The Iron Age 1890-05-29: Vol 45

‘THE THuRsDAY, May 29, 1890. IRON AGE Guillotine Shear. The annexed cut represents a shear of the guillotine type built by the Lloyd Booth Company, Youngstown, Ohio, for cutting skelp and light plates. The gear- ing is of the proportion 5} to 1, giving ample power to shear plates up to 4-inch thickness and 24 inches wide. This shear is also provided with an automatic stop motion of an improved design, which allows the head to stop at the full opening of each stroke. most substantial manner throughout, the eccentric shaft being of forged steel and working in solid brass journals. It is in- tended when a shear of this design is used to keep the knives slightly above the floor of the mill, the plates being carried to and delivered fiom it by light tables or rollers, placed both in front, and back of it, in order that the plates can be fed through and stopped at the proper point to cut them to the length desired. In some experiments lately made in England to test the merit of electric weld- ing, a 14-inch iron bar was welded both by means of electricity and by hand. The former stood a strain of 91.9 per cent. of the strength of the metal itself, and the latter 80.3 per cent. The electric weld, however, showed cracks when bent cold at an angle of 66°, whereas the hand made joint stood 138° of bend. I The New Navy Bill. The magnificent scheme for naval con- struction presented early in the present session of Congress by Mr. Hale’s Senate GUILLOTINE SHEAR. The tool is finished in the | Committee at last resolves itself into very moderate proportions. The original prop- osition was to expend something like $55,000,000 for eight battle ships, besides gu iboats, monitors, &. A correspondent says: The Navy Ap- propriation bill, as it passed the House, provided for only four large vessels in- stead of ten, and for no gunboats or torpedo boats whatever. The cost of three of the vessels, which are battle ships, is limited to $4,000,000 each by this bill, while the cost of the fourth, a fast armored cruiser, making 20 knots an hour, is limited to $2,750,000. This rep- resents a total of $14,750,000, of which the customary fractional part alone is to be appropriated during the first year. Thus the bill as it reached the Senate called for four vessels instead of the 18: proposed by Mr. Hale’s committee, at only’ about one-fourth of the outlay proposed by the lacter, or something like $40'000, - 000 less, making allowance for differences. in the provisions regarding armament. Nevertheless, the efforts of the Senate: Committee on Appropriations in amending the construction items of the House bill, have not gone beyond adding two small and very inexpensive craft. One of these is a torpedo boat like the Cushing, which is to cost not more than $125,000; the other, a torpedo cruiser of 750 tons dis- placement, or less than that of the Petrel or Vesuvius, which is to make 23 knots, and to cost, exclusive of armament, not more than $350,000. The change in the programme is sup- posed to be due to differences of opinion respecting the advisability of building any more heavy battle ships, rather than steel cruisers. Not only this, bat a more serious obstacle presented itself in the de- mands for pension money. To provide for the national defense was a consideration of less importance than caring for the ‘scarred heroes” of the late unpleasant- ness. THE IRON AGE. May 29, 1890 Centering Machine. This machine is provided with two sen- sitive balanced spindles for drilling and reaming at one setting of the work. Pos- itive stops are so arranged as to secure per- fect uniformity in the depth of the work and to surely prevent countersinking too deep, even by an inexperienced operator. The head is furnished with a positive lock- ing device which prevents the spindles from being advanced except at the central point, and when advanced, no lateral movement can occur. The new form of vise used can be easily kept true and in perfect alignment with the apindles. The two spindles carry, one a drill and the other a reamer or countersink. They are driven at different speeds by a single belt over a pulley whose center is in line with the center of the lateral movement of the head. Both spindles are balanced by springs as in sensitive drills, and are suc- cessively advanced to the cutting position by a feeding lever, which is always in the same position and which is moved in the same direction for both spindles. A sup- port is provided for the front end of the bar, while it is being inserted in the chuck, in addition to a \-shaped rest for the rear end. Thechuck is thereby made self centering. We will describe the construction of the machine more in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings. The swinging head, Fig. 4, carrying the two spindles, is so pivoted as to swing later- ally in either direction far enough to bring each spindle successively to an operating position on the same line, this line being a prolongation of the center jine of the work. The spindles are so mounted in their bearings as to slide endwise. One bearing, that at the right, in Figs. 2 and 3, is enlarged to admit the journals of pinions which are mounted around the spindles and serve to transmit rotary mo- tion to the spindles by means of keys and face may stand in an approximately ver- tical position when the spindles are with- drawn. The under side of the latterally- moving head is provided with projecting lugs, of such length as to permit the lateral movement of the head in front of the segmental pinion when its forward radial surface is in a vertical position, but to preclude such lateral movement at times when the pinion and connecting-spindle CENTERING are advanced. Asthe width of the slots keyways in the ordinary way, leaving the | corresponds to the thickness of the oper- spindles free to move endwise inde- pendently of their rotary motion. The advance of the spindles is limited. Spiral springs are so arranged as to hold the spindles in their withdrawn position. By means of a rack and pinion movement longitudinal movement is communicated to the spindles. In order that the later- ating pinion it is evid:nt that the operat- ing spindle can only be advanced