The Iron Age 1905-05-25: Vol 75 Iss 21

THE [RON& E A Review of the Hardware, Iron, Machingfy “z tes. Published every Thursday Morning by David Williams C a1 % = i St... New York, Ney oA rr, Vol. 75: No. 21. New York, Thursday, May 25, 198 EL aie, ineteding Peltegn Reading Matter Contents...... page 1711 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers ‘‘ 167 Classified List of Advertisers.... ‘“‘ 159), ® Advertising and Subscription Rates ‘‘ 166) @& Forster Pulleys | LIGHT and STRONG Forster Pulley Works CUBA, N. ¥. es are preferred by pa- triotic boys because they are ~ Sure Fire Noise Makers Every dealer sells _U. M. C. blanks. Boys always call for the ‘‘U’’ kind. Bristol’s Pate nt Steel Belt Lacing. ke ae Dealers lhe M. C. eee insure quick sales. saves |The Union Metallic Cartridge Company, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. treneth TimguED ows With moatestee Metal | 4&ency, 313 Broadway, New York City. Depot, 86-88 First St., San Francisco, Cala. for Circulars and Free Samples. ———————————— emewuraaun0<u”““" lll l™EQ™E™E™ElE™EEllNRNRENR"“wWVWVCNQO0QN===“EE™E™E=S attest scr Z| CAHALL BOILERS THE AMERICAN MFG. CO., 65 Wall Street, N. Y. SEE PAGE 118. cumsovcoatnc. | CAPEWELL HORSE. NAILS TURNBUOKLES. “THE BEST IN THE WORLD” Branch Office, 11 Broadway, New York. HIGHEST AWARD IN ALL COMPETITIONS re So GOLD MEDAL MERRILL BROS., AT mt TTD cen? 465 to 471 Kent Ave . Brooklyn, B.D:.N.¥. LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION Low Phosphorus Pig. St. Louis, 1904 . PILLING & CRANE, faz") THE GAPEWELL HORSE NAIL CO., Hartford, Conn. From Ore Mine ‘—_ Packing of Joints will not be a source of much trouble or annoyance if you will take the precau- um tion to procure the genuine ¥ JENHINS °96 PACKING It will make perfect steam joint instantly. All genuine bears Trade Mark as shown in the cut. to _______SENKINS BROS.. New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago,’ London. ‘oak “ 9 Is unex- MF Tin | Seto GOld Rolled Stel cat Dango Stamping See MAGNOLIA METAL. Best Anti-Friction Metal for all Machinery Bearings. AMERICAN SHEET & TIN i he PLATE COMPANY'S = MAGNOLIA METAL 00. Owners and Sole Manufacturers, ——* Gem Prancieco, ) Ad on Page 24. Chicago, Fisher Bidg. NEW Y computes maufactareallgredea of Babies Metals Bt BOOTS OO RO EPL NLS ae SE AE OPO ALE ERIE AS A NTE NRC, ITT CUyeesy + rE Te TE PP ALY 496 =e Eee or SE ET eer . - * seyret « 5 ere is a a" wy Fe am : . na F a SOUS ns Ln inside ae Be GSS 3 ak ocey THE IRON AGE mM (BRASS; ».. mira Grade | ae COPPER GERMAN | seer ROD SILVER WIRE “QUEEN'S RUN” “Lock HAVEN” “West BRANCH” aa B ND HAPES “HONG” SEAMLESS BRASS AND COPPER Mle S804 2\ ee we) | TUBING. BRAZED BRASS AND ne BRONZE TUBING. S 8 04815 8 8 6 me gig ——— WATERBURY BRASS CO., Plat STEEL oy ss snort. Poe Bridgeport mead) tema Bronze & sellétal Gt CONN. Automobile Castings a Specialty. High Tensile Strength. Brothers Co. Bronze and Aluminum Alloys. Pittsburgh, Pa. Write Us. Follansbee 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. as UNS ieee a 88-742 West Monroe St. Chicago. Best Bronze, Babbitt mpi eret VeTN TNA Sec THE PLUME & Atwood M6, Co., MANUFACTURERS OF Sheet and Roll Brass —aND— WiRG ae PRINTERS’ BRASS, JEWELERS’ METAL, GERMAN SILVER AND GILDING METAL, COPPER RIVETS AND BURRS. Pins, Brass Butt Hinges, Jack Chain, Keree sene Burners, Lamps, Lamp Trimmings, &c. LOW BRASS. SHEET BRONZE. |*® MURRAY ST., NEW YORK. 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON. 199 LAKE S8T., CHICAGO, ROLLING MILL : | FACTORIES ¢ THOMASTON, CONN. WATERBURY. CONN, SCOVILL MFG. CO., MANUFACTURERS OF 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: NEW YORK. CHICAGO. BOSTON. Henry Souther Engineering Co, HARTFORD, CONN. Consulting ale cere and An ee 8. noun in tae and Patent C Labovaterys Expers Arthur T. Rutter & Go. 256 Broadway, NEW YORK. 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. THE BRIDGEPORT BRASS 6O., BRIDGEPORT, CONN. zo Murray St., New York. 85-87 Pearl St., Boston. 17 N. 7th St., Philadelphia, FOUN DERS— FINISHERS. Ww. G. ROWELL CO., HENDRICKS BROTHERS PROPRIETORS OF THE Belleville Copper Rolling Mills, Brazsicrs’ Bolt and Sheathing COPPER, COPrPwER WwiRE AND RIVETS. Importers and Dealers in Ingot Copper, Block Tin, Spelter, Lead, Antimony, etc. 49 CLIFF ST., NEW. YORK. Bridgeport, Conn. ano 4 TUBING Copper | WIRE Lamp Goods of ail Kinds, BRASS AND COPPER GOODS In Great Varieties. GEORGE KROUSE HEAVY CASTINGS Manufacturer of al) kinds of Brass and Composition Castings. Brazing Metals, Hard Composition and Phosphor Bronze Castings a Specialty 160 to 164 Morgan Street, JERSEY CITY. N. J. THE IRON AGE New York, Thursday, May 25, 1905. Motor Drives in the Plant of the John Simmons Company. About a year ago the John Simmons Company, 110 Centre street, New York City,, built a new addition to its plant about 7500 square feet in area and six stories high. This section is occupied mainly by tools for work on large pipe and steel and iron fittings. In all cases it was the main object to make the machines capable of using high speed steel tools and to this end motors have been employed one to each tool, inasmuch as it was not practicable to pull the heavy cuts which the tools are capable of when belt drive is resorted to. A number of the combinations are of special interest and are shown in the several accompanying illustrations, a description of each of which will be given. In spite of the fact that the works have been con- siderably enlarged, the substitution of individual motor Fig. 1—A Two-Spindle, 48 and 26 Inch Lathe, 16 drive for shaft drive has made it possible to install a generating plant of smaller capacity than was formerly required. Originally the power plant contained two en- gines with a combined horse-power of 225. The new equipment consists of a 150 horse-power direct connected set, the engine being furnished by the New York Safety Power Company and the generator by the General Elec- tric Company. The latter supplies current at 240 volts and has a capacity of 100 kw. This set is used for fur- nishing light and power to the whole building. The cur- rent is distributed over a multiple voltage system using a Crocker-Wheeler