The Iron Age 1907-01-17: Vol 79 Iss 3

THE IRON AGE A Review of the Hardware, Iron, Machinery and Metal Trades. Published every Thursday Morning by David Williams Co., 14-16 Park Place, New York. Vol. 79: No. 3. New York, Thursday, January 17, 1907. $5 00 a Year, including Postage Single Copies, 15 Ce Reading Matter Contents Alphabetical index to Advertisers ‘‘ Classified List of Advertisers “ Advertising and Subscription Rates ‘‘ Compression Shait Couplings Manufactured by FORSTER PULLEY WORKS Cuba, ¥. Y. ee SATISF ACTION Ropes and Twines for dealers to sell goods which give satisfaction to the consumer. As you are building up a “‘ reputation for reliability’? or maintaining an old one, you find it necessary to carry U. M. C. CARTRIDGES ana SHOT SHELLS Bristol’s Patent Steel Belt Lacing Successful dealers are those who handle “‘trade-mark’’ goods which carry the makers SAVES guarantee. U. M.C. Goods have been satisfactory to dealers and consumers for 40 years. 65 Wall Street, New York Time, Belts, Money. Send for U. M. C. Window Display. AGENCY FACTORY SALES OFFICE 813 Broadway, N.Y.City. Bridgeport,Conn. San Francisco, Cal. FINISHED JOWT Samples. THE BRISTOL co. Waterbury, Conn. ¥ York: 4 Liberty St. : 733 Monadnock Bldg. a | WATER TUBE he Babcock @ Wilcox Co. SAMSON SPOT CORDIBOILERS se paseo? ©? SiS YoN Also tae and Phoenix SAMSON CORDAGE WORKS, Bosin, Mas.|1 Thousands of Testimonials TORNBUCKLES received from practical men in the horseshoeing business Branch Office, 11 Broadway. New York. confirm our claim: —~ That the most exacting requirements of Cleveland City Forge and tren Co., - Cleveland, O. the most severe service are SUCCESSFULLY met by TURN BUCHKIZS. as a a ” nails—the STRONGEST horseshoe nail n wo ° It Will Pay You Well Alwaysto Insist Upon Having This Brand F ORGING S The Capewell Horse Nail Company, Pilling & Grane Scere sie: Fey HARTFORD, CONN. All Our Brands of Excelsior Straightway Back-Pressure Valve : . has a full, unobstructed passage through it nearly in line with the OO ing in , and therefore offers no resistance to the free flow of steam. Thoroughly reliable when used as a back pressure valve, it is also adapted for use as a relief or free exhaust valve for condensers. showing the weight of coating By and position of outside lever, it will work equally well in a vertical or horizontal position. carried per box of 20 x 28— JENKINS BROS., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, London. westorsce Pge | SEAM Gi Rte Sel Dain tain THE AMERICAN TUBE & STAMPING COMPANY . + . . (Water and Rail Delivery) Bripexrpost, Comm. This cannot fail to interest you. MAGNOLIA METAL. est nt-veptten Betas Shall Maceenany Bearings AMERICAN te SHEET.& TIN PLATE COMPANY Frick Building Pittsburgh, Pa. na imitations . . MAGNOLIA METAL CO., Owners and Sele Manufacturers, 113-116 Sank Street, Ban Francisco, Montreal and Prtssborg. ! ft Babb Chicago, Fischer Bldg. NEW YORK We manufscsare al I grades of Be t THE IRON AGE os 8 BRASS PLAIN STRAIGHT FACTS lst. The best produced, A strong cateenen , but the goode ve it, 2d. Brass cast and rolled on the premises. Care is in the stock, which is clean, ductile and the right temper. 8d. Inspectio: ; pecingss ct nails oy contain perfe = splinters nor imperf 4th. Packed in 2 oz, and 4 os. metal boxes. 202., 402., 41b. and Ib. oO s in @ carton. 1 goods full weight. Get our prices. RIVER COMPANY, _ & Metal Co. BRIDGEPORT, CONN. Phosphor and Deoxidized Bronze Composition, Yellow Brass and Alumi- num Castings, large and small e Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co., LA SALLE, ILLINOIS. SMELTERS OF SPELTER AND MANUFACTURERS OP SHEET ZINC AND SULPHURIC Special Sizes of Zinc cut to order. Rolled Battery Plates. Selected Plates for Etchers’ and Lithographers’ use. Selected Sheets for Paper and Card Makers’ use. Stove and Washboard Blanks. ZINCS FOR LECLANCHE BATTERY. TENG SLUT ACID. 105-109 So.Jetterson CASTINGS On Short Norte | t Bridgeport Deoxidized Bronze ThE PLume & ATwooo Mee. Co, —_— MANUFACTURERS OF Sheet and Roll Brags —AND— WiRE PRINTERS’ BRASS, JEWELERS’ METAL, GERMAN SILVER AND GILDING METAL, Cop- Yon 2'VETS AND BURRS. Plas, vase Butt Hinges, Jack Chala, Kere- sene bu La Lemp . imps, Trimmings, &c. 279 Broadway, NEW YORK. Room 508 Heyworth Building, East Madi- son St., CHICAGO, ILL. ROLLING MILL : | FACTORIES : THOMASTON, CONN, WATERBURY, CONN, SCOVILL MFG. CO. MANUFACTURERS OF BRASS, {GERMAN SILVER, Brass Shells, Cups, Hinges, Battons, Lamp woods. Special Brass Goods to Order. FacPoRies : WATERBURY, CONN. Drpots NBW YORK. CHICAGO. BOSTON. Henry Souther Engineeting Co, HARTFORD, GONN. Consulting Chemists, Metallurgists and Analysts. Complete Physical Testing Laboratory. Testimony in Court and Patent Cases. Artur T.Rutter &60. 