162 CARGO TRANSFERENCE AT STEAMSHIP TERMINALS. 
less surface area than horse or power trucks. Besides the expense and floor 
congestion resulting from lack of capacity when large numbers of hand- 
trucks are in service, the difficulty of securing large numbers of men of the 
good old longshoremen type and the possible labor troubles, are some of the 
incentives to apply, without delay, machinery to do most of the work. 
Harbor terminal improvements so as to obtain sufficient berthing, 
transshipment and storage capacity are expensive, and the units of expendi- 
ture are millions of dollars. Extensions are continually being required and 
on account of the long time in construction must be planned and the work 
started long before the existing facilities are overcrowded. If by mechanical 
methods greater rapidity of loading and discharging can be secured, removing 
delay at the congested points, then the same lineal frontage and pier space 
can accommodate more vessels within a given time, thereby greatly adding 
to the capacity of the harbor terminals, and effecting the saving of many 
units of extension expense. In the opinion of the author, in certain cases it 
would be possible to reduce the loading and discharging time by nearly 
one-half. 
The record of one year of 804 steamships, gives an average of two and 
two-fifths days for loading and two and one-half days for discharging. The 
total tonnage was over 2,100,000. In one case where there were six discharg- 
ing points on a ship only three were utilized. To take care of the three points 
required 190 men to keep the freight continually moving; from six points 
would have required 325 men, and they were not available. ‘The fact that 
much greater terminal capacity can be obtained by mechanical methods with- 
out floor congestion, effecting a saving of many millions of dollars which 
would otherwise have to be expended for improvements and extensions, 
deserves careful and thorough investigation by executives and engineers. 
Later Machinery.—Besides the winch and gantry cranes abovementioned 
there is the long distance overhead conveying and hoisting machinery such 
as the English transporters, the German man-trolleys, the American T-rail 
telphers and the lower-flange conveyors. In addition there are the overhead 
transfer-tractors and transfer-hoists with the movable tracks, installed at 
the later equipped German ports. ; 
Keeping in view the work to be done, and selecting the best features of 
all the machinery that has been herein mentioned, there can be obtained the 
desired mechanical serving of all space, no rehandling by manual labor and 
continuous rapidity. 
In a paper on “Wharf Equipment”’ presented by Mr. Llewellyn Holmes 
before the Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain, he states that 
“dock companies will be expected to provide plant, not for discharging and 
