RAISING AND MOVING MASONRY BUILDINGS.Fig. 1.—THE BUILDING SUPPORTED BY SCREWS. (SIDE VIEW.)Fig. 2.—THE BUILDING READY TO BE MOVED. (SIDE VIEW.)Fig. 3.—THE BUILDING SUPPORTED BY SCREWS. (FRONT VIEW.)Fig. 4.—THE BUILDING READY TO BE MOVED. (FRONT VIEW.)Figs. 1 to 4.—BUILDING OCCUPIED BY THE OFFICES OF THE NEW YORK, LACKAWANNA & WESTERN RAILROAD.Fig. 5.—THE WALL, A B, SUPPORTED BY SCREWS.Fig. 6.—THE WALL, C D, READY TO BE MOVED.Fig. 7.—METHOD OF MOVING THE JACK SCREWS.Fig. 8.—JACK-SCREW.Fig. 11.—HOLLINGWORTH'S DOUBLE-THREADED SCREW FOR QUICKLY MOVING BUILDINGS.
RAISING AND MOVING MASONRY BUILDINGS.
The first important application of the method of lifting massive structures and moving them to another spot was made two years ago at Boston, Mass., in the moving back of a hotel that stood about fourteen feet on the line of a proposed widening of Tremont Street. Since that time several analogous cases have occurred in several cities of the United States, so that, for this sort of work, a general method of operating has been devised, notwithstanding the special difficulties that present themselves according to the different methods of construction and the surroundings.
All structures, before being moved, must first be separated from their foundations and then raised. These operations are certainly the most costly and those that take the longest time. It is necessary to take minute precautions and to exercise great watchfulness in order to succeed in planting solidly on the ground the timber work that has to support the pressure of the screws by means of which the entire building is to be afterward raised. The success of the operation depends absolutely upon the care and attention that are bestowed upon these preliminary operations, since the least negligence may lead to a disaster.
Fig. 9.—MOVING A HOUSE BETWEEN TWO FIXED WALLS.Fig. 10.—METHOD OF MOVING A HOUSE WITHOUT LIFTING IT.RAISING AND MOVING MASONRY BUILDINGS.
Fig. 9.—MOVING A HOUSE BETWEEN TWO FIXED WALLS.
Fig. 9.—MOVING A HOUSE BETWEEN TWO FIXED WALLS.
Fig. 10.—METHOD OF MOVING A HOUSE WITHOUT LIFTING IT.
Fig. 10.—METHOD OF MOVING A HOUSE WITHOUT LIFTING IT.
The accompanying figures show the method employed in moving several buildings of different construction, and the peculiar arrangements that have been made, according to circumstances.
The instrument most commonly employed in the execution of such work consists of the following parts: (1) of a cast iron screw having a pitch of 0.56 inch; (2) of a nut provided with a shoulder and two projections that serve to fix it; and (3) of a cast iron plate that is interposed between the head of the screw and the beam upon which the latter is to exert its pressure. Moreover, each nut is set into an oak block, 4 inches in thickness, which rests upon the upper beams of the timber work that is designed to sustain the structure.
All the pieces of wood of the timber work, properly so called, are of spruce, and measure 6x6 inches. Those that are in a direction perpendicular to the foundation walls are 3 feet in length while the longitudinal ones must be long enough to support several screws in order to annul the effect of joints.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent a house at Buffalo belonging to the New York and Lackawanna Railroad Company, constructed of bricks and having a frontage of 90 feet. Between the openings in the latter there are pillars of dressed stone and cast iron columns. The building is four stories high, and the outer walls are 1 foot in thickness.
During the month of June, 1882, this structure was raised all in one piece and moved back 35 feet, in order to give greater width to the railway. This work was performed in so regular a manner that no interruption occurred in the business of the Company's offices.
The first operation consisted in running well squared spruce beams, 12 in. × 8 ft., through the walls and under the ground floor. These beams projected beyond the wall on each side and were spaced about 3¼ feet apart, and care was taken to have them in the same horizontal plane. After ramming down the earth upon which the timber work, f, was to rest, the first transverse beams forming the foundation platform were laid in place in such a way as to have between them the same spacing as between the cross-pieces,a, and so as to be exactly on the same level. These were afterward surmounted with longitudinal beams with alternate transverse ones until the desired height was reached. This framework having once been put in place, there were placed in the axis of each piece of timber work string-pieces,b, which ran without a break the entire length of the wall. Jack-screws,v, of the kind above described, were finally arranged in pairs under each of the cross-pieces,a.
On the front side (Fig. 3) particular precautions were taken to support the stone pillars and iron columns. To this end, apertures were made in the foundation, starting from the axis of the pillars and terminating at the axis of the neighboring columns. Spruce sills were put into these openings and others between the columns, the last-named ones having been put in place after the masonry had been completely severed. The cross-pieces,a, were thus under the sills,g, before the putting in place of the screws,v, and these latter were maneuvered in such a way as to merely support the structure without lifting any of its parts.
These preliminaries having been finished, all the pieces of the timber work were examined with the greatest care, while, at the same time, the joints were consolidated and the defects in leveling were rectified by means of spruce wedges.
During the time of lifting, the workmen were arranged in pairs opposite each other, and on each side of the wall, where each one had 12 to 14 screws to maneuver. In order to render the motion very uniform, the superintendent of the work gave signals by means of a whistle. At this moment each man gave the screw a half revolution, passed to the following one, and continued thus until all the screws under his supervision had been revolved to the same degree. At a fresh signal this operation was begun again, and so on.
