The Iron Age 1891-06-18: Vol 47

ee ne ‘THE: TRON AGE Electric Roads in Pittsburgh. Some time during the present month another electric street railway line wili be put in operation in Pittsburgh. The line is owned by the Birmingham Traction Company, and is about 34 miles in length, and extends from the Union Depot in Pittsburgh, running along Smithfield street, crossing the Monongabela River by bridge and extends out Carson street on the South Side for a short distance beyond the American Iron and Steel Works of Jones & Laughlins, Limited. Work was commenced on the line about one year ago, and. was completed in that time without interfering with traffic on the horse car line, which was kept constantly in opera- tion. The overhead wire system is used. The equipment consists of 30 cars, ten of which are equipped with the Edison and 20 with the Short motors. The power house is equipped with 500 horse- power THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1891. Traction Company, whose system extends from the foot of Fifth avenue, Pittsburgh, to the suburbs. The competition for traffic between these two lines has been very keen, and bas resulted in the Pitts- burgh Traction Company reducing their | fare from 5 cents to 3 cents. As illustra- tive of the superior facilities now enjoyed by the citizens ot Pittsburgh who do busi- ness in the city and live in the suburbs, we can state that only a few years ago people who lived in the East End and traveled by horse-power were compelled to pay 15 cents for riding from Pittsburgh to the East End, and about an hour was con- sumed in making the journey. The same ground is now covered by the electric lines in less than half that time, and the fare charged by one company is 3 cents, while the other line continues to charge 5 | cents. In about three months from now the Pittsburgh, Allegheny and Manchester | engines and four dynamos of 200 horse-| Traction Company expect to have their FORTY-TWO INCH PULLEY LATHE, MADE BY THE HENLEY power each. The entire equipment at the power house is the Edison system, and the generators are the largest now manu- factured. The building is 80 feet square, fronting on Carson street, and is said to be perfectly fire proof. Immediately behind it is the boiler room, 50 x 100 feet in size, and containing two batteries of 500 horse- power Babcock and Wilcox boilers. Ad- joining the engine room are the machine and repairshops, which are 100 feet square. The car house is 360 feet long by 60 feet wide, and also fronts on Carson street, extending back toward the Monon- gabela River. Thirty cars have been received from the shops of the Gilbert Mfg. Company of Troy, N. Y., and were mounted in Pittsburgh. The cars are 32 feet long and weigh 10 tons each. With the completion of this line the street railway system of Pittsburgh will compare favorably with that of any other city in the country, and will no doubt excel many systems now in use in larger cities than Pittsburgh. Only a few weeks ago the Duquesne Traction Company put their line in opera- tion, which is about 6 miles in length be- tween terminal points. It extends from the heart of Pittsburgh to Wilkinsburg, a suburb of that city, and is a direct com- petitor for traffic with the Pittsburgh electric line in operation. Their terminal point in Pittsburgh will be at the corner of Fifth avenue and Market street, and their cars will reach Allegheny by way of the suspension bridge over the Allegheny River. They will have three or four dit- ferent lines, and will cover the greater portion of Allegheny by the different sys- tems. The Thomson-Houston Company of Boston have the contract for the elec- tric equipment, while the cars are now being built by the Pullman Company of Chicago. ————— Prof. Robert H. Richards, with a party of students from the Boston School of | Technology, arnved in Pittsburgh last | week. They are visiting that city for the| purpose of inspecting some of the iron and | steel plants located there. On Thursday, | the 11th inst., a dinner was given at the Duquesne Club to Professor Richards and students by the alumni residing in Pitts- burgh. C. E. Stafford, class of °73, now} of Shoenberger, Speer & Co., presided. | Among the students present were: Pitts- | burgh, Prof. F. W. Very, 73; Elliot Hol- | brook, ‘74; Edward Knight, 74; Alfred E. Hunt, °76; Henry D. Hibbard, °77; David W. Bissell, ’81; George France, *82, and James O. Handy, 86. Toasts were! E responded to by Professors Richards, Hof- man and Very and Messrs, Holbrook, Hunt, Weston, McKenna and Hibbard. cc New Pulley Lathes. The engraving on this page represents a 42 inch pulley lathe built by the Henley Machine Tool Works of Richmond, Ind. The 60-inch lathe shown by the drawing on the next page is of the same design, but is built much heavier throughout. The bed of the former is 9 feet 4 inches long, 244 inches wide at each end and 5 feet 3 inches wide at the center. The main spindle is 4,4 inches in diameter. 37% inches long and is bored 2 inches in diameter fora depth of 16 inches. One chuck is 224 inches in diameter for pulleys 42 inches diameter by 30 inches face down | to 24inches in diameter. There is another chuck 11 inches in diameter for smaller pulleys. MACHINE TOOL WORKS. The bed of the larger lathe is 10 feet 4 inches long, 36 inches wide at the head and foot stock ends, 7 feet 2 inches wide where the rails rest, and is graduated to facilitate setting the rails for different sizes of work. The steel in the main spindle is of the best quality, 51% inches diameter, 45] inches long, and is bored in the center 2 inches in diameter and 20 inches deep to allow the boring bar to pass in; the outer end of the hole is bored taper, into which is fitted the boring bar gland, as shown in the sectional view. The spindle is pro- vided with a chuck 374 inches in diameter for pulleys from 60 inches io diameter by 36 inches face down to 40 inches in diam- eter, and one chuck 224 inches in diam- eter for pulleys from 39 inches down to 24 inches in diameter. The front bear- ing for this spindle is 16 inches long and the base bearing 8 inches lowg. The footstock has a boring arbor 34% x 40 inches long, the front end of which is bored taper to receive the boring bar and is provided