The Iron Age 1901-07-04: Vol 68 Iss 1

‘THE IRON AGE Tuurspay, Juty 4, 1901. THE SHARON STEEL COMPANY. It was the privilege recently of a representative of The Iron Aye to visit the works of the Sharon Steel Com- pany, at Sharon, Pa., at present comprising blast fur- nace, steel plant, rod, wire and wire nail mills. Refer- ence to the accompanying ground plan will give a very clear idea of the lay out of the plant. There is also a ten- mill tin plate plant completed, with ten more mills build- ing, the latter owned by the Sharon Tin Plate Company, which is a subsidiary interest of the Sharon Steel Com- pany. This works, which is one of the most complete steel plants ever built, has attracted more than usual attention from the fact that reports have been repeated- Schneider was formerly with the National Tube Com- pany, at McKeesport; then with the Carnegie Steel Com- pany, at Duquesne Steel Works; later with the Ohio Steel Company, at Youngstown, and finally appointed chief engineer for the Sharon Steel Company. A short time after the first organization was effected John Stevenson, Jr., of New Castle, who had disposed of his interests in the Shenango Valley Steel Company, the New Castle Wire Nail Company and the Shenango Tin Plate Company, became identified with the Sharon Steel Company, in the capacity of general manager. Sharon was selected as a site for the new works of the Sharon Tue IRON AGE Fig. 5.—Charging Larry. THE SHARON STEEL ty started that it would in time be acquired by the United States Steel Corporation. We may state that at this time the plant is entirely owned by the Sharon Steel Com- pany, and no negotiations whatever are on for a sale or control of their output to any other interest. When the National Steel Company was organized in the spring of 1899, one of the works taken over was the open hearth steel plant of the Buhl Steel Company at Sharon, Pa. This plant was largely owned by Frank H. Buhl, who had associated with him some other capitalists. It was only a few months after the sale of the Buhl works to the National Steel Company, or, to be more explicit, on October 3, 1899, that the first organization of the Sharon Steel Company was effected. Frank H. Buhl was ap- pointed president and R. Schneider chief engineer. Mr. COMPANY, SHARON, PA. Steel Company on account of its exceptional railroad facilities, also from the fact that plenty of ground was available at moderate cost, and the general adaptation of the land to the requirements of a steel plant. About 400 acres of ground was purchased from farmers, who were tilling it. The first plans of the Sharon Steel Com- pany contemplated only a blast fugnace, basic open hearth plant, blooming and billet mills. However, when Mr. Stevenson came into the concern actively, which was in December, 1899, it was then decided to extend the initial works by the addition of rod, wire and nail mulls, with all accessories. About the same time it was also decided to add a tin plate plant, and this decision brought about the organization of the Sharon Tin Plate Company, which is an identified interest of the Sharon = ew SSS ¢ Ses Se ea , 1901 July 4 IRON AGE. THE Dy NOU] gH] ‘VI ‘NOHUVHS ‘ANVAWOO TORIS NOUVHS AHL ‘Aupdwop 103019 uospyg ey Jo eysom oy? Jo uvDjd—T Oty onions . | | 301340 Wuanzd | $.09 13318 NOUVHS a aa. <= Zz < \ oa ININOVAL ifs ro) i BOseY ISNOH NIL 4 | t ONO AVIS > ONITION GIOD GNV. ONIIV3N | , i &------------ 3SNOH aTIO 8 SZ = — / @SNOM BNIONS ESisusoncons vo ATTENG i ATR ONL V9H3e - 8 (et RIT] 3SNOH 3am | | / | ee SC [ aejon? ue SS sy- ee Mn SAH|H SS | / | —————— i —_ - i —— - - —-— —— - | — snanes — br ph 162: Seo 2 a $$ Ee ee ee ae ae * — / ann a: ) a d ? — eae _ Sate SR pe oe | ~ ; er nn en 7 —- mp omen —e- —— ee oon - ry TALIA JIVNSS SIM . Fefeec dany P| Ataens RRNA AAA AARNE ES ESS CU SS eS Esa = - — SI —_— > —_—— —s Ne : j 4 \\wawsnud woo wooed * ONIINDIG iw hon | N_ NAN “ usa sv9 ~ aSN0n uawoe [| Susl2N00Nd $vo } ~~ Comoe] Ca . # / y, TUAW d13yxS , 4 ¥ % ‘ | “ - / +e TUW 38NL ; ~ [ \ ~*~. | / \ | ‘ Ys ‘ | | | \ | ‘ 14 \ —<$——— nl July 4, 1901 _ / Tug lRON AGE THE Fig. 2.—Cross Section through Blast Furnace and Open Hearth Steel Plant. PA. SHARON, COMPANY, DEL SHARON STE ‘ 4 THE IRON AGE. 3 Steel Company, and purchased from them 22 acres of ground on which to erect their plant. The Sharon Steel Company broke ground for their new works on November 20, 1899, the first work being to excavate for the blast furnace and drive piles for its foundation. The ground was not very favorable for the purpose required, and test holes were sunk at different places to the depth of 120 feet, but no rock was en- countered. In excavating for the foundations the ground was found to be made up first of yellow clay, then blue clay, gravel and sand. Piles measuring 9 inches at the bottom were driven 2% feet apart. A gridiron was made on top of these piles with heavy planks, and on top of these were laid heavy concrete beds, which formed the foundation for the blast furnace. The contracts for the iron work for the blast furnace, the buildings and the blooming mills were made in October, 1899, the iron work for the blast furnace going to Riter-Conley Mfg. Company of Pittsburgh, while the Sharon Steel Com- pany did the brick work. The size of the blast furnace is 105 feet from bottom of the hearth, 22 feet in di- ameter at the bosh and 15 feet 6 inches at the beartb. The stack is equipped with four Kennedy-Cowper two- pass fire brick stoves, 100 x 22 feet in size and lined with Kennedy hexagon brick. It is equipped with 16 tuyeres, has Scott cooling plates and a Walter Kennedy patented automatic skip. Ore Handling and Charging Machines, The machinery for handling the ore in stock yard, as well as the charging machines for conveying the ore from the bins to the furnace skip hoist, was built and in- stalled by the Brown Hoisting Machinery Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The stock yard crane is what is known as the Brown patented balance cantilever type. and of similar design to their cranes operated on the Chicago Drainage Canal. The cantilever bridge of this crane has a total length over all of 354 feet 6 inches, with a trolley travel 336 feet 6 inches. The hight from the stock yard