The Iron Age 1905-05-11: Vol 75 Iss 19

THE IRO A Review of the Hardware, Iron, Machinery and rades. Published every Thursday Morning by David Williams Co., 232-238 William St., New York, Vol. 75: No. 19. New York, Thursday, May 11, 1905. ion bl ae Reading Matter. Contents...... page 1563 Alphabetical index to Advertisers ‘‘ 169 Classified List of Advertisers.... ‘“‘ 161 Advertising and Subscription Rates ‘‘ 168 Forster Pulleys Grip the Shaft Tight Forster Pulley Works Cuba, N. Y. CORDAGE THE AMERICAN MFG. CO., 66 Wall Street, W. Y. SEE PAGE 118. S ye v \ | x ’ Oh cf ht ie ty a» goes back to the year 1816.. Since that time the word ‘““Remington’’ on a gun has stood for honest workmanship and full gun value. The Remington selling system protects all classes of dealers, Remington Quality makes Remington Guns popular. Remington Reliability insures repeated sales. Beeman cmn |Ghe REMINGTON ARMS CO. Instruments. ILION, N. ». wT Gold Medal, 8t. Louls Exposition All Ranges, Low Pricer, and Guar- anteed. s\CAHALL BOILERS # SAMSON CORDAGE Rootes uo |( CAPEWELL HORSE NAILS TURNBUCKLES, “THE BEST IN THE WORLD” Branch Office, 11 Broadway, New York. HIGHEST AWARD IN ALL COMPETITIONS Cokes GOLD MEDAL MERRILL BROS., AT ATE 465 to 471 Kent Ave. J e) pee es. N.Y. LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COKE AA PILLING & CRANE St. Louis, 1904 Girard Buliding. Pita MADE BY SEN coco fiadesostes.| ) THE GAPEWELL HORSE WAIL CO., Hartford, Conn. Eas ihe | Agency, 315 Broadway, N. Y. City. Depot, 86-88 First St., San Francisco, Cal. ae JENKINS ’96 PACKING Can anything be more annoying than a leaky steam joint, not to mention the expense caused by a loss of steam? The remedy is easy, and is yours by the use of Jenkins ’96 Packing, which is guaranteed. Ore Mine Write for Booklet, “ Potnts on Packing.” to JENKINS BROS., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, London. MF Tin je” ae Sl = Jawa Sung THE AMERICAN TUBE & STAMPING COMPAN (Water’and Rail Delivery) PAGE See MAGNOLIA METAL. Best Anti-Friction Metal for all Machinery Bearings. AMERICAN SHEET & TIN a PLATE COMPANY’S “a MAGNOLIA METAL CO.; , Owners and Sole Manufacturers, {13-116 Bank Street, Francisco, Montreal, ieee cleats faker Sate EW TORK, Cresmanufucrare at grades of Babbit Motas Bt ar Cae Tat = ae Eephcwrarte oe Fa on De Fai a te Re) ee : onsen MARIO ip ee RR a | ; 1 | = - Pe es PELE MES RR OEE RI es GN oe aor eee eens So es ee a Soe ee obets.iae wpe ag Pa SSE Bis Sh Rp ans ake =o re a eee Sars on ltt SWNT jure! ear Far SP Se. Se oe ee " a ER o> ai Geta —— ae NER LTR PCF SORE, Se kie Bia ae rey ES Se oT eee TS see , er _— eee Ee See ee — - - ; : a Sanaa eS NOPD IAB yg) OMG Ra, a cee eee ee ee 2 panne = ae RS Se eee ee ee r ea VS PRs EE AT aie ‘Sata eae ee eee ae . areas s 3 SUR a Ok m ~ WRORL Fuchcheees om - Se , at . SER ee 2. Sie REO See Sere AAS LAT High Grade tie aa he el “LocK HAVEN” ANT " PECIAL ae vateapblee WG | |< \ ge Lock HAVEN, PA. Thi é, : y Tin Pilates ings B Sheet Stee! Mostly Follansbee Brothers Co. e High Pittsburgh, Se Grades 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. ES Havens INISHERS t Monr nnn SURE TCM: UTIL eee be naam CASTINGS FOUN DERS- sein B8-742 We Best Bronze, Babbitt rass, Bronze and 2 Aluminum 2 Ww. G. ROWELL CO., HENDRICKS BROTHERS Belleville Copper R Rolling Mills, Brasziers’ Bolt an aaead Sheathing Dealers in Ingot Copper, Block Tin, Spelter, Lead, Antimony, etc. 49 CLIFF ST., NEW YORK. THE IRON AGE THE PLUME & ATwood Mr6, Co., MANUFACTURERS OF | Sheet and Roll Brass met —anp— B R A § § oo COPPER|""*,,, WiR= GERMAN (2, Ee SILVER WIRE sene Burners, Lamps, Lamp Trimmings, &c. LOW BRASS. SHEET BRONZE. | gepprecy stn Ang oes; SEAMLESS BRASS AND COPPER tie a ee TUBING. BRAZED BRASS AND BRONZE TUBING. ::::2::% WATERBURY BRASS €0., WATERBURY, .CONN. 99 John St., New York. Providence, R. I. Bridgeport Deoxidized Bronze & Metal: 9 BRIDGEPORT, GONN. Automobile Castings a Specialty. ROLLING MILL : | FACTORIES ¢ THOMASTON, CONN. WATERBURY, CONN. SCOVILL MFG. 60., BRASS, GERMAN SILVER Sheets, Rolis, Wire Rods, Bolts and Tubes, Brass Shells, Cups, Hinges, Buttons, Lamp Goods. Special Brass Goods to Order, FACTORIES: WATERBURY, CONN. Depots, CHICAGO, BOSTON. NEW YORK, High Tensile Strength. Bronze and Aluminum Alloys. || Henry Souther Engineering Co, Write Us. HARTFORD, CONN. Consulting Chemists, Metallurgists and Analysts. sical Testing Laboratory; Expert eee Peet and Patent Cases. _ Arthur T. Rutter & Go, 256 Broadway, NEW YORKA. Small tubing in Brass, Copper, Steel, Alaminum, German Silver, &c. Sheet Brass, Copper and Ger- man Silver. Copper, Brass and German Silver Wire. Brazed and Seamless Brass and Copper Tube. Copper and Brass Rod. “PHONO-ELECTRIC” WIRD. “it’s Troucu.” TROLLEY, TELEPHONE and f TELEGRAPH LINES. Mills svtasever BRIDGEPORT BRASS C0. GEORGE KROUSE HEAVY CASTINGS Mannfacturer of all kinds of Brass and Composition Castings. Brazing Metals, Hard Composition and Phosphor Bronze Castings a Specialty. JERSEY CITY. WN, J. PAU a! [e St. Chicago ridgeport, Conn. 160 to 164 Morgan Street. THE IRON AGE New York, Thursday, May 11, 1905. The Works of the Birdsboro Steel Foundry and Machine Company. The Birdsboro Steel Foundry & Machine Company is the new name of the Diamond Drill & Machine Company. The organization remains the same and the products pre- viously manufactured will continue to be regular lines, but as the scope of work has been enlarged by engaging in the making of steel castings it seemed desirable and appropriate to adopt a name that should indicate the fact. The company is now prepared to furnish open hearth steel, air furnace iron, semisteel and cupola castings, machine molded steel and iron gears, cast steel pipe fit- Molding Floor, Looking 'Toward the Sand Bins, Showing a Loco- motive Frame Flask in the Foreground and One of the Core Ovens on the Right. Casting Floor, Showing on the Left the 25-Ton Open Hearth Furnace ; on the Right the 20-Ton Furnace, and in the Fore- ground Molds Ready for Pouring. F{G. 1—VIEWS IN THE STEEL PLANT OF THE tings, rolling mill and hydraulic machinery, punches and shears, slitting shears, Wagner cold saw cutting off ma- chines and Jackson belt lacing machines. The castings are furnished rough or finished, and a specialty is made of machinery constructed in accordance with the pur- chaser’s specifications. The additions to the plant and the new equipment necessary to engage in the making of steel castings occasioned the present article, for the facili- ties and arrangements for the handling of the new work are decidedly modern and contain many valuable sugges- tions well worth careful examination. The plant is located at Birdsboro, Berks County, Pa., on the Schuylkill division of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the main lines of the Philadelphia & Reading and the Wilmington & Northern railroads, all of which offer ex- cellent shipping facilities. In the matter of distances Birdsboro is conveniently central, being 49 miles from Philadelphia, 139 miles from New York and 9 miles from Reading. The plant includes the following departments, which will be treated in order: Steel foundry, iron foun- dry, Nos. 1 and 2 machine shops, smith shop, power house, boiler house, pattern shop and pattern storage. The rela- tion of these departments and the service afforded by the railroads are indicated in the plan of the plant given in Fig. 2. For convenience, although not strictly true, the oS rene aay os Molding F'cor, Looking in Opposite Direction, Showing the Sand Grinder, Core and Drying Ovens, and in the Background the Furnaces. Cleaning Floor and Machine Shop, Showing Annealing Furnace in the Right Foreground and the Machine Tools in the Rear. BIRDSBORO STEEI. FOUNDRY & MACHINE COMPANY top of the plan will be considered the north in the refer- ences to it which are made later on. The Steel Foundry. As will be seen from Fig. 2, the steel plant is laid out with the molding floor parallel with the casting and cleaning floor. The building is of brick and steel con- struction with a slag roof. On the molding floor, which is shown in the two upper views, Fig. 1, the flasks are prepared, being handled by two overhead traveling cranes built by the Morgan Engineering Company. These cranes have a span of 60 feet and the runways are 30 feet above the floor. One is a 20-ton crane with a 5-ton auxil- iary hoist and the other a 25-ton crane with a 10-ton auxiliary. Completed molds are conveyed by the cranes to the north end of the floor, upper right view, Fig. 1, and are ua endl. Rate ue ay ae ne OR A MET cite: 4: Sate " ’ Dk os RRL OT te ek FR Tay A: . ow Lilie a op 1506 THE IRON AGE placed upon cars standing on tracks leading into the drying ovens. The ovens, of which there are four, are between the casting and molding floors, and open on both sides. Each is 40 feet long by 18 feet wide, walled with brick and closed at the ends by Kinnear rolling steel doors. The furnaces are at the sides and connect with an underground flue leading to a stack at the north end of the building. This flue is continued south beyond the present installation of ovens to afford ready connec- tion with future ovens that may be added when it be- comes necessary. After the molds have been dried over night the doors on the casting floor side are opened and the cars are drawn out by means of a snatch tackle or one of the cranes. The flasks are lifted off by the cranes over the casting floor and placed where desired. The empty cars are then carried by the cranes to a track between the 2 .— —— O000 GAS PRODUCERS CHARGING FLOOR MOULDING FLOOR 20 TON CRANE 10 TON pre Crane of Ln OW SAUCE. GAUGE i ao stock Hoist oe May II, 1905 crane operator from his cage and tripped to discharge its load. Flanking the main molding floor on the east is a lean- to 30 feet wide in which small castings are molded. This room is served by a 10-ton crane 18 feet above the floor, built by the Whiting Foundry Equipment Company. This department contains a gear molding machine for making machine molded cast steel gears up to 60 inches diameter by 18 inches face. This lean-to and the part of the build- ing which it adjoins, containing the main molding floor, the drying ovens and core department, are 220 feet long. At the corner near the sand bins and the cleaning floor there is a sand blast room containing apparatus fur- nished by the J. W. Paxson Company, Philadelphia. Above the molding floor in the lean-to is a gallery the full length and width of the lean-to which is used as a storage for patterns in active use—that is, patterns used CURB LINE Sumemgelionsndt ea PATTERN €HOP Ke - —50- - a - —49!-§ fe 41 2-” ape -29"- ! I (SCHUYLKILL DIV.) R. R- P. 10 TON CRANE OVENS Fig. 2.—Plan of the Works of the Birdsboro Steel Furnace & Machine Company. ovens (not shown on the plan), extending with a down grade into the molding room, and return by gravity, to be in readiness to be placed on the oven tracks to re- ceive fresh undried molds. The same continuous process is followed in the making of cores and a similar one ob- tains in the handling of the flasks after the pouring. The flasks after being shaken out are placed on a car which runs on a track between the sand bins and the south end of the building, and the cars are shoved through to the end of the molding floor and the flasks unloaded. The two core ovens are between the drying ovens and the sand bins. Adjacent to the bins there is a loam grinder, a part of which may be seen in the lower left corner of upper right view, Fig. 1. The loam grinder was furnished by the Vulcan Iron Works, Chester, Pa., and is used mainly for mixing the material used for cores and breaking up the lumps. The sand is shaken out of the flasks on the casting floor near the sand bins, is loaded into buckets and raised by one of the cranes to a chute leading into the bins. The bucket in dumping position is at a hight where it may be reached by the so frequently and regularly that the storing of them in the pattern storage building would mean a considerable waste of time in getting and returning them. The racks in this gallery are not supported from the floor after the usual manner, but are hung from the roof trusses. The casting floor and cleaning floor are end to end and form a bay 60 feet wide by 360 feet long. These are shown in the two lower views, in Fig. 1. In this bay there are two 25-ton Morgan cranes with 5-ton