The Iron Age 1892-04-14: Vol 49

ae Ns sin prt nea Lon TERS tat REO Se a= aj ge ea 1 ape A Mammoth Wooden ‘Fly Wheel. *’ Our readers will recall the bursting of the 30-foot fly wheel at the Amoskeag Mills, Manchester, N. H., last fall, full accounts of which were published at the time. This wheel has been replaced by the one we here illustrate, which is proba- bly the largest wooden-rimmed wheel in the world. It was designed by the super- intendent of the mills, Charles H. Man- ning, and was built in their own shops. This wheel is 30 feet in diameter, 108} inches face, 12 inches thickness of rim and weighs 104,000 pounds sets of iron hubs and arms, each hub be- ing made in two parts, 7} feet in diam- eter, 28 inches in length and 20 inches face. The arms, of which there are 12 in each set, are circular in section, 8} inches in diameter at the large end and 6 inches at the small end, and are formed with pro- jecting webs, as shown. At their outer ends are plates 20 by 24 inches, which are bolted to the rim by eight bolts 1 inch in diameter. Each arm is secured to the hub by | four bolts 1} inches in diameter. The rim is made up of 44 rings of Western ash, each ring being in 12 sections, each of ‘THE IRON AGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1892, which is secured by 16 lag bolts. Between | driven by engines having a diameter of cyl- each set of arms there are four } inch bolts | inders of 36 inches, stroke of 6 feet, and is in- extending through the rim from side to | tended to be run at a speed of 61 revolutions. side. The cranks and connecting rods are balanced by plugs placed in the ends of the hollow spokes opposite the cranks. This work was done so well that the wheel has been run up toa speed of 76 revolu- tions per minute without showing the least indication of distortion. To form the rim 20,000 feet of ash were used and 18,000 4 x, inch lag screws. The segments are attached to each other with glue and lag | screws and by the through bolts. As a| A MAMMOTH WOODEN FLY WHEEL. which were driven well-fitted wedges | soaked in boiling glue. In building the} wheel, the first hub and its arms were put in place, revolved, and a score mark made on the ends of the arms. In line with this score the 12 sections of ash were bolted, the joints breaking over the ends| of the arms. The next ring of ash was glued and lag-screwed to this. This was continued until the other set of arms was | reached. Each ring was finished before | starting the next. The whole pulley was | turned while in place. The wheel is| We may add that Mr. Manning is now building another fly wheel having unusual features. The center and arms will be of cast iron, and the rim, 14 feet in diameter, 30 inches face and 12 inches thick, will be composed of 24-inch plates of 4-inch mild steel, riveted through and through. RR The shipping of the Maritime Provinces has declined rapidly during the past eight years, and there appears to be no immedi- There are two! further precaution narrow openings were|ate prospect of an improvement in the | left between the ends of the segments into | situation. In 1884 Nova Scotia had 3019 vessels, aggregating 543,835'tons, whereas the present fleet numbers only 2775 vessels, of 462,304 tons. In 1884 New Brunswick had 1096 vessels, of 307,762 tons, whiie at the present time she has only 980 ves- | sels, of 194,400 tons. The Prince Edward Tsland fleet has fallen off from 234 vessels, of 39,213 tons, in 1884, to 195 vessels, of 23,350 tons. Thus it appears that in eight years the shipping of these provinces has declined to the extent of 210,756 tons from a total of 890,810, or nearly 24 per cent. 710 THE IRON AGE. April 14, 1892 The Firing Speed of Machine Guns. This question is answered by Hiram 8. Maxim in a recent communication to Hn- gineering, from which we take the follow- ing: The first automatic Maxim gun, which was submitted to an official test at En- field, was claimed to fire 600 rounds a minute, using the Royal Laboratory ma- chine gun cartridge. At the trials 1000 cartridges, all in one belt, were fired in one and one-half minutes. This would give a speed of 666 rounds per minute. The Royal Woolwich cartriages, consid- ered from all points, are perhaps the most perfect cartridges to be met with to-day. Of over 200,000 rounds which I myself have fired, I have only found one faulty cartridge, and this missed fire on account of not having any fulminating powder in the primer. At the official trials in Swit- zerland, where the German Mauser car- tridge was used, the official speed was 612 per minute. At the Italian trials, which took place with the same cartridge at Spezzia, the rate of fire was found to be 620 per minute. The French cartridges, which had been made seven or eight years, were found to fire at the rate of about 500 per minute; those which were only two or three years old, at the rate of 600 a minute; while with those that had only been made a few weeks, the rate of fire amounted to nearly 700 per minute. At the Austrian trials with the old Man- licher cartridge, the rate of fire was 620 per minute. With the new Austrian car- tridge with compressed powder, a speed as high as 770 per minute was attained. With the Russian Berdan cartridge, mede on the old-fashioned plan, having a hollow rim, 1000 rounds were fired out of a single belt in 24 minutes. This was the slowest of all European cartridges except those made in Italy for the old Vetterli rifle, which were found to be very imperfect, and the rate of fire in some cases did not ex- ceed 300 perminute. In Spain, cartridges were found which were so bad that they could not be fired at all with an auto- matic gun. In Germany, the rate of fire varies according to the kind of cartridges which are employed, and ranges from 600 to 700 per minute. Of all the black-powder cartridges, the American service cartridge has been found to attain the highest speed. This arises from the fact that the cartridge is small and short, the powder compressed, and the primers very large. At trials which took place in England with this cartridge the rate of fire was 742 per minute. At trials which took place in the United States, in which new cartridges made by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company