The Iron Age 1891-10-29: Vol 48

‘THE —— The New Pennsylvania Oil " Bield. | The great oil region recently opened in | the McDonald field has now reached an aggregate production of 52,000 barrels daily, and all energies are taxed to provide tankage and other facilities for handling this tremendous output. Referring to the principal operators the Pittsburgh Dispatch says: With a gang of about 300 men, they have laid in the aggregate 70 miles of pipe throughout the field. They now have three large stations in operation. The first, in the town of McDonald, has a capac- ity of 6000 barrels a day; the second, at Willow Grove, half a mile northeast of McDonald, has a capacity of 30,000 barrels a day; and the last, at Gregg Station, a mile northeast of Oakdale, can pump away 30,000 barrels a day. They have com- pleted three iron tanks at Gregg Stution, eee te AMUN ci U Cy v4 1 q (i a CTT P Ha | * ' ~ i fl THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1891. IRON AGE The Pittsburgh Times sayg: ‘‘ Although the McDonald field is very young, in fact not over 10 months old, it has produced over 2,500,000 barrels of oil, representing at the current price of oil a value of about 2,006,000. Much oil has been spilled on the ground on account of the inability of the lines to handle it. It is estimated that | over 100,000 barrels have been lost within | the past 10 weeks in this way.” ™ EE Different opinions prevail in the East | and the West respecting the use of iron} and tin in shutters designed as a protec-| tion against fire. Secretary Charles R. Peck of a company in Philadelphia, after reviewing a discussion between Mr Atkin- son and others, says: ‘‘Experience has shown that the best protection for open- ings and windows is a door or shutter about 2 inches thick, made of 1 inch} matched boards, covered on all sides and SOT — = Compound High Pressure Air Compressor. The compound high-pressure air com- pressor here illustrated is designed for compressing air or gas from 100 to 5000 pounds per square inch. The air is ad- mitted to the large cylinder through the p'ston, is compressed to about one-eighth the required pressure, and on the return stroke | the pressure is raised to the point required. Though single acting, the capacity of one of these compressors is about equal to that of the double-acting machine of the same cost of construction, The initial air cylin- der is made large enough to correspond with the capacity of the smaller high- pressure cylinder. The strains are equal- ized, because the area of the large cylinder multiplied by its low pressure is exactly equal to that of the small cylinder multi- plied by its high pressure. The maximum THE INGERSOLL-SERGEANT COMPOUND AIR COMPRESSOR FOR HIGH PRESSURES. and altogether have finished and in course of construction tankage for over 500,000 barrels of oil. The main stations pump the oil into the large storage tanks and to the trunk lines. There are three stations termed local stations, which send the oil to the main stations. One of these is on the Herron farm back of Noblestown and below the Matthews well, and has 30,000 barrels a day capacity. The second is on the Robinson farm, near Elliott No. 1, with a capacity of 10,000 barrels a day, and they are completing one with a capac- ity of 8000 barrels a day on the Baldwin farm, below Baldwin No. 1. They have in use from 40 to 50 small duplex pumps scattered throughout the field to take the oil from the wells to the local stations. There are 16 pumps at the main stations, each of which can pump away from 200 to over 1000 barrels an hour. The steam to run these*pumps is generated in 16 boilers of 35 horse-power each and 19 of 25 horse-power each. Four stationary boilers of 80 horse-power each are now being put up at Gregg station. The same size battery is elon being set up at McDonald. There are at present one 6-inch line and three 4-inch lines running from the field to the main lines, and another 4-inch line will be completed in a very short time. edges with best quality tin, laid on in lock joints. No soldering to be used, but nails to be driven under the fold. This, in brief, without going into further detail, is substantially the only kind of door or shutter approved in the East, and should speedily be adopted throughout the coun- try. Tin, for very many reasons, being far superior to sheet iron.” As a matter of fact tin and sheet iron are practically the same, assuming that their thickness is equal, tin having the single advantage that it is anti-corrosive. Galvanized sheet iron, it would be safe to affirm, is most desirable for the purpose specified. In the year 1887, at the commencement of gold exploitation in South Africa, the total production only reached 34,097 ounces; in 1888, 230,640 ounces were raised; in 1889, 377,740 ounces, and in 1890, 494,756 ounces; while the output for the first nine months of 1891 points to a total of 502,715 ounces. There is yet to be added the production of the De Kaap district—namely,over 35,000 ounces in the first half of the present year, the output for July alone amounting to 7632 ounces. The total production of the Transvaal gold mines for 1891 will probably reach 780,000 ounces, E strains are reduced considerably below those which exist in compressors that do not compound the air. The advantage of the single-acting air cylinder over the double is that it com- presses a volume of free air only once every revolution, hence there is a better chance to cool the air during compression. The cylinders have time to impart to the water jackets the heat produced by com- pression and are kept cooler. Single-act- ing cylinders offer a better chance to keep the packing tight, thus there is less leak- ing—an important point in dealing with high-pressure air. The large air head of the initial cylinder is jacketed, also adding to isothermal economy. Economical results are attained with this compressor at low cost of construc- tion. The fly wheels are small, and the bearings narrow, because the maximum strain is less, and the momentum of the piston and other moving parts is such that most of the high initial steam power is taken up in starting these parts and is afterward given out at the end of the stroke, when the steam