Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1885 — MECHANICAL. [ARTICLE]

MECHANICAL.

tTHE Fontaine locomotive, which won peculiar celebrity some time ago on the line of the Canada Southern,has finally disappeared. The central idea was the introduction of two friction wheels above two driving wheels. By the contact of the upper wheel with the lower, ■a greater number of revolutions per minute, and hence a greater speed, could be obtained. A company was formed with $1,000,000 nominal capital stock at $25 per share. Two engines were built at a expense of $25,000, but they proved a failure. Altogether the company paid out $645,000 and received $2,700 in return. The limit of temperature at which men can work depends !! upon the length of there exposure, the amount of exertion they put forth, their condition and the nature of the atmosphere, particularly as to its degree of moisture. Men have been employed on railways at 104 degrees, in mines—under very favorable conditions—at 125 degrees, and are said to work occasionally in the stockholes of tropical steamers at 150 degrees. Prof. Du Boise Raymond has estimated that a temperature of 122 degrees can be endured when the air is as dry as possible, but that even 104 degrees is likely to be fatal in an atmosphere saturated with moisture. It is considered certain that men cannot become accustomed to stand, for any considerable time, a higher temperature than 140 to 165 degrees, even when they keep perfectly still and are in quite pure air. There was an interesting debate in the Reichstag one day last week, on the Workmen’s Protection bill, lately introduced by Prince Bismarck, which seeks, among other measures for the benefit of working men, to establish a fixed number of hours to constitute a normal working day. This provision was vigorously attacked and declared to be impossible of enforcement. If it were interpreted so as to compel employers to pay laborers for time necessarily lost in waiting for work, it would only result in employers cutting do,wn the wages for the day’s work, and if they were only to be paid for the hours they were actually at work, they would be compelled to lose their own time and would have to be on hand for a greater number of hours than at present in order to earn the same amount of wages. The most official figures that can be found show that there are 29,227 locomotives of all kinds belonging to the railroads of North America. Reckoning the life of a locomotive at twentyfive years, it ought to require the construction of 1,169 locomotives annually to maintain the stock of engines. A great many locomotives kept on the motive power list are, doubtless, out of Service; but, making free allowance for this, the figures indicate that in the last year the renewal of locomotives has been far below the necessary requirements. Many of the engines built do not represent maintainance of stock, but were 1 called for by new roads and extensions. Renewals must be made sometimes to fill the blanks left by wear and tear; and those who delay longest in getting their motive power put in order will pay heaviest for the work when it can be delayed no longer.