The Iron Age 1908-07-16: Vol 82 Iss 3

THE IRON AGE Published every Thursday Morning by David Willams Co. 14-16 Park Place, New York. Vol. 82: No. 3 New York, Thursday, July 16, 7908. &5 OO a _Year, including Postage. Single Copies, 15 Cents. Reading Matter Contents........ page 217) ———_ aE Clessiied List of Advertisers 187 THE .25 REM. CALIBRE Remington Autoloading Rifle Advertising and Subscription Rates “ 196 REED F. BLAIR & CO. PRICK BUILDING, PITTSBURG, PA. STANDARD CONNBLLSVILLE FOUNDRY PURNACE CRUSHED IS NOW READY FOR THE MARKET The .25 Remington is the only rifle made in this calibre which loads itself. It is an ideal gun for the smaller big game such as Ropes and Twihes deer, antelope, coyote, wolves. foxes, wood chucks, etc. The .25 Rem. cartridge has a 117 gr. bullet and over 2,000 feet velo- city. Itis a small calibre, flat trajectory, high velocity cartridge. Write for full particulars. The American Mfg. Co. 65 Wall Street, New York ‘Bristol's Patent Steel Belt Lacing Remington Autoloading Rifles are the modern big - game guns. Load themselves and sell themselves. Remington \=e Arms Company, llion, N. Y. READY TO APPLY FINISHED JOINT Agency, 315 Broadway, New York. The Bristol Company, Waterbury, Ct. Oech Gili ait WATER TUBE Gh4e Babcock @ Wilcox Co., Ss on Spot Cord is the best sas 4 . an a any cine Phoenix Sash BOII ERS iennteae 5 eee Cord is better than most and as cheap as any. We make both, and everything else in the line of braided cord. SAMSON CORDAGE WORKS, Boston, Mass, TURNBUCHKLES THE CAPEWELL NAIL im Holds the Best! Drives the Best! Cleveland City Forge and Iron Co., - Cleveland, 0. a NO imperfect NAILS TO SPLIT the foot. a a oe NO dull points to DAMAGE the most brittle or MERRILL BROS. — | ners delicate HOOF. New York. N. Y. NO DANGER of your horse casting a shoe at a critical moment WHEN “CAPEWELL’’ NAILS ARE USED. FOUNDRY IRON. a trard Building, Phtla. THE CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL COMPANY Pilling & Crane =e Hartford, Conn., U.S.A. JENKINS BROS. VALVES STANDARD PATTERN. Made of new steam metal of the best grade. Fitted with the Jenkins Disc assur- ing an absolutely steam tight valve under all ordinary pressures. When fitted with a soft Jenkins Disc they are he most satisfactory valves that can be obtained for use on water, air or gas, All parts interchangeable. Every valve bearing the Trade Mark is guaranteed. JENKINS BROS., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, London. “Sedo” Gold Rolled Steel et TQ Stampa THE AMERICAN TUBE & STAMPING COMPANY SEE (Water and Rail Delivery) BRIDGEPORT, OonN. PAGE MAGNOLIA ,,tcron METAL The Standard Babbitt of the World We manufacture everything in the Babbitt Line. MAGNOLIA METAL CO. Se New York: 115 Bank St. Chicago: Fisher Building. Montreal: 31 St. Nicholas St. LUFAIN 5. MADE IN AMERICA and THE BEST in N THE WORLD THE LUFKIN SOLS OO. Saginaw, Mich., U.S.A. | New York, London, Eng. Windsor, Can. Particular selection of raw materials and most up-to- date methods in manufac- ture combine to make “Apollo Best Bloom” Galvanized Sheets the best on the market. AMERICAN SHEET AND TIN PLATE COMPANY Frick Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. See our Ad. on page 17 2 THE IRON AGE BR ASS (roy The Plume & Atwood Mig. Co. FO LLAN g Hi F F COPPER (foo Sheet and Roll Brass B R 0 T H E RS GER M AN fom sae! RE Metal, ROD German Silver and Gilding Metal, Copper Rivets and Burrs C0 Mi PA N Y SILVER WIRE Pins, Brass oo. Hinges, Jack Chain Kerosene Burners, Lamps, Lamp Trimmings, &c. LOW BRASS, SHEET BRONZE, isiiaitsen eins PITTSBURGH §i| seamess BRASS AND COPPER | Room 508 Heyworth Building, East Madi: eee TUBING, BRAZED BRASS AND — Factories ALL BRONZE TUBING: : : : : THOMASTON, CONN. WATERBURY, CONN. SHEET STEEL im SCOVILL MFG. CO. Manufacturers of BRASS, GERMAN SILVER, Sheets, ve and —_—_——- “FOLLANSBEE POLISHED” Waterbury Brass Co. WATERBURY, CONN. AND “FOLLANSBEE BLUE” a meen a oa ae Also Bright Coke ridgeport Deoxidized bronze se TINPLATE & Metal Co. Ask for Samples and Prices. Providence, R. I. Brass Shells, Cups, Hinges, Buttons, Lamp Goods. Special Brass Goods to Order. Factories: WATERBURY, CONN. Depots: CHICAGO BRIDGEPORT, CONN. Phosphor and Deoxidized NEW YORK BOSTON Bronze HenrySouther Engineering Co, Composition, Yellow Brass and Alumi- HARTFORD, CONN. num Castings, large and small = |Consulting Chemists, Metallur- gists and Analysts. Complete Physical Testing Laboratory. Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co.) See or — Ls Sa, ae Arthur 1. Hutter & Go, SMELTERS OF SPELTER AND MANUFACTURERS 256 Broadway, SHEET ZINC AND SULPHURIC ACID NEW YORK. Special Sizes of Zinc cut to order. Rolled Battery Plates. Selected Plates for Etchers and Lithographers’ use. Small tubing in Brass, Copper, Selected Sheets for Paper and Card Makers’ use. Steel, Aluminum, German Silver, Stove and Washboard Blanks. &c. Sheet Brass Copper and Ger- ° ’ ZINCS FOR LECLANCHE BATTERY. man Silver. Copper, Brass and German Silver Wire. Brazed and Seamless Brass and Copper Tube Mash Copper and Brass Rod. WN pee Ue aI “PHONO-ELECTRIC” 105-109 So.Jefferson St.. Chicago. WIRE. “it’s TOUGH.” HSA TUIPAUm SE UID LOMULSCURSE ECANSE TICE: VUTHiOFHTIDH Matte hab ce Se TROLLEY, GERMAN SILVER i THE SEYMOUR MFG. CO. - - SEYMOUR, CONN. a HENDRICKS BROTHERS mitts BRIDGEPORT BRASS COMPANY EE — ort Postal Telegraph Bl Sheet andBar Copper, Copper Fire Box Plates|—~ a. puospuon BRONTE PHOSPHOR-BRONZE and Staybolts, Wire and Braziers Rivets GERMAN SILVER Ingot Copper, Block Tin, Spelter, Lead, Antimony, Bismuth, Nickel, etc. 49 CLIFF STREET, - - - - #=NEW YORK'™ NICKEL ANODES Brass, Bronze, and Copper | © aU Nana and THE RIVERSIDE METAL CO. RIVERSIDE, N. J. American Steel Frame Buildings Abroad. Notable Achievements of the United States Steel Products Export Company A conspicuous example of the important work that is being done in foreign countries by American manufactur- Fig. 1. ers is the construction, and in many cases the erection, of steel] frame buildings. It is generally known that Ameri- THE IRON AGE New York, Thursday, July 16, 1908. It is probably, however, not generally known that there is a steady development of a demand for steel buildings of American design throughout