with a continuous feed, and will bore holes 16 inches deep; there are three changes of speed for boring large or small holes. The boring bar is 13 x 43 inches and is mortised through and pro- vined with one flat cutter. The footstock has power mechanism for movirg it for- — pein Pe Ss ET Pe cer boy et eS. 7," oy ti ate ~ os 1154 ward or back, being operated by a handle extending through its side. The power for this, as well as for the boring arbor, is obtained from a shaft inside of the bed which extends the entire length and is driven directly from the cone pinion. The rails are 42 inches long, 12 inches wide, and may be set to turn either straight or crowning faces. The front one is supplied with a compound saddle and tool rest, which may be set to any angle to face off bevel’work. The saddle on the back rail is rigid, and each has a bearing surface on the rails of 16 inches long, 12 inches wide. They may be moved in opposite directions separately | or together, and are provided with a strong, continuous friction feed, ranging from 0 to } inch to one revolution of the main spindle. All gears and pinions are cut from solid blanks and the two main driving pinions are steel. The lathe is geared 75 to 1 and has ample power for the heaviest work required. The driving cone has four steps, 19 inch, 16 inch, THE IRON AGE. bar to the perfect operation of the process. A curious piece of work shown was the perfect welding into a tube of a ribbon of brass or copper wound spirally, and then butt-welded. Heavy and light copper and brass wires were shown welded into bars at one end. A wide field is apparently open for the use of this process in the re- duction of tubing from one caliber to a smaller, thus avoiding the use of couplings and cutting threads. It is thus of great value to gas fitters and other workers in brass, such as manufacturers of office fit- tings, &c. The use of caps screwed on the ends of tubes to make reservoirs, as, for instance, in filtering machines and other devices, is wholly avoided by the use of this welding process. The company have found by practical work that the process can be used for welding iron or steel. Aluminum has also been welded easily, the only point essential being the use of copper dies in- stead of steel dies. No heat is required, and the metal treated in this way is not | SSS SS t t VERTICAL LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF 60-INCH PULLEY LATHE, 137inch and 10 inch, 44 inch face. The; weight of the {lathe complete is 13,000 pounds. _—_— OO Progress in Copper Welding. The New Process Welding and Spin- ning Company have opened an office in Room 19, Rialto Building, Chicago. Invi- tations were sent out last week to a num- ber of persons to.visit the office on the 13th, to inspect samples of the work recently done by this company in the welding of brass and copper. It was a very remark- able exhibit of the character of the work to be done under the Bevington process, which was described in our columns March 12. The welding of tubes, strips, rods, wire, sheets, &c., was shown in almost every manner required in the manufacture of copper and brass articles. The com- pany have now undertaken to make cart- ridge cases for the dynamite shells used by the Government. These cases are made of brass tubes of 24 to 4 inches in diameter, with one end closed by the metal of the tube itself being forced up and welded in place as perfectly as if a cap had been brazed on. These cases have heretofore been cast and reamed out, which was a very expensive opera- tion. The thickness of the material is no TOOL WORKS. brittle afterward. Frictional heat is merely evolved by the lathe in which the articles to be welded are placed. By con- trolling the revolutions of the lathe any degree of heat desired can be secured. Nor is it necessary that the lathe should be operated at high speed. Only 800 revolu- tions are needed for ordinary welding, and but 30 revolutions were required in mak- ing the large cartridge cases. A peculi- arity of the process is that the metal treated requires no finish afterward, being perfectly polished when taken from the lathe. The company have not yet fully determined upon their plans for the fu- ture, but will for a time operate a fac- tory at Aurora and another in Chicago on a limited line of special work I The Campanhia Nacion de Foejas e Es- taleiros of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have placed the order for a large iron building to be used in connection with their ship- building plant with the Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, Conn., and the order for the machinery with J. A. Fay & Co., of Cincinnati, Ohio. The building will be made entirely of iron, 165 feet wide by 300 feet long, and will be shipped by steamer from this country, the parts being carefully marked so that it can be erected in place by native workmen at Rio June 18, 1891 de Janeiro. The Berlin Iron Bridge Com- pany are doing a large trade with the South American republics, arising from the closer commercial relations. The Ammen Defense Ram. When the Ammen defense ram goes out of the Kennebec River, Maine, she will be quite a different craft from what she was on paper; for, since the contract was closed, the Bath Iron Works officials have suggested several changes which might make the unique craft more effective, and they have been adopted by the Depart- ment of Naval Construction at Washing- ton. The most important of these is the addition of 800 horse-power to her engines and 8 feet additional length, both ele- ments increasing the vessel’s speed, tor the additional length has been used to give her a sharper bow and an easier entrance to the water, while the additional horse- MADE BY HENLEY MACHINE power is practically so much clear gain in the ability of the craft to develop speed. Then, when she was ordered, she had no armament deserving the name, and might easily have been destroyed by a torpedo boat, which could approach her with im- punity and blow her to pieces, easily avoiding the deadly ram of her large op- ponent. But now she will carry, in addi- tion to her light arms and quick fire pieces, two 14-inch rifles of the most improved kind, mounted one at either end, and these are calculated to