. Electric railway journal . Quite Extensively to Eliminate Bolted Joints and Rail Bending By H. L. Chaffee St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat & Power Company,St Joseph, Mo. ONE of the most important questions facing astreet railway property today is the proper bondingof the rails in the return system. Experience hasshown that great loss of power results from broken andimperfect bonds. The method generally used employsthe expanded copper bond, but we have obtained excel-lent results with the thermit weld, thus eliminating thenecessity for using a copper bond. The cost of thethermit weld as compar
. Electric railway journal . Quite Extensively to Eliminate Bolted Joints and Rail Bending By H. L. Chaffee St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat & Power Company,St Joseph, Mo. ONE of the most important questions facing astreet railway property today is the proper bondingof the rails in the return system. Experience hasshown that great loss of power results from broken andimperfect bonds. The method generally used employsthe expanded copper bond, but we have obtained excel-lent results with the thermit weld, thus eliminating thenecessity for using a copper bond. The cost of thethermit weld as compared with the bolted joint is alsofavorable to the former when the cost of maintenance istaken into consideration. The necessary material formaking the thermit insertweld can be obtained at acost not exceeding $,depending on the size andtype of rail, and if labor isincluded the weld costsfrom 310 to $11. The ther-mit-welded joint reinforcesnot only the web of the railbut the ball as well, therebeing a continuous rein-. head of the rail as well as welding the base and building special work by welding together shortlengths of rail large savings can be effected by usingthe thermit process. The average crossing can be builtin this way at about one-half the cost of the purchasedvariety and will outlast the latter by a good many addition to this the thermit-welded crossing will cutdown the cost of maintenance by eliminating straps andbolts. The accompanying illustrations show two of themany pieces we have built and are building in , as well as a section of a manganese inlaidcrossing which we replaced with a thermit-welded cross-ing built of 91-lb. rail at a cost of $75, not includingthe rail. One of the illustrations shows a crossover whichreplaced a cast manganese insert, also located in theloop district. This is used by our heavy city cars inturning the comer, and is also located where bothinterurban lines pass over it. It was built out of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyorkmcgrawhillp
