The Iron Age 1905-09-07: Vol 76 Iss 10

THE A Review of the Hardware, — Machinety and Vol. 76: No. ro. Reading Matter Contents Alphabetical Index to Advertisers ‘‘ 149 Classified List of Advertisers.... ‘‘ 241 Advertising and Subscription Rates ‘‘ 662 ESTES M’t'a by Forster Pully Works, Cuba, n.y. =a? eS The American Mfg. Co. OB ete t Ropes and | 65 Wall Street, New York THE BRISTOL COMPANY, Waterbury, Conn. Bristol’s Recording Instruments. Gold Medal, 8t. Louis Exposition. anteed. Send for Circulars. SAMSON SPOT CORD ' Alee Linen and Italian Hemp SEE PAGE 178. Sash Cord. Boston, Samson Cordage Works, Massa. TURNBUCKLES, Office, 11 Broadway, New York. City Forge and iron Co., - Cleveland, 0. DROP HAMMER MERRILL BROS. Brooklyn, N. Y. BASIC PIG. PILLING & CRAN i Girard Butlding, Pb Farmers’ Bank, wee , — on s- ene ROOFING TIN ‘‘The Terne which turns the Elements.”’ See AMERICAN SHEET ‘& TIN PLATE COMPANY’S Ad on Page 16. New York, Thursday, September 7, 1905. dene page 652), Shaft Couplings | All Ranges, Low Pricer, und Guar- CAHALL BOILERS “oe: The Capewell Horse Nail Co: “Sway” Gold Rl Stel 2, Draming we ampli (Water and Rail Delivery) IRON $5 OO a Year, inontfeg Postage. Single Copies, 15 Cents. es MOVING—Train loads of U.M.C. Cartridges and Shot Shells to the dealers’ shelves. STARTING—Thousands of Sportsmen for the Game-fields, — U.M.C. Cartridges and Shot Shells in their grips from ¢hezr dealers’ shelves. The U.M.C, Line makes no stops from factory to hunter’s gun,—U.M.C, stock does not get stalled on the shelves. Dealers,—are you prepared for the fall trade ?—Specify U.M.C.—Jt sells itself. Ohe Union Metallic Cartridge Company, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. Agency, 313 Broadway, New York City. Depot, 86-88 First Street, San Francisco, Cal. SEE PAGE 146 Capewell Horse Nails are used on the Race Tracks of the World THE CAPEWELL Horse Nat Co., Hartford, Conn., U.S.A. Gentlemen:—I\ always use the Capewell, for I consider it not only the best driving nail, but when you send a horse to the post you can bet that he will bring all his shoes home with him. Very truly yours, FRANK SNELL, International Horseshoer and Plater, Hoppegarten, Germany. Hartford, Conn. JENHINS BROS. VALVES are well designed, and have full opening. They are thoroughly inter- changeable, so that any worn or broken part can be readily renewed. All -genuine- bear- Trade Mark as. shown.in the cut, and are guaranteed Write for booklet. JENKINS BROS., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, London. THE AMERICAN TUBE & STAMPING COMP } MAGNOLIA METAL. Best Anti-Friction Metal for all Machinery Bearings. Pac-Simile of Bar. ’ : / BRIDGEPORT, Conn, PAGE Beware of = imitations. MAGNOLIA METAL CO., Owners and Sole Seiptocrarers, 3-116 Bank Street. San Frenciseo, Montreal and Pittsburg. Chicago, Fisher Bidy NEW YORK. We manufacture al apaine of Babbitt Metals at Ps . = - Fae Se eae ee 2 i 7 - 2 MEAL LE, Lek oP Bi re PERSP Bek whe eks: sit. Ye ha “SCOPE” EGE £y, ms TEN TES ee Tet EAT OT MEY NT IRN Se ime Deed <abae £ 1 ) Fa iy s a3 t THE IRON AGE. Smee |THE PLOME & ATwoon MB. Gt, come § a poate vo soeer | ON08t and Roll Brass 4\\COPPER; ™,, wire PRINTERS’ BRASS, JEWELERS’ METAL, GERMAN bo SILVER AND GILDING METAL, COPPER RIVETS 4| GERMAN — 0 didddd>s in SILVER sene Burners, Lamps, Lamp * % eae Trimmings, &c. “Lock Haven” \ PECIAL | ARSRERS ys ne BRONZE. | 2 MURRAY ST., NEW YORK. se Uae ee : 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON. eet Lom : SEAMLESS BRASS AND COPPER 199 LAKE ST., CHICAGO. ASUS NEED) TUBING. BRAZED BRASS AND) roses | ulm BRONZE TUBING. : : 2:23: 8) -_——_—___________ TIN Sheet WATERBURY BRASS Co, | SCOVILL MEE. C0., Plate STEEL WATERBURY, CONN. GERMAN SILVER, 99 John St., New York. Providence, R. |. ao eae, ware i Bridgeport Deoxidized Bronze &) feces cste"acoast™™ bo Special Brass Goods to Order. Metal ° FAcTORIES : BRIDGEPORT, GONN. WATERBURY, CONN, Depots: Automobile Castings a Specialty. | sew vor. CHICAGO, BOSTON MAKERS — High Tensile Strength. iii a nt Pittsburgh, Bronze and Aluminum Alloys. ” Henry Souther Engineering Co, Pa. HARTFORD, CONN. Write Us. Consulting ss Metallurgists and Complete Ph om Seis - Testing alieetatins ible Testimony in rt and Patent Cases, Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co., oid tiie Arthur T. Rutter & Co. SHEET ZINC AND SULPHURIC ACID. 256 Broadway, Special Sizes of Zinc cut to order. Rolled Battery Plates. NEW YORKEA. Selected Plates for Etchers’ and Lithographers’ use. Selected Sheets for Paper and Card Makers’ use. Small tubing in Brass, Copper, Stove and Washboard Blanks. Steel, Aluminum, German Silver, &c. Sheet Brass, Copper and Ger- ZINCS FOR rare BATTERY. man Silver. Copper, Brass and German Silver Wire. Brazed and P ma | Seamless Brass an opper ES nero “Roar it” ign” 88-74 West Monroe St. Chicago. - Copper and Brass Rod. Best Bronze, Babbitt Metals Brass and Aluminum CASTINGS OIL and GAS Br sksms's CASTINGS Bleyele Lantems. Ww. G. ROWELL CO., ridgeport, Conn. Send ter Circulars and Klectrotypes. HENDRICKS BROTHERS THE BRIDGEPORT BRASS CO. PROPRIETURS OF THE Bridgeport, Cenn. Belleville Copper Rolling Mills, ed pee waNwers so {7 No. 7th St., Philadelphia. 85 to 87 Pearl St., Boston. Braziers’ Bolt and Sheathing GEORGE KROUSE COPPER, HEAVY CASTINGS COPrPrwER WwiREz AND RIVETS. Manafactarer of all kinds of “ ps on and aan P. Brass and Composition Castings. 5 i 5 t . i + Ingot Copper oc n, Spelter, Lead, Antimony, etc. Brazing Metals, Hard Qo ed 49 CLIFF ST., NEW YORK. ery tte JERSEY CITY, N. J. THE IRON AGE New York, Thursday, September 7, 1905. A Process for Converting Fine Iron Ores Into Nodules. A plant which went into operation in August on the Hackensack Meadows of New Jersey represents the be- ginning of what promises to be an important develop- ment in the treatment of fine iron ores for use in Hast- ern blast furnaces. It is of particular interest also to furnaces whose ores contain sulphur, to those using any considerable percentage of concentrates and to furnaces running on high percentages of Mesaba ores from which heavy accumulations of flue dust result. The process employed at the plant in question is covered by a patent on “a method of purifying and nodulizing metallifer- ) BIN ) 2.2 9!) Ipones| | \ }| |j-—}- screw FEEO FLEVATOR [= o a — ojo ooo | ‘ oog ROTARY KILN prevented the use of much of it in the blast furnace and large quantities have accumulated at chemical works. The inventor, referring to the attempts thus far made to utilize fine ores and flue dust by employing “ binders ” and manipulating the ore in a rotary kiln or by briquet- ting, says that the unsatisfactory results from these efforts have been due to the use of binders that have increased the impurities in the mass instead of aiding in eliminating them. The present process differs from those mentioned in that it employs tar (though patent claims are made also on other adhesive substances and Fig. 2.