were employed, the rate of fire was 775 per minute. This was the highest rate of fire ever attained by an automatic gun deriving all of its energy from the recoil. After the Maxim gun had been formally adopted into Her Majesty’s service it was found necessary to provide some means of operating them with blank car- tridges, as these, of course, did not give sufficient recoil to operate the mechanism. Attachments were then put on to guns which were required for the mapeuve-s, in which the escaping gas¢s at the muzzle of the gun produced an action upon the barrel similar to that of recoil. The first of these guns was made for the Easter maneuvers some five years ago, and the first cartridges experimented with were loaded with 60 grains of black powder, the rest of the case being filled with tallow, but the rate of fire was so enormously high that the powder charge was reduced to 42 grains, and with this the rate of fire fell to about 600 per min- ute. About two years ago, while we were experimenting with the French Lebel car- tridges in Paris, I had a gun constructed to utilize the force of the escaping gases at the muzzle for operating the mechanism. The number of cartridges which the officer brought to the trial was only 200; conse- quently only small belts were used. Upon placing a belt of 20 cartridge in the gun and — g the trigger, I remarked, ‘‘ The gun as stopped; it does not work,” where- San Francisco News. We have just closed a week the greater part of which was a succession of rains and storms The only results as far as yet heard from have been beneficial; every- where the crops have been benefited and a year of exceptional prosperity is confi- dently predicted. Primarily for the whole upon my French assistant pulled the belt | State, and consequently for San Francisco, out and said, ‘‘It is quite empty.” My ear had been accustomed to a fire of about 600 per minute, and the usual belts that we first try a gun with hold only ten cartridges. These 20 Lebel cartridges had gone off in just about the time that ten English cartridges would have been fired. The speed was found to be somewhere between 1100 and 1200 rounds per minute, and the officer in charge de- cided that the rate of fire was altogether too high, expressing the wish that we should seek to reduce the rate of fire rather than to increase it. It is a curious fact that the German and French committees, acting quite independently of each other, expressed their opinion that the most de- sirable rate of fire would be 250 per min- ute, and guns were, .in fact, made for these two nations provided with regulators, but it was found that the mechanism necessary to reduce and regulate the speed of a gun was quite equal to all the rest of the mechanism in the arm. The first one- pounder Maxim guns fired at the rate of 400 shots per minute. The speed was afterward reduced to 300 per minute. The effect of very rapid firing upon the chamber and rifling of the gun is most marked. In Austria, when a gun was fired at the rate of about 600 per minute with steel-covered bullets, and the fire was often stopped to replace the ammunition boxes, it was found that the gun made as good a target after 20,000 rounds had been fired as it did upon starting, while with « speed of 670 per minute, with practically no stoppages, the bore was considerably in- jured after 10,000 rounds had been fired. During all of the Austrian trials with the Maxim gun, 200,000 rounds of ammunition were used, the greatest number fired at one time from a single gun being 35,000. As regards the speed that it might be possible to attain with a single-barreled gun, I would say that probably if both the gun and cartridge were made expressly for producing the highest possible rate of fire, and if the recoil energy, together with the escaping force of the gases, were both utilized, 1500 to 1600 rounds a minute might be fired, but at this speed the barrel would be very highly heated, even if in- closed in a water casing. Machiue guns which are operated by hand are as a rule provided with more than one barrel, and perhaps the greatest abso- lute speed that ever has been attained was with a 12 barrel Nordenfelt gun, in which each barrel was fired 100 rounds per min- ute, but this feat can only be accomplished by avery powerful and trained athlete. The Gatling 10 barrel gun did not, I be- lieve, fire over 400 rounds a minute at the Shoeburyness trials, but it is said now to fire at the rate of 100 rounds per barrel per minute. The greatest speed ever attained by a single-barrel hand-operated machine gun was when Gardner himself fired 250 rounds per minute. The Nordenfelt 5- barrel gun, such as is used in the British Navy, may be fired with three trained operators about 400 to 500 rounds per minute. At the Swiss trials the 2-barrel Gardner gun, with four men to operate it, fired 333 rounds in a minute. As far as guns of larger caliber are concerned, per- haps the highest rate of fire ever attained with one man loading and firing was in France, about three years ago, when I my- self succeeded ia firing 40 rounds in 50 seconds. The gun was a 3-pounder, and the cartridges about 21 inches long. that it will lead to agreatly improved busi- mess in this = is past any doubt, yet what may be the extent of the improve- ment, even should the most favorable prognostications as to the character of the year prove correct, is, to say the least, somewhat doubtful. San Francisco is to a certainty not especially favored by the railroad, and every year our merchants are feeling it more and more. Things have gone so far that it is silanol that a couple of leading firms in the hardware business have made up their minds to re- tire unless things take a turn for the bet- ter, and if, as is alleged, the trouble is dis- crimination as to railroad freights, it is hard to see how matters can be improved. Doubtless there is some exaggeration in these flying stories, but there must be some substratum of truth to give rise to them. sto how far they may be justi- fied, of course, events alone can tell. Dur- ing the week the rains interfered with trade, but the demand for agricultural im- plements, the weather being taken into consideration, has been good, that for hardware fair, and that for