pressure is low. The strains are direct, and expensive foundations are not required. The operation of the machine will be readily understood from the longitudinal ot em, 724 THE IRON AGE. October 29, 1891 section, Fig. 2. Air enters the large cylin- der through the air inlets A, and passes through the annular valve B formed in the low-pressure piston C. On the return stroke, toward the left, the air in the cylin- der is compressed and forced through the discharge valve D into the connecting pipe E between the low and high pressure cylinders. It enters the high-pressure cylinder through the inlet valve G, and is discharged through the valve K. The cylinders are cooled by the water jackets J. The circulation of air during com- pression is indicated by the arrows within the cylinders and pipe. This compressor is built by the Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company of 10 Park place, New York. I Reciprocal Trade. The s«ciprecal commercial arrangement with Spain relating to Cuba and Porto Rico embraces the following items in the metal schedule, admitted free into the above dependencies in reciprocity and compensation for the admission into the United States of America free of all duty at a reduction of duty of 50 per centum. : Iron, cast, in fine manufactures or those pol- ished, with coating of porcelain or parts of other metals. Iron, wrought, and steel in axles, tires, springs and wheels for car- riages, rivets and their washers. Iron, wrought, and steel in fine manufactures or those volished*with coating of porcelain or part of other meta!s not expressly com- prised in other numbers of these sched- ules, and platform scales for weighing. Tin plate, in sheets or manufactured, per hundredweight. Copper, bronze, brass and nickel and alloys of same with common metals, in lump or bars, and all manufactures of the same. All other com- mon metals and alloys of the same, in lump or bars, and all manufactures of the same, plain, varnished, gilt, silvered or nickeled. It is proposed to issue the schedules under reciprocal negotiations as soon as practicable after finally agreed upon between the United States and the country entering into the compact. rr Among the papers recently published by the British Institution of Civil Engineers was one by G. R. Redgrave on the manu- The Hampton Aluminum-Alloy Works. We have received from W. J. Wilder, superintendent of the Aluminum Alloy Metal Company of Hampton, Iowa, a brief description of his plant together with some facts of interest concerning the metal in- vented by him. He says: ‘* The buildings used by this company contain about 8000 square feet of floor room, including a rolling mill, amalgamat- ing room, and cutting, squaring and ship- ping rooms. The amalgamating room contains five furnaces, capable of turning out about 2 tons of metal per day, but there is ample space in the buildings to handle 5 tons Two railroads, the Iowa Central and the Chicago and Kansas City, pass through Hampton, and the works are so located that cars can be loaded at the doors. The history of the metal manufact- ured here is as follows: On March 10, 1885, 1 patented a process for coating metals. The following year I managed to put about 12 tons of the metal on roofs in different parts of the country, and, as ‘stated in our circular, these roofs have Fig. 2.—Longitudinal Section through Air Cylinders. THE INGERSOLL-SERGEANT COMPOUND AIR COMPRESSOR, of the articles enumerated in the act of October 1, 1890, and by agreement be- tween the two countries. After July 1, 1892, into all the established ports of entry of the Spanish islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, being the product or manufact- ure of the United States and entering di- rectly from the ports of the said States: Schedule A, free cfall duty. Iron, cast in pigs and old iron and steel; iron, cast in pipes, beame, rafters and similar articles for the construction of buildings and in ordinary manufactures. Iron, wrought, and steel in bars; rails and bars of all kinds; plates, beams, rafters and other similar articies for construction of buildings. Iron, wrought, and steel in wire nails, screws, nuts avd pipes. Iron, wrought, and steel in ordi- nary manufactures, and wire cloth unman- ufactured. Implements, utensils and tools for agriculture, the arts and mechanical trades. Machines and apparatus, agricult- ural, motive, industrial and scientific, of all classes and materials, and loose pieces for the same, including wagons, carts and fhand carts for ordinary roads and agricult- ure. Materials and articles for public works, such as railroads, &c., when intro- duced by authorization of the Government or if free admission is obtained, in accord- ance with local laws. Products and manufactures of the United States to be admitted in the islands named facture and properties of slag cement. It appears that not all blast furnace cinders are suitable, particularly not those which disintegrate spontaneously. The method of manufacture adopted is that of Bosse and Walters, who grind and mix cinder and slaked lime in a cylinder fitted with iron or steel balls. At the Carron Works the cinder carries about 30 per cent. of silica, 20 to 26 per cent. of alumina and 35 to 37 per cent. of lime. At Lockport, N. Y., on the 20th inst., F. W. Matthiessen, the wealthiest zinc man- ufacturer in the country, of La Salle, IIl., was elected president of the Cowles Elec- tric Smelting and Aluminum Company. Mr. Matthiessen has lately acquired a large block of the Cowles Company’s stock with George Healey of Cleveland, and will assume the active business management of this extensive concern. The construction of a large plant, in addition to that here and at Stoke-on-Trent, England, will be commenced soon. It is designed to pro- duce 20 tons of the pure aluminum per day in the new smelter, which will require engines of 20,000 or 30,000 horse power. The other officers elected at the meeting were: Alfred H. Cowles of Lock port, vice- president; Horace W. Power of Cleveland, secretary; A. T. Osborne of Cleveland, treasurer. stood the test without a coat of paint for five years and over. In 1889 I started a small plant at Yorkville, Ill., the entire output of which, after a short