Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-18

the city possesses one of the finest orches-
tras of this kind in the world. but does
New York know that these bells are now
rung by compressed air? Nineteen bells,
the heaviest of which weighs about 5000
pounds. the lightest about 300 pounds. con-
stitu'e the set, which has been placed in
the northern spre. $50 feet above ground.
The pcrpleNing question of how to ring
these bells satisfactorily arose as as
they Were received from France. COM
mittee of church fathers, headed by Arch
bishop tOrrigan, examined the various sys-
TENS of chime ringing eXhaustively, but
the CrGdeness of methods, expense of in
stallation and the necessity of having eX-
pert attendants caused the known systems
to be rejected. 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 being
employed as the means of operating the
mechanism which strikes the bells. Chime
bell ringing by compressed air had never
been tried before, and the ingenuity of the
inventor. Hartford c. Champ of New York.
was severely taxed to complete a system
which is undoubtedly the most advanced
ever used for this purpose. The keyboard
of the chimes is IN the sacristy of the
church. The operator presses key on the
board corresponding to the bell that he de-
sires to sound. This establishes cleo
trio connection. which serves to open
valve in the steeple admitting compressed
air to a piston connected with a clapper,
which strikes the bell. Electricity is the
IIISSeT anu compressed air the power III
this operation. The largest orchestral
chime in the world is that Of the cathedral
of St. German-L' Auxerrois in Paris which
set was finished in 1873 Their construction
consumed fifteen years, but they never
rang successfully until last year. There
are forty-four bells in the set, which, 1t Is
said. will be operated by compressed air
next year to welcome visitors to the Paris
worlds exposition.
1t might bore the lay reader TO describe
the new alright system for pumping arte-
sian wells, the hundred and one handy lit
tie Inventions such as pneumatic track
sanders for locomotives. sand-blasting ma
chimes for removing the scale from metals
of all kinds, coal cutters. etc: but there
are few things in the way of air novel
ties which are most interesting
Take the work of basket making: Sure
ly no one ever heard of any of the old
chimes turning out $50 bushel baskets per
hour. or 1,s00 baskets per day, but COM
pressed air discriminating machine Is now
doing 1t at Traverse City. Mich. The
slaves of the baskets are fastened to the
hoops by staples of wire taken from the
coil, Joined and driven by the machine.
The slaves radiate from a center in a disc
like shape. To bend them into the lines of
the basket form four processes or move
ments are made by the machine, all of
which are automatic and obtained by the
medium of compressed air. The whole
combination is very simple. The air is not
cooled, and the machine runs ten hours
every working day.
Pafnftng Pictures With Air.
Then there is the fountain air brush 1t
is shaped like and is but little larger than
a lead pencil, is handled in the same man
ner, applies color in large quantities in a
short time, and is yet adjustable for the
finest line every drawn on canvas by a
gifted artist.
The pneumatic mail tube dispatch system
is familiar to most readers, but the fact
that previous to 1894 it was practically I'M
known in this country, and that since then
we have made swifter strides in that field
than Europe, may not be generally known.
While to this day in Europe they are using
little two and three-inCh tubes for tele-
grams only, We began at the outset by con-
struCting siX-inch tubes, and use them to
transport mail in large quantities. Tubes
had never been used successfully for the
of ordinary mail matter be-
fore.
The mail tube industry has now developed
so fast in this country that even eight-nch
tubes, with cartridges carrying 600 letters,
are in successful operation in our big cities.
The longest circuit ever built in the world
is the main line recently laid in New York
city extending from the terminal post office
to the Grand Central branch post office a
distance of three and One-half miles. This
is an eight-inch tube circuit. The cartridges
travel at tremendous speed, the time of
transit consumed in dispatching in either
direction being only seven minutes. An
other big circuit has been laid across the
bridge, so that you may have the
pleasure of knowing that while you are
speeding over the bridge in the cars your
mail may be making better time ahead of
you shooting away in the cartridge inside
the big tube like an eight-inCh prOjectle
from a modern breech-lOader, A total of
seventeen miles Of eight-inch tubes have
been laid underground in this country since
August !, 1898. which shows the rapid in
crease of the system.