merchant iron moderate. The nail market still remains very dull, and though this is the season when demand should be active, it is for some unaccountable reason unusually light. The base price is with discount still $2.40 per keg. We continue to receive large consignments by sea, the last ar- rival from New York having 4000 kegs on board. We have received 27,223 kegs in this way already, and this points to a sup- ply of over 100,000 kegs by sea during the year, not a pleasing prospect for our local factory, however our farmers and builders may regard it. The city of Stockton will show up well this year in the manufacture of agricult- ural implements, and is becoming year by year more and more important in this re- gard. The Stocktonians have the advan- tage of possessing natural gas as fuel,rents are not high, neither are taxes, and they are close to their market, so that transpor- tation does not cut so great a figure as it might. All these things render it a for- midable competitor with Eastern agricult- ural machinery brought from San Fran- cisco, and there can no doubt that in the contest it is bound to win. It contains at present six agricultural implement works. The output of these in 1891 was $1,208,000; the number of employees, 348 ; the wages paid during the year, $246,000. This is not a bad showing for a young city like Stockton. When we add the output of the works at Benicia and San Leandro, and the small ones elsewhere, we will find that the output of agricultural imple- ments in this State is fully equal to the importation. And yet it does not seem so very long ago since almost everything in this line was imported trom the East. If the cost of raw material was less we could successfully compete with the East in many lines. The labor problem will settle itself. In fact, it is rapidly doing so now. Imports by sea for the past two weeks have not been very large. Imports by rail continue of goodly vol- ume. For the past two weeks they have embraced 72 cars, consisting of 8 cars of agricultural implements, 14 cars of iron, 7 cars of Hardware, 20 cars of machinery, 1 car of plates, 5 cars of stoves, 4 cars of safes, 1 car of wire netting, 1 car of scales, 1 car of axles, 1 car of steel, 1 car of cable, - been coated it is simply placed in the bath April 14, 1892 THE IRON AGE. finish. The surface coated, of course, re- tains the natural finish of the metal. It is evideut that the process can be employed so as to produce a natural surface on a treated ground, or the reverse. With the process designs of the most elaborate de- scription can be obtained. 3 cars of wire, 1 car of pipe, 3 cars of wagons, 1 car of plows. We had besides 4732 pounds of copper, 6521 pounds of spelter, 470 pounds of zinc, 16 kegs of nail. Our tin mine at Temescal is beginning at last to assume its due prominence in the eyes of the world. The receipt a a igs, 22,000 pounds, or one carload, at Noe York on March 30 was considered of The Philadelphia Copper Mill sufficient importance to telegraph half a Company. column across the continent concerning it. The shipment was the result of the work of two weeks with one smelter. As it has to compete at New York with Straits tin it is evident that at present it should be sold to better advantage in this city, where the price has lately advanced slightly. being now 21} cents per pound. We use here annually the product of about 200 days’ run. If, however, all the present output at Temescal was thrown on the market there it would doubtless soon, in consequence of competition with the Aus- tralian article, put prices pretty low. It} operations in September last, with J. F. is, therefore, better, all things considered, | Bailey as president and George Snyder as to send it to New York. The local mar-, secretary and treasurer. It is at present ket both for tin and tin plate is at present | the only establishment of its class in the quiet. The latter has declined to $5.20 | district, with the exception of one in Balti- per box in consequence of recent large | more, and the Pittsburgh mills. We are arrivals. informed that their shipments of copper sheets during March exceeded by 30 per cent. those of any previous month and their books record a proportionately large and steady advance ever since the manu- facture was inaugurated by them. The mills are placed at Olney Station, on the Northern Pennsylvania branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad; a siding connects them directly with the main line, thereby giving facilities for the shipment of goods in all directions, while, being within a short distance of Philadel- hia, the company’s own teams are able to aul supplies to consumers in the city and circumjacent districts. The acquisition of a considerable space of ground around the works gives ample space for the ex- tension of buildings and plant contem- plated in the near future; and from a spring-fed lake on the property water power can be used as an auxiliary motor, the water being raised through the me- dium of a pumping engine to a large ele- vated tank of a capacity of from 25,000 to 30,000 gallons. The mill buildings were first erected in 1891. Additions to the original fabric have been gradually made, and extensive improvements are now being meditated, in order to keep pace with the growing business. All the metal used by the Philadelphia Copper Mills is obtained from the smelt- ing works on Lake Superior, and is, as a rule, received in cakes 14 x 19 inches, of an average weight of 175 pounds, though some large 700-pound cakes are occasion- ally consigned to them for special pur- poses, such as the manufacture of large tank sheets, &c. This material, after passing through the breaking down furnaces and being brought to a cherry-red heat, is worked up through the different processes of hot-rolling, cold- rolling, annealing, pickling, tinning, pol- ishing, trimming and leveling, &c., ac- cording to the various purposes for which it is destined—emerging in the forms of finished sheets of divers qualities and di- mensions, known to the trade as ‘soft copper "—used for bathtubs, sinks, &c. ;— ‘*heavy soft”—‘for building purposes; ‘cold-rolled *—for cornices, &c.; * sheath- ing”—for coating ship’s bottoms and for other purposes; and other