The Iron Age 1905-11-16: Vol 76 Iss 20

A Review of the Hardware, Iron, Machihety and Metal - Lilt .. Published every Thursday Morning by David Williams C@.wRS2-238 _William St. New York, Vol. 76: No. 20. Reading Matter Contents ..... page 1342 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers *‘ 195 Classified List of Advertisers.... ‘‘ 187 Advertising and Subscription Rates ‘‘ 194 New York, Thursday, Maasai 16, 1905. —$—————— $8 00 a Year, including Postage. Single Copies, 15 Cents. ~ GOMPRESSION SHAFT COUPLINGS Manufactured by FORSTER PULLEY WORKS, Cuba, N.Y. The American Mfg. Co. Ropes and Sere t rs 65 Wall Street, New York =e THE BRISTOL COMPANY, ’ Waterbury, Conn. Bristol’s Recording Instruments. For Pressure Temperature and Electricity. Gold Medal, 8t. Louis Exposition All Ranges, Low Pricee, and Guar- anteed. Send for Circulars. SON SPOT CORD Also Linen and Italian Hemp Sash Cord, SAMSON CORDAGE WORKS, Boston, Mass. TURNBUCKLES. a Branch Office. 11 Broadway, New York. Cleveland City Forge and IronCo., - Cleveland, O, DROP HAMMER MERRILL BROS. Brooklyn, N Y. COKE « aren & ogg Board of rade, Boston. ROOFING TIN on a man’s roof takes the fear of the elements off his mind. See AMERICAN SHEET & TIN PLATE COMPANY’S Advertisement on page 14. | CARTRIDGES and SHOT SHELLS are sold by both the largest and smallest retailers, because discriminating sportsmen demand “ The Best "—U. M. C.4 U. M. C. products are easy to sell because of the quality and thorough advertising behind them. The selling sys- tem of the U. M.C. Co. protects all classes of dealers. ..., Wide-awake dealers keep weil stocked with U. M. C. Metallics and Shot Shells. Ghe Union Metallic Cartridge Company, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. Agency, 313 Broadway. New York City. Depot, 56-88 First St., San Francisco, Cala. STIRLING CONSOLIDATED BOILER CO. See Page 46 Capewell Horse Nails in Japan THE CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL Co.,, Gentlemen : This is to certify that I have used the Capewell horse nail for several years and find that it is good in quality, drives well, never breaks and keeps long. I have no hesitation in asserting that the Capewell nail is incomparablv the best. LTS A eR S. ASABA, Veterinary Surgeon, Licensed by the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Atsuki Machi, Kanagawa Ken. “ey Lhe Capewell Horse Nail Co: “¢cmz* JENKINS BROS. VALVES are manufactured from the highest grades of material, and each valve is carefully tested before leaving the factory. They are absolutely guaranteed. All genuine bear our Trade Mark as shown in the cut. Send for booklet, “ VALVE TROUBLES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM. JENKINS BROS., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, London. ““SwNCCON” Cold ROMEO STE cet DTaWLNg ae a, zZ~ aome ames UrnOs mm, THE AMERICAN TUBE & STAMPING COMPANY SEE Water and Rai) Delfvery) BRIDGEPORT, CONN. PAGE MAGNOLIA METAL. Best Anti-Friction Metal for all ers Bearings. Pac-Simile of Bar. Beware of imitations. se MAGNOLIA METAL CO. Owners and Sole Manufacturers, _ 113-115 Bank Street Franciseo, Montreal and San Pittabarg ? ] Chicago, Fisher Bidg. ww Yous, | We masetornse oll cmsen of Bebote Motaie at Ra ee ae 2 et. a 2 apap pdt es tele a ae 5 ara ale ee THE IRON AGE B RASS SHEET COPPER; ~.. GERMAN [s*#e" SILVER WIRE LOW BRASS. SHEET BRONZE. SEAMLESS BRASS AND COPPER TUBING. BRAZED BRASS AND BRONZE TUBING. ::: 2:33 WATERBURY BRASS (0., WATERBURY, CONN. 99 John St., New York. Providence, R. I. Bridgeport Deoxidized Bronze & Metal Co., BRIDGEPORT, GONN. Automobile Castings a Specialty. High Tensile Strength. Bronze and Aluminum Alloys. Write Us. The Queen's Run ne Fire Brick co. HIGHEST GRADE Shapes a Specialty Lock Haven, Penn. 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. 29 MURRAY ST., £1 THE PLUME & ATwoon ME. Cc, MANUFACTURERS OF Sheet and Roll Brass | —AND— WIiRG PRINTERS’ BRASS, JEWELERS’ METAL, GERMAN SILVER AND GILDING METAL, COPPER RIVE’S AND BURRS. Pins, Brass Butt Hinges, Jack Chain, Kero. sene Burners, Lamps, Lamp Trimmings, &c. NEW YORK. 144 HIGH ST., BOSTON. 199 LAKE ST., CHICAGO, FACTORIES : ROLLING MILL : THOMASTON, CONN. WATERBURY, CONN, SCOVILL MFG. CO., MANUFACTURERS OF BRASS, GERMAN SILVER, Sheets, Rolis, Rods, Bolts and Tubes, Wire Brass Shells, Cups, Hinges, Buttons, Lamp Goods. Special Brass Goods to Order. FACTORIES: WATERBURY, CONN, Depots: CHICAGO. WEW YORK. BOSTON. Henry Souther Engineering Co, HARTFORD, CONN. Consulting Chemists, Metallurgists and an Complete ting Laboratory; Expert err: | fa ony and Patent Cases, Artur T. Rutter & Gh 256 Broadway, NEW YORK. Small tubing in Brass, Copper, Steel, Aluminum, German Silver, &c. Sheet Brass, Copper and Ger- man Silver. Copper, Brass and German Silver Wire. Brazed and Seamless Brass and Copper Tube. Copper and Brass Rod. “PHONO-ELECTRIC ” ZINCS FOR LECLANCHE BATTERY. WSN rere A 88-72 West Monroe St. Chicago. ONEROUS CCUM CCE TIU RENT TTUL ictet eta aaa WIRE, “it's Touct.” TROLLEY, » B z da Ta leminan » Garth & ara Pre - W. G. ROWELL CO) One FINISHER ridgeport, Conn. TELEGRA?H HENDRICKS BROTHERS LINES. ae nw ee ¥ s Mills BRIDGEPORT BRASS 0. " Belleville Copper Rolling Mills, | se autem, of Brazxiers’ molt and Sheathing GEORGE KROU SE HEAVY CASTINCS Manufacturer of all kinds of Brass and Composition Casti: gs Brazing —. Hard Composition and Phosphor Bronze Castings a Specialt 160 to 164 Morgan Street, JERSEY CITY, COPPER, COOF'PER WIRE AND RIVETS. Importers and Dealers in ingot Copper, Block Tin, Spelter, Lead, ,Antimony, etc. 49 CLIFF ST., NEW YORK. THE IRON AGE New York, Thursday, November 16, 1905. A New Heavy Ridgway Planer. An unusually heavy planer, particularly designed for the handling of such work as large engine parts, was recently built by the Ridgway Machine Tool Company, Ridgway, Pa., for Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co., Pittsburgh. Pa. The machine weighs in the neighborhood of 75,000 pounds and is driven by a Thompson-Ryan variable speed motor having a two to one variation. A test of the power of this machine was taken in the shop, and four cuts 1 be withdrawn from time to time. The standard table has T slots and reamed holes, but any design can be furnished without extra charge. The rack is of steel, with teeth 11 inches wide and of two pitch. The uprights, of which mention has already been made, are of box form and are finished to receive side heads, whether the latter are or dered or not, so that the heads can be attached at any subsequent time. All the gears entering into the drive are of steel, and all pinions are steel forgings, with 15 or more teeth to insure smooth operating. <A ring oiling bearing is Fig. 1.