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MARINE 1901.) REVIEW. of: Ward never doubted the feasibility of the process or the benefits that would certainly follow when the difficulties in making perfect steel cast- ings had been overcome. He interested himself in the formation of a new company with such success that on June 30, 1873, the Chester Steel Casting Co. was incorporated, and acquired the rights and plants of the McHaffy Solid Steel.Co. Fortunately, about that time Frederick Baldt entered the employment of the new company, and under his direction ex- cellent work was done. Castings made at Chester were put on exhibition in many of the large cities and in a number of cases medals were awarded the company, noticeably iby the Franklin Institute in 1876 and the Cen- tennial Exposition at Philadelphia, the same year. The public had to be educated to the superiority of steel castings and that the cost relatively was not in excess of ordinary iron castings. The Chester Steel Casting Co. bore the 'burden of teaching the people of the United States those two essential lessons. Today Chester, in the annual output of steel cast- ing, leads all other localities in this country. The demand for steel castings in this country grew rapidly--one of the educational results of the Centennial Exposition--and although other plants were established, the mother plant at Chester shared in the bene- fits that came with the constantly enlarging uses to which steel castings were applied... The Chester Steel Casting Co. was compelled to pur- chase additional land, and erect additional buildings, from time to time, until from the.small beginning of 1871 the plant has grown until nearly ten acres of ground, dotted with enormous buildings, are necessary to keep abreast with the demands of its constantly. enlarging trade. The company makes a specialty of heavy steel castings,.such as sugar mill and rolling mill gearing, as well as all kinds of gearing, cross heads, rocker arms, driving boxes-and other castings for locomotives; crank shafts. of all sizes, car castings; mining machinery and the like. Indeed the works are adapted to make steel'castings of any shape or size required, From the experimental plant of 1871 offering employment to only a half dozen workmen, the Chester Steel Casting Co. now carries on its roll more than.two hundred persons receiving monthly pay exceeding $7,000. The present officers of the company comprises: President and treasurer, E, P. Dwight; secretary, A. G. Lorenz; superintendent, G. V. Lewis. THE.PENN 'STEEL CASTING CO. ' The Penn Steel Casting Co. derives its name from the fact that the works are located in the neighborhood of the Penn Memorial Stone, which marks the place where William' Penn made his first landing in Pennsylvania, in 1682. The plant had its inception in an organization perfected on Sept. 24, 1886, under the title of the Chester Foundry and Machine Co. Large buildings were erected and fitted with the latest and best improved machinery then obtainable. Louis Miller, who at the outset was the general manager of the works, was the patentee of a- steam and hydraulic cotton compress, which often, in large orders, required castings of great weight and unusual size. The plant was de-_ |: signed to accommodate all classes of work from the delicate and small pieces of machinery that entered into the construction of the Brother- hood patent high speed engines to the ponderous massive castings, cal- culated to withstand the enormous pressure that was required in the largest-sized Miller .cotton compress. . The enterprise.for a time was conducted very successfully, and among the output were the engines. erected at the New Chester Water Co.'s 'pumping station. The depres- ~ sion that began in 1891 was severely felt by the Chester Foundry & Ma- chine Co., whose capital was absorbed in the creation of the plant itself, © hence when the evil times came, there was little reserved on which to draw in tiding over the stringency. The stock was mostly in the owner- ship of parties of limited means who could not respond to needed assess- ments.on the shares to keep the works in active operation. The inevi- | table result under such conditions was a sale of the 'plant and personal _ pasty eee - ae - In 1892, the Penn Steel Casting Co. was organized with M. H. Bick- ley as president, Hugh Shaw, treasurer, John T. Dickson, secretary, and . Frederick Baldt, manager. Although the times were depressed and the' country on the eve of the longest period of business stagnation in the national history, the new organization after the purchase of 'the plant ~ iniimediately "began .a costly addition, The labor and responsibility in effecting these changes in the works and the character of the output developed upon Mortimer H.. Bickley, in the mechanical features ably seconded. by Frederick Baldt, who is recognized throughout the United States as an expert in the. manufacture of steel castings. All the financial. management fell to Mr.. Bickley, and he carried the enterprise success- : iully through the dreary period when the industrial energies of the nation seemed paralyzed, and even then the financial abilities of Mr. Bickley and the mechanical skill. of Mr. Baldt had already placed the Penn Steel .' Casting Co. ona paying basis to be succeeded by a period of wonderful prosperity, while the stock of the: company has quadrupled in value.., ; -SOLID STEEL' OASTING CO | . The Eureka Cast Steel, Co. was incorporated early in 1877. A tract: of 'our acres was purchased and buildings erected. In September of the |. same: year the first steel. castings: made: by the '"'Eureka process" were suceessfully run and the new enterprise started under favorable auspices. 'The: public: by this time was educated to the innumerable uses to which cast steel: could be applied in the mechanical arts, when the cost of the material, owing to Bessémer's discovery; was reduced to that of ordinary iron, castings. Orders. were not difficult to obtain and business was brisk at the works. For some cause many of the castings proved de- fective, and' complaints were more numerous than commendations from customers: The.management at length induced Frederick Baldt, who because of the excellence of his work at the Chester Steel Casting Co.'s establishment, was then fecognized, as he is now, as among the foremost steel casting specialists and experts in the United States, to accept. the superintendency 'of the Eureka plant.. Under. Baldt's supervision the castings were highly satisfactory, orders were easily obtained and ex- peditiously filled. The increasing volume of trade compelled from. time to time costly additions to be made to the works, much of which was constructed after Mr: Baldt had in 1883 severed his connection with the - company. - The business depression- of 1894 was severely felt by the Eureka Steel. Casting €o,, many of its accounts proved uncollectible and finally its plant was sold to the Solid Steel Casting Co. The new owners made:many additions and. are now running the- plant to its capacity to keép. abreast. with the. orders. .