The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-16
FREIGHT CARS OF STEEL.
the LATEST 4DTINCE MADE BIZ
AMERICAN railroads.

| rying Capncity-SupCrioriiy of the Car Of
| Pressed steel New industry's Growth.
rITTsBuRG July l5.--Fitty years ago the rails
| road freight ear cost 5000 to build and had q
! carrying capacity Of eight tons To-day the
latest improved freight ear costs 5 900 and
carries llity-iive tons. In this difference the
story of the development of our railroads Is told.
/ In seeking to place the credit for the won-
! dcriul improvements in the railroads or to-day,
: the first place must be- accorded to tho grimy,
unassuming freight car Compared with the
| palatial product Of tho passenger car builders
| art tn" freight ear is only rough ana mar
| tstic production: yet To- 1t and the course Of
! its evolution must he ascrhed the increase Ia
the weight OF rail. giving employment Ia
| thousands OF men who dig the ore and
| the coal and make the coke. smelt
! the mig iron. produce the steel and roll it at
! last into rails, The increase IN weight Of rail
| followed the usa Of the heavy sleeping car.
/ the extension IT railway lines. tho devel-
! orment OF coal and ore mines IN all parts Of the
country the building of blast furnaces and steel
| mills. The early railroads in the United States
| were designed 10 carry passengers. Now rails
roads are built to carry freight. Thus. Andrew
| tarneEie's two-year-oll railroad. the Pitts
| burg Bess"mcr and Lake Erie. was intended
! IA an ore aud coal carrying line. and il
! was only In response to the demands
! VI wv b''ll'IS ulOIG INV Inc tndu
passenger trains were lately put on.
Forty years ago progress in car building
awaited tho development Of railroads. but only
few years later railroads awaited the devel-
ormcht OF freight cars and as these increased
in carrying capacity heavier rails were laid,
sidngs enlarged. bridges strengthened and
the results of the car builders ingenuity re-
acted favnrably on all the industries concerned
in the production. first. Of wrought iron. then Of
steel. To the evolution Of the freight car rail-
roads owe the fact that while in 1881 they
could not compete with canal freight rates,
they car to-day outbid the canals in cheapness
ot rates in oil say" very few especially fa-
Hored localities.
The successful freight car to-day is the steel
| car. Steel cars were built many years ago in
Frame. out the only advantag" they had over
| tho W301"n cars lay in the durability Of the
material. an advantage that was Offset by the
iact that the weight Of the parts necessarily
limited the size of the car. 40 that for most pur-
| poses the wooden car was the only practicable
| one The French cars were made OF merchants
ape shapeS me opportunity to use mer-
charitable shapes. and thus utilize the every
Isy hIoh nrse OF b m SsppeH%d With
| few years ago sample cars were built. buo
! it was soon learned that such cars contained
wooden ones. and the project that seemed to
promise the building IN Of q, great industry
car, industry had recently begun to develop.
and IT was not long before the Carnegie car
chantah!e shapes contained dead weight
more ihnn 10000 BOUNDS, greater than, .
| latter WAS less than that OF wooden car Of
mTTr h, s So Io carrying capacity
| raratively low. The minds of builders and
| master mechanics worked together for years
| toward the elimination Of dead!weight and the
| first freight car wa. a crude but costly con-
triysncrG. Although tn" wages Of the carpen-
| were only SLIP a day. the cost of the car
c cPn. from wheels to leak roof. was
from sly, to ten tons Human ingenuity was
| constantly at work seeking to impr,ye the
would carry 10000 pounds Of ,froig ht Tho dead
largem"nt OF capacity and although ear build.
| crs fof"5aw the time when the huge weight 4
| bring the increaSe Of capacity to II halt, they
| continued their work OF IMPROVEMENT. some
1855 'iS ou S9' %sH s ea?1' 5oS
| pounds became the limit. and at last the 3d.
seemed to have reached the limit of his in
| genuity.
industry, owes itS existence to Charles t.
| Schoen, who FEW years ago was attached to q
| Philadelphia car building shop. He designed
resht ear and bv thu Success 't Of hs idea D' was
| led in the course OF time TO construct car
cspton Of wheels and journals ais" In the
meautlmee. Andrew, Carnegie and his friends
Lake Erie Railroad 10, carry iron ore
| from the docks on Lake Erie to the
burg. Mr. Scho"n. the designer Of the pressed
steel car built number for the Bessemer
from the day on which the first train made its
trir to C"nneaut. on the Lake Ere shore, and
i the Batmore " and Oo falrond t took up
the idea; the PENNSYLVANIA Railroad Company
tod9wG1 Their "Hamp~ aud soon an immense
TO reduco.th" dead weight and yet increase
the load-hearing capacity Of the parts was a
prOhlem that No SOLVED nh tha ndoDti0n
of steel pressed inCu shapes bce calculated to
bear the strain OF heavy oads, Tine wooden
pounds. the ratio"f the light weight or weight
when empty Of the cart" It's CARRYING capacity
%0 0nnG p" rnts ,e?nn%lty wslEns 2s5o9
pounds capacity weighs 5000 pounds. a ratio
thu, carrS5 10000 pounds Of coal weighs s5.-
900 bounds; the pressed steel ear that carries
mor" The wooden car carries coal equal to
twice its own weight; the pressed steel car
carries three times its own weight with $500
hallway reports show that the 10000 pound
@r b @ tn" a ~ " hr@nH %Mdr ,has
the pressed steel care 81 lOU.OOO pounds capacity
costs aho%l S;oHo The T." 81 .! wo2dEn ear
ia r.. and that the III" Of IA pr"ssrd steel ear 10
iII.y yrar'. WIN repairs costing Slot2Si3.,
IfttsDurg and Western Railroad. r"intes an
incident Of the wreck ~ a freight train. The
repairs IN n pressed steel ear that was dam
aged on this occasion cost $40 80. Had II been
4 wooden ear Mr.. Anderson says 1t would have
been destroyed completely,
Three years aEuthe pressed steel car industry
was in its infancy two an a half years ago ~
employed l.OUJ hands to-day 10000 mon and
boys are earning their living ut 1t. The Bati-
more and OHIO Raj! ,ad has bought 5000 cars:
the PeunsyIyania Railroad 5000. The rise of
the pressed steel ear has benefited the steel
rail and bridge material manufacturers. as
railroads dr" 'aying n,uyy rails and strength
b - ,
III" ire Z at traffic system that the new car has
produced.
KENTTCKY T0BI'CO CROP ~ DANCER.