stop any torpedo flyer before it could get anywhere near enough to launch its destructive missiles with effect. Being an exceedingly heavy craft, nine-tenths under water, she will afford her gunners an excellent place from which to do their shooting, and she will now be in no more danger from these little destroyers than is the larger man-of- war with her batteries of guns. LL ——————— The first general meeting of the stock- holders of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Com- pany to elect a board of directors, make by- laws, &c., was held in Cleveland on Mon- day, the 8th inst. The notice calling the meeting bears the signatures of William G. Mather, Jas. H. Hoyt, A. C. Dustin, Fred A. Morse and Henry 8. Sherman, corporators. June 18, 1891 THE IRON AGE. 1155 The Sales of Pittsburgh Concerns. All business firms in Pittsburgh are re- quired to send a sworn statement of the amount of business done each year to the City Treasurer, in order that they may be assessed a business tax on the same. In many cases firms refuse to furnish the in- formation, and the amount of business done by such concerns is estimated by the assessor. The following are the returns made by some of the prominent manufact- uring firms of that city for the year com- mencing on April 1, 1890, and ending on March 31, 1891: Mconway, Torley & Co........... $1,140,000 Be We AON: 0 CO seers deasecesens 60,000 Seaman, Sleeth & Black............ Shiffler Bridge Company... ......... 400,000 MB, TE. BYGER Gi Cee wv icvcwvctincesess 1,020,704 U. Baird Machinery Company...... 145,315 SE, FO OE Gs oid vcd awcccerscucas 250,000 Crescent Steel Company............ 961,000 Columbia Iron and Steel Company.. —-:200,000 A. W. Cadman & Co........sccece- 95,874 Duquesne Tube Works Company... 200,000 Fayette Mfg. Company............- 135,000 Harmes Machine Company......... 100,000 Riter & Conley...........0.+00+ge+: , ee eee Singer, Nimick & Co., Limited...... 1,500,000 Sheriff Machine Company.......... 81,900 The Lodge & Davis Machine Com- DOREE oc ceevcrevsa en aceueseseses es 100,000 | The Carroll-Porter Boiler and Tank CII, saciceesimsnaxarcsianees 100,000 Shook-Anderson Mfg. Company.... 125,000 American Tube and lron Company. 50,000 Bic BOE BOO oo v.rdccctesadees> 100,000 Barnes Safe and Lock Company.... 231,000 Chaet, COG G COivvc disc. cicccweces 77 G40 Clinton Iron and Steel Company... 100,000 Electric Mining and Machine Com- PODY once. ceccscccvevcceses secee 100,000 A. Garrison Foundry Company.... 468,970 Jones & Laughlins, Limited........ 5,000,000 reve ee Mh Aree Kawens 200,000 RMD Ge Ci vine csc cccusd eccees 291,39 J, A. MOCORUION «os cccccccncesnsse 50,000 Lockhart Iron and Steel Company. 200,000 Leechburg Foundry and Machine CRIN hoGse Jas wcditer ates tunes 150,000 Marshall Bros., macbinists......... 90,000 Manufacturers’ Natural Gas Com- WT vio barn taes Kup nce vane sedans 244,155 National Tube Works Company.... 100,000 FHREE FONE PO acc. buckecnrevacs 90,000 Cn Ge ee, i SN i vc cvicns ceves 125,000 &. Jarvia Ademes & Co. ..........0.. 200,000 Las & MOOT ECO. 0.0 ccccecccevcie 200,000 Howe, Brown G& Co... ..<:cecseeoes 947,000 Standard Underground Cable Com- Ns ed dengiiscasanidierdncuans 597,187 Epping, Carpenter & Co........... 101,000 Enterprise Drilling Company....... 130,000 Oe Et o6os con cwecvalsncdes 63.500 PUES Ge POEs vhiiccdccvess tence 100,000 » fe ee eee eee 100,000 Hainesworth Steel Company........ 100,000 Harbison & Walktet oss. ccesscccss 400,000 Hussey, Binns & Co., Limited...... 180,560 pe FR Pree ere er ee 90,000 Wt RAND G COiis 5k se teciccecuns 75,000 PD eer cc $25,071 As errr ee cr cre 125,000 Marshall Foundry and Construction CAI i ice noc dav cae ciawteecas , 500,000 dan. Mena & Bro... i.ccicccs. 200,000 James McKay & Co., chains... .... 100,000 p ae eer 52,000 Park, Bro. & Co., Limited.... ..... 2,125,045 Pittsburgh Mfg. Company...... ... 103,048 Pittsburgh Steel Casting Company. 224,754 RPT Ter ae Scaife Foundry and Machine Com- 68,085 aie inibn: 150,000 Foundry Company............... 125,000 A. French Spring Company ....... 1,010,000 Westinghouse Machine Company... 400,000 Keystone Rolling Mill Company.... 800,000 Linden Steel Company, Limited.... 1,000,000 Moorehead-McUCleane Company... .. 2,500,000 Pittsburgh Tube Company......... 1,000,000 Jobn Robeun & Co..... ccessseccess 64,803 Union Elevator Company.......... 50,000 Carbon Iron Company. ........... 150,0¢0 Wm. Clark's Sons & Co............. 1,250,000 Sycte CHG THOR WORE. 6 ccc ccices oc 250,000 McCullough, Dulzell & Co.......... 185,000 Pittsburgh Reduction Company, Es ail shake hbaes oa ake 50,000 Pittsburgh Bridge Company...... : 200,000 Reliance Steel Casting Company.... 100,000 Sherritt & Thomas. .. 62.2 000sccccee 80,150 Springfield Foundry Company...... 60,000 Oe 4 eee 170,40u Morris, Williams & Bailey.......... 70.700 Velte-@ McDonald.. .............. 60,000 I icc ds debataeceddecsas 92,123 339,000 | 150,000 | 1,102,278 | ee eee a Keystone Bridge Company.......... 1,355,000 Squires Hardware Company....... 100,000 Pittsburgh Reduction Company, IN i668 5 sine t cad's a cerned 50,000 Bly Me COMM RRO 6 vecudcudawedans 453,572 People’s Natural Gas Company.... 800,000 Pennsylvania Tube Works.... .... 2,150,000 Pittsburgh Steel Works............ 100,000 Reineke, Wilson & Co...... ....... 120,000 Robinson-Rea Mfg. Company...... 375,000 Sg AD eer 250,000 Kelly & Jones Mfg. Company...... 100,000 Wilson Snyder Mfg. Company..... 200,000 Wilson Safety Brake and Spring CMI cettceks Gey aweacan Wee 100,000 oo a er 125,000 Oy ey re 63,944 Wharton McKnight Foundry. .... 127,000 Oil Well Supply Company, Limited 150,000 Wein, Gh PMO Oe CMbiseis, ssccnunse 150,000 Pittsburgh Supply Company, Lim- Mea ded kensccoracnctsvisieaxaaons 500,000 J. Painter’s Sons & Co......... ata 686,940 Pennsylvania Construction Com- WG ic cc ac awekat cs sueLdaeedas ese 250,000 Bindley Hardware Company....... 725,000 Benney Brothers, mill supplies..... 100,000 Babcock-Wilecox Company......... 50,000 Dalley, Farrell & Co. ....... cc0s ccae 400,000 Carnegie Brothers & Co., Limited.. 1,000,000 Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Limited.. 5,000,000 RPMI TIP es dececute asnvccus 300,000 Dilworth, Porter & Co...... ...... 