time, was secured under contract by the Stan-Alu- minum Company of Canton, Ohio, for five years. The Hampton plant was then started ubout August of this year. Hav- ing experimented for the last two years with aluminum I found that I could add a small quantity of it to my alloy, adding greatly to its tenacity und not interfering with the ordinary method of soldering such as is used by tinsmiths. Two pieces of this metal can be united without solder by applying acid such as tinsmiths use and then passing the copper over it, but I recommend the use of solder. I do not pee to publish the exact method fol- owed in the amalgamation, as several points are not protected by patents. The metal contains no iron or steel whatever, and there being nothing in it to corrode, I claim that it will, without paint, last as long as the building which is roofed with it. I am supported in my claim by tests made by some of the most prominent chemists in the country.” The concluding paper in William F. Durfee’s series on the ‘‘ Manufacture of Steel” has appeared in the November issue of the Popular Science Monthly. October 29, 1891 ET THE IRON AGE. 725 Tests and Requirements of Structural Wrought Iron and Steel.* BY ALFRED E. HUNT, PITTSBURGH, PA. (Concluded from page 689.) 2. The Number of Tests Required.—No definite rule can be laid down as to the number of tests required to determine the exact quality of a lot of material. If the material be steel of practically one uni- form section, and made by a single process, which is reasonably uniform in its opera- tion, one tensile and one bending test for each melt of steel—that is, for each open- hearth heat or Bessemer blow—is usually considered sufficient. Should the sections vary, or the ingots be of different sizes, requiring more or less work on the steel, each such materially varying section should have a tensile and a bending test. Should there be a suspicion that any por- tion of the material has been burned in re- heating for rolling or hammering, of course extra tests will be required. A provision incorporated in the Standard Bridge Builders’ Specifications by parties who desired to make it the general prac- tice, requires for each contract only four tensile tests and one additional test for each 50,000 pounds of material, not taking into account the possible non-homogeneity of the lot thus arbitrarily lumped together. But the absurdity of this labor-saving de- vice has been generally recognized, and it is practically a dead letter in the Stand- ard Bridge-Builders’ Specifications to- day. The advisability of keeping melt num- bers distinct throughout the manufacture of the material, and stamping them upon each of the finished bars, has been the sub- ject of considerable controversy. At most of the structural mills, however, it is now deemed important, not only to the inspec- tor, but to the manufacturer, as facilitat- ing the intelligent selection of material from stock on hand, that not only the original ingots, but also the blooms and finished material rolled therefrom, should be stamped with the melt numbers, and that the records of each melt should be kept so clearly that all required data of quality can be readily ascertained at any subsequent period. Good open hearth or Bessemer steel is reasonably homogeneous as cast into ingots in each melt, but the quality of one melt by no means insures that of the next. It follows that the only satisfactory method of testing finished structural open-hearth or Bessemer steel (short of the separate testing of every piece singly, which is, as a general rule, impracticable) must be based on the melts as the units of quality, and hence that these must be kept sepa- rately traceable with the utmost certainty. The advantages of this system should be at once apparent to manufacturers; yet, strange to say, it has been adopted tardily and with reluctance in many works. The number of tests required for wrought iron is still more difficult to fix. Not only does the raw material vary greatly in quality, but the process of manufacture without fusion does not offer any guarantee of ultimate approximate homogeneity. An inspector acquainted—as he ought to be —with the character of the stock used in making the iron, the size and make up of the pile from which the iron is rolled, and the methods of manipulation —— can often form an intelligent judgment of the metal and dispense with many tests which he would otherwise re- quire. In general, the usual practice is to obtain one tensile, one bending and one nicked bending test of each materially va. riant section, mixture of stock and char- acter of pile in each lot of material or * Presented at the Glen Summit meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. each day’s work of the mills. Such tests will average perhaps five or six to the car- load, the number varying considerably according to circumstances. Even though the inspector be acquainted with the work and satisfied as to the quality and uniform- ity of the metal, a certain number of tests for each job is required as a matter of record by the engineer for whom the work is done. Such a record is valuable, not only in case of an accident to the structure in which the material is ultimately placed, but also in questions of repairs or of extra loading. In such cases it is essential to have exact data regarding the quality of the material, as developed by the inspect- or’s tests. Many parties also insist upon such records for personal vindication of the engineer or the corporation he repre- sents as to the care that has been taken to see that all has been done that could be done to insure good quality in the mater- ial furnished. 