the world. While these buildings have not as yet assumed the proportions of the American skyscraper, the tendency of development is in that direction,*and it is probable that within a few years an increasing number of large buildings of American design will be erected in the principal cities of the world. A recent example is the Phoenix Hotel at Buenos Aires, Ihe Phenix Hotel at Buenos Aires, the First Modern Fireproof Building in that City. which an accompanying illustration, Fig. 1, shows in precess of erection. ‘This is the first modern fireproof can manufacturers have undertaken contracts for some of the largest bridges in the world, and that the United States Stee] Products Export Company recently supplied the whole of the bridges for the South Manchurian Rail- way and for a number of other important railroad proj- ects in the Far East, Mexico, South America and else- where. building in Buenos Aires, and is, furthermore, the largest and highest building in that city. It consists of nine stories, the maximum hight from the level of the side- walk being 63 m. (about 207 ft.), with a frontage on San Martin square of 60 m. (about 197 ft.) and a depth of 57 m. (about 187 ft.). The contract for the steel work was taken by the Buenos Aires branch office of the United 164 THE IRON States Steel Products Export Company, and the material was fabricated and furnished ready for erection by the American Bridge Company, the total quantity of steel amounting to 1800 tons. The erection of this hotel re- sulted in a further important development in the shape of steel construction apartment houses, of which a num- ber are now under way in Buenos Aires. American Methods Overcoming Prejudice. In the early stages of the development of the Ameri- can skyscraper, American methods of steel building con- struction were not regarded with favor by foreigners. Many of the most notable examples of the new style of construction, while possessing the advantages of size with resulting economy and adaptability to the uses for which they were designed, were nevertheless of a type of archi- tecture so unsightly that it would not have been tolerated in the old cities of the world, Foreign architects whose ideas were in favor of buildings of moderate hight, and who were also obliged to conform to laws restricting the hight of buildings (such as, for instance, the English laws relating to “ancient lights”), viewed with distrust the comparatively light skeleton designs of American steel work. Time has, however, demonstrated the strength and safety of this form of construction, and the constant in- crease in the value of land in the large cities of the world has compelled an increase in the hight of buildings, thus AGE July 16, 1908 United Siates Steel Products Export Company American steel building construction is being rapidly developed throughout the whole of South Ainerica. Other important contracts secured by this company include the smelting plant of the Cerro de Pasco Mining Company in Peru, for which 4000 tons of steel was required; buildings of va- rious kinds in Chile, car and factory buildings in the Paraguay, power houses in Peru, power plants in Brazil, railroad and high- way bridges in Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Bra- zil, Bolivia and Uruguay. Argentine Republic, warehouses in Exports of Steel Bridge and Structurai Work Growing in Importance. Considering the engineering difficulties to be over- come in building bridges over gorges, canyons, rivers and valleys in far distant countries, where the facilities for transportation and erection are frequently of the most primitive character, the fact that American exports of steel bridges and structural work have already become one of the most important branches of our foreign trade, even from the point of view of tonnage, is highly credit- able to the enterprise of American manufacturers and of the distributers of their products in foreign markets. Not least among the difficulties to be overcome was the fact that a large majority of the engineers and archi- tects in the countries in which this development is taking Fig. 2. reinoving one of the principal obstacles to the development of American steel construction, and the pioneer work of American architects and engineers in foreign countries is beginning to yield substantial returns. Other important examples of American building con- struction, although not of the skyscraper type, are the two buildings at Rio de Janeiro, also shown in accompanying illustrations, for both of which the steel work was sold by the United States Steel Products Export Company and manufactured by the American Bridge Company. One of these buildings, the artistic National Library of Rio de Janeiro, Fig. 2, is a modern steel frame building, four stories high, with basement and dome, approximately measuring 100 x 208 ft. The quantity of steel furnished for this building was 1500 tons. - This was the second structure of its kind in Brazil, the first one being the Fire Department Building at Rio de Janeiro, four stories, with a central dome eight stories high, which was also furnished by the American Bridge Company through the United States Steel Products Export Company. The other building of which an illustration is given, Fig. 3, is the Exposition Building at Rio de Janeiro, in which the Pan-American Congress held its meetings. This is an exact duplicate of the Government Building at the St. Louis Exposition, with the exception that, instead of wood and staff, the Rio de Janeiro building is of masonry and steel, two stories high. with a dome, the main section occupying an area of 9) x 120 ft. As a result of the efforts and organization of the The National Library Building, Rio de Janeiro. place were trained in Europe, and are therefore accus- tomed to regard European practice as standard and to distrust any departure from it. In such cases it has been necessary to convince them not only of the economy of American methods and standards, but also of their safety and practicability. One feature of the organization of the United States Steel Products Export Company, the necessity of which soon developed, was the establishment at important points of a complete engineering and technical staff, capable