  We give below two views of a ladle carriage which has been constructed from the designs of Mr. Thomas Wood, the chief engineer to the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron, and Coal Company. These works cover a large extent of ground, the Victoria furnaces and the Ebbw Vale furnaces, both of which supply one steel plant, being over a mile apart. Although this gives a long distance over which the molten metal from the furnaces has to be carried, it is by no means unprecedented; the Barrow furnaces for instance being situated still further from the steel works they supply. Until a short time ago, however, the Ebbw Vale Company had their Sirhowy furnaces in blast. These are, or rather were, for now they are dismantled, situated six miles by rail from the converters they supplied at Ebbw Vale, consequently the ladle containing the 10 tons of molten metal had to be brought this distance each time the converters were charged. In order to meet the exigencies of such a service, the ladle carriage we now illustrate was designed by Mr. Wood. By means of the gearing of wormwheel, rack, and pinion, which are clearly shown in Fig. 2, the ladle can be retained in the center of the carriage and kept upright for running; a clip which is easily knocked out of gear being fitted to retain it in the necessary position. When the ladle is in the required spot to enable the charge to be tipped into the runner which takes it to the converter, the loose wrought-iron handle, A, is slipped on to the square end of the wormshaft, and by turning this the ladle is tipped, and at the same time travels on the rack from its position in the center of the carriage, one man being sufficient to perform the operation. The dotted lines at B represent a wrought-iron shield for protecting the tipping gear from splashes of metal, etc. With the old cast-iron frame carriage the weight of the ladle and charge is practically carried by the two bearings on one side, as the ladle has to be overhung from the center of the carriage, in order that the metal may tip clear of the rails and into the well; supposing of course there are not conveniences for tipping direct into the converter. It will be seen that in Mr. Wood's arrangement, when the ladle is in a vertical position it stands fairly in the middle of the carriage, but the action of tipping carries it to the side, so that the charge will clear the rails. This carriage has now been in work for about three years, and since its introduction there has not been the slightest hitch, even when running ten tons of metal at a considerable speed over the six miles of line from the Sirhowy furnaces. This has been a pleasing contrast compared to the trouble that used to be experienced at Ebbw Vale with the original cast-iron frames. These, under the heavy duty put upon them, were continually breaking on the side which had to carry the weight, and this would entail the metal having to be tipped on the ground so that it might be broken for recharging. Although the exceptional nature of the work at Ebbw Vale called forth this arrangement, it will of course be understood that the advantages it possesses are also manifest upon shorter journeys.—Engineering. |
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