, 1872-11-19

| ioints ia the Fish bar. This vas designed in
1s47 The original invention was not succ cessful,
but vas 80 improved ..on that both in England
and America it has come into general use. It
| consists of pair Of plates IS inches long and
about inches vide. These are bolted together
| through the rails, the holes il the rails being
ton This invention odds much to the comfort
of railway travel, the cars passing over the
joints as smoothly as If the whole road we're q
| continuous rail.
Up to 1854, tile weight Of rails had been
steadily increasing, from35 lbB to the ineal yard
to IS to 100 lbs. No advantage, however, was
found in the very heavy rails, but on the contra
n, the iron in such large piles was necessarily
| less worked in the manufacture, and was, there
| fore, in poor condition to wear. The tendency
| IS lbs. to the yard.
The heaviest rail in use in the United States
is on the New York Central Road, where the rails
| weigh from 65 to G9 lbs. to the yard. In the
and the new roads, possessing less capital and
frequently constructed for speculation, use a
! 56-tb. rail
| OF the roads running into Chicago, the Chi
| cago, Burlington 4; Quincy, the Illinois Central
the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, the Chi
cago & Northwestern, the Lake Shore s Michl-
| gan Southern, the Michigan Central. the Chi
| cago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago d st.
Louis, are using 60-ib rail. The rest use
rail Of lesser weight, usually from Sc to 5S lbs.
4ANAA
is subject daily to pressure of work that would
soon end the life Of q rail made Of any other
! material except steel. Its average life: Accord
| ing to the traffic. Is ten years. but on many o5
the principal roads OF the United States ana
| England it does not survive the pressure longer
| than two years, The life Of steel rail Is we'll
nigh everlasting. They have never worn OUT,
| aa yet, upon any road where they nave neen
Henry Bessemer discovered the atmospheric
| process Of making steel. Ihls dlneIenee IN
longevity in favor Of the steel rail has led many
roads to adopt it, and the officers Of large rai!-
| On the trunk lines the iron no sooner wears out
| than it is replaced with steel They cost but 70
] per cent more than iron, and. according to Mr..
| Superintendent Harris, Of the Chicago, Burling-
ton g. Quincy road, they last fully twenty times
| as long.
| Railroad men in Chicago seem so be Of unani-
nous opinion that in ten years steel rails will
have entirely taken the place Of iron upon the
| Larger roads. The Canada Southern Railway,
now being completed into the city, is being built
entirely Of steel rails and recently the Boston 6
! New York Road decided to remove oil iron rails
from their road-bed and replace them with steel.
Steel has been employed in two Ways to pro
duce an improved rail, either for the top slab
only, which is known as the " "steel-headed" rail,
or by making the whole rail Of steel.
The former rail has never been much used, be-
cause no satisfactory process has beea diRcoy..,
cred Of uniting steel and iron. When this shall
bG UC1G4 tOtS MAIL 4lhbiy CtllS 4Att 1hfb1 VA
| roads possessing limited capital, and in coun-
tries far away from rail-making districts, where
it would pay to rerol1 old iron rails with steel
heads, rather than pay freights for the old rails
to and from the place Of manufacture.
Solid steel appears to have but one drawback,
which is that if the steel is the least too hard,
they will break under the influence OF cold
climate. They should be frequently tested dur
ing manufacture, and, if properly made, never
break.
The general outcry about bad and defective
rails nowadays has much increased the demand
for steel rails, and it has been wondered by
many railroad men, why the rails produced now
are not equal to those made twenty years ago.
The reasons are obvious It is q well-known
principle that increased demand produces in
creased supply, and increased supply reduces
prices and these in turn quality, Of late years,
the demand for railroad iron las been enormous,
rapidly increased This has, Of course, operated
upon prices to reduce them,, and this has re-
duced tho quality Of rails. To enable
manufacturers to compete in the mar
been made tending chiefly to save
labor and fuel, without regard to quality Of
iron, and so the present state OF things is the
result. writer in the Railroad Gazette makes
q few suggestions to railroad companies regard
ing the manner Of contracting for railroad iron,
as follows:
"specitjcations should embrace quantity, sec
ton, weight per yard, lengths, mode Of manu-
factqro, inspection, testing, marking, punching,
satisfied With simply marketable article. For
every large order, they should either send an in
spector to the works to which the order Is given,
or provide that an inspector shall be appointed
who iB known BY both parties for his capab1ity
and honesty. This would do away with much Of
the defective iron now manufactured"
The manufacture of rails in this country has
assumed formidable proportions. There are M
nually consumed by the various roads of the
to1 Gtofa nf rails E61 nm fcns
Of which are made in this country. Year By year
the number Of tons Of rails imported is dinin~
ished, and it has been estimated that Six years
hence the importation will have entirely ceased,
Pennsylvania ranks first in the product OF iron
and steel rails, Illinois second, New York third.
It is matter worthy Of mention, that State
which ranks first in agricultural greatness,
fourth in population, should rank second in the
mille in the State, two in Chicago, one at Joliet,
one at East st. Louis, one at Decatur, one at
Springfield.
The manufacture OF railroad iron in Chicagois
carried on to the exteIt OF SO, quo tons year
North Branch Rolling Mill, are both in guccess-
fu1 operation. They employ some 600 men, and
produce both iron and steel rails. These mills
are among the most complete in the United
States, being fitted with all modern improves
ments. The handling of all iron is done by hy-
draulic cranes, thus saving vast amonnt OF Ia
Dor and time. The manufacture OF railway iron
in this city ia yet limited, but it must become one
Of our greatest interests. 1t is well known that
American railway iron is made Of a mixture Of
Lake Superior and Missouri iron; and, with her
lakes, canals, and railroads. there is no place in
the United States to which these two ores may
be brought With such economy Of money and
time as to Chicago.
There is, therefore, q bright future for our
city in this important, product, and
foster, will do SO much to advance
our city in commercial greatness. Intimately
connected, of course with railways are switches.
The changing of cars from one track to another,
and the consequent changing Of tracks, we're
very early found necessary, but how to manlpu-
late them with ease and safety was problem Of
invention, most difficult Of solution. -, The old
styles of switches, in connection with the crimi-
nal negligence Of switch-tenders, have been pro-
ductve 50 many accidents that M new s"eheh a1x1eh
is now so superior over all others that it has
come into universal use, and there is
yet left q high place among inventors for
some man Who shall invent perfect switch
one which shall do away with switch-tenders and
thus avoid the possibility of accident by negh-