Miners had unearthed copper for the Quincy Mining Co. in
Hancock, Michigan, since 1856. By 1910 they reached a depth of
nearly a mile-and-a-half in Shaft No. 2, but, without improved
technology, going beyond this depth was unlikely. Nordberg
Manufacturing Co. of Milwaukee found the solution in 1920 the
largest compound condensing steam hoist in the world.
On August 24 at Quincy, Mine’s Shaft No. 2, the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers designated this hoist a National
Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. George Kotnick, ASME
president, presented a plaque, citing the hoist’s remarkable
technical highlights, to Burton H. Boyum, president of Quincy Mine
Hoist Association.
Cost of No. 2 hoisting plant was $371,000. Its grooved drum,
30′ in diameter at the center, carried 10,000 ft. of
1/8‘ wire rope, when wound in one layer
over the drum’s cylindrical section and one conical end.
The cross-compound hoist engine was actually four engines in
one. Two high-pressure cylinders on one side of the drum had a bore
and stroke of 32′ x 66′ and ran on 160 lbs. of steam. Two
low-pressure cylinders on the other side were 60′ x 66′ and
ran with a condenser. The four double-acting pistons provided eight
impulses or power strokes per revolution of the drum. Turning at 34
revolutions per minute, the drum hoisted skips enlarged from 8- to
10-ton capacity at 3,200 ft. per minute, or 36 MPH.
Said ASME President Kotnick, ‘What is impressive about this
hoist, apart from its size, is that it did the work of the previous
smaller hoist raising 52,000 skips and a quarter million tons of
copper rock and mass per year but it took 2,400 fewer tons of coal
to do it. In its first year Quincy saved $16,080 in fuel
bills.’
For a brochure about the Quincy Mining Hoist and list of
landmarks write: ASME, Public Information Dept, 345 E. 47th St.,
New York, NY 10017.
