AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE COLUMBUS, 



595 



at the works of Piepenstock & Co., belonging to the Horder So- 

 ciety, in 1848. It found its way to America about twelve years 

 later ; but it has not received the attention from American engi- 

 neers that the value 

 of its constructive 

 ideas justifies. 



The first iron 

 beams for use in 

 buildings rolled in 

 America were made 

 the mill of 



Fig. 48. Universal Mill. 



m 



Messrs. Cooper & 

 Hewitt, at Trenton, 

 N. J., in the spring 

 of 1854. They were 

 seven inches deep, 

 weighing about 

 eighty-one pounds 

 per yard. They 

 were used in the 

 construction of the 

 Cooper Institute 

 and the building of 

 Harper & Broth- 

 ers, and also by the 

 Camden and Am- 

 boy Railroad for rails. A special " train of rolls," the invention of 

 William Burrows, was constructed for doing this work. An eleva- 

 tion of the " finishing rolls " of this " train " is given in Fig. 49. It 

 will be seen that there are three short rolls, AAA, whose axes are 

 vertical and supported by a cast-iron frame or housing, D I). Be- 

 sides these vertical rolls there are two horizontal rolls, E E. The 

 power was transmitted to the mill from the main driving-shaft B, 

 through the bevel gearing B 1 , B 2 , the three spur-gears B 5 , and the 

 spindles B 8 . This was the only mill of its kind ever erected, and 

 after a few years it gave place to a " three-high train/' which is 

 the kind of mill exclusively used in America at the present time 

 for the manufacture of the various forms of " beams," etc., known 

 as " structural shapes." 



The space available will not permit of a detailed description of 

 the various improvements in machinery and methods that have 

 been brought forward within the last thirty years, and we can 

 only briefly mention the more prominent. 



In 1859 John and George Fritz (par nobile fratrum)* patented 



* A noble pair of brothers. 



