Chapter 6

The fifth operation (illustrated in Fig. 5) consists in punching out the portions, _e_, of the core at each side of the cross stay of the link, so as to separate the cross stay from the outer ends of the adjacent links. This operation is performed by removing a portion only of the metal of the core which intervenes between the cross stay and the outer ends of the adjacent links enchained with the link under operation--that is to say, portions, _e*_, of the core are temporarily left attached to the outer ends of the links in order to avoid crippling or bending the bar, which might occur were the whole of this metal, which is ultimately to be removed, to be punched out at once, these portions, _e*_, being supported by the bed die in the operation of punching out the spaces, _e_, as hereinafter described. This operation having been repeated upon both pairs of webs, it will be observed that the rod-like form of the chain is now only maintained by the portion of the core at the points, _f_, where the inner side of the eye or bow of one link is united with that of the next one. The severing of these intervening portions of the core and the breaking up of the rod into the constituent links of the chain constitute the sixth operation.

The sixth operation (illustrated in Fig. 6) is performed by torsion, and for this purpose one end of the rod is held fixed while the other is twisted once or twice in opposite directions, until by fatigue of the metal at the points, _f_, the whole of the links are severed almost at the same instant, and a chain of roughly formed stayed links is produced.

The seventh operation (illustrated in Fig. 7) is to remove the superfluous projecting pieces of metal both from the inside and outside of the ends of the links. For this purpose the two ends of each link are operated on at the same time by two pairs of punches corresponding to the outline of the ends of the link.

The eighth operation (illustrated in Fig. 8) is to bring the ends of the links to their finished rounded form. This is performed by stamping both ends of each link at the same time between pairs of shaping dies or swages.

The ninth operation (illustrated in Fig. 9) is to bring the middle portion of each link--that is to say, the side members and the cross stay--to the finished rounded form, which is also performed by means of a pair of dies or swages.

The tenth and last operation (illustrated in Fig. 10) is to contract the link slightly in the lateral direction in order to correct any imperfections at the sides left by the two previous operations and bring the link to a more perfect and stronger form, as shown. This operation has the important result of strengthening the link considerably by contracting or rendering more pointed the arched form of the bow or end of the link, and also by thickening the metal at that part where the wear is greatest, this thickening of the metal at the ends of the link occurring in the direction of the line of strain (as indicated by _x_ in Fig. 10) and being brought about by the compression or "upsetting" of the metal at the end of the link. It may be preferable to perform this operation immediately after the seventh operation, and I reserve the right to do so.

In the case of large cables only the metal is preferably heated for the eighth, ninth, and tenth operations.

I will now refer to the figures which illustrate the series of tools whereby the above mentioned operations are performed.

Fig. 1_a_ shows a plan (the punch being in section) and Fig. 1_b_ an elevation of the bed die of the tool by which the notches _b_ of the first operation are performed. The feed mechanism is not shown, but might be of any ordinary intermittent kind. _g_ is a groove in the bed, in which lies the lower vertical web of the rod, of cruciform section, the two horizontal webs lying upon the bed with the edge of the web to be notched lying just over the die, in which works the punch, B, of which B' is the cutting edge. The punch is operated in the usual way, its lower end, which does not rise out of the die, acting as a guide. B* is the beveled stop in the groove, _g_, which by fitting in the notches, _b_ or _b'_, corrects inaccuracies of the feed.

Fig. 2_a_ is a sectional plan and Fig. 2_b_ an elevation of the tool by which the second operation is performed, the same tool being also used for performing the third operation. (Illustrated in Fig. 3_a_.) _h h_ are a pair of bed-dies having a space _h'_ between them to receive the lower web of the bar, and having notches, C C and D D, in their inner ends, forming counterparts of the punches by which the pairs of mortises, _c d_, Fig. 2, are punched in the pair of webs lying upon the bed-dies, _h_. These bed-dies are fitted to slide a little in opposite directions upon a suitable bed plate and are caused by the inclined cams, _i'_, on the guides, _i_, of the press head (which pass through corresponding apertures in the bed-dies, _h_) to approach each other at the moment the punches come down on the work, so as to grip the lower web of the rod and support the pair of webs being operated on close up to the sides of the lower web lying in the space _h'_, while when the punches rise the bed-dies move apart, so that the web is quite free in said space _h'_ and the rod may be easily fed forward for a fresh stroke of the press. B* is the beveled stop in the space, _k'_, as in the tool first described. The bed-dies _h_ have a second set of notches C' D' at their outer ends, similar to but longer than those C D, so that by reversing the bed-dies they will form counterparts for a second set of punches corresponding thereto for performing the third operation--_i.e._, enlarging the mortises, _c d_, as represented in Figs. 3 and 3_a_; or, instead of adapting the dies, _h_, to perform the two operations, separate tools may be used for the second and third operations.

