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February, 1905 COAL AND TIMBER 17
in use is the Smith gravity loader, invented
in 1900 by S. Kedzie Smith, a civil engineer
of Billings, Montana, and manufactured
by the Duncan Foundry & Machine Works
of Alton, 111., and the Dodge Coal Storage
Co. oi Philadelphia. The first Smith
loader was built for the Northwestern
Improvement Co. of Roslyn, Wash., and
that it was a success is evident from the
following letter to the writer from the
general superintendent of that company:
"We have two Smith box car loaders, one
of which has been in operation for four
years. The expense of repairs has been
very light, so light, in fact as to be unworthy
of mention. These box car loaders load
the cars very evenly and up to their capacity
with very little breakage to the car or
coal, the breakage of coal geing practically
the same as dumping into open cars. We
have loaded 1500 tons with one loader in
nine hours, but this does not represent the
capacity of the loader as it was the output
of the mine. I believe that one of them
could load 2000 tons a day and handle that
tonnage nicely."
The term "box car loaders" does not apply
in the same sense to the Smith loader
as it does to any of the other loaders
previously described, as it is in reality a
device for. handling the cars while they are
being loaded. It consists of a platform
large enough to accommodate a box car of
any size, supported and moved upon a
cradle. The platform and cradle are built
of wood or s.teel and are contained in a
masonry pit 66 feet long, IS feet 4 inches
wide, and about 16 feet deep. The platform
is very much like that of an ordinary
track scale, having upon it a section of
track meeting the tipple siding at each end.
It also has two car stops, one at each end,
which are set securely against the drawheads
of the car on the platform by means
of track and lever devices. Each stop is
dropped down enough to clear a moving
car and raised into position by a vertical
hydraulic cylinder. The sides of the cradle
which carries the platform are almost semicircular,
with a radius of 15 feet 9 inches,
and each side has a pair of 56 pound steel
rails fastened to its circumference.
These sides rest and turn upon two
pairs of 18 inch steel rollers, and by means
of hydraulic pressure the entire cradle and
platform can be tilted about 40 degrees out
of horizontal at either end, about a centre
just above the centre of the car door. The
hydraulic equipment consists of a 16"x8^"-
xl2" duplex pump with a maximum working
pressure of 250 pounds, and a 14 inch
horizontal cylinder along each side of the
pit. The piston and 4*4 inch hollow piston
rod of each cylinder are stationary, and the
cylinder itself moves. By means of 1*4
inch steel cables, which are attached both
to the cylinder heads and the circumferences
of the sides of the cradle, the tilting of
the cradle is accomplished. Steam is used
in the pumps and v/ater in the hydraulic
cylinders, the water being used repeatedly.
Quoting the manufacturer's catalogue
a car is loaded as follows: "It is run on
the cradle and locked in position by means
of two power operated stops. The chute
is inserted and loading begun. The center
of oscillation of the car and cradle is midway
between the top of the grain door and
the top of the car so that it can be rotated
through the necessary angle without interfering
with the operation of the chute. A
pile of coal reaching from the chute is
formed before the car is tilted. The car is
then slowly inclined, the coal from the
chute falling without breakage over the
pile already formed until the coal is up to
the desired level. The car is then brought
rapidly back to the horizontal and slowly
tilted in the opposite direction. Very little
coal runs from the end first loaded, as the
coal from the chute slides down over the
face of the pile already formed, which will
not start from a position of rest. When
the car is loaded it is returned to a horizontal
position, the stops are removed, and
the incoming empty car ejects the loaded
one. The car and cradle may be mounted
on scales and the weight of the empty car
and the coal delivered to it, exactly determined.
Experience has demonstrated that
this machine will handle the largest and
most friable lump coal with a minimum of
breakage; that it will load box cars evenly
and to capacity; that it will not break the
cars; that only one man is necessary to
operate it; that the cost of repairs and delays
are small; that it will load the coal as
fast as it can be discharged from the chute,
and that practically as many box cars can
loaded in a day as open cars. The loading
chute can be so arranged as to load open
cars whenever necessary without tilting the
table."
That these claims are fair, is shown not
only by the letter previously quoted but
by the following letter from the general
superintendent of one of the largest coal
companies in British Columbia: "We
have tried other kinds of loaders but have
not found any to give the same satisfaction
as the Smith, which we have had in use for
two years. Our coal is soft and friable,
and breaks easily in handling and we find
that the Smith loader is a great benefit to
us in saving breakage of coal."
There are now four Smith loaders in use
and three in the course of construction.
The great first cost of the installation of
this loader is a serious drawback to its popularity.
The inventor states that $7,500 may
be taken as a fair estimate of the total cost
including foundations, in the Central and
Eastern states.
Before concluding, the writer wishes to
draw a brief comparison between the various
box car loaders described. The two
Ramsey loaders and the Bond being almost
obsolete, no further mention of them
is necessary. It is not within the province
of this paper to state which of the four
actually successful loaders is the best, as
it has been the aim of the writer to be entirely
impartial. It is, however, worthy
of note that in the dozens of confidential
letters received from representative coal
men, exclusive of printed testimonial letters,
each man, with but very few 'exceptions,
thinks that the particular one of the
four loaders which he is using is the best
on the market, even though he has, in some
instances, used one or more of the others.
In several instances one make has been
replaced by another, and vice versa. From
these statements, it is reasonable to assume
that each of the four loaders—the Ottumwa,
the Christy, the Victor and the Smith—is
a good one.
In first cost, the Christy has the greatest
advantage, as it sells for $1,500, while
the, Victor and Ottumwa sell for $2,0-'