The Iron Age 1893-02-16: Vol 51

‘THE A Steel Furnace Hearth Casing. M. Boivin reports in the Comptes Ren- dus of the Société de |’ Industrie Minérale a casing fora furnace hearth, which has been used at Firminy. The hearth of this furnace, which is 5.9 feet inside diameter, has a wall 35 inches thick, made up of 9.8 inches of inside brick work, a middle rammed lining of 19.7 inches, and an out- side casing 5.9 inches of cast steel. The latter is 8.53 feet high from the bottom of the boshes to the ground, about one half of it being below the level of the hearth bottom, and is built up in rings formed of LTT eA Ceo THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1893. sides and corners of the plates; the whole structure being further strengthened by outside hoops connected to the upright pillars. The weight of the casing is about 27 tons. It is cooled by water constantly flowing over the outside. The furnace was lighted on the evening of November 20, 1891, and in the first 100 days’ blowing made 8004 tons of pig iron and about 70 per cent. of that weight of cinder, or a total of 13,600 tons of molten material, or 136 tons per day. For about a fortnight the make rose to between 100 and 107 tons, with 80 per cent. of cinder, or 180 to 190 tons melted per day. = S segments somewhat like those of a pit tubbing. The rings are not complete circles, a space of 27.6 inches formed by two upright pillars being left on the tap- hole side, which is filled with refractory materials, to allow the tapping level to be varied if necessary. The segments, made of annealed cast steel, are 3.28 feet long, 18.9 inches high and 5.9 inches thick; their average weight is about 10 cwt., each one having a perforated lug project- ing in the center for convenience of hand. ling. When built up they are in contact on the inside to a depth of 1.6 inches, the outer edges being shaped to form a groove of 1.2 inches maximum width, which is filled with clay, covered with a packing of asbestos, clamped by the flat side of a se of iron tee-bar covering the joint. e separate segments are connected by wrought-iron rings, which rest in grooves of acorresponding shape formed in the THE HIGLEY COLD SAW. Careful measurements have shown that there is no distortion in the shape of the casing, but judging from the large volume of material run from the hearth, the in- terior lining has to a great extent dis- appeared. From 30 to 33 tons of metal, and 5 or 6 tons of cinder, are considered as a minimum quantity at ‘each tapping. —— A long-distance telephone line between Boston and Chicago was formally opened February 7 by Hon. Wm. E. Russell, Governor of Massachusetts. The line is 1200 miles in length and is strung on 54,000 poles, an average of about 45 per mile. Owing to the great distance to be covered, a special experimental circuit, consisting of two No. 8 hard-drawn cop- per wires, has been constructed. This wire weighs 435 pounds to the mile, and the circuit therefore contains 1,044,000 pounds of copper, as compared with about F IRON AGE 413,000 pounds for the weight of such a line as ordinarily constructed. The com- pletion of this line is regarded as an event of considerable commercial importance. rio The Higley Cold Saw. The accompanying engravings repre- sent a machine for sawing merchant iron and steel of any description, and also for such work as slabbing, cutting out sec- tions of crank shafts, as a metal slitter for deep cuts, &c. The main improvement in this machine is found in the method of driving the saw. It is claimed that this construction permits the use of a thinner saw than is possible with the old way of mounting the saw on an arbor and con- veying the power through the arbor to the saw. The perspective view shows the clamp- ing device, which consists of a heavy beam placed upon two upright screws, one threaded mght and the other left hand. The nuts on these screws are operated by the hand wheel shown at the left, and which is mounted on a_ shaft pro- vided with suitable gears for engaging the nuts. The beam is also furnished with three clamping screws, arranged as shown. The bed of the machine is formed with four T-slots, extending its entire length. The feeding mechanism is shown very plainly in the end view, Fig.3. Ais the bed and B is the power shaft, jour- naled in bearings in both ends of the bed. The driving pulley is mounted on this ~ —_— 356 THE IRON AGE. February 16, 1893 shaft, on the end opposite the feeding de- vice. On this shaft is placed the flanged pulley C, which is belted to the pulley D placed upon the hub of the pinion E on the feed screw G. The pulley D and the pinion E run loosely on a stud onthe arm M, which is fitted over an eccentric, N, also on the screw G. Now, it will be understood that when the saw meets with an obstruction of any sort, it will arrest the rotation of the feed screw and gear F, and cause the pinion to roll backward on the gear F and there- by diminish the distance between the cen- ters of pulleys C and D, when the belt will slip under the pressure of the spring I, which is pivoted to the bed at O. By R, which travels in ways under the table. The method of driving the saw is by apply- ing the power to the blade at almost its periphery by the steel sprocket Q engag- ing in the radial slots of the proper division in the blade, thereby applying the power more directly and not through the spindle, which necessarily should be heavy, but which in this case is only a bush or a light spindle. The saw has a center bush X and wear- ing plates at W. The guard V has one side beveled and adjusted by set screw to bear against the saw, and the other side made to receive and allow the sprocket to pass, but hold the saw in place and against the plate W, thereby holding it rigid and straight as a guide. Fig. 2.—Sectional Plan. The Bates Process in England. For the past twelve months the process invented by Francis G. Bates of Phila- delphia has been under searching practical trial in England, two 20-ton furnaces having been erected for this purpose at the Phcenix Engineering Works, Stoke- on-Trent. Each of these furnaces is 12 feet high by 12 feet wide and 16 feet deep from front to back. Jron reports as fol- lows: A number of charges, amounting to many tons of steel, have been treated by Renshaw & Son, the proprietors of the Phoenix Works, and they have used the steel so converted for making turning tools, punches and chisels, which they have Fig. 3.