The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1907-05-21


rail Is rolled. The top Of the rail, which
the train, Is termed the bali or head
of the rail. That part supporting the
head is the web, and the bottom Of
tho rail, which is fastened to the wood
en- tie and supports the web, Is the
fange. To make the head Of the rail
strong enough to carry the weight and
to meet the shock of a train passing
over 1t the head Is made the heaviest,
the web being much lighter, and the
fange Is formed at right angles with
the web, also very light.
I'm rolling the chunk of metal known
us the bloom down to a rail the heated
metal is crushed into shape by the
rolls In passing through the rolls tho
thinncst parts Of the rail cool the
quickest This Is the nange. The re-
suit Is that the impurities spoken Of
In the piping Of the ingot flow to the
hottest part Of the metal which Is the
head. The fiange Of tho rail contains
the finest steel, and the head. which
comes into direct contact with the
heavy locomotive wheels, the poorest,
whereas 1t should be the best. But It
Ia not In tho head OF the rail that tho,
fault lies which causes the rail to frac-
ture and break. II Is between the web
and the flange.
"Ninety per cent Of the rails that are
found broken In the track are ruptured
at tho base Of the web and top Of the
Acv s,vvt kt,<, SCI tn
the severest test and the fracture will
not show. 1t cannot be discovered
even by microscope. But Just as
soon as a large locomotive, followed
by q heavy train, comes laundering
over the rail the fracture appears and
spreads.
'Stecl Is not fbrous. like wrought
iron. It Is granular. The finer the
grain Of steel the more 1t adheres to
the other grains surrounding It If
steel was fibrous 1t would not frac-
ture. but would be more apt to split
and bend steel will stand up well
under steady strain, but It Is the
everlasting pounding OF passing trains
that breaks the rail.
when train passes over track
the latter bends into waves the same
as thin ice does when the small boy
runs over 1t playing Pompey on the Ice
pond. Finally the boy breaks through
after he has sufficiently fractured the
ice or has put too much Of load on
It. 1t Is exactly the same with the
rail. The boy makes forty or fifty
trips over stretch Of thin Ice, which
waves under him, but eventually he
will have fractured 1t to such an ex-
tent that 1t will break under him.
Any locomotive engine driver will tell
you that the sensation Of passing over
q waving track is similar to that OF
running over thin Ice.
1T 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 q train acts similarly to heavy
pounding and sudden shocks and the
rigid supports on tracks soon break
into pieces. The track must wave as
the pondcrous mass passes over It to
be safe. II 1t was rigid, It would be
far more dangerous.
"The present style Of rail, when
broken down In the rolling mill, as we
term 1t, to n rnil shape, is pretty fair
until we begin shaping 1t into a rail.
Tho rolls, while running In one direc-
tion. are tearing the web away from
the flange. That IS, the web Is being
formed by vertical action, while the
flange Is being formed through later
al pressure Of the roll There Is pull
ing away from each, creating frac-
ture.
my contention Is that there should
be fillet Of steel rolled between the
web and the flange Thus the weight
OF metal would be equalized, and there
would be as much steel In the flange
as there Is In the head The fracture
which takes place at the meeting Of
the nange and the web would be OBJ
Waited, because the metal In the base
Of the 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 Is not
such great factor Of expense when 1t
Is taken into consideration that the
breakages Of rails cause numerous nc
cidents, and the cost Of removing rails
constantly Is no small part Of the rail
expense. believe the rail should be
lowered In height.
chemists and metallurgists need not
look for any chemical change in steel.
They must look for the trouble In the
physical treatment, which they have
wholly ignored"
immigrants From the Canary Islands.
The arrival Mt New Orleans OF the