The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-04

ana NNdt soon compressed AIR ana eleC-
| tricity will have crowded out the time
| hOnored steam engine.
| This is not true The extended use Of
| compressed air and electricity extends in
equal proportion to the use of steam, as
steam power is primarily necessary in the
compression of air and the generation of
| electrical force.
The steam engine Of the future may not
| be the putting, dirt-creating iron horse
| OF to-day but will be instead an immense
and powerful machine built TO operate
dynamos and air compressors, and to
| transmit their energy through these agen-
| ctes TO the uttermost parts Of the earth.
Already power stations are beginning TO
| dot the landscape in the east, and the
| procession II such 1t can be termed, IS
| rapidly advancing toward the setting sun.
Each new power station represents an in
crease Ia the use of steam and a CORE
| spending increase in the use OF compressed
| air and electricity. As the boilers and en-
| gines at the power houses are built larger
there comes a proportionate decrease in
| the consumption of fuel and a consequent
economy. Electricity and compressed air
can be used usually in the same fields of
| labor and for the same purposes, yet each
| has, nevertheless, its own peculiar ad-
vantages. Electrical energy can be pro,
| duced and distributed far more cheaply
| than compressed air power, but the APP
planes for use in handling the former
are vastly more expensive than those nee
essary in the compression of air and the
distribution of the resultant energy. Com
pressed air has been described by a writer
on the subject as Tougher handed
workman" than electricity. For heavy
uses-digging wells, cutting trees, crush
ing stone, loading cars and overcoming
| the inertia in immense bodies it is con-
sidered the best of all known forces. 1t
can be used by the horny-handed work
man as well as by the bejeweled electrical
expert, and has not the death-dealing dis
| advantages of the Gagged lightning.
The fact that compressed air is coming
into general use is testified by the fact
that monthly magazine called Com
| pressed Air, published In New York city,
has been successfully issued for almost
| two years.
In the great manufactures, on the rail-
roads and in the big foundries compressed
air has, of recent years, demonstrated it's
usefulness in so many ways that to be de-
prived of 1t now would entail incalculable
loss to producers the world over.
In these places its simplicity has been
its greatest recommendation. A rubber
hose is the only connection necessary be-
tween an air machine and a supply pipe.
NO other force can be so easily applied
| The bursting of the hose would injure
nothing, no scalding, as from steam. No
insulation of pipes is necessary as in us
ing electricity. Air can be controlled, like
water, by simple stop cock In many
| shops the cranes for moving heavy loads
are operated by air
Cylinder lifts are also used, the air Is
turned on beneath the load it is raised,
and by the crane caught and carried to its
destination.
In the foundry air lifts are in general
use to lift the copes, to take patterns from
the molds and to place the cores in posi-
nraw. - 49,
such delicacy in this work that molders
can follow the most complicated patterns
with heretofore unknown accuracy.
In pouring the molten metal air is also
used. and when the castings are completed
air lifts them to position. A blast of this
same compressed air is then laden with
sharp sand, and the castings are quickk
and neatly cleaned.
Great cannon are controlled bv air when
they are mounted on the modern disap-
pearing carriages, while on the other ex-
IRENE the little automatic hammer which
the dentist uses in filling teeth is operated
by the same force. On the same princi-
pie as the dentists hammer the rock drill
ana the big riveters used in putting bridge
parts together are operated; for working
IN marble the same class of tool is en-
ployed successfully. An automatic facing
tool which prepares the stone slabe is
controlled by one man. Figurativelv
sPoANi"Ss no presses the BUTTON" and
the air does the rest. A little plunper in
side the tool strikes 10000 blows a minute
When the air is admitted to it,
One man using a compressed air knife
can smear three sheep or clip three horses
in less time than he could handle one
with the old hand tools, and the WORK is
better. "
In some shops air is now used TO operate
rotary motors, and through them drills
reamerS and p11ffo
one of these machines two men are able
to tap the holes and put in 700 boiler bolts
in day.
The great shears which are used to bite
the ends off steel bridge beams are often
handled by cylinder and pistol worked
by air at fifty to eighty pounds pressure.
Jacks Tor lifting cars and houses are con-
trolled and operated by compressed Air.
Machines for putting car wheels on the
axles, and for cutting the tops of tin cans.
are worked In the same way. Air brakes
on trains are among the greatest of mod
ern improvements in railroading And on
the railroad ii is used In a thousand and
one other ways. The conductor signals
10 the engineer by compressed air con-
trivance, the fireman rings the bell by an
other, ana the switches are locked and
changed by air power. The plush cush-
ions IN the sleeperS and parlor cars are
cleaned by means of hose that projects
the compressed air against them with
great force. This same style of hose is
used to clean the carpets and mats and
to blow the fine particles of dust from the
cracks and crevices of the cars that could
never be reached by a buster or a cloth.
This Is the secret of the clean cushions
on the modern railroad cars-cushlons,
which, by the way seem especially con-
structed to eaten and retain the dust
The principle which is applied in clean
ing castings by sand-laden blasts of air Is
also employed IN painting and whitewash-
ing. Many people viii remember that the
great Worlds Fair buildings were painted
by this means, and the Manufacturers
building the largest structure on the
grounds, was kalsomined inside in thirty
days by the use Of a spray machine which
covered 1880 square feet Of surface.
The cologne atomlzer used by my lady
as toilet adjunct is constructed upon pre-
e'sely the same principle as these air
painting machines. Coal cars are now
painted az the almost Incredible rate OF
one every ten minutes in this way. and Il