The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-26
ABOUT PAPER CAR WHEELS.
THEY ARE AS SOLID AS IRON AND
MORE DURABLE.
Description of the Manner IN Which
Car Wheels Are Made of Rye
straw-They Are Used ON All Pull
man Cars.
From the New Yof.. Tlmes.

From the New YORK Times.
The man stood in front of a smooth
work bench. with so few tools and such
simple materials that he could hardly be
doing anything of Importance. There were
two large circles of yellowish paper. each
bigger than the top of a barrel, and the
tools were only a pot of common -four
paste and brush. He was daubing paste
over one of the paper circles and sticking
the other to'it.
What are you making?" asked him.
81 am making car Wheel he replied
You mean a pattern for one?" I
went on.
mo, sir" he said; 81 am making the
wheel ITSELF
Funny fellow. that: fond Of his little
joke. AS if anybody could make car
wheel by pasting sheets of paper together.
1 soon found, however, that that was
what he was doing. First, two sheets
pasted together; then two more pasted to-
gether. Then those two double sheets
pasted together. Another double one add
ed, and another, till there was a round
block of paper and paste thicker than any
car wheel that ever rolled.
1t would be useless to look for this man
with the paste pot in New York, for the
car wheel makers do not take kindly to
New York, except for their general offices.
They are fonder of the south and west,
where they are nearer the raw material.
whether the material be iron or steel or
straw paper. This particular man was in
Few OF US know much about these little
things that so many of us trust our lives
to every day. Let one of them break
while we are running fifty miles an hour,
and most likely we will not be home to
dinner tonight nor any other night. And
we can hardly blame ourselves for this
Ignorance, for even among Well-informed
railroad men there are not many who
have any practical acquaintance with car
wheels. That is a distinct branch of the
business, with its own experts and wheel
sharps.r Our ignorance, too, saves us
the trouble of deciding among many sys-
TENS. There are various theories among
the best authorities. and each company
follows its own theory.
If we were about to set up private
car and wanted to know what KIND or
wheels to put under 1T we should very
likely ask advice from some of the best
authorities; and we could not find better
authorities than the Pennsylvania Rail-
road Company and the Pullman Palace
Car Company. Their advice would be so
utterly at variance that we should be lost
in doubt before the car ever got OF the
shope.
''Use chilled iron wheels" the Pennsyl-
vania people would tell us and never run
them more than 10000 miles;
pany would tell us. 1.-THE will last nearly
as long as your car, and are the safest.
Much as these opinions differ, each COM
many lives up to its own theory with eX-
cellent results. The Pennsylvania uses
nothing but chilled iron wheeisi the Pull
man nothing but paper.
If takes some time to get on the track
even of these theories about car wheels; l
went first to MIR. j. d. Hashagen, VINO
was never before asked any question about
railroad matters that he could not answer.
not do know about i
asked. Nothing at all, he replied. Ii
YOU want to know something about car
wheels, why don't you go to Gen. Horace
Porter of the Pullman Company. down in
the Mills Building? He knows All about
them." But Gen. Porter was in Washlng-
ton setting other wheels IN moron ioe Ig Us
said the secretary. why, Mr.. Bretneld IS
the man to tell you about car wheels: ne
knows all about them; He Is the genera
purchasing agent of the Pullman COM
pany. Third floor, No. 4.
The door of NO. A on the third floor OPEN
ed ba hoTpta6lSy b ana tb Mf dreadful Question:
Car wheelsw said he. Il know they
have improved wonderfully within few
years. We used to buy them 2, under dnO guar ,i5
they generally gave out after $1,000 or H.
900. But l can't give you any practlcai IN
formation about car wheels; The best pace
for YOU to go is over to the Paper Car
Wheel Company, in Cortlandt street. They
make all our wheels, and they can tell
you all about every kind Of wheel that Is
made"
That is not the exact name that he mem
toned. 1t is not worth while to make this
look like an advertisement of paper car
wheels by giving the companyS real
name, particularly as there Is only one pa
per car wheel company in the world.
MIR. Hiram L. Tracy, who represents in
New York the concern that shall contin-
ue to call the Paper Car Wheel Company,
smiled also when l sprung the question
upon him; but Il was the satisfied smile
Of H. a xrfEf ataI frefkrrn
tire to hub. II think can tell you some
thing about them" he said; and naturally
he began with the making Of paper
wheels.
Our works." he began, 'are at Pull
man, ILL.,; Morris, Ill, and Hudson, N.
Pretty well scattered over the country.
are you not?" l suggested.
Yes" he answered, ''but there are rea-
sons for that. We have one shop at Pull
man, because we make all the Pullman
cause that is a convenient point for our
eastern and foreign business. And at
that is in the center of great grain dis
trict. Our wheels are made of rye straw.
In the paper mill we convert the straw
INTO aw-board In the shops we con-
vert the straw-board into car wheels. 1t
takes about sixty of the sheets to make
an inch in thickness. Here is sample
or the finished material"
He took from his desk a polished block
OF the paper. of which car wheels are
made-a block about six inches long by
TWO inches square. If IL had been block
of iron II could not have been much heav-
Ter. Not trace of grain or fibre was WIS.,
lble where it was sawed at the ends.
"A fine material for trimming the in
terror of fire-proof building" / could
not help suggesting.
Very fine" he said, but too expensive.
II will char under great heat, of course,
but 1t will not burn. The president of the
company had some doors made of IL
number of years ago, and there is no warp
10 them. This block, as we call the solid
part of the car wheel, is made, as you
know, by pasting two sheets of the paper
together, and two more sheets 10 those,
and so on till the mass is Of sufficient
thickness, using common flour paste. The
wheel Is then put into a hyraulic press,
under pressure OF 700 tons, and pressed
ana dried till Ii Is AZ inches thick for
zi-inch wheel It Is then put in a lathe
and turned, and the cast iron hub is fore
60 into IL under a pressure of 30 tons
Inc tire is bolted on (and the steel tire
muse be an absolute MT, outside the plates
Oh ss-inch steel are bolted to tire and block
end the wheel is made. From the grain
neld to the perfect wheel takes about
three months"
Then Il is really a metal wheel with a
paper filling," / suggested.
NO, IL is not" he answered. ut Is a
paper wheel with metal trimming. The