—End Elevation. the aid of the adjusting nut J and screw (K which is also the center of spring I) the pressure under which the saw operates cap be adjusted at will. What is claimed for this mechanism is that it is automatic in feeding in light or heavy cuts, or cuts of irregular shapes ; the saw being under a pressure set at will, it will remove a given amount of metal per.minute. For instance, if the stock to be cut is a T-rail or an I-beam the saw will cut through the web of rail fast, and as it meets the head it will feed under the pressure due to the resistance of the larger section of beam or rail, cutting a given amount of metal in the same length of time. Figs. 2 and 4 show the power shaft B. to which is splined the beveled pinion U which engages with the large gear P, upon the shaft of which is mounted the sprocket wheel Q driving the saw §, this mechanism being carried by the carrriage THE HIGLEY COLD SAW. The capacity of this machine is 8 x 36 inches, or it will cut off a piece 8 inches high and 36 inches long. The driving pulley is 24 inches x 6 inches face and is in- tended to make 70 revolutions per minute. The weight is 4500 pounds. This saw is made by the Higley Sawing & Drilling Machine Company of 129 Worth street, New York. I Ohio’s labor statistician, W. T. Lewis, reports for 1892 that ‘‘ 15,599 miners were paid $5,455,272.17 for mining 7,617,717 tons, making the average wages of pick mining $349.72, and the average tonnage per miner 488. The average number of days worked per miner was 1964.” The first message sent through the pneumatic tube from the post office in Philadelphia on Saturday proved the feasi- bility of the system. Fig. 4.—Cross Section, employed in their own establishment on general work with unqualified success. Beyond this Messrs. Renshaw have sup- plied the proprietors of other engineering works with bars of the converted steel which have been made into tools, and tested in use by them, and reported upon most satisfactorily. Some of the writers of those favorable reports show themselves to possess the courage of their opinions by stating that they are prepared to enter into contracts for the purchase of Bates steel. The invention is in the control of the Bates Steel Syndicate of Queen Anne’s Mansions, St. Clement’s House, London, for whom Perry F. Nursey has carried out trials with various brands of low-grade steel, that is, steel containing about 0.8 or 0.9 of carbon. Among others, Besse- mer; Brown, Bayley; Glengarnock basic, and Brymbo steels have been converted by the Bates process under Mr. Nursey’s in- 'spection, and various kinds of tools have Febraary 16 ]893 been made from the converted bars and tested by him in ordinary work. According to Mr. Nursey’s report, the| £2 tools consisted of turning tools and punches, both round and square. Of these a turning tool was put to work to re-dress the tire of a well-traveled car wheel, the skin of which was very bard and dense owing to heavy use. The tool made very light work of it, taking two good cuts off the tread without regrinding. Another similar tool was put to a car wheel with a still denser skin, as the turnings showed, and it took 54 inches off the tread and flange before it required regrinding. As regards the punches, a number of these, both round and square, were tried with the best results. Some of the rounds were set to punch plates equaling and exceeding THE IRON AGE. costs, on the average £7. 5/ per ton, and its selling price will probably be about 72. 16/ per hundredweight, or £56 per ton. — ESE ———— The Lodge & Davis Bolt Cutter and Nut Tapper. It will be seen by the illustration that this machine is designed for hard and con- tinuous service. The entire frame is cast in one piece, making a very rigid and stiff construction. The cone pulley has three steps for a 3-inch belt, the largest one be- ing 13 inches in diameter. The machine is geared 6} to 1, the large driving gear being 17 inches in diameter. All gears and rack are cut from the solid metal. 357 Belgian Iron Production and Wages.—The following figures show the production of iron and coal in Belgium during the year 1891. There were 19 works engaged in the production of pig iron, with 28 blast furnaces and 2827 men, recelving an average pay of 2.85 francs (56 cents) per day. Production was: Value per ton. Tons. Frances. PO RO escacvensen cusawna 445,436 50.91 WOMMERY WME. cccececcs .. 56,241 58.91 MNOS... ida s'aWaewsaccar ‘147 913 70.04 ive fd iakaed taadeecasee: 34,536 56.98 GME DPE cacanenexdcet 684,126 56.01 NG BI bkaSiccwasews 787,836 63.56 Manufactured iron was produced in? 64 works, with 16,227 men receiving an aver- SOLID-DIE BOLT CUTTER AND NUT TAPPER. in thickness their own diameters, and they | The spindle is of generous proportions | age pay of 3.17 francs (62 cents) per day. accomplished their work most satisfac- torily. A very important point here arises as to what amount of work tools made from the same steel before conversion would do. In order, therefore, to insti- tute a comparison between the behavior of the steel before and after treatment by the Bates process, a tool was made from the untreated portion of the bar from which the tool last referred to was made. It was put to work on a softer wheel than the companion treated tool, but gave out in a very few minutes. The same thing occurred with a tool made from the un- treated portion of another bar, the tool made from the treated portion doing ex- cellent work. It will at once be admitted that the tests of the converted steel were of a crucial character, for we need hardly point out that work such as these turning tools did is always done by tools of Mushet steel. This steel costs £7 per minute. hunodredweight, or £140 per ton, while the | Lodge & Davis Machine Tool Company, steel converted and tested by Mr. Nursey , Cincinnati, Obio. and has a 1!