The Iron Age 1906-06-28: Vol 77 Iss 26

THE IRON AGE New York, Thursday, June 28, 1906. Flexible Tubing. The Esco Tubing Made from a Continuous Metal Strip. With respect to method of manufacturing there are two classes of flexible tubing, that made of two wires and that made of metal tare or strips. In the first a coil of spring wire is wound about a mandrel, the turns being laid as closely together as possible; this forms the inner part of the tube. The outside layer is composed of a second wire wound in the groove between adjacent turns of the first, the whole forming a tube highly flexible and tight against liquid or gas under moderate pressures. In this process the outside wire is wound under consid- erable strain to slightly separate the coils of the inside which is largely used on automobiles to connect the pres- sure bulb and horn, and is the invention of S. Salvini, the manager of the works, This tubing is made in sizes from 14 to 2 inch inside diameter. Although primarily intended for carrying comparatively light pressures, it is, by proper packing, made applicable to high pressure work in all sizes. It is made of brass, copper, steel or other metal, as may best fit the conditions of service. While the tube is interesting as a new product, the coiling machine that makes it is more so. The most strik- ing and important feature of the machine is its simplicity, having few parts, and these at all times in plain view for inspection or adjustment. The tool consists of a head and tail stock mounted upon a bed similar to that of a lathe. The drive is all from the head stock end. The belt from the countershaft leads to a pulley on a shaft supported in a bearing between the legs at the head stock Fig. 1.—Driving End of the Machine Used in Making the Esco Flexible Tubing. wire and place them under sufficient tension to insure the continuous contact of the individual wires along their entire length. Evidently such a tube demands wire that is free from surface imperfections, since the slightest inequality would destroy the necessary metallic contact. In the second method of making flexible tube a metal strip is passed through guides and rollers and formed so that when wound upon a mandrel a lock joint is produced between each turn of the finished tube. The thickness or gauge of the strip is determined by the strength required of the tube; the width of the strip by the size and flexibility desired of the tube. The width must be sufficient to allow for the turned down portions that lock the coils. Both methods turn out a tube that is flexible in the highest degree, but in order that the second may stand pressure a packing is introduced between the coils. This is not essential in the first, as the contact between the two wire layers is maintained by the elasticity of the metal and is sufficient to insure a tight joint throughout. To the second class belongs the tubing made by the Esco Mfg. Company, 750 East 134th street, New York, end, Fig. 1. On this shaft is a sprocket connected by chain to a second sprocket on a shaft which corresponds to the live spindle of a lathe, except that it extends the full length of the bed. It is splined and through a feather drives the tail stock, the only feeding movement of which is in a direction away from the head and equal in rate to the making of the tube; in other words, the tail stock recedes as the tube is formed. On the splined shaft, near the driving sprocket, is another connected by chain with a sprocket on a shaft at the end of the bed, from which the lower of the two rolls, B, Fig. 2, is driven, the rolls being connected by spur gearing. In all sizes of tubing it is not necessary to have a positive drive between the head and tail stock to provide for the feed of the tube; as the blank is coiled about the mandrel it will force the tail stock back and do away with the need of any feeding device, The tail stock is driven by the splined shaft extending through its base. A worm, feathered to this shaft, is free to slide along it, and engages a worm wheel that drives, through sprockets and chain, a gear engaging with a rack placed along the front of the bed. This gear is not shown in Fig. 1, as it was not necessary for the particular size of tube that was being made when the photograph was taken. The rear end of the worm carries a sprocket that drives the spindle of the chuck in which the mandrel is grasped. It will be seen that there is a positive relation be- tween the movements of the rolls that feed the wire to the mandrel and the chuck that moves the completed 2046 THE IRON AGE June 28, 1906 On the opposite side of the mandrel is what may be called a compression piece, F, having a concave end in proximity to the mandrel, which is formed with slight projections, spaced to coincide with the grooves of the tube as it is formed. This piece acts both as a spacer between the threads of the tube and to complete the turning over of the edge of the strip that incloses the cord. <A detail section of one wall, and a photograph of Fig. 2.—A Near View of the Head Stock, Showing the Guide Cover Removed. tube away. The ratio of the gears and sprockets is so proportioned that the rolls feed the strip only as fast as it can be taken care of by the movement of the man- drel, and the latter when positively withdrawn axially cannot move so fast as to pull the coils apart. Referring to Fig. 2, the strip C is fed to the rolls B from the coil A, and is squeezed by them into an S-shaped cross section, as shown in Fig. 3. It then enters the guide BE, that carries it to the mandrel A. The passage in the guide E is made to conform to the new shape of the strip, and the outer end of the guide is curved to fit closely to the mandrel. The upper part of the guide E is shown removed, and placed in an inverted position on top of the head stock in Fig 2. An important point that should be noticed is that the ; » Toe Iron Act Fig. 3.