behind and propelled forward by the air ing out the colors much better and giving | which finds admission into the ‘ main’ by a finer gloss than had ever been obtained | the opening ot the valve on the passing of before in any direct firing. The result the ‘coulter.’ This opening through which was so satisfactory that two more Taylor | the ‘coulter’ passes is raised only a few producers were erected at the same pot- | feet in length at a time, and not in ad- tery by the Taylor Gas Producer Company, |dvance of the piston, the valve being of Philadelphia, to fire a biscuit kiln, | opened and replaced air-tight as before; which was altered for gas-firing and regen- | the tube is left ready to be again exhausted erators added for preheating the air by by a stroke of the air-pump for the next Frank C. Roberts, C.E., of Philadelphia, | ©" and Mr. Burgess, president of the pottery | EE company. This kiln has made two suc-; The Lake street elevated railway in cessful burns. The regenerators are small, | Chicago suspended preparations for con- yet the economy in fuel was very marked | struction somewhat mysteriously a short notwithstanding that all appliances for|time since. It now transpires that the utilizing the heat were in an experimental | company determined to make a radical | state. Inthe last burn 13 tons of anthracite | changein their plans, for which time was | buckwheat were used in the producers| needed. The original design adopted by | against 16 tons egg required in direct | the company contemplated a road built on firing. The latter costs almost double per the Meigs system, and the ordinance | IRON AGE passed by the City Council explicitly stated that such a road was to be built. The company now propose to substitute for the Meigs system a double-track structure similar to the New York roads. The radi- cal change thus made introduces compli- cations which may defer the building of the road for months, especially if the city ‘authorities decide that property-holders along the line must sign new petitions and the City Council must pass a new ordi- nance. Contracts for much of the mate- rial needed have been placed, but deliver- ies will probably be deferred until the complications mentioned have been over- come. — mc — The St. Clair Tunnel.—Curious ap- pliances are being used in the construction lof the St. Clair Tunnel, under the Detroit | River between Sarinac and Port Huron, for the Grand Trunk Railway Company. The cost of the work is estimated at COMPANY, | $3,000,000, and at the rate the excavation | is now progressing—about 7 feeta day—it will be finished in two years. The ground under the river is a hard blue clay, and it was thought at first that the shields could ’|be driven through this without any dig- |ging. With this idea 12 hydraulic rams were provided, each capable of exerting a force of 24,000 pounds, but they could not drive the shields an inch. The plan was then changed, and a crew of eight men, with picks and axes, now dig out a certain section in the center, the pressure is then applied, and the shields are driven 18 inches, the clay curling into the center space dug out by the men. This clay 1s then thrown upon cars and drawn out, and the men dig out another central section. As soon as the shield is advanced the wall, consisting of circular sections of iron packed at the joints with asbestos, is put in. A double railway track is also laid as the work progresses, so that when the two | shields meet somewhere near the middle of the river the tunnel will be completed. | Incase water enters from the bottom of | the river freezing machines are at hand to freeze it and prevent the inflow. a - It is reported that the Worcester Steel Company contemplate the erection of a furnace plant on Narragansett Bay, to use local titaniferous ores and Rhode Island anthracite. aaa Ra x. ween ——_ - 4 wes a a 2 3 ~ ia 3 y iy ~~ - heh dd % 3 . Sia ) 3 i al 2 — eae Ba es Aa / he sis : - A As < ar Bye » ¥ bbs 14, 44 ih SS eS ne Fa nt . > Fart ct Poe peed . #3 = ae 912 THE IRON AGE. December 12, 1889 Spiral-Geared Planing Machine. | With Supplementary Sheet of Engravings. | In our issue of October 3, 1889, we presented an engraving of the 36-inch patent spiral-geared planing-machine built by William Sellers & Co. (Incorporated), of Philadelphia. This machine was ex- hibited at the Paris Exposition and at- tracted great attention on account of the novelty of its designand the remarkably smooth work performed by it. In com- menting upon this machine the Reowe In- dustrielle says: ‘‘The Sellers machine is a most remarkable one, not only taken as a whole but by virtue of the special Ameri- can ingeniousness of the chief details of its construction. The fact is that it works so smoothly and the automatic precision of its movements is so great that the apparent complication of the machine is soon lost sight of.” Before entering upon the detailed de- scription of the machine as illustrated by the accompanying drawings we will briefly outline its more prominent charac- teristics. The reciprocating motion is produced by friction-clutches, not by shifting belts. The clutches are small in diameter but certain in action, reversing the motion without jar. The return-stroke —eight times the speed of cut—is the greatest ever obtained on a planer without overrunning the required distance, and the michine will plane to a shoulder with certainty. The feed is distinct from the motion of the table and is positively driven from the slow-running pulley through an appliance for transmitting and arresting thouion. The feed takes place while the machine is reversing, and at the end of the back stroke if desired, no mat- ter in what direction the feed is working. The machine is operated from either side by levers that control the table motion, and at the same time can at will cut loose and arrest the feed, so