The Iron Age 1903-10-15: Vol 72 Iss 16

THE IRONggeesG A Review of the Hardware, Iron, Machinery _— "Mell Praties. ; lished every Thursday Morning by David Williams Co,, 232-238 William St., New York. Vo! 72: No. 16. New York, Thursday, October 15, 1903. $8.00 # Year, including Postage. Reading Matter Contents ....... page 55] —- Alphabetical ladex to Advertisers ‘‘ (83) Classified List of Advertisers.... “‘ 175 Advertising and Subscription Rates ‘‘ 182 CABLEGRAM To PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, Oyster Bay. American Rifles, Ammunition and Men won victory to-day over Great Britain, Canada, France, Norway, Australia and Natal, and bring back Palma trophy. (Signed) LIEUT. ALBERT S. JONES, Secretary of the National Rifle Association of America. Copied from N. Y. HERALD. Dynamo sDELTING? Wow York. This sweeping victory for America, and the extraordinary score of 1,570 out of a possible 1,800 were made with 30-40 regular factory Cartridges, manufactured by the UNION METALLIC CARTRIDGE COMPANY selected after exhaustive trials, by the entire American Team in preference to all others, for the'r wonderful uniformity and extreme accuracy. Scores are improved by using U. M. C. ammunition. Souveair Cartridges (without powder) on application, THE UNION METALLIC CARTRIDGE CO. THE BRISTOL COMPANY, Waterbury, Conn. Bristol’s Recording 313 Broadway, - New York City Instruments. Factory: BRIDGEPORT, CONN. Depot: 86 First St., SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. For Teo Silver Medal, Paris ee SIMSON SPOT CORD GAHALL BOILERS »™ = SAMSON CORDAGE WORKS, Boston, Mass. REGULAR PATTERN. o TURNBUCKLES. © . 2 : CAPEWELL HORSE NAILS? Cleveland City ‘icity Forge and ee ee ~ d. O, : NEW YORK, Branches : ronrns ND, ORE., S TURN BUCEHEIUES: < CHICAGO, nea DETROIT, BALTIMORE, m MERRILL BROS., 8ST. LOUIS, CINCINNATI, NEW ORLEANS, 0 465 to 471 Kent Ave . - BOSTON, SAN FRANCISCO, DENVER. v yee Brooklyn, E.D., N.Y. e > eS *| |S THE CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL COMPANY 3 BESSEMER PIG | #° HARTFORD, CONN. : z Sere + Banke Pittsba R EGULAR PATTERN. PILLING & CRANE, i: face ew Yor Jenkins ’96 Packing 7 NONE BETTER, as it makes joint instantly and will FORTY DIFFERENT ew ies (ve last as long as the metals which hold it NONE CHEAPER, as it asta less than many others sold at equal price per pound. 5 iron teel; all steel sorts of sheet iron and steel; a Remember, all genuine stamped with Trade-Mark. but Wood’s ‘Patent-Planished char- ‘oal iron—thé modern version of old- JENKINS BROS., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, London. London. fashioned Russia. é6 ’ it was good irom that Rossin! No |“ AUUBANA’? (OIC ROLO SLGGL ceet or DFA WING axe Stampin better than Wood’s; but how did they celled for ever make it in Russia? THE AMERICAN TUBE & STAMPING COMPANY SEE We make Wood’ $s; some think it (Water and Rail Delivery) BRIDGEPORT, CONN. wane 2 the better, and some prefer Russia. Quiek service. Return a’ whole sheet for an inch of fault. MAGNOLIA ee Best Anti-Friction Metal for all Machinery Bearings. Pac-Simile of Bar. ’ Beware of American Sheet Steel Company imitations. Battery Park New York g ‘N MAGNOLIA METAL HI) ) Owners and Sole Manufacturers, 113-116 Bank Street, ‘fh ow stn WEE Chicago, Fisher Bldg. NEW YORK. Pitsburg ang Philadelphia We mantoctare al a mee NT TE TE Te + Ss ’ : | : ; THE IRON AGE. = gi NSONI ” rg Sie B R AS 5 WIRE MANUFACTURERS OF BRASS AND COPPER COPPER! “0 Seamless Tubes, Sheets, Rods and Wire. [ WIRE vr GERMAN | SHeet Tobin Bronze} si VER | a (TRADE-MaRK REGISTERED.) Condenser Plates,Pump Linings, Round, Square and Hexagon Bars, for Pump Piston Rods and Bolt Forgings. Seamless Tubes for Boilers and Condensers. 99 John Street, . SEAMLESS BRASS AND COPPER TUBING. BRAZED BRASS AND New York. ———| BRONZE TUBING. :::::::: ee % Ge — h-(C lowes (0. Randolph-Clowes Co., $!wateRBURY BRASS CO., Main Office and Mill, wearenniny, COMM. WATERBURY, CONN. UPACTURERS OF 130 Centre St., New York. Providence, R. I. SHBET BRASS & COPPER. Susana didenann BRONZE BRAZED BRASS & COPPER AND METAL COMPANY, TUBES. BRIDGEPORT, CONN. SBAMLESS BRASS Largest Jobbing Brass Foundry in New England. LARGE CASTINGS A SPECIALTY. Bronze, Brass, Aluminum and Babbitt Metals. No order too large for us to handle. None too small to receive our careful attention. & COPPER TUBES TO 36 IN. DIAM. New York Office, 2583 Broadway, Postal Telegraph Bldg., Room 715. Chicago Office, 602 Fisher Bldg, ee see Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co., LA SALLE, ILLINOIS. SMELTERS OF SPELTER AND MANUFACTURERS OF SHEET ZINC AND SULPHURIC ACID. Special Sizes ‘of Zinc cut to order. Rolled Battery Plates. Selected Plates for Etchers’ and Lithographers’ use. Selected Sheets for Paper and Card Makers’ use. Stove and Washboard Blanks. ZINCS FOR LECLANCHE BATTERY. Se 8:74 West Monroe St., Chicago Best Bronze, Babbitt Metals, Brass and Alaminum CAST'!NSS aa SS GTP SN BRASS, BRONZE and ALUMINUM CASTINGS. , Founders, Finishers, W. G. ROWELL & CO., BRIDGEPORT, CONN. (Grants © Lanes on aust quamenme vo cnsen. F. WELCH MFG CO. 63 SUDBURY STREET. BOSTON. HENDRICKS BROTHERS Belleville Copper R Rolling Mills, Brasicers’ Bolt an amet. Sheathing COPPER, AND CooPrPrBbn Wine RIiVTs. Importers and Dealers in ingot Copper, Block Tin, Spelter, Lead, Antimony, etc. 49 CLIFF ST., NEW YORK. THE PLUME & Atwood Mc , MANUFACTURERS OF Sheet and Roll Brass —AND— WiIiRG PRINTERS’ BRASS, JEWELERS’ METAL, GEe wan SILVER AND GILDING METAL, COPPER Rivers AND BURRS. Pins, Brass Butt Hinges, Jack Chain, Kero. sene Burners, Lamps, Lamp Trimmings, &c. LOW BRASS. SHEET BRONZE.| 29 murRAY sr., NEW YORK. 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON. 199 LAKE ST., CHICAGO, ROLLING MILL : THOMASTON, CONN. FACTORIES : WATERBURY, CONN. SCOVILL MFG. CO.., Manufacturers of BRASS, CGCERMAN SILVER Sheets, Rolis, Wire Rods, Bolts and Tubes, Brass Shelis, Cups, Hinges, Buttons, Lamp Coods. SPECIAL BRASS GOUDS TO ORDEK Factories, oe CONN. NEW YORK, CHICAGO, BOSTON. JOHN DAVOL & SONS, AGENTS FOR Brooklyn Brass & Copper Co., DEALERS IN COPPER, TIN, SPELTER, LEAD, ANTIMONY. 