—Elevation of Ore Storage and Feed Bins, Rotary Kiln and Nodule Conveying and Storage Plant. ous materials” recently granted to Tom Cobb King and assigned to the National Metallurgic Company of 43 Exchange place, New York. As employed at the New Jersey plant it deals chiefly with pyritic cinder, the well- known “ blue billy,” which is the residue from the treat- ment of iron pyrites for the production of sulphuric acid. The quantity of sulphur usually remaining in this cinder as it comes from sulphuric acid works has heretofore carbohydrate compounds) which has an affinity for and forms volatile compounds with such impurities as sul- phur and arsenic. Along with these impurities it is gradually volatilized, the iron oxides being converted into nodules of any desired size, free from moisture. The adhesive substance is not used to bind the particles of ore together permanently, but its function is to bind them initially, and in the progress of the ore through the rotary THE IRON AGE September 7, 1905 ai is mi i 590 ee) é kiln used for the production of nodules aid in fusion, the , Ns final product being permanently coherent nodules con- ‘f if taining substantially no fixed foreign compounds. ry It is found that the size of the nodules can be regu- lated by varying the quantity and quality of the binder, bins or from the stock piles is mechanically conveyed to a rotary kiln for treatment. The company has rebuilt the old dock on the property for unloading the barges which bring the ore to the plant, the depth of water off the dock being 14 feet. A stiff-leg derrick hus been provided, a hb the degree of heat and the rapidity of movement of the equipped with an orange peel bucket of 144 cubic yards Bi * ore through the kiln. In practice under Mr. King’s proc- capacity, capable of taking about 1% tons of ore. The ee ess the addition of 1 per cent. of pitch to 99 per cent. of capacity of the derrick is 300 tons in 24 hours. The aii | ee an ore analyzing 67 per cent. metallic iron and 1 per unloading is accomplished by one man, who operates the er and PS MS ae SEBO f a: 1 1 2) re ye { ia TRESTLB AND BINS cent. silica produces nodules about the size of a goose egg, a size adapted to open hearth work, while % per cent. of pitch added to 99% per cent. of the same ore pro- duces nodules the size of a partridge egg, the size best adapted to blast furnace practice. The Plant on the Hackensack Furnace Site. In March of this year the National Metallurgic Com- pany purchased the 15-acre tract of land formerly occu- pied by the New Jersey Zinc Company as a site for its Hackensack Furnace. The furnace, which had then been abandoned for some months, had been operated for the production of spiegel. The site is at the junction of the HSS SSSSGHS NS ROTARY KILN derrick by means of a hoisting engine of the Crane type. A MeMyler locomotive traveling crane of 10 tons ca- pacity assists in discharging the barges, besides operating at any point along the trestle or on the railroad tracks on the property. The ore is unloaded into Goodwin steel cars of a capacity of 60 tons, the weight of the cars being 60,000 pounds. Treatment of Pyritic Cinder, The ore at present being put on the company’s dock and on which the plant has been operated for the past two weeks is a pyritic cinder, resulting from the burning of iron pyrites, mined by the Newfoundland Syndicate at ZA CLLLILLLIMMAAA LALLA LAL LL LlanlalanQQQQnnQQQnncccc EZ LLLLLLLALLLLL Sy Fig. 3.—Plan View of Plant. Hackensack and Passaic rivers, forming Newark Bay, and on the north side is the Morris Canal, so that the tract is entirely surrounded by water. Connections have been established with two railroads. Since April 1, 1905, when possession was given to the National Metallurgic Company, the old furnace, its stoves, stockhouse, boilers and engine have been removed, and the New Jersey Zinc Company is now engaged in building a new spiegel fur- nace on another site. The National Metallurgic Company has erected what it terms an ore purifying and nodulizing plant with a capacity of 200 tons in 24 hours. The object has been to construct as far as possible an automatic or continu- ously operating plant, the features of which are referred to in detail below. The ore, or pyritic cinder, is received by railroad or boat, is stored under a trestle and in bins and from the its Pilley’s Island properties in Newfoundland. This ore is noteworthy as being the lowest in arsenic of any pyrites mined, nonarsenical pyrites being essential in making high grade acids. However, the process employed at the New Jersey nodulizing plant is particularly effective as applied to arsenical ores, as one of its salient features is the removal of sulphur and arsenic from the cinder. The Pilley’s Island pyrites average about 48 per cent. sulphur. The resultant cinder after being treated in the rotary kiln gives a nodule that will analyze 60 per cent. iron, 5 per cent. silicon, 1 per cent. alumina, 1 per cent. lime and magnesia and a trace of phosphorus. A ton of pyrites after treatment at the chemical wor::s yields 6-10 ton of cinder. Referring to the plan and elevation of the cinder treating plant, as given in Figs. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the cars drop the ore into a series of bins under the September 7, 1905 THE trestle. These bins discharge either directly into a crusher or, if the ore is in such a condition of fineness as not to require crushing, into a storage tank located above the feed end of the rotary kiln. From this storage tank the material is conveyed by screw conveyor to a feed pipe which projects down and into the end of the kiln. At the same time that the fine ore is delivered from the storage tank tar is dropped into it as it reaches the end of the screw conveyor farthest from the tank. There is thus a thorough mixing prior to the admission of the ore into the kiln. The tar tank surrounds the exhaust chimney of the kiln, and thus the tar is kept warm and fluid. Held in masses by the preliminary binding of the tar the ore moves along in the kiln under a horizontally rotary motion, encountering different degrees of heat, the temperature increasing toward the farther end of the kiln. Before emerging from the kiln the nodules are agglomerated or permanently semifused ; progressing still further they are discharged through a hood and conveyed by elevators to the nodule tank for final disposition. Coal Drying Plant, The fusion of the ore is accomplished by the injection of powdered coal into the discharge end of the kiln, and rr Mee et ei tiene + Rite ey PD Ta, IRON AGE 591 end of the rotary kiln. The point of fusion in the kiln depends on the amount of air pressure, the fusion zone being either drawn toward the hood or thrust further back toward the feed end, as required by the desired size of ore nodules. The kiln was constructed by the Riter-Conley Mfg. Company of Pittsburgh, who also erected the building. The kiln is of standard make with the exception that steel castings of double extra strength are employed in many cases. It is of heavy plate construction, is 100 feet long and 7 feet in diameter, being drawn down to 6 feet in diameter at the feed end. It is driven directly from a speeder, and the rate of rotation can be varied 100 per cent., being adjusted to the fusibility of the different materials used. Under normal conditions the ore passes through the kiln in 1 hour and 30 minutes. The power plant consists of 300 horse-power Rust water tube boilers and a 150 horse-power Corliss engine, manufactured by Hooven-Owens-Rentschler Com- pany, Hamilton, Ohio. The boilers are located as close as possible to the engine, giving little steam condensation and a minimum of piping. Thus far a pyritic cinder has been operated upon which Fig. 4.—Coal Dryer Plant of Special Design. an important feature of the plant is the coal dryer and its accessories. The dryer is located adjacent to the bins under the trestle, and the coal is carried by conveyors to the dryer bins and through the latter automatically. The dryer deviates from the usual form in that the heated gases and waste products of combustion after passing on the outside of the dryer return to the front, and thence pass directly over the coal dryer to discharge through the chimney stack. A special design for the dryer was worked out by the manufacturers, William F. Mosser & Son, Allentown, Pa. As shown in Fig. 4, the fire box is at A. The products of combustion pass up and around the stationary cylin- der B, thence through the connecting stationary cylin- der C, down through the passageway D, and back through the cylinder B, exhausting through the stack E. The coal, which is gas slack, the only requirement being a coal of long flame, is constantly rotated and the cylin- der is divided into four compartments by 10-inch angle irons. By the rolling or tumbling of the cylinder all par- ticles of coal are brought into direct contact with the heated gases and the heating surface. From the dryer the coal is discharged into a bin from which it is conveyed to a Griffith mill. The latter runs at 1800 revolutions and produces a ground coal of which 90 per cent. will pass a 100-mesh sieve. A screw conveyor brings it to the ground coal tank, as indicated in Fig. 2; thence it is propelled by screw conveyor and dropped into a blow pipe, a fan blowing it into the hood at the discharge gives a product extremely low in phosphorus. In the treat- ment of flue dust a product was obtained grading as fol- lows, as to size: Seventy per cent. failed to pass a \4- ° inch mesh screen, varying in size from 4 to % inch; 20 per cent. remained on a %-inch mesh screen. Naturally the chemical content of the nodules produced varies with the cinder from which they originate. The analyses al- ready accumulated range from 55 to 68 per cent. metallic iron. Nodulizing of Ores at the Mine. As has been already intimated the field of the proc- ess described above is broader than the operations thus far carried on. Its use for the conversion of flue dust into nodules is under consideration, the flue dust prob- lem having assumed no small proportions under the in- creasing use of Mesaba ores. But a more important field is capable of development by the installation of ore nod- ulizing plants at Lake Superior iron mines, whose ores are of unusual fineness. The removal of moisture from Lake Superior ores previous to their shipment from the mine has been agitated for a number of years, and at the 1902 meeting of the Lake Superior Mining Institute Dr. Nelson P. Hulst presented some of the results of his in- vestigation of the problem for the Oliver Iron Mining Company. He showed that of the shipments of 20,593,- 537 tons of ore from the Lake Superior region in 1901, 3,356,242 tons contained 12 per cent. of moisture and above and 6,077,737 tons contained 10 per cent. and up to 12 per cent. These ores higher in moisture constituted 46 A. , i Bo i} ut 1 Hh ; aa) | 7 rie ‘ Ny t j | . Re i at 7 Bi: & 33 : | ST ere et ee 592 THE IRON per cent. of the entire shipments of that year. It has been considered a commercial proposition to dry these ores at the mine, but prosperity has pushed any serious operation in this direction into the future. A process that removes moisture and at the same time converts the ore into such form that practically no flue dust is produced is naturally important to Lake Superior mining inter- ests, as well as to furnatemen using Lake ores, and it may be stated that some steps are in contemplation for such an application of the process above described. The Canadian Rail Bounty. Past Payments to Be Investigated, Toronto, September 1, 1905.