El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-09-02
THERE ARE DIFFERENCES

DdshSG WGIC VI SOIuC ooJo oo hAE - eSS
1925.
THERE ARE DIFFERENCES
Between Locomotives Even When Built
From the Same Specifications.
Within the last SIX months quite
number of unusually large and heavy
for work on the Southern Pacific be-
tween Tucson and Sanderson, from
two of the largest manufacturing es-
Establishments in the country, the Cooke
Locomotive and Machine company and
the Schenectady Locomotive Works,
the latter's machines being more fam
iliarly known as kMcQueen iengines.
to specifications furnished by General
Master Mechanic J. J. Ryan of Hous-
ton, and constitute The now adopted
standard Southern Pacific engine. This
being the case, it would be naturally
supposed the machines were construct
ed from the,same patterns or templates.
But examination shows this is not so,
and that the same specifications furn-
ished to different builders do not nee
essarily insure the reproduction of ex-
act detail by all builders.
A member OF the HERALD sta If look
ed over Cooke and Schenectady en-
giues in the S. p. round house the
other day. He found that the driving
wheels of the Cooke engines had ff-
teen spokes each where the Schenec
tady engines had fourteen. Moreover,
the spOkes were thicker by an inch in
the New Jersey than in the New York
locomotive. Then in the former en-
CINE the counterbaiance in the middle
driver covered seven spokes while in
the Mcqueen, the counter balance eX-
tended no further than with the other
TWO drivers viz, five spOkeS. This has
occasioned some remark from the fact
that the crank pin supporting the big
end of the driving rod is in the middle
driver, and the extra weight and ten
sion demands cOrrespondipgly heavy
and massive driving wheel support. In
the Cooke machine the diameter of the
crank pin hub is y inches, while in
the Mcqueen engine it is but inches.
Furthermore, the driving axle in the
Cooke is Is inches to 10 inches for the
Seine tady, and both engines have the
same sized cylinder. 2lx26 inches. Men
around the shops are wondering why
the New York builders should turn out
work that is often 70 heavier than in
the case of a 1Sx24 inch cylinder en-
CINE. If the reports are correct, the
wisdom and efficacy of the heavier
work are evident from the cracking in
several cases of the neck between the
axle hub and the main crank-pin hub
in the middle drivers IN the Schen-
ectady engines Another point that
the New Jersey people claim superiori-
ty is in the more solid construction of
the steam chest which is strai ght down
from the top TO union with the cylin-
der, where on the Mcqueen machine
there is a cutting out Of metal from the
shoulder along the side of the chest.
| This save, metal, but the question is,
does it not lose strength?
The head of the main crank pin in
the New York machine is turned so
that there is shoulder inseparable
from the pin body, and which holds
| the straps and rod end corrections in
position. So in order to remove the
straps it is necessary to take out the
keys which requires time :and there are
occasions when this time can be lily
spared. On the Cooke engine, the
| pin is turned clear out, and there is a
detachable plate secured on the pin
| head with longitudinal center Of the
pin. These plates being removed, the
entire big end of the driving rod with
strap attached can be Immediately
pulled off the crank pin. Where one
side of an engine has to be taken down
| figure. Then there are two key set
screws on the big end of the driving
| rod, where on the Schenectady ma
chine there is out one.
The difference in the finish of the
| frames is another point in question.
Ga the Cook engines, all sides of the
frame are planed off smooth, and the
work generally is finished clear
| through. But in the other engines
the frames are only half finished off,
and inside the angles on either side of
| the driving axle jaws the metal looks
like wood that has been rough finished
with an adze. Then the hook holding
the running bar of the reverse lever is
fastened to the running board, while
on the Cooke engine the hook is secure
| y fastened to the boiler Moreover
the arrangement of the steam fittings
on the back boiler head appear to be
more with view to convenience on
| the New Jerse machines, and where
| the New York engines have caused
| trouble by the boxes on the rear driv-
ers getting heated. the Cooke engines
do not appear to give any such trouble
because of the pattern of the box and
a peculiarly of the composition in the
babblting which does not run hot, even
when there is an undue heat from the
| fire box.