1,000,000 Dexter Spring Company............ 100,000 Ok a Eyer rr re 50,000 Electrical Construction and Mfg. CRIN ceca Cee ciencertesscnyys 50,000 i GNC Caerate's Cauca tebusndaceas 87,000 Gordon Steam Pump Company... . 50,000 d. H. Basvison & CoO... 060. cccces: : 50,000 Heine Safety Boiler Company...... 50,000 Wir ME Es kxdnccsescuseincanned 178,147 Standard Mfg. Company.... .. wan 150,000 ROME HE Oe higds aarexnantct¥aauses 167,000 RO 06 Oi ca iicccevecs ieee anes 764,000 Gally & Finley........ be Galera ress 100,000 Jarecki Mfg. Company...... ...... 300,000 Mie EIS oi Wei0s eVnewaecieunens 93,000 Be Ce RR OR is. ko ccc nenaedens 275,582 BEG WY MN OE Oise on dc iicccvicdctees 160,000 Nease, McLean & McGinnis... .... 118,000 Star Encaustic Tile Company...... 41,200 Bis TH Er Ra ot dkcaeencdeadecss 202,000 Carrie Furnace Company.......... 500,000 Electric Supply and Construction RN icckns situa pecadsdwwns 100,000 Westinghouse, C. K., & Co.... .... 100,000 Westinghouse Electric Company... 2,000,000 SOU GO ss va Bivnieee succes 125,000 ee RS ee eee 426,552 — A a Providence Manufactures Abroad. The news that Russia has secured abso- lute control for a time of the French Gov- ernment’s arms factory at Chatellerault, France, is interesting to the manufacturers | of Providence in two or three ways. In the first place, there is an establishment in that city whose tools and machines are in use in the factory at Chatellerault. The Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Company have been supplying grinding and boring tools for the French arms factories for several years, and since about 1886 have had a continual trade with the French Government. Lucian Sharpe says that there are four French arms factories of special note. The factory at St. Etienne, near Lyons, em- ploys 14,000 men and turns out about 1000 rifles a day. The Chatellerault fac- tory is smaller, and is situated at the town of that name near the Loire River, or its upper branches. At Tulle, in the Depart- ment of Correze, there is a third large rifle works, and at Puteux, near Paris, there is a factory for the manufacture of artillery. Since about the year 1886 the Leber rifle has been the rifle turned out and used by the French Government. The gun was the successor of the Gras rifle, invented by General Gras, and the Gras rifle in turn succeeded the famous Chassepots, used in the war of 1870. The Leber isa magazive gun firing a cartridge of small diameter. The tendency of all rifle manufacturing, it is said, is in the direction of guns made for smaller bullets than ever before. The Russian Government is to have 3,000,000 rifles made at Chatellerault, and it is suv- posed that the Leber is the rifle tu be turned out. The manufacture of any rifles is bound to interest Providence people, because they used to manufacture them themselves, The Providence Tool Company were in this business from the early years of the war to about 1880. They began the work for the National Government. The Burn- side rifle was then made for a time. Num- bers of the old Government muskets were made over and improved. Finally the Martini-Henry rifle was taken up and manu- factured. Martini was a Frenchman and Henry an Englishman. After this had been made for some years the Peabody- Martini rifles were invented. They were breech loaders. Their special advantage was in the dropping of the breech block as the gun was fired, so that the fall of the block threw out the empty shells. These rifles were manufactured for the Turkish Government. First a number were sold to the Roumanian Government. They were so well received, and became so well known that the Turks adopted them a few years later. There was an English firm that was supposed to have a mortgage on the contract, but the tool company beat them. The contract was for 600,000 rifles, and it was with these arms that the Turkish infantry fought the war with Russia. During the fighting around Pleona, the Turks picked off thousands of Russian soldiers at remarkably long dis- tances, it is said. Here was an example of Providence things abroad. Mr. Peabody of the Peabody-Martini rifle patents 1s stil living. He was de- partment foreman at the Providence Tool Company when he conceived the idea of the patent. The patent was the self-acting breech block, which has been mentioned as the feature of the Peabody-Martini gun. He received a royalty from the tool com- pany, and it is said the Frenchman also had a royalty. Peabody was to get $1 on each gun. Six hundred thousand guns ought to have made him a rich man, and indeed he is well off to-day, but his prop- erty does not amount to quite as much as $600,000. Still, he is a rich man, and when he invented the patent he was poor. He is said to be worth over $150,000. His full name is Henry O. Peabody, and his residence is in Boston. His final pay- ments from the tool company were not ob- tained without difficulty. There was a law suit, but he won it. Then the Turkish Government was slow in its pay- ments to the tool company. The tool company struggled along under this and other loads, and finally went down. The two factories are now used by other con- cerns. Martini got rich off his royalties and Peabody also was fortunate. They were about the only ones that made any money, in fact, from the making of guns in the city of Providence. ———$— a Improvements have been made from time to time in the manufacture of twist drills, and the progress toward perfection has been, perhaps, as marked in this as in any other adjunct of the machine shop. The most notable of these improvements was the adaptation of an entirely new process to their manufacture, which, it is claimed, results in the production of a drill im many ways superior to those made by the old methods. By this proc- ess the drills are hot forged and not milled. The ‘‘ mild center” in bar steel is submitted to the process of forging, whereby the point and cutting lip of tue drill is made tougher and firmer than twist drills made by the way in vogue hitherto. In making a drill by this method a piece of steel is taken somewhat shorter than the required length of the completed too), and this is drawn from the center to a point. The new process is being employed by the New Process Drill Company