Simcoe
Alligator
Simcoe Reformer
Last week the Reformer
visited the plant of West-Peachey & Sons, to view the work
that is being done to the tugs used extensively in logging
operations throughout very part of Canada's timber industry.
Mr. Peachey stated that
this tug had proved its worth in every way, and that he has had so
many orders on hand that he had to refuse a contract to build a
large one.
As is well known to
Reformer readers, the boats are equipped and geared so that they
can travel either by land or water.
On the bottom are heavy
oak runners shoed with 5/8-inch steel, and the engine is so
equipped that it may be thrown out of gear from the propellers or
paddle wheel, to a gear which is connected to a drum and cable. To
travel over the ground all that is necessary is to run out the
cable (of which there is 5,000 feet) and fasten it to a tree stump
or rock, turn the steam on, and behold! up comes the alligator.
The great scarcity of oak
is the only vital point in the building of these boats. The boat
itself is built in the form of a flat bottom scow, and the
propellers are arranged that they may be raised by a lever, thus
eliminating all danger of their being damaged when the tug is
portaging.
It is equipped with a
West-Peachey & Sons engine, which generates about 20
horsepower on the water, but when the gearing is thrown in to the
drum arrangement, it raises the horsepower to over 100.
The boiler is set on a
pivot in the centre, and can be raised or lowered as occasion may
demand. This always keeps the water in the boiler on an even
level. If this was not there, when the tug would be climbing a
hill or going down a hill, the water would all run to one end of
the boiler and the steam to the other. If the hill was steep
enough this would stop the engine.
The hull is made out of
white oak, 50 feet with 10-foot beam, and 43 feet with 9 foot
beam. The baby alligator is not used as extensively, and is 37
feet in length.
It is a great satisfaction
to know that there is such demand for these useful machines. The
factory is a perfect hive of industry and is doing a lot to reduce
unemployment in Simcoe.
