The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-10-10
An IMPROV|sED ORE CAR
DESIGNED BY AECLA MEN
HAS MANY ADVANTAGES OVER
USUAL CAR-BUiLT IN THE
,HECLA SHOP.


nal Of September II contains de-
scription Of an ore car in use at the
Hecla mine, written by Claude I.
Rice, who spent several weeks In the
district last summer. The article is
accompanied by illustrations showing
the various parts of the car, and II
general terms 1t Is described as fol-
lows:
Work Of Sloan and Foreman.
The best car for train haulage at
shaft mines that l have ever seen Is
the one designed by J. b. Sloan, mas
ter mechanic, and c. Fl. Foreman, en-
gineer, of the Hecla Mining company,
which has now been in use at the
months. This car not only has a. ca
pacity Of So cubic feet, and holds ap-
proximately 5H tons Of Hecla ore, but
Is so built that 1t can readily be taken
downa 4x5 foot shaft compartment,
and yet will easily go around Is
foot curve on a 24-inch track.
The car is of entirety new design
The body. instead Of being carrie o..
longitudinal stills with the trucks
fastened to the latter, Is mounted, SO
as to lessen the height, directly upon
the wheel trucks by means Of truck
plates. Extraordinary flexibilty
though the car Is about 10 feet long
and 24-inch gage, Is obtained by
using bolster and turntable truck at
each end. This. together with the use
OF 14-inch wheels. makes it possible
to keep the top Of the car fecs 8
inches from the rails and prevents
the car from being top-heavy, BY a
slight modification of the truck and
the use of 12-inch wheels, the same
body Is used on an 1S-inch track and
works equally well.
Owing to the absence of longitud
inal stills, the car body is reinforced IN
several ways to prevent teescopins IN
case of wreck. This reinforcement
comes partly from a 2x2X% Inch an
gle iron top rim of the body, partly
from IA Inch bumper rods and 2Rx
2hx% Inch angle irons riveted to the
side plates of the body to carry the
hinges of the bottom doors, but main
ly from the 3-inch tapping of the top
and bottom side plates upon each
other about one-third way up the
car body.
Method of Lowering Car Into Mime.
In lowering the car down a shaft,
the body Is dismounted from the
trucks, which are placed on the cage,
Suspended from yoke by chains, it
Is then swung under the cage and
slowly lowered in that manner, The
dsmounting of the car body Is SIM
Pile The cotters are removed from
the king pins that hold the trucks
and body together, and the body Is
lifted off The assembling is almost
as easy. When the level is reached,
the trucks are properly positoned on
the turn sheets, and the car body is
swung into place on them as the cage
Is slowly lowered. BY doing away
with stills. full advantage Is taken of
capacity.
The bottom doors of the car are
closed by means of chains passing
around ratchet shaft. A quick dis
charge of ore is obtained by pulling
the locking arm and releasing the
ratchet wheel. A keep on the chains
stops the doors when they are almost
flush with the inside faces Of the
rails. In this way the ore, as 1t dis
charges. Is kept from getting on the
track and causing subsequent derail-
ment.
BY using four wheels on each truck
and cottering the king pins so that
the holsters have half-inch vertical
play on the turntables of the trucks,
enough flexibility is provided between
body and truck to make the car ride
well even when the track Is very I'M
even. Consequently the car Is not
easily derailed. This Is important, as
the car weighs. when loaded, about
eight tons, and, when empty, about
az tons. But compared to It's capac-
ity the dead weight is not large for a
mine car intended for train haulage.
In building the car no machining Of
parts is required, as trucks and boil
sters are rough cast and used in that
form. being bolted together with two
ply betting between to insure a tight
At. Moreover except for the wood
blocks that are put between the truck
plates and the humping blocks to act
as shock absorbers, all work on the
car Is ordinary blacksmithing. True,
the end plates and the bottom side
plates of the car body must be bent
to shape, but this is easily accom-
plished in any shop having power !
shears. such as the 26-inch Improved |
Doty. with the aid of few special \
tools.
ntnI Z AhcMCDc kAiCED