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\ River to Rail Terminal Fitted for Handling Tinplate By R. L. Sayre HE Heekin Can Co. River-rail Termine is located on the Ohio ‘river at Cincinnati, and is used to transfer tin plate from river barges to railroad box cars, serving the two Heekin Can Co. plants at Cincin- nati and Norwood, O., with their raw material. The movement of the tin plate originates at Weirton, W. Va., on the Ohio river near Steubenville, O., where the plate is loaded in steel barges which are equipped with re- movable hatch covers. These barges have a capacity of 800 tons at 9 feet draft and are bulkheaded on all sides and divided into three compart- ments for additional security, as the eargo has a value of approximately $100 per ton. The cargoes are brought down the Ohio river to Cin- cinnati, a distance of about 500 miles by the Union Barge line. This river-rail terminal was de- signed for the express purpose of handling tin plate and therefore a few features which would allow the terminal to handle a variety of mate- rials have been sacrificed. The plant consists of a merchandise unloading tower with 6000 pounds capacity which was designed and erected by the Mead-Morrison Mfg. Co. The railroad switch serving the terminal is at right angles to the river and will accommodate four cars along the loading platform. The crane run- way extends over two car lengths of the switch so that material can be loaded directly into gondolas. The crane operator is in a cab on one of the pier legs and can look down into the barge hatches and can also see the length of the runway into the terminal. The crane boom extends across the barge, and is sta- tionary, so the barge is moved up and down the river by electric car pullers under control of the crane operator, in order that every part of the hatch Can be reached by the hook. The tin plate is loaded in rows crosswise of the barge so that an entire row can be unloaded without moving the barge, The tin plate is in double units with an average weight of 4000 pounds, wired tightly, and resting on 2 x 2-inch blocks and is picked up by an L-shaped fork which is slid under the package between the 2 x 2-inch blocks. These blocks are fas- tened to the package so that when the a is carried into the terminal it is et down on the floor at the transfer station resting on the same blocks. The unit is then picked up by an elec- tric lift truck using regular tin plate forks and deposited in the box ear. The common unit of tin plate is ten boxes weighing about 2000 pounds but the above unit consists of two 10-box units wired together. In operation, the terminal requires a crane operator, a laborer in the barge, a barge man, a laborer at the transfer station, an electric truck operator, a laborer in the cars, and a superintendent, or seven in all, and with this crew the terminal loads eight cars of 50 tons each, or 400 tons, in nine hours. The terminal has been in operation over two years and has proved a very good investment. It has met the ex- pectations of the company in every way and seems to be an ideal ar- rangement for its purpose. Science Aids Ship Stowage Reducing Damage By Dearborn Clark HE analogy between correct stow- Hass of a vessel and perfect outturn is not a matter of guesswork and hope, but the result of the application of scientific methods developed by re-. search, plus systematic care and plan- ning. Although a systematic approach to vessel stowage is no innovation with the modern ocean carrier, few ship- pers and consignees realize the lengths The author, Dearborn Clark, is assist- ant traffic manager of the American- Hawaiian Steamship Co. to which the modern steamship oper- ator has gone and is going to gain a concrete and practical knowledge of that commodity relationship so essen- tial to the procedure of proper stow- age. In sailing ship days, stowage had to be, and was, an art. The necessity of making every foot of space count, to- gether with the realization that the Sailing vesel would not only roll and toss, but sometimes be on her beam ends for hours or even days at a time, precluded anything but the most slow and careful stowage. With the sailing ship displaced by the steamer, some of this difficulty disappeared. However, the operator was relieved of some stow- age problems, only to be faced with many additional ones, due to the vastly more numerous commodities carried and to competition in manufacturing, which latter resulted in more fragile containers. Obviously a barrel or heavy wooden packing box required much less careful handling than the modern carton, and so it has been nec- essary for the water carrier of today to employ research and careful, sys- tematic planning in handling the stow- age of a modern steamer. The problem of handling those com- modities that give off or absorb mois- ture and cause “sweat” is yielding somewhat to the constant hammering of the American-Hawaiian Steamship Co.’s research department. Although this old problem of “sweat” has not as yet been solved, some progress in con- trolling, and to some extent preventing it, has been achieved through improved methods of ventilation. Moreover, this is only one of the scores of instances in which scientific research supple- mented by sytematic care is being di- rected toward overcoming hitherto baffling and costly difficulties; show- ing that the modern steamship opera- tor cannot be content to be merely a transporter of cargo, but must be an expert and technician as well. * The matter of ventilation is some- thing that is being studied painstak- ingly and exhaustively. During 1930, (Continued on Page 52) River-rail terminal on Ohio river at Cincinnati serving the Heekin Can Oo. Tin plate lifted vertically about 75 feet is moved into shed in packages MARINE REVIEwW—May, 1931 51