Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-04-09
PROGRESS OF THE DAY.

The largest single order for railroad |
cars was that recently given by the |
United States Steel Corporation, when 1t |
gave out contract for 500 steel cars. |
These cars are Of 100 600 pound capacity, |
twenty-four feet long, nine feet five
inches high and eight feet six inches
wide The car is center dump, with doors
Ing In Its longitudinal center. They are
SO arranged that, when opened. all of the
load Is discharged clear of the rails. The
car Is operated by one man from either
load and closes the car inside of two
minutes. The car Is absolutely self
cleaning. feature which, it is said.
does not exist with cars heretofore in
pressed steel wheels
The principle of the suction cleaner
has been made use of in the construction
ing English walnuts In the California
groves. This machine requires two oper-
ators, and thus manned it does the
work OF at least ten persons working by
thousands of persons are employed in
that state gathering English walnuts.
The mechanical walnut picker is mounted
on truck and is moved from point to
point through the orchards by the same
gasoline engine that drives the fan for
gathering the nuts by suction. The ex-
hausting ducts have fan-shaped mouths
near the ground and lead to a large
drum on the truck. These ducts are ar
ranged side by side along the front of
the truck. and cover strip of orchard
from eight to ten feet wide. sucking up
everything which comes in their way as
they move down the rows of trees. The |
air is drawn through the pipes to the
drum by the fan and in the drum the
clods. twigs and rotton nuts are sepa-
rated from the perfect ones and the
ty,fn ooly, ,saI.
the attention Of one Of the two men
required to run the machine. The other
mans duties are those of driver. The
big truck Is guided by steering wheel,
In the same manner. The saving In the
cost of harvesting the crop is said to be as
much as % per cent in some cases.
Canada for the calendar year of 1909 ag-
gregate the sum of sos. 562, go. which is
exceeded only by the years 1904 and 1906.
when the yearly totals were swelled by
the CONGREGATIONS at San Francisco and
Baltimore. During last year there was no
great number of large fires excepting the
one at Chelsea, Mass, but there was an
unusual number Of small ones
very compact residential lighting out
fit has been placed on the market for use
in isolated localities where the central
station distribution lines are not avail
4 1O-horsepower gas engine and has a
capacity for forty S-candlepower lamps
and storage batteries with a capacity of
supplying eight S-candle power lamps for
hve hours. These parts are ali mounted
on one bed plate together with a switch
board, vacuum pump, dust collector and
water tank. An assortment Of vacuum
cleaning attachments is supplied as part
of the outfit. which will prove a very &C
ceptable addition to the household i'm
pediments. for by this unique combina-
ton there will be work to be done by 1T
at all times day or night. The engine is
htted with a fly wheel, not usual In |
motors of this type, the purpose being to
overcome the fluctuating voltage, owing |
to irregularity Of speed.
In large Industrial establishments. it is
the custom to furnish the employees with |
closets for their clothes. The great diff |
Guilty has been to keep the closets clean, |
and despite the greatest care, accumula-
lions OF old clothing and other objection |
able material will take place In the lock-
eSs. In some instances 1t has been
necessary, in order TO overcome this. to
Institutes regular inspection of closets.
desks, drawers and shelves, when all
such material comes to light and may be
disposed of. Closets of metal with sides
OF woven wire were made with the nope
that the contents thus exposed would
prevent these places from becoming clog
ged with old clothes, SHOES and parcels. |
but this Improvement has not entirely |
fulfilled the mission for which it was de-
signed Acting on the principle of what
Of closets has been designed with ven
tilating fan exhausting the air from their
interior A duct is fitted along the top
of the lockers by which the air Is kept in
motion inside the closets and the interior
and thus prevented from becoming foul.
Some interesting light has been thrown
on the development Of the Hudson Bay
country recently by captain who has
been making trips into that country Tor
thirty years. In order to meet the ex-
would be necessary to build a special
feet of vessels slow and strong which |
would be of no value anywhere else,
and this would mean that they would be
season is closed by the ice in the middle
of September generally and always by
the first of October, so that the grain
crops would not be gotten out until me
elevators would have to be built to take
care of the grain during this period.
In cold weather, an automobile is often
put out of service because the radiators,
unless filled with some special solution.
are apt to freeze, so that the engines are
often left running when standing on the
street. "A practicing physician is subject
to call at all hours of the day or night. |
and in order that he may be able to use
his automobile at moments notice. one
OF them places an electric heating PAD
under the hood Of the vehicle, closes the
hood and then throws blanket over the
front of the hood and radiator. The |
pad is left in circuit all night, taking (
about as much energy as an incandescent |
lamp, and the engine and radiator are |
kept moderately warm. BY this means |
the vehicle is ready for any emergency |
call and can be started without excessive |
cranking.
The works at Aspinwall. hear Pittsburg. |
built to supply that city with pure filtered |
water, Is said to be the largest single |
filtration plant in the world. The pump |
house is equipped with four centrifugal |
pumps having combined capacity of |
10000 gallons per day. and three pumps |
for cleaning and transporting the filter |
sand, with a capacity for 100000 gal |
Ions. The three sedimentation basins |
have a capacity of 12O,OOO.OOO gallons. |
The filtered water reservoir covers six |
acres and has a capacity of 50.OO0.OOO |
gallons. The 46 beds are each one acre in |
had