The record-union., 1896-08-16

ANY one VINO mas ever taken a rlQe
over rough road on a dead-ax wagon
will readily understand that the an
clients, when they hitched their best
teams to gaudilycolored chariots to
visit their neighbors or carry the war
into Africa, had no bed of roses to sit
or stand upon, as the case might be.
The age of the Spring had not yet
arrived when Pharoah chased the Israel
ties into the Red Sea and shook down
the wall of waters by the jolting of his
chariot over the uneven bottom.
For all that, the springmaker's trade
is an ancient one and the art of temper
Ing metal fifteen centuries ago far ex-
oeeded that of the present time. That
early method is one of the lost arts.
and unlikely stories were circulated by
those old workers in steel (probably to
hoodwink others less fortunate) which
have been handed down to us, but
which our Workmen are averSe to try.
One of these stories was to the effect
that each sword blade was tempered
by being thrust through the body of
a living man, while yet red from the
furnace fires.
The watchmakerS of the time of Louis
XI. reduced the action of what is now
science, and their invention still re-
mains as they left it, but it lay with the
mechanic of the present century to per-
feet an elastic structure of immense
strength which would yield under stress
of great pressure and return to its nor
NAL form when the stress was removed
While the springmaker's craft is an
old one, his capabilities have only been
f11ea1T 17f nj In CT
and as necessity is the mother of in
vention, the railway carriage is prob
ably at the bottom Of it.
When the first railway car was built
and it was not nearly as heavy as one
of those built in the Southern Pacific
shops in this city at this time-it
was found that the heavy jarring, jolt
ing, humping and shaking went much
further toward wearing out the car than
did the load it carried. The thing to do
was to find an equalizer and in the
search for something that would give
and take springs were suggested. But
just what kind of springs was the all
important question. Leaf or elliptcal
$ springs, it is true, received a trial, but
were quickly thrown into disfavor by
breaking under a test load.
Then another genius hit upon India
rubber, or caoutchouc, and it was given
q trial, and for many a long year was
deemed the very acme of perfection.
Even no further back than twenty
years many men will remember how
they carved rubber balls for car springs,
and afterwards lost them so as to have
an excuse for stealing another.
But the roll of the rubber spring or
bunter was not altogether satisfactory,
and the springnaker set himself to the
task of tempering steel to stand the re-
ouired strain and yet retain the neceS-
sssry elasticity, and that he succeeded is
proved by the fact that all cars built
at this time are furnished with steel
springs instead of the old India rubber
varieties.
And as so much depends upon the
spring of the car not only in prolonging
its life, but also in securing comfort and
ease to the traveller, the Southern Pa
cific Company decided years ago to erect
a plant for manufacturing the springs
used under their cars and locomotives,
and to-day it is one of the best equipped
shops of the kind in the United States
The principal springs used in the con-
struction of cars are the elliptic and
the spiral or coil. The elliptic spring,
so named from its form, is composed OF
a number of leaves snugly fitted one
upon the other, and each just trifie
shorter than the one upon which 1t
rests. Not an engine or tender; not a
sleeper or passenger coach goes out
from the railroad shops which is not
supplied with springs built from the
ground up by our home mechanics, and
no freight car takes the track but what
is furnished with elastic spirals wound
UP in the spring shop on machine in
vented especially for the purpose.
The plates from which the elliptic
springs are made are turned out in the
rolling mill, whence they are brought
into the spring shop and cut into prop
er length by a huge hydraulic shears
and are then ready to undergo the sew
eral processes which render them so
elastic and yet so strong.
First, the plate or strip Of steel IS
taken to a little machine called filter
or shaper-and there are four of them
in the shop-and given the curved form
REQUIRED. The fitting or shaping ma
chine reminds one of nothing 50 much
as an d-fashioned clothes wringer. 1t
consists of two rollers, one slightly
larger in circumference than the
other. and Is worked by a
hand crank The steel strips are
fed through the machine the same as a
laiindrvman feeds the household linen
through his wringer. and they come out
curved
Then the strips, which are beginning
to take on the outward appearance OF
spring leaves, are taken to one OF the
elIfptical spring furnaces, OF which
there are four in the shop, and heated
TO a certain degree-which is one OF the
secrets of the springmaker, and con-
cerning which the ordinary mortal
knows nothing.
Then the springmaker defty Crap
pies it from its white-hot bed with his
tongs. and without more ado sub
naerges it in q vat filled with oil--that
IS to say. the principal ingredient Is
oil but It has undergone certain chem
zeal processes, which is another of the
secrets Of the spring-naker. This pro-
cess is usually called "tempering in
OIL
All spring steel is flbrous, and it is
really wonderful how much oil one OF
the leaves viii absorb. Then, too. the
oil In the vat never becomes ignited
from contact with the heated iron, which
is another secret of the craft 1t is
fireproof oil.
The leaf remains in the oil until
quite cool. when it is taken out and
once more shunted into one of the ell
optical spring furnaces, and now the
fine points of the spriugmakers' trade
is brought out He shoots the piece
OF steel into the furnace. closes the