TRAMWAY RAIL JOINTS. CVII. 
‘cast welding” has, owing to its easy adaptability, overshadowed 
for a time at least its more costly electric rival. 
The process is under the control of the Faulk Manufacturing 
Co., Milwaukee, and was first applied to the National Railway 
Co.’s street lines, St. Louis, about three years ago. The apparatus 
for casting consists of a cupola furnace mounted on a heavy truck 
provided with a blower running 1,800 revolutions a minute, 
driven by an electric motor. In twenty minutes after the blast 
is turned on the iron is ready to pour. The cupola handles 8,000 
to 9,000Ibs. of metal in one heat, and thus makes approximately 
eighty joints. 
The method of making the joint is as follows :—The rails at 
the joint are scraped and brightened, a cast iron mould, usually 
about sixteen inches long, is placed round the joint, making a 
tight fit ; into this the molten iron—twenty-five per cent. scrap, 
twenty-five per cent. soft, and fifty per cent. hard silicon pig—is 
poured ; the metal in contact with the moulds begins to cool, and 
forms a crust, while the interior remains molten. This crust 
continues to cool, and at the same time contracts, forcing the 
molten metal strongly towards the centre, and keying through 
the bolt holes makes a solid and rigid joint. 
The application of this joint appears to be spreading, and is 
in use in St. Louis, Brooklyn, Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and 
other American cities. There is a great deal of difference of 
opinion as to the value of the joint as regards electrical conduc- 
tivity. It is, however, the practice to copper bond over the cast 
welded joints on important roads. The necessity for this would 
appear apparent, as it is difficult to understand how any real 
amalgamation can take place between the cast iron and the steel. 
It may be added that it is stated few cast welded joints have 
been found to break during cold weather. In Chicago, which is 
noted for its sudden changes, 17,000 joints were put up in 1895, 
and of these only 154 joints were reported lost. The Oompany 
now report they have twenty outfits at work throughout the States. 