When the building had been lifted to a height of twelve inches, it became necessary to raise the screws. To effect this, two rows of beams (Fig. 7) were added to the timber-work, and each screw was moved in succession, so as to always leave one in position. By these means the building was gradually lifted to the desired height, and it now became necessary to take the requisite measures for moving it back. With this object in view, spruce floor timbers,e, very smooth and well lubricated with tallow and soap, were laid upon the timber work and afterward covered with oak planks,d, one inch in thickness, and upon these latter were placed joists,c, that supported string-pieces,b, that were firmly fixed to the joists by means of spruce pins driven in with force. As the floor timbers that were employed had to be as long as possible, they were united end to end by a strong joint and prolonged as far as the new spot upon which the edifice was to rest. Throughout their whole extent they were supported by sleepers that were fixed firmly in the earth. The entire weight of the structure being carried by the pieces,a,b,c,d,e, andf, after the removal of the screws, the jacks, V, were then placed in position, their heads resting against the string-pieces,b, at the points marked S, and their other extremities being received by a framework set into the earth. It took but twelve jacks to move the entire mass, and these were maneuvered under the orders of a superintendent, who transmitted his signals with a whistle.
It took forty days to perform all these operations, and it required fifty men to lift the structure. After the jacks, V, had been put in place, the building was moved in three days, or at the rate of 11.68 feet per day. This is a medium rate of speed to be adopted in the moving of a structure like this, for, under very favorable conditions, it might be carried to over eighteen feet per day.
The timber work which was used in lifting the building was afterward put together again, in the same manner, around prolonged foundations, and the same were put in place a second time after the manner described above. After the floor timbers, e, had been removed by slightly lifting the load, and the structure had been lowered to its proper position, the intervals between the cross-pieces,a, and the walls of the new foundations were filled in with masonry; the mass was then allowed to settle gently down into its place and the cross-pieces were removed.
When buildings stand very near each other, timber-work cannot be put together outside of the walls, and it therefore becomes necessary to adopt the arrangement shown in Fig. 9, all the work being done here beneath the structure. The cross-pieces,a, occupy here the entire width of the house, and are spaced about 36 inches apart from axis to axis. The structure rests upon two pieces of timber work constructed like the ones mentioned above. Besides this, it is necessary to utilize the timbers, L, of the flooring, P, for supporting a part of the load.
During the widening of State Street, in Chicago, several three or four story brick structures were moved in this way. One of these houses was set back about four feet without the necessity of lifting it. Apertures (Fig. 10) four feet in length were cut in the foundation walls, the edges were made level, and planks,candc', were inserted and fixed in tightly by wedges. The intervening masonry was removed, and, after laying planks alongside of those already in place, the structure was put in motion in the ordinary way.
When single threaded screws are employed for moving buildings, it requires much time and manual labor to place and move the pieces. For the purpose of securing greater rapidity in these operations, Mr. Hollingsworth has devised a sort of jack-screw (Fig. 11) that consists of a steel screw about eight feet in length and three inches in diameter, provided with two threads, running in opposite directions. The nuts are set into the corresponding extremities of two beams, one of which abuts against a cast iron brace-block,n, held in place by a stirrup-iron,t, while the other bears against the string-pieces,b. Thanks to this arrangement, a structure may be moved at one time over a length of 6 feet instead of 1.3, the latter being the maximum travel with single screws.
The method in which slide beams, f, are prolonged in view of resisting the pressure of the jacks is scarcely employed at present, the objection to it being that it occasions changes of direction from the line formed by the timber work. For this reason, contractors prefer to use independent posts to receive the jacks.—Revue Industrielle.
FILTER FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKS
FILTER FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKS
As a rule, bleach and dye works are established where there is a sufficiency of good and soft water, except in such cases where for special reasons it is desirable to use town water, and which then is generally clear. Where, however, water from brooks, rivers, or lodges is used, as is mostly the case, it is often discolored after heavy showers by earthy substances which are carried away by it. These impurities, all existing in the water in suspension, are not at all desirable for the dyer, and less for the bleacher, who generally allows the water to settle in a lodge, to give it time to deposit its impurities by gravitation. We understand that by means such as these even the water of the much-abused Irwell is made, in a Salford bleach-works, to produce some of the most beautiful whites possible. These lodges occupy, however, much space, which is not always available, and filtration is therefore the best where it can be carried out. We here produce the description of a cheap and efficient filter which bleachers or dyers may easily make for themselves. The dimensions are of course dependent upon the quantity of water to be filtered, and as a guide we shall describe a filter serving for a volume of water of about 1½ cubic yards per minute. In the first instance a hole is dug at a point where the water has sufficient fall to give it a head, and here a cistern set in cement is bricked out, measuring about 30 yards in length, 2½ yards in width, and 2½ yards in height. Across this cistern two partition walls are erected, one at the left resting upon rails, and the other going down to the bottom of the cistern. Between these two walls railway rails are laid crosswise, and over these a floor of wooden laths. Over this floor the filtering media are placed, consisting of a bottom layer of stones, then a layer of coke, then a layer of gravel, and lastly of a top layer of river sand. The water enters on the left-hand side into the space between the outer wall and the partition, and descends under the floor of the filter, through which it rises and passes in succession through the four layers of filtering substance until it issues at the top, when it runs over the partition, and out by the pipe shown in the right hand corner. It will be seen that the course of the water is upward through the filter, and in this respect contrary to the usual custom. The filter is cleaned about once a month by reversing the course of the water, and turning it indirectly on the top of the filter—causing it to run but at the bottom—andthus carrying all deposits with it. Both the central filtering compartments, as also the overflow cistern at the right hand, contain, near the bottom, doors, through which, when opened, the cleansing water runs off by a separate channel to the river. The dimensions of the cistern can, of course, be made to suit the situation.—Tex. Manfr.