100 John Street, ~ New York. Arthur T. Rutter SUCCESSOR TO WILLIAM S. FEARING 256 Broadway, NEW YORK. Small tubing in Brass, Copper, Steel, Aluminum, German Silver, &c. Sheet Brass, Copper and Ger- man Silver. Copper, Brass and German Silver Wire. Brazed and Seamless Brass and Copper Tule. Copper and Brass Rod. THE BRIDGEPORT BRASS CO, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 19 Murray St., New York, 85-87 Pearl St., Boston. 17 N. 7th St., Philadelphia. MANUFACTURERS OF SHEET TUBING WIRE. Lamp Geods of all Kinds. BRASS AND COPPER GOODS In Great Varieties. Elements of Steam $54 H. W. Soasent, Arthur M. Crees *. r., : S. M. Marshall, B.S. in E.E. 3 figures, cloth 5 PiAdet05 «6 6 en GeetEtneeEes ” For sale by David Williams Co., 232 William St., * ‘THE IRON AGE THURSDAY, OcToBerR 15, 1903. ihe Johnson Lathe Provided with Ten Tool Holders. The I. H. Johnson, Jr., Company, Incorporated, of Philadelphia, recently designed and built the massive ithe bere illustrated. The machine is intended for cut- ing steel ingots into blanks from which tires are made. \t one operation an entire ingot may be cut up into sizes of the proper dimensions. The 12 tool holders are disposed six at the front and six at the rear of the machine. They are carried by four independent carriages in groups of three each. The tool holders are all independent, and may be ad- justed to any position from 6 inches, center to center, up. Fach holder is provided with two bolts, and is held in T- slots formed in the top of the carriages. All the gears and worms are cut from solid steel, and all shafts are of steel. The driving gear on the face place is 4inch pitch by 9-inch face. Ample driving power is furnished, —* as the lathe is geared 240 to 1. There are 15 changes of speed. The method of gearing the head stock is clearly shown in the engraving. The bed is 30 feet long, 12 feet between centers, and the swing is 54 inches. The tail stock spindle revolves, and carries a face plate to which one end of the ingot is bolted. The lathe weighs 120,000 pounds, snicctitillbcitat ann Plugging Broken Stay Bolts, It is surprising to note that some of our railroads in these days of high boiler pressures will persist in the ‘riminal practice of plugging up the holes in drilled stay bolts that have been broken in service, rather than make immediate repairs. This is generally put off until the boiler is washed out, which may mean several weeks or ‘ month, according to the water used. Not only is such vork criminal, but it destroys the object for which the lrilled bolt was adopted. Experience has taught that it ‘Ss Impossible, even with an expert, to locate broken bolts it all times, and it is due to this that the drilled bolt has een adopted. At best, it is only a makeshift. The drill- bg is generally done by inexperienced labor, and a large ercentage of the holes are found away from the center f the bolt, which naturally weakens it. If it is done by he piecework system and no inspector around, cases ave been found where the hole did not penetrate the ickness of the boiler shel]. Adopting rules and fur- ishing special charts for the guidance of those whose lty it is to watch the broken bolts, is a waste of time @ money unless the rule is rigidly enforced. We are t quoting from hearsay, but are giving facts as we found them. On one road we counted 36 broken bolts on a Mogul that had not seen a year’s service. Wire nails and file points were used. The engineer claimed that he reported them, and that the boiler maker had used the file ends in the absence of wire nails; the nails he had put in himself, taking his lesson from the boiler maker, who made repairs in that way. The master mechanic said these engines always came in at night and got out again before morning, so that the work could not be done, as he bad no night force to do this work. With the hollow bolt plugging is out of the question. If a plug is inserted from the outside, to prevent the annoying es- cape of steam and water, it simply drives it into the fire box, which means death to the fire. We do not believe that the parties guilty of these practices do so with any criminal intent, but it behooves the management to watch this more closely. Life and property are at stake, and certainly the crews that man these engines are due every consideration. This practice of having boiler in- THE JOHNSON LATHE PROVIDED WITH TEN TOOL HOLDERS. surance companies that make a specialty of this sort of risk do this work is a commendable one. When the inevitable explosion happens to boilers whose broken stay bolts have given due and timely warn- ing that was disregarded, men will hold up their hands and say that the cause of the accident was a mystery. Then others interested in having the owners of the loco- motive escape the penalty of the reckless practice of plugging leaky stay bolts will look wise and say that the accident was due to low water, and the engineer who was in charge having ended his life with the explosion no one can for a certainty defend his professional character, and so he is blamed for carelessness and the company es- capes paying heavy damages.—“ J. A. B.,” in Railway ¢€ Locomotive Engineering. ———— — A company composed of the leading manufacturing concerns of Youngstown, Ohio, of which J. G. Butler, Jr., is at the head, are making preparations for the building of a belt line around the city. A meeting of the Manu- facturers’ Belt Line Company was held in Youngstown last week and arrangements made for reorganization. Entrances are to be made to all the plants in the Ma- honing Valley and connections arranged for with all the railroads entering the Valley. Orders have been issued laying off 15 per cent. of the employees in car shops, repair shops and round houses on the New York Central and allied lines. It is estimated that 1500 men will be thrown out. The cause assigned is a smaller freight movement and a lessened need of repairs. BF tem ree Se ee TET LN Ase tte itn [Pa CMR yeeeT _ > EO P A RR NLL I Re ON Re CLOT E LEN, eR THE Manufacture and Uses of Carborun- dum.