—The Finished Tubing and a Detail Longitudinal Section. strip enters the guide at an angle which is determined by the pitch of the coils of the tube. This insures the meeting of the tape and the mandrel at the proper angle. If the guides were shifted there would be either a tendency for the strip to ride ug on the coil that had been last finished or for the coils to separate. The guide E also serves as a guide for the asbestos packing cord that passes up through the bottom of the bed. This cord enters with the tape under the right hand inverted portion of the S, and is inclosed between it and the left hand portion of the S of the last coil of the tube. a finished tube, bent to indicate its flexibility, are shown in Fig. 3. —_————~o--e ——___—_. Municipal Ownership of Chicago Street Railroads. Rapid strides are now being made toward the early solution of the Chicago traction question. The relegation of the archaic cable lines to the scrap pile is contemplated within the very near future, inasmuch as authority for their electrification has been given the companies by the city officials. Pursuant to the demands of the municipal ownership faction, the traction companies have given the Council Committee on Local Transportation the figures at which they would agree to sell to the city their present tangible properties. The price placed on the holdings of the Chicago City Railway Company and Union Traction Company reaches a total of $47,505,153. This has been arrived at by determining the cost at present prices of reproducing the properties in question and deducting therefrom the amount of money that would be required to place the property in practically new condition. No estimate has been made of the values of the franchises, which, according to the United States Supreme Court, have, with few exceptions, been invalidated. As author- ity has been given for the issuance of bonds aggregating only $75,000,000, it is evident that no amicable adjust- ment of values can be arrived at on the present basis, as it is estimated that the cost of necessary improvements is close to $25,000,000, thus leaving very little capital in reserve necessary for operation. ——_—__~»-e____ The State Railroad Commission of Kentucky has or- dered a reduction of 25 per cent. in freight rates. The matter had been under investigation for six months. The opinion of the commission sustains the contention of shippers in all sections of the State that they have been discriminated against and that the entire State has suf- fered. — June 28, 1906 The Relative Corrosion of Wrought Iron and Steel.* BY HENRY M. HOWE. On one hand, we have the very general public opinion that steel corrodes not only faster but very much faster than wrought iron, an opinion held so widely and so strongly that it cannot be ignored. Smoke does not prove that fire exists; but such strong smoke bids us look carefully for fire. On the other hand, we have the re- sults of direct experiments by a great many observers in different countries and under widely differing condi- tions, and these results certainly tend to show that this popular belief is completely wrong and that, on the whole, there is no very great difference between the cor- rosion of steel and wrought iron. Under’ certain sets of conditions steel seems to rust a little faster than wrought iron, and under others wrought iron seems to rust a lit- tle faster than steel. Thus, taking’the tests in unconfined sea water as a whole, wrought iron does constantly a little better than steel, and its advantage seems to be still greater in the case of boiling sea water. In the few tests in alkaline water wrought iron seems to have the advantage over steel; whereas in acidulated water steel seems to rust more slowly than wrought iron. As technical and scientific men we naturally attach greater weight to the numerical results of careful direct comparative tests than to rumor and popular belief. When ultra conservative engineers used to cry out against steel boilers, it seemed to us like the old cry: “ Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” Those who raised it cried what they firmly believed was true, and what they thought every sensible man knew to be true. But they were wrong; and I need not tell this society that such cries and popular beliefs, even when widely and firmly held, often prove wrong. Compared with the results of direct comparative tests such beliefs have the great dis- advantage of lacking all precise and definite foundation ; they are easily spread from man to man. Modern Conditions Increase Corrosion, The fact that steel has come into wide use simulta- neously with a great increase in the sulphurous acid in our city air and of strong electric currents in our city ground may well lead the practical man, be he hasty or cau- tious, into inferring that the rapid corrosion of to-day is certainly due to the new material of to-day, steel, where- as, in fact, it may be wholly due to the new conditions of to-day, sulphurous acid and electrolysis. At the same time, while popular belief has the disadvantage of lack- ing direct numerical comparative data, it has the very great advantage of being based on the actual conditions of use more closely and often far more closely than our direct comparative tests are, unless these are planned with very great care. In view of this great discrepancy between popular belief and the results of our direct tests it behooves us who have relied chiefly on these latter to examine their conditions carefully to see whether they really have represented fairly the conditions of actual industrial use and service in such a way that if there is a real difference between the corrosion of steel and that of wrought iron such a difference would become manifest. In short, have our direct comparative tests been trustworthy? Differences Between Iron and Steel, There are three prominent differences between iron and steel which ought to cause a difference in their rapid- ity of rusting: First, blow holes; second, manganese, and third, the presence of cementite in the steel and of cinder in the wrought iron. Let us take these up in order and see how they require that direct tests should be very pro- longed or pushed to destruction: 1. Blow holes exist in steel, but not in wrought iron. But blow holes, at least blow holes which do not weld up and thus cease to exist, are not necessary. Yet they are to be prevented only by care and skill. Hence, get your steel only from careful and trustworthy makers. ‘2. Manganese steel always and almost necessarily * A contribution to the discussion on the ‘‘ Corrosion of Iron and Steei’’ at the meeting of the American Society for Testing Materials at Atlantic City, June 22, 1906. THE IRON AGE 2047 contains more manganese than wrought iron. This may or may not hasten its rusting. If it does, then its effects ought to be made manifest even in short time tests. From the fact that such tests do not show that steel rusts ma- terially faster than wrought iron I infer that this man- ganese is probably not a serious cause of rusting. 