Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1898 — Matches Made of Paper. [ARTICLE]

Matches Made of Paper.

The number of matches consumed yearly can hardly be realized. Forests have been literally cut into matchsticks, and the demand is growing faster than the supply of trees. So the idea of paper as a substitute is one that commends itself to all practical minds. An authority on the subject says: The new matches are considerably cheaper than the wooden product, and weigh less, which counts for much in exportation. The sticks of the matches consist of paper rolled together on the bias. The paper is rather strong and porous, and .when immersed in a solution of wax sticks well together, and burns with a bright, smokeless and odorless flame. Strips one-half inch in width are first drawn through the combustible mass and then turned by machinery into long, thin tubes, pieces of the ordinary length of wood or wax matches being cut off automatically by the machine. When the sticks are cut to size they are dipped into phosphorous, also by machinery, and the dried head easily ignites by friction on any surface.

The Big Four recently received from the builders four 8-wheel passenger locomotives to haul their fast trains. These engines are, in every respect, models of their kind, and are probably the largest, fastest, most powerful and best looking passenger engines in this part of the country, and are a credit to the management and their designer, Mr. Wm. Garstang, superintendent of motive power of the Big Four, and the Schenectady Locomotive Works, their builders. The engines are now in service between St. Louis and Cleveland, on the fastest and heaviest trains, making the time and doing it easier than was ever accomplished before on this run. In designing these engines it was necessary to make a machine combining great power with high speed and easy running, avoiding all jerk to the train and unnecessary strain on the track. This has been accomplished to such an extent that both engine and tender, while at the highest speed, ride with the greatest steadiness and so soft and easy a motion that the engineers claim not to be at all tired at the end of their run. These noble machines stand 15 feet high from top of rail to top of cab and 9 feet 9% inches to center of boiler, which, with driving wheels 78 inches, and truck and tender wheels 36 inches in diameter, show trim and powerful, without an unnecessary pipe or rod to mar their symmetry. " The material used in the construction of these machines is the finest of its kind, and the greatest care was exercised in both the tests and workmanship to insure every part being perfect. The driving wheel centers, steam chest and covers, cylinder heads, foot plates, auxiliary dome, driving boxes and spring seats are all of cast steel, while the dome castings, stack base, boiler front, cylinder castings and tender truck frames are pressed steel. The boiler is extended wagon top with taber back, 62-inch diameter at smallest ring and 78-inch diameter at the throat, built to carry a wagon pressure of 200 pounds per square inch. Among the special articles are Richardson’s balance valves, Jerome metallic packing, Coale muffler, Kunkle open pops, air operated bell ringer, French springs, Leach pneumatic sanding device, Gold steam heat, Monitor injector, Janney couplers and Fox pressed steel tender truck frames. Some of the principal dimensions are as follows: Weight, 130,000 pounds; cylinders, 20x 26 inches; boiler diameter, 62 inches; tubes, diameter, 2 inches; tubes, number of, 320; fire box, width, 41 inches; fire box, length, 108 inches; working pressure, 200 pounds; heating: tender, water capacity, 5,000 gallons: tender, coal capacity, 10 tons; tender trucks, pressed steel.