of Taunton, Mass. The fa- cilities for manufacturing them are soon to be greatly increased. The company employ about 50 skilled mechanics at the works. ~ ae , - ~, grt 2 jw a i ‘ +r CD) em eb - 1156 Expert Opinion on the Guns of the | American ingenuity to admit that it cannot be done and to blame the gun in con- Vesuvius. Commander F. M. Barber, United States Navy, in a communication to the New York Times states that one important feature of the trials of the pneumatic guns on the Vesuvius was overlooked in the report. Newspaper men are usually acute, but the unanimity with which they praised the Vesuvius on the first day of the trial and condemned her on the second seems remarkable. On the first day, when the distances were quite accurately known by means of buoys, the fire was admitted to be excellent. On the second day, in good weather, when the distances were ‘ esti- mated,” the fire was inaccurate in point of range, and yet the gun is blamed for the inaccuracy und not the ‘‘ estimated” dis- tance. Now, which is the more likely to be inaccurate, the automatic machine or a man? I am sure that the history of all mechanical science will inevitably cause you to render a decision in favor of the machine. The fact that the Vesuvius would re- quire her distance to be measured and not estimated was apparent long ago. In 1888, when I was professionally employed by the Pneumatic Dynamite Gun Company, I gave the question of accurate range find- ing on the Vesuvius a great deal of serious thought, because the question is an abso- Intely vital one with guns inounted as her’s are. On board of men-of-war a sextant is ordinarily employed, using the highth of a mast or the length of the ship as a base line, or with an observer aloit measuring the distance from the target to the horizon: but the Vesuvius is very low in the water, is very narrow, and has only an apology for a mast, and the foregoing or any other sextant methods are obviously of no value. The length of the boat can- not be used, because she fights bow on, and yet with her curved fire it is far more necessary to know the range than with any other ship, gun or torpedo. _I studied all the other known methods in vain, and then tried to invent something, but I could de- vise nothing that appeared to me practicable either in the plain table line or any other. At this time Lieutenant Fiske of the navy had his attention drawn to the problem that was puzzling Captain Zalinski and myself, and after some thought he devised his electric range finder, using the beam of the Vesuvius as a base, and by means of electricity getting -a far more sensitive method of angle measuring than could be mechanically graduated on an arc. I was at once struck with the possibilities of this new invention, and Captain Zalinski carried on experiments with it in November, 1888, at Fort Hamilton, both by day and night, with results which were remarkably ac- curate up to all ranges of the Vesuvius’ guus, Asa result of these experiments a company was formed which is now, I believe, successfully exploiting the Fiske range finder in all the principal navies of the world for use with ordinary guns, but I have paid no personal attention to the matter since that date. The idea was there, and this was sufficient for my pur- poses at the time. I believe there are now several rivals in the field. Like all similar systems of the angular measurement, the longer the base the more accurate the result will be, and possibly in actual trial on board the Vesuvius, with her narrow beam, it might not be so successful as I hoped in 1888 that it would be. The Baltimore Sun report of the trial stated that it would not have been suceessful, but I have seen no mention of it in the other papers. Admitting that this was the pre- vailing opinion on the part of everybody at the trial, it appears to me to only point more clearly to the fact that something must be devised which will measure the distance, and it is a poor compliment to THE IRON AGE. sequence, As you pointed out in the latter part of your editorial, it is the pitching and roll- bring out the Vesuvius’ ing that will (64 feet 63} feet June 18, 1891 are reached Lieutenant Paine’s linked projectile will be brought forward to overcome the difficulty ; but there is a vast deal of instruction and information to be obtained with the Vesuvius as she now is with her present guns and projectiles, and | SSS Ff Oe 2 GaS PRODUCERS Fig. 1.—Ground Plan. Fig. 2.—End Elevation. DUNNACHIE’S CONTINUOUS weak points; but so it will be with the weak points of the Cushing when she gets her torpedoes; so it is now with the bat- teries of ordinary vessels, and there is no reason why the guns of the Vesuvius should fail to do their perfect work until such conditions are reached, and they were not reached last week. When they REGENERATIVE GAS KILN. the black eye which she undoubtedly has received in the public press from last week’s trials can only be accounted for from the fact that the reporters did not seriously consider the problem. A new Vesuvius could be much improved, but this one has done herself no discredit thus far. June 18, 1891 THE IRON AGE, 1157 The Dunnachie Gas Kiln. The application of the regenerative system to the firing of fire-brick kilns has | operation let it be supposed that No. 1 been developed in England, where the| chamber, and also No. 2, be filled with | verting into gas each about 4 hundred-| ter for No. 3, and so cn round the circle. weight of slack per hour. When sufficiently cooled down, each In order to understand the mode of| chamber in turn is emptied and refilled. | No, 1, however, having been imperfectly burned for want of hot air at the start off, Dunnachie Continuous Regenerative Gas | bricks ready for firing. The gas is turned is left as first stacked, till it is burneda Kiln has been used for a series of years at | on and burned with cold air drawn from | the works in Glenboyd of the Union Fire Clay Company, Limited, of whose representative in this country is second time, after which it takes its place No 10; the degree of heat obtained by | on equal terms with the rest, and the burn- Glasgow, | the use of cold air is not enough to burn refractory tire bricks, but it is sufficient to = ae Sel Sas