when in an operative position. In order that the | — may receive rotary motion through | their pinions one of the pivots upon which | the head swings is extended and forms a| journal upon which revolves a pulley car- rying pinions. Power is thus transmitted | depth, as this unnecessarily enlarges the diameter of the recess in the end of the finished piece and injures the neatnesss of its appearence. It is also of frequent im- portance that many pieces be reamed to the same depth, and in all cases the cut- ting tools require to be supplied with oil or other lubrication in order to the best performance of their work. These results are achieved in this machine as follows: MACHINE. It being previously understood that the advance of the drilling spindles is limited by the abutment of collars against should- ers, it is clear that the advance of the cutting tools carried by the spindles is also thus limited. A cross bar or stop plate, provided with an oil receptacle and chan- nel, by which the oil is carried directly to the end of the work being drilled, is pivoted upon the frame of the vise, and is ally moving head may be held in the re- quired position during the successive ope- ration of its various spindles, and in order to prevent all lateral movement of the head except at times when the operat- ing spindle is wholly withdrawn from its work, the feeding pinion is made in a mutilated or segmental form, as shown in Fig. 3, and is so placed with reference tu the rack teeth of the sliders F that its front radial sur- Fig. 2.—Plan View of Centering Machine. | to the spindles in any position which they may occupy. Stops are provided in order to indicate that the head has received suf- ficient lateral movement. ; The vise for gtipping the work is mounted upon the bed and is capable of longitudinal movement and may be clamped at any desired point. . In the performance of work of this class it is of frequent importance that the reaming be not carried to too great a so located that it may be swung into or away from the path of the work in its ad- vance through the gripping-jaws toward the spindle and latched in place. An ad- justable stop is provided, by means of which the approach of the vise ae the stop-plate toward the drilling-hea may also be limited. It is clear that the stop may be so set as to permit such ap- proach of the vise that the work abutting against its stop-plate will come suffi May 29, 1290 THE IRON AGE. 897 ciently far into the path of the cutting-tool to be reamed to the desired depth without danger of being drilled or reamed be- yond such desired depth; also, in special cases, if the stop plate be swung out of the of the werk, the work itself may be advanced through the vise far enough to receive any desired depth of reaming with- of the mining school at Boston, Mass.. with Mathias Lee as diamond setter and foreman of drills. The Treatment of Waste “ Pickle.” In England the treatment of galvaniz- ers’ waste pickle has been made the sub- Zeal WY Z Yl” a —s. The ferrous chloride and the waste liquor are heated in one and the same fur- nace by the reverberatory principle. Much d upon the regular introduction and distribution of the liquor. The corrosive action of the free acid is avoided by leav- ing on the brick floor of the retort a coat of the thick deposit above mentioned ; the i * ae = oe “i ota Seetiectat tiated "= al | gy Seal Fig. 3.—Side Elevation and Section of Centering Machine. out interference with the adjustment of the stop, which may remain properly set for the majority of the work required. In operation, the work having been grip in the vise, as described, and the spindles being in rotation, the swinging head is brought into the proper position by means of the handie, when the first cu ject of experimental tests with a view of neutralizing its deleterious effects. As the result of long and careful investigation, Mr. Thomas Turner, metallurgical lecturer at Mason College, Birmingham, England, has invented and patented a process which promises to achieve the desired ends, and which has been for some little time past in operation at the works of Walker Brothers, Walsall and Netherton. The principle of the process is simple in the extreme. The waste liquor 1s merely boiled down to dry- ness, and the solid residue heated to low redness. Oxide of iron remains in the furnace, while free hydrochloric acid dis- tils off, is condensed, and can be used over again ad infinitum. But though the idea is thus simple, the practical applica- ting too? is caused to advance by the movement of the pinion as described. This cutting tool having advanced to its limit, it is permitted to withdraw by the action of the spring upon its spindle, when the head is moved laterally, as required, and the second spindle 1s caused to act in a similar manner, and so successively through the series, if more than two spindles are employed. The work may then be removed and other work inserted, when the operations are repeated. This machine is manufactured by the D. E. Whiton Machine Company, of New London, Conn. ee The Journal of Tower, Minn., says that the deepest test hole ever yet drilled in the iron country is the one bored near the company’s barn at the Stone location by a ‘‘B” Sullivan drill. A hole 1’, inches in | costly experiments, extending over many months. The difficulties to be overcome were very great, since the liquor contained so much free acid that to use any metal vessel was quite impossible; nor could it be contained when at boiling heat in any | kind of brick or stone evaporating pan. |At the same time it yielded, on evapora- | tion, such a large quantity of solid residue that the bottom of any vessel used became covered with a thick deposit after a few hours’ working, and this deposit was so hard that it could be renioved only by means of a sledge hammer and a crowbar. Even this was not all. The ferrous chlor- ide, when heated in the presence of air, formed a considerable amount of ferric chloride, which, volatizing freely, con- taminated the recovered acid. Ali these difficulties have at length been overcome, and the process has been in succesful operation at Messrs. Walker’s works for six months, and has been proved on the deposits of one of the most important re- | large scale to entirely do away with the sources of the State. The entire work is | waste ‘‘ pickle,” and, what is even more now under the supervision of Herbert A. remarkable, to yield a clear profit after Wilcox, a mining engineer and graduate | paying all working expenses. | tion of it was a maiter which involved Fig. 4.