The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-04-16

pieces ana then loaded hy steam
shoVels into the cars and carried on
the railroad out Of the cot.
But let us move onward. Watek
out fOr your feet. You may trip on
the wires and an electric shock send
you to h~eaven-.or the reverse. Don't
you see that train coming? You must
Tar OFF the track. Those cars are
loaded with rocks and earth. and
huge rocks frequently fall and men
are killed by them. The air is full
OF sharp dust, carried on by the mo-
ton. The train is 500 feet long ana
every car is loaded with that mighty
blue rock.
Giants Which Have the Strength OF
Hundreds.
But let US stop at this great steam
shovel n watch it. See how it
gouges out the rocks and earth ex-
ploded by dynamite. There are scores
Of other shovels at work in the cut.
and each is accomplishing more than
the labor Of 500 men.
There are altogether more than
100 Shovels on the isthmus and they
equal a force half as large as the
whole United States Army. Fifty
thousand Sanlsons could not do what
they do.
We take a seat on the stones on
AlI wv tfSa hlt't llClS siV
shovel is working. The huge mon
ster makes one think Of a giant on
wheels with a mighty arm at the
front which ends in a mouth Of steel
as big as a h~ogsheaG. This mouth
has four long. sharp. cruel, steel
teeth on the edge OF its lower lip,
and it gOugeS out ten tons Of earth
at "A bite and. raising it. head in the
air. it swings the bite on to the cars.
See, it is taking a bite now. 1t has
swallowed a rock which weighs three
or four tons and has carried it with
a mass Of chris. There are eight
tons inside its square checks but it
lifts the load as though it were feath-
ers and, l~oosening its lower lip. drops
it into the car. The mass fails with
a loud explosion and the car has
not finished Quivering before the
oiant has bitten out five more wagon
loads Of earth and dropped them or
top.
Look again. The shovel has taker
up a rock too big to pass through it
1T has bitten off more tina it car
cheW. See how it throws the roch
BACK on the dump, and, knocking il
TINS way n that with its~cheeks
TWISTS ana turns it so that it ma,
pass inside the shovel. That roch
- Y - Liih lAS
roars and the steam puffs as the gresA'
jaw jerks and rises and falls, joltins
it down on the car.
NOW lOOk once more at the machin
and see the brains which make i
move as though it were human. L
All comes from that white pygmy il
blue cotton clothing. That is a steam
shovel man. He has a small rope
in his hand, apd With this ne jerk:
h a ..h 49, 4.
mighty giant move at q touch.
The Wonders Of the Shovels.
we walk on a few yards to anothe1
shovel which is taking up wagon
loads OF rock at each mOuthful ant
dropping them down into the car
with its alligator-like jaw. See how
Intellgently it works. AS the pill,
grows uneven it Smooths out the rock
with its chin. 1t turns gigantic
masses with q nod of tAe head and
sinking its teeth deep into old Mothe
Earth, takes up rock ana clay. TIVE
~hOgsheadfuls at a bite, and spits then
into the cars. This machinery her
is the wonder Of the world and i
does its work without Kicking. ]
neNt- stops and never strikes. 1t i
a tool OF h gods, but q little NAL
works it with a touch of his finger.
enc will load a fiat car holdin:
forty tons in five bites. and We hay
shoVelS which have loaded more tina,
1000 cubic yards in a day. Record
are kept Of the work Of each, an,
singl. machines frequently load 65.
900 cubic yards of earth and upWar
in one working month. If tina
amount Of material We're lCade
upon t~wo-hOrSe wagon it Would tax
1900 horses to haul it. and est
mating each wagon at forty feet, tn
loaded wagon train of a single shove
would fill q roadway 500 miles long.
AS we loo | take out my waite
and time the OadinS of a car. Tn
5 shovel drops Il InOuthful WeIghln
from five to EIGHT tons every six
teen seconds, and the car Is filled ]
+ q little over a-minute. In one day
| work a single shovel has lOade
more than 5000 tons. and last Marc
S tftv-One ShOVels ~excaNated on a
average almost so, 600 Yards each.
The Lesson OF The Ant.
: AS we watch h work one Of I'll
I a y