The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-04-28
MAGNET LIFTS TONS
Grown-up Toy Raises 10000
Pounds of Metal.
DOES THE WORK OF MANY mEH
Cleveland Man Thought of Applying
Old Idea, and Noy Great Railroad
WIN Use Coafrlranee Generally IA
Handling Iron and steel-sayes
Large sums of Money Yearly.

Through the application Of q familiar.
simple boyhood plaything The Peansyl-
vania Railroad saves hundreds of thou
sands u dollars a year in time. in wages,
and il wear and tear 1t is the ancient
/ horseshoe magnet Of The scho0l-days by
/ which clusters Of needles. nails, and knife
blades were picked up and suspended ia
i definitely. But instead Of the needles and
nails and knife blades now it Is heavy
steel rails. scrap iron. Wheels, castings
ingots, PIG ir0n ana everything iu which
steel or iron appears
/ For years the loading or unloading Of
freight cars flied particularly with iron
or steel was one Of the most Incouvenieut,
/ tedious, ard expensive operations OF rail-
road work says the New York Herald
/ II always took large numbers Of men.
and they were required TO handle each
/ piece separately. with all the attendant
delays II cranes were used Tor the
/ heavier pieces. there were chains TO be
adjusted weights 10 be balanced. ana
loads 10 be swung, The expense ard the
Inconvenience were nor so important bun
/ there was The tedi0usness. Tedi0usness
means time, and the object of the rail-
road Of to-day IS to aHnihllate time.
Modern transportation demands that it
be eliminated.
V.ed in New York HarbOr.
When II came time for the PenHsyI-
vania Railroad to rebuild It's terminal
freight yards an Greemille, Jersey City.
facing on New York Hafb0r. there crop
PED up that ola problem Of how 70 handle
the iron.
GreenFilIe stands 20 railroad terminals
as the mouth Of the Mississippi does 70
rivers. Every second Of the day and night.
565 days ia che year. vast volume of
freight pours into il. and this must sa
distributed for Europe or north south,
east. and west They handle ears there
by the hundred thousand, and they handle
freight hy the millions OF tons IL was
wearisome 20 think thar SO much or il
was 10 be handled in the Old lab0rous
way. The Weu who planned tEe ueW
Pennsylvania became impatient
There must be some other way they
declared. 1t must be found and ac-
cording 10 custom they concluded by say
Ing, Find iti' The word went forth TO
an the men of the country who work at
that sort OF thing. We must ind some
new way. So they began to cudgel their
brains and rumble their hair over the
problem.
Cleveland Sian Thought Of II.
Ont in Cleveland there was a. C. East
wood, and he found himself puzzl.ug over
the order ike all the others. One day, It
is not known how. he remembered The
magnet OF his boyhood days. That solved
the problem. He began 10 experiment. and
the result OF that experiment is now in
active operation over in the yard, doing
every day the work Of "a score OF men.
saving hours and nouns ~ it. cutting down
expenses, and above alI cutting down the
time Of handling. which IS the main th.ng.
Afr. Eastwood's 6evice is the electro
magnet "a simple continuance looking ike
"a double crown Of corrugated iron and
steel, its two poles strongly marked. with
its armatures concealed and an suspended
from the chains Of q heavy crane Around
tuis chain Is wrapped the current wire.
which gives the thing life Or takes ii
away.
Nowadays "a big steel car. piled high
with rails. or pig iron. or scrap iron. or
wheels. r0Es within reach of the crane.
and the man D charge swings the magnet
over il. IT deceads and rests upon The
load 4 button IS pressed, and suddenly
those rails appear alive They fairly leap
up 10 the magnet. ton tons of them 40
"a time. All in neat and orderly array.
As the crane hoists the pieces of metal
swing clear almost without d Tasp or
sound, and then just as uoiselessly they
fan into the rev place appointed, in
the car OF cut of IL into "a waiting barge
or on blocks IL is all 50 simple ana easy.
It is the same way with scrap iron.
Lifts Ten Tons of scrap.
When the magnet dips its nose into
pile OF scrap it energies looking ike
an alligator pear ana every time there
are the ten tons hanging t0 it. It does
not take long 90 dli or empty a car at
that rate. And there is never any ar
gument or shouting OF haIts for breath
ing spells-the magnet never tires SO long
as The electricity is there 10 stimulate Fl.
They made test over in the yards the
other day 70 determine The difference be-
tween tbe old way and the new way. Six
men were put Gao work unloading one ear
of wheels. while the magnet which is at
tended by four men. went To work on Il
load of eEHCt size material ana weight.
The magnet loaded and unloaded its car
i'm one hour. while the six men Iabored
maBfuly at extra pressure for hale
day and We're just through.
That settled IT, other magnets were
ord red. and viii soon take their places
in the freight city. When they are all put
in operation The effect viii be startling
20 the gid-tine railroad man.