Vol. 8.

No. 8.

abroad, whose work is typical of the best foreign shop practice. The Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, of Oerlikon, near Zurich, Switzerland, has a world-wide reputation, and this works is provided with the most modern machinery, illustrating the best practice in Europe.

special machinery for millers' work. During the eighteenth year the firm commenced the manufacture of electrical machinery, being one of the pioneers in this industry, and it has worked itself into a prominent position in the field of heavy current apparatus. An additional plant was built for the combining of electrical motors with the various machine tools, including cranes, lathes, planers, shapers, drills and boring machines, all of the various types being used in the shops, in the different departments.

The buildings of the works of the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, seen in Fig. 1, cover an area of 402 acres, deducting the space occupied by workingmen's dwellings, while the total area is about 980 acres. The works are connected to the main tracks of the Nord-Ostbahn, by a line of standard gage as well as a narrow gage road, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) long. Two electric locomotives are used as well as a portable crane car of the type shown in the sketch at the head of this article, for transferring castings, machines and materials from cars to various parts of the yards and for loading and unloading standard gage cars from narrow gage trucks.

For the different operations in this manufacturing plant, there are 770 machine tools of various dimensions and types, a large proportion of which are electrically driven. For the

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Fig. 2. Boller Plant of Oerlikon Works. Four Cornwall Boilers in Foreground. Fig. 4. Section of Foundry showing Electric Crane Tracks and Crane.

Fig. 3. Engine and Generator Room. Six Hundred H. P. Triple-expansion Engine. Fig. 5. Electrically-driven Machine Tools working on Heavy Generator Frame supported on Floor-plate.

twelve foundry furnaces and forges. The electrically-driven machine tools are equipped with 181 polyphase motors, of which four are of the synchronous type and all of the others, asynchronous, excepting 10 direct-current machines. Different methods of driving are used according to the class of machinery. Part of the tools are separately driven, and

Fig. 6. Floor-plate Electrically driven Machine Tools. Casting Mounted on Floor Plate and Tools on Revolving Spider.

part are operated in groups; while 17 portable electric motors are also employed, as noted in the group, in Fig. 12, for supplying the necessary power to many different machines, which may be located at any part of the shop desired, connections being made at junction boxes by cables unwound from the reel.

the case of the enormous lathe, Fig. 10, upon the faceplate of which is fastened a huge generator frame. It would be superfluous to enter into a detailed description of this machine, as it is so well illustrated.

There is a third class of machines for boring large field frames and similar work operated by motors placed under the floor. Instead of supporting the work on a rotating table and using fixed cutter bars, as in the case of the immense boring and turning mills at the Westinghouse shops, illustrated in the October MACHINERY, page 36, it is the practice here to have the work held stationary and the cutter bar rotate. In Fig. 6 is one type of these machines in which the work is bolted to a large floor plate and the arm carrying the cutting tool rotates on a vertical axis. A field frame is of such enormous size that when placed in a vertical position the upper part will sag an appreciable amount, and in boring this must be taken into account. If the frame is bored in a vertical position of course no provision need be made; but when bored in a horizontal position, as in Fig. 6, it is sprung slightly by bolts connecting the upper and lower parts of the frame, and the boring takes place while the casting is so sprung.

For boring a frame in a vertical position, a machine is used somewhat similar in principle to the vertical boring machine illustrated in the same article upon the Westinghouse works, in the October MACHINERY, page 37. The working parts consist of two sets of four radial arms mounted on a shaft, the whole forming a revolving frame which is shown in Fig. 8 resting on the shop floor. The lower half of an enormous alternator stationary armature is in place ready to receive the frame, which is supported in bearings on either side of the casting; after which the upper half of the frame is placed in position, ready for boring. The electric crane is here used to good advantage.

The rotating frame of this machine is driven by gearing from the motor beneath the floor, there being a large gear bolted to each set of arms for this purpose. The arms have flat finished surfaces provided with T-slots, to which brackets

Some of the electric motors are mounted upon the tops of the machine tools, or on brackets and shelves, and are directly connected, without the use of belting, similar to those seen in Fig. 7. The current is supplied directly to the machines through underground cables. Others have the motors driving them located on the floor or on the same base as the machine, the power being transmitted by belting, as seen in

carrying cutting tools can be conveniently bolted. In Fig. 9 the machine is shown at work upon a heavy field magnet flywheel. The rotating frame is in place in its bearings and the flywheel is carried by the shaft which supports the frame and rotates with the frame. The wheel was machined by mounting a slide rest on a support bolted to the floor plate at the front of the machine and when the photograph was taken a drilling