—The order in Council taking steel rails from the list of rolled products for whose manufacture bounties are paid is not to be the end of the matter. The Ottawa authorities have also deter- mined upon a re-examination of the grounds on which AGE September 7, 1905 ways been regarded as belonging to the “ commodities ” list. The Minister of Railways and Canals would place an order for 25,000 tons or any other quantity with a British, a German, an American or a Canadian manufac- turer at a price arrived at by direct negotiation. The new Auditor-General doubts that Parliament intended the Government to have this free hand, and it is intimated that he will ask Parliament for an expression of its sense on this question. If he establishes the rule of ‘tendering for steel rails on Government account he may cause a distribution of the Government’s rail business that was not foreseen. Rails for the Intercolonial Railway system are duty free. Rails for the 1800 miles of the Eastern Division of the National Transcontinental Railway are to be subject to duty, though the division is to be built and owned by the Government through a commission. Legal opinions have been rendered, however, to the ef- fect that the provision for the imposition of the duty may be evaded or disregarded. As a matter of fact, the payment of duty means but the disbursement by one ¥ig. 5.—View of the Dock, Trestle and Unloading Equipment of the National Metallurgic Company. the payments were made in the past. As has been stated in these columns, it did not appear to be the intention of Parliament to include steel rails in the bounties pro- vided for in the act of October, 1904. But a claim was made by the Algoma Steel Company for $61,000 on ac- count of steel rail bounty. The Department of Justice decided that the claim was invalid, but on the advice of a lawyer of very high standing that the expression, “ other rolled products,” &c., covered steel rails, the Audi- tor-General of that time permitted the account to be paid. The new Auditor-General, Mr. Fraser, takes the view that the right of the company to the money it has thus re- ceived ought to be judicially established, and he has held back $61,000 that is now due the company as bounty on pig iron and steel billets. The company will have to sue to obtain what is coming to it as bounty money on pig iron and billets. Of course the Government will give its consent to the action, and the courts will be asked to decide as to the meaning of Parliament. If the court finds that steel rails were not provided for in the act that decision will be final. But the company might be per- mitted to appeal from an order to return the money it has received as rail bounty and the case might thus go to the Supreme Court of Canada. Steel Rail Purchases on Bids, Heretofore it has been the Government’s prac- tice to treat the “commodities” required in the public service as distinct from expenditures for public works. The requirement that contracts on public works shall be disposed of by bids has not been held to apply to commodities. Steel rails have ‘al- department of Government and the receipt by another of the same money. At all events, the new Auditor-General may throw open somewhat widely the door of the Dominion Govern- ment’s rail trade. 0. & © J. _3-- The battle ship Vermont was successfully launched at the yard of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Mass., on August 31. It is one of the largest and most powerful battle ships yet laid down for the United States Navy. The general dimensions are as follows: Length of load water line, 450 feet; breadth extreme at load water line, 76 10-12 feet; displacement, 16,000 tons. In the main battery there will be four 12-inch, etght 8- inch and 12 7-inch guns. The engines will be of the ver- tical twin screw four-cylinder triple expansion type, of a combined indicated horse-power of 16,500. There will be 12 Babcock & Wilcox boilers placed in six water-tight compartments. The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad has recently built at its McKeesport, Pa., shops two steel flat cars of 150,000 pounds capacity each, designed for the transpor- tation of unusually heavy castings. The car body is built of steel structural shapes. The car is 30 feet long and 9 feet 6 inches wide over sills. The six longitudinal steel sills are each 20 inches deep at the center and 13 inches deep at the bolsters. They are I-beams, made up of 7-16 inch web plate, with angles 5 x 3% x % inches, weighing 16 7-10 pounds per foot. The weight of the car is 48,200 pounds. September 7, 1905 British Industrial Notes. The Iron Market, Lonpon, August 26, 1905.—There can be no doubt of a growing confidence in the near future. A number of advances in price have been announced during the past few days. The Scotch steel makers have raised angles and bars 2 shillings 6 pence per ton, the first advance since April, 1903. Other Scotch makers have raised the price of special iron brands by 1 shilling to 1 shilling 6 pence per ton. The Scotch Malleable Iron Trade Asso- ciation raised all classes of bars and hoops by 2 shillings 6 pence per ton. Another Scotch advance is in iron plates, which have gone up 2 shillings 6 pence per ton, to £6 7s. 6d., less 244 per cent., delivered at Clyde stations. The Midland Association of makers of strip iron have decided to restore the 2 shillings 6 pence per ton taken off two months ago, bringing the price back to £5 17s. 6d. for large lots and £6 for small orders. The galvanized sheet makers have decided to make a further advance of 2 shillings 6 pence in the export price of heavy gauge corrugated sheets. This brings the price up to £10 17s. 6d., but £11 is being secured in many instances, and the mills are all working full time. The export of galvanized sheet iron is a noticeable feature. It is possible that this stiffening of price is in some measure due to the settle- ment of the cotton factory dispute in Lancashire. Finished iron is not following this improved tendency quite satisfactorily, but even in this department business is better. The demand for bars is beginning to open out and manufacturers have every reason to expect steady occupation for some time to come. The steel market maintains its strength. In sheet bars good contracts have been made, some running well into next quarter. A certain quantity has been put on the market at 89 shillings, but the general quotation is 