Commerce High School - Commerce Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

Page 112 text:

amount involved, and this very seldom exceeds fifty dollars. The society figures that if there is a comparatively large amount tied up in the case, the people can secure the services of a regular attorney and pay the regular attorney’s fees. This movement is wholly for the benefit of the poorer and oppressed people and will in time rid the county of the holdup lawyers who make a practice of bleeding money out of people for very slight services done them. Branches of this society will soon be located in every city, and it is predicted that in time they may be taken in under the supervision of the city. ED. DAY, ’13. OUR TRIP TO THE BLAST FURNACE. THE seventeenth day of January is marked in my memory with a very interesting expedition to the Central Blast Furnaces. This plant covers about seven acres of ground, and is situated on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, just south of the Central Viaduct. Much of the raw material is transported to this plant by water, a cheaper method than by land. The iron ore is taken ashore in a very deft way, namely, by extending out to the water’s edge a large framework of iron, with a trolley car attached to it; this swings over the vessel automatically and dips itself into the pile of ore in the vessel, fills itself as full as reasonable, swings over and runs along the trolley track of the frame work, and empties the ore further inland at the end of the apparatus. The ore is exposed to the weather, and immense quantities of it are kept on hand at all times. The ore is taken to the furnaces by means of two electric trucks, which are filled automatically and are run alternately along a track until each gets to the incline which leads to the top of one of the furnaces. There are four furnaces, the dimensions of each twenty feet in diameter, and ninety feet in height. These furnaces are immense structures, made of sheet metal and lined with fire clay. The walls of the furnaces are about a foot in thickness. The incline leading to the top of a furnace is about one hundred feet long..and has on it two tracks, upon which are run two oblong cars or rather iron boxes, with the ends which point to the furnaces left open. These boxes are about two feet high, three feet wide, and five feet long. These carriers are so run that when they return empty they come directly under one of the trucks, which are operated by electricity, and these empty their load of ore in one of the carriers. The carrier is then taken back up the same track it came down. When it reaches the top of the incline its contents are emptied into the furnace, and it comes down again to be refilled. Two of these carriers are used for each of the furnaces; when one is coming down the other is going up. thus keeping them in balance. The initial step in the process of melting the iron ore is to fill these furnaces with a layer of limestone, then a layer of coke, and last a layer of ore. Near the furnaces are built large engines which pump air. These engines are worked by the surplus gas, the origin of which we will discuss later. 110

Page 111 text:

THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY. ' I 'HE purpose of the Legal Aid Society is mainly to protect those who can-not afford an attorney and to help the poorer class to secure their rights. This organization was started about six years ago in Nebraska by two or three lawyers who were willing to devote part of their time to the helping of those who could not regularly afford an attorney. This was soon noticed by other cities and was considered a very good movement, and in a short time offices or stations became installed in many other cities, until now the number of societies scattered throughout the United States numbers over twenty-five. This organization is not controlled by the city, but is carried on by private or independent attorneys and, with the exception of pushing or encouraging the work done by the society, the city has nothing at all to do with it. Cleveland’8 office is located in the Engineers’ Building, and during the year of 1911, handled over eleven hundred and fifty cases, making it necessary to secure the services of a third attorney. These attorneys have their regular practice besides, and devote only part of their time to the workings of the society. The Cleveland branch, like all others, works in harmony with the different charitable institutions of the city in which it is located, the local office, especially, is working together with the new Common Pleas Court. Several of the cases of the society have been brought up in this court, and both join in exposing the scandal and evils of the Justice Court system aud the injustices done to the people by attorneys. At each office of the Legal Aid Society, record is kept of the number of cases handled, character of the case, amount involved, the names and nationality of those applying for help aud also the way in which they happened to come to hear of the workings of the society. The cost of securing help or advice from this institution is very small, and is just enough to cover the expenses of the attorney and is a very small consideration for his work. The cost is also based on the nature of the case or the 109

Page 113 text:

Pistons about a foot in diameter and six feet long, similar in structure to bicycle pumps, pump cold air, which is sent through huge pipes and emptied into a tall, oven-like structure called a “stove,” containing a network of fireclay brick, that has been heated by burning some of the gas just mentioned. Here the air is heated to such a degree that one can hardly imagine the temperature: in cold figures it is about 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Sixteen hot air pipes about a foot in diameter carry the hot air from the stoves to each of the furnaces. As the hot air is forced through the l ed of limestone, coke and ore. the coke is brought to such a temperature that it will draw the oxygen away from the iron ore. This forms a gas. the scientific name of which is Carbon Monoxide. This gas is not allowed to escape into the atmosphere, but is collected by means of pipes leading from the top of the furnaces. After this gas has been cleansed it is used in running machinery, heating stoves, etc., as we have mentioned. As the above mentioned process is continued, naturally an enormous amount of molten iron occupies the lower part of the furnaces. These portions of the furnaces are kept cool by having cold water pipes around them, from which water continually trickles over the sides of the furnaces. The earthy matter, such as sand, rocks and like substances, combine with the limestone to form a slag, which floats on the top of this molten iron and is taken off through outlets at the sides of the furnaces that lead to cone-shaped ladles. It takes about twentv minutes for one of these ladles to fill. This slag, when it is drawn off, is white hot, and must necessarily cool somewhat, but is not allowed to harden, and while it is still in a liquid form it is dumped into places that are desired to be filled, or when cooled it may be ground and used for cement. After this slag is taken off other openings are made lower down for the iron to flow out. The iron is then allowed to flow along sand troughs about twenty feet long, which lead into cars or iron ladles. When these ladles are filled the molten iron is completely covered with coal dust. Because of the great heat of the molten iron the coal dust burns, liberating heat which keeps the top of the iron molten while being shipped to the rolling mills in Newburgh. When it is not shipped to the rolling mills it is run into molds, small receptacles about four inches high, seven inches wide and fourteen inches long, which are fastened side by side to an endless belt which is in continuous motion. These molds are whitewashed on the inside at the end of every trip, so the iron will not stick to them. As the belt reaches one end the molds are filled with molten iron from the ladles, and by the time they reach the other end the iron is somewhat cooled and solid. As the molds pass beneath the supporting apparatus to return to their starting point, they automatically dump their contents into a cooling trough of water. This molded form of the iron is called pig iron, and the pigs separately weigh from seventy to one hundred pounds. This is the final act in producing the iron in its first stage. m ANNA KRIVETS. '13.