of designing steel structures to meet the local requirements, of submitting estimates of cost of erection and of carry- ing out the actual work of erection under local conditions, In other words, the representative of the United States Steel Products Export Company at these leading foreign points is in a position to make a bid on the erected work, and for that bid needs nothing more from the home office than a cabled ¢c.i.f. price on the material. The foreign engi- neering office receives at frequent intervals detailed costs of fabrication from the American Bridge Company as a guide in figuring, subject to local conditions. The for- eign customer therefore need not wait for the passing to and fro of estimates for material, and is not called upon to figure freights or any details whatever. He receives a straight bid, with the design, of the actual cost to him of the erected structure, terms of payment being arranged locally in the funds of the country, all the correspondence being conducted, as is the ruie of the United States Steel Products Export Company, in the language of the cus- July 16, 1908 tomer, whose views, it will be observed, are met to the last detail. It was found that this was the wisest course to adopt in developing this business, particularly since the disposition of European competitors was to make a low price per pound of material, but to submit designs cumbersome in character, so that the tonnage was con- siderably greater and the final cost to the user larger. It has been the aim to convince the customer that the final structure, meeting all his requirements, is put in place, by American design and methods of erection, at a lower ulti- mate cost to him than the proposals of rivals which may appear more advantageous on the basis of a fallacious low per pound price for the material alone. The United States Steel Products Export Company now has an engineering organization at Buenos Aires, Ar- gentine Republic; Valparaiso, Chile; Sydney, Australia. Bert ia) be THE IRON AGE 165 Rotterdam, Holland; St. Johns, Newfoundland; St. Paul, Minn. (for Manitoba) ; San Francisco, Cal.; Smyrna, Tur- key; Trieste, Austria; Tripoli, Syria; Turin, Italy; Van- couver, British Columbia; Varna, Bulgaria. It will be observed that while a great deal has been accomplished in the past few years, the broad founda- tions have been laid for a much more extensive and im- portant development in the near future. ———(qq-—-e___—_. A bulletin of the Forest Service, Washington, D. C., notes that upward of 150,000,000 barrels and circular wooden packages are manufactured in the United States each year. The heaviest demand comes from the cement business; flour is second, and sugar third, while barrels for fence staples, bolts, nuts, and nails are fourth in the Fig. 3.—The Exposition Building at Rio de Janeiro, in Which the Pan-American Congress Held Its Meetings. and Shanghai, China. How completely the selling or- ganization, which handles over $50,000,000 worth of busi- ness a year, covers the world may be judged from the following list of the branch offices, some of which are effective aids in the important purchases of raw mate- rials, notably tin, which this subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation handles: London, BE. C., Eng- land; Antwerp, Belgium; Montreal, Canada; Buffalo, N. ¥. (for Province of Ontario) ; Mexico City, Mexico; Sydney, N. S. W., Australia; Johannesburg, South Africa ; Cape Town, South Africa; Buenos Aires, Argentine Re- public; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Lima, Peru; Shanghai, China; Yokohama, Japan; Batavia, Java; Aleppo, Syria; Alexandria, Egypt; Barcelona, Spain; Beyrouth, Syria; Bombay, India; Cairo, Egypt; Calcutta, India; Chris- tiania, Norway; Constantinople, Turkey; Copenhagen, Denmark ; Genoa, Italy; Limassol, Cyprus; Mersina, Tur- key; New Orleans, La.: Pirseus, Greece: Portland, Ore.: order of demand. ‘The life of a barrel is put at one year by the trade, but the bulletin considers this far from true, the majority of barrels being used many times. Modern machinery has made it possible to manufacture barrels for the trade cheaper than almost any other form of durable package. The battleship South Carolina was launched July 11 at the Cramp shipyard, Philadelphia. It is 450 ft. long between perpendiculars, 80 ft. wide, and will have a mean draft of 24 ft. 6 in., the normal displacement being 16,000 tons. The reciprocating engines are of 17,000 hp. and the contract speed is 18% knots. The main battery will consist of eight 12-in. breechloading rifles mounted in four turrets, and arranged so that each gun can fire two shots per minute. The cost of the vessel complete will be $7,000,000. The South Carolina is a sister ship of the Michigan, recently launched. 166 THE IRON AGE July 16, 1908 WATER POWER FOR IRON MINING. The Hydrc-Electric Plant of the Penn Iron Mining Company at Vulcan, Mich.* BY THOMAS W. ORBISON AND FRANK H. ARMSTRONG. In 1877 the Republic Iron Company installed a hydro- pneumatic plant on the Michigamme River, with trans- mission of about 1 mile, to furnish power for the opera- tion of the Republic mine. Five years later the water power at the upper Quininesec Falls on the Menominee River was improved with the installation of an air com- pressor plant, the transmission being about 3% miles to the Chapin, Ludington and Hamilton mines at Iron Moun- tain, Mich. These plants have been in successful opera- tion all this time. Up to and until about one year ago they were the only water powers in all the Lake Superior District being utilized for mining purposes, notwithstand- ing the abundant tributary water power on the one hand and the enormous consumption of coal required for power on the other. Thongh there are many reasons for the slow develop- ment of these water powers, the chief one has been the For a large portion of the year the flow is very much greater, and this fact was taken into consideration when the capacity of the machinery installed was decided upon. Fig. 1 shows the river at the falls and two general plans for the improvement. One is for a dam at AA, with a tunnel through the bluff to the forebay at the power house; the other is for a dam located further down stream on the top of the last pitch in the rapids, with a canal through a depression leading the water to the fore- bay. The latter plan was adopted because the estimates showed that its cost would be less, even with the longer and higher dam, and the longer dam would provide more spillway for the disposal of flood water and facilitate the handling of the saw logs that are floated down the river. In discussing whether to transmit by compressed air or electricity four things were considered—first cost, effi- ciency, net saving and reliability. Carefully prepared es- war’ oy ap Or Yow ep . 