three-unit balancer. This is a four- wire system from which six voltages are available, from 40 to the total voltage of the line, increasing in the inter- mediate steps by increments of 40 volts. Steam is sup- plied by two 250 horse-power Edgar water tube boilers. These replace two 60 horse-power boilers in the old plant. The exhaust steam is used for heating with the addition of sufficient live steam in the severest weather to make up the required amount. The returns from the heating’ system form the feed for the boilers and are passed through a 500 horse-power Cochrane feed water heater and filter. -There are three feed pumps of Worth- ington make, and in addition a house pump and fire pump. ~Water for all but drinking is taken from an artesian well and is used in the sprinkler system, for washing purposes and in the plumbing fixtures. The largest lathe in the shop is shown in Fig. 1. This lathe has two spindles, on one of which diameters up to 48 inches may be turned, while the other set of centers have a swing of 26 inches. The bed is 16 feet long and will take a length of 11 feet between centers. The lathe was furnished by J. J. McCabe, New York, and was built by the American & British Mfg. Company. Power is obtained from a 13 horse-power semi-inclosed Crocker- Feet Long, Driven by a 13 Horse-Power Motor. Wheeler motor running at 1100 revolutions per minute normally. It drives through an intermediate gear to a gear on the largest step of the cone pulley, the remainder of the drive being the regular connection. The mounting of the motor is peculiar, as the rear of the motor pad is supported by the spindle by resting on babbitted bear ings. The speed of the spindle is comparatively low, so that there is no objection to this arrangement. It was resorted to because it made possible a more compact and simple mounting. Through the various back gear combinations within the lathe three speed changes may be made which multiply the 12 changes possible through the motor. The controller is placed on the floor near the tail end of the lathe and is manipulated through a splined shaft by a controller handle fastened on the carriage apron, so that the operator may contro] the motor without moving from his position. Fig. 2 shows a 24-inch planer drive shaper made by the Hendey Machine Company, Torrington, Conn. It is used for light work on steel] dies, for cutting off stock, See erm Oe <a has Na RP eRe? AEA PMP NETS + SINE Bele ORE SP et ES, = rene ung ce ts {RORY LIOR 2 e oer TE: s 4 é seashore’ aa aa 1654 THE IRON AGE &c., and is driven by a 1 horse-power type L Crocker- Wheeler motor running at 1200 revolutions per minute at full speed and supplied with current on a two-wire system. The motor is mounted on a bracket bolted to the frame and connects by chain with a sprocket wheel Fig. 2.—A 24-Inch Hendey Shaper Driven by a 1 Horse-Power Motor. Fig. 3.—A 22-Inch Barnes Drill with a 1 Horse-Power Motor. which operates the forward or cutting stroke. The pulley for the return stroke is driven by belt in the opposite direction from a pulley on a small shaft, which is geared to the motor. This small countershaft is carried in a bracket bolted to the motor bracket. Beneath the motor is a small box containing the fuses and ,main line switches for the current supply. Eight speeds are ob- May 25, 1905 tained by manipulating a rheostat, mounted behind the motor, as seen in the illustration. A neat drill press drive is shown in Fig. 3. This ma- chine is a 22-inch drill made by the W. F. & John Barnes Company, Rockford, I1l., and is driven by a 1 horse-power Fig. 5—A No. 3 Becker-Brainard Universal Milling Machine, 1 Horse-Power Motor. Fig. 4.—A 24-Inch Stockbridge Shaper with a 4 Horse-Power Motor. motor through a chain connection. The motor is mounted on a base plate supported from the floor on pipe stanchions. The chain sprocket to which the motor con- nects is mounted on an extension of the cone pulley shaft and replaces the tight and loose pulleys which are fur- nished with the belt driven machine. Fig. 4 shows a 24inch crank shaper made by the May 25, 1905 Stockbridge Machine Company, Worcester, Mass. While this machine is of the same stroke as the one shown in Fig. 2, it is designed for much heavier work, as may be seen from its heavier construction. The cone pulley regu- larly furnished with the shaper is replaced by a chain THE IRON AGE 1655 motor. With this obtained elec- cable contain'ng the leads to the equipment the has six speeds, trically, through a box on the main driving shaft this range may be doubled. The high- est possible cutting speed is 35 feet per minute, but this shaper and mechanical speed Fig. 6.—Three Motor Driven Lathes Used for Brass Work. Fig. 7.—Three Larger Lathes for Iron Work. sprocket, which connects through a Renold silent chain with a pinion on the motor. The motor is placed on the floor and is a 4 horse-power Crocker-Wheeler semi- inclosed motor running at 1170 revolutions per minute at full voltage. Connections for the wiring may be seen on the side of the machine, the upper cable containing the wires leading from the line switch box to the disk controller near the front of the machine, and the lower The Intermediate Gears Are Rawhide in Each Case is faster than is ever used. The ordinary range is from 15 to 25 feet a minute. At the right, in the background of the same engrav- ing, is shown a No, 3 universal milling machine made by the Becker-Brainard Milling Machine Company, Boston, Mass. A better view of the tool is shown in Fig. 5. It is driven by a 1 running at 1200 revolutions per minute. It is supported on a bracket horse-power motor ae AS RN pi Re ly a ae wae 1656 mounted on the top of the machine. Another bracket sup- ports an intermediate shaft, to which the motor con- nects by a Renold silent chain. At the opposite end of this shaft from the chain sprocket is a pinion engag- ing gear teeth on the middle step of the cone pulley, which runs loose on the machine spindle. Beyond this point the driving mechanism is unchanged from its original arrangement, there being back gears between the cone pulley and the spindle, used when a slower speed than the direct drive is called for. In