—Section through Spindles. diameter was drilled at an angle of 24 degrees to a depth of 1340 feet. The work was done under the supervision of Wm. H. Cole, a veteran drill runner and diamond setter. The Minnesota Iron Com- pany have at present ten diamond drills in operation, turning the leaves of creation’s treasure book and bringing to light the | formation of ferric chloride is checked by roasting the residue inaccessibly to air; and the method of working by heat from above prevents the deposit from caking beyond such a depth as is desired. The distilled acid is condensed in a tall stack of special construction; and the oxide of iron remaining is raked out of the furnace in the state in which it is commonly known as ‘‘ blue billy,” and is of use in puddling operations for “‘ fettling.” As a result of experience it is found that the furnaces will work three months without stoppage, that they use only 4 cwt. of fuel to com- pletely treat 1 ton of waste liquor, that the acid recovered is perfectly suitable for using over and over again, and that the oxide of iron recovered has a value which Fig. 5.—Adjustable Rest and Vise. goes a long way toward paying for the fuel used. a Analyses of Cranberry Ores.— We are indebted to the East Tennessee Mining and ~ Improvement Company tor the following analyses of ores from the Cranberry dis- trict: Metallic Phos- Titan- iron. phorus. ium. 1. Cranberry Mines..... 58.35 0.0071 0.007 2. = Pe ecueed 40.79 0.0767 none. 3. ” NO coe 41.13 0.0819 0.012 4. : OO sath 50.77 0.0087 0.013 5. Davis Tract, East T Ms Ss Cieiee cc. dots 45.97 0.045 none. 6. Poplar opening. ...... 47.88 0.017 none. 7. East Tenn. M.&1.Co. 54.63 0.032 trace. g i ” “ 63.63 0.086 none. 9. Fork Ridge ‘“ 55.12 trace. none. 10. Wilcox $ 57.74 0.017 none. 11. East Tenn. a 56.14 trace. none. = * % , 66.39 0.0067 none. The company, in which a number of prominent Philadelphia iron men are in- terested, have ore lands in the Cranberry district, and are pushing the claims to greatness of the town of Watauga, Tenn., where it is claimed Bessemer pig iron can be made at $11. THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, | CINCINNATI! MEETING CONCLUDED. Prof. R. C. Carpenter read a paper on Tests of Several Types of Engines, under Conditions Found In Actual} Practice. | The tests were, first, of a simple engine with automatic governor; second, a compound non- condensing engine of the horizontal tandem type having an automatic governor on the high pressure cylinder and a fixed eccentric for tbe low pressure cylinder; third, a simple con- densing engine of the Reynolds-Corliss pattern ; fourth, a compound condensing engine, hori- zontal tandem type, automatic governor con- nected to both valves; fifth, two compound condensing engines, horizontal tandem type, automatic governor; sixth, two compound con- densing engines, with throttling governor, and cut-off adjustable by link motion; and seventh, two triple expansiou condensing engines, hori- zontal tandem type, with automatic governors, The engines were in ordinary working condi- tion and were in no case especially fitted up to be tested. Not one had steam ets. e paper gives in detail the method of testing each engine, and gives the results in tabulated form. e next paper was also by Professor Car- penter on a Comparative Test of a Hot Water and a Steam Heating Plant. These tests were made to decide whether the | better method of heating greenhouses was with | low steam or with hot water. The, buildings were exactly alike, as shown in the | drawings, and were erected for the purpose. | Each measured 50 x 19!¢ feet, and contained | 1100 square feet of glass. The tests were begun | on December 21 last. and were continued until March 20. Theaveragedaily coal consumption | during December was 75 pounds for the hot | water system and 93 pounds for the steam. In January, the average was 90 pounds for the first and 112 for the second ; in February, the ° rates were 99 and 121 pounds, and in March 114 and 136 pounds. The temperature was main- tained somewhat higher in the hot water house, aes the average range or variation was a little jess. Discussion. Charles E. Emery said: It is believed that | of oil was begun the boilers were badly in- The first applica- ut a gallon, then filling the boiler with water, heat- int and ailowing the water weeks before removing. became —-—---»+ = eae hot water is in general much better adapted for heating greenhouses than steam, on account of | tion of oil was made by inserting a’ its greater specific heat and the greater weight of heated fluid in circulation, which tend to| ing to the boiling It must not, | to stand two or produce equality of temperature. THE IRON AGE, May 29, 1890 granted that the two heaters were exactly’ scales came off in cakes, the oil alike in all essential particulars, the water enter between the scale and iron, and heating surface of the one used for steam was eee These cakes con- necessarily slightly reduced by the necessity of siderablv in size, and in some cases were quite lowering the level of the water to provide large. steam space. The water and steam were also | Chimney Draft. necessarily at a somewhat higher temperature in the steam heater than in the water heater.