HITCHING CUBA TO THE N By CHARLES FREDERICK CARTER OW that a car ferry is in regular daily service between Key West and Havana, Cuba is as much a part of the continent for purposes of traffic as though the Strait of Florida had been filled in. By the new arrangement, all handling in transit is done away with, shipments can be made daily, instead of once or twice a week, and the time in transit between the field in Cuba and the breakfast table in Chicago or Kansas City is reduced from two to four days. A car can be loaded at any station in Cuba and forwarded without breaking bulk to any railroad station in the United States or Canada, while the jobber or manufacturer int the North can load a car on his own sidetrack with the certain knowledge that his goods are not going to be lost or damaged through handling in and out of ships' holds by clumsy or careless stevedores. The new ferry service is primarily for the sort of freight that is shipped in refrigerator cars, though other traffic is by no means to be ignored. It has met with such instant success that within a month after the service was installed, a thousand refrigerator cars were ordered for the new international through line. These cars are to be a combination of refrigerator for the tropical climate of Cuba, and heaters for the northern winter. Tropical fruits can thus be kept con stantly at the temperature which will preserve them at their best throughout extremes of climatic conditions, in the transfer from the producer to the consumer. The combination refrigeratorheater cars are expected to carry full ROOM FOR A TRAINLOAD The four tracks of the Flagler enable it to carry all the cars needed to handle the traffic. THE VESSEL THAT BRIDGES THE STRAIT OF FLORIDA The Henry M. Flagler was carefully designed for its work of carrying trains between Key West and Havana, and is practically as efficient as a gigantic bridge. olutionary changes is the Henry M. Flagler, so named in honor of the capitalist who had the statesmanlike foresight to perceive the value of such a transportation line, and the daring to build 522 miles of railroad, more than a hundred miles of it over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, to reach Key West. For various reasons, the Henry M. Flagler is a craft of peculiar interest. In the first place, it represents a notable feat in shipbuilding, for the vessel made its first trip in regular service January 7, just 262 days after the keel was laid in Cramp's yards at Philadelphia. In the second place, it was the largest car ferry ever built at the time it began service, though that distinction will soon pass to a craft on San Francisco Bay. In the third place, it is much the largest car ferry ever used in international service. Being an American vessel, the quarters tons on 15-foot draft. It is propelled by two triple-expansion engines, aggregating three thousand horsepower, at a speed of thirteen knots an hour, so that the crossing of 105 miles can be made, even in bad weather, in less than nine hours. Thirty of the latest and largest type of refrigerator cars can be accommodated on four tracks on the main deck, to which they are firmly secured by chains, bolts, and blocks. The cars are loaded from the stern, as are the Lake Michigan car-ferry steamers. The Flagler also has three cargo holds, each of which is served by a double drum electric hoist, with an aggregate capacity of three hundred tons. Added to all this, one of the forward ballast tanks is arranged for carrying molasses in bulk, with a centrifugal pump that will empty the hold in a hurry. Two huge centrifugal pumps are capable of emptying the if the vessel should have to make a trip with a part load. In fact, everything about the Flagler and the terminals in Cuba and Florida is arranged for rapid work; for this half-million-dollar craft is expected to make a round trip every day, and have plenty of time in port to take on fuel and other supplies. Passengers on the Key West line are not carried on the Flagler, but are transferred at Key West to ocean-going vessels that make the trip across the strait in from six to eight hours. The total time for the journey from New York to Havana by this route is fifty-six hours, as compared with ninety-six hours by steamer. From Havana, the journey may be continued in Pullman sleepers over a roadbed equal to that of any standard road in the United States, to Santiago, near the eastern end of the island, 535 miles from Havana and 2160 miles from New York, in twenty-four hours more. This is a gain of about thirty-two hours over the time taken for voyage by sea, to say nothing of the gain resulting from avoiding the discomfort endured by the average passenger on the tempestuous Atlantic. the The voyage of the Flagler is consider ably longer than that made by any international car ferry in Europe. The longest deep-sea railroad voyage on the other side is the one of sixty-five miles across the Baltic Sea between Sassnitz, Germany, and Trelleborg, Sweden. The ferryboat on this run seems ridiculously small compared with the Flagler, for it can only take eight of the little European cars on its two tracks. This limited capacity is compensated for to some extent by comfortable accommodations for passengers. The Baltic is generally so rough that it is necessary to jack up the cars so that no weight rests on the springs, and to bolt the car to the deck and to the side walls. The new all-rail route to Cuba is by no means an experiment, for the car ferry has been extensively used in America for many years. It is recognized as an important, reliable, and economical means of getting cars across inconvenient bodies of water. No fewer than thirty-five railroad companies have in regular daily use 535 car ferryboats. handling an average of 12,000 cars a day, over routes aggregating a length of 1360 miles, or a distance equal to that from New York to Omaha. Some men potter in gardens for recreation, others take to golf. One finds, here and there, a man who has fitted up a laboratory or scientific workshop. In the world of science, these men are only amateurs; nevertheless, their peculiar form of recreation is responsible for some of the most remarkable and practical inventions. You cannot afford to miss the helpful, inspiring story of their work appearing in June TECHNICAL WORLD. ing and turning are needed. But now we have machines, some of them even driven with reins, to do the same work. Moreover, these machines are made for the purpose of drawing the same equipment that the horse did. So, since the new tractors enable the use of the old wagons, and the only cost is for the tractor itself, it may be said that the end of Dobbin is fairly in sight. One unique type of mechanical horse has been used chiefly in lumber yards to haul loads which formerly required from two to six horses. Harness and horse are all that this three-wheel electric truck attempts to replace. The long wagon tongue used by the horses is replaced by a shorter one for the little truck, and the truck is then "hitched" to the wagon. On the road the outfit is no bigger than was the team hitched to the same wagon. But the speed of the truck is greater, it can be more easily controlled, and it will haul a larger load. The pull on the drawbar is a maximum of fifteen hundred pounds, and with four wheeled wagons, the machine needs the attention of but one man. A visitor to the Chicago stockyards can find there a gasoline steed pulling a long string of trailers, going around right angles, and in and out among the square miles of pens, alleys, and buildings owned by one of the companies. The tractor itself has but three wheels, and its design is quite unusual in that its power plant is located at the extreme rear of the body of the car. This gives unusual strength for hauling purposes, the train when loaded weighing all the way from eight to fifteen tons. The front wheel is mounted on what is commonly known as the "fifth wheel" or turntable design. The wheel turns through an arc of 60 degrees, while the vehicle itself can turn about in a sixteen-foot diameter circle. The tractor under ordinary conditions exerts a pull equal to that of seven horses. Another interesting design is the electric storage-battery car used by the company for hauling freight. It is known as the electric "Pullem". Both designs have |