American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-10-02
INDUSTRIAL.

In some parts of Texas the people are
complaining because their cotton crops are
so large they cannot gather theml
The Clinton CIV. Va) salt furnace was
sold at trustees sale the other day fol
$11 900. 1t cost S401, 900 when built in
1868.
THERE are eight completed Bessemel
steel establishments in the country, and
according to the Iron Age, ''every one is
running to its full capacity and is full OF
orders"
THE factory women of England have
inaugurated a movement in favor of the
appointment of female overseers in facto
ries, and against legislative restrictions
upon the labor of women.
IT was an accidental discovery by Good
year that birthstone would vulcaniZe in
dia-rubber, and certainly one of the most
important to the industrial interests of the
world. A casual discovery of recent
date, it is said, makes it possible to enamel
car-axles, and, indeed, -all the various de
scriptions of bearings, and by this means
to prevent the friction and heat which
prove so expensive, dangerous and often
times disastrous in the running of cars
and machinery 1t is stated that it can be
applied like "a lubricant, and just as read
lily, which, if practically demonstrated by
continuous use, hst insure its universal
introduction.
THE use of the india-rubber straps for
machinery in place of those of leather is
becoming quite general, they being not
only less costly but adhere much better.
They are manufactured of a certain num-
Der of folds of cloth done over with rub
Der alternating with pure rubber. The
number of these folds and consequently
the thickness of the strap is in proportion
to its width; thus, when the width is
above ten centimetreS there are at least
three folds; above fifteen centimetres, four
folds; and above twenty-five centimetres
they have from five to seven. They are
also made of all lengths in a single piece
and are Joined exactly like those in leather
and work as well in water as in places
heated to high temperature. 1t is neces-
sary, of course, that the several cloths of
which they are composed should not slip
one over the other in working and that
they should be made to adhere with per-
feet firmness by the intermediate layers of
rubber; and this object is attained in the
most complete manner by vulcanizing
them in the press.
THE first water works in the United
States appear to have been planned and
constructed by Mr.. j. G. Christensen, at
Bethlehem, Pa, more than century ago,
namely, in 1862 The machinery con-
sisted of three single-acting force pumps,
four-inch caliber and eighteen-inch stroke,
worked by, a. triple crank, and geared to
the shaft of an understood water-wheel
eighteen feet in diameter and two feet
clear in the buckets The total head of
water was two feet. On the water-wheel
shaft was wallOwer of thirty-three
rounds, gearing into a spur-wheel of fifty
TWO cogs, attached TO the crank. The
three piston rods were attached each to q
frame or cross head working in grooves,
to give them a parallel motion with the
pump. The cross-head was of wood, as
well as the parts containing the grooves as
guides. The water was raised by this ma,
chinery to the height of seventy feet, and
subsequently to ia The first rising
main was made of gum wood, as far as it
was subject to great pressure, and the
rest was of pitch pine. In 1856 leaden
pipes were substituted; in 1918 they were
changed for iron. These works were in
operation as late as 1882.