| Three pes were ) pronentedane this subject. These two elements would y increase | Prof. J. Burkitt ebb discussed ‘‘ Peclet’s the amount of coal burned in any steam heater, | Treatment of Chimney Draft” and showed that compared with that in any water heater, when | certain of the analysis could be advan- the conditions varied as stated. Moreover, in “ee y shortened. heaters of the general type illustrated, it is im- he second ol hs Professor Webb, was practicable to control the draft areas so as to}on “The Mec ni Theory of Chimney ( (ee ce wen ten emee = ty WOT waTeR ji 4} eo ——-- een See ‘ ' ,7™ r---- Vertical Section through Green Houses. force the heated products of combustion over the entire heating surface, from which fact it frequently occurs that a very slight increase in demand from such a boiler causes a great in- crease in the amount of heat carried away to the chimney. Draft.” In this paper itis shown exactly how oy acts in producing the velocity of the ot air in a chimney, and how the heat acts to keep gravity wound up, so to speak. A chim- ney 330 feet high by 1 foot square section is supposed to be full of hot air, and to be con- nected at its base with a shaft 100 feet square hight, and full of cold air. It is assumed that air in the chimney is so hot that its density is but one-half that of the cold air, and that after the air is heated no heat is abstracted by a boiler or lost through the wails. By placing the grate near the bottom of the large cold air shaft it will be so large as to offer no perceptible obstruction to the sage of the air, and the grate bars being sup- posed to be simply wires heated by electricity there will be no coals to obstruct the flow, anc the heat can be turned on and off bv makin and breaking the circuit. The cold air shaft having 10,000 times the section of the chimey, and the cold air one-half the density of the hot, and velocity in the shaft will be but 1-20000 of that in the chimney and therefore —— If the chimney be in full draft, and if the current be broken so as to stop the supply of heat, no diminution of the velocity will're- sult until all the hot air, in the connecting pas- sage has passed into the chimney, and as this passage can be made of any capacity, the effect upon the velocity of stopping the sup- of heat can be Soutponed indefinitely, Notes on Kerosene in Steam Boilers was the title of a paper also presented by Pro- fessor Carpenter. e boilers experimented on were of the ordinary tubular type, 12 feet in hight, four being 4 feet in diameter and the other two 5 feet in diameter. When the use crusted with a hard scale. | however, be assumed that there should be any difference in the economy of the two systems. The quantities of heat leaving and serena SS the boiler, under the same conditions, when using two different fluids, must of necessity be the same, and such a difference as is shown by these experiments must be entirely due to the difference in the efficiency of the heaters themselves, when used under different condi- tions. Tracing out in detail the differences in condition, we find, first, that the amount of radiating surface in the building heated with steam was considerably less than that heated with water. This made no difference in the number of thermal units utilized, but required that the average tem of the steam used in one case should be greater Plan of Green Houses. than that | in one case, wi of the water in the other. Taking it for|a ply whsiehh proves that the heating of the air has no direct effect in | ape apy the velocity. The effect of heating the air is ey to keep rais- ing * — = its shaft, which acts as a weight to e apparatus running—i. e. to keep the chimney drawing—one-half of this weight being balanced ht of the hot air column, and other half bein employed in maintaining the draft. In regard to the production of the velocity, it is sup that the cold air shaft is extended to twice its former hight, and connected at the top with a similar shaft, opening at the bottom with a grating of wires to heat the entering air. The atmospheric is supposed to be the same at the of both the hot air and cold air shafts. Insuch an apparatus the hot grate at the bottom of the second cold air shaft would keep it full of hot air, having substan- tially no velocity, the action of the heat being to make each cubic foot of cold air 2 feet high, or to expand a column half the ht of the shaft into one of full heat, the weight remain- ing the same. At the top of this second column there would be a constant flow to the of the first cold air column, which would be kept full, That ion of the apparatus comprised in the hot air colunan, its passage and the first cold air column, would be devoted to uc- ing the velocity of exit at the top of hot air column, and velocity would be that due to the difference in hight of the hot air column in the first shaft, over that of a column of cold air of equal weight. The formula fo: tbe velocity is then given as velocity = 2g (AD), AD being this differ- ence in hight. the we This succeeded in nae Oey one-half the scale. This was found to be a more effective way than that of applying the oil in small quantities when the boiler was in use. Kero- sene oil was used in this case. It was found that there was no advantage to be derived from the use of more than a certain quanti of oil. For boilers 4 feet in aiameter and 1 feet long, the best results were obtained with 2 quarts of oil for each boiler per week. The bo now have less scale in them than at an previous time within four years, and the quantity remaining in them seems to be soft and gradually Sores. In the discussion which followed the - tation of this , C. W. Nason said that use of crude in boiler badly scaled, it was noticed that the re May 29, 1890 THE IRON AGE. on chimney draft, by Prof. - a to be called forth, explained, by appearance of certain a Soloes which are o ted and a parently involve valid reaso ‘as to the accuracy of Peclet’s h eses, and it is upon these subjects that his discussion is founded. Discussion. George H. Barrus made a drawing on the blackboard of the gauge he had found to work admirably and described it as follows: It con- sists essentially of an ordinary U-tube, made of lass, surmounted by two chambers. The tube s about % inch diameter, and the chambers 2 or 244 inch diameter, See upon the amount of desired. e chamber and the tube on one side of the zero mark are gilded with oil, and the other chamber and the tube on the other side of the mark are filled with colored alcohol, the upper portions of the chambers being empty and open to the air through the small tubes. On connecting the ap te chamber with the flue of the boiler or chimney, the heat of the liquids in the chambers is varied in about the same r- tion as that in the ordinary U-tube gauge. The line of demarcation between the two