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oe << .. MARINE REVIEW. | 9 Two Systems of Artificial Draft. As it is quite evident now that the immediate future has in store for lake ship builders few orders of the Rockefeller kind for twelve boats at a time, the ship builders are looking forward to keen competi- tion and requirements from owners that will have much to do with the question of economy in operating expenses, especially in regard to fuel. Advantage will be taken of all valuable engineering appliances. This is shown by the announcement that the Globe Iron Works Co. of Cleveland, has just made arrangements, through Mr. Charles W. Whitney of New York, for the exclusive right to use and to dispose of the rights to use on the lakes the Ellis & Eaves induced or suction draft. In other words the firm of John Brown & Co., Limited, of Sheffield, Eng., has made with the Globe Iron Works Co., through Mr. Whitney, their representative in this country, the same arrangement that Mr. James Howden, the Scotch inventor, has with the Detroit Dry Dock Co. Mr, Whitney also represents in this country the Purves' ribbed boiler furnace flues and Serve's ribbed boiler tubes, so that this arrangement regarding the Ellis & Haves draft will probably mean, also, close rela- tions between the Globe company and owners of patents on these boiler specialties. One steamer on the lakes, the Waldo, is fitted with the Ellis & Haves system of draft. Now that these lake concerns are representing the two principal systems of artificial draft, it is quite probable that the question of com-~ parative efficiency, as well as the merits of hot draft of any kind over the well-known closed stokehold and natural draft systems, will be discussed here even more than it has been in the past. It is quite gen- erally agreed among engineers that there is a saving of at least 8 to 12 per cent. over natural draft and the closed stokehold in favor of the hot air systems. The Howden hot draft system consists of -a series of heating tubes placed vertically in the tops of the coal boxes immedi- ately above the tubes in the boilers, the hot gases passing through them on the way to the smoke stack. At the same time a current of cold air is forced, by blowers, into the heating chambers, which, after being heated to a temperature of from 350 to 400 degrees, passes down the distributing hot air ducts to the furances below, entering beneath the grates, the volume being regulated with damper valves, so as to secure the most perfect combustion possible. The Ellis & Eaves in- duced or suction draft is the reverse of the Howden, just referred to, since exhaust fans are placed in the tops of the uptakes, sucking the heated air through the boilers instead of blowing it through as in the first case. The mechanical arrangement as to principle is similar in both systems. One special claim made for the induced system is that it makes the more comfortable stokeholds, as the dust and hot air are drawn therefrom through leaks in the casings and through the doors When opening for firing. This is answered by advocates of the How- den system claiming that if care is taken to make the casings and up- takes air-tight with their system no gases will escape into the stoke- hold, _ A Mile Below the Earth's Surface. Stories told by old-time vessel men of the opportunities afforded tomake money on Lake Superior in early days are emphasized by Statements of the millions that have since been paid in dividends by such mining companies as the Calumet & Hecla. But the reports of this great copper company's earnings are no more interesting than isa brief statement of its mining operations, recently sent out from the Copper region. _ It was proposed, in connection with plans for the French exposi- tion of 1900, to dig ahole in the earth to a depth of one mile. The idea was favorably received, and it was thought this novelty would at- tract more attention than the Kiffel tower or the Ferris wheel, but Upon investigation the magnitude of the undertaking became so ap- parent that the idea was dropped. And yet within a mile of each other at Calumet, one of the small towns of the Michigan copper region, there are three vertical mining shafts, each nearly one mile in depth. The deepest of this trio is the Red Jacket shaft of the Calumet & Hecla mine, which has reached its full depth of 4,900 feet. Five Eiffel towers could be dropped down this hole were it wide enough, and the top of the fifth would barely reach the surface. . This shaft Was begun in 1889, and it has taken seven full years to sink it, show- ing an average progress of 70C feet annually, nearly all of which has n in blue trap rock, one of the most-refractory of minerals. The Conglomerate carrying copper was the bed of an