The Iron Age 1890-03-20: Vol 45

THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1890. THE IRON AGE Taper Rolling Machine. | The accompanying cut represents a| special rolling mill, built by the Coulter & | McKenzie Machine Company, of Bridge- | port, Conn., for the Cambria Iron Com- | yany, of Johnstown, Pa. This machine) is to be used for tapering rake teeth, but | by changing the rolling dies it is capable | of drawing a gradual taper to 26 inches in length of any degree required on) gmall flat or round steel. The machine is | fitted with gauges and guides, the rolls | are of the best hammered steel, the gears 6000 tons were booked on the Clyde, the present work on hand in that district be- ing 50,000 tons less than in December last. A = Peculiar Working of a Blast Furnace.* BY N. B. WITTMAN, BIRDSBORO, PA. The working of blast furnaces is al ways of interest to many members of the insti- tute, for which reason I present an account of the working of the furnaces of the E. & G. Brooke Iron Company, of which I have Hight of tuyeres.......... 2.0 - 5% 5 ENO GE UE accduccssdcanen 7 6 POM: cundetendssdds cdatueeads closed. open. Both furnaces are blown with I. P. Mor- ris condensing engines similar in all re- spects save one, the engine of No. 2 having a steam cylinder of 45 inches diameter while that of No. 3 is 50 inches. In both the diameter of the air cylinder is 90 inches and the stroke 84 inches. In both cases the stock is raised by an air hoist. In No. 2 the blast is heated by three Durham stoves of 28 pipes each, the pipes being 14 feet high and 8 inches inside diameter. ROLLING are charcoal iron, proportioned about four to one. The back shaft is fitted with a large balance-wheel and a pair of 20-inch tight and loose pulleys. Also an outside bearing. The dies are made of chilled iron, ground to exact taper and held in place by a large feather key and heavy nuts on the ends of rolls. The rolls are adjustable up or down % inch. The whole is mounted on a substantial base or foundation and weighs complete 4200 pounds, Shipbuilding on the Clyde is suffering from areaction. In January there were evidences of this, and in February the indications were still more marked. The high cost of material and the decline in freights are the chief causes of this check. As far as new orders are concerned, trade authorities state that in the months of January and February orders for only MACHINE FOR TAPERING RAKE had charge for the past four years. Al- | though there are no phenomenal runs to jrecord, there have been long periods of satisfactory work and also periods—alto- gether too long—when one of our fur- naces has behaved in a way which may be described as ‘‘ nagging.” All the condi- tions were apparently normal, but only a very light burden could be carried, which, of course, resulted in a high fuel consump- | tion to the ton of iron, as well as increased | cost of labor. The two active furnaces of |this company have the following: dimen- | sions and equipment: No. 2. No. 3. Feet. Feet. PRN hauled Siinwuvinetncokees 55 60 | Diameter at bosh.... .......... 15 16 | Diameter at hearth............. 8 Tg | Diameter at stock line.......... 10 946 ETE MER va cacncadsc cen ess 23 23 ar Presented at the Washington meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. TEETH AND SIMILAR WORK. No. 3 has two Kent ovens,40 pipes in each, 14 feet high by 7 inches inside diameter. The ore mixer, which is practically the same for both furnaces,. consists of 75 per cent. magnetites and 25 per cent. Lake Superior or foreign hematites. About 40 per cent. of the magnetic ore is similar in character to that of Cornwall, except that it carries a variable amount of free calcite ranging from nothing to 8 per cent. The sulphur in it is also very inconstant, the extreme range being from 1 to 44 per cent., probably an average of about 2} per cent. There appears to be no definite relation between the percentage of free calcite and sulphur, the latter being in the form of pyrites agglomerated with the ore, while the former occurs in loose pieces varying In size from grains of sand to masses weigh- ing several pounds The general gangue of the ore is hornblende, with which the cal- cite is sometimes associated intimately, as 454 THE IRON AGE. March 20, 1890 it seldom is with ore. This ore is the only one used which is inherently trouble- some to work. The points of difficulty are, that the calcite being variable, it is impossible to flux it with any degree of certainty as to the composition of the cinder, and that a large portion of the sulphur is oxidized to sulphuric acid, and combines with the lime, forming calcic sulphate or gypsum, so that it is only practicable to reduce the sulphur about one-half by roasting. The ore disintegrates very rapidly, and there are several soft veins in the mine, so that a considerable portion of it is fine, like sand. It is a well known fact that an ore carrying sulphur in material quantity cools the hearth of the furnace, probably by dissociation of calcic sulphate, and ‘‘ buck- shot ” results, while the hearth is ‘‘ built up.” The fuel used is anthracite, with as much coke (usually from 20 to 30 per cent. of the fuel charge) as the price of coke will permit. Dolomite of every uni- form composition is used as a flux, for the reason that no calcite of good quality is available. About 1.8 tons of ore are re- quired to the ton of iron, and 0.8 ton of stone is added to form a cinder of approxi- mately 35 SiO., 12 Al,Os, 33 CaO and CaS, and 20 MgO. As an instance of satisfactory work may be cited the record of turnace No. 3 for nine consecutive months, during which time 18,422 tons of iron were made, being an average of 472.36 tons weekly, on a fuel consumption of 1.19 tons to the ton of iron. The best week’s output was 531 tons, made with 1.05 tons of fuel per ton of iron. This furnace was filled and blown in as follows: Three stands of oak wood were put above the tuyeres, and the hearth was packed full of light dry pine, saturated with oil. On top of the wood was put, as a blank, 26 tons of coke, with about 2 tons of good gray furnace cinder to flux the ash of the coxe and wood. Ore charges in, and gradually rising to 54 pounds, where it remained for about