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                             STEAM SHOVELS

                                --AND--

                          STEAM SHOVEL WORK.


                  By E. A. HERMANN, M. Am. Soc. C. E.


                                 1894.
                   ENGINEERING NEWS PUBLISHING CO.,
                               NEW YORK.




          Copyright. 1894, by Engineering News Publishing Co.




CONTENTS.


                                         Pages.

  PART 1.--Steam Shovels                   1-19

    "  2.--Steam Shovel Work              19-41

    "  3.--Disposition of Material        41-55

    "  4.--Cost of Steam Shovel Work      55-57




INDEX.


Ballast, plowing, 48

Blasting, 39, 52

Brine, sprinkling earth, 52


Cars, dump, 19, 41, 47
  Flat, 42
  Loading, 19
  Unloading, 42, 47

Cost of work, 55

Cuts, 28, 36, 39
  Time for, 17
  Widening, 19


Explosives, 39, 52


Fills, trestles for, 47


Grades, construction track, 34
  Cutting down, 28

Grading, 25

Gravel train, 42, 45, 50
  Engines for, 50
  Unloading, 48


Leveling, 53

Loading cars, 19
  Gangs for, 21, 22, 23


Operating, men for, 18


Plow, Barnhart, 43
  Gravel, 42

Plowing, cable for, 50
  Gravel train, 48
  Hauling engine for, 51
  Winter, brine for, 52


Railways, construction, 33
  Reducing grades, 28
  Widening cuts, 19

Railway work, 18, 28, 33

Rapid unloader, 51


Spreaders, 53

Steam shovels, Barnhart, 6
  Boilers, 9
  Bucyrus, 4
  Clement, 10
  Daily capacity, 41
  Description, 5
  Giant, 12
  Invention of, 1
  Little Giant, 12
  Industrial Works, 10
  Machinery of, 5
  Marion S. S. & Dredge Co., 6
  Number of men, 18
  Operation, 16
  Osgood, 2
  Otis-Chapman, 14
  Repairs, 19
  Souther's, 14
  Thompson, 4
  Toledo F. & M. Co., 8
  Types, 3
  Victor, 8
  Vulcan Iron Works, 12


Tools, 16, 18

Track, arrangement of, 19
  Narrow gage, 47

Trains, dirt, handling, 19, 42, 45, 48, 50

Trestles for fills, 47


Widening cuts, 19




STEAM SHOVELS AND STEAM SHOVEL WORK.[1]

[Footnote 1: Copyright by Engineering News Publishing Co., 1894.]

By E. A. HERMANN, M. Am. Soc. C. E.

Part I.--Steam Shovels.


The following article originated in a short paper which was read before
a local society of civil engineers, and there were so many requests
made for this paper and the illustrations presented with it that the
author was led to believe that there was a demand for such information.
Believing that a better understanding of the capabilities of these
machines will serve a useful purpose in economizing money, time and
labor in the execution of work to which they are adapted, the author
presents in this article the information learned by a long practical
experience in this special class of work. Descriptions of the various
steam shovels can readily be found in the trade catalogues of the
different manufacturers, but very little has been published on the
manner of using them in the execution of different classes of work, and
the disposition of the excavated material after it has been loaded on
cars or wagons. This part of the subject will receive most attention,
and although much of it may seem very elementary to those who have had
an extended experience in operating steam shovels, it may be entirely
new to the much larger number who have had few or no opportunities for
doing work of this kind. It has been the aim of the author to condense
the reading matter as much as possible, making it a point to use many
illustrations in place of lengthy explanations, thus presenting the
subject more clearly than by extended descriptions.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. ELEVATION AND HALF PLAN OF OSGOOD STEAM SHOVEL;
Osgood Dredge Co., Albany, N. Y.]

The steam shovel, or steam excavator, is a modified form of dredge
adapted for excavating material on dry land. It was designed and
patented by a Mr. Otis, about 1840, and like most new inventions the
first machine built was a very clumsy affair, but even in this
crude state it possessed many advantages for removing large masses
of material. Its merits were recognized in its earliest stages, and
with increased experience in its operation improvements were soon made
which rendered it almost indispensable on all works requiring large
quantities of excavation.

It was not until 1865, however, that the machine came into general