90 shillings. The German Steel Syndicate on Dumping. The German Steel Syndicate of Diisseldorf, which controls an annual production of 9,000,000 tons, has sub- mitted replies to a series of questions by the German Government. There were complaints from German fin- ishing mills to the Government Commission on Trusts and Syndicates that the trust sells abroad at lower rates than at home, thus assisting British and Belgian mills to compete with German finishing works. In answer the memorial states that the steel trust is compelled to dis- . pose in foreign markets of the surplus production made by the syndicated works, but that it does not follow a policy of dumping, which is regarded as injurious and likely to lead to reprisals. In fixing export prices the trust only goes as far as is necessary to obtain orders and not allow them to pass into the hands of competitors. Since the trust was formed, in March, 1904, it has tried to keep the export of partly manufactured steel within measurable bounds, The memorial adds that by regulat- ing the export trade it has been possible to obtain higher prices in foreign markets and at the same time devote greater attention to the inland trade. According to statistics cited the exports of semifinished steel mainly concern Great Britain and Belgium. In 1904 the exports of this class to Great Britain amounted to 215,118 tons, and as the total consumption in Great Britain was 5,588,- 000 tons, the quantity supplied by Germany only repre- sented 3.8 per cent. of the total used. This quantity, the trust states, is too small to increase the competitive powers of the British finishing mills over their German rivals. It is pointed out further that the exports of the trust to Great Britain principally comprise billets for the pro- duction of wire and sheet bars, mostly for tin plates. The decline in the German exports to England, as shown by the statistics for 1904, has not increased the prices of English semifinished steel, as the Americans came on the scene with supplies which compensated for the re- duction from Germany. In addition to this retro- gression the exports to Belgium did not increase last year. In view of these considerations the memorial con- cludes that in no way can proof be adduced that the ex- port activity of the steel trust promotes the interests of THE IRON AGE 593 foreign finishing works to the detriment of the German mills, and that there is equally no foundation for the assertion that the exports of steel manufactures from Germany by finishing mills will be brought to a stand- still by the policy followed. Trolley and Wire Standards, The Engineering Standards Committee has issued reports concerning trolley groove and wire and standard specifications for telegraph material. The Subcommittee on Electric Tramways, without restricting engineers to the use of any particular design of wheel, suggests that overhead work be so arranged as to permit of employing the following standard trolley wheel groove: Width, 1% inches; depth, % inch; radius, 7.32 inches, angle, 65 degrees. The figures recommended as the minimum tensile breaking strengths, in tons per square inch, for standard trolley wires are: Up to and including 00 S.W.G., not less than 24; above 00 S.W.G., not less than 2?. Profits and Dividends, The Moss Bay Iron & Steel Company has made a profit of £21,600, compared with £25,600 last year, and pays only 2 per cent. The dividend in this instance was reduced last year from 5 to 3 per cent., and now it is 2 per cent. The report of Mather & Platt shows a profit of £89,- 238. A dividend of 7 per cent. was paid, plus a bonus of 3 per cent. on'the ordinary shares, while £30,000 is trans- ferred to the reserve account, bringing it up to £230,000. The chairman announced that Sir William Mather had been abroad, partly to investigate new engineering de- velopments in the United States, the acquisition of which in times past had contributed so largely to the prosperity of the company. During his visit he was the ricipient of the honor of LL.D. from Princeton University. Thirty- two years ago he founded the Salford Iron Works Science School, when there was little or no provision for technical training of apprentices. The example has been widely followed throughout the country, and now both in Man- chaster and Salford there are great municipa! technical institutions. The directors recently came to the con- clusion that the Salford Iron Works School had done its work and that the apprentices could now avail them- selves of the complete equipment of the municipal schools. Accordingly, the school would not be reopened. During its existence nearly 1200 students had attended its classes. Extensions, Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. propose to appropriate out of profits £56,196 for extensions to the works. A year ago £36,522 went to this purpose. In 1903 special appropria- tions amounted to £140,750, in 1902 to £78,421 and in 1901 to £117,923. Vickers, Sons & Maxim have purchased from the Fur- ness Railway Company considerable land for the purpose of constructing another fitting out quay for warships and other large vessels. Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds intend to erect on a site adjacent to their present works at Dowlais two or three additional blast furnaces of the most modern kind and to install the new plant necessary to deal with the large outputs of which the furnaces will be capable. Sydney Jessop Robinson, managing director of Wm. Jessop & Son of Sheffield, England, has been elected master cutler for the coming year. He is managing di- rector and vice-president of the Jessop Steel Company of 91 John street, New York, with crucible steel works at Washington, Pa. Armor Plate Contracts, The armor plate contracts have been authorized :'“ the Admiralty and are divided among all the makers Vickers, Sons & Maxim and Beardmore’s are classed as one and get only one share between them, but the share is probably larger than the others. John Brown & Co., Cammell, Laird & Co., and Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. have the other shares. 