The Iron Age 1893-02-02: Vol 51

‘THE IRON AGE , 1898. The Shaw 80-Ton Gantry and Transfer Crane. The appliances for mounting and dis- mounting heavy guns at the Sandy Hook proving ground have until recently been of the crudest character, and, although the need of something better had been for a long time realized, no actual step in the direction of improvement had been taken THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2 but also the number of ‘‘ reductions’ and consequently 1»wered the efficiency. The fall consists of 16 strands of 1,', inch chain running over two 6-pock- eted chain wheels, one overhauling either end, so that the chain ratio is 8 to 1, The free ends of the chain pass over idlers at one end of the gantry and drop into chain boxes located between the legs at the level of the operating platform. The hoisting train is supplied with four until the summer of 1891, when the de- partment advertised for proposals for an cranks, two at either end of the gantry, so arranged as to accommodate 12 or 16 TA IN —— THE SHAW 380-TON HAND 80-ton gantry and transfer table, the de-(men. There is one change of gearing signs to be submitted by the bidders. The| ratio to provide for the rapid handling of accepted design was that of the Shaw | light loads. Electric Crane Company of Muskegon, The gantry is traversed by cranks at Mich., to whom, through their agents, | either end operated from the same plat- Manning, Maxwell & Moore, New York, | form as the hoisting cranks, as also is the the contract was awarded. racking or trolley movement. The gantry proper is of 17 feet span| In order to allow the use of gantry in and has a clear hoist of 15 feet. the different traverses there is provided a| The general specifications provided | transfer table running on tracks in a trench that all movements should be operated | at the rear of and parallel to the traverses. by hand from the ground or from plat-| The transfer table is carried on eight forms near the ground level. The essential | double tread wheels, each 42 inches in features of the design consisted in locating | diameter. It is provided with locking the hoisting mechanism on the trolley and | bolts and wedges to insure its proper loca carrying the power thereto by shafts and/ tion and prevent settlement of the rail suitable gearing. The same considerations| ends as the gantry is run on and off the led to the adoption of pocketed chain | table. wheels and pitch chain instead of drums,| The workmanshipof this gantry is of a which would not only have increased the| high order for a machine of this class. All weight and bulk of the parts to be moved | sheaves and important bearings are fitted | c. =: -= with anti-friction roller bushings. The chain sheaves are of large diameter, 30 inches, and are turned. All gears are cut and bevel gears are planed to theoretically correct shapes on a Bilgram planer. The treads of all truck wheels are chilled hard and deep and ground true by special ma- chinery. The hook is carried on hardened steel conical rolls running betweén hard- ened steel plates, all ground true. The same careful workmanship is apparent on all parts of the machine. The framing throughout is of steel. In assembling, if GANTRY AND TRANSFER TABLE great care was taken in riveting and nearly all bolts are fitted to reamed holes. ——————____—_—_— Congressman Harter of Ohio last week introduced in the House a bill for the sup- pression of trusts, which directs the Secre- tary of the Treasury, upon satisfactory proof that the manufacture, distribution, price or terms of sale of any article of general consumption is practically under the control or direction of a trust or com- bine, to make the article free of duty and cancel all patents relating to it. The grand jury in the City of Rochester indicted the members of the local coal exchange on the charge that these men ‘* conspired together for the purpose of preventing free competition in the sale of coal among the consumers of the city.” S Seiacben TE Boe eee f ~ = a] coo — : pag ; 2382 A Danish Naval Trial of Water Tube Boilers. A peculiar interest attaches to the recent steam trials of the new Danish cruiser “* Geiser,” owing to the fact that this vessel has no shell boilers, the experiment having been tried of equipping her with a larger number of Thornycroft boilers than had hitherto been used incombination. Judg- ing from the published report of the trials, this attempt to employ, on a large scale for marine purposes, the type of water-tube boiler named seems to have been entirely successful. The very satisfactory results obtained will probably strengthen the present tendency in the direction of adopt- ing water-tube boilers for use on board snip. Referring to this tendency, The En- gineer of London, says in a recent issue: ** Earnest endeavors have been made dur- boiler to marine purposes, especially in the United States. The more recent de partures in this direction all contemplate the use of small diameter bent tubes. In fact, they are modifications of the well- known Thornycroft boiler. It is, of course, evident that they depend for their success on three main factors—perfectly clean fresh water, excellent workmanship, and thoroughly good material. Steam generators of this type would have been impossible a few years ago. It must not be confounded with the Yarrow straight- tube type, which is radically different, and has, we understand, also been giving excellent results. The tubulous boiler, with tubes of 4 inches or so in diameter, seems to be especially reserved for use in electric light installations. It has so far been a failure when tried at sea.” It would be apart from the present pur- pose to stop to consider here which types of boiler may be properly classified as ‘‘ the more recent departures,” or whether such later ones may be justly termed mere modi- fications of the Thornycroft boiler to which some of them do undoubtedly present a reat similarity in appearance. The first hornycroft boiler was fitted on board a small steamboat in 1883. Taking water- tube boilers as a general class, however, mention may be made of several prominent aT The Belleville boiler has been in use in the French Navy since 1879. In spite ofa report made