} inch hole throughit. A reservoir is provided, so that the dies may be well lubricated to prevent cutting. The carriage can be fed 16 inches in length and the vise is fitted with tool-steel jaws. In addition to belt power, this machine is run by hand, which is very convenient in case of a breakdown. The hand motion requires comparatively little exertion on the part of the operator. Each die is complete with collet and is capable of per- fect adjustment. This die is particularly solid and is so designed as not to strip the threads. Each machine is complete as follows: &. 4, & # 4 1, 14, 14, 14, 14 dies, with collets; set of taps as per dies; two | jaw tap chuck. The countershaft has tight and loose pulleys, 12 inches diameter for 34 inch | belt, and should run 350 revolutions per The machine is built by the | 3124 men. | Of the iron used, 494,811 tons were from ‘inland and 51,526 tons from abroad. | Total production of bars, girders, plates, |sheets and rails was 497, 380 tons, worth 145.42 francs per ton, against 514.311 tons, worth 161.36 francs per ton in 1890. Steel was produced or 29 works, employing Average pay was 3.48 francs (68 cents) per day. For the steel manu- facture 197,118 tons inland and 46,650 tons foreign iron was consumed. The total production of the steel works was 206,305 tons, worth 141.11 francs, against 201,817 tons, worth 154.98 francs, in 1890. ——————EE The publication formerly known as | Reciprocity, issued by Burk & McFetridge of Pniladelphia, will hereafter be published under the name of 7rajfic. The publishers state that a change of name was considered desirable owing to the political signifi- cance which has been given to the subject of reciprocity. heme £2 322) « 9 Bere 2 wee - “ae ee 358 THE IRON AGE. February 16, 1893 WORLD'S FAIR NOTES. Cold Weather HRetards Progress. The big Manufactures Building is a busy place these days. Between 200 and 300 carpenters are at work erecting the) booths. It is somewhat odd that foreign exhibitors are about the first on the ground. Some 60 carpenters more are engaged in constructing the additions to the gal- leries across the pavilions. The floor space in the building is being increased in this way by nearly two acres. The booths of the great European powers are really large buildings. In any other structure on the grounds they would look out of proportion, but under that great arch they are not over large. The great clock tower is up to the second story. The French Building is boarded up on the inside. The booth of Doulton & Co., the English potters, is going ahead rapidly. The skeleton frame was shipped from England, but the rest is being made by Chicago firms. Sage & Co., the London cabinet makers, have another booth near by nicely started. It was shipped ready to be put together. Forty carpenters are employed on the Tiffany Building, and five Japanese workmen have their structure so far along that it can be said to be a rival in tastiness to any other which may be erected hereafter. All these are under the main arch. New South Wales is building its booth in the west pavilion gallery. At times the sounds of the hammers become merged in one grand roar. The guards say that during the cold spell it was colder in the building than out of doors. By March 1 the vast space will be well broken and a good idea of the way the Manufactures Building will look can be obtained. Among the State buildings the cold weather was much more disastrous to con- struction than elsewhere on the grounds. In the great California Building the force was at one time reduced to three lathers, A solitary painter on Wednesday was try- ing to cover the wide expanse of the Michi- gan Building’s exterior. He was the sole survivor of a large gang, which had dropped off one by one. Two carpenters were engaged on the Indiana Building. They were cold, extremely cold. Work was entirely suspended on the Washing- ton State Building. A few men were en- gaged in finishing work at the other State buildings. After a brave endeavor the contractors for the Illinois Building completed that structure and withdrew their last work- men Wednesday. The State Board ex- amined the structure and probably will accept it. The cold added greatly to the cost of the interior decorations. Work has not stopped for a day all winter on the Live Stock Pavilion. It was all outdoor work, and the frozen ears, noses, fingers and toes if collected would make a fine anatomical museum. After a heroic struggle with the cold the construction gang on the electric ele- vated road surrendered a fortnight ago. It was hoped that the road could be placed in running order by April 1 in order to reap a good revenue from the large fair population of that month, but the delay will prevent the operation of the road until nearly the time for opening the fair. The contractors will put every man available on its construction at the ear- liest date. The carpenters kept things moving at the railway station until a few days ago. Finally they called off from the unequal contest until frozen fingers were not so common. The greatest center of attraction at this time is undoubtedly Machinery Hall. There one hears the greatest amount of noise, finds the most activity, and sees by far the largest number of laborers at work. Every day there are 350 masons, shovelers, dirt wheelers, and all-around handy men employed on the construction of founda- ‘tions for heavy machinery that is to be used in the power plant of the great expo- sition. The scene is both interesting and exciting. Inquiry among some of the foremen and superintendents elicited the information that while this particular department is well advanced there is yet sufficient work before them to keep large gangs going night and day in order to get out of the way of other forces coming on soon to place the machinery and put it together. Taking into consideration the fact that nothing has ever been attempted in the way of a plan for furnishing steam and compressed air power that can be com- pared to this display, and only 80 days still remain in which to complete it, great activity is an absolute necessity. The plant covers a space 1100 feet in length by about 150 feet in width, exclusive of the space taken up by the boilers in an annex to the main building. The ground dimen- sion of that entire area is being excavated to a depth of 10 feet below the floor sur- face and