Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-01-13
The Argus Daily Story
How the Stack Was straghtenedBy Samuel G. Montford
Copyrighted. by iaaryBu

Tom, having reported the matter to
his employers. was forgotten by them
in their anxiety about the chimney.
The same evening they called a meet
ing Of engineers and builders to dis
euss some means Of propping the Chin
ney to tide them over the busy season.
Not an expedient was suggested that
could be lied upon. If the stack
should fall and wreck the wing the
loss would be far greater than that &C.
casioned by stopping work while the
chimney was being taken down and
rebuilt The propping plan was aban-
doned, and the meeting adjourned with
the understanding that the stack must
come down.
The next morning Tom Swartout In
overalls went into the Office Of Mr..
Rogers, president Of the corporation.
and. leaning his bare arms. black with
coal dust and grease, on q rosewood
railing, said rehectively:
"Mr. Rogers, I've been wondering II
a way Of strengthening the stack I've
been thinking about wouldn't work"
You've been thinking about It! Do
you know that last night we had the
best engineers IN the country here dis
cussing the matter, and they all agreed
the stack must come down"
Tom was about to take his departure
when the president asked. whats
your plan?"
why, you know the base Is square"
"weuT'
"And the stack leans in a psrpendic-
ular line with one Of the faces Of the
base"
Yes"
Now. If q tine Of brick ON the sides
Of the base other than that In the direc-
ton the stack leans could be removed
the stack would settle on that side.
swinging the top toward the perpen-
dicular."
1.-THE removal Of brick under SO heavy
weight would be impracticable."
81 was wondering II 1t couldn't be
done in this way: Remove the brick at
intervals, so as to leave several little
pillars for support. Now, supposing
we wish to take out three inches Of
the brick, we begin by removing six
inches on the other three sides, filing
up the spaces with blocks Of wood OF
equal thickness, leaving three sides
wood instead Of brick. Between the
blocks put In brick piers three inches
high. which would leave q space Of
three inches. the distance required to
right the stack, between the top Of the
piers and the top of the brick piers.
This done, burn out the woodwork. and
the upper brickwork of your base grad
ually sinks down on to the piers"
Tom made this suggestion with no
more consciousness Of its Importance
and ingenuity than If he had prepared
plan for mending a broken machine.
As he progressed the president kept his
eyes fixed on him with growing inter
est mixed with wonder. When Tom
had finished Mr.. Rogers continued to
stare at him for few moments. then
brought his fist down on a bell beside
him. A boy came hurrying in and the
/ president Numbered out the order:
Send the superintendent here at
oncev'
Within an hour Toms plan of right
ing the chimney was begun and with
in eighteen hours had been completed.
The amount Of change to swing the
top Of the chimney into position was
a matter Of a brief mathematical cal
culation and was made before the re-
moyal of the brickwork was begun.
When the woodwork had all been re-
moved by fire the settling was found
to be correct and satisfactory, and the
stack stood perpendicular.
Mr. ROparS inSpartod tho uork oaxu
that it was good, went to his office
and called for Tom Swartout When
Tom reported he hadn't the slightest
idea what he was wanted for The
president handed him check for S1O,-
600. Tom looked at it, then at Mr..
Rogers for an explanation.
Il would gladly have paid an en-
gineer twice that sum-" said the presi-
dent, for your suggestion. 1t has
saved thousands on the stack-thou-
sands for breach of contracts and
thousands, besides, for contingent loss
of business"
Tom couldn't get it through his stu
pid head how little matter like that
should be made SO much of.
A few days after this Tom received
a leave of absence to go home. Mel
Their his father nor his mother knew
him. for he had bought good clothes
; and looked prosperous. They wei
!, coined him home. and when he SET
, about supplying their every want they
were thunderstruck.
How ever did you do it. Tommy p
. asked his mother, beside herself with
, wonder.
"Oh, did little Job on a smoke
, stack that any other fellow could have
r done as well as /, only nobody hap
pened to think Of it,
: Tom Swartout was given a position
4 at the factory. which had no name
a His duties were to think out all sorts
? Of problems that were impossible t.
, others. He was never at loss for
4 device and invented methods for ex
: pediting and lettering work which pu
enormous profits into the pockets o.
q his employers and made him rich.
4 All this his father and mother coult