special kinds, such as extra fine quality sheets for engraving plates, which isa large branch of business with the firm, also ‘‘ circles”’ and “flats” for the bottoms of tea kettles and boilers, these latter being made of and allowed to remain there until the de- | cold-rolled copper, tinned on one side, of sired effect is produced, which is a granu-/ a uniform weight of 14 ounces per square lated or what is termed a satin or ormolu foot. The copper sheets are manufactured This comparatively new enterprise, which under the name. of the Bailey & Storey Philadelphia Brass & Copper Roiling Mills was organized in 1889, and commenced operations in July, 1890, under the co- partnership of Josiah F. Bailey and Robert K. Storey, for the manufacture of brass and copper sheets, was on the dissolution and liquidation of the firm twelve months later, reconstituted under its present title, and incorporated under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania, recommencing SSS SSS rr Norton Bros. Tin-Plate Works. Norton Bros., of Maywood and Chicago, Tll., now have the buildings nearly com- pleted for their new tin-plate works at May- wood. The tinning house is 40 feet by 315 feet and will contain about 25 stacks. The pickling room is 52 feet by 85 feet. The storehouse for black plates is 30 feet by 100 feet. The storehouse for finished plates is 60 feet by 60 feet. The machin- ery for the plant is being built and will be rapidly put in place after the buildings are finished. Gray’s pickling machine will be used, but all the other machinery is of Norton Bros. own design and manu- facture. Tin piate has been made at the Maywood works in a limited way, but very regularly, for months past. As is well known, the aim of Norton Bros. has been to introduce an au- tomatic method of manufacturing tin plates so as to avoid both the depend- ence on highly-skilled labor and the ex- cessive manipulation of tin plates by hand according to the methods now commonly pursued. Tedious and costly experiments were found necessary, and much more time was consumed in perfecting the process than had been anticipated. The erection of the large plant now under- taken is an emphatic notice to the trade that the difficulties have been surmounted, and that tin-plate making will shortly be in progress on a commercial scale accord- ing to American ideas of manufacturing re A New Etching Process. A new process of attacking metals by means of acids, by which intricate and beautiful designs can be produced, has been introduced by Wm. Hyland of New Haven, Conn. It is a common method of ornamenting metal to apply to the sur- face a coating in such a way as to leave exposed the surface of the metal which it is desired shall be acted upon by acids or by the electroplating process. The coat- ing ordinarily employedis destroyed when the metal is placed in what is generally called ‘‘ormolu dip,” which is a very strong and hot acid bath. The essence of this new process is found in the coating employed, the acid-resisting properties of which are such that after the metal has renner cere ACSC 711 le ———————————————————ee ———————————— ool Too _(0(0(60— in about 30 different thicknesses, varying from 0.005 inch, which weighs but 4 ounces to the square foot and possesses the tenuity of a sheet of note paper, to about ys inch, and are made in any length and breadth required. A short time since a sheet 20 feet in length by 5 feet 6 inches wide and } inch thick, weighing 1200 pounds, was turned out to the order of a Philadelphiacustomer. This is the largest hitherto made at the mills. The present plant in active operation comprises four large heatiag furnaces, four sets of hot rolls and two of cold rolls, each of the rolls weighing 13,000 pounds; two annealing furnaces, a tinning furnace, chop shears, hydraulic leveler, finishing trimmer and other machines. The boiler room contains four tubular boilers each of a capacity of 100 horse-power, and all the machinery is driven by a powerful 450 horse-power engine. Bituminous coal is used, having been found to answer the purpose more satisfactorily than any other fuel. The polishing buffs used for finish- ing the extra quality sheets, tinned on one side, turn out brilliantly burnished plates, which are used for fancy work of various kinds. The milla have ail along been run- ning at full work during the day time, and only the finishing trimmer machine, which cannot at present keep pace with the rolls, is kept at work until late at night after the steam power is stopped, being run by a small water motor specially fitted to it and connected with the tank above mentioned, thereby economizing fuel and labor in keeping up fires. The current output of copper sheets reaches 5000 pounds a day. Additional machinery has been ordered and is ex- pected to be set up and in operation in about a month; and it is anticipated that ample work will be found for it. All the various operations, from the breaking down of the raw material to the packing in wooden cases, are carried out on the premises, The company refine all their own soft scrap, and are contemplat- ing the erection of the necessary plant for smelting their slag, which on analysis has been found to contain from 70 to 75 per cent. of metal. All the tinned scrap, be- ing more difficult to refine, is made up into what is technically known as ‘‘ cabbages,”’ packed in hogsheads and sold to the makers of metallic paints. The most important contract at present on hand is that for the supply of the cop - per work required for the new Philadel- hia and Reading terminal depot at welfth and Market streets, Philadelphia, for which over 75,000 pounds of = have already been delivered, in cold-rolled sheets, 30 x 96, 16 ounces to the square foot. A quantity of heavy copper has also been recently forwarded to Baltimore for the new cruisers building there for the United States Navy. The company’s largest fields of supply just now are New York and Pennsylvania, but their prod- ucts are also shipped in considerable quan- tities to all parts of the continent, con- signments having been forwarded as far as Colorado in the West and Florida in the South. In addition to the office attached to the mills at Olney, the Philadelphia Copper Mills Company have a city office at 257 South Fourth street, Philadelphia. O. Kinsley is the general manager of the Olney works. EES The Fifty-five-Hour bill, which has just become a law in New Jersey, will, accord- ing to some representations, work a hard- ship on many of the boys and girls and women employed in New Jersey industries. It was strongly recommended by the labor organizations of Paterson and Newark. The law makes ten hours a day and five on Saturday the period of labor that boys and girls under 18 and women of all ages shall be employed after July 6. 