* BY F. A. J. FITZGERALD, NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. The Origin of Carborundum. In the spring of 1891 E. G. Acheson, who had been experimenting for some time on an apparatus for the direct conversion of heat into electricity, and not obtain- ing the success he had hoped for, recalled some old ex- periments he had made on the production of a very hard substance which might prove of value as an abrasive. He therefore set to work to produce a crystalline form of earbon, and thinking that the fusion of carbon at the high temperature obtained by means of the electric are might be assisted by mixing with it a more fusible sub- stance, he made a mixture of carbon and clay and put it in an iron bow! which served as his furnace. The bowl was connected to one terminal of a dynamo, while the other terminal was connected to a carbon rod that was plunged into the mixture. When the current was started an arc was drawn between the bottom of the iron bowl and the carbon rod, and this raised the surrounding mixture to a high temperature. Apparently there was a strong reaction in the mixture, and after the current was eut off and the bowl had cooled its contents were ex- amined, with the result that some very hard, sharp crystals of a blue color were found sticking to the car- bon rod. The results of this preliminary experiment were so satisfactory that Mr. Acheson now set about making a more practical furnace. This was built of fire brick, and had carbon terminals at either end. It was only a few inches long, but nevertheless it was the embryo of the furnace used at the present time. Mr. Acheson recog- nized at once that, whatever the crystals he produced might be, they were not diamonds, but some compound containing carbon. He thought that they were probably a compound of carbon and aluminum, and he therefore invented the name “ Carborundum,” a word compounded of carbon and corundum. Hitherto corundum was the hardest.substance known with the exception of the dia- mond, and, as is well known, corundum is the crystal- line form of alumina, the oxide of aluminum. Now clay is a silicate of aluminum, and it was not long before Mr. Acheson found that the more silica there was in the charge mixture the better the yields, and this led him to try the experiment of using a mixture of glass sand, which is a very pure form of silica and carbon, instead of the clay-carbon mixture. The result was very satis- factory, and eventually analysis showed that carborun- dum was a compound of carbon and silicon. The actual composition of carborundum is as follows: Per cent. Carbon ial arn a he a dactoeaetin tins ie: pees Majin ee aie aaa ec 29.70 DE Swdvades PiweXs bncakhad keke aoe a eee bean 70.30 Having completed his preliminary experiments, Mr. Acheson formed a company for the manufacture of the new abrasive, and for the first six months the output of the furnaces amounted to about %4 pound a day. The crystals taken from the furnace were ground to a fine powder, treated with acid, boiled in water, dried and graded by passing through screens. The screens were made by fastening pieces of wire cloth over the ends of old incandescent lamp sockets. Naturally the market for carborundum was very lim- ited, the product being absorbed by lapidaries and jewel- ers. It was sold at so much per carat, the first pound or so put on the market selling at a rate of something like $600 a pound. Improvements, however, were soon made in the manufacturing process so that carborundum could be sold at the remarkably low rate of $10 a pound, and it then found a new market among valve grinders. The latter were accustomed to use emery for grinding valves, the cost of that material being a few cents a pound, but the enormous saving in labor resulting from the use of carborundum as an abrasive made it well worth while to buy that relatively expensive material. However, to make a commercial success of carborun- * Paper read before the Philadelphia Foundrymen’s Associa- tion, October 7, 19038. IRON AGE. October 15, dum it was necessary to manufacture it on a larger scale, and this led to the increase of the M: gahela plant until finaliy furnaces using 120 horse-; er were built and a production of 300 pounds a day reached. It was hoped that, with the greatly red price of carborundum, the emery wheel makers wi use it; but this hope proved to be ill founded. The thing the Carborundum Company could do under t! circumstances was to go into the manufacture of t/ own wheels. Accordingly, machinery for this pur; was installed, and kilns were built. It would take altogether too much time to follow detail the development of the manufacture of carborw: dum and carborundum products, but eventually it w; decided that the work should be carried on in a muc! larger way, and the Carborundum Company started their plant at Niagara Falls in 1895 with 1000 horsepower furnaces. Present Methods of Manufacture. Carborundum is formed according to the equation SiO, + 8C = SIC + 2CO. or, in other words, three atoms of carbon reacting wit! one molecule of silica produce one molecule of carboru: dum and two molecules of carbon monoxide. Now, ta! ing the weights of the materials necessary for this equ: tion, we have: Sand a Carbon Carborundum + Carbon monoxid (15 pounds) (9 pounds) (10 pounds) (14 pounds) from which it follows that for every 10 pounds of carbo- rundum produced there are 14 pounds of carbon mo! oxide gas. In the actual manufacture of carborundum the silica is supplied by means of a very pure glass sand, mad from crushed quartz, and containing about 99.5 per cent silica. The carbon is supplied by coke, which is as pure as can be obtained. It has just been shown that for every 10 pounds of carborundum produced 14 pounds of carbon monoxide gas are set free, so that the mixture of sand and coke must be very porous in order to permit the ready escape of the gas. This porosity is obtained by putting a certain amount of sawdust in the mixture of sand and coke. The various materials used in the manufacture of carborundum are received in the mixing building. Thy sand is shipped in the ground form, so that it merely h; to be stored in the bins; but the coke has to be crush and ground to powder in a mill, whence it is taken conveyors to its bin. The coke, sand and sawdust then mixed in proper proportions, and the mixtw stored in bins provided for that purpose. From bins the mixture can readily be drawn off and ta the furnace building. The latter contains three furnaces, each set consisting of five furnaces have the form of a box built of brick, the insi¢ sions being