The Iron Age 1901-10-03: Vol 68 Iss 14

‘THE IRON AGE TuurspDay, Ocroser 3, 1901. The Advance of Concrete Construction Concrete Used to the Complete Exclusion of Masonry. While the use of concrete in substitution for masonry is constantly becoming more prevalent, there has not come to our notice an example where its use is so ex- tensive in the construction of industrial buildings as in the instance of the new car shops which are now being built at Elizabethport, N. J., by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. With a single exception, all the buildings in this plant are being constructed with concrete walls. In the case of three buildings and a large fresh water reservoir concrete is employed in building the roof as diameter. Half of the wall is now ready for the roof; the other half is about up to the windows. This build- ing is being constructed entirely of concrete up to the roof. The roof will be of wood, with an upper surface of tar and gravel. The concrete wall is being built 8 inches in thickness. Owing to the wide spaces between the windows the wall is considered sufficiently safe to stand without bracing, with the exception of the west- erly section, which is to be permanently supported by means of timber bracings. In the construction of this building the foundations and wall up to the window line were first finished, being built in the ordinary manner by pouring the concrete into molds built of tongued and grooved pine boards. For the construction of that por- tion of the structure above the window sills special Fig. 1—Showing Method Employed in Construction of Forge Shop. THE ADVANCE OF CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION. well as the walls and foundation. The great machine shop has concrete foundations and brick walls. This is the only building of the group where the brick con- struction was adhered to. Throughout the entire work a series of interesting experiments were instituted. One thing that is strik- ingly at variance with the ordinary practice in concrete construction is the entire exclusion of trap rock in the mixture. In various portions of the work different mix- tures are employed, but they are either of cinder, fur- nace slag, sand and cement, or gravel, sand and cement. For the foundations and heavy work the latter composi- tion is employed. In some of the walls the cinder mix- ture is used. In every instance the mixture is approxi- mately four to one. Work on the buildings has been in progress several months, and it is not expected that the buildings now under way will be completed prior to January 1 next. Probably the most conspicuous portion of this under- taking is the large roundhouse, the walls of which are now approaching completion. This building is of the usual semicircular construction. It is to be 400 feet in wooden frames were built. These were just the proper hight to extend to roof line from the finished portion of the wall, and were of sufficient width to allow for the molding of three windows with each set of frames. The window spaces were cut out of each frame. The frames were properly supported so that two stood directly op- posite one another, and they stood exactly 8 inches apart. As the concrete was filled in between each pair of frames small strips were nailed along the sides of the window spaces, and thus the intervening spaces were filled in solid with the concrete mixture. The frames then remained for three or four days until the mixture hardened. Then they were removed and shifted to another portion of the wall, where the process was repeated. In this manner half a dozen sets of frames are being made to serve for the construction of the entire wall, with the exception of the west end, where a special frame with extra supports is erected. Fig. 3 shows a portion of the wall of the roundhouse constructed by means of the sectional frames, and a number of the frames are shown lying on the ground, having just been taken from the wall. Fig. 4 shows etn ae eo J 8G ed saga ~o Dee oor ire nentl “a - wt eee ee * eeanasan ice [D ie ‘—_ me 2 THE IRON AGE. the special frame and bracing employed in the erection of the west wall. Here the concrete was hardening at the time the photograph was taken. The pits in the roundhouse are also being constructed of concrete, and Fig. 2 shows a pair of the wooden molds preparatory to the pouring of the track beds. It will be observed that these molds are resting on solid foundations of concrete. This is about 12 inches thick, October 3, 1901 are fastened. Directly in front of the roundhouse there is a peculiar little structure which presents the appear- ance of a solid block of concrete 180 x 70 feet. It is of concrete—walls, roof and all. It will ve used as a stor- age house for oils. One little sunken doorway surround- ed by concrete wall is its only opening. Looking east from the oil house the transfer table, 170 feet wide, runs in a northerly direction for 400 feet. Fig. 3 Ewterioi oT Round House Walls, Showing Wooden Frames Used in Conatruction. rue ADVANCE OF CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION, and rests on a sheet of expanded metal, which is calcu- lated to aid in obtaining a solid bottom for the founda- tions. It may here be remarked that this kink is em- ployed in connection with all foundations throughout the plant, as the grade at this point is about even with tide level and water is encountered a few feet below grade. Consequently throughout the entire work the foundations have necessarily been planned wide and flat rather than deep. In pouring the track beds long l-inch bolts are imbedded vertically in the mixture at proper intervals, and to these the shoes holding the rails As this is comprised entirely of a series of parallel foun- dations, it is constructed throughout of concrete. The pits are similar to those in the round house and the same method of construction is employed. East of the turntable the big machine, erection and boil- er shop looms into view. This building is 700 feet long and 160 feet wide. As previously stated, the foundations are of concrete and the walls of brick. The structure is of steel skeleton construction. The foundation is built of a cinder-slag mixture and is 10 feet wide at the base, rising to a hight of 6 feet above grade and tapering October 3, 1901 THE to a width of 2 feet on top. Here commences the 12-inch brick wall. This is surmounted by a roof built ot planking and tar and gravel. The foundations for the various machine tools to be installed in this building are also constructed of concrete. There is also a con Fig. 4.