White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1920-10-03

troop SHIPS were WaILln8 only Oh the
turn of the tide, 1t behooved every en-
CINE In the country to be quick as pos
sible on the getaway and to be able
to utilize instantly the full measur
Of steam which It was capable Of gen
Grating to the greatest possible advan-
tage, irrespective Of coal cost or any
other consideration.
Yet even at sea the compound en-
gines are being retired, though much
less rapidly, for In sea service bunker
capacity alone fixes the duration -
well as the profit Of many q trading
voyage. and fuel economy Of space
and weight is therefore q paramount
consideration, while the price charged
a hungry stranger seeking coal In al
far-off tropic port where no one else
ever calls for the commodity would
make the merriest ~pronteer Of these
northern ATTITUDES blush for very
shame.
Triple expansion marine engines are
still the rule. and few Quadruple ex-
pansion engines are being built, while
the whole family OF compounds Is
bending before the steam turbine, the
electrically-driven ship Gas In the lat
est United States hattleships) and mo-
tor ships propelled by the internal
combustion of Oil In their engines
without the Intervention Of steam at
all.
Only q few weeks ago q traveller
passing seward from the city down
the bay noted that Of the five best
known vessels passed on the way, not
n was driven by r~eciprocating steam
engines.
Turbine Locomotives Yet to Come.
Turbine locomotives have not yet
got beyond the working model stage,
and even as such are little more than
scientific toys, but nome the less the
turbine has already found an impor-
tant place on many Of the foremost
railroads in generating high voltage
current for the new electric head
lights. This may have been the means
Of saving the headlight itself, for
with the constant progress In abolish
ing grade crossings and other better
ments of the right Of way, the tend
ency of the late years had been to re-
duce the light carried on the front
Of the trains, some engine drivers
maintaining that If a big white church
were to stray upon the tracks they
might see 1t in time to stop with the
oil-burning lamps. The big lights.
they held, caused confusion at grade
crossings by their startling rays, and
the headlights of the old days were
rapidly degenerating into mere signal
lights corresponding to the tail lamps
Of the train.
The cowcatcher, once an imposing
triangle of heavy timber which car
ried the big wing-shaped snowplows In
winter, has all but disappeared in
| modern practice. there being seldom
anything more than a slightly-curved
wrought-iron framework looking for
all the world like a loosely-built picket
| fence inverted, and but a short STEP
| from the downward-pointing knives
which mark the front Of a Euro
pean engine. But II is not at all In
the way when 1t comes to pushing. or
Drawing q train backward. and engine
| Drivers themselves now refer b Il sim
ply as the pilot"
Rear End Helps Ne Middle.
Atoning In q measure fsr he losses
a new contrivance Is now being quietly
tested on the New York Central witt
great promise Of success. The lie,
comes from Lima, O., which HIS be
come one Of the three big locomotive
building centers Of the country. It |
called the booster" Nth the adven
Of the latter day giant engines, classes
variously as the Atlantic" Pacific
and the 'Mikado' types, the grea
weight on the drivers put an almos
crushing strain upon the rails. AM
to relieve this trailer wheels were at
tached to the real Of the ehS.,,
Trallers hung as a deaa. weight o
the locomotive, but with the "booster
are so no longer. 1t consists Of
double engine, connected directly wit
the trailer wheels. When the thro
tie Is opened these engines take steal
as do the main engines and the trailer
do their full share In starting tn
mammoth machine, but just as soon a
yard limits are left behind and tn
engineer lifts his lever up out of tn
r Of his cab to Its normal posi-
ton for running IN the open road
the booster" engines are automatical
~ disconnected and remain quiescen
until the train again comes to a stand
still, when they re-engage with tn,
t~railers and again do their full shar,
of the work of getting up speed. thu
giving the fastest high-wheel locomo
tive the advantage before possessed
only by engines with small drivers O
making a quick start.
Superheaters are another innova
ton which have apparently come I.
stay. This is a system of heating tn,
steam with gas otherwise wasted OF
Its way from the boiler to the engine
to which the superheater delivers II
often at more than boiler pressure a