different colored liquids in the plass tube, however, is moved a much greater amount, depending upon the relation which exists between the di- ameter of the glass and that of the chamber. A draft of 1-10 inch, measured in the common Barrus Draught Gauge. way, can readily be multiplied by this means so as to give a movement of five or even ten times this amount on the scale of the instru- ment. The scale is calibrated by reference to a common U-tube containing water when giv- ing an indication of one or perhaps two inches. Another paper by Professor Wood was on the Graphic Representation of Thermal Quantities. The geometrical representations of thermal quantities are of great assistance in forming mental conceptions of the changes which take place in fluids, due to changes in the heat to which they are sub and especially fur- nish a means of illustrating the braic ex- — which occur in the study of thermo- ynamics. The writer was the first to repre- sent on a diagram of energy internal work, and the present paper extends these representa- tions to some cases not before —. The rep- resentations, which are completely worked out, are founded on the following theorems: ‘*The mechanical equivalent of the heat ab- sorbed or given out by a su ce in passin; from one given state (as to pressure and vol- ume) to another given state, t! h a series of states represented by the co-ordinates of a given curve on a diagram of energy, is repre- sented by the area included between the given curve and curve of no transmission of heat drawn from its extremities, and indefinitely prolonged in the direction representing in- crease of volume.” “Tf a fluid be worked through a series of changes (as to pressure and volume) from any given state to the same state, the resultant internal work will be zero ” Another paper by Professor Wood was on a “Test of a frigerating Plant.” The test was made upon a ee 110 De La Vergne eens plant. puper describes in brief the general arrangement of the plant. which was of the same pattern as tha which we described in The Iron Age of May 8, 1890. The method of obtaining weight of ammonia used was then shown, the refrig- eration, the boiler plant, &c. Investigation showed that the ice melting eee se indi- cated horse-power per hour was 65.79 pounds, Prof. R. H. Thurston, m a paper entitled ‘‘Hirn and Dwelshauvers’ Theory of the Steam ne, Experimental and Analytic,” gives a brief and comprehensive reswmé of the work done by these pa is of value as cation and a brief ou the two. A Universal Steel Calorimeter was described by Geo. H. Barrus. In experi- menting with his a ing calorimeter he found that where the quality of steam was being tried, the steam being very wet, a de- vice was planned for passing steam first through a chamber in which some of the moisture wou be deposited, thereby relieving the instrument from handling so much water and increasing its range. The use of such a device in connec- tion with the superheating form of instrument will enable any desired amount of moisture to be measured by the instrument and overcome the objection of limited . This method of treating a part of the moisture in wet steam has been perfected in the apparatus de- scribed, but in place of using a superheated calorimeter for determining the remaining uantity of moisture, recourse has been had to the wire drawing principle. The apparatus is so constructed that a continuous current of steam through it, the rate of this cur- rent being constant so long as the pressure is constant, A drip box is provided for retain- ing the condensed water, which can be drawn off through a suitable valve into a bucket rest- ing on scales. The quantity drawn off is regu- lated so as to keep the water at a constant level in the drip box. It has been found that the use of the drip box almost entirely re- moves the water from the steam, leaving very little moisture to pass over into the heat uge. When the amount of moisture drawn off from the drain valve has been determined for a given time, the percentage of moisture which this represents is found by comparing it with the total amount of steam passing through the ar- paratus. This is done either by computation or by trial. The paper concludes with a num- ber of tests made with theinstrument on differ- ent boilers, which show not only the utility of the ey pie but also the general manner in which it operates in practice. the dates of publi- of the work done by Heating Furnaces. was tne title of a paper presented by D. K. Nicholson. A Siemens furnace will probably call for less repairs than any other kind of a reverberatory furnace. The gas and air come up separate ports, and do not unite until they reach the hearth, when they come in contact with the metal to be heated. By the time the flame reaches the outgoing ports, it is pretty well spent and does 7 little injury to the brickwork. In the Smith furnace the regen- erators are built in the ends of the furnace. The checkers are entirely open at the top, and on a level with the bridge of the furnace, which is at the same time one wall of the chamber. This furnace is generally used for quick heating. Its advan are: the cheapness, the ease with which the checkers can be taken out and cleaned, and the bottoms of the gas and air conduits and the checker chambers are so little below the surface that they are not likely to become choked by water in low ground. It is better to have the bot- tom slope toward one tapping hole than toward two or three. The process of burning down a high bottom is injurious to a fur- nace, since it is necessary to raise it to such a high temperature that the bricks in the roof drip. A sand with too much clay in it is liable to cling to a piece of steel all through the rolls, and show in yellow streaks on the finished bar. A low carbon steel stands nearly as much heat as iron, but in heating high car- bon steel the metal must be very carefull brought up to a heat sufficiently high for a ing it. To charge cold steel of high carbon into a warm furnace is disastrous to the metal, par- ey. oa the steel is frosty. Itis an easy matter to build a wood fire around the steel and warm it throughout to at least 200° or 300°. The furnace crown that gives the