floor to the bottom chords of the bridge tramway is about 57 feet. The cantilever bridge or runway for the trolley is mounted on a steel frame or plier, supported on a carriage which carries the engine and motor house. The whole structure is mounted on wheels with gears to move it along the rails and tracks, laid on the stock yard floor. It is operated by electric power, and all its mo- tions—namely, hoisting, crane travel and trolley travel— are controlled by one operator. The crane is built to handle 5 net tons suspended from the hook of the trolley. In stocking ore the contents of the railroad cars are first dumped into the bins shown on the plan Fig. 4. From these bins the ore is drawn off through a series of chutes in the rear, into buckets carried on electrically operated transfer cars. These cars each with four full buckets are then moved to any desired part of the stock yard, when the buckets are picked up by the bridge operator, conveyed along the tramway and dumped at any point desired. The buckets automatically discharge the ore by turning over, when the empty bucket rights itself and is ready for refilling by the time it bas been returned and replaced on the transfer car. The operation of taking the ore from the stock pile and filling the bins is likewise performed by the crane operater. For this purpose there is used a shovel bucket of 3% tons capacity made of a special form and adapted for scraping or shoveling ore from the piles by bridges of the Brown type. The ore is conveyed in this bueket after being hoisted by the operater along the bridge tramway and dumped either directly into the bins, or else into cars on the trestle above the bins, by which it is carried to the bin to be filled. This last operation, how- ever, of using transfer cars on the top of trestle, is only in- tended to be used in the event of the ore pile beirfy situated at some considerable distance from the bin to be filled, the object being to avoid moving the bridge each time the scraper or shovel bucket is used. The cuts, Figs. 5 and 6, show special charging larries and electric locomotive used for taking the ore from the bins to the blast furnace skip car. Each charging larry has a capacity of 75 cubic feet, and is arranged to run on two I-beam tracks. sus- pended from the bins. Each larry is equipped with a Fairbanks four-lever scale of the usual blast furnace 4 THE IRON AGE. type and of 10,000 pounds capacity. The electric loco- motives for operating the charging larries are likewise arranged to be suspended from the same track as those on which the larries run. Each locomotive is provided with necessary couplings, and a suitable platform or cage for the operator. The whole arrangement of loco- motive and larries is such that it is intended that one man can readily attend to all the operations of drawing the ore from the bins, weighing and dumping it into the skip car, and coupling and uncoupling the cars. The op- eration of coupling is automatic, and that of uncoupling is performed by the operator without leaving his position ov the eage. ‘The hight of the operator's platform from the ground is such that he can at any time easily step from it to operate the valves or chutes of the bins, as well as empty the larries. The coke is drawn directly frem the bins situated on each side of the furnace hoist into the skip cars. The valves on the coke bin chutes ie ; 354'6° Overall - ‘ 3366 Total Trolley Travel July 4, 1901 the narrow front wheels turning over a knuckle and running onto a level piece of track just above the receiv- ing hopper, the broad rear wheels being extended far enough to travel up in a straight line on auxiliary rails which are placed for that purpose. By this means the skip is tilted up in a position to discharge its contents in the upper hopper smoothly and without any concussion or the heavy resulting strains on the hoisting rope and engine which occur in some filling devices. In the mean- time the other skip is traveling to the bottom and is ready to receive its portion of the furnace charge, and in turn commences its upward trip as quickly as the ma- terial can be placed in the skip. Consequently there is no delay at the top of the furnace, such as frequently oc- curs where top fillers are used and the operation of the hoist is delayed until the filler has taken the charge and dumped it into the furnace and brought back the empty barrow. The arrangement for securing a good distribu- Capacity of Bucket || Clearance Line Dumped Bucket 6720 Lbs. &. rar 4 ag : AREA OF ‘« ey =*'CROSS SECTION OF P z | tes y T ES; AREA OF wD | 4 ’ “CROSS SECTION OF PILE” in : mee : >> iE 1950 SQ. FT. OSIRIA SINS PP oeg VRE R STII NT ALR OVO TROP We SWAN 199" —or< 37/0” ——-« — 117’3° — Hie 17/0" <17'0"4 —--— - 345.0" — — —— — —— —_—_______—_—_» THE IRON AGE Fig. 3.—Side Elevation of the Brown Cantilever Crane Hoisting and Conveying Machinery. ORE OR UMESTONE _———E _— ORE OR LIMESTONE rom. —* { y CAPACITY | 00 a LIMESTONE 250 TONS A OF 6 FILES 29 COKE @70 TONS ORE 1000 TONS ese" ToT) wat OF 6 PILES rape a | a| THE IRON AoE Fig. 4.—Plan of Stock Handiing Appliances. THE SHARON STEEL are operated by the operator of the furnace hoist. It is the intention to dump the coke direct from the cars into the bins. but a stock ef coke may also be carried in the stock yard and handled by the cantilever bridge in the same manner as the ore. The Filling Arrangement consists of a double skipway and two skips, which are filled at the charging floor of the stock yard partly from bins and partly from a car. One of the cars is filled at the bottom whi the other is at rest at the top. The cars are operated by means of a crane hoist, insta’ted by the Otis Elevator Company, located at the opposite side of the furnace from the stock yard and placed in the en- gine room, where it gets better care on account of being in charge of skilled workmen, and also where it is more conveniently located to the power. When the proper mixture of burden has been mixed into the skip, which is at the bottom, it is lifted to the top and dumped into the upper hopper just as a mine skip dumps its contents, COMPANY, SHARON, PA. tion will be evident from the accompanying drawings, the upper hopper being constructed in such a way as to prevent the separation of the material with reference to its being coarse or fine; in otuer words, to prevent the coarse material of the charge as it comes from the skip from bounding to the far side of the main hopper, as is usually the case, and the fine stuff dribbling down on the side of the main hopper nearest the skip, which usually takes place, particularly in rainy weather, when the ore comes up like molasses. The shape of the upper hopper and the doors closing in the upper hopper—which has been variously called at different places the orange peel, chestnut burr, clamshell, &c.