3. Steel is generally richer than wrought iron in ce- mentite, the iron carbide. Wrought iron always contains very much more cinder than does steel. Each of these substances, the cementite of the steel and the cinder of the wrought iron, may have a double iifluence on corro- sion, hastening it through difference of potential and re- tarding it by acting as a mechanical barrier like so much paint, to exclude the oxygen or the air or the water. It is not clear that the influence of difference of potential ought to change materially as corrosion proceeds, but it is clear that mechanical protection given by the plates of cementite and of cinder ought to increase as corrosion proceeds. When a piece of wrought iron, for instance, is first exposed to corrosion, only the outcrops, so to speak, of the sheets of cinder come to the surface. Its mechani- cal protection is very small. But as corrosion proceeds, and more and more of the metal which at first overlay the sheets of cinder is eaten away, the remaining cinder forms a larger and larger proportion of the outer sur- face, and therefore protects a constantly increas'ng pro- portion of the underlying metal from corrosion. In short, the mechanical protection afforded by the cinder ought to increase as corrosion proceeds. Here, then, is a cause which, as corrosion proceeds, should continuously tend to retard the corrosion of wrought iron, and to make it compare more and more favorably with steel. But, in like manner, as steel is gradually corroded away, more and more of its surface should come to be composed of cementite, and this fact should tend to retard the corrosion of steel, because cementite, too, should prote@t the underlying free iron or ferrite. Early and Later Corrosion. These causes may in time reverse the initial relative rapidity of rusting of steel and wrought iron. Steel, which in the first few months may rust faster than wrought iron may, on greatly prolonging the experiments or pushing them to destruction, actually rust more slowly, and vice versa. Now, of the two the cinder of wrought iron ought to gain more than the cementite of the steel] in its value as a mechanical retarder of corrosion as time goes on and more and more of the metal is eaten away. The reason for this is that the cementite is in such extremely minute miscroscopic plates that the eating away of a very small quantity of the iron from above them ought to bring very nearly the full proportion of this cementite to the sur- face; whereas, the much larger and more distantly scat- tered plates of cinder in wrought iron would not consti- tute their full share of the surface until a much thicker layer of initially overlying metal had been eaten away. This, then, may be the true explanation—that is, the rea- son why steel does not rust faster than wrought iron in our direct tests, though it does in actual use—that our direct tests are too short to bring out the full protective action of the cinder of the wrought iron. Or the reverse may be true. As time goes on the harmful effect of the - difference of potential of the cinder may grow more than its protective action. Let us therefore henceforth push our tests to destruction. £ Two other points: Sheet steel roofing may rust faster than iron because the latter holds the paint better, and yet steel in other forms, like tubing, may rust no faster than wrought iron. Again let me emphasize the differ- ence between different steels. Carelessly made steel con- taining blow holes may rust faster than wrought iron, yet carefully made steel free from blow holes may rust more slowly. Recognize that any difference between the two may be due not to the inherent and intrinsic nature of the material, but to defects to which it is subject if carelessly made. Care in manufacture and special steps to lessen the tendency to rust might well make steel less corrodible than wrought iron, even if steel carelessly made should really prove more corrodible than wrought iron. : i, i. : 2048 THE IRON AGE Making Nuts and Rings Without Waste. Methods of making wrought nuts, washers and rings without waste of metal have been based on three different principles. The first and most commonly applied in- volves the bending of a section of rod or bar into an annulus and then welding the abutting or lapping ends together and forging to final shape. Fig. 1 illustrates a method involving the first princi- June 28, 1906 the ring thus formed in a die cavity of a diameter equal to the exterior diameter of the washer desired, then inserting a smaller mandrel into the central opening and flattening the ring around the smaller mandrel or core into the annular seat, thus causing the metal to com- pletely fill the space between the wall of the die and the sizing mandrel. If the metal be hot, the ring may be welded and forged into a continuous mass; if cold, the joint will be so tight as to be invisible. In practice the matrix die is perforated centrally, and through it is in- Yj Y Mj 1 ] THE IRON AGE Fig. 1.—A Method of Making Nuts by Bending a Piece of Bar Stock Around a Mandrel. ple applied to the manufacture of hexagonal nuts. In carrying out this method a heated straight blank of suit- able cross section and length and having its ends scarfed is placed across the opening between the two separated sections of a die composed of separable parts and is then forced transversely between the matrix portions of the dies by a plunger engaging its middle. Thus the blank is bent into U form and comes to rest opposite the two semihexagonal cavities of the dies. A mandrel is then inserted in the bend of the U-shaped blank in the axis of the die and the two die sections are brought laterally together, serted the bending mandrel. On the end of the bending mandrel is formed a smaller projection adapted to serve as the sizing core. In operation the bending mandrel is extended through and beyond the die cavity, so that the wire rod may be fed across it and the cut section thereof bent around it; the mandrel is then withdrawn until the shoulder formed at the junction of the larger and smaller parts is flush with the bottom of the die cavity, the sinaller core projecting into the cavity. By the act of withdrawing the ring is stripped from the larger portion, when it strikes the bottom of the die and is left resting // Fig. 2.