this way the 12 speeds possible through the motor are doubled, so that the tool is capable of 24 different speeds. The con- troller is of the drum type and is mounted on the switch box, while the latter is supported on blocks directly upon the floor. ; Three small lathes for brass work are illusttated in ae 5 i: . a | THE IRON AGE May 25, 1905 giving six speeds direct and one reverse on the small lathe driven by the 1 horse-power motor. Fig. 7 shows three lathes of slightly heavier construc- tion, used for the turning of iron. The first is a Pratt & Whitney 16-inch lathe 8 feet long, which is driven by a 2 horse-power motor carrying a pinion which drives through an intermediate rawhide gear to a gear on the third step of the cone pulley, after an arrangement prac- tically identical to the first two brass lathes which were described. This illustration shows the gearing better than Fig. 5. The next lathe has a swing of 20 inches and was built by the R. K. LeBlond Machine Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is driven by a 4 horse-power semi- inclosed motor geared in the same manner as before de- scribed, and the third machine, the one in the extreme rear, is a lathe built by the E. P. Bullard Lathe Com- Fig. 8.—A View in the Old Part of the Shop, Showing the Shaft Drive, Which Is Now Being Replaced, and a Multiple Spindle Baush Drill for Boring Holes in Large Flanged Fittings. Fig. 6. These, from right to left, are a turret lathe, made by the American Tool & Machine Company; a 16-inch Fox lathe, and a speed lathe. In the first two cases the motor drives directly through gears, and in the last case it is connected by belt, being mounted on the floor be- tween the legs at the head end of the machine. In each of the first two the motor carries a pinion meshing with an intermediate rawhide gear, which, in turn, engages a gear on the next to the largest step of the cone pulleys. The first two motors are of 2 horse-power size and run at 1050 revolutions per minute at full speed. The boxes containing the line switches are mounted below the bed at the head end of the machine. The current mains are under the floor, and are brought up to these boxes through iron conduits. One of the boxes is shown with the cover open exposing the four-blade fused line switch. Drum type controllers giving 12 speeds, which are doubled mechanically, are, used with the 2 horse-powér motors and a controller of disk type pany. It has a 20-inch swing and is driven by a 2 horse-power type L motor. All three of these lathes have drum type controllers through which 12 speeds are ob- tainable electrically, this range being doubled mechanical- ly by the back gears on the lathes. Other lathes in this section but not shown in the engraving include a Putnam lathe with 24-inch swing and 12-foot bed and a Gleason lathe with 30-inch swing. Both are driven by 4 horse- power motors. In Fig. 8 is shown a general view of the old part of the shop, where the machinery is all driven from line shaft- ing. This forms a striking contrast to the equipments shown in the other illustrations, Fig. 8 also shows a new tool recently installed for simultaneously drilling the bolt holes in the flanges of large pipe fittings. It was built by the Baush Machine Tool Company, Springfield, Mass., and has 12 spindles. These, being driven by universal jointed shafts, are capable of various adjustments be- tween centers. By using only as many as may be needed May 25, 1905 THE IRON AGE 1657 any number of holes from 1 to 12 may be drilled at a time. The holes may be drilled in a circle as small as 7% inches in diameter or as large as 24 inches. The rated capacity of the tool is 12 11-inch holes, but it has drilled nine 11-inch holes at one operation. It is capable of using Novo or other high speed steel drills, and will go through 1 inch of metal in one minute. The same engraving and also Fig. 1 are interest- ing in showing the overhead trolley system used for transferring work about the shop. It carries trolley hoists of a capacity of 2000 pounds, made by D. Round & Son, Cleveland, Ohio. The other tools in this section include a Wright lathe, three tapping ma- chines made by Saunders & Son, Yonkers, N. Y., with maximum capacities of 3, 4 and 6 inches, respectively; a forge, anvil and grindstone, a Prentiss sensitive drill, a Blaisdell drill press, an emery wheel, a 26-inch drill made by the W. F. & John Barnes Company and a 5- foot Bickford radial drill. These tools are now being changed over to motor drive. One 7% horse-power motor will drive in a group the three tapping machines. All of the other tools will be individually driven. The Baush multiple spindle drill will have a 20 horse-power motor placed on the floor behind the column and con- nected by a 4-inch chain with the cone pulley shaft. An interesting characteristic of all of the motor drives which have been installed, and which will be adhered to in all that will be added, is that the original state of tool is not destroyed, and it may at any time be easily recon- verted to belt driven form. The cone pulleys, as will have been noticed, were in most cases retained, and the gears which were placed on the steps of the pulleys are in the form of rings slipped on and secured by set screws. In the motor mountings the same care was taken not to destroy any part nor make it impossible to restore the belt arrangements. These equipments represent the joint work of George T. Hanchett, consulting electrical engi- neer, New York City, and George N. Noble, superintendent of the machine shop and power plant of the John Sim- mons Company. ——9---o______- The Buffalo Foundrymen’s Association.