ee Z Six $ ¥ g LW; 2 4 t t f ox 7 ‘ 2 . oe } WUTC J RE Fig. 6. Vertical Transverse Section on Line A B of Fig. 5. DUNNACHIE’S CONTINUOUS D. R. Lean of Pittsburgh. The Dun- nachie kiln is designed in two modifica- tions, the first being the continuous kiln and the second what is called the compos- ite kiln. A series of chambers are used, their number being so chosen that ample time is given to cool each in rotation, draw it, refill, steam, and, if necessary, repair. The accompanying engravings show the design and in detail the con- struction of the kiln. Fig. 1 is the ground plan of a plant of ten chambers, equipped with two gas producers capable of con- Vertical Transverse Section on Line C D of Fig. 5. REGENERATIVE GAS KILN. make No. 1 a regenerator for No. 2 for the start off, leaving the burning of No. 1 to be completed on the next round. While No. 1 is burning, the waste heat passes through No. 2. No. 1 having been made as hot as it can be made, No. 2 is put on full fire, the waste heat passing through No. 3, or even 3 and 4 if need be, before it goes tothechimney. No. 2 while burn- ing draws its air from No. 1, where it is highly heated before meeting with the gas in the burner of No. 2. No. 2 being burned off, becomes in turn the regenera- | steaming ing, cooling, drawing, and resetting goes on continuously. The gas is let on or turned off from each chamber by a sep- arate gas valve, and the air flues between each chamber are controlled by dampers, so that the quantities of air and gas may be regulated with great accuracy. The preparatory to full firing is effected by jets of gas, coming up all over the floor, from special gas flues provided for the steaming stage. The steam is all expelled by the crown of the kiln, through the openings on the top or ends, which are opened for steaming and closed for full firing. A chimney of 100 to 120 feet high, if properly placed, is sufficient for dratt, but if a blower is used for the air | the chimney may be dispensed with, or a shorter one employed. The space between the two rows of chambers is shown in Fig. 2 as covered over with an iron roof. This space, how- ever, may be covered or not, as circum- stances require. The roof is supported on the kiln binders, which makes it not costly. In some cases a roof of wide span may be used to cover in the entire struct- ure. At the Star Works it is used both ways. The green bricks from the stoves sre delivered under this roof by an endless chain, and are thus protected in all weathers, the brick being under cover irom the time it is molded till burned. Fig. 3 shows the front elevation. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section. The burning is from left to right. The gas is admitted through the flue A, and passes | into the burner B, where it meets the hot air from the adjoining chamber, entering by the flue F. From the flue C the draft may be passed on either into the next chamber or to the chimney, as may be de- sired. By this arrangement the spare heat is deposited in the unburned chambers in front, which are thus gtadually prepared for full firing, and the heat of the burned- off kiln is taken up and carried forward by the air which supports combustion, so that nothing is lost. Fig. 5 is a plan in section corresponding with and explain- ing Fig. 4 on the line N. Fig. 6 shows the two sides of the dividing wall, with the mode of receiving and distributing the air on the lines J J and K K. The hot air and gas meet at the floor level, where they burn with an intense heat. Both air and gas being under control, may be increase or diminished in quantity at will, and may be proportioned to give any quality of flame required. The flue D is used to draw air from one chamber to another at a higher level, thus effectually exhausting the heat of the burned-off kiln, and, at the same time, shifting the inten- sity of the heat nearer to the back part of the burning kiln. When required the flue D may also be used to admit cold air (by a simple arrangement of dampers) in sutticient quantity to reduce, if need be, the intense heat of the front, and per- mit of the back part of the kiln being hard burned without injuring the front bricks. The openings E are only used for steaming and cooling. The air for combustion may be either drawn in by the chimney, or forced in gently by means of a blower. As regards efficiency and economy, it may be stated that the heats obtainable are ‘‘ steel-melting heats,” and are far be- yond the requirements of any brick or pottery kiln, The heat, however, is under control, and can be mellowed down. It burns the Glenboig Star Fire Bricks in a manner superior to coal burning, and with a saving of from 50 to 75 per cent. in fuel Bre ei swoon PER WON aN Dae pete ee ay eo ® Bd cs 0 1158 THE IRON AGE. and 50 per cent. in time of full firing. | with a net profit of $2,500,000 on 175,000 | It also saves labor, and has reduced the tear and wear of kilns to a trifle, as com- pared with that of coal-burned kilns, The Twelve-Inch Gun. The first 12-inch steel gun made in the United States has just been sent from the Watervliet Arsenal to the Sandy Hook proving ground for testing. This gun is designed for seacoast defense, and, with the 12-inch steel mortars that are also now being built, it forms the first practical re- sult of the policy outlined by the Board of Fortifications as early as May, 1885. The gun weighs 52 tons. It is 36.66 feet long, and the length of the bore is 34 feet. Its charge is 440 pounds of powder, and its projectile weighs 1000 pounds. The initial velocity of the projectile will be 1940 feet per second, the muzzle energy 26,000 foot tons. At the muzzle this pro- jectile will penetrate 32 inches of iron, and ata distance of 2 miles 20 inches. The tube and jacket forgings for this gun were purchased at La Creusot, France, and the remaining forgings were obtained from the Midvale Steel Works. Although it was necessary to go abroad to purchase the largest forgings, owing to the fact that substantial progress in the manufacture of steel forgings in this country had not then been made, it will not be necessary to do so in the future, American manufacturers having in the meantime acquired an expe- rience that enables them to produce the largest