3. In what cases more than one test should be made or allowed before decision is reached, —Manufacturers claim that where the test specimen does not fairly represent the material it is unjust not to allow a second trial upon a fairer specimen. On _ the other hand, some engineers instruct their inspectors that, as the selection and prep- aration of the test specimen rests mainly with the mill people, the failure to obtain a fair specimen is due to their own care- lessness or misfortune, and second tests are not to be permitted. The objection to more than one test, if the first fails, is the difficulty of deciding which represents the material fairly, or of finding and re- jecting that part of the lot which the faulty test did represent, and of being sure that there is not more of the same class of faulty material in the lot which will be passed by undiscovered. The first test sometimes fails, manifestly because the specimen has been burned or has been cut so close to the crop end as to include a large flaw; or it has been unduly hardened by water on being suddenly plunged into snow or ice in winter while hot from the rolls, as sometimes happens to the ends of bars by careless Saniiia. In such cases it is difficult to decide wisely and justly to both interests. At mills where much trouble of this sort occurs fast and careless work is being done and the reputation for this bad work soon be- comes known, much to the detriment of the proprietors, who can only regain their prestige by a radical change in their methods, which usually includes changes in the mill management. At the same time a certain amount of it will occur at the best-regulated mills. In the practice of the writer, when additional tests are al- lowed, either the first test specimen must have been manifestly, in the judgment of the inspector, erroneously selected or else more im one satisfactory additional test should be made to counterbalance the evi- dence of the first and to prove that the material is all right. It makes a great deal of difference, of course, what the re- sult of the defective test indicates. If it shows badly-burned material or non-homo- geneous steel with high manganese (from the ferromanganese not being properly mixed in it), or brittleness from almost any cause, it is only in exceptional cases, under specially peculiar conditions, that second tests should be allowed. The general rule may be laid down that if more than one test is allowed, where the first shows metal that should be rejected, it should be only in cases where the defect- ive material represented by the first test can be identified and rejected, and where a further series of tests will prove with reasonable certainty that there is no more of the defective metal in the lot repre- sented. 4. The Way in Which Tests Should be Made.— With the newer forms of automa- tic power testing machines now largely used EE there is very little opportunity to change the results as recorded by the machines. If the specimens themselves are properly prepared and placed in line in the testin machines the chances of error are few on more nearly concern the manufacturer than the engineer. Manufacturers have learned that improperly prepared specimens and carelessness on the part of those who work and keep their testing machines in order operate most severely against their own interests. It is the present experience of the writer that there is little cause for complaint at the structural mills through- out the country as to the way in which the tests are made. 5. The Interpretation of the Tests and Test Requirements.—It is unreasonable to require the same results from tests of iron or steel made on varying sections, even when the method of manufacture and the general arrangements for producing the crude material are the same. For instance, the same tensile tests should not be re- quired from plate rolled from a given grade of ingots into 1} inch thickness, % inch thickness and 1 inch thickness, for the reason that the 1}-inch plate will cer- tainly show evidence of cold-rolling, and the 1-inch plate evidence of not having had sufficient rolling at the low tempera- ture which gives advantageous work to the metal. It may be remarked here that the use of a small amount of aluminum in the steel will cause the results in these thick specimens to be much more satis- factory, approaching those of the 4-inch plate. Especially is this the case if some care is taken that, in rolling the thicker specimens, the finishing passes are not made at too high a temperature. Test specimens cut transversely to the longer axis of the material rarely give as good results as specimens cut longitudin- ally. Especially is this true of iron, which shows a marked decrease in ductility and a very considerable decrease in tensile strength in specimens cut transversely. Few rejections are made upon the require- ment for elastic limit in iron or steel. The usual requirement that the elastic limit for iron shall be 26,000 pounds per square inch, and for steel that it shall be at least one-half the ultimate, is very rarely un- fulfilled. The elastic limit is not always a safe criterion of the quality of iron or steel. Many tensile tests show a satisfac- tory elastic limit that are Yery low in ductility. In tests of boiler plate the record of the elastic limit is rarely taken, although this seems to the writer to be an unwise omission. It would be advanta- geous to have the determination of the elastic limit, and, with the methods of testing usually adopted, it could be ob- tained with very little trouble and no extra expense. he elongation in 8 inches length is the almost universal standard. It was adopted by the English Admiralty as being nearest to the 200 mm. length of the French. Kirkaldy still prefers the 10-inch length. The disadvantage of this length is that it means at least 2 inches more of length of bars or plates from which test specimens are cut—a matter of no small moment in the large number of tests required in daily practice in structural mills. That a length of at least 8 inches is advisable is shown by the increased irregularity in the results obtained with shorter lengths, the irregu- larities of the elongation and the method of obtaining it at the fracture very con- siderably increasing the errors in measure- ments. The old Government marine test specimen of 1-inch section is now admitted by all to be a manifest error. The reduction of area in iron is a re- quirement which ought not, I think, to be very minutely interpreted, on account of the difficulty of measuring it accurately, due to the incipient opening up of the welds at the point of fracture. In steel the reduction of area is often the best in- = 726 dicator of the ductility of the specimen, i and taken together with the character of fracture, which