—A Heavy Planer Built for Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co., by the Ridgway Machine Tool Company, Ridgway, Pa. inch deep by % inch feed were carried simultaneously, the power required to carry these cuts being 35 horse- power. Fig. 1, a view of the working side of the planer, shows its four tool heads, two on the cross rail and one on each upright. The view given in Fig. 2 brings out the driv- ing arrangement clearly and shows one of the most strik- ing features of the tool, the improved design of the hous- ings. It will be remembered that a very similar type of housing is employed in the Ridgway heavy boring mill described in The Iron Age March 30, 1905. These hous- ings are an example of the general endeavor to make the machine absolutely rigid in all of its parts. A very stiff construction has been followed in the bed, the side walls of which are tied by heavy cross girts, and at the gear space the bed is reinforced by double walls. The bed is approximately twice as long as the table, so that the latter never overhangs. The table is of complete box form, unusually deep and is arranged to contain chips and dirt, preventing their falling between the tracks. Through large holes provided at the sides the chips may provided on the driving shaft next to the driving pinion, and all the bearings wherever possible are self oiling. The cross rail is of box form and long enough to allow the cross rail heads to be used at any position across the entire width of the planer. In order that the strain of cutting may not be transmitted across the face of the up- right, which is the weakest part of the cross rail, there are clamps on the inside edges of the uprights in addi- tion to the gibs on the outside. The tool slides of the cross rail and side heads are swiveled and can feed at any angle. The tool aprons of the cross rail heads are extra wide and have T slots, allowing the tools when set on the inside edges to come close together. The side heads will travel entirely below the table and have exceptionally long bearings on the uprights. Their tool aprons are made flush with the tops of the shoes, allowing the tools to be set so as to be used clear to the top of the work. The erank wrench for adjusting and traversing each head ver- tically is on the head itself The feed for the heads on the cross rail is adjusted at the end of the cross rai! and for the side heads on the ) a eosin oo merit : 1286 side heads themselves. Any desired feed within the range specified can be instantly obtained by means of notched plates while the planer is in motion, even on its shortest stroke. The reciprocating motion for operating the feed is obtained from the running gearing by a patented de- vice, which gives the maximum amount of feed required with only about 3 inches of table movement, and no feed boxes are used. As the amount of feed is governed in the circular disk shown at the end of the cross rail, and as the function of the feed is performed at the commencement of the table movement, it is not necessary to extend the table movement beyond the length of the work more than % inch for minimum feed, varying from that to 3 inches to THE IRON AGE November 16, 1905 Protecting Lake Navigation Interests. The International Waterways Commission granted a public hearing November 10, in Buffalo, to the lake in- terests and the power companies at the Soo. This hearing was upon rules which the commission has formulated, but has not yet adopted, for the regulation of the use of the water of St. Mary’s River by the power companies which have established works at the Soo. Under the rules as formulated the power companies will not be permitted to use more than 10,500 cubic feet of water per second. The commission is making all other inter- ests secondary to the interests of the lake commerce. Fig. 2.—View from the Rear, Showing the Specially Designed Housings and the Drive of the New Ridgway Planer. obtain the maximum. All the heads therefore have feeds that are independent both in amount and direction. —_—_—_ ooo Sintering Plant for South Chicago.—The [Illinois Steel Company, Chicago, has decided to erect a sintering plant at South Chicago. The plant will be erected ac- cording to the specifications of Hoover & Mason, con- sulting engineers, Chicago, and will be similar in design to the plant which this company recently completed and is now operating experimentally near Youngstown, Ohio. At the South Works there is an accumulation of several hundred thousand tons of flue dust, and if this process proves successful this will be agglomerated for blast fur- nace use. Nodules from the sintering plant near Youngs- town show an excellent physical structure of sufficient strength to withstand the burden of furnace operations, while the percentage of iron they contain runs as high as 60 per cent. At the South Works probably the first ex- periments in this country for the utilization of flue dust will be carried on. All of the experiments providing for the briquetting of flue dust have hitherto proved unsuc- cessful. Most of the new processes provide for the ag- glomeration of this dust in kilns similar to those used in the manufacture of cement, and the indications are that an early solution of this problem is at hand. The proposed rules and regulations provide that the level of Lake Superior shall be maintained at a cer- tain point above mean tide at New York, that no com- pany shall be granted permission to use the water of St. Mary’s River without the joint approval of the Sec- retary of War of the United States and the Minister of Public Works of Canada and that no grant for the use of the water shall be for a period longer than 20 years. The engineers of the