—is such as to discharge the contents of the upper hopper onto the bell below in such & way as to give a perfectly uniform distribution under all circumstances. The hopper capacity above the orange peel bell is 450 cubic feet. The lower hopper is about the same. Each cast of the furnace is about 120 tons, the tapping being done in ladle cars, which are hauled direct by locomotive into the open hearth plant. While, tem- ha cir CO! re: tor cla July 4, 1901 THE porarily, the Sharon Steel Company will have to buy a small part of their ore and all of their coke, yet ina short time they will be in position to furnish all the raw material they use. We may say here that the Sharon Steel Company have acquired sufficient ore properties, among which is the Brodie mine, to insure the concern a sufficient supply of ore for from 50 to 75 years, making them entirely independent of the ore market, with the exception of a small amount of old range, which they will buy in the open market. The limestone for the blast furnace will be taken from quarries owned by the com- pany and located 20 miles from the works. The stack IRON AGE. 5 case of any temporary shut down of the steel works by accident or otherwise. The boiler house is equipped with 4500 horse-power Geary water tube boilers, built’“by the Oil City Boiler Works of Oil City, Pa. These are ar- ranged in single batteries of 500 horse-power each. The boilers are fired by gas, a 6-foot gas main leading to them. The wind is furnished by two Porter-Hamilton compound blowing engines, 42 and 80 x 84 x 60 inch stroke, built by the William Tod Company of Youngs- town, Ohio. These engines run 42 to 45 revolutions and are capable of delivering 30,000 cubic feet of air per minute and up to a pressure of 25 pounds per square Tue IRON AGE Fig. 6.—Charging Larry. THE SHARON STEEL is nearly completed and will be ready for blast about July 15, when ore begins to come down. The Cinder Handling Arrangement, The concern have installed a unique arrangement for handling the cinder, consisting of a crane, running the cinder from the furnace to gutters, where it comes into contact with water and is granulated, falling into a reservoir, which has a capacity for holding about 300 tons. From this reservoir the cinder is taken up by a clamshell bucket and revolving crane, furnished by the Webster, Camp & Lane Machine Company of Akron, Ohio, and loaded in cars, either to be hauled away or used for filling up low, marshy land around the works. A pig casting machine, installed by Heyl & Patterson of Pittsburgh, is located about 600 feet from. the furnace and this will be used to take care of Sunday metal, or in COMPANY, SHARON, PA. inch. These engines are located in a brick structure, SS x 56 feet in size. The Ore Bins, The ore bins are built of heavy oak timbers, this con- struction being cheaper than when built of steel plates and also very durable. There are eight of these bins, and they are charged on two sides, and are large enough to insure a three days’ supply of ore. The coke and ore larries are entirely of steel, and are square in construc- tion, having beveled bottom and side ore drop each. Each larry has a capacity of 75 cubic feet, and each is pro- vided with a seale for weighing the load. The ore yard is surrounded by a 10-foot wall. Raw Material Supply. It is the intention of the Sharon Steel Company to erect a sufficient number of by-product coke ovens to in- 6 THE sure a full supply of coke, not only for running the pres- | ent blast furnace, but also a second stack, should it be decided to build another, which now seems likely. These ovens will be of the Semet-Solvay or Otto Hoffman type. In the meantime the concern have made arrangements for a supply of coke until these ovens have been built. The supply of coal will be obtained from mines owned by the company and located about 15 miles from South Sharon. The coal will be crushed in n crusher plant at the mines, the lump coal being crushed for the gas pro- ducers and ether purposes, and the slack for boiler firing. The blast furnace is equipped with a 3000 horse-power Worthington condensing apparatus, which condenses steam from the blast furnace and electrical building. The feed water for the blast furnace boiler house is IRON AGE. July 4, 1£01 furnaces is that they are built above ground, resting on iron coluimns, making them easier of access when re- pairs are being made, which insures a more even tempera- ture and also does away with casting pits. The credit for this idea in construction belongs to R. Schneider, chief en- gineer, and also to Nevin McConnell, superintendent of the plant. There are two pouring platforms equipped with 50-ton ladles, the output of each furnace being 15 to 18 ingots per heat. Each furnace has a battery of four water seal gas producers, each 13 feet high and 10 feet in diameter, built by the Sharon Steel Company, from ther own designs. The gas producer house is pro- vided with coal storage bins, from which coal is taken up by electric traveling conveyor, installed by Heyl & Pat- terson of Pittsburgh, to bins above the gas producers. } wecnianeensidnierusigienieg 140- 10'3" t ¥ ’ \A. PLATFORM LEVEL THE Tror_Acs Fig. 7.—The Blast Furnace Filling Arrangement. THE SHARON STEEL COMPANY, SHARON, PA, heated by a Cookson heater, by means of exhaust steam from the pumps and part of electrical power house en- gines. The Basic Open Hearth Steel Plant consists of eight 50-ton open hearth furnaces and is contained in a main building of steel frame construc- tion 603 feet long and 123 feet wide. There is an ele- vated charging platform and the furnaces are provided with regenerative chambers for air and gas, having re- versing valves operated by means of hydraulic cylinder. The charging side of the furnaces is equipped with a 4-ton Morgan crane, while the pouring side is equipped with a 75-ton crane of the same design. The furnaces are charged with a Wellman-Seaver charging machine and are also equipped with water cooled doors and frames. A unique feature in the erection of the open hearth From these bins the coal is taken to the gas producers by an automatic feeding device, also installed by Heyl & Patterson. Another innovation made by the Sharon Steel Company in the building of their works is that the stock house for the open hearth furnaces is covered, af- tording protection from the weather to the materials in the stock house and also to the men employed there. The stock house is a steel and brick building 1000 feet long by 60 feet wide, and in it is stored the pig iron and scrap used in the open hearths. The stock house is equipped with two heavy shears used for cutting up bil- lets and rails to the proper lengths for loading into the charging boxes. The stock house is also equipped with four railroad tracks, one being elevated. Two of these tracks are used for materials coming in to be unloaded. and two for materials loaded and going out to the open a cary tools to tl Aike take got fired to a nace take tilte1 to th 1- 1e th on July 4, 1901 THE IRON AGE. 7 hearths. At the end of the stock house is a mixer house, for grinding limestone and other refractories. Next to the stock house is the main machine shop, of steel and brick, 114 feet wide and 143 feet long. The machine shop is commanded by a 20-ton Morgan electric crane and is fitted out with modern iron working tools, consisting of planers, boring mills, shapers and other tools, some of which are of very heavy design. The machine shop is equipped with two engines for driving the shafting. There is also a blacksmith shop 75 x 190 feet and a The Blooming Mill is 38 inches in diameter, and with table and manipulator was built by the Lloyd Booth Company of Youngstown, Ohio. The shear at the end of the mill was furnished by Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co. of Pittsburgh. The mill is driven by a reversing engine built by the William Tod Company, Youngstown, Ohio, 46 x 60 inch cylinder diam- eter and 60-inch stroke. The mill is designed to roll 24- inch ingots and has already done some initial rolling and with very satisfactory results. The mill housings are " ~ -- ws rie ID<] ITI SZ = se af ie ——~ | it Hf Bi py OF OAK ee ||| WY NN ffo}i| 4q— ny HE iL ay > Ue = Fi : = SL f ec" a a oa by iy stabi A th i Fig. 8.—Cross Section through Open Hearth Building. THE IRON AcE Fig. 9.—Section of Open Hearth Furnace. THE SHARON STEEL COMPANY, SHARON, PA. carpenter shop equipped with modern wood working tools throughout. The ingots are taken from the open hearth building to the stripper building, where they are stripped by an Aiken ingot extractor. They are then weighed and taken to the heating furnaces by means of a Morgan in- got crane. There are three of these heating furnaces, fired by four gas producers of the same type as referred to above. The heating furnaces are four-hole pit fur- naces, each pit holding six ingots. The same ingot crane takes the ingots from the heating furnaces to an ingot tilter of Sharon Steel Company design, which takes them to the approach table at the blooming mill. cast iron, rolls cast steel 38 inches diameter, and the top roll is operated from above by hydraulic cylinder, with a rack and pinion, the cylinder in turn being operated by 500 pounds hydraulic pressure. The top roll is coun- terbalaneed from below by a system of weights and levers. The mill spindles are cast steel, 20 inches di- ameter by 10 inches long; pinions are also steel, 38 inches P. D., and have 11 V teeth in each. All the hous- ing fillings are of cast steel babbitted. This mill is de- signed to rum at an average speed of 70 revolutions per minute. The mill tables, as shown on general arrange- ment, are about 275 feet over all, from ingot tilter to bil- let shear. The blooming mill tables are each driven by a 12 x 12 inch Crane reversing engine, and have rollers 14 inches diameter, spaced 28-inch centers, which run at a speed of 103 revolutions per minute. The run out table, which extends from ingot tilter to the end of blooming mill table on roller’s side of mill, is driven by a 50 horse-power motor, which runs 550 revolutions per minute. The rollers on this table are 14 inches di- ameter and run at 103 revolutions per minute. The shear table, which extends from the end of blooming mill table on catcher’s side of the mill to billet shear, is driven by one 35 horse-power motor and one 25 horse- power motor. The rollers on this table are also 14 inches diameter and run at 103 revolutions per minute. The manipulator is of the Kennedy type, operated by three hydraulic cylinders, with a water pressure of 500 pounds per square inch. The whole mill is designed in general with a view of securing the greatest strength and speed with a minimum cost for operation. After receiving the required number of passes on the blooming mill the bloom is cut by a Mackintosh, Hemphill shear and is | ‘PB 1 | 8 THE IRON AGE. brought over by means of an overhead conveyor to the finishing train, where it passes into two Morgan continu- ous heating billet furnaces. After leaving these it is taken through either the tin bar or billet mill, the rough- ing and finishing being continuous on two separate mills. The entire product of the billet mill goes to the hot beds, . after which the billets are either loaded into cars for shipment into the open market or are taken by con- veyors into the Morgan continuous rod mills. The billet yard has two steam traveling yard cranes, built by the Brown Hoisting Machinery Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Tke billets intended for the Sharon Tin Plate Company works ge direct from the blooming mill over a con- veyor to the continuous heating furnaces, thence to the tin bar mill and are rolled into tin bars, after which they are taken by railroad track to the reheating furnaces in the tin mill. The Billet Mill, The billet mill