should always be noted, | it isan important factor in the estimation of quality in this repect. The specified per- centage of reduction of area is almost always obtained in the best practice, in iron as well as steel, and the difficulty with iron is not that the substantial re- , quirement has not been reached, or even i exceeded, but that the exact measurement De is not easy, and if it is reported with pro- fessed accuracy for the satisfaction of the engineer, he must not infer too much from the figures. No general rule can be stated for the demand as to the character of fracture under tensile tests, but it may be safely said that for both iron and steel 70,000 pounds per square inch tensile strength the fracture should show the flow of the metal—fibrous, not crystalline —to at least 80 per cent. in the case of wrought iron, and that in steel it should be silky rather than spongy and granular. In the interpretation of tensile tests of steel the hardness of the metal is an im- portant element. It has been found by experience that bridge steel of over 64,000 pounds per square inch tensile strength is so hard that in punching it minute fract- ures will be made in the metal surround- ing the holes, which will be so injured by the operation that tensile specimens taken from punched pieces show very consider- able decrease in tensile strength. The usual instruction given by engineers to inspectors is that steel which is above 62,000 or 63,000 pounds per square inch tensile strength should be held quite rigidly to the results of the tests in acceptance or rejection; but where the steel is milder, a test varying 1000 or 2000 pounds over or under the requirements of the specifications is not generally considered, by itself, a cause for rejection. In this connection it is well to point out that duplicate results taken upon the same test specimens, as shown in the tabulated reports of the com- mittee of the American Society of Me- chanical Engineers, exhibit a variation much greater than this limit, which is usually allowed in the acceptance of material. There are some engineers, how- ever, who are very rigid in their require- ments that all the material shall answer precisely all, the tensile requirements. In such cases either the requirements should be very broad and lenient or the metal should be paid for at a considerably in- creased price per pound. With wrought iron the general practice of engineers is to allow their inspectors a considerably larger variation in acceptance of iron than with steel. This practice, I think, is warranted. Wrought iron made 1n different districts of the country, from varying stocks, gives varying results. In er: Eastern Pennsylvamia, where the furnaces , have largely run in the past on foreign ores, the bar iron is somewhat lower in ee tensile strength, but is greater in elonga- iy tion and reduction of area, than that made in the Western part of the State from Lake Superior ores. In the Eastern District it is easier to obtain the best bar iron with 1a ee ee Hil’ Fi 4 48,000 pounds per square ioch tensile Bute strength and 20 per cent. elongation in 8 | ‘ inches, while in the Western part of the State 50,000 to 51,000 pounds per square inch tensile strength 1s exhibited with 16 to 18 per cent. elongation in8 inches. In either case the engineer cap, in my judg- ment, safely trust the bar iron with the same upit strains. With a specification for wrought iron similar to that outlined in my paper upon ‘*The Inspection of Materials of Con- struction in the United States’ (Trans., x1x., 911), I believe a reasonable allowance of a few thousand pounds per square inch, or a few units per cent. in ductility, ac- cording to the character of the metal being =, Bes ie Wie TT . = THE IRON AGE, October 29, 189) made at the mill, should be permitted to | on cars for shipment, in order to prevent the discretion of the inspector. The requirement of 52,000 pounds per its being badly bent and twisted in tran- sit. This is a matter of no little impor- square inch tensile strength for bar iron| tance with the large bars of 60 and 70 for structural purposes cannot, according to my experience, be met without many rejections by millsin general. Very few mills in this country, except those work- ing charcoal iron or using steel scrap in the piles, could produce regularly such bar iron. An iron having this high tensile strength should be carefully tested for welding, as it is very apt to be dry and in- capable of welding strongly, and if it satis- factorily answers both requirements, it should command a much higher price than ordinary good bar iron. Since the price of soft steel (of not too rigid requirements) and that of wrought iron are now about the same, it is becom- ming a common practice to allow in speci- fications for structures the use of either wrought iron or steel, giving specifications for both. This practice has led, both at the bridge shops and at the mills, to the interpretation that the material may be furnished in both iron and soft steel of 60,000 to 64,000 pounds tensile strength per square inch, as it pleases their con- venience. The writer has had several ex- periences of late where the mill people, under such specifications, have actually attempted to fill items of angles and plates partly in iron and partly in steel. This indiscriminate use of iron and steel, with their different moduli of elasticity and ex- pansion and contraction under varying tem- peratures, cannot be good engineering prac- tice. Of course this remark does not apply to all cases, but only to those in which the differing behavior of the two materials may produce injurious strains 6. What Material the Tests Should Cover. —As before explained, the series of tests with open-hearth or Bessemer steel usually cover each melt, and with iron each lot of varying section; but where some of the tests prove defective, they may fairly be construed to cover smaller subdivisions under certain conditions. If it can be shown that the cause of the trouble is with only one reheating furnace charge, or even with certain ingots or blooms near bridge walls or exposed to special punishment, it is manifestly fair to all interests to reject only the material that can be proved to be defective, taking further tests of the re- mainder of the lot. 7. The Jurisdiction of the Inspector over Rejected Material.