commission state that the use of 4000 cubic feet of water per second by the power com- panies would lower the level of Lake Superior about 1-5 foot and the use of 6000 cubic feet per second would lower the level about 1-3 foot. ~~ Oe The New England Foundrymen’s Association held its monthly meeting at the Exchange Club, Boston, Novem- ber 8, with President John Magee in the chair. B. V. French of the Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Company made an address on “ Fire Protection Engineer- ing with Special Reference to Foundries,” which was fol- lowed by a discussion. The Yale & Towne Mfg. Com- pany, Stamford, Conn., and the North & Judd Mfg. Company, New Britain, Conn., were elected to member- ship. There was the usual dinner. i The Dallett Portable Drills. For several years the Thos. H. Dallett Company, Phil- adelphia, Pa., has manufactured portable drills adapted for motor drive, using motors of its own make and planetary gear reductions. Now it is redesigning its entire line of portable drills, adapting them for motor drive, using standard motors, and the No. 4 and No. 5 are now upon the market. The engraving herewith shows one of the No. 5 ma- chines equipped with a 3 horse-power variable speed Northern electric 220-volt motor. The No. 4 is prac- tically identical in general design. These drilling ma- A No. 5 Motor Driven Dallett Portable Drill. chines are supported when in use by a base containing two bearings, one vertical and one horizontal, allowing the machine to be used for either vertical or horizontal drilling. This base is provided with four slotted lugs by which it can be bolted on or near the piece to be drilled or bored. In the base is fitted a post, adjustable in position to allow the use of different lengths of drills and sockets in the spindle. On the top of the post is cut a worm wheel, over which is fitted a cap washer, containing on one side a bearing with a worm, which meshes in the worm wheel on the post, by which it can be entirely revolved around the axis of the base. The frame of the machine rests in a groove planed across the top washer and is clamped firmly in place by a square washer on the top and a stud tapped into the post. The frame is movable lengthwise at right angles to the axis of the base, being actuated by a side screw, and has a clamp on the front end to receive the drill head. This drill head consists of a frame with spindle, feed screw and feeding device. The feeding mechanism in the No. 4 and No. 5 drills consists of a pair of bevel gears, feed shaft, rocker, paw! plate, pawl, ratchet wheel, feed nut and feed screw. The latter presses directly upon the top end of the spindle, the thrust being taken by a fiber washer and is coupled to the spindle by a yoke nut. The connecting rod between November 16, 1905 THE IRON AGE 1287 the crank and rocker pawl is fitted with a spring, which can be set for any pressure of feed, so that when this pressure is exceeded the spring will be compressed and the feed cease to operate until the excessive pressure of feed is relieved, thus affording an automatic relief. Change of feed from one tooth to 17 can be effected by shifting a thumb latch, no wrench being required. The No. 4 and No. 5 drills are fitted with a back gear, which is thrown in mesh by an eccentric shaft, the lat- ter being locked in place with a thumb screw. When the back gear is in use the key is unclutched from the cone shaft by throwing out a clutch key. The motors used are variable speed motors, suffi- ciently powerful to operate the machine to the extreme limits of its capacity without undue heating. The bear- ings of the motor are so arranged that the motor is equal- ly serviceable in whatever position the machine may be placed. The No. 5 portable drill has a radial adjustment of 30 inches, drilling at one setting anywhere over a surface of 72 inches outside diameter and 22% inches inside diameter. The spindle is provided with a No. 5 Morse Taper, is 21-16 inches in diameter, has a traverse of 20 inches and a range of speeds from 19 to 90 revolutions per minute, with a feed of from 0.005 to 0.075 inch per revolution of spindle. The net weight of the machine complete is 1300 pounds. The No. 4 machine, as stated before, is practically identical in design with the No. 5, the arm having a reach of 28 inches, drilling at one setting anywhere over a surface of 56 inches outside diameter and 16 inches inside diameter. It has a spindle 111-16 inches in diam- eter, provided with a No. 4 Morse taper, and has a traverse of 12 inches. The range of speeds is from 29 to 153 revolutions per minute, with the same feeds per revolution of spindle as the No. 5 drill. The adjust- ment of the post in the base is 6 inches. The net weight is 765 pounds. These machines are provided with a sling for con- venient handling by crane and are extensively used where a portable machine is required for doing heavy or awkward drilling or boring. They are also very well adapted for a large range of regular work when not employed for portable purposes, as these two sizes of machines, being powerfully back geared, will do the same work that a very large standard drill press or radial drill can accomplish. The capacity of the ma- chines for different purposes is only limited by the in- genuity of the operator in using them in various situa- tions. The other sizes of Dallett portable drills are rapidly being adapted for driving by standard motors, and the company will in a short time be prepared to furnish any of its different drilling machines so equipped. —__—.-o——— British Mineral Production.