approximately: Length, 16 feet; feet, and depth, 6 feet. The ends of the furnaces are permanen*‘ the terminals, which consist of large carb are so arranged that they may be connected carrying the current. The side walls of t not permanent, ‘but are built up every time is loaded. In preparing a furnace for a run, ti walls are first built up, and then the furnace is fill: rather more than half full with the mixture of san‘ coke and sawdust. The next stage, the most importa!:! in the building of the furnace, is putting the core i place. The core is an electrical conductor composed ©! carbon, which serves to connect the terminals of ft! furnace electrically. After the core has been put place more mixture is thrown in the furnace 4! heaped up until the total hight of the loaded furnace about 10 feet. Nothing now remains but to connect t! furnace with the source of the current. Next to the furnace building is the transform room, where the current from the power house comes at 2200 volts. and is transformed to 150 volts. Besid each transformer is an induction regulator, which co! sists essentially of two coils, which can be moved re! tively to one another; one of the coils is connected in = ries, the other in parallel with the circuit going to * furnace room. . By adjusting the relative positions of t’ ( her 15. 1903 ( f the regulator the voltage of the current going to wnace room can be either raised or lowered uni- for. uy, With a maximum of about 210 and a minimum of its. The reason for having this range of voltage is tl he resistance of the core, which is the part of the eurr.ce that carries the current, is at first high but diminishes when it becomes hot, and also for another reason whieh we shall see when we come to consider the gucts of the furnace. ‘ne furnace, such as has been described, requires 1000 horse-power. After it has been connected with the cables in the furnace room the current is thrown on in the transformer room and the voltage put up to the max- imum. In a very short time the furnace comes to load; that is to say, the resistance of the core drops until the current reaches about 3500 amperes, and the total watts amount to 746,000, or 1000 horse-power. As the resist- ance continues to decrease the core takes a larger cur- rent, and consequently the volts must be cut down so as to keep the power constant. Finaliy the resistance be- comes nearly constant, when the amperes are about 7500, and henee the voltage is about 100. The total run lasts 36 hours. About half an hour after the current is thrown op a light is applied to the side walls of the furnace, and the carbon monoxide, which by this time is coming off rap- idly, ignites with a slight explosion. As the furnace be- comes hotter the development of carbon monoxide gas increases till the whole furnace is enveloped in blue flames, presenting a very beautiful appearance. One of these carborundum furnaces yields about 8500 pounds of silicon carbide, so that from the equation al- ready given it is easily calculated that about 6 tons of carbon monoxide are generated during the run. At first sight it seems wasteful that all this gas should escape and be burned at the walls of the furnace; but it prob- ably is of value in keeping the walls of the furnace hot and so diminishing the radiation of heat from the inside of the furnace. After 36 hours the current is cut off from the furnace and another one connected. For each 1000 horse-power used there are five furnaces, so that there are 15 furnaces in all for the 3000 horse-power used by the Carborundum Company. Each 1000 horse-power produces approximate- ly 4800 pounds of crystalline carborundum per day, so that the present output amounts to about 7 tons a day. The company are at present building a new furnace plant at Niagara Falls, and when this is finished the total power used will be 5000 horse-power, which will give an output of about 11.7 tons a day. In the new furnace room there will be a 2000 horse-power furnace, probably the largest electric furnace in the world. Immediately after the current has been cut off from the furnace the taking down of the side walls is begun, SO aS to cool the furnace as rapidly as possible. After half the wall is taken down the unchanged mixture is raked off, and the outer crust of partially converted ma- terial is removed. This crust which surrounds the car- borundum crystals is known as “ white stuff,” and is an intermediate stage in the formation of carborundum. When the “ white stuff” has been removed the crystal- line carborundum is exposed and is taken from the fur- hace to the crushing room. When the core is removed from the furnace it is found to be converted into graphite, and this is the principal cause of the great reduction in the resistance of the furnace during the run. \Iter the carborundum is removed from the furnace ‘taken to pan mills, where it is crushed and is then laced in large lead lined tanks and digested with a hot trong solution of sulphuric acid, after which it is lor ughly washed with water, dried and graded. In ‘| ng with water the fine powders are floated off and \uently collected in settling tanks. ‘ growth of the carborundum manufacture is well ' ited as follows: it Output per furnace. Annual output. Lear, Pounds. Tons. D556 nic uch sian G. aieaee neal % 0.5 UN ccaRee eR Ree Re CE Oke 4 0.5 ee eK REE Pe ee yy 7.5 Obasd eeilin ot oud ld tem 300 26 WOR 47h oodina. au atone 2 eave eae 3,300 113 Pus ans aia wisi ae aa 8,800 595 THE IRON AGE MON gs tds ease eacecen 7,500 605 BO bb wncleeadwekene oan 7,500 795 ahs cncitneraee awd 7,500 867 eat ence 7,500 1,200 1901. . 7,500 1,920 1902.. 7,500 1,870 BR adcous eee Ter eee 7,500 2,311 1904 (estimated)... 