that the table can be run past the stops as often as required for examination or adjustment of work, and when the planing is resumed the cut will show no mark of the feed arrest. The feed is adjustable from one whole revolu- tion of the feed-screws down to nothing by an infinite gradation. The tools of the vertical slides stand in line with the main tools operated by separate feed, and can be lowered below the top of the table when not in use; 36 x 38 inch planers and larger have lifting-machinery for the cross-head, which is operated by means of fricticn-wheels that can be held to their work without much effort, but which stop as soon as the workman re- leases his hold on the lever, this being to avoid the accidents arising from hoisting- machinery set in motion and then left to work during the absence of the operator. The bed A of the planing-machine is put in motion by a spiral pinion, C (Fig. 3), which engages with the rack. The shaft D is driven by gear F, and the end- less screw G is arranged high enough to allow the driving-pulleys I and K (Fig. 1) to be placed over the floor. By means of this double-screw driving apparatus the bed is given an extremely smooth motion, altogether free from the almost unavoid- able vibrations caused by the use of ordi- nary gearing, even when the velocity of motion is very rapid, and which could not be obtained if the ordinary gearing were adopted. This freedom from clatter and vibration is due to the close contact of the spiral pinions with the teeth of the gear and with the rack of the bed. / To the shaft H of pinion G there are at- tached two pulleys, one of the two, I, be- ing a large one pushing the bed slowly onward, and the other small and rapidly- working one, K, drawing it back. These pulleys are each provided with a taper seat of wood, adapted to receive the double friction-clutch L, which is keyed to the shaft H so as to revolve with it and at the same time slide freely alongit. The double friction-clutch is shown in the drawings as constructed entirely of metal, to be as light as _ possible, while the diameter is the smallest that will transmit the power of the pulleys safely, the object being to reduce the momentum of the clutch to the minimum, that it may offer the least resistance to the reversal of its motion when it engages with either pulley. The interior surfaces of the clutches in each pulley are lined with wood, as two metal surfaces might cut and seize. The wood is secured in place by a groove or recess turned out in the pulley-rim, as shown in Fig. 5, and into this groove blocks O, of hard wood, The space be- tween these blocks O is made tapering (Fig. 7), and wedges P, drawn up by bolts R, set the blocks O O firmly against the rim of the pulley and so form a solid clutch, the interior being turned out to the same bevel as the outside of the double friction-clutch L. The weight of half the wooden blocks and wedges is thus added to the weight of each pulley, the motion ot the pulleys being constant. Increased weight of pulley will assist in overcoming the resistance of the clutch L to the re- versal of its motion without shock. The collar J has a slot in it through which the pin Q slides. This pin fits in the clutch L and seryes to couple it with the rod h by which the clutch L is en- gaged with and disengaged from the clutches in the pulleys. In Fig. 5 the clutch is shown in gear with the driving- pulley I. The shaft H has a hole drilled through its center to receive the rod h, which slides freely through it. This rod has an enlargement on its outer end which is slotted to receive the short ends of the bell-crank clutch-shifting levers / /, also shown in Figs. 6, 8 onl 9, which pass through slots in the shaft. These levers are pivoted in a piece, x, which slides easily on the outside of the shaft. The fulcrum piece x (Fig. 9) is limited in its motion in one direction by the adjustable stop-collar p screweG and clamped on the end of the shaft. The long ends of the levers are moved in and out by the diagonal grooves p> in the sliding cam m as it is moved along the shaft, the levers being provided with projections on their ends which enter the grooves. At one end the grooves are continued parallel with the shaft so that when the cam is moved along the shaft until the ends of the levers enter these parallel groves, the end- yressure on the shaft, due to moving and folding the levers, ceases, and the parallel grooves resist the tendency of the levers to open or close, as the case may be. The cam is always moved far enough in engag- ing the clutches to bring the parallel grooves to the ends of the levers, thus always moving the levers through the same angle, and hence the position of the ad- justable collar p determines the pressure with which the clutch L is forced into the driving-pulley I when the cam m is in the position shown in Fig. 5. When the cam is moved to the position shown in Fig. 6 the clutch L is withdrawn from the pulley I by the rod / aud drawn into and engaged with the return-pulley K. The sliding fulcrum x» in this case has been drawn away from the stop-collar p and 1s now shown arrested by the compression of the spring 7, with which it is connected. The spring abuts against the end of the shaft, and when compressed holds the clutch L into the pulley K. The spring s (Fig.’8) fits loosely on the outside of the sliding fulcrum x and is compressed between the adjustable stop-collar p and ashoulder on n. In Fig. 8 the cam is shown in its middle position and the clutch is free from both are fitted so that the end of the grain will | not subject to a horizontal reaction. form the friction surface. | pulleys and the shaft is at rest, the pulleys | revolving freely on it. The sliding ful- crum is now balanced between the two springs s andr. Whenever the sliding- cam mis made to move either to the right or left, the first