Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-30

goes through tina sieve, the magnet draws
the ore from the sand. the sand passing
straight down to an elevator, which car
ries 1t out Of the building and dumps II
The fLl:ng sand presents q very beau
ufui sight. A stream of 1t, shfmmering
ana shining In the sunlight. descends and
mixes with the great cone already piled up
beneath. Nothing could be more beautiful
than this gorgeous cataract of powdered
rock falling like a VEIL and noiselessly add
ing to the great mass below. Nor IL II q
useless accumulation. 1t is sold for yar1-
GUS purposes to builders and manufacture
ers. who seek 1t more eagerly than they
DO the sand of the seashore or of the bank
Seashore or bank sand has. in the course
OF centuries. lost its edges. because the
particles have constantly rubbed against
one another. Broken rock sand however
Is very sharp. and for cement and lime
work Is very desirable.
Stxty-Sfx Hundred Experiments.
The pure ore il now allowed to drop
downward and pass through a room where
blowers rid 1t OF any dust which may have
accompanied 1t on its travel. After leaving
the blower room. it is really a stream OF
pure. finely divided iron ore. which drops
into conveyors and Ii carried to store
house. which holds 5000 tons Here 1t may
rest temporarily or 1t may pass on by
means OF other conveyors to the mixing
house: 1t cannot be smelted In the form OF
blow 1t from the furnaces. 1t must be made
into briQuettes, and In order to do this IL
must be mixed with some adhesive SUBJ
stance which will prevent It from disn-
tegIating when brought under the action
OF the furnace. The mixing machines are
huge cylinders in which operate great iron
paddles: The ore IL fed into the cylinder
from the top and the adhesive material
Nne nature OF which Is q secret with Mr..
Edison) drops also from above, and the
Wnoie mass is churned together until every
particle OF the ore has come in contact
WIN que proportion Of the adhesive SUBJ
stance II becomes In fact, q sticky mass,
Whicn Is pushed out Of one end of the cy-
Under and conveyed away to the bricking
mousse to be made into little briquettes. 1t
may be said in passing inasmuch as IL
throws a side-light on the character OF
the great inventor, that Mr.. Edison per-
formed over sixty-six hundred experiments
before he struck upon the right adhesive
material for use in binding the ore to-
gether.
Look Simple.
The bricking machines are simple looking
affairs, and for the purposes of comparison
may be said to be just as simple in their
appearance as b the fncandescent lamp.
| Like the latter. however. they passed
| through multitude Of changes before their
nnal form was agreed upon. As is usually
the case with inventions Of the kind this
nnal form Is probably the simpl st that
could be devised, and in view of the cum
brous machines which were constructed
and discarded in the course of the evolu-
ton. one wonders that this form was not
thought Of at once.
The ore drops into a small orihce In the
cylinder. The cylinder then turns SO that
| the hole comes forward and exerts thous-
ands OF pounds pressure on the ore the
cylinder then turns downward and the
newly made briquette drops out from the
mole and rails Into another endless conveyor
ana Is carried forward into a large even,
to be baked. There are thirty bricking ma
cnlnes and fifteen ovens in the plant, and a
continual stream of briQuettes are circu-
lated through the hot-air chambers Of these
ovens. The conveyors travel five times
around the interior Of the oven before the
briquettes reappear. When they come cut
they have undergone change which
makes them commercial product For
instance Instance, tney WIN now absorb gases in the
furnace which they are required to do; but
they will not absorb water. This condition
Is necessary so that they may be shipped
TO the furnaces in open cars. II stream
OF water were allowed to flow on a brick
the water would simply run of; on the
other hand, II alcohol were dropped on 1t
1t would instantly be absorbed by the brick
This was the point for which Mr.. Edison
was striving when he made his sixty-eix
hundred experiments.
Wonderful Automatic Action.
From the oven the bricks are conveyed
cars await them. The conveyor at this
point extends out over the track, and the
engineer OF train has simply to back lis
cars underneath the mouth Of the con-
veyor. The bricks drop out and the cars
load themselves. In fact, this automatic
action is the great feature Of the plant
From the time the ore is blasted with it's
native rock out Of the mountain side until
II Is loaded In the form of commercially
pure iron briQuettes on the cars 1t il not
touched by human hands. The reverend
Ing and never-resting stream of material
constantly circulates through the various
buildings. crushed by the stored nome atum
OF gigantic rolls; hoisted skyward by steam;
pulled earthward by gravity; detected by
magnetism; dried, sifted, weighed, gagged,
conveyed; changed from rock into dust,
and from dust into comprehensive Jumps
mixed with a due proportion Of adhesive
material; churned, baked, counted, and
sent flying to the furnaces by fast freight;
and not once in its course is 1t arrested or