—The regu- lar monthly meeting of the Buffalo Foundrymen’s Asso- ciation was held in its headquarters, 23 Builders’ Ex- change, May 16. President Lyman P. Hubbell presided and 28 members and several visitors attended. After the regular order of business was disposed of the chair introduced Daniel Upton, supervisor of manual training in the Buffalo public schools, who in a very interesting talk explained the advantages of manual training of- fered at the Mechanic Arts High School to the young men of the city. This school has an excellently equipped pattern shop, 18 wood turning lathes, a cabinet shop with 24 work benches, a shop equipped with 20 forges and several drafting rooms. One of the basement rooms has been fitted out as a molding room, where the boys take lessons in molding before they enter the pattern making classes. The machinery is driven by electric motors. The branches of industrial training are as follows: First year, cabinet work and wood turning; second year, molding and pattern making; third year, iron forging, brazing, tempering, &c.; fourth year, ma- chine shop practice. In each year the drafting conforms to the other work, the course as laid out consisting of free hand and mechanical branches. The latter takes in machine and allied subjects in the last two years. The aim is not to produce specialists in any line, but to de- velop the whole man by educating the hand and mind to work together. The boy is therefore better fitted to enter a larger field of usefulness. At present about 150 boys are taking the technical course, though it has been established only about two years. > ee —____ Canada bas paid in bounties on iron and steel produc- tion up to April 30 in the current fiscal year, a period of ten months, the sum of $941,007; on lead, $407,165; on crude petroleum, $243,148, and on binder twine, $9167. In the corresponding period of the next previous fiscal year the amount paid out on account of iron and steel was $679,322. A Life Insurance Question in Bankruptcy. WASHINGTON, D. C., May 23, 1905.—The United States Supreme Court has finally determined a question that has been at issue since the Federal Bankruptcy law was placed on the statute books in 1898—namely, whether life insurance policies having a cash surrender value must be transferred to the trustee by a bankrupt before he can be discharged, or may be retained as an exemption. The court holds in effect that the issue is one depending solely upon the exemption laws of the State in which the petition is filed, such laws being specifically recognized as controlling by the terms of the bankruptcy act. The case in question, that of Holden & Holden vs. Stratton, arose in the United States District Court of Washington. The petitioners went into bankruptcy own- ing certain life insurance policies having a cash surrender value, whereupon the trustee, Stratton, sued to obtain possession thereof on the ground that, although such policies were exempt under the laws of the State of Washington, they were rendered nonexempt by the spe- cific terms of section 70a of the Federal Bankruptcy law. The referee sustained the claim of the trustee, but his ruling was reversed by the District Court, whereupon on a petition for revision the Circuit Court of Appeals held that the bankrupts were obliged to pay the cash surren- der value in order to retain the policies. The case came before the United States Supreme Court on a petition for a writ of certiorari. The sole question before the Supreme Court was as to the controlling force of two provisions of the Federal Bankruptcy law, which at first glance appear to be con- flicting, but which the court holds to be entirely consist- ent with each other. Section 6 of the act provides that nothing in the statutes shall affect “the allowance to bankrupts of the exemptions which are prescribed by State laws,” &c. Section 70a, however, contains the following proviso: That when any bankrupt shall have any insurance policy which has a cash surrender value payable to himself, his estate oc personal representatives, he may, within 30 days after the cash surrender value has been ascertained and stated to the trustee by the company issuing the same, pay or secure to the trustee the sum so aseertained and stated and continue to hold, own and carry such policy free from the claim of the creditors participating in the distribution of his estate under the bank- ruptcy proceedings ; otherwise the policy shall pass to the trustee as assets. Conflicting views as to the operation upon section 6 of the proviso in section 70a have been taken by the Cir- cuit Courts of Appeal in various jurisdictions. The Su- preme Court settles the controversy in a brief but com- prehensive decision, in part as follows: As section 7%a deals only with property which, not being ex- empt, passes to the trustee, the mission of the proviso was, in the interest of the perpetuation of policies passed to the trustee because they were not exempt, if they had a surrender value their future operation could be preserved by vesting the bank- rupt with the privilege of paying such surrender value, whereby the policy would be withdrawn out of the category of an asset of the estate. That is to say, the purpose of the proviso was to confer a benefit upon the insured bankrupt by limiting the char- acter of the interest in a nonexempt life insurance policy which should pass to the trustee, and not to cause such a policy when exempt to become an asset of the estate. When the purpose of the proviso is thus ascertained it becomes apparent that to main- tain the construction which the argument seeks to affix to the nroviso would cause it to produce a result diametrically opposed to its spirit and to the purpose it was intended to subserve. And the meaning which we deduce from the text and context of the proviso is greatly fortified by obvious considerations of public policy. It has always been the policy of Congress, both in general legislation and in bankrupt acts, to recognize and give effect to the State exemption acts. The judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals is reversed, and that of the District Court affirmed. There has been some controversy in the lower Federal courts as to the exact meaning of the words “cash sur- render value” as employed in section 70a, some courts holding that it means a surrender value expressly stipu- lated in the policy and others that it relates to the sum which the insurance company might be willing to pay to cancel a policy whether containing such stipulation or not. The Supreme Court holds that this question is not involved in the case at issue and, although favoring the latter construction, declines to expressly decide the ques- tion. wT. t. 