auxiliaries and one 35-ton Whiting crane with a 10-ton auxiliary, used for handling flasks, cars and cast- ings, as already alluded to. This section is further divided into a dry floor, chipping floor and machine shop, where the sink heads are cut off, and contains an an- nealing furnace 10 feet wide, 10 feet deep and 40 feet long. In the machine shop division the following tools are driven in a group by a Westinghouse motor: A Wagner cold saw, a Gould & Eberhardt shaper and two 40-inch cold saws. The remainder of the tools are in- dividually driven by electric motors, all of Westing- house make, these including two 26-inch saws, a draw May II, 1905 stroke planer or shaper, with vertical reciprocating tool, built by the Morton Mfg. Company, Muskegon, Mich., and an open side planer built by the Detrick & Harvey Ma- chine Company, Baltimore, Md. The latter two machines are used particularly for the rough finishing of steel castings, the removing of sink heads, &c. Parallel to the casting floor is the wing containing the open hearth furnaces, lower left view, Fig. 1, the re- maining space being used now for the storage of scrap. Over the charging floor and running the length of the wing there is a 15-ton 50-foot span Whiting crane, with its runway 22 feet above the floor. This is used for charging the furnaces, with the assistance of a paddle, no special charging machine being used for that purpose. This method seems in this case to be preferable for two reasons: The scrap is of a more or less variable charac- ter, and the crane is decidedly convenient when there is occasion to handle heavy parts in repairing the fur- naces. The two furnaces have capacities, respectively, of 18 and 25 tons, though the former is continually doing 20 tons and the other proportionately more than it is rated for. The furnaces and the four 10-foot gas pro- ducers serving them are located in an adjoining build- ing and were supplied by J. A. Herrick, Philadelphia. The Iron Foundry. The building containing the iron foundry is of brick interior and steel construction, with a slag roof. An THE IRON AGE 1507 also supplied the air hoist used for charging the cupolas. Wilbraham positive pressure blowers furnish the blast for the cupolas, one being a No. 5 size and the other a No. 4. Both are driven by a single 40 horse-power West- inghouse motor, which also drives a centrifugal sand mixer made by the William Sellers Company, Philadel- phia, and a revolving screen sand sifter. One of the 3-ton jib cranes serving the core ovens is equipped with an electric hoist made by the Sprague Electric Com- pany, and the other with an air hoist made by the Chi- cago Pneumatic Tool Company. In the small castings department there is another core oven, a rattler and grinding wheels, motor driven; a sand sifter, operated by air, made by the Hanna Engineering Company, and a small storage space for patterns in active use. Much of the work done in the iron foundry is for the company’s own products, including air furnace rolls and pinions and rolling mill castings, in addition to which a general jobbing business is carried on. The capacity of this plant is 750 tons per month, and single castings have been made weighing as much as 40 tons. Machine Shop No, 1, This building is of stone construction three stories high. It is over 170 feet long and has a main floor 30 feet wide, with wings on either. side 24 feet wide. The central section, which is used as an erecting floor and contains the larger tools, sometimes requiring the service Fig. 3.—A View in the Iron Foundry, Taken from the Core Shop End.—At the Left Are the Core Ovens, with the Cupolas Beyond and the Air Furnace Almost Hidden by the Loam Mold. view is given in Fig. 3, looking down the central bay, which is 60 feet wide by 202% feet long, and is flanked on each side by a wing about 29 feet wide. Two cranes serve the central bay. One is a 25-ton Morgan crane with a 10-ton auxiliary hoist and the other is a double trolley crane, each of the trolleys having a capacity of 15 tons, made by Alfred Box & Co., Philadelphia. It will be noticed that these cranes, like most of those in the other buildings, have a span of 60 feet, a dimension pur- posely adhered to in designing the buildings to make the cranes interchangeable as far as possible. The hights of the runways vary, but not enough to affect the inter- changeability. The cranes in the iron foundry are about 25 feet above the floor. Small castings are made in the wing on the north side. The wing on the south side contains the coreroom, served by two 3-ton jib cranes, two core ovens, two cupolas of 5 and 10 tons capacity per hour and an air furnace with a capacity of 20 tons. The air furnace is served by a 10-ton electric jib crane and was made from the company’s own designs. The small cupola was fur- nished by the J. W. Paxson Company and the large one by the Whiting Foundry Equipment Company, which of a crane, is shown in Fig. 4. It is commanded by one 20-ton Whiting crane, with its runway at a hight of 20 feet from the floor, and a 10-ton crane with rope drive, made by the company, traveling on a runway 40 feet above the floor. All of the heavy tools are on the main floor, among them being an 18 x 22 foot boring mill, made by the company; an 8 x 8 x 25 foot planer, made by the Betts Machine Company ; a 36 x 42 inch by 10 foot Pond planer and a 62-inch lathe. Other tools include two hori- zontal boring machines, a slotter, thirteen lathes of vari- ous sizes, four drill presses, a centering machine, bolt cutter, double head shaper, a boring mill and a pulley turning machine. Lighter tools are placed on the second floors of the wings, these comprising nineteen lathes, six drill presses, a shaper, six milling machines, two planers, a turret lathe, slotter, a four-spindle drill and two groov- ing machines. One of these galleries is used for the testing and erection of small sizes of the Wagner cold saws. For the testing a variable speed device is used be- tween the line shaft and the machine being tested, so that the latter may be run and tested at its rated speed. The opposite gallery is given up to the making of the belt lacing machines and diamond drills which