is of the continuous tvpe, built by the Morgan Construction Company of Worcester, Mass. The billets as received are 34% x 7% inches by 7 feet long, weighing about 600 pounds. These billets are carried by a special conveyor from the bloom shears and are charged into two Morgan automatic gravity discharge continuous billet heating furnaces, in which they are July 4, 1901 inch rolls driven by a 22-foot belt wheel. The belts are 4-foot face. Between the roughing and finishing trains is interposed an Edwards fiying shear for cropping off split ends. After getting the required number of passes in the finishing trains the rods are taken to two sets of feur rod reels of the Morgan-Stevenson flying pipe pat- tern with inclined laying platform and traveling coil conveyor. The latter delivers the coils to the pickling house. After leaving the pickling house the rods are taken to the annealing furnace building, and after being annealed are either shipped to the open market or taken to the wire mill. The pickling house is equipped with two pickling cranes and one baker. A galvanizing de- partment is also located at one end of the pickling house, the equipment consisting of two annealing furnaces, necessary water and acid tanks, two spelter frames and two take up frames for 20 wires each. The annealing house contains one set of annealing pots and one set of cooling pets, and is commanded by two revolving steam cranes. The Wire Mill is 780 feet long with a 70-foot span, and there is room for 150 wire benches. This building also contains the galvanizing department, which is located at one end of it. In the wire mill is an overhead trolley commanding ——d THE IRON AGE Fig. 10.—Cross Section of Producer and Reheating Buildings. THE SHARON STEEL COMPANY, SHARON, PA. heated preparatory to rolling. As the billets reach the proper degree of heat they are dropped from the end of the furnace upon a conveyor, which carries them to the billet mill. The Morgan continuous billet mill is in the installation made up of six stands of rolls, of which three pairs are 16 inches in diameter and three pairs 13 inches in diameter. The mill is driven by a pair of 28% x 56 x 62 inch compound Buckeye engines. The mill is commanded by a 10-ton electric crane made by the Cleve- land Crane & Car Company. In this mill billets 1% inches and !arger may be rolled. Two intermediate furnaces of the Siemens type are designed to receive billets 30 feet long, to supply The Rod Mills, of which there are two, each using a 1%-inch by 30-foot billet, which they are designed to reduce to a No. 5 rod. The rod mills are of the Morgan continuous type and are contained in a steel frame building 530 feet from the reel shed and reheating furnace building and from 45 to 190 feet wide. The rod mills are driven by two pairs of 32% x 60 x 60 inch Buckeye engines, with 82-inch rope wheel driven by 16-foot pulley, which drives part of the mill. The other part of the mill is driven by a 4-foot wide belt on the same shaft. The rod mill contains six stands of 10-inch roughing rolls, driven by a 16-foot rope wheel, and a finishing train of eight stands of 10- each row of wire benches. The mill is driven by a pair of 22 x 22 x 40 cross compound condensing engines, of the Buckeye type. In the wire and nail mills power is transmitted from the engines to line shafting by 2-inch ropes. In fact rope power is used throughout the entire plant of the Sharon Steel Company wherever possible. This was an innovation first introduced by John Steven- son, Jr., at the rod, wire and nail mills of the New Castle Wire Nail Company, at New Castle, Pa., and with most satisfactory results. Later the rope power system was utilized in the building of the 30-mill tin plate plant of the Shenango Tin Plate Company, at New Castle, Pa. The Wire Nail Mill is contained in a steel frame and brick building, 1260 feet long by 70 feet wide, in which will be installed 400 wire nail machines grouped in four rows, 250 of which have already been installed. These wire nail machines will be of the German or percussion pattern. Power is fur- nished the wire nail mill by overhead shafting, which is driven by a 22 x 22 x 40 cross compound engine of the Buckeye type. The kegs are made in their own keg factory, which is 240 feet long by 70 feet span. The kegs are taken by a keg conveyor to the loading depart- ment and after heing filled, weighed and headed are taken to the shipping department and there loaded into ears. gee ee! atin i ak i ele llc COU — et at -& 2 oh £242 £4 July 4, 1901 The Electrical Building is 50 feet wide and 170 feet long, and has in connection with it a repair shop. The main building is equipped with one 5-ton and one 3-ton hand cranes and has four 600 horse-power Russell steam engines, direct connected to two Siemens-Halske and two Westinghouse multiple generators for 400 kw. each. Steam and Water Supply. The steam for the blooming, billet, rod, wire and nail mills is generated in a special boiler house, 50 feet wide by 306 feet long, by means of 16 500 horse-power Geary water tube boilers, which are located in this special boiler house. It is also equipped with storage bins and electrically driven traveling coal conveyor, which latter discharges the coal directly on the grates, of the boilers. The water for the entire plant is taken up from the She- nango River by gravity system, which throws it from the intake of the water system to settling basin, from which water is taken by means of water pumps of the Worth- ington type, to run one 100 x 20 foot and one 70 x 15 foot stand pipes. From these stand pipes the water is distrib- uted over the whole plant. The works are also equipped with a sufficient number of hydrants to insure ample protection against fire. Particular attention has been given to the installation of a complete sewerage plant, the main sewer being 6 feet in diameter, built of brick and empties into the Shenango River. The Tube Mill, About two months ago the Sharon Steel Company de- cided that with their ample facilities for making steel at low cost, together with plenty of ground available for the purpose, and with a constant supply of their owu steel assured, it would be advantageous to engage in the manufacture of tubular goods. Plans