filled almost solidly with stone and brick masonry on which the engines will be placed and bolted down. Topographical Map of Illinois. An accurate topographical map of IIli- nois, made under the direction of the State World’s Fair Board, is almost ready to be sent to the Illinois Building at Jackson Park. A prominent place in the building has been reserved for it, because it is be- lieved to be the only map of the State in existence that is anywhere near correct. C. W. Rolfe, who collected the data used in making the map, says that on the best map of Illinois ever published 1382 im- portant corrections have been made. These corrections refer chiefly to the location of railroad stations, the length and course of streams, the Iccation of lakes and their number, the position of railroad lines and the boundaries of counties and the State line. Of course some of the corrections would not beconsidered important by many people, while the importance of other changes would be recognized atonce. One town was found 18 miles from the place the maps located it and 12 streams were discovered to be running in directions ex actly opposite the course indicated on standard maps; 193 towns were found to be from a quarter of a mile to a mile out of the way and 43 were from 3 to 7 miles from the places fixed on regular maps for them. The map prepared by Mr. Rolfe is to be one of the big things of the Lilinois show. It is 10 feet wide and 16 feet long, modeled in clay. A number of experts at the University of Illinois are just putting the finishing touches on it. The map will cost $15,000. Engineering corps were put in the field more than a year ago to collect data. Mr. Rolfe realized the need of tak- ing advantage of all the data that had previously been gathered, and in doing this he saved great expense. Some years ago a committee of the Western Society of Engineers reported that an appropriation of $20,000 a year for 56 years, or $1,120,000 in all, would be re- quired to make an accurate topographical map of the State. Mr. Roife and his as sistants used the data collected by the Mississippi River Commission, which in- cluded a line of levels from Cairo to Dun- leith; a line of levels from Fulton to Chicago along the St. Paul Railroad, and a series of topographical charts of the Illinois share of the Mississippi and the low water slope of the Mississippi. From the lake survey he got a series of geodetic stations between Chicago and Olney. The Canal Commission furnished data of low water levels of the Illinois River. Topographic charts of the country between Chicago and Peoria were secured from the United States Geologic Survey and a line of levels from Olney to St. Louis and from Cen- tralia to Cairo, with low water levels of the Ohio and Wabash rivers, were furnished by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. These statistics were supplemented by data of the preliminary survey of the Hennepin Canal and profiles of every rail- way line in the State. The exact relations of the railroads at intersecting points were ascertained, and the profiles of the roads checked on each other, using those that had been corrected by United States data as master systems. To the outline so established, the details of the surface were added by traverses, with barometer and hand level, arranged to intersect railroads as often as possible, and practically to bring the observer within sight of every section of land in his district. Prominent points, either of elevation or depression, were visited and observations made upon them. Many cross checks and other means of correction were applied to over- come errors in atmospheric pressure, in- strumental irregularities and errors of observation. Finally, the resu'ts obtained were ex- pressed in contour lines on the maps. Care was taken to make the maps more correct in their horizontal features than any here- tofore published. The locations ot towns and courses of streams were in most cases either verified or corrected. This great map will show the precise lo- cation of every town and railway station in the State, the position of all the public buildings and State institutions and town- ship and coupty boundaries. Rules for Placing Exhibits. Director-General Davis and Director of Works Burnham have agreed upon a set of rules for the government of exhibitors in the matter of installing exhibits. It is desired that the installation shall be ar- tistic and harmonious throughout. Cheap arrangements will not be permitted, and designs must prove satisfactory to the Di- rector of Works and the several chiefs of departments. The regulations, which are of interest to every intending exhibitor, are as follows: Method of procedure when an exhibitor wishes approval of designs, location and style of foundations, sort and arrangement of lights, wer, sewerage, water, gas, Xc.: 1, Exhibitors shall submit full drawings, specifications and details to the chief of de- rtment in which the exhibit is to be in- stalled, together with his address and office hours, and agree to hold himself ready during the following 48 hours to meet and further ex- plain such drawings, specifications and de- tails to those engineers whom it may be neces- sary to consult. ° 2. The chief of department shall thereupon be charged with obtaining approval from the Director of Works or his assistant of the draw- ings, specifications and details submitted so far as it shall be necessary to do so. 3. The chief of each department shall have a fixed hour before noon each day in which to see exhibitors, and the drawings and informa- tion necessary shall be sent to the Director of Works by or before 12 o’clock each day. 4. The Director of Works shall have a special secretary to attend solely to this work, who shall have special quarters at the Service Building in Room 18. 5. Such engineers and architects under the Director of Works as may be called on to pass upon matters for exbibitors vertaining to designs, construction, water, gas, mechanical and electrical engineering, &c., shall meet each week day at 1 o’clock p.m., in the office of said secretary, and shall pass upon all mat- ters submitted in this behalf, and on the blanks provided for the purpose their findings in each case shall be recorded and at once signed by the Director of Works or his assistant and transmitted to the chief of the department whence it originated. 