most satis- faction is a roof that dips about 5° at each end for one quarter the whole distance, and then ht across, with the necessary arch sideways for sup A very rough crown obstructs the draft across the furnace, and unevennesses 2reate eddies. By exposing a piece of steel to too high a temperature in the fur- nace a cr ine structure is induced, which renders the metal unfit for further hammering or rolling. This can be partially remedied b lowering the temperature to a point below that at which it is generally worked and gradually bringing it up again to the right degree. The most common way of doing this is to pass a highly reducing flame over the hearth. Various plans are put into practice to aid in b the smoke and driven off a green but are y abandoned after a time. Explosions are prevented, in startin up a gas furnace, by building a fire on the t inventors. The | to of the cinder. Soaking pits, of no fuel, and the ingot is handled and ease a in the pit furnaces. na it ingot m wait ain ana eee, so that there wil necessary a uniform heat to the — at for that which is lost from the sides of the pit. In ordinary running at least 90 per cent. of the ingots from the Bessemer could be cared for in soaking pits. A ag wd on “ Equilibrium Arch Curves,” by H. H. Suplee, described a method patented by T. J. Lovegrove, which will give in a simple and manner the proper equilibrium curve for any arch of given span, riseand load with a degree of accuracy which is such a close approximation to exactness as to be en- tirely within the limits of the errors of con- struction. T. C. Clarke described ‘‘ The Kinzua Via- duct,” a structure on a branch line of the Erie Railroad, which was built in 1882, and at- tracted much attention at the time on account of its unusual hight (300 feet) and the method panes in its erection. The describes e viaduct and briefly touches upon how it was built, but is more es, devoted to the test of a piece cut from one of the columns after eight years’ service. The specimen was taken in order to show the worst condition ex- isting in the viaduct, and was from one of the longest columns. The specimen taken was en- tirely free from corrosion or any other signs of deterioration. The paint was in as con- dition as when first put on, and where it was chip off at the edges by the cutting tool, the iron showed a perfectly clean, new sur- face. ‘*Length of an Indicator Card” was the title of a paper presented by Professor Webb. At the last meeting Professor Webb calle@ at- tention to the fact that the motion of an in- dicator drum is governed by the same law that controls the motion of a simple mass attached to a spiral spring, and also that the drum and its spring have their natural time of vibration which could, if desirable, be made variable at will. The amplitude of the drum motion was also touched upon, and it was shown by a simple arithmetical argument that if the en- gine forces the drum to oscillate in Jess than its natural time the amplitude of its oscillation will be increased by an amount dependent on the elasticity of the cord or other connection; and, in the same way, if the time be made greater the amplitude will be decreased. ‘The present paper continues the subject by taking up moreat length the question of the change of amplitude. Prof. D. 8. Jacobus read a paper on Indicator Cards of the Pawtucket Pumping Engine, the object of which is to com the law of expansion of the steam and the economy ob- tained when working with and without jackets, and to show if the indicator cards taken by different persons at various times will lead to the same conclusions. The engine was run continuously for 21 days under the following conditions: 1. Seven days with jackets and the reheater in use. 2. Two days with jackets shut off and flue reheater in use. 3. Five days with both jackets and flue reheater shut off. The notes obtained were very complete, read- ings of the important quantities being taken every hour and in some cases every half hour. The conclusions arrivedatare: 1. Theeffect of jackets on the form of the expansion curves of both the high and low pressure cylinders is so small that the errors involved in the most accurate measurements of the indicator dia- grams make it impossible to show any differ- ence in the laws ——s the same. 2. The economy of the it when working under the three sets of itions is about 1.7 per cent. in favor of using the flue reheater, and 2.5 cent, in favor of using both jackets and flue reheater over that obtained when neither the flue reheater or jacketsare used. Theduty for both jackets flue heater in use was 121,560,- 000 foot pounds per 100 pounds of coal. 3. There was very little re-evaporation during e ion t in either the high or Sr anameanion er, the average for all the tests being 0.4 per cent. for the high cylinder, and 2.9 per cent. for the low. —— paper by Professor Jacobus was on e Effective Area of Propeller Screws. The measurements obtained covered the work of four screws, and are as valuable instances of the verification of the statement 900 THE IRON AGE. May 29, 1890 made in Rankine’s Shipbuilding, that ‘The effective area is the area already men- tioned of the stream of water laid hoid of by the propeller, and is generally, if not always, — than the actual area, in a ratio which good, ordinary examples is 1.2 or there- oa, ane is sometimes as high as 1.4, a fact probably due to the stiffness of the water, which communicates motion laterally among its particles,” In the remarks made after the reading of the paper it was shown that in order to obtain reliable information arding the perform- ance of screws it was absolutely essential to accurately define the material, the sharpness of the edge, the smoothness of the surface, and to obtain the measurements from the screw it- self. This is necessary, simply because the drawings of the screw by no means give data corresponding with the completed screw, and: stant and permanent sensitiveness, unless al] the points are taken from the screw as run the foundation upon which the conclu- sions are erected will be wrong. E. J. Armstrong read a paper on “* A Use for Inertia in Shaft Governors,” in which it is shown that inertia, usually a disturbing