The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

5io THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL during a month, and as this implies the relaying of miles of track per day, we may get an idea of the rapidity with which the dump piles were growing. On a typical day fifty trains, each containing sixteen wooden cars having a capacity of 20 cub. yds. each, would be unloaded by the ploughing method at Tabernilla alone. This work was performed by four unloaders, so that a single unloader handled, on an average, 4,000 cub. yds. per day, or 500 cub. yds. per hour. At Tabernilla there were, in addition to the four unloaders, two spreaders for dispersing the soil, two trackshifters, one pusher engine, and one switch engine. Fig. 715 gives a full view of the unloading mechanism, which is built for 25 tons’ pull. Ihe illustration shows the way in which the steam supply from the locomotive boiler is taken to the engine of the winch, the pipe being fitted with flexible joints to allow for any movement or vibration. Fig. 716. Rear View—Loaded Train with Plough. In Fig. 716 the loaded plough may be seen at work unloading a train. The winding gear near the locomotive engine can also be seen in the distance. This device is the design of the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co., of New York. The Western Dump Cars of the Western Wheeled Scraper Co., of Aurora, Illinois.— Ihe Western dump cars are used for contractor’s work, similar to the Lidgerwood, and have been largely used in the construction of the Panama Canal; in the building of railways on the Mesabe Range, in stripping the over-burden from the ore beds; in the Florida phosphate fields; and on practically every great constructional work that has been accomplished in the United States of America. Figs. 717 and 718 show two views, back and front, of one of the trucks in the dumping position. The bed or platform of the car is pivoted longitudinally in the centre, and will dump on either side. When dumping, the hinges bolted to the centre sill under the platform move on the pedestal castings, which are bolted to the draft beams. The connection consists