PLUMES AND PLUMING. 23 



to hold material diverted. Several switches or Y's scatter the 

 material being shipped over whatever area it is designed to use as 

 the storage place until such time as the material is to be manufactured 

 or loaded onto railroad cars for transportation elsewhere. Plate V 

 shows the general idea of the storage Y's. 



THE USE OF "SNUBS" IN UNLOADING MATERIAL FROM A FLUME. 



The use of a "snub" or temporary block in a flume so constructed 

 that it will act as a dam which fills the flume to its utmost capacity 

 and forces the material that is to be unloaded at this point to float at 

 the highest possible elevation is often very useful in removing the 

 material from the flume, particularly when it is desired to take it out 

 over the side onto a loading platform alongside a railroad track, as 

 shown in Plate VI, figure 1. The form of construction of a snub 

 is shown in figure 6. With short, light material, such as railroad 

 crossties, a snub under certain favorable conditions will throw the 

 product being handled out of the flume without any assistance, 

 although it is always good policy to have a man on hand to be sure 

 that there will be no failure in getting the material out of the flume 

 lest it cause a serious block or jam that may eventually break down 

 the flume, and cause more expense than it would to keep a man on the 

 job all the time. A form of snub working unassisted is shown in 

 Plate VI, figure 2. 



REINFORCEMENT OF FLUMES AT POINTS WHERE EXTENSIVE LOADING 



IS TO BE DONE. 



Flume construction should usually be strongly reinforced at those 

 points from which it is contemplated to do extensive shipping or 

 where much material is to be loaded into the flume over the side. 

 The constant pounding of material being dropped or thrown into the 

 flume and striking on the sides of the V has a tendency to loosen the 

 joints unless strengthened, and sometimes to break down the frame- 

 work. In order to avoid this danger, it is usually advisable to place 

 the bracket arms or frames and their attendant braces at shorter 

 intervals or distances from each other at such points. 



Thus, if in the general flume line construction the arms and braces 

 were placed at a distance of 8 feet apart, at the point where heavy logs 

 or timbers are to be put into the flume it would be good policy to at 

 least double the amount of brackets and braces or place them once in 

 every 4 feet. If the timber to be loaded into the flume at this point 

 were unusually heavy, it might be advisable to reduce the distance 

 between the strengthening arms and braces still more. There are 

 some cases where it has been found necessary to have the arms and 

 braces every 2 feet at those points where the greatest amount of 

 heavy material is loaded into the flume (see PI. VII, fig. 1) . It should 