6 Soe AMOI EE et ic PRIS BK =? RES WeRe ses SS Sa? 2° Doe? 3 ey ' caer 4 DV Deke RT Ske be ; if xy a 1058 Ore Handling Plant at Conneaut, Ohio. An interesting evolution in systems for the handling of ore lias been worked out at the plant of the Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Company, Conneaut, Ohio. At this place the ore carrying trade of the Great Lakes makes connection with the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, to transfer ore to the region of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania, where the ore is mainly consumed. The vessels are loaded in Duluth, Minn., and make the trip to Conneaut Harbor in about seven days. When the conditions allow it the vessels are unloaded directly into the cars, but if there are not sufficient empty cars to permit of uninterrupted unloading of the vessels their contents are temporarily stored on the docks in pits paralleling the vessels, or in a large storage area. The pits are used when the ore is only to be stored tempo- rarily and the large storage yard when a longer reten- tion of the stock is probable. Ore handling is not the sole business carried on at Conneaut; there is also some transferring of rails and = Ce el THE IRON AGE May 25, 1905 the cars to make a round trip in shorter time. On the docks the cars are handled by switching engines, cable haulage and by gravity. In the cable haulage systems. endless 1l-inch steel cables are used, which are driven continuously, At the ends of the haul the cables pass over large sheaves, one being fixed and the other movable, to take up slack. The drums on the driving en- gine around which the cable passes are arranged with friction rings, one for each lap of the cable, which will slip in case an excessive load is placed on the cable and prevent damage to the machinery or breaking the cable. The cable travels at about 1 foot a second and is used to move the cars by clamping to it at any point a short extension rope leading from the car or cars to be moved. Several cars may be moved at a time and stopped at any desired point, one man being sufficient to do the moving. Dock 1. Two of the four docks referred to have storage area, while the other two have not. Dock 1 has a;capacity for storing about 546,000 long tons, is about.,2000 feet Fig. 1.—The Four Brown Electric “ Fast Plants” for Unloading Cre at the Conneaut Docks. coal, but the transferring of ore is the most important work engaged in, and that to which the present article is to be confined. Such handling of coal as is carried on is mostly for the coaling of the vessels used in the ore transportation. The arrangement, as will be later ex- plained, is such that no extra time is consumed in coaling, this being carried on simultaneously with the unloading of ore. The docks, four in number, are located at the outlet of Conneaut River into Lake Erie, about 1% miles from the Pennsylvania State line. The amount of ore handled here last year was over 4,000,000 long tons, in spite of the fact that the season was shortened by a strike of the lake captains and pilots, and it is probable that this record will be exceeded during the present season. The railroad is a single track road, having a capacity of about 650 40-ton cars per day. During one day last year, how- ever, 756 cars were loaded and dispatched. The great- est difficulty at the present time is in the inability of the railroad to handle the material fast enough. Its capacity is practically reached, but the unloading machinery at the docks is by no means up to its limit. Better un- loading facilities are also needed at the furnaces to allow long, and is equipped with 23 unloading bridges, a cable haulage system and several steam shovels and other ma- chines for loading cars from the stock pile. These un- loading bridges are of the McMiler type, are built prin- cipally of iron and steel, and are operated by steam. Each bridge covers a span of about 180 feet, and has an extension at the water side which may be raised to clear the masts of the vessels while they are docking. At the opposite end there is a cantilever about 75 feet long. The bridges are traveled by driving the two trucks on the shear and pier legs simultaneously, although either may be moved to a limited extent independently of the other, allowing the bridge to be skewed slightly to facilitate lo- cating the bridge over the hatchway of the vessel. The capacity of the bridge is about 6000 pounds, moving load, about one-half of which is the ordinary lifting capacity. All of the movements of the trolley are controlled from the operator’s house on the pier. The buckets are of a self dumping form, and are filled by shovelers in the hold of the vessel. Three or four buckets are handled in each hatch by one bridge, so that while one loaded buck- et is lifted out the others can be filled and the shoveling continued unhindered. If the boat is a 12-hatch boat 12 May 25, 1905 of these machines may be working at a time. For the operation of these machines nine men are required for each hatch. With the machines on this dock the cost of unloading is about 15 cents a ton, most of this expense being that for labor. This figure is mentioned as being interesting to compare with the cost of unloading at the other docks, given later. The equipment on Dock 1 is, of course, the oldest, and the reduced expense at the other docks is largely due to improved machinery, but also to better organization in the handling of the machinery and the men. Dock 2, There is no storage area on Dock 2, the machines be- ing arranged to unload directly from the boats into the cars. There are 12 unloading machines, these also being made by the McMiler Mfg. Company, Cleveland, Ohio. Cars are positioned under the bridges by a cable hauling system, and when loaded are hauled out over the same track upon which they came in. The machines are operated in groups of three, power being supplied by steam from one engine house for each group. Each machine in the group is independently adjustable in its relation to the others so as to allow for different dis- tanees between centers of hatches. These machines were THE IRON AGE 1659 the coal falls into a pan. While