Popular Science Monthly 



757 



Cutting Sheet Metal with 

 a New Machine 



HERE is a new machine 

 which cuts sheet metal 

 satisfactorily for pattern 

 making purposes and which 

 turns sharp corners. It has 

 been invented. by John L. L. 

 Krook, of Proctor, Vermont. 



The primary use of the 

 machine is the cutting of 

 patterns required by a mar- 

 ble company in Vermont. 

 But the machine is equally 

 useful for cutting metal sten- 

 cils and other patterns and 

 for heavier sheet metal work. 



The machine has a fixed cutter and a 

 reciprocating cutter operated like a sewing 

 machine needle. The driving-shaft is ad- 

 justed to the desired position by means of 

 an eccentric collar which is mounted for 

 rotary adjustment in a ring-shaped groove 

 of the shaft. The machine operates without 

 making much noise. The several incan- 

 descent lamps shown are used instead of a 

 rheostat to vary the speed. 



The sheet metal-cutting machine, 

 an ordinary sewing machine and 



An endless chain fitted with pushers pulls the cotton bales 

 across an A-shaped trestle to the high level railroad track 



Handling Cotton Bales with an Over- 

 head Trolley System 



A MONORAIL system which carries 

 cotton bales over a mile at the rate 

 of six hundred an hour has been put into 

 operation in Texas City, Tex. The com- 

 press is located that distance from the 

 waterfront docks and a railway line inter- 

 venes. In order to get the cotton bales to 

 the ships quickly, the operators of the plant 

 erected a trestle work thirty-five feet high. 

 By means of high and low level lines, the 

 cotton is carried across the tracks and 

 thence to the side of the ships. 



The trolleys which carry the bales are 

 equipped with hooks, the stems of which are 

 fastened to two ball-bearing rollers that fit 

 the overhead rail. An ordinary chain with 

 two hooks is suspended in equilibrium from 

 a hole on the under part of the trolley. An 

 endless chain fitted 

 with pushers every ten 

 feet pulls the bales 

 across the long "A-" 

 shaped trestle. From 

 the ground it is possi- 

 ble to see two hundred 

 and fifty bales travel- 

 ing along slowly. 



There are two lines 

 of trolleys, the low 

 lines running through 

 the compress buildings 

 for a mile as feeders to 

 the main line on the 

 outside, where by 

 means of an inclined 

 trackway, connection 

 is made with the. "high 



is run by electricity level" track. 



