Important Invention for Rolling Railroad Bars. 301 MISSISSIPPI, OUACHITA AND RED RIVER RAILROAD. This road was inaugurated at Camden, on the 4th instant, with the usual ceremonies-public addresses, breaking ground, feasting, &o. Though local in its character, this work will be one of immense benefit to Western Arkansas and Eastern Texas, and we trust its friends will find the means necessary to its speedy accomplishment. JOURNAL OF MANUFACTURES AND MINING. IMPORTANT INVENTION FOR ROLLING RAILROAD BARS. Mr. Wm. Harris, late of the Rolling Mill firm of Harris, Burnish & Co., of this place, has just completed an invention for the mannfacture of Railroad Iron, which in the opinion of our ablest mechanics is likely to give a fresh impetus to the Iron Manufacture, and to effect corresponding changes throughout the entire trade. It consists in a new method of arranging the rolls, and cannot fail wherever understood, to entirely supplant the old process. Mr. H. is a practical iron manufacturer, and has been actively engaged in the business for the greater part of his life. He is now about 34 years of age. His attention has for many years been given to an improvement of this kind, manifestly so much needed. By the old (present) plan, each pair of rolls has nine separate grooves, through which the heated mass from the furnace is successively passed, until it is delivered from the last in the shape of a railroad bar. Much manual labor is required; and even with the most skilful and expeditious workmen, the metal has time to cool very considerably before it is finished, thereby becoming less malleable, and causing a dangerous strain upon the machinery. The breaking of a Roll in such a mill, it is well known, is but a common occurrence. Now, instead of the one set of Rolls, containing the nine grooves; by the new process, there are nine separate pairs of Rolls, each having but one groove-arranged in one continuous line, with close ducts or boxes between; so that the "pile" (the hot ball of metal) is fed in at one end, and comes out at the other a railroad bar! The principal advantages claimed are-economy of time, and saving of manual laborhighly important considerations, as all iron manufactures well knew. Let us compare (and our data throughout, it may be proper to remark, are not mere guesses, but have been ascertained by accurate calculations): By the old process, a bar of 21 feet, the usual length, is manufactured in 24 minutes; by the new, in the same time, one of 100 feet could be run out, if the "pile" could be prepared; or with the speed proposed for the new machinery, a bar 30 feet long may be finished from the "pile" in 30 seconds! By the old plan, 10 men and boys are ordinarily employed in the rolling process alone-by the new, but one; and his business would be solely that of superintendence there would be no manual labor for him. For instance, the Heater brings his "pile"-it is put in at one end of the continuous line of Rolls, and requires no farther manipulation till it is delivered, a railroad bar at the other. Another prime advantage claimed for the new process is the manufacture of the "Red short" iron into railroad bars. This species of iron, it is well known to manufactnrers, possesses a peculiar brittleness when hot, that renders it difficult if not impossible, to work by the old process, though remarkably tough when cold-having a long fibre and making the best of railroad iron. On the new plan, the time occupied in the manufacture of a bar is so short, that the metal can easily be retained at a workable temperature during the entire process. This will undoubtedly tend greatly to improve the general character of railroad iron; as the "cold short," now mostly employed for that purpose (because it is most easily worked,) becomes exceedingly brittle when cold, being in very many cases not much better in that respect, than common pig metal. The new machinery used is of the simplest mechanical construction, and not at all likely to break or get out of order. It consists mainly of a horizontal shaft, to which are attached, by plain level gearing, the several Rolls, some revolving vertically and others laterally (in order to compress the metal on all sides.) The Rolls are set apart at distances corresponding with the successively increased lengths of the "pile," in its passage through them-the first four or five being comparatively close together. Hence the entire length of the line of Rolls, for manufacturing bars, say 21 to 30 feet long, would not exceed 100 feet. No more power is required than in the old process, as the metal is acted upon but by one Roll at a time; and not near so much toward the finishing, as in the old process, as the metal has by that time cooled very much and, of course, is less malleable; while by the new, the whole operation is performed so speedily, that the temperature of the metal is very little reduced. A Caveat was filed at Washington some time last winter, and application for a patent for the invention is now pending in the names of Messrs. Harris & Geo. Bright. A model may be seen at the hard ware store of the latter in this place. As to the cost of a mill, constructed with the new Rolling machinery, a liberal estimate places it at about 15 to 20 per cent. more than the present expenditure; but the new Rolling apparatus alone will not cost more