Fig. 4_a_ is an elevation and Fig. 4_b_ a sectional plan of the tool for performing the fourth operation--namely, removing the portion _a*_, Figs. 3, 3_a_, 4_a_, and 4_b_. This is done by a pair of punches, A*, corresponding in shape to the ends of the link in the rough and to the aperture shown in the bed-die, _k_, Fig. 4_b_, which has a groove, _k'_, to admit the lower web of and to guide the rod. The beveled stop, B*, used in operating on the pair of webs, a, corresponds to the notches, _b'_; but in operating on the webs, _a'_, the stop must be replaced by one corresponding to the aperture left by the removal of the portion, _a*_.

Fig. 5_a_ is an elevation, Fig. 5_b_ a plan, and Fig. 5_c_ a longitudinal vertical section of the tool for performing the fifth operation, the work being shown in section in the latter figure. It consists of a bed-die, _l_, with groove, _m_, to receive the lower web, but terminating at a distance from the die apertures, so as to leave supports, _n_, for the parts, _e*_, of the rod to resist the downward pressure of the punches, E, which remove the portions, _e_, from each side of the cross stay, as shown in Figs. 5_b_ and 5_c_. The correct position of the work in regard to the punches is insured by these supporting parts, _n_, which terminate the grooves, _m_.

Fig. 6_a_ is an elevation of the winch for performing the sixth operation.

Fig. 7_a_ is an elevation and Fig. 7_b_ a plan of the tool for performing the seventh operation. P P are the punches for trimming the outside and Q Q those for trimming the inside of the ends of the links. The links adjacent to the one to be operated on are brought together into the position shown in dotted lines, the bed-die having an aperture in it to admit of this, so that both ends of the link to be trimmed may be operated on together.

The tool for performing the eighth operation consists of a pair of swages, the bottom one only being shown in Fig. 8_a_. The swages correspond to the intended rounded sectional form of the ends of the link, which is placed in position between the swages in a similar manner to that described for Fig. 7_b_, so that both ends are rounded or finished off at once.

Fig. 9_a_ is a plan of the bottom swage of the tool for performing the ninth operation, the upper swage corresponding thereto at least in so far as the middle part of the link to be operated on is concerned.

The tool for performing the tenth operation is represented in elevation and plan in Figs. 10_a_ and 10_b_. It consists of a pair of bed-dies, R, fitted to slide together and operated by the cams, s, on the guide rods, S, the operation being similar to that of the tool shown in Figs. 2_a_ and 2_b_, except that there are no punches, and that the link which lies in the cavity of the dies is merely compressed in the lateral direction by the inward motion of the bed-dies.

My invention further comprises a modification of the above described process, which has for its object to enable the weldless stayed links to be made as short and particularly as narrow as may be necessary in order to adapt the chain to run over the sheaves of pulley blocks and to suit other purposes for which short-link welded chain has heretofore only been available.

In the manufacture of chains by the aforesaid process of punching there is a practical minimum limit for the dimensions of the punches which cannot be reduced without compromising their efficiency, and consequently the width (and therefore the length) of the link must necessarily bear a certain proportion to the thickness of the web of metal out of which it is formed, since the breadth of the link depends on the length of the cross stay, which is determined by the breadth of the mortises forming the eyes of the link. The present modification enables these dimensions to be reduced without reducing the dimensions, and consequently the efficiency, of the punches which form the eyes of the link. The modification applies to what I have designated the fifth operation of the above described process; and it consists in punching out the middle of the cross stay (so as to leave only two short stumps jutting inward from the side members of the link), this operation serving to interrupt the continuity of the core, which was the object of the fifth operation. For this purpose I substitute for the pair of punches illustrated in Figs. 5_a_ and 5_c_ a single punch, which removes that part of the "core" of the cruciform bar which is situated at the middle of the strut. This tool is represented in Fig. 11, and the effect of its operation is shown in Fig. 12. The subsequent operations, herein designated the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth operations, are performed as hereinbefore described; but the tenth operation has the effect of closing together the two stumps, _g g_, until they abut together at the middle of the link and together constitute a cross strut or stay, which prevents any further lateral collapse of the link. In the operation of closing up the gap between the stumps, _g g_, the link is brought to the narrow form shown in Fig. 12, the eyes of the links being only just wide enough to receive the end of the adjacent link enchained therewith without gripping it. This operation is performed by a tool similar to that shown in Figs. 10_a_ and 10_b_, above referred to.

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AN ENGLISH STEAM FIRE ENGINE.