were at once drawn and the company have already started to work on the building of a very large and complete tube plant, which will be located alongside the rod mill. The skelp mill will be able to handle ingots up to 20 inches thick, 40 inches wide and in 5-foot lengths. These blooms will be charged in the reheating furnace in the skelp mill by a Wellman-Seaver charging machine, operated by an overhead traveling crane. From the reheating furnace a traveling charging crane lays the piece on a conveyor, which takes it to a 26-inch Mackintosh, Hemphill univer- sal mill. This mill is driven by a reversing engine of the Mackintosh, Hemphill type. The piece is rolled down to the required size and passes then into three bull head stands, each being directly driven by 46 x 60 Corliss en- gine, built by Robert Wetherill & Co. Between each bull head is a power driven conveyor table, which con- veys the piece from one bull head to another. After leaving the last bull head the piece is conveyed to a cool- ing table, then to a shear table, where it is cut in proper sizes and collected in cradles and taken up by cranes to the stock department, which transfers the loaded cradles to the front of the bending furnaces. From the bending furnaces the piece goes to the welding furnaces, then to the welding rolls, finally to the cooling tables, after which the pieces are cut and threaded. Part of the prod- uct will be galvanized, the concern being equipped to furnish either galvanized or black pipe. The tube mill is equipped with two double lap welding furnaces and two butt welding furnaces. It has a galvanizing depart- ment and a socket department. The machinery is partly driven by electric motors and partly by steam. After the tubes are finished they enter the shipping department and are loaded into cars. The reheating furnace building in connection with the tube mill is 65 feet wide by 493 feet long, and is commanded by two 10-ton charging cranes. The skelp mill building is 280 x 50 feet in size. The universal mill building is 70 x 120 feet and is com- manded by a 50-ton crane, the mill being driven by a 55 x 60 inch reversing engine. The building containing the three bull heads is 60 x 280 feet, while the building above the cooling beds is 180 x 130 feet. The stock department of the pipe mill proper is 270 feet long by 325 wide, and the shipping department is 70 feet wide and 475 feet leng. There will be a 20-ton crane above the three bull heads. The rolls in the universal mill are 88 inches long. THE IRON AGE. Output of the Works. The magnitude of the entire plant of the Sharon Steel Company insures a very large product, both in raw and tinished materials. The blast furnace is expected to turn out 500 to 600 tons of metal per day, the basic open hearth plant 800 to 1000 tons, the blooming mill 890 tons, the billet mill 600 tons, the tin bar mill 500 tons and the two rod mills 400 tons each every 24 hours. The wire mill is expected to turn out 400 tons of wire per day, more than half of this being consumed in the wire nail mill, which is now equipped with 250 machines of German pattern, and will turn owt about 4000 kegs of wire nails per day. The whole plant of the Sharon Steel Company, from the blast furnace to the finishing mills, is thoroughly modern and equipped with the very best machinery that money could buy. The projectors of the plant had con- stantly in view the building of mills that could be most economically operated, and at the same time turn out & maximum of output. There is probably not a concern in the country to-day better equipped for manufacturing at a low cost than the Sharon Steel Company. The rail road facilities for receiving and shipping materials are admirable, the works having direct connection by switches with several trunk lines, among these being Erie & Pittsburgh system of Pennsylvania lines west and also the Erie Railroad. As will be seen by reference to the ground plan, an ample number of switches have been made to insure easy handling of materials, either in- bound or outbound. The credit for the building of such a complete plant belongs to R. Schneider, the chief en- gineer; to Nevin McConnell, the general superintendent, and to John Stevenson, Jr., the general manager and vice-president of the company. It is fully expected that every department of the works, with the exception of the new tube mill, will be in full operation not later than July 15 or August 1 next. Sharon Tin Plate Company. As noted above, the Sharon Tin Plate Company are @ coustituent interest of the Sharon Steel Company, and were organized a short time after active workiwas started on the Sharon Steel Company plant. The original tin mill was designed to contain ten mills, and before these were finished the entire product of tin and terne plate was sold to the American Tin Plate Company for a term of five years, the price to be the regular market price of tip plate. This is probably the first case in the manufactur- ing business where the concern have beenable to sell their prospective entire output at a very high price and for a period of years. This contract was made in order that the output of the Sharon Tin Plate Company would not come in competition with the American Tin Plate Com- pany. A short time before this contract was made with the American Tin Plate Company the Sharon Tin Plate Company decided to double their plant by the building of ten more mills, and these are actively under way and will probably be ready for operation in the latter part of the year. The hot mill building is 900 feet long by 108 feet wide and is equipped with two 20-ton electric cranes. All doubling and squaring shears are run by electric power. This building contains ten 26-inch hot tin mills, which are completed and running, and ten more building. Of these mills one has rolls 34 inches wide, one 36 inches wide, eight 32 inches wide, while the ten that are build- ing will be 30 inches wide. The furnaces completed are 12 sheet furnaces and ten pair furnaces. There are also ten additional sheet and ten additional pair furnaces in course of erection. These furnaces are all fired with producer gus. Power for the first ten mills is-furnished by a Buckeye compound condensing engine, furnished