6. The chief of the department shall there- upon at once issue the permit to said exhibitor and he shall be allowed to proceed in accord- ance with its terms. 7. Exhibitors will furnish such duplicate plans, drawings or specifications as may be required by the Director of Works. February 16, 1893 Stockholders are Paying Up Well, Exposition stockholders have paid up well. In his report to the Board of Directors yesterday Auditor Ackerman showed that on 597,650 shares of stock of the value of $10 each $5,509,767 have been paid, leaving an unpaid residue of $466, - 733, or approximately 7.8 per cent. of the whole. According to Treasurer Seeberger’s monthly report, there is a balance in the treasury of $573,879. His report shows further that from the sale of souvenir coins $836,438 has been received, as well as premiums on the same amounting to $10,000. This applies to the coin se- cured by the Remington people. The total disbursements and receipts are set forth by Treasurer Seeberger as follows: Balance received from temporary Oe Received on current installments of stock subscriptions. ........ 5,423,496. 20 Received from banks, interest on deposits to January 31......... Received from City of Chicago account sale of bonds.......... 5,003,726.06 $4,252.64 65,368.53 Received for souvenir coins...... 836,438.00 Received for premium on souvenir WOR 6. euberecad ees Vecinee's 10,022.28 Amount of gate receipts at Jack- son Park to February 8........ 193,093.26 Received account debenture bonds 3,617,500.00 Received account accrued inter- est on debenture bonds......... 16,866.61 Miscellaneous receipts from sun- Gr Nyc Wracveduucanccass 351,672.82 Received various stock subscrip- tions not yet classified......... 108.40 Received from various deposits on contracts, being amount on hand to credit of escrow account.... 79,000.00 Received from Dept. Public Com- Daa cs Ra dbceecssuesees ceases 1,875.00 RUN a.nd cidac ee da tarae sees $15,603,419.80 DISBUR*EMENTS. Total disbursements on vouchers, as per daily report to auditor. .$15,029,539.97 Total cash on hand.............. 573.879.83 IS iro Aa eee eas $15,603,419.80 And Again the Boller Suit, The famous boiler contest has taken a new turn and now the advantage of the situation seems to rest with the Stirling Boiler Company. After the Master in Chancery, Winchester, filed a report in which he recommended an injunction re- straining the fair management from allow- ing the Stirling Boiler Company to put its boilers in the space allotted to the Babcock & Wilcox Company, and also recom- mended that the court compel a specific performance of the contract between the Babcock Company and the World’s Fair, the attorney for the latter asked on the 6th inst. to be allowed to remove the case from the local court to the United States Circuit Court. After a sharp con test between counsel the court granted the request. And now it is thought that a hearing can hardly be secured in time to do the Babcock & Wilcox Company any good, as the matter will have to take its turn and may not be called up until next year. In the meantime the Stirling boil- ers will be set in place and the exposition will have run its course. Miscellaneous, The Hon. E. H. Conger, United States Minister to the Republic of Brazil, writes Chief Walker Fearn of the Foreign Af- fairs Department, that the preparatory exhibition at Rio Janeiro of articles in tended for the World’s Fair was officially and successfully inaugurated in that city in January. The diplomatic corps were all present and were given posts of honor. The display was a marvel- ous one and surprised every one who witnessed it. The old National Museum was entirely eleared and the space was filled to overflowing. More than 500 packages were necessarily left unpacked at THE IRON AGE. 359 the docks, and many of the State exhibits] national banks on a given day last Septem - will go direct to Chicago. The Bethlehem Iron Company are erect- ber showed that less than 10 per cent. of the transactions of that day were repre- ing scaffolding preparatory to placing ajsented by cash. Forms of credit do the duplicate in staff of the great hammer em- ployed in the works of that company. SO I The Lunkenheimer Piston Whistle. A variable sound steam whistle especi- ally adapted for engines, factory, mill use, &c., has been brought out by the Lunken- heimer Company of Cincinnati. It is at- tached like an ordinary whistle. The bell is provided with a piston, V, which is pulled downward by a chain running be- tween pulleys, and when not in use is alwaysat the top, being drawn upward by means of aspring, M. All that is neces- sary, in order to change the sound, is to pull the chain. The dome shaped bell, A, is securely supported at its base by a three-armed prong, the stem of which is adjustably screwed into the whistle base, | aaa ODDS: The Lunkenheimer Piston Whistle. and fastened by the jam nut E. Owing to this construction the lower edge of the bell is always exactly in line with the slot in the base through which the steam es capes, thereby securing a loud, clear and perfect tone. I Public confidence in the credit of the general Government in this country at the present time is literally worth more than gold, for the percentage of business trans- actions effected by actual money is so small that in the absence of confidence there is neither gold nor silver enough to take the place of the ordinary forms of business. Speaking on this subject, in a recent interview, Secretary Foster said: ‘*The proportion of coin used in the trans- actions of the bank of France in 1886 was but 4} per cent., bank notes and other in- struments of credit forming the other 954 per cent. The Bank of England, in a daily average business of $22,000,000, handled one-quarter of 1 per cent. in coin, 874 per cent. in checks and drafts, and 124 in bank notes. The balances of the New York Clearing house paid in money in the past 89 years averaged less than 5 per cent. An examination of the business of the bulk of the work.” ee eee Labor in England. Robert Giffen, the well-known sstatisti- cian, was