15,000 4,000 Uses of Carborundum. Before considering the commercial use of carborun- dum it will be interesting to note how, in the develop- ment of its manufacture, commercial processes have also been worked out in the production of its parent elements, carbon and silicon. Very early in the manufacture of carborundum Mr. Acheson observed that when he heated his furnaces to an excessively high temperature the carborundum was decomposed, the silicon going off as vapor which burnt outside the furnace, or condensed in the cooler parts, while the carbon remained behind as graphite. This gave him the clue to a general method of manufacturing graphite from amorphous carbon by the decomposition of carbides. This has been developed into a successful busi- ness for the manufacture of graphite electrodes, which find a large use in electro-metallurgical and electro-chem- ical processes ; also for the produtcion of graphite for use as paint pigment, lubricants, &c. As regards silicon, a process has been developed for its manufacture. Hitherto silicon, in spite of the fact that it is one of the most widely distributed elements, has only been obtained pure with great difficulty; but now it can be manufactured at a comparatively reasonable price, and will no doubt form a valuable commercial product for the manufacture of silicon alloys and other purposes. The most important use of carborundum is as an abrasive, for which purpose it is employed in various forms, such as grains, powders, wheels, hones, paper and cloth. As an example of its use as grains granite grind- ing may be mentioned, large quantities of carborundum being used for this purpose. Carborundum in the form of powder is also used extensively for grinding and polishing. In making up carborundum wheels various materials are used as a bond—namely, porcelain, shellac and rub- ber ; but, except for some special purposes the first named is used for a large majority of the wheels. In making the vitrified wheels with a porcelain bond the carbo- rundum grains are mixed with clay and feldspar in certain proportions, the- mixture moistened with water, placed in strong iron molds and then put under a pres- sure of about 2000 pounds to the square inch with hy- draulic rams. The “green” wheels are then taken to the kilns, where they are vitrified. There are five kilns at the works, for it takes about one week to fire a kiln and an- other week for cooling it. When the wheels are removed from the kiln they are taken to the lathe room, where they are put in lathes and dressed, after which they are ready for the market. All wheels, however, 8 inches or over in diameter, are first tested at double the proper running speed, to make sure that they are not defective in any way that would cause them to burst while in use. The Safety of Abrasive Wheel« is a very serious subject, and one to which it will be worth while to devote a little time, since there seem to be curious misconceptions on the subject. The existence of these misconceptions is well illustrated by the con- tinually recurring question, Is a carborundum wheel as safe or strong as an emery wheel? All manufactured abrasive wheels are composed of two parts, the abrasive and the binding material. The abrasive material, whether it be emery, corundum or car- borundum, is in the form of grains, and these are held together by the binding material, which may consist of sodium silicate, rubber, shellac or porcelain. If a ball weighing 1 pound is attached to a string and swung rapidly in a circle, at a certain velocity a stress will be developed tending to break the string, this stress being directly proportional to the mass of the ball and to the square of the velocity with which it is moving. It is obviously a matter of indifference whether the ball be made of wood or steel, the stress produced in the string would be the same. On the other hand, o> eerie ni POP Pe BEL: RD © PRO IEE ae nF eS et SS =e RR. Ger eee ite yo PY RRS ee aes 4 THE IRON AGE. October 1 "2 if the balis be of the same size, one being made of wood and the other of steel, then the stress tending to break the string will be different, being directly proportional 20 the relative densities of wood and steel. While the comparison cannot be rigidly applied, yet approximately the grains of abrasive material substance correspond to the ball, the binding material to the string. From this it obviously follows that the question, Is a carborundum wheel as safe as an emery wheel? implies a misconception of what the safety of the wheel depends on. However, if the densities of carborundum and corundum are compared, and these are 3.12 and 4, re- spectively, it may be said that if a carborundum and corundum wheel are taken of the same dimensions and composed of grains of the same size, and running at the same speed, then, comparing any carborundum grain with a corundum grain, at the same distance from the center of the wheel, the force tending to make the grain of corundum fly from the wheel is about 28 per cent. greater than that acting on the carborundum grain. Professor Griibler of Dresden made a series of tests on abrasive wheels in May, 1902, for the Association of German Engineers. All manufacturers were invited to submit a 20-inch wheel, to be speeded till it burst. About 60 wheels, including nearly all the well-known kinds, were tested, and the results showed that all the specimens were safe if properly used. The proper working speed for a 20-inch wheel is 955 revolutions per minute, and the worst record for any wheel tested was 2615 revolutions per minute, giving a factor of safety of about 2.7. The carborundum wheel tested gave the highest record, for it did not break till a speed of 4340 revolutions per minute was reached, giv- ing a factor of safety of about 4.5. This was one cf the regular carborundum wheels made with a vitrified por- celain bond. The number of different wheels manufactured from carborundum is great, ranging as they do from dental wheels %4 inch in diameter to wheels used for heavy work and measuring 36 inches in diameter. Besides the regu- lar wheels there are a large number of special shapes, and to these must be added numerous specialties, such as rubbing blocks, hones, scythe stones, axe stones, knife sharpeners, and so forth. At the Niagara Falls works there is also a large de- partment where paper and cloth are coated with. car- borundum grains. The Characteristic of Carborundum that makes it superior to all other abrasive materials is its great hardness. Of substances found in nature the hardest is the diamond, and next to that, but a long way behind, comes corundum. Carborundum lies vers close to the diamond in hardness, and has actually been used for polishing diamonds. As a result of this great hardness carborundum lasts longer, cuts faster and does better work than any other