8. G. H. ————— »~-+e—___ The report of stocks in the yards of the American Pig Iron Storage Warrant Company shows a total on August 31 of 86,800 tons. On July 31 the total was 93,400 tons. The receipts in August were 1900 tons and the deliveries 8500 tons. 594 THE IRON AGE The Davis Universal Shear. A machine for cutting any desired shape from sheet metal ranging from No. 10 to No. 20 gauge is manufac- tured by Frank M. Davis & Co., Milwaukee, Wis. The accompanying illustration shows a view of the machine and a sample of the work that it is capable of doing. In using the machine the operator guides the sheet steel to the cutter much the same way as a board is guided to a band saw or a jig saw, following any pattern that may be traced on the metal. The machine will cut either right or left hand curves and will also cut a hole in the center of a square or round sheet in the same manner as a jig saw would cut a board. The cutter resembles a one-tooth saw relieved on the back to enable the turn- ing of short curves. The sheet of metal is always guided by the cutter, so that the operator may easily follow the lines. The machine is made in two ways, with a stripper connected to and supported by a pipe hung from the ceiling and with a stripper attached direct to the cutter; Ty The Davis Universal Shear. where convenient the ceiling suspension of the stripper is more satisfactory, as it allows the making of quick changes. The engraving shows a piece of No. 14 steel cut in an odd shape simply to show the character of the work which the machine is intended for. The machine should run at about 85 to 90 strokes per minute. At this speed it cuts as fast as the operator can guide the metal to the line. One of the features of the machine is that it cuts the steel without stretching the metal and does not distort the sheet. The half-tone of the machine is not quite complete, inasmuch as it does not show the %-inch guide rods which brace the suspended member to the steel. These are attached to the yoke shown above the stripper. The distance between the table and the lower end of the stripper is 12 inches. The chips are discharged from the spout extending to the left just beneath the table, and waste is also delivered from the short spout on the stripper. The cutter is in the column of the machine and is driven by an eccentric connected through a single train of reducing gears with the fly wheel driving shaft. A cutter removed from the ‘ma- chine is shown on the floor beside the tool. September 7. 1905 The Production of Quicksilver in 1904. Spain, long the world’s.leading producer of quick- silver, is now second to the United States. The output of quicksilver in the United States during 1904, as re- ported to the United States Geological Survey, was 34,570 flasks, valued at $1,503,795. Up to June 1, 1904, these flasks held 7614 pounds each; since then they have contained 75 pounds each. The production of 1904 was a decrease from that of 1903, which amounted to 35,620 flasks, valued at $1,544,934. All the quicksilver produced in this country comes from Texas aud California. The production in Texas increased from 5029 flasks in 1903 to 5336 flasks in 1904, a gain of 307 flasks. The production of California in 1904 amounted to 29,217 flasks, as against 30,526 flasks in 1903, a loss of 1309 flasks. The average price for quicksilver per flask in San Francisco was $44.10 in 1902, $45.29 in 1903 and $43.50 in 1904. The value of quicksilver imported into the United States in 1904 was only $1405, whereas 16,351 flasks, valued at $650,076, were exported from San Francisco alone, mostly to China, Mexico and Japan, while the total exportation amounted to 21,064 flasks, worth $847,108. The greater part of the world’s consumption of quick- silver is satisfied by the older mines. Besides the famous Almaden mines, worked by the Rothschilds under a re newal Government agreement for ten years from 1900, there are commercial deposits in the Spanish provinces of Almeria, Granada and Oviedo. Spanish quicksilver usually sells in London at 1 shilling per flask higher than the Italian metal. This difference is partly explained by the Spanish export tax of 540 pesetas per 100 kilos, imposed in 1898 as a result of the Spanish American war. As the Italian output from mines near Monte Auriate, Tuscany, is not large, any variation in the price of other brands would not influence this market appre- ciably. The Idria mines in Austria rank third in the list of producers, and although they have been worked for 412 years, their ore reserves are estimated to last 40 or 50 years longer at the present rate of mining. Germany showed an increased consumption of quick- silver in 1904 by importing 1,522,964 pounds and re- exporting only 94,772 pounds. Russia has enlarged the output of its mines in the Ekaterinoslay district, which are worked by A. Auerbach & Co. An appreciable quan- tity of quicksilver is exported annually from Russia to Hamburg, Germany. In Mexico the great activity in the gold and silver mines has given an impetus to the quick- silver industry, especially in the Guadalcazar district, in San Luis Potosi, and at Huitzoco, in Guerrero. Other deposits are at Ranas, in Queretaro, and at Batuco, in Sonora. Quicksilver occurs also at Yulgibar, in New South Wales; at Huancavelica, in Peru; at Taghit, in Algeria; in Japan, in Germany, and near Akluri, in Turkey. September 7, 1905 News of the Iron Ranges. The Coming Meeting of the Lake Superior Mining Institute, DvuLutH, MINN., August 31, 1905.