Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-11-27
UNCLE SANS NEW SCALES.
of a Heavy Gun As Well as II
Pound of ugur.
From the Washington Times.

FROM te washington Times.
Everybody is perhaps aware that the
large scales upon which entire freight cars
with their loads of many tons are weig ned
are considered immense, but with all their
immensity it seems that they are meager
in the eyes of Uncle Sam, who has gone
all the railroad magnates in the country
one point better by installing at the navy
yard in this city one of the largest scales
in the country.
This machine can outweigh the largest
railroad weighing machines 80 tons, and
when II is considered that its results must
be accurate to the weight of a pound. while
railroad scales are considered good il they
approach anywhere near 20 pounds of be-
Ing correct; it is to be marveied at the
advances that have been made in scale
manufacture in recent years.
AT a hurried glance they are not unlike
the ordinary platform or hay scales. Closer
investigation, reveals the fact that they
are AZ feet long and l. feet wide. and
RPen d Io5 piles xss f nsess ground i is n sG%sW iss
services of piledrivers to secure a stable
foundation. which is one of the requisites
OF an accurate Weighing machine. The
In order to illustrate the accuracy of
the counterpoise of the machine to a re-
porter the superintendent of the yards and
docks picked up 2 half brick which was
lying on the ground nearby and tossed il
on the huge platform of the machine. He
t ,he consulted ted the long brass lever in
and found that the record of the brick was
Just a pound.
Turning to the reporter. he said that the
anything from a pound of sugar to a trio
of Is-inch naval guns. and weigh them ac-
curately, though it will probably exc out
a long existence at the famous sunshop
without having the chance TO weigh an
ounce Of the former. The capacity of the
ity of the old scales. which have just been
replaced by the new ones. A 1S,inch gun
% that tho yAp- aaI1- 81 -
OF the monsters, reclining on a iS-foot car
truck. and not tax its capacity to any great
extent. All the big guns Of the new navy
will be weighed upon these colossal scales.
Doing His Duty.
From the Detroit Free Press.
There's one of the best men in our en-
pioy.. stated a railroad official as he point
ed out a man who looked like a hard-work-
ING farmer. He has been promoted from
Time to time and We have the utmost con-
:ldence in him. He came to us when he
was as verdant as his rural surroundings.
we built a little way station on our line,
up In the northern part of the state. and
put him in charge because some of the
most substantial citizens told us he was a
GOOD man Tor the place. | happened to be
the one 10 give him his instructions. telling
flag station. that the trains would only stop
when there. We're persons to get off or on
and that he must display the red flag when
he wanted the engineer to pull up there.
The first day he was on. the through
passenger train was behind time and going
Tor all she was worth. But there was the
nag and there was nothing to do but stop,
the heavy train reaching the platform with
all brakes set and wheels sliding.
All aboard. yelled the conductor as he
sprang OFF TO hurry the expected passen-
gers: But our new agent was the only per-
son in sight.
Where are those people that want to
get on?" roared the conductor.
They hain't none.
VIVA in thunder did you stop this
train for. them
guessed maybe somebody would like
We looked into ii. but he only meant to
since"