The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 11

it THE BROOKLYN DAILY BAG NEWS EDITORIAL1 NEWS EDITORIAL' NEW YORK CITY. SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 27. 1908. THREE CENTS.

JuJdj i II FINF TRAINING FARM ANH SANTTAPTTTM FOB PHT Tf WHIFFS jMANHATTAN BRIDGE STEEL 1 I I HIGH GRADE PRODUCT MiMO i In every detail the Leading Retail Establishment of Autumn Sales Of Unusual Interest. r. 600,000 Pounds of Pure Nickel Blended Into Metal in Important Sections. BIGGEST ORDER EVER GIVEN. Interesting Process In the Big Mills of the Carbon Steel Company.

Sixteen strands four each of the big 21', 4-inch cables that are to suspend the main superstructure of the great Man- hattan Bridge' are now completed and in permanent position, while work is pro- gressing rapidly in building up four mora strands. It will not be many months, therefore, when the massive structure i of the roadways of this huge span will be taking on visible form. While much interest is awakened by the fact that a new record Is being made In the' construction of this new Man hattan-Brooklyn bridge, and that when completed it will have the greatest capacity of any suspension bridge In the world, tho fineness of the elements which are to physically constitute It is not. a matter of common knowledge. It Is not generally known, for Instance, that pounds of pure nickel is blended into certain parts of the structure material, aggregating 8.500 tons of nickel steel the biggest, order ever given out in the world for structural purposes, and representing more than one-fifth the entire weight of steel In the finished bridge structure.

Nor is it generally known that this is the first time that, nickel steel has ever been used in a similar bridge construction. So extensively has pure nickel been blended into the steel that the product may well be called an "alloy," or "amalgam," or "composite" metal, but it simply passes as "nickel steel." Its production under the highly exacting conditions which accompany it make it one of the toughest products known to metal workers. Nickel Steel One of Toughest of Metals. Not only is the very superior quality of the steel for the great Manhattan Bridge determined by the alloy of nickel, but by exact percentages of other elements such as phosphorus, sulphur, manganese and silicon; also by special processes of manufacture and by a succession of the severest tests to which the unfinished and finished product may be subjected. Since there aro as many different kinds of steel as there aro trees in a forest, the steel specified for the Manhattan Bridge is the iron wood of the forests, and there were few steel companies who could or would care to comply with the unusual specifications which, in the process of manufacture, constituent elements, tests, would Insure its specified quality.

This contract was given to the Carbon Steel Company of Pittsburg. Frank B. Robinson, tho president of this company, is frequently seen on tno boardwalks suspend over the East River, where tho cable? are being made, and is apparmtly taking a deep interest In the bridge construction. Mr. Robinson said yesterday: "While 1 made all the steel for the towers and cables of the Williamsburg Bridge, I have taken a special interest in this contract, for, In the excellence of work and rapidity of construction I wished to make a record that has never been made by any one In the world.

Our specialty, of course, is In the manufacture of fine steel, such as live ply carbon-chrome safe plates, boiler plates and tubings, fire box steel, car axles and protective deck and hull plates for battle- TvrT7 pouce horses. lJSJLm I v. -(A 4 YV 1 PVT' IW A 'J V. SEAKNJNI H0ASE i TTTVVTTTT service. ing farm valid and a hospital for the physically disabled, and T.

Harry Shanton, who parts his name in the right way for a satisfactory balance, may be pardonea for his enthusiasm about the place. Mr. Shanton, who is called "captain" by his subordinates, and by the vet erinarians, is in charge of the police horses. He knows a horse and a liorse's ways better, maybe, than any other man in the police service. Mr.

Shanton Is not' a member of the uni formed force, but he was given the job boss of the horses and the horsemen because he really has the science of horse-training at his fingers' ends. And (lis boundless sympathy for a horse of Any age or condition, and for a sick dorse in particular, makes his employment by the city profitable. Mr. Shanton, being one of the physical parts of the farm for he spends all of his spare time there must be considered first in the article which describes this portion of the police service. He is of middle age, tall and stout, has a smooth face which is ruddy and healthy, and finely nourished as is the rest of his person, and clad, as he was the other afternoon when an Eagle man went to see him, in khaki riding breeches, riding boots, a loose negligee shirt and tidy little spurs, he looks the part of a model horseman as well as a picturesque equestrian.

