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PIG IRON PRODUCTION FOR 1895. The complete returns of pig iron in the United States - in 1895 have been compiled by General Manager James M. Swank, of the American Iron and Steel Association, and are published in the current issue of the Bulletin, from which the:statements and tables below are taken. The total production of pig iron in 1895 was the larg- est in our iron-making history, amounting to 9,446,308 gross tons, against 6,657,388 tons in 1894, 7,124,502 tons in 1893, 9,157,000 tons in 1892, 8,279,870 tons in 1891, and 9,202,703 in 1890. The production in 1895 was 2,788,920 _ tons, or nearly 42 per cent more than in 1894. and 243,- 605 tons more than in 1890, when our largest ale 0 _ production was attained. The production of pig ir _ by half years during the last four years has been re follows, in gross tons: Periods. PSO2. 35: 3893, 1894. 1895, First half, 4,769,683 4,562,918 2,717,983 4,087,558 Second half, 4,387,317 2,561,581 3,939,405 535870 Total 9,157,000 7,124,502 6,657,388 9,446}308 - All the large pig iron producing States share inthe greatly increased production in 1895 over 1894. | As “might be expected, the most notable increase ‘was in Pennsylvania, which produced 4,701,163 tons, or 49.76 per cent of the total production, Allegheny county alone “producing 2,054,585 tons, which was 590,796 tons more than the production of Ohio, more than double:that of Illinois, and nearly two and a half times that of Ala- -bama; and yet Ohio, Illinois and Alabama made splen- did records in 1895 as compared with 1894. Allegheny county made 43.7 per cent of the total production ‘of Pennsylvania in 1895. The Shenango and Mahoning valleys also made remarkably large gains. Stocks of pig iron which were unsold in the hands of. amanufac- turers or their agents on Dec. 31, 1893, and which were “not intended for their own consumption, amounted to 662,068 gross tons. June 30, 1894, they had fallen to _ 517,036 tons;'on Dec. 31, 1894, they had risen to 97,688 tons; on June 30, 1895, they had fallen to 439,590 tons; and on Dec, 31, 1895, they amounted to 444,332 tons, a very slight increase over the unsold stock on June 30, 1895. ‘Thesestatistics of unsold stocks of pig iron do not include pig iron sold and not removed from the furnace bank, nor pig iron manufactured by rolling mill propriet ors for their own use. t LAKE LITIGATION. ard At Detroit, Judge Swan dismissed the suit of Bertha Kinrie, administratrix of the estate of David Kinrie, one of the three members of the tug Torrent’s crew killed last July, against the steamer Sitka and schooner Yukon. The suit had been brought under a State stat- ute, providing that liens may be had against vessels forinjuries. As the injured person was dead, the court held that action must be brought against the owners of the vessel to which Kinrie belonged, the tug Torrent, and that his court had no jurisdiction. _ Eddy Bros. & Shaw, of Bay City, owners of the Sel- wyn Eddy, have brought suit in Judge Swan’s court at Detroit, against the Northern Steamship Co. for $2,700 freight money withheld by the defendant on ground of breach of contract. The Eddy was running under a season’s charter, but at the latter end of the season the owners refused to let her make another trip to Lake Superior, on the ground that she could not get down again. The Northern Line managers chartered the Globe for this trip and the Globe got back, although the Sault Canal was kept open for her for several days. The freight money withheld was due from the last trip actually made by the Eddy. Judge Swan will have to _ decide whether or not there was really a breach of con- “tract, and if so, how much of the money the Dbidiss 1 - is entitled to retain. The hearing of the case of the owners of the steamer Burlington against Grant Grummond was concluded before Judge Swan on the 17th and decision reserved. The Barlington burned opposite this city and was - towed down below Chappell’s and sunk on the bank, The owners abandoned her to the underwriters, and as the latter took no steps to release the boat, Grummond was given permission by the government to remove her. He did this and brought her to the American side and libeled her for salvage. The boat was sold to him by the marshal and he rebuilt her and operated her in the lake trade, when she again burned. The original owners now sue him, claiming he had no right to re- _ lease the boat without their consent. Judge Coxe, of the United States District Court for ~ . es THE MARINE RECORD. Northern New York, decided last week two cases which have beew pendihg since 1893. On October 2, of that year, in the evening the Owego was towing down ‘Buffalo Creek. The Chicago, according to the evidence, cast off her lines as the Owego approached, and tried to getout ahead. A collision ensued which sunk the canal boat W. A. Hedden, owned by Harry Fosbinder, who libeled the Owego, the tugs Babcock and Davis, which were towing her. Judge Coxe dismissed the first three suits, but held that the Chicago was to blame. r “9 f~ 4 THE,MYERS PROPEFLER—AN ENGLISH IDEA An Ek tleman reeetitly stated in the REcorD office, in support of at theory that certain parts of a propeller had no effect in propulsion, that he had known vessels to be docked after long voy ages in tropical re- gions, when it was found tbat awhile the edges of the Lee, propeller blades had been worn smooth by continual contact with the water, grass and seaweed were found growing in the centre of the blade. The English inventor of the wheel herewith il- lustrated, Mr. Charles Myers, of Mauchester, Eng., late of Glasgow, ap- appears to have formed the same ijea. This wheel is manufactured in Manchester, and is said to have proven a success during the three years in which it has been in service. It is claimed that this wheel possesses several patents of advantage over the old style propeller. The blade is not an old-style bucket with a hole cut in the middle, as might be imagined at first glance, This would cause a wheel to drag, it has been stated, al- though even this has been contested in some quarters by theorists. It would seem, however, that a large stream