The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1907-05-31

shaped rail, and Il remains for the rail
roads 10 adopt a new standard.
ITO illustrate the weakness IN the
existing II rail must explain bow the
rail Is rolled. The top OF the rail, which
comes Into contact with the wheels Of
the train, is termed the balf or head
OF the rail. That part supporting the
head Is the web, and the bottom Of
the rail- which Ii fastened to the wood
en tie and supports the web, Is the
hange. TO make the head Of the rail
strong enough 20 carry the weight and
to meet the shock Of a train passing
over Il the head Is made the heaviest,
the web being much lighter, and the
aangc Is formed at right angles with
the web, also very light.
In rolling the chunk Of metal known
~ the bloom down to a rail the heated
metal IL crushed into shape by the
rolls. In passing through the rolls the
thlnnest parts OF the rail- cool the
quickest. This Is the iange. The re.
suit Is that the impurities spoken Of
In the piping Of the lngot fow to the
hottest part Of the metal, which Is the
head. The Aange Of the rail contains
the finest steel, and the head, which
comes into direct contact with the
heavy locomotive wheels, the poorest,
whereas II should be the best. But 1t
n not in the head of the rail- that the
fault lies which causes the rail 10 frac.
ture and break. II II between the web
and the fange.
Ninety per cent OF the rails that are
found broken In the track are ruptured
at the base Of the web and top of tho
hange. You can put the steel rail- to
the seyerest test and the fracture will
not show. II cannot be discovered
even by microscope. But just as
soon as large locomotive, followed
by a heavy train, comes laundering
over the rail the fracture appears and
spreads,
steel Is not fibrous, like wrought
iron II is granular. The finer the
grain Of steel the more It adheres to
the other grains surrounding It. II
steel was hbrous It would not frac-
ture. but would be more apt TO split
and bend. steel win stand up well
under steady strain. but It Is the
everlasting pounding Of passing trains
that breaks the ran.
o"When train passes over q track
the latter bends into waves the same
as thin Ice does when the small boy
runs over II playing Pompey on the ice
pond. Finally the boy breaks through
after he has sufficiently fractured the
Ice or has put too much Of a load on
It, II Is exactly the same with the
rail The boy makes forty or fifty
trips over a stretch of thin Ice, which
waves under him, but eventually he
Will have fractured It to such an ex-
tent that II win break under him.
Any locomotive engine driver win tell
you that the sensation OF passing over
a waving track II similar to that OF
running over thin Ice.
IT has been asked why rails are not
set IN concrete or something to make
the track rigid and thus avoid the
wave motion. This has been tried and
/ found ineffective. The speedy travel
OF a train acts similarly to heavy
pounding and sudden shocks and the
rigid supports ON tracks soon break
into pieces. The track must wave az
the ponderous mass passes over 1t to
be- safe. II It was rigid. It would be
far more dangerous,
Tho present style of rail. when
broken down In the rolling mill, as we
term II. to a rail shape. Is pretty fair
until we begin shaping II into a rail.
The rolls. while running In one direc-
ton. are tearing the web away from
the fiange. That Is, the web Is being
formed by vertical action. while the
fiange Il being formed through later
al pressure Of tho roll. There Is a pull
ing away from each. creating a frac-
| ture.
my contention Ia that there should
be- a fllat of steel rolled between the
! web and the fiange Thus the weight
OF metal weld DO equallEed. and there
| would be as much steel In the nange
as there II In the head. The fracture
which takes place at the meeting OF
the DANCE and the web would be OBJ
Waited. because the metal IN the base
Of tho rail would be heavier. The
shape have In mind would be termed
a compound rail-
1.-THE compound rail would have to
contain about ten more pounds OF steel
to the yard than do the rails IN use at
the comparative height. This IL not
such great factor Of expense when II
h taken Into consideration that the
breakages OF rails cause numerous &C
cidents. and the cost OF removing rails
constantly lie no small part OF the rail-
expense. believe the rail should be
lowered IN height
Chemists aud metallurElsts need not
look for any chemical change In steel,
They must look for the trouble In the
physical treatment, which they have
wholly ignored.
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