The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-11
RAILROAD LANTERNS.
All About One of the Important Adj
juncts of the transportation Bus

All About One of the ImDortnat Al
juncts of the transportation Bus
mess.
Rochester Union and Advertiser.
Few people who see a railroad trainman
passing through a coach with a lantern
on his arm give any thought to the large
number of these lanterns that are used m
year or the amount of money that IL
costs big railroad to supply the train
hands with lanterns.
Owing to the rough usage that railroad
lanterns get, they must be made of the
strongest and best and at the same time
of light material. In many respects they
are like bicycles, in that they must have
llgntness combined with durability. They
are also expensive. They are also things
of beauty. and when they are well shined
up are about as attractive as a nickel
plated bike. Railroad men all take pride
in bright lantern. The lantern Is now
constructed In such a way as to leave lit
tie or no room for improvements. Many
of the lanterns used on the various rail-.
roads are made In Rochester. The New
York Central railroad uses thousands os
lanterns year In its various depart.
ments. SO with the large number of rail-
roads in the country Il can be easily seen
to where the output of the. big lantern
factories goes Still the lanterns are con
structed to be very durable, and the dues-
tion often arises as to what becomes of
them While this is difficult to determine.
large numbers are stolen and given away
a great many get caught between the
coupfers and are crushed while the brake
men are coupling up, and others slide
from the roofs OF freight cars, especially
In the winter when the roofs are covered
with Ice or sleet. II is also frequently
necessary for brakeman to use his Ian
tern as weapon, particularly when run.
ming through country infested with
tramps, and. while the tramp generally
gets the worst OF ii, 1t often happens that
the lantern is more or less seriously dam.
aged.
The frames of railroad lanterns are made
entirely of steel, the circular guards
being OF No. hard steel wire and the up-
right guards OF No. 10 sheet steel. The
lanterns are made almost entirely by boys.
who are paid by the piece, each boy doing
but a single part of the operation The
lantern Is started with a circular piece of
TIN. 1his piece OF circular tin
afterward becomes the part into which
the oil cup for the lantern is inserted, be-
ing held in place by suitable springs and
catches.
The upright guards, OF which there are
six. are stamped from sheet steel Of heavy
presses, one guard being stamped al time
and the necessary holes being punched.
After the tin ring, already referred to. has
been punched with the proper number Of
holes and the ends soldered together, a
boy catches up six of the guards and fits
them into the slots or holes In the tin ring,
soldering them at the proper places.
The circular guards, OF which there are
usually two, are obtained by twisting a
full coil of timed hard steel wire over an
H. ~.~T - xf aka aaI hn tar far .,f
the completed rings. When the coil of
wire is removed from this roll the spring
in Il causes the coils to expand to twice
the diameter, or just the size wanted for
the guards. Each one Of the coils of wire
is then cut, which produces the required
ring one side Of which Is open.
After the upright guards have been sol
dered to the tin ring the frame is passed
on to the next boy, who takes two of the
wire circular guards and dexterously and
quickly hooks them through the holes
In the upright guards and then fastens the
two ends together with a small tin clasp.
The top guard of the frame Is made OF
steel, pressed into angle form TO give II
increased strength. This Is next soidered
to the top Of the upright guards, and NO.
8 steel wire is run through the bottom
ends Of the upright guards TO form the bot
tom Of the lantern.
Two of the upright guards are left OF
unusual length and are made with a loop
IN their upper ends. These ends, before
the guards are put into the frame, are
twisted half around TO form ears to which
the handles Of the lanterns are afterward
attached The upright, as well as the cir
cular guards before being placed In the
frame. are carefully cleaned Of all foreign
substances by soaking them In muriatic
acid. Then they are dipped in pot Of
melted tin and given a heavy coat. The
frame. after the top and bottom rings
have been put in place, is dipped into a
not Of heated muriatic acid 10 remove
any grease or dirt that may be cinging to
them, and then dipped In pots Of liquid
solder. the result being that the solder
rurs into the holes punched In the up
r,snt guards and firmly secures the cir
cular wire guards which have been run
through these holes II also firmly sol
ders together the ends OF the circular wire
guards which before were only fastened
together with a tin clasp
While the frames are being put together
in another department the oil cups for
holding the oil are being made. These
cups tit up into the tin ring, to which the
upright guards were sodered, and are
made from a single piece OF circular disk
OF Tin by the drawing process. two opera
lions being required 10 draw the cup to
the proper size. The first operation makes
\ shallow cup Of the disk three or four
inches In diameter and about an inch deep,
while the next process reduces the diam