The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-10-31

THE MOST WONDERFUL o. ALL THE
MECHANICAL WoRKMEN.

IONS Of Earth Raised 1t One Scoop
Large Buckets which Fiu IN Open
Car with Great Rapldlty - Engines
which Dig, Garry and Lin.
OF all the mechanical workmen
which have Of late years been devised
70 assist human energy In performing
great undertakings probably the most
wonderful are the monster steam show
els. A number OF these giants with
their arms of steel and tireless mus
cles, have been in service for years
past, but the increasing variety OF uses
TO which the steam shovel has lately
been adapted has directed an increas-
ing degree Of attention to this import
ant family Of time-saying and labor
saving machines. simultaneously new
demands have been made upon the
manufacturers, and the new recruits
in the army of inanimate shovellers
are each fully one-third heavier and
correspondingly more powerful than
the old type.
Already these machines have some
surprising achievements to their credit
in making excavations for railroads
and CANALS. Thus far, however, one Of
the principal uses of the steam shovel
has been that of handling raw material,
such as coke, coal and limestone; un-
loading from railroad cars, transferring
from stock piles to furnaces, etc.
Practically all of the steam shOvels
in use throughout the country are of
one general type. lnasmuch as the
shovels are designed for almost con-
tinuous service at the hardest kind of
work, and from the nature of things
and the undeveloped portion of the
country in which they are often en-
ployed, must not only be subjected to
all KINDS of weather, but also receive
but scant care, every effort is made to
have them of staunch construction
in short, as nearly unbeatable as pos
sible. In the construction of the up
to-date steam shOyels there are en-
ployed steel beams, steel and iron forg-
ings and steel plates and castings.
Comparatively little cast iron is used
in any part of the machine, even the
gearing being Of cast steel and the
shafting of hammered STEEL The parts
are joined with a filling OF white oak.
To manipulate the monster scoop
that does as much shovelllng as a force
Of 100 men naturally requires consider
able power. and this is furnished by
half dozen engines. There are a Fair
OF swinging engines, pair Of revers-
ing engines and pair of thrusting en-
gines, so that every motion of the pom
derous shovel is accurately controlled.
The water tank connected with the
shovel and the storage bin for fuel are,
of sufficient capacity to enable the
largest size shovel to be in operation
continuously for fully eight hours.
There is wide range in the size of
the scoops or buckets, of steam shovels,
! according to the work for which they
are intended. In some instances a
shovel is fitted with a bucket which
will not hold more than one or two
tons, but as a rule the capacity is such
that from four to eight tons of mater
ial are lifted at every scoop of the ire
mendOus metal arm.
Steam shovels, in order that they
may be moved quickly and economical
ly from place to place, are mounted up
on extra heavy trucks that are of
standard gauge and. in the main, very
similar to those which support the larg-
est freight cars. 1t is thus equipped to
travel as the railroad cars in the load
ing and unloading of which it may be
engaged, or if it is desired to transfer
the shovel from one place to another it
may be hauled as an ordinary freight
car.
One of the remarkable attributes, OF
the modern steam shovel is the ability
Of the great, ungainly machine to lift
masses of material above it's head. SO
to speak. Almost any of the steam
shovels now in use will dump ma
teriaI Is or II feet above the
level of the rails on which the shovel
stands, and some of them, which have
exceptionally long arms, will lift the
huge dippers 20 feet or more above
the track. AS might be expected, it is
necessary when constructing a machine
which is to perform such work as this
tc provide every possible safeguard
against the constant wrenching anC
twisting which are inevitable, particu
larly when the dipper is operated rap
idly. To minimize the strains it is the
custom to place cushions Of wood be
tween the steel parts of the machine.
Probably the most interesting steam
shovels in the world are to be found
on the ''Mesaba Range" one of the fiv,
districts which go to make the LAX,