Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-19

basement. The entire space occupied l
S0x75 feet, which is divided into two com
partments. The presses occupy one, Will
the other Is used as a mailing room. TIL
floor in the press room rests on twelve-inc
steel beams arched with brick and Covere
with a layer of concrete. In order to pre-
vent communication of the vibration of tn
machinery to the walls of the building tn
presses themselves are placed on a founda
tion which is entirely independent OF tn
building. The ground in the basemen
was excavated to admit foundations of con
crete, and from these solid brick buttresse
rise to about eight inches above the hoo
In the press room. On these rest the mug
presses. and no matter how rapidly the.
revolve no tremor is communicated to thu
floor around.
To describe the intricate mechanism Of
the perfecting presses would require severa'
columns. The blank paper is hung in huge
rolls at one end and completely printed
and folded papers come out at the Other
more rapidly than the observer can count
A feature OF The Bee press room is that
there is no visible motive power. No belt
ing or shaftlng %disigures the apartment, but
the power is communicated by belts that
run up through the floor from the engine
room in the basement and connect directly
with the main shaft.
In the mailing room on the right the
Papers are stamped and mailed on wrought
iron tables, surmounted by polished marble
slabs. Here more than 0 1000 Bees are
handled every week, exclusive of those that
are delivered at Omaha, South Omaha.
Council Bluffs and Lincoln. One of the boys
employed in this department has wrapped,
stamped and mailed 1000 papers in an hour.
ESTABLISHMENT MACHINERY.
The machinery required to run the presses
and to furnish power for light, heat and
elevator service is located in the sub-base-
ment, which extends the full size OF the
NGH H. t. ,.A-.t-Il@ Ipl,r,,nth ~
engines, boilers, dynamos, switches and the
various other appliances incidental to such
an establishment. The basement is divided
into three compartments, occupied respec-
lively by the engines, boilers and electric
light machinery. The boiler room is foored
with cement, the engine room with stone TIL
ing and the dynamo room with hard wood.
The boiler room is 3SX41 feet, with a
19-foot ceiling. Adjoining 1t are the inn
mense coal bunkers, with a capacity of 100
tons. There are three boilers OF the Baker
& Smith pattern, each Is feet long and 60
inches In diameter. Each is supplied with
a Kirkwood rocking and dumping CRATE, and
they are so arranged that any one or all of
them can be used at pleasure. Combined
they have a capacity for supplying ZOO
horse power, which is somewhat more than
is required.
The steam thus generated is utilized by
two magnificent Corliss engines, with a com
bined capacity of 230-horse power The
larger engine is used only for the operation
of the electric machinery. 1t has a l6xii
inch cylinder, and is rated at l5O-horse
power. The drive wheel Is IL feet In diam
eter, with a 2S-inch face, and weighs be-
tween eight and nine tons. The smaller
engine Is of S0-horse power, with a 12XS6
cylinder. It's drive wheel is ten feet in
diameter and weighs II 900 pounds. 1t sup
plies the power for the presses, stereotyping
machines, Mergenthaler machines and va
riOuS other DurDOSeS,
Two huge drums, one high pressure for
power purposes and one low pressure for
heating, are connected with the boilers by
seven-inch pipe. These are equipped with a
Davis automatic pressure regulator, by
which any amount Of steam. from one pound
can be utilized for heating purposes.
There are 16, 900 feet of radiation in the
which are supplied from the low
pressure drum. The heat is taken through
the building from the drum by forty steam
risers, each OF which is directly connected
with the source of supply, so that it may be
shut Off without affecting the remainder OF
the system.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING PLANT.
The electric lighting plant Of The Bee
building is a mechanical world In itself: IL
is one of the most complete plants of Its
size in existence and has a capacity OF
1 500 incandescent lamps. For these the
is furnished by three dynamos or
the most improved make and pattern. The
two larger dynamos revolve 800 times per
minute and can supply 600 16-candle power
each. The smaller one reVoives
1 .O50 times per minute and has a capacin
of 300 lamps. The dynamos are self-goV-
erning. so that any number of lights may
be turned off or on without Affecting the
balance.
The switchboard through which the power
from the dynamos is distributed is one OF
the marvellous triumphs of electrical
mechanism. 1t has an ampere meter by
which the number of lights in use are reg
istered; an indicator for registering the
candle power OF the lamps in use; a bal
ance to effect an even distribution OF
ground d~etector, which locates a ground in
any part of the system. The remainder
the electrical equipment of the building
is equally perfect. TIT system is divided
into EIGHT circuits. so that in case OF &C
rident only one-eighth of the lamps would
he impaired. The building is wired up
and down from a central distributing point
on the third floor, and each room is sup
piled with a separate cut-of. III is not
able fact that Notwithstanding the magnl-
tude of the system, with its miles OF wire
and numerous and intricate machinery. Sc
was the work of construction
carried on that when the power was first
turned on 1t worked perfectly in every de-
tail. III
The elevators in the building are all OF
the Crane pattern ana tHeS arc eoppiiSn
with hydraulic pressure from a large tank
the pent house on top Of the building
The two passengers elevators have each a
thirty inches in diameter and eleven
long. The immense freight elevator
in the rear has a cylinder thlrty-six inches
IN diameter and twelve feet long, and a
one-horse power elevator used to carry
he stcreotyping plates from the sixth
loor to the press rooms in the basement
IS a Crane patent screw elevator run by
rope transmission. The water from the
large tank is discharged by the action OF
he elevators into a similar tank in the
basement, from which it is pumped back
again by a Worthington compound duplex
pump.
TYPE CASTING MACHINES.
The most recent and wonderful acquisi-
lion to the mechanical appliances of The
Bee are the Merganthaler type casting ma
chimes, which were put In In February
1894, at a cost of $40 900. Then, as
The Bee took the lead, and the
were in successful operation In
The Bee office before other western news
papers awoke to the fact that they were in
The idea of setting type by
was not q new one, but various
.fforts had been made to put 1t into prac-
zeal form. Several machines were in
,ented, but failed to meet completely the
.eouirements. 1t was not until the win
err of 1885 that the attention of some of
he large newspapers of the country was
to the Mergenthaler machine, for
Ia. lIAI- 1