Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-21

! A man can live in excellent style in
Japan for so a month
! The German army numbers over $780,.
600 men.
| 1t is said that electric locomotives can
| pull heavier trains at a greater speed than
steam locomotives rated at the same
| power.
| While one often hears of an employe of
a corporation 'rising from the ranks it
/ is not generally known that there are
often restrictions which make ii impossi-
BILE for some classes of employees to rise
| beyond a certain point. where all hope OF
| further advancement is lost no matter
what the qualifications or efficiency of
/ the person may be. The management of
some of the larger railroads have put in
| this class the track laborers. who, with
diligent application and long service.
might become track foremen. but could
never by any possibility be promoted to
any higher position in the service, no
matter how faithful their work or how
manifest their ability to carry larger re-
| sponsbilities
| This policy recently has been changed
| by the Pennsylvania railroad. This road
| announces that in future the position of
| supervisor may be filled from the list of
| track fOremen instead of exclusively
| through the engineer corps. as heretofore
| practiced. In token of this new order
| competent track man. who started in as
an ordinary laborer at fifteen years OF
age and had become q track foreman and
then general foreman of track-laying, an
office created for him especially, has just
been appointed an assistant SUPERVISOR
| from which position he is considered in
| direct line of promotion to supervisor. as
| sistant engineer, superintendent or higher.
| TIE present method of defining tin
1 l. h. III 1,.t,.
| process. is the invention of DIR. Gold
| schmidt who is more widely known as
| the inventor of the welding material
| ''thermit." by which great heat is de-
| yeloped in crucible similarly conyen-
| cent means without resorting to the use
| of a furnace. The chlorine process of
| treating tin scrap is based upon the fact
| that dry chlorine gas unites under the
development of considerable heat with tin,
forming tin chloride. which is heavy
| liquid. and which fumes to an extraor-
| binary degree in contac: with air. Dry
/ chlorine does not attack iron, but the
rusting. The tin plate scrap is pressed in
| TO bundles. aud put into baskets, which
are lifted int large cylinders. The lat
| ter are closed. and chlorine is introduced
care being taken to prevent a rise iii
| temperature. When tin and chlorine COM
bine upward of 1000 calories Is deve oped
| Careful cooling and continuous carrying
| off of the heat are, therefore. necessary
4 IN OrOer 10 erect the OeIlnN1nS OF the IN
| terror of the bundles, chlorine is intro
| duced under pressure of several atmos
! pheres. The gaseous chlorine combines
| with the tin 10 form liquid chloride. and
| therefore conGenses. which furnishes an
excellent indication of the completion of
| the reaction. AS long as tin is still pres
| ent chlorine condenses and the pressure
| falls. If the pressure in the closed. cyl
! .nGer remains constant for some time it
| is clear sign that chloride finds no more
| Oh "a
| and tin chloride are then removed. the
| bundles are carefully washed and are
| ready for the open hearth furnace. The
| tin chloride is sold to silk dyers.
| In order TO effect an economy the prac-
| tice has been recently inaugurated by
| the management of western railroad lines
| of shipping coal in box cars instead of
| the familiar coal cars which have been
| in use for many years. The purpose Of
| this change was mainly to avoid the long
| return shipment of empty cars. BY thus
| making use of the box cars for the trans
| portation of the fuel being shipped to
| western points these cars could be utilized
| for the carriage of grain and other COM
noGities
| The result of this innovation has been
the prevention of theft of coal from cars
| in shipmen;. matter which has long
| been troubling the railroad management
| and the shipper. 1t is well established
| .act that the distractions OF coal in this
| manner nave peen extensively carried On.
| In the aggregate the amount involved is
| enormous. Standing or moving, the coal
| trains have been the object of systematic
| attacks. Boys supplied with gunny sacks
make regular raids on them. One sack
| after another is filled and thrown off, to
| b. gathered up subsequently. Bcakemen
and other train hands have been known to
| make arrangements among themselves to
! shovel off quantities of fuel as they pass
each others homes.
TIE box cars are more difficult to load.
otherwise they are just as we'll suited for
/ tie carriage of Goals as the car designed
fer he purpose. and the virtues OF the
former in the prevention of thefts have
| become so generally recognized that 1t Is
now quite the common thing for the deal
ers TO specify thai the coal shall be thus
| shipped. To such an extent Is this custom
| growing that a piece of mechanism has
been perfected for the loading of box cars
| with coal. 1t has been In successful
operation experimentally for some time in
tie bituminous regions and the first In
stalation has just been made in the an
thracite districts. This is at the Silver
Creek collieres of the Philadelphia and
Reading Coal and Iron Company. at New
Philadelphia, Pa. The apparatus is
mounted on a truck passing along a wide
gauge track beside train of box cars.
y great hopper Is thrust into the interior
OF the car to be loaded and the delivery
| is effected in such manner that the fuel
| is distributed 10 every part Of the car in
the most approved manner entirely with
out any human aid further than that Of
the operator of the machine, who controls
It's operation absolutely by system Of
levers within convenient reach. The ma
chineTy is driven by a seventy five horse
power electric motor supplied with cur
rent by means of Il trolley wi.e. The coal
is delivered into the hopper from an over
head source of supply.