July, 1911. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



253 



half way up the rail or more. The metal, of course, 

 must not he allowed to come in contact with the top 

 of the rail. The molten alumina, which tlt)\\s out of 

 the crucihle after the liquid metal, completely covers 

 the top of the joint, and welding temperature 

 being reached, the rails are pressed together by 

 screws placed in position beforehand." 



It is interesting to know that tests carried out on 

 rails thus welded have proved very satisfactory. The 

 following are given b\' the Manchester Corporation 

 Tramwaxs (November 29th. 1906). 



BiiNPiNG Tests, 



Loads 

 Span. E].istic Liinit 



Rending 

 Moment. 



tion of the welded edges of the rails to the high 

 temperature of the " thermit " reaction products has 

 no injurious effect upon the hardness of the rail. 



.\ somewhat similar method to the above is 

 employed in welding third rails on ■,-iectric railways 

 (see Figure 5). 



The liquid steel produced b\- the " thermit "' 

 reaction mav be employed in all sorts of repairs to 

 iron and steel articles : and not only is it applicable 

 to small articles but to work on the largest scale. 

 Indeed, bv the ignition of a couple of hundred- 

 weights of " thermit " one may produce in a few- 

 moments a hundredweight of super-heated mild 

 steel, a quantity producible in so short a period of 

 time by no other means. In repair work it is often 

 found advantageous to add a certain proportion of 

 steel punchings to the "' thermit " : this reduces the 

 quantity required and renders the reaction less violent. 

 As an illustration of the applicability of " thermit "' 

 to marine repairs we reproduce a photograph 

 (Figure 3) of a repair to a fracture (20-in. by 8-in.) 

 in the stern frame of s. s. "Sevilla"" of the Hamburg- 

 American Line, taken after twelve months use. 



[We are indebted to Messrs. Thermit. Limited, 

 for the loan of Figures 2 to 5. — Eds.] 



■'■ English Patents, No. 10,859, May 25th, 1901. (Dr. H.ms Goldschmidt : '■ .V new and improved process for welding metals.") 

 t These tests were made by measuring the lengths of indentations made by a hardened steel die with a curved edge struck to a 



radius of one inch, and ha\ ing a cutting edge whose angle was 50°. 



UNIQUE AMERICAN STEAM 



By FRANK C. PERKINS. 



• R CAR. 



During the past decade the steam motor car has been 

 developed to a high state of perfection in Europe, and has 

 entered the field of urban and inter-urban service with the 

 gasoline motor car, in com- 

 petition with electrically 

 operated motor cars. In the 

 United States, however, little 

 has been done in this line 

 until recently. 



The accompanying illus- 

 tration shows a new and 

 unique car as utilised for 

 passenger service, provided 

 with a baggage compartment 

 and seats for thirty -eight 

 passengers. 



.Although this steam motor 

 car was not designed for 

 freight service, its capacity 

 for hauling trailers or freight 

 cars in an emergency has been 

 demonstrated by hauling a 

 train of freight cars, weighing 

 fifty-two thousand pounds. 



The car has a total length of 

 thirty-seven feet three inches 

 with a width of nine feet two 

 inches, and it weighs complete, 

 without passengers, sixty-six 



thousand pounds. There is 



included in this weight, six 

 thousand six hundred pounds 

 for water and oil, the latter 

 being utilized as a fuel instead of coa 



Figure 1. 



An Unique .American Steam Motor Car. 



It is maintained that 

 this American steam motor car is capable of developing a 



speed of forty miles per hour on a level track and is designed 

 for hauling not more than two trail cars or two express or 

 freight cars under normal conditions, although in emergency 



longer trains can be handled. 

 It may be stated that the 

 engines are hung to the motor 

 trunk but the car body carries 

 the w-ater tube boiler which 

 supplies steam to the driving 

 cylinders at a pressure of 200 

 pounds per square inch. 



The engines develop one 

 hundred and twenty-fi\e 

 horse-power and are capable 

 of driving the car at a speed of 

 forty miles per hour, with two 

 hundred pounds steam pres- 

 sure and on a level track. It is 

 maintained that the use of 

 crude oil for making steam is 

 most convenient in operation 

 and cleanly, there being no 

 dust nor dirt as when coal is 

 used and the combustion in 

 the fire box is complete. 



While the primary object 

 aimed at. it is said, in the 

 development of this design 

 was to provide a self-con- 

 tained steam motor car for 

 passenger service, still con- 

 siderable freight and express 

 may be handled when neces- 

 sary, and a number of trailers may be hauled during heavy 

 passenger service on extra occasions when required. 