—Statistics of the quan- tity and value of minerals produced in Great Britain in 1904 and a comparison with 1908 have been issued by the Home Office at London. The value of all minerals at mines and quarries was £97,477,639 in 1904, as com- pared with £101,808,404 in 1903. The production of coal in 1904 was 232,428,272 gross tons, as against 230,334,469 tons in 1903; of iron ore, 13,774,282 tons, as against 13,- 715,645 tons; of iron pyrites, 10,287 tons, against 9639 tons; of lead ore, 26,374 tons against 26,567 tons; of lime- stone (other than chalk), 12,043,135 tons, against 12,222,- 971 tons; of manganese ore, 8756 tons, against 818 tons; of tin ore dressed, 6742 tons, against 7382 tons; of fluor- spar, 18,160 tons, against 11,911 tons; of bog ore, 4543 tons, against 4090 tons; of bauxite, 8700 tons, against 6128 tons; of zinc ore, 27,655 tons, against 24,888 tons. —— Official sanction has been given recently to the use of basic Bessemer steel in the erection of bridges for Aus- trian State railroads. In other countries, notably Ger- many and Switzerland, Thomas steel has been sanctioned for bridge building, while Austria has required until now that in all such construction open hearth steel be em- ployed. CO ee ee ee EATER tee tyes meine ae che ee ~ ee a a a meta ee — 1288 Currency Expansion and Commodity Values. A factor that bears in an important way upon the course of prices for iron and steel and the general com- modity market as well is the increase in currency in the United States, both gold and in national bank notes. The following discussion of the subject in the New York Sun of November 5 raises a number of points well worthy of consideration : The Bond Refunding Act Cheapened Money. The announcement last week that the national bank note circulation throughout the country had increased during the month of October $8,249,280 and in the year thus far $67,126,749 again draws attention to the great part played now and during the last few years by the operations of the Government bond refunding act passed _in March, 1900. At the time this bill became a law popular scrutiny was far more occupied with those provi- sions of it relating to the establishment and security of the gold standard than with those other sections which made possible a great increase in the circulating medium, and speculators and banking interests as well only grasped with extreme slowness the true meaning of the measure. It is now apparent to every one, however, that to the bond refunding act is due almost as much as to the increased production of gold in the country the gen- eral cheapness of money that has prevailed here in the last five years, and no better time can be taken than the present for a review of what has been accomplished by the act and for a forecast of the results that may reason- ably be expected from it in the future. The act itself in its provision bearing upon bank note circulation provided that all the bonds of the United States bearing 3, 4 and 5 per cent. per annum and maturing in 1904, 1907 and 1908 might be refunded into bonds not maturing until 1930 and drawing interest at the rate of only 2 per cent. The Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to exchange the outstanding bonds for the new ones upon terms that invited the transaction on the part of bondholders, and following the passage of the act the conversion of the bonds proceeded in a rapid way. As the old outstanding bonds sold at high premiums they were available only in a narrow way for purposes of bank note circulation, since the national banks buying the bonds for such use would have to lose a large sum in interest on the premiums paid; but the premium on the new 2 per cent. bonds was of course relatively slight and the banks could use these for purposes of circulation very advantageously. Other, Influences Which Aided Currency Expansion. Aside from all this the refunding act raised the limit at which the Government bonds could be used for bank note circulation to a price of par, or 100, instead of 90, the old figure, and reduced from 2 to % per cent. the Government tax on circulation. Further, the new law amended the national bank act so as to allow of the estab- lishmegt of national banks with a much smaller capital than had previously been possible. But this was not all. The Secretary of the Treasury some time after the pass- age of the refunding act made such a reconstruction of the Federal statutes governing the deposit of public moneys in the national banks as to permit the substitu- tion of other guarantees than those of Government bonds for the security of the sums of money thus deposited. This allowed the banks to withdraw from the Treasury of the United States the Government bonds previously de- posited by them for the purpose named and to use these bonds for the creation of further bank note circulation, and indeed the admitted policy of the Treasury Depart- ment during the period of Mr. Shaw’s incumbency has been to enlarge bank note circulation by every possible means. Natural forces, too, have worked along these same lines, notably by reason of the appearance of a deficit in the Government’s revenues. For more than a year back the Government has been paying out more money than it has received, and it has thus been compelled to make re- quisition upon the Government moneys held by national banks. As it has drawn upon these deposits the Govern- THE IRON AGE November 16, 1905 ment bonds held against the deposits have been compul- sorily released and these have gone into new bank note circulation along with the others. The joint effect of all these forces has been to stimulate bank note circulation as in a forcing house, and bank currency has, in fact, risen from $216,374,795 just before the passage of the bond refunding act to $489,937,806 on October 31 last, due account being taken of the reduction in quantity caused by the 5 per cent. fund required to be maintained at Washington for the redemption of the notes. The in- crease in this form of currency has thus been in the period stated $273,563,011 or nearly half the increase in the total volume of all kinds of money that has taken place, and inasmuch as about $200,000,000 in round num- bers of the 4 and 5 per cent. bonds of 1907 and 1908 still remain unfunded and will undoubtedly be funded inside of two years at the latest, an increase in the quantity of outstanding bank notes of nearly $475,000,000 may be predicated covering a period of seven years’ operation of the bond refunding law. Panama Canal Bonds to Come, Nor does this comprise all of the enlargement of bank note circulation that is possible in this time. At the forthcoming session of Congress an act will probably be passed authorizing an issue of perhaps $150,000,000 of Government 2 per cent. bonds for the Panama Canal con- struction, and