256 Broadway NEW YORK Small tubing in Brass, Copper, Steel, Aluminum, German Silver, &c. Sheet Brass, Copper and Ger- man Silver. Copper, Brass and German Silver Wire. Brazed and Seamless Brass and Copper Tube. Copper and Brass Rod. ~PHONO-ELECTRIC™ WIRD. “iT’S TOUGH.” TROLLEY, Rest Bronze, Babbitt Metals. Brass and Aluminum NICKEL ANODES TELEPHONE GERMAN SILVER | ooecinres ccs corven vn The Seymour Mfg. Co., - - Seymour, Conn. TELEGRAPH HENDRICKS BROTHERS LINES. retinue =~ we BRIDGEPORT BRASS COMPANY, M Bridgeport Postal Tetegraph Belleville Copper Rolling Mills, Coane rend eee ME vor. MANUFACTURERS OF , PHOSPHOR-BRONZE Brazxiers’ Bolt and Sheathing COPPER, GERVION SILVER CcorPTripmRrn vw<IREe ANDY RIivArTs, THE RIVERSIDE METAL CO. Importers and Dealers in Ingot Copper, Block Tin; Spelter, Lead, Antimony, etc. 49 CLIFF ST., NEW YORK. RIVERSIDE. WN. J. rT Sen ee THE IRON: AGE New York, Thursday, January 17, 1907. A Large Kane Straightener. Two views of what is claimed to be the largest straightening machine ever built are given in the accom- panying illustrations, Fig. 1 showing the screw-down op- erating side and one end, and Fig. 2 the opposite end. It weighs over 60 tons, measures about 13 ft. high by 16% ft. long and by 18 ft. wide over all, and was built for the Phenix Iron Company, Pheenixville, Pa., by Kane & Roach, Syracuse, N. Y. This is a special nine-roll ma- chine, known as the Kane No. 8 straightener, and has Fig. 1.—The Kane Patent No. 8 Nine-Roll Straightener, Built five upper and four lower rolls. This gives an upper overhanging roll on each end, which are the principal or main controlling rolls of the machine, as the final ad- justing to make the stock come out true is done with the end rolls. As both ends of this machine are alike it may be run in either direction, and the material may be fed through equally well from either end, which is very im- portant for many classes of work. This machine is made to straighten all sizes of I- beams and channels up to 24 in. and all sizes of angles up to 10x 10x 1% in., which is far heavier straightening work than has ever been attempted before. The rolls on this machine are nearly 20 in. in diameter and 42% in. long. The machine is geared for two changes of speed, obtained through a double clutch operated by a lever. This lever is used to start or stop the machine, and thrown to one side engages the gear that gives the slow speed. and thrown te the other engages the other gear, E Thus the speed and power can be regulated according to the class of work being put through the machine. The gears are extra heavy and are made of cast steel. The 20 upright columns that support the top and take the strain are about 5 in. in diameter, and the adjusting screws to raise and lower the upper rolls are 5 in. in diameter. The machine is arranged so every other col- umn can be dropped out and the rolls can be taken out through the side of the machine, to be re-turned or dressed. The upper rolls are adjustable both vertically and laterally. Generally these machines are made with giving a speed twice as fast as the slow speed. by Kane & Roach, Syracuse, N. Y. the shafts extended on the side shown in Fig. 1 to take outside rolls for other work than that for which the inside rolls are arranged, but they were or- dered omitted on the machine illustrated. This is a very important feature and a great advantage where a larger variety of work is done than can be put on the inside rolls, or where it is advantageous to avoid too frequent changing of the inside rolls. As Fig. 1 shows, a gallery is provided for a man to stand on to adjust the rolls as they may need it and an index dial facilitates adjusting. This machine is arranged for direct connection to a reversible motor, so as to run the machine in either di- rection. It is very powerfully geared. All the roll jour- nals are very large and long and the boxes are of extra hard bronze and interchangeable. The builders make a large variety of styles and sizes of straightening machines, from the lightest wire classes of 186 THE straightener up to machines to straighten the heaviest product of any mills, whether rails, I-beams, channels, sheets, angles, bar iron, or any special shapes. * a oe ___—_- The Annealing of Malleable Castings. Writing in Cassier’s Magazine on the “ Production of Malleable Castings,’ Dr. Richard Moldenke refers to the efforts made to shorten the period of annealing. The difficulty is in. the tendency of the carbon to return to the combined form when the period of conversion is shortened by using a high heat. Attempts to use higher annealing heats have been disastrous financially. The temperature of annealing furnace iron castings is from 1250 to 1350 degrees F., taken at the coldest point in the annealing oven. On