in 1880, which was adverse to it in some respects, practical experience with the Belleville boiler, both in the navy and in the merchant marine, appears to have demonstrated its value, even for large vessels habitually making long passages, and its adoption for use in two fine passen- ger steamers now building in this country, at Cleveland, Ohio, shows the high esteem in which it is held. The new coast defence vessel ‘‘ Monterey’ of the United States Navy has Ward boilers, an American in- vention, but does not depend upon this type entirely, being provided with shell boilers also. In the case of this ve:sel it was decided, in order to diminish the ma chinery weights, to use tubulous boilers for about three-fourths of her boiler power. Among additional types applicable to marine purposes may be named the Herres. hoff, the Roberte, the Towne, the Cowles, and the Worthington boiler. Some of these have been in use in boats or in com paratively small vessels for years in this country, while others have come into notice recently. The use of these various forms of water- tube boilers is, of course, due to the en- deavor, which manifests itself in so many ways, to find a thoroughly satisfactory means of supplying the high steam pres- sures demanded by the marine engines of the present day, and at the same time ac complishing the important purpose of re- ducing the weights carried if possible. ‘did not exceed 1 inch to 14 inches in the large boats. The engines could be \stopped suddenly from full speed with ing the past year to adapt the water-tube | THE IRON AGE. February 2, 1893 The Thornycroft boiler has been used extensively in torpedo boats for some years, and while its record is not free from casualties it has given excellent results. In our own navy the torpedo-boat ‘‘ Cush- ing ” has this type of boiler. In the Dan- ish Navy it was adopted several years ago for torpedo boats, as it was considered better than the locomotive boiler for these small vessels. After two years experience with them, the Director of Naval Con- struction of the Danish Navy stated that the Thornycroft boilers, as fitted in several torpedo boats, had given no trouble up to that time, and that steam could be raised in less than half an hour without risking any leakage by sudden variations in tem- perature. He added that they were found to be splendid steam generators, and that the air-pressure at full speed The report of the Danish Director of Naval Construction, as quoted by Zngi- neering, states that during the trials the boilers worked most excellently, and that steam was kept up with the greatest ease. The steam generating power could be reg- ulated almost immediately to suit the steam consumption of the engines. At the end of the sea-speed trial the engines were forced up to 3314 indicated horse-power in a few moments, after having steamed more than 7} hours with an air pressure of about 0.6 inch, and this high horse-power could be maintained with an air press- ure of about 1 inch. When going full speed the engines were often stopped sud- denly, and the ship could be brought up to full speed in a few minutes. The boilers were able to stand all sudden changes of temperature. They did not prime during the highest forcing nor during sudden changes in the working of the engines. The coal consumption, at the hourly rate of 1 87 pounds per indicated horse power, shows a remarkable result for a forced- draft trial. With regard to the question of weights the official report says: ‘‘ Another great advantage which the boiler possesses is its small weight as compared with ordinary boilers. This can best be seen by com- paring the weight of the boilers in the ‘Geiser’ with the weight of the boilers in the crusier ‘Hekla.’ This cruiser has exactly the same engines as the ‘ Geiser,’ and its six cylindrical boilers are propor- tioned to the same horse-power (3000 indi- cated horse power, as the ‘ Geiser;’ both ships being of the same type and displace- ment, heavy fires without any consequent diffi- culty as to sudden rise in steam pressure, and on the other hand the steam pressure could be raised 100 pounds in a few min- utes, and that no leakage at any tube or joint had occurred at any time. The boiler was not liable to priming, and the water surface was not disturbed or the heating surface uncovered by the rolling of the boat. Besides these advantages with re- gard to general working and management in service, it was considered that the water-tube boiler had demonstrated its possession of other good features Further experience during the past three years would seem to have confirmed the favorable opinion already formed, and to have led to the experiment of fitting the ae - “Gee. new cruiser ‘‘ Geiser” solely with the] Boilers with pipes, feed Thornycroft boilers. According to Hngi-| Pumps. uprakes, tunnets + 120.2 W 8 neering of London, in which an account of | the boiler rooms. her steam trials was published recently, Water in boilers............. 48.0 17.4 the ‘‘Geiser” is a third class cruiser of} otals...... ..........+. 168.2 108.2 about 1300 tons displacement. She was built at Copenhagen, was launched in 1891, and is 257 feet 6 inches long and 27 feet 6 inches beam. The estimated indi- cated horse power was 3000, which the engines exceeded by 157 horse-power on the forced-draft trial. The armament con- sists of rapid-fire guns. Torpedo equip- ment is provided, and there is a protective deck. The ‘Geiser’ has two sets of vertical triple-expansion engines, made at Copen- hagen. The cylinders are 19 inches, 30 inches and 50 inches, by 18 inches stroke. She is a twin-screw vessel, there being two Thornycroft propellers having forged blades. The diameter of each screw is 8.5 feet and the pitch 7.59 feet. The boilers are, however, the feature of chief interest in considering the trials. There are eight Thornycroft boilers, ar- ranged in two boiler rooms, with four fire rooms and two smoke pipes. These boilers were made at the Royal Dockyard, Copen- hagen, under an arrangement with Thorny- croft & Co. The total tube surface is 12,000 square feet, and the total grate area 171 square feet. The steam trials took place in October and November, 1892, in the Sound, at Copenhagen, and consisted of a six hours’ coal consumption trial, an eight hours’ sea-speed trial, and a four hours’ full- power trial. The results obtained on the two first named trials are given in the published report, but may be omitted here. On the full power trial the steam pressure in the boilers was 177.6 pounds, the air pressure was 0.81 inch, the collective in- dicated horse-power was 3157, and the epeed of the ship was 17.1 knots. The coal consumption on the full-power trial was as follows: ‘¢ Thus 60 tons, or over one-third of the total weight of the boilers in the ‘ Hekla,’ are saved in the ‘ Geiser.’ ” On a trial to ascertain how quickly steam could be raised, starting with the water in the boilers at a temperature of about 55° F. and with the gauge: glasses three-fourths full, a steam pressure of 120 pounds was obtained in 41 minutes, and two minutes later, the engines being suf- ficiently warm to start them, the ship put to sea. I Manning, Maxwell & Moore, 111 and 118 Liberty street, New York, manu- facturers and dealers in Railway and Machinists’ Tools and Supplies, have in- creased their Western facilities largel by taking the premises at 56, 58 an 6u Canal street, Chicago, Ill., where they have a floor space of 60 x 96 feet, which will be occupied February 1. The entire management of this establishment will be in charge of J. R. Williams, a me- chanical engineer who has long been as- sociated with this house. A full line of Machine Tools will be carried in stock. In addition to the store they have provided a fine suite of offices. They have long had a Chicago connection, starting originally with headquarters in a room at a hotel. Several changes have been made from time to time, always in the way of enlargement, resulting in the present commodious quar- ters. The enterprises owned or controlled by this interest are the Ashcroft Mfg. Company, the Consolidated Safety Valve Company, Hayden & Derby Mfg. Com- pany, Metropolitan Injectors; Tabor Mfg. Company, Molding Machines; Pond Ma- chine Tool Company, Heavy Tools for Railroad and Machine Shops, and the Shaw Electric Crane Company. Eugene L. Maxwell of Manning, Maxwell & Moore, New York, was, at an annual meeting held January 21, elected vice-president of the Electric Crane Company, Muskegon, Mich. Pounds, Per hour in all boilers.................5,895. Per hour per indicated horse-power... 1.87 Per square foot grate area. 34.5 February 2, 1893 The Springfield Automatic Knife Grinder. The Springfield Emery Wheel Company of Bridgeport, Conn., have brought out a new pattern of a heavy automatic knife grinder, designed for grinding heavy shear blades, veneer, book trimming, paper mill and planing mill knives. The ways are| flat on top, 2 inches wide and planed cn each side to an angle of 30°. The carriage is 19 inches wide, planed to fit the bed, with a gib on the front side which may be taken up as the wear will necessitate, and is driven by a worm and worm friction gear; this enables the operator to stop and start the carriage at any moment, inde- pendent of the speed of the emery wheel. The knife bar is mounted on a carriage arranged with an automatic cross feed and stopped so that after the knife is properly | set and the machine started it will require THE no further attention from the operator ' until the knife is ground. The knife bar is also arranged at the right hand end with a swivel box, and at the left hand end with a patent device for worm and worm gear, and a graduated dial to adjust the knife to any angle or bevel which may be desired. The emery wheel head is mounted on a short bed at right angles with the main bed, planed the same as the main bed of the machine and bolted to it, and having a box cabinet leg under the outside end. The emery wheel can be adjusted to the knife, as it wears down, by means of a screw. These machines are made of three dif ‘erent styles of emery wheels, in order to suit the different classes of work which may be done by them. One style is a 36- inch diameter by 2-inch face, for grinding knives. Where a bevel is required without concaving the bevel, a cup wheel 16 inches in diameter with a 6-inch face and 2-inch rim may be applied. For grinding veneer knives a cup wheel 12 inches in diameter, ‘6-inch face and 2-inch rim is applied on a SPRINGFIELD AUTOMATIC KNIFE THE IRON AGE. swivel head,so than any concave desired in the bevel of the knife may be obtained by swinging the emery wheel at an angle with the knife bar. Each machine is furnished with a pump which gives a good supply of water to keep from drawing the temper. The floor space required is 54 feet and governed by the length of machine that one might require, as they are made in different lengths, grinding a blade from 40 inches up to 144 inches in length, as occasion may require. The size of emery wheel spindles is 24 inches; length of bearings 8 inches; size of pulleys on emery wheel spindles 10 x 54 inches. —_—L SE Street Railway Postal-Car Service in St. Louis. In an appendix to the annual report of the Postmaster General for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, Postmaster John B. Harlow of St. Louis, Mo., describes his! application of the railway post office prin- | ciple to street cars in that city; an innova- tion which appears to promise very satis- | factory results in expediting the delivery and collection of mail. Mr. Harlow con- siders the new system destined to revolu- tionize the present methods of collections from street letter boxes, as well as the dis- patch of city mail on the line of the road to carriers for delivery. The car used in St. Louis is described as follows: long and the regulation width of a street car. It is run under the electric system with its own motor on front and rear plat- form, with motorneer and conductor; doors with four windows on each side of car, with slot for mailing letters on each side bearing appropriate signs. The in- terior is well lighted with electric lights; the furniture, consisting of stove, letter case amply large enough for all distribut- | date. ‘The car| isa miniature railway postal car, 20 feet | sliding doorsat each end and wide sliding | 233 a modern railway postal car. Its run is from Sixthand Locust streets westward to the city