Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-08
Would Meet Conditions.

After consideration OF various typcs
Of coal-handltng equipment It va
as designed and constructed by the
International Conveyor Corporation
would most nearly meet the conda-
lions as outlined above. 1t may be de-
scribed in detail az follows:
Coal arriving in standard hopper
bottom cars on the main line Of the
railroad is switched to the two up
per spurs. Each spur has capacity
of sixteen cars eight In the unloading
space and eight in the space for
empties beyond the hoppers, or to-
tai of. thirty-two, cars for the two
spurs. AS the spur track has down
grade of / per cent away from the
main line the cars are easily moved
by the labor force to spot them above
the unloading hoppers. and then on
into the. storage space for empties
The coal descends through the track
hopper upon the conveyor running
beneath 1t, which has n capacity OF
$50 tons of coal per hour. The coal In
passing over the conveyor Is auto
matically weighed by Messiter cleo
trio automatic conveyor scale, with 4
guaranteed accuracy Of one-half OF
/ per cent. AS each carload is dumped
it is weighed separately and the gross
tonnage for each days work Is also
recorded.
System Of Passing Coal.
The first conveyor delivers it's coal
to cross-conveyor, which, in turn.
which may deliver the coal either
direct to the loading bins or else to
the storage spaces on each side. This
Is done by means of the stacking
machine, through which the third
conveyor is reeve& The stacker is
used in delivering coal direct to one
Of the loading bins.
The loading bins have q capacity of
500 tons each, or a total of 1900 tons.
The bins are self-clearing and the
only labor required is to open the
discharge gates. of which there are
six pairs to each bin. Each pair of
gates Is large enough to load q seven
and a half-ton truck with coal in one
mute. There is. therefore. never any
delay in loading the trucks and q
minimum amount of time is required
for loading.
Whenever the amount Of coal re-
ceived in a day is greater than can
be placed in the bins the stacker can
be withdrawn under its own power
to any point in the yard and the
surplus coal placed in storage, the
capacity OF the storage space being
25, 900 tons. When 1t Is desired to re-
claim this coal the locomotive crane.
which travels on the same track ae
the stacker, removes it from the
storage piles and dumps it into the
hopper above conveyor No. 3, which
| delivers 1t through the stacker to
the loading bins.
Filled From Cars.
The bins may therefore be filled
| hA H.,
means. Of the truck hopper and con-
| veyers 1. 2 and 8. or from storage by
means Of the locomotive crane, travel
ing hopper and conveyor No. 5, or by
both means acting simultaneously
Thus. whenever deliveries by truck
exceed the amount Of incoming coal
the necessary amount can be reclaim
ed from storage. Between the ranges
Of a maximum Of incoming coal and
minimum Of deliveries and . mini
mum OF incoming coal and q maxi.
mum Of deliveries any possible COM
bination can be handled without sub
5ecting either the unloading or de.
| livery forces to any delay whatever
The empty trucks return to the yard
by either Of two side gates. seen at
the right Of the Illustration. pass be-
| meath the bins. are promptly loaded
| and pass out through one Of the two
CcnLCE 8dtoD over tue IIuCk 9C0l00
Between the two truck scales IL the
ONCE building, where deliveries are
recorded and the usual office records
kept
Raised Possible Question.
The only railroad connection which
the yard has IL with the Pennsyl.
vania railroad, and when the Joint
rates that existed between the Penn.
sylvania and Baltimore and Ohio
during the period Of coming by the
fuel administration were Cancelled
this raised the possible question thai
the yard could not enjoy the ad.
vantage of preferential freight rates
The trunk line territorial coal and
coke committee declined to sustain
the joint rates. on the ground thai
they had obtained only as q wal
measure. The director of traffic OF
the United States Railroad Admins.
tration held, however. that an ex.
ception should be made in favor OF
the government fuel yard, as beine
in the interest Of the government
service.
The yard was completed and put in
service on June 8. Records ~ to
operating costs are, Of course, not
yet obtainable. but 1t II expected that
still further economies will be ef-
fected n compared to the figures
given earlier, for with the system a
outlined q labor force OF six men
WORKING the full war; NAV auflre