The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

58 ' PIG IRON SITUATION. : The beginning of the second' half of the year finds the iron and steel industry in an improved position. Buying for the first half has close to real needs, and stocks held over from the beginning of the de- pression have been generally absorb- ed. The railroads aré showing signs of awakening interest, and are ex- pected to increase their buying in the 'near future. Conservative interests, however, believe that while busi- ness may improve gradually, no detisive recovefy may be ex- pected before the closing months ofthe -- year. The past ~week has been an especially quiet one, with the exception of steel bar material. Extensive sales of cast iron pipe fare noted in the central west, and good sized* 'contracts for structural material in the New York district. While the demand for pig iron has fallen off somewhat, yet the prices of pig iron and coke are well main- tained. TUGS HARDING AND SABIN. In the steel tugs Abner C. Hard- ie ane ol, 1; Sabin, the: Great 'been | the "THE MARINE REVIEW as shown. in, '6 photograph, is quite) interesting. bene 'tts are 81 ft. over ail, 71 ft. Keel, Zl:i molded beam and iZ it. 6 im. deep. VIBRATION TEST OF FALLS HOLLOW STAYBOLT IRON. Herewith is given a report of. an average vibration test of eight sam- ples of Falls Hollow staybolt iron made in the laboratory for testing ma- terials at Purdue University by W. K. Hatt, professor of civil engineering and director, on May 7, last: Number of Tension load, Revolutions revolutions No. lbs. per sq. in. per minute. to rupture. 1 4,000 100 10,188 2 4,000 100 323 3 4,000 100 8 339 4 4,000 100 9,363 5 4,000 100 8,868 6 4,000 100 10,880 7: 4,000 100 11,888 8 4,000 100 S38 AVETAgG i) hayes ceeehe Std 6 ks 9,746 The tests were made on an Olsen staybolt machine in accordance with specifications recommended by committee on staybolts of the Ameri- can Society for Testing Materials. These specifications include the fol- lowing tensile strength: Not less than 48,000 Ibs. per square inch; per cent of elongation in 8 in. not less than 28; per cent of contraction of area, TUG ABNER C, HARDING OF THE GREAT LAKES TOWING CO.'S FLEET, Lakes Towing Co. have two vessels different in many important partic- ulars from any other tugboats on the lakes. They were designed by Mr. G. H. Eggleton of Cleveland and are entirely of steel. They aré unusu- ally heavy and are intended as ice crushers. The form of the bow, not less than 45. Must stand 6,000 revolutions, when one end is fixed and the other end (8 in. from fixed end) is moved in a circle of 3/32-in. radius, while the bolt is under a tension load of 4,000 Ibs. per square inch. The bolts were 'threaded with standard staybolt dies, 12 threads to the inch. BOSTON MARINE NOTES. Boston, July 1--Contracts have been awarded the Fore River Ship. aoe as edie Guber 167, 168 and 169, and are for the New England Navigation Company. According to. the specifications these three car floats will be of the following dim- ensions: Molded length, 325 ft; length over all, 327 ft. 3 in.; molded width amidships, 38 ft.; width over all amidships, 40 ft. 1 in.; depth of hold, molded amidships, 10 ft. 6 in; depth at extreme ends from base line, £0) tt. 6. tn. The tug Underwriter left this port last week for a 1000-mile voyage to © Louisburg, C. B., from which pore® she will tow back to Boston the fish- ing schooner Mooween, recently dis- masted off Cape Race, N. FF. ia@ Mooween is owned by the New Eng- land Fish Company with headquarters on TI wharf and although the tong tow will be an immensely expensive. undertaking the owners will sustain little or no loss owing to the fact that the vessel was insured against just such an accident. Coal freighting is still discouraging to owners of large sailing vessels in this vicinity. Unchartered vessels are at present accumulating in the differ- ent ports along the New England sea- board, with but little prospects of any change for the better in the situation in the immediate future. Schooners Georgie L. Drake and W. R.- Huston have secured charters for coal cargoes from Philadelphia at the rate of 59 and 65 cents per ton respectively, The Boston Marine Society, a very. strong and _ representative organiza- tion backed by the leading shipping: and transportation men of this port. and in fact all along the New England coast, are preparing a petition which will later be sent to the war depart- ment at Washington asking the gov- ernment that "commencing at Hand-. erchief lightship, there shall be a, channel seven-eighths of a mile wide. and about nine miles long, with a uni- form depth of 30 ft. running straight east northeast, magnetic direction. Probably three-quarters or more Of, the desired channel has now the nec- essary depth and the remainder one- half or more of the required depth." The petition asks for very essential and necessary improvements and_ will when completed prove beneficial to Bos- ton and other New England ports.