The record-union., 1896-06-28
BLACKSMITH SHOP.

tDere the flames Sputter and the sparks
ny and the smoke floats thick, and in
the midst of it, men move back and
forth, deftly turning glowing pieces of
iron, swinging hammers which send
Dr1g'ht sparks on all sides when they
strike; men working monstrous cranes
Which lift and turn and carry huge
pieces of iron; men who manipulate
great hammers weighing many tons,
which beat out or round up the masses
OF iron into the desired shape; men tend
ing unheard of machines which turn
out particular work with undreamed
OF rapidity, and men who come and CO.
trundling trucks loaded with iron in
every form known under the sun used in
the construction of cars, engines or
steamboats,
Such will be the first impression of
the visitor to the blacksmith shop of the
Southern Pacific Company in this city.
1t is, beyond question, one of the most
important industries in our midst Here
there are over $50 men and boys en-
ployed in producing the most intricate
forgfngs to be met with anywhere in the
United States, and it is here that all the
forgings for the entire Southern Pacific
system, including steamboat work, are
turned out-forgings ranging from one
pound in weight to eighteen tons, or
$4,000 pounds.
The finished articles turned out am
nually by the blacksmith are somewhat
astonishing to those who have given the
matter little or no thought, and it is
even difficult to grasp the meaning
when one is told that the average daily
output of finished material is eighty
tons, but one begins to realize the sit
uation when the tons are reduced down
and we have 100000 pounds.
1t is bewildering to the uninitiated,
this work in the blacksmith shop, and
the visitor will stand and watch and
wonder; and when the piece in hand is
finally completed and thrown aside, he
viii still puzzle over 1t and still remain
ignorant unless the foreman, in the full
ness of his heart, takes pity ON him
and oondeScendS to explain matters.
Even then it is an even guess whether
he will comprehend or not, for his at
tention will have wandered to another
part Of the shop where another work is
being performed, and he finds himself
gong over the same old process of Won
dering and wondering.
And there is no wonder that he Won
ders, for he is in the very heart of Won
derland. 1t is no tabled song or story,
this about the ever-burning fires, not
of ecla, but OF the blacksmith shops of
the Southern Pacific System in Sacra
mento; and when the visitor gets
through with his examination, he may
as well stop and think consider that
he has gone through the largest, best
equipped and most complete railroad
blacksmith shop in the United States,
If not in the world
Here are sixty-five forges in full
blast all day and all night. Here are
Sixty-five sniths-masterS of their
trade, too, who never make a superfiu-
Gus movement, and who never strike a
lick amiSS," and here are helpers" and
helpers" Each smith has from one
to four, as the weight or size of the
work on hand demands, and they are
very busy men, these helpers, and very
powerful.
AS the visitor looks he will see the fire
of one forge emitting clouds of smoke
and millions of sparks, while its neigh
Dor is slurnbering, but apparently ready
to break into furious action at any mo-
ment and perhaps the greatest puzzle
of it all is that there is not a bellows
in sight and no helper ON hand to pump
one, provided it was In sight But
here the foreman, seeing his visitors
perplexity, win kindly and considerate-
ly take him by the arm, lead him to a
separate room at the north end of the
shop, open a door and tell him to look.
Here he will see a rapidly-revolving
shaft. kept in motion by means of two
huge belts which come from somewhere
above (the second floor, possibly and
a cylindrical shaped iron box about
three feet in hight. Then IT may begin
to dawn upon him that this very simple
apparatus may have something to do
with the fires upon the forges, and when
he finally finds that the cylinder shaped
tox conceais a fan which makes an
equal number of revolutions as the
rapidly-revolving shaft to which it is
attached, he may conclude that he is a
very bright person to have discovered
the mystery of it ALL
A main pipe is laid the entire length
of the shop. and to each forge there is
connected a side lead, the mouth of
which opens upon the forge in precisely
the same manner as does the nozzle of
an old-fashioned bellows By simple
lever attachment the mouth of the side
lead is opened, permitting a steady es-
cape of the air compressed into the pipe
by the fan in the little closed room at
the end of the shop, thus blowing the
Goals into a fervid glow and casting
sparks to the ceiling and smoke into the
air, in quantities sufficient to smother
some of the fierce midsummer rays of
the sun
All the forging and bending in the
shop is done under steam hammers,
or steam presses. and the hammers
which do the work are ten in. number,
varying in weight from 800 to 5000
pounds.
There are five 1,000-pound hammers,
some of which are always at work, and
when the entire number are turned
loose at one and the same time the
rapid spanks they administer TO the
blushing iron may be heard a long dis
tance on still day. These five as well
as the S,000-pound hammer and the
steam-forming press, were manufact-
ured by the company in the shops,
There are also four spring hammers
each OF 800 pounds weight. used in
forming small or particular forgings
and each and every one of them is a
1abor-saye
In the nut and bolt department OF
the shop is a power shear, which clips
off stout iron rods at any length de-
sired with as much ease as If they were
made Of cheese, and with as much dis
patch as a runaway train of cars on
down grade. There are also seven
boIt-heading and rivet machines, and
three large bolt machines with spike