—A Method of Making Washers Similar in Principle to That of Fig. 1. thus bending the blank so as to bring its ends together and also partially welding it and forging it into hexagonal form. With the blank still held between the two die sec- tions, a forging plunger, through the center of which the mandrel passes, is forced against the face of the blank, which is thus thoroughly welded and forged to final shape. The only remaining step is to retract the dies and strip the finished nut blank from the mandrel. . An economical mode of making washers on the same principle, Fig. 2, consists in feeding round wire rod across a mandrel, cutting a section from the rod, then bending the section into ring form around the mandrel, placing within the die and surrounding the core. The forging plunger is then advanced and the ring flattened into a washer. The flowage of the metal is toward the center, thus tending to compact it, whereas enlargement of the diameter in the act of compressing would have a tendency to stretch and weaken the exterior portion. By substitut- ing cores of different sizes washers with different sizes of openings may be formed. A second principle adopted in forming nuts without waste involves side forging and shearing blanks from‘a bar of metal having a thickness equal to the desired thickness of the nuts. The central hole is formed by driv- June 28, 1906 THE ing a punch or projection thereinto and expanding the metal of the bar laterally in a die. One of the earliest methods involving this principle is illustrated in Fig. 3. By the method here shown a bar is passed between die rolls having mating male and fe- male dies alternately arranged. A tubular plunger sur- — >» K / Y N | Vy. = sr¥ SSS SSS IN Ll p> NW >> oe VL Wy) \ . Uf AW, \) Zi . SS K \\ THE IRON AGE Fig. 3.—Punching Nuts from Blanks Sheared from a Flat Bar. rounding a tubular punch forms the bottom of each female die, and a stationary cam is so arranged as to force the punch outward to perforate and expand the blank when any particular pair of dies come into line between the axes of the rolls. A second cam is arranged to force the tubular plunger outward at the proper time IRON AGE 2049 the blanks centered successively in a hexagonal die, of such size that the circumference of the blank touches each of the die faces; this leaves space about equal to the volume of metal displaced by the punch—a method adopted in later years for piercing tubular billets for use in rolling seamless tubes. Some have thought it preferable, however, to roll the original bar of a section similar to that of the nut blank to be formed, but smaller, and then expand the blanks by punching, upon the theory that the metal would thus be subjected to less strain. Fig. 5 illustrates a mode of utilizing every scrap of steel or iron in making nuts on the last mentioned prin- ciple. This method was patented in 1888. The material used is a rod having a diameter equal to that of the hole desired in the nut. The rod is clamped between a pair of dies with one end projecting a distance sufficient to provide metal equal in mass to that of the unpunched blank. A heading die having a forming cavity therein, and containing centrally thereof a slidable punch, whose end is flush with the bottom of the die cavity, is then advanced and the end of the rod thereby upset into the shape of a hexagonal nut blank. The punch, which is of the exact shape and size of the rod of stock, is then advanced, the clamps slightly loosened, and the center of the upset head punched out, this punched out piece carrying the rod back with it and forming the extremity of the rod, which is still of the original shape and size, except shorter than before. The operation is repeated until the rod is used. A similar method, designed primarily for forming large rings, is shown in Fig. 6. Here a cylindrical bloom is placed within a die fitting closely around it, except at the end, where a cavity is provided for the spreading of the metal, the end of the bloom projecting beyond the cavity. By the use of a succession of suitable tools the metal is spread and upset until the die cavity is com- pletely filled. A punch of the exact size of the original THE 'RON AGE Fig. 4.—Forging and Punching Nuts from Blanks Sheared from a Round Bar. to discharge the blank. As the end of the bar enters be- tween the rolls a blank is cut from the bar and pressed into the die cavity on one roll, and as the rolls rotate the cut off blank is compressed and perforated, while the next blank in the rear is cut off and forced into the die cavity of the opposite roll. The blanks are continuously dis- charged from the alternate cavities in the opposed rolls. Another commonly proposed method involving the second principle consists in rolling a bar between rolls having a groove of a shape to form the sides of the nut blanks and projections or punches arranged centrally of the groove, properly spaced for the purpose of partially perforating the bar at intervals on opposite sides, where the central holes of the nuts are to come. The advancing bar is then brought under a press whose plunger is timed to punch the center hole completely and cut off the blanks. By the third principle the bar of stock is operated on endwise. For example, nuts may be made from bar stock by shearing a section of sufficient thickness to form a nut blank, then inclosing this section in a die a little larger than the blank and driving an expanding punch through it, causing the blank to expand and fill the die. Fig. 4 shows a round rod sheared into round blanks and bloom is then used to punch out the center of the en- larged head thus formed, leaving the ring in the die and driving back the bloom, which is again treated in the same manner until used up. For making small metal washers the method may be practiced very simply, by upsetting one end of a rod between flat ended dies, and the rod punched back FSO ThE IRON AGE Fig. 5.