The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1900-02-06
COMPRESSED AIRS USES.
VARIED WORK WHICH 1T IS BEING
MADE TO DO NOWADAYS.

Manages Railroad Trains; Handles BaG-
gage; Rings Cathedral hines; Builds
Bridges; Makes Baskets; Gives Sham
poosi Dusts Carpets; Does ItAlI Well.
All are familiar with the uses of
compressed air in bicycle tires, in
1oor brakes, i'll pneumatic mattresses,
and in the department store cash tube
| system, to mention few modern APP
olications, which, however, are novel
10 longer. But does every one know
hat baskets are now made by com
pressed air, that ststuary is chiselled
oy it, that carpets and furniture are
cleaned and busted by it, that build
ngs are painted by it, and that IA mod
,rn train service would be out OF the
question were it not for the practical
| efficiency of air under pressure? Out
side OF the engineering world how
many people imagine the scope and
he multitudiuous uses OF airtools aud
machinery in the building of bridges,
n the carving out Of tunnels, in al
most every branch of mining, in ship
building, etc?
NECESSITY IN EAILRoADING.
Riding on modern, thoroughly
equipped railroad, did 1t ever occur
! 20 you that air is used to signal and
steer the train and to work the brakes?
That the carpets, the cushions and
The furniture of the coaches are cleaned
md busted by pneumatic brushes that
jhe cars are painted by pneumatic
oaint-spraying machines, aud, to
mention the latest appliances, that
he baggage is handled by air elevators,
he bell rung by pneumatic ringer?
After eighteen years of costly and
extensive experimenting, the pneu-
matte interlocking signal and switch
system has been made q success and IL
fixture at the leading terminal sta
| lions in this country. By it's aid one
man now does the work that would
otherwise require the combined efforts
Of six operators, and he does the work
better, the chances of his making mis-
takes having been reduced to n mini
mum. The system in use at the Bos-
ton Southern station in the largest
| known. There are no fewer than 23S
pneumatic switches in operation,
eleven trains may move simultaneous.
~ into or out of the train shed, 14S
semaphore signals are provided for the
400 possible routes presented in the
| switch system of that terminal.
AIR AS A CLEANSER.
Cleaning car cushions and carpets
by compressed air has lately been in
troduced. \ pipe flattened ut the end
until it is almost the shape of n spade
is used. The air rushes through per-
forations at the thin, wide end, clean.
ing the material without TOUCHING it.
| at a much swifter rate, and much
more thoroughly than ordinary brooms
or brushes could. Besides, the wear
and tear consequent on beating the
material is done away with, which iq,
| of itself, great saving. Armed with
single pneumatic cleaner one man
can do more work in less time than
three men could formerly do with
canes and brushes. As TO. pointing
cars the pneumatic paint spraying
machines now in the market are even
superior to those used in painting the
Worlds Fair buildings in Chicago in
1898. A painting machine has beeu
invented that will coat 46, 900 square
| feet of surface in six hours and half
in the hands Of skillful operator.
Painting by air is not only immoaeur-
ably sUifter and cheaper than oil
| fashioned brush work, but it has been
demonstrated that paint supplied by
| the air machine is applied more thor
| oughly and is more durable thnn
brush painting. The Pittsburg and
Lake Erie Railroad, the Louisville
and Nashville Railroad and the Hi
rois Central Railroad were pioneers
in this field. The Inst road is at pres
ent ropain!ing about 400 cars a week
with compressed air, while tho Louis
vile and Nashville Railroad recently
! covered eighiy-Gvo buildings under
this method in record breaking time.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana
Railroad has gone one step further oy
lately adopting the pneumatic baggage
| handler system, This device has
proved itself able 30 handle heavy
baggage much more rapidly than il
could otherwise be handled, end,
moreover, to DO away with breaEage.
The day Of tho baggage may,
/ therefore, bo past. The machine is
a very simple arrangement OF dir cy
| Under and baggage support. The
lattor is lowered to the platform where
1t receives the baggage. Tbcn it rises
| quickly and is automatically SWING
} around by a cam action, carrying the
! baggage into tho car. The lift is oppr-
ated by air drawn from the train tanks
| tot special reservoir. and 10 is con-
/ trolled by the baggagcmau The mn
chine has lifting capacity Of 500
/ pounds, with seventy pounds Of air
/ pressure; 10 has a spring scale device
| providing for the weighing Of the bag
| gage rs it is handled, aud it is able 60
load trunks ut tho rate of six pieces
every thiriy-fve seconds. For couu-
try stations where now there is only
one man TO handle tho baggage with
the usual disastrous results, this de-
vice will save many trunk from be-
| ing damaged or smashed
! IL you visa to hear locomotive bells
ruug by compressed air yoa must taEo
% train oa tbo Kansas City, ST. Joseph
| e Council Blun6 Railroad, on which
limo a number Of prominent bell ring
cts are in operation, giving admirablo
results
AIR roofs Fon BRIDGE u1EDNG.
It would be Impossible to do the