than 10 per cent. over the price of the present Rolls. The other increased expense results from the additional number of improved capacity of the furnaces, necessary to supply the new Rolling machinery; and of course is to be considered in connection with the proportional increase of manufacture. This will become plain by a simple calculation: A mill constructed on the old plan can work up about 70 tons of metal in 24 hours; that is, in the largest establish ments, with the best of machinery and the most experienced work❤ men. But, with the new Rolling gear, 120 tons can be manufactured in 12 hours; or nearly four times as much-yet the yield in both cases being limited by the rolling power. The principal difference, so far as cost is concerned, after the new Rolling apparatus is introduced, is in the additional number of furnaces required to keep it going. There are other incidental advantages connected with this invention that we have not attempted to enumerate we may have occasion to allude to it hereafter. The model has been examined by a great many persons, and the actual process of manufacture performed with small bars of cold lead. The general opinion expressed is admiration and implicit confidence in its success. We commend it specially to the notice of Iron Manufacturers throughout the country.-(Pottsville Journal. ANGEL CHILD. "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." The death of a child awakens an emotion of grief which is concentrated in the heart of its parents, but which is seldom deeply diffused throughout the circle of even their intimate friends, much less through the mass of society. The world does not mourn for those who die young, yet it is often said that they are the ones "whom the gods love," that "of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." Why should not the death of a child awaken a deeper feeling? Why should the world be indifferent to those whom the gods love? Why should mankind pay so little respect to the emblems of the Kingdom of Heaven? Hallowed are the hours of childhood; hallowed its associations, its innocence, its singleness of heart, its love, its joy, its Angelguarded existence. God grant that its freshness of feeling, like the waving of Angel-wings beside the well of everlasting life, may be prolonged in harmony with the experience of years—that “Arcadia may be always in man, and man always in Arcadia."* These reflections were suggested on the perusal of the following beautiful lines, full of tones of tenderness, coming from a heart overflowing with that freshness of feeling which indicates the Arcadian life of truth and poetry enjoyed by the fair authoress. With naive and charming modesty she says: * Jean Paul. "These simple lines came impromptu from my heart upon learning the death of little Georgie. That they are very imperfect I am aware, but they express so truthfully my feelings, I cannot refrain from offering them to his dear afflicted mother." It is a tribute of consolation to the bereaved mother, wife of Dr. P, of St. Louis, on the death of their only child. Dear little babe! thy while on earth Was like a flower of noon-day birth, To live, tho' nursed with tenderest care. The purity and winning grace And smile which lit thy fair young face, Best fitted for the "spirit land." We should not wish thee back, sweet child, Our thoughts from care, and toil, and strife, 'Twere sin to call thee from that choir, Then rest thee, little one, above, Where all is one bright scene of love; The same High Power which gave thee birth, Took thee, in wisdom, back from earth. The New Territories: Nebraska and Kansas. Additions to the public domain, and the settlement and cultivation of new territories, are events which necessarily affect the industrial pursuits and social relations of the community whose limits are thus extended. Under institutions like ours where every individual may adopt the vocation most congenial to their nature, and where local interests constitute an important element of public policy, the settlement of new territories and the admission of new States into the Union afford legitimate and interesting subjects for the study of the political economist and statesman. In discussing the subject before us, we shall omit to notice that provision in the act of Congress which authorizes the institution of slavery in these territories, and confine our views chiefly to the economical and social effects arising from the settlement of so large a district of country, embracing as it does the centre of the continent. The first American settlements established west of the Alleghanies were made in the central region; but subsequently the stream of emigration from the Atlantic slope separated, and formed two principal currents: the one bearing south, the other north, diverging further from the center as they proceeded towards the west. This peculiarity in the progress of emigration from east to west is generally attributed, we believe, to the institution of slavery in the Southern States: but, if in connection with the enterprising and money-loving character of the American people, we consider the nature of the country and its productions from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northern Lakes, we shall perceive that these diverging currents owe their origin less to social than to national causes. |
