The Opelousas courier., 1904-11-05
HUGE MOUNTAIN AFLOAT
ORE HANDLING HAS REACHED A
REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT.


New Records on the Lakes-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 nigh
way Of water-borne commerce, the
Great Lakes, by reason OF the
ing manner in which all previous rec
ords 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-carrters lar ex-
ceeding in size and capacity any mer-
chantmen previously afoat on fresh
water. However. ley 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.
uT-Jr;- +ho orrocf unccnT over h11if
on the Great Lakes, went into commls-
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-
vious achievements in coal carrying.
The next best record for the movement
of a 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 a cargo OF
iron ore that aggregated 1927 gross
tons, OF 1882 net tons.
With the entry into lake commerce
of vessels especially constructed with
reference to the operation of the clam
shell buckets of the monster 400-ton
automatic unloaders, 1t has also been
found possible to secure a greater
economy of time in loading and I'M
loading operations, and these records
have also been broken. Indeed, four Of
the automatic unloaders working 81
multaneously have, ON more than one
occasion, unloaded a 600O-ton ore car
rying 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 commod-
ity by this method is only about me
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 unloaders-repre-
senting the acme of achievement in
this line-consist of parallel 'girders
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 OF 9
movable trolley. BY pulling down or
@ha honL and af thu hooYa tho from
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 ovel
the boat and back. All the operations
Of the machines, except the travel VI
and down the dock, are made by large
hydraulic cylinders carrying 1901
pounds water pressure. The buckle
has a capacity of 10 tons and 10 closed
by a large hydraulic cylinder.
In operation the machine 10 frs
moved opposite the hatch of the yes
sci, the walking beam and trolley rur
forward SO as to reach out over thu
boat; it is then lowered by stacking
of the hoist cables at the ear end O
the walking beam until the buckle
comes in contact with the ore. TIL,
bucket is then closed and the bacl
end of the beam pulled down, which
hoists the bucket out of the boat, ant
the trolley run back, carrying TIL
walking beam and its bucket over tn,
cars on the deck.
The bucket liz made to rotate, 81
that it can reach out under the decl
of the vessel after it is in the hold
AS the reach Of the bucket when wild,
open Is more than half way from tn,
centre of n hatch to the centre o
the other. almost all the Gre in tn,
hold. of the vessel can be reache,
without shoveling. The machines hay,
unloaded as high as 81 percent of
cargo without any hand shoveling Ii
the cas- of vessels which have been II
service on the Great Lakes for a ION
siderable time past, and in the case o
new ships. such as the Wolvin, wher,
the matches are spaced with careful
reference to the span of the opel
bucket and the cargo hold c~onstructe,
with sloping sides, obviating corner
in which ore can lodge, it is possibl
to take out practically the entire car
- L. -.aohnrjan3 -ooons