New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-01-10

WHY IT FELL.
WROUGHT IS WELL AS CAST IRON CaYsTAL1zES-
SCREWS ONLY CONTINUOUS INcIlNSp PIANEs-
EXPERIMENTS NECESSARY AT TIE TIME OF IN
sPECTION.
70 tAe Edttor Of The Trt6Wne.
SIR There is no railroad in America which
has been built or conducted under sklf care than
The I1ke Shore in Ohio Tne Of Stone and witt
are known They have made mistakes which could
invalidate work which they approve Mr.. Payne Is
man of equal caution, business habits, ara executive
ability The managers OF the Lake Shore have exceed
IN their purpose 70 have the best and most substantial
material that could enter into a railway system There
Is no railway Great Britain or On the continent whch
has equaled their transportation with fewer serious acc
DENTS The popular impression tn the comparative
safety Of railway travel in Great Britain and America Is
erroneous Tho personal injuries incurred IN hhSiano
alene during july August, and september 1870 near!
eauaed the casualties in the I'm ted States for the ene
year This fact TO be considered alohSslde Vi 'e
mileage OF American track.
During several years of instruction bodybuilding
and personal specon OF American and Continental Via
ducts and bridges have Doticed two clements winch
affect the Howe Truss and all suspension systems other
than those OF wreeither Of which woud sDd 10 an nc
cient similar to the recent crash near Ashtahua The
first grows ont OF the simple principle that the screw rs
but the continuous inclined plane. Hence 1t has been
repeatcdy found that uOn vertical rods has
worked the thread and through the nut overhead
especially II the double nut has not been used and care
fully Inspected
In the Polytechnic Building Of Wabash College, where
tho apparatus Is elaborate, hyingswing once suddenly
fell The cables were attached to inch bolts passing
through heavy hemlock ties and these were locked by
cast-iron washers and heavy nuts. An examination
showed that other apparatus gradually and ny nhnit-
esnal progress had worked downward. This discovery
has induced frequent inspection almost always resulting
in soino slight correction The that nut seems
artpltA paan al
prove that this slow process has not begun Tie 0Xda-
ton Of iron may check but only snspndS the nevllabe
Tendency OF the rod to work down The thread or the
screw The Tension is great upon suspension rods
that the test must be made by comparison with the
original set OF the nut has moved M at all after
the weight has fully ie IL suggests investigation
The other element is that Of crysallizaton which az
fects he nbros texture wrought iron vel rs the
more passive nature OF cast IRON The cast rOn wicl
fills the requirements of column TO resist compression
would sbsurdly applied 80 the purposes OF snspen-
SION and yet she continual jar mot the sran Of ss
pension rods under the passage Of trains, destroys or
changes the fbrous texture, and leaves crysfaihzed
material of very moderate cohesive restraint The late
Edwin Peck ESQ., OF Indianapolis, formerly President
OF the indianapolis and Tere Hauto Railroad Company
and Of rare genius had occasion TO examine
into tho causes OF the sudden fall Of Of their bridges
OF the Howe Truss pattern. In spite OF argument ana
discussion he very quietly produced the upper ends OF
several suspension rods. showing that they were crys
talized and these broke under the hammer more easily
than ordinary cast the indianapolis Iron Works
The accident was thus explained without further DIS
eussion-
The moderate speed Of the train tas reported so re
Gently DESTROYED near Ashabua, ONO assimates IFS
pressure upon the track to that Of freight tram, aud 1t ID
well understood that slow train which gradually dis
triltes its inertia ia less liable to break bridge which
would Yield al once to a swift tram having ts maximum
force expended as II moved This is familiar principle
regiment marching in cadcnce step viii canse heavy
bridge to vbrntc when 10000 men in mass would not
affect 1t appIcciahly.
HAVING data upon WHICH 10 determine whether The
Ashtaua track was straight and therefore with parallel
rails on trUc plane do not how the parting Of even
four SUSPENSION rods would bring the disaster II seems
that the second engine part of the tram must have
left tho track and hy this sudden pressure whole sec
ton tho correlated system went together ami TINS car
RED every Thing. II Is hardly pcSSbe Tor me Rove
Truss fail unless whole srcOn Of TIE syttrm ii>
lis proper adjustnent allows large margin 0 piesauI"
and lie American standard Theoretically II Ncf} BE
viz r. tors NJ resistance of compression. This
disaster forrbly suggests The Vaue OF occasionally
moving snSr suspension ToiS and breaking them "a
determine whether capitalization has taken place
There IL other test.
The question of temperature cutters into this inquiry
but with less force tn III matter where cast li"i
fact that the best wrought iron steel rails, which
break during extreme cold, are more iiequFntlJ
broken BY fast trains than ny ficlgEt Oh s1@ uaIhS
The prinCpi has been adVcIitdt TO- II Is Tie an Ece De
tween distributed and concentrated force pStfaIt
nan with anvil IBIS breast viii receive the DioW o.
u sledgt-hdWmCr without sensation; ana 50 uoes INC
SLOWLY tT3n .IHitcG force spare rail- Suspension lOu
or bridge. which sudden, swift force wound destroy
The Howe Truss system viii BOT be impaired ny one Oh
plete by occasional experiment. "nd citEer ~ e ca
adVertcd 10 would impair she N'uc OF any hlos' Whch
involves iron suspension. HENAf Is. CAstiA"! ~
Cjtug;oy6sVIIC, Ind. Jan. l. 1877. Col. L. SAMMY
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