The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-10-06
Dispatch

way TO the delivery wagon the coal Is ham
died in ways which, TO the unsophisticat-
ed spectator, whose ideas on the subject
have been mainly acquired through expo
rience with the man who puts in half
day getting two tons Of the winter supply
into the cellar, seem most remarkable.
The modern yard Is built in two stories,
or layers. Below, on the ground, are the
bins for storage, the tracks and roadways
for cars and wagons and tho engines. On
the platform above are the carriers, the
cranes and the machinery for controlling
the action of the lifting apparatus. Be
tween the upper and lower floors are the
hoppers and shoots for loading the cars
and wagons.
Before tho engine room, in a position
where he can see both the engineer and
the deck of the vessel stands a man grasp
ing two lovers. The levers which he holds
control tho action of steam shovels work
ing In the hold Of the vessel, which have
done away with the need for force OF
shovelers TO bring the coal from the parts
of the vessel distant from the hatohways.
The levers control two drums, on which
are wound two cables, one of which pulls
the steel shovel on scraper ahead and the
other back. BY these the coal Is brought
W tue udtCuNoy oo foPA1iy 40 ~ Ao AAV0N
out.
Above tho engine room, on the second
story Of the yards, there Is another man,
who has charge of the two other levers.
These control tho action of the "clam
shell" which lifts the coal on TO the dock.
The "clam shell'' is a bucket in two parts,
which act like a pair of jaws, and is swung
from the cranes for raising the coal. At
signal to the engineer below the crane
swings round, and the "clam she'll Is low
cred In the hold. The man above watches
its descent, with his hand upon the lever.
When the shell is close TO the coal In the
hold, he throws the lever, and the jaws open
and settle over the coal. He throws the
other lover, and the jaws close biting into
the coal pile and lifting out $500 pounds
or more of the black Jumps. Then the
shell Is raised with its load, and the crane
swings round to the dumping place
The coal from the clam shell is dumped
into cars, which stand waiting. On the
platform which forms the second story OF
the yard there Is small but hardwork-
ing cable road The cars which run upon
IL are not of the species known commonly
as palace cars, and they are not intended
30 be. They have the advantage OF con-
siderable carrying power and the accom-
plishment of automatically dumping their
contents on reaching their destination.
The car is filed with coal from the clam
she'll; the grip beneath IL is clamped to
travelling wire rope between the tracks by
throwing lever, and IL starts on its jour-
ney over the platform TO the bin whero tho
coal is to be dumped On the track above
the bin are two blocks, over which tho car
runs, automatically dumping its contents
upon tho pile below and then returning
for another load.
With the steam shovel, the clam she'll
and the cable road, l25 tons of coal an
hour Is now taken from the hold Of q ves-
sci and distributed through the yard. The
cost of the proceeding is remarkably low.
Instead Of the 1S cents which the old
methods entailed from TO cents ton
Is the expense of unloading The amount
unloaded by the old way was also consid-
erably less, 80 or 100 tons an hour being
the average.
But, though unloaded and stored In the
yard, the work of handling the coal IL but
half done 1t has yet 90 bo distributed.
The yards, especially the smaller ones, are
filled and emptied several times In the
year. and moro than once In the fall
months, during the most active trado.
BACK from tne river, on tho shofc huc OF
the yard, are tho shoots and the stands for
loading wagons and cars. Between them
and the docks stand the piles Of coal, 90 or
80 feet In height.
Between the two roads devoted 60 the
cars and wagons, technically the coal al
leys, there Is n row of hoppers, from which
the coal Is taken. Above them, on the un-
derside of the platform, there runs sys-
TEN Of suspended tracks, upon which
travel the carriages and conveycrs which
bring the ooal from the piles In tho bins
Tho carriages are dragged forward by tho
engines and backward 10y weight boxes
behind the bins.
The carriage over some particular hop
per runs back along the track until it
reaches a catch which marks the place at
which 10 Is to be lowered. As IL stops, the
oonvcycr, a box like n covered shovel, IL
released and lowered Co the foot Of the
coal pile I'm the bin below. There 10 IL
seized by two men, who push 10 against
the bottom Of the pile just as the engine
begins 30 drug upon the rope attached 10
Il. The conveyer travels, grooming aud
grinding, up the side Of the pile, picking