During the recent meeting in Belgium of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers several interesting excursions were made, and by no means the least interesting was the visit to the glass works of Val St. Lambert.
This is one of the largest glass works in existence, entirely devoted to the production of domestic articles, such as tumblers, wine glasses, lamp chimneys, and such like. A good deal of ornamental work is also turned out, a staff of highly competent artists being employed in painting glass vases, etc., such as are used for the decoration of rooms.
The Val St. Lambert works stand on the right bank of the Meuse, in the commune of Seraing, and about seven and a half miles from Liege. As the head offices of Cockerill's vast establishment are located in the old palace of the Bishops of Liege, so the Cristalleries of Val St. Lambert occupy the site of the Abbey de Rosieres. Up to the year 1192 the site was almost a desert, but about that period the abbey was founded. In 1202 Hughes de Pierrepont, Bishop of Liege, gave to the monks a tract of land and woods situated in what was then called the Champ des Maures, whereon was built the abbey. It prospered and became powerful. At the end of the last century it was reconstructed, and at that time were raised the fine buildings now used as a manufactory. The rebuilding had hardly been finished when the Revolution came, and with it the expulsion of the monks. It was sold by the nation, and was used for various manufacturing purposes, until the year 1825, when it was purchased by MM. Kemlin and Lelievre. There had previously existed, at Vonêche, near Givet, a glass works carried on by M. D'Artigues, its owner, aided by M. Kemlin, his nephew, and M. Aug. Lelievre. This latter gentleman had left the Ecole Polytechnique of Paris with distinction, and was the son of Mr. Anselme de Lelievre, Inspector-General of Mines, and a distinguished savant of the last century. MM. Kemlin and Lelievre both became naturalized Frenchmen. However, the frontier traced by the Congress of Vienna for the new territory of Belgium cut Vonêche off from France. The glass works accordingly lost their only market, cut off from it by a heavy tariff. M. D'Artigues left the place and went to France, while MM. Kemlin and Lelievre found in the old Val St. Lambert Abbey what they wanted in Belgium, and this was the origin of the glass works. Nor would it be easy to hit on a better site. In the heart of a rich country, on the borders of a fine river, in the center of a coal basin, and close to the Marihaye Collieries, well provided with railway accommodation, the Val St. Lambert glass works possess every advantage, and they have been proportionately successful.
The establishment is worked by a company known as the Societé Anonyme des Cristalleries du Val St. Lambert, under the Presidency of M. Jules Deprez; and the company possess four distinct establishments, namely, that at Val St. Lambert; one at D'Herbatte, near Namur, founded in 1851; a third in the Rue Barre-Neuvill, at Namur, founded in 1753; and, lastly, one at Jambes, near the same town, founded in 1850.
We need not trace at length, saysThe Engineer, the history of the works. It will be enough to say that for a long time they were carried on with small or no profits; but a great advance was made when, in 1830, coal was first substituted for wood for heating purposes. Further capital was introduced in 1836, and operations have been carried on practically without intermission ever since. In 1850 the annual turn-over was about £60,000. In 1880 the turn-over of the company was £200,000. To give an idea of the magnitude of the operations carried on, we may say that no fewer than 120,000 pieces are turned outevery day. To pack this there are used 50,000 kilos. of heather, 55,000 kilos. of straw, and 250,000 feet of boards per month. The sand of all kinds used per year weighs 7,000,000 kilogs., and the weight of the fire clay 1,500,000 kilogs. The weight of the finished goods sent out per year exceeds 9,000,000 kilogs. The company employs in all about 3,000 hands, 1,800 of whom are at Val St. Lambert. Much attention is paid to the welfare of the operatives by the company, and a species of co-operative store is worked with great success. Many of the hands have been on the works of the company for fifty years, and the managers speak in the highest terms of their servants. They know nothing of "St. Monday." They are laborious, assiduous, intelligent, and attached to the works and the locality, which they rarely quit. These conditions are the most favorable possible for the employers, and they are far too rare in Great Britain. The Val St. Lambert hands, men, women, and children, work uninterruptedly for eleven hours a day all the week through, and some of the men even longer. This affords a remarkable contrast with the hours of labor and customs of our English glass workers.
We take it for granted that our readers know generally how glass is made. That a mixture of sand and an alkali is fused into a kind of pasty mass. The fusion is effected in pots of refractory clay, of which the general form is something like that shown in the sketch. The mouth of the pot is shown at A. The pots at Val St. Lambert are of various sizes; the largest hold about 16 cwt. of glass. The duration of the pots is very variable; they last sometimes only a few days, at others several weeks or even months, much depending on the quality of the pot. The temperature to which they are exposed is not excessively high. The great thing to be effected in a glass melting furnace is the perfectly equal distribution of the heat. At Val St. Lambert gas is used, generated in Siemens or Boetius producers. There are in all twenty furnaces. They are grouped in threes or fours, in the large buildings, with high roofs. Formerly the furnaces were square, and held each eight melting pots, which did not hold more than 250 kilos. of glass. The modern furnaces each receive from twelve to fourteen melting pots. The modern melting pots as made by the Battersea Plumbago Crucible Company do not seem to be known here.
