Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-07-01
Machin
The Smaller Cranes Cal o B Sc

odd jobs are taken care Of The en-
CINE is then pushed out of the shop
and after being run up and down
through the yard few times, is again
ready for service
ANY forging work which may be
necessary is taken 10 the blacksmith
shop, a building 500 feat long and $50
feet wide In this shop almost all OF
the forgings for the entire Rock Island
lines are made.
Here again We find q line OF hydrau-
lie and steam-driven machines-a large
5.000-pound steam-hanmer crushing
billets Of steel one foo. thick as though
they were nothing a. all. Again i'll
this shop we see long, plain, round bars
of iron come in and cut up in the ny
draulic shears 10 even lengths On
end Of the pieces are then put in an
oil furnace, where thay are heated un-
til Ted-hOt and are then put in forg-
ing machine, and at one blow of the
machine VIC have bolt headed. These
bolts are then taken on down the shop
TO the bolt cutters. where threads are
cut on them.
In the west end Of the blacksmith
shop is located a spring shop, where
all OF the heavy plate springs fer the
system are repaired Here one sees
pieces of steel heated. shaped, temper
&c in oil and banded together for ser
vice under the heaviest locomotives
In this department IS also located the
scale shop, where all scales are re
paired for the entire line.
Located just west of the machine
shop near the north ,auding of the via
duCt is the office building, occupied by
the shop superintendent, George w
Seiiel, and his force This two-story
building is built of paving brick and
Bedford stone, and is one of the finest
appearing office buildings i'll the tri
cities
Ju5t north of the blacksmith shop Il
located the general store house. where
material of all kinds is kept. not Only
for local use, but also 10 be shipped
out to various points along the line
Here again one sees the value OF e!cc
triciaIly operated devices. on thr
scrap dock is a iarge travelling ciec
trio crane, with ar electric driver
carriage running from one side to tn
other, and suspended from this is ;
large round-shaped magnet. When i
is desired to either load or UNLOAD
scrap of ANY kind, the magnet is lie
down into g car or bin containing thu
material and electric current turnec
on, causing it to become magnetizef
As is the case with the ordinary
horseshoe magnet, the iron pieces arr
attracted by it. As soon as the mag
CASUALLY about 1000 pounds, it i
moved by the carriage 20 whatever
point il is desired TO unload 1t, the cur
rent turned of, and the load immeii
ately falls.
Immediately north OF the stoIe
house is found ne power plant Here
again is found the same orderly aud
tidy conditions as characterize the
plant throughout. Entering from tte
west door We find ourselves in the
boiler room which IS equipped witt
seven 300 horse power boilers and al
of the latest appliances for operation
In this plant slack coal only is used
and We again see work being done
mechanically. A selfdumping car q
coal Us set over the chute and the Goa
dumped into a hopper. Directly an
derneath these hoppers runs an end
less chain of buckets which pick "
the coal and convey it to individual
hoppers from each boiler. II is then
fed 10 the travelling chain CRATES and
is carried mechanically by them into
ID boilers. These are endless chain
crates which keep moving steadily
from the from to the back end of tbs
boilers, aud all coal is handled 10 the
hTe by them. The same endless
chain OF buckets when not eievatias
coal takes care of the ashes which ars
loaded from the basement and dump
ed into a hopper iukt over the chute
that the coal is ldam3 sd into. Thus Il
is POSSIBLE to dump = car of coal, e'e
vate it, and then 10 ad the same cal
with cinders, with pIactically no man
uai labor.
Leaving the boiler room We come "a
the engine room. Hehre are two iarg
generators of 900 * W. capacity
two large air compre Esers, 1000 cubi;
feet capacity per ut1inute, and TIVE
hydraulic pumps %hic Keep up the ny
drauiic pressure for the entire plant
In putting up this b tIstding provision
has been made for 1.-THE future, al
enough space has beesn left in the en-
gins room 10 accom- fnodate two o.
three more engines. 10 the oasereEt
Of the power house isl Hhere the worI
II repairing all ELECTRIC headlights an
Irie itElt:-r -i EsHa IN cars /: