St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-03-08
SUPERIORITY OF AMERICAN MA
CHINERY.
written for the CALIFORNIAN

We may be pardoned an honest
pride when we hear of the fine things
said of the products of American
mechanical skill. This praise comes
from far and near and bears all the
evidence Of sincerity. With peculiar
satisfaction we discover signs of an
increasing recognition among con-
servative European folk. Of the high
class performance of our machinery.
This fact means great deal for us.
1t is an opportunity for the enlarge
sphere of mechanics we may dare to
include the whole world in our
trade The evidence accumulates
that England will no longer continue
to enjoy uncontested so large a per-
centage of foreign commerce. The
quality of American goods is Win
ming them a place on British ter
ritory. A recent London paper
laments the fact that all the world
now goes to America for its loco
motives instead Of to England. The
manufacturer of agricultural machln-
cry in Ohio finds little or no dit
hculty in selling his superior machines
in South American markets. side by
side with the inferior and cheaper
article of English make.
The thrifty Swiss, a people who
thirty years ago possessed an I'M
rivalled reputation for the quality of
their machinery, now use American
matchmaking machines.
The report of the workmen's dele
cation sent over by the French gov
eminent to the Chicago fair makes
significant allusiOn to the future of
our industries. "Those people" (the
Americans they say, ARE going to
devour us. No doubt of it. They
work on larger scale and at lower
rates. We were, all of US, amazed
and really dismayed, at this ex-
traordinary power of reproductive
We are overwhelmed by
the grandeur of their conceptions.
Such monstrous engines, moving
with such ease and perfection"
A remarkable feature in our in
dustrial experience is the rapidity
with which we supersede older types
by improved forms of machinery. 1t
is safe to say that there are few, if
any, highly efficient machines in
that have been in use
twenty or more years. In the amaz-
ing development of electrical APP
pliances in the last decade, brilliant
series Of triumphs have proven the
extraordinary aptitude of Americans
for uncommon forms of invention.
In the exploiting and reduction of
iron ores some remark BILE achieve
ments have recently been recorded,
well worth mentioning here. The
conditions are so favorable (for
SANd dllOh Vi OlCJ III
one of the mines of the Mesaba
range, recently opened, that four
cents the ton represents the actual
cost of digging by steam power, and
loading the ore upon cars. This
however, does not include
the expense of preparatory work.
The constant product of the great
furnaces OF the Edgar Thomson Co.
in Pennsylvania excites the wonder
and admira ton of metallurgists the
world over. The plant. nine blast
furnaces, can produce over 1000 |
tons of pig-iron daily. One hundred
and twenty boilers supply steam to
the thirty engines which provide the
blast for this group of furnaces, and |
the power for the pumps and hoist
ing appliances. One of these furnaces
has made, in a single day, the re-
output OF 623 gross tons,
and another in a single month 49,
800 gross tons of iron. This achieve
ment quite equals, for one month,
the product for whole year of the
best equipped and largest of Amer
can furnaces twenty-five years ago.
S. o. TODD.
DDn1rrNENr DSnN1TS