Show IN MINING GULCH ay up in the mining gulch at the worlds fair in st louis there are now being completed two exhibits which perhaps equal any in the fair for interesting features while standing far above the most in permanent value these are the coal testing plant of the united states geological survey and the timber preserving plant of the bureau of forestry the flie mining gulch lies between the palace of mines and metallurgy and the inside inn its entrance is diagonally opposite the southeast corner of the mines and metallurgy building the government coal testing and timber preserving plants stand along the railroad tracks which run up the gulch and are near the entrance they are easily recognized from the fact that each building is painted with the red paint which is so commonly used on country barns each plant will depend for its operation or value largely upon allis chalmers companas comp anys machinery in each case loaned without pay by the company the work of the coal testing plant will be the determination of the respective fuel values of every grade or coal which may be submitted A horse power horizontal allis chalmers engine in this plant will not only supply power for the various mechanical operations to which the samples of coal will be subjected but will also serve to give practical tests through its power producing qualities of the actual values of the various coals the samples of coal will be analyzed burnt under boilers under varied conditions coked caked and used for gas producing their values for gas production and the power qualities of the gases will be tested in a gas engine records of every test will be kept and it is believed that before the fair is over data will have been secured which may result in the early development of several new coal fields in the country the timber preserving plant which stands about a hundred yards further up the gulch than the coal testing plant is under the direction of dr H van of ahe the shaw gardens st louis its special work will be to test all the various methods offered for preserving railroad ties for this purpose the allis chalmers company has lent free of charge a tie treating retort and two tanks for the preservative solutions practically all the methods which are no now w in use for preserving railroad ties and other timber from rotting when exposed to earth and weather are alike in the treatment and differ only in the preservatives employed the system supplied by the allis chalm ers retorts and tanks consists in placing the ties in the retort where the first operation is to dry out all of the water and sap by heat and exhaust all of this and the greater greate r part of the air from the retort proper pumps then while the pores of the wood are all open and practically free from vapor moisture or air the preservative mixture is let into the retort from the tanks the preservatives are thus under the influence of the vacuum in the pores of the wood carried into every part of the ties or timbers no matter how thick or long they may be the great need of finding some process for making timber for railroad ties last in the ground beyond its natural life comes from the practical exhaustion of the country of its supplies of such good timbers as white oak for this use railroads must today use timber of such kinds as they can get for ties and much of this is of a very inferior quality in order to protect these poorer classes of ties from early decay many methods of preservative treatment have been devised and almost every one has shown good results under certain conditions at the plant now established in the gulch it is intended to treat various lots of ties by various processes each batch of ties will then be put into regular service in some railroad track and a record kept of each tie until it is worn out or rotted out As these tests and records will be official they will of necessity carry great weight with them |