in order to make these bonds readily sal- able it is purposed, without dissent so far as can be as- certained, to make them also available for bank note cir- culation. If this is done an increase in the circulating medium in the shape of notes issued by the banks of in the neighborhood of $625,000,000 in the seven years’ pe- riod referred to will at least be possible. The effect of this inflation of paper currency upon prices of stocks and commodities is, so far as the past is concerned, now readily observable, and there is no logical reason to suppose that the further course and influence of the process will be any different from that which it was in the fore part of its career. An elevation of values from such a cause alone would under ordinary circum- stances, as will be generally conceded, contain elements of grave danger, but circumstances in this country in the last five years have been extraordinary. There has been in this time a huge actual increase in the substantial wealth of the country. The new bank note circulation, in other words, rests not upon wind but upon an intrinsic enlargement of wealth per capita, caused by the energies and industries of a vastly increased population and espe- cially by the prosperity of the agricultural sections of the country, owing to the coincidence of the remarkably favoring factors of large crops sold at high prices. Sec- ondly, the increased production of gold in the country and throughout the world lends a stability to this greater volume of paper currency that it would not otherwise possess. Figures on this point have been made subjects of such common reference as not to need renewed quo- tation. A matter deserving some thought, however, is whether in view of the increase, present and prospective, in the gold supply a further enlargement of the bank note cir- culation is at this time necessary, and this perhaps sug- gests that more consideration than has yet been given should be extended to the proposition to make the new issue of Panama Canal bonds available for use by the banks in the manner described. Assuming that the Pana- ma Canal bond issue is of the size stated, a total volume of bank note circulation at the end of 1907 of $840,000,000 may thus be authorized, and it is to be remembered that the volume of bank notes thus created augments the obli- gations of the Government which must be maintained at par with gold. Should the 5 per cent. fund deposited in the Treasury for the redemption of bank notes be ex- hausted and a bank fail to. replenish it the Government under the provision of the national bank act is still bound to redeem the notes of that bank and look for reimburse- ment, first to the bonds held as security, and if that re source proves insufficient then, as a preferred creditor, to the bank’s assets. National bank notes are therefore in effect Government notes and must, like them, under the other provisions of the law, be redeemed in gold or in Tawful money convertible into gold at will. November 16, 1905 THE IRON AGE 1289 What the Bureau of Standards Has Accomplished. The readers of The Iron Age will recall the space which some years ago we devoted to advocating the passage of a bill by Congress establishing a national bureau of stand- ards. The act as finally passed by Congress and ap- proved March 3, 1901, provided that the Office of Standard Weights and Measures of the Treasury Department should be thereafter known as the National Bureau of Standards. Through the aggressive policy of Dr. Samuel W. Stratton, who was selected as director by the President of the United States, an excellent site was secured and the two main buildings were nearly finished before the bureau was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor on July 1, 1903, by the act establishing that Department. Since then the director, with the support of the Secretary of the new Department, has been able to finish the two buildings, equip the various laboratories with apparatus and gather about him a scientific staff of some 35 mem- bers, all of whom are working enthusiastically and in harmony to attain the objects for which the bureau was established. Official Visitation and Inspection, Such were the conditions found by the Visiting Com- mittee, appointed in-1901 by the Secretary of the Treas- ury when the bureau was established, on the occasion of its recent annual visit of inspection. The members of the committee are as follows: Dr. Ira Remsen, presi- dent of Johns Hopkins University ; Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Edward S. Nichols, professor of physics, Cornell Uni- versity ; Dr. Elihu Thomson, electrical engineer, General Electric Company, Lynn, Mass,; Albert Ladd Colby, con- sulting engineer and iron and steel metallurgist, New York, They were all present and were in session for two days, during which they listened to the report of the director on the scientific work already completed or in progress, his plans for organization and extension of the present work of standardization and commercial testing and the pressing needs for the enlargement of the bureau. They also reviewed the bulletins and circulars of infor- mation, &c., so far printed. The committee made a thor- ough inspection of all the special apparatus contained in the electrical, optical, photometric, physical, chemical and mechanical laboratories as well as the elaborate and efficient system of heating, ventilation and refrigeration, the electrical generators and storage batteries and the instrument room, where most of the special apparatus has been made. It visited also the third building, par- tially completed, which will be entirely devoted to the study of the properties of materials when subjected to extremely low temperature. The reception was held in the library of the bureau on Friday evening, November 3, and on Saturday the Visiting Committee called on the Secretary of the De- partment to make a verbal report of its approval of the work the bureau was accomplishing, and it promised to put before him a detailed report containing the results of its inspection and recommendations. The Publications of the Bureau consist of a Bulletin, the first issue of which appeared in November, 1904, and in which it is intended to embody the results of the investigations, researches and other work of importance to the scientific, technical and manufactur- ing interests of the country. It will be issued at intervals as frequently as the number of papers ready for publica- tion may require. The schedule of fees, regulations and other matters pertaining to the testing work of the bureau are being issued in the form of circulars of information. The annual report of the director of the bureau is em- bodied in the annual report of the Department of Com- merce and Labor. Practical Progress Made. Those members of the Visiting Committee who were particularly interested in iron, steel and allied industries found that the bureau had already made progress in the following matters: 1. The verification and comparison with the United States bench standard of the steel and other metal tapes used in engineering, surveying and manufacturing. 