The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

Ö2O THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL locomotives can be coaled at either side, and provision is also made for coal to be stored under its trestles. In one of the installations of the Pennsylvania Railway at Bergen Hill near Jersey City 150 locomotives are coaled daily. The advantage of this system of coaling over the more old-fashioned one used in America is that a reduction of hands from fourteen to five is effected, and the cost of loading coal into the tender of the engine is only a small fraction over |d. per ton. This does not include the weighing of the coal, which is not feasible with this method of coaling; but in the old- fashioned method the cost was 6d. or 7d. per ton including weighing. About the year 1907 coaling installations with gravity bucket conveyors (hereinafter called mechanical coaling appliances) were introduced and erected by Hunt, the Link Belt, and the Robin Belt Companies. They were at first received by railway companies with much enthusiasm, which was, however, checked later on account of the following defects:— Firstly.—The finer mechanism of the gravity bucket conveyors is more subject to breakdowns under the rough treatment it might receive, and by coal getting into the driving gear through careless handling, as a breakdown to the conveyor means a break- down of the whole installation. Breakdowns have been known to cause stoppages which have lasted for fourteen days or over. Secondly.—Objection is taken to the storage of large quantities of coal in enclosed receptacles on account of risk of spontaneous combustion, a risk intensified by oil dripping from the conveyor on to the coal. Thirdly. —Such installations are only suitable for comparatively small coal, and large coal would therefore have to be broken, which diminishes its value. Fourthly.—During frosty weather it has happened that the coal has frozen together and large lumps thus formed have refused to leave the hoppers. Fifthly.—The whole installation is of greater initial cost, which is only justified in the case of exceptionally large traffic, and the working and maintenance expenses are high. Sixthly.—It is difficult to extend the capacity of such an installation should increased traffic render this necessary. It might be mentioned that in spite of the above, such installations, fitted with mechanically equipped coaling appliances, are largely used where space is confined and where the creation of coal dust must be prevented. To sum up, both systems are used; the local conditions generally determine which method is to be employed; and the ramp has not been superseded by the bucket elevator coaling station. The mechanically equipped coaling devices are all of practically the same type, though some discharge the coal on one side only whilst others deliver to right and left, the largest ones serving as many as four lines of rails. They all receive the coal, by self- discharging hopper wagons, into a pit below the line (see Fig. 874), feeding into the gravity bucket conveyor. The structure is sometimes of iron, but more often of timber along the side of the lines for extending right across them, and having hinged shoots which lead from the lower end of the hoppers to the tender. One or more such outlets are used which can be turned out of the way when not in use. There are generally a greater number of outlets, so that several locomotives can be coaled at once, and also because different sorts of coal are used, the railway companies generally using for ordinary purposes tender coal, which produces much smoke, because it is the cheapest. It is, however, unsuitable for express trains, and for this purpose harder coal has to be used. The overhead silos are, therefore, equally divided into two compartments, the larger one for soft and the smaller for hard coal. The installations are generally so arranged that the siding upon which the