304 t "augh t : [J. F. I.,

Super in tendent of our mechanical depa r tmen t . I t was made in 1876.

" T h e W h i t n e y cont rac t ing chill was invented by the present senior member of this firm in 1885.

"A. WttITNFY 8¢ SONS. "PHII,ADELPHIA, PA."

This F a u g h t cont rac t ing chill was in all respects a pio- neer inven t ion ; and provided an ent i re ly new means for ensur ing the desired result. As in the case of near ly all such invent ions it had rival c la imants ; but, wi thou t enter- ing again into a controversy tha t has long since been fair ly settled, the honor of the invent ion has, by the concensus of au thor i ta t ive opinion, properly been awarded to Lu the r R. Faugh t . In the manufac tu re of car wheels the essen- tial requi rements are long and smooth runn ing so as to increase, as far as possible, the d u t y of the wheel in satis- factory car-miles. To insure this, the wheel, when manu- factured, mus t not only possess accurate roundness, bu t mus t have its t read and flange un i fo rmly hard so as not only to resist rapid wear but also to ensure uni form wear- ing under prolonged use. To ensure hardness to the wear- ing surfaces of the wheel it is necessary to provide the mold of the wheel with a chill, tha t shall effect a uni form and rapid chil l ing or cooling of the molten iron when poured into the mold.

Before the pioneer invent ion of Faugh t ' s radial contract- ing chill, it was cus tomary to provide a fair ly heavy cast_ iron ring, whose inner surface was tu rned out so as to con- form to the shape of the tread and flange of the wheel to be cast. The r ing was provided at sui table points wi th handles or lugs for convenience in handl ing. T h o u g h this pr imit ive form of chill ensured a hardened or chilled sur- face, due to the sudden chi l l ing of the iron on coming in contact wi th the cool surface of the ring, yet it was unsatis- factory, because, e i ther on account of differences in thick- ness of the ring, where the lugs or handles were located, or by reason of other peculiari t ies in construct ion, the harden- ing was far from uni form th roughout . Moreover, the chill

April, I9O2.] [tl ~[emoriam. 305

did not expand uni formly throughout , so that parts of the chil l ing surface remained in contact wi th the east wheel longer than t~thers, thus not only produc ing unequa l chilling, b u t also resu l t ing in a warp ing of the surface of the mold and a consequent change in the shape of the wheel. More- over, the unequa l s t resses caused by unequa l and excessive expans ion of the chill ing surface, resu l ted in its b reak ing up and dis integrat ing, thus injuring' the smoothness of the chill surface and necess i ta t ing f requen t renewals of the chill.

In order to overcome the t endency of the solid-ring ehill to increase its d iameter uneven ly and thus produce unequa l chil l ing and i r regular i t ies of shape of the ear-wheeL Mr. F a u g h t invented the radial cont rac t ing chill by providing segmen ta l chill ing blocks un i ted to a cont inuous ou te r ring, cast in a single solid piece b y expansion-bars forming a radial web. There was thus provided an inner and an outer r ing connected by radial arms, the inner r ing be ing d iv ided be tween the arms, each radial spoke or arm support- ing a s egmen t of the inner ring. W h e n heated, the expan- sion of these radial spokes carr ied the inner r ing towards the center, thus ensur ing efficient chill ing by keeping the chill in contac t wi th the t read of the wheel, bo th for a longer t ime and more uni formly than in the old form of chill.

Work ing along these original lines the inventor produeed a chill in which the effect of expansion, ins tead of with- d rawing the ehill surface from the face of the wheel, t h r o u g h the radial expansion of the bars, caused this surface to contract , thus cont inuing its chil l ing effect on the t read of the wheel. Generally, therefore, Mr. Faugh t ' s grea t inven- tion in chills for car wheels consis ted in means whereby the expans ion of the metal caused the chill to move towards the wheel, ins tead of, as in all earlier forms, away from it. On this fundamenta l and radieal ly new departure , all subsequen t opera t ive improvement s in chills for car wheels have been founded. A wheel east in a chill of this form was exhib i ted by A. W. W h i t n e y & Son's, at the Centennial Exhibi t ion, in Phi ladelphia , in i876. VOL. CLIII. No. 916. 2o

