El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-20


ments for recutting the wheels. includ-
mo GREAT Iathes which will gouge off one
fourth of an inch OF metal at a time,
the steel rolling off in cuFls ike those
OF excelsior.
Cutting Iron With Acetylene.
Indeed. the working machinery at
GOroona is wonderful. You can see every
form of iron and steel creation. IheY
have an iron foundry here, where they
make about 100000 pounds OF casting. IN
a month. The work Is done by Jamaica
negroes, under the superintendent OF
Americans. They have also brass fouR-
dries and everything connected with cop
per and tin.
In the iron works ! saw them cutting
immense blocks of steel with blow
nine. The flame was a mixture OF OXY-
cen and acetvlene, and 1t melted rignI
through the iron as though the latter
were butter. I was told that the Drln-
ciple was that of the blowpipe. and that
the pipe was fitted with double noz-
zle. the first of which carried oxygen
and acetylene and turned the iron to
red heat The second nozzle carried a
stream of pure oxygen, and this PLAYING
on the heated iron made it burn ike
wood. Tt was lust ike cutting a piece
of pine with a Ted-hOt poker, save that
the work was more quickly done The
steel block I saw cut was about eight
inches thick The man who handled the
blowpipe wore green goggles, incased IN
dust protectors, to shield his eyes from
the flame. I photographed him at work.
The SafebreakeTs Wanted 1t.
As I saw this flame cutting into the
iron 7 asked the engineers whether it
would not be possible to use the lnven-
ton in cracking a safe, and was told that
the burglars who recently got away with
$4,000 in gold from one of the Panama
banks had planned TO do this on that
lob. They came here to GOrgona and in
Ouired how this flame was operated, and
they had even ordered the oxygen and
machinery for the work from the states,
claiming that they were going to use
it in cutting the Orders of an old iron
pier in Ecuador. The engineers kindly
showed them the process, and thew were
fully equipped for using 1t IN that SAFE
burglary. Indeed, the operating ma
chine and the gases were found IN the
tunnel after thew left. They had expected
that the safe floor would be steel and
to use this for melting it. But the floor
was only cement, and it broke down upon
them before they knew it was coming.
The result was that they rushed OF
with their gold, leaving the machine be-
hind.
How to Beat RaQLee.
During nv visit to the Gorgona shops 1
went through the pattern department IN
which Uncle Sam has about 10000 pat
terms OF machinery and parts Of machin-
erv. These patterns are estimated to be
worth something like 100000. The
models of all the inventions made BY en-
ployes are kept here, and also those OF
the parts patented machines now IN
use.
The latter are used for repairing big
machines. and that because of the great
cost of repair parts A machine itself
NAV be sold at a rOflt OF ID OF 20 per
cent. while the repair parts for that ma
chine are often sold at a profit of 100 or
200 per cent.
Now, BY our patent laws. if I am right
" informed here, a man has right to
use a patented machine as long as a bit
of the original machine Is left. He could
build up the whole invention provided he
used bar, bolt or a nut of the patented
article he bought and provided he did not
have a greater number of such patented
machines than he bad actually purchased.
OF course it would not be possible to tear
up one machine and make a lot of new
ones in this way, but one has the right to
build ND old machines provided he uses
some of the original parts and does not
create a greater number of complete ma
chimes than MS purchases shows Uncle |
Sam finds it cheaper to make these new
parts and repair the old machines rather
than buy new ones or new parts. More /
over. it takes a long time to get ma
terial from the states, and he can man.
ufacture his supply parts more quickly |
than he could get them from home. The |
ordinary time for the fulfillmept of IN !
order IS 80 DAYS. while the same ma |
chinerv can usually be manufactured here |
in less than half that time
In the Warehouses at Empire.
But let us take the train and ride down |
to Empire. We can get there in 20 min /
utes, and see the shop where the steam |
shovels and their parts are made new. |
We shall first enter the qUartermaster's |
There are eighteen of these |
on the isthmus, and each covers acres. |
The one here at Empire IS right near |
the shops. and Is well worth a visit 1t /
is divided up like department store. /
being walled with shelves and cut up BY |
aisles. 1t has hundreds of thousands of |
dollars worth of materials. embracing !
10000 different items ranging all the |
way from 4 nut the size OF yC.l-Iittle