Popular Science Montlily 



863 



An Electric Iron With a Headlight 

 /\N electric iron for pressing fine 

 MX. linen, elaboriite center- 

 pieces and similar articles, 

 where extreme care is highly 

 important, has a small elec- 

 tric lamp in the same position 

 that a head lamp occupies on 

 a locomotove. The lamjD is 

 shielded from accidental 

 blows by a metal cap at- 

 tached to the end of the han- 

 dle, the shield also serving as 

 a reflector, concentrating the 

 light upon the work in hand, 

 and preventing the rays from 

 shining in the eyes of the 

 operator. The lamp is con- 

 nected across the heating 

 coils, taking its current from 

 the cord which runs to the 

 socket. 



This electric iron with a headlight is just 

 the thing for ironing when it is neces- 

 sary to use special care 



How Record-Breaking Girders 

 Were Handled 



TO erect record-breaking girders 

 weighing up to one hundred and 

 thirteen tons and up to one hundred and 

 thirty-two feet long, in connection with 

 grade-crossing elimination work in 

 Chicago, required a plant unusually 

 sturdy and capable of c|uick work, 

 livery operation had to be known 

 beforehand; for two of the five spans 

 were over high-speed tracks where a 

 maximum of only two hours' interruption 

 ito tracks could be allowed. That the 

 'calculations of the bridge engineers was 



By planning each move beforehand, these huge girders, 

 weighing over a hundred tons each, were handled easily 



correct is evidenced by the fact that the 

 fifteen girders were all placed without 

 exceeding the allotted time. 



A tower was designed which would 

 straddle the track below, its columns or 

 legs resting on wheels which rolled along 

 the rails, so as to enable the workmen to 

 place it at the exact spot desired. The 

 tower was then securely l)locked up on 

 sills and the lower cross-bracing remoN'ed 

 to allow the heavy girders carried on 

 four steel flat cars to run beneath. A 

 huge pair of hooks then took hold of 

 the girder by its upper flange and lifted 

 it to the proper elevation, so that it 

 could be swung around until its end 

 bearings would come over the steel 

 columns, whereupon it was lowered into 

 place. Power to raise the girders was 

 supplied by giant derrick-cars through 

 steel cables, one of which may be seen 

 near the top of the rail in the accom- 

 l)anying illustration. 



Removable leg sections or "gates" in 

 the rear of the tower pro\ided for dis- 

 engaging it from the girder just erected 

 and moving it to the next. After the 

 three girders in one span were in place, 

 the tower was jacked up on a bed of 

 greased rails along which it was slid 

 across the tracks to the next span. 



The girder, when hoisted in the air, 

 could be moved only a trifle endwise be- 

 cause of its weight, and hardly at all 

 laterally. . 