three months. The usual pressure with three-fourths anthracite and one-fourth coke (the fuel mixture then in use) is 7 to 8 pounds, and the low pressure indicated the possibility of working up the center, or ‘‘riog scaffolding.” To ascertain whether this was the case, and at the same time endeavor to correct it, a fuel blank of 20 tons was charged, with scrap enough to keep the iron from becoming too gray. When this had been in the furnace about ten hours the speed of the engine was re- duced three revolutions, so that there might be a tendency of the blast to work up the walls and loosen any matter which adhered to them, and get it into the hearth about the time the extra fuel reached there. The presence of the blank in the melting-zone was manifested by the cinder in about 20 hours after it was charged at the tunnel- head, and after 60 charges or rounds had been put in on top of it (the volume of which would occupy the space between the stock-line and bosh), showing that the melting-zone was in the region of the bosh, and that no considerable accumu- lations were on the walls. The working of the furnace was not at all improved by the blank, or changed in any way that was perceptible. During the time from blow- ing in, November, 1888, to March, 1889, the best week’s work was 445 tons of iron on 1.3 tons of fuel per ton of iron, and the average production for five consecutive weeks was 431 tons, requiring 1.3 tons of fuel per ton of iron, The pressure still continued low. After some time it was discovered that the collars connecting the pipes to the mains in the hot-blast stoves had ‘‘raised” in all the ovens, and that several of them were split, so that it became necessary to give them a thorough overhauling, which occupied the greater portion of three weeks. While these re- pairs were being made two ovens were the cinder runners. This was followed by about an equal amount of hot fluid cinder, entirely free from buckshot. At some casts no buckshot was made, but when it did appear it was almost invariably in the way stated. This was a very unusual thing. In our previous experience with buckshot it had made its appearance with cinder visibly cold, the hearth would soon build up, and iron would be thrown out of the cinder notch during flushing. In this instance, however, the cinder which preceded and followed the buckshot was hot and fluid, the hearth did not build up, and no iron was thrown out of the cinder notch. The appearance of the cinder was unusually good. It is our prac- tice to ladle out a sample of each flush of cinder while it is running, and pour it into a scorifying mold, so that buttons from the various flushes can be compared. At this time there was scarcely any differ- ence noticeable between flushes. One sample would represent the entire day's work; yet at some casts 2 or 3 tons of buckshot would run out and at others none. The top of the furnace was as cool as could be expected with such a light burden—about 600°, when the fillers were at work, which would increase to 700° or 750° when they stopped for an hour. No gas analyses were made, but the gas was clean and good. No firiug was at any time necessary under the boiler, and the bleeder was seldom opened. The slides on the gas-valves of the hot-blast chambers were seldom moved. Every- thing seemed right, yet the results showed that something was seriously wrong. The coke strike occurred about the time we were most troubled with buckshot, and it was necessary for several days to increase the proportion of anthracite to 874 per cent. is resulted in less iron and more buckshot. I mention the fact, as it will have a bearing later on. During the first week in September a slight improvement was noticed; no change had been made in any particular, and there was no reason to think that it was more than a temporary relief, after which a relapse might at any time be expected. The relapse, however, did not come. There was no more buckshot, and the iron indicated that more burden could be carried. The iron, at the time when the improved working commenced, was peculiar. It was only a good gray forge in grain, but there was an appearance about it difficult to describe, though familiar to those who grade iron by its fracture, which indicated that it was very much grayer than the grain would lead one to suppose. Burden was added in 40-pound lots, with stone in suitable quantity, and when it came to work evidence was still given that a little more could be carried. This was done in 40-pound lots at first, and 80-pound after there seemed less danger of overdoing the matter, until 800 pounds more ore was carried by 2000 pounds of fuel than had been possible during the summer. The riod of transition from light burden to eavy occupied about three weeks, during which time the iron only varied in grain from very grayforge to close gray forge. The volume of blast, measured by piston displacement, was steadily maintained, and the production increased for the five weeks ending with October to an average of 464.6 tons of iron, made with 1.206 tons of fuel per ton of iron. The best week was 507 tons of iron, made on 1.18 tons fuel rate. On October 1, when the price of coke advanced, the proportion in the mixture was reduced to 20 per cent., with which the best work was done. It was further reduced to 124 per cent., which had caused much trouble during the summer, but at this tme it had no such effect, and 488 tons of iron were made in a week with 1.2 tons of fuel. After running two weeks, however, it was deemed advisable to re- were then commenced with 2000 pounds fuel (half anthracite and half coke), 1300 pounds ore, and stone calculated to form a slag of 39 per cent. SiO.. The burden was increased 200 pounds every six charges until the stuck was full, after which the fuel charge was 66} per cent. anthracite and 33} per cent. coke. The furnace was lighted at the tapping hole and tuyeres. The wood wa ell, and as soon as bright coke appauiod at the tuyeres the blast was put on and every- thing went off smoothly. The volume of blast was increased so that in ten days the maximum was attained. This furnace continued in blast over three years, had all sorts of mishaps due to breakdowns in machinery, which necessitated long