the car is returning to its upright position the pan is raised and the coal is discharged through a gate in the bottom into an apron, the latter end of which connects with a telescopic leg extend- ing down into the hold of the boat. The cars, after being emptied, are aliowed to run down an inclined track ready to be hauled away. The capacity of the dumping ma- chine depends upon the size of the cars and the boats. It has dumped as many as 33 cars in an hour or about 200 in a day. The fuel scow, which is loading other docks, takes coal from the car dumper in the man- ner described and carries it in buckets or bins provided with gates at the bottom, through which it is discharged A whirler on the scow hoists the loaded used for boats at into buckets. bucket and swings it over the hatch of the ore boat; the bucket is discharged by opening its hinged bottom. The whirler, as it is known, resembles a boom hoist, being designed to rotate about its vertical axis. It has a boom about 60 feet long and a lifting capacity of about 4 tons. Other whirlers are used on this dock for special opera- tions of loading or unloading. These whirlers, equipped with grapple buckets, are capable of loading from 20 to 30 cars a day from the stock pile. They are very satis- Fig. 2.—The Brown Electric Bridge Conveyor for Handling Ore from the Unloaders to the Storage Yard. originally provided with buckets of the same type as those used on Dock 1, but more recently these have been re- placed by automatic grab buckets. This has resulted in the saving of considerable hand labor, but the speed of unloading uas not been greatly increased, the capacity being between 50 and 60 tons an hour. The total cost of unloading a boat on this dock is about 6 cents a ton. Dock 3. The principal use of Dock 3 is the dumping of coal laden cars and the loading of coal on the vessels. It also contains the power house which furnishes electric light and power for the entire plant and steam for op- erating the car dumper. The latter is a machine similar to the type used at the furnaces for dumping ore from cars and is used to load directly into the ore boats for their return trip, or into a loading scow, which is taken to boats at other docks so that they may be loaded with coal while discharging their cargo of ore. The coal cars are run on a down grade track to a switchback and pulled automatically to their position for dumping in the cradle by a cable, to which is attached a small car known as a ground hog. This is ordinarily in a hole under the main track of the switchback. When the car is in position the cable is started, causing the ground hog to engage the coal car and draw it up to the cradle. The car is then clamped to the cradle and the ground hog descends by gravity to its hole between the tracks. The cradle with the car upon it is dumped by raising one side and factory for this work, but do not work well in a boat. Equipped with an ordinary bucket to load by hand, whirl- ers are still used for unloading hard, lumpy ore, but for- tunately this includes only a small part of that which is received at Conneaut, as this method of unloading is expensive. Dock 4. Dock 4 is equipped with the most modern machinery and does from 60 to 75 per cent. of all the work done at this point. Notable records have been made here in ore handling, among which will be remembered the unload- ing of the steamer Augustus B. Wolvin, of which men- tion was made at the time. It consisted of the unloading of the entire cargo, 9945 long tons, in 4% hours, using all of the machines on the dock and 50 men in the hold of the boat with shovels to assist the buckets. It was a record for speed but not for economy. The cheapest unloading which has been done was performed by the electrical ma- chines described later, removing from the same vessel 9306 long tons in 15% hours, at an expense of but little over $100. This is but little than 1 cent a ton and represents a remarkable saving over the work per- formed at any of the other docks. The labor item alone was only $11.25. The Hydraulic Unloaders. There are two kinds of machines on this dock, four be- ing hydraulic in their operation and four electric. The hydraulic machines are of the Hulett pattern, made by more Wei mi. ooo ty i» 1660 the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company, Cleveland, Ohio, and are similar to those installed in the Lackawanna Steel Company’s works at Buffalo and referred to in the description of that plant given in The Iron Age January 7, 1904. The buckets, in their open position, measure 22 feet from tip to tip, and remove at each filling from 8 to 14 tons of ore. In a single season these four machines have unloaded as much as 2,000,000 tons. Each of the machines weighs about 450 tons and is supported upon 22 truck wheels, running upon four rails, two at each side. The trucks are power driven, so that the machines may be individually adjusted to the hatches of a boat after it has docked. The main parts of these machines are a walking beam mounted on a trolley frame and a vertical bucket leg carried at its outer end. The operator stands in the lower end of the leg and controls all of the movements of the machines. The bucket descends into the hold by dipping the corresponding end of the walking beam, being opened while it descends; is then automatically filled and is raised by the walking beam, while the latter travels back on its trolley, bringing the bucket in position to dump its load through a hopper into a bucket car. The bucket or transfer car travels at right angles to the boat, under the frame of the machine, and may be placed over any one of the car tracks be- neath, so that the load may be discharged into cars on any of the tracks. Cars on the nearest track may be loaded from the bucket without the use of the transfer ear. The opening and closing of the bucket and moving of the trolley and walking beam are performed by hy- draulic cylinders. Still another cylinder is used for rotating the bucket so that after entering the hold it may be revolved to the most advantageous position for taking up its next load. The machines are entirely independent, each having its own steam plant for