712 THE IRON AGE, April 14, 1892 The Naylor Hydraulic Traveling Crane. Two of these cranes, which were in- vented by Ernest W. Naylor of Cleveland, Ohio, are now in successful operation in the Juniata shops of the Pennsylvania Rail- road at Altoona. They are working with Kd -—y ry oo Metis «oF 5) Denna. nq saeneiesinen nnn iaatnaieeenaaeineeenmaneaa — ae THE a water pressure of 1500 pounds to the, nections. NAYLOR HYDRAULIC TRAVELING The track girders and bridge are of the usual construction. The bridge carries hydraulic cylinders and a motor, which co-operate with each other and with other parts in producing the different move- ments common to traveling cranes, the water being taken to and from the cylinders and motor through suitable con- Fig. 2.—Side Elevation, The track girders A A!’ are square inch and are used over the hydraulic , supported at the desired hight above riveters. They bave been found to be| the floor. The bridge B is moved along with the exhaust column the bridge is moved in one direction or the other, as the case may be. ‘This arrangement insures the keeping of the bridge in proper align- ment, and the movement is made with the minimum of friction. The two cylinders, C C', Figs. 1 and 2, lic parallel to the track girders and are CRANE. secured by brackets to the end of the bridge. Entering one cylinder from one end and the other cylinder from the opposite end are plungers made in the form of pipes which are rigidly secured to the girder. The inner ends of the pipes especially well adapted to this work, as it| the tracks by two pairs of oppositely- is easy to lift or lower the load to within | acting hydraulic cylinders and plungers, zy inch. This accurate adjustment in-| placed one pair at each end of the bridge. sures perfect riveting, as the rivet can be! By connecting one cylinder of each pair closed up square on the center line. | with the pressure column and the other being open, they serve not only as plungers but as parts of the conveying system lead- stapes tis I ee Sach Apt il 14, 1892 — THE TRON AGE. 113 ing from the pressure and exhaust columns. The pipes c’ c* connect the ends of the plung- ers, respectively, with the hydraulic ac- cumulator or its equivalent. When it is desired to move the bridge B toward the | through its aia and the pipe C3, escape of water through itself; cr both escapes through the valve in the last-| valves may be closed, when the bridge is named pipe. reverse position the bridge moves in the| Min Fig. 3 is the lever which may be opposite direction. When the valves are in the| heldin a fixed position. The lever marked The valves in the! operated with the above-described results ss! Sea =e re Ta —re stig se oi | wi Fig 3.—End Elevation Fig. 5.—Section on Line x x of Fig. 4. THE NAYLOR HYDRAULIC TRAVELING CRANE. right in Fig. 1 the valves in the pipes c? c* are turned in such a manner that the water flows from the accumulator through the pipe c? into its plunger, and from thence into the cylinder ©, and the water in the cylinder C', being forced out upon the valves and consequently upon the bridge. The levers marked O and N are similarly connected with the valves in the supply pipes through which the water flows to and from the hoisting mechanism and the trolley mechanism respectively. The trolley D is provided with suitable wheels which run upon tracks extending lengthwise of the bridge. Two cylinders, F F', are secured to and at one end of the bridge parallel with the tracks thereon, and, as shown, above the trolley. Project- ing from each of the cylinders F F'1s a ram, and each ram has a crosshead at its end, in which is carried one of the in- clined sheaves, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The chain H is secured at one end to the cyl nder F by means of an eyebolt, and after passing under the sheave is fastened at its other end to the trolley. Another chain, H', secured at one end to the cylin- der F' by means of the eyebolt, passes over the other sheave, then around the vertical sheave, and its other end is secured to the trolley. When one ram is moving out of its cylinder the other ram is being forced | back into its cylinder, thus moving the trolley. The reverse movement of the rams | moves the trolley in the opposite direc- pipes are three-way valves, and both of | tion. them are connected with a single lever; The means shown for admitting water whereby either may be opened to permit | to and permitting its escape from the cyl- the flow of water from the accumulator, | inders F F' consist of two cylinders, G G}, while the other valve is simultaneously | Fig. 1, secured to one end of the bridge moved to a position where it permits the a lying parallel to the cylinders C C'. 714 Through each of these cylinders G G' passes one of the telescoping pipes, which are supported at their ends above the track girders by suitable brackets. Each of the telescoping pipes is plugged near its middle and water is admitted to and escapes from these pipes through the sup- ply pipes ¢° 9°, Fig. 3, which are con- nected with the accumulator. Near the plugs and in the parts of the telescoping pipes which are always cov- ered by the associated cylinders are suita- ble openings, through which water passes from each of the pipes into its associated cylinder, and from thence to the cylinders FF". As before explained, the valves in the pipes g’ g® are connected with a hand lever N in such manner that both valves may be closed and thus hold the trolley in a fixed position, or the valves may be opened in such manner as to permit the water to pass from the accumulator to one of the cylinders F F' and to escape from the other cylinder, and thus move the trolley in either direction. The