356 FIELD OPERATIONS 



a day. Always carry the water in the boiler at a height 

 that will best allow the engine to operate without carrying 

 over water with the steam. It is always best to carry the 

 water-line in the boiler as high as possible. Never allow 

 the fire-door of the boiler to be opened except when firing 

 the boiler. In checking steam, always close the ash-pit doors 

 and damper in the stack; if this is not sufficient to check the 

 steam, the fire should be banked. When shutting the boiler 

 down at night, under no circumstances allow the fire-door 

 to remain open. 



"Starting and Operating the Mixer. In starting the mixer, 

 turn the machine over light a few times, meanwhile setting 

 up such runways as may be required. See that the discharge 

 chute is in position. Feed into the machine the amount of 

 water required for the batch. Follow with stone, sand, 

 and cement in the order named. Let the material remain 

 in the machine about min., which is long enough under 

 average conditions, and then reverse the chute. Then dis- 

 charge direct into wheelbarrows, buckets, or other vehicles, 

 the whole batch or part, as desired. Reverse the chute and 

 feed into the machine the next batch. 



"In securing results as to output, watch the delivery side 

 of the machine; get all the material out at once, so that the 

 next batch can be mixing. If it is necessary to discharge 

 only part at a time, use the largest cart or barrow that can 

 be obtained. 



"An occasional inspection of the journal boxes will guard 

 against undue wear, which may result in bottoming the main 

 gears, with disastrous results to both pinion and spur. Also 

 watch that the rollers do not wear down so as to cause 

 bottoming." 