effect of such displace- ment is to cause the friction-clutch L, by means of the levers // and the rod 4, to catch either into pulley I or K and to sub- sequently compress the springs 7 or s, in this manner gradually tightening the grasp of the friction-clutch till it begins to work. The extremities of levers // are then to be found in the horizontal portions of the grooves p*, hence the sliding-cam m then ceases to be operated upon. As at the same time the pushing forward of the friction-clutch toward the pulley in opera- tion receives support from the abutment collar J, it is evident that the shaft H is When the shaft is revolving in one direc- tion, driven by one of the pulleys, and the clutch is shifted to the other pulley, so as to revolve it in the other direction by mechanism described below, the spring presses the revolving clutch which has just been withdrawn from one pulley against the clutch on the opposite pulley, and its compression determines the brake pressure which acts to bring the shaft rapidly to rest without shock preparatory to firmly engaging with the clutch on the pulley to drive in the opposite direction, and by properly proportioning the strength and amount of compression of this elastic connection and the angle of the clutches it is easy to reverse the heavy table at high speed without any shock or jar. The angle of the clutches is such that the fric- tion surfaces part the moment the pressure which holds them together is removed. The lever u, pivoted in the pulley-frame, is coupled with the cam m by a collar. On the hub of the driving-pulley I is secured a spur pinion which, through the inter- mediate gear C’, drives the gear d’ secured to the escapement-shaft M, which turns freely in bearings in theupright E (Fig. 2). To the other on of the shaft is secured the ratchet-wheel T (Figs. 12 and 14). Be- tween the ratchet-wheel T and the bearing of the shaft M is the gear-wheel V, carry- ing the escapement-pawl e’. This gear is loosely fitted to the shaft M, so as to allow the shaft to revolve freely within it. This mechanism with the escapement-plate next mentioned constitute a device for transmitting and arresting motion. The pawl e’ is in the form of a bell- crank and is pivoted to the hub of the gear-wheel V, its outer end resting against a stop h’ on the escapement-plate W. The spring-plunger /’ presses against the inner end of the pawl ¢, and whenever the sto is removed will throw it into gear wit the ratchet-wheel T, secured to the revolv- ing-shaft M, and thus drive the gear- wheel V. The outer end of the pawl e’ comes alternately in contact with the stops 7g and fh’ on the ro ¥, which has a motion at right angles to the axis of the shaft when it is required to transmit rotary motion in one direction only. The forward movement of the wheel V, carrying the pawl e’, then throws the inner end of the paw! out of gear with the ratchet-wheel T and compresses the spring on f’. The reaction of this spring would tend to reverse the movement of the gear-wheel V and so cause the pawl é’ to engage again with the ratchet-wheel, to be again thrown out by the stop. This would make considerable noise and be rapidly destructive of this part of the ma- chine, and to avoid this difficulty there is provided the retaining-pawl j’, which en- gages alternately with the two lugs &’ on the hub of the bevel and spur-gear A’, driven by the gear V, and thus prevents re- action and keeps the pawl e’ out of gear with ratchet-wheel until the pawl e’ 1s again released from the stop g’ or A’. The pawl j’is preferably placed so as to engage December 12, 1889 with stops on the spur-wheel V, but is shown on the wheel A’ for convenience in drawing. The escapement-plate W is moved up and down to release the pawl ¢’ from the stops h’ or g’ by means of the escapement- lever B’ (Fig. 10), one end of which en- gages with two lugs on the lower end of the escapement-plate W. The other end is formed as a counterweight to balance the plate W. The lever B’ is carried by and turns freely on asleeve on G’ (Fig. 11), which is secured firmly in a stand bolted to the feed-gear frame E’. The escape- ment-plate W slides in bearings formed in the feed-gear frame and is kept in place by the stand, under which it slides freely. The escapement-lever B’ is provided with a friction-clutch, which engages with the friction-clutch F’ (Fig. 11), secured to the shifter-shaft G', which is carried by suit- able bearings in the feed-gear frame and feed-stand on opposite sides of the machine. Secured to the shaft G’ is the forked lever I’, which is moved back and forth by the shifter-levers J’ and K’, operated by the stops L’ M’, secured to the table A in the usual manner as shown in Figs. 10 and 11. When the bed A reaches the utmost limit of its forward movement the catch L’ pushes the lever J’ (Fig. 10), which causes while pressing on the double lever I’ the reversing shaft G’ to rotate (Fig. 11), to- gether with the lever N’, held at its ex- tremity. In this manner the coupling-rod O’ lifts the lever w out of its position, as shown by full lines (Fig. 5), into a posi- | tion indicated by ‘the dotted lines and disengages the friction-clutch L from the pulley I, drawing it in the direction of the returning pulley. But this direct putting in motion of the shaft G’ by means of the peg does not complete the clutching of L into the pulley K to a degree involving the working of the machine; all it does is to prime it by pushing the friction- clutch sufficiently to bring it to a stop like a brake through its friction on the pulley K. This friction stays the motion of the bed A without any shock by caus- ing the teeth of the spiral screw-driving contrivance C G (Fig. 3) to get into contact in a backward direction, then commencing the grip of the clutch without bringing the entire mechanism into play. The final clutching is