Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-06
New System to Operate Be-
tween Printing and .
Post Offices.
DEVICE INSTALLED
AT COST OF S25, 900
Greater Speed Can Be Secured in
Transportation-No Extra
Labor Is Required.

-SSAS ~Cch tHS tSO,VUu
mail conveyor which has been installed
IN the government printing office, to
carry mail from that building to the
new city post office building. will he
put in operation. 1t has just been
completed and made it's preliminary
run Thursday.
The new conveyor will save the gov
eminent about $1,000 year, in so far
as it replaces two of the eight auto
mail trucks now in use, the running of
each of which costs $4,000 Il year, in
Guiding the three operators wages.
No extra labor will be required in the
operation of the new equipment, which
runs by power.
The tunnel, work on which was COM
menced November Is. through which
this conveyor travels, is eight feet
wide and seven feet high. and is de-
signed to carry the steam pipes and
electric wires for heating and lighting
the post Office building through the
government printing office power plant,
as we'll as the conveyor.
Means of transportation.
This money, labor and time saving
apparatus transports mail from the
second, third, fourth and fifth floors
of the H street building of the gov
eminent printing office to the base of
the vertical bucket conveyor in the
new city post office building by means
of a spiral chute and belt conveyors
installed in such manner that no
manual labor will be required in
handling the mail bags after being
placed in any of the openings until the
same is automatically delivered into
the buckets of the vertical conveyor,
located in the post office building
The system is so designed that it will
be in continuous operation for twelve
hours day, and capable of conveying
$50 sacks of mail per hour. average
weight of 100 pounds each, varying in
size from 16 by Is by So inches to by
"a by SO inches, and varying in weight
from so pounds to $50 pounds per sack
ton can be had by following the course
of the eight conveyors. which consist
of series of belts and metal chutes,
as follows:
Conveyor No. is run near the CELL
ing of the third story from chute in
fourth floor of the H street building to
inside of south wall of the said build
ing, dischargfng by means Of chute to
conveyor No. 2.
Course Of Conveyor No. Q.
Conveyor No. is run on a line near
the ceiling of the second story of the
G street building. from inside of wall
of H street building across Jackson al
ley, through north wing of G street
building, then across the south court
and will discharge by means of chute
into the spiral chute.
Conveyor No. is run near the ceiling
OF basement of G street building, and
extends to east wall of plate vault, dis
charging onto conveyor No. 5.
Conveyor No. 5 is run through plate
vault to the entrance of tunnel leading
to post office building, discharging by
means OF chute onto conveyor No. s.
Conveyors Nos. and Z are installed
through the tunnel to branch tunnel
which contains conveyor No. s.
Conveyor No. is run from the pres
ent tunnel through the new branch
tunnel. and discharges into the bucket
Office building.
The belts for the belt conveyors are
of high-grade canvas and rubber which
stand friction test of twelve pounds
minute.
Speed of the Belts.
The speed Of the conveyor belts is
variable from 120 feet to $50 feet per
minute Each belt is driven by a di-
rect current 220-volt electric motor,
with controller. of ample size to oper-
ate the conyeyors continuously at the
proper full Rad and speed.
The installation of this valuable ap-
plfance necessitated changes to the ex-
listing sewers, gas pipes, water pipes
and telegraph conduits. and the tear
ing up and repaving of streets
At the unofficial test of the new ap-
pliance IL was demonstrated that lis
bags of mail could be delivered in
fourteen minutes, starting at the SUI
perintendent of documents office. That
same delivery would take at least one
hour by truck.
The conveyor started from the fourth
floor of the superintendent of docu-
ments' building, ran through the third
floor of the olG building, then across
jackson alley to the second floor of
the new building, through the second
floor of the new building to a spiral
chute. which discharged II to the base
ment of the new building onto belt
which runs through the basement, and
from there through the tunnel which
connects the government printing Of
fee to the city post Office building.
belt in the tunnel to bucket conyeyor
which is already installed In the post
Office. and from this bucket conveyor it
was discharged onto a series of belts
which deliver 1t onto the mailing plat
form.
Mr.. ". II. Metz, superintendent of
buildings. government printing office,
made requisition for the conveyor
While visiting the New York post Of
fee he studied the conveyor in opera
tion there and at the terminal station
was impressed with its money and time
saving features and decided that such
an equipment would be valuable for
use here.