The New York and Brooklyn Bridge (Courtesy of John A. Roebling's Sons Company.) The traveler returning from a voyage to foreign lands and entering New York Harbor on one of the great ocean steamships, first sees the lofty towers of the most beautiful bridge in the world as his ship glides through the "Narrows." The great highway looms up in the distance with its slender looking viaduct and thread-like cables linking the cities of New York and Brooklyn with the graceful curves of inverted arches. And, on nearer approach, the symmetry of the whole magnificent structure loses none of its complete ness. Every part is so well proportioned that one does not realize that the cables are more than a foot and a third in diameter, but is impressed with the great height of the towers, which rise more than two hundred and seventy-five feet above the water, and stand like sentinels guarding the busy waterway beneath them. The conception of this marvel of daring skill, the observer mentally notes, must have been that of a master mind. This bridge is, in fact, a monument to its designer. Mr. John A. Roebling advanced the project in the early fifties. Sadly enough he lost his life June 17, 1869, at the very inception of the actual construction of this work, which was to be the crowning achievement of a most successful career. The construction of the bridge was begun in October, 1869, under charge of Col. W. A. Roebling as Chief Engineer, and completed by him thirteen years later on May 24, 1883. It was thrown open to the public with fitting ceremonies, attended by the President of the United States and many other dignitaries. following points concerning it: Construction commenced, October, The 1869. are interesting Length of river span, 1,595 feet, 6 inches. Length of each land span, 930 feet, 1,860 feet. Length of Brooklyn approach, 971 feet. Length of New York approach, 1,562 feet, 6 inches. Total length of bridge, 5,989 feet. Number of cables, 4. Diameter of each cable, 152 inches. Ultimate strength of each cable, 11,200 tons. Depth of tower foundation below high water, Brooklyn, 45 feet. Depth of tower foundation below high water, New York, 78 feet. Size of tower at high-water line, 140 x 59 feet. Total height of tower above high water, 277 feet. Clear height of bridge in centre of river span above high water, at 50° F., 135 feet. Height of floor at tower, above high water, 119 feet, 3 inches. Grade of roadway, 3 feet in 100 feet. Size of anchorage at base, 129 inches by 119 inches. Size of anchorage at top, 117 inches by 104 inches. Weight of each anchor plate, 23 tons. NOT WASTING IT Big Man-Little boy, would you like to have three eyes? Little Boy-Betcher life I would! Big Man Where would you put your third eye? In the back of your head? Little Boy-Naw! I'd put it on de tip o' me finger; den I'd poke me finger through a hole in de fence an' watch de ball game! Nail Making Developments (By WALTER H. HAMEL.) Lafayette, Ind.-Practically up to the nineteenth century the art of nail making was what might be termed a household industry and in fact the early history of this craft discloses evidence showing that even women and children were employed in the manufacturing of nails, especially of the smaller sizes. Those days a nail was heated on a forge and hammered on an anvil, then cut by a chisel attached to the anvil. The head of the nail was shaped by a bore of countersunk design. It is said altogether over 3,000 names surrounding over 300 various types were given to nails. Some of the names used by the pioneers were: Deck, pail, scupper, mop and hustle, together with many, many others. Nail making apparently progressed very slowly. As early as 1606 Sir Davis Bulmer obtained leave for a process to cut nails by the aid of water power. Then in a very short time afterwards, in 1619, Clement Dawbeny, of England, secured a permit to do the same work. After that a century of idleness in this line passed away when in 1775, or thereabouts, one Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumberland, R. I., cut small slender nails from sheet iron. This was perhaps the first man in this country to put out nails and his product in description leads one to think it was very similar to the first lath nail ever designed. Again in 1786 Ezekiel Reed, of Massachusetts, was granted a patent on a nail producing apparatus, a form of the famous cut nail machine. In 1796, during November, Isaac Garretson, of Pennsylvania, and George Chandler, of Maryland, secured patents on cutting and heading machines, at that time said to be ahead of their day. In 1790 an English pat ent was obtained by Thomas Clifford, of Bristol, and his outfit was used in a small French factory several years afterwards. Nails were never produced in great numbers until after the beginning of the 19th century. At about that time some of the noted nail experts were: Josiah G. Parson, of New York; Jacob Perkins, of Boston; Peter Cliff, of Massachusetts, and Daniel French, of Connecticut. All of their machines could produce but several thousand nails per day, though that was thought wonderful at that time. In 1810 Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, noticed what a mammoth field was open in the line which he later promoted. In 1828, or the year following, Mr. Edward Hancorne of London, England, had a machine capable of putting out nails at the then astounding rate of over a million a week. Some time in 1829 the New Jersey Iron Manufacturing Company was chartered by the legislature for making nails and metal working outlines. There were only about fifteen firms making nails up to as late as 1886, and in 1890 the export trade amounted to only a few thousand dollars. Thus it will be seen what a remarkable contrast in which it stood with the tremendous output of the present day. A POINTED HINT An author engaged a young lady typewriter to take down his new novel from dictation. At the passage "Oh, my adorable angel, accept the confession from my lips that I cannot exist without you! Make me happy. Come and share my lot and be mine until death do us part!" his fair secretary paused and ingenuously inquired, "Is that to go down with the rest?"