brought about through the instrumentality of an arched lever F? (Figs. 10, 15, 16 and 17), which is pushed by a cam, E’, out of position (Fig. 10) into position (Fig. 17), the lever N’ be- ing at the same time pushing back the coupling-rod H®. But it is not the shaft G’ which operates directly on the cam E? and causes itto move. All it does is to al- low the movement to take place and to re- strict it, being operated upon by a system of pawls which we shall follow up in thcir evolutions through Figs. 5, 10, 11, 12 and 14. As exhibited in Fig. 14 the cam E? is mounted on shaft D*, which receives by the train A? A’ V its motion from shaft M, which in its turn rotates continually, whether it be in one direction or another, through the impulse received from b’ C’ d’ (Fig. 5), the moving pinion of which, 0’, is mounted on shaft H. Now, the wheel V (Fig. 14) is not firmly attached to the shaft M, but loose, and only revolves with it when made to do so by its pawl e’ (Fig. 12), catching into the ratchet T, as above ex- plained, held on M. This will evidently take place the moment the stop A’ is lifted, leaves free the vertical arm e” of the paw! 'é, bent at right angles, and thus enables the spring f to repulse the horizontal arm e’, which in this manner catches into T. For this purpose there is wedged to the stop h’ a slide, W, which can be made to move from below upward when operated upon by a contrivance which we shall describe further on, and which is furnished at g’ with another abutment. At the time the movement— which we study at present— shifts for the first time to become a back- ! THE IRON AGE. 913 ward instead of a forward motion, the slide W rises, the spring 7’ pushes e’ back to the bottom of the teeth of T while this wheel immediately causes V to move from the left to the right or in the same direction in which the hands‘of an indicator on Fig. 12 move, till the abutment of e” on the tappet g’, which has moved upward together with W, again disengages e’ from T and stops the motion of V. In other words, at every change of movement V describes a semi- circular path either toward the right or toward the left, according to the direction in which the shaft M revolves, its freedom of oscillation being strictly limited to a semicircular one by the take-up pawl /’ kk’ of pinion A, which intervenes between V and A’, the semi-gyration of V, com- municated by A! A’? D? to the cam E’, shifts, as wil! be easily understood, the lever F? from the position (Fig. 10), the proper one for the onward movement of the bed, to position (Fig 17), where the frction- clutch L closes tightly for the backward movement. Besides, as Figs. 15 and 16 show, if the coupling-rod H? meets with too much resistance, the crank-handle 7? h? pivots around A while ascending the inclined plane 4’ in spite of the spring A‘. In this manner an excessive tightening of the friction-clutch L (Fig. 5) is prevented. It now remains to be explained how the shaft G’ operating the change of movement communicates to the slide W the alter- nating up-and-down motion operating the spring-catch T. The plate or slide W receives this movement from a lever, B’ (Fig. 10), on the shaft G’ and caused to revolve around the latter by means of a friction-clutch, F’ (Fig. 11), closed tight enough to be carried along by shaft G’, when it begins to revolve the moment the catch of the bed pushes its lever, but the friction of which enables the lever B’ to slide toward F’, when the catch pro- | longs its motion and the rotation of shaft G’ more than is requisite to allow the stops h’ and g’ (Fig. 12) to come into play, whose pressure on the edge of T thus pre- vents any shock taking place. The de- gree of tightness of the grip of friction- clutch F’ is regulated by the pressure which the little arm of lever Q’ exercises on it, the latter being articulated at i and weighted at the opposite end with counter- poise Q’. The inertia of the double friction-clutch and driving-gears is sufficient to drive the table on its bearings about twice as far as it would move of itself. From what we hate above said it will be seen that a brake-power is applied to the revoiving clutch, back-lash is taken up and the op- posite pulley is clutched. justment and design does away entirely with all shock. For the penetration of the tool, the shaft U’, on which the intermediary pinion A’ is held, is furnished with (Figs. 12 and 14) a disk-handle, V’, whose variable motion coupling-rod imparts to the quadrant W’, around its pivot Z’ (Fig. 11), an oscillating movement which is transformed into pe- riodical rotation, always in the same direc- tion as the ratchet shaft X’ and the screw E, which regulates the downward motion of the head-stock cross-piece. The oppo- site end of this cross-piece is given by the screw E’ (Fig. 2) and by the quadrant H, attached by means of T’ to the quadrant W', a movement similar to that of E, thus | | re 2 | ing passes, and thistis done without percep- keeping it exactly parallel to the bed A. Whenever this automatic forward move- ment is not required, pinion A’ is slack on its axis U’. The lateral forward motion of the tool is brought about through the instrumentality of the quadrant C* (Fig. 2) driven by the coupling-rod C’*, whose articulation B? (Fig. 11) is fixed with an eccentricity variable at will on pinion plate A’®, The rope for raising the head-stock at every return of the bed passes over an| eccentric, J (Figs. 15 and 16), slack on shaft G*, around which it is given an oscil- This nice ad-| | trivance latory motion by means of the coupling- rod K? articulated as L? on the eccentric and at M? on the cam K?