forgings. - A Unreliable Figures. In a recent issue of the National Labor Tribune appeared a statement signed by Nick Dale, which purported to give the pro- fits for one year of some of the prominent iron and steel manufacturing firms of Pitts- burgh. As this paper is printed in that city and is the official organ of the Amal- gamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, that statement was no doubt issued at this time with the idea that its publica- tion would have some influence on the actions of that body as regards the new scale for the coming year. As is no doubt known, some of the Southern delegates and some from the mills in Eastern Penn- sylvania came to the convention prepared to make a fight for $6 per ton for boiling on a 2-cent card instead of $5.50, the rate now in force. In Order to back up their arguments for an advance in the scale, they could point to the article in the Labor Tribune, wherein it is stated the profits of the iron and steel manufacturers for the year commencing June 1, 1890, and end- ing on May 31, 1891, have been enormous. If the iron and steel manufacturers of Pittsburgh made as much money in the year mentioned as Nick Dale says they did, we have no doubt whatever but that they would be perfect!y will- ing to grant an advance of 50 cents per ton for puddling. Like many other statements which have emanated from Nick Dale’s fertile brain, this one is absurd and no reliance should be placed upon it whatever. In his remarkable statement Nick Dale says that A. M. Byers & Co. made dur- ing the year 14,000 tons of muck iron, of which 10,000 tons were finished, on which they made a profit of $1,000,000. The sworn statement filed in the office of the City Treasurer at Pittsburgh shows that their total sales for the year amounted to $1,020,704. In the face of this, Nick Dale says their profits amounted to $1,000, - 000. Spang, Chalfant & Co. are credited by Nick Dale with a profit of $1,000,000 on an output of 11,200 tons of muck bar and 20,000 tons of steel and wrought iron pipe. Jones & Laughlins, Limited, are credited tons product, or an average of about $15 | per ton. Lindsay & McCutcheon, pro- | prietors of the Star Iron Works, in Alle- gheny, made 19,000 tons of muck bar, of which they finished 10,000 tons. On this) amount Nick Dale says they had a profit of $50,000. On the other hand, the Oliver Iron and Steel Company are stated to have | made 6500 tons of muck bar in the Eagle Rolling Mill, which they operate under lease, the profit on which Nick Dale puts at $13,000. Why there is such a wide | discrepancy in the profit on muck bar | made by this firm and that made by other | firms Nick Dale does not state. We might | go on down through the entire list of firms whose profits Nick Dale has been guessing | June 18, 1891 The Lakeside Nail Company. Notwithstanding the depression in the steel cut-nail trade, which has caused so many factories to be shut down indefinitely, the works of the Lakeside Nail Company at Hammond, Ind., are running to their full capacity. The company have one of the most modern nail factories in the coun- try, the first nails having been turned out by it less than four years since. The present owners have been operating the works for alittle more than a year and have put them in first-class contition. The ma- chinery and equipment were originally fur- nished by builders of high reputation. The Lewis Foundry and Machine Company of Fig. 8.—Long Ss SAHA’ ih AH noiogn » ao ww itudinal View, = = a--S ~ as 7 : ES eee -}-- f= a = ieeaieatiiaiiiee - > z ———S—SSaaSaSSSSSSSSKS= SS z , ST Ca te 7 i £ | Seg $f pe > ro EEO 1 } LIZA Ai EE A BE P * ‘ ] ro Aree VW Ge 7: CLP Ret Zi 2 JZ Leg Ace PPI ®PY MOLE | 4 ELGG ELA STEAMING PORT ESS Aga | "OIA BEG BP bee beeen ge Fig. 9.—Detail Section of Two Kilns. DUNNACHIE’S CONTINUOUS at with very poor success, but we think the above is sufficient to show that the iron and steel firms of Pittsburgh have not made anything like the profits Nick Dale says they have. In order to correctly ascertain the profits of apy concern, it would be necessary for Nick Dale to have free access to the books of that concern. As this priviledge has not been extended Nick Dale, and his figures are simply guesswork, and very poor guesswork at that, it is not likely that any person will be deceived into believing them. They are totally unreliable and unworthy of consideration. rr The Campbell & Zell Company of Balti- more are full of orders for Zell boilers, among others being an additional order for 500 horse- power from the Baltimore Sugar Refinery Company, Curtis Bay, Md., making a total of 2000 horse power erected at their plant. REGENERATIVE GAS KILN. | Pittsburgh built the rolling miils; A. J. | Sweeney & Son of Wheeling supplied the nail machines, and Hoovens, Owens & | Reutzler of Hamilton, Ohio, built the | Hamilton-Corliss engines now in use. | The works occupy a plot of 35 acres, located on the Grand Calumet River, about 5 miles from its entrance into Lake Michi- gan at the new town of Talleston, now |being laid out by the Chicago packing interests. This part of the river is being restored to navigable condition, which /will be of much value to the nail com- pany and other Hammond manufacturers. | The nail company have 1000 feet of front- age along the river. They have excellent railroad facilities also, be‘ng connected by tracks into their grounds with the Fort Wayne, Erie, Monon, Michigan Central _and Chicago and Calumet Terminal roads. The nail factory of this company is an exceptionally fine building, 336 feet long iby 120 feet wide, constructed with brick June 18, 1891 THE IRON AGE. 1159 walls, decked roof and an abundance of | level of a freight car floor. The usual|Machine Company. The steel-making windows in both side walls and roof. It| output of this factory is 1000 kegs per contains 101 nail machines, nearly all | aay, but at times this is exceeded. automatic, which are arranged on anele-| The plant embraces a well-equipped vated floor in the center of the building, | steel converting department built by J. P. Fig. 1.—Column Formed of I-Beams, Fig. 2.—Column Formed of Z-Shapes. MU fe i HI | nM il Fig. 4.—Plan. | TNS UT et | Fig. 3.