He has not been long in the service, and in the earlier weeks of his employment he might have been a little bit raw in his dealings with the members of the force who are under him, but ho is making friends among the men very fast, and they are really getting to like him. It is mighty hard for a civilian to have much real influence over a member of the uniformed force, for this particular breed of municipal humanity resents the civilian in police work. The police job is for life on good behavior and the work of the police commissioner and his deputies and other plainly clad subordinates is for a year or two at the most. And it is not every policeman who will admit that a civilian knows anything at all about police work. So, with all this in mind, it is saying a good deal for this man Shanton to print the unmistakable fact that he has made friends among the police lieutenants, sergeants, doormen and patrolmen.

He is chummy with the horses, which are constantly changing about, and he has that degree of human sympathy with them, all which is bound to gain their friendship. There are 24 horses at present on the farm, and Shanton, with a fine capacity for detail, is able to pick them out each by name and tell the story of each. Of this number 7 are from the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, and the remainder, 15, from Manhattan, the Bronx and Richmond. Shanton differentiates so well, even when they are out grazing, acres away, that he can call them by name and pick out the Brooklyn horses. Each police horse has a name and an official number, but it is by the name that each is known, all through the department.

Now each horse has its own peculiari ties and Shanton seems to know them all. There is St. Valentine, for example, "A perfect, bioomin' idiot," as Shanton I observed to an Eagle reporter. 1 "Get St. Valentine out of the stall," said Shanton, and thereat Lieutenant William Davis, master of horses and equipment for Brooklyn and Queens, who is Just as perfect in his knowledge of the peculiarities as Mr.

Shanton, being older at the police business, ejaculated: "Yes, bring out the sonofaseacook and let us have a look at, the fool." The hostler backed St. Valentine out of the stall, and there appeared a fine little specimen of horse, fit, apparently for any work, chunky, well fed, muscular and broad chested. But St. Valentine has been practically condemned as a po-1 1 lice ho se, because of his extreme Imbecility. There is a suspicion that it is not all- Imbecility that ails him.

for there is a lurking something in the expression of his eyes which make the stablemen swear at him and declare that he is not such a fool as he appears to he. "Can't depend on the bloody fool." said Davis. 'Hitch him to a patrol wagon and the chances are that he will back it into a plate glass window. Put a policeman on his back and It is dollars to mother's doughnut3 that he'll sit down on the rop." "Of eoirse, he's an idiot, and a natural born idiot." persisted Mr. Shanton, as he slid the bridle around a bit.

"Did you ever see such a fool face? Look at his forehead. Not a sign of brain or Intelligence anywhere. That's a Brooklyn horse." "Yes," assented Lieutenant Davis, "and we don't "int. Xf him in Brooklyn 1 again." T1HE training farm for police horses, on the North Hemp- tees stead road, in Flushing, is llll growing to be one of the institutions of the1 city's w-as by the acid process as was also the steel which we manufactured for the hull and protective deck plates and boilers for Dewey's flagship, the Olympla. and tho Oregon, which made the record voyage around Cape Horn to the Atlantic, and the warships Iowa, Brooklyn and Minneapolis.

All tho steel in the Manhattan bridge cables has been made by this process, and when the basic process wras used, the furnaces were fed witli a high grade raw material, making a product which could not help meeting all requirements In the specifications of tho Bridge, Department. The nickel steel we are putting into this bridge is a new material in bridge construction and very difficult to make, but. I am happy to say that, with our special equipment and experience we were successful In manufacturing it, without the loss of a and in giving it such quality as to meet every test specified for it. The rapidity with which the work of building the cables is now progressing, makes it possible that they will bo completed in January, and I believe not later than February 1, when tlio construction of tho main bridge span will begin." Time Records in Cable Construction. The Cnrbon Steel Company, through the Glymlon Contracting 'Company, an auxiliary erecting compciny, proposes to break all time records in building up the big cables and other parts of the bridge for which It is directly responsible.

