The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-12-18
GREATLY PLEASED BY
WORK upon MACHINE
Tunneling Machine for Railroad
Work Shows Success in
Its Construction.

President j. R. Belcher and vice
president George I. Odell of the Utah
Karns Tunneling Machine company
have returned from an Eastern trip,
and it would be difficult 10 find two more
pleased gentlemen with the progress
that is being made upon the great
tunneing wheel, which the company is
making in the city of Cleveland for the
purpose of eating railroad tunnel
through the mountains separating
Denver and Salt Lake. Mr.. Odell has
never seen tho small machine at
Boulder. Colo, at work. and he met
Mr. Belcher in Cleveland for the pur-
pose of taking look at the large ma
chine II is in perfect working order.
He stated Monday that he had seen
enough 10 convince him that the ma
chine has great deal of merit, and III
his opinion il will revoutionizc tunnel
ing. AT the same time he visited
the company's works, there were
numerous men of prominence IN the
financial, mining and railroad world
there for the same purpose. aud many
had come as far as Mr.. Odell 70 see
this mountain eater. The machine
created most favorable impression.
and Mr. Odell states that the company
could place number of them 10 work
in Utah camps Immediately were they
obtainable al this time,
The details of the machine now be.
ing assembled in Cleveland are very
interesting, and the machine is the
largest ever attempted by the company.
1t is anticipated most confidently that
il will be more successful than the
smaller machines heretofore tried, ow.
ing 10 the greater clearance. This will
enable the muck to be disposed of more
readily, relieving the wheel from
pushing against its own work already
accomplished The wheel is eighteen
feet in diameter, Its weight is twenty
three tons, the shaft weighs thirty tons,
the carriage sixty tons, and the cut
ters weigh four tons. The total weight
of the machine is 10 tons, and IL
will take five freight cars TO transport
it from the factory TO the mountain
which it is to pierce.
There are 100 sets of cutters on the
wheel, and the number of drill points
equals 1000. 1t will take $4,000 cubic
feet of free air per minute 10 operate
this machine, requiring boilers sufi
cient to generate 1900 rse-powcr. The
machine will strike 6S,00Gpound
blow, having an eight-inch stroke. with
$50 strokes per minute The wheel,
weighing twenty~three tons, and the
shaft. weighing thirty tons, of which
the rapid action is required, Is ball
bearing, distributed as follows: Under
the rim of the wheel there are 40
six.inch balls, each riding on 15 l.lnch
balls, and in the carriage there are
% 6.inch balls, IA being in the
front of the carriage and IA in the
rear. This distribution of weight al
lows only 81 pounds pressure on each
Of the l-inch balls, which has ca
pacity of 60 tons of dead weight before
breaking.
President Belcher stated that the
railroad engineers who inspected this
machine expressed complete confidence
in its power, and one was willing to
wager that it would drive the tunnel at
the rate Of ten feet an hour, The ma
chine will be dismantled and in readi-
ness for use in three months. and
its work will be watched with intense
interest all over the country.