Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-03
A SUBMERGED RAILWAY,
The Ingenious Scheme for Loading Ships
Near Rocky Spanish Coast.

The mines of Onton, near Bilbao.
north Spain, have long been celebrated
for their richness in their yield of iron
ores suitable fer the manufacture of
steel, but great trouble has heretofore
been experienced in the shipment of
the mineral On account of the difficulty
of placing it on board of the ships.
England and the Continent are the
great markets for this product. The
coast adjacent to these mines is high
and rocky, exposed to the full force of
the sea, there being no harbors in the
immediate vicinity. At the foot of
the rocks there is sloping shore which
extends out to considerable distance
with an even grade. 1t is upon this in
cline that the remarkable railway we
are about to describe has been con-
structed.
The roadbed of the railway has a
length of about $50 feet and width of
20 feet upon which two sets of par
allel tracks each 3 IA feet wide, are
placed, constituting a four-rail rail-
way. The grade is five feet to the
hundred. The car which traverses this
railway, upon which the ore is con-
veyed from the cliffs to the ships, con-
sists of a high metallic tower made in
the form of a pyramid having a wide
triangular base. The tower is mounted
on wheels, which run upon the quad
ripple railway track before mentioned.
The platform of the tower upon which
the load of mineral is placed is about
20 feet high from the track, height
which is sufficient to rise above the
decks of ordinary vessels when the
tower is run alongside thereof; and
from the platform the discharge of the
ore is made directly into the hold of the
vessels. This great rolling tower is
operated automatically. 1t is con-
nected to the shore by means of a
strong wire cable, which passes over
pulleys fastened to the rocks. At the
land end of the cable there are attached
some weighted cars that move up and
down upon an incline. These form a
counterbalancing weight for pulling
the tower when empty toward the shore.
The mineral to be loaded upon the
vessels is brought from the mines,
which are not far distant from the
coast, upon rope railways mounted
upon posts. From the mineral dumps
upon the rocky heights the mineral is
conveyed part way down the cliff
through chute, the end of which pro-
jects beyond the cliff, and when the
empty tower is drawn to shore by the
cars before mentioned it automatically
opens an end gate in the chute and
allows the mineral to drop upon the
Il e.,
a weight of ore sufficient to overcome
that of the counterbalancing weight Or
weighted cars has fallen upon the plat
form, and when this takes place, the
tower, by its own gravity, begins to
move down the inclined railway, and
the gate of the chute automatically
closes. The tower continues to glide
down the inclined way through the
water until it reaches the side of the
ship, which is anchored fore and aft,
and then by the throw of lever, the
platform of the tower being Inclined
the whole load upon the platform is al
most instantly deposited upon the ship,
going down through suitable slides in
to the hold thereof. AS soon as the
discharge of the load takes place
counterbalancing cars begin to draw
the tower inward again toward the
shore, and thus the operation Of NOV
ing the tower back and forth auto
matically, and automatically loading
and discharging itself, is carried or
with the greatest success.
1t is said this railway operates even
when the sea is extremely rough. 1t
certainly is a bold undertaking and re-
fleets the greatest credit upon its con-
structor, Mr.. d. M. Alberto de Palacio.
The platform carries for its load 100
tons of ore. 1t is said that 5000 tons
of ore per day can be put on shipboard
by means Of this apparatus, the total
cost SIS 600 -Pnn0liln STIR