hoisting and lowering apparatus in- cludes a reversible hydraulic motor, I, Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, which is carried by the bridge B, and a chain barrel, J, which is also mounted on the bridge and is con- nected with the motor by a suitable chain of gears, as shown at the right of Fig. 4. As shown, about five revolutions of the crankshaft of the motor are necessary to revolve the chain-barrel once, whereby the load on the chain K may be carried through as short a distance as required. The chain K, extending lengthwise of the bridge, is fastened thereto at the end opposite to that which carries the hydraulic motor. This chain passes over a sheave, d, on the trolley, down around a sheave in a block, L, up over a second sheave on the trolley, and thence to the chain bsrrel, by which it is taken up. Suitable pipe connections lead from the motor to the accumulator, so that it may be operated in either direc- tion for the purpose of raising or lowering the load. Se The Census Office at Washington has recently published a bulletin giving the statistics of manufactures of the city of St. Louis, Mo., for the fiscal year ending May 31, 1890. The work was prepared under the direction of Frank R. Williams, spe- cial agent in charge of Statistics of Manu- factures. Ten years’ increase is shown by the following comparative table: 1890 1880 Number of estab! 'sh- ments reported.... 6,148 2,924 Number of hands em- ployed : aetes 93,610 48,125 Capital invested. ....| $140,775,392 $50,882,885 Miscellanéous ex- eS 6S eae Wages paid... .. .... 53,165,242 17.743,532 Cost of materialsused) 122,010,805 75,379,867 Value at factory of goods manufactured | The table presented below shows the changes in the iron and steel industry of St. Louis: 228,714,317 | 114,838,375 THE IRON AGE. industry, although there has been a not- able increase in the manufacture of manu- factured iron and steel and foundry und machine shop products. nsimcsneinamiatiiatiiaieiis tease The Failure of Carl Bolckow. During the past 35 years the name of Bolckow has occupied a conspicuous and honorable place in the English iron trade. The late H. W. F. Bolckow and John Vaughan were the first ironmasters on Tees side. They commenced business as iron manufacturers even before the vast depos- its of ironstone imbedded in the Cleveland hills had been discovered. he two part- ners first met at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Vaughan, who as a working puddler had trudged from the neighborhood of Worces- ter to Tyneside, was a works manager for Messrs. Bell when he met Bolckow, who at that time was worth several thousand pounds, which he had made as a corn im- porter. Bolckow was the son of a Meck- lenburg farmer, and he knew a good deal about the value of wheat, but had no special knowledge of the iron industry. Still, his capital and commercial aptitude, and Vaughan’s technical skill, enabled the pair to start in a small way as iron manu- turers at Middlesborough. They sold iron to blacksmiths, wheelwrights and others purchasing small quantities. But the busi- ness did not pay, and in a few years was witnessed the strange spectacle of infuri- ated workmen chasing bailiffs out of the establishment. In that crisis Joseph Pease, who had been instrumental in constructing the first public railway, came to the rescue lof Bolckow & Vaughan. Soon afterward an ironstone seam some 4 feet thick was discovered, and thus the foundations of the colossal concern now known as Bolc- /kow, Vaughan & Co. were firmly laid. Mr. Bolckow was elected the first member for Middlesborough, and after his death his statue was unveiled by the late Lord Fred- erick Cavendish. Yet it would seem that a wish which Bolckow fondly cherished is not to be realized. He amassed heaps of gold; he built himself a magnificent man- sion, and he gave Mr. Agnew a permanent | commission to buy ‘*modern masters” for him. Bolckow desired to perpetuate his own name—to give it an abiding place among the great county families of England. He had no son or daugh- ter, so he bequeathed the great bulk of | his fortune to his nephew, C. F. H. Bolc- | kow. This gentleman, whose failure is now announced, has been no reckless spend- thrift. He has always lived quietly and | without ostentation. In fact, he has often been railed at for his parsimony. But he | very properly retorted that he was obliged to live within his means. It was true he dwelt in a marble hall, and was sur- | rounded by splendor and luxury, but the conditions of his uncle’s will compelled him to go on buying land, in order to per- manently endow the name of Bolckow. Thousands of acres, including several vil- lages in the vicinity of Thirsk, have been bought by Mr. Bolckow; and as the inter- —_— me Number of | Average Total : | Cost of , — establish-, : number of; amount : Value of Year. ments re-| ©@Pital- hands em-| paid in — product. porting. ployed. | wages. ? Foundry and machine shop products. .. . 1880 62 $3,605,713 3.466 | $1,854,946 $2,700,844 $5,952.77 1890 103 10,184,926 6.345 | 8,877,946 5,095,621 11,945,493 Iron and steel......... 1880 10 5,960,600 2,268 =| €16,575 2,823,058 3,950, 189) 6 2,655,199 940 526,998 1,583,648 2,518,761 Iron and steel: Bolts, nuts, washers and Pe ebhas ihece es 1880 4 235,009 137 60,498 301,937 493,560 18h 4 225,253 175 48,767 147,823 248,941 Iron work, architect- ural andornamenta! 1880 10 57,400 | 8s 38,610 57,220 | 131,010 1890 23 1,732,7 1,015 880,039 2.023,526 Ir: will be seen that while the gencral pesepeny was good, there has been a eavy falling off in the iron and steel 748 | 644,127 | est on land has been very low of late years, aud the dividends paid by Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. have fluctuated consider- April 14. 189 ably, it is feared that Mr. Bolckow’s in- come has become terribly restricted. Not only is he chairman of Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., but also of the Forcett Railwa Company and Sadler & Co., Limited, an a director of the Employers’ Liability As- surance Corporation, Limited; the Indus- trial and General Trust, Limited, and the Otis Steel Company, Limited. He is also the principal partner in the firm of Downey & Co., ironmasters, who sus- pended payment some days ago. Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. have not made an extrava- gant profit during the past 12 months. The ion capital is £3,218,000, but the profit has been only £74,441, as against £317,000 in 1890. Mr. Pochin, one of the directors, says the turnover has been as large as usual, but high wages have ren- dered a fair profit impossible. The divi- dend declared, 24 per cent. for the year, as compared with 6 per cent. for the two former years, is only paid by the with- drawal of £30,000 from the reserve fund, which is thus reduced to £120,000. Still, there is no reason why there should bea panic in the iron trade. Mr. Bolckow is the victim of untoward circumstances, and the dead man’s hand has rested too heavily on him. Had his uncle’s will permitted him to exercise his own discretion in the matter of investments it is probable that he would have remained in an affluent po- sition, instead of being compelled to seek shelter in the bankruptcy court. As we have said, he has never wantonly wasted money, being totally unlike the son of his uncle’s partner, Mr. Vaughan, Jr., is chiefly remembered for having squandered £30,000 in fitting up a billiard room in his house. The panels of the walls were dec- orated by an eminent R. A., and the spit- toons were of gold. The fate of the two men inheriting the wealth of the founders of the at Cleveland iron industry is a grim and dismal illustration of the muta- bility of fortune. In disposition, charac- ter and tastes they are as dissimilar as Hogarth’s apprentices. Yet both in turn have come ‘‘ under the weather,” —Mid- land Evening News. I Joliet Sheets. The Joliet Sheet Rolling Mill Company of Joliet, Ill, now have their buildings up and have begun to put their machinery into place. ey expect to be rollin sheets by the first week in May. The ened uct will be confined to light sheets, No. 25 and thinner, and of fine quality. Samuel Frewtrell is president and general manager. Mr. Frewtrell was connected with the Joliet Steel Works for 20 years as superintendent of their rail mill, but previously had experience in rolling sheets in England. He will make 20 tons a day at first, but the plant is so laid out that this production can be doubled by the addition of comparatively little machinery. The company are now ready to take contracts for future delivery, begin- « “ May. They have appointed C. E, Woodruff & Co., Northern Office Build- ing, Lake and La Salle streets, Chicago, their exclusive sales agents, to whom all inquiries should be addressed as to prices, arrangements for deliveries, &c. The en- trance of this company into the Western market is quite an event in the light sheet trade. Hitherto the Western jobbers and consumers of sheets have drawn their sup- lies from mills in Pennsylvania, Ohio and ndiana, but henceforth there will be local competition for such business. Other sheet mills are also in course of erection near Chicago, and this branch of trade is likely to become an important manufact- uring interest in the near future in that locahty. It has been a little late in get- ting a foothold, but promises vigorous growth from this time forward. ra | ay ie 4 , en a act as a gai a tes pS sah i 4 Fae ies: + aA? 2 REE RS April 14, 1892 The Niles Shaping Machine. The shaping machine, being almost uni- versal in its application, is invaluable for a great variety of work, and its use affords an essential saving in the time and cost of doing certain kinds of work. To meet fully all that is expected of it, it must be THE IRON AGE. provided with two tables, as shown. On) one of them work may be clamped on the top or either side, while the other is ar- ranged to receive a vise, index centers or a swiveling table. Both these tables have wide pendant elevating screws, which are so geared that they can be easily raised or lowered without stooping. A cone man- drel is also provided for planing such work as hubs of cranks or rocker arms. 715 ized, but also to secure durability of the steam boiler itself. Increasing the pressure to a dangerous degree would be impossible in any boiler if the safety valve were what it is supposed to be—a perfect means for liberating all the steam which a boiler may produce with fires in full blast and all other means for the escape of steam closed. In order that it may work efficiently it is necessary that it should be properly pro- so designed and the material so selected as to best provide for the great strains to which it is subjected, and at the same| sizes: 16, 20 and 24 inch. time accurate workmanship is necessary ccenicianianmmemlliaatas } in order to produce the best results. The : shaping athinan made by the Niles Tool Safety Devices for Builers. Works of Hamilton, Ohio, one of which is here illustrated, are all traveling-head machines—that is, the saddle carrying the These machines are built in the following | In view of the disastrous boiler ex- plosions which have recently been alarm- | Ya 2 Nite TOOL WORKS PA tee tas stl THE NILES 16-INCH SHAPING cutter bar is traversed on a bed of consid- ingly frequent, the Chicago branch of the erable length, the cutting tool operating at all points. This type of machine is adapted to a much wider range of work | than the pillar shaper with stationary | head. The cutter bar is operated with the Whitworth quick return. It is so arranged that the forward or cutting National Association of Stationary En- gineers have issued the following notice to steam users: In the boilers which an engineer has placed under his charge there is a sufficient energy to equal that of a dynamite bomb, as far as explosive force is concerned. portioned inallits parts. The laws of this | city [Chicago] require two kinds of safety | valves, the ball and lever and spring pop valve, and there must be one of each upon every boiler. There are mathematical rules by which the ball and lever type can be adjusted and a thorough knowledge of them and all the principles involved are MACHINE. indispensable, and they require consider- able care and attention to have the desired effect, for at best this kind of a valve is very imperfect in its action, as it will not seat until the steam pressure has fallen several pounds below the point at which it is set to open. Where