abrasive substance, and this is the reason why it can compete successfully with emery or corundum in spite of its higher price. As might be expected, the relative efficiencies of emery and carborun- dum depend to a certain extent upon the nature of the work for which they are use; but in a general way it may be stated that carborundum is from 3 to 12 times as efficient as emery. An interesting investigation for the purpose of com- paring the work done by emery and carborundum wheels is now under way. Mr. Chalmot of Cornell University has made some micro-photographs of the metal taken from a paper cutter by an emery and carborundum wheel respectively. ‘These photographs show very clearly the difference in the work done by the two abrasives, the metal taken off by the emery wheel being in the form of globules, while that taken off by the carborundum wheel is in the form of shavings. This shows that the emery wheel simply grinds, but the carborundum wheel cuts. Too much stress, however, must not be laid on these preliminary tests, as the investigation has only begun. One of the distinctive characteristics of carborundum is its very refractory nature. It is quite infusible, even at the temperature of the electric arc, but at that tem- perature it gradually: decomposes, the silicon being va- porized and the carbon left behind as graphite.’ It is now being largely used where a material that will re high temperatures is required. Use in Steel Works and Iron Foundries Finally, a very important application of carbo has grown up in recent years: its use in the n f ture of steel and in cupola practice for the pu: supplying silicon to steel or iron. Carborundum plied for this purpose contains approximately cent. silicon, 35 per cent. carbon and ‘about 3 p iron and aluminum. In the case of steel the amount of carborundum, in the form of powder, is p)aeeq in the ladle, the latter filled and the steel is then regq, to draw into the molds. In cupola practice the carborundum cannot, as » ry), be used in the ladles, as the temperature of the mole; metal is not sufficiently high; but instead it is mixeq with the charge. In this case it cannot be used in the form of powder, since that would be carried out by the blast, but is used ini an agglomerated form. By employ ing carborundum in this work the cupola may be sito- gether, or nearly altogether, charged with scrap iron and nevertheless, good solid castings obtained. Any one desirous of further information on this point may be re ferred to a very interesting article by F. J. Tone, works manager of the Carborundum Company, in the Foundry of May, 1900. oo Coal Trade Activity Continues. BY FREDERICK E. SAWARD. In many directions the activity in the acquisition 0! coal land continues ; we are taking out the coal at the rate of 300,000,000 tons a year, and that means that new ter ritory must be developed all the time. The special fea ture seems to be the desire on the part of large interests such as the railroad companies, to secure a supply against any peradventure in the years to come. Thus one hears . that the Santa Fé Central Railway has decided to 1 sume work within a month on its branch into the Hagan . coal fields, in Colorado. These coal fields lie between - Hagan and San Felipe, and are to be worked on an exten sive scale, there being 150,000,000 tons of coal in sight Strikes of good coking coal are also reported 2 miles north of Cerrillos, New Mexico. Railroads operating in the Indiana coal fields are at present experiencing a serious shortage of cars to move the great volume of business offered for transportation Large quantities of soft coal have been laid in by domes tic consumers, and this has kept traffic heavy for the last six months, but as the industrial consumption represents about nine-tenths of Indiana’s coal production, and there is comparatively no storage capacity among those inter- ests, railroad men are confident that the shortage of equipment will prevail all winter. An important transaction in the development of Soutl- western Virginia and Eastern Tennessee, particularly of the Virginia coal fields, occurred last week when the Crane’s Nest Coal Company was organized with a capital of $3,500,000, for the purpose of taking over coal prope! ties in Wise and adjoining Virginia counties, aggrevatin¢ considerably over 100,000 acres. George L. Carter o! Bristol, Tenn., is the president of the new corporation The Gordon Land Company of Madisonville, Ky.. ve sold all their mineral rights, consisting of sever) ‘ov sand acres of fine coal lands in Hopkins County the St. Bernard Coal Mining Company of Earlington § T)s is said to be the largest transfer of mineral rig! ~ eve made in that county by one concern at one time. e St Bernard Coal Mining Company, of which John FP \tki0 son is president, now control over half the er rights in Hopkins County. Southern railroads are straining every point im proving trackage, by additions to rolling stock, G extensions to new fields to keep pace with the ca them. An illustration of these activities is give statement from Middlesboro, Ky., describing t! for the beginning of actual construction work 0! road to extend from Middlesboro to Harlan Cour. 55. which may possibly be extended across the © “#!!" border. This road, which will be 50 miles long » | of# rail- y 1D je October 15, 1908 THE [IRON AGE. D good grade, permitting the passage of a train of 50 cars, The Westinghouse Air Brake Company’s Annual will penetrate the rich coal fields along the head waters Meeting. of the Kentucky River on the border of the States of eae Kentucky and West Virginia, and will open up an opu- The annual meeting of the stockholders of the West- lent region, which has remained partially undeveloped inghouse Air Brake Company was held in Wilmerding. for many years, but which contains every grade of coal Pa., last week. President George Westinghouse gave to with the exception of anthracite. the stockholders the plan by which the Westinghouse The earnings of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- Air Brake Company have sold their plant at Hamilton, pany have been due, in large measure, to the enormous Ontario, to a new company known as the Canadian West- coal traffic, which for several months past has been on