Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1910 — PAPER CAR WHEELS. [ARTICLE]

PAPER CAR WHEELS.

Safer and Stronger, bat More Costly than Other Wheel*. We naturally think of , paper as 'Something lacking in strength and of a paper article as being fragile, so are somewhat alarmed wjien an encyclopedic friend remarks that the wheels of the car on which we are slipping along at the rate of a mile a minute are made of paper. This opportunity to be alarmed occurs, however, on only the best Of railways, as paper car wheels, though safer and longer lived than any others, are also more expensive. The principal advantage s( wheels made from this unpromising material is found iguthe fact that they are not injured by the violent vibrsif tions to which car wheels are subjected. The paper used in the manufacture of these wheels is known as calendered rye straw board, or thick paper. It is sent to the caf wheel shops in circular Bheets measuring twenty-two to forty v inches in diameter, and over each of these sheets is spread an even coating of flour paste. A dozen sheets are placed one on the other and the lot subjected to hydraulic pressure of 800 tons or more. After two hourß’ pressure these sheets, which have now become a sci:d block, .are kept for a week In a drying room at a temperature of 120 degrees, after which a number of blocks are pasted together, pressed and dried for a second week. A third combination of layers is then made, after which there is an entire month of drying. The final block contains 12fr to 160 sheets of the original paper and is four and one-half to five inches In thickness. All resemblance to paper has been lost, the block in weight, density and solidity approximating the finest grained heaviest metal. To complete the wheel there are required a steel tire, a cast iron huh, wrought iron plates to protect the paper on either side and two circles of bolts, one Bet passing through the flange of the tire, the other through the flange of the hub and both sets through the paper. The paper .blocks are turned ’ on a lathe, which also reams out the center hole for the hub. Two coats of paint are applied to keep out moisture. The various parts are next assembled, and the paper car wheel is complete. As may be readily understood, paper which has received the treatment described may be used for almost any ' purposp for which metal or wood is used if not too much exposed to dampness, and to all practical purposes it is fireproof.—Harper’s.