ignorance and carelessness hold stroke takes about two-thirds of the| There are numerous safety appliances crank motion, while the return stroke is | which, when rightly applied, hold this made during the remaining third. The) energy in check, and of which he must regulation of the speed of the cutter bar! have a full and complete knowledge of the is obtained by large cones for wide belts, | office they were intended to perform, or 80 proportioned as to give the right speed | for long or short cuts, or different mate- | rial, and with ample power to do heavy | work. they are rendered utterly useless. The first of the safety appliances to be considered is the safety valve. sway, there are old grate bars, large monkey wrenches and slice bars hung on the end of the lever to prevent its working at the proper time. We say there is nothing mysterious in a boiler explosion, but in a case of this kin? there is a deep mystery in c mnection, and that is—what The form | prevents an explosion ? In aspring-loaded On the long-stroke machines the | and construction of this indispensable ad- | valve (or pop valve) the valve is kept on driving cones are back geared, giving | junct to the steam boiler are of the highest | its seat by the pressure of aspring. This eight changes of speed. The feeds are| cross, down, angular, and circular for| convex and concave. of peor not only for the preservation | spring, no matter in what position it may ife and property, which would in the | be placed, always permits steam to blow The machine is! abzence of thismeans be constantly jeopard- off at the pressure for which it is set. 716 THE IRON AGE. Apiil 14, 1899 There are many patents on different styles of this valve. A great advantage possessed by the spring loaded valve lies in the fact that the fireman cannot overweigh it, as in the case of the ball and lever type. And, again, they will close before the pressure has dropped a pound below the point at which they are set, thus avoiding a waste of steam. They must be set by the use of the steam gauge. Safety valves should be kept clean and should be frequently tested to see that they work freely and are cor- rectly weighted. An engineer should know how to figure the size of valve required for a given size boiler and all the rules pertaining thereto. Some firemen seem to think that unless steam blows off at the safety valve they are losing their reputation for skill, but it only indicates a very careless waste of steam, water and fuel, and, in effect, is just like stepping up to the office and re- moving money from the employer’s pocket, and where an engineer in charge is worthy of the name such action would not be permitted. It 18 absolutely necessary that every boiler should be provided with a trust- worthy steam gauge for indicating the pressure at any and all times, and this gauge should be connected directly to the boiler, and not the steam pipe, in order to avoid fluctuations in its readings of the pressure. The kind most universally used at the present time is the dial gauge. It was invented by M. Bourdon, but the patent has lapsed, and many poorly con- structed and unreliable articles have been since sold as Bourdon gauges. In all metallic spring gauges the connecting pipe should be fitted with a ‘‘ syphon” just below the gauge, which serves to transmit the pressure and prevents the steam from coming in contact with the spring. Where there are several boilers in a battery, each boiler should be provided with a separate gauge, and an engineer must understand every mechanical detail of this indispensable adjunct to a steam boiler. et An Impending Crisis in Australia. A grave financial crisis in Australia is predicted by some, which may prove more serious in its effects than the collapse in the Argentine Republic, because the En- glish holdings in Australia involve much larger amounts of capital. Remarking on the subject a contemporary says: While English holdings in Argentina were speculative, Australian securities have ranked with English and have been treated as sound investments. They have begun to fall and are certain to fall heavily. For one thing the drought last year swept off 12,000,000 sheep in Australia, one-tenth its flock, and worse is looked for this year. Every Australian colony is now passing through a terrible panic, banks and land mortgage companies are failing, Govern- ment railroads are losing money, and the colonial treasurers are forced at a time of great depression to increase taxation — doublirg the rate for postage in Victoria, for instance—to meet the fall in revenues and railroad deficits. It is always easier to see that a storm is coming than to predict its hour or extent. All the Australian colonies are now passing through a financial crisis which has filled their cities with starving workmen, checked their development and ruined a large number of land mortgage companies whose shares are held in England. At least two-thirds of the total Australian debt to England is, however, in colony bonds. These were borrowed at low rates, far lower than the loans raised in Argen- tina. The colonies can, at worst, readily raise the money to pay interest on their loans, and a default on Australian interest is not probable, though possible. But heavy losses on other forms of Australian debt held in England are certain. This is sure to lead to free sales in England of American securities. It will also, by checking Australian railroad building, deprive British iron and steel industries of their best customer and add to the uni- versal world depression in price and con sumption in the iron trade. It is, in fact, hard to see how for at least a year to come the situation in Australia can fail to pro- duce a depression in England which will be felt here and which will continue the present reign of low price the world over. WORLD'S FAIR NOTES. Experience With a Cyclone. On Tuesday of last week the World’s Fair grounds were visited by a cyclone which did about $30,000 damage. The buildings which received the worst of the shock were the Illinois State Building and the pumping station. The storm burst in its fury at 10 minutes before 7 in the morning, and it was at this hour that the damage was done. Had the cyclone ap peared an hour and a half