—In one view of the subject the inspector, who ordinarily does not own any of the material (although the mill people claim that inspectors some- times act as if they did, with the addition of the mill and all the property and peo- ple pertaining thereto), has nothing fur- ther to do with material that he rejects. Certainly he has no right, without the mill manager’s consent, to maltreat rejected bars so as to prevent their being used for some other purpose. At the same time it seems to me that he has the right to mark rejected material in such a way that it may not by any accident or otherwise be shipped forward from the mills with the accepted material. For this purpose many inspect- ors have a private stamp for stamping re- jected material, which seems to be a wise precaution. 8. The Jurisdiction of the Inspector over Accepted Material —The inspector should be furnished with lists of the material he has inspected or ee on each carload, in order that he or his assistant, the in- spector at the shop, may identify the ma- terial which he has passed as it is un- loaded at its destination. For this pur- pose many engineers—it seems to me very properly—insist that their inspectors shall approve the itemized bills of lading of each carload of accepted material from the mills. The inspector should, where possi- ble, see that material is properly loaded | ee eee eS feet now often ordered at the mills. 9. The Right and Duty of Inspectors to Note and Report upon Methods of Man- ufacture —Many mill people claim that if the inspector is furnished with material answering the requirements of the specifi- cations, there their duty ends, and any in- vestigation into the methods of manufact- ure is unwarranted and unnecessary and is prohibited. On the other hand, the man- ufacturers are constantly pressing for fewer tests upon the tonnage they turn out, and in the judgment of the writer the best way to reduce the numoer of such tests is to make the inspector familiar with the methods by which his material is made, and thus able to judge more accu- rately, by his knowledge of the uniform character of the stock used, the size of the ingots or piles or glooms from which fin- ished material is rolled, and the manner in which the material is rolled or hammered. Without this knowledge and actual test- ing of the materials used, steel scrap ought not to be allowed to be piled with iron. EEE The Mechanical Engineers. The annual meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers will be held in New York, November 16 to 20, the sessions taking place at the society’s house, 12 West Thirty-first street. The opening session Monday evening will be in the form of a social reunion with a collation and ,an address by President Robert W. Hunt. A business meeting will be held Tuesday morning and a session for the reading and discussion of papers in the evening, the afternoon being at the dis- sal of the members. Wednesday will devoted to an excursion by boat to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the shops of the De La Vergne Refrigerating Company, to be followed by atheater party in the even- ing. Thursday morning is set aside for professional papers and their discussion, the afternoon to local excursions and the evening for a mm at the Lenox Lyceum. A concluding session for papers will be held Friday. The following papers will be presented: ‘‘ President’s Address,” by Robert W. Hunt; ‘‘ Experi- ments to Determine the Rate of Rise or Fall of a Mercurial Thermometer under Different Conditions,” ‘‘ Test of Indiana Block Coal at the Chicago West Side Pumping Station,” ‘‘ Limitations of Steam Engine Economy,” by A. F. Nagle; ‘The Value of Water Power,” by Charles T. Main; ‘*The Brooklyn Pumping En- gine of 1860,” by Samuel McElroy; ‘‘ The Idiosyncrasies of Chimney Draft,” by W. E. Crane; ‘‘ Electric Power Distribution,” by H. C. Spaulding; ‘‘ Influence of the Steam Jackets of the Pawtucket Pumping Engine,” by Wm. Kent; ‘‘A Combina- tion [ron and Oak Pavement,” by J. Wen- dell Cole; ‘‘Test of a Pulsometer,” by De Volson Wood. — A verdict in favor of Alfred Earnshaw for $45,593.77 was rendered in the United States District Court, Philadelphia, in Mr. Earnshaw’s suit against Isaac McHose & Sons to recover $56,390 and interest, under an agreement to accept the output of iron ore from a number of Spanish mines, The jury directed that $13,926.74 should be deducted for outlays made by the defend- ants to defray expenses for what was known as ‘quick despatch,” enabling them to obtain the ore sooner. The Globe Iron Works, at Cleveland, have closed a contract for a steel steamer 810 feet long for Samuel Mitchell of the Jackson Iron Mine, at Negaunee, Mich. October 29, 1891 THE IRON AGE. {27 The Davis Cutting-Off Machine. The accompanying cut illustrates a cut- ting-off machine of new design, built by W. P. Davis of Rochester, N. Y. The spindle bearings are large and long, and the cones are of ample width and diam- eter. There are two powerful chucks, one on each end of the spindle. A special feature of this machine is the tool post or holder, which is of unusual strength and stiffness. There is an automatic throw-off which stops the feed when the piece is cut off, and proves to be a very desirable at- tachment. The length gauge is provided with a finger at its forward end, which can be thrown over after gauging the length to prevent cramping the tool as the piece drops off. The countershaft has two changes of speed, making, with the changes on the cone, six different speeds | the Crane Company for iron pipe furnished |in accordance with a contract made in June of last year. It seems that the pipe | is now being used by the Indiana Natural Gas and Oil Company in building a pipe | line. ; a Air Pumps for Cruisers. The reputation of American pump makers for excellence in design and manu- facture and in skill in meeting new re- quirements will certainly not be lessened by the air-pump design for the main en- gines of some of the new cruisers. The floor space allotted is very limited, while the requirements of accessibility for re- pairs and smoothness and