Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-18
How Hot Bolts Are
Shot Into Place on
A Big Building

" I'VE us a hot one, boz" sang
out husky chap standing on
~ swinging platform under a
big iron beam In the new Felt
building.
The hot one" came up in the shape
of a flaming bolt that. was deftly
caught in an old tin pail. 1t was flung
from floor Is feet below. where a taci-
turn man stood by a portable forge
and poked cold bolts into the hot center
OF quick fire
From the bottom OF the tin pail tho
bolt was fished out In JIffy with a pair
OF tongs. II was inserted in a hole
through two thickncsses of steel. Then
another man. carrying what looked
more Ike bicycle pump than any
thing else. laid the lower end of the
pump against the unheaded end of the
bolt. A third man held a big sledge-
Ike lever against the other end. There
was sound similar to that made by
an anchor chain going overheard, or
as If wooden building was being torn
apart by slow degrees. And in a trico
the tin pail man Is singing out for an
other bolt. The pail is his big mItt.
and 1t catches everything that comes
his way The forge man. by long prac
uce. usually gets the throw Just where 1t
should go, and If ne makes a mIscue
out shoots the pail at the end of q long
arm and captures the fiery piece of
iron.
The bicycle pump thing is in reality
an automatic riveter operated by COM
pressed air. 1t hits harder and faster
than half n dozen Jack Johnsons com
blned, and Is always In trim for duty.
Occasionally bolt has To be ham
mered by sledge swung by a man,
and then the contrast between the two
methods Is very noticeable. In the
matter of saving time and doing the
work aloft in shipshapc, the mechanical
tool wins by big margin
From the lexicon OF the structural iron
worker the word dizziness has been cut
out Were too busy TO pay any at
tention to the height of the place we
may be working on" said one OF the
men at the head of n gang on the
Felt building. IF we pay atten-
tlon TO things like that we'd never get
any work done. This stuff never wob-
bles after IT is put In position, and
when man gets used to walking on a
narrow Sidewalk up In the air it's just
about like walking on a wide one down
on the ground.
Don't we have to be careful? Ger
tainly but sometimes too much care
brings n man down as quickly as too
little. l mean In the sense that hesita-
tion and lndecision cannot be lndulged
In. y man at this business must go
about his work, and keep his mind on
1t; then he'll be all right IL he's at all
fitted for the stunt"
That the iron worker hit the nall on
the head can be proved by watching
the crews at work. In one place the
r.veters are doing business diligently,
while all about them may be swinging
beams that the derrick has In Its
grasp Orders are given. the cranc
moves this way and that. raises a sec
tion OF iron that weighs as much as a
house, lowers 1t. tits 1t hither and yon
all without attracting any particular
attention from the men moving about
on other beams In the immediate vlcin-
ity- They have confidence In the men
boSslnG the derrick, with it's educated
arm sticking far up In the air and COW
ering wide radius In its course.
Watch that fellow with the heavy
shoes on, up yon. He stands on q mar
row beam connecting two heavier ones
and is leaning over with a big hammer
In his hands, pounding with free action
on some refractory fiange or bolt He
holds the nicest kind of balance as he
throws the hammer down and swings II
back. The man working with him, and
just below. has not the slightest notion
that the lad with the hammer is going
20 make a mishit. or drop his tool or
of that kind. Dropping of
tools is against the etiquette of the
game, and errors In batting are not toll
Grated.
"Eyen the sailormans rule, look
aloft,' is dlsregar1ed by these men who
put up the steel skyscrapers." said
TT often seems to me
they must have acquired a new sense,
not OF security or anything like that.
but of unconscious balance. Their men,
tai and bodily equilibrium has been
attuned to that point where missteps
or stumbles are exceedingly rare. They
are not nervous, end never hurried; yet
they keep going al. the time. and that's
what counts"