®. On reverting to the forward and back- ward motion of the bed—a special feature in the machine—it will be seen that the friction-clutch L is, in the case under ex- amination, disengaged from the forward- motion pulley I by the movement of the bed itself; hence the length of motion 1s rigorously determined by the distance separating the catches L’ and M’. Fur- thermore, the slide W begins to operate the moment the shaft G’ commences to re- volve and as soon as the catches operate on the reversal levers The forward motion and lifting of the tool consequently take place while the friction-clutch L catches into the return-pulley and the bed A is at rest, the result being that the movement of the table may be restricted to the length of the piece to be planed. When the reced- ing movement of the bed terminates it is of course the catch M’ (Figs. 10 and 17) that will, by pushing lever K’, disengage the friction-cluten L from the pulley K (Fig 5) and at the same time exercise a pressure on spring S. The reaction of the latter on the coupling-collar pushes the friction-clutch L back toward the pulley I and thus assists in effecting the com- mencement of tightening. The latter, the same as heretotore indicated, will at first stop the helicoidal play of the train C @’ (Fig. 3) before the reversal, properly speaking, of the bed’s movement. This reversal will take place the same as we have described the backward motion, but it will be slower. The lever R' (Fig. 10) enables us to stop at will and by hand the movement of the bed A, and for that purpose it has at its base a key R” (Figs. 18 and 19) which turns in the socket N (Fig. 1). On turn- ing this key to 90° of the position repre- sented in Fig. 19, it pushes back the pin S’, which, supported by the shoulder-plate T’ (Fig. 11), forces the shaft G’, firmly connected with N’, to recede toward the right and thereby to disengage the re- versal friction-clutch F’. Afterthis is done the shaft G’ may be made to revolve by means of levers y and K’, or by hand by using the lever R', without moving the reversal-plate W’. On the other side of the frame of the planing-machine (Fig. 20) will be found a lever, R®, similar to lever R', in asocket, N, in which the shaft G’, held with grooves and tongues Y, is able to slide without allowing the socket, held in position at H’, to take a longitu- dinal movement. The result of this con- is to permit the control by means of these two levers, R? and R', and by hand, on both sides of the machine, the motion of its bed. On turning one of these levers to 90° of the position (Fig. 20) the catches L’ or M’ only disengage the friction-clutch L’ without locking it, thus enabling us to adjust by hand, at pleasure, the position of both the bed and catches in ie to change the movement. Fig. 4 represents in detail slides of the bed A on the frame B of the planing- |machine. The slide on the right hand, ¢, is flat and protected by the ribs d d; the slide on the left hand is in form of a very obtuse ¥. The inclination of the sides of V suffices to prevent the bed from getting laterally out of place under the oblique pushing that may result from light finish- tibly increasing the friction of the slides. The pushing that may result from rougher handling is, on the contrary, supported by the guides ff, which are almost vertical and never interfere withthe light working ; hence their wearing out will by no means affect the exactness and neatness of the work performed. nc — French sugar machinery is being intro- duced into several estates in Cuba, and good results are looked for. 3 = > 1G 2 ee » 2 > “%¥ / WR bs . . er Nigis i AE Lett See > ad me a 3 2 q 3 2 dab hs bd a AS LJ aA =A gate 5 ene inthe a oe or ou fe " 914 —_—_ Armored Cruising Monitor. This vessel is popularly known as the Thomas monitor, the design having been prepared by the Hon. John R. Thomas, member of Congress from Illinois and member of the House Naval Committee. She is a submerging vessel with thick turtle-back armor, carrying a heavy bat- tery and having for this type of vessel a great speed. The principal features are: Length on load-line...................235 feet. Breadth, extreme......................55 feet SE cncccusicesessesencnne 1416 feet. Cruising displacement...............3130 tons. Indicated horse-power......0......sse000: 7500. EEE Aes akc kveuav nice note 17 knots. ODE IAT 6 o.oo os iv ee cen cece cence OOO TORS, eee eee 21.3. SCANTLING AND GENERAL CONSTRUCTION, The inner keel is 20 pounds, the outer keel 25 pounds. The vertical keel is 48 THE IRON AGE. December 12, 1889 armor on the crown being 8 inches thick, | 10-inch guns are mounted in a roller-base increased to 5 inches on the sides. That/|turret protected by 10 inches of armor; the target presented by the hull may be reduced to the smallest limit, tanks are provided into which water can be admit- ted sufficient to lessen the cruising free- board 3 feet. A novel feature connected with the armor is the method of supporting it. Bracket frame arches are worked across the vessel from armor shelf to armor shelf. These are spaced 4 feet apart. The angles are 3 x 3 inches of 6 pounds per foot on each edge, and the bracket-plates are 10 pounds. J made up of 124-pound plates and angles | at the top and bottom form, in connection with the frames, a most rigid support for the armor. The framing is 18 inches deep and it has worked below it a ceiling | of 15-pound plating, tying together in the inches deep by 20 pounds, width 3 x 3!strongest manner the framing under the UNITED STATES inches of 7-pound angles at the top and 34 x 3 inches of 8-pound angies at the bot- tom. There are three 15-pound longi- tudinals on each side of the vertical keel, with a3x3 inch 7-pound angle at the top and bottom secured to 10-pound frame bracket - plates by anele-clips 24 x 24 inches of 5 pounds per foot. The frame angles are 4 x 3 inches of 8 pounds per foot. The reverse frames are of the same size in the double bottom; above that they are 34 x 3 inches of 7 pounds per foot, with 10-pound bracket-plates; the frames are spaced 4 feet. The inner