The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-09-22
HUGE MOUNTAIN AFLOAT

HUGE MOUNTAIN AFLOAT
ORE HANDLING, HAS REACHED a
REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT.
New Records on the Lakcs-Boats De-
signed with Especial Attention to the
Facilities for Loading and Unloading
the Big cargoes.
This has been a phenomenal sea-
son on that remarkable inland high
way Of water-borne commerce, the
Great Lakes, by reason Of the astonish-
ing manner in which all previous rec
0rds for the transportation Of cargoes
of bulk commodities have been
smashed.
The manner in which all old records
have been going by the board is due
principally to the recent advent Of
several new steel cargo-carriers far ex-
ceeding in size and capacity any mer-
chantmen previously aficat on fresh
water However, new types Of loading
and unloading machinery for transfer
ring the bulk commodities to and from
ships, cars and stock piles have also
been introduced and these, together
with the Improvements made in the
appliances heretofore in use, have
made possible also the establishment
of new records for handling cargoes
as well as the new records for the size
Of the loads carried.
The breaking of records started
when the monster new steamer, A. w.
Wclvin, the largest vessel ever built
on the Great Lakes, went into commits
sion. The Wolvin took, on her maiden
trip, 1904 tons Of soft coal from Lo-
raine, O.. on Lake Erie to the head
OF the lakes, thus surprising all pre-
vlous achievements in coal carrying
The next best record for the movement
of cargo of fuel is held by the steam
er j. H. Reed. another comparatively
new boat, which has transported 1929
tons.
On the return trip down the lakes,
after the pioneer cruise, the big bur-
den-bearer Wolvin brought cargo of
iron ore that aggregated 1927 gross
tons, or 1882 net tens.
With the entry into lake commerce
OF vessels especially constructed with
reference to the operation of the clam
shell buckets of the monster 4OO-ton
automatic unloaders, it has also been
found possible to- secure a greater
economy of time in loading and un-
loading operations, and these records
have also been broken. Indeed, four of
the automatic unloaders working ST
simultaneously have, en- more than one
occasion, unloaded a 60O0-tOn ore car
ry1ng vessel in about four hours, which
is far and away the fastest unloading
of cargo ever attained by any means
anywhere on the globe. Moreover,
the cost Of handling the bulk ccmmod-
ity by this method is only about one
ninth of the cost by hand labor.
improvements in the latest approved
appliances for conveying cargo have
also played an important part in the
general revision of records which has
astonished the commercial and indus
trial world of late. AS now consti-
tuted, the automatic nloaders-repre-
sentlng the acme Of achievement in
this line-consist of parallel Orders
at right angles to the dock, mounted
on trucks and capable of being moved
horizontally along the face of the
dock. On top of the Orders is mount
ed a walking beam supported on q
movable trolley. By pulling down en-
the back end Of the beam the front
end Of the beam is raised and lowered
SO that the bucket leg, which is hung
on the front of the walking beam, is
raised and lowered in and out through
the matches of the boat
The bucket is carried on the end of
the bucket leg and is capable Of being
rotated in a complete circle The troll
ley travels back and forth along the
top of the Orders, which motion car
ries the bucket from the dock out over
the boat and back. All the operations
of the machines, except the travel up
and down the dock. are made by large
hydraulic cylinders carrying 1000
pounds water pressure The bucket
has a capacity of 10 tons and is closed
by a large hydraulic cylinder.
In operation the machine is first
moved opposite the hatch of the ves-
sci, the walking beam and trolley run
forward so as to reach out over the
boat; it is then lowered by Stacking
off the hoist cables at the rear end of
the walking beam until the bucket
comes in contact with the ore. The
bucket is then closed and the back
end of the beam pulled down, which
hoists the bucket out of the boat, and
the trolley runs back, carrying the
walking beam and it's bucket over the
cars on the deck
The bucket is made to rotate, so
that it can reach out under the deck
of the vessel after it is in the hold.
AS the reach of the bucket when wide
open is more than half way from the