New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-03

SUSPENDED car fails The most promising Of these
me b botoyn Of tbe elevator but that thew d
not afford absolute security Is shown by the fact
injuries received in their own air cushions while
Authorizes say that a fault inherent in most
safety devices, and one which sadly interferes with
which may conceal dsarrangement quite sufh-
eient to gend 1ef nnt wreck occurre and f
cite such Instances as that of falling passenger
Chicago. where a quaKfed expert, who afteTward
examined the apparatus found g, tnaJ tne saIesy
in good order: and as that OF a wreck, from the
prominent building in Detroit, where subsequent
Examination discovered that part Of the safety ap
that it is an extremely difficult matter to insure the
e essy2t9r eees must leave the car sbso
Iutely free to travel in a normal manner
OBJECTIONS TO PLUNGER ANSWERED.
An ill-founded objection. which long obtained,
was~That q steel column. of so small a diameter
40 six 10 nine inches and Of the great length
of say three hundred feet. could not sustain
any very heavy load-at least, without buckllng
under It, This has been proved, in actual prac-
tice to be falacious AS a matter OF fact
much of the plunger is counterbalanced and is
therefore, not subject to buckling strain The
variable thickness of material employed. and the
oToent of inertia Of cross section which Is at
maximum where the greatest peno1ng couIq occur
ab The stfin box at the head of the cyIn-
der iEV claimed that no aefecon Of bending
or buckIing or deviation from the vertical, OF
under load. and in operations: which shows that It
t5rIsf and that if It were artifciay detected at
its centre sufficiently even to bring 1t over TO the
%d Of 5hf to drucve stress and the puageP
would return to ats vertical position the moment
The plunger is constructed in sections Of steel
tubing turned and Strengthened to uniform size
and polished. A special joint, than equal to
the strength of the steel tubing, unites these sec
| tons in uniform column with strength sufficient
to resist cross-breal0lng, or bucking. maximum
strength in the Gf hgh these s e eeto1s
which sustain the greatest strain or heavier and
less; this secures a plunger superior to one made
OF one peceEf 1t were possIoi5e 70 MAKE sacn an
absolute smoothness and continuity in the plunger-
The cylinder is of steel tubing in sections squared
up and Threaded in a iathem J a6, Joined py
| afterward tested by hydraulic pressure and then
manning VII" details have already been presented
| It was for long deemed an extremely difficult
fectlv dumb wen Of sufcient depth for the cylin-
der even under the most favorable conditions But
| the company found method of sinking which over
came ali difficulties and which as before said OBJ
has successfully sunk cylinders to depth Of three
mn9f imp6Ttsnt obfectons of arehitects and enc
gneers their prediction that could never become
nroVed in acIsI tests to be as IN founded as were
their early expressed fears of the punger's buck
ling and failing to OFFER necessary support to loads
| SOME CONVINCING TESTS.
! In test made. in the presence Of many profes-
| sionals at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, IN Pha-
| delphia in 1903 by the George A. Fuller Company's
! engineer, Mr.. Herschman. the Standard made an
ascent at the rate Of 613 feet a minute. and de-
| scent of 634 feet in the same time
| A series of tests made, later in New-York City,
by the same engineer, affords an interesting com
| parson between the possible speed OF suspense
car elevators and that of the STANDARD FluneetL.
The conditions OF the test were 5nat Inc tons
| should be run at fun speed and make SIX stOPs
on both the up and down trips, these stops 70 pc
Enclosure doors to be opened and closed at eaeh;
The buildings chosen for the tests OF the SUSPENSE
the Broad Exchange and several others--the run
made by any OF the rope machines was three
minutes and thirty seconds for The round Trip Inc
ditons in the lofty Trinity Builang5 IL tooR ms
make the round trip.
IT'S MERITS HAVE TOLD.
The history of the plunger elevator is record OF
twenty years bitter, though always winning, fight
| for recognition. Even the company that introduced
1t as a passenger elevator seems to have lacked
prevision it had so little conception of the pIung-
ers possibilities that when 1t received the earliest
order for the installation of plunger elevator IN
a high building in Providence it actually refused
to accept it: and yet that punger was to be only
1872 feet long. But for the courage and confidence
Tones r,e1tpnnd earlier in This article its higher
officials would have persisted in turning down the
order. No little OF the credit for its final accept
building who put such faith in Mr. Joness jueg-
ment that ne offered to furnish the money: anu h
plunger elevator. To-day there is practically no
limit to the height of travel the punger elevator
attain
1t is interesting to note that. whereas. when MI
Jones began his long fight for the piUnger, there
was not a single elevator of that type in Provt-
dence which had then "A suspended-car elevators:
there are now 143 piungers and only 2S Of the
rope machines. These figures. and the fact tnat
the Standard Plunger Elevator Company it is est
mated. is doing 50 per cent OF all the hydraulic
elevator business in New York, show that It mas
at last arrived" That = has been able TO push
itself the front, against all the tremendous op.
position brought to bear is ample v-ndication OF
It's merit.
1t is thought that were law enacted compel
ling the owners of lofty structures TO the sup
ported-car elevator, there would be more ele-
vator accidents. and consequent injuries and loss
of life to report
ELECTRICITY IN BUILDINGS.
L. x. Comstock E. E.. in the following inter
esting and instructive interview, illumnes sub