The peculiarities of the construction of the glass melting furnaces at Val St. Lambert will be gathered from the annexed sketch. The furnace is circular, 14 ft. or 15 ft. in diameter, and from the roof, E, to the floor is about 5 ft. 6 in. high. In the center of the floor is a cylindrical opening, A, through which rises the mixture of gas and air, the latter being introduced through four openings, three of which are shown. Two of the pots are indicated by dotted lines at D D. The equitable diffusion of the heat is effected in the following way: Inside the furnace are constructed as many vertical flues as there are pots. Two of these are shown at G G. They have small openings about 5 in. by 8 in. at the bottom. The course pursued by flame is indicated by the bent arrows. The flame rising strikes the crown, E, and is deflected downward and drawn off by the side flues, which deliver into the second vaulted space, F. In this, in some cases, are annealed the finished articles of glass. In others is fixed a boiler, steam being generated by the waste heat. In others there is no opening at the top of F at H, but there is one at the side instead, through which the flame is led to raise steam in Belleville tubulous boilers. The steam is used to drive the engines in the grinderies. Not much power is required, and it is very easily obtained from the waste heat.
SECTION OF CLASS FURNACE.
SECTION OF CLASS FURNACE.
The operations of the glass blower have been too often described to need redescription here. One or two points, however, deserve notice. One is the large use made of wooden moulds. In these are formed all kinds of circular articles, such as tumblers and lamp glasses. The moulds are in halves, and are kept soaked with water to prevent them from burning. Inside they become lined with charcoal. The glass blower, getting a knob of glass on the end of his blowing rod, blows a very thick, small bulb; this he then places on the mould, which is closed by a very small boy; in but too many cases mere children, seven or eight years old, are employed. The child holds the two sides of the mould together while the blower rotates the bulb within, blowing all the time. The work is turned out very true. Up to a comparatively recent period the tumbler was cut to the proper depth while hot with a pair of scissors, but this has been abandoned, and an extremely ingenious little machine is now used for cutting lamp glasses, tumblers, etc. The article to be cut is placed vertically on a stand. At the proper height above the stand is fixed a sharp steel point, and by touching the glass against this a very small scratch is made. At the same level is fixed a little mouthpiece through which issues, under pressure, a tiny gas flame, not thicker than a sheet of note paper. This falls on the glass, which is turned round by the woman attendant. The glass is heated in an extremely narrow band all round. The touch of a moistened finger suffices for the complete separation of the two parts of the glass round the heated girdle. In fact, this is a very elegant application to manufacturing purposes of the well known hot wire method of cutting glass so often tried with indifferent success by the enterprising amateur.
Glass grinding is carried out on a very large scale at Val St. Lambert in huge well lighted shops. There are four grinderies at Val St. Lambert, and one at Herbatte, the total number of which is 800, and the floor space occupied is no less than 24,000 square feet. The first steam engine was put down to grind glass in 1836. A great deal of engraving is done with fluoric acid, the vessel to be engraved being protected with wax in which the design is etched. Tilghman's sand blast is also employed, as well as the old copper disk system; flats are ground on tumblers by automatic machinery.
It would be impossible to do more than give a general idea of the operations carried on in this vast establishment, every portion of which was thrown open to the members of the Institution, while numbers of heads of departments went round and answered every question, and explained every detail with a frankness and a courtesy beyond praise. It is impossible to inspect such an establishment as that at Val St. Lambert without feeling how hard is the battle which manufacturers in this country have to fight. There, as we have said, are to be found every advantage of position, and to this is added a body of workmen, active, sober, industrious, among whom is heard no talk of strikes, and who are content to work every day and all day long; such men, directed by heads possessed of no small scientific ability, and re-enforced by the command of ample capital, cannot fail to make a mark in any market, and we only speak the truth when we regret that we have not such works and such men on English soil as there are to be found at Val St. Lambert.
It is well known that the microscopist can readily distinguish potato starch from all other starches by the size of the grains. Saare has found that the size of the potato starch granules increases with the quality of the starch. In first quality starch they have an average diameter of 33 micro-millimeters, in second grade 21, in third grade 17, in the rinsing water 12, and in that floated off on the water only 8 micro-millimeters. Saare's paper may be found in full in theZeitschrift fur Spiritusindustrie, vi., 482.
In his article on horseshoeing Mons. Lavalard makes some good points, and also some that appear to me to be erroneous. He says, in regard to the frog, "It is evident, then, that the frog helps the hold, but strange to say, it alone of the three parts has a share in the hold when the hoof is shod."
We see nothing strange about this where horses travel over hard roads; the case is otherwise on soft roads or race tracks. It is easy to make the ground surface of such shape that it will have sufficient hold, without the action of the frog. In the shod foot, the frog has more to do with keeping the foot healthy than assisting in the hold. With horses used for speeding purposes, the frog helps to sustain the sole of the foot, as when the foot is brought down with great force and the road soft enough to receive the imprint of the shoe. He further says that: "Simultaneous with this preservation and regeneration of the frog, the hold of the horse becomes firmer, and more equally divided toward the heels, and when starting a load, there is no clamping with the toe of the hoof, but the foot is brought down flat."
Let us examine this statement and see if the reason why the horse brings the foot down flat is because the frog is good, and has a good hold on the ground. The reason appears tousto be because from the manner of shoeing the horse cannot put his foot in any other way. The shoes are much thinner behind than in front, and the heels pared low enough to insure the frogs resting on the ground. Excessive paring of the heels gives extra length to the shoe, which, being thick at the toe, props the toe up in such a manner that the horse isforcedto let the foot remain flat when starting a load. Nothing is gained by keeping the foot flat while starting a load, and to prove this, we ask the reader to observe unshod horses when starting a load. The frog having free access to the ground, see if the horse does not clamp the ground with the toe when exhibiting the maximum of strength. Also examine the imprint of horses' feet (especially the hind ones) when drawing heavy loads over soft ground, and see if the shoe is not pressed more firmly into the ground at the toe than at the heel. This is not because he gets a better use of the frog by so doing, but because the foot is in a better position for the horse to exert his strength without injury to the back tendons. As a further test, place yourself on an incline facing squarely up hill, and see how much power you can exert; then place your feet exactly opposite in direction, and note how much power you can then exhibit. What has made the difference? Simply the relative position of the heels and toes. We do not, like Mons. Lavalard, wish to force our horses to travel up hill all the time, which is the case when shod as he describes.
