The Saint Paul globe., 1903-03-09
WORK OF 800 MEN
DONE BY 26 WITH
MACHINERY
Wonders of American Ma
chinery for Handling Iron
Ore Explained by British
Consul at Chicago in a Re.
port to His Government.
Special to The Globe.


WASHINGTON, D. c.. March s.
The wonders accomplished in the min
ing and handling of iron ore in the
United States by the application of
modern machinery are outlined IN a
special report to the British govern
ment made by the acting British con-
SUI at Chicago, Mr.. Z. Erskine a cOpy
of which has been received by the
treasury bureau of statistics. The re-
port is entitled Report on the Iron
Ore Industry of the United States" but
gives especial attention to the modern
methods of mining and handling ore,
by which hand labor has been greatly
reduced. In mining ore in certain
parts of the Lake Superior region. he
says that the top covering of ground
rock is scraped off over the whole
property before mining begins. Rail-
road tracks are then laid direct to the
ore bed and the ore is loosened by
blasting. Steam shovels are then
brought into use and they load the
ore directly upon the cars, one of these
machines having loaded 10000 tons in
tWenty-six days. or at the rate of over
5000 tons per day. These loading ma
chimes, which daily handle more than
5000 tons, are each operated by five
men and the labor cost for mining and
loading averages but about 16 cents
per ton, and in the case of one mine,
which dug and loaded ,651 tons in
ia days, the labor cost was only 4
cents per ton.
Hand Labor Absent.
In the transfer of ore from mine to
vessel on the lakes the absence of hand
labor is also noticeable. The ore trains
are run onto long docks extending
nigh above the water and having large
pockets or apartments into which the
ore is discharged from the cars
through in ha ,Nf
the car, from which the ore runs by
gravity into the pockets beneath the
tracks. From these pockets the ore IS
loaded into the vessel, also by gravity
and passed down long chutes into the
hold of the vessel, so that no hand la
Dor is required in transferring the ore
from the cars to the vessel. The ore
pockets or apartments, which form a
part OF the dock, hold about $50 tons
each, and number from ninety to 384,
according to the length of the dock
In unloading the ore from the vessels
the saving of labor through the use Of
machinery is even more notable and
important in it's economies and results
A series of steel bridges, 50 adjusted
as TO be easily moved along the docks,
is supplied with a hinged arm, which
can be lowered to the hatch of the Ves-
sci. Along this arm and across the
bridge runs a trolley train, to which
lar to double scoop, which are so
constructed that the grab or scoop digs
downward into the ore as it closes.
The grab or scoop holds about five tons
| of ore and is described as a digging
| machine" as when it begins to draw
| together it digs into the ore and does
not depend on it's weight to get hold
of the ore. There are fifteen unload
Ing machines in a battery and the
grabs run down the long arms which
are lowered over each of the fourteen
matches that are in the deck of most
lake vessels carrying ore. These
matches run nearly the whole way
across the decks. The grabs can thus
remove over half the cargo without any
assistance and the remaining half is
brought directly under the hatch by
use OF scraper, also operated by sim
liar machinery and managed by a man
in the hold through the use Of long
cords. This scraper brings the ore
from between the matches so that it can
be raised by the grab.
Work Rapidly.
These grabs are controlled by the en-
gineer, who can drop them at any
point over the hold that he may wish,
and after it seiZes its load of ore it is
raised at full speed, carried rapidly
along the trolley to such given point
as desirable, where the ore is deposited
into railroad trucks or stock piles. or
! in some cases into concrete trougns,
through which it slides to the furnaces,
where 1t is to be transferred into pig
iron. This grab which thus lifts five
tons of ore from the vessel carrying it
to such point as is desired within a
limited space, has a hosting speed Of
100 feet a minute and can run along
the bridge at the rate Of 900 feet a
minute. The operator travels with the
grab and can unload it at any given
point desired. The bridges to which
these arms with their grabs are at
tached, can be swung in any direction
so that ore, limestone or coke can
be deposited or picked up anywhere in
the yard, and are worked by electric
ity. Twenty-siX men now perform un-
der this system the work for which 200
were required under the old system.