1 NI Yl sip "? EN EO” Zn \V tn &7 \ as Elev Original Surface GO" wt Surhe 4002 Elev Present Surface, Fig 1.—Map of the Water Power Development of the Penn Iron Mining Comnany at Vulcan, Mich. lack of a satisfactory medium of transmission applicable to the successful operation of mining macninery and economical in cost. Compressed air as a medium of trans- mission meets the first of these requirements and is in- dispensable in mining operations. The cost, however, is great under favorable conditions, and increases rapidly with the length of the transmission. The mine operator, therefore, has been watching with great interest the won- derful progress made in the last few years in electrical transmission and the application of this power to his requirements. In the fall of 1904 the Penn Iron Mining Company, Vulcan, Mich., began an investigation of its water power at Sturgeon Falls on the Menominee River, Mich., to as- certain the amount of power available, the possible plans for its development and transmission by means of com- pressed air or electricity, and the application of the power to the operation of the mines at Vulcan, about 3 miles from the falls. The Menominee River has a drainage area at Sturgeon Falls of 2929 square miles. The aver- age annual rainfall is 31.15 in. The run off in ordinary low water is estimated at 1266 sec.-ft. The available head is 25 ft. Therefore at ordinary stages of water there is 3600 theoretical hp., or 2880 hp., delivered by the turbines. °A paper read at the Minnesota Range meeting of the Lake Superior Mining Institute, June, 1908. timates showed that the installation by compressed air would cost 14 per cent. more than the electrical installa- tion, including all changes for the mining machinery. In u new installation, requiring the purchase of all the ma- chinery at the mine, the percentage in favor of electricity would be very much greater. The division of power used at the Vulcan mines at the time of the investigation was: For pumping water, 74.4 per cent.; for compressed air, 12.2 per cent., and for hoist, &c., 13.4 per cent. Three manufacturers of electrically driven turbine pumps made propositions guaranteeing an efficiency of over 60 per cent., and in our investigations we assumed that efficiency. It was estimated that it would require 54 per cent. more power to do the required work with compressed air than if electricity was used. The net saving in fuel, labor and maintenance was estimated to be sufficient to warrant the expenditure. The estimate showed that there was very little difference in the saving in the two methods of transmission, except in the efficiency as stated above. The experience of the last few years has proved that in its manufacture by water power, electricity is even more reliable than compressed air. In the application to the operation of mining machinery compressed air had been proved to be very reliable, while on the other hand elec- tricity had been almost untried. At East Vulcan there was 700 gal. of water per minute July 16, 1908 to be raised 1000 ft. At West Vulcan 1800 gal. per min- ute to be raised 1200 ft. The inquiry failed to locate an instance where such volumes of water had been taken care of with turbine pumps under like heads, or an in- stallation of sufficient size to establish a _ precedent. Although confident that the turbine pumps would even- tually do the work, the question was, would it pay to undertake the experimental stage that seemed unavoid- able. There was also some apprehension as to the re- liability of electricity applied to the operation of hoisting engines, The facts as above stated were submitted to the engineers of the company in the East, in July, 1905. At this conference, for the reasons above cited and for the reason that at times of low Water the mines would re- quire the full power with a most efficient installation and transmission, it was decided unanimously to recom- mend the improvement of the water power electrically, and that it be applied to all departments of the work, including turbine pumps and geared hoists. In August the work was authorized and operations were commenced at once. Little was done. however, until September, except in the improvement of the road leading to the falls and the building of camps for the laborers. Fig. 2 is a photograph of the river on September 28, THE IRON AGE 167 The generating plant consists of a line of four pairs of 45-in. horizontal turbines in tandem, furnished by James Leffel & Co., Springfield, Ohio, direct connected to a 1500- kw. three-phase 60-cycle G600-volt alternating current generator, at 180 rev. per min., furnished by the General Electric Company; also two 30-kw. direct current exciter units, direct connected to two single horizontal 20-in. tur- bines. A 60-cycle system was adopted because the pumps had to be run at about 1200 rev. per min. Since starting the first unit there has been installed a motor driven pump for delivering water to the three dwelling houses provided for the operatives, a small motor compressor for cleaning the generators and a motor driven exciter. The 1500-kw. generator is rated at 182 amp. with 6600 volts. This machine has been run for 10 hr. with a cur- rent load of between 200 and 250 amp. and voltage up to 7300. At times the load was 275 amp. It has carried these heavy overloads without giving any trouble what- ever. The water wheels have worked perfectly and the Lombard governor holds the speed as constant as could be desired. There has been no trouble with frazil, or anchor ice. Recently the second unit has been installed, consisting of a duplicate line of water wheels, direct con nected to a 2000-kKw. generator, furnished by the West- Fig. 2.