Horseshoers, like other men who follow a special calling, are apt to think that their theories and practices relating to their special trade are superior to those of other men. I think it is safe to make the assertion, without fear of successful refutation, that there is not more than one horseshoer in ten thousand but what can convince the average horse owner that he (the smith) knows just about all that is worth knowing about horseshoeing.
And the same average horse owner is conceited enough to think himself a better judge of a good job of shoeing than the intelligent animal that wears the shoes till his feet feel as though they were full of thistles. A horse's foot is not a thing that can be cut and slashed into all shapes with impunity, but requires careful as well as intelligent treatment. It is a great mistake to suppose that every sound foot should be treated alike. Each foot has its individuality, which must berecognizedandrespectedif good results are to follow shoeing. It is a lamentable fact, and one that cannot be disputed, that most horseshoers have but a faint notion of what is required to shoe a horse properly, even where no defects exist. If he gets pay for the work, he gives himself no trouble to improve on his methods. But with the owner the case is different. The usefulness and value of the horse are largely affected by the condition of the feet, and he must learn to know how his horse ought to be shod, and then see to it that the work is properly executed. We know from personal experience that this is hard to do. The smith must understand that you are in earnest about the matter, and that you are bound to have your orders obeyed. I have found some men very obstinate, and others always ready to do anything that was an improvement on the old way. First decide what kind of labor the horse is expected to perform. If he is expected to go fast, great care and skill will be required to get everything just as it should be, and don't blame the smith for charging extra for extra work.
It will often be necessary to make several trials before you find out just what suits the horse best, and don't fail to let the horse be judge in the matter, for when he is suited you ought to be.
Place the horse on a smooth, clean floor, and note the set of each foot, and whether it is in line with the limb above it. Cut away the wall of the foot until you come to where it joins the sole; except at the heels and quarter, it may not be quite as low; let the frog and bars remain intact, but see that the shoe will not bear much on the bars. Give the sole about its natural concavity of surface up to the wall, but no further. Place the foot on the floor and see if it is in line with the limb; if not, remove enough horn to make it so. The slant of the front part of the fore foot should, as a rule, be the same as that of the pastern; that of the hind ones a little steeper. Now stand behind the horse while he is made to walk, and see if when the foot approaches the floor both sides come down at the same time so that there is no rocking motion from one side striking first. Disregard the advice of some writers who recommend to have the sole bare on the iron; that theory when put into practice doesn't work worth a cent.
In most cases it will not be necessary to remove much, if any, of the horn from the sole, but there are cases where it will be found necessary to remove quite an amount, or the sole will become so inelastic that it will greatly interfere with the action of the internal organs of the foot. It is evident that nature made the sole of the foot so that it might be acted upon mechanically to remove its surplus growth in the same way as the wall, for in the unshod foot it receives the impact of all sorts of substances, from soft mud to sharp, flinty rocks; and that, too, without becoming dry and brittle.
The bearing surface should be half an inch wide and madepositively flat and level, being without lumps or depressions, and not beveled either way unless they are hard and inclined to pinch, when it should be beveled to the outside, so that the weight of the horse when brought uponits surface will cause the heels to open, thereby causing a more healthy condition of the frog. The nail holes of the shoe should be further from the outer edge of the shoe, especially at the toe, than those usually seen in the market. The bearing surfaces of the foot and shoe should be as nearly approximated as possible, else the hoof will be bruised and the shoe soon loosened. The holes being further from the edge, allows the nails to take a deeper and lower hold than is usually given them; the direction of the nails is more nearly across the grain or layers of horn, causing less splitting of its substance, thereby securing a firmer hold upon the foot. Two large nails are usually chosen, 5s or 6s being large enough for ordinary shoes. It is not necessary to hammer down the clinches, if care has been taken to draw the nails, finishing with light strokes of the hammer. The shoes will stay just as long, as we can testify by four years' experience, and the advantages are that the horn is not injured by filing below the clinches nor by the strokes of the hammer during the operation.
Should the horse step upon the shoe, no horn will be removed with the shoe, as is usually done when the clinches are left long and then turned down with the hammer. In such cases, the shoe will be torn off, no matter how solid the clinches hold, and it is better to come away without breaking the hoof. We repeat and make emphatic that the bearing surface of the shoemust not be concave, as it is almost sure to make corns, and induce an inflammatory condition of the foot, and this inflammatory action is the forerunner of the long list of evils that are sure to follow, unless means are taken to relieve the parts. And yet almost every horseshoer in the country gives the bearing surface of the shoe a bevel to the center. Many smiths will deny this, but after they have the shoe ready to apply to the foot, take a square and place the edge across the bearing surface at the heel of the shoe, and ninety-nine times out of one hundred the outside will be the highest.
The front action of a horse may be greatly modified by the weight of the shoe, and here is where great caution, close attention, and a thorough knowledge of the principles involved are required, or one will be liable to throw his horse out of balance if he is used for speeding; for slow work it is better to have the shoe somewhat lighter than the horse might carry than to err in the opposite direction. It is not intended by me to take up all the points of horseshoeing that might be dwelt upon with profit, and no one who reads these remarks will be more ready than I to learn a better method of shoeing than that I now practice, and I sincerely hope that some reader of this paper will favor us with more information on this important subject.—P. D. B.,in Wallace's Monthly.