2. The verification of electrical standards’and measur- ing instruments. 3. Pyrometer testing and heat measurements, including the testing of thermo-couples, pyrometer galvanometers, electrical resistance thermometers, optical pyrometers, expansion pyrometers, mercurial and other forms of ther- mometers and the various kinds of calorimetric appa- ratus, In cases of scientific and technical interest special in- vestigations in heat measurements and allied subjects will be carried out, such as the determination of coeffi- cients of expansion at high temperatures, specific heats, boiling points, melting points of metals, alloys, &c. Persons desiring to become familiar with the use of pyrometers or the particular kind best suited to their requirements are welcome to visit the laboratories of the bureau, where many of the leading types of pyrometers may be seen in operation. 4. The bureau will also receive for test and correction certain kinds of glass volumetric apparatus, such as flashes, pipettes, burettes, &c. A special circular describes the kinds of apparatus which will be received for test and methods used in testing. In all the above cases certificates are furnished bear- ing the date, the seal of the bureau and the signature of the director. All of the fees are very reasonable, and in some cases absurdly small, considering the time and care necessary to insure the accuracy in standardizing attained by the careful manipulation of the delicate apparatus employed. Uniformity Sought in Weights and Measures, As one of the functions of the bureau is the custody of the standard weights it has taken the initiative in en- deavoring to bring about uniformity in State laws and practices in regard to commercial weights and measures throughout the country. A meeting of the sealers of weights and measures of the various States was held at the bureau last January and resulted in arrangements for annual meetings of the State officials of weights and measures in future. In this connection the bureau has published an interesting circular showing the present wide variations in the weights in pounds per bushel legally established for vari- ous products by the several States and (for customs pur- poses) by Congress. It has also published, in a quarto pamphlet of 38 pages, a valuable set of tables of equivalents of the cus- tomary and metric weights and measures, It is the desire of the bureau to co-operate with manu- facturers, scientists and others in briging about more satisfactory conditions relative to weights and measures in the broader meaning of these terms and to place at the disposal of those interested such information relative to these subjects as may be in its possession. It is also its desire to aid in the solution of specific scientific prob- lems arising in technical or scientific work coming within the scope of the bureau. te The Cherry Valley Iron Company.—This company, whose offices are in the People’s Bank Building, Pitts- burgh, operates the Cherry Valley Furnace at Leetonia, Ohio., and the Fannie Furnace at West Middlesex, Pa. It has decided to make material improvements and en- largements at the latter stack, and has placed a contract with G. W. McClure, Son & Co., Bessemer Building, Pitts- burgh, for the building of three 21 x 70 feet Massicks & Crookes hot blast fire brick stoves, and may possibly add a fourth stove of the same design and size. A contract has also been given to the William Tod Company, Youngs- town, Ohio, for two blowing engines, the hjgh pressure engine to be 49 x 96 inches, 60-inch stroke, and the low pressure engine 96 x 96 inches, with 60-inch stroke. The stack will continue in blast while these additions are being made, with possibly the exception of one week while the engines and stoves are being connected, The output of the furnace will be increased from 225 tons to 300 tons a day. The improvements are expected to be finished about April 1 next. i BA - 1288 Currency Expansion and Commodity Values. A factor that bears in an important way upon the course of prices for iron and steel and the general com- modity market as well is the increase in currency in the United States, both gold and in national bank notes. The following discussion of the subject in the New York Sun of November 5 raises a number of points well worthy of consideration : The Bond Refunding Act Cheapened Money, The announcement last week that the national bank note circulation throughout the country had increased during the month of October $8,249,280 and in the year thus far $67,126,749 again draws attention to the great part played now and during the last few years by the operations of the Government bond refunding act passed _in March, 1900. At the time this bill became a law popular scrutiny was far more occupied with those provi- sions of it relating to the establishment and security of the gold standard than with those other sections which made possible a great increase in the circulating medium, and speculators and banking interests as well only grasped with extreme slowness the true meaning of the measure. It is now apparent to every one, however, that to the bond refunding act is due almost as much as to the increased production of gold in the country the gen- eral cheapness of money that has prevailed here