Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-30
DVflPNGA sMfl0A0 or ROCK mo me RuIi-1

the three thousand acres Immediately sur
FOUNDING n the village Of Edison. there are
| over two hundred million tons of low
| grade ore. In the entire district there are
sixteen Thousand acres in which the de-
poslt Is proportionately as large. The
world ar nual output Of iron ore does
| not. at the present time reach sixty mil
non tens; SO that in the paltry two miles
surrounding the village Of Edison there is
enousn IRON ore In the rocks to keep the
Whoie world supplied for one year or the
| United states for three years, even with
| the natural Increase In demand. Sixteen
| .sousand acres or twenty-five square miles
| OF land contain enough iron ore to keep
the whole world supplied for seyenteea
years. allowing. Of course, for all natural
Increase OF demand, due to the needs of
growing population. These acres would
| more than supply the United States with
! iron, including necessary exports. for the
| next seventy years; and they contain
more than has been mined heretofore in
| TINS country since it's discovery.
ms was remarkable condition-smeIt-
| ing works shutting down for want of iron
| ore at low prices, when billions of tons of
lay ldie In a strip of land which in
Mos. cases was within seventy-five miles
| OF the great iron mills of the Atlantic
| coast Here was an opportunity of which
\ the inventor Immediately took advantage
! ne Sc. to work to plan out great indus
NY ~. II mas taken him eight years to do it.
| put the result has justified all the trouble
| ana money which he has expended upon it,
| How He Levels Mountains.
Yet, after all, he has ACCOMPLISHED a
very simple thing He is crushing rocks
and dropping the resulting powder past
powerful electromagnetic. The sand is not
attracted by the magnetism and passes
straight on, the iron ore is attracted to
one size and falls In heap of its own
Ihs Is the whole principle; yet in the
actual working out, 1t becomes one of the
most tremendous processes in the world
IL Is, after all, no small matter to crush
the very vitals out of a mountain and
,hen extract all Of the ore from the mil
mons on tons of sand. Perhaps the best
way to thoroughly realize the enorrntty of
the plant Is to visit it,
Inc village of Edison stands on the sum-
NIT OF Mourt Musconetcong, in northern
New Jersey.
Some of the buildings are as tall and mar
row as city 'sky scrapers;" others are fat
ana squatfy. covering considerable areas.
BIG wheels revolve In the engine house and
Dig dynamos transmit heavy currents
through overhead wires to the various
points OF the plant Little narrow-gaupe
locomotives move about to the various
parts OF the works. A line Of freight cars
| nearby hill troop Of noisy children come
romping down from Summerville A ham
let where the miners live. Over to the
r,gnt or the village lumbermen are cutting
the steam Shovel which is tearing awav
at the rocks half a mile distant Further
over, on half-cleared section of land a
great stream OF water rushes through
nose with mighty force from a hydraulic
pump and washes the debris free from the
rccks. steam drills rattle. and the boom
OF dynamite resounds when the rock is
riven into boulders and laid on five-ton
SHIPS or trays, to be transmitted to the
crushing plant. The steam shovel does
the work OF loading, and as 1t has a ca
| pacity for lifting ten tons Of free rock a
minute the local activity is tremendous
Flat cars carrying two skips each move
along at lively speed. A long line of them
Is constantly leading up to the crushing
plant where big electric cranes rid them
of their load and a little switching engine
pushes them around loop and allows
them to run, down an incline into the cut
again.
Making q Yosemite.
Edison Is found watching the steam
shovel I'VE are making a Yosemite of
our own here. We will soon have one of
the biggest artificial canons in the world"
This remark is occasioned by the fact that
the steam shovel Is working three-ouar-
tiers of mile from the works proper. It
Ia somewhat down the hillside, but II fs
eating its way on level straight into the
hill.
ut will take us year to reach the mills.
but when We do get that far In we will
have trench with walls one hundred feet
deep. l suppose we will take out over co.,
oOO tons OF rock before we get there. Then
when tie trench is completed we can blast
on the walls with dynamite, taking of
5000 tons at a time
AS 1ntimated above. the ore-bearing rock
is blasted into boulders and then laid IN
nat cars with steam shovel. It is then
convej ed to- the crushing plant. The cars
are run In under each end Of the crushing
mill. The trays containing the rock are
lifted by the cranes to the second story of
the mill, where the rock is dumped into a
large square pit. Ten feet below the edge
OF the pit revolve immense iron rollers
weighing 100 tons. The surface of these
rolls is studded with teeth, and the suace
between them Is less than a foot wide.
Nevertheless, a s.x-tcn rock dropped into
the tha PIT passes between the rolls in less than
rolls Is another set of smaller size. but
nearer together. From the heavy rolls
above the rock falls into this lower set and
Is crushed still smaller. 1t has now been
reduced to pieces the size of a mans fist
and from the lower set Of rolls drops into
an elevator or endless conveyor which
carries the pieces up to the top Of another
part OF the building and dumps them into
a shaft leading down to three more sets of
rolls set directly beneath one another. AS
the rock passes through these rolls the lat
ter are found to be placed nearer and near
er together. until with the last or third set
the two rolls composing It are set tightly
against each other, so that when the rock
ultimately passes through it has been re-
duced to dust.
Mile Of Magnet Faces.
One Of the features Of Edison" the
place, Is the great number of endless chain
elevators which connect the buildings with
one another. AS the ore passes through
each building. 1t Is carried ON to the next
automatically In these endless elevators,
After it leaves the crushing plant II ia
carried to the top of the magnet house and
dumped into space. to find its way through
many sleeves Of varying meshes and past
many magnet faces of varying strength be-
fore 1t ultimately falls In the cellar of the
building and into another elevator which
carries the greatly changed product to the
next department. There Is over q mile OF
magnet faces In the magnet house. The
ore drops down through long chutes On
the way down, It passes the magnet faces,
Directly under each magnet face IL . side
shute leading on in q direction Of its own
and directly above each magnet face Ii q
sieve. As the ore comes down, II fne
enough to pass through the sieve, II con-
tinues its course; II not. It rolls ON the
sieve into Q chute at the bottom Of which
there ID . conyeyor which carries 1t back to |
the rolls to - recrushed. Il the product