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1. Emergency dam at Gatun. Normally this dam is pivoted on the side wall, parallel with the lock instead of across it. When accidents occur it will be swung across the lock, the steel wicket girders let down, as in the upper picture, and great sheets of steel let down on them, as in the lower picture, thus completely closing the lock.

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LUBRICATING OILS

ments, blue and brown print papers, and other office supplies, and engineers' and mining surveying instruments. These supplies were extensively used at the Isthmus, and gave thorough satisfaction both in clerical and in field operations.

Another prominent firm which supplied mathematical, engineering, and surveying instruments for the canal experts was Heller & Brightly, of Philadelphia, Pa., makers of instruments of this kind. In addition to other instruments, a number of the firm's transits and levels were furnished to to the canal authorities. The president of the company is Charles W. Heller, a native of Philadelphia.

Nearly all of the blue prints prepared for the canal were made on paper supplied by Williams, Brown & Earle, Inc., of Philadelphia, one of the leading, as well as one of the oldest, of the manufacturers of engineering and scientific instruments in the United States. This firm also supplied the two washing and drying machines and the two blue-printing machines that were sent to the Isthmus. These machines, equipped with electric lamps, motors, and dryers, were so constructed as to wash and dry the prints in a single operation at the rate of four to six linear feet a minute. At its full capacity the machinery provides for the production of completed blue prints fifty-four inches wide and of unlimited length. During the year 1912, Williams, Brown & Earle furnished about 50,000 yards, or nearly thirty miles, of blue print paper for the use of the engineers on the canal, in making blue prints for construction work.

The firm manufactures its own machines for photographically coating its paper, either by the blue print or other photographic processes. The paper is coated with special care and then packed in metal tubes, to prevent decomposition and change in the photographic surface liable to occur in the tropics. Other scientific apparatus was furnished by this firm for use in various lines of scientific investigation, as well as for the purpose of furnishing entertain

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ment and amusement to those residing along the canal during its construction.

The firm of Ernst Leitz, of New York, N. Y., supplied microscopes and laboratory materials for use in medical diagnosis and the examination of the water supply that was carried on in connection with the sanitation work at the canal, for the protection of health and maintenance of suitable living conditions for the immense army of workers. The Leitz microscopes are manufactured at the firm's factory in Wetzlar, Germany. Their instruments were first introduced in 1848, and have obtained extensive use in critical research work in the laboratories of governmental and educational institutions all over the world.

OILING THE MACHINERY

The vast quantities of lubricating oils used in canal construction give an inkling of the tremendous mechanical powers at work on the Isthmus.

Contracts with the Canal Commission for furnishing lubricating oils and other related materials were first made in May, 1910, by the Texas Company, with general offices in Houston, Texas, and New York, and were followed by numerous renewals. The total of these contracts up to June, 1913, reached the high figure of 824,000 gallons of the various kinds of lubricating oils, and 448,000 pounds of the greases manufactured by the company, with lesser shipments of kerosene and gasoline in addition. Shipments of these materials followed immediately after the original award, and have been in progress monthly ever since.

The samples furnished by the Texas Company were submitted to critical laboratory and practical tests, and successfully withstood them all. The adaptability of "Texaco" lubricants was proved by their action under the severest construction conditions, in which lubricating problems were encountered of a nature that are exceedingly difficult to overcome. Some idea of these difficulties may be obtained from the statement that the canal dipper

dredges often were worked under thirty feet of water, and had to be kept properly lubricated while so submerged. The railroad equipment, also, was often compelled to be kept moving with mud and water up to the wheels, axle boxes, and other parts of the machinery usually protected from dampness and grit. Not only did the oils of the Texas Company meet these deterrent obstacles, but they also earned the approval of the canal officials under conditions that required the greatest economy, as well as continuous service for thousands of hours without cessation or breakdown. The report of the commission for 1911 showed that in all the power plants where this lubricant was used, not a stoppage was made on account of a heated bearing or any other lubricating trouble during the whole year. The oils were also used generally on locomotives, cars, dredges, steam shovels, and, in fact, all the machinery employed on the Isthmus. The company manufactures its lubricants from various crudes, each best adapted to the special grade of oil or grease desired. This work has called for a special study of oil refining in order to meet the required commercial conditions, and has also resulted in the designing of much special equipment to achieve the ends in view. The established facilities of the company in the way of ocean terminals and storage sites met all requirements for quick transportation of its products to Panama.

One of the oldest firms which had a part in the construction of the canal was the Crew-Levick Company, of Philadelphia, Pa. This firm recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and is one of the oldest refiners of petroleum in the United States. The company was well known to the United States Government as well as the governments of the European and Asiatic countries before the beginning of canal construction, and after the commencement of the work was a constant supplier of large quantities of cylinder engine and dynamo oils to the Isthmian Canal Commission. In addition to its wide foreign business the

company has always enjoyed a very large domestic business, making a specialty of high-grade products meeting all the demands of the manufacturing industries, and distributing them through their many branch offices to all parts of the United States. In recent years the company has made a specialty of motor oils, and this department has developed rapidly. All of the plants of the company are located in Pennsylvania, and in addition to its United States agencies it has agencies all over the world in all the principal business centers, its largest export trade being from the ports of Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore. The company was one of the earliest in the United States to realize the great possibilities of trade expansion in foreign fields. Its first foreign branch was established in Liverpool nearly forty years ago, when Mr. Levick ascertained that a great market awaited the company's products in Europe. Since that time Mr. Levick has made almost yearly trips abroad, and the export business of the company, growing steadily in volume, has for many years been a beacon to other American lines of industry in pointing out channels to foreign trade.

W. N. Best, of New York, engineer in caloric, supplied the commission with oil burners, oil furnaces, and fire brick for relining. The oil burners were used for steams boilers of all types and sizes in power plants, dredges, etc. The furnaces were used for bolt making, rivet heating, forging, welding, plate heating, and other purposes. The burners supplied by Mr. Best were specially adapted for using the California fuel oil. About 200 burners were supplied, with twenty-one furnaces.

Early in 1912 certain achievements in increasing the life use of metals, by the Whitmore Manufacturing Company, lubricating engineers of Cleveland, Ohio, came to the attention of the Isthmian Canal Commission, and thereupon the commission requested from the Whitmore Company full details regarding their special work in lubricating, together with statistics

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