in the last five years, and no better time can be taken than the present for a review of what has been accomplished by the act and for a forecast of the results that may reason- ably be expected from it in the future. The act itself in its provision bearing upon bank note circulation provided that all the bonds of the United States bearing 3, 4 and 5 per cent. per annum and maturing in 1904, 1907 and 1908 might be refunded into bonds not maturing until 1930 and drawing interest at the rate of only 2 per cent. The Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to exchange the outstanding bonds for the new ones upon terms that invited the transaction on the part of bondholders, and following the passage of the act the conversion of the bonds proceeded in a rapid way. As the old outstanding bonds sold at high premiums they were available only in a narrow way for purposes of bank note circulation, since the national banks buying the bonds for such use would have to lose a large sum in interest on the premiums paid; but the premium on the new 2 per cent. bonds was of course relatively slight and the banks could use these for purposes of circulation very advantageously. Other, Influences Which Aided Currency Expansion. Aside from all this the refunding act raised the limit at which the Government bonds could be used for bank note circulation to a price of par, or 100, instead of 90, the old figure, and reduced from 2 to % per cent. the Government tax on circulation. Further, the new law amended the national bank act so as to allow of the estab- lishment of national banks with a much smaller capital than had previously been possible. But this was not all. The Secretary of the Treasury some time after the pass- age of the refunding act made such a reconstruction of the Federal statutes governing the deposit of public moneys in the national banks as to permit the substitu- tion of other guarantees than those of Government bonds for the security of the sums of money thus deposited. This allowed the banks to withdraw from the Treasury of the United States the Government bonds previously de- posited by them for the purpose named and to use these bonds for the creation of further bank note circulation, and indeed the admitted policy of the Treasury Depart- ment during the period of Mr. Shaw’s incumbency has been to enlarge bank note circulation by every possible means. Natural forces, too, have worked along these same lines, notably by reason of the appearance of a deficit in the Government’s revenues. For more than a year back the Government has been paying out more money than it has received, and it has thus been compelled to make re- quisition upon the Government moneys held by national banks. As it has drawn upon these deposits the Govern- THE IRON AGE November 16, 1905 ment bonds held against the deposits have been compul- sorily released and these have gone into new bank note circulation along with the others. The joint effect of all these forces has been to stimulate bank note circulation as in a forcing house, and bank currency has, in fact, risen from $216,374,795 just before the passage of the bond refunding act to $489,937,806 on October 31 last, due account being taken of the reduction in quantity caused by the 5 per cent. fund required to be maintained at Washington for the redemption of the notes. The in- crease in this form of currency has thus been in the period stated $273,563,011 or nearly half the increase in the total volume of all kinds of money that has taken place, and inasmuch as about $200,000,000 in round num- bers of the 4 and 5 per cent. bonds of 1907 and 1908 still remain unfunded and will undoubtedly be funded inside of two years at the latest, an increase in the quantity of outstanding bank notes of nearly $475,000,000 may be predicated covering a period of seven years’ operation of the bond refunding law. Panama Canal Bonds to Come, Nor does this comprise all of the enlargement of bank note circulation that is possible in this time. At the forthcoming session of Congress an act will probably be passed authorizing an issue of perhaps $150,000,000 of Government 2 per cent. bonds for the Panama Canal con- struction, and in order to make these bonds readily sal- able it is purposed, without dissent so far as can be as- certained, to make them also available for bank note cir- culation. If this is done an increase in the circulating medium in the shape of notes issued by the banks of in the neighborhood of $625,000,000 in the seven years’ pe- riod referred to will at least be possible. The effect of this inflation of paper currency upon prices of stocks and commodities is, so far as the past is concerned, now readily observable, and there is no logical reason to suppose that the further course and influence of the process will be any different from that which it was in the fore part of its career. An elevation of values from such a cause alone would under ordinary circum- stances, as will be generally conceded, contain elements of grave danger, but circumstances in this country in the last five years have been extraordinary. There has been in this time a huge actual increase in the substantial wealth of the country. The new bank note circulation, in other words, rests not upon wind but upon an intrinsic enlargement of wealth per capita, caused by the energies and industries of a vastly increased population and espe- cially by the prosperity of the agricultural sections of the country, owing to the coincidence of the remarkably favoring factors of large crops sold at high prices. Sec- ondly, the increased production of gold in the country and throughout the world lends a stability to this greater volume of paper currency that it would not otherwise possess. Figures on this point have been made subjects of such common reference as not to need renewed quo- tation. A matter deserving some thought, however, is whether in view of the increase, present and prospective, in the gold supply a further enlargement of the bank note cir- culation is at this time necessary, and this perhaps sug- gests that more consideration than has yet been given should be extended to the proposition to make the new issue of Panama Canal