—The annual meet- ing of the Lake Superior Mining Institute will be held October 17 and 18 on the Menominee Range. No pro- gramme has been arranged and the trip has not been planned, but it will probably cover the main points of interest—Iron Mountain at which are the Chapin and Pewabic mines; Iron River, the location of the River- ton group; Crystal Falls, which contains the well-known non-Bessemer group; Norway and vicinity, embracing the Aragon and the Penn Iron Mining Company mines. <A side trip may be taken to Escanaba, where the Chicago & Northwestern docks are located and where the Oliver Iron Mining Company has a great ore crushing plant, and to the Cleveland Cliffs furnace at Gladstone. It was thought that trips might be made to the steel works and furnaces of South Chicago, but this has been given up. This institute has some 400 members and is second only to the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Ore shipments for the month now closing are less than was expected in the early days, on account of seri- ous delays by flood and minor causes. But they will foot up very heavy, and will bring the year still further above any preceding season to the corresponding date. A number of ships have been laid up all: the week at both ends of the lakes, these including many vessels of the two independent fleets of the United States Transporta- tion Company and the Gilchrists, either one of which is good for 125,000 tons of ore a month. The advent of the best wheat and grain carrying fall in many years is not moving rates upward. The Crystal Falls District. On the Crystal Falls range the old Armenia mine of Corrigan, McKinley & Co. is about to resume, but it is not probable that pumping will start much if any before the close of the shipping season, and the mine cannot produce before the new year. It is a good property, but its ore is very moist. At the same company’s Dunn mine arrangements for extensive operations are under way, and the mine should make a record for itself the coming year. The Dunn is no worked out property as many sup- pose from its history, but has been rejuvenated and is on the eve of a good career. It will be some time be- fore the water is all out. A new shaft house and large Gates crusher are being put in and all ore requiring re- duction will be crushed at the hoist. All summer waste has been dumped into the Great Western open pit by the thousands of yards in a successful effort to save the com- pany’s shaft. The ore left in the old workings is being rapidly taken out and the mine will be caved down to the eleventh level. New drifts will be driven at lower levels and a large amount of ore taken out the coming winter. Tobin mine, belonging to the same concern, has been much changed this year by the centralization of all machinery and the wrecking of buildings about the works. The owners are figuring on an electric tram- ming plant underground, but have let no contracts yet. Other mines of this district are active—the Mansfield has resumed hoisting and Crystal Falls bids fair to see the best year in its history. The Oliver Iron Mining Company has ordered a gen- erating engine for lighting one of its steam shovels at the Burt mine as an experiment. If as successful as there is reason to expect it will probably be the fore- runner of similar machines on the 50 to 75 shovels it will doubtless operate on the Mesaba range next year. It now has 50 shovels in duty and expects to add about 25 for 1906. There is a considerable access of interest on the Ver- milion range, and more drills are now busy there than for some years. The Oliver Company has one in section 5-62-15,- where it did some work several years ago, and where there is an excellent prospect for ore. On sec- tion 3-61-15 the Roy and LaChance lands are to be drilled by a number of speculators. These lands lie just south of the Soudan mines and there has been more or less drill exploration around them for 20 years. The THE IRON AGE 595 White Iron Lake Company is drilling south of Ely, hav- ing resumed the work it stopped nearly a year ago in the magnetic formation there. Drills are running in section 15-62-14, where considerable work has been done in the past by various parties. A drill may be installed on Pine Island, Lake Vermilion. All these explora- tions are necessarily by diamond drill and are quite costly. Operations About Hibbing, Minn. Iron ore shipments out of the village of Hibbing and mines in its immediate neighborhood—that is, within, say, 5 miles east and 3 miles west—are this year about 60,- 000 tons daily. Most of this comes to lake over the Duluth, Missabe & Northern road, whose normal daily capacity is 50,000 tons, but which serves mines at other points also. The Great Northern road is moving about 20,000 tons from mines along its lines in the neighborhood of Hibbing. More than half a dozen mines are sending out their first season’s shipments, these including the Alexandria, Morris, Monroe, Tener, Webb and Myers, while the Leonard and Shenango are getting into line for their first good year. Stripping is in progress at a num- ber of mines in this district, and steam shovels are work- ing in ore at most of the others. At the Monroe and Tener, which will be among the larger shippers of the Mesaba range another year, preparations are being made for the installation of a large cross compound pumping engine, to handle mine water, which is now a very serious problem, for there are from 5000 to 5500 gallons per minute. At this mne three shovels that have been stripping 90 feet of surface have finally reached ore, and men are now cleaning it off in preparation for mining by milling. A stock pile that has accumulated in process of development underground is being shipped. The Oliver Iron Mining Company is erecting a large la- boratory at this mine. Development is in progress at three shafts and a large underground electric haulage system for bringing ore from the south end of the prop- erty is going in. Close by these mines are the Pillsbury, Chisholm, Glen, Clark and Leonard, all but the last named the prop- , erty of the Oliver Company. All four Oliver mines are shipping the daily hoist and by shovels from accumulated stocks. Pillsbury is stripping surface and will mine part of its ore body by shovel, and the latter has now reached the deposit. Leonard has a steam shovel mining in the pit and loading cars which are trammed to the shaft, a sort of steam shovel milling process that is comparatively recent, except at No. 3 pit of Fayal. Leon- ard pit is very deep, and is being enlarged by steam shovels stripping the surface. Morris mine was opened this year and has been shipping only about 90 days, but is making a large product. There are five shovels at this mine, three stripping and two in the ore. At Pick- ands, Mather & Co.’s Albany mine, adjoining Morris, a shovel is loading cars on the bottom of the pit, as at Leonard. This mine was opened a year ago. At Webb mine, which has been opened this year by the Shenango Furnace Company, a second shaft is to be sunk shortly. At Winnifred, close by to the north, a shaft is going down to cut the small ore