stop- pages without preparation, yet always worked without trouble, and, for the greater part of the time, with very satis- factory economy in fuel. It will be re- membered that the lines of this furnace are by no means modern. Furnace No. 2 was blown in, as nearly as possible, in exactly the same way, and went off equally well; but the work for the first nine months of the blast—which is the present one—was vastly different. The general features of the process were normal, the stock settled evenly all around, tuyeres bright, gas good and plertiful, cinder hot and of proper basicity, but there was no indication that a heavier burden could be carried. The charge at the time of blowing in was: Fuel, 2000 pounds; ore, 2600 pounds; stone, 1240 pounds. After a few days an attempt was made to add more burden, although the iron was only an ordinary gray forge, but after the additional ore—60 pounds—came to work the iron was closer in grain, and evidence was soon given that the furnace was overburdened. The only abnormal feature was low pressure of blast, the gauge registering only 44 pounds per square inch for two or three weeks after blowing used, and the volume of blast had to be diminished in order to keep up its temper- ature. It may be mentioned here, as a tale of misfortune, that when one oven was off, and about 12 hours before it could be made ready for service, a violent rain storm occurred; a water conductor, which passed over one of the ovens, became dis- connected at a joint, and the water poured on the roof of the oven and found its way between two plates, which had warped somewhat, in a sufficient quantity to crack a piece out of one of the pipes. The piece was large enough to cause the hot-blast valve to drop, and, the furnace being full of cinder at the time, the belly-pipes all filled. This necessitated a stop of about four hours to clean them out, after which we were obliged to run 12 hours with one oven of 28 pipes and a blast temperature of 600°. Finally the ovens were all in good shape again, and some improvement was noted in the working over that im- mediately preceding the time when repairs were commenced, but not nearly so much as I had hoped for. The pressure had gradually risen to 7 pounds, but the fuel consumption per ton of iron remained high, and it was not long until the pro- duction fell of to less than before repairs were made, and the fuel rose to still higher figures. The pressure remained at 7 to 74 pounds per square inch. During the months of July and August the results were most discouraging. The average production of five weeks during that time was 361.8 tons, each requiring 1508 tons of fuel. The worst week’s work was: Iron, 356 tons; fuel rate, 1.6 tons. The only abnormal feature apparent was that during casting the cinder would run out very hot and fluid, separating per- fectly from the iron, until about one-third of it had run, then a mass of ‘‘ buckshot ” would follow, often choking under the skimmer, and causing iron to run out into March 20, 1890 THE IRON AGE. 455 ——————— turn to 20 per cent. of coke, the produc- tion having dropped to 453 tons; and now the production averages 69 tons daily, and the fuel 1s fairly constant at 1.2 tons per ton of iron. During the sum- mer, when the results were most distress- ing, the process appeared singularly uni- form, and no evidence of scaffolding could be detected. Now there is no uniformity whatever; the stock slips sometimes from 4to 6 feet at flushing; the cinder varies from bluish-white with stony fracture to black with vitreous fracture, yet is always | The iron varies from foun- | hot and fluid. dry to mottled between casts, and the cin- der is but a poor guide, as the gray cinder sometimes makes close iron, and the dark, glassy cinder does not always make hard 1ron. scaffolding now than there was during the | summer, but the cost-sheet has a much healthier look. It is likely that, apart from atmospheric conditions, the ordinary causes which af- fect irregularities of working are: Arch- ing of the stock, thereby forming a tem- porary scaffold; dropping of unprepared There is much more evidence of | | after 27 to 30 charges were on top of it. It was not difficult to determine then that the melting-zone was high, and that a scaffold existed. It has been my practice to maintain a uniform volume of blast, measured by piston displacement, under all circumstances, and to distribute the current according to the manner in which the stock settles on top. If the settling is even, tuyeres of equal area are used all around. If there is a marked tendency to settle faster on one side than another for a few days, nozzles are put in the tuyeres under the low side, and the blast, flowing in the direction of least resistance, natur- ally goes in greater volume through the large tuyeres, and causes the furnace to work faster on the side which was high. In this way incipient scaffolds are moved, and dangerous ones are not likely to form sudde sly. The practice of reducing the speed of the | engine whenever the cinder becomes sharp I have always regarded as likely to form | scaffolds on account of alternately raising | and lowering the melting-zone, and, as I could never see how heat could be gene- HOT-AIR ENGINE. stock, which has been adhering to the walls | rated by diminishing the rate of combus- as a fixed scaffold ; and filtration of fine ore through the coarse stock, reaching the hearth in the state of ore and desiliconiz- ing the iron, thereby lowering its grade. I was unable to detect any form of scaffola- ing, and as the proportion of fine ore in the mixture has not changed, it 1s not likely that it influenced the process, furnace does not work economically, it is customary to say there is a scaffold; but it has seemed tc me that this term is often applied to express an abnormal condition, | the cause of which is obscure. Scaffolds, in order to exercise a material influence on the process, must occupy considerable space; and, although our means of esti- mating the working capacity of a furnace between the stock-line and the melting- zone are very crude, it is at least possible to ascertain whether there is a very con- siderable contraction in the cubic capacity contained between the stock-line