by the Bnekeye Engine Company, Salem, Ohio. Power for the second ten mills will be furnished by a compound condensing engine, furnished by Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co. of Pittsburgh. The steam for these mills will be furnished by five 400 horse-power Wheeler boilers in boiler house No. 1, and three of the same type in boiler house No. 2, ali furnished by the Wheeler Boiler Com- pany of Sharon, Pa. The cold mill is 520 feet long by 88 feet wide and is 10 THE IRON AGE. equipped with tive annealing furnaces, and one building of 50 tons capacity for 12 hours. These furnaces will be equipped with Swindell chargers and one 20-ton crane. There are 13 stands of cold rolls, 12 driven tandem and one for one-pass 24-inch rolls. The black pickling room is 72 x 90 feet in size, and is equipped with two Mesta pickling machines, furnished by the Mesta Machine Company of Pittsburgh. The =] me — 24 July 4, 1901 tire tin mill from beginning to end has modern equip- ment throughout, and the process of making tin and terne plate is continuous, there being no rehandling of material whatever. Combination Boiler Coupling.—The Western Tube Company of Kewanee, Ill., are placing on the market the Kewanee combination boiler coupling. This is a $2- 0 bep-— 9" 4 — she} Qe rae — r +360 Fig. 11.—Plan of 38-Inch Lloyd Booth Blooming Mill. ’ —_——-9'6 > 38 Pinions 11 Teeth os j$—— — ee ee en _ » ae | ‘| Tue [RON AGE Fig. 12.—Elevation of 38-Inch Lloyd Booth Blooming Mill. THE SHARON STEEL white pickling room is 72 x 128 feet and is equipped with one Mesta machine. The tin house is 72 x 212 feet and is equipped wiih 24 sets of doubling machines. The assorting room is 72 x 128 feet. Warehouse No. 1 is 160 x 72 feet. Warehouse No. 2 is 160 x 72 feet. Machine shep 60 x 60 feet and blacksmith shop 46 x 60 feet. There is a power house 80 x 40 feet equipped with two 250 horse-power Buckeye cross compound engines, direct connected to two Westinghouse generators of 200 kw. each. The tin bars used in the mill are brought over by track from the tin bar mill of Sharon Steel Company and are taken direct to the reheating furnaces. The en- COMPANY, SHARON, PA. brass and iron ground ball joint coupling for iron pipe. It is made both straight and bent. The special feature about the coupling is the whipple, which is made of brass, the other portion being iron. The coupling has all the advantage of a connection requiring no gasket to make a tight seal; also a screw joint of different metals, being thereby non-corrosive. —_ —_ The American Metal Company, Limited, of New York, have filed with the Secretary of State of New York a certificate of an increase of the capital stock of the company from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. — Be ee pk July 4, 1901 THE Reciprocity Treaties and Tariff Revision WASHINGTON, D. C., July 2, 1%.. -A sharp alignment is rapidly being brought about of prominent Senators and Representatives on the double issues as to whether the pending reciprocity treaties are to be ratified, and whether any revision of the tariff is to be undertaken during the coming Congress. With reference to the reci- procity treaties the question is taking shape in the Senate through the rival candidacy of Senators Lodge and Cullom for the chairmanship of the Senate Commit- tee on Foreign Relations. It was semi-officially an- nounced some time ago that the Senatorial Steering Committee had selected Senator Lodge for this position, but the New England Senator’s outspoken opposition to the reciprocity treaties, of which his committee has full charge, makes him persona non grata to the administra- tion for this service, and the majority Senators advo- eating reciprocity have united on Senator Cullom, whose record has been consistently favorable to this class of trade agreements, and if Senator Lodge is finally chosen by the Republican caucus it will not be unanimously. Great interest has been aroused here by the unquali- fied declaration of the recent Ohio Republican Convention in favor of reciprocity, and it is authoritatively stated that this plank of the platform was submitted to the President and approved by him before it was offered for | 24"-><1—3'6 + 29'g°_+« oo ” t + +--- Fig. 13.—Side Elevation Lloyd Booth 88-Inch Blooming Mill. THE SHARON STEEL COMPANY, SHARON, PA. adoption. It is an important fact, but one which is quite generally misconstrued, that Senator Hanna, al- though in line with the administration on nearly all pub- lic questions, is opposed to the pending commercial trea- ties. The Ohio Senator did not hesitate to take issue with the reciprocity plank in the platform of the Ohio convention, and in an authorized interview in which he discussed Congressman Babcock’s free metal bill he said: “This talk that the next Congress will tinker with the Dingle» tariff law at the suggestion of the President is all nonsense. The. Dingley law is a scientific meas- ure and will last for years to come. The President be- lieves it is as necessary as before, and will not, in my belief, advocate any changes whatever. He still believes in protecting the American industries wherever it is necessary. The President, however, is a strong advocate of reciprocity, and would, I think, consider treaties IRON AGE. 11 along the lines of mutual interest between this country and another. The French reciprocity treaty would have been accepted had it not been for some objectionable tariff features. The treaties as they stood if ratified by the United States, would have killed the knit goods in- dustry in the New England States and the pottery busi- ness in Ohio. That is the reason they failed. As long as the United States is able to make reciprocity treaties with foreign countries without injury to American in- dustries they will be made, and gladly.” One of the most influential friends of reciprocity in the Senate is Senator Platt of Connecticut, who is a leading member of the Finance Committee. Senator Platt contends that it is impossible to negotiate reciproc- ity treaties strictly on the basis that neither party to the convention shall make concessions on any article of its own produce. The industries of the leading countries are so thoroughly diversified that it is