The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-17
FRENCH VIEW OF AMERICAN EN-
GINES.
w hy Our Locomotives Are Preferred
in Russia-The Danger of American

Makers.
From lie Genie Civil.
That a new country, as North America
must still be regarded from many points
of view, should be able to supply its own
needs is in itself remarkable fact. This,
however. does not seem TO satisfy the ac-
tivity of it's people. with which Europe
will have to count in future, on the bat
tleground OF industry The news that
| comes to US from the United States of an
order for forty locomotives for Russia,
placed with the Baldwin works of Phia-
delphia, will be received with a certain
degree Of surprise on this side of the At
lantic, especially if, as we are told, this
order is to be followed by more important
ones. Already in the matter Of furnish
ing railroad material American construc-
tors had taken possession of the South
American market. and were carrying on
formidable competition against the
English in their own colonies especially
in New Zealand and Australia, but it was
hardly expected that they should be seen
obtaining a foothold IN Europe. Now, in
what concerns more especially the rail-
road materials of which we speak here,
this success is not due TO the CONNER
cial ability and skill of the Americans, it
depends, above all, on Industrial and tech
nical causes. which it is, perhaps, just as
well to recall here.
The types from which modern Ameri-
can locomotives have grown were selected
from the point of view of being suitable
to run on light roads, often poorly con-
dius, in countries often destitute of ma
terial for repairs, or where it is difficult
TO make repairs.
The result was locomotives at once
flexible, rough in form, and extremely
strong, which in new countries and in
the colonies have shown themselves to
he EuTOnean engines
in the matters of duration and cost Of
maintenance. Provided with dstribut-
ing springs in all parts and resting on
divided trucks, which, while insuring suf-
ficient stability, give them great feXi-
bility, these machines adapt themselves
in a wonderful manner TO unevenness in
the roadbed and easily pass around
curves of very short radius. The sim
plicity of their construction and the SOL
idity of the parts allow of their being put
in charge of men of little experience and
of the employment of persons more or
less rough and clumsy. They are besides
very powerful and built on broad lines,
vet not weighing too much on the axles
thanks to the use of divided trucks that
do away with the need of the outer frame
work. These were reasons more than suf-
hcient to secure the success of these en-
gines in undeveloped countries and colo
MES, even though their cost had not been
less than that of European locomotives
But as a matter of fact the Baldwin
company is able to deliver complete To-
comotiVes with their tenders at from s
TO cents a pound, lnCiuQlnS packing.
Why are our constructors, who have less
to pay for labor and no more for material
unable to produce for the same price?
The low cost of American locomotives, it
must not be forgotten, does not arise from
lack of care in construction, but because
they are studied and built by makers who
never lose sight of the cost price and who
do not sacrifice the simplicity of the parts
to any scientific consideration. Advance
to them means delivering more and more
powerful engines for a constantly dimn-
ishing price; they care little or no wheth-
er they act economically or present GER
tain guarantees demanded by the great
European companies. Yet the Baldwin
works turn out many compound engines
of a type that seems hardly logical, but
which costs little to apply and gives sat
isfactOry results.
The low cost of American engines arises
from the fact that all the parts are
studied and drawn with a view to their
being made entirely by machinery, and
that all the castings are made according
to settled models, are Interchangeable,
and can be used for any engine of a
particular type, dispensing with new cal
culatiOns for each new construction. The
wheels are of cast steel, and are very
strong, the hearths are of steel, and the
boilers of iron; the stopcOcks are gem
orally castings, and the tube work iron
iron or steel, neither copper or bronze
being used.
and tenders in one piece, as the axel
weight would be too great for the light
roadbeds.
Russia may, from some standpoints. be
looked upon as a new country and to
this reason doubtless may be the sue
cess of the Baldwin Company be attribut-
ed. We must not forget, however, that
the Americans are improving their lines
year by year, and are now able to suit
their engines to the new conditions of
that are growing nearer and nearer to
those existing in Europe, and that their
competition, as il enlarges its sphere CT
action, becomes daily more formidable.
-Housekeeper-Wan any old newspa.
pers?
Junk Man-NO; newspapers amt made
O. rage any more. Made o. wood pulp.
Housekeeper-Isn't wood pulp no use?
Junk Man-Guess not: but dump EN- on
II they happen TO be made o maple wood.
maybe i can sell EN- 20 a maple syruD
"a Glory New York Weekly