limits— about six miles — the schedule time being 40 minutes.” There are three sub-stations on this route, each with a number of carriers attached, the mail for whom is made up at the main Office, leaving the clerk in charge of car free to handle and distribute mail received on the route. It is calculated that by the twelve carriers reporting at the sub stations instead of at the main office an aggregate saving of time is made to the extent of 10 hours daily. More sub-stations are to be placed on the line of the road with a num- ber of accumulation street letter boxes at intervals, where carriers will deposit their collections. These boxes will be picked (up by the car as it passes going either ‘east or west. It would seem that this sys- tem might be very advantageously adopted in other cities in place of the far from speedy method of postal delivery and col- GRINDER. lection which at present obtains. The re- port does not state whether any steps have been taken to apply the St. Louis method to other districts. en The Channel Tunnel bill, to authorize resumption of work on the tunnel between Dover and Calais, will be again brought before the British Parliament at an early Great efforts are being made by the supporters of the scheme to carry the meas- ure The works, which were begun some years ago by a company organized by Sir Edward Watkin, were stopped by an order of the Board of Trade of England, after having proceeded for a few months. A difference of opinion exists as to the feasi- bility and desirability of the scheme; but the projectors are confident of their ability to carry out the undertaking, should gov- ernment obstruction be removed. xen ence New abattoir machinery and refrigera- ing, a rack for sixteen sacks, a stam p- | tors to be constructed at Cincinnati will ing table, and all the conveniences of! cost $600,000. 234 THE IRON AGE, WORLD'S FAIR NOTES. The Work of Installation, Preparations for putting exhibits in place are now complete. W.H. Holcomb, general manager of the little railroad in Jackson Park, has organized a force of employees for installation purposes, and is ready to handle displays as rapidly as they arrive. When these exhibits com- merce coming into the park Mr. Holcomb’s railroad will probably do more business to the mile than any other line in the coun- try. It has become apparent during the week that the great volume of exhibits will pour into Jackson Park in two months, from February 15 to April 15. Isolated displays will arrive in small quan- tities before the middle of February and a few may be received later than April 15, but the great bulk of the displays will come to the park between the dates named. Various estimates have been made of the volume of these exhibits, the figures rang- ing all the way from 15,000 to 30,000 car- loads. The quantity cannot be deter- mined accurately, because many foreign countries, especially the larger powers, are extremely reticent in regard to both the character and extent of their displays. The plan of installing exhibits brought out by the Council of Administration, after the long discussion between Director-Gen- eral Davis and Chief Burnham, is working satisfactorily. Under this plan Mr. Hol- comb takes charge of the displays as soon as they are switched into Jackson Park. If the exhibits have been properly passed by customs officials at ports of entry they are hauled directly to the buildings for which they are intended, otherwise they are taken to the custom house on the grounds and examined by a number of in- spectors. Director-General Davis has re- quested, in order to simplify the work of installation, that all packages intended for a particular building be loaded in one car, in order to avoid extra handling. The forces under Colonel Davis and Mr. Hol- comb are working in perfect harmony in — exhibits in place. Mr. Holcomb as two men in each of the big buildinys, one to study the assignments of space and indicate the spot where each package is to be put and the other to give a receipt for the delivery of the goods, Tracks have been laid in all the buildings from the spurs of the littie railway, so that cars are pushed directly into the buildings. As soon as packages have been taken from trains and deposited on the space marked off for them on the floors Mr. Holcomb’s duties end. His men withdraw and the exhibitor and department chief attend to the arrangement of displays. Mr. Holcomb has issued instructions re- garding the handling of goods that come to Jackson Park in wagons, drays or trucks instead of cars. These must be brought to the Sixty-fourth street gate. In order to preserve the boulevards and driveways which have been made at great cost, it is necessary to prescribe the width of tire for these wagons. One-horse vehi- cles must have tires 3 inches wide and = of two-horse wagons must be 4 inches de. A toll of 6 cents per 100 pounds, with a minimum charge of 50 cents for any sin- gle shipment, is levied to pay the cost of putting exhibits in the buildings. Arti. cles weighing more than 10,000 pounds and fragile packages are subject to addi- tional charges. Each load of displays must be accompanied by a bill of lading, with specific information regarding the exhibitor’s space number, name and weight of each article, total weight of shipment, name of building for which intended and separate bill of lading. The exposition terminal charge will be collected at the scale house at Sixty-fourth street by an authorized representative of the exposition, who will deliver to the per- son in charge of the consignment a receipt in full for the amount collected. When exhibits are delivered to the building des ignated the person in charge of the ex- hibit must surrender the bill of lading to the superintendent, who will give hima receipt for the property delivered. Any person in charge of exhibits consigned to Jackson Park delivered by wagons, drays or trucks must present for inspection at the scale house a city weigher’s certificate, giving the weight of the vehicle in his charge. Inno case will exhibits be re- ceived for installation unless the rates quoted are paid at Sixty-fourth street en- trance, Intending exhibitors make a mistake in not prepaying all freight charges on