bot- tom is worked flat and is of 12}-pound plating, except the keelson-plate, which is 15 pounds. The bulkheads are generally of 10-pound plating stiffened by 3} x 3 inches of 7-pound angles, ARMOR. To obtain as great an armored protec- tion as possible on the small displacement the armor is disposed in the form of the are of a circle turning downward at the sides to 4 feet below the fighting line, the ‘inch pneumatic dynamite gun. vin ARMORED jarmor and forming also an inner water- tight skin. In case the plates are racked by an enemy’s fire, any water that gets through will be arrested by this skin, and scuppers running to the armor shelves will carry it to the bilges, from which it can be pumped. The 5-inch thickness of armor on the edges is tap-bolted from beneath to two thicknesses of 3-inch plating; the re- mainder of the armor, which is 3 inches, is riveted to the frames, as is usual in pro- tective decks An elliptical bulkhead of 10-inch armor rising from the armor deck protects the funnel, air-ducts for forced draft, ventila- tors and ash-hoists. The two 10-inch B. L. R. are placed in a turret having 10- inch armor with a 10-inch citadel worked around the lower part to protect the turn- | There is a 9- | ing, loading apparatus, &c. inch conning tower on top of the turret. ARMAMENT. The main battery consists of two 10-inch B. L. R., one 6-inch B. L. R. and one 15- The two Nine longitudinal girders | the 6-inch gun is mounted aft on a central pivot-carriage protected by a shield. The 15-inch dynamite gun projects above the deck forward of the 10-inch guns at a fixed angle. The dynamite projectiles, weighing 1000 pounds each, carrying about 500 pounds of dynamite, are carried in revolving chambers ready for loading. The secondary battery consists of three 3-pound- ers, R. F., and one 37 mm. R. C. One 3-pounder and one 37 mm, are in the top of the military mast, and two of the 3-pound- ers in the after part of the superstructure. There are two under-water torpedo-tubes, one at each side of the stem. These will be fitted for firing the Howell torpedo by gunpowder impulse. QUARTERS FOR OFFICERS AND CREW. There is a superstructure built above the main deck, V-shaped forward to permit a CRUISING MONITOR. 20 train of 65° abaft the beam for the 10-inch guns. In the after part of this super- structure is the captain’s cabin, pantry, bath-room and state-room. Forward of ithis is a commodious ward-room, into which open ten state-rooms, the pantry, executive officer’s office and armory. The wster-closets are in the forward end. The boats are stowed on top of the super- structure, to which they are lifted by derricks placed at each side. The after part of the berth-deck contains three large compartments fitted with 11 transom sofas. These are ordinarily intended for the | junior officers, but they can be utilized as temporary quarters by all the officers in case the superstructure is so injured in action as to be untenable. The forward berth-deck is given to the crew. A raft-like structure is built up on the sloping armor-deck, and the tevet deck on | top of this, a few inches above the armor- ‘deck at the middle line, is the deck of the superstructure, The sides of this struct- ‘ure are of 15-pound plates, stiffened by '34 x 3 inches of 8-pound angles, and the December 12, 1889 THE IRON AGE. 915 beams supporting the 5 x 24 inch plank- | ing are 5 by 24 inch by 10-pound angle | bulbs. Within this structure on the outer | slope of the protective deck is a belt of | cellulose or woodite extending in 6 feet 7 inches. MACHINERY. The engines for this vessel are of the same general type as those for the coast-defense | vessel. They are twin-screw vertical | triple-expansion engines placed in separate water-tight compartments. The cylinders | are 314, 46 and 70 inches diameter by 36 | inches stroke. The indicated horse-power of the main engines and air and circulat- ing pumps is 7500 at 150 revolutions per minute and 160 pounds working pressure. The piston-valves, worked from Stephen- son double-bar links, will have the follow- ing diameters: High pressure, one of 15 inches; intermediate, two of 15 inches; low pressure, three of 20 inches. The valves and valve-gear of the high-pressure and intermediate cylinders are to be inter- | pumps. nections are also made to search-lights, one being placed on a small gallery above the regular military top. system is so arranged that any compart- ment can be pumped out by hand or steam The capacity of the steam-pumps is to be such as to pump an amount of water equal to the displacement of the vessel in an hour. There are two fans on the forward berth- deck and two in the engine-room for venti- lating purposes. These connect the air- ducts leading down through the armored protection to the funnel and are arranged by a system of main air-ducts and branches to pump into or exhaust from every compart- ment. Special pipes lead from the coal- bunkers to the funnel to carry off any gases that may be generated. The air for the forced draft will also be drawn down through the ventilators, protected by the armor protecting the funnel. The vessel 1s submerged to the fighting trim by means of a system of valves open- | | really set in. projects continue to show signs of life, The drainage | but are not as far advanced as the Lake street. The other elevated-railway EE Squaring-Shear. The engraving here presented shows a new cornice-makers’ squaring-shear, built by the Niagara Stamping and Tool Com- pany, of Buffalo, N. Y., and made in four sizes. The 7, 8 and 10 foot shears are strengthened by a third leg in the center of the bed to prevent springing. The shear is fitted with the above firm’s new compound treadle, which is simple in con- struction and has ample strength. The machine is also provided with an auto- matic gauge-setting apparatus for the back gauges, whereby the