Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-11
NOTES roR MECHANICS AND ARTISANS

NOTES PoR MECHANICS AND ARTISANS.
lin these papers the latest reliable information from
the best mechanical journals will be presented by
the REcoRD-USIoN, together with original con.
tributed notes of the results OF mechanical expert
ment and discovery.l
In the Master Mechanics Convention at
Niagara Falls, in the last week in June,
General Master Mechanic Jacob Johnson,
of the w, st. L. & P. r. R., presented
lengthy paper giving the results of expert
ments with Baldwin consolidation engine
having the Wooten fire. box He stated as
his conclusion that in his opinion this class
OF engine, the consolidation, is the proper
engine for thorough freight service in an
economical point of view, owing to the
capacity and traction of the engine being
go great as to largely increase the size OF
the train hauled, and thereby diminishing
the train service and expense.
At the sixteenth annual Convention of
the Master Car Builders Association, held
recently at Philadelphia, a committee
made an interesting report on the carrying
capacity of freight. cars, which clearly
shows the drift Of the opinion of expert.
enced men in favor OF heavier loads. Only
few years ago, cars having capacity Of
nominally ten tons were the largest i'll use
Since then. 90 ton eight-wheeled cars have
been growing more and more popular with
railroad men, and the replies in answer to
long list of inquiries sent out by the
committee indicate that the saving in first
fho dir,,nioboI laal
of hauling, the amount of repairs, ETC., are
lower. There seems to be even consider
able feeling in favor of cars capable of car
| rying twenty-five or more tons. 1t is
probable that the coal trade will have to
follow in the wake of this movement, and
we may soon see the large number of
small cars give way to the larger ones
Engineering Journal.
Germany and Russia are both pushing
| forward experiments in flying machines for
use in war or otherwise. 1t appears that
the direction in which these are working is
the only one likely to be successful. 1t
ignores the ridiculous inflated gas bag,
| which is enormous in size, difficult and
costly to fill in war, and foats-a gigantic
derelict-at the mercy Of every current of
air, huge mark for the first gunner who
can hit and bring it to the ground. Baum
garten in Germany and Baronovski in Rus.
sia adopt the principle of the inclined plane
pressed against the air, and thus capable of
making some attempt, at least, to regulate
its own course. In the kite the force that
presses the inclined plane is the hand of
the boy acting through the string. In the
sail of the boat the resistance OF the water
to sidelong motion keeps the sail pressed
| against the wind. In flying machines the
pressure is given by an engine car
| ried by the machine and acting by means
of fans of one sort or the other. The
difficulty at present is the weight of
engine and fuel; but with the develop.
ment of electrical practical knowledge we
may fairly expect to see accumulators
which will supply the maxium of power
with the minimum of weight. Then the
problem of flying in still air will be
solved. Whether we shall ever be able to
ride the storm is another NATTER Pail
Mall Gazette
A. Garcenot, in the Bulletin de la Societe
de PInduStrie MinerGle, speaks of expert.
ments on the strength of wire. In twenty
| two voluminous tables, with copious com.
ments, he gives the details of an extensive
series of experiments upon different kinds
of wire employed for ropes-steel wire and
iron wire, each galvanized and non-gal-
vanized; iron wire annealed; and phos-
| phoI- bronze wire, both unannealed and
annealed. The wires were procured from
various places, including Sheffield, Bir-
mingham, Manchester, Cologne, Franche.
| Comte, and Anderlecht. lez. Bruxelles They
were tested not only for tensile strength
and stretching, but also by torsion, and by
bending backwards and forwards at right
angles on an edge rounded with 0.2 inch
radius they were flattened out under the
hammer into thin ribands, and were also
hammered square, as test of freedom
from liability to splitting or cracking. The
general conclusion drawn by the author
is, that steel wire is the most advan-
tageous for the rope strand while-the an
nealed iron wire from Franche- -Comte, or
annealed mild d.steel wire, forms the best
sewing for flat ropes. For the strands of
winding ropes, whether fat or round, the
steel wire should possess tensile strength
OF from 20 to % tons per square inch, TAX
ing no permanent stretch under 80 to 45
tons per square inch, and stretching only2
to per cent. before breaking
Soldering cast-iron, says the Engineer, is
RCuCiaii1 5uppOoCu w NC vel Dut
it seems to be only question of thoroughly
making bright the surface to be soldered,
and using good solder and clean swab
might be usefully employed for the pur.
pose.
1t does not appear just yet as if the
rapid advance in electrical engineering was
to diminish the steam. engine interests or
drive the steam engine to the wall, since it
seems, whenever practicable, to be the
ruling ambition Of all steam. engine build
ers to adapt some style of their engines for
electric lighting purposes. Every useful
| invention, as every product of honest labor,
is an accession to the welfare OF humanity !;
it is only unjust laws and poor methods OF
distributing the products of labor that at
times causes feeling and an outcry against
the inventions which science presents to
us.-[ American Engineer.
A set Of new knives should be carefully
tested to see that they are correctly bal.
anced, and kept so. A knife slightly out
Of balance throws the cylinder out, makes
rough work and wears the bearing This,
when once started, grows rapidly worse,
and getting the knives back to balance
does not remedy the matter. Both the
spindle and boxes are brought to that state
where machinist's services are necessary
to return and balance the cylinder.
The Master Car Builders Convention,
which met in June, adopted standard
brake-shoe. This will have the effect OF
cheapening repairs on cars moving over
other roads. The number OF patterns Of
shoes which have to be kept where road
runs cars of many other lines is legion.
The increasing cost of wood in this
country has led to great number of ex-
periments in preserving all kinds of wooden
| structures exposed to the weather from
decay. Among the more recent plans
suggested is one for impregnating wood
with asphalt, combined with some antisep-
tic material. The finished wood, ready to
be put together, is first submitted to heat
| to drive out the moisture, and is then
| placed in a hot bath composed chiefly OF
asphalt and carbolic acid. On cooling, the
solvent Of the asphalt evaporates, leaving
a skin or coating Of the asphalt on the sur.
face Of the wood that resists water and
keeps the antlseptic material securely
locked within the pores of the wood. The
exterior of the wood presents a smooth,
| black surface that does not need TO be
painted. The process is about to be tried
upon a large scale.
The apparent cracking OF paint on cars is
| frequently the cracking OF the varnish only.
When this is the case the car can be pre-.
pared for repainting by going over the sur
face with asponge wet in strong ammonia
and then scraping off the varnish with the
wide square end Of spatula in two or
three minutes after the ammonia is applied
and before it is dry. This removes the
first coat OF varnish. II it ia desired to re-