their exhibits. The charges do not end at Chicago, but include the switching rate to Jackson Park and the additional charge of installing the goods. Many of the exhib- itors fail to prepay these latter charges and as a result their exhibits are stored in warehouses in the city and do not reach their destination. The Exposition Com- pany pay no freight. If the charges are not prepaid by the exhibitor his goods will be left somewhere outside of Jackson Park and much difficulty will be experi- enced in discovering just where the railroad company have side tracked his display. California’s Enterprise. California seems to have entered into the work of preparing an exhibit for the exposition with a resolve to outdo all com- petitors. With a vim and vigor character- istic of the people of that State, displays have been prepared showing the varied resources of the empire west of the Rockies. In each of the great buildings space has been assigned to California, and the State Commissioners are now preparing to begin installation. Even in the matter of preparing an office building California has aimed to excel. And those who have seen the unique structure near the Fifty-ninth street en- trance, which is now nearly complete, will admit that the aim has been realized. The building is a reproduction of one of the old Dominican Mission Chapels of Southern California. In appearance it is decidedly interesting, and so faithful has been the work of reproduction that ro- mance seems to cling to the rough stone walls. The architect departed from the original only to interject enough of the more ornate Moorish style to relieve the somber effect. The building is a clear story with a great flat dome as a crowning feature, and the semi-tropical appearance will be hightened by roof gardens. The measurements of the structure are 500 x 110 feet, and the elevation of the dome is 80 feet. In this building Schmid’s colossal figure, typical of California, will be a feature. It was recently exhibited in San Francisco, where it created much favorable comment. While exhibits will be made in every de- partment, California expects to make par- ticularly fine displays in the departments of mines and mining, agricultural and horticultural. In the first will be demon- strated its mineral resources, and many relics of the days of °49 will be shown. In the department of agriculture will be shown fruit and cereals, and in the horti- cultural hall will be the wine exhibit. The ladies of California have taken an active interest in the fair, and have se- cured the right to decorate and furnish one of the reception rooms in the Woman’s Building. This will be known as the ‘**California Room ” and will be one of the most attractive departments in the entire building. The redwood lumber dealers furnished the wood for the panels, and February 2. 1893 $2,000 was raised to pay an expert for the carving and graining. The cactus was taken as the motive of the decoration, and will be shown in every feature of the room. Myriads of Banners, On the entire grounds of the Paris ex- position there were not one-third as many flag poles as will be in use at Jackson Park this summer. In the construction of the various World’s Fair buildings and in the disposition of liberty poles about the grounds, the management has afforded the widest scope for uulizing flag decoration. Since last November flag designers and makers have been at work under the general supervision of F. D. Millet, di- rector of decorations. It is probably within the truth to say that the result by May 1 will constitute an epoch in the use of bunting. Scores of busy fingers and dczens of machines are working every day in the southwest corner of Horticultural Hall, turning out the creations of able designers in the form of flags, banners and —" draperies. These are carefully stored away until the auspicious day arrives, when the completed buildings will burst into a kaleidoscope of color, with banners fluttering from every pole and minaret on the spacious grounds, The national flag will predominate. But, as it is to be a cosmopolitan fair, there will be also a prodigal use of the flags of all nations. Mr. Millet and his assistants have compiled a complete code of all the nationalities that boast a national emblem. They number 46, or, with the United States, 47. Most of these national- ities are exbibitors at the Fair, but some are only nominally represented as compared with others. But the flags will be only a small por- tion of the bunting decorations. Probably four-fifths of the poles on the various buildings are for banners. Here is where the inexhaustible resources of the design- ers come into play. Not alone are these hundreds of bapners to be a symphony in color as they wave in the sunlight; they are to be something more than a creation in harmonious light and shade. They will tell an allegorical story of the prog- ress of the world which the exposi- tion commemorates. On each building the banners will be an artistic index of the character of the exhibits inside, For instance, on the agricultural build- ing every pole will bear a different design. Plows, harrows and scores of implements, ancient and modern, will be represented. On Horticultural Hall there will be floral designs on the banners. There will be roses and lilies that will apparently stand without support, rising and falling with the alternate swell and subsidence of the summer breeze. On the great Manufactures Building the number of separate designs and their beauty can only be hinted at, On the Mines Building the banners will represent in an artistic way everything produced from a mine and the way it is produced, On the Transportation Building the banners will show the progress of transportation methods, from the earliest to the latest. On the banners of Machinery Hall there will be very few of the great developments in machinery not repre- sented. For the interior of the buildings there will be an enormous quantity of bunting used in the form of skylight draperies. Every building on the grounds is so well lighted that these draperies are necessary to soften and subdue the tones, Here again comes into play the general scheme of harmony of color and artistic effects. For instance, in