called upon to testify before the Royal Commission on Labor as the assist- ant secretary to the Board of Trade. His remarks are reported as follows in an En- glizh paper: The great bulk of the working classes in general employment were shown by the statistics collected to receive an average wage of between 20 shillings and 30 shil- lings a week. A large number were paid over 30 shillings, and about 25 per cent. under 20 shillings a week. Statistics of domestic service had not yet been touched in the tables, although such employment engaged from a third to a half of all women and girls earning their livelihood. The average remuneration of women in non-domestic service was £32 a year, while the remuneration in domestic em- ployment was nearer £50. The average earnings of manual labor were: For men, about £60 per annum; for women, about £40; for lads and boys, £23.8, and for girls, £23. The aggregate earnings of manual labor were about £630,000,000, as compared with £640,000,000, the amount earned by the other classes of labor and coming within the income tax. Fifty years ago half our working population consisted of agricultural laborers, and their work was paid for at a lowrate. At the present time less than one-fifth of t he pop- ulation were agricultural laborers. This substitution of better paid for worse paid employments, and possibly the deprecia- tion of money since 1850, had improved the mass. The greater part of the rise in wages occurred before 1872. There had been a great fall since, probably of from 25 to 30 per cent., but as compared with 50 years ago wages were now much higher. He was of opinion that the statistics as to strikes ought to mitigate the impression with respect to the seriousness of the mis- chief occasioned by strikes. The loss of wages caused by strikes did not amount to more than a fraction of 1 per cent. of the total wage earnings of the community; he believed it was about one-fourth or one- fifth of 1 per cent. The average duration of strikes was about three weeks. When a strike lasted fora shorter period than three weeks it did not follow that, although the wages were suspended for that period, the workmen concerved would at the end of the year have received three weeks’ wages les; than they would otherwise have obtained, inasmuch as three weeks’ idle- ness could in many trades be made up at other times. Under these circumstances the total loss of wages occasioned by strikes would be even smaller than he had stated. He thought, therefore, that the directly bad effects of strikes might have been somewhat exagger- ated. He considered, however, that strikes had indirect effects which were very im- portant, such, for instance, as the loss of some particular trade with which there was foreign competition. The total member- ship of trades unions was 871,000 out of a total adult population of 7,250,000, and the annual income was nearly £1,200,000, or about 27 shillings and 6 pence per head of the members. Se Lake ships still continue to pay about 25 per cent. on the capital invested in them, says President John Craig of the Craig Shipbuilding Company of Toledo, Ohio, and so long as this continues ship- building in the Northwest will prosper. All the largest new vessels are being built of steel. i et 360 Professor Unwin’s tests of consumption The Priestman Engine as Made in Ameriea., In December last, Coleman Sellers read a paper on the ‘‘Priestman Engine,” be- fore the Franklin Institute,* from which we take the following extracts: Petroleum Engines, In 1890, while in London, I found Prof. William Cawthorne Unwin, B. Sz., F.R.S., interested in his tests of a few internal combustion or explosion motors, using pe- troleum as fuel, which had been exhibited THE IRON AGE, of oil by the Priestman engine, tried by him in England, extended over a con- siderable time, and he made these tests upon several different engines. In the tabulated results he gives the relative values of coal oil and coals as heat makers and their ability to yield power, the one, coal vil, applying its heat to air by internal combustion, the coal being burned under a boiler to make the steam that operates a steam engine. He states that it may be assumed that 1 pound of oil is thermally equivalent to 1} pounds of coal; so that 0.946 pound of oil equals 1.18 of coal, 0.988 oil equals February 16, 18%3 what may be considered the cost in actual use without any of the careful attention that always accomplishes trial runs with all conditions favorable. In one case, when an engine yielding 8.25 brake horse- power was run for two hours at full load, the engine being set up in an open shed, in very cold weather, with all conditions unfavorable, the oil consumption amounted to 1.159 pounds per horse-power per hour, the oil costing a little over 4} cents per gallon (say 5 cents per gallon), and was of a density of U.781; 1 cubic inch of this oil weighing 0.028116 pounds, As 231 cubic inches, or 1 United States gallon, costs (say) 5 cents, Fig. 1.—English Design. Fig. 2.—Amerwcan Design. fig. 3.—Diaygram Showing Operation of Engine. THE PRIESTMAN ENGINE AS MADE IN at the Royal Agricultural Society’s Show] 1.23, and 0.842 pound of oil equals 1.02 at Plymouth, in 1889. He called my at- tention to the fact that among those ex- hibited, the Priestman engine, Fig. 1, not only had worked well, but in cost of run- ning, a small engine of less than 10 horse- power compared favorably with the best results that had been obtained from steam in large low-pressure engines under the most favorable conditions, the price of coal oil being in England in excess of its price in America. On March 8, 1892, Professor Unwin read a paper on ‘ Petroleum Engines” before the Institution of Civil Engineers, at 25 Great George street, London. This paper, dwelling mainly on the Priestman engine, is so exhaustive as to questions of | economy and efliciency as to leave no room for me to present any better statement on the same subject, further than to say that I have myself tested the accuracy of many of Professor Unwio’s figures. Changes since that time made in the Priestman engine, as manufactured in Philadelphia by a branch company for the American market, will be the motive in my presen