the general subject of annealing the writer says: The question of annealing is an interesting one. A short heating to the proper temperature on the part of a IRON AGE January 17, 1907 The annealing process is further interesting from the fact that only the conversion of the carbon is a necessity to make malleable cast iron, and not the removal of the carbon from the skin, which is the understanding gen- erally. While this removal of the carbon in the skin does take place in the ordinary process where an iron oxide is used for packing the castings into the annealing pots, yet by doing this in sand or in fire clay the same results are obtained, the only difference being a smaller tensile strength. As the flakes dropping from the annealing pots can be crushed and used for the packing medium, there is no necessity to resort to annealing in sand in order to save money, especially as a weaker casting is the result. Experiments made with numerous test bars, the skin of which had been removed from half their length, showed that the black interior of a malleable casting having the original amount of carbon intact, though converted from the combined state, is but 2000 to 3000 Ib. per square inch less in tensile strength than the bar with the skin left on. Lh ht AR oe Fig. 2.—An End View of the Kane Straightener.—This Machine Weighs Over 60 Tons. hard gray iron casting softens it sufficiently to allow machining. This is the conversion of the comparatively small amount of combined carbon present over the nor- mal figure to the “ temper” carbon of the malleable cast- ing. This “temper” carbon, so named by the late Pro- fessor Ledebur from “ temperguss,” the German for mal- leable cast iron. is an uncrystallized graphite which has the peculiar property of recombining at a temperature below the melting point. Thus heating an annealed cast- ing red hot and plunging into water usually makes its structure white again, but this structure is now that of a high carbon steel rather than a white iron. While, therefore, this short annealing of a hard gray casting does it good, the continued heat of the malleable casting process applied to the same casting would ruin it, by allowing the penetration of oxygen, burning, or at least oxidizing, each crystal of iron, separated, as they are, by the flakes of graphite in the gray casting. Hence the necessity of keeping out graphite from the hard casting, intended for the malleable anneal. The founder has to deal with many molding problems also. for the contraction of the hard casting is twice that of a soft gray one. The annealing process restores half of this shortening up in length, breadth and thick- ness, but the consequence is that very large castings are difficult, if not impossible, to make without concealed cracks occurring where least wanted. Furthermore, the internal shrinkage of the metal is a serious question. tak- ing place at abrupt changes of section and sharp angles. Hence the use of chills in the molds to overcome this difficulty. On the whole, therefore, the malleable casting is seldom over 175 lb. in weight. or 3 ft. in length, or % In. in thickness, The great majority of even the heav- jer castings do not exceed 10 Ib. ee It is stated that 11 iron and steel companies in Bilbao and the north of Spain have formed a syndicate, with a term of five years, for the purpose of regulating output and marketing product. January 17, 1907 The Birmingham District. Some Details of Important Improvements Under Way. BIRMINGHAM, Ata., January 12, 1907.—The improve- ment work now going on at the blast furnaces and steel works of some of the largest Southern companies is of unusual interest and importance. Bare mention of the plans for some of this has been made heretofore. Chief in importance measured by the expenditure of money in- volved is the new construction work of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company. Reference has already been made to the fact that this company has installed a number of coal washing machines at its leading mines and is providing increased facilities for iron mining at its red ore properties. It is interesting to note in con- _nection with the expenditures it is making for its iron and coal mines that a policy of storing ore and coke has been adopted in recent months. The uncertainties of negro labor at mines and furnaces were emphasized in 1906, and the management is meeting them by providing storage room for ore and coke to tide over some of the periods of most serious interruption of operations at its blast furnaces and steel works. In the recent holiday season the idleness of labor at iron and coal mines and at coke ovens of the Tennessee Company proved less serious than usual, owing to the forehanded policy followed for weeks preceding. More