October i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



9 



RUBBER HOSE AND COMPRESSED AIR WORK. 



IT is said that the largest single contract ever let in the world 

 for construction was the subway railroad system now near- 

 ing completion in New York city. It comprised the most 

 comprehensive system of rapid transit ever devised. For 

 present purposes it is unnecessary to refer to the details and mag- 



that under old methods required a gang of men. It can be 

 taken up a smokestack or inside a boiler; for work on ship- 

 board or upon tanks it is incomparable. The rubber hose will 

 allow it to be placed anywhere that it is needed. 



Even more important than the punch, however, is the rivet- 



nitudeof this work, but it is amatterof interest to knowthata ing hammer. Its convenience and speed, and the superiority of 

 vast portionof the work hasbeen achieved bytheuse of pneuma- its work, make one marvel how iron woik was ever accom- 

 tic machinery and that the contractor, Mr. John B. McDonald, plished without it. It works with equal facility upon the top 

 has referred to compressed air as " an indispensable adjunct to framework of a twenty story skyscraper and in the tunnel being 

 the construction of the subway." It was found early in the ex- driven under a river. The use of the substantial rubber hose 

 perience of the contractors, that steam was unsatisfactory as a makes it safe and reliable anywhere. The power can be gen- 

 motive power from the fact that the many steam boilers each erated at some point convenient to fuel and water but the work 



involved an expensive licensed engi- 

 neer and further, that the losses by 

 condensation greatly reduced the pres- 

 sure and interfered with efficiency. 

 Compressed air has however been made 

 easily applicable by a few first class 

 compressing plants and the liberal use 

 of superior rubber hose. No work ever 

 undertaken has more thoroughly dem- 

 onstrated the advantages of pneumatic 

 machinery and its ready application 

 over extended areas. 



The work upon the New York sub- 

 way is merely cited as an illustration. 

 Except for the use of pneumatic ma- 

 chinery the cost of that construction 

 would have been vastly greater and 

 the time necessary for its completion 

 much longer. It is only one instance, 

 however, of the application of such 

 machinery. It is a recognized feature 

 now of all construction where iron is 

 the material handled. The clatter of 

 the pneumatic riveting hammer is heard 

 continuously upon every modern build- 

 ing during the construction of the steel 

 frame and upon every steel bridge. In 

 the shipyard and in the machine shop 

 the pneumatic tool likewise has be- 

 come indispensable. 



The pneumatic punch which is now 

 in general use. prepares the plates at 

 beams for the rivets and hammer. This 



implement, in itself, is a revelation in air 



iron working. The old method in use, where high power hy- 

 draulic or steam punches were utilized, required heavy ma- 

 chinery for conveying iron along underneath the punch. Ac- 

 cording to the weight of the beam or plate this was heavy labor, 

 required considerable power and the services of a number of 

 workmen. The pneumatic punch is a small implement, weigh- 

 ing sometimes not more than 28 pounds. It is easily swung 

 from a crane, can be placed anywhere 

 in any position and one man or boy can 

 manipulate it. It works rapidly, and 

 more accurately than a power punch 

 because it can be exactly placed. One 

 workman can accomplish many times 

 the amount of work in a given time 



is done just the same no matter how 

 inconvenient the spot. For binding the 

 plates of ships, for boilers, and for all 

 work requiring closeness of joint it is 

 incomparably superior. The secret of 

 good workmanship in this character of 

 employment is to head the rivet before 

 it has time to cool. The contraction 

 of the cooling process itself then binds 

 tighter than any power has been able to 

 do. Under the old system of the hand 

 hammer the most expert workmen 

 could not head the rivet in less than 

 from twenty to thirty seconds and the 

 rivet had cooled when the work was 

 done. With the pneumatic hammer 

 less than five seconds are sufficient and 

 cooling process comes after the head is 

 on, holding the surfaces together like 

 a hydraulic press. One man does bet- 

 ter work in five seconds than two for- 

 merly performed in thirty. 



In heavy shipbuilding this conven- 

 ience and celerity is of particular ad- 

 vantage. The increase in size of ships 

 has rendered the plating so heavy that 

 to draw it up in a satisfactory manner 

 requires the use of a rivet too large to 

 be properly driven by hand. By use of 

 the pneumatic implement the opera- 

 tion is done quickly, before the rivet 

 cools, resulting in drawing everything 

 together firmly. The economy of the 

 ' LU work is also a question of vital import- 



ance. The statement is made that in building an ordinary lake 

 steamship of 4000 tons, the saving in the riveting alone over 

 hand work amounts to between $4000 and $5000. Other pneu- 

 matic tools secure equally beneficial results in shipyards. In 

 all of the larger American establishments they are now in use 

 for chipping, calking, beading, and drilling, and similar appli- 

 ances are being introduced into shipyards abroad. The pneu- 

 matic hammer has found a field for it- 

 self wherever the service of a blow is 

 necessary to labor — from the long 

 stroke heavy implement that will in a 

 few seconds head a ij+ inch rivet, to 

 the light hammer for delicate carving 

 neumatic han and engraving that weighs no more 



