The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-09-26
NEW UNLOADING METHOD
IS TRIED WITH SUCCESS
Devised for Rapidly Dumping Cars
Sideways mt the Head of an
Embankment.

A new method of unloading rock
and dirt in engineering operations
has been tried with success in Cal
ifornia. The ordinary custom in
building entertainments in railway
an engineering work is to build tenn
porary trestles and deposit material
from dump cars on the trestle. This
involves considerable expense, espe-
cially where timber is not available,
and the new unloader has been de-
vised for rapidly dumping cars side
ways at the head of the bank.
This new method of unloading
trains of dump cars was developed in
connection with the construction of
the Western Pacific railway, where
number of high embankments had
to be made. 1t was invented for the
purpose of avoiding the expense of
trestles or cableways, and it is re-
ported to have proved successful. The
general arrangement consists of cir
cular dumping track at the head of
the bank, around which the cars are
operated by cable, and from which
they are dumped.
from the center of the unloader
radiate large timbers, which form a
support for the circular track from
the steam shovel pit. These timbers
rest on iron rollers, which are placed
several feet apart, and ride upon
wooden stills placed on top of the
bank. At the center of the unloader
is mast from the top of which lead
iron rods supporting the outer ends
of the radial timbers.
Between the receiving and deliv-
ering sides of the circular track is
hosting engine. From one drum
on the engine cables pass around a
main sheave and then around the
track, between the rails, to second
drum. This cable and engine are
used to haul the trains around the
unloading track.
When a train of cars is brought to
the unloader the engine is uncoupled
and the train quickly attached to the
cable by a grip. 1t is then drawn
around the track; the toggles on the
cars are knocked loose, the cars
dumped, righted, fastened and de-
livered to the waiting locomotive
without having stopped. The only
stop caused is for the attachment to
the cable. he material can be
dumped at any point, either inside or
outside of the circular track, max
ing it possible to carry the fill to
width of from forty to fifty feet.
The force required about the I'M
loader consists of carpenter and
three laborers. They attend to the
moving, lacking up and blocking. To
unload the trains requires an en-
gineman and four laborers. When
necessary, the unloader is moved for
ward on the rollers, ten feet at
time, by it's own power. No time is
Host because of moving, as this is
done during a meal hour. Four 16-
feet timbers, one under each rail,
and attached to the unloader, sup
port the track until a train fills in
the ten-foot space left by the for
ward movement. The bottom of the
unloader is four feet below grade, but
the first train after move fills this
hole to the grade level.
The unloader mentioned is the
second of its kind. During severa.
months of use the machine has not
once caused delay, though it has
been in use day and night. It's ca
pacity for handling trains has not
been determined, owing to it's abil-
ity to dump trains so much faster
than. they could be loaded by a sew
enty-ton shovel. The dispatch with
which it handles cars on the dump
is one of the unloader's most favora-
BILE points.
Other points that would make it
attractive to contractors are the low
cost OF it's construction, as compared
to the usual trestle, the shortness of
time required to put it together, and
the fact that it can be readily taken
apart when a job is completed, and
used on many different jobs.-New
York Commercial