—An Upsetting and Punching Method, Using Bar Stock the Diameter of the Bore of the Nut. through the center of the upset head, as illustrated in Fig. 7. The method shown in Fig. 8 avoids the necessity of driving back the entire stock rod, when punching the center to form the nut or washer. The rod is grasped near the end and the end upset by a plunger having a 2050 THE IRON AGE cavity of proper size and shape. The rod is then moved forward endwise and an annular cutter forced over the end, thus stripping the washer backward over the rod. In the illustration, the plunger a upsets the blank, then moves to one side, and the stripper b moves over and t $ eS x = CHA r June 28, 1906 and retaining box, g. As the neck j, connecting the ad- jacent blanks, is made of a diameter not greater and preferably equal to the diameter of the hole to be formed in the blanks, and consequently that of the punch also, the movement of the punch through the opening between the THE IRON AGF ’ Fig. 6.—A Method of Upsetting and Punching for Making Large Rings from Bar Stock. drives the washer back. The spring pawl hooks c snap over the edges of the washer as the stripper moves for- ward and hold it between them and the plunger, thus stripping the washer backward over the rod on the ad- retaining and shaping matrices will remove such neck, and consequently leave the blank e in the retaining matrix wholly detached. After the withdrawal of the retaining box, punch and Fig. 7.—An Upsetting Method for Making Small Washers. vance stroke, and pulling it off over the end of the rod on the return stroke. One of the latest inventions involving this principle comes from Germany, and the method is illustrated in Fig. 9. In the practice of this invention a rod is grooved circumferentially at intervals, dependent on the thick- ness of the nut to be produced, thereby forming a series of blanks connected by necks of metal, which must not be thicker than the diameter of the hole to be punched in the blank. These blanks are fed in ketween movable dies, a and b, which are provided with a shaping matrix, ¢c, and with a holding cavity or matrix, d. At the begin- ning of the operation on a series of connected blanks the first blank will be fed into the shaping matrix, the dies a and b closed, and the punch moved down so as to pro- ject into the first blank, displacing the metal laterally. The punch is then withdrawn, the dies opened and the series of blanks fed forward, the partially shaped blank moving into position outside of the dies a and Bb. The latter are now closed, a preliminary blank, e, being in- closed in the matrix c, and another blank, f, in the grip- ping or supporting cavity d. The retaining box g, movable toward and from the dies a and b, is moved in, inclosing the partially formed blank. The pressing plunger fh and the punch i are next meved in, the former bearing against the partially formed blank and the punch entering the same. The inward movement of the punch is continued through the retaining matrix formed by the box g and sides of the die blocks a and b into the shaping matrix c, thereby forcing into the next blank a portion of the metal from the blank e in the retaining matrix and from the neck j connecting the first and second blanks e and f held in the shaping matrix, thereby causing the lateral enlarge- ment of this blank in the shaping matrix. The first blank of a series will be incomplete, no metal having been forced thereinto to produce the necessary lateral enlarge- ment. On the completion of the inward movement of the punch the latter is withdrawn, together with the plunger the plunger, the first blank e is removed, the dies opened, and the series of blanks fed forward, thereby bringing the blank f complete, as regards external dimensions, into position on top of the dies a and b, as shown in the illus- tration. The dies @ and b are now closed, the blank f being in position on top of the dies a and b, preliminary | tttd7~ THE IRON AGE Fig. 8—A Method Similar to Fig. 7 Which Does Away with a Punch, the Washer Being Stripped Backward Over the Rod. blanks being inclosed in the matrix c and retaining cav- ity d. The retaining box is next brought into position around the blank f, the plunger and punch forced down- ward, the former compressing the nut vertically and com- pleting its external shape. The punch, during the opera- tion of the compressing plunger, has entered cavity k, formed in the previous operation. The punch continues June 28, 1906 its movements inward, forcing the metal out of the cen- tral portion of the blank f and the metal of the neck connecting such blank with the next adjacent preliminary blank down into the shaping matrix, thereby enlarging the preliminary blank laterally and completely filling the matrix. —_————p+e————> The Pennsylvania Steel Company’s New Open Hearth Plant. The new open hearth steel plant of the Pennsylvania Steel Company, at Steelton, Pa., will contain five sta- tionary open hearth furnaces, each furnace having a rated capacity of 75 tons per heat. The hearth dimensions are: Length, 40 feet; width, 15 feet, each in the clear. The furnace building has a total span, out to out of columns, of 172 feet 5 inches. The length from center to center of end columns is 448 feet. The charging floor will be placed at an elevation of 18 feet 6 inches above the general level, which will also be the casting floor level. The casting floor will be covered _ . ae \ qi) Uf \7))) Zim KL. WV}}}/}}}} y \ \\\\ UUM b \N ‘ é THE IRON AGE 2051 mentioned above. It may be dumped from drop bottom cars into bins, the bottom of which will be at the level of the tops of the producers. A traveling crane with a grab bucket will lift the coal either directly from the cars or from the bins beneath and deposit it into a crusher trav- eling over a set of bunkers located over the producers. Chutes will lead the coal from the bunkers into the pro- ducer hoppers. Coal may also be shoveled from the bins under the cars into the producer hoppers if the crane should get out of order. Cars on an ash track below the level of the cleaning floor will take the ashes from the producers. A calcining plant with crusher and mechanical devices for handling the stone will furnish burned dolo- mite for the operation of the furnaces. 