operator is enabled to stand at one end of the shear and set both gauges accurately at once. The shear is fitted with a hold-down actuated by a lever, as shown in the engraving, and is CORNICE-MAKERS’ SQUARING-SHEAR. changeable. The crank-shaft journals will ing into the water-tight compartments of| capable of cutting No. 18 gauge iron, be 124 inches in diameter and the crank- pin 13 inches in diameter, with 6-inch axial holes. The sections of the shaft are interchangeable and the cranks are set at 120°. The line, thrust and propeller shafts will be about 12} inches in diameter, with | 6-inch axial holes. The condensers will | have about 5237 square feet of cooling sur- face in each. The centrifugal circulating- pumps will have a capacity as wrecking- pumps of about 7000 gallons each, The two air-pumps for each condenser will be 16 inches in diameter by 16 inches stroke. There will be eight single-ended cylin- | drical boilers, 124 feet in diameter and 10 feet 11 inches long, each having three cor- rugated furnaces 36 inches in diameter. The total grate surface is about 444 square feet and the total heating surface 15,050 square feet. The boiler-shells are 1,', inches thick. The forced draft 1s on the closed ash-pan system. LIGHTING, DRAINAGE VENTILATION. There is to be a complete installation of electric lights, sufficient for lighting all parts of the vessel and arranged in dupli- AND the double tottom. These are worked from the berth-deck. The vessel can be submerged to the fighting draft in five minutes. This vessel was appropriated for Marck. 2, 1889, the sum of $1,500,000 being voted for her construction. EEE Last week construction work was begun in earnest on the Lake street elevated rail- way, in Chicago. J. H. Greiner, superin- tendent of the Philadelphia Bridge | Works, set a force of men at work erect- ling a wooden structure to be used in position the pillars and girders of the first two panels of the su- | perstructure. When these two panels are in position a derrick car with an engine | will be placed on their tracks and the re- |maining work of hoisting will be done from the railway itself. The iron and steel are now arriving, as well as the ties and other material. Bids have been asked on the locomotives and cars for equip- ment. After many months of discussion and apparently justifiable skepticism on the part of the Chicago public the ele- | | hoisting into ' The shear shown is an 8-foot one, weigh- ing about 3C00 pounds. em Charles Himrod & Co, exhibit a re- markable specimen of cast-iron work] in their office in the Rookery Building, Chi- cago. It consists of a cylinder which is 6 feet high, 20 inches in diameter and only 4 inch thick. Expert foundry men have pronounced the manufacture of this cast- ing a notable feat. Its difficult nature will perhaps be better comprehended by the statement that it is equivalent to casting a plate 6 feet long and about 5 feet wide and only 4inchthick. The casting is per- fectly sound and weighs 160 pounds. It, was made by Turner, Dickinson & Co., of Chicago, and Calumet pig-iron was ex- clusively used in its production. Nashville Furnace, at Nashville, Tenn., made a trial lately of Pineville (Ky.) coke. They gradually increased the burden from 4000 pounds of ore and 2100 pounds of limestone for 2800 pounds of coke, to 5300 pounds of ore, the same burden as had cate so as to guard against accident. Con- | vated-railway era of the city seems to have ' been carried with Pocahontas coke. fe mo ~ = a | \ = ae 2 ne eg tein Pee was 3 g 4 916 THE IRON AGE. December 12, 1889 ALUMINIUM. BY ROMAINE COLE, WATERBURY, CONN, Of all the metals of the earth that has been most talked about but of which less is generally known, the metal aluminium undoubtedly stands pre-eminent. One can hardly pick up a paper without seeing something about the ‘‘silver made from clay,” out of which “some day ships and | bridges will be built which will be as strong as steel and yet as light as a feather,” and much else of similar nonsense, the product of imaginative minds sadly igno- rant of the real properties of the metal we are about to consider. In the first place aluminium is not made from clay—never has and never will be. While it is true that all clays contain aluminium in vari- able quantities, it exists there in the form of a silicate more or less contaminated with iron, which renders the ore worthless for the extraction of the pure metal. The iron can be removed from the clay by chemical treatment, but the silica which is found in excess in all common clays cannot be sufficiently eradicated to insure a high degree of purity. Now, impure aluminium is just as bad a thing to work with or to get any satisfaction out of as impure iron or impure copper. The many excellent qualities of the metal are very much diminished if it is impregnated with too high a percentage of foreign ingredi- ents, Of all foreign elements silicon and iron are the worst for aluminium; and as these are found to be most abundant in clays, it can be safely put down as a fact that clay will never become a source of the metal. And as for building bridges, ships, &c., of aluminium which will be ‘‘as strong as steel and yet as light as a feather,” it is only necessary to say that so long as old mother earth’s supply of iron ore continues to remain as abundant as it is there need be no fear of any other metal taking the place of iron and steel for such structural purposes as‘ ships and bridges. The use of aluminium for these purposes is precluded for two reasons: 1, how- ever cheaply it may be bought to-day or to-morrow, it will never be produced cheap enough to compete in price with iron; 2, it is not strong enough, While the weight of iron is more than three times that of aluminium, bulk for bulk, yet the latter is no stronger than copper, silver or brass. If for no other reason steel will