The record-union., 1896-04-12

and it is not good plan to doubt veri-
fed history. But il that estlmable
lady would make visit to the Depart
ment of the Southern Pacific shops in
this city, known as the General Casting
and Wheel Foundry, she would say 1t
once more.
Should Mrs. Partington make such a
visit (and she would, no doubt do so If
she had the chance) she would say, not
one time, but one hundred, that she
was never so surprised in her life" 1t
would seem to her, at first glance, that
q great deal of the work was chllds
play, and might recall the days of her
youth, when she dogged her over-cau-
tious mother and got down to the
slough and made mud pies, or out upon
the road and built sandhills and called
them mountains. She would probably
be surprised to see streams Of molten
iron flowing from tubes in unexpected
places, and she would be surprised at
the ninety-odd other things; but be-
fore she would be ready to leave the
big building she would make up her
mind that she would not be surprised
st anything she might see in the fu-
ture. She would be past that stage.
prising to be seen when one considers
that everything is executed on plans
and Specifications, and that set rules
govern even the minutest details OF the
works; but because persons of the tenn
permanent of the lady in question are al
ways very greatly surprised when they
find something of which they have not
the slightest conception or knowledge.
And there is much going on in that
same foundry that the average plodding
citizen never dreamed of; there are
castings made that he never heard of,
and there are materials used which
would make him open his eyes. He
would watch the men at work and
imagine that he understood it all; but
he would probably come away con-
vinced that he did not know anything
about the business whatever.
One Of the absolutely necessary
things in a nlolder's business is sand.
He must have sand. He will tell you,
like the little boy who was going about
with his pockets full Of rocks, that sand
lis good thing to have" Not on that
part of his anatomy sometimes called
"gizzard.' Bless you, no! but sand to
be used in his trade, as a carpenter
uses nails. He needs it in his business,
and from the skillful application of
sand comes his bread and butter.
The sand, as everyone knows, is used
for making the moIds into which the
molten iron is poured; but just how it
is done is what would puzzle them. To
begin with, then, are three kinds of
molds. There Is the dry sand mold,
which is used in making large cast
Jugs, and small ones, too, for that mat
ter, which must be of extraordinary
strength and finish These molds are
not built from the ground up with sand
alone. Flour takes front seat In their
composition. Just plain, ordinary,
wheaton -four, such as the good wife
mixes into dough for tc-morrow's bak-
ing. Flour is what gives the sand
its consistency, and 1t might as well be
told here as further on, that 4,oOO
pounds are used for that purpose each
month in the year. Sea coal is also
a component part, and when the mold
is finally formed it is put into an oven
and baked, and baked, and baked. From
three to four days the mold is subjected
to intense heat and is then declared
ready for use, provided it comes through
the fire without blemish.
Then there is the loan mold, which is
used to do the revolving act in making
such castings as steamboat cylinders,
and they, too, have a substance very
foreign from sand in their composition.
That substance is hay. Just ordinary
tule hay, but it Is just as necessary as
-four is in the dry sand mold.
Thus 1t will be seen that though men
do not take their meals at the building,
and though there are no horses fed there,
both flour and hay are in demand, and
at the end of the month the farmer
regularly brings in his little bill.
Then there is the green sand llold,
and into those molds are run many OF
the smaller castings and all of the car
wheels. These molds receive their con-
sistency from a little clay and cinders
mixed into the sand, and the iron is
poured into them without their being
baked.
And as to those same car wheels: Be
tween eighty and ninety are nodded
each day at the present time, and from
1885 to 1895 inclusive the number of
wheels turned out is estimated at 24S,-
ABB, which is not such a bad showing
for Sacramento's molders. There are
wheels and wheels, and only to think Of
the number almost makes ones brain
spin.
After those wheels are cast and be-
come somewhat hardened they are
taken from the mold and cast into pits.
Daniel was once cast into a pit, but
II may be doubted If he was in as close
a place, or If things were so hot for
him as would have been the case had he
been dropped into one of these same
car-wheel pits. There are eighty of
these pits, and each one is ten feet deep
and holds fourteen car wheels, one
placed on top of the other. When they
have been lowered the pit Is carefully
covered over with sand to insure an
even temperature-which prevents the
iron from cracking-and they remain
there for from ten to thirteen days. 1t
IS hot down in those pits; very hot. SO
hot, in fact, that when uncovered at the
end of the tenth day the iron is often a
glowing red.
But the wheels are good ones-the best
in the country. And this is not an idle
statement by any means, as is proven
by the statement made by General Fore
man of the foundry, NJ. A Baxter, who
estimates that there are 10000 wheels
In service at the present time which were
made in the shop, and that the average
brought in and condemned reaches only
from two to three each month, while
the number of foreign wheels. that is,
wheels made at other shops in the East
and which are sent to the coast under
the cars of other railroad companies
the number condemned each month
averages from thirty-five to forty.
And II fa1xe1 lots and tofS 0f iron 70