THE POWER-FORGING OF CHAIN CABLES. 57 
SHEARING THE BOLT. 
The first operation is that of shearing the bar iron into lengths, or bolts, one 
bolt for each link (Fig. 10, Plate 40). These bolts, after shearing, are put in steel 
baskets, so that they can be transported by crane. The bar iron itself, when de- 
livered into the shop, is placed on skids at the height of the bottom of the sheer 
blade, so as to reduce the labor involved in cutting it up. Where five or six men 
were formerly employed to hold up the bolt while one operated the shear, one now 
does all the work; and instead of having to truck the bolts two or three at a time to 
the upsetting machine, they are now carried in these baskets a ton or more at a 
time by the overhead electric traveling crane. 
SCARFING THE FORGED BOLT. 
The next process is that of upsetting and scarfing. Two special furnaces were 
built for this process, and so installed as to put a furnace, an upsetting machine, and 
a drop hammer practically in the arc of a circle. It was intended to have the trim- 
ming press for the scarfing operation in this circle, but it was impossible to do so 
without making extensive alterations, which up to the present time have not been 
practicable. 
The furnace is charged with from six to twelve bolts, depending upon their 
diameter. When heated for a length of about one foot, the bolt is placed in the up- 
setting machine; when the treadle is depressed the cheek-blocks come up and hold 
the shank of the bolt, and then the header comes up and upsets it. The appearance 
of the bolt is then as indicated in Fig. 11, Plate 41. 
In the same heat the bolt is taken directly from the upsetting machine to the 
2,500-pound steam drop hammer, where the scarf is put on it. The appearance of 
the bolt after this operation is shown in Fig. 12, Plate 42, immediately after which it 
is taken to the trimming press and the flash from the drop forging removed. The 
other end of the bolt is then put in the furnace, with the view of scarfing it in the 
same way as the first end was scarfed. 
BENDING THE BOLT. 
The scarfed bolt is then placed in a basket similar to the one in which the bolts 
were brought to the drop-forge plant, and the basket when filled is carried by the 
overhead crane to the link-bending plant. This plant consists of a 100-ton hydrau- 
lic forging press. The press has three capacities—4o tons, 60 tons, and 100 tons. 
Ordinarily only the 40-ton cylinder is used. The process of bending the link is il- 
lustrated in Figs. 13, 14, Plates 43, 44. The press is of the bulldozer type, so com- 
monly seen in railroad forging shops, and was purchased with a view to using it 
for bending links and other hydraulic forging purposes. 
The mechanism for bending the link was designed and developed at this yard. 
It is mounted on a sole piece, which is bolted to the bed of the press. It consists of 