would have been done in the accumulation of raw materials under or- dinary conditions of transportation, but as is well known the railroad embargo has been unusual for months. Large Bessemer Converters at Ensley. In connection with the large programme of new work now being carried out at Ensley the most significant feature, and one of which mention has not been made heretofore, is that the company is installing the largest Bessemer converters in the country for its duplex proc- ess, and is also building the largest tilting open hearth furnaces in the country. The four basic furnaces of which the new steel plant will consist will have a ca- pacity of over 6000 tons a month each, and are expected to turn out 300,000 tons of steel a year, or more than the capacity of the 10 tilting open hearth furnaces in the present steel plant. When the new furnaces are completed work will begin at once on the reconstruction of the old plant, and eventually four large tilting fur- naces, such as are now under construction, will replace the 10 furnaces now in use. One 10-ton converter is now used at the Ensley plant for the preliminary blow, in which the silicon and car- bon of the metal as it comes from the mixer are consid- erably reduced. Two new 20-ton converters are being built, and these will take care of all the metal coming from the two 250-ton mixers, which are being provided for the steel plant as it will stand when the new furnaces have been completed and the present furnaces have been replaced by duplicates of the new plant. The power requirements for the new steel plant are naturally very large, and these and the central electric equipment now being provided to furnish electricity for all the Ensley operations involve heavy outlays. A number of mechan- ical features which the engineering staff of the company has planned for the new plant at Ensley involve innova- tions, the result of which will be watched with great interest. Southern Steel Company. At the Ensley rod and wire mills of the Southern Steel Company some changes are being made, which are of special moment as being the outcome of the experience of the company under the uneconomical labor conditions which have prevailed in the South, and that have been particularly marked under the present prosperity ré- gime. Machinery is to be provided to displace common labor for handling material in the yards and in and out of the mill. A billet handling crane of 100 ft. span and 5 tons capacity is being furnished by the Morgan Engi- neering Company, Alliance, Ohio. By the use of disk magnets the crane will carry a bundle of eight 180-Ib. THE IRON AGE 187 billets, making a load of 1400 to 1500 lb. In the rod mill a new continuous heating furnace is being added. An interesting feature of the new work at this plant is the telpherage system now being installed by the United Telpherage Department of the Dodge Coal Storage Com- pany, Philadelphia. A telpherage runway of steel con- struction having a length of approximately 2500 ft. will connect the two boiler houses, the rod mill, cleaning shop, machine shop and railroad tracks, besides covering a large area of the storage yard. This system will handle all the company’s products between the rod mill and the cleaning house, and to storage in the yard, if desired, and will also convey the product to the rod mill for direct shipment. In addition ashes will be conveyed from the boiler houses and dumped into railroad cars for disposal. There will be two telpher hoisting machines, each having a capacity for hoisting and conveying a load of 3000 Ib. The hoisting speed will be 60 ft. per minute and the traveling speed 700 ft. per minute. The original convey- ing system in the rod mill is being replaced by a leaf conveyor, which will carry rods from the reels to buggies and to the telpher machine. Other improvements at Ensley include additions to boiler capacity and the installation of a considerable number of Horton continuous wire drawing machines. This machine was described in 7'he Iron Age of January 8, 1907, in the article on the new plant of the Shenan- doah Steel Wire Company at South Buffalo, N. Y. Upon completion of the improvements referred to the plant at Ensley will have a daily capacity of 400 tons of wire products. The original open hearth plant of the Southern Steel Company at Gadsden, Ala., consisted of four 50-ton fur- naces. To these are now being added two 50-ton fur- naces, and the open hearth building is being extended by one-half its original length. Ten Forter-Miller gas pro- ducers will serve the two new open hearth furnaces, it being found desirable to increase the number of pro- ducers from four to each open hearth furnace, as‘ in the original plant, to five. Forter-Miller reversing valves will