this com- ———e Se ee - ets wre = yy 1508 THE IRON AGE pany has marketed for so many years. The third floors of the wings are at present used for storing diamond drilling machinery and equipment. Machine Shop No, 2. Machine shop No. 2 is an old frame building of ir- regular shape, as may be seen from the plan, the major part of it being served by a 10-ton Whiting crane having its runways 15 feet from the floor. It contains three 40- inch lathes built by the Draper Machine Tool Company, Worcester, Mass., and a Fifield gun boring lathe capable of boring a 9-inch hole to a depth of 30 feet. The work done in this shop is almost exclusively on steel castings, particularly high pressure steel pipe fittings. For this work there was recently added to the machine tool equip- ment a multiple spindle drill built by the Baush Machine Tool Company, Springfield, Mass., which is used for May II, 1905 addition to the space occupied by an air compressor. The engine generator sets, two in number, consist of a 160 horse-power 15 x 14 inch Ames horizontal engine direct connected to a 100-kw. General Electric generator and a 350 horse-power Westinghouse compound automatic en- gine direct connected to a 250-kw. General Electric gen- erator. The air compressor supplies compressed air which is piped to all parts of the works for the opera- tion of air lifts, pneumatic chippers and hammers, a sand sifter, and for cleaning purposes. It is an Ingersoll- Sergeant two-stage compressor with simple steam ends and has a capacity of 500 cubic feet of free air per minute. It might have been mentioned in connection with the descriptions of those departments that in both foundries and the machine shops there are connections on every i 4 Fig. 4.—The Interior of Machine Shop No. 1 of the Birdsboro Steel Foundry & Machine Company. simultaneously drilling the bolt holes in the flanges of large pipe fittings. Additional machinery for finishing these fittings is shortly to be installed, but at present the balance of the shop is used as erecting space. The Smith Shop. The smith shop, power house, boiler house and elec- trical repair shop are in contiguous buildings adjacent to the No. 1 machine shop. The smith shop is 50 x 37 feet and contains three forges and an 800-pound steam ham- mer from the Bement-Miles (Philadelphia) division of the Niles-Bement-Pond Company. The blower for the forges is driven by a 10 horse-power horizontal steam engine, for- meriy a regular line of the company. The little engine has pretty constant and fairly severe service to perform, and although it has been at it for over 20 years seems still to be worth retaining, particularly as steam has to be brought to the building for the hammer. The Power House and Boiler Plant, The power house is 49-feet long by 32 feet wide at its widest point and originally contained a horizontal steam engine belted to a 50-kw. generator. Within the same space there is now accommodated a total capacity of 350 kilowatts, with room for 250 more, and this in column for obtaining compressed air, so that it is avail- able through short lengths of hose in all parts of those buildings. The most original use of compressed air is in the steel foundry, where it is used for cleaning out the molds just prior to casting. The originality lies in the manner in which it is used, the dirt being removed by suction for the most part, although in some cases it is blown out. The device is used in either way and in its principle of action resembles a steam injector. The air is blown out through a direct pipe and the dirt is drawn through a suction pipe at right angles to the blast pipe, and is discharged with the air. If the device is to be used for blowing the discharge pipe is directed into the mold; otherwise it is directed away from it so as to dispose of the dirt where it will not be harmful, and the suction pipe is passed over the parts of the mold to be cleaned. The work is done thoroughly and in a small fraction of the time that would be required in the more laborious process of picking the dirt out. The equipment of the boiler house consists of one 100 horse-power Babcock & Wilcox, one 100 horse-power Gill and one 200 horse-power Edge Moor water tube boil- ers, a boiler feed pump, a feed water heater and an in- May II, 1905 jector. The coal is conveniently received upon an over- head trestle connecting with the main lines of the several railroads and is dumped directly into bins, from which it is taken as needed. The Edge Moor boiler is the one usually used for power purposes and generates steam at 125 pounds pressure. The other boilers are reserves except in winter, when one is used to help out the ex- haust steam in the heating of the buildings. The little shop adjoining the boiler house is a repair shop, in which repairs are made to motors and other electrical parts of the equipment of the plant. The Pattern Shop and Pattern Storage. The pattern shop is a three-story brick building with slate roof. The wood working machinery which it con- tains is confined to the first and second floors and in- cludes a planer, surfacer, band saw, buzz saw and two lathes. These are all driven from shafting which belts to a 40 horse-power Westinghouse motor. The benches are disposed around the walls of the rooms. The third story is used as a storage for lumber. The pattern storage is a four-story brick building with slate roof. It is divided lengthwise, as indicated in the plan, by 13-inch brick walls from the ground floor to the roof, so that there are in all twelve large rooms. Communication to all of these can be had only from the exterior. A platform is erected on a level with each floor and an elevator at one end completes the means of trans- porting material to any one of the twelve compartments. The elevator has a capacity of 3 tons and was furnished by the Albro-Clem Elevator Company. —_——————_3-- oe —_—____ Notes from Great Britain. The Market, Lonpon, April 29, 1905.