Smyrna times., 1890-01-22
]. B. Scott Visits Baltimore.

]. B. Scott Visits Baltimore.
The Catholic Mirror of Baltimore of
last week contains a long descriptive
letter from ]. B. Scott of this town,
about visit to that city. The follow
ing is that part referring to the ship
yards:
Through the courtesy of Mr.. R. S
Culbreth, secretary and treasurer of
the Columbian Iron Works and Dry
Dock Company at Locust point, we
made thorough inspection of Balti-
more's leading metal ship yard. Hav-
| ing presented our credentials to Mr..
William 7. Malster, the President, we
were placed in charge of Mr.. w. S.
Green and shown over the plant. 1t
may be safely said that at the end of
our tour of inspection our notebook
showed up as complete and valuable
an outfit for the building of every type
Ofvessel right here in Baltimore as
exists in the United States. 1t must
| be remembered that the change from
building wooden vessels with a simple
yard outfit of a few jack-screws,
| clamps, augurs and cross-cut saws, are
replaced in the building of metal ships
with high cost tools, costing thousands
of dollars.
Here is one tool" said Mr.. Greene,
laying his hand on boiler-plate drill, ,
that is well-nigh invaluable" Low
down on the ground a revolving plate
disc received the boiler, of any size; on
each side were placed two vertical
drills, adjustable to any angle or any
height, to drill the holes in the thick
one and a-half inch steel shell plates
Alongside of this machine was a pom
derOus steam riveting machine that
would upset the head and point of a
rivet with one forward thrust of the
powerful. eccentric lever to which the
machine arm was geared. These tools
are principally of the Bement pattern
and are highly improved. After the
shells are riveted the boilers heads are
not spur-stayed with few short, one
inch bolts, but are held together with
rods made from the best Norway iron,
] three and a-half inches in diameter,
and reinforced on each end with great
screw nuts. The company regard this
| speciality in boiler building as one of
their most important branches, because
these shells are required under forced
| draught to sustain an all-round burst
ing pressure of nearly two hundred
pounds of steam to the square inch Oi
surface.
Next we passed the machine shop,
filled with costly lathes and shaping
tools, whereon every kind of work is
treated in detail before being sent ont
In heap near the boiler shop lay
piles of rims for side-lights in the
rough. After the tour of the work:
had been made, an examination would
show these same rims finished with q
high polish, and ready to be inserted
A couple of big doors were opened OF
the yard side and along came a string
of men bringing in on truck a steam
er's shaft that had been broken ol
strained at sea by the propeller racing
when the stern ifted clear of thr
water. In a little while monster
crane swept silently overhead anC
grasped the huge steel shaft, and lift
ing, swung it into the lathe with ease.
A fash of light dazzled our eyes mex
as a workman laid a glowing piece o
iron on the anvil of the massive trip
hammer, and the operator, by quickly
and deity manipulating the lever
soon forged it to the required shape
Sometimes, it is alleged, these trip
hammers work to such a nicetv il
checking the hammer as it descend
that a watch can be laid on the anvi
and taken out unharmed. Howeve
this may be, the operators do NO
recommend il in practice. We saw il
this department a fine, compound
triple-expansion, surface-cOndensin
engine, for tank steamer, building i
the outer yards. These triple-expal
sion engines are very powerful, an
seem to be especially adapted to ma
rine needs, as they are not as yet OF
plicable to locomotives on railroad
The principle is derived from the us
OF the initial steam from the boil,
passing successfully into three diffe
ent sized cylinders, the first being, say
twenty inches in diameter, the secon
forty inches, and the third one sixt
inches-hence the name, triple-expaI
sion; each cylinder is geared to tn
shaft and each has its own eccentri
eut-Otfs. After the steam leaves th
last cylinder it passes into the condeI
ser, which looks like the cells in Il
honOycomb of bees, excepting the
follow a more regular plain in IL
spacing. This device is intended
return the now much used steam int
the boiler again as water, and again |
converted into steam.
We took peep into the fOundr
where preparations were being mat
to cast large propeller wheel. Thr
vertical furnaces were holding Il
molten metal at a white heat, kept
by forced draft from fans. We b,
read awhile back of places like IL
giving away among the Pennsylvan
furnaces and deluging the place
floods of liquid steel, so we soon
adieu to the sOOty foundry. When ,
emerged from here we took in Il
mold loft, where two thousand t
cruiser was being laid down. Th
next a large FIVE hundred thousa
. gallon tank steamer for the petroleu
carriage. The tanks in this ship a
spaced in narrow areas, thus adding
the strength of the ship, and prov
ing for the expansion of the oil a
the generation of gases. These
|, ships are required to be built in t
best manner, even if needs be al {
expense of speed. This was appare
when | saw broad dOuble-riveted "h
It straps" on the outside plates instead
n. being hammered flush. At one side
the immense craving dock, four hu
dred and fifty feet long, and capable
i, floating in the largest sized ships CO
av ing to the port. Just outside the ca
son gate, that holds back the harI
n,s water when the great centriful
for pumps have rotated or pumped
basin dry, are the births of the
less ships to tie up in. The Engl
,ial steamer Bengore Head lay at the do
'nu with steam up, presumably about
depart. On the other side the burn
len hulk of the steamer Johns HOpk
ing was presented in her bent and batter
less sides, the awful effects of fire when
dpis has eaten away a ships vitals.
We bid our courteous cicerOne go,
=, bye as the sun spangled the windo
ave Of the city facing the west in an ca
setting. The next day we took in
mar, establishment of our lifelong frien
iaos Thomas McCosker & Co., at Cant
In addition to an efficient balance dC
'ted this company turns out remarkal
fast aud desirable all-arOund bay be
besides fleets of oyster boats, tU
Y, steamers, dredgers. They are
builders Of the steamboats, Nansemt
nj and Choptank, two fine local bOa
As an evidence that Mr.. McCosker
scientific designer, there has b,
4 ~ a