driving the pumps and obtaining hydraulic pressure through the accumu- lators. The steam is furnished at about 175 pounds pressure by a boiler in the lower part of the structure. The steam punips are located above on the trolley and the pipes connecting the pumps with the boilers have swivel joints to accommodate the movements of the trol- ley. The water at city pressure is delivered through a smaller swivel jointed pipe to a tank on the trolley, from which the steam pumps take their supply. The over- flow from this tank forms the boiler feed. The steam pumps deliver the water into an accumulator on the rear end of the walking beam, which has two chambers, one for water and one for steam, separated by a double headed piston so proportioned that fhe boiler pressure on one side balances a pressure of about 1000 pounds per square inch on the water side. The longitudinal travel of the entire machine is obtained from a small steam en- gine in the lower part of the structure near the boiler house; this engine also operates the transfer car. The first part of the unloading is performed at the best speed, as the bucket can then take the largest loads and entirely without external assistance. During the first hour one of these machines has unloaded 680 tons, with an average bucket load of 11 tons. This means a round trip about once each minute. The last of the cargo cannot be removed so rapidly, as time is lost between loads in scraping up the ore so that it may be reached by the bucket. For this work eight shovelers are needed for each machine. Under favorable conditions an entire cargo may be removed at an average speed of 200 to 250 tons per hour per machine. The Electric Unloaders, The four electrical unloaders are the latest machines and were erected last year. It was the main aim in de- signing these machines to increase the economy by re- ducing the hand labor, as practically all has been ob- tained in the way of speed that could be hoped for. The electrical machines were built by the Brown Hoisting Machine Company, Cleveland, Ohio, and have been given the name of “ fast plants "—each handles a 5-ton bucket and without hand labor in the hold of the boat removes an average of 150 tons an hour until 75 per cent. of the cargo has been discharged. Less is required in the way of attendance for these machines, the number of men THE IRON AGE May 25, 1905 employed being seven, including one foreman, four op- erators and two oilers, and, to clean up so that the last of the cargo may be removed, five men are required in the boat for each machine. One machine complete weighs about 175 tons and is built to travel on the same tracks that carry the hydrau- lic machines. There are 16 truck wheels, all driven by a 75 horse-power motor in the motor house above the track and connected with the trucks by vertical shafts and gears. The machines may be moved along the dock at a speed of 70 feet a minute and may be stopped instantly by the application of a solenoid brake which operates when the power is shut off. Like the machines on Dock 1, these have an apron extension over the water, which is §9 feet 6 inches long and hinged so that it may be raised clear of the boats to allow them to dock or sail away. In its lowered position it is 47 feet 8 inches above the water. The same motor that drives the moving gear is used to raise and lower the apron, this being done by wire ropes leading from the outer end of the apron to sheaves at the top of the structure and down to drums in the motor house. The apron hoisting mechanism also has a solenoid brake which stops automatically when the power is cut off and will hold the apron in any posi- tion. There is also a safety lowering device on the apron hoisting drum shaft which by friction holds the drums from turning in the lowering direction, but by a ratchet always allows them to turn in the hoisting direction. There are also two sets of ropes used, either one capable of sustaining the weight of the apron, so that it will be seen that all possible precautions have been taken to avoid accidents from the falling of an apron. The operator rides in the trolley, running on a track below the motor house, and from this position controls all of the movements of the machine. The loaded trol- ley may be traveled at 900 feet a minute and hoists its load at a rate of 300 feet per minute. Two 150 horse- power motors are used in the hoisting, one 100 horse- power motor in traveling the trolley and one 3% horse- power motor in rotating the turntable carrying the bucket. The closing and hoisting of the bucket is done with the motors, and the lowering by brakes. The rotat- ing of the buckets enables them to be placed at various angles so as to reach as much of the material as possible without hand labor. During the past season the elec- trical machines unloaded about 686,000 tons, working eleven hours a day. The extension of the travel of the trolley out over the boat is 49 feet 5 inches from the center of the nearest track and the travel to the rear is 116 feet 5 inches from the same center, making the total trolley travel 165 feet 10 inches. The distance from end to end of the fast plant is 190 feet, and each machine is 23 feet 6 inches wide. The total hight above the water is 117 feet. Four loading tracks are covered by the machines, with room for a future fifth, the distance between the piers being 62 feet 10 inches. The pit previously referred to for the temporary storing of ore when cars are not at hand is under the outer ends of the rear cantilevers and has a capacity and shape about that of the cargo space of the largest ore vessels. This pit is also used when material is to be stored in the large yard. Being first dumped in these pits by the electric and hydraulic machines, the ore may be taken by a large electric bridge conveyer and dumped on any part of the stock piles. ~<. The Storage Vard Bridge Conveyor, This bridge covers an area about 600 feet long and 565 feet wide, the first being the length of its travel and the latter the length of bridge. The distance between sup- ports is 250 feet, leaving the overhang at each end about 157 feet; the hight above the dock is 68 feet and the clearance