—A number of good contracts were placed among iron and steel makers prior to the Easter vacation. Since then nothing has been done, but specifications are expected in some numbers in a few days. Additional inquiries for pig iron are being made, which is not surprising in view of the fact that some stocks have been reduced during the past quarter, and smelters admit that they are behindhand with their de- liveries. In steel there is no particular change to be noted. For the present there seems little chance of Ger- man material being offered on the low terms that pre- vailed last year, and for British material the quotation averages about £4 10s. for Bessemer qualities of sheet bars. In some cases half.a crown more is asked, but buy- ers’ idea of price is nearer £4 7s. 6d. Hematite pig iron is fairly steady, but the volume of trade doing is not in- creasing, although there are still indications of a con- siderable improvement in the demand for Bessemer classes of iron. Makers expect to be much busier short- ly, and in the meantime are fairly well sold forward. Mixed Bessemer numbers are firm at 58 shillings 8 pence net, f.o.b., and warrant iron is 58 shillings 4% pence net, cash sellers, at a month. Stocks are low. Iron ore is in better demand at 9 to 10 shillings net, at mines. Steel makers are brisk on heavy rails and are doing rather more in plates, but other departments are quiet. Ship- building orders of some importance are expected every day. British Purchase of German Coke, Cammell, Laird & Co. have entered into a large con- tract for German coke for their Cumberland works, the first cargo of which is timed to arrive at Workington in the first week of May. Mechanically and chemically this coke is said to be equal, if not superior, to the best Dur- ham brands, and can be delivered at cheaper rates than are being asked to-day. This step has been taken in view of the threatened withdrawal at the end of June of the 10 per cent. rebate on the carriage of coke which the West Coast coke consumers have enjoyed during the depression of the last few months. While the rebate is to be withdrawn on coke for the West Coast, it is to be continued to the Staffordshire and Midland works. The matter has been discussed by the West Cumberland Iron Masters’ Association, and the ultimate result of the cor- respondence which has passed between that body and the railway companies will be a joint meeting of representa- tives of both. The withdrawal of the rebate is a serious THE IRON AGE 1509 consideration for large users of coke, such as Cammell, Laird & Co., whose consumption totals 6000 tons a week. I understand that the other large works on the West Coast are adopting the same course as Cammell, Laird & Co. The Iron and Steel Institute’s Autumn Session, A meeting of the Executive Committee appointed to carry out arrangements in connection with the visit of the Iron and Steel Institute to Sheffield in September next was held at the Cutlers’ Hall last week. The Finance Committee reported that donations received to date amounted to £145 10s., which, added to the guarantees— amounting to £5857 1s.—made a total of £6002 11s. The headquarters of the Institute will be the new university buildings, where all the business part of the meeting will be conducted. Concerning the question of accommoda- tion, it was reported that apart from private hospitality the hotels in Sheffield and those within easy reach out- side the town appeared to be able to provide ample ac- commodation. Among the entertainment items of the programme are to be included a luncheon and dinner given by the Sheffield Reception Committee, excursions to places of interest in the neighborhood, and a recep- tion and ball by the Lord Mayor and the president of the Institute, respectively. Various firms have signified their intention to invite delegates to view their works, and Thomas Firth & Sons, Hadfield’s Steel Foundry Com- pany and William Cook & Co. are making arrangements to entertain parties of delegates at luncheon. Foreign BRallroad Developments. The influence of Japan on China has resulted in, among other things, a steadily progressive plan for the opening up of the mining regions by means of railroad extensions and new schemes. These are mainly in the hands of English capitalists. Two new proposals of this kind are reported to have taken concrete form within the last few days, one the line to connect Hankau with several important towns north and south of the Yangtse and traversing mineral areas, in which iron, coal (both bituminous and anthracite), copper and tin deposits of great value are known to exist. These have for the most part been undeveloped owing to the extortionate demands of officials, the difficulty of carrying up proper modern machinery and appliances and of getting the mineral iron down to the railways and coast. A second scheme of similar character and particularly complementary to the first named is to connect Canton with Cheng-tu, the capital of the province of Syechuen, which is at the very head of the Yangtse River navigation. Concessions have already been granted to an English syndicate for lines to run round the boundary of the prosperous area in the neighborhood of Shanghai, and to connect with that by new roads nine other important centers we have hitherto had no real facility for communication with. The Cape to Cairo Railroad will shortly reach Kalomo, 100 miles north of Victoria Falls, where the adminis- trative center of northwestern Rhodesia is situated. The line will immediately be continued to Broken Hill, where large copper and zinc mines are situated, some 250 miles further north. Nothing has yet been decided as to the route to be followed after Broken Hill is reached. It is expected that the new bridge over the falls will be opened for traffic early in June. Very shortly the first sod may be cut in the construc- tion of an important new railroad in South Africa which will unify the trade of the four colonies of Natal, the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony and Cape Colony and materially promote the commercial and political unifica- tion of British South Africa as a whole. Moreover, the construction of this railroad will considerably enlarge the demand for railroad material in South Africa in the near future. The Growing Demand for Aluminium. A feature of the market just now is the growing de- mand for aluminum. Thus the chairman of the British Aluminum Company at