the Manufactures Building the prevailing tints in the skylight draperies will be cream and corn; inthe Agricultural Building, dark green and Nile green ; Mines and Mining Building, shrimp and cream ; Electricity Buiiding, light blue and cream ;, February 2, 1893 Transportation Building, Nile green and cream, and so on. In the Horticultural Building there will be so much natural col- oring from plants and flowers that cream alone will be used in the draperies. The amount of bunting necessary to make these draperies can be judged from | the following figures: Manufactures Build- ing, 148,000 square yards (1780 square yards in one skylight alone); Agricultural Building, 63,000 square yards; Mines and Mining Building, 70,000 square yards ;| Transportation Building, 64,000 square yards; Electricity Building, 81,000 square yards; Machinery Hall, 93,000 square yards (including annex) ; Horticultural Hall (including dome), about 74,000 square yards. Besides the skylight draperies. there will be an opportunity in several of the buildings for festooning with bunting between the arches. This will take a lib- eral supply, and the same harmonies in| color will prevail. Unique Railroad Exhibit. Full-sized models of the first and oldest | ten railroad locomotives in the world will be shown in a special exhibit to be made Transportation Building. J. B. Pangborn, park, but some time before the gates open, perhaps as soon as the ice goes out of the lagoons and the snow runs off the roofs, more than 15,000 men will be at work. The laborers have been concen- trated inside the buildings during the cold weather. All the men employed in road making, landscape gardening and other out of door work will be called back to put the grounds in condition for opening day. Thirty-five State buildings are almost done. The joint territorial clubhouse built by Arizona, New Mexico and Okla- homs is just getting under way. Chief Skiff’s tunnel, under the Mines Building, to show the interior workings of 'a mine and give practical illustrations of removing ore, is almost finished. Mr. Burnham’s men say Machinery Hall. | which it was thought would not be ready in time for the opening, will be completed by March 15. New York Reception Committee. Director-General Davis has named seven prominent citizens of New York City to act as a committee to receive distinguished by the Baltimore & Ohio railroad in the | who has charge of the display, has already | begun to make arrangements for its instal- lation, and when completed it will be one of the most unique and instructive collec- tions at the park. From the first locomo- tive that was built the evolution up to the present time will be shown and 34,000) square feet of space will be occupied. Models of three of the old George Stephenson engines will be shown—the famous Rocket (1829), the Blanche (1816), and Mercury (1830). Full sized duplicates from the working drawings of Puffing Billy (1818), the first locomotive with smooth wheels for smooth rails, and the Sans Pareil, in which the steam blast was first introduced. From drawings in the Paris Conservatoire full-size reproductions have been made of the Cugnot (1769), the oldest locomotive in existence, and the Segrim (1827), the first locomotive in the world with multi-tubular boiler. Experts in Europe who have seen these reproduc- tions pronounce them marvelous achieve- | ments and say it is hardly credible that iron, brass and copper could have been so successfully counterfeited. The exhibit begins with the first method | of steam propulsion on land—that of Sir Isaac Newton in 1680. Thence the con- tinuous evolution is indicated to Trevith- ick and his initial design of the father of the locomotive (1800), and the first (1803) that ever ran on rail. In 1830 the Cooper was tried on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. This was the first locomotive built in America, the first | to draw a car, and the first to run more than a mile. The Baltimore & Ohio have many vener- able and valued relics of primitive con- struction. Four of their original grass- hopper engines are still in the company’s shops. These will be shown exactly as they appeared when first set to work. The Perkins ten-wheeler (1863), the earliest type of the powerful freight locomotive built for heavy grades, and the ‘* 600,” the first Mogul ever constructed, and which was exhibited at the Centennial, will be shown full size and in motion. An excep- tionally interesting feature will be the Peppersauce (1865), the first mountain climber and the first that ascended Mount Washington. All the old-time examples of locomotives will be mounted on the rails and roadbed of their respective periods. Will Put 15,000 Men at Work, Cold weather has a marked effect on the army of employees at Jackson Park. Fully half the force of-laborers was retired. Only 5300 men are now at work in the foreign guests en route to the exposition. He selected Charles 8S. Smith, Henry W. Cannon, Cornelius N. Bliss, A. E. Orr, F. Lynde Stetson, Charles R. Flint and J. Edward Simmons, and all of them have accepted the appointment and expressed their willingness to serve as members of the committee. Charles Stuart Smith is president of the Chamber of Commerce and a director of several banks. He is a member of the Union League, Century and Players’ clubs. Henry W. Cannon is president of the Chase National Bank and was a delegate to the recent international monetary con- ference at Brussels. Cornelius N. Bliss is first vice-president of the Fourth National Bank and the head of the dry goods house of Bliss, Fabyan & Co. Alexander E. Orr is a grain merchant, a director of four railroads, including Rock Island and Union Pacific, is interested in several national banks and trust companies, and 1s vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce. Heis also manager of the David Dows estate. Francis Lynde Stetson is a leading law- yer of New York and a partner of Presi- dent-elect Cleveland. Charles R. Flint is a merchant and law- yer, who was formerly in partnership with ex-Mayor Grace. He is largely interested in the South American trade. J. Edward Simmons is one of the lead- ing financiers of New York and president of the Fourth National