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Show I One of Salt Lake's Boasted Industries THE HYRUM A. SILVER FOUNDRY AND MACHINE COMPANY I But a year and a half old, the Hyrum A. Silver Foundry and Ma- I chine Company, whose works arc located on Fifth North between I Third and Fourth West streets, bids fair to become one of the lustiest I industries of the intcrmountain country. Though but an infant in I years it is a giant in development. I Less than two years ago this company was incorporated with I Joseph J. Daynes, Jr., as president, Hyrum A. Silver vice president I and manager, S. B. Robbins secretary and treasurer, and George J. Silver assistant manager. I The site of this industry is an ideal one for its line of manufac- I hiring. Located as it is, the Oregon Short Line Railway tracks are I immediately on the west, this giving quick and rapid access to all rail- I way points. The lot is about one city block deep, thus insuring suffi- I cicnt ground for the extension of the business, without the necessity I of trespassing on others' property, or being compelled to buy. I The plant is made up of four main buildings, together with several I annexes. Fronting on Fifth North is the office and pattern building, I and the machine shop and foundry, with copper casting annex. To the I rear is the blacksmith shop and smaller buildings. I The office building is the central building as shown by the pic- I turc accompanying this article. Just behind the office is the drafting room where all the drafting is done. Behind this is the pattern making Hi room. In this room is made the patterns required for the castings. I The place is equipped with lathes, saws and all the latest and most Ij modem appliances for the efficient handling of the lumber and other I materials needed in this department. On an upper floor is stored I away the old patterns. By thus storing away the old patterns the I plant is always in readiness to duplicate an' casting ever done, thus I doing away with the expense required to make new ones. On the west is the foundry. In this rom the molds arc laid for I the castings. Through the grime and smoke caused by the molten I metals the forms of men arc seen, spectral shapes that pass here and I there, guiding the molten stream of metal into proper channels for I the successful casts. I The cupola in which the iron is melted is discerned through the I medium of the spout which leads through a brick wall. But the I cupola, unlike that of any other plant in this section of country, is Hi placed on the outside of the building, under a roofing of its own, thus IE giving a firewall between the foundry and the cupola. In addition to l 'thus minimizing the danger from fire, it also permits of cleaning the If debris from the cupola outdoors, without the necessity of the workmen engaged in this work stopping work in other departments. IJ In one corner is the huge oven in which the cores, from which the Ij' castings are to be made, are "cooked." There is also a ten ton crane II for handling the heavy pieces of steel and iron. I After the making of the patterns, these cores arc made, being "cooked" in orer to prevent expansion when the heat of the molten i metal becomes too effective. III In another jog is the brass metal casting department where all the ij brass castings are made. I i To the rear of the main building, outdoors, is the scrap heap. Here is piled tons and tons of old cores, wheels, shafts, iron ore and the miscellaneous assortment of old metal that is required to be used in the cupola for making the molten metal for casting. In the yard also is a machine for cutting beams. This machine, though worked by man, possesses marvelous power. Two men can in ten minutes cut a fifteen inch beam in half. It is worked on a leverage lever-age principle, and it seems almost beyond belief, the ease with which it cuts the heavy steel. In the blacksmith shop there is other wonderful machinery. Here 1 to the left is a machine for punching holes in steel. This inoffensive t looking piece of machinery can punch a hole in steel one inch in thick- -f ncss as easily as the good housewife pokes a hole in her dough to sec if it is kneaded enough. To the right stands another innocent looking piece of machinery. The toy-looking affair cuts one-inch steel as though it were butter. With a slow, rhythmic swing, its teeth come together. There is a "snip" and a "snap" and the deed is done and the formidablc.steel is separated, cut as clean and nice as it can be. Then over in another corner stands a saw, looking just like ordinary, ordi-nary, inoffensive saws do look, that is revolving saws in a sawmill. But this saw cuts steel just like the other saws cut wood. "Z-Zip" and the steel is cut so smooth and nice that really it unnerves one to look at it. Then there is the big steam hammer. Pounding, pounding, shaping, striking the red hot metal; the strength of a bundled men in each blow. In a few seconds it docs the work that formerly required men hours to do. You note in this shop the forges, and the immense cranes, and you involuntarily catch glimpses of the gnome-like men going hither and thither, striking, working; begrimed, lusty, healthy, the epitome of Vulcan, the essence of man's might. You stroll nonchalantly over to the machine shop. In this place, practically the finishing room, where the materials are turned out smoothed and ironed and plaited, and all fixed up for Sunday, you see the horizontal and vertical steel lathes and other mechanical appliances. ap-pliances. Here also is the "shaper," a machine used to shape steel castings. In a corner of the room is a milling machine, this being used .to cut grooved wheels, or cogs. In a corner on the west is the tool room where the dies for the different machines, a machine for sharpening tools, and other appliances are found. The room is crowded with pieces of machinery in process of making and of reconstruction. There arc wagons, lamp posts, beams, wheels, immense shafts and all imaginable parts of machinery being made or repaired. ' It is a most interesting visit, a trip to these works, one of information informa-tion and recreation. It is a pleasure to sec man's ingenuity displayed for man's progress and convenience as it is displayed here. The Hyrum A. Silver works turned out the beautiful electric light standards which stand in front of the Tcmpleton and News build-nigs, build-nigs, while monuments to the industry and care of this firm are seen throughout the intcrmountain country. The plant turns out mining, milling and smelter machinery; mining min-ing cars, car wheels, crusher jaws, shoes and dies, roller shells, architectural archi-tectural and structural steel and iron work, steam engines and boilers, and repairs locomotives, with automobile and breakdown repairing . a specialty. In addition to the lines of manufacturing noted, it also makes water gates, headgates, weirs, brass castings, steel cut gears, docs boiler and blacksmith work, and carries a large stock of structural steel on hand. The plant as it stands at present represents an investment of approximately ap-proximately one hundred thousand dollars. It employs about sixty men, but it is an industry capable of rapid expansion. It is a plant of utility and progrcss. an industry for which Utah offers a good field, and with the expansion of its business to the proper limits, now only restricted by lack of buildings, the time is not far distant when it will be able to handle all the business now being sent to other sections of the country. With the passing of time this plant will rank as one of the great concerns of the intcrmountain section ; already it is encroach- -fc, ing upon the business that has been held for years in other states and v other cities. "Now then," said the teacher of arithmetic, "what is 'above par'?" "I think I know, ventured a small English boy. "Well?" asked the teacher. "It's ma." |