3 ———_———_ Ventilating the Gallitzin Tunnel. After the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Gallitzin Tunnel was completed it was found that the smoke and gases discharged by locomotives so seriously vitiated the at- a. ‘ g ([[[[[[[[_. WW | MMM (NK | NS SS ad \ ON IV THE IRON AGE Fig. 9—A German Upsetting Method, Using Circumferentially Grooved Stock. by two 65-foot span 115-ton ladle cranes, each fitted with a 25-ton auxiliary trolley. Steel will be cast on narrow gauge ingot mold buggies. The charging floor will be covered by two 75-foot span 50-ton ladle cranes, each fitted with a 10-ton auxiliary hoist. Two low type floor charging machines, capable of handling 8-foot charging boxes of the Wellman type, will be installed. Provision for a hot metal mixer, to be installed later if desired, is being made. The stock track is arranged to permit hot metal from the blast furnaces to be poured directly into the open hearth furnaces without the necessity of passing it through a mixer or lifting hot metal ladles from the cars. Parallel with the charging floor and at the same level will be a stock yard, containing two standard and three narrow gauge tracks, all covered by two 10-ton electric traveling cranes, for unloading and handling stock. The stock yard and charging floor will be reached by an inclined approach, with both standard and narrow gauge tracks. <A part of this approach will be on a trestle, on which ore, limestone, &c., may be unloaded from dump bottom cars into bins under the tracks. The materials from these bins may be loaded into charging boxes on tracks alongside which connect with the ap- proach to the charging floor. Gas will be furnished by Hughes mechanically stoked gas producers in a producer building paralleling the stock yard. The producers will be set so that each furnace will be served by a separate group of producers, the blast for each group being under the control of the melter. Coal will reach the producer house over the approach mosphere that the trainmen sometimes became uncon- scious. Relief was provided by constructing at the east end a ventilating apparatus consisting of a sheet iron hood about 50 feet long, inclosing one track and having an inner surface coincident with the soffit of the tunnel arch and walls. The outer surface converged from the outer end of the hood to the portal of the tunnel, so as to give it a wedge shaped cross section. A Sturtevant blower was installed at the end of the hood on each side and delivered air through it to the tunnel portal, where a narrow opening in the inner surface of the hood per- mitted the blast to be forced into the tunnel nearly parallel with its axis. There is a separate tube or tunnel for edch track, and trains pass through them in one direction only. In the tunnel in which the apparatus has been installed the grade is up, and the trains are usually drawn by two locomotives in front and one pusher behind. As soon as the forward locomotive enters the tunnel the fan is started. The large volume of air which is forced into the narrow space between the train and the tunnel lining drives the smoke and gas in advance of the locomotive, so that its driver can keep the cab windows open and is supplied with an abundance of fresh air. The second locomotive does not work in the tunnel, and the smoke from the pusher never reaches the front of the train. This arrangement is considered efficient and satisfactory. The tunnel was designed and constructed under the direc- tion of the engineering department of the Pennsylvania Railroad. C. 8. Churchill was the patentee of the ven- tilating apparatus. : eee 2052 THE IRON AGE The Allis-Chalmers Company’s Electrical Works. The electrical works of the Allis-Chalmers Company are located at Norwood, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, and comprise the original plant of the Bullock Electric Mfg. Company, with extensive additions, which have been and are being made. The electrical apparatus built here includes direct current dynamos and motors, alter- nating current generators, induction motors, transform- ers, rotary converters, railway motors, controllers, switch- boards and a great variety of auxiliary apparatus. The site is approximately 16 acres in area and is situated in close proximity to the tracks of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern and Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern Rail- roads, as indicated in Fig. 1, which shows the general plan of the works. All of the main buildings are of modern iron, steel and brick or concrete construction, exceedingly well lighted and ventilated. The buildings are faced with buff colored pressed brick, and are of pleasing architectural effect. As shown in Fig 1, all i or PATTERN STORAGE PATTERN SHOP Fig. 1.—Plan of the Allis-Chalmers Company’s Electrical Works (Formerly the Bullock Electric Mfg. Company) at Norwood, Cincinnati, Ohio. buildings with the exception of the foundry face on Forest avenue. The foundry, an interior view in which is shown in Fig. 2, is 202 feet long by 103 feet wide. The structure is so arranged that it may be readily extended in the rear toward the pattern storage building if a larger capacity is at any time required. The foundry is equipped with two cupolas, each having a capacity of 12 tons per hour. The main bay of the foundry is served by two electric traveling cranes of 25 and 15 tons’ capacity, respectively. Each of the side bays is served by a smaller 5-ton crane. Coke heated core ovens are employed for the treatment of cores and molds. The second building, opposite the main buildings and facing them, is the pattern shop and pattern storage. This building, which is 53 x 216 feet in area and four stories high, was described in The Iron Age November 16, 1906, and needs no further description at this time. Machine shop No. 1, of the main group, opposite the pattern building, one of the