The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

294 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL by Bleichert, for conveying the iron ore from the mines to the seashore, with delivery stations reaching far out into the sea to make it possible to load into ships holding 3,000 tons, which can be loaded in twelve hours. A portion of one of these ropeways is shown in Fig. 434. The receptacles hold 1 ton each and are conveyed at the rate of 250 per hour, one every fourteen seconds. A ropeway 35,000 m. (38,000 yds.) long in the Andes Mountains of the Argentine Republic with one terminus 3,500 m. (3,800 yds.) high was erected by Bleichert and conveys ore which was previously handled by carts at the expense of 13s. per ton, and is now conveyed by the rope- way at a cost of Is. per' ton. There are twenty-five spans of between 320 to 350 m. (350 to 380 yds.) over valleys up to 200 m. (217 yds.)- This line has weathered the heaviest snowstorms without interruptions. The return strand of the line is used for general merchandise and for conveying drinking water to the mountains. One of the most difficult ropeways over the most broken country was erected by ---Adolf Bleichert & Co. for the purpose of Figs. 428 and 429. Angle Station for a Slight conveying timber from the slopes of Zlatibor Diversion of the Line. in the Black Mountains, and the plains of Zrnivrch and Tara, to the river Drina, where it is formed into rafts and floated on the Danube to Belgrade. This line is at present 6,000 m. (6,561 yds.) long, but will be extended as the clearing of the timber proceeds. There is a gradient of 800 m. (874 yds.), and 18 tons of timber are handled per hour, including stems up to 18 m. (say 20 yds.) long, and of a weight not exceeding 3 tons. The longest span is 790 m. (864 yds.) and the ropeway passes two tunnels of 400 m. (437 yds.) and 26 m. (28 yds.),