54 



THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



COMPRESSED AIR BLOWS 

 BALLAST UNDER TRACKS 



A machine for injecting ballast under 

 ties after the track has been lifted is the 

 invention of a Canadian. His machine, 

 which has been designed to work in con- 

 junction with compressed air, will prob- 

 ably mean an economy in cost of labor 

 amounting to an average of 75 per cent. 



The operation of the compressed air 

 ballast is quite simple. By means of a 

 series of valves and pistons, the air is 

 caused to act upon the ballast. The toe 

 of the machine, 

 which is placed 

 underneath the end 

 of the tie, is equip- 

 ped with a gauge 

 capable of adjusting 

 the toe's aperture 

 for admission of 

 gravel of various 

 sizes that is em- 

 ployed in lifts of 

 from one-eighth of 

 an inch to two 

 inches. 



To illustrate the 

 value of the new in- 

 jector, it is claimed 

 that one motor car 

 equipped with com- 

 pressed air pumps 

 will operate eight of 

 the machines at a 

 time with a capacity 

 of four miles a day 

 and a maximum cost 

 of about $100 per 

 mile. On the other 

 hand, the cost of 

 maintaining roads in 

 the usual way is 

 about $250 a mile, 

 the basis for this 

 cost being the fact that one laborer aver- 

 ages 56 feet of track a day. 



The machine stands three and a half 

 feet high, and is generally made of steel 

 material. It weighs 47 pounds. It is also 

 made in aluminum, in which case it 

 weighs only 27 pounds. 



The inventor of the compressed air 

 ballast injector has spent many years in 

 railroad maintenance work. 



CURIOUS ACTION OF FALLING 

 BODIES 



Investigators have made some inter- 

 esting experiments with falling bodies in 

 the deep vertical shaft of a copper mine 

 at Calumet, Mich., one of the deepest 

 in the world. 



The experimenters tried to drop into 

 a box of clay 4,200 feet below two metal 

 balls, two inches in diameter, one from 

 the center of a shaft, nine feet wide and 

 thirty feet long, and one from the south- 

 west corner of it. Neither of the balls 

 reached the box of 

 clay. One was never 

 found ; the other, 

 probably the one 

 dropped from the 

 center, was found 

 lodged in the timbers 

 of the east side of 

 the shaft, 800 feet 

 from the surface. 

 In fact, bodies drop- 

 ped into the shaft 

 invariably lodged in 

 the east wall, be- 

 cause the earth ro- 

 tates on its axis 

 from west to east. 

 If a load of ore were 

 spilled into the shaft, 

 most of it would 

 cling to the side of 

 the shaft, or land on 

 the levels to the east. 



V 



By Means of This Device 

 Ballast Under Railroad 

 has been 



There is now in 

 use a compression 

 hammer that greatly 

 reduces the labor 

 of tearing up pave- 



it is Possible to inject ments always a 



Led. After "" Trac " hard task, but espe- 



cially so when the 



pavements are of asphalt or concrete. 

 The hammer is driven by compressed 

 air, forced through long pipes by a port- 

 able air pump. The workman has mere- 

 ly to hold the tool in place while the 

 sharp-pointed hammer quickly cuts away 

 the hard asphalt or breaks apart the 

 hardest cobblestones. The saving in 

 time effected by the use of this device 

 is considerable. 