- -The Site of the Dam ut the when the first cribs for the coffer dam were being located. This shows in the immediate foreground the location of the dam, in the upper right hand corner the concrete mix- ing plant and in the center of the picture the entrance to the depression through which the canal was excavated. Fig. 1, already referred to above, shows in heavy lines the general layout of the dam, guard locks, canal, forebay and power house. $v means of the guard locks the amount of water let into the forebay is regulated or en- tirely cut off. Fig. 3 is a plan of the dam, with elevation and sections; it also shows the log sluice and fishway. Fig. 4 shows the plan and sections of the power house and flumes, and the location of the machinery installed. Fig. 5 is a view of the power house, from which it will be noticed that there is an angle in it. The reason for this is that the power house and flumes are foucded on solid rock, and this line was adopted to conform with the natural contour and thereby save a large quantity of ex- cavation. The dam was completed in the latter part of January, 1906, the power house late in the fall of the same year, and the machinery for the first unit was installed in the winter of 1906 and 1907. This first unit was started March 22, 1907, and the first power used at the mines April 27, and the plant has been in continuous operation ever since. sSeginning of Operations inghouse Electric & Mfg. Company, which will be oper- ated in synchronism with the first unit. For the transmission line No. 000 B. & S. gauge stranded copper wire is used from the power house to the junction pole, No. 00 stranded wire from the junc- tion pole to West Vulcan and No, 4 solid wire from the junction pole to East Vulcan. ‘The poles are 7-in. tops, 35 ft. long, except at a few places across depressions where longer poles are used. Locke porcelain insulators are used. These are tested to GO,COO volts and are good for a line voltage of 23,000 volts, three and one-half times the voltage now in use—i. e., 6600. The wires are spaced 3 ft. apart. There are at present two substations, practically the same, one at East Vulean and one at West Vulcan. They are built of brick, approximately 20 ft. long, 9 ft. wide and 20 ft. high. The following describes the West Vul- ‘an station: The transmission line enters at one end through three Locke porcelain insulators, which are supported by slate panels 1% in. thick, 19 in, square, built into the brick- work of the end wall. From these insulators the line is led through disconnector switches and choke coils to a high tension oil switch mounted in a brick cell. Light- ning arresters are connected to the line above the choke coils. From the high tension switch the current is car- 168 THE IRON AGE July 16, 1908 ried to three step down transformers, which reduce the’ time limit relay will open the first switch in case of a voltage from 6600 to 2200. Three 500-kw. transformers prolonged heavy overload. Instruments on this first panel are used at West Vulcan, three 300-kw. transformers at show the voltage and amount of 6600-volt current used East Vulcan. at this substation. The other panels contain seven feeder The 2200-volt current is carried to the switchboard. switches, each supplying a certain motor or set of motors. Section of Overfiow Dam. Fish EL 107° Overflow Dam gure Ty | o ash £11002 _ WW - : - er i | | a a Upstream Elevetion. Fig. 3.—Plan, Elevation and Sections of the Dam. Tail Fece | er | res poze | Pepa Section B-B. = ht | SS Feo Hater EF 7000 - — — : Mead Water ET 1080 - F Farr oe Sorsorr aan Meals, z SS F# Par 45 "Samson Water ‘Wheels fxr Pet soee, elle eee Ti ' Section A-A-A. Fig. 4.—Plan and Sectiona! Elevations of the Power House On the substation panel is a handle which, by a system Lach feeder circuit has an ammeter showing the amount of levers, operates the high tension switch in the sub- of current used on each line and an automatic release station. A smaller switch on this panel operates an oil which will open the switch in case of a heavier overload switch through which all the 2200-volt current flows. A than is desired. The point of release is adjustable. The July 16, 1908 THE IRON AGE 169 Fig. 5. switchboard at East Vulcan is the same, except that it has one less panel. One hoist at each mine is motor driven. They are of the double drum geared type. The hoist at West Vulcan has drums 12 ft. in diameter. The pinion shaft runs at 56 rev. per min., the drums at 17.3 rev. per min., with a hoisting speed of 652 ft. per minute. The motor is con- nected to the pinion shaft by a rope drive built by the Dodge Mfg. Company. The large rope wheel is 22 ft. in diameter and the motor rope wheel 4 in. in diameter, using 24 turns of 1-in. rope, American system, It was impossible to get more than 25 ft. between the centers of the motors and the pinion shafts, which necessitates a defiector pulley, as shown in Fig. 6. The motors are Gen- eral Electric 2200-volt 200-hp. three-phase form M induc- tion motors, running at a synchronous speed of 360 rev. per min. The flywheel of the engine was taken off and the connecting rod of the engine disconnected from the crank pin. To change back to a steam driven hoist, it is only necessary to put on the connecting rod. The energy of the revolving parts varies with the weight, the square of the diameter and the square of the revolutions per minute. The amount of energy in these parts—i. e., rotor, deflector pulley, 22-ft. pulley, pinion and two gears—is such that it requires as much current to get them up to speed in 30 sec. as is required to do the hoisting. These revolving parts are got up to speed before the clutch is thrown in, which is done gradually. The energy given out by these revolving parts in slow- ing up from full speed to slip speed or full load speed which is 4 per cent. less is enough to accelerate the drum. skip, rope and load, thus giving no peak load in starting. At East Vulcan the skip carries 5800 lb. of ore, with a total load of 14,400 Ib., and the length of hoist is about 1250 ft., of which 1050 ft. is in a vertical shaft. These hoists have been running over a year, and the same fiber —The Finished Power House from the Downstream