tation of the case now. * Published in the Journal of the Franklin Institure for February, 1893. pounds of coal each per effective brake horse power hour. He cites as the lowest observed consumption of steam that a large triple-condensing Sulzer engine worked at high pressure gave a result equal to 1.61 pounds of coal per effective horse-power per hour. It is, indeed, re- markable that better results should have been obtained in an oil engine of only 5 horse power, while a steam engine of 5 horse-power would be considered very economical that would consume 3 or 4 AMERICA. and weighs 6.494796 pounds per gallon of this density, therefore, 1.159 of oil equals 0.008923 of $1 (say ,°, of 1 cent per horse- power per hour). This working at nine mills per horse-power shows that the claim usually made of assuming the cost to be 1 cent per horse power is not unreasonable and may be considered as covering oil burned in getting up heat in the mixer be- fore the engine is started. Professor Unwin gives a table of cost of working for fuel per hour, from which may be taken : Cost of Fuel per Hour. Engine. Large condensing steam engine. .. .............. Small non-condensing steam engine . <cend Goa . 00taS¥se ben Ge Priestman engine. Per effective horse-power. Quantity of fuel. Price. Cost. 2 pounds. $4.00 a ton. 0.36 cent. 6 pounds, 4.00 a ton. 1.08 cents, . | 24 cubic feet. 1.50 per M. 3.60 cents. 1 pound oil. 2.38a barrel. | 0.75 cent. pounds of coal per effective horse-power per hour. I have verified Professor Unwin’s figures} 0.89 cent per hour. With us, in the experiment cited, the Priestman engine was run at the cost of It must be borne in and have made several tests of consump | mind, however, that in a steam engine the tion under unfavorable conditions to get at| cost of the stoker must be added, and February 16, 1893. THE IRON AGE. 361 most small steam engines use more coal than cited. There is also more fuel wasted in getting up steam or keeping up steam while standing than there is wasted in the oil engine, which requires no attention whatever while running, save to keep the oil in the tank, and when standing costs nothing. Operation of Engine. The following is a description of the operation of the engine, reference being had to Fig. 3 : A, oil tank filled with any ordinary high test (usually 150° test) oil, from which oil under air pressure is forced through a pipe to the three-way cock B, and thence conveyed to the atomizer C, where the oil is met by a current of air and broken up into atoms and sprayed into the mixer D, where it is mixed with the proper proportion of supplementary air and sufficiently heated by the exhaust from the cylinder passing around this chamber. The mixture is then drawn by suction through the inlet valve I into the cylinder E, where it is compressed by the piston and ignited by an electric spark motive holds with equal force in reference to the convenience of the American type, which is shown in Fig. 2. When, as in the English engine, the fly wheel is placed outside of the bearings and the shock from the sudden ignition comes upon the crank, that is, between the two bearings, the hearings receive this blow with almost full intensity, while with the Sweet straight line principle the fly wheels forming part of the crank and | Offering their great weight to the blow | between the bearings, they present a mass of sufficient inertia to neutralize the effect of the blow, and this is an illustration of | the well-known case of the difference in personal comfort between endeavoring to crack a hickory nut on one’s knee, with or without the intervention of a flat iron or /pound weight to serve as an anvil and neutralize the blow of the hammer. How the Petroleum is Used, engine the petroleum is used as a fuel only. | It is not vaporized with the aim to make a permanent gas which can act expansively, ull power Sey sie: woe ent ve frirg ght ou o2 as Fig. 4.—Indicator Diagram. THE PRIESTMAN ENGINE AS MADE IN AMERICA, passing between the points of the ignition plug F, the current for the spark being supplied from an ordinary battery fur- nished with the engine, the governor G controlling the supply of oil and air pro- a to the work performed. The urnt products are then discharged through the exhaust valve H, which is actuated byacam. The inlet valve I is directly opposite the exhaust valve. The air pump J is used to maintain a small pressure in the oil tank to form the spray. K, water jacket outlet. By this system a perfect combustion of oil takes place. Fig. 1 shows the Priestman engine, as examined by Professor Unwin, and you will observe that it differs in no respect from the ordinary engines that are made with the cylinder and bearings attached to a massive bed plate. In this case the bed plate is made hollow and has much of the working machinery within the cast- ing and inconvenient for repairs. Want of accessibility of the parts of the engine was the prime motive for some change in the American type, but not the only one. It is a necessity with all such machines in America that all parts shall be accessible; in fact, shall be visible and easily got at, and the changes that have been wrought in the American type of engine have been all in the direction of accessibility. It is with this engine as with the difference of American and English type of loco- motive, and all that has been said in favor of the convenience of the American loco- but it does impart heat to air and renders it capable of performing the function of a true gas under pressure. In the first place I wish to have you clearly understand the position in which the Priestman engine stands in relation to all others using coal oil products, not only as regards its efficiency, but also as re- gards its absolute safety in fire risks, owing to the clever method of consuming the oil without previously converting it into a fixed gas. This will be better understood when I mention that in the largest engines only the 54, part of a pint of this high test oil is used at any one time, and in the smallest sizes the fuel is prepared in correct quan- tities varying from ,,\,; of a pint upward, according to whether the engine is run- ning on light or full duty. I think this fact