and bosh or not, In furnace No. 2, large fuel blanks have been charged, from time to time, when it seemed desirable for any reason to do so; and after 58 to 64 ore charges were on top of the fuel, its presence became apparent in the melting-zone. There has been no variation observed in this respect at any time during the blast. At one time, dur- ing a former blast, when the furnace was wcrking badly, a fuel blank would work When a} tion, I have avoided it. The working of the furnace in question has been a mystery to me, and this account of it has been written in the hope that it may meet the notice of some among the mem- bers of the institute who have had similar ex- perience, and, more fortunate than I, have ascertained the cause. It is not usual to proclaim one’s poor work in all its details and confess ignorance of its cause; but if one cannot get light without opening the windows, they had better be opened, though other people may thus be enabled to look in. | The Goodrich Steamboat Company, of Chicago, is now building at a cost of $160, - 000, a steamer for Lake Michigan, which will in many respects resemble an ocean steamship. She will have two masts of a marked rake and will carry sail when the wind is favorable. This steamer, which will be called the Indiana, will be put on the Chicago and Milwaukee run in May, and the City of Racine, which will also be given a second mast, will go on the route between Chicago and Grand Haven. Capt. T. G. Butlin, who became president on the death of Captain Goodrich, the founder of the line, a few years ago, has retired and is succeeded in the presidency by the son of Captain Good- | wheat. ity and who has inherited his father’s taste and aptitude for lake vessel manage- ment. il - Hot-Air Engine This engine is provided with an ordi- nary cylinder avd hot-air chest in which is a slide-valve of the usual form operated from the main shaft. Into the hot-air 'chest leads a pipe provided with a valve and connecting with the upper end of a hot-air reservoir, below which is a heater placed above a furnace, all these parts | being inclosed in a case supporting the 'cylinder. The reservoir is provided with a number of parallel plates extending | through the bottom on to the bottom of the heater. Into the heater opens a pipe |leading upward and connecting by a dis- | charge-valve with one end of an air com- |pressor arranged alongside the cylinder and operated from the crosshead of the main piston-rod. On the other end of the air compressor is a discharge-valve open- ing into a pipe leading into the ash-pit of the furnace. In the heads of the air-com- pressor cylinder are placed inlet-valves connected by pipes with a closed reservoir located inside of a cooler placed on the outer end of the main cylinder. Water flows through the cooler to cool the air. When a fire is started in the furnace the | air in the hot-air reservoir is rapidly heated. | When the pressure in the reservoir is suf- | ficient the valve is turned to allow the air to pass to the hot-air chest and cylinder and operate the piston in a manner pre- | cisely similar to that in the ordinary steam engine. The exhaust may be discharged |into the open air or into a room to be |heated. Through one pipe the compres- | sor discharges air into the furnace to aid combustion and through the other into the heater, from whence it passes to the hot- air reservoir. The arrangement of the pipes and valves is such as to permit the operator to increase or diminish the supply of cold condensed air to either the heater or furnace. It will be observed that the air in this engine, which is the invention of Jerome H. Chase, of Buffalo, N. Y., is first rapidly cooled, then compressed and forced into a heater, where it is subjected to the intense heat of the furnace. An- other noticeable feature is the fact that the engine is double-acting. EE Does Farming Pay? Answers to this question were obtained from nearly 2000 farmers scattered through the States of Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. The reported interviews fill three pages of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and it appears therefrom that the question of profit in farming is a local one, governed by vary- ing conditions. ‘‘A few things, how- ever,” the editor remarks, ‘‘ appear to be true in all parts of these three great agri- cultural States. It is manifest, for in- stance, that the production of corn does not pay, unless it be fed to live stock. The average cost of the product is put at 20 cents a bushel, and that is more than the Illinois, Missouri or Kansas farmer can sell it for. But by using it to fatten cattle and hogs, he may realize for it from 25 to 40 cents per bushel, and that implies a reasonable profit. Fruit seems to pay as a rule, but it takes time, care and money to secure an orchard, and the average farmer cannot afford to make such investments. The making of butter and cheese is profi- table when there is a convenient market, and some have done well with poultry. On the whole, it is probably safe to say that the most successful farmers are those who diversify their operations, instead ot trusting entirely to one crop, like corn or The want of capital is one of the rich, wko has recently attained his major- | worst drawbacks in the business.” 456 THE IRON AGE, March 20, 1890 Making Welded Pipes. With the economical production of steel, many of the constructions hereto- fore made in cast iron are now being dis- placed by this stronger and stiffer mate- rial. This fact is particularly noticeable in the use of heavy cast-iron pipe of large diameters for the conveyance of water, gas and oil. By the substitution of welded steel pipes a conduit is obtained vastly superior from every standpoint to the heavy fragile cast iron pipe. weld a seam the blow-pipe jets of the fur- naces heat the material, and as the pipe is drawn in the part longest in the flame comes to welding heat and is brought be- tween the rolls and closed down to a per- fect weld, the rolls being adjustable to suit different thicknesses of material. This |in general is the method which we shall proceed to describe a little more in detail. Figs. 1 and 2 show in perspective and | section the general arrangement of the