The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

THE COALING OF RAILWAY ENGLNES 623 sixteen outlets on to the conveyor, which takes the coal to the top and delivers it to any one of the four hoppers, from which it can be. withdrawn to fill the locomotive tenders on each side of the structure at a moment’s notice. Coaling Station for Railway Engines at Antwerp. This is illustiated in Fig. 878. Conveying is done on the “Hunt” principle, the coal being deposited in the first instance by self-unloading railway trucks, into a hopper beneath the level of the rails, and it is taken from there by a gravity bucket elevator into the elevated bunkeis, which are fitted with measuring devices. From here the coal is lowered to the tender of the engines (the length of the conveyor chain is 500 ft.). The speed at which the conveyor runs is from 35 to 40 ft. per minute, with a capacity of 30 tons per hour. The expenditure of power is 16 H.P. . The hoppers into which the railway trucks are emptied are capable of holding 2,l0U tons, whilst the elevated bunkers will together hold 100 tons. The measuring airange- ments are such that coal of three different kinds may be fed to the tenders. 1 he con- veyor is at the same time used for the removal of the ashes from the engines, dumping them into a separate hopper to be taken up by the conveyor to a compartment of the overhead hoppers, whence they can be removed at any time. Three men are employed to work the plant—one to look after the machinery and the electro-motor which drives it, one to stand by at the filling of the conveyor, and one to superintend the delivery of the coal to the engines. This instal- lation was built by Pohlig, of Cologne, and was set to work in Fig. 875. Coaling Installation as used on the Southern 1899. Pacific Railway. Locomotive Coaling In- (The dimensions are in metres.) stallation of the London and North-Western Railway at Crewe.1—The London and North-Western Railway Co. have recently built, at their large locomotive running-sheds at Crewe, a coaling plant, and it is believed that by the introduction of this machinery the hitherto generally accepted British method of coaling by hand, or by devices necessitating considerable hand-shovel- ling, has for the first time been completely abandoned. By means of the new plant the coal is removed automatically from the wagon, conveyed to and stored in over- head bunkers, measured and placed on the tender without spadework of any descrip- tion. The plant, which is the first of its kind in this country, was built by Messrs Babcock & Wilcox, and is the joint design of Mr Cooke and that firm. It is desirable to describe shortly the conditions which existed before the advent of the mechanical apparatus, and also to say a few words generally on the question of handling coal mechanically for the use of locomotive engines. It may be advisable to state here certain factors which have militated hitherto against the adoption of coaling machinery for locomotives in England, and also the reasons which led to the installation of the type of plant now described. The points to which careful consideration had to be given were :— 1. The cheap rate at which coal is now dealt with by hand. Extract from a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers by Mr C. T. B. Cooke, M.I.C.E.