be used. Some alterations in the original type of these valves have been made with a view to giving a more perfect seal and a better seating. On the casting side of the open hearth department a Morgan auxiliary crane is being installed with 30 tons capacity. For the more convenient handling of billets a 15-ton Morgan crane is being provided, which will command the billet yard at the end of the blooming mill. The billets are cradled for handling in the shipping yard, and for this purpose the discarded galvanizing pans from the wire plant of the company at Ensley are employed. At the blast furnace at Gadsden a fourth Southwark blowing engine will be installed, and it is expected that from 260 to 275 tons of pig iron a day will be produced at this furnace in the near future. Ultimately direct metal will be taken to the open hearth furnaces. The skull cracking outfit has been increased by an auxiliary drop. Increased raw material outputs are being secured at the various properties of the company, which will contribute to the larger production at the Gadsden Fur- nace. At the Virginia, Ala., coke oven plant 100 new ovens are nearing completion, making a total of 300. Gas and steam coal for the Gadsden plant is brought from the Altoona mines, 18 miles west of Gadsden. The lime- stone supply is derived in part from a quarry at Truss- ville, Ala., and in part from a quarry of the company on the Chattanooga Southern Railroad between Gadsden and Chattanooga. Republic Iron and Steel Company. At the Thomas Furnace of the Republic Iron & Steel Company extensive improvements have been in progress for the past few months, and are still uncompleted. At the No. 1 and No. 2 furnaces of this group new Massicks & Crooke stoves, four to each furnace, are being con- structed, and 4000 hp. of Stirling boilers in batteries of 500 hp. will replace the horizontal boilers heretofore in use. An important feature is the displacement of the old I. P. Morris beam blowing engines by six Allis- Chalmers blowing engines of the disconnected cross com- pound type. These will be 44 x 84 x 60 in. and & x 84 188 x 60 in. Two Weimer blowing engines now in service will be retained. These are 40 x 84 x 60 in. A central condensing plant of the Weiss type is being installed by the Southwark Foundry & Machine Company, Philadel- phia, to take care of the eight blowing engines. To ac- commodate the increased power a new engine house is necessary. Cooling towers will be built for cooling the water of condensation. These will be completed by the middle of the year. A new pump house is also under way, in which will be concentrated the pumps for the furnace plant. In connection with the increase of the power plant two 4000-hp. Cochrane heaters will be sup- plied and considerable auxiliary equipment, consisting of oil separators, steam traps, new piping, &c. At No. 3 furnace two Allis-Chalmers engines are being added similar to the six referred to above. A Uehbling double strand casting machine is being installed, and as part of the auxiliary equipment a hydraulic ladle tilter and a car spotter. A new ladle house of structural steel will be 50 x 90 ft. The skulling of ladles, ladle drying and preparation of refractories will be carried on in this building. Additional] railroad tracks are provided for, and 12 100,000-lb. steel hopper cars have been ordered for the hauling of coal to the coke ovens adjoining the blast furnaces. ——_>-e—_——_ Carnegie Armor Plate Safety Vaults. The National City Bank, New York, has contracted with the Carnegie Steel Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., for the construction of the latest type of depository armor plate vault, to be erected in its remodeled building on Wall street, formerly the United States Custom House. It will be the first to be installed in New York. The vault will be of such construction as to assure immunity against fire, burglars, mobs, electricity, or any agent of destruction. It will be practically 25 ft. square, with an upper and lower compartment. The upper compart- ment will be entered from the banking room floor, through two vestibules, each fitted with outside circular doors and inside folding doors. Access to the 4ower or basement compartment will be by a staircase and an electric elevator. Experts of the Carnegie Steel Com- pany have studied and experimented at great expense iu the construction of vaults, until they are able to com- bine in the plans for this one every modern idea for pro- tection against forced entrance through the locking mechanism, as well as the absolute security guaranteed by nickel steel Harveyized armor plate, which is the same material as that used for protecting battleships and armored cruisers. While a large number of this modern type of armor vaults have