IMPROVED COAL ELEVATOR.

An illustration of a new coal elevator is herewith presented, which presents advantages over any incline yet used, so that a short description may be deemed interesting to those engaged in the coaling and unloading of vessels.  The pen sketch shows at a glance the arrangement and space the elevator occupies, taking less ground to do the same amount of work than any other mode heretofore adopted, and the first cost of erecting is about the same as any other.

When the expense of repairing damages caused by the ravages of winter is taken into consideration, and no floats to pump out or tracks to wash away, the advantages should be in favor of a substantial structure.

The capacity of this hoist is to elevate 80,000 bushels in ten hours, at less than one-half cent per bushel, and put coal in elevator, yard, or shipping bins.

[Illustration:  IMPROVED COAL ELEVATOR.]

The endless wire rope takes the cars out and returns them, dispensing with the use of train riders.

A floating elevator can distribute coal at any hatch on steam vessels, as the coal has to be handled but once; the hoist depositing an empty car where there is a loaded one in boat or barge, requiring no swing of the vessel.

Mr. J.R.  Meredith, engineer, of Pittsburg, Pa., is the inventor and builder, and has them in use in the U.S. engineering service.—­Coal Trade Journal.

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STEEL-MAKING LADLES.

The practice of carrying melted cast iron direct from the blast furnace to the Siemens hearth or the Bessemer converter saves both money and time.  It has rendered necessary the construction of special plant in the form of ladles of dimensions hitherto quite unknown.  Messrs. Stevenson & Co., of Preston, make the construction of these ladles a specialty, and by their courtesy, says The Engineer, we are enabled to illustrate four different types, each steel works manager, as is natural, preferring his own design.  Ladles are also required in steel foundry work, and one of these for the Siemens-Martin process is illustrated by Fig. 1.  These ladles are made in sizes to take from five to fifteen ton charges, or larger if required, and are mounted on a very strong carriage with a backward and forward traversing motion, and tipping gear for the ladle.  The ladles are butt jointed, with internal cover strips, and have a very strong band shrunk on hot about half way in the depth of the ladle.  This forms an abutment for supporting the ladle in the gudgeon band, being secured to this last by latch bolts and cotters.  The gearing is made of cast steel, and there is a platform at one end for the person operating the carriage or tipping the ladle.  Stopper gear and a handle are fitted to the ladles to regulate the flow of the molten steel from the nozzle at the bottom.