The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-09-10
Copyright. 1896. by the s. s. Mcclure COZ

Copyright, 1896. by the s. s. Mcclure COY
1t is only with Its recent very sue
cessful application to the purposes of
street traction that the general public
has awakened to the immense utility
and the wide possibility Of compressed
air. Within few years. very largely
within the last decade, 1t has come to
undertake such multiplicity OF tasks
that q mere enumeration OF them Is
value of air for stopping cars in the
shape of Westinghouse brake;
now 1t is used to start cars
as well. We are fairly familiar
with its work in drilling out rock exca-
vations for the modern sky scraper; 1t Is
another matter to learn that this same
compressed air drill, used in the mine,
has enormously added to our wealth or
gold and silver, Of coal and iron, and
copper, through the cheapening of the
production 1t has caused. 1t is still fur
Their matter Of surprise that this pro-
team force has turned canal digger and
was the largest single agent In the con-
struction Of Chicago's great drainage
canal, in many respects the most Won
derful canal in the world.
We are again acquainted with the
pneumatic dynamite gun, where COM
pressed air Is employed to throw huge
charge Of high explosive to the distance
Of mile or so; 1t is another matter to
think Of the same force cleaning car
pets and busting cushions. 1t has been
successfully employed to propel locomo-
tives In mines: 1t is equally useful to
shear sheep 1t will operate block sig
nal or Ii will steer a a ship. 1t was
fy,cr rxrhov1 yro Rad 0f tho hfIild-
ings Of the Worlds Fair being painted
by compressed air. but it is a common
enough thing now; 1t is even used to
polish and sandpaper cars as we'll In
Paris 1t is employed to run clocks and
as a cooling agent in refrigerators; 1t
runs motors, propels sewing machines,
lifts scenery In the theatres, drives lathes
and printing presses and street cars, and
is the motive power in all the little shops
which turn out the curious articles de
Paris, which are SO great a source Of
revenue to the French capital.
We know of its use in carrying malls
In pneumatic tubes. 1t is now proposed
to make 1t carry freight. 1t is employ
ed to raise sunken vessels, and very
shortly 1t will be introduced on the Erie
Canal to operate the locks. By the
Dutton pneumatic high-lift lock 1t Is
proposed to pick up great ocean liner
and lift 1t as high as Niagara with less
effort and in less time than Is 1ow re-
quired to elevate a clumsy barge the
height of bean pole.
In the railroads shops 1t Is everywhere
running machinery, hoisting huge loads,
riveting bolts, driving hammers, Is en-
ployed in forging and in every conceiva-
BILE variety of work. In Kansas City
beeyes are slaughtered and the meat
dressed all by compressed air. 1t Is an
excellent pump, especially for deep wells;
1t is used to pipe oil and pump chemicals.
It Is used by the physician and the sur
geon in many delicate operations 1t
makes a good elevator hoist for grain.
With compressed air you may dump
whole train of coal or dirt cars with the
pressure of your thumb. 1t Is used In
sculpture and stone carving, 1t makes
good dredge, 1t raises and lowers rail-
road gates, 1t will copy your letters, run
summer fans, 1t is used in the sugar re-
finery and in the making of asphalt and
Of rubber, and still again in the delicate
of fine silk. In fact, there
seems hardly limit to the uses to which
It may be put.
The wonder of 1t now seems that all
this has not been done long ago. Com
pressed air is not new, in the sense that
Is new. How, then, does 1t
come that 1t is only of very recent years
that 1t has been generally used? Prob
ably the chief reason will appear with
hardly any explanation at all. 1t was
largely a mania for things electrical. 1t
seems absurd to say that the business
world has been carried away with
mere enthusiasm, and yet this is literally
the case. The beginnings Of the use of
air were almost coincident
with the introduction of electricity. And
compressed air being known, its posi-
bilities being capable of more or less ac-
curate definition, 1t was literally neglect
ed for its less known, more snowy, and
mysterious rival.
1t is a frequent matter Of remark
now that had 1.-THE Of the money and
brains and genius been expended in
the development of compressed air as
has been given to electricity, the pres
ent relation of the two forces would be
reversed. For long time electricity
the unknown; its POSSIBLE
tiles were unquestionably great; for a
time they appeared boundless. Now,
however, its capabilities are more
clearly outlined, its powers definitely
known, and mechanical and inventive
genius is turning to the development
Of the force OF air.
The three chief factors Of recent prog
ress are perhaps the perfection Of the
COMPRISING apparatus and Of the re-
heating process and of the non-burst-
ing steel reservoir. When compressed
air was first tried 1t was found that
the loss of power in the process was
enormous. Then again there were
thermodynamic difficulties without
number. If you put thousand cubic
feet of air into the space of single
one, you develop high degree of heat,
and in order to use the air this heat
must in, some way be drawn off. Sim
ilarly air at high pressure when re-
leased cools rapidly; the result Is freez-
ing and clogging. 1t used to be thought
that these difficulties were for practi-
cal purposes insuperable.
Now, however, these very difficulties,
or rather the causes which produce
them are turned to prolific such ex-
cellent profit as to afford an apparent
paradox. 1t seems idle to assert that
you are able 10 get out Of machine
as much power as you put into it-that
this is perpetual motion. And yet this
is almost literally true in the present
day use of compressed air.
In this country there are air compress
ors built so perfectly that the loss of me-
,hanical efficiency in compression is only
about per cent. and of the total effici-
ency only Is or 20 per cent. that is to
say, IL you use up hundred horse
power in the compression of the air you
will have force that WILL in the case of
the best type of compressors, give you
eighty or ninety horse power in return.
Here incidentally is another triumph of
American mechanical genius. In the ia