its annual meeting attributed the progressive improvement of the company to greatly in- creased sales. The continuous expansion in the demand for aluminum emphasized the necessity of hastening as much as possible the completion of the Loch Leven power works. s @& mM SOP RLTET a wreweretern 8 wer uree SF RS ee | * are n= EEE «CSR Fe 1510 THE IRON AGE The Nutter-Barnes Cutting Off Machine. The metal cutting off machine shown in the accom- panying illustration is designed for heavy work, taking stock up to 10 inches in diameter. It is styled a central drive machine, since the pulley is not overhung. The pul- ley shaft carries a pinion which meshes with a gear on the saw shaft giving a ratio of about 10 to 1, providing ample power to drive a 25-inch saw, 3-16 inch thick, through metal. The machine has a positive automatic feed, belt driven from a cone affording five changes of feed, ranging from 1-5 to % inch per minute, The feed mechanism is driven by a worm on a tilting pulley shaft through a worm gear to the feed screw. The feed is thrown in by a lever which lifts the feed pulley shaft until the worm and worm gear are in mesh and locks them there. A quick return of the saw after completing a ut is obtained by a feed clutch, which throws in an idler sprocket connected by a chain May II, 1905 ernized. ‘This company has had in successful operation for a couple of years a mill containing 152-inch plate rolls, which is the largest and most complete mill on the continent. This mill is being steadily operated to its full capacity. — ~-e___ Powdered Coal for Cement Kilns.—The National Cement Works, Martin’s Creek, Pa., in its recently com- pleted plant has installed an effective mechanical ar- rangement for feeding fuel to the rotary kilns. Powdered coal is used and is supplied under forced draft. The coal burning apparatus was furnished by the B. F. Sturtevant Company, Boston, Mass., and includes three 42-inch cen- trifugal blowers, which deliver through a system of ducts into 5-inch branch pipes leading into each kiln, The air handled by each blower is partially heated by being drawn through the rotary clinker coolers and thence through the passages, where the hot clinker falls from the kiln to the rotary cooler. At the bottom of the pul- The New No. 7, 10-inch, Cutting Off Machine, Built by Nutter, Barnes & Co., Boston. to a sprocket on the feed screw. With this the complete travel of the head is accomplished in 40 seconds. The mechanism is plainly shown in the illustration, which is of the rear of the machine. The total weight of the tool is about 3000 pounds. It is built by Nutter, Barnes & Co., 366 Atlantic avenue, Boston, Mass., which firm also makes an automatic saw sharpener usually furnished with the cutting off machine. The feature of the sharpener is that the saw is spaced, not from its teeth, but from a ratchet having the same number of teeth as the saw to be sharpened. This insures the maintaining of the uniformity of the teeth and con- tributes to better and more accurate work. 9 The Worth Brothers Company, Coatesville, Pa., pro- poses to erect another plate mill containing 132-inch finishing rolls, together with tables, straightening rolls and all other appurtenances and equipment necessary to make the mill modern and complete in every detail. The erection of this mill will be pushed with the utmost dis- patch, and as soon as it is completed and can take care of orders now being made on some of the company’s elder and smaller mills they will be improved and eod- verized coal bin is provided a special controllable feed device which regulates the quantity of fuel and the pro- portionate volume of air. Compressed air at 45 pounds pressure is also introduced into the center of the 5-inch pipe near the kiln end. i Testing Machine for Lubricating Oil.—A new ma- chine for testing lubricating oils, which seems to be a very convenient one to use, has been brought out by the Elektricitats-Aktien-Gesellschaft, Frankfort, Germany. The testing part is a short shaft running in a bearing, the pressure upon which may be regulated. The shaft is driven by an electric motor or other mechanical means, or by hand, the speed being adjustable, and the bearing, by an arrangement of electric coils, may be heated up to any required temperature. About 1% pint of the oil to be tested is poured into the bearing and the shaft is revolved until it attains a definite speed. Power is then cut off and the lubricating value of the oil is judged from the time that elapses before the shaft comes to rest. After each test the shaft is effectively and quickly cleaned by pouring over it a liquid in which the oil is soluble and then removing the liquid by a blast of air. May II, 1905 Motor Drive on a Cincinnati Twenty-four- Inch Shaper. A motor application to a 24-inch back geared crank shaper, similar to the one illustrated, is now being ex- hibited at the Liége Exposition, Belgium,. by the Cincin- nati Shaper Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. To duplicate the equipment almost any constant speed motor might be used, as the machine is capable of eight speeds within itself, covering a range sufficient for almost any line of work. It is particularly worthy of notice that little or no change was made to adapt the machine to electric drive, and yet an admirably unobtrusive disposition of the motor was effected. The only special fixtures are the motor pad and its attachments. An interesting feature in connection with this part is the arrangement for regu- lating the belt tension. The gear wheel immediately below the four-step cone A 24-Inch Back Geared Crank Shaper with Motor pulley is attached to the initial shaft—that is, the one which, in the regular machine, having no back gears, carries the cone pulley. On the back geared machine a pinion on the cone pulley shaft meshes with the large gear on the initial shaft. The small wooden hand wheel on the cone shaft is for adjusting the ram by hand. The rod immediately below the large gear manipulates the back gears in the machine and the curved handle at the side of the machine operates a brake on the inside of the cone pulley. The leaf carrying the motor is hinged at its lower end and is adjustable at its upper end, through the cap and set screws shown, to tighten the belt on the cone pulleys. As has been stated, the machine is in other respects the standard product of the Cincinnati Shaper Company, being one particularly designed for heavy work. The machine may be used either in single or back geared form, the ratio of the gearing in the one case being six revolutions of the cone shaft to one stroke of the ram, and in the other 26 to 1. An outer support for the table is regularly furnished to give it the stiffness required for heavy cutting. The large opening through the column THE IRON AGE 15i! under the ram allows the key seating of shafting and of similar work up to 4 inches in diameter. The follow- ing are the principal dimensions: Penereeee Oe GO MAUGNE.. 