an inghouse Company, Limited. For some years the unprecedented scale. In July the shipments of coai and Westinghouse Mfg. Company, Limited, of Hamilton, have coke over the company’s lines reached a total of 2,033,- been manufacturing air brakes for use in Canada. Their 546 tons. As the soft coal regions which its lines serve entire capital stock has been owned by the parent West- are further developed the Baltimore & Ohio is destined ‘i ghouse Air Brake Company of Pittsburgh. It is pro- to become a more important factor than ever in the ‘Posed, however, to transfer this company, plant and good bituminous carrying trade. At the present time there is will, to the new company for the manufacture of elec- considerable development work in progress in West Vir- ‘trical apparatus in the Dominion, thus escaping the tariff ginia, along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio, which, of on the large imports into Canada at présent from the course, means additional traffic, and the extensive im- Jast Pittsburgh plant of the Westinghouse Electric & provements which have been and are being made on the Mfg. Company. The stockholders approved and ratified route between the West Virginia fields and tidewater the following plan for this: will facilitate the handling of this increased tonnage. The _ The formation of a new company, to be known as the Cana- company have laid a great deal of new track on that part aa! Company, Limited, with a capital stock of of the road, and work is being pushed on the cut-off near ee The purchase of the business and plant of the Westinghous: Cumberland, Md., which will make the line several miles Mfg. Company, Limited, of Hamilton, Ont., for $650,290 lu shorter than it is at present. capital stock of the new company at par, the Brake Con. oy : rome to underwrite $200,000 of additional capital stock. mM ’ ‘ ‘ . . o > Col. C. H. Head of the Cincinnati Southern states The purchase of the patent rights and existing business of that within a few weeks 15 miles of track are to be con- the Westinghouse Electrical & Mfg. Company in Canada for structed from a point on the Emory River near Harri- $500,000 in full paid shares of the new company. The Electric man, Tenn., to the main line of the Cincinnati South- ©°™P@2y also to underwrite $450.000 of additional stock. ; z The sale of the remaining $700,000 capital stock at par to ern Railroad, to be built for the purpose of reaching a persons or corporations in the Dominion of Canada, which large number of coal and iron ore mines which are to stock has already been underwritten. be opened in that vicinity. A number of local parties It will be seen that the Air Brake Company thus re- have owned valuable coal lands in that section of the ceive $850,000 of the stock of the company, the Electric State for several years, but have made no attempt to & Mfg. Company $950,000, a total of $1,800,000, and the operate mines on account of the lack of railroad facil- new interests $700,000. ities. The stockholders also voted in favor of the adoption An ambition that Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, president of the proposed agreement of merger and consolidation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, has cherished for some between the Westinghouse Air Brake Company and the time has been realized, and as a result he will announce JElectro-Magnetic Brake Company. to the shareholders at the anual meeting next week that The stockholders elected the same board, excepting the company will be able to secure all the coal needed that George C. Smith was chosen to succeed the late W. for the mountain districts from mines on their own prop- W. Card, secretary of the company, who was killed by a erty. For some time the company have had prospectors Street car some months ago. The directors are George at work under the direction of W. H. Aldridge, the gen- Westinghouse, president; Robert. Pitcairn, H. H. West- eral manager of the company’s smelting works at Trail, inghouse, John Caldwell, E. M. Herr, George C. Smith B. C., and according to the report he has forwarded the 2nd Henry W. Oliver. coal found near Banff is of a good grade of bituminous. The report of operations for the fiscal year ended If the present plans are carried out, some of the most July 31 showed earnings, $9,179,588.10; expenses, $5,460,- extensive coal mines in Iowa will be opened in Lucas 508.28; special charges, $25,506.29; total charges, $5,486,- and Marion counties within the next year. The White- 14.57; credit balance of $300,000 to depreciation reserve breast Fuel Company of Illinois have just secured options fund, and to general profit and loss account, $3,393,573.53, on a tract of over 14,000 acres of land lying in Dallas siving a total credit balance of $9,179,588.10. Township, Marion County, and in the northern part of The general balance sheet shows assets of $16,217,- Lueas County. Seven thousand acres of land lie in 505.87, and a general loss and profit account with a credit Marion County. The option will expire March 1, 1904. balance of $3,933,869.92 after a reduction of $2,636,748 on The land has been examined and is said to be underlaid dividend account. The year’s work was thus charac- with thick seams of fine coal. The company holding the terized: option are one of the largest concerns of their kind in the It will be of interest to know that the net sales—that is, ; : gross sales less rebates and discounts allowed during the same Middle West. term—are the largest in the company’s history. With the ex- The first of October, which was looked forward to as ception of one year, the same statement is true of net earnings, a time for revival] in the coal trade, did not disappoint eine anaes the continued reduction in the selling price of those who thought matters would mene at that pay: At a meeting held at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on and it looks as though the trade had “ turned the press ‘October 8, at which George Westinghouse presided, the and would continue to imeraye Ress aa o aoe Canadian Westinghouse Company, Limited, were organ- anthracite and bituminous coal i a as mi i” - oe ized with a capital of $2,500,000. Officers were elected ly better fooling. aoe or we 8 — a ace ie as follows: George