There is yet a good deal to do in successfully applying the roller process to small mills of from 25 to 100 barrels capacity. There has been a great deal done, no doubt, but one thing is lost sight of in all the patents that have been granted so far, and that is cheapness, not only in the price of the machine, but also in its application to the existing or original plant in the mill. It should be of such a nature that as few changes in the machinery as possible should be made.
If a grain of wheat is examined, it will be astonishing to see the chemical laboratory that is locked up in it. The most valuable substances, gluten, is placed near the air and light, while the little cells of the interior are composed of starch, which being the softest is the first to break up under the influence of the rolls. Hence, the flour of the first and second breaks is mostly composed of that substance.
About three and a half per cent. of woody fiber can be removed from a kernel of wheat by a moistened cloth; it is of no value, whatever. The next coating holds nearly all the iron, potash, soda, lime, and phosphoric acid. This wrapper is the granary, so to speak, in which is deposited all the wealth of the berry, and like a good safe is the hardest to open, by either the rollers or burrs.
The use of rolls in cleaning bran is now generally recognized, and they have proved very useful and practical for this purpose especially in large mills. Bran, however, can only be thoroughly cleaned by several operations, and the previous condition of the bran has a great deal to do with the number of operations it has to undergo on the rolls to be well cleaned.
Each passage through the rolls changes the condition of bran, and the oftener it goes through them the lighter and cleaner it becomes, until all the floury portion is removed.
The Austrians use corrugated rolls for the purpose of cleaning bran, the finest being on the last, as in the break rolls. It is more scientific and philosophical to clean the bran in this way than to rub off the flour between burrs in this way than to rub off some of the branny portion as well as the glutinous part.
Rollers for the first cleaning are from eight to ten inches in diameter and from three to five hundred corrugations are used, and this increases up to one thousand for the last rolls used; but fine corrugations wear out soon, and the rolls have to be frequently corrugated or the bran has to be finished on burrs.
The use of rollers is preferable to that of stones for bran, and their use is considered an important advance in milling by most German experts.
As the advantage of the use of rolls instead of burrs consists in the production of a greater amount of middlings, this advantage should be experienced in the cleaning of bran. As the small starchy particles adhering to the bran are separated in the shape of middlings instead of flour, a better quantity of flour is produced from these middlings both in color and strength than that which is made from the stones' product.
Differential speed in rolls is not only better in making middlings, but in grinding bran as well. This has been proved by several experiments.
There is no doubt but that there is less care bestowed on the hanging and care of shafting than upon any other means used in applying power to manufacturing purposes. If the steam engine or the water wheel is in good order, and performing their work properly, and the machines driven by them are also in good order, there is seldom a thought bestowed upon the media between the actuating power and its ultimate development, except the necessary attention which must be paid to the belting, and oiling of the machinery.
Often, when the result of the power is not satisfactory, it is not the driving power that is at fault, but the result may be found in the shafting, or other intermediate transferers of the power. Generally, in such a case, the belts are examined and their condition assumed for the imperfect transmission of the power from the prime mover.
The condition of the belts is a very important point in all manufacturing, but more particularly in mills where a steadiness of motion is a desideratum, and attention to them will save many dollars in the course of a year; but there are other as important elements which are not always taken into consideration, and the principal one is the condition of the shafting. A line of shafting running perfectly true, without jumping or jerking, turning smoothly and noiselessly, is a delight to the mechanical eye; and the first thing always examined by a thorough millwright when he enters a mill, is the shafting.
Perhaps there is nothing will strike a person who has been out of the milling business for some time so much as the change in the system of bolting. This is caused by the numerous separations, and it is in this the whole secret of gradual reduction lies.
When a series of photographs representing the successive attitudes of an animal is taken on the same plate, it is naturally desirable to multiply these images, for the purpose of getting the greatest possible number of phases of the movement. But when the animals to be reproduced do not move rapidly, the number of images is limited by their superposition and the resulting confusion. Thus, a man running at a moderate pace may be photographed ten times in a second, without the impressions on the plate being confused. If, at times, one leg is depicted on a part already bearing the trace of another leg, the superposition does not alter the image; the whites become only more intense in those portions of the plates receiving an impression twice over, but the contours of both limbs are still to be distinguished. In the case, however, of a man walking slowly, these superpositions are so numerous as to render the reproduction very confused.
It is to remedy this defect that I have had recourse to partial photography; that is to say, I have suppressed certain parts of the image, that the rest may be more easily understood.
In the method which I employ, only white and light objects affect the sensitive plate; it suffices, therefore, to clothe that portion of the body to be suppressed in black. If a man dressed in a parti-colored costume of black and white walk over the track, by turning the white parts of his apparel toward the camera—the right side, for instance—he will be reproduced as if he only possessed the right half of his body. These images permit the various successive phases of movement to be accurately followed, the rotation of the foot and leg when both on the ground and lifted up, and the oscillation of the limb at the hip joint while moving along in a continuous manner.
These partial photographs are also useful in the analysis of rapid movements, because they allow of the number of attitudes represented being multiplied. At the same time, as a man's leg is rather large, its reproduction cannot be multiplied very often, owing to confusion by superposition. I have therefore sought to diminish the size of the images, so as to an admit of repetition at very short intervals. The method consists in attiring a walker in a black costume having narrow bands of bright metal applied down the length of the leg, thigh, and arm, following exactly the direction of the bones of the limbs. This plan permits the number of images formerly produced to be increased at least tenfold; thus, instead of ten photographs per second, one hundred may be taken. To do this it is not necessary to change the speed of rotation of the disk, but instead of piercing it with one aperture, ten holes are made equally disposed around the circumference.3
The figure here shown is from one of the negatives projected on the screen from the lantern. The dotted lines have been filled in to form direct lines. The figure shows the successive phases of one step in running. Only the left leg is represented; the lines correspond to the thigh, leg, and foot; the dots to the joints at the ankle, knee, and hip.