under the bucket about 52 feet. Like the elec- trical unloaders the bridge was built and designed by the Brown Hoisting Machinery Company, under patents of Alexander E. Brown. One end of the bridge reaches the temporary receiving pit and takes the ore discharged there by the unloaders. The manipulation of the bridge is similar to that of the electrical unloaders, being con- trolled by an operator traveling in a cage on the trolley. The bridge is equipped with a grab bucket of about May 25, 1905 7 tons capacity. The only difference between this bucket and those on the unloaders is that no provision is made for rotating it. The conveyor weighs 525 tons and is carried on 32 truck wheels, 24 of which are driven. It is capable of a traveling speed of 80 feet per minute. With a load the bridge trolley may be moved at the rate of 1000 feet per minute and will hoist a loaded bucket at 225 feet per minute. A 150 horse-power motor moves the structure along the runway, being connected with the trucks by gears and shafting. Solenoid brakes operate when the power is shut off to prevent the bridge from drifting. It is possible by operating clutches to travel only the pier end of the bridge so that the bridge may be skewed in the same manner as the bridges on Dock 1. In this way the pier can be moved about 25 feet either side of a central position without moving the shear. With a load the total moving weight of the bridge is about 48 tons. The trolley itself is carried on four wheels driven by two 75 horse-power motors through a gear on each axle, and two 150 horse-power motors are used in hoisting the bucket. A brake is used for dump- ing and lowering the bucket and one for holding the THE IRON AGE 1661 Steel Castings for Blackwell’s Island Bridge. The Thurlow Works of the American Steel Foun- dries, at Thurlow, Pa., has recently completed the largest and heaviest steel casting ever made in this country, or, in fact, in any country, to be used in building pier No. 1 of the Blackwell’s Island Bridge, which will span the East River between New York and Brooklyn. The Amer- ican Steel Foundries will make 32 of these steel castings to complete the order. When the order was received it was at once decided to have three special cars built of structural steel to transport these immense castings from Thurlow to New York City. These cars will be loaded to within 6 inches of the top of the track rails. The accompanying illustration shows the first steel casting, weighing 90,760 pounds, placed on its side on board the car ready for shipment. This casting meas- ures 12 feet 2 inches by 12 feet 2 inches at its base, 8 feet 5 inches by 10 feet 5 inches at the top and is 3 feet 9 inches high. The thickness of the metal throughout the casting is 2% inches. The center or body of the cast- ing is formed of the frustum of a pyramid, with ribs con- A Large Steel Casting for Blackwell's Island Bridge. hoisted load, while a third brake stops the trolley. All of the movements of the hoist and trolley may be con- trolled from any position of the trolley on the bridge, but the traveling of the bridge can only be effected when the trolley is either at the pier or the shear, con- trollers being located at both of these points within reach of the operator from the window of his cage. The conveyer has a capacity of 250 tons per hour, carried from the pit to the center of its travel. The principal use of the stock piles is to increase the elasticity of the plant. During the season of naviga- tion the vessels can be unloaded faster than the cars can carry the ore away, and during the winter, when the vessels do not sail, the cars have a chance to catch up, emptying the storage piles conveniently before the next season’s receipt of ore begins. The bridge over the stor- age pits handles the material from either the hydraulic or electric unloaders and it is also of use as an overhead crane when making repairs upon or dismantling the hy- draulic machines. ————_—_- oe —__—_ A test made at Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., of composite bricks made at Indianapolis, of sand, cement and lime, showed a crushing strength of more than 15,- 000 pounds, as against 1500 pounds for an average clay brick and 3500 pounds for an average faced brick. In transverse strength the composite brick showed a resist- ance of over 2500 pounds. necting the top and bottom plates, and the inside of the casting is a net work of ribs. The top and bottom plates are plain and have oblong holes for the purpose of re- moving the cores from each individual cell of this net work ; 60 holes have been drilled in the top and 32 holes drilled in the bottom plates for construction purposes. This steel casting is to be placed on top of two other steel castings, which have already been cast and bolted together, and another casting will be placed on top of the casting shown in the illustration. To make a steel casting weighing 90,760 pounds in- volves an immense amount of labor in making the molds and in the setting of the cores, nearly every one of which is set at an angle two ways, and it is only by very skillful handling that good results can be obtained. The molds have also to be carefully secured in order to withstand the enormous pressure while the metal is being poured into them. The metal in this steel casting was poured from three ladles and was the product of three furnaces. The manufacturing, shipment and placing in position of these 32 immense steel castings are each an enormous work in itself, and it is only by a proper understanding of details of this character that the general public can ever comprehend the ingenuity and work involved in a construction such as the Blackwell's Island Bridge. ———- »><- oe —___—_ Charles E. Pope, president of the Pope Tin Plate Com- pany, Pittsburgh, has returned from a long trip abroad. 1662 The World’s Supply of Iron and Ores.* BY R. A. HADFIELD, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND. Present and Future Requirements, As the question of the present rate of consumption of iron and also its past and future production are of con- siderable importance, I have prepared a number of dia- grams dealing with these points. Diag