CLAY WORKING INDUSTRIES. fcll 



The lower end of the clay cylinder has a set of rings bolted to it in 

 the form of an extension. In this extension a tripod casting called the 

 "spider" is secured; from the center of the "spider" a short, stout bolt 

 depends, to the lower end of which is fastened the "bell" which is the 

 core w r hich regulates the interior size of the sewer pipe. The outside of 

 the pipe is formed by a die ring which bolts onto the extension ring car- 

 rying the "spider." The sockets of the pipe are made by securing a 

 core or "socket former" onto the end of the die ring and forcing the clay 

 to fill the vacancy till it appears at a number of small issue holes around 

 the circumference. The "socket former" is then undamped and the 

 further stroke of the cla)^ piston only forces out a stream the size of the 

 straight part of the pipe. 



The manipulation of the socket former which is a movable counter- 

 poised piston bearing the former on its upper end, takes the active work 

 of one man; the manipulation of the steam valve and cutting off gear, 

 which severs the pipe from the press, and the counterpoise of the socket 

 former, takes the time of another man. Two men are required to re- 

 move the pipes, up end them, and turn them to a standard length. Three 

 men are usuall} r sufficient to take them away and deposit them on the 

 drying floors. If the distance is great, or the use of two or more floors 

 is needed, another man is required; seven men or eight men thus .con- 

 stitute a "press gang." The amount of work which any average "press 

 gang" gets out in a day's continuous run is about as follows, for each size 

 of pipe : 



24-inch pipe 359 pieces per day. 



20 " " 450 " " " 



18 " " 550 " " " 



15 " "• 8)0 " " " 



12 " " 1000 " " " 



10 " " 1200 " " " 



i:» " " 1400 



8 " " 1800 " " " 



6 " " 2200 



5 " " 2800 " " " 



4 " " , 3500 " " " 



These figures hav often been exceeded. In large pipes, twenty- 

 four inch have been turned out at the rate of five hundred or six hundred 

 per day, and in six inch pipes, the best Ohio record is four thousand, 

 one hundred and six (4,106) pipes in ten hours. 



The causes of limitation in the work of a sewer pipe press lie partly 

 in the expert gang work required to finish and remove the pipes as fast 

 as made, and partly in the necessity of frequent loss of time in refilling 

 the clay cylinders. The most modern presses are being fitted out now 

 with a number of labor saving devices for simplying the gang work as 

 much as possible. The additions are largely in the way of applying 

 power to each operation of the crew where it is possible to do so. The 