Westinghouse, president; H. H. West- ee or fae ie ee oe ‘s nen, vice-president; F. H. Taylor, vice-president ; te thdets! sicemad penn,: dat 22 the fall: activity te.nat.ae wie os oy eens manager and treasurer; John pronounced as in other years, it must be remembered that ae eT ee neither was the summer dullness anything like what has The American Bureau of Inspection and Tests has been the case in the past. A steady, regular movement of been established at Chicago for the purpose of conducting coal is to be preferred to spasmodic activity, and operat- a bureau of inspection and tests of everything entering ing interests should make it to the advantage of the con- into the construction of a railroad, including rails and sumer to assist in this course Domestic anthracite is angle bars, cars and locomotives, bridge material, plates. already on the basis of advantage in early buying, and it cast iron pipes, &c. The bureau will furnish reports of will be the part of wisdom to arrange some similar policy all its work, giving chemical analysis and physica! in regard te the steam sizes of hard coal, and on soft tests, when desired. J. Grunewald is president and Mor- coal. gan T.:Jones inspecting engineer. : ay i q a a a an =< 2 steeu-7 " Fearon nae p+ irate: a, een te Charles L. Allen’s Welcome Home to Worcester. fi Charles L. Allen, secretary and general manager of the Norton Emery Wheel Company, Worcester, Mass., re- turned last week from a business trip to England and the Continent, and the employees of the company commem- orated the event and the esteem in which they hold Mr. Allen. They had appointed a committee, consisting of the foremen of the various departments, and invited the of- fice to co-operate with them, which was done. Wednes- day evening, the 7th inst., Mr. Allen was invited to the office of the works at Barbers Crossing, and there found the 400 employees. After an informal reception, during which Mr. Allen shook hands with every man, a collation | Sa nae” oo Fig. 1.—The Capital Gas Engine. {ee REAR BNE Pet ha +e 6 | THE IRON AGE. October 15 1903 ployed by Mr. Norton at the time when he began the busi- ness. Aldus C. Higgins of the company explained the views as they appeared on the screen. There was sing- ing by the Swedish octette and a quartette of colored singers. The occasion was another mark of the close re- lations that exist between the officers of the company and their men. The Capital Gas Engine. The gas and gasoline engines built by the Capita! Gas Engine Company, Indianapolis, Ind., are of the four- cycle type. The crank shaft is a one-piece forging of open hearth steel, and is fitted with a counterbalance disk. The connecting rod is of the marine pattern, and is also a solid forging. It is provided with phosphor bronze bearings. The crank end is lubricated, Fig. 2, by a mechanical wiping oiler, which has a sight feed. The piston pin receives oil from the cup K on the cylinder, the oil being led to the bearing through the tube B. The eam shaft gears are incased and run in oil, and the ex- haust valve stem is lubricated from a cup as are al! other bearings. The igniter plug is contained in the head in direct line with the incoming fresh charge. It is actuated by an eccentric lever driven from the end of the cam shaft with a smooth, even motion, yet a quick break. The entire plug can be removed without disturbing any other ’ part, or the insulated electrode can be taken out by un- screwing one nut. The igniter can be easily adjusted to spark at any point. A throttling governor of the Corliss type is provided when the closest regulation is desired, but when this is not so essential the hit and miss admis- sion is used. In the sectional drawing, Fig. 3, is shown the throttle valve A, operated by the governor. The gas passes around the cylinder head through the passage B to the poppet valve C, which is operated by the lever F and its Fig. 2.—Section Showing Method of Oiling. THE CAPITAL a i oe eden tins was served, and then the party went to the shop of the Norton Grinding Company. It was a procession, headed by the Norton Emery Wheel Company Band, and the route was through the Norton shops, the way being elab- orately decorated with boughs of gorgeous autumn leaves. Red fire was burned in the various rooms to fur- ther enhance the effect. At the Grinding Company’s shop ‘ Philip Styffe, one of the oldest of the company’s em- ; ployees, presented Mr. Allen with a solid silyer loving i cup with buckhorn handles, the whole of fine design. y Upon it was -engraved this inscription: “ Presented to Secretary and General Manager Charles Lucius Allen by the Employees of the Norton Emery Wheel Company on his return from Europe, October 7, 1903.” Mr. Allen re- sponded, telling his appreciation of the cup and what it stands for. There followed stereopticon views, showing i the evolution of the works of the Norton Emery Wheel i Company, from their beginning 28 years ago, when F. B. ' Norton produced the first vitrified wheel ever manufac- i : =gese* tured. One group picture shown contained six men em- GAS ENGINE. connections. The gas now enters the compression cham- ber D. The exhaust valve E is actuated by the lever L, and both valve mechanisms are operated by the cam H. These engines are made in sizes up to 50 horse-power, both portable and stationary. Oo Acetylene for Blow Pipe Use.—Acetylene gas is now used in blow pipes for industrial purposes and has been found superior to the oxyhydrogen pipe in ordinary use from several aspects. The gas is employed in connection with oxygen, as in the common blow pipe, and by recent improvements is entirely safe from explosions. The first attempts to use acetylene gas were in its liquefied form, but many accidents with it made it impracticable. The acetylene gas is now held in solution, so to call it, by the aid of acetone, which renders it nonexplosive and does not impair its qualities. The dissolved acetylene is fur- nished in cylinders, which have a porous material in one end. The gas permeates this and is drawn off as needed October 15, 1903 for use without exposing a large volume of gas at any time. In this condition it is practically fire proof, and has been exposed to conflagrations without injury. The very high heat generated