Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-25
THE COTTON FACTORY.

steam mp and the Engines in OPe-
ration.
A large number of persons visited the
mammoth Cotton Factory Monday even
ing, more particularly with the view of
witnessing the working of the new engines
which are to run the establishment. Among
those present, We noticed many of our
Oldest and most prominent citizens, and
we were graf fed also to observe several
ladies Oh the ground, giving aid and COM
fort to this grand enterprise. We may
here remark that the interior of the build
ing is rapidly approaching completion,
and the factory will be in full operation by
the coming fall. We will defer any ex-
tended notice of the main building at pres
ent, and confine Ourself to the working of
the machinery which has recently been
introduced
The engines referred to were built by
klotz d KRONER, Sandusky, Ohio, and the
designs and patterns for the work were all
drawn by Mr.. j. p. Merriam, superintend-
ant and draf sman OF the above firm, who
is at present in the city, and under whose
superintendent the machinery has been
put in motion, and it is credit to his
skill and ingenuity to say that the monster
machinery works as smooth as clock,
and the many new features which he has
introduced are destined to make an i'm
provement in the manufacture of engine
machinery.
These engines have the capacity of run
ming the factory, which is to contain 10,
600 spindles and $50 looms, with all their
preparation work The boiler room, re-
pair shops, dye house and picker room are
located in separate buildings, near the
main one, and are connected by the en-
CINE house, which stands between them.
The engines are double horizontal, each
cylinder "a inches in diameter and OF 48
inch stroke, and are both connected to
one shaft, with variable adjustment cut off
valves. This novel aud peculiar arrange
ment was designed expressly for these en-
gines, and is device that is not only new,
but very simple, and is controlled with the
greatest ease and facility by means of a
small hand wheel situated on the outside
of the steam chests, and hung on spindle
standing through the steam chest cover.
The valves can readily be adjusted to any
cutoff desired while the engine is in mo-
ton from TO $40 strike of the same,
using only four or five inches of steam in
the cylinder.
The bed plates of these monster engines
wers made In one casting, are 90 feet long,
and weigh nearly 10000 pounds each.
The crank shaft is made of wrought iron,
/ l inches in diameter. The cranks are of
the same material, and are finished through
out in an elegant manner. The
steam chests, cylinder heads, cross heads,
connections, slides, rods, eccentrlcs and
top of bed plates are all deliberately con-
structed, and finished in the highest style.
The starting wheels rest on polished stand
ards. of which there is one TO each engine
The highly finished governor stands on a
polished iron column between the engines
The two fly wheels are truly masterpieces
of workmanship, being each eighteen feet
in diameter, with turned faces for belts
twentv-six inches wids, and are made
in half sections to render them convenient
for handling. Their aggregate weight Is
over sixteen toms The boilers, six in
number, are in a room adjoining the en-
cine room, and are arranged in two bat
teries of three boilers each. They are
ffty-six inches in diameter, and sixteen
feet long, with forty three four inch tubes
in each. They have eighteen inch mud
pipes, sixteen feet long, and thirty inch
steam domes sixteen feet long. The
pumps are complete in every particular and
consist of two Plunger pumps each four
and half inches in diameter, and are driv-
en- by a belt There ID also connected
with the works large steam pump with a
steam cylinder twelve inches in diameter,
aud a water cylinder seven inches in dams
eter, having q sixteen inch stroke and four
outlets, two for supply, and two for fire
purposes. The supply of cold water Is OBJ
tanned from the City Waterworks, and hot
water from two large size ''Stillwell and
| Bierce" heaters, all placed in tue basement
of the engine house.
The arches for the boilers contain a
number of new features in their arrange
ment, tuch as suspension chord CRATES,
gas burning valves, curtained arch fronts,
and independent hampers for each. There
is also main damper at the chimney
which with independent fires for each
boiler, So arranged, will give most perfect
control ovur the boilers and batteries.
From the above description, 1t will be
seen that these engines aud all the ma
chinery connected with them are master
specimens in every respect. The large
crowd present to inspect them seemed to
be unanimous in praise of the magnif-
cent machinery which is to run our
Cotton Factory.