The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

SELF-EMPTYING RAILWAY WAGONS 5” of a flat bar which drops loosely into the socket of the pedestal in a perpendicular position, the upper end of the bar being held between the lugs of the platform hinge by a pin. The weight of the car does not rest upon the horizontal pin, which passes through the hinge so that there is no liability of bending the pin. rlhe arms operating the doors act automatically. When the platform of the car is tipped, the toggle strikes a plate fastened to the car frame and holds the door from dropping with the platform. Either side opens as the car is dumped and closes as the platform is returned to an upright position, both automatically and instantly. The door arms are pivoted, both where attached to the door and to the platform, in such a manner that, as the platform is tilted, the doors are thrust outward and upward from the load, so that no part of the load as it moves is thrown against the door, and any danger of derailing the car by the impact is removed. When the platform is dumped the open side door is brought to a position nearly parallel with the bottom of it. On account of the free vent for discharge and the acute dumping, angle, anything that can be loaded into the cars will clear the side board in dumping, so that heavy rocks and boulders of frozen earth in large masses can be easily handled. The beds or platforms are held in position by chains on each side connecting with the truck, and provided with spike and ring fastening, which can be released by the hand or foot while the car is in motion. These safety chains practically avoid all possibility of the car dumping accidentally, which might cause serious mishaps. The arms and the toggle-jointed levers which operate the side door are all connected to the platform and not to the truck, so that when the side chains are unlatched, the platform and truck are entirely separable. During dumping the platform is not held rigidly to the trucks, but is permitted to rise slightly from the pedestal at the moment of the shock, so that there is no tendency to lift the truck from the rails. In the event of derailment and rolling down an embank- ment the platform and truck automatically separate, causing less damage to the car and making its replacement on the track much easier. The bearing on which the platform turns in dumping is of such construction and adjustment as to make the dumping and returning of the platform to position very easy. The dumping angle of the cars is from 45° to 75°. At the dumping ground of Gorgona, during the construction of the Panama Cana], eight trains consisting of twenty-five cars each were used, and as the cars had a capacity of 17 cub. yds., we have a daily total of 3,400 cub. yds. brought in this one type of car to this one dump. At Mamei, 10 miles away, both large and small estern cars were dumping 1,500 or 1,600 cub. yds. per day, and so also at other points. Three trains of large dumping cars were run daily from Bas Obispo to the side of the great dam carrying 1,200 or 1,300 cub. yds. of rock to be dumped on to the south toe of the structure. This haul was one of 24 miles. The “Hunt” Automatic Railway.—A practical method of carrying heavy material, such as coal and ore, from wharfside or railway to the stock heaps or storage bins, is the “ Hunt Automatic Railway,” operated entirely by gravity, no motive power or manual labour being required. The salient point of this system consists in the sufficiency of energy which is acquired by the loaded truck descending an inclined track. This energy is utilised, after the discharge of the load, for returning the empty truck to the place whence it started. The railway is loaded at the upper terminal with ore or coal from a small hopper into which the unloading grab discharges. One man is sufficient to operate the installation ; he loads the truck by opening a slide in the small hopper, but its further