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July, 1920 125 feet to accommodate ships on both sides? Is the English system of ample railroad trackage for such modern docks not based upon wide shipping experience, and can it be successfully contended that the Staten island pier will have satisfactory rail- road connections? Is it not a fact that both incoming and_ outgoing cargo must be received on the dock, and that full speed of handling cannot be attained unless ample space is pro- vided for the greater part of the cargo of each individual ship opposite its berth? And surely maximum speed of handling cannot be niaintained if all of the cargo unloaded from a ship must be transported by trucks along the entire length of a long pier, and then across a busy street before it reaches a warehouse. Surely the most satisfactory general system requires that. so. far as..practicable the ships shall be a continuation of the railways, and vice versa. Cranes Play Important Part With regard to the general char- acter of handling, nearly the whole of this work which is done mechanically is by means of cranes. Speaking gen- erally, the older installations are hydraulically operated, and of 1%4-ton capacity. Four .ecranes are ustally provided per berth. Practically all of the new cranes are electrically oper- ated, and the "most recent ones at Albert and Tilbury docks have a 65- foot reach. Track gage is 15 feet, and the standard gage track passes directly beneath, with room for the standard eight car. Four to six. of these electric cranes are provided for each ship's berth. Almost without excep- tion, two to three lines of standard gage track run between the edge of the quay wall and the face of the transit shed. Hand trucks are used almost exclusively to transfer the ma- terial between crane sling and transit shed, or the railway tracks at the rear of the shed. At London, probably more 1-story than 2-story sheds are found, while at Liverpool the 2-story sheds seem to predominate. Many warehouses are Provided alongside the quays, espe- cially at the older London docks. Belt conveyors were observed at flour mills on the quay side, and a notable installation of such belts at the cold io. warehouse at the Albert dock. i Ee are there fixed belts run- be € entire length of the second rang Hust inside the doors of the hsit shed, but probably as many as Separate portable belt units which oe a used in connection with the €lts, so th feiss Ee at material could be or from any point on the THE MARINE REVIEW floor. Also, in connection with the Albert dock cold storage warehouses, a notable combination of inechaniea! appliances was observed unloading quarters of beef from a vessel at the quay. The ship's gear landed these quarters of beef upon a portable belt unit, which transferred the cargo from the edge of the hold to 'the side of the transit shed, where a chain was hooked around the shank of each quarter of beef by hand, and fastened to an overhead trolley, which delivered its load either to storage, or to light- ers waiting alongside, but further down the dick, Grain elevators, both of the suction and of the chain belt bucket type, are used in unloading ships at various 423 and ship's gear, and instead of rope Slings, the cargo, which consisted mostly of cases of canned goods of the ordinary size, was handled upon flat wooden platforms, which in general held 16 separate cases. These cases came off in uniform stacks, instead of in a more or less irregular mass, as would have been the case with rope slings or nets. The platform ropes, where they passed over the edges of the boxes, were provided with an angle shaped wooden guard which served to keep the load intact. This same arrangement has been used in this country, and should lend itself most admirably to transfer, without break- ing up the load, to electric trucks or trailers. Floating derricks of 50-ton FORMING PISTON RINGS FOR DIESEL ENGINES places. The suction elevators usually had their own floats, while the chain belt bucket installations were portable suspended from the ship's booms. At Manchester, the entire length of the quay is equipped with a grain tunnel, in which are installed three wide belts. The roof of the tunnel is provided at frequent inter- vals with manholes into which the chutes of the chain belt bucket port- able units can be projected, in order that grain. may be unloaded me- chanically from a vessel, while mixed cargo is being taken out with the cranes, or ship's gear. The belts in the tunnel lead to a grain elevator at the head of the 2700-foot slip, where the grain is received upon vertical elevators for mechanical handling to the various bins. units, At Tilbury a vessel was being un-_ loaded by means of the electric cranes capacity are used at various locations, and gravity (roller) conveyors are oc- . casionally seen. (To be concluded) Making Piston Rings To develop wearing ities and to reduce the cost of manu- facture, a method of producing large piston rings, especially' for marine diesel engine use, has been developed. The method is shown in the accom- ranying illustration where a vertical turret lathe with side attachment is used. The side cutting too! is of the box type and has four cutters grad- uated from a short tooth at the bot- tom to a long tooth at the top. The top tooth is of such a length as nearly 'to cut through the thickness of the blank from which the rings In operation, the stock uniform qual- are formed.