ele- ment, can be and is made the reverse, even to performing the functions of a dash pot. A Governor for Steam Engines was described by Jesse M. Smith. A small shaft, B, is journaled in the hub of the fly wheel and is parallel to the main shaft. The eccentric, whose center is at D, is fixed to one end of the shaft B and the cross arm d to! the other. The center of the eccentric may thus move about B, across the shaft and produce the variable valve motion. Each end of the cross arm d is connected by a link C to an armc, pivotedat P. The flying weight W fixed to the arm a, also pivoted at P, tends to move outward as the speed increases. It is re- sisted by a weight, E, acting on the arm }, also pivoted at P, which moves inward when W moves outward. The spring S, whose axis is radial, also acts on_ arm 6 and assists the weight E to urge W inward. The valve re- sistance V also assists the weight E. The arms a b care all formed in one piece. The weights W and E and spring S move as nearly as possi- ble upon radii from the center of rotation. For the p of reducing the friction to a minimum, the pivot P, which sustains the greatest strain, and the bearings at the ends of arms b, are made in the form of knife edges of hardened steel. They require little or no oil and are inclosed so as not 10 gatber dust. The joints of the links C support little strain and are usually made simple pin conn ctions. The eccentric being mounted on the smal! shaft B, which bas a } ing in the hub of the fly wheel, requires little force to move it. The shaft B may, besides, be oiled while the engine is running, by means of a small pipe extendi from the center of the main to the mid- dle of shaft B, so that the friction here is also reduced to a very small amount. This gov- ernor is readily adapted to run in either direc- tion. Discussion. Professor Thurston said that in order that the governor may act promptly, powerfully and accurately, it must include some adjust- ment to insure the quick moving of its parts into the required position, and to evade the ill effect of inertia. This can be accomplished by the use of a dash pot, offering rapidly aug- mented with increasing of displacement. In the form of governing described I see what appears fo me a useful arrangement which will give a similar effect. The weight is so s mded that any quick movement of the en will jerk the wheel ahead or back, accordingly as the load is dropped off or thrown on, in such manner as to produce, in consequence of the inertia of the weight, a relative motion of the weight and the other parts of the governor, which must result in _— closing or quick opening, as the case may be. The substitution of knife ed for pins and joints of the usual sort is an im- portant modification in the direction of im- provement, and especially as insuring a von- should | expect Saas work from the gov- ernor here described. Prof. John E. Sweet said: ‘‘ The author of the paper in his third proposition, says: ‘In order that the shaft may not be thrown out of | balance by change of position,of the governor weights these weights must be symmetrical.’ | It so hap that this statement is not true. | In a single ball governor, if the weight of the _ eccentric and its attachments balances the gov- | ernor ball, and moves in the opposite direction ,on a line through the center of shaft, it will balance it in all tions. Even were this not | true in the single cylinder engine, the unbal- |anced weight of the reciprocating parts ex- ceeds the weight of the governor » aS per- STEAM ENGINE GOVERNOR. ha ball at its worst would be unnoticeable in the ten to one, so that the unbalanced single engine. As direct evidence, we run the single ball governed engine at all while rest- ing on a greased iron plate without any fasten- ings whatever, and without any evidence that the single ball disturbs the balance. Were all the balls concentrated into one, its inertia would be equally efficacious in resisting the dissurbing influence due to friction of valve: and as the one weight would have a greater range of motion than the average of the four, likely it would be more serviceable than in the form shown. The best part of the paper is the statement that ‘the governce works well,’ which I am ready to believe (if the weight E is small enough), as I am that there are others that work well also with fewer pieces.” Effect of an Unbalanced Eccentric or Governor Ball on the Valve Motion of Shaft Governed Engires — the heading of a paper by Prof. John E. weet. The fast growing family of steam engine overnors, known as shaft governors, can be ivided into two classes. In one class, the eccentric is forced over, through the agency of some wedging action, such as a secondary ec- centric or slide. In the other class, the eecen- tric is pulled or pushed, by the force of the governs weight direct. e advantage of e first class is that any resistance in the valve does not recoil on the governing weight, and hence affect it, and the disadvan is that the extra friction impairs its sensitive- ness. The advantage in the second class is that of possible sensitive governing: and the disad- vantage of being y by external rrr TL ID influences. pe rs gers. Bevany We year ago E. J, Armstrong, of this society, had an aggravated case of valve disturbance in an engine well suited to experimenting; and as a matter of investigation, he fixed a pencil in the eccentric and obtained a diagram. His belief that the distortion of the eccentric curve must have been caused by the unbalanced eccentric led him to the consideration of the effect of v- ity on a weight, working under the condition of an unbalanced governor ball. To put this problem in its most simple form, what will be the effect of gravity on an unbal- Gueny) ay asd Ine extangel Wikia t's whee. ta weight, ee to move a held in, a t centrifugal force, by a spring. With the spring properly pro oned to a given speed, given the proper initial tension, and the wheel maintained at that speed, the tendency of the ball to out by centrifugal force and the any of the spring to draw it in will exactly ance each other, wheresoever the ball may be placed. So that, were it not for the disturbing influence of gravity, the ball might