ancient sea, and is Composed of pebbles and gravel worn by the action of the water, such as are seen on sea beaches or lake shores, cemented into a solid mass by cale and silica. By the percolation of the waters and the decom- position of certain constituents of the rock little cavities were formed, . in which were deposited small nodules of copper by the water. The Red Jacket shaft is 154 by 25 feet in size inside of the timbers, and contains six compartments, being fully equal in working capacity to half a dozen mining shafts of ordinary size. The shaft is solidly timbered. The adamantine firmness of the rock renders it secure for all time to come, the timbering' being merely to carry the traffic of men and mineral, of water and electricity, which surges between the sunlight and the bottom. In four compartments slip up and down the ponderous cages, carrying ten-ton loads of rock at the speed of express trains. Up and down those cages also ride the men who mine the rock from the old sea bed. In one compartment are the great iron pump pipes, and down another descends the steady current of compressed air which runs the drills a mile below the engine house. Bunched in slender cables are the copper wires which convey elec- tricity, to light the recesses of the mine, threads of wire that afford telerhone communication from the most remote drift to any other portion of the property, for the Calumet & Hecla has a telephone exchange of its own, which in size and perfection of equipment. puts to blush the facilities of many pretentious towns, and which reaches every office on the surface and every portion of the great mine. There are fire alarm wires, too, for the Calumet & Hecla spares no cost to make its employes as safe as skill and lavish outlay of money can render them. The sinking of this shaft possesses deep interest from a scientific standpoint. Observers ascending to great heights in baloons have been able to secure data of surpassing importance regarding meteoro- logical conditions, and observations made at the depth of a mile afford positive information. The Red Jacket shaft has shattered some of the deeply cherished theories, and there are text books now extant in the higher institutions of learning which must be over- hauled because facts have succeeded theory. The mines of the Com- stock lode in Nevada were the deepest in the world. The mines were very hot, and on the deeper levels some of the more pious miners were quite positive that they smelled sulphur and refused to go fur- ther down for fear of encroaching upon the dominions of the devil. According to deductions the bottom of the Red Jacket shaft should be about the proper temperature to boil eggs. Careful tests have deter- mined that the normal temperature of the rocs is 87.6 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom. The rock temperature at the depth of 105 feet was 59 degrees Fahrenheit, showing a difference of 28.6 degrees in 4,795 feet. There was, however, a gain about 8 degrees of tempera- ture in the last 500 feet sunk, a much more rapid increase than at lesser depths. Notwithstanding the beneficial effects of ventilation and com- pressed air, men working at the bottom of the deep shaft do not have an especially easy berth, though liberally paid. They are com- pelled to. wear rubber boots and rubber coats, as the water found in the mine at that great depth is most corrosive on the human body. There is machinery enough on the surface at this single one of the company's eleven shafts to drive all the street cars of a city like Cleveland. . Employes of Jake ship yards who are connected with the Brother- hood of Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Builders have fully organized their district council, taking in all branches on the lakes. This district organization includes local unions at' Chicago, South Chicago, Cleve- land, Detroit, Wyandotte, Bay City, Port Huron, West Superior, Du- luth, Buffalo, Erie, Toledo, Milwaukee and Racine. Following are the district officers: President, H. L. Molach, Wyandotte; first vice- president, M. W. Gibson, Buffalo; second vice-president, W. J. Hol- den, West Superior; third-vice-president, J. Gilfoyle; South Chicago; secretary-treasurer, Louis Hall, Cleveland. - ne aa Aitention is called to the liner exchange on page 23 of the Re- view. This space is free to our advertisers and subscribers, and:/has been used 361 times since it was started...-It-has been the means of selling considerable machinery. The offer of two 6x8-inch deck hoists al prices to suit present freight conditions ought to bring a number of replies. ' eat ie The Nickel Plate road offers excursion rates to points in Wiscon- sin, Michigan and the southwest for hunters. _. 888 Nov,, 1. nnteeenemineasiaines | . aa