6. ccncneventcecewhewuen 25 inches. Greatest distance table to ram...........0eeeeeeee 16% inches. Wee CUIOE OE GOINGS bie ca os vi ccucedenddeenanvens 14 inches. pees: Creel 66 C0e. occ cv cco wedavcaseageawe 26% inches. Feed to head......... mM asaiinceleietne see eiaeeen en 7% Inches, Length of ram bearing in column.............++ee+.% 36 inches. Width of ram bearing in column..............eeeee8 12 inches. WORE GE WING hi a 6a 06:40 kh ks Kec tieeecets 4,000 pounds, The length of the stroke is changed from the working side of the machine, and its position by a hand wheel on top of the ram, and these changes can be made while the machine is in motion or at rest. NO Oe The Manhattan Bridge.—Specifications will be com- pleted and proposals will be asked about June 1 by the Department of Bridges, New York, for the superstructure . Tre (fan Aa Drive, Built by the Cincinnat: Shaper Company. for the new Manhattan Bridge across the East River. This bridge will be somewhat heavier than the Williams- burgh Bridge, which took in all about 50,000 tons, but will be of the same type, though of more ornate design. The first contract to be advertised will cover the towers, cables, stiffening trusses, roadways, &c.; in fact, the en- tire steel structure from anchorage to anchorage, for which there will be required approximately 45,000 tons of steel. It will be some time before the department will be ready to ask bids for the construction of the approaches to the bridge, as the plans for these have not yet been worked out in detail. It is estimated that about 10,000 tons of steel will be required to construct the approaches, which with the tonnage required for the main structure will aggregate 55,000 tons of steel, 5000 tons more than used in building the Williamsburgh Bridge. The main span of the new bridge will be 1470 feet long and the spans from the towers to the anchorages will be 725 feet in length each. It will be 120 feet wide over all, with a 35-foot roadway and four trolley tracks, over which will be the four tracks for elevated service. There will also be two footwalks. Cee an a RSE So i NaS - he TE 9 RR 2 re 1512 Air Blast for the Foundry Cupola.* BY W. H. CARRIER. The foundryman about to install a blower for a cu- pola wishes to weigh carefully the relative merits of the fan and the positive blowers. The points to be consid- ered in order of their importance are the relative ad- vantages in operation; the relative efficiency—i. e., the relative power required for operation; the relative costs of maintenance, and the comparative first cost. Operating Advantages of a Fan, These two types of blowers operate upon different principles. The centrifugal blower furnishes variable air volume at constant pressure, while the positive blow- er furnishes constant volume at variable pressure. Which is best is still disputed among foundrymen. Some urge that a positive air volume gives a greater speed of melt- ing with less power for a given pressure. Others claim that the fan is more elastic in its operation, giving a greater volume of air when most needed—at the begin- ning and at the end of the heat—and at no time forcing the cupola to an undue extent. It is also maintained that the fan permits a complete control of the blast vol- ume and pressure through the operation of the blast gate, which is impossible in the positive blower without great waste of power. The melting capacity of the fan depends upon the inside diameter of the cupola and upon the pressure, while the melting capacity of the positive blower de- pends upon the speed. Thus it is common in fan practice to increase the melting capacity by increasing the diam- eter of the cupola inside the lining without changing the speed of the fan. With the positive blower, however, it would be necessary either to increase the speed of the blower or to install a larger size. Flexibility of Fan Biast Saves Power. Under certain conditions the positive blower is superior in power economy to the fan. Neither is mechanically per- fect. In the former loss of power and of air volume occurs principally through leakage of air between the contact surfaces of the rotary parts. There is consid- erable loss also due to the friction of the contact parts and of the gearing. The loss in power in the fan is due chiefly to the loss in pressure by friction of the air in passing through the blower. A new positive blower in good condition will give an efficiency of from 70 to 75 per cent., while the fan as usually constructed gives only 60 to 65 per cent. At a slightly increased cost fans can be built giving not less than 70 per cent. efficiency, or practically the same efficiency as obtained by the posi- tive blower. The wearing of the contact parts in the positive blower causes decrease in the efficiency, so that after some years’ service its efficiency is frequently lower than that of the fan. ' An erroneous impression is often given as to the power required for fan blast, as very often fans are not properly proportioned for the duty required. A fan’s efficiency decreases when the fan is worked above or below its rated capacity, although the change in power is not as great as with the positive blower. With the latter the power varies with the pressure, while with the fan the air volume and the power vary inversely as the pressure. Consequently a fan frequently requires excessive power when proper attention is not given to the