New-York tribune., 1902-08-17
ON THE WATER FRONT.
heRhohEh m

smile and his eyes dancing. I've been launching
ships for thirty years now. but never have seen
one which went off like that"
You very happy over II. the corre-
spondent remarked.
'Of course we're happy he responded quickly.
You see this is the first big launching from the
new yard. If anything went wrong 1t would mean
bad luck for the yard. There would be a series
of accidents and all sorts of trouble. It's as pad
working in a hoodooed shpyard as it is to SAIL on
a hoodooed ship
He told how he had moved his family from Phila-
delphia where be had been employed by the
Cramps Sorry to leave the Quaker town? NOT
ruuch!" he said This is bully place for the
yyorlxrnen FOR the first time in my life am able
10 live in country. I've got a garden ana 'heFe
Is a big ward for the kids You should see those
kids, Lord how they play, and heaIthy-"h!.
they're getting so healthy that the mousse VIII
hardly hold them.
This sptrit of content with their surroundings Is
one Of the most striking features OF the men OF
the Fore River Yard. Besides, they are proud oi
the plant with its improved electrical appliances
and the clocklike routine with which the work
goes on. In laying out the works II was pahiieu
70 haya the raw material enter at one end OF the
ward pass through the successive shops ana caihe
out at the building beach or outhttlng DaSlh wiz
out env doubling the trail or the sltshlest u''
necessary handling with this idea in view, the
Office building which foated down the river
from the old works. was placed furthest away
from the water Next to Il. but far enough away WAY;
nj n he
ehoos which receive the raw material
Then come the machine shops Whicn are cOn
nected with the Quitting basin by railroad;
the mould loft. the pattern shop the pla'e ,s TanG
for the storage Of structural steel. the roiiins
Tniu and on the water front monster snip
house which Just shelters TWO battleships
in course construction and the Quitting paSlf SIN
Every department Is placed just where IL VIII
hest prevent confusion and save time ana poMet
in handling. The whole yard Is made concreIe
thing BY system of electric railroads and travel
ing cranes which can handle the heaviest pieces
used in the construction of steel ship.
In every department there is something at when
TO wonder. may be a bit OF newly patented
machinery which does the work OF q dozen men
in half the time. Ii may be the individual motors
with which all machines are equipped. doing away
with betting and saving an enormous amount or
power or perhaps II is a group OF skilled work-
men at some particularly interesting task
tour of the yard begins with the noisy forge
room with its eight steam hammers. The largest
is one of the three big hammers in the world
weighing twenty tons and having q power Of 80
tons 1t is said to be the only IN the shfpyard
which is large enough to do all the work required
on a battleship II can fiatten out chunk OF steel
or crack a hickory nut. perfectly can Its
force be controlled. The waste heat from seven
furnaces IS utilized by the boilers which supply
steam power TO the hammers.
A forging that is beaten into shape in the forge