The prime requisite in the specifications of the Bridge Department governing tho contract for tho manufacture of the Manhattan Bridge steel was that "all stoel for any purpose in this bridge shall be made by manufacturers of established reputation for the kind and character of steel specified." The next requisite was that "all structural steel shall bo mnde in an open hearth furnace." Tho reason for this, as all steel men know, is that the highest grades of structural steel can only be made in an open henrlh furnace. At the Carbon Steel Works in Pittsburg, the open hearth process only is used, there being eight, of these furnaces in the plant, with a gross capacity of nbout, sixty tons each. Other processes are the Bessemer and crucible, tho latter being used almost exclusively for tools and similar -products. The open hearth employs two methods of produc tion, according to the specifications to be met In the finished product, namely, the "acid" process and "basic" process. Theso are determined by the linings of the furnace and tho kind of raw material put Into them.

The "acid" furnace Is lined with an ncid substance, usually silica, while the "basic" is lined by some basic material, such as magnesite. A visit by an Engle representative to the works in Pittsburg brought out these and other important points In reference to the processes and constituent, elements In the steel produced by this company for the Bridge. The acid end basic processes, while furn mav b- fed by impure raw nta terul. wu.e.i, in boiling, may Lc fieJL by a flux of lime. If hue, cm the 1 contrary, should be put Into an acid it would make immediate war upon the silicate lining, and not only ruin the furnace, but spoil the whole 00 ton charge of molten steel.

The "acid" furnace, therefore, requires to bo fid with a pure raw material, such as the highest grade pig end steel cuttings which test out pure. The works are iu many respects radically different from some of the larger works which make a specialty of a common run of steel. These differences are perhaps most pronounced in the character of the furnaces and the operations of ladling the molten steel and tilling the ingot, molds. In the first place, as contradistinguished from the Bessemer process, Jn which a blaHt of air is forced through tho steel liquid to car-ryoff impurities, the open henrlh furnaces always in the acid process and sometimes in tho basic, process, are fed with pure raw materials, there being no impurities to be got rid of, tho heat is applied above tho furnace charge instead of below it. This Is done by the Kiemen regenerator alternating currents of air and gas forced across the -boiling surface, thus producing a terrific heat.

Then, too, after the "heat" of 50 or 00 toiiR of boiling steel is discharged into a pot-Indie and suspended above the ingot mollis, the liquid metal is not only drawn from the bottom of the ladlo but Is forced up through the bottom of the molds on the same principle of water seeking its level. The advantages of this method are that it produces a steady, compact growth of the ingot and prevents the blistering and Irregularities of fiber which are apt to follow a churnii'g of tho cooling, metal by pouring. While the operations of any stoel plant are highly Interesting, the processes of converting raw pig and steel cuttings Into Manhattan Bridge steel in the Carbon Steel Works had an added interest to the Kagle man. Tho massive black machinery thai moved hither and thither with apparently human intelligence and with volcanic power, doing with perfect facility tho work of a thousand mun, was almost awe inspiring. It is during tho furnace process that the most exacting tests are made, for this Is the crucial stage In the manufacture of high quality steel, and It is worse than doing the work over again If the "heat" is spoiled by tho slightest variation from tho exacting specification of constituent elements.

"Sonking Pits" and Rolling Process. When the newly formed Ingots In their, molds have HUlliilently hnrdenod, the i molds are picked up by giant steel grip- I pers which mechanically force out tho n- gets. The ingots still retaining a red, heat, which, however, is unevenly distrt-. buted, are carried by traveling crano and deposited in a series of pit-like furnaces called "soaking pits," where the heat is evenly distributed. They are then picked out one by ono and passed through tbe roll rg where they are m'h-n-l and billets or vmio'iii-s ealied "bl'ioins" of re hot aini then re-rolled or mered acjrlmg lo whatever purpose the proJucl i Ucj.t,atl ffeglM5HE ScLW if ft- TA 7HS S7X31B MO force than to sell them off to peddlers but that is a question of municipal economics that ho did not discuss at very great length.

The main troublts with the police horse Is that its feel give way. They get pavement worn and rest is the only cure. Mr. Shanton and Lieutenant Davis united in the opinion thiit this particular farm was just the place for fixing up had feet. "You see." sa'd the man in charge, in speaking of this, "the ground is not only loamy, but is marshy.

