The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-09-09
A NEW TYPE OF STEEL CAR.
At Pittsburg a Company With $5,ooo,
 coo Capital Will Build Car Plant.


 From the Pittsburg Chronicle.
 The organization of company for the manufacture of a new type of steel car, the patents for which are controlled by E. A. Nesbit of Pittsburg has been com pleted and the corporation will be char tered under the laws of New Jersey with in the next few weeks. The capital of l the new company has been fixed at s5,- 100000. The stock is entirely in the hands of capitalists in New York and other eastern cities. but the plant probably will be located some place in the Pittsburg district although there are several sites in towns in eastern Ohio which are be- ing considered
 The cars which will be manufactured by the company are of an entirely new design and will represent the latest ad- vance that has been made in car build ing. The principal feature of the new car will be it's greatly increased carrying capacity as compared with the steel cars now in use on the railroads.
 There will be two styles of cars for carrying coal and iron ores. The largest of these will be thirty-one feet long and will have a capacity of 190,OO0 pounds of coal The smaller car will be twenty feet long and will have a capacity of 100, 00Q pounds With these figures it will be seen that the largest car will have a carry ing capacity of 9OOOO pounds more than the largest steel car which is now built by the other companies.
 The new cars are protected by four teen patents, which cover all the prin- cipal features of the construction, in- cluding the shape of the car, the trucks and the bolsters. The shape of the car, which is a decided departure from that used by the manufacturers of other steel cars, is one of the features of the in- vention.
 The car is so built that the strain of the load does not come on the sides but rests on a steel frame.
 Every cubic inch of the space can be utilized. Instead of the waste space at each end and under the body of the car, as exists in the types in use at present. the new car will be built so that all this space can be used for loading The main body of the weight will be carried in the part of the car between the two trucks The inside of the car is so arranged that there Is not square inch of horizontal surface. The cars will have hopper bottoms and this detail of the construction will insure the draining of all the coal or ore that may be in the car when the hoppers are opened.
 No pressed steel shapes will be used in the construction of the cars, they being made of sheet, structural and cast steel The trucks will be of new de- sign, the frame of the trucks and the bolsters being of cast steel and heavy enough to carry the big load which can be put in the cars. An important feature is the fact that the cars can be repaired at any boiler shop or at the regular re- pair shops of the company, as they will not need any specially designed machin- cry to repair any of the damaged parts.
 Another advantage which the new car will have will be in the weight. The ninety-five ton car will weigh about 36,- 900 pounds or 4000 pounds less than the present steel car with carrying capae- ity of 100000 pounds. The smaller car, which has a capacity of 100000 pounds. will weigh 10000 pounds less than the present type of steel cars.
 A string of loaded cars of the present type on a track mile long will carry about S21J tons of coal. The same num- Der of new cars would carry 13,200 tons, an increase of nearly 65 per cent. The construction of the car, which permits the carrying of the principal weight be- tween the trucks brings the center of gravity down to the lowest point, and makes it easier to operate the cars over the railroads rendering accidents less liable. The coke cars which the company will build will be thirty-one feet long, and will have a proportlonate increase in carrying capacity. The company also will supply trucks to the trade and will have it's own car wheel foundry. The works will cover an area of at least twenty-three acres, and 1t is the in- tention to make them the most complete of the kin. in the country. The main pudding will be 1400 feet long and 400 feet wide. In addition to this there will be the car wheel foundry and the truck works Inside the works there will be | fifteen miles of track
 The plant will be run entirely by elec- tricity and compressed air. There will not be an overhead pulley in the entire works Contracts have already been let for the construction of a large travelling electric crane. which will have a capacity equal to the largest now in use in the country
 l The plant will have a capacity of fifty | completed cars a day. Orders for 1000 cars have already been received from | one of the eastern railroads and more will be booked as soon as the company gets on working basis.