alone demonstrates to a remarkable degree how wonderfully accurate are the system and devices which have been pa- tiently worked out in the Priestman en- gine to have resulted in it obtaining a good name for itself, as it has done, in unskilled hands and for such a variety of uses. Of course, in gas, gasoline or naphtha engines, the gas has only to be taken into the en- give in the right quantity, but in this case the working agent being heavy oil, each charge must be first carefully prepared. In the present case the function of the oil is to heat and expand the air, and as you will presently see, the method of con- trolling the power of the engine or governing its speed is by varying the Dr. Sellers then explained that in this | amount of fuel burned and the amount of air that is heated by each regulated charge of fuel and air. The Priestman engine uses for fuel common petroleum such as is burned in lamps, and the quality best suited to this purpose is just what is safest in common use; that is, the highest proof oil. This oil is ignited in combination with air under a low pressure, created by the re- turn stroke of the piston. Some part of this air supports the combustion of the oil, and the heat generated by the com- bustion of the oil expands the air that remains and the products resulting from the explosion, and thus develops its power from air that it takes in while running. In other words, the engine exerts its power by inhaling air, heating that air and ex- pelling the products of combustion when done with. Action of Atomizer. I can show you the action of the atom- izer that is used in the Priestman engine to reduce the oil that is required for fuel into the form of dust that it may more readily be ignited, by means of the piece of apparatus which is used in testing cer- tain parts of each engine and chiefly in | adjusting the spray maker. I ought here to state that a very valua- ble feature of this atomizer is that it is constructed so that its adjustment is not alterable or necessary to be altered in the hands of users. By pumping air into the chamber con- taining oil it will press on the surface of the oil contained in the chamber, and a fine stream of oil, driven out by the air pressure, can be thrown from the nozzle, and you will observe that holding a lighted candle to this jet not only does not ignite it, but it may extinguish the flame of the candle. We now have attached to the same nozzle the device used in tae engine for converting this stream of oil into finely divided particles, mixing these particles with air. The ejected oil ceases to bea solid stream; it is broken up by the counter-current air and there is a mingled spray expelled from the apparatus ; in fact, a cloud of oil dust. Approach a light to this spray and it instantly ignites and burns with a roaring flame. This spray, formed by the current of compressed air conveyed by a pipe from the air space in the oil tank, is not a gas. This can readily be proved by means of a small bottle with an opening in the side besides the usual neck of the bottle. Pre- senting this side opening to the spray maker, so as to catch the outcoming air and oil dust, the oil is caught in the bottle, and the air, separating from the spray, passes out through the neck of the bottle. You can readily see the action of the oil falling to the bottom of the bottle, while a taper applied to the neck where the air is escaping does not ignite the air that escapes separate from the oil. This shows that the spray is merely a mechanical mixture of oil and air, each liable to separate from the other if they are given time to come to rest. If we were to attempt to introduce this spray into the cylinder of the engine and there ignite it we should find that the oil had passed back into the condition of solid oil, just as is done in the bottle, and ignition could not be effected by the elec- tric spark. To prove this to be the case I will ignite the vapor by the same kind of spark from the same battery that is used with the engine to ignite the charge at each stroke, The spark ignites the spray while mixed with the air, but the same kind of spark applied to the air escaping from the bottle, as in the former experiment, pro- duces no ignition whatever, nor will this same spark applied under the oil surface ignite the oil in its fluid condition. To insure the divided oil and air, mixed in the proper proportion, to remain long . rar ri. 2k 2 Peers aor. + Serres 362 THE IRON AGE. February 16, 1898 enough mixed, it is necessary that itshould | combustion, and these act continuously , cycle. There is a small pressure on the be moderately heated. To start the engine | afterward at a decreasing pressure during | oil tank, sufficient to enable the air to be the mixer used in connection with the | the full forward stroke, Fig. 4, and when| forced from the cold oil tank; the air cylinder is warmed by the flame of a lamp, | at the end of that forward stroke the ex- | from this reservoir, charged with oil dust, using oil dust and air in form of spray, to | haust valve opens, allowing what remains | passing through the mixer, takes up, its enable the first charge to be ignited, after ; which the heated products of combustion escaping from the cylinder are utilized to L OW “E keep this chamber to its required temper- ature, without which heat the oil would drop away from the air, as it did in the bottle, as soon as it enters the cylinder. Professor Unwin, in his paper, enumer- i ! Say I eleze SAAT CT =" () «J BP "ml SSK ates come of the many attempts to use hy- drocarbon oils internally in engines, the invention of some of these processes dat- ing back nearly 50 years, and he shows why the complex constitution of the oil gave rise to practical difficulties. In con- verting these oils into vapors, to be intro- duced into an engine, the high heating and the resolution of the oil into stable gas left certain tarry products behind pay that clogged the machinery. Priestman, ae by using the oil as oil dust in a warm con- , dition, 1s able to burn that oil precisely as it would be burned in the wick of an oil > Ss as feoeeeecesrro. — x > Sosy = SAS ss Tec Sh OY G24 - S 4 = “2 Ls ' ; 4 | ! | a ' | ‘| oe — = | lamp, and his aim is