This diagram shows pretty clearly the alterations of flexion and extension of the leg on the thigh, the undulating trajectories of the foot, knee, and hip, and yet the number of images does not exceed sixty in a second. A revolving shutter pierced with more holes would give more perfectly the angular displacements of the leg on the thigh, and the positions of the three joints. The finer the dotted lines expressing the direction of the limbs, the more the images may be multiplied; but in the present case, sixty times in a second more than suffice to show the displacements of the limbs when running.
In this photographic analysis the two factors of movements—time and space—cannot be both estimated perfectly; knowledge of the positions the body has occupied in space requires that one should possess complete and distinct images; in order to obtain such images, a sufficiently long space of time must elapse between the two successive photographs. If, on the contrary, it is desirable to estimate time more perfectly, the frequency of recurrence of the image must be greatly increased. To bring these two exigencies as closely together as possible, lines and points must be chosen for the partial photographs which best show the successive attitudes of the body.
It is curious to see that this expression of successive attitudes of the trunk and limbs, by means of a series of lines expressing the direction of the bones, has been precisely adopted by the ancient authors as being the most explicit and capable of making the phases of a movement understood. Thus, Vincent and Goiffon, in their remarkable work on the horse, have tried to represent by lines at different angles the displacements of the bones of limbs while taking a step.
It is not necessary to expatiate on the superiority photography has over actual observation for this purpose, giving the true positions of the limbs, while the eye is incapable of taking in such rapid actions in such short spaces of time.
At the commencement of this century the brothers Weber had recourse to the same mode of representation to explain the successive actions produced in the walk of a man. It was by reducing the walker to the figure of a skeleton that these eminent observers succeeded in presenting, without confusion, a number of images expressing different attitudes.
The method of constructing the bright metal bands which in the photograph explain the position of the joints, requires special mention. As the length of exposure is very short, a substance having great brilliancy must be employed. The strips of metal are not equally luminous down their entire length, because they do not reflect the solar rays at the same angle; they present lines of unequal intensity on the negatives. I have obtained the best results with small strips of black wood with nails having hemispherical bright metal heads driven in at regular intervals. Each little rounded surface reflected the image of the sun very brilliantly. In the photograph these lines of nails are reproduced as dotted lines. At the ankle, knee, and hip joints, nails of larger dimensions were inserted, showing these centers of movement by a much larger dot.
Partial photographs obtained by this method allow of the different acts of locomotion being analyzed, as well as the movements of walking, running, or jumping.
For several years Mr. D. N. Carvalho, the New York photographer, has made a specialty of the delicate use of photography which is brought into play more and more in connection with criminal cases in which disputed handwriting, forgeries, counterfeit money, etc., are features. The results now achieved are the outcome of years of experiment, and the photographic expert becomes in the end an expert in handwriting. Mr. Carvalho's gallery of records is an interesting illustration of what perseverance and ingenuity, aided by photography, can do toward solving apparently hopeless mysteries. To a reporter, who visited his studio, he said:
"We can do a great many things to bring the truth to light by the aid of photography. There is scarcely a case nowadays in which it is not brought into play if disputed handwriting is concerned. Of course the most famous case of late years was the Morey letter case. There is a photograph of the Morey letter up there in a corner. It yet remains a mystery, but we are certain that Garfield did not write it. I first found by photography that the envelope had been tampered with by the following process: Cutting the envelope open, so as to get a single thickness of paper, I put it between two sheets of plate glass, and placed it where the sun passed through it, the camera being placed on the shady side. Although no half-erased writing could be detected on the envelope with the naked eye or a glass, the difference in the thickness of the paper where erasures had been made showed plainly, as the light came through more clearly, and the erased words, which gave rise to so much discussion, were discovered.
"Below the Morey letter is a photograph of the signature of Alonzo C. Yates. Yates, you may remember, was a rich Philadelphia clothier, who, late in life, married a cook in the Astor House, and died, leaving a million or so to the wife. The daughters by a first wife disputed the signature to the will. I was employed by John D. Townsend to show the genuineness of the signature. We got thirty or forty genuine signatures of Yates admitted by both sides, and showed that a man never writes his name the same way twice. Then I took the signature of the will and another admitted by both sides, and enlarged them until each was 9 feet 4 inches long. The peculiarities of the writing became so apparent when shown upon that enormous scale—the signatures were so evidently by the same person—that the contestants gave up the case.
"There is a portrait of Theophilus Youngs. He married a clairvoyant many years ago in Boston and disappeared. His widow pretended to recognize his body in one that was found in the bay soon after, and he was given up as dead. Some years after his father died, and the widow put in a claim for a share of the property. The contestants, by whom I was employed, contended that Youngs was yet alive, and eventually produced him in court. The alleged widow refused to recognize him, and I was called upon to prove he was the man. The widow produced a photograph which she said was one of the pictures of Youngs, her husband. A good many years had passed, and although the likeness was a strong one, there was enough difference in the appearance of Youngs and the photograph to make a jury hesitate. I put Youngs in the same position in which he was taken in the picture, the genuineness of which was admitted, and made a photograph of the same size. Then the likeness became more apparent, and exact measurements showed the two faces to measure the same in all respects. For instance, the distance between the mouth and the eye, which is seldom the same in two persons, was exactly equal. Then one picture was made transparent and superimposed over the other, and the two faces matched perfectly. The jury decided that the claimant was not an impostor.
