The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-02-25
THE NEW SNOW pLoW
That ls Nearly Completed by the
Portland Company.

The new Russell Wing Elevator Plow
now being built and nearly completed at the
Portland Company Works is drawing the
attention of our local railroad men. 1t
is novelty to this part of the country as
nothing of the kind has ever been seen here,
and this is the only Russell pillow ever built
In the United States. 1t is 36 feet long, 10
feet wide, weighs 81 tons and carries no bal
last The nose Of the pillow is 10 feet wide,
extending over two feet beyond each rail and
is shovel shaped, like the ordinary push
plow, lifting the snow horizontally from the
track and carrying 1t about eight feet above
the raj. when 1t is thrown each side by the
centre cutter, the snow forming two streams.
Sixteen feet from the nose and about the
centre of the pillow, wing 10x12 feet, is hung
on either side that has play of three feet.
which clears the snow from the sides. These
wings have each three chutes or elevators
and instead of crowding the snow to the
sides as the ordinary wing plow with the flat.
vertical surface does. it lifts it is it
from 80 to so feet from the track. just above
the nose of the pillow and little forward of
the wings is cab where the man who has
charge Of the train is stationed. He has
signalcord connecting with the first engine
and he gives the orders to the men VINO
work the wings. The wings weigh $500
pounds each and are each hung on four
hinges that weigh nearly half q ton. The
p!ow Is run on two pair of trucks as an ordi-
nary car, but the forward trucks are heavier
and stronger, having double journal bear
ings and carrying about 40 tons dead weight
the ordinary truck carrying but IL tons. The
plow is built of hard pine and white oak,
oiled and vanished In its natural color. The
nose gs are sheathed with steel,
painted black and present fine appearance
The lines on the face resemble and are as
fine as upon the bottom of any boat. The
sides Of the pillow are concave, doing away
with any eide resistance, and by means of
steel side cutters and chisel shaped steel
bit the resistance is reduced to a minimum,
enabling the pillow to run at high rate of
speed. The pillow proper makes an opening
10 feet wide and with the wings extended
one of 16 feet wide. The wings nominally
close into recesses in the sides of the plow
enabling 1t to pass trains, switches, stations,
ETC.. without damage.
The Russell pillow with four years hard
work has never jumped the track, which is
the fault of the ordinary push pillow. This
success is attributed to radical idea in ap-
plication of the power In this case heavy
white oak timber 81 feet long runs from the
rear of the car between the stills of the plow
and entirely independent of the stills, con-
Meeting with the pillow proper at the king
pin in the front trucks, the pillow thereby re-
ceiving the power at the point of resistance
from the snow instead Of % feet away from.
it. This power bar has means for oscillation
at the rear end when on curve thereby oy-
grooming the disposition to jump the track.
The plow is nearly IA feet high ever all and
The top Is platformed with stout railing
around 1t SO that If occasion requires man
can 90 onto the top with safety.
The pillow costs about $4,000, and it is
claimed to accomplish more work than the
rotary pillow that costs $4,000; in fact it is
claimed to be the only pillow that has approx
imately done the work required. In an or.
binary snow storm, with three engines at
tached, 1t will travel 30 miles an hour and in
eight feet of snow 1t will cover % miles an
hour.
Maine man, brought up in Houton, but for
years has been in the lumber business In st.
John. AS a specialist he has been in the
business seven years, these snow plows be-
Ing the result. He has introduced his pillow
in Canada on the Inter-COlonial and New
Brunswick roads. The Inter. Colonial is
probably one of the hardest roads in the
country, and the first plow was sent there as
the best place to test it, and that pillow did
heavier work than any other in the history
of railroading. This was in February, 1886,
at the time of the great storm that blocked
every road in the Northwest. The st.
Charles branch Of the Inter- Colonial was
blocked so badly that after wrecking three
plows it was abandoned. In March after the
road had laid IS days and the snow was actu-
ally ice the Russell pillow arrived and with
two engines found some difficulty in opening
the first 10 miles, but with three engines they
run the other five miles without stopping
A cubic foot of this snow weighed IS pounds
and 1900 pounds pressure did the work. The
Inter-Colonial now has seven Russell plows
and in the last four years there have been no
delays.
This pillow now being built is for the Gen.
trail New England and Western road and
will be shipped to Hartford, Conn, this
week.