Side. band on the friction clutch is still in service and in geod condition. : The switch panel for the hoist contains an oil switch, an ammeter and a controller. At the right and left of the controller are hand wheels operating the friction clutches and the brakes. At the right of the oil switch is the hand wheel operating the throttle valve of the en- gine when using steam. In new hoisting plants the steam engine would, of course, be omitted. Back balance drums are to be used to counterbalance the weight of the skip or cage and the rope. There are to be two tapered drums for each skip or cage to be bal- anced, the rope from one leading to the hoisting drum and the rope from the other leading to a counter weight in the shaft. By the use of tapered drums the varying weight of the rope is balanced, so that the unbalanced load at any point is only enough to pull the drums around. Back balance drums on this principle are in use at the Republic mine. For pumping three 8-in. turbine or centrifugal pumps are in use. Two are at West Vulcan and one at Hast Vulcan. They run about 1200 rev. per min. and were de- signed to deliver 900 gal. of water per minute, but they have a range of from 500 to 1250 gal. per minute each. The suction lift is about 20 ft. and the discharge head, including friction, about 1275 ft. The pumps were built by the Henry R. Worthington Company and are driven by 450-hp. General Electric 2200-volt induction motors. These pumps are divided into two parts, with four stages on each side of the motor. From the suction the water passes to the center of the first impeller, is thrown out at the circumference into a channel ring and led by diffusion vanes to the center of the next impeller. It travels thus through the first section of the pump toward the motor, from which it is led by a pipe to the further Here it travels the same end of the second section. Fig. 6.—The Motor and Drive of the West Vulcan Hoist. Fig. 7.—The 450-Hp. Compressor Drive at West Vulcan. 170 course through four impellers, channel rings and diffusion vanes again toward the motor. In other words, the water travels in opposite directions in the two sections of the pump, The motor shaft is connected to the pump shafts by split sleeve couplings, making a rigid connection be- tween the pumps and the motor. This allows one section of the pump to help balance the end thrust of the other section. On the suction end of the pump the shaft is fitted with a marine thrust bearing. On the other-end i: fitted a water step bearing. The impellers are of bronze and the channel rings and diffusion vanes of cast iron. The casings are of cast steel. The shaft is nickel steel, 3% in. in diameter. Where it goes through the pump heads it is packed with a fibrous packing. At these points the shaft is protected by a steel bushing, which can be renewed when worn, and there are brass bushings where it goes through the diffusion vanes. The hubs of the impellers are also bushed where they enter the diffusion vanes. The quantity of water is varied by simply closing or opening a gate valve on the suction of the pump. The pumps when in good order with 900 gal. of water per minute have given efficiency tests as high as 66 per cent. This is from the current delivered to the motor to the water delivered at the top of the shaft. The water is measured by a vertical knife edge orifice. At West Vul- can this is 7 in, in diameter. The quantity of water flow- ing through an orifice varies as the square root of the head of water above the center of the orifice. For record- ing this head a Bristol recording water level gauge is used, which records with very great accuracy a variation in head of 0.1 ft. The chart is a weekly one, so that every chart shows the actual amount of water pumped for that week. The water at West Vulcan has decreased from 1800 to 900 gal. per minute since the original esti- mate three years previous. At West Vulcan two Ingersoll-Sergeant piston inlet rope driven duplex compound compressors are installed— size, 354% and 22144.x 42 in. The rated capacity is 3110 cu. ft. of free air per minute. The rope wheels are 18 ft. in diameter, grooved for 24 144-in. ropes. The motor pul- leys are 52 in. in diameter. Deflector pulleys were re- quired here also, because of the short centers between motors and crank shafts. One of the motors is a Gen- eral Electric 450-hp, 2200-volt form L. M. induction motor, running at 300 rev. per min. synchronous speed. The compressors run at 70 rev. per min. The other motor is a Westinghouse 450-hp. 6600-volt form H. F. induction motor at the same speed. This is the motor shown in Fig. 7. These compressors have 10-in. gate valves in the low pressure discharge and 5-in. gate valves on the high pressure discharge below check valves, which allow the compressors to be started with less than full load cur- rent even when one is already running and the air pres- sure is up in the receiver. After getting up to speed these valves are closed. The quantity of air is regulated by an automatic valve which closes the intake. This valve is moved gradually, sometimes remaining in a par- tially closed position for a considerable length of time. The East Vulcan compressor is a Laidlaw-Dunn-Gor- don 18 and 29 x 24 in. duplex compound rope driven ma- chine. The rated capacity is 2200 cu. ft. of free air per minute. The rope wheel is 12 ft. in diameter, grooved for 18 14%4-in. ropes. The motor pulley is 50 in. in diameter. As the compressor wheel is only 12 ft. in diameter, it was not necessary to use a deflector pulley in this case. The motor is a 350-hp. 2200-volt General Electric form L. M. induction motor, running at 350 rev. per min, synchronous speed. The compressor runs at 120 rev. per min. The quantity of air is regulated by a choking controller which closes the intake entirely, but by the use of a dash pot it does it gradually. Ten to 15 sec. are used to open or close this valve. The action is automatic and is con- trolled by the air pressure. Surface tramming is done by 220-volt motors. The one at East Vulean is geared to the tram plant. The one at West Vulcan is belted. The plants move the ropes to which the cars that run between the shafts and pockets or stockpiles are attached. There is