Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 58
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[Page 58]
made. A large block of steel was taken red hot from the furnace and put under an hydraulic press, which pressed it roughly into shape, after which it was planed down. In other shops I saw boilers in the makeing and everything to the full blown engine.
The nut and bolt making machinery is very interesting. A piece of red hot iron is cut automatically into lengths (like a scissors cutting a straw) after which it the lengths are placed in another automatic machine which presses the head into shape and lifts the bolt out and lets it fall into a box. The nuts were pressed out of a single piece of hot iron at once and only needed to have the screw put in them.
The carpentry works were also very fine, the very best machinery being used.
The piston arm of the engine that drove the rail making & machinery must have weighed a ton at least. One steam hammer weighed 8 tons, and I saw a moving crane that said not to lift more than 40 tons One engine built in the works in 1847 has driving wheels 8 ft 6 inches across. I only saw a small portion of the works they would take too long and be too uninteresting to visit. I could not record all there were, the moulding shops and the tender shops and many others too numerous to mention.