been constructed for prominent fiduciary in- stitutions in this country, the vault to be constructed for the National City Bank will be equaled in size only by those of the Union Safe Deposit Company in the Frick Building, Pittsburgh, the great vaults now being con- structed by the Carnegie Steel Company for the Union National Bank, Pittsburgh, and the Commercial National Bank, Chicago—the last named being the largest vault ever constructed. The one solid piece idea is carried out by dovetailing together the massive plates forming the vault, averaging in weight 21 tons each, and no bolts or screws being used. In the construction, particularly of the vestibules and doors, important features developed by the Carnegie Steel Company, and not until recently undertaken, are incorporated. In the old methods of constructing vaults, vestibules and doors consisted of a multitude of plates and angles bolted together. Each vestibule of this vault will be made of one solid forging of nickel steel Harvey- ized armor plate, 115 in. wide, 115 in. high, and 24 in. thick, free of joints, screws or bolts, and each weighing 45 tons. The sides, tops and bottoms of vestibules will be finished to a thickness of 8 in., affording unusual pro- tection against operating upon locking mechanism in the rear of the doors. Each of the outer doors will be 16 in. thick, 91 in. in diameter; each will be one solid forged nickel steel Harveyized armor plate, seamless and screwless, weighing 17 tons, the frames holding the bolt- THE IRON AGE January 17, 1907 ing mechanism being a part of the solid forging. These doors will be constructed with devices for defeating the operation of electric burning. They will be fitted with bolting devices of the highest order of mechanism, work- manship and finish, all to be controlled by the most mod- ern combination and quadruple movement time locks. The inside folding doors are also to be solid forged nickel steel armor plate, 4% in. thick, fitted with heavy bolting mechanism controlled by dial combination locks, and altogether possessing the important advantages of security, whereby different officials of the bank can have control of the different locking systems of the outer and inner doors. The first floor compartment is arranged with double entrances, principally for the purpose of an emergency, guarding against accidental lockouts. These entrances to the vault will be provided with elevating platforms for the establishment of level floor lines from the banking room with the vaults, for the free passage of gold loaded trucks. The interior of the compartments will be fitted with a large number of safes of the most modern con- struction, of various sizes, for the different departments of the bank. The vault is to be completed in one year. The accepted designs for the vault were prepared by Geo. L. Damon, vault engineer for the Carnegie Steel Company, who will superintend the construction. Confidence in the superiority of the solid construction of armor plate vaults is evidenced by the noticeable fact that, in addition to more than 20 vaults of this character throughout the country, the following prominent moneyed institutions have recently placed contracts for such in- stallations: Philadelphia Clearing House, Girard Trust Company, Hamilton Trust Company, Philadelphia, Pa. ; American National Bank, Indianapolis, Ind.; Penobscot Safe Deposit Company, Detroit, Mich.; Union National Bank, Commonwealth Trust Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. ; Third National Bank, St. Louis, Mo.; Cleveland Trust Company, Cleveland, Ohio; Humboldt Savings Bank, San Francisco, Cal.; Commercial National Bank, Commercial National Safe Deposit Company, Chicago, Ill.; National City Bank, Carnegie Trust Company, New York City. —-—- ~~» eo The Lockhart Iron & Steel Company.—A recent fire at McKees Rocks, Pittsburgh, has caused the report to be widely circulated that the plant of the Lockhart Iron & Steel Company, which is located at that place, has been burned down. We desire to correct this report, as it is utterly untrue, the plant not having been injured in any way by the fire, but on the contrary is in operation to full capacity, turning out a larger product than ever be- fore. ne Concerning a publication in the daily press last week giving details of a purported agreement between the United States Steel Corporation and the International Harvester Company, one item being the purchase of all the steel requirements of the latter from the former, Pres- ident Cyrus H. McCormick of the International Harvester Company has issued the following statement: “The re- port of a conference between the president of the Inter- national Harvester Company and the chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Steel