The horse's sore feet sink into tho ground as if into a cushioned pad and. believe me, the change from the herd, steely surfaie of asphalt is exceedingly griiietul lo the poor beaals They act, when they come down here, as if they realized Hint they were living a new life as If they were passing Into some equine paradise. And the ground and the feed and the constant attention they get soon fixes them up." 800 Horses Used by the Police. There are about S00 horses in all In the service of the police department of New York City, and they have no rules written down' for them. Then, in Brooklyn and Queens, there are Xl horses out of this total, 76 for the pmrol wiigons, 17: for tho mounted force and for carriages and wagons.

More men are needed in the Ilroeklyn mounted service and there are those who 'eel that it. would he much better to Inv nearly all mounted policemen in the suburban precincts and that it, would be a wise measure to bring all of the footmen into closer built up portions of the city. "You'll never get a man on tint to cover one of the big posts in some of the Queens precincts, said one of the men who control the mounted service. His name Is not given, for the rules are now in force and it is equivalent to dismissal for any policeman to dare to discuss with an outsider any of the things thai, are done In the service. Another thought from another of the i experts: "Everv superior onVor I mean ser scants, lieutenants and captains should bo capable of ridi.ig on horseback.

There would be less heaving it me sergeants in the closer built portions of the city were mounted. They would cover the precincts, then, and the en foot would have no ihan to go off post. He coult be lirtter track of by a man on hnrsetiai K. The popular impression among the mounted men is that there are not enouah ravalrv in the polire department, Th mounted policeman will always be f.emr in nnhce for i for street work in times of rioi, sirJtw. ail ol patiies.

Of 1 I I Shanton and' Davis ordered -the return of the idiot to his stall and then took the reporter through the stable, which Is finely equipped, and which can house, with an extension, 84 horses. Thl3 includes the box stalls and the hospital stalls, where the very sick horses are kept. The stable is new, with a concrste floor and a loft for the men and the feed, and the office of the sergeant who is in command. There are patrolmen and hostlers and doormen, and when Shanton is away the sergeant has command. Down in the cellar there is a plant for acetyllne gas, which may blow the stable sky-high some day; but when the generator works all right, and the union of the calcium carbide and the water Is just as it should be, and the expanding gas holder is not taxed to Its limits, and the burners in the brackets are in perfect order, there is a general belief among the men that they are dead safe, and not safer dead.

The sergeant in command reported to Mr. Shanton on Tuesday that the gas had not been burning properly, and Mr. Shanton looked apprehensively over in a corner where there were some cartons of carbide and said that he hoped everything would work all right the next day. There is an Impression among the men that it would be better to have the gas plant in some corner by itself an outbuilding yards end yards away, preferably. But then there are some new fire extinguishers, which the men were loading up with much enthusiasm, and these gave them courage.

It would take a mighty fine explosion, even of acetyline gas, to blow to piece3 the good floor of reinforced concrete. Indeed, the stable is as fireproof as a frame stable can very well be. Hight in front of the stables there is a yard commodious enough for exercising a number of horses. There were a dozen brought in there from the pasture and Mr. Shanton got a lasso of which they were all exceedingly chary and did some fine work with it.

The lasso was useful, really, as well as ornamental, for Mr. Shanton wanted to pick out one, here and there, from the shy dozen which crowded in a corner near the store house, just to show Lieutenant Davis and the reporter how they were getting along. There was the horse which had been driven by Inspector Pat McLaughlin and which was now suffering from disabled feet and the horse which had been blistered on the knees to cure some form of equine ill, and the horse which had locomotor ataxia and which is slated for a fine operation on the hind legs, which, it is calculated by the enthusiastic veterinary surgeons of the department, may bring the suffer- er back to some lively work again. The horses he wanted to see, all but the patient with locomotor ataxia, were most adroitly and artistically lassoed by Mr. Shanton and brought by the rope to the stable door.

There, at close range, the points to be explained could be shown. Satisfactory Horses for Police Service Hard to Get. Each of the steeds thus gathered in got a kind word and a loving pat from the exhibitor. It was plain that Shan ton knows the value of humane treatment of animals at all events. When the dozen had been examined they were turned back into pasture and the vis itors were shown the hospital, Recently the city got twenty-two horses on approval from a horse dealing firm in Manhattan.