welding apparatus, The machine consists A steel| ofa base, A, formed with horizontally pipe‘of about 25 per cent. of the weight projecting arms, BC, so arranged as to MACHINE FOR MAKING WELDED of a cast iron one of the same diameter will resist a greater internal pressure and, being more elastic and flexible, will not be subject to rupture or breakage so easily. The expense of freight and general hand- | ling will, of course, be in the ratio of the weights, while in addition the almost absolute immunity from breakage is a valuable feature, influencing largely a more widespread adoption of the lighter construction. The attention of those intimately en- | gaged in hydraulic enterprises is being | directed to the production of a conduit | which shall be economical, practical and | durable, and the advances of the art in! this direction give early promise of suc- | cess in supplying a steel pipe having a welded seam that will be as readily ob- tained as a commercial production as the smaller drawn tubes of the same material. The process of which we herewith pre- sent drawings is one invented by Robert Cartwright, of Rochester, N. Y. The en- deavor has been in this machine to re- duce the amount of skilled labor required | to a minimum, and in addition the making | of the operation continuous instead of intermittent, and, further, to make the plant automatic and as mechanical as pos- sible. The general features of the ma- chines are two compound air and gas fur- naces, one internal and one external, immediately in advance of internal and ex- ternal rolls, all being mounted on a frame to which a reciprocating motion is imparted by a crank, the seam of the sheet being welded being drawn between the furnaces and rolls as the weld is made. The gas and air are supplied through pipes attached to the reciprocating frame; and as their rear ends are joined to rubber hose, the move- ment of the frame is made possible. The sheet having been rolled to the required diameter, is held rigidly in shape by suit- ably designed removable clamps on the outside and compression rings on the in- side immediately under the clamps. These clamps and rings are quickly removed as the weld advances and without requiring the stoppage of the work. In starting to create an elongated slot-way opening into | trackway, and the body of the machine. STEEL PIPES. On the rear of | movement of the roll does not abrade the ferent part of the main arbor, so that the latter is never worn out of true. The sup- porting rolls D travel upon a track held adjustably to the frame by means of the bolts, as shown. By adjusting in a verti- cal direction the rolls may be adapted to work upon thick or thin work, especially when welding the joint of a pipe, in which ease one welding roll is used inside and one outside of the pipe, both being in the same vertical line. It is evident that this construction transfers all the strain of the welding pressure upon the roll to the ar- bor and thence to the supporting rolls and that the reciprocating the machine is mounted a crank pulley, | metal at the weld, the operation being connected by means of a pitman to a slide | arranged as shown in Fig. 2. To this slide are connected paralle! bars, recip- rocating in suitable guideways and car-| rying at their extreme outer ends the _welding rolls and heating furnaces. The _ welding roll shown in Fig. 3 is guided on |that part of the frame of the machine more nearly allied to that of annealing the hot metal at the joint, thereby preserv- ing the fiber intact. The gas furnaces shown in Figs. 4 and 5 are carried by the same frame carrying the rolls, and are intended to heat the metal just in advance of the rolls, so that they will be allowed to operate upon the metal Fig. 2.—Side Elevation and Section. represented by the letter A, Fig. 3. The sides, B B, of the frame in which the welding roll is journaled are reciprocated by means of the crank motion just de- scribed. Mounted in this frame is the main arbor, C, mounted upon which is the central welding roll, E, and two support- ing rolls, D D, all of which have friction bearings. These operate entirely inde- pendent of each other, and by their friction upon the main arbor they cause that to rotate more or less, the result being that when in operation each roll is constantly wearing against a dif- at the highest temperature. The outer shell A of the furnace is of the shape shown in the drawings, Its base (top in the drawing) is closed by a flat disk, pro- vided with openings through it adapted to receive the pipes. The contracted end or apex of the cone is arranged to receive an asbestos or soapstone issue-piece, through which are formed multiple gas-ducts sub- stantially opposite to each other. Within the body is placed a shell-shaped partition, B, fitting tightly at one end against the top, by which it is closed, and at the other end against the issue, which also closes it March 20, 1890 except that the opening in the contracted end of this partition coincides with the issue. The space inside the partition forms the air chamber into which the air outlet pipe opens, and within which the air is temporarily stored before using. The space C between the outside of the partition and the inside of the body Fig. 3.—The Welding Roll. constitutes the gas chamber, into which the gas is led, and from which the gas is permitted to escape through the openings shown in dotted lines at the bottom of the chamber B, and just on top of the issue. It will be observed that the air passing from the chamber B and the gas passing from the chamber C, are mixed and com- mingled in the issue, which serves the purpose of a mixing chamber. The com- bustion of this mixed gas and air generates the most intense heat, which heats the body A, which in turn radiates its heat inwardly into the chamber C, thereby imparting a A ge degree of heat to the gas contained therein, so that when the latter leaves the chamber and meets the air issuing from the chamber B the result- ing flame is of a most intense description. The flame coming from the issue is di- rected against the seam to be welded, which is quickly and by this means econ- omically heated to the proper point. In Fig. 6 is shown a hub and spigot joint calked with