306 Fauffht : [J. F. I.,

A l t h o u g h this early form of con t rac t ing chill cons t i tu ted an immense i m p r o v e m e n t over any th ing tha t preceded it, ye t it mani fes ted a t endency to lose its t rue shape, not only from the rough hand l ing of the foundry, bu t especial ly because the inner-ring section, be ing firmly c lamped be t ween the cope and drag, lost its free movement . A t a later date, x886, Mr. F a u g h t remedied this defect by ty ing the arms toge the r a l te rna te ly at top and bot tom. A s u b s e q u e n t improvement , made in I887, cons is ted in wha t is called " t h e suppress ion of the mold," in which the outer r ing was c lamped be tween the cope and drag, enclosing the space be tween the arms in the mold, thus leaving the inner r ing of sect ions qui te free to move inwards, since they were devoid of any clamping.

In a le t ter to the National Car and Locomotive Butlcler, of June, I889, in d i scuss ing the" cause of uneven chil l ing of ear wheels, and the value of the con t rac t ing chill for pre- ven t ing the same, Mr. F a u g h t thus cont ras ts the old and improved forms of chills :

" Editor of the National Car and Locomotive Builder :

" I n the last (May) issue of your journal you refer, under the t i t l e ' The Cause of U n e v e n Chilling,' to the va lue of cont rac t ing chills as a p reventa t ive . As the original inventor of eont rac t ing chills, pe rmi t me to add a few lines re la t ive to the subject .

" T h e construction of the solid-ring chill de te rmines that it shall increase its c ircumference, and hence its diameter , under the influence of hea t ; the inequality of clampinff the chill in combina t ion with the cope and drag, de te rmines that this increase shall be in a va ry ing degree a round the circumference, caus ing both uneven chil l ing and loss of super ior roundness in the wheel. To overcome these defects I invented the chill now known as the cont rac t ing chill, composed of segmenta l chil l ing blocks un i ted to a cont inuous ou te r ring, by a radial web of expansion bars ; and east as its predecessor , the solid ring, in a s ingle piece. The common mode of c lamping the cont rac t ing chill wi th the cope and drag res t ing upon the inner section, I found

April, 19o2. ] DI Memoriam. 307

did not allow the segmenta l blocks sufficient freedom of action, and therefore as the difficulty was not removed as ful ly as I desired, I invented a cope and drag with a me thod of c lamping which did away with all restr ict ion of move- men t to the inner section "

In a later invent ion Mr. Fough t grea t ly increased the efficiency of his cont rac t ing ehill by a device which pract ical ly increased the length of the radial bars, wi thou t propor t ionate ly increasing the size of the chill. I t is evi- dent tha t the longer these bars are, the greater is the con- t ract ion tha t is obta ined before the outer r ing becoming heated expands and tends to draw the chill away from the radius of the wheel. The inventor effected this l eng then ing of the radial bars, or arms, by wha t he calls secant-bars, or s t ra igh t bars incl ined to the segments of the inner r ing ; ins tead of at r igh t angles thereto, as in the original form. The secant-bars were inter locked like the girders of a bridge. Chills const ructed on this principle are more effi- cient in action than those of the earlier type.

The Locomotive Enffitteer for January , 1889, referr ing to the invent ion of the cont rac t ing chill, very correctly says of I~r. L u t h e r R. F o u g h t :

" H i s invent ion goes back to I876, and his patents near ly as far. Mr. F o u g h t is to the cont rac t ing chill what Howe was to the sewing machine, W h i t n e y to the cotton gin, Ericsson to the screw propeller, and Je throw Wood to the common p low- - the pioneer."

From 1896 to 19Ol , Mr. F a u g h t was employed by the Lobdell Car W h e e l Company, of Wilmington, Del. This engagemen t began Ju ly 27, I896 , and cont inued unt i l his death on November 23, I9ol, for a period of over five years. His dut ies wi th the Lobdell Car Whee l Company were con- fined principally to mat te r s connected with his pa tent self- oil ing wheel and the contrac t ing chill.

Marked invent ive abil i ty in the mechanical line was the characteris t ic of Lu the r R. Faugh t . His numerous patents were for invent ions tha t were eminen t ly practical and use- ful, and m a n y of them have come into extended use.

EDWIN J. HOUSTON, PHILADELPHIA, DISC. 23, I9oi.