Corpora- tion, to effect a trade agreement between the two com- panies, is without any foundation in fact. The publica- tion of such a report is an injustice both to the Harvester Company and to the Steel Corporation. There has been no suggestion of community of interest between the Steel Corporation and the Harvester Company as to the buying of ore, operation of ore steamers, or the handling of for- eign trade, as stated in the press report, nor of any other transaction which could give rise to such a report, and no such arrangement is contemplated.” The Humphryes Mfg. Company, Mansfield, Ohio, is now in a position to meet the requirements of manufac- turers who are seeking high class brass foundry facili- ties. The company is prepared to fill orders for brass castings of any composition and for any class of service. as well as bronze, copper or aluminum specialty castings. January 17, 1907 The S. Obermeyer Company’s Chicago Plant. The Chicago plant of the S. Obermayer Company is lo- cated in that city in the block bounded by West Eigh- teenth and Rockwell streets, the Pennsylvania Railroad on the east side and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad on the south side. The main building, facing Rockwell street, is of brick, contains four stories and a basement and is 100 x 100 ft. in area. A number of small- er buildings are used for the storage of raw material and finished product. An office building, which is a recent addition, is located at the corner of Eighteenth and Rock- well streets, and is a one-story brick building with mod- ern equipment. The main building is divided by a fire wall, the north half being used for the manufacture of foundry facings and the reduction and refining of plumbago or graphite. Fig. 1.—Making Riddles—Woodworking Department. Fig. 3.—One of the Grinding Rooms. THE IRON AGE 189 enpacity of almost 100 tons of all kinds of facings very little actual labor is required, all the materials being handled by machinery, and that after the crude material once starts into the process it is not handled by men, but by machinery, which conveys the finished product direct into the packages in which it is shipped to foundries for use, In the wood working department flasks of all kinds, riddles, beilows, floor and bench rammers, brushes, sand sifting machines, tumbling barrels, clamps, &c., are manu- factured. It occupies a room 35 x 75 ft. and contains the latest improved machinery for the manufacture of these goods, including lathes, jointers, dovetailing machines, band and circular saws, wood turning lathes, drill presses, punches and shears, and wire cutting and boring ma- chines. Two views in this department, Figs. 1 and 2, show, respectively, the sections where riddles and flasks are made. About 35 men are constantly employed here, Fig. 2—Making Flasks—Woodworking Department. Fig. 4.—-One of the Storerooms. Views In the 8. Obermayer Company’s Chicago Plant. In this building there are 10 mills for reducing graphite, the capacity being about 10 tons per day, and in addition a special large mill for the same purpose, employing an air separating process, which reduces the graphite to an impalpable dust. This is probably the largest mill in operation in this country for this work. In the manufacture of mineral, soapstone and various other kinds of facings special burr mills, emery mills, bolting reels and special conveying machinery are used. A view in one of the grinding rooms is given in Fig. 3. A special building is devoted to the manufacture of sea coal facing, so that none of this facing can in any manner hecome mixed with the higher grades of plumbago and othe: foundry facings. This special sea coal plant has a canacity of 50 tons per day, the machinery including a coal dryer built especially for this purpose, the material being conveyed direct from this dryer by elevators and conveyors to the three grinders and from thence conveyed to the packers, which. pack the material in bags or barrels, as wanted. The most remarkable point is that with the present In the fire brick department the buildings are so ar- ranged with track service that one to two million fire brick, cupola blocks, &c., be stored with but little trouble. Off from this building is another drying house, 25 x 25 ft., where all the crude material is tested and dried before entering into the manufacturing processes. Five or six other buildings are used for storing manu- factured and crude material, and all are connected by an industrial railroad system with the various parts of the plant and private switches from both of the adjacent railroads. One of the storerooms is shown in Fig. 4. Power is developed by a 450-hp. Allis-Chalmers Corliss engine and transmitted to the different parts of the plant by a complete