THE CUBA REVIEW 



19 



ALL AROUND CUBA 



INTERESTING CABLE TEST 



Owing to the severity of the sei-\ace which 

 it has to sustain, the wear of the cable used 

 by the Spanish- American Iron Co. at Nipe 

 Bay, Cuba, has been the subject of particular 

 attention from wire rope experts; and con- 

 siderable interest therefore attaches to tests 

 of worn sections which were made in the 

 800,000-lb. testing machine at Lehigh Uni- 

 versity. 



Special precautions were taken to prevent 

 the operators of the testing machine from 

 being struck by the shower of flying steel when 

 the cable was torn asunder. Three tests 

 were made, all highly satisfactor3\ A portion 

 of the cable that had been in use for a year 

 and a half withstood a pull of nearly 300 tons. 



The construction of this cable was without 

 precedent in rope-making. It consists of six 

 strands, each of nineteen wires, twisted around 

 an independent wire rope center, this center 

 having six strands of nineteen wires each, 

 twisted around a hemp core. The finished 

 cable was 7,810 feet long and weighed 123,360 

 pounds. 



At the mines in Cuba cars with a capacity 

 of 100,000 lbs. of ore are lowered by means of 

 this cable down an incline plane 6,880 feet 

 long. When it was decided to ascertain the 

 strength of the great rope after its year and a 

 half service, as compared with the strength of 

 portions not worn, three pieces from the main 

 cable, each about twenty' feet in length, were 

 shipped to Trenton, X. J. There special 

 sockets were placed on the ends to make 

 possible the tests in the giant Riehie machine 

 at Lehigh I'niversity. 



At the mines where this cable is used, the 

 ore as recovered in open pits is loaded into 

 standard-guage, side-dump cars. These cars 

 are then hauled to the head of an inclined 

 plane, about 6,880 feet long, with a grade 

 varying from 6 to 25%. From the foot of 

 this incline there is a short railroad to the 

 head of a second incUne, 1,850 feet long, 25% 

 grade, which ends in a gravity .switching yard 

 130 feet above sea level. By means of these 

 inclines and the connecting trackage, the ore 

 is lowered from a vertical height of 1,499 feet, 

 or elevation of 1,621 feet, to 130 feet, the total 

 length of track on each side being 2.44 miles. 

 Both inclines are double-tracked, 14 feet to 

 center to center, and the lowering and hoisting 

 of cars on the inclines is in balance. 



The main cables, three-inch steel ropes, 

 pass over heavj' twenty-foot diameter drums, 

 of which there are two at the head of each 

 inchne. These drums, set in tandem, both 

 carry heavy' gears which mesh with a common 

 pinion. Half turns are made over each drum 

 by the cable. The pinion shaft is also the 

 crank shaft of vertical engines, which control 

 the speed on the incline, with the aid of post- 

 brakes also operated by steam. The princi- 



pal function of the pair of engines is to give 

 sufficient motion to the cable to carrj- the 

 cars over certain parts of the inchne, where 

 the descending loads are on too low a grade 

 to pull the empties, in balance, up a steeper 

 grade. Two or three cars are sent down at 

 a time. The lower incline is arranged like 

 the upper. 



From the gravity yard, where loads are 

 made uj) into a train by gravity, and empties 

 taken from train by a switchback arrange- 

 ment, the ore is hauled over a single-track 

 line, 13J'2 niiles long, to Felton on Nipe Bay. 

 There, a nodulizing plant, for drying and 

 sintering the ore to be smelted in northern 

 blast furnaces, is situated. 



UTILIZING SPACE 



The space available in the lower portions 

 of five reinforced concrete chimnejs com- 

 pleted recently for the Havana Railway, 

 Light & Power Company, Havana, Cuba, 

 has been utilized for storage rooms. As all 

 chimneys are located inside the power house 

 to economize on space two storage rooms 

 were provided in each chimney. At an 

 elevation of 18 feet above the top of the 

 foundation a floor was placed and the 

 chimney was provided with a doorway. 

 Another floor was built giving 36 feet above 

 the top of the foundation another storage 

 room. The outside diameter of the chimneys 

 at the base is 20 feet 63^ inches and the wall 

 thickness is 19 inches. 



SANTIAGO AQUEDUCT 



The aqueduct to supply the city of Santiago 

 with water, is to be undertaken at once. The 

 work is to be in charge of Sr. Duque de Es- 

 trada, and it is estimated that a year will be 

 required to complete the improvement. The 

 water will prolaably be taken from the moun- 

 tains of Sierra Maestra and from the San 

 Juan Valley. The construction of this aque- 

 duct is greatly needed by the city. 



RUSSIAN STEAMER BRINGS CARGO OF RICE 



The Russian steamer Baikal arrived in 

 Havana from Rangoon, Burmah, with a cargo 

 consisting of 30,000 bags of rice. This is the 

 first time in 15 years that a Russian steamer 

 has arrived at Havana. 



POSTAL AGREEMENT WITH CHILE 



The Cuban government is negotiating with 

 the Chilian government with the view of 

 making a postal agreement. 