be set anywhere out or in, and would there stay, so long as the constant speed of the wheel was maintained. The ball startirg hori- zontally opposite the center, it was f to be affected by gravity which drew it away from the center until it reneene panne . eas ite, and wu the return to the ng point. it was sion toward the center. The path is not a circle and its center is directly to one side of the wheei center. An Open Mercury Column for High Pressures, designed to give pressures from atmospheric to 200 pounds per square inch, or higher, was described by W. W. Bird. Referring to the drawing, AA is a small iron tube connected at the lower end with the lass tube B, which in turn is connected by a flexible tube, C, with the gauge or gauges GG. They are fastened to the carriage D, which runs on the rod EE, The tube AA in this case is made up of four sections, each section being of sufficient length to give a pressure of 50 pounds when filled with mercury at 62° F. The — “ of operating is as ees <7 means of the pump M mercury is nto the column. It rises in both the iron and glass tubes, the cock ¢ being open. When the mer- cury in the iron tube reaches the end of the first section it passes through the valve a and down an overflow pipe to collector F. This fixes the zero mark on the scale. Water is then put in at the top of glass tube by means of the pump W, and fills top of the glass tube and the flexible tube C. Closing the cock e, more water is forced in, and the mercury in the glass tube is displaced, thus forcing more into the iron tube, the result being an overflow at the valve a. Thus the mercury can be lowered to any desired reading between 0 and 50, while the level in the iron tube remains the same, the gauges being moved up or down to correct for the column of water. The operator at any time can easily assure himself of the level of the mercury in the iron tube by forcing in more mercury until some comes down the ov When | from 50 to 100 pounds en pressures from are desired, the gauge is corrected or its correction noted, if any. for 50 pounds, by the first sec- tion, the valve a closed and mercury forced in until it comes down the overflow from the valve 6 and stands at 0 in the glass tube, the Sihowed te ctups ths pangs tame “brought allo escape. ga ing t to the "lace, bU reeling WOaIA be ‘ or show the same as at the end of the first section. This gives a means of checking the measurement of the tube from a to b. The operation is now the same from 50 to 100 as from 0 to 50. And by closing the valves b and ¢, pressures from 100 to 150 and 150 to 200 are May 29, 1890 THE IRON AGE. 901 obtained. More sections can be added if higher | H is only one-half the | pressures are desired. Discussion. Professor Jacobus said: In connection with the mercury column described by Mr. Bird I wish to illustrate one that is now in pro- cess of construction at the Stevens Institute of Technology. A column involving the same feature as the one I wish to was de- signed by Francis B. Stevens; this has been in use for many years and given entire satisfac- tion. The column at the Institute is designed as follows: E and D are two wrought iron ipes of about 4¢ inch internal diameter, con- ta ning mercury. A isan air reservoir from which compressed air is led through the pi B to the upper end of the pipe D. When the air in A is not compressed above the pressure of the atmosphere the mercury in the pipes E and D is at the ht indicated by two lines marked on the small glass disks NandO. J is an iron float resting on the mercury in the pipe E. A silk string,G J, crosses from this weight over the pulley F and supports the in- dex K, which slide along the eH. Lisa valve for admitting water to the reservoir A and M a valve for releasing thesame. The method of operating the column is as follows : The gauge to be tested is placed at C. Water is admitted to the reservoir A, thereby causin compression of the air above it. This compressed air acts on the gauge, and on the top of fhe mercury in D, thereby causing the a D to fail and that in the tube E to rise. The amount that the mercury uses in E is shown by the position of the index K. In the instru- ment designed by Mr. Stevens the tubes E and D were made of precisely the same bore, so that the amount that the mercury was depressed in D would be the same as the amount that it was elevated in E. In thecolumn at the Institute this refinement has not been gone into, for which reason the following method will be employed in graduating the scale H. A gauge d E &3 Mercury Column for High Pressures. is ark to mg of the an ene, —~ com with a mercury column u: y them. This gauge is carried back in a careful manner, placed at C, and employed in obtain- ing the graduations on the scale H. After graduating H the gauge is again compared with the a on column, [If it still agrees with the standard it may be assumed that it was correct at the time that the scale H was graduated. After this second compar- ison with the standard the gauge is again laced at C, and the graduation of H verified. e thus obtain a column that when once ‘ zed may be used for testing other The ar t of the silk thread over the pulley F has give entire satisfaction in the case mercury columns now in use, so that there need be no hension that it will give trouble by . The advantage that this gauge has over many others is the ease with which it may be used, there being no complicated ad- jusenente or connections required. The scale ; s made wh | and avoid the danger incident to the pres- of one that must be employed in a column a single mer- cury tube, and for this reason it is much more easy to provide means for reading it along its entire length. “An Automatic A on Dynamometer ” bsorpti was described by George I. Alden, This de- vice was constructed because of the desirability of maintaining a uniform load upon an engine used for tests, of measuring the power devel- oped and of automatically ring the rate at which energy is absor' This dynamo- entsystem. One of the suggestions made by Merchant & Co. was to use iron wire heavily coated witn tin, commercially known as double extra coated tin wire. The second suggestion was to use wire cloth made of pure aluminum, a