The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-05
WORK OF COMPRESSED AIR.
Wonders of the Power of Air Are
Manifold and Amazing.

The individual who has delved into
mechanical mysteries and can appre-
ciate the difference between a monkey
wrench and a buzz saw knows that
compressed air is a valuable motive
power, and when properly directed can
be utilized to advantage in many diff
ferent ways. Mechanical authorities
differ widely as to the value and econ
omy of this agent, as compared with
electric and steam motors, but there
is no doubt that for some purposes 1t
possesses many advantages. This fact
is generally conceded in as far as its
use in car shops and locomotive works
is concerned. The officials at the Bos-
ton and Albany shops, in West Spring
field have long since recognized this
truth, and acted upon it. For the last
two years they have utilized this pow
er in many ingenious ways, and are
constantly finding new openings for its
application.
The number of uses to which the pow
er can be put would seem hardly credi-
bic to the lay mind. The oil used in
the shops comes in barrels, and must
be transferred TO the tanks. This is
done by attaching a pipe to the BARREL
through which the fluid is TO be con-
veyed to the tanks; then a hole is bored
in the top of the barrel, the compressed
air tube is attached, and after being
turned on it forces the oil out and into
the tanks in a very short time. BY
similar system sand is elevated to the
locomotives through a pipe, doing away
with the necessity of lifting it by hand.
The tubes Of the engines at the round
house are also blown and washed out
by the air, and it has been found very
valuable in blowing up fires, as it has
a steadier and more powerful current
fthan either mans lungs or a pair of
bellows.
By means of valve and a piston, a
crane and chain for loading ana unload
ing cars at the shops is operated and as
proof of the force it exerts, any
weight which the chain is capable of
sustaining can be elevated. The power
is also used for bending heavy iron
pipe in the process called 'offsetting,"
which it readily performs by the aid of
the necessary auxiliary mechanical ap-
planes. Formerly the work of clean
ing passenger cars was what is known
as mo cinch" in the current vernacu-
! lar; it required incalculable amount of
pounding, sweeping and busting, and
the atmosphere was shivered into mil
lions of fragments as the cleaner rap
idly swung his reeds on the unclean
cushion and worked himself into a pro-
fuse perspiration by his efforts. All
this is avoided now by the use of COM
pressed air, which cleans out the in
: ICi iOi VI Tic COdCncS very QUICKLY anu
at the same time noiselessly busting
cushions and carpets and washing paint
with the least apparent effort.
An ingenious little piece of mechal-
ism is the motor for drilling iron; when
a hole had to be put through a piece
of iron. all that is necessary is to ad-.
just the bit, press the button, and it
does the rest. A contrivance for paint
ing cars and locomotives is also a very
interesting article. This apparatus re-
Sc mbleS somewhat an ordinary tin
kettle with spout; an atomizer is
placed in the spout, and through this
the paint is blown One man painting
by hand is able to give only two cars
a coating in a. day of nine hours but
! by the use of this pneumatic paint pot
he can finish ten cars in the same time.
One thing which would probably ap-
peal the strongest to the average man
and woman, save many sore thumbs
with incidental loss of temper and use
of naughty language, is the automatic
hammer, which the air drives at a
speed of 1900 blows a minute. A nail
could be sunk in a piece of soft pine
very easily at this rate, but the ham
mer is used mainly for beating hues
and calking seams. The pneumatic lifts
easily, handle ponderous car W.;
and axles. raising them high IN the air
and placing them on the lathes. All
! the latheS, and much of the machinery
are driven by compressed aid, and are
easily controlled by means of a belt
shifter, the belts-being thrown on and
off instantly by means of a small CYL
ipder which operates the apparatus. In
the tinsmith shop the fires for heating
the soldering irons are blown by a fan
which, if allowed to run at its full
speed, would make $500 revolutions
minute. 1t has been found advisable
90 use the fan and direct the current
through a large pipe, in order TO obtain
volume otherwise a Small-Sized pipe
would have sufficient force to blow the
Goals out on the floor. The force can
be regulated and distributed to suit
convenience If a large fire is .r,quired,
a current can be spread out so that the
, fire viii cover the entire forge; it can
be diminished so that the fire viii have
only small circumference of one or
/ two inches diameter. These are only
! few of the uses to which compressed
air can be put, and. as has been pre-
viously said, new means Of applying the
! force are being found every day
/ Springfield Republican.