The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-11-18

mass of straliied rock ylidinr over a
/ layer uf Ignite.
Biz Sun is ENosnded.
one Slide now ia mellon, nrar the
bridge Of Cmellra, coyos an area Of
CO so.lca. from which 9.5looCo wards
havc 1lrcacy been removed. leaving
/ 800 QUO SIN To- oe handles. Tnrn
there is another little slide ct 10 l,ss
rhan 80 acres nn the opposite side of
the canal rhe result ,f thcse e. rta
movements. which are qaite eXcep-
! iionm in enqmeerin" practice, has.
been To- leave the canal IN iti deepest
portions. with Verv nat slopes. The
encouraging feature &c tLr heavy work
at that point is found in She statement
in the report that none n the slides
which occur ed during the NcIl IulC
have ntcrfored with tie passage of
! ships had the canal been ia operation"
Already the appropriations made b,
congress Tor the canal have run into
big hiurcs. The total mp 10 tune 80
| last, benz S293 Sol ,46S and since dat
date There have been .,dditicna! APP
propriations, exclusive of those for
Qualifications. amounting 10 $3.50
geo, making the grand total S3@",541.-
fG2. on June 81. of all these ;.ppropri.
aticns, the engineers hal expenied 90
per cent of the total estimated cost of
The canal.
Other Engineering Problems.
or even greater interest from IN On
gineoring point Of view, than the vast
but commonplace work Of excavation
IN Cuiebra cut. was the worl ot con-
structing the great lock" at Gatm ana
Miranores ana Pedro Miguel, for there
many novel problems have been solved
and lock machinery constructed of
special DESIGNS of a magnitude never
before heard Of For Instance, go biz
are the valves at the side of the locks
that a test showed that it required
pull Of over ten tons on the stem to
open one Of these valves. All thiS
work is dore electrically. and here
a2an the oa%in'cls were confronted
with new Giilculiies. owing 10 the
peculiar climatic conditions on the
lsthmus, with tropical heat and ex-
IRENE humidity. and the detorioratin'.
effect Of these conditions on the insula
ton Of electrical machinery, the ordi
nary insulation proved unreliable. and
the engineers round it NECESSARY 10
make great number Of experiments
no less than IL sample motors being
pitted AGAINST one arotEFr. It was an
awful test for dynamo and motor
builders to have their machines re-
Guired 10 operate for a period of ten
days in a building flied with stcam q,
a temperature Of 30 degrees ,ent!grade
and having the motor cases filed with
water for cG,hout} at8d lIterces. nu'
finally the American motor builders
responded aud suitable apparatus IS
being installed.
Great Gates are Swinging.
Thus electric motors under tests are !
now swin@ine rhc great gates of ,he /
canal, each Wciah!ng very many tons /
and as tail and broad as "a great sky |
srraph" buildu@ IN The remarkable
time "f one minute and forty EIGHT
seconds. incidentally II appears that
{" make these gates. the iron workers
must drive AMI head . $50 900 rivctr.
The piv"ts Of these great locks are
heinz made Of Il special grade ui steel
ana bronze, not only for strength but
10 protect them age inst core son, a
very necessary prrcantion in Wow al
the fact that they win always be sub
merged ia sea water a!t"" the canol is
oman ~. ,r,ta,.I .g.i,.t ,.i..,t..