lead. This joint, aside from the cheapness and facility with which it may be made, has another im- portant advantage in its ability to allow for expansion and contractiom due to changes of temperature. It is intended by Mr. Cartwright to produce a welded steel pipe with its hub and spigot in one construction without rivets. In order to accomplish this the hub will be spun or enlarged on one end of the pipe and re- inforced with a steel band or ring, as shown in the drawing, to counteract the upsetting tendency of the lead in calking \ SSM WQSSPUNRUBE GGG Lone tr er eee \ ~ \ ‘ < . WY \ ~ | . SSSAS . SSS TT SY /}) NAIA ZZ IXS | LEAD HiT . Sf} //1S\AGASKE ; } | NS IW SASL ASTA “Z iN MOY MAME y yy ty Yj, SPIGOT-ENOY WV WY THE IRON AGE. heretofore pursued is remembered. By the method now in common use the weld- ing is done intermittently, the furnace being applied to a short section, which, ‘after being welded, is then closed down by hammers or rolls, the furnace having ‘been removed. The furnaces are again applied and the operation repeated. These | successive heatings and coolings involve | loss of time and heat, and necessarily have ‘a more or less injurious effect upon the | metal. ET | A Physical Prophecy of North America. | A new method of estimating ‘‘The | Future of Our Country” appears in an |original volume entitled ‘‘Cosmonics of the United States.” It is a synopsis of a series of lectures by the author, O. M. Babcock, of Philadelphia. Only a limited number of proof copies have been — and these are placed in the hands of a chosen few for examination. We are | especially permitted to express the follow- ing views obtained therefrom, a portion of which are extracts, and indicate the plan and purpose of the work: ‘‘The tide of commerce, the develop- ment of industry, the distribution and concentration of material wealth and political power, the independence and | union of the States, the freedom and com- 457 a favorable point of compromise between the geographical center near Omaha and the great commercial centers of the future, Chicago and St. Louis, both of which, the author asserts, are destined always to be the chief cities respectively on the only two grand highways of commerce, extend- ing from the ocean to the interior, ar- ranged in the ‘‘order of nature.” The future transit and intercourse between these two cities is destined to exceed all present estimates, while the intervening space will be densely populated, and IIli- nois, 1n which the first is located, will rise to ultimate supremacy as a State. The centrality of Missouri establishes her superiority over nearly all other States in this respect, while, geographi- cally, Iowa holds first place. These three form the tri-State nucleus or tripod of power in our political unity. Whatever oint may be hereafter selected because of its location as being central now lies within one of these three States. Should our national capital ever be transferred from Washington it will be located some- where upon this area. The author does not state, but he leaves the way clearly open for inference, that the point of cross- ing of the two great axial belts above alluded to—or not far from it—is the most favorable site. That the island in the Mississippi on which is erected our Figs. 4 and 5.—The Gas Furnaces. fort of their people, are all considerations under the subject here presented.” ‘*The transit of Venus across the sun’s disk is no more certain, and of vastly less importance to us, than the transit of empvre across the face of North America.” The path of this transit, or civilization’s center-line of march around the world, in crossing America is saown to rise from the fortieth to the fiftieth parallel in a diagonal Yo CAST STEEL BAND Yi Yj Y Yfflg, Fig. 6.—Hub and Spigot Joint. the joint. As the spigot end merely re- quires such form as will restrain the tarred rope or oakum from being driven through into the pipe, a trifling flare of the end accomplishes this. _ The advantages possessed by the method just described of making welded steel pipes will be apparent when the operation curve, or from Philadelphia to Puget Sound and the Gulf of Georgia. Chicago is on the line of this axis, while St. Louis is on the line of the transverse belt con- necting Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mex- ico—approximately the ninetieth meridian. The crossing of these axials is on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and is national armory is so peculiarly situated indicates a natural pre-arrangement accord- ing to the plan laid down in ‘‘ cosmonics.”’ Evidently the intention is to show by this forecast that the locality under consider- ation is really the political center, all of which is eventually to be one consolidated country ‘‘from Panama to the Polar Sea.” ‘The central section” refers to all that portion of the continent lying now within the Umted States be- tween the crests of the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains, north of the thirty- fifth and south of the forty-ninth par- allels and the Lakes. Beyond this bound- ary the slopes are generally oceanward, and constitute what he denominates the border territory. This is divided into the Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern sections. Of the last named we now have only Alaska, a situation which will con- tinue until the Dominion and the States are united under one form of government. Thus we have an illustration of the author’s arguments, or rather his conclu- sions, which, instead of being guesses or speculations, are founded in obvious con- ditions and circumstances which are known to be true, hence they are in the form of demonstrations with lines and points everywhere defined. According to these views ‘‘the great central sec- tion” is destined to contain one-half the population of the entire continent, because of dense population and great fertility with continuous habitable area. Like the flow of its waters, so will be the senti- ments and sympathies of its people, be- cause their interests are identical and they will be solid for union among the States; 458 THE IRON AGE. March 20, 1890 —— while, on the contrary, the great border may be diversified in sympathy and senti- ment as the waters are distributive and flow into different oceans. Therefore they will never be able to combine for conquest of the ‘‘ sold center.” For like reasons the great cities of the interior are likely to become larger than those on the outskirts, as in the former trade will be concentrative, while on the exterior it will be distributive. This will be the case more and more as we become a home-producing people and foreign goods relatively fall off in the supply of Amer- ican markets. The more alike the genius, habits and customs of different peoples, the less is the demand for exchange of commodities, while unlikes in character of peoples and productions call for more exchanges, and hence a larger trade. In view of this fact our Western seaports, and their commerce with Asia, have before them a prospect of greatness not even conjectured. This prospect is made still stronger by the fact that our Pacific harbors are few and far apart, therefore necessitating more trade at each in order to supply the demands of a commerce proportioned to her length of coast, area of inhabitable slope and mag- nitude of commerce on opposite shores of the greatest ocean. As an offset to these conditions it is worthy of note, and very remarkable, that ‘‘ Africa lies further west than Asia and Europe, while South Amer- ica lies further east than North America. By this circumstance the waters between them are very much narrowed on the Atlantic side, and correspondingly widened on the Pacific side, The mountains range chieflyalong the Pacific and Indian Oceans, causing narrow slopes on those sides and consequently wide countries toward the Atlantic Ocean, into which flow the waters of both. The great breadths of land, therefore, lying east of the Andes and west of the Moon and Dragon ranges are to | trade principally through Atlantic waters. through parts east of the Rocky Mount- ains. ‘*The development of Southern con- tinents under American and European in- flue.ce will bring forward an extensive commerce, much of which may be tribu- tary to our central cities by way of the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Valley independent of the Atlantic Coast cities.” These quotations illustrate the author's method of expressing his views. By the aid of ingeniously devised charts the read- ing is more easily understood, while a less amount of explanatory matter is required. Evidently the convenience as well as the interests of business men has been studied in the preparation of a work for the benefit of young people. Instead of using labored arguments to convince his readers, the writer of this little volume proceeds on the assumption that his views are clear and his assertions are so obviously true as to need no ad- ditional proof. Some of his assertions at first appear extravagant, but each advance in the mental panorama unfolds a new idea which passes into a conclusion before it is left for the next, and when the end is reached the chain of evidence is complete and there is no demand for a summing up of the argument. The reader finds that he has been carried along and now stands side by side with the writer, albeit, per- haps, under protest, because his interests or local pride are antagonized. Interests and prejudices are not respected by the author and his work bears out the asser- tion that ‘‘he has not received aid or sought favor from any source except the source of all truth and light, lest any deviation from accuracy or honest convic- tions might be suffered or attempted. Fidelity to nature, and hence to truth, however, in showing the future of our country, must give to some lines and locali- ties pre-eminence according as they are, in the order of development, destined to excel,” The inference must not be drawn there- fore that the mention of the great central region as a commercial and political unit, with Chicago and St. Louis for its nuclei or, according to the author’s coinage, the ‘*metropoli”’—referring not only to the center, but to the continent—is through any influence brought to bear by these cities or by persons to have them specially mentioned. Their position demands it; while Puget Sound, the Gulf of Georgia and Strait of Fuca—waters in common— form a grand subject for word painting al- most incredible until seen as here de- scribed. Our space will furnish only the very short quotations which follow: ‘*Long Island Sound and Puget Sound will always find in the great Mississippi Valley a sounder basis wealth than either will in the great city of its counterpart; and yet these two cities. so corresponding in their relations to both sea and shore, extremes as they are, will probably become the principal media of interoceanic transit. ‘* New York may yet find in a new city —vperhaps not yet named—on the Pacitic Coast at Puget Sound, that co-operation which will command athwart our country the principal commerce between Eastern Asia and Western Europe—the extremes of the Old World.” ‘London and Liver- pool are further north than Puget Sound; then why may not the latter nurse a great commerce on its bosom and smile in the face of great cities where nature has sup- plied all the conditions of trade, both local and external ?” Referring again to the ‘‘transit of em- pire,”’ the following more than hints at great possibilities in the Northwest: Rising from the fortieth parallel on the At- | lantic to the fiftieth on the Pacific, as yet undefined, but mentally projected beyond the Mississippi in a ‘‘ grand ascent, as it 'speeds from the ninetieth meridian west- With the United States this trade will be | ward and northward midway between Topeka with Kansas City and St. Paul with Minneapolis—counterparts in im- portance and the next luminaries of mag- nificence beyond St. Louis ang Chicago— Denver and Winnipeg are offsets still further on and wider apart. Between them runs the axis on the north side of the Black Hills and through a region almost starless to the naked eye, but full of inter- esting search as we sweep the horizon with our horoscope and catch glimpses here and there of new luminaries coming into view—as yet but points of light. ‘In the distance a stellar mass appears, somewhat nebulous, but with clearly de- fined nuclei, which we shall study with growing interest as approach dispels the mist, and a cluster of cities stands revealed, rivaling in magnificence the great marts of Europe and making Puget Sound to glow with an effulgence unparalleled by any harbor on the broadest ocean of the globe.”’ I Dr. Gatling’s new gun factory will be built in or near Philadelphia. There is a movement on foot over there to try and make the old Quaker City the practical center of the Government’s naval power, and that would be an important post if the new navy is constructed. The rea- son for the selection ot that location for the foundry for great guns is that a site in New York would be too expensive. Metal and coal—that is, material and fuel —are cheaper and more quickly obtainable at Philadelphia. The kind of metal used for the big 10 and 12 inch Gatling guns will be open-hearth steel. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad has issued its sheet on rates of pig iron, which took effect on the 15th inst. The rate from Birmingham to Cincinnati is $3.30, and to Chicago $4.55. Cost of Electric Welding. Recent tests were made in England with a Thomson electric welding plant to ascer- tain the time required for welding, the power consumed and then estimating probable cost per weld of the several sec. tions of weld tried. With a view to test rapidity, 20 -pieces of 1-inch round iron bar with rough ends were welded together in 13 minutes. The results showed that each such weld might be well done in 14 minutes instead of the 1.3 minutes actually taken, or in considerably less than 2 min- utes per weld when a good swage finished weld is required. In another of several tests 10 pieces of 14-inch round bar were welded in 12} minutes, or 24 minutes per weld. Commenting upon this the Hngi- neer Says: As the sectional area of the 14-inch bar is very nearly 1 square inch, the cost of this work may be examined. At the same rate of working 24 such welds, or 48 pieces of bar, could be welded in an hour. The cost for labor would be, say, 1/2, or 0.58d per weld of 1 square inch area. The indicated horse-power absorbed during this same time may be taken as about 22 asa maximum, but as the full current is only required during about 0.4 of the whole time, and as the engine runs light for nearly half of the whole time, the power to be debited to the welding must be taken as very much less than this. When the current is not being used the friction diagram, which includes engine shafting and machine friction, represents about 2.75-horse-power; but taking the speed at which the engine runs when the full current is on, this falls to as low as 2 in- dicated horse-power. We must therefore charge the process with a mean of about 12 indicated horse-power. Where only one -machine is at work the cost will, of course, be more than is represented by 12 indicated horse-power, but it is fair to assume more than one machine worked by an ordinary works engine. Taking the average con- sumption of coal for such an engine as 3 pounds per indicated horse-power, we have a consumption of 36d per hour and for the 24 welds, or 1.5d per weld. The to- tal cost per weld would thus be 2.8d. Be- fore drawing a conclusion from this, how- ever, 1t must be noted that on a previous day 80 welds were made in 14-inch iron in 177 minutes, equal to 245 per day of nine hours or 2.22 minutes per weld, and the cost for labor 1s thus reduced upon doing a number. The reduction in cost is, how- ever, not as much as is represented by the relative times per weld, namely, 2.2 and 2.5 minutes, but a large proportion of this saving will be made. Making such allow- ances as.are necessary, and such as we know the conditions of the experiments will permit, so that the comparison of the cost of such welding with that done in the smithy may be a fair one, it may be taken that the cost of electrically welding such bars is about 1.85d per square inch. The cost of the plant and its maintenance must, however, be considered in arriving at the total prime cost of the welding. We have not made any precisely simi- on lar lots of welds bv the ordinary method for the purpose of compar- ison, and such work does not oc- cur in ordinary practice, but judging by the cost of other work for which certain piecework prices are paid, and a known quantity of coal used, we may assume that the 14-inch round bars in numbers would be welded for about the same or a slightly higher sum in the smithy. Here, how- ever, the comparison ceases, for by the electrical machinery the number of welds which can be done per day by a pair of men will in many cases be doubled. This is where a very great advantage is achieved, the earning power of every man employed, of the capital in the works and the quan- tity of work which a given works can turn March 20, 1890 THE IRON AGE, 459 out per year is thus enormonsly increased. Still greater advantages are, however, to be secured for many kinds of work where the precision of the electric welding is of high importance. By the electrical appa- | a rotary squeezer built by the Lloyd ratus the welding heat can not only be ob | Booth Company, of Youngstown, Ohio, tained at any determined place and limited | that is now working very successfully in with precision, but the *‘ heat” is under | more than 20 of the leading mills in dif- the eye of the workman, who can adjust) ferent parts of the country. One of the it with the greatest exactness and with | special features of this squeezer is that the perfect control. He can see exactly how | housing posts are loose, so that in case of the metal is behaving and work accord-| a post being broken the entire housing or ingly, and hence the electrical method is | main casting need not be renewed. The most excellent for welding steel pieces | posts are held securely by keys and bolts, together, or steel to iron; and wherever it | so that when in place they are as firm as is necessary to obtain a welding heat at a|one solid casting. The bearings for the precise point, and to confine the heat to! pinion shaft rest on the bed plate and are Rotary Squeezer. The accompanying engraving represents a a a MI a ee ROTARY SQUEEZER BUILT BY this part, no other method can approach it in any respect whatever. eee An improved gravel car has been in- vented by F. D. Adams,