regu- lation of the blast, especially when starting the cupola or blowing upon the fire, and also toward the end of the heat when the bed of fuel becomes light. This subject was discussed by Thomas D. West in a paper read be- fore the Pittsburgh Foundrymen’s Association, March 7, 1904. The great amount of power used by the fan which he mentions was required when blowing up the fire be- fore charging the cupola. Under such conditions the power required is two or three times that necessary nor- mally. As a motor was used the speed of the blower could not be changed, and the power should have been reduced by the use of a blast gate. A cupola fan re- quires approximately seven times as much power when blowing freely into the atmosphere as when operated at the same speed with the outlet closed. * Abstract of a paper perpees before the Buffalo Foundry- men’s Association April 18, 1905. THE IRON AGE May II, 1905 Lower Pressures Favored, The writer believes the practice to be growing in favor among foundrymen of using lower pressures and larger tuyere area, with a better distribution of blast. Under these conditions the advantages lie mainly with the fan. As a comparison, a local foundry using a positive blower on a 60-inch cupola at 16% ounces pressure requires 3 horse-power per ton of iron melted per hour, while in another case a fan operating a 66-inch cupola re- quires 21%4 horse-power per ton of iron melted. The blow- er and fan were both new. It is also interesting to note that the former requires a ratio of 8 to 1 for melting, while the latter requires a ratio of only 10 to 1. The reason for this difference in melting ratio is shown, in part, by a comparison of the analyses of the cupola gases, which were as follows: First cupola. Second cupola. Per cent. Carbon dioxide : 15.1 arden monoxide : Se x en le ° Nitrogen R 75.2 Pounds of air per pound of carbon.... 9.4 Heat units per pound of carbon 10,000 From this it will be seen that 15 per cent. more heat was obtained from the fuel in the second case than in the first, which accounts in part for the economy shown by the melting ratio. Unfortunately the temperatures of the iron which are required to make the above data complete were not taken, but it is believed that they were practically the same, in each case being sufficient for pouring a good grade of fine castings. The fact that there is a greater difference in the melting ratios than would be indicated by the gas analyses may be accounted for by the hypothesis that owing to the more uniform dis- tribution of the blast at a lower pressure in the second case there was a greater concentration of heat and con- sequently a higher temperature in the lower part of the melting zone, while in the first instance, with less perfect distribution of blast and with higher celocities, the melt- ing zone was more extended and the temperature in the lower part less intense. The combustion in the cupola is always imperfect. A large volume of carbon monoxide indicates a waste of fuel and a lowered temperature. It will be noticed that the combustion is much more complete in the second case than in the first. This may be because in the second case a center tuyere cupola was used, which, with the low pressure, gave a very even distribution of the blast. It would appear that the proper distribution of the blast is the most important feature of cupola operation and affects the economy of fuel, the time of melting and the horse- power required in furnishing blast. Melting Capacity. 5 A question of much importance is the melting capacity of various sizes of cupolas under different pressures and the corresponding horse-powers required for operation. As the result of numerous tests and considerable investiga- tion, a relation has been formulated between the size of the cupola, the pressure of the blast, the average speed of melting and the horse-power required for operation. This data is given in the accompanying tables: Cupola Capacities. Diameter of cupola. Static pressure at cupola in ounces per square inch. Inches. 10 ounces, 12 ources. 14 ounces. 16 ounces. 6,230 7,200 1,568 1,800 9.7 15.0 19.130 . 4,783 24.9 -- »22,770 - 5,69 29.6 May II, 1905 The diameter of the cupola given is measured inside the lining. The Cap. stands for capacity, and is given in pounds of iron per hour; A. P. M. indicates the cubic feet of air per minute required; H. P. stands for horse- power required for driving the fan. It should be noticed that the melting capacity increases at a much lower rate than the pressure, while the horse-power increases very rapidly with the increase in the speed of melting. For instance: A cupola 60 inches inside the lining will melt on an average 11% tons per hour at 10-ounce pressure with 2914 horse-power. The same cupola requires 16- ounce pressure and 60 horse-power to melt 12% tons per hour. Compounded Blowers, Some very interesting experiments have recently been made in the compounding of blowers for higher pres- sures. The Buffalo Forge Company is now constructing a compound blower which gives 2 pounds pressure per square inch, It has been found by tests that the efficiency of the blower is not affected by the pressure, so theo- retically there is no limit to the pressure that may be secured. By sufficient compounding, a fan could be used as a substitute for an air compressor or blowing engine und an efficiency as high as 70 per cent. be secured. It is probable that great progress will be made in this direc- tion within the next few years by the use of compound fans direct connected to steam turbines. ———~+ oe The Imico Union for Steam Piping. A new form of union that has malleable iron tail or end pieces in connection with a brass seat has recently been brought out by the Illinois Malleable Iron Com- pany, 30 West Monroe street, Chicago. It is a patented article, to which the company has given the trade name Imico. The particular merit claimed for the union is that, having brass against iron in the seat and brass against iron in the ring, the connection is always noncorrosive and no gasket is required. It is made of malleable iron, as stated, of remarkably heavy proportions, and is of octagonal pattern with interchangeable