The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-12-21

improving the product. But If there
is any one tool that is more indispen.
sable than the rest it is tho pneumatic
hammer, which makes possible the
various and difficult forms of riveting,
calking and chiseling. This hammer
consists of a cylinder in which piston
reciprocates, delivering q continuous
series of blows against the end of the
die. The hammer is light and pow
erful. For small rivets it can be held
in the hand, but for heavier work it is
supplied with yoke support, and
| thus fitted it will drive and fit the
largest size rivets in use, which are
generally one-inch in diameter. Prob
ably the hardest manual labor in ship
and bridge building is riveting. Com
bined with this is an amount of tech.
nical skill acquired only by long and
arduous apprenticeship, and varying
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 properly 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.
EoLIAN CHIMES.
New York may know that in the
chimes of st. Patrick's Cathedral on
Fifth avenue, the city possesses one
of the finest orchestras of this kind in
the world, but does New York know
that these bells are now rung by COM
pressed air? Nineteen bells, the
heaviest of which weighs about six
thousand pounds, the lightest about
three hundred pounds, constitute the
set. whi ch has been placed in the
northern spire, $50 feet above ground.
Electricity is the trigger, and COM
pressed air the power in this opera
tion. The largest orchestral chime in
the world is that of the church of st.
Germain L'Auxerrois in Paris, which
set was finished in 1878. Their con-
struction consumed fifteen years, but
they never ran successfully until last
year. There are forty-four bells in
the set, which, it is said, will be opera
ted by compressed air to welcome WIS.,
itors to the Paris Exposition.
1t might bore the lay reader to de-
scribe the new air-tight system for
pumping artesian wells, the hundred
and one handy little inventions, such
as pneumatic track sanders for loco
motives, sand. blasting machines for
removing the scale from metals of all
kinds, coal cutters, ETC.; but there are
a few things in the way of "air novel
ties" which are most interesting.
Take the work of sket-making.
Surely no one ever heard of any of
the old machines turning out $50
bushel baskets an hour, or 1900
baskets day, but compressed air
basket-making machine is now doing
it at Traverse City, Mich.
Then there is the fountain airbrush,
which some say will soon be adopted
by artists for applying color on can
vas. 1t is shaped like, and is but
little larger than, lead pencil, is
handled in the came manner, applies
color in large quantities in a short
time. and is adjustable for the finest
lines.
MISCELLANEOUS USES.
The pneumatic mail-tube dispatch
system has now developed so fast in
this country that even eight-ineh
tubes, with cartridges carrying 600
letters, are in successful operation.
The longest circuit ever built in the
world is the main line recently laid in
New York City, extending from the
termiGal Postoffice to the Grand Cen
tral branch Postoffice, distance of
three and one-half miles.
A method of sweeping and cleaning
railroad stations by compressed air.
blowers has been instituted by the
Central Railroad of New Jersey. 1t
has been found that sweeping and
scrubbing and cleaning can be done
far more effectually with air than in
any other way. Gangs of men fur
nished with compressed air blowers
are turned loose after working hours
upon the floors of various buildings.
They go over every square inch of
surface, and over the walls and the
furniture with the blowers, which
sweep every speck of dust and dirt
before them, doing the work much
better than double the help could do
with brooms. The railroad hands
have found many uses for the COM
pressed air, which is so handy for
them. They find that it will clean
clothes and fine fabrics as we'll as
plush seats and carpets, and dozens
of them take their clothes and uni
forms to the men who handle the
compressed air, to be cleaned. The
work takes but few seconds, is
done thoroughly, and has the ad-
vantage of costing nothing. The men
have also found another and still more
unique use for the air.
81 never pay for shampoo any
more" is a common saying around
the yards now. 81 can get the best
shampoo to be had right here for
nothing. How, dye say?-compressed
air!"