The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-19

! by compressed air you must take train
on the Kansas City, st. Joseph and Coun-
| ell Bluffs Railway, on which line num-
Der of pneumatic bell ringers are in opera
ton, giving admirable results.
Why We Build Bridges Quickly.
1t would simply be impossible to do the
| high-class work of modern bridge building
construction without the aid of air tools
All the world pricked up its multitude
nous ears when the success of American
builders in raising thoroughly finished
bridges in Africa within a hitherto I'M
| approached time limit was established be-
yond a doubt. The press was very busy
and patriotic on the subject, but forgot
entirely TO state the reason why the SUI
| perior swiftness and workmanship of our
engineers had been made possible. The
writer personally visited the works of the
| firm which erected the Atbara and other
bridges, only TO find what he already had
! suspected, that the true secret of its sue
cess, aside from an admirable system of
organization was attributed to the extern
sive employment of pneumatic machines.
The most difficult and time-consuming
work, which was formerly done by hand,
is now done at a much quicker rate and
In better shape by air tools in every mod
ern American bridge shop. There is a
long list of pneumatic tools. 1t includes
piston air drills, rotary drills, casting
cleaners, air motor hoists, reamers, chip
pers and so on, all of which enter into the
work of modern construction, accelerating
production immensely, while improving the
product. But If there is any one tool that
is more Indispensable than the rest it is
the pneumatic hammer, which makes pos
sible the various and difficult forms of riv-
citing, calking and chiseling. This hammer
consists of cylinder, In which a piston
reciprocates, delivering a continuous Sc
ries of blows against the end of the die.
The hammer is light and powerful For
small rivets i'll can be held in
the hand, but for heavier work 1t is sup
piled with a yoke support, and thus fitted
IL will drive and fit the largest size rivets
in use, which are generally one inch in d.
ameter Probably the hardest manual la
Dor in ship and bridge building is that of
riveting. Combined with this is an
amount of technical skin acquired only by
long and arduous apprenticeship. and va
rying with the class of rivets driven In
addition the necessity for heavier plating.
doublings, etc, requires the use of larger
and longer rivets which cannot be prop
erly closed down by hand. The pneumatic
hammer is the practical device which has
enabled builders to surmount these and
other obstacles. The air tool also saves
money. Thus while 1854 rivets were
driven at an average cost of S.57 cen
apiece, ISL ,167 rivets were driven by air
hammers at an average of only 206 cents
apiece In fact, il will not be exagger-
ating the conditions TO state that were it
not for the various types of pneumatic
implements our builders would not have
been able to produce the bridges ordered
abroad within the time limit, not to men
ton the quality of the work. The same
measure applies to ship and engine build
ing.
Air Rings Cathedral Chimes.
New York nay know that in the chimes
of st. Patrlck's Cathedral on Fifth avenue
the city rose ases one of the finest or hes
tras of this kind in the word, but does
New York know that these ters are now
rung by compressed air? Ninsteen bells.
the heaviest of which weighs about 5000
pounds, the lightest about 800 pounds, con
stitute the set, which has been placed in
the norih ern snire $50 feet above ground.
The perplexing question of how to ring
these bells satisfactorily arose as soon as
they were received from France A COM
mittee of church fathers beaded by Arch
bishop CO rigan, exam ned the various
systems cf chime ringing exhaustivefy, bot
the crodeness of methods. exreuse of in
stalialion, and the necessity Of hav ng ex-
pert attendants caused he known sys ems
70 be elected. After looking about every
where the committee finally accepted a
system consisting of compressed air and
electricity, one being the motive power
causing the bells to ring, the other be-
ing employed as the means Of operating
the mechanism, which strikes the tefs
Chime beH ringing by compressed air had
never been tried before and the ingenuity
Of the inven Or, Hartford c. Champ of
New York, was severely taxed to com
plete a system which is undoubtedly the
most advanced ever used for this purpose
The keyboard Of the chin is in the sac
rlsty of the church. The operator presses
key on the board CORE spending 10 the
bell that he desires to sound. This estab-
fishes an electric connection, which serves
TO op a valve in he steepe admitting
compressed air to pi ton connected with
a olapper. which strikes he bell. Electric
ity he trlgger, and compress ed air the
rover IN #tas operat on. The largest or
chesiral chine in the world is that Of the
cathc d al Of st. Germain-L Auxerrois IN
Paris. which set was finished in 1878. Ihsir
construction consumed fifteen years, but
they never rang successfully until last