-Richard- Peters, Jr., is. president of the. company, and Felton. Bent: is-general. manager: son James M. Truscott as general manager. THE AMERICAN STEEL COASTING 00, The American Steel Casting Co. occupies about twelve acres of land. The plant is a large one and is divided into foundry, machine' shop, chipping shop, pattern shop, the whole being fully equipped with the latest improved machinery and appliances necessary for the rapid production of a superior article. The manufacture of castings by this company is under the supervision of officers who have had years of-. experience, enabling them to produce a high grade of cast steel which. sustains for the concern an excellent reputation with the trade through- out the United States. TRUSCOTT BOAT MANUFACTURING co. a "American builders of small steam and gasoline pleasure launches have nothing to feat in invading the foreign markets except. the com- petition of other American boat builders. In all the large ports of the world the launches made in the United States are considered superior to those made in other countries. In meetine the home competition, there- fore, the delay in getting their boats to the foreign purchasers is the only handicap which American builders have. Our company surmounts this by having regular agencies in Paris; London, Amsterdam and other large European ports, at which a full line of our boats is always on exhibition. As soon as an order is received at one of these agencies it is cabled to us without a moment's delay. It is then our aim to 'have the order filled as soon as the transportation conditions permit." In these words James M. Truscott summed up the rules under which 'the Truscott Boat Manufacturing Co: of St. Joseph, Mich., has worked up a large export trade in pleasure launches. The Truscott company, as shown iby a recent census of the boat industry, is the largest manu- factory of boats under 63 it. in length on the chain of great lakes and of the hundreds of craft turned out by them every year scores find their way to foreign waters. The factory was founded at St. Joseph in the © spring of 1891 by Thomas H. Truscott, who is a descendant of a long line of ship 'builders, reaching back without a 'break to the time of Oliver 'Cromwell.. With his three sons, Henry, James and Edward, and -a dozen carpenters, he has worked for two years in a rented building and built nothing: 'but small sailboats. The company does in a day now almost 'as much business as it did the first year. The company has been unusu- ally: prosperous: 'When the plant burned down two years ago they built upon a more capacious basis than ever. The company now manufactures -- CHIME AIR WHISTLES. A chime air whistle; manufactured 'by the Gleason-Peters 'Air Pump ; Co,, a concern that makes a' specialty of devices of this kind for yachts | & 'not only the hulls-of the 'boats, but every article in them from the gasoline | 'engines to the pennants. Over 300' workmen are employed. Thomas H. Truscott, the founder of the business, recently retired, leaving his' ~ and small vessels generally, is illustrated herewith. One of the illustra- -- _when an air tank is provided; the J - other, without lever and valve, is de- Road ~ signed for hand pump connection. ¥ Different designs of whistles of this ~~ kind made by the Gleason-Peters -company: give to small craft that are . hot provided with steam all the prac- 'tical advantages of large vessels on this score, in addition to the novelty 'of the whistles. This company's line of manufacture is varied and inter- 'esting. It includes pumps for all purposes where compressed air is re- 4 quired.' Pumps for pneumatic wagon & tires are installed and factories fitted up with storage tanks for the com- pressed air; also pumps and recéiv- . ers for physicians, surgeons, dentists, . etc.; -hydraulic, hand or power, air. _ pressure pumps for brewers, hotels, etc.;. pumps and tanks for. blowing 'tions shows the whistle with lever and valve connection as it ts used © * yacht whistles and fog horns and for running air 'brushes for artists; ~ 'photographers. and draughtsmen; vacuum pumps, spray pumps, acid - 'pumps, galvanized iron and drawn steel tinned tanks, copper riveted or soldered tanks, air cocks, pressure' gauges, air regulating apparatus, 'flexible air tubing, and pipe for conveying air to and from storage' tanks, © nipples, couplings, etc., etc. "Pumps; etc., for experimental purposes. wee WHY GERMAN LINES LEAD IN FAST ATLANTIC SHIPS. | Andrew. Carnegie, writing in the Nineteenth Century "as to Great. = 'Britain's serious loss of the Atlantic express travel, says. a few words will explain why this was inevitable, keeping in view Britain's environment.. The British steamship lines sailing between Liverpool and New York convey passengers to and from Britain only, with her 41,000,000 of people. The German lines sailing from Bremen and Hamburg to New York draw first from. the whole. of Northern Europe, 'then touch at ,. Southampton and draw part of the British travel, and, not:»content with - this. augmentation, crossing to Cherbourg, they draw from Paris and all'southern Europe. Thus three fine streams of travel feed their enor- mous fast ships, the 300,000,000 of Europe are tributary to them, and homeward from America to Germany they draw all who wish to visit: | or have business with any of these millions, for the homeward ships ° touch also at Cherbourg, Southampton. or Plymouth, and' land passen- gers.. Against this the British lines have only tributary to them 41,500,000. ' 'of people who desire passage to New York, and, returning from America to Britain, only those Americans who desire to: visit the 41,500,000 for' - pleasure or business. It goes without saying that the German lines must: : inevitably Jead in large, fast steamers.' There is no cause for pessimism here, because British ship: owners are neither unenterprising nor ineffi-' ra cient; they only show their good sense by recognizing the situation, and bs will hold more of the profit of Atlantic travel-for Britain than if they.' attémpted:the impossible. : « i gienuieta apn 11 % uaa ea aaa