original Bullock buildings, is 102 x 462 feet. The equipment comprises motor driven machine tools of all kinds used in the manufacture of electrical apparatus. The building is identical in ap- pearance and construction with the others of the group. The central bay is served by two cranes of 20 and 30 tons capacity respectively, and the side bays each by a 5-ton crane. In addition to the machine too] work per- June 28, 1906 formed in shop No. 1, a portion of the armature winding for large machines is carried on here, and a testing de- partment for the smaller machines has been provided in the front part of the building. The Allis-Chalmers mo- tors, used to drive the machine tools, are operated on the Ward Leonard multiple voltage system of variable speed control. By means of this system a speed ratio of 6 to 1 is obtained, giving 12 speeds in the forward di- rection and nine in the reverse. In each machine shop a separate balancer is installed for dividing the main line pressure into the various subvoltages, and which may be used independently in case of the failure of those in- stalled in either of the other shops. The connections of these balancers are such that one set may be made to carry the load of the others. Machine shop No. 2 is idehtical in general appearance with the other buildings of the group. It is 100 x 303 feet, and two stories high. The roof has a wide skylight area, which secures a flood of diffused light to the top floor of the building. This unit, like the others of the group, is heated by an overhead blower system, which draws in fresh air, and having passed it around steam heated pipes, blows it out through the ducts. This same system keeps the shop at an even and agreeable temperature in summer by the circulation of cooled air. A 5-ton electric traveling crane serves the entire length SS ee —— > THE Row AGE of the shop. An industrial railroad connects the punch and the annealing departments. At both ends of the shop freight elevators, driven by electric motors, connect the upper and lower floors. The drying ovens are also con- nected directly with the insulating department by a smaller elevator. On the first floor is located the punching department, where the sheet steel punchings for armatures and field poles are made; this shop is provided with a complete equipment of motor driven punch presses. On this floor the armature cores for direct current dynamos and mo- tors and the stator cores for small alternating current machines are assembled. The commutator department is located at the rear, and in a room separated from the rest of the building by fireproof walls tue punchings for armature and stator cores are annealed and japanned. The annealing equipment consists of two ovens arranged for oil fuel; each oven with a capacity of about 30,000 pounds of steel at each charging. These ovens are of the latest design, provided with recording pyrometers and arranged so that the heat is under complete control at all times. The upper floor of shop No. 2 contains the coil winding department, where armature, field and trans- former coils are wound and insulated. In this shop every machine tool from the large punch presses to the small taping machines for insulating arma- ture coils is driven by an individual electric motor. The June 28, 1906 initial cost of many of the smaller tools is somewhat increased by ariving each separately, but by this arrange- ment the machines are rendered independent of each other, so that an accident to one does not interfere with the operation of the others. The system becomes also extremely flexible... Not only can the tools be moved to the work, when it is desirable to do so, but they ean THE IRON AGE 2053 increased output, due to the fact that the machines can be run at the proper speeds to suit the work. As labor is the greatest single item of expense in a machine shop, @ very small percentage of saving in its cost per year will more than balance a comparatively large initial increase in the expense incurred for tools. Shop No. 3, a general view. of which is shown in Fig. Fig. 3.—A General View in Shop No. 3; Where the Work on Large Machines Is Performed. be shifted easily from one portion of the shop to another without disturbing the main power connections. Other advantages are clear head room, better light, freedom from dirt, economy of operation (as power is only used when the machines are working) and reduction of .the danger of accidents to employees. The greatest advantage to be derived from this individual drive, however, is the 2 3, is 462 feet long, the front portion being one story high and 176 feet wide, while the rear portion is 107 feet wide and two stories high. The two-story extension in the rear, a recent addition, is of ferroconcrete construction, and is faced with brick on the outside to match the other buildings. Both upper and lower floors are divided into bays by rows of columns, and on the lower floor two 10- ‘ " i ton cranes are provided; the work on the upper floor be- ing of a lighter character, two 5-ton cranes are installed. An elevator is located at about the middle of the exten- sion. On the second floor are the tool room and brass department, for the manufacture of small brass parts entering into the construction of machines. The front portion of this unit is used for the construction of large machines and is divided into three bays. The central bay is 68 feet wide and 60 feet high under the roof trusses, and is equipped with a 60-ton traveling crane having a 50-foot lift. Each side bay is 48 feet wide, one served by a 20-ton crane and the other by one of 30 tons capacity. Part of the central bay is provided with iron floor platens for the use of portable drills, slotters, &c. Fig. 4 shows a few of the portable tools installed here equipped with motor drive. The works power house and boiler plant are located alongside of shop No. 1. The power house equipment consists of two AllisChalmers 800-kw. 240-volt direct connected engine type generators, one of which is driven by a Lane & Bodley engine and the other by an Allis- 2054 THE IRON AGE June 28, 1906 necting the various shop units. All the yard track is equipped with overhead trolley, and motor driven cars, equipped with electrically operated cranes, are used for loading and unloading material and conveying it between the shop buildings. ———~-e___— The Coal Production of Alabama in 1905. Statistics of the coal production of Alabama during 1905 have been compiled by Edward W. Parker of the United States Geological Survey. They show that the total production of the year was 11,866,069 net tons, which had a value on the spot of $14,387,721. This was an increase in tonnage of 604,023, or 5.3 per cent., and a gain in value of $907,610, or 6.7 per cent., over the value of 1904. Compared with 1903, the year of largest produc- tion heretofore, the output in 1905 shows an increase of 211,745 net tons in amount and of $140,923 in value. The average price per ton in 1905 was $1.21, as com- pared with $1.20 in 1904 and $1.22 in 1903. The returns show that 19,595 men were employed for I"ig. 4.