The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

SELF-EMPTYING RAILWAY WAGONS 5X3 the track. On account of the width of the truck, and owing to the distance to which the side doors open out, the scale beam must be further away from the end of the platform than usual. If desired, automatically registering weighing machines may be used, for description of which see Chapter XLIII. The “Hunt” automatic railways are suitable for distances not exceeding 600 ft. The trucks are built in two sizes, the smaller carrying 1 ton and the larger 2 tons, and they have been chiefly used for handling coal, but are equally suitable for other heavy material, such as ore, phosphates, clay, etc. The construction of the truck, including the shape of the base, is varied according to the nature of the material to be conveyed. Amongst “Hunt” automatic installations may be mentioned one at the Storey Coal Yard, Brooklyn, New York, where two trucks on separate tracks distribute all the coal hoisted by a 2-ton grab to a pocket which holds 7,000 tons. The Calumet and Hecla Mining Co., Lake Linden, Michigan, U.S.A., use five 2-ton cars which run on twenty-seven automatic tracks. The “ Hunt ” system may also be Fig. 718. Western Dump Car (Front View). seen in operation in Dublin, where it is used by the United Tramways Co. At Ludwigshafen, on the Rhine, it has been installed by the Westfaelisches Kohlen- Syndicat, also at the Gasworks of Zürich, which latter plant is illustrated and described on pages 449 and 450. The principle of this automatic truck is very simple, but the conditions under which it is used vary widely. For instance, it may be made to serve the largest coalyard by means of many separate tracks converging on one or more points. The track or tracks 33