The steam fire engine of which we give an engraving is one specially built for the Indian government by Messrs. Shand, Mason & Co., London. It has the distinction of being the first steam fire engine supplied for the province of Upper Burma, having been purchased primarily for the royal palace, and to serve for the protection of the cantonment of Mandalay. The engine is placed vertically in front of the boiler, and consists of a double acting pump with valves which can be taken out for renewal or examination in two or three minutes. The capacity is 200 gallons per minute, and the height of jet 140 ft. As shown in the engraving, the fore part of the machine forms a hose reel and tool box, and can be instantly separated from the engine to allow of the independent use of the latter at a fire.

The engine is constructed with wrought iron side frames, fore carriage and wheels, and steel axles, springs, etc. The tool box, coachman's seat, and other parts are of teak. It is provided with Messrs. Shand, Mason & Co.'s quick steaming boiler, in which 100 lb. pressure can be raised from cold water in from five to seven minutes, an extra large fire box for burning wood, with fire door at the back, feed pump, and injector, fresh water tank, coal bunker, and other fittings and arrangements for carrying the suction pipe. A pole and sway bars are fitted for two ponies, and wood cross bars to pass over the backs of the animals at the tops of the collars. Two men are carried on the machine, a coachman on the box seat and a stoker on the footboard at the rear of the engine. The whole forms a very light and readily transportable fire engine.--_The Engineer_.

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THE SYSTEM OF MILITARY DOVE COTES IN EUROPE.[1]

[Footnote 1: Continued from _Scientific American_ of July 11, p. 23.]

_France_.--The history of the aerial postal service and of the carrier pigeons of the siege of Paris has been thoroughly written, and is so well known that it is useless to recapitulate it in this place. It will suffice to say that sixty-four balloons crossed the Prussian lines during the war of 1870-1871, carrying with them 360 pigeons, 302 of which were afterward sent back to Paris, during a terrible winter, without previous training, and from localities often situated at a distance of over 120 miles. Despite the shooting at them by the enemy, 98 returned to their cotes, 75 of them carrying microscopic dispatches. They thus introduced into the capital 150,000 official dispatches and a million private ones reduced by photo-micrographic processes. The whole, printed in ordinary characters, would have formed a library of 500 volumes. One of these carriers, which reached Paris on the 21st of January, 1871, a few days previous to the armistice, carried alone nearly 40,000 dispatches.

The pigeon that brought the news of the victory of Coulmiers started from La Loupe at ten o'clock in the morning on the tenth of November, and reached Paris a few minutes before noon. The account of the Villejuif affair was brought from Paris to Tourcoing (Nord) by a white pigeon belonging to Mr. Descampes. This pigeon is now preserved in a stuffed state in the museum of the city. The carrier pigeon service was not prolonged beyond the 1st of February, and our winged brothers of arms were sold at a low price at auction by the government, which, once more, showed itself ungrateful to its servants as soon as it no longer had need of their services. After the commune, Mr. La Perre de Roo submitted to the president of the republic a project for the organization of military dove cotes for connecting the French strongholds with each other. Mr. Thiers treated the project as chimerical, so the execution of it was delayed up to the time at which we saw it applied in foreign countries.

In 1877, the government accepted a gift of 420 pigeons from Mr. De Roo, and had the Administration of Post Offices construct in the Garden of Acclimatization a model pigeon house, which was finished in 1878, and was capable of accommodating 200 pairs.

At present, the majority of our fortresses contain dove cotes, which are perfectly organized and under the direction of the engineer corps of the army.

The map in Fig. 1 gives the approximate system such as it results from documents consulted in foreign military reviews.

According to Lieutenant Grigot, an officer of the Belgian army, who has written a very good book entitled _Science Colombophile_, a rational organization of the French system requires a central station at Paris and three secondary centers at Langres, Lyons and Tours, the latter being established in view of a new invasion.

As the distance of Paris from the frontier of the north is but 143 miles at the most, the city would have no need of any intermediate station in order to communicate with the various places of the said frontier. Langres would serve as a relay between Paris and the frontier of the northeast. For the places of the southeast it would require at least two relays, Lyons and Langres, or Dijon.

As Paris has ten directions to serve, it should therefore possess ten different dove cotes, of 720 birds each, and this would give a total of 7,200 pigeons. According to the same principle, Langres, which has five directions to provide for, should have 3,600 pigeons.

Continuing this calculation, we find that it would require 25,000 pigeons for the dove cotes as a whole appropriated to the frontiers of the north, northeast, east, and southeast, without taking into account our frontiers of the ocean and the Pyrenees.

A law of the 3d of July, 1877, supplemented by a decree of the 15th of November, organized the application of carrier pigeons in France.