-A Few of the Motor Driven Portable Tools in Shop No. 3, Chalmers-Reynolds cross compound Corliss engine. There is a further equipment consisting of a small 100-kw. unit and an air compressor outfit for operating pneumatic tools used in various operations throughout the shops. Two artesian wells furnish the entire water supply for engines and fire service. A water storage reservoir is provided for fire protection with a fire pump in connec- tion with a complete sprinkler system for all buildings. The engines are run noncondensing. The boiler house equipment comprises six 250 horse-power Cahall vertical water tube boilers, fitted with Mansfield chain grate stokers. The service building, 53 x 261 feet, is located be- tween shops Nos. 2 and 3. A wire storage room and locker and washroom for employees occupy its lower floor. The upper floor is fitted up as dining rooms for factory and office employees. The administration building is 100 x 100 feet and two stories high. It provides accommodation for the various administrative offices and departments, drafting room, en- gineering department, purchasing department, superin- tendent’s office, &c. The general plan of buildings and grounds, shown in Fig. 1, gives the layout of standard gauge railroad tracks in yards and buildings. In addition there is a complete equipment of narrow gauge industrial railroad intercon- an average of 225 days. The average output per man was 605.6 tons for the year, or 2.69 tons per day, as com- pared with a daily output of 2.93 tons per man in 1904, when 17,811 men worked an average of 216 days and pro- duced 11,262,046 tons of coal. The yearly tonnage per man in 1904 was 632.3 tons, or 26.8 tons more than in 1905. One of the notable features in connection with the production of coal in Alabama in 1905 was the large in- crease in the number of mining machines used and ip the amount of machine mined coal produced. There were 196 machines in use in 1905, as against 141 in 1904, while the amount of coal undercut by machines increased from 577,317 net tons in 1903 to 741,170 tons in 1904 and 1,786,479 net tons in 1905. - ee The boring of another Swiss tunnel through the Alps to connect with the Simplon Tunnel, which was recently completed, has been decided upon. The estimated cost of the new tunnel is $15,000,000. The United States Geological Survey announces that the production of Portland cement in 1905 amounted to 35,246,812 barrels, valued at $33,245,867. This is a gain of 8,740,931 barrels in quantity and $9,890,748 in value over the output of 1904, which amounted to 26,505,88k barrels, valued at $23,355,119. June 28, 1906 The American Society for. Testing Materials. Ninth Annual Meeting at Atlantic City, N. J. Each successive meeting of the American Society for Testing Materials shows an advance over the preceding one. That which was held at the Hotel Chalfonte, Atlan- tic City, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 21-23, had a larger attendance than any other, and in the variety and character of the papers presented led most of its predecessors. Of particular interest was the discussion on the corrosion of iron and steel. In respect to specifica- tions, the report of Committee A on Standard Specifica- tions for Iron and Steel was first in interest to metal- lurgists and all connected with iron and steel manufac- ture, as well as to the testing engineers of the railroads. The report, while not as much discussed as those of this committee in previous years, was important as indicat- ing that buyers and manufacturers of steel rails are not likely to agree on a standard rail specification, and the controversy of some years’ standing promises to con- tinue. The meeting gave abundant proof of the larger place cement and concrete are taking in engineering ‘work, and tht corresponding increase in the literature of testing and experiment in these lines. In new matter on preservative coatings the meeting yielded less than sev- eral in recent years. A feature of striking interest was the address, with lantern slide views, on earthquake and fire effects in San Francisco, given by Richard L. Humphrey. No such col- lection of photographs has been put at the disposal of ‘engineers, it is safe to say, dealing with the disaster of April 18. The registration was the largest in the history of the society, having passed 200 on the morning of the third day. Some additions to the membership were made, and the secretary, Edgar Marburg, University of Pennsyl- vania, Philadelphia, hopes to receive further applications, so that the 1000 mark aimed at may be reached by the meeting of 1907. THURSDAY AFTERNOON. The opening session was called to order at the Hotel Chalfonte at 3 o’clock Thursday afternoon by the vice- president of the society, Robert W. Lesley of Philadelphia. He referred to the annual report of the Executive Com- mittee which had been distributed among the members. It showed that in the past year the membership had grown from 677 to 835. For the first time in its history the society had reached financial independence, and the contributing members had been notified that their support ‘would not be required this year. The Executive Com- mittee expects to publish in a separate volume the 18 standard specifications thus far adopted by the society, with others now in preparation. The treasurer’s state- ment accompanying the report