bodies located there some time ago. Just west of these is the Burt, where there are four shovels in ore and two stripping. The product for the year will probably equal that of any mine on the range. Sellers, adjoining Burt and in Hibbing, is loaded from stock by shovel. South of the village is Susquehanna, where a second shaft is being sunk. West of the village is Hull, which is being converted into an open pit mine, and three shovels are working day and night. The haul of waste from this work is 2 miles long, making the work difficult. South of Hull is Agnew, where the In- ternational Harvester Company has two shovels, one stripping and one loading ore. West of Hull is Mahon- ing, where three shovels are in ore and one in stripping. Further west are Leetonia and Cypress, where shovels are loading ore and stripping, and still further is Steven- son, where four shovels are busy. The activity in this stretch of about 8 miles along the range is an indication of what the Mesaba range is doing and is getting ready to do later. D. E. W. iF , aes Laas SS — ae tS Re Ea ee Sa ees 596 THE IRON AGE Car Wheel Forging. BY JAMES H. BAKER.* It seems superfluous to say that wrought steel wheels can be made superior to cast iron ones. The questions are, Can the wrought article be made as cheap or cheaper than the cast iron one for a given life of service and to what degree of perfection can the wearing qualities of the tread be brought? This last question also applies to locomotive tires, as it is known that in these there is room for improvement. To show that an article can be produced at a low figure may seem a poor way to INGOT Fig. 1—The Ingot and the First Forging Operation. promote a profitable business, but little headway would be made in selling wheels at $15 each if the customer believed that they cost $25 and were likely to remain at that cost. As to strength of flanges and general safety of the wrought wheel there can be no question. Won- derful advances have been made in the manufacture of east iron wheels, but cast iron is not steel. I do not , ’ oe ne) “) eee WS ¢ On \ p : oamg i : ee ° , gta 4 a ee | ‘ ee KYYYY September 7, 1905 to have a hard tread necessarily would have a hard hub and that would be an element of danger. Here let me say that the test between hard and soft steel is not which will bend a given amount the oftenest, but which will receive and stand a given strain the greatest num- ber of times; and to this I think we must answer hard steel. Moreover, the last has not been said relative to final treatment of hubs and rims. Efforts have been made to cast car wheels of steel; also to cast steel blanks and then forge or roll the treads. This is mentioned only because I believe such efforts have done more than anything else to create opinion against forged wheels. The drop forging of blanks for car wheels has been suggested, and this also, I think, can easily be shown to be impracticable. The improvements in forging referred to below consist generally of a peculiar distribution of the metal, of quick changing, registering and securing dies in position by power while automatically taking care of the blank, and of securing clean welded and forged metal in the tread of the wheel, or tire. Making wrought car wheels consists in forging a suitable blank and then finishing it by rolling. Of the two, forging the blank properly and cheaply is far more diffcult than the rolling. As con- ducted by one process I really think that the forging in- volves twenty-five times as much labor as the rolling. The essentials in forging are to convert the part intended for the tread into a welded and well forged condition at the start, to closely control the amount of steel desired, to forge by a continuous series of rapidly succeeding operations, to have the work as nearly automatic as possible and to proceed by such easy steps that the use of excessively heavy presses may be avoided, even while using quite hard steel. If a wheel were to be forged of soft steel the difficulties would still exist, but would not be so great as in hard steel, especially as the higher the carbon the less the heat allowable. Hard steel wheels have been forged by the common method, but the power Li “ N ON <7 A\ 2 \ \ > 7 Fig. 2.—The Four Steps in the Working of the Blank in the Forging Press. claim much as a prophet in saying that the forging of wheels will soon be one of the great industries. Steel tired wheels are so far superior to cast iron wheels that they bring about five times the price. But why shall we continue to make a center, forge a tire, machine them, fit up retaining devices and assemble the whole when a solid wheel of equal wearing qualities and safety can be made for a small part of the cost and con- tain ‘less useless weight? It seems clear that a solid forged car wheel can with safety have harder steel in the tread than a steel tire. With special steels for boring and trimming and improved methods of forging this will be produced. The above is not intended to apply to lo- comotive wheels. One eminent railroad authority told me that the steel tired wheel with its soft center was supe- rior to a solid wheel, because the solid wheel in order * Solid Steel Tool & Forge Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. and number of heats required seem prohibitive of pro- ducing wheels for general use. While forged wheels can- not be made at as low a price per pound as steel rails one might as well undertake to make rails by casting them of steel as try to cast wheels in steel as cheaply as they can be forged. Taking a round ingot of the form shown at the left in Fig. 1, with a porter bar cast in or on its top, its cen- tral zone is cleaned by turning, as shown by the dotted lines, It is placed at a proper heat in a pair of forging dies, shown at the right in Fig. 1, and rapidly ham- mered into the blank A, thus converting the outer part of the central zone into well forged steel. This central part being the best of the ingot is taken for the tread of the wheels and the power parts go into the inside of the wheel. This part of the process is interesting. As in the press forging to follow the ingot should be small in September 7, 1905 THE its waist and quite high in proportion to its diameter; th