system of rope drives. The power plant is a separate building adjoining the main building. The company endeavors to manufacture all that is required for foundry use and advertises “ Everything you need in your foundry.” This, of course, includes not only foundry facings and supplies, but all kinds of equipment, such as tumbling mills, ladles and brass melting furnaces, of which there is a wide variety of different sizes and can 190 THE IRON shapes held in stock for immediate shipments. The loca- tion of the company’s three plants for the manufacture and distribution of its products in three of the most im- portant centers of the foundry industry—Cincinnati, Chi- cago and Pittsburgh—with factories and warehouses of similar kinds at each of these places, enables it to fill almost any order from stock in the warehouse nearest to the customer’s foundry. The S. Obermayer Company is general sales agent for many of the important specialties required by foundries, among them those manufactured by the Whiting Foundry Squipment Company, which it represents in the territory west of and including Pittsburgh. — + oe Beehive Coke Oven Practice.* Some Features of Construction and Operation. BY W. M. JUDD. Water for quenching the coke is supplied by a main, usually 4 in. in diameter, laid in front of the ovens, with a 1-in. connection for attaching a hose for every two ovens. If possible the main in front of the ovens should have tank connections at both ends so as to maintain approximately uniform pressure for the whole line of ovens. These tanks should not be over 50 ft. above the oven seat, as high pressure in the hands of careless or ignorant coke drawers may seriously injure the ovens. One of the simplest methods of charging the ovens was by the use of drop bottom mine cars, running cars from the mine on a track over the center of the trunnel heads and dumping directly into the ovens. This method of course was limited to a small plant, as several cars were required for a single charge and the time required to shift cars was too great to allow of the extension of the system to many ovens. Some form of larry was there- fore adopted originally that would hold sufficiept coal to charge a single oven. The drop bottom larry with the track straddling the trunnel heads was the earlier form, and there are some old plants which are still using this type, but the double side discharge larry is almost uni- versally used now. In this form the steel coal holding hopper, with sloping bottom, is set sufficiently high above the tracks to discharge the coal through the adjustable chutes into the oven trunnels on either side, the track being laid at the back of the ovens on bank ovens and between the two rows of ovens on block ovens. The mo- tive power for the larries has been, successively, the mule, the dinkey locomotive and the electric motor. Nearly all the newer plants of any size are using the self-propel- ling electric larry, either equipping all larries with motors or using some plain larries as trailers. The Question of Location, The location of the oven plant as a whole is a question that requires careful study by the engineer. The railroad connections that can be secured and the location of the loading sidings so as to give a grade of 1 to 1% per cent. for shifting cars by gravity along the ovens must be con- sidered in connection with the position and style of the coal bin adopted and the location that can be secured for the larry track from bin to ovens. While an approximate balancing of excavation and filling is usually attempted, yet there may be economy in quite large waste of excava- tion, in order to save in the amount of dry masonry re- quired. For plants not exceeding 100 ovens, bank ovens, or ovens built in a single line against a side hill, are usually the cheapest to build, as they can be located following ap- proximately the contour of the ground so as to secure the most economical adjustment of excavation and ma- sonry. It is not infrequently the case in narrow valleys with steep side hills that nothing but bank ovens can be built except at the expense of excessive excavation and masonry. The drainage both of surface and underground water must be carefully provided for with bank ovens, * From a paper read before the Structural Section of the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania. Mr. Judd is of the W. G. Wilkins Company, Pittsburgh. AGE January 17, 1907 and quite expensive work is required at times to divert springs which appear as the excavation is carried down. As 100 ovens in line require approximately 1500 lineal feet of ground, it is easy to be seen that the extension of a line much beyond that limit will run one into diffi- culties. Even if suitable ground can be secured for a longer line