reliability in working are absolutely essential. In the combined air and circulating pumps of the | Dolphiu and Chicago, and in those of the valve gear being operated from a point on the coupling-beam. The steam cylinders thus coupled operate in the same manner as the ordinary duplex pump. The valves of both main and auxiliary steam cylinders are ordinary valves. The steam cylinders are bolted to a mbbed cast-iron platen; the pump cylinders are connected to the platen by means of steel columns. The barrels, buckets, plates for head valves and covers of both air cylinders are of composition. The air-pump buckets are packed with hemp. The foot and delivery valves are placed at opposite ends of the vertical pump bar- rel, giving the minimum amount of clear- ance space between them and the pump buckets; they are accessible through hand holes in the pump barrel. The joint of the hand hole is made on the outside of the barrel, and the plate being really a for the main spindle. The pulleys on the| Concord and Bennington, the manufact- | taper plug, correctness of the inside of the countershaft are driven by a simple and| urers have dealt with the problem and| pump barrel is insured at all times. THE DAVIS CUTTING-OFF MACHINE. The efficient clutch, so that by the simple! produced smooth-working, reliable ma- | foot, bucket and delivery valves are of the movement of the lever the speed may be/| chines that require the very least amount | same size, and all made of specially vul- accelerated as the tool approaches the cen- ter. This machine is made in two sizes, 24-inch and 44-inch. The machine shown in the cut is the 24.inch. The 4}- inch machine is very similar in design, but is much heavier. An adjustable stand for the support of long bars is provided with the machine. Each machine is thor- oughly tested before delivered and guar- anteed to be perfect in every respect. TO The Crane Company, iron pipe manufact- urers, began suit in the United States Court, in Chicago, against the Columbus Construc- tion Company of New Jersey for $300,000 damages, and an attachment was also is- sued against the company on a claim by the plaintiff company for $103,715.26. The affidavit of vice-President A. M. Gil- bert is that the last-named amount is due of watching while in operation. On the | canized soft rubber. Area of foot valves, trial trips of some of these ships the only | clear opening, 130 square inches; bucket care exercised was that of a small boy to put a little oil on the bearings of the rock The percentage of power of the| cylinders are 12 inches diameter and 18 shaft. main engine necessary to run the air and circulating pump was as low as 1 percent. discharge |valves, 104 square inches; The steam | valves, 104 square inches. | inches stroke; air pump cylinders 25 | inches diameter, 18 inches stroke for main In the design for the air pumps of some' engines of 4000 indicated horse-power. of the large sets of engines now building | The floor space occupied is 5 feet 8 inches for the New York, Cruiser No. 12, Indiana} by 3 feet 5$ inches. The hight from bot- and Massachusetts, the economy of floor | tom of air cylinder to top of steam cylin- space is very great, while the pumps are | der is 9 feet 83 inches. In thus utilizing accessible and give promise of smooth) special talent in our manufacturers the working, notwithstanding the fact that! Government is taking certain means of the steady load of the circulating pump | obtaining the best ships and engines the is taken away. These air pumps consist | country can furnish. of a pair of single acting vertical air em | pumps driven by a _ of double acting| St. Louis is to spend $10,000,000 on | Vertical steam cylinders coupled together | boulevards, and expects to build 30 miles iby a double beam of wrought iron, the! of them. vie Pde 22 eT Oe a4 [SHS 4 October 29, 1891 eS e—I STARBOARD y i ++ - —— + Hh} ' ' | ; ptt ' . ' + 4 3 —t+4+ im A v 1 * — . . T 7 \ } — _ y iH + / : iN24 - j SL Vs< } iE 7 : * t st fa j > f Y / ‘ wy t I } ~~, Ta ' \ \ - ' N ° ' \ \ i > = ome : es ; nN 1} 7 BH ' hit 1 Se WE, ' ‘ = on } epee: 2B pel, VVUUVY) Port Elevation. "a THE IRON AGE. SSRN Sew ecelll o— ncmmenees \ b-—-4 -}-—— — - —--——_——— Om sae SS WNUG 3d0¥ Bum 9E | Elevation Looking Forward THE PROVIDENCE STEAM PUMP BRAKE WINDLASS FOR U. 8S. COAST LINE BATTLE SHIPS. 728 hs “ Fa. Sing Pets Ee : - Ps . .- a oe ae — a om a ene Ser SS oo f ‘ae ag ek Wik ir —— ne eee : acre a 6 eee Pa ad ca ana Oe ee ea SMT RE Oe Re et? pate alee ae | a ” ee ~a ™ October 29, 1891 THE.IRON AGE. 729 Windlasses and Capstans for Heavy Work. Providence has for years been known, among all who care to learn of such mat- ters, as the home of the steam- power wind- lass. Early in the century the change from rope to chain cables began, but until the development of the steam apparatus the heavy chain cables were handled by hand spikes, pump brake gear or hand capstan and windlass, requiring more men than for any other operation on shipboard. The business of the American Ship Wind- lass Company commenced in 1857 in a small way and gradually increased as the | became | The purchase of and removal to | advantage of their machines known the present works and available land ad- jacent was followed by extension of build- ings and the organization of manufacture upon a much larger scale. The works are en —-_— nam } ~-—_ 1 -_—— l qune™ ik THE PROVIDENCE STEAM CAPSTAN divided into a lot of special shops, the separate departments being equipped with special tools. Work is made to standard templates, and parts of any lots of ma- chinery of a given size are thoroughly in- terchangeable, and are kept in stock to be shipped upon telegraphic order. Several large new machine tools have been lately installed, and the company are now mak- ing plans for another enlargement of their works. Several machines are employ«d upon two operations at once, such as bor- ing and facing cylinders, boring and turn- ing gears and planing and squaring up bed plates. Those parts of the shop where in- flammable material is worked are protected by automatic sprinklers. The demands of the business have changed within ten years, for where patrons would then order a capstan or windlass and wait for it to be