The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-06-09

plete mechanical system for loading
mail matter into cars, providing for its
entirely by automatic ap-
planes from mail wagon to train. has
Just been installed in this city. The
apparatus 10 part OF the equipment of
the new Pennsylvania terminal,
which passes 40 per cent of
the mail matter leaving New York.
The saving even Of seconds IL valua-
BILE. and from the time when the wa
CONS from the postoffice deliver the
pouches at the street level until they
enter the mail cars waiting on the lev
ell of the underriver tunnels, seventy
feet lower down. human labor Is sup
plemented by more rapid mechanical
devices
There are three stages in the pro-
cess Of getting the sacks Of mail from
the street TO the mail cars. Some
time before the fast mail train to wes-
tern points. consisting of parhaps half
dozen care, is scheduled to leave the
station, II Is shunted to the mail track.
Into these cars there shortly begging to
drop automatically delivered pouches
coming from some unseen source. AS
the moment Of departure approaches.
the pouches come in more rapid sue
cession, until they are shooting into
the cars in a constant stream.
Rising slightly above the floor Of
the station at the point where the mail
wagons make their deliveries are a
number OF huge hollow sheet iron
cylinders. Into these the pouches are
dumped and slip down to a point just
above the roofs of the waiting cars.
The pouches do not fall in a direct
line. since this might injure their con-
tents. but they go down on spiral slid
es like great screws which the iron
cylinders inclose Occasionally a num-
Der of sacks become damned in the
chutes, and then an employee. as the
quickest means OF dislodging it jumps
into the cylinder itself and takes a
hurried ride down to the point where
the pouches are lodged.
Travel on an Endless Belt.
When the bags reach the bottom Of
the cylinder the first stage of their
handling is ended. From that point
they drop on to one of a number Of
continually moving endless belt con-
veyors, which travel Just above the
roofs of the cars Of the waiting train.
Each cylinder leads to a certain belt.
and each belt serves the trains set
on a certain track. But as all the mail
Is not carried in one car, third oper-
alton is necessary. Standing on the
platform beside the train are a num-
Der of movable curved chutes just
long enough to reach from the convey
or belts to the door Of the mail car,
and by means Of an ingenious auto
matte tripping arrangement each
pouch, as 1t reaches the point above
the car for which It IL destined, falls
from the belt into the curved chute
and lands on the floor Of the car.
Mail coming from the branch postof.
flee In the station Is delivered to the
mouth Of the chutes. not by wagons
but by miniature motor trucks. oper-
ated by electricity and capable of car.
rying several tons at every load. In
some cases the loaded trucks are low.
cred to the track level by big eleva.
tors and deliver the mail direct to
the car door.
This new arrangement by which the
mail is placed aboard the trains is the
first OF Its kind to be installed in the
country. The railroad company paid
for its installation.
The apartment cars In which let
tiers are assorted on the way to their
destination, afford another saving OF
time In enabling mail to be delivered
promptly. There are nearly four thous
and Of these care in commission in the
country. but the government pays
nothing to the railways for their use
beyond the regular allowance by
weight for the mail transported. The
railroads also in many cases are re
quired to deliver the mail between
their stations and the postoffice MOI
more than quarter Of mile distant
without any payment, although on the
statement of government officers, a.
quoted by the railroads, II would COS
the government more than four mil
lion dollars annually to perform Thu
work by contract. These services
have grown up in the course of tim,
as incidents in the rapid handling o
the mails and in the absence Of spe
cific appropriations to enable the post
office to perform them. the railway
say they have assumed the burden TO
the sake Of getting the work don,
promptly.
Protests BY the Railways.
Recently, however. the transports