no power tramming underground, as there is not enough ore on any one level THE IRON AGE July 16, 1908 to justify the expense of the installation. The shops are run by 15-hp. motors. On the surface 220-volt motors, varying in size from 5 to 50 hp., are running a laboratory crusher and pulverizer, concrete mixers, cord wood saw, lagging saw for splitting lagging, boiler tube cleaner, rock crusher, 40-hp. hoist and triplex geared pumps. A 1-hp. motor runs a horse grooming machine at the stable. The pump and principal shaft stations underground and all the surface buildings at the mines are lighted with a cur- rent of 110 volts. Rp Electrolytic versus Lake Copper. In the suit of A. S. Bigelow against the Calumet & Heela Mining Company, Col. Thomas L. Livermore, who has charge of all the sales of the latter company, testified as follows with reference to the relative value of elec- trolytic and lake copper: “ Nearly all the copper produced in the United States other than lake is marketed in the form of electrolytic copper, and besides that produced in the United States there is a great deal of electrolytic copper produced and marketed in other countries. In 1906 about 330,000 tons was produced in other countries, of which a large part was marketed as electrolytic copper. In the years follow- ing 1892 the proportion of wire bars sold by the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company diminished gradually, although not with absolute regularity, until within the last three years the sale of them has not exceeded 10 per cent. of the whole marketed by the Calumet & Hecla Mining Com- pany. Electrolytic wire bars, during this period of dim- inution above mentioned, have increased gradually until during the last three years much more electrolytic copper has been sold in competition with the Calumet copper in that shape than the Calumet itself has sold, and as I have every reason to believe, more than all lake copper in the shape of wire bars.” Mr. Livermore was questioned as to the relative prices of lake and electrolytic copper from 1889 down to the present. He replied. “ Of Calumet copper I can say that sometimes it has been of the same price as electrolytic and sometimes higher. In the early part of the period mentioned, when electrolytic copper did not have the good reputation for excellency and uniformity that much of it has to-day, it was more common to get a better price for Calumet than it is now, but to-day while on a rising mar- ket for copper we ordinarily command a little better price, ranging from 4 to % cent a pound, than is commanded by electrolytic copper, yet on a falling market we are obliged to take the same price in order to dispose of our products and do take it. “TI think that the reputation of Calumet copper estab- lished in the early days of which I have spoken,. when electrolytic copper, as a rule, was not as good as it is to- day, has descended to the recent period with some users, und they have preferred Calumet copper on account of that actual difference which once did exist; but for the most part to-day I believe from all I have learned from our customers that it is the uniformity of quality of the Calumet copper which gives it the preference over elec- trolytic copper where it does do so, and that as a matter of fact there is no absolute necessity of Calumet copper for the uses of consumers which gives it a preference over electrolytic. I regret to have to come to that conclusion because the reputation of superiority, I think, has been for the benefit of my company, and I should be very glad to have it maintained.” Asked what degree of conductivity the Calumet & Hecla copper possessed, Mr. Livermore replied that that portion of it which is put into wire bars has an electric conductivity of 99.5 per cent. or more, frequently more. Oe At Detroit, Mich., in the case of the General Fire Ex- tinguisher Company against the Plumbers’ Union and a similar case of the Manufacturers’ Automatic Sprinkler Company against the same union the court decided that as these two foreign corporations had failed to register with the Secretary of State and to pay a franchise fee they had no status in court in a suit for injunction to prevent a union from interfering with their business. moe July 16, 1908 A Powerful Whiting Crane, An electric traveling crane recently built by the Whit- ing Foundry Equipment Company, Harvey, I1I., and in- stalled in the shops of the Southern Pacific Railway Com- pany at Bakersfield, Cal., is of particular interest because of its unusual capacity, rated at 120 tons. This, it is claimed, exceeds the limit of any similar machine oper- ated by alternating current in use in this country. In design and construction it is of the same general type as is: regularly furnished by the company, though some minor modifications have been made to suit it to the specific needs of these shops.’ The crane has a span of 57 ft. 4% in. and a lift of 22 ft. Tin. It is equipped with two 60-ton trolleys, oper- ated by 60-hp. motors using three-phase 60-cycle 440-volt current, and each trolley has a 10-ton auxiliary hoist. The bridge girders are of box section, constructed of 34-in. web plates riveted to four 6 x 6 x 9-16 in. angles, with 9-16-in. top and bottom cover plates. Transverse THE IRON AGE i7t velt as trustee to begin foreclosure proceedings on a mortgage of $2,500,000 against the Passaic Steel Com- pany. The receivers will be made the defendants. Argu- ment will be made later on an application to have the New Jersey Court of Chancery appoint new receivers. ~~ +—-e__. Favorable Crop Indications.—The Department of Ag- riculture issued a statement last week on crop indica- tions. The average condition of the corn crop on July 1 was 82.8 per cent. of a normal, as compared with the 82.2 on July 1, 1907, 87.5 on July 1, 1906, and 85.6 the 10- year average on July 1. The average condition of winter wheat at time of harvest was 80.6, as compared with 86 on June 1, 78.5 at harvest in 1907, 85.6 in 1906, and 80.2 the average at time of harvest for the last 10 years. The average condition on July 1 of spring and winter wheat combined was 83.9, as compared with 89.4 last month, $1.6 on July 1, 1907, 87.8 on July 1, 1206, and 82.9 the 10-year average. The estimated wheat crop is 660,812,- ¢00 bushels, compared with an indicated wheat crop in The 129-Ton Crane Built by the Whiting Foundry Equipment Company for .he Southern Pacific Railway Company. diaphragm plates connecting the inside 4 x 3 x % in. stiffener angles transmit the load from the rail on the top chord plate to the web plates, These diaphragms are closely spaced to prevent deflection of the chord plate under heavy load; they also serve to relieve the rivets of bending stresses. Transverse steel frames connecting the girders afford sufficient flexibility to allow for inequali- ties in the level of the runway rails. Under each end of the bridge girder is a two-wheeled truck mounted on steel tired wheels. The 60-ton hook blocks are of steel plate construction, and carry forged steel hooks which swivel on steel balls set in hardened steel plate bearings. The use of this crane in handling locomotives in the shop is shown in the illustration. _——o- oe The record of shipbuilding on the Clyde in the first six months of the year is the smallest for a like period since 1893. The launchings between January 1 and June 30 were 143 and the tonnage 140,149. In 1907 in the corre- sponding period 171 vessels of 302,847 tons were launched. The June launchings on the Clyde numbered 22 with a tonnage of 25,323, as compared with 60,455 tons in June, 1907. At Trenton, N. J., July 13 an order was made in the United States Circuit Court permitting William B. Blau- "O77 June of 737,270,000 bushels and an actual crop in 1907 of 634,087,000 bushels. ‘The indicated corn crop is 2,726,- 000,000 bushels. This compares with an indication in June of 2,560,000,000 bushels and a final crop in 1907 of 2,592,320,000. —_——_»-e It is announ‘ed that the Open Shop, which has been published monthly for some years by the National Metal Trades Association at Cincinnati, has suspended publica- tion and that the Review, now published at Detroit by the National Founders’ Association, will, be made the official organ of both associations. This is in line with the movement in progress in the past year or two for a closer affiliation of these organizations. In the Superior Court at Fitchburg, Mass., it has been decided that nine bondsmen for apprentices who broke their agreement with the Fitchburg Steam Engine Con- pany by going out on a strike in July, 1908, must pay $100 each to the company. Hamilton & Chambers, 29 Broadway, New York, com- posed of John W. Hamilton and Herbert J. Chambers, have issued a folder marking the first anniversary of the firm. It is stated that 53 structural steel contracts have been completed in the past year. 172 THE IRON AGE The New Model Roney Stoker. Smokeless combustion in boiler furnaces results under the following conditions: Feeding the fuel continuously to the furnace in small quantities so that the volatile gases may be driven off at a uniform rate; mixing these volatile gases with sufficient air and maintaining them at a high temperature; allowing sufficient distance be- tween the fuel bed and the heating surface of the boiler for the volatile gases to be completely consumed before being chilled by contact with the cooler surfaces of the boiler; providing liberal air passage through the grate for consuming the fixed carbon remaining after the cok- ing process; continuously agitating the fuel to bring all the particles of carbon in intimate contact with the air supply; and providing a large ratio of cooling to heating surface in the grate bar to permit higher rates of com- bustion and insure a long life. To permit high rates of July 16, 1908 disturbing the side or center bearers; improved leverage for operating the guard and dumping grate, minimizing the labor of handling; direct thrust of the connecting rod on the rocker arm, avoiding twisting forces; one hand adjustment for both grate movements; provision of a stop on each connecting rod to hold the grates open for dislodging clinker; improved air distribution over the arch, which cools it and heats the incoming air, thus pre- venting smoke; baffles over the arch direct air supply to obtain uniform air distribution over the fire; constant draft area through the grate bar tops practically two- thirds of the total draft area; and moderate fluctuation in draft between limiting movements of grate bars. The action of the stoker will be understood from Fig. 1. The coal is fed into a hopper extending across the boiler front, usually by gravity from an overhead bin. From this hopper the coal is automatically supplied to the furnace by a reciprocating pusher operated from the rock shaft by an eccentric. The fuel descends through Fig. 1.—The New Model Roney Mechanical Stoker Built by the Westinghouse Machine Company. combustion with moderate draft pressures, the following are also necessary: Automatic means of agitating and advancing the fuel bed at the proper rate of combustion to suit the load carried, and adjustable air admission area through the grate, increasing with the rate of combustion. to avoid excessive pressure drop through the grates and the fuel bed. All of the above conditions, it is claimed, are fulfilled in the New Model Roney stoker made by the Westinghouse Machine Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa. The most important features of the improved stoker are: A one-half reduction in number of complete grate bars: interchangeable parts (tops, webs, guards and dump- ing grates) ; self-centering of the grate bars by their own weight in side bearers; elimination of lost motion in grate movement due to wear, as the grates return by their own weight to inclined position; grate bar tops with 7.4 times as much cooling surface as heating surface; low cost of repairs due to small number of moving parts and long life of tops; ability to redistribute the grate bar tops so as to equalize wear over all parts of the furnace; absence of threaded bolts inside of the furnace; provision of non- sifting tops for the first four rows of the upper grates; interchangeabiiity of guards and dumping grates without the throat of the arch to the upper grate bars, where it is subjected to intense heat from the incandescent fire- brick arch spanning the upper part of the furnace. This cokes the fuel and drives off