bonds available for use by the banks in the manner described. Assuming that the Pana- ma Canal bond issue is of the size stated, a total ‘volume of bank note circulation at the end of 1907 of $840,000,000 may thus be authorized, and it is to be remembered that the volume of bank notes thus created augments the obli- gations of the Government which must be maintained at par with gold. Should the 5 per cent. fund deposited in the Treasury for the redemption of bank notes be ex- hausted and a bank fail to. replenish it the Government under the provision of the national bank act is still bound to redeem the notes of that bank and look for reimburse- ment, first to the bonds held as security, and if that re source proves insufficient then, as a preferred creditor, to the bank’s assets. National bank notes are therefore in effect Government notes and must, like them, under the other provisions of the law, be redeemed in gold or in lawful money convertible into gold at will. November 16, 1905 What the Bureau of Standards Has Accomplished. The readers of The Iron Age will recall the space which some years ago we devoted to advocating the passage of a bill by Congress establishing a national bureau of stand- ards. The act as finally passed by Congress and ap- proved March 3, 1901, provided that the Office of Standard Weights and Measures of the Treasury Department should be thereafter known as the National Bureau of Standards. Through the aggressive policy of Dr. Samuel W. Stratton, who was selected as director by the President of the United States, an excellent site was secured and the two main buildings were nearly finished before the bureau was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor on July 1, 1903, by the act establishing that Department. Since then the director, with the support of the Secretary of the new Department, has been able to finish the two buildings, equip the various laboratories with apparatus and gather about him a scientific staff of some 35 mem- bers, all of whom are working enthusiastically and in harmony to attain the objects for which the bureau was established. Official Visitation and Inspection, Such .were the conditions found by the Visiting Com- mittee, appointed in-1901 by the Secretary of the Treas- ury when the bureau was established, on the occasion of its recent annual visit of inspection. The members of the committee are as follows: Dr. Ira Remsen, presi- dent of Johns Hopkins University ; Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Edward S. Nichols, professor of physics, Cornell Uni- versity ; Dr. Elihu Thomson, electrical engineer, General Electric Company, Lynn, Mass,; Albert Ladd Colby, con- sulting engineer and iron and steel metallurgist, New York. They were all present and were in session for two days, during which they listened to the report of the director on the scientific work already completed or in progress, his plans for organization and extension of the present work of standardization and commercial testing and the pressing needs for the enlargement of the bureau. They also reviewed the bulletins and circulars of infor- mation, &c., so far printed. The committee made a thor- ough inspection of all the special apparatus contained in the electrical, optical, photometric, physical, chemical and mechanical laboratories as well as the elaborate and efficient system of heating, ventilation and refrigeration, the electrical generators and storage batteries and the instrument room, where most of the special apparatus has been made. It visited also the third building, par- tially completed, which will be entirely devoted to the study of the properties of materials when subjected to extremely low temperature. The reception was held in the library of the bureau on Friday evening, November 3, and on Saturday the Visiting Committee called on the Secretary of the De- partment to make a verbal report of its approval of the work the bureau was accomplishing, and it promised to put before him a detailed report containing the results of its inspection and recommendations. The Publications of the Bureau consist of a Bulletin, the first issue of which appeared in November, 1904, and in which it is intended to embody the results of the investigations, researches and other work of importance to the scientific, technical and manufactur- ing interests of the country. It will be issued at intervals as frequently as the number of papers ready for publica- tion may require. The schedule of fees, regulations and other matters pertaining to the testing work of the bureau are being issued in the form of circulars of information. The annual report of the director of the bureau is em- bodied in the annual report of the Department of Com- merce and Labor. Practical Progress Made. Those members of the Visiting Committee who were particularly interested in iron, steel and allied industries found that the bureau had already made progress in the following matters: 1. The verification and comparison with the United THE IRON AGE 1289 States bench standard of the steel and other metal tapes used in engineering, surveying and manufacturing. 2. The verification of electrical standards’and measur- ing instruments. 3. Pyrometer testing and heat measurements, including the testing of thermo-couples, pyrometer galvanometers, electrical resistance thermometers, optical pyrometers, expansion pyrometers, mercurial and other forms of ther- mometers and the various kinds of calorimetric appa- ratus, In cases of scientific and technical interest special in- vestigations in heat measurements and allied subjects will be carried out, such as the determination of coeffi- cients of expansion at high temperatures, specific heats, boiling points, melting points of metals, alloys, &c. Persons desiring to become familiar with the use of pyrometers or the particular kind best suited to their requirements are welcome to visit the laboratories of the bureau, where many of the leading types of pyrometers may be seen in operation. 4. The bureau will also receive for test and correction certain kinds of glass volumetric apparatus, such as flashes, pipettes, burettes, &c. A special circular describes the kinds of apparatus which will b