One of the last enumerations shows that there exist in Paris 11,000 pigeons, 5,000 of which are trained, and, in the suburbs, 7,000, of which 3,000 are trained. At Roubaix, a city of 100,000 inhabitants, there are 15,000 pigeons. Watrelos, a small neighboring city of 10,000 inhabitants, has no less than 3,000 carrier pigeons belonging to three societies, the oldest of which, that of Saint-Esprit, was founded in 1869.

In entire France, there are about 100,000 trained pigeons, and forty-seven departments having pigeon-fancying societies.

_Germany._--After the war of 1870, Prussia, which had observed the services rendered by pigeons during the siege of Paris, was the first power to organize military dove cotes.

In the autumn of 1871, the Minister of War commissioned Mr. Leutzen, a very competent amateur of Cologne, to study the most favorable processes for the recruitment, rearing, and training of carrier pigeons, as well as for the organization of a system of stations upon the western frontier.

In 1872, Mr. Bismarck having received a number of magnificent Belgian pigeons as a present, a rearing station was established at the Zoological Garden of Berlin, under the direction of Dr. Bodinas.

In 1874 military dove cotes were installed at Cologne, Metz, Strassburg, and Berlin. Since that time there have been organized, or at least projected, about fifteen new stations upon the frontier of France, upon the maritime coasts of the north, or upon the Russian frontier.

Berlin remains the principal rearing station, with two pigeon houses of 500 pigeons each; but it is at Cologne that is centralized the general administration of military dove cotes under Mr. Leutzen's direction. The other stations are directly dependent upon the commandant of the place, under the control of the inspector of military telegraphy. The Wilhelmshaven dove cote, by way of exception, depends upon the Admiralty. In each dove cote there is a subofficer of the engineer corps and an experienced civil pigeon fancier, on a monthly salary of ninety marks, assisted by two orderlies. In time of war, this _personnel_ has to be doubled and commanded by an officer.

The amount appropriated to the military dove cotes, which in 1875 was about 13,000 francs, rose in 1888 to more than 60,000 francs.

As a rule, each dove cote should be provided with 1,000 pigeons, but this number does not appear to have been yet reached except at Thorn, Metz, and Strassburg.

Germany has not confined herself to the organization of military dove cotes, but, like other nations, has endeavored to aid and direct pigeon fancying, so as to be able, when necessary, to find ready prepared resources in the civil dove cotes. The generals make it their duty to be present, as far as possible, at the races of private societies, and the Emperor awards gold medals for flights of more than 120 miles.

On the 13th of January, 1881, nineteen of these societies, at the head of which must be placed the Columbia, of Cologne, combined into a federation. At the end of the year the association already included sixty-six societies. On the 1st of December, 1888, it included seventy-eight, with 52,240 carrier pigeons ready for mobilization.

The first two articles of the statutes of the Federation are as follows:

"I. The object of the Federation is to unite in one organization all societies of pigeon fanciers in order to improve the service of carrier pigeons, which, in case of war, the country must put to profit.

"II. The Federation therefore proposes: (a) To aid the activity of pigeon-fancying societies and to direct the voyages of the societies according to a determined plan; (b) to form itinerent societies and on this occasion to organize expositions and auction sales of pigeons; (c) to maintain relations with the Prussian Minister of War; (d) to obtain diminutions and favors for transportation; (e) to make efforts for the extermination of vultures; (f) to obtain a legal protection for pigeons; and (g) to publish a special periodical for the instruction of fanciers."

_Italy._--The first military dove cote in Italy was installed in 1876 at Ancona by the twelfth regiment of artillery. In 1879, a second station was established at Bologna. At present there are in the kingdom, besides the central post at Rome, some fifteen dove cotes, the principal ones of which are established at Naples, Gaeta, Alexandria, Bologna, Ancona and Placenza. There are at least two on the French frontier at Fenestrella and Exilles, and two others in Sardinia, at Cagliari and Maddalena. The complete system includes twenty-three; moreover, there are two in operation at Massoua and Assab.

The cost of each cote amounts to about 1,000 francs. The pigeons are registered and taken care of by a pigeon breeder (a subofficer) assisted by a soldier. The head of the service is Commandant of Engineers Malagoli, one of the most distinguished of pigeon fanciers.

We represent in Fig. 2 one of the baskets used in France for carrying the birds to where they are to be set free.--_La Nature._

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THE ISLE OF MAN TWIN SCREW STEAMER TYNWALD.

We place on record the details of the first high speed twin screw steamer built for the service. Of this vessel, named the Tynwald, we give a profile and an engraving of stern, showing the method of supporting the brackets for propeller shafting.