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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1881)
February, 1881. THE WEST SHORE. 49 ROTARY CUTTERS FOR METALS. . It would teem, to the experienoed machinist, tiikt Hit) maunere, and methodi and meui of working metali eold hu been reduoed to an ex act science, The planer, the lathe, the drill, the ahaping machine, the milling maohine, and other general and apeoial toola are usually oon lidered to have oovered the ground of reducing and sizing metallio objeote; the abrading and abolishing of the work being relegated to another branoh. But eomehow the different manipulation! on and prooeaaea of working metali teeme to be to intimately connected that in many inataneee one department and one method overlap! and en gage! with another. It ia hard to point out the dividing line be tween turning (cutting) and finishing and polish ing; it ia difficult to determine where drilling and milling are leparate; to lay what difference there ia in the reiultant action of the ihaping maohine and the profiling machine, although one aoti with a fixed cutter and the other with a rotary outter. The reault of file finiahing and oornndum, or emery, finiahing may ahow appar ent difference to the mechanical eye, but the ob ject tought may be equally gained by one method M well aa by another, '. The mei of theae natural abrading material! are yet in their infanoy. To make a turning or planing tool requirea atock the beat of ateel and baud labor, and duloeu and wear of the outting edge requirea additional labor and con liderable skill to put the tool in shape again. Whereaa, the emery whoel ia a constant, requir ing only oooaaional dressing, eaaily made. It ia noticeable that most of the improvement! in the working of metali cold drift toward the applica tion of rotary oontrivanoes, and that the emery wheel ii largely auperaeding the chiael edge and the serrated edge, aa represented by the turning and planing tool and the tile. In fact, the milling maohine hu stolen a large share of old time lathe, planer and viae work, and al moat rules in the ihop, its oontrol being ihared by the atone and emery wheel. All thii movement ii in one direotion, and it ii not lurpriiing that advanoed mechanic! in lilt that the movement hu not reached its max imum. Theae improver! auart that a large amount of the work now done by the lathe and the planer with fixed toola ihould be done by modification! of theae machinal with rotary tools; and recently an ingenioua and progreative mechanio has given proof of the advantage! of substituting rotary for Axed cutters in the lathe and on the planer. Ilia idea ia to use mills of small diameter in plaoe of the cutters in general nse. A quotation from his own statement is better than a synopsis of his plan. "All fixed and etationary outting tools are merely ohisels, driven either by perouasioo or by pressure) the peroussioa must be regular and equal or the work will be ridgy and 'chat tered.' The pressure must be uniform, con dition impoaaible where the object to be turned is suspended on oentcra, which allows more or leu reoeaai on from the cutting point as the eir eumferential reeistaooe ia greater or leaser. But with a rapidly revolving cutter there is no time for reoovery from the attack of the abrad ing outter, and no chanoe of any projection or Sromineoo overcoming the attack of the tool, 0 00 the planer the epring and 'action of the axed tool leave the surface ia a aerioc of trana Terse ridges; the finishing cut being only a re duction of this fault but not a removal of it There is no planed aurfaoabnt is a series of ridges; no smooth surfaoe ia possible with a fixed tool ia a planer bead. 80 u the lath, it ia imposeiblo to turn a journal exoept its eur face be lelt ia ridgea, which cannot be ground down and will not wear down. I Insist that Utter work oaa be done 00 the lathe and the planar by rotary entUrt than by any fixed cut ter. The improvement will be as much ae the eliding cat ol the planer ebiael over the percme ion oat o( the cold ohiseL The only kaowa 1 of producing aa equal surface ea mows is by a rotary motion. Thia la seen In our means of polishing and our methode of finiahing. No true enrfaoe ia expected hy Innoitnriinal or transverse motions. Io either oaae the ridge must be removed by rotary motion. 80 in the lathe and the planer, the fixed cutter in one pro duoea longitudinal ridges, and the other trans verse ridgea, to be removed after the work ia done by rotary poliihing or rotary wear. I olaim that the only proper way of ailing metala ia by rotary toola.'' This mechanio has made some teata that ap pear to favor hie plan. lie rigged up a lathe with a rotary mill in plaoe of the ordinary fixed chiael and turned a abaft of two and a half In dies from the rough to eise with one going over of the mill. The ehaft waa revolved at a rate somewhat leas than for ordinary turning, and the mill driven by an overhead belt at as rapid a rate aa it could stand, being ted with aoda water. The mill waa only one and a half inohee diameter with between 30 and 40 teeth, and waa fed with a feed of about SO to the inch. It ahould be stated that thia waa aa rapid a feed aa he oould get on the lathe, and he thought a feed of 20 or 22 would give better results. The specimen showed excellent work, very true aa to eiroumterenoe and very smooth aa to aurtaoe. On the planer he introduoed a similar mill in plaoe of the chiael cutter, but he had to run his platen at a lower speed than with the ohisol outter. The result, however, was very fine, a smooth surfaoe apparently needing little more than ordinary atoning 10 make a good linleh. notion jour. Com. Anotiikr DirAHTUK in Locomotive: Ruii.d no. There aeemi to be an inclination of late to depart fiom the long existing and uniform style of locomotive building. We have already described a locomotive