The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-10-28
BIGGEST EVER. BUILT.
A Wheel Just Finished Which
Weighs Over Million Pounds.
Baltimore SUM


The Robert Poole & Son company, iron
FOUNDERS and machinists at Woodbury., Is
about finishing the largest wheel of its
KIND in the world. The wheel is sixty
ports. viii weigh over 100000 pounds. 1t
was ordered by the Calumet 4 HecIa Min
ING company TO carry away the refuse
from the stamp mills at one of the ereaf
mines on Lake Superior
Inc wheel is what is known as a sand
M.eel. pom the inner surface of its
RIM VIII be arranged $50 buckets each
measuring 4 feet inches by 3 feet A
ne Wheel reVOlves. each bucket will
scoop up its capacity of earth and refuse.
which II Will dump into a trough at the
Top OF the wheel whence il will be car
ried away by the water in sIuicewsy-
When the Calumet & Hecla company
decided to order this wheel it found that
the Baltimore plant was the only one
prepared 10 build the giant entirely nm
eer, cover One of the first requisites for
DullClnS such a wheel was PIT in which
part OF the wheel might be sunk as il was
PUT toSeIher, and IL was found that the
ROBERT Poole * son company had one
exactly suited to the purpose the nit
being 100 feet long, i Ieet wide and 50
feet deep. while the building over the
pit is so high that II easily accomrno-
dates the huge structure. The order for
the wheel was given in June. 1900. and
work was at once begun on the various
parts according to the plans drawn by h.
u Leavitt, an engineer of Cambridge
one of the first considerations in max
ing the wheel was the strength and safe
] Z
lhe hrupp gun factory This axle. or
shaft, is by itself an enormous affair. 1t
Is = rect long, 81 inches in diameter, with
a z0-lnch hole through the center. and
weighs 1900 pounds. All the finishing
work on it was. done in Baltimore
Because of the enormous size Of the
wheel il had to be built in sections and
II Was laid off in twenty segments. 1t
consists of two concentric rims. one on
the inside for the purpose of strengthen
ing the entire structure. and another out
side consisting of a toothed rim fastened
% inside Wit kO1 NJ, -,r
the work was as exacting or Is interest
ing as the finishing of the segments, and
which would never occur TO the lay mind.
Each Sc sment, for example, had TO be
. me- - III pl atllcaLlE me same temper
allure. Tor had two of them been planned
IN different temperatures they would
not have fitted because of the expansion
and contraction of the metal Great in
terest was taken in the work by the me
chanicS connected with the plant and
when the segments were completed there
was much speculation as to whether each
part would fit perfectly.
The putting together of the wheel in
the shop required several weeks. When
it was completed it was found that the
parts fitted with really wonderful accur-
acy, rejecting great credit upon those
in charge of the work Investigation
showed that line run through the joint
OF two segments on the opposite side was
less than One-thouSandth of an inch out
OF true, or as near as human skill could
come to making it absolutely perfect the
4
hardly be detected with the most power
ful instruments. The outer rim was as
perfect as the inner. and so evenly are
all the segments laid together that they
seem TO constitute one piece.
Running from the hubs on the ends OF
the shaft to the segments are forty steel
arms. built on the principle of a bicycle
wheel and arranged with special nuts and
threads for fine adjustments when the
wheel is finally set up at the mine In
order to fill the contract several pieces
of special machinery had to be built to
cOmnIerR M IN
most interesting is that employed to cut
down the teeth of the smaller wheel by
which the motive power is to be com
municated-
Those who have seen an ordinary set
of cog wheels are not apt to think that
the cutting of the teeth to fit would be
difficult. but with a. cog wheel sixty-five
feet in diameter the proposition is quite
done on this big wheel that a magnifying
glass of great power is used to see
whether or not the portions taken off by
the machine correspond to marks which
have been placed upon the rim after care
full and involved calculation This is be
ing done while the wheel is being set up
So wonderfully true is the adjustment OF
the big wheel that it is easily turned by
a man operating a small screw
When put into actual use the wheel
will be operated by an electric motor of
about zoo horsepower Its motive power
from a smaller cogged wheel Upon each
segment of the big one are twenty-siN
lcGlll. VI a lOlstl u o-t ne sLlldLlcL WAlCtl
by which it will be driven is three feet in
diameter. When working at the mines it
is expected that the big wheel will make
ten revolutions minute, which will ne
ceSsitate the smaller one going al the
rate of about 200 revolutions per minute
1t is expected that the wheel will be
ready for delivery in about four months,
and, when it is, between thirty and forty
gondola cars will be required for its
transported ton. several of which will have
to be built especially for the accommO-
dation of the huge castings.