always take the precedence over other metals for bridges, ships and for many other structural purposes, because of its great strength. In the foregoing I have made what perhaps many will consider a sweeping assertion, viz.: aluminium ‘ will never be produced cheap enough to coin- pete in price with iron.” Let us now con- sider why this is necessarily so. To H. St. Claire Deviile, the French scientist, belongs the honor of first isolat- ing aluminium in a sufficiently pure state |ing under hammer, through die or rolls. What wonder, therefore, that the entire metallurgical world was set agog over the dev elopments by Deville or that the cheap production of aluminium has been since the metallurgical desideratum ! The process developed by Deville for the extraction of aluminium, and which has continued to be the only reliable proc- ess for the smelting of the pure metal until 1888, consisted briefly in the isolation of the metal from its chloride first by means of potassium. Afterward po- tassium was advantageously replaced by sodium. The first thing he had to consider was to procure a supply of a pure ore. This he found in beauxite and cryolite. From these a sufficiently pure oxide of aluminium was obtained, and to this day these two minerals form the chief source of the pure metal. From this comparatively pure oxide the double chloride of alumin- ium is made. The next step is to remove the chlorine from the aluminium, and this is accomplished by means of sodium, which uniting with the chlorine forms common salt, thus leaving the metallic aluminium free. Various modifications and improve- ments made by Deville himself and others, notably Webster and Castner, have brought the price of aluminium produced by this process from $100 per pound down to $5 per pound. Castner’s works in England em- body all the improvements made in Deville’s process since 1854. One could truthfully say that Deville’s process is seen there in its state of absolute perfection, and yet the death-knell of this process—as a com- mecial operation—was struck when the ‘*direct reduction method” invented by Charles Martin Hall was perfected in Pittsburgh in the latter part of the year 1888. It should be noted that the Deville proc- ess is a protracted, roundabout and ex- pensive operation. If by any means the metal could be reduced directly from its ore or oxide in a sufficiently pure condition, thereby doing away with the expensive re- actions of chloridizing and sodiumizing, we should have the treatment of aluminium, considered from a scientific stand-point, down to theoretical metallurgical per- fection. The greatest step in advance of the Deville process previous to the pub- lishing of the Hall direct method was that of the Cowles electric-furnace process, which consists of smelting the metal direct from corundum, an oxide of aluminium, by means of an electric current coupled with the reduction of some other metal such as copper or iron by solid carbon. The electricity passing through the mixt- ure of ore, copper a carbon, by the re- sistance thus interposed heats up the entire mass to incandescence, as the little carbon filaments in the incandescent lamps are heated. At such very high temperatures the ore of aluminium must part with its oxygen to the carbon present, burning off as carbonic acid. There is left, then, noth- ing but the metallic aluminium, together with what iron and silicon that was origi- being objections based on chemical laws. Next, to reduce aluminium direct from its ore in a blast-furnace would require such a high temperature that were it possible to attain that temperature by any form ot combustion it would melt the walls of the furnace long before the reducing action on the aluminium ore could have commenced. The fact is, however, that no form of com- bustion can possibly engender sufficient heat energy to break up the molecule of oxygen ind aluminium (which compose the ore) in the presence of carbon or any other reducing agent, thereby setting free the metallic aluminium, But, it may be objected, the Cowles electric furnace reduces the ore solely by heat. Very true; but by electric heat, please remember, which is a very different thing from burning coal or hydrogen or any hydrocarbon. Two years ago the writer experimented with a specially-de- signed regenerative furnace to prove this point. With this type of furnace the highest temperatures possible by combus- tion are attained. The walls, roof and hearth of this furnace were constructed of magnesia brick, which will stand a higher temperature before fusing than the ore of aluminium. Severa] tests were made, the furnace being charged with different ores, different fluxes and different metals to serve as a bath. The charges were treated from 12 to 72 consecutive hours, reversing every 20 minutes. In the history of open- hearth regenerative work there is no record of a furnace of this type being run continuously for such a length of time, It is plausible to presume, therefore, that the highest temperatures ever attained in the history of metallurgy or possible to attain (outside of the electric furnace, of course) were reached at that time. It is needless to add that practically no aluminium was reduced, though the heat was so great it melted pure silica brick and plumbago crucibles like wax. Charles Martin Hall had been working for years before he finally succeeded in perfecting his process. Young as he is he has given to the world the most valuable metallurgical invention since that of Sir Henry Bessemer of converting pig-iron direct into steel. Realizing the utter futility of ever expecting to smelt the metal direct fromits ore by means of heat and fluxes, he sought for a solution of the problem by the substitution for the heat that more powerful factor of energy in some respects—electrolysis. The idea re- solved itself, therefore, into the di