built, they now expect it to be shipped complete at short notice. For this reason the company are now carrying in stock more work in a finished and unfinished state than their entire capital represented a few years ago. The especially interest- ing construction at this shop now is the heavy work for Government cruisers and the tugboat windlasses with iron towing bitts, patented by Mr. Manton a year ago. The old style of wooden bitts was framed into the hull of the vessel itself; the new form makes the bitts a part of the bed plate of the windlass, The company have lately entered into a contract for furnishing the windlasses and capstans for the United States battle ships and cruisers building by the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company of Philadelphia. The accom- panying cuts show the types of windlasses that are to be used on these vessels. The windlass for the battle ships is to be placed within a compartment on ship- board. It is of the latest improved steam | pump brake windlass pattern and is so | fitted that it may be worked by the hand brakes or the steam gear of the windlass. It is of the horizontal type and the engines WINDLASS FOR U. 8. CRUISER No 2 driving the same are double and have in- verted cylinders 15 inches in diameter, and are fitted with a very simple, efficient and easily handled reversing valve. The windlass will have four wild cats or chain grabs for handling tne 24-inch stud link anchor chains. Each wild cat is fitted to be quickly thrown into or out of gear by locking pawls, seated within the driving heads, and is controiled for veering the chain by a powerful friction band brake. There is a drum on each end of the main shaft for handling a steel wire hawser of 14 inches diameter. The engines drive the windlass through worm and worm wheel gearing. The worm wheel is of cast steel with cut teeth; the worm is of hard bronze with cut thread and it is so shaped that all the teeth of the worm are in contact with the wheel at the same time, the contact being a surface instead of a line, as is usual, thereby greatly increasiug the wearing surface over the ordivary worm gear. There is also provided an automatic lubricating device and the gearing is partially incased in a light cast-iron casing. Oo the engine crank shait is mounted a balance wheel that balances the weight of the cranks, pistons and rods, and produces a smooth running engine, free from all jerking motion, thus conducing to dura- bility of all the parts. The engines are very accessible and in the most convenient position possible. The locking gear of the windlass, the friction band levers and the reversing lever are all within reach of one person. The thrust bearing for the worm is provided with hardened steel and bronze washers, and it is made adjustable for wear. The driving heads, the locking rings and pawls, the pump brake clamps and all parts subjected to heavy strains and severe shocks are made of cast steel. All engine forgirgs are of forged steel fin- ished all over. The windlass shaft is of hammered open-hearth steel of 8 inches in diameter and 17 feet long. All bearings are lined with bronze metal. The windlass and the engines are bolted to a bed plate that is common to both; thus all parts are tied together by the same plate, and the whole must always re- main in line. All parts of the machinery not capable of being easily oiled by hand while running are fitted with automatic lubricators. The cylinders and valve chests of the engines are completely lagged. The windlass is capable of rais- ing both bower anchors at once at the rate of 6 fathoms per minute with 80 pounds of steam pressure and of exerting an ag- gregate stress of 400,000 pounds on both bower chains with steam of 130 pounds pressure. The estimated finished weight of the windlass is 70,000 pounds. The Rivers patent chain indicator is ap- plied to all Government windlasses under construction. By means of a friction de- vice it shows how many fathoms of chain passes over each wild cat. The indicator dial is mounted in a nickel-plated case on a polished brass standard. It can be placed anywhere on the vessel; if desired two or more can be used for each wild cat, which is especially convenient, as one can be placed in the pilot house or on the bridge in addition to that at the windlass. The windlass for the United States cruiser New York is nearly completed. The same general description of the battle ship windlass applies to this, with the ex- ception that a capstun is employed in place of the hand pump brake connection. The drawings clearly show the different types. The windlass handles four 2}-inch chains. It has cylinders 12 inches in diameter, and will weigh in complete working order 45,000 pounds, Other windlasses are being built for the United States revenue cutter Levi Wood- bury, and the lightship building by the Union Iron Works at San Francisco. Four light vessels for the Atlantic Coast to be built in Wheeler’s yards in West Bay City, Mich., and two lighthouse tenders being built by the Globe Iron Works Company and also the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Hassler at San Francisco will all have windlasses from this establishment near Red Bridge. | A cylindrical steel car owned by B. A. Atkinson & Co. is being exhibited in Bos- ton. The body of the car is a cylinder formed of steel plates riveted on 12 ribs of quarter iron, set 4 feet 94 inches apart, and bent to conform to the shape of the car. The sides are almost entirely occupied by a dozen very wide windows, which, being perpendicular, stand out from the curving sides of the car several inches at the top of the window. These and the monitor roof, which is separate from the body of the car, somewhat relieve its cylindrical appear- ance on the exterior. The trucks are Jewett four-wheelers, and two heating boxes are hung under the car. The plat- forms are double, with heavy springs to take up the force of any collision, Fao, taee oe Or hi ‘fs ¥, or mae - se c Deen nie sate eae aia October 29, 1891 780 THE IRON AGE. WAGES IN STEEL MULLS.—IL, |stats BESSEMER. Jones & Laughlins, Limited, Pittsburgh, Pa, STEEL DEPARTMENT. Rate per No.em- 100 tons, Position. ploved. 2240lbs. Total. Metal wheelers, each... 8