the Senator’s opin- ion that it would be impossible to draft a treaty worth the trouble to which no exceptions would be taken by any American interest, no matter how small. In a re- cent article on the subject of reciprocity Senator Platt expresses the opinion that reciprocity through treaties is certain to become an accomplished fact. A great deal of anti-reciprocity literature is being sent out by the American Protective Tariff League and other protectionist organizations, including the text of a series of lectures delivered before the University of Cal- ifornia by John P. Young of San Francisco, who de- nounces tariffs made by special trade treaties as “ un- constitutional, unfair and dangerous.” Nearly all the Republican members of the Ways and Means Commit- tee, acting either upon an intimation received from some quarter, or upon a common impulse, have recently given out statements, some of which have been quoted in these columns, predicting that there will be no general tariff legislation during the coming Congress. Some of these statements have gone so far as to declare that the pend- ing reciprocity treaties will be rejected. Representative Steele of Indiana, who is a conservative member of the committee, during a visit to Washington within the past week, said: “There is no pressing demand throughout the coun- try for tariff revision. Certainly there is no such de- mand in Indiana, where even the Democrats are satisfied with the present condition of affairs. When tariff re- vision is necessary, which is not 10w apparent, it will be undertaken along Republican lines. The business people of the country do not want tariff legislation. If they want anything it is a rest. They are doing first rate and they do not want their prosperity jeopardized by tariff tinkering.” Representative Grosvenor of Ohio, one of the most active members of the Ways and Means Committee, in discussing the Babcock bill and general tariff legislation, says: “I do not believe that the placing of our products of iron and steel upon the free list would break up a single trust or impair the value of a stock of the United States Steel Corporation or any other of the combinations. I do believe that it would wipe out the small manufac- turers and that the great combination would control absolutely the markets of the United States in company with and upon a basis of division of profits with the trusts now organized abroad. I do not care to discuss this subject now. I believe the whole matter to be an inspiration of the devil of free trade, and it has been seized upon because of the supposed anxiety of the peo- ple to break down trusts and combinations; but my point is that a present agitation of a serious character backed by force enough to make it effective of a general revision of the tariff laws would be absolutely destructive of the present prosperity. There is no trouble about the trusts. Under our Constitution as at present formed, Congress, in co-operation with the State Legislature, has ample power to do all that is necessary, all that is just, all that is fair, in the regulation of combinations of money, cap- ital and labor.” The principal advocates of the ratification of the pending reciprocity treaties are urging the importance of creating foreign markets for our surplus products, and o a dpe a ee a ~ 12 THE IRON AGE. they emphasize strongly that, in spite of the growth of our exports, trade with those countries with whom reci- procity treaties are now pending is falling off. For ex- ample, our total exports to France for the 11 months ending May 31, 1901, amounted to but $75,852,000, as against $78,453,000 for the corresponding period a year ago. Our trade with the Argentine has also decreased during the past year, and there has been an important reduction in the amount of our exports to the British July 4, 1901 vention of Julian Kennedy, the well-known mechanical engineer, of Pittsburgh. The experiment is being made secretly, and the construction of the oven is being guarded from the public until it is definitely known whether it will be a success. It is claimed that the new method of coke making does away with the manual labor of coke drawing, and produces less smoke. An interior basket is supplied to the ordinary beehive oven, and into this receptacle the charge is dumped. The __ a. ~ - +7. ~" a ‘ \ : aes , \oka, Center Line of Rolls x anes < 110° — —— ain on ON pel g ae THs IRON AGE < —__——. 11'9° Fig. 15.—Elevation of Manipulator. pelt at 3: —— Tb | ful cl iH} ° —5 Bhg- $84 ——— THE IRON AGB be —— Fig. 16.—End Elevation of Manipulator. THE SHARON STEEL COMPANY, SHARON, PA. West Indies, which are covered by pending treaties. From all these countries, however, our imports continue to increase, and it is urged that this condition will not change until we can secure concessions that will give us advantages in these markets which-we do not now pos- sess. WwW. L. OG Se A New Design of Coke Oven.—The H. C. Frick Coke Company are making an experiment at the Central Coke plant with a new design of coke oven, which is the in- trunnel head is sufficiently large to allow the removal of the basket with its load of coke by heavy lifting ma- chinery. The coke is watered out while in the air, and is swung, when cooled sufficiently, into the car without the least breakage of the entire oven charge. Two of the new ovens are being operated, and it ts said by experts that the burning qualities of the new ovens are equal to those of the standard beehive oven. iin —_ A Mysterious Cupola Explosion.—A mysterious ex- plosion occurred in a cupola in the old Wells & French Car & Foundry Company, vn Blue Island avenue, Chi- cago, June 26. Two meu were instantly killed and five others so seriously ‘cjured that some of them may die. ‘lae cupola was almost ready to be tapped, when the lower part of it was blown to pieces with a loud report, scattering portions of the cupola, fire brick and molten iron through the foundry. The explosion cannot be ac- counted for on the theory of accumulated gases, and it is supposed that some high explosive was charged into the cupola with the scrap or coke. _ —<—_—- Swedish Exports of Iron Ore.—The iron ore exports from Sweden reached 1,619,901 tons in 1900, as com