Bank. Documents Proving the Danish Discovery. Under certain rigid conditions the Dan- ish Government has consented to lend to the exposition documents purporting to prove that America was discovered long before the man in whose honor the fair is being held landed on Watling’s Island. These documents might appear out of place at the Columbian Exposition, but they are likely to be on exhibition. Clark E. Carr, Minister to Copenhagen, says that these Icelandic sagas are known as the ‘Codex Fluteyensis.”» He adds that not- withstanding the serious doubts that have arisen in Copenhagen as to the propriety of sending the manuscripts, the Govern- ment will send them on certain conditions, One of the terms is that the volumes shall be brought back at the close of the fair in aship of war belonging to the United States Navy, and that every precaution shall be taken ‘during the exposition to protect them from damage. It is stipu- lated, in a letter to Secretary of State Foster, that the volumes must be kept in an isolated place, where they will be free from danger from fire, and that in the 235 event of their loss the United State; shall indemnify Denmark to the amount of at least $20,000. These documents are regarded by the Danish Government as furnishing con- clusive proof that Columbus was not the first European to reach the shores of the new world. The papers have never been exhibited at great expositions, but as a special compliment to the United States they will be sent on the conditions named. Tbe Government of Denmark is willing to intrust them to Commissioner Mier, who will organize astrong guard to accompany the papers. Miscellaneous. The long delayed steamship ‘‘Gardopee,”’ bringing the first consignment of the Krupp gun exhibit for the World’s Fair, arrived in Chesapeake Bay on the 22d ult. The vessel was 29 dayscoming from Ham- burg. A train of 21 cars, specially con- structed for the great weight they are to carry, were at the Maryland Steel Works at Sparrows’ Point ready to take the guns to Chicago. The block coal operators of the Brazil (Ind.) district met on the 27th ult. in re- sponse to a request from Commissioner Havens, of the World’s Fair Commission, to take steps toward sending a coal and clay exhibit to the World’s Fair at Chi- cago. It was unanimously agreed to send an exhibition and spare neither time nor money to make it a credit to the block coal district. It was agreed not to cun- sider quantity but quality. The coal will be carefully selected and washed, when it will glisten like anthracite coal. The clay will be sent in the raw form. An architect has been employed to arrange the exhibit to the best advantage. At a recent meeting of the Advisory Council of the World’s Congress of Elec- tricians to be held in Chicago this year it was decided that the meetings should last one week, beginning August 21. Fifty- five delegates from the leading countries of the world are expected to be in attendance. The Inter-Continental Railway Commis- sion have prepared a fac-simile in miniature of Central and South America to show the surveys of the proposed railroad intended to unite the systems of North and South America. The work was done by E. E. Court of the hydrographic office, and is a faithful representation of the topography of the countries named. It is about 25 feet long, and will be sent to the World’s Fair as a part of the Government exhibit. In addition to the lines surveyed for the railroad the map also shows the routes of the present and prospective steamship lines from North to South America, with the names of their terminal ports and in- termediate stopping points, if any. Germany’s $150,000 World’s Fair build- ing at Jackson Park was dedicated last Friday. It was Emperor William’s thirty- fourth birthday and Herr Wermuth de- termined to celebrate it in America. Herr Wermuth is the Emperor’s World’s Fair Commissioner. He gave all the German workmen a holiday and invited exposition officials to be present st the dedicatory exercises. Herr Wermuth did not speak of it in this way. He called it a ‘‘richt- fest,” which translated into English is about equivalent to a ‘‘ barn raising.” The building is not yet completed, but the roof timbers are up and at that stage of a German building it is ready for the richt- fest. kN — Aside from financial perplexities Argen- tina is prosperous. Exports are once more upon a very large scale. The agricu!tural classes are doing well, and railway traffic is increasing. Trade is better, too, in Uruguay; Chili is recovering from the ef- fects of the civil war, and the Brazilian Government is adopting a wiser policy. 236 American Turbine Water Wheels.—II. BY SAMUEL WEBBER, CHARLESTOWN, N. H. In my previous letter on this subject I considered the two principal forms of tur- bine imported into this country from the mountainous districts of France, and will now turn to the records of American in- ventions and changes. Long before the name of turbine was known here, American mechanics were at work on the old ‘tub wheel,” or wheel on a vertical shaft, and in 1804 a patent was signed by Thos. Jef- ferson to Benjamin Tyler, the grandfather of John Tyler, the well known builder of turbines of to-day, for ‘‘an improvement in;water wheels,’ making what he called G, Gate: A, Guides ; Fig. 4.—The Howd or United States Wheel. ki ZARA ~~ Fig. §.