Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1898-01-20

$50 @HN@f
rPs Henry Bessemer
@ perfected his meth
cd OF predicting steel by a process
which at one stroke reduced the cost
per ton from $3.50 10 $50. Since then
it has been reduced TO SIS. Bessemer
was e~ndeavoring to produce a stronger
weapon Of war for Napoleon III. when
he discovered that Jets OF air forced
into a vessel IA .converter'9 filled with
molten iron suficed to keep il in a
boiling state, because Of the carbon in
the iron being consumed, n as II
was only necessary to remove this
| carbon to make the poorest OF iron
reliable steel 1t was a gladstone sight
TO see II effervescing. Thus while the
warrior spirits OF France and Germany
were pleased with a gun made OF the
superior metal. az with a toy, a great
era OF peaceful triumphs was inaugu-
rated In Britain. As we have said, the
! COST was reduced to one-fifth what il
had been. and a great impetus was
given to engineering. Now 10000 900
tons are madee each year by Bessemer's
method, although other processes with
a like result have been introduced
So long as dimensions of engines, Of
ships. Or of any structure were not
great. strength e0uid be insured by
solidity, but now efficiency and econ
omy must be got per unit of weight
Thus chemists. metailurgists and engi-
2eers haze worked to give a tensile
strength OF thirty 70 forty tons on the
engines. and Notwithstanding that
some parts OF the biggest engines trav-
Ell &C a rate OF speed equal to 1000
feet per minute.
The number OF breakdowns is sur
prfstngsy few. BY this greater strength
the weight OF .he engines has been re-
duced by quite so per cent, apar alto
gsther from the results OF the null
tipIe expansions OF steam consequent
on high p~ressures, admitting OF Itself
OF a reduction IN the size OF engines
for a given power. The boilers now
used are made OF plates ND to one and
three-quarters inches thick for 2f0
pounds pressure. This seems the lin
it. A change must come. In ths old
boiler the water 10 be converted intp
steam and the steam are within a
cylindrical tank with ire tubes
through IL. so that there is need for
great thickness in the outer plating OF
the tank or boiler Under the new
system the water is within tubes. and
the fire plays around them. so that
there Is no heavy outside shell or
tank, and the quantity OF water IA
less. The saving in weight is in the
case OF this water tube boiler ahout
40 per cent. Moreover. steam ia gem
Grated much more quickly. higher
pressures are possible, collapse does
not involve the same danger. and re-
pairs are more easily made. As a re-
suit Of increased steam pressures su-
perior metals and improved tools. the
weight OF machinery Is only two
thirds what Ii was sixty years ago.
Thus the engines OF the first Cunarder.
Britannia, of eight and one-haIf knots
speed, weighed about 10 toms al
though the power was only 7fo A
torpedo boat destroyer today has ma
chinery which develops 400 horse
power, and only weighs 100 tons. The
result OF forty-one and one-hals horse
power for every ton of machinery got
with thirty-knot torpedo craft Is aho.,t
the highest Yet attained. IL Is nrob-
able that this machinery might mt
stand the wear and tear OF ocean
steaming. but with some -sea-goinr
cruisers twenty horse power uer ton
Is got; with our fastest ocean steam-
ers fourteen horse power per ton. and
with the ordinary tramp steamer sew
en- horse power. This all means
greater capacity for carrying a pay,ns
load. Thus sixty years ago the lad
carried was only 10 per cent OF the TO-
tai weight driven by TIE machinery
OF ship. Today steamers are buf,,
of the same speed. whose paying load
Is nearly as per cen Of the total load
The locomotive OF 1897 was onIy about
fifteen 10 nineteen feet long over ali
with q wagon for coal behind Ths
highest class modern locomotive 4.
ffty-three feet four inches. jnclud,rv
the tender The steam generating sur-
face. which Is n measure Of strenstb
Is now three times greater. The steam
pressure has increased nearly fourfoJd
so that the power has got up TO ten
fold The Dunlastair. an ~
the modern engine, as she stands. ia
ten feet high from the ground. weighs
thi-ry-stx tons and can walk or COM
fartably with 800 tons behind her
while the oldsworld locomotive painted
as IL TO break her heart while doing
one-third OF the speed with q fourth
OF the load This change is magnif-
cent. but some may ask: Is 1t bust
ness? One answer is that the quantity
OF coal used per unit Of or load
IS much less than Il Used to be. and
Is satisfactorily small II varies with
The speed. but far thirty miles an
hour thirtT-tive pounds per mile suf-
ices. and this too for the heavy cor
ridor train unexceiled In length.
weight and elegance: IL Ia s54 tons
NsefsAf 400 feet lcag. thus coo pounds
~ NAL opn 1~u~~-x-l 49,