Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-07-08

Ths Ancient Ingine Il tho 4 Bali
Co.'s to tho Scrap Pile.

OVV0 ~ eAU 0V40P 4sVs
Il Was ii Operation for Forty Six
Years, and Probably Ran Forty
i've Years Of That Time CONTINUE
ously, Averaging Twenty Hours
q Day-A History Of This Inter-
esting Piece of Machinery.
Six hundred and eighty-nine million,
eight hundred and fifty thousand.
That Is about the number of revolu-
lions made by the venerable "Old Abe"
engine at the La Belle mill, which
piece OF machinery was stopped for all
time last Saturday, and which is now
being relegated to the scrap pile.
The engine is forty-six years old,
and was probably not stopped for one
entire year in all that time, and has
averaged twenty hours work a day for
the forty-five years of active service
figured out.
And it was a good engine at the end,
but was simply inadequate to the tasks
which have been accommodating upon it
of late, and had to give way to i'm
proved machinery.
A number Of items have appeared In
local papers concerning this engine
within the past week or two, but they
were chiefly conspicuous for their in
accuracies, and the following very
complete history of "Old Abe" may be
accepted as authentic and correct:
The engine was built in 1852, by
KNAPP & Co., Of Pittsburg, and was put
in operation about October of that
year. The size of the cylinder was
originally 28x72 inches, but was in
creased by being bored out to 29x72.
1t had the old style poppet valves. John
Wright started the engine off ON its
long career, and had charge of it for
twenty-five years, retiring in 1877. For
a number of years 1t was the only en-
CINE in the mill, furnishing power for
the nail factory, muck mill and nail
plate rolls. 1t was named "Old Abe"
during the war, on account of the great
admiration the employees of the mill had
for President Lincoln. When origin
ally built the engine had no bed plates,
but was placed ON a heavy timber
foundation, which was replaced in 1884
with massive stone foundations and
heavy iron bed plates. In 1874 an &C
cident occurred, in which the main
shaft broke, throwing the heavy fly
wheel into the pit. A new cast iron
shaft was made at the old Sweeney
foundry in North Wheeling, and it has
done duty ever since. A second serious
accident occurred about 1888, when the
wrist broke, causing the engine to run
away, completely running the cylinder.
Mr.. A. ]. Sweeney agreed to have a
new cylinder made and in position in
side of two weeks, and made good his
contract with eight hours to spare.
The metal in the old cylinder was
melted, and became part of the new.
The fly wheel, large gear wheel, throt-
tie valve, and nearly all the small parts
of the engine are those originally fur
nished, and were in good shape when
the engine was stopped last Saturday.
AS to the fly wheel, few words may
be of interest. 1t was built with a very
heavy metal rim and metal centre, but
with locust arms. These, after a
long series Of years, became unsafe,
and it was determined, about ten
years ago, to replace them. The
locust timbers were 10x10 inches and
ten feet long, and it required a long
search over both Ohio and Marshall
counties to find suitable locust timber,
each arm probably representing a cost
Of xx,ho Evo 111,
placed in the wheel.
The engine was not worn out when
put out of service, but with some re-
pairs could have been made to run for
years to come But it was too small
to do the work required, and was not
economical in the use of steam, and
consequently, in order to keep up with
the times, it was doomed to be broken
up. In the last twelve months 'Old
Abe" did more work burning out more
tons of plate) than in any twelve
months since it was built.
The engine which replaces "Old Abe"
is modern type of Corliss engine,
cylinder 36x6o inches, 1850 h. p, and
was built by C. & G. Cooper Co., Mt.
Vernon, O., and is called "a. ]. Clarke"
after one of the La Belle, Directors
At present the La Belle has the fol-
lowing Corliss engines at work: One
28x60 inch cylinder, in the nail factory;
one 36x60 in the plate mill; one 32x60,
two 32x72 and one 2Sx4S in the tin
mill, and one 16x24 in the electric
room, and probably ten small engines
in the machine shop, at the shears,
etc.
The employees at the mill are sorry
to see "Old Abe" go, and some of the
older hands suggested that the engine
be set up under cover and kept as a
relic of the good old times of the cut
nail business.
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