"In the case of Hall, the head clerk of the Newark Treasurer's office, everything depended upon showing that he changed a figure 5 into a figure 3. He ran away to Canada, and was brought back upon a charge of forgery. His counsel claimed that the figure had not been changed, and that if the mark of an eraser was found, and that the figure 5 had been changed, it was caused by the accidental slip of an ink eraser used in the margin. I made photographs of the page, and by means of a stereopticon threw a picture of that particular figure upon a screen 10 feet high. Upon that scale several interesting things came out. It was seen very plainly that the figure had been altered from a 5 to a 3, but the erasure had been made with a different material from the erasure in the margin. We tried a rubber ink eraser, and the result was the same as seen in the margin. Then we tried a steel penknife, and the result enlarged a thousand times was the same as seen over the figure 3. This disposed of the 'accident' theory, and Hall was convicted.
"I was employed in the Cadet Whittaker case, and worked for weeks at the famous letter of warning—a few words scribbled on a piece of paper, which Whittaker was suspected of writing. All the cadets were called upon to give specimens of their handwriting, and the writing of No. 27 was declared by the experts to be that of the note of warning. I believed that it was not, and, taking the specimenof No. 27's writing upon which he was suspected, I duplicated the note of warning, cutting the same letters out of 27's specimen, and placing them together as nearly as possible in the order of the famous note. It was a work of tremendous labor, but when done it showed the innocence of No. 27. It was suspected that the scrap of paper upon which the note of warning was written was torn from a letter sheet which Whittaker sent to his mother, but that theory was disposed of upon enlarging the two edges to the size at which a fine cambric needle looks like a crowbar. Then it was seen that the two edges had never been together. The verdict in the Whittaker case was finally reversed upon the ground that the court had come to a decision from the examination of lithographs of the note of warning, which I proved by comparison with a photograph were incorrect. Whittaker, by the way, is teaching school now in the northern part of this State. He made speeches for Cleveland in his neighborhood during the election campaign last autumn."
The first electric telegraph in which Volta's memorable discovery was utilized was that of Soemmering, of Munich, dating from 1809, and not from 1811 as the statement has too oft been made in print. Soemmering was led to take up electric telegraphy in a very curious way. It was during the wars of the Empire. "It cannot be forgotten," says Julius Zoellner, in theBuch der Erfindungen, "that the so rapid and consequently so fortunate enterprises of Napoleon were especially favored by the admirable means of communication which so rapidly transmitted the will of one man to all parts of his army, and that it was very often such rapidity alone that rendered its execution possible.
"The unfortunate blockade of General Mack in Ulm was an example that Bavaria had seen from too close a distance not to take it into account. And, when the entirely unexpected invasion of the Austrians, on April 9, 1809, and the flight of the King of Bavaria (who was obliged to leave Munich on the 11th) were announced so quickly to Napoleon, by the optic telegraph, that on the 22d of April Munich, that had six days before been taken by the Austrians, was occupied by the French, and when King Maximilian was enabled to re-enter his residence sixteen days after leaving it, then the Bavarian minister, Montgelas, directed his attention seriously to the high importance of telegraphy.
"On the 5th of July, 1809, while dining with Soemmering, a member of the Academy of Sciences of Munich, he expressed to him a desire to have this scientific body propose some systems of telegraphy. The savant accepted this idea with the greatest eagerness, and, three days afterward, under date of July 8, he wrote in his journal: ... 'Shall be able to take rest only when I shall have realized telegraphy by the disengagement of gas.'"
At this epoch, in fact, the decomposition of water was the sole phenomenon known that would permit the electric current to be used for telegraphy, and Soemmering had rendered himself perfectly conversant with it. He at once bought silver and copper wires, insulated them by means of sealing wax, and, on the 8th of July, constructed his first apparatus (Fig. 5). Five insulated rods, represented by the letters,a,b,c,d,e, dipped into a vessel, E, containing acidulated water. From these rods there started wires which, combined into a cable,x,x, and insulated from each other by sealing-wax, could be put in contact with the poles of a Volta pile, S, of 15 elements, formed of zinc disks, Brabant thalers, and felt soaked in dilute hydrochloric acid. On causing a variation in the wires that he put in connection with the poles of the pile, he was enabled to produce a disengagement of gas upon any two definite rods, and thus to transmit the letters that he had taken care to mark the different wires with.
The possibility of the system was recognized, and Soemmering at once had an apparatus constructed according to it. On the 22d of July he received it from the hands of the workman nearly such as it is shown in Fig. 6. The decomposing reservoir was of an elongated rectangular shape containing 35 gold rods that corresponded to 25 letters and 10 figures. From these rods started 35 wires covered with silk and combined into a bundle that was afterward covered with melted shellac. At the other extremity of this cable the wires ran to 35 pieces of copper fixed horizontally upon a wooden support, and each provided with an aperture into which could be inserted one of the pins in which the pile wires terminated.
When these latter were put in connection with the pieces corresponding to any two letters whatever, gas was observed to disengage itself in the reservoir upon the two corresponding rods, but in greater quantity on the one connected with the negative pole. This fact was not lost upon Soemmering, and he utilized it to render the dispatches more rapid; for it allowed him to transmit two letters always at the same time, with the proviso that the one upon the rod from which most gas was disengaged had been written first.
No demand arose for this first apparatus, so Soemmering soon devised one that operated by the aid of a paddle-wheel set in motion by the bubbles of gas. But, a little later on, in August, 1810, he replaced this by another and very ingenious apparatus which is shown in Fig. 6. An inverted spoon, arranged horizontally in the liquid, collected in its bowl the gases that were disengaged from certain rods, and then, rising, caused the inclination at the same time of a rod bent at right angles. This latter thereupon allowed a small copper ball to drop into a glass funnel, from whence it fell upon a cup attached to the end of a lever, and, through its weight, threw into gear a bell operated by a clockwork movement.