—Vertical Section through Guides and Buckets. B, Buckets. THE IRON AGE, to cut off the water with a sharp edge, but to close the passage gradually while still preserving its tubular form. Thus it re- tained an unbroken and even flow of wa- ter and raised the net effect of ‘‘half- water” from 30 per cent. to 60 per cent. of its gross value. A tracing of this wheel, known as the ‘*Howd” wheel or ‘‘United States wheel,” is given, Fig. 4, taken from Mr. Francis’ ‘‘ Hydraulic Experiments.” Mr. Francis took up the idea and experimented on it, as is shown in the above volume, and in 1849 built for the Booth Cotton Mills at Lowell a large wheel of this char- acter, which gave results nearly equal to the Boyden-Fourneyron. A sketch of a section of this wheel is annexed, Figs. 5 and 6. It lasted until 1875, when it was A, Guides ; G, Gate; B, Buckets. Fig. February 2, 1893 eral large wheels of this class came to pieces in the pits where in use. Many cheap copies of Mr. Borden’s wheel were also made in this way, by plac- ing swaged buckets in the mold and casting the body of the wheel on to them, but the results obtained from such wheels have not shown a high degree of efficiency. In the illustration, Fig. 7, of the Sw the feeder pipe is expanded into a large bulb, which gives space for water passage around the wheel, which it enters through the guides P P. The gate O is cylindrical, having a broad flange flaring outward from its upper edge. In the flange are set the guides P, Fig. 8, which slide up into sockets in the upper garniture G when the gate is closed, When open the flaring lip of the gate, with the corresponding one of the garni- ture, form a taper passage, through which the water is delivered to the buckets W W. The buckets are cast into the crown and rim a and }, and the crown is bolted to the central core C. The step L, a block of wood boiled in oil, is placed inside the core © in the center of gravity of the wheel. The shaft M passes up through the feeder, being inclosed in an iron tube I I, and the gate rods which lift the gate are shown at Rand R. The whole is sup- ported on the base K, which throws the descending water outward. Fig. 8 is a horizontal section through the guides and buckets, and Fig. 9 a vertical section 6.—One-fourth Sectional Plan. Figs. 5 and 6.—The Francis Central-Vent Wheel, AMERICAN the ‘‘ wry-fly ’ wheel, in which he claimed ‘**hooping the wheel with iron hoops,” and specified the proper angles at which to set the buckets, ‘‘made of winding timber.” In 1838 a patent was granted to Samuel B. Howd of Geneva, N. Y.,* for a wheel which has proved the basis of all the American turbines in use to-day, in which he reversed the position of the guides and buckets from that of the Fourneyron wheel, placing the guides outside of the buckets (which were of cast iron, fastened by bolts to wooden top and base) and dis- charging the water toward the center, forming what is known as the ‘inward flow” wheel. The gate which ‘admitted or cut off the water was placed outside tke guides, where it was easily accessible and where it has been so constructed in various forms by different builders as not *Mr. Francis says a similar wheel was pro- posed by Poncelet in 1826, TURBINE replaced by a Swain wheel. A number of wheels of different names have been built by various makers, following on the lines of the Howd wheel or ‘‘ inward ” dis- charge, but the next great step, and the one which distinctly constitutes the char- acteristic feature of the modern American turbine, is the ‘‘ inward and downward discharge ” wheel, which, the writer thinks, was first introduced by A. M. Swain, then of Lowell, about 1855. The illustrations, Figs. 7 to 9, show the features of the Swain, in which, as in the Boyden, the buckets were formed of sheet metal, either iron or bronze, swaged to the proper curve, then placed in the mold at the foundry and the crown, cone and rim of the wheel cast on tothem. With Nor- way iron buckets this answered very well, but with the bronze ones it proved a fail- ure, a8 the bronze was so softened and weakened by the heat of the iron that sev- WATER WHEELS. through the wheel, showing the long and approximately cycloidal curve of the buck- ets. Now, it will be seen on examination of the buckets that they only extend inward to the double line shown, Fig. 9, the heavy line being only a section through the metal of the bucket. This left a large space between the inner edge of the bucket and the core C, which has since been filled up by later improvements, as we shall show in due place, so that in the later wheels the core is made larger and the buckets brought clear down to the base line of the wheel, so that the discharge in these wheels is entirely downward, and even in some of them ‘* outward,” while the water enters them all in an inward direc- tion. The first tests of this wheel, by Hiram F. Mills, gave very satisfactory re- sults and led to further improvements in the wheel, until the last test of a 72 Febraary 2, 1893 wheel by Jas. B. Francis in 1875, gave 83.4 percent. at full gate, and 66 per cent. at one-third gate or one-half water. A large number of these wheels have been put into the mills of New England, in many cases to take the place of Boyden wheels, which had become worn and corroded by 30 or 40 years’ exposure to the water, but in turn are now being sup- planted to a considerable extent by some of the later patterns, cast in one piece, THE [IRON AGE. ? tube—just sufficient to reach ‘‘ tail-water ’ below. These wheels, though less expen- sive in construction than the Boyden- Fourneyron, were still too costly for or- dinary country use in saw mills and grist mills, and were mainly built in large sizes for the great cotton and woolen mills of New England. The advantages of the turbine form of wheel, especially under high heads, had however, led to the construction of cast- SCALE OF FEET 1 oO 1 2 3 a Fig. 7.—Vertical Section. Fig. 9 Diagram of Buckets. Figs. 7 to 9.—The Swain Turbine. AMERICAN ‘often of bronze, and in which the improve- ments give higher efficiency and equal power with a much smaller and less expen- sive wheel. Still, as I have said, I believe the Swain wheel to have been the forerun- ner and prototype of all the b2st American turbines of the present day, and to have contained all the essential principles in- volved in them. Many of these wheels were also built without feeder pipe and case, and were set under low heads directly in the bottom of an open flume with a very short draft TURBINE WATER WHEELS. iron wheels in one piece by a number of builders. It is difficult to now give the exact date of the origin of many of these) wheels, some of which, no doubt, were invented or evolved from the old tub wheel directly, without reference to for- eign models. was among the early types, but to these wheels generally I shall devote another chapter. I ——— Many of the principal manufacturers in Pittsburgh are formulating a plan for the The scroll] wheel, so called, | 237 establishment of a freight bureau, to pre- vent unfair discrimination, but the com- paratively small attendance at a meeting