Incidentally on making this statement Shanton remarked that It was exceedingly hard to get horses for the police service. Much is expected of them, and horses are not, as a rule, kindly disposed to the work required of them on the police force. At present there Is a demand for police horses that cannot be supplied. Of the twenty-two received from this horse dealer seventeen were rejected Immediately as wholly useless either for the mounted squads, or the patrol wagons, or the delivery wagjns and trucks. Three were kept, and of the three Mr.

Shanton has a notion that only one will do. A second may be tried, and the third is, in the hospi tal suffering from purpura, which i a mortal malady with horses as it is with Dr. GUI, qt the fQWi xtl- erinarians and a son or Dr. Gill, one of the cleverest veterinary surgeons in Manhattan, performed an operation on the horse a neat little job of intubation, indeed and he seeemed easier than he had been. It is possible, the doctor says, that he may pull through.

But he was breathing, on the day of the report-tr's visit, through the siiver tube in his throat. Mr. Shanton explained that the greatest care is taken with the police horses that are so hard to get, and they need a rest occasionally. In the course of his personally conducted tour with the reporter through the buildings, Mr. Shanton showed where the stores were kept; not the hay and feed particularly, but where there were bits of rondemned harness and horse blankets and saddle cloths.

Nothing is thrown away, but the equipment in bad repair is taken either to the emergency stable, In Brooklyn, on Ralph avenue, or to the Horse Farm In Flushing. There is a harnessmaker there who gets out enough pieces from the damaged to make new harness bridles, head-stalls, girths and all sorts of needed contraptions. The blankets are not abandoned nowadays when soiled, but are sent, it was explained, to the House of the Good Shepherd where they arc washed and made new again. The saddlecloths are re-bound and the metal parts of the harness are plated over again and used again and again. So that there is really nothing at all wasted.

Training the Green Horses. One of the objects for which the Horse Farm was established was the training of the police horses, which come green and uncultured from piaces afar. Mr. Shanton explained that it took some time, in the first place, to get the new horses acclimated, for they came from regions Inland, where the air is dry, to the moist climate of the seaboard. It takes a week or two for the horses to get nc- customed to the new conditions, and Mr.

Shanton declared that there could be no better place to get the new steeds In shape than the farm, where there was always fresh air, a breeze most of the time, good water, dry stalls and fine pasturage. The horses are constantly trained In the work that they will have to do. There are two wrecks of itrol wagons at the stable that are used for breaking In purposes. These are equipped with the gong, and the wagons are so old that it would be small loss if any of the greenles kicked them apart. The horses are driven to the wagons, in and out and round about, and are taken on the road when they are safe, and Introduced to the trolley cars and the trains on the Long Island Railroad.

Some are broken to the saddle, and there is a track of one-quarter of a mile, a regular circus of Itself, where the new horses have a chance to throw their riders if they please, or can. Here, on this track, there are exciting scenes of cooked-up runaways and thrilling rescues. The neighbors have great fun but there are not many neighbors for there is no canvas tent to hide the goings-on. There are five-barred gates, too, for the jumpers, although the art of jumping is not essential in a police horse. But the track and the gates and the reaches of pasture and woodland make a mighty prejty picture The ground Is rolling and there are many acres of it.

so that tho horses are not by any means crowded together. The invalids and the green horses roam all over the place at. their own sweet will and get healfh and strength and, maybe, a bit more fat than they need. The farm is designated particularly for bringing sick horses back to When one of the police horse3 goes off its feed and does not. seem to be picking up as it should, it is packed off to this equine sanitarium and it is looked over, rinsed with medicine if need be, surfeited with condition powders and turned out to grass.

If it does not improve after a week or two generally two months of the rest cure is allowed then It is eon- demned. Mr. Shanton Is of the oninion that it would be better to chloroform ue ol WUfui 9W vUo Me A n. I OkrM-V- WWW 4 I'll I 1 VtSiJ MOULD fWAI WITH "i 3 II ships, and the steel wo are producing for they belong to the method the Manhattan bring" comes within this of making require an 'tit, rely declassification. Ail the steel ma ll'i fac- t.

treatment Knr m'inf a tured for the Williamsburg Bridge and for the Park avenue viaduct which was i the biggest order given oul at that time, 1.