—Bracing Used in Constructing West Wall of Round House. IRON AGE. 3 In back of the machine shop the forge shop is being erected. This building will be 175 x 3800 feet and will be built of concrete around a steel frame to the roof. The roof will be of planking, tar and gravel. The walls are 8 inches thick. ‘This building is illustrated in Fig. 1. rhis engraving shows the method employed in the con- struction. The wooden frame, about 6 feet high, will be observed at the top of the side wall. A similar frame is on the reverse side of the wall, and the two are raised simultaneously as the work advances. It will also be noted that the foundations of this building were com- pleted to a hight of 6 feet above grade before the work on the walls was commenced. The power house, which is represented by Fig. 5, is the only building in the entire group in which any at- tempt at ornamentation was made. Plain as it is, the favorable appearance of box column effect will be read- ily appreciated. This is another structure entirely of concrete. Floor, walls and roof are all of the cement composition. The foundations for the boilers and the engine bed are also built of concrete. The building is 175 x 22 feet and attains a hight of 25 feet. Alongside of the power house there is a storage reservoir for re- taining rain water drained from all of the buildings and for use in the boilers. It is about 100 feet in diameter and is 15 feet deep, being built almost entirely under- ground. It is constructed of concrete, the roof included. The last building of the series is known as the office and storehouse. This structure, too, is constructed sole- ly of concrete, and the walls are of but 4 inches thick- ness. The building is irregular in shape, a portion being two stories high. It is surrounded by a platform built to the hight of a ear floor. The structure is 100 x 300 feet, and at the lowest point 18 feet high above the car platform. The double story portion of the building is 25 feet high above the car platform. As soon as possible after the construction of these buildings is completed a number of others will be erected. They will include a freight car shop, a passenger car shop and a paint shop. The transfer table ———— i « THe tron AGE a Fig. 5.—The Power House, Built Entirely of Concrete. THE ADVANCE OF CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION. crete subway running through the entire length of the building, which contains frequent manholes. In this the electric wires, pipes, &c., will be carried, and the man- holes allow for entrance to any point, so as to permit inspection or adjustment of the wires at will. From this will be gathered, of course, that the machinery is to be operated electrically. will be extended to 800 feet. George Hill of 150 Fifth avenue, New York, is the engineer and architect in charge of the work. ee ae A cable dispatch from Liége, Belgium, reports that the miners in the Liége coal basin have resolved upon a general strike. eer -_ i | - eee res careers oe — 4 THE IRON AGE. Notes from Scotland. GLascow, September 19, 1901.—Our iron market does not meet to-day, out of respect to the memory of the late President McKinley. Indeed, business here is gen- erally suspended, for city men have gone to the memo- rial services instead of to the exchanges. Even the International Exhibition is closed during the funeral hour, and every flag in city and harbor is at half mast. Not since the death of Queen Victoria have there been such genuine expressions of public sorrow, and nowhere more than in this second city of the British Empire is the death of Mr. McKinley more sincerely mourned— both as a man and as the executive head of a kindred nation. Time was when the name of McKinley was not of agreeable sound in the iron and steel circles of this country, for it was associated with a tariff which, rightly or wrongly, was believed to have injured our trade severely. But that is all forgotten now, and the report of Mr. McKinley’s speech at Buffalo the day before he was shot was read here with high appreciation of the statesmanlike grasp it displayed of the altered condi- tions of the times. The murder of the President caused no panic here, as some feared, but it aroused universal grief and it led to something more remarkable than a panic—a general suspension of business while his poor, tortured body was being laid to rest. No more tangible expression of sympathy could be given by a great com- mercial community. Wages in the Coal Trade. At the date of my last letter the industrial situation was more or less disturbed by the wages dispute in the coal trade. As the Conciliation Board was unable to effecc a settlement of the question, because the repre- sentatives of the men on the board were instructed to vote against the reduction proposed by the employers, it was decided to call in a neutral chairman, who, after hearing the arguments on both sides, should give a final decision. Sheriff Jameson was selected as arbiter, and after prolonged sittings he awarded in favor of an im- mediate reduction of wages of 6 pence per day, leaving it to the board to determine for how long the reduced rate should continue. This brings the miners’ wage down to 6 shillings per day—that is, 50 per cent. above the standard of 1888 (4 shillings per day), which is now always taken as the basis of calculation. The advances which tae miners have obtained since the Conciliation Board was established have aggregated 100 per cent. on that basis. The maximum of 8 shillings per day was reached in August of last year, and was maintained until February of this year. Since then there have been three successive reductions, amounting to 50 per cent. in all. The miners, then, are now earning 2 shillings per day less than at this time last year, when, however, lar, coal was 7 shillings per ton and small coal was 50 -er cent. higher than to-day. As a miner’s output at the seam is usually taken to average 3 tons per day— though it varies greatly—the labor cost of production has only been reduced 8 per _e per ton in the 12 months. Of course surface wages and other costs have been re- duced also, but in the aggregate not as much as the re- duction in net selling price. This, at least, is what coal owners say, and I see no reason to doubt the statement that many of them are now barely covering costs, and some of them, with thin seams, are actually working at a loss. But the miners and the public, remembering the extravagant prices and the enormous colliery dividends of last year, are slow to perceive or believe this. Temporary Activity in the Coal Trade. At the moment there is considerable activity at the collieries, as exporters with time contracts are anxious to get away as much coal as they can while freights are low—and they are very low—and before the period of exemption granted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer from export duty on coal sold before the budget was in- troduced expires. But although there appears to be a large shipping business doing, our total shipments are getting on to 1,000,000 tons short of the quantity up to this time last year, and the new orders coming in are October 3, 1901 not of large extent. Not only is there great industria} depression among three of our best customers—Ger- many, France and Russia—but Continental buyers are holding back in the expectation of lower prices—an ex- pectation which is shared by our home industrial con- sumers. Thus very little actual contracting is going on, so that when the steam is out of the present shipping movement we shall probably have a decline to a still lower range of prices—unless the wages question again causes trouble. And this is by no means unlikely both here and in England, for the whole policy of miners’ unions seems now to be fight against an economic wage and to exact a wage to which coal owners must adjust price as best they can. It is useless to argue with such men that the selling price of an article of general con- sumption is not and cannot be governed by the cost of production. American Coal in Italy. What has made considerable impression in our coal markets is the report of sales of American coal at 17 shillings 6 pence per ton, c.i.f. Genoa or other Medi- terranean ports. This is just about the present price of best Welsh steam coal f.o.b. Cardiff. Scotch steam coal is, of course, not so good as Welsh. At present it is ob- tainable at 10 shillings per ton, f.o.b., and freight hence to Genoa can be obtained at 6 shillings per ton. This is still cheaper than American coal as far as tonnage is concerned. But how does quality compare? Charters have been reported here of steamers to load coal at Philadelphia and other Eastern ports at 10 shillings per ton to Mediterranean ports. This is a very low freight— too low to be continuous, for it must leave a loss on the voyage—but while it lasts a good deal of American coal may be thrown into the heart of Europe. And this is a prospect that our coal owners are facing, although the Welsh coal owners seem rather disposed to close their eyes to it. The report, by the way, that a great combine of Welsh coal owners is in process (as yet unconfirmed) has served to give circulation to a story of combination among Scotch coal owners. There is none, nor is there likely to be one. The Iron Trade. There is practically no change in the position of pig iron, for which there is a good home demand, but a slack export demand. Smelters here have no difficulty in mov- ing away all their output, but in Cleveland the public stocks continue to receive additions from time to time, though not in such quantity as in recent months. There is now as much Cleveland iron in the Middlesbrough warrant stores as there was in all the warrant stores of the United Kingdom put together on November 30 last. And hematite is not so scarce as it was last month, although the demand keeps good, because more furnaces have been turned on to that quality. In Scotland more furnaces have been recently blown in, and there are the same number in blast as at this time last year. And we continue to take week by week a large quantity of pigs from Cleveland, besides absorbing without effect on the market what Nova Scotia is sending us—three or four cargoes of 5000 tons each. There is yet no sign of reappearance of American pig iron in our market, but we hear of it being offered again in the Manchester district, and we hear also of German pig iron being offered at low prices in the Northeast of England—not that it can pay Germans to ship it there, but because they cannot get rid of it at home. Low offers of German finished iron and steel are also keeping down our markets. But for Germany steel ship plates would now be a good deal higher than £6 5s., consider- ing the spurt in shipbuilding. It is a good thing for ship- builders that this foreign competition has kept prices within moderate range, as they are now doing good busi- ness. But there is rather a pause in the demand for new ships, as if ship owners were waiting to see whether material would cheapen again or whether the freight market would improve. Unfortunately the large sales of second-hand British ships to be run at low working charges under foreign flags tend to keep freights down at a low level—at so low a. level that it would seem cheaper to lay up a vessel than to run at the rates ob enews es &© @ 2 & @ ot iS eS ek me a of © let ch; the vil lies of his October 3, 1901 THE tainable. But still that does not prevent large deals in shipping property and large negotiations for new ton- nage. The iron molders of Scotland have thought the occasion opportune to demand an advance of wages of 1 farthing per hour on time work and 244 per cent. on piece work. This is rough on the masters, who have been striving all the year to make ends meet and barely succeeding. How trying a year this has been to manufacturers was expounded to the shareholders of the Steel Com- pany of Scotland at their annual meeting yesterday. The coal bill, for one thing, has been £21,000 more than last year, and though prices of finished material averaged slightly higher, they only brought in £4000 more. Then the output was 20,000 tons less than in the previous year, in consequence of the shrinkage of demand. What this company, the premier steel manufacturing concern of Scotland, have suffered from most is German, not American, competition. After a heavy and anxious year this large company find themselves with only a trifling surplus of £10,000 to offer to the shareholders. At the present moment, however, steel manufacturers and fin- ished iron makers in Scotland are nearly all as busy as they can be. Si <i _> The Eastern Steel Corporation. James G. Lindsay & Co., Bullitt Building, Philadel- phia, are at the head of a movement to reorganize the old Pottsville Iron & Steel Company, successors of At- kins Bros. of Pottsville, Pa. The company failed in 1894, having been for many years prominent in the structural steel business. The works consist of a blast furnace plant and of a steel works and rolling mill. The steel plant contains two 20-ton open hearth furnaces. The blooming mill is a 34-inch reversing, built by Mc- Intosh & Hemphill Company, Pittsburgh, and having a capacity for 400 tons per day. The rolling mills com- prise four finishing trains—one 24-inch, two 19-inch and one 12-inch—with rolls for rolling all sizes of beams and channels from 3-inch to 15-inch, both included, and all the usual sizes of angles, T’s and bars. The capacity of these mills is from 300 to 350 tons per day. It is pro- posed to improve the plant by putting in all the neces- sary equipments and appliances to enable the works to turn out a maximum tonnage of finished material. It is also contemplated to build plate mills and largely extend the open hearth plant by the addition of at least five 40-ton furnaces. The Eastern Steel Corporation are to have a capital stock of $2,500,000 and a bond issue of $1,250,000 6 per cent. gold bonds is to be made. The present owners are to turn over the plant, taking therefor bonds to the amount of $541,000 and the entire issue of capital stock. It is proposed to sell $400,000 of the issue of bonds for cash, the owners of the property to transfer a bonus of $400,000 of stock to the subscribers to the bonds. They will transfer also to the company $1,559,000 of stock, retaining $541,000 of stock for themselves. The $1,559,- 000 of stock and the $309,000 of bonds remaining in the treasury of the company are to be used only in the future by the company to extinguish a balance of $59,- 000 of an existing 4 per cent. mortgage when due, and to provide additional capital for the extension of the works and improvements in addition to those already contem- plated. This treasury stock and bonds will not partici- pate in dividends or draw any interest until sold by the company and the proceeds thereof paid into the treasury of the company for the uses referred to. The improve- ments at present contemplated are to be paid for out of the $400,000 of bonds now to be sold. The prospectus is accompanied by a very interesting letter from Pilling & Crane, the well-known iron mer- chants, of Philadelphia, who discuss the questions as to the supply of pig iron and iron ore for a plant at Potts- ville. They summarize the situation in the following words: “The great strength of the Pottsville situation lies in the fact that basic pig will be used as the basis of mixture, and the nearby anthracite coal regions fur- nish a very large quantity of scrap which forms the [IRON AGE. 5 balance of the mixture. It should also be borne in mind that Pottsville is close to the Cornwall furnaces, which produce in large quantities the cheapest Bessemer pig iron made in the world and which can always be had at low cost, considerably less than in Pittsburgh, where it is largely used.” The Bliss Reducing Press. A new type of double action reducing press has been recently designed and built by the E. W. Bliss Com- pany of 11 Adams street, Brooklyn. It is intended for redrawing tin foil bottle caps from the smallest to the largest champagne tops, caster parts, burner shells, and many other articles which have been previously cut and drawn in double action presses, or single action presses in connection with combination dies. By means of an automatic dial feed, operated by a bell crank from the THE BLISS REDUCING PRESS. main shaft, the operator can easily place from 50 to 70 first operation shells on the dial plate per minute. As the press is arranged to carry one, two or three reduc- ing punches, from 50 to 210 operations per minute can be performed without loss of time for intermediate handlings. The dial plate is so arranged that the bush- ings may be easily changed to suit different sizes of shells. To facilitate the rapid action of the press, it is supplied with an automatic knockout for the dies and a positive stripper for the punches. The stroke of the outer slide of the press is 3% inches; of the inner slide (or plunger), 7% inches; both of which strokes have an adjustment of 1%4 inches. The press will draw in depth up to 3 inches; there are three openings in the bed, each 4% inches in diameter, spaced to suit a dial for three op- erations, as shown in the cut; the width between up- rights is 16% inches; the hight over all is 90 inches. ——<—— Some large records of production are being made in the finishing mills of the Valley Works of the Republic Iron & Steel Company at Youngstown, Ohio. In one turn recently 175,000 pounds of finished material, con- sisting of 1%-inch steel rounds, was made on the 16-inch mill. AE err TS A es os - omeee - _ — ee ty = im dae ae “* te et of so 6 THE The Cementation of Steel and Iron with Gas.* BY C. W,. BILDT. The characteristic points of this process of cementa tion are: 1. The performed at a temperature slightly below that of the melting point of the material bedded in the coal dust. cementation is The cementation powder consists of a mixture of charcoal dust and bone dust; about 60 per cent. of the former and 40 per cent. of the latter have given the best practical results. By the addition of bone dust, the ce- mentation powder remains compact during the burning, so that the air is more completely excluded and the car- bon more uniformly distributed over the material. For the cementation process Swedish Lancashire iron and open hearth metal of good quality are used, principally those low in carbon. Either the entire sur- face of the body or only parts of it may be subjected to cementation. In the latter case the part of the body that is not going to be carbonized must be covered IRON AGE. October 3, 1901 1100 to 1200 degrees Celsius—the heating must be co. tinued from 15 hours to a number of days, the time de pending upon the size of the furnace. The temperatu: is measured in a pipe introduced through the box. Th: process continues until the required grade of carboniza tion has obtained. When the material is « cented the furnace door I is opened, the car J taken ou and another car ready for cementation is introduced Thus the operation goes on continually. Larger a: ticles, end of which is to be cemented, are pu through the wall of the cementation box, so that th portion of the piece that is not to be carbonized is out side. Different designs of furnaces may be used, but a constant heat around the whole cementation box must be produced. To obtain this object the speaker recom mends heating by gas. One gas producer is sufficient to supply with gas one or a series of furnaces of different sizes, ranging from a capacity of a few kilograms up to 10 tons and more. The furnaces may be built on one side of the gas producer or around it, this depending upon the local conditions There are then special gas flues to each furnace, each one of them having a valve, by which the furnaces can be used or shut off independently of each other. Pieces of ditterent shapes and dimensions, from the smallest to that of the size of an armor plate, may in this way be surface hardened or carbonized. The car bon is carried up to 1 to 1.20 per cent., decreasing from the surface toward the center. been one Amount of Carbonizing. The following tables show the percentages of carbon in hardened articles: D B | : G F . T mr ee ———__——_ ——_—_—_—_—1, = : Tue IRON AGE Fig. 1.—Sections of Cementation Furnace. CEMENTATION OF with clay or some other proper refractory. The ¢e- mented material need not be remelted; it is a finished product, or is worked out for different purposes. The drawing, Fig. 1, cementation furnace. It is heated by gas, produced in the gas producer A, then conducted to the furnace B through a flue, C, and ignited by means of a blast above the fire bridge at D. The flame is led above and along the sides of the ce- mentation box E and back through the flues F, beneath the bottom of the and out flue G. The box and the inside parts of the furnace must be built of fire brick. The pieces are laid in the box, 50 to 60 millimeters from each other and from the walls, depending upon their size and the grade of carbonizing required. The cementation powder must not be packed, but spread lightly around the pieces, so .wat it may follow the material when sinking during the course of the After the cementation box is filled it is covered with a layer of clay about 50 millimeters deep. In smaller furnaces the cementation box shows a box, through the chimney process. is covered with bricks placed crosswise. In larger furnaces arched roofs are built over the box, in which case the walls of the box must be connected by braces. The box should also be covered with a layer of bricks placed above the clay layer, as shown by the drawing. In order to obtain the temperature required—from *From a paper delivered before the Society of Swedish Engi 1901 neers, Stockholm, Sweden, March 27, STEEL AND IRON. Tdble of Percentages of Carbon. — --T,.—_———_, -——- Il. —_——_—_|_ ——_——lI——- — Percentage of carbon. Percentage of carbon. Percentage of carbon. Depth Depth Depth from the from the from the surface in In surface in In surface in In millimeters. per cent. millimeters. per cent. millimeters. per cent. Surface. 1.00 Surface. 1.00 Surface. 1.00 12 0.70 3 0.92 0.8 1.00 24.5 0.40 6 0.45 1.5 0.80 31 0.27 +) 0.20 2.3 0.50 37 0.25 12 0.10 3 0.35 435 0.25 15 0.10 3.8 0.12 4.6 0.11 5.4 0.10 6.2 0.09 7.0 0.045 7.4 0.040 In this table, No. I shows in percentages the carbon contents of a 445-millimeter armor ingot of open hearth steel with 0.25 per cent. carbon, surface hardened in 288 hours. No. II shows in percentages the carbon contents of a cube with 100 millimeters side, rolled from a 300-millimeter Bessemer ingot, with 0.10 per cent. carbon cemented during 40 hours. No. III shows the earbon percentages of a 25-millimeter bar of Lancashire iron cemented during 30 hours. The cementation is reckoned from the the necessary heat has has been shut off. As the result of the high and long continued heat during the process the material has a coarse crystal- when flame time been reached until the October 3, 1901 THE line fracture and is brittle. It must, therefore, be con- siderably worked to gain necessary strength. Materials that form their shape are not fitted for being worked down, still can with advantage be cemented for certain purposes, as gear wheels, &c., but then they must be properly heated and hardened. The cemented material may be rolled, forged and machined hot or cold. The proportions of the carbon- ized and the not carbonized parts of the material are not changed in subsequent working, and that independ- ent of change in shape. Carbonized round or square merchant iron rolled and drawn to round or flat wire shows that the carbon- ization follows the surface of the cemented material, and the same is observed when forging it. The speaker showed samples of cemented articles made from ma- terial in accordance with the following analyses: Table Il.—Analyses of Material Used for Cementation. ne —Sample No.——————_——__, 1. 2. 3. 4. Percent. Percent. Percent. Per cent. eee ee ree ee 0.040 0.0805 0.080 0.30 I sie ot nh aes SG ik eh ed 0.040 0.006 0.012 0.135 Manganese ............0.020 0.170 0.380 0.620 Sree 0.008 0.024 0.070 0.015 So Se 0.030 0.020 0.120 0.034 No. 1 is Swedish Lancashire iron, No. 2 is basic open hearth steel, No. 3 acid Bessemer and No. 4 acid open hearth. The samples 1, 2, 3 and 4 had been surface hardened as 1%-inch square bars, then welded and OTe, Ie ~~ SHE ae: “I. D, ~ wr, S09. ae > M wr.) PF SE tk ; s Ms PU Ss j SEC a y 4 +> oe Kea ie Fas od Fig. 2.—Carbonization Follows Surface. CEMENTATION OF STEEL AND IRON. rolled to No. 5 wire, and drawn from No. 5 to No. 25 wire; some samples were cold rolled from No. 5 to No. 2 flat wire. The samples were taken after wire rete and hardened. The fractures of these s samples showed that the carbonization follows the eer | Independent of the change of shape, as shown in F ig. . The speaker also showed several he Bl forged to different dimensions and hardened: also of cemented material forged to different kinds of tool steels and tested for different purposes at the Atlas Mechanical Works, Stockholm, Sweden, like tools for milling and turning, cutters, drills, &e. Chips were also shown which the tools had cut. Advantages, Cemented Lancashire iron, worked down (with small- est percentage of carbon possible) and good quality open hearth metal can be hardened without danger of cracking or warping. A Lancashire iron (containing the smallest percentage of slag) can be cemented without danger of formation of blisters, and it will be superior to open hearth metal in quality on account of its being free from cinder. It is not possible to make open hearth metal with only traces of silicon and manganese so that it is absolutely free from red shortness or cold short- ness. Through cementation a steel can be produced of Lancashire iron free from red shortness and cold short- ness and not containing more cinder than it contained originally. For metal, cemented but not remelted, the Swedish Lancashire iron will be of much use, especial- ly for making tool steel. When testing milling and turning tools for working [RON AGE. chilled cast iron rolls the Lancashire cementation steel cuts better and the edge holds longer than the English Under a high pressure the latter broke while the former cut. The same is true of this tool steel when used for drilling iron, for cutters, planer tools and even razors. This steel stands higher heat when being hardened, and takes a higher polish than crucible steel, depend- ing upon its being free from cinder. Cemented soft open hearth metal of good quality can with advantage be used for tool steel, though in quality it is not to be compared with the Lancashire cementation steel. Cemented Laneashire iron and soft open hearth metal of good quality can be used for rolled and drawn wire, cold rolled wire, and different parts of bicycles, like the pins in the chains. The material, of about 75 to 100 millimeters in diameter, is cemented, rolled and drawn; after the ends have been milled off the pins the hard- ened; the middle surface will be hard, while the ends are soft and may be riveted. Dies for drawing wire and tubes are carbonized, forged and hardened after being finished. For plow shares the ingots or materials are carbon- ized on one side and then rolled to plate, of which the shares are made and hardened in the usual way. These shares, soft on the inside and hard as glass on the out- side, stand plowing of every kind of soil. The metal can also be used for locomotive axles, tires for locomotive driving wheels, and for different locomotive parts, like connecting rodsandcrank pins. Thesteel is usedin wagon axles, sleigh runners, rolls and crushers for stamp mills, rolls for hot and cold rolling, forged iron anvils, propeller blades, different machine parts, &c. For projectiles, the point of the shot is cemented, whereupon the whole body is forged down or pressed. After the projectile has been turned it is hardened. cast steel. Spanish American Notes. SAN Josg, C. A., September 12, 1901.—If reciprocity, and therefore a largely increased trade with all these Span- ish-American countries, is earnestly desired by our mer- chants and manufacturers, it must be seen to that all this talk of taking or annexing any of the Latin American republics in whole or in part is stopped once and for all by certain of our public men and by some of our daily journals. We speak glibly of new markets, overproduc- tion and, last but not least, the $600,000,000 which the trade per annum of Latin America is calculated to be worth. We lament that Germany, Great Britain, France and Europe generally get 90 per cent. of this business, leaving the United States a paltry 10 per cent. How can this be helped and helped at once? 1. As the United States does not mean to “ grab” or in any way take what is not clearly her own, let it be so stated in every legitimate manner by our commercial and general press. And, as our Southern neighbors are thorougaly alarmed, let this good news be reiterated time and again. 2. As it is not merely present trade that is aimed at, but the immense increase to come in the near future from the building up of these republics, let our big indus- tries and manufacturers combine to have at least one representative,-out and out American house in each of the capitals and principal cities of South and Central America It may be objected that there are British, German and French firms in said countries representing American firms and manufacturers, but this is in most cases exact- ly what we do not want. If necessary I could prove how time and time again low grade iron and steel goods man- ufactured in Europe are palmed off on the public here as genuine first-class American goods. The absolute truth is that there is scarcely a prominent manufacturer in the United States whose wares are not counterfeited in base metal or low grade stuff by Belgian, German, Austrian and other European makers. Is it not then perfectly natural that these European firms in Central and South America should under- handedly do all in their power to keep down American trade by palming off “ rotten” counterfeits and by mak- net enero -< ew a . ‘S.. ween i ee oe OU Fo Te 8 THE IRON AGE, ing the people here believe that our increased army and navy is meant for nothing else than a grand sweep on the canal territories, Venezuela, the mines of Peru and Chile, &c.? 3. Vast sums of European capital are invested throughout Latin America. Our only chance in this di- rection here is the establishment of an American bank, with exchange directly on New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco and other important points. One of these banks should be established in Buenos Aires (Argentine Republic), Rio Janeiro (Brazil), Santiago and Valparaiso (Chile), Callao (Peru), Bogota and Panama (Colombia), Caracas (Venezuela), Guayaquil and Quito (Ecuador), San José (Costa Rica), Managua (Nicaragua), Tepicijalpa (Honduras), San Salvador (Salvador), Guatemala City (Guatemala) and Mexico City. Nothing would more quickly bring these business interests to a focus, or make the people of our country know the needs and products, to say nothing of the vast possibilities, of these Southern countries better than the establishment of this means of business intercourse between the nations of Amer- iva. Cc. _ hoon Copper on Lake Superior. DuLuTH, Minn., September 28, 1901.—The drop in copper stock prices and the unsettled condition of the market for metal does not appear to have any effect in decreasing development in the lake copper region, or in stopping the rejuvenation and exploitation of mines there. The latest of the old mines to be taken over by a company who will explore and develop it, if found worth development, is the old Delaware property in Keweenaw County. This has been taken by T. F. Cole, president of the United States Steel Mining Companies, and his associates, and they propose to give it a thorough test. This old mine, though idle for many years, is by no means an abandoned or worthless property. It has had a checkered career. It was originally the Oneida and was opened in 1849, when a large stamp mill was built, and in the succeeding years the largest hoisting ma- chinery in the copper country was installed there. It found much mass copper and its stamp rock showed a saving of 1 1-3 per cent. The expenses were high and the mine failed. In 1861 it was reorganized as the Pennsylvania, and in the few following years more than $200,000 were spent in stamp mills at Lac la Belle, and nearly $2,000,000 more in other work, including tram- ways, equipments, &c. In 1880 still another stamp mill was built, by a reorganization, a railway and canal were built and another vast sum was spent, but the copper saved was a low percentage. The company have a very large and valuable equipment at the mill and the mine, 114 dwellings, and a mine opened underground in a most lavish and complete manner. Many of the best known copper lodes of Keweenaw County run through the 3700 acres of mineral land owned by the concern. Another old and long idle mine, the Penn, or Belt, has been taken under option by Pickands, Mather & Co. of Cleveland and is being explored along the old shaft on its amygdaloid lode. The Tecumseh has called an assessment of $2 a share and is said to be in excel- lent condition. It carries the Calumet and Osceola lodes and the Kearsarge and Pewabic amygdaloids. The Michigan, reorganization of the old Minnesota, has been at work for a year in reopening the lodes known to exist there and in unwaterifig the Minnesota workings, and is about ready to make an assessment call for purposes of building a mill and additional underground develop- ment. The many new mills that have been under« way in the copper country are coming to a point where they are making copper, and the Mass mine is in such shape that it can now make about 200 tons of copper a month. This is the first of the new mines to make copper in its own mill on a large scale. It is installing a second stamp head and expects to be running two by the first of the coming year. The Baltic mill is coming along nicely, and the great Redridge steel dam, which has been under construction for many months at Salmon- trout River, Mich., is about ready for use. This dam October 3, 1901 is expected to impound about 600,000,000 gallons of water and has a watershed of 38 square miles. The water is to be used at the mills of the Atlantic and Baltic Mining companies, who will use not less than 25,000,000 gallons daily. This dam is just above the two mills, which are on the shore of Lake Superior. It is a gravity structure of which the base is a concrete monolith faced with steel and the upper part is inclined steel frames built into the concrete base, to which frames are fastened steel retaining plates curved con- cave to the water. The entire length of the structure is about 1000 feet, with the steel work 468 feet long. The hight of the steel structure above foundations is 80 feet. By the coming into line of these various new mills the production of copper from the Lake Superior region will probably increase materially from this time on, un- less artificial means of repression are undertaken. Last year there was an actual decrease in the production of copper on the lake, and the year before saw but a trifling increase. The several rieh south range mines, the Ontonagon group, Mass, Adventure, Michigan and perhaps Victoria and others; the Mohawk and its vicinity; the Isle Royale, and the new and additional equipment put in some of the large older mines, such as Quincy, within the year, will all have an important ef- fect upon the production of lake copper, which in the present condition of the market is a matter for consid- eration. The stocks of lake copper mines have felt the Amal- gamated liquidation severely, such a stock as Tamarack dropping to under $300, Calumet to under $700, Baltic Trimountain and Mohawk to about $40, Copper Range- to $60, Mass to $26 and so on. These are all among the mines that will be making a profit in copper at much under the present price of the metal, and are either now dividend payers or well on the way to become such. The water shipment of lake copper during the season of navigation this year has been as follows, compared with the same periods for the past few years: Years. Tons. Years. Tons. By ego ae 63,323 a eam 87,988 as a6 COENS wo ceed 95,518 Dy diy ised os o<dnee 93,098 SE re re ee 80,613 er rey 93,221 This certainly does not indicate a free shipment of copper from the lake during the present season, for the rail shipments at this time of year are reduced to a minimum, and nearly everything goes forward by lake. Rail shipments are made during the winter months, and when there is a sharp demand, or appears to be such, they are continued till the very opening of the water route; but at that time they diminish and amount to very little for the summer months. There is claimed to be little copper piled up at upper lake docks and in smelters, but it is quite evident that there must be some- where about the lake a considerable accumulation at the present time, possibly in course of manufacture or sold and waiting disposition and shipping orders. D. B. W. _ _ The McClary Mfg. Company of London, Ontario, who- are among the largest producers of enameled ware in Canada, have recently installed what they claim to be the largest drawing press in America. The press, which was manufactured at Goppinger, Germany, weighs- 90,000 pounds, and is mounted on a concrete founda- tion 21 feet square and 8 feet deep, the whole founda- tion being 12 feet below the surface. The machine is used for drawing into shape the flat metal blanks be- fore receiving the enameling coat. The press will form everything that is manufactured in the enameled ware trade, from a small cup 2% inches in diameter to a tub 2 feet in diameter, and will draw sheet steel ranging from 25 gauge to 10 gauge, the latter being required for sinks and other heavy articles. The chain makers in the Pittsburgh district, who have been on a strike for some time, have returned to work. The men formed a union and demanded an ad- vance ranging from 20 to 50 per cent. The demand was refused and the men have accepted an average advance of about 5 per cent. a ro = 46 Af Oot lO October 3, 1901 THE Pumping Station at the South Works of the Illinois Steel Company. One of the most extensive pumping stations in the ountry connected with an industrial works has just een completed at the South Works of the Lllinois Steel ompany, South Chicago, Ill. These works consist of en blast furnaces, a Bessemer steel plant and rail mill, an open hearth steel plant and slabbing and plate mills, nd have hitherto depended for their water supply upon i pumping station having an extreme capacity of 40,- 00,000 gallons of water in 24 hours. This is a large quantity of water to be pumped, and would seem suffi- ‘ient to meet the requirements of almost any industrial plant. The recent addition of two large blast furnaces, however, has so greatly increased the requirements that the old pumping station was seriously inadequate. The works will consume not less than 56,000,000 gallons of water every 24 hours, with both the new blast furnaces in operation. The old pumps represented a gradual growth, and were not sufficiently economical in their op- eration to permit extension along the old lines. The IRON AGE. 9 same pattern as that built by the company for the Tam- arack Mining Company, and which has proved so sat- isfactory. The third pump is intended as supplement- ary to the two large pumps. It is a Root rotary, direct connected to a McEwen engine built by the Ridgway Mfg. Company. The capacity of each of the Nordberg pumps is 40,000,000 gallons in 24 hours, while the ca- pacity of the Root rotary is 16,000,000 gallons. This ar- rangement has been made so that whenever it may be necessary to lay off one of the Nordberg pumps the other large pump and the rotary will be able to keep the entire plant supplied with water. Under ordinary cir- cumstances, however, both the large pumps will be kept in operation so as to be able easily to furnish all the wa- ter required. They will pump against a stand pipe pres- sure of about 90 feet. The Nordberg engines are each guaranteed “to de- velop a duty of 145,000,000 foot pounds per 1000 pounds of feed water evaporated into dry steam from hot well temperature when pumping at a rate of 40,000,000 gal- lons per 24 hours.” They are equipped with all devices to secure economical steam consumption and efficiency in operation. These engines are of the horizontal di- PUMPING STATION AT THE SOUTH WORKS OF THE ILLINOIS STEEL COMPANY. eompany, therefore, decided to build an entirely new station on the most approved plan, which will not only secure the utmost efficiency and economy, but will at the same time provide a good margin for such additional requirements as the growth of the works may necessi- tate in the future. The new pumping station is located in the immediate vicinity of a slip opening into Lake Michigan. The wa- ter supply is received from this slip through an 8-foot intake. The distance from the nearest end of the build- ing to the slip is about 75 feet. The building covers a ground space of 80 x 144 feet, and is substantially con- structed of brick with a steel truss roof, while the foun- dations for the pumps and the lining of the intake are composed of a most massive construction of concrete, made of Llast furnace slag and the Illinois Steel Com- pany’s Portland cement. The arrangement of the pumps is shown on the accompanying engravings. In addition to the pumps, the building is equipped with a 25-ton Morgan electric traveling crane. This crane was the first piece of machinery installed, which was done for the purpose of enabling the pumping machinery to be ‘asily and rapidly handled. The pumping engines are three in number. Two of them are triple expansion horizontal engines built by the Nordberg Mfg. Company of Milwaukee, Wis., of the rect acting crank and fly wheel type, the steam engine part of which is a Nordberg triple expansion Corliss en- gine with cranks coupled 120 degrees to a common shaft. The pumps are located back of the steam cylinder with the plungers driven by the extended steam piston rods. The diameters of the steam cylinders are 22, 40 and 60 inches. The diameters of the water plungers are 29 inches. The stroke of the steam pistons and plungers is 52 inches. The piston speed is 300 feet per minute under a boiler pressure of 200 pounds, when the engine is working at its rated capacity. The valve gear of these engines is of the regular Nordberg-Corliss type. The cut off on the high pres- sure cylinder is under control of a static regulator, the cut off on the intermediate and low pressure cylinders being regulated by hand. On each cylinder the valve gear is operated from the main shaft by means of one eccentric carrier arm and wrist plate, means being pro- vided to disconnect the valve gear from the eccentric motion, without the use of a hook. The valve stems are of phosphor bronze, the end thrust being taken up by collars in the bonnets. The releasing gear is so de- signed and constructed as to reduce the reaction on the governor connect