—Elevation. THE LARIMER PATENT COLUMN. leaving plenty of room on both sides to| Witherow & Co. of Pittsburgh. There handle the nails when cut. One end |are two 3-ton converters, with a capacity of this building is used as a ware-| of 250 tons of steel per day. Connected house, from which nails are loaded | with the steel department is a fine bloom- directly on cars, the floor being on the | ing mill built by the Lewis Foundry and appliances have been examined by experts recently, who found them in perfect condition. At present, however, the com- papy are not manufacturing steel, but are making their nails from purchased steel. When the company began operations they encountered the usual difficulties expe- rienced in organizing a new force of work- men, but by perseverance and the utmost care at every stage of the work all troubles were overcome, and their product now is fully equal in quality to that turned out by the old-established factories of pational repute. They have marketed over 200,000 kegs of nails in the North- west and are constantly adding new names to their list of regularcustomers. The offi- cers of the company are George 8. Gris- com, president, and T. F. Woodman, sec- retary and treasurer. Their Chicago office is in Room 647, Rookery Building. I The Larimer Patent Column. Illustrations are herewith given of a new form of column invented by J. M. Lari- mer, manager of the Chicago house of Jones & Laughlins, Limited. This col- umn is the latest practical acquisition to the present style of entire steel construc- tion in the erection of buildings, and is adaptable to any structure where strength and economy of space are desired, its three principal points being strength lightness and compactness. The methoc of forming the Larimer column is so simple that. a very brief description needs to be added to the illustrations. Either I beams, Fig. 1, or Z shapes, Fig. 2, are bent into a curved form longitudinally, and two of them are then bolted together, with a metal filler inserted to keep them rigidly in place. It will be seen that steel columns can thus be quickly and easily made from beams, obviating the necessity of rolling special shapes and thus securing obvious advantages. The pecul- iar but simple construction of tbis column distributes the metal where it will be of most service and reduces the sectional area toaminimum. It is particularly adapted to buildings in which economy of space is an object, as the diameter when fire- proofed is much less than the forms gener- ally used, thus economizing not only in space but in material. When used un- covered in any building where it is ex- posed to dampness it is easy to keep the entire column painted. Bracket attach- ments are also shown in the illustra- tion, Fig. 3. With the use of these the column can be made of any reason- able length, as girders can then be connected at any hight and any angle, Sizes and weights can be made to corres- pond to requirements for loads and the position in which they are to be placed. Jones & Laughlins, Limited, are prepared to furnish the Larimer column, and wilk be pleased to give at their Pittsburgh or Chicago office information as to strength and weight required from data obtained by actual tests. hh Among the publications announced by the Bureau of American Republics as in course of preparation are a code of nomen- clature containing an authentic list of all articles of merchandise imported and ex- ported, with their Spanish and Portuguese equivalents; a compilation of tariff laws and customs regulations; and a series of bulletins devoted to the Southern countries. These handbooks will be most useful in regulating the terms fo be employed in bills of lading, ships’ manifests and consular invoices, and much additional information might be given respecting the proper modes of packing for shipment to interior points from Southern ports. hn re ate ae % F , A .. . > nih a . e o> <a at Ei 1160 The Bass Rolling Mill Enyine. In our present issue we illustrate a roll- ing mill engire of new design recently closed over on top and as far as possible THE IRON AGE. on the bottom. Extending from heavy ears on the cylin- der to standards adjacent to the main built by the Bass Foundry and Machine} bearing are two 7-inch wrought-iron bars, Works, Fort Wayne, Ind., and now in operation in the W. Dewees Wood Com- pany’s mill at McKeesport, Pa. The en- gine was designed by A. E. Manchester, superintendent of the Bass Machine Shop. Careful attention has been given to the proper proportioning of the details to withstand the unusual strains due to roll- ing steel. The cylinder is 30 inches bore and 48 inches stroke. The exhaust chest is sepa- rated from the barrel 4 inches. This space, as well as the space between the cylinder barrel and Jagging, is insulated with a non- conducting filler. The lagging is made of ee sai al aa aun aii ot +O] G @ {| 7 [] : ||| | | In: order to insure additional stiffness these rods are bolted vertically and side- ways to the guide stand. This stand is bolted and doweled to the bed plate. The crosshead is cast of steel and fitted with bronze gibs. The cast-iron surfaces where the crosshead travels are scraped smooth. The connecting rod is fitted with straps, gibs and keys. In addition a through bolt is placed directly behind each box. In order to prevent burring the key so that it could not readily be removed, a channel z', inch deep and 13 inches wide is milled to accommodate the point of the set screw. © cast iron. The steam and exhaust valves are ground on dead centers and the valve chests scraped to fit. The valve gear is strongly built, and ei] of the cranks on the side of the cylinder are hammered iron. The valve stems are mild forged steel, and have collars bearing against the hubs of the bonnets. The cut off is effected up to four- tenths of stroke automatically by the Porter governor; beyond that point the closing of the valve is performed by the eccentric. By means of a flange on the bottom of the cylinder it is doweled and bolted to a bed plate extending to the main bearing. The main bearing is 18 inches diameter and 36 inches long. The boxes are faced with brass shells; lined with diagonal strips of babbitt. The boxes are flanged so as to lock over the edge of the bed casting. The cap is se