The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-06-11

The lighter tools are on the east
side Of the shop, all the records above
being from the west side, or heavy
tool section. Similar good perform
ances are being got with these lighter
tools. An old Bement & Son. 42-in.
! wheel boring mill, in service 20 or 25
driving-box mill. on which brasses are
rOughed at 80 fp.m. and finished at
100 f.p.m., with y in feed and 4 in.
cut. The time for boring a brass and
facing the babbitt is ? 5 Minis. A set
of 1S-in. eccentrics, 4 y in. wide, are
milled on a Becker Brainerd 26-in.
belt-driven mill in hrs. All eccentric
Stra pS are also finished on a mill.
Back pistOn-Valve rings are turned on
a new Niles 37-in. boring MILL Sc off
set rings 15A in. in diameter for
Baldwin compounds being turned out
in 10 hrs Steel piston rods, a in.
in diameter are. turned and finished
in new Pond 34-in. lathe in 30 MINIS.
the cutting speed being So f.p.m.,
with 80 IN cut and Is in feed.
Knuckle pins 4 in. in diameter are
turned on a new Niles 22-in. lathe at
the rate of six a day. On this same
lathe ma1n-rOd braSseS are turned out
az the rate of 20 minis. each, the cut
tlnS speed being rs f.p.m. at Il in.
cut and 1882 in. feed. Back-end rod
brasses are bored and faced in so
mlns- IN new Niles 37-in. boring
mil Five back-end main rod brasses
elther IN. or q in. in diameter, can
De turned out in 10 hrs on a Becker
Brainerd No c. miller, and 10
small ones q Y in by 5 in.) in the
same time. Front-end solid brasses,
e in. bore, are turned out at the
rate of two an hour A new. scheme
for expediting the drilling of eccen-
tries has just been put in operation
instead OF clamping directly to the
table of the drill press, the eccentric
IS clamped to a jig having two faces
at right angles, one of which rests on
and is bolted to the table Running
of the vertical face is a lug, the angle
between the two Tugs being 80 deg
Inc eccentric rests on these two dag
onal Jugs and is held steady by a
clamp which is readily 1oosened, enab-
ing the eccentric to be quickly shift
ed for drilling the set-screw holes
after drilling the bolt holes The
practice OF turning up eccentrics has
been expedited by the use of a special
mandrel holding a set of four. in
stead of taking one at time as for
merly
A scheme for stamping out and
punching hose strainers has been de-
vised by Mr.. McKernan, the foreman
OF the tool room. The segmentaI pieces
or sheet copper are first stamped out by
special dies, the previous practice be-
ing 10 lay them out, and cut them with
shearS. The bodies were then punched
one at time after laying them off
with dlVlders, two pieces being clamp
ed together There are four sizes, the
est $50 holes In the new plan a gang
punch is used 1t is placed in a Bliss
NO. III power press which has been
specially adapted, at the shops, for this
sheet metal punch and die work The
lower plate of the gang punch has four
pins in it suitably placed to act as
stops against which the operator places
the segmental piece of copper to be
punched The upper, or punch, plate
is secured to the ram. It holds the
punches for all the holes in the strain
er and is also equipped with stripper
plate operated by springs. The rapidf-
ty with which the stamped and punch
ed sheets can be turned out depends
only on the speed of the operator. The
estimated saving on each 500 is $15 Dies
are also busy made for stamping out all
duplicate part tin work.
The brass department is on a nigh
plane of efficiency. The foreman, g.
Osman, has devised a large number Of
special forms of box and undercut tools
by which the number of operations to
finish a part have in many cases been
reduced to one.
As an example of the Improvement in
output over old methods, steam spin
dies for simplex injectors formerly re-
qufred the highest priced machinist,
who averaged 80 in 10 hours. Now a
81 cent per hour boy can turn out 80
in 10 hours. For cylinder cock valves
the output was So a day against 400
now. Metallic packing is turned out
five times as fast, the labor cost, per
set, for machining being SO cents.
Another special device used in this
department is a four-spindle multiple
drill for drilling and tapping the four
stud holes in the body of a blow-off
cock. This work was formerly done
on a drill press, the drilling being done
to a jig. after which the holes were
tapped out by hand and the studs
screwed in one at a time. The four
spindle device is used in a lathe, the
body of the valve being held in a mas
ter chuck With this device the holes
are drilled, then tapped and the studs
screwed in, all in two minutes, it is
claimed against about an hour for the
old method.