of water would pass the edges of the hole at right angles to the blades, retarding them very much. - But the blades in the Myers propeller are practically six in number. Bach pair of adjoining blades are THE WHEEL. placed in echelon to each other as regards the plane of ro-' tation,are united at the periphery by a lateral extension of their outer sides, with an open loop between. ‘The blade is essentially a combination of two blades, each reinforcing the action of the other,and conjointly by the inclined faces about the loop producing true propulsive effect upon the streams of water passing through the loops, and thus driving backwards, with least dis-: turbance, a continuous flow in the line of keel, this being the true test of effic- iency. It is contended also that each pair of looped blades, by their peripheral con- nection, serve to gradu- ally set in motion the col- umn, the pitch of the arch gradually coming up from the fine to the full pitch, thus serving to set the rearward column of waterey into motion gradually. It has been held by many that as arule ordinary pro™ pellers have been deficient in surface; but it has not been easy to increase the surface without undue in- crease of diameter, and thus getting “the upper blades into broken water. The Myers propeller claims to solve this difficulty. The form is apparently one in which the shock upon the water is most gradual, easy, and distributed over a large surface. The tendency to vibration of a blade, supported at only one part to the boss, which is analo- gous to the leg of a tuning fork, is entirely obviated, it is claimed, by the arched connection of the upper parts of adjoining blades, and stiffness of structure is also given by the disposition of the puncture of the bot- tom of the plates to the boss in echelon, and at an angle of considerable obliquity to the main part of arch, THE BLAD . . allowed owing to ‘‘boom’’ times. TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL NOTES. The Roberts boflers in the new twin-screw steamer Fulton Market are giving excellent satisfaction. The little steamship Sythian isbeing put into shape for a yacht for a New Yorker, by Hugh Ramsay, Perth Amboy, N. J. It is likely that the New Haven line and the Norwich line will place contracts this year for sister boats to the Richard Peck and the City of Lowell. The Montreal (Canada) Bridge Company has made ar- rangements to construct a bridge over the St. Lawrence river from Montreal to Longuenil, to cost about $6,000,- 000. The plans have all been prepared for the new plant of © the American Weldless Steel Tubing Company which 7 to be erected at Toledo, O. As yet, no site has been ee lected for a location. At the annual meeting of the Vulcan Iron Works Toledo, O., the following officers were elected: Presi, dent, A. L. Backus; vice-president, M. I. Wilcox; tary, John W. Smith. Mr. A. Wells Case, patentee of the Case Outward Thrust Propeller Wheel, has added to the list of manu- facturing agents of this wheel the Lockwood Manufac- turing Co., Kast Boston, and the Gas Engine and Power Co., Morris Heights, New York. Mr. Frank Morrison, corner Main and River streets, is busy on an order for the compasses and binnacles for the new ships to come out of Wheeler & Co,’s yard. next season. His work is of a high character, and is receiy- ing large ate oe from nearly all the lake ship- yards. The Berlin Iron Bridge Company of Hast Berlin, Conn., has completed for the Ansonia (Conn.) Brass and Circe Company a new boiler house 65x142 feet. The side walls are of brick and the roof is entirely of steel, covered with the Berlin Iron Bridge Company’s patent anti-condensation corrugated steel. All the material required in the construction of the two new battleships, ‘‘Kearsarge”’ and “Kentucky,” has been awarded to James G. Lindsay & Co., Bullitt build- ing, Philadelphia. The plates were placed at Pittsburg and the shapes with an eastern mill. They have also furnished a portion of the material for the gunboats recently contracted for, aside from considerable struc- tural material to the different shipbuilders for merchant ships. The Pittsburg Testing Laboratory, Ltd., is engaged in inspecting orders aggregating over 30,000,000 pounds of ship steel for lake vessels, to be built by the Detroit Dry Dock Company, the American Steel Barge Com- pany and F. W. Wheeler & Co., of West Bay City, Mich., in addition to the steel for the new Library and Museum building, Milwaukee, the draw bridge for the Hammond and Blue Island railroad and a water tower for Harman & Evans, Peoria, Ill. Fannie Furnace at West Middlesex, Pa., controlled by Pickands, Mather & Co., of Cleveland, Oe is a “boom”? furnace and only remunerative when iron is bringing ‘‘boom’’ prices. ‘To reduce the labor cost and thereby prolong the blast, the men were given the op- tion of working with a reduced force (one front man and one filler on each shift) or have the furnace go out of blast. The request was not an unreasonable one, as the working force was excessive and only previously The men refused to accommodate themselves to present conditions. Incon- sequence of their refusal; the furnace was blown out. The same firm controls the Ella Furnace at West Mid- dlesex and the Alice furnace at Sharpsville, both of which are at presentin blast.—American Manufacturer. The Wisconsin Bridge & Iron Co., Milwaukee, Wis., states that it has the following contracts on hand: Buf- falo, N. Y.,a 175 ft. lift bridge, 24 ft. wide, two 8 ft. sidewalks, 500 tons; Minneapolis, Minn., Como avenue, riveted highway bridge, 300 ft. long, 24 ft. wide, two 8 ft. sidewalks, 500 tons; Milwaukee, WiS., roof for the new post office, 400 tons, and the iron work for the Mil- waukee public library. 800 tons; Great Northern Rail- road, Max Toltz, engineer of bridges, two 180 ft. riveted swing spans, 200 tons; Milwaukee & Lake Winnebago Railroad, several bridges, swing and girder types, 600 tons; Wisconsin Central Railroad, about. 1,400 spans, 600 tons. Osceola, Wis., a combination highway bridge, 2,000 ft. long, over St. Croix river, having a 240 ft. draw span. The company also has contracts for a large num- ber of highway bridges. secre-