The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

ROPE WA VS 287 and empty truck. As this platform and truck descend slowly, the strain is allowed to come gradually on the carrier, and therefore on the ropeway. After the carrier has departed with its load hanging from it, the platform of the lift is raised, with the empty truck on it, and arriving in locking position, the truck is run off. This operation is repeated every time a stone is sent down. Figs. 415 and 416 show the conveying and putting in place of the last stone. The erection at Beachy Head was carried out by the contractors under the super- vision of Mr Havelock Case, M.I.C.E., resident engineer for the Beachy Head Light- house Works. Ropeway in the Anaimalai Hills.—The Anaimalais (elephant mountains) of Southern India are an important centre of timber supply. The forests in this region, though much overworked in the past, still contain a large supply of exploitable wood of valuable kinds, chiefly teak, which is handled by a wire ropeway. The climate being unhealthy, this range of hills is almost uninhabited by man, but is infested with wild animals. Under the system formerly employed in working these forests, the huge logs were dragged by elephants from the felling compartments to the side of a 2-ft. tramway, and transported on trolleys to the end of the line, whence they were sent down the ghaut road by bullock carts into the nearest town, about 50 miles distant. These methods have been reformed by the establishment of a saw-mill in the forest driven by a Pelton water wheel, where the timber is sawn into marketable sizes. By the erection of a wire ropeway overlooking the plains, the use of the ghaut road—■-the most costly section of the journey—is dispensed with. The wire ropeway takes off from the lower énd of the tramway line, while its lower terminus is close to the main road. The sawn wood is conveyed from the saw-mill by the tramway direct to the wire ropeway, and in this way reaches the foot of the mountain. The ropeway was erected by Bullivant & Co. for the Forest Department of the Madras Government. A loaded carriage travels down a main fixed rope by gravitation, hauling up an empty carriage on the same rope. The two carriages meet in the centre, and are there transferred by an arrangement described below. The descending carriage is controlled by an endless hauling rope adjusted below the main rope, passing twice round a brake drum, and kept in check by a powerful brake strap, and a large deeply- grooved wheel at the foot. The hauling rope is clipped on to the two carriages on the right-hand side, looking in the direction in which each is travelling. The ropeway between the terminals is 6,318 ft. long, and the length of line actually traversed by the carriages 5,284 ft. It became necessary to advance the starting platform sufficiently to bring the central or transfer platform on to a ridge within easy distance of the rope. The total fall from terminal to terminal is 1031-58 ft.; that from the upper terminal to the starting platform 109-50 ft.; from the starting platform to transfer staging, 488'70 ft.; from the transfer staging to the lower terminal, 433-38 ft. The rope crosses two main valleys and a number of ravines, the ground being much broken up and rocky in parts. There are six main spans of 554, 1,675, 510, 600, 355, and 712 ft. respectively. The rail rope is 2^ in. in circumference, while the hauling rope is in. in circumference. The brake drum is 4 ft. inside diameter. The brake strap is adjusted to the upper half of the drum and acted on by a handle at the side. The lower part of the drum is cased with hard wood and hollowed out to prevent the folds of the rope overlapping. The axle of the drum runs easily in deep substantial bearings. The large grooved wheel at the foot is 4 ft. in diameter.