The Oskaloosa herald., 1906-04-26

the size Of railroad rail and about
IS feet long. It then passes on,going
beneath a small wheel carrying a
stencil which prints the brand on the
side Of the rail, then stops moment
at a small circular saw, which clips
off any end of rail that is imperfect,
.hen measuring the length Of the rail-
The saw again descends and the hrst
rail passes on, the second one is meas
ured and clipped and the imperfect
ends drop to one side as scrap.
The rails are now perfect shape but
quite crooked and are carried slowly
on the rollers to the end Of the shed,
where they are caught py transverse
chains carrying them up to the finish
ing floor. Here they become cool and
are then taken to the finishing press
es. Here the finisher and his helper
slide the rail in until bend is be-
meath the press head, when a boy
slips an iron wedge between tnem
and the bend is Strengthened. Thus
| it is turned over and slid back and
forth until it is perfectly straight,
when it is set aside for shipment.
From here we went through the mer-
chant mill. The rolls here are small
er and the feeding is with tongs in
stead of the heavy automatic ma
chimes. Bars from the large rolls
about four by six feet long were be-
ing rolled to 1s-inch bars, aoout 2x2x3
feet, for % rod. One mill was rolling
old car axles into small tram rails
such as are used around the mines,
etc.
In the Spike Mills.
From here we passed to the spike
mills. Here square bars the size OF
spike were being clipped into pieces
and headed with marvellous iapidity.
Most of these are made cold. The
larger ones, for railroad use are heat
ed before feeding to the machine.
From here we passed to the wire
mills. Here the rod about 9s in size
is received in large coils. 1t is first
dipped in a vat of acid for few
moments, then swung up and washed,
then dipped in a vat of lime, then
placed on truck and run into an
oven and baked until the lime is thor
oughly dry; from there it is taken to
the draw bench. Here the workman
places the coil upon reel, swages
the end until he can pass is through
| the hole in his draw wise" and
clamps it to the drum, dabs ball or
grease around the wire where it en-
which draws the wire through the
wise, reducing its size only trifle
and again coillng it. 1t is thus pass
ed from bench to bench until the de-
sired size is obtained. A No. IL wire
having passed five or six different
benches, it is now hard drawn wire.'
If wanted soft it goes to the anneal-
ing room. Here it is taken from the
reel and passed through the furnace;
coming out red hot, passes over roll
ers a sufficient distance to cool and
that which is to be galvanized pass
ing through the chemicals as it comes
from the furnace again reeled up.
From here we pass to the nail mill.
Here row after row of little machines
but little larger than sewing ma
chimes are busily and noisily engaged
in Transforming wire of various sizes
into corresponding sized nails or
staples, the nails dropping from the
machines as fast as the ticking of a
watch. Here the noon whistle warn
ed us that we hurry, so that we had
to pass the smelters with only view
of the outside. The ore "a reddish
brown substance, is ground to a pow
der and drawn to cupolas and fed In
by means of a small car and inclined
track, the arrival of each car being
signified by volumes of reddish
brown smoke entirely different from
that produced by the feeding of fuel,
and giving peculiar appearance to
this portion of the plant.
Passing out again over the high
bridge, we hail street car and speed
back to Pueblo, thanking the G. F. &c
l. for their courtesy, and with mem
DRY of three or four hours spent pleas
antly and believe, profitably.
Tenderfoot.