-Exchange. Industrial Report Is Ordered Washington.The House has concurred in the Senate resolution to print the testimony taken by the recent Commission on Industrial Relations, the exhibits submitted, and the report of the commission, which includes recommendations by the various groups of that body. It is ordered that the joint committee on printing (of the House and Senate) print 10,000 copies of all testimony taken at the hearings, 2,500 of which shall be for the use of the Senators and 7,500 for the use of Congressmen. It is also ordered that 100,000 copies of the report be printed, 30,000 copies for the Senators and 70,000 for Congressmen. These will be divided among the Sen ators and Congressmen for distribution. In its report, the House Committee on Printing estimated that the testimony would comprise seven volumes of 1,008 pages each. The report of the commission will make one volume. It is also ordered that 10,000 copies of exhibits, comprising three volumes of 1,008 pages each, shall be printed. The total cost is estimated at $92,688.25. As the testimony, exhibits and report will have to be compiled and indexed it is quite probable it will be a few months before the work is ready for public distribution. The Superintendent of Documents is authorized to reprint copies for sale. To the Attention of Elevator Constructors Elevator Constructors are thoroughly aware that wire rope is a very important part of any elevator installation. Accidents can be reduced to a minimum; the factor of safety raised to a maximum if the right rope is a part of your equipment. It is therefore to the advantage of any elevator constructor or engineer to purchase or specify only that rope that is dependable and of long life. We therefore call to your attention the fact that Roebling elevator ropes are special ropes undergoing special processes of manufacture in heat treatments, tests, etc., and subject to most skilled workmanship. Roebling chemists, metallurgists and Engineering departments analyze most carefully our various standard types of elevator rope. Strength, uniformity of structure, flexibility, dependability, and long life are a few of the many qualities that make Roebling Elevator Ropes so universally used. Further information will be gladly furnished on request by The John A. Roebling's Sons Company Value of Unity of Unity Shown Denver, Col.-Secretary Anderson, of the State Federation of Labor, has forwarded a letter to every Colorado trade union urging them to affiliate with the State branch and assist in securing remedial legislation. The following list of labor laws in this State is cited as proof of what workers can do when they act collectively: Age of employes not ground for discharge from employment; anticoercion act; barber license law; bureau of labor statistics; child labor law; coal mine inspection law; convict-made goods, prevention sale of; employers' liability law; miners' eight-hour law; employe entitled to time to vote law; free employment offices; exemption law; factory inspection law; false advertising in labor disputes law; mechanics' lien law; inspection of metalliferous mines; semi-monthly pay day, payment of wages on public works; railway employes' sixteen-hour law; poor person to sue without cost; antiscript law; seats for female employes' law; assumption of risk law; protection of building employes; locomotive headlight law; women's eighthour law; minimum wages for teachers. ጸጸ Discoverer of the Water Jet The water jet has been used for so many years in putting down and pulling piling that its discoverer has long since been lost sight of. It was used during the Civil War, and for many years previous, by government engineers. Tradition has it that the discoverer of the advantages of the water jet was a government engineer, and that his discovery was made in the following manner: It seems that along in the '40's this engineer was building a wharf, and was having unusual difficulty in putting down his piling. One day in wading around his boots became stuck in a tenacious mud and he found it impossible to pull them out. There happened to be a hose near by and one of the men handed it to the officer, the idea being that he would wash the mud away from his boots. The water was turned on and the officer applied a stream to his feet. To his surprise he sank deeper. He tried it again and went down still farther in the mud. By this time he was in up to his waist and still going down. Astonished by his discovery he continued to apply the stream to his feet and he might be going down yet had not his men come to the rescue and pulled him out by means of a small hand derrick. Once on shore he began "to think the matter out." If a stream of water applied to a man's feet will cause him to sink deeper in the mud, why wouldn't it have the same effect if applied to the base of a pile? He tried it and the pile which had obstinately refused to go down before sank easily to place, and in that way, so runs the story, was discovered the use of the water jet for putting down piling. Green-What is a sense of humor? Brown-A sense of humor is that which makes you laugh at something that happens to somebody else which would make you angry if it happened to you. |