with a double set ol driving wheels, the one over the other, the lower onee being actuated by friction) and bare oomei the description of still another departure, which we olio from a ootemporaryi A locomo tive of rather unusual ahape ia building at the Conoori railroad repair ahop at Cononrd, N. H. The boiler, instead of being round ia fiat eome 2 ft thick by 7 ft. wide and 12 ft long the tubes running horizontally, thia boiler rests over the fire-box and in the middle of the loco motive, the engineer's position being in a little cab, similar to a wheelhoue on a steamer, at ths forward snd, while the fireman's position is at the opposite end aa now, the whole "ma chine" being oonaiderebly longer than the larg est used at present. The inventor ia a young man by the name of Rtevsns, wboee name thia novel looomotive will bear. The greateet idea ia the economy of fuel, the boiler being Hat, and covering over to much of the fire-box, while the water will in no oaae be to any great depth aa now, The invention was shown bv J, H. Pearson, one of the largest shareholdere, who waa so pleased with it that he made ar rangement to have 00 built for trial. It wiil be several weeks before this engine will be fin ished, and should it meet the expectations of ita friends it will be quit a departure from the present atyle of locomotive. Vf.Miwn t TmtKaTMBflKA. .A nnmUf of Knuliah coal minee are being worked under the ooean. Ia Northumberland, Kog.,the act available quantity of coal under the ee ie estimated at 403,000,000 tons, and on the Durham ooaat under the sea, including a breadth of i miles with aa area or 71 ,n.r. mile. 734.fiUO.UlJO tons. The latUr mine ie in a vein ol aa aggregate thickneoo of 30 feet, distributed la 0 awnia. fcugioeero are coaeidtrtng bow It oaa be worked auoeeeelully ia tbe luture. VI. fAr.f uiv... Aflaftrtlifitf La Mr L. Kurguignoo, malleable coot-iron appear! as LumhiaU Iww4 turtVMa rd arm pig-iron, from which it differ by the special nature of it amorpboai graphite and by ita great tenacity. It ia duunguiahabl from ateel by iu alight itsouUlity aad It bug proportuaol graphite. 8AW8. The grand eeeret of pnttlnj any saw In the beat possible cutting order oonsiit in filing the teeth at a given angle to out rapidly, and of a uniform length, so that the point will all touch a straight-edged rule without showing a varia tion of 100th part of aa inch, Beside thia there ahould be juat enough est in the teeth to out a kerf ae narrow as it can b mad, and at th same time allow the blade to work freely without piuohlng. On the ooutrary, the kerf muat not be so wids as to permit the blade to rattle when In motion. The very points ol in teeth do the cutting. II on tooth is a twen tieth of an inch longer than two or thru on each aide of it, the long tooth will be required to do 00 much more outting than It should, that th aawing cannot be done well, llenoe the law go jumping along, working hard and cutting a owly. It one tooth i lunger than thoe on either eld of it, th short onee do ant out, al though th point may be sharp. When put ting a croee-cut saw in ordsr. it will pay well to drone the point with an old file, ami after warda aharpen them with a line whetstone. Much meohauioal skill 1 requisite to put a aaw in prim order. Oue oareleaa throat with a HI will ahorten the point of a tooth so much that it will b utterly useless, so far aa outting ia oonoerned. The teeth should be set with much car, and th filing ahould be don with great accuracy. If th teeth are uneven at the point a large fiat lite ahould be eeeured to a block of wood in auoh a manner that th very points only may be Jointed, ao that the cutting edg of th aame may be in a complnt Hue or circle. Every tooth ahould out a little ae the eaw I worked. Th teeth of a handsaw, fur all aorta of work, ahould be filed Hnatninu, or at an angle on tSe front ediie, while the back eilue may be filed (learning or square serine th blade. Th beat way to lile a oiroular saw for outting wood aoroeo th grain ia to drees vry fifth tooth square across and about one-twentieth of an Inch shorter than th others, whtuh should be filed lleaming at an angle of alwut 40. BroHTANKoi'i CoMnumwK or Woon. Th Amtrlfan Journal of Stint gives a remarkable instance of th ipontaneoui combustion of wood. A Mr, Adam Kelgart, two yean pre vloui to thi oocurrsnoe, received a plea of wood, supposed to be oedar, delauhl from a larg pieoe dug up 30 ft, below the lurfeoe, near Lancaster, 1'enn. The pieoe weighed a few ounoee, and it wae broken in two and laid upon a whit pin shslf in Mr. Heigart's oouullng room. About lour nay balor the iiiaoovery ol the fir he had oooaaioa to wipe th duet Iron the shelf and from th pieoe of oedar, with a wet cloth. Three (lays after II was discovered that th plaoe of wood had Ignited and combus tion was proceeding 10 rapidly that In a few minute the shslf would have been on fire, Probably another prolific sou roe of our forest firs ie to be eought In th liability of decayed wood, not only to spontaneous aombustina, but from th direct rays of the sua, Al Winulie ter, Cooo., eome year lino som workmen, about 2 r. M., on August 6. discovered amok arising from a barren upland. Th sun waa ex oeeeively hot tt th tint. When they went to seek tbe origin of tbe smoke they toofid that th remains of an old decayed hemlock log bad buret into a bias, and war bunting fiercely. An RLtcmto Watch. A watchmaker al Copenhagen, of the Dame of Hoo.lerbsrg, la re ported to bav made a watch which rsquire ao winding op, inasmuch as It perforate that work itself by meana of aa electric currant Aa electric magnet fixed Inaiilc th watch keep th epring perpetually la a etal of tension. All that la nquired to keep th watch running i to preserve tiie battery ia proper working order, for which purpose on or two inepeoUuoa la a twelve-month era said to b anffiuseat,