THE MARINE RECORD. 7 SS _6_0—.—ww——aC—=@sao ‘laepmw‘ snes eS eeeeeeeeeoeeeeEeeeeeeeeee SEAMLESS COPPER AND BRASS TUBE WORKS. A WATERBURY, CONN., INDUSTRY. ({Illustrated.) In connection with the outfit and final equipment of first-class tonnage, piping and tubes of various diam- eters enter more largely into the work of the shipbuilder than is generally supposed; at the same time, there are but few firms engaged in the high-class manufacture of this special product, and none in the United States in any way comparable with the firm of Randolph & Clowes, of Waterbury, Conn., where pure seamless cop- | _per and brass tubes up to a diameter of 36 inches are ~ regularly turned out from the works. We are also pleased to add that a specialty ismade of shipwork; that is, everything in this line required in the construction, outfit and equipment, The business of Randolph & Clowes was established in April, 1886, by Kdward F. Randolph, of New York, and George H. Clowes, of Waterbury. The new firm purchased the seamless tube and patent range boiler plant from the trustees of the Brown & Bros.’ estate. This was done by Mr. George H. Clowes, the managing member of the firm, against the advice of men who had spent years of their lives perfecting similar works and were fully aware with what they were obliged to cou- tend. This did not serve to deter Mr. Clowes in the least, but rather had an opposite effect, inasmuch as he was Getermined to make the business a success, and he has succeeded, we might say, even beyond his most san- guine expectations. It takes something more than pure grit for one man _to build up a business occupying seven acres of ground, employing 500 men, and turning over three-quarters of a million dollars a year, but from his earlier history we find Mr. Clowes was endowed with his full share of in- domitable pluck and perseverance. After being in the banking business with his brother at De Pere, Wis., he is next found under the competent instruction of Col. Tompkins, who had been commissioned to educate offi- cers for military positions, where he passed asuccessful examination before the Board of United States Kxam- ining Officers and was at once appointed adjutant of the McClellan Infantry, after having aided in recruit- ing 600 men for a new regiment. Ona second call for troops he at once re-enlisted, a musket on his shoulder, with the Forty-seventh Regiment, N. G., S. N. Y. Soon he was appointed sergeant-major of the regiment, which position he held when mustered out. He had likewise during the war of the rebellion, an extensive experience in the navy of the United States. Fora year and a half he served on the United States gunboat Flambeau, doing duty off the coast of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Later he was trans- ferred to the U. S. storeship Home, and was faithful to es duty aboard this ship until she was ordered home, in the summer of 1864. His elder brother, Joseph Clowes, now retired, was also in the service of the navy of the Union as admiral’s secretary, and the loss of a leg at the fall of Fort Fisher sufficiently attests his love of country and his sacrifice for her in her hour of sore distress. This is all the more marked, as he volunteered his ser- vices for shore duty against the admiral’s advice not to go ashore with the marines. The works of the company being herewith illustrated, we are led to say that the marked success of Randolph & Clowes is demonstrated by the fact that there have been more organizations effected during the last forty years to manufacture seamless drawn brass and copper GEO. H. CLOWES, FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT. tubing that have failed or gone out of business, than are now in existence. Many of these companies were organized with very large capital, which has been en- tirely sunk, ruining many of the original investors. The seamless tube businessis one of great technical difficulties, requiring the most costly and ponderous, as well as delicate, machinery. Only skilled workmen, of many years’ experience, are employed in this particular WORKS OF RANDOLPH & CLOWES, WATERBURY, CONN. branch of the business. The manufacture of tubing, up to four or five inches in diameter, requires more than ordinary skill and outlay as to capital, and the difficul- ties are very greatly increased with every increased inch in diameter greater than four inches. From this fact only two or three seamless tube manufacturers make tubes up to eight inches, the rest confining them- selves to tubing up to four or five inches. The largest tubes made in Kurope are only twelve or fourteen inches, and only one or two companies make anywhere near as large as these sizes. Realizing that what everybody could do would become unremunerative, Mr. Clowes has for the past five or six years been most steadily and constantly bending all his energies in the way of developing his plant and machinery to turning out tubes of the greatest dimensions, until now the firm turns out tubes 38 inches in diameter, 6 feet long; 24 inches in diameter, 12 feet long; 12 inches in diameter, 20 feet long. And we may here remark that the cost of one hydraulic bench alone, exclusive of the pumps necessary to run it, on which the larger tubes are drawn, exceeds the enormous sum of $80,000, and it may also be mentioned that it is the largest machine of its kind in the country. Owing to the chemical characteristics of copper, it has been considered almost an impossibility to get cast- ings perfectly sound. ‘The difficulties, however, are not or have not been unsurmountable until the larger diameters are attempted. Recognizing these obstacles, and to overcome them, Mr. Clowes made up his mind long ago that the only way to get an absolutely perfect tube, or a seamless tube at all of large diameter, was to first roll a sheet either of copper or brass, circle it, and then from the circle draw the tube. Hence this firm has to-day more methods of drawing tubes than any other concern in the world, all peculiarly adapted to the special sizes or qualities desired, and many of the methods or devices fully protected by patents. Plumbers all over the world know the merits of the patented seamless drawn, copper house-boiler, manu- factured by Randolph & Clowes. They realize its many points of superiority, strength, durability and appear- ance. “It is a little expensive,’’ is the manner in which they treat allusions to the boilers, forgetting, in some instances, that the best is always the cheapest. As these boilers are made up to 24 inches in diameter, 200 gallons capacity and seamless drawn, requiring an immense outlay in the ponderous machinery, aside from the protection of patents, the firm has no reason to fear competition in that line. ——ean 9 SUBMARINE DIVER’S OUTFIT. The dress of a fully equipped diver of the present day weighs 169% pounds and costs about $500. First of all® comes 8’ pounds of underclothing; then follows the dress itself weighing 14 pounds; boots 32 pounds, monstrous things with leaded soles; breast and back weights, 80 pounds; and lastly the hemlet which weighs 35 pounds. When the hull of the Great Eastern was cleaned by divers as she was being loaded with the cable for the Indian submarine telegraph, the contract price of the work was $9,000 and it was completed in six weeks by twelve divers. ‘he incrustation on the bottom was more than a foot thick, and after it was removed she lifted fully two inches. The greatest depth at which a diver can safely work is thought to be 150 feet. There have been, however, rare instances of diving to 204 feet, and sustaining a presure of 88% pounds on every square inch of the body of the diver. Diving was first incepted by the action of the elephant in crossing a deep river, when he swims beneath the water, elevating his trunk, by which means he breathes. The flagships in the British navy carry eight divers, and the cruisers four each, fully equipped.—Strand Magazine. rr 00 BILLS OF LADING. In dismissing the libel of the Ginn Publishing Co. against the Ogdensburg Transportation Co., in the Federal Court at Chicago, Judge Grosscup gave a legal construction to maritime bills of lading that is new to that circuit. The Ginn Co.’s shipment of books were spoiled by bilge water. The bill of lading called for the filing of claims within thirty days, and the beginning of an action within ninety days. The publishing company did not commence suit until twenty-two months after the damage was done, and claimed that the bill of lading could not make a limitation different from the limita- tion underthe statutes. Judge Grosscup held differently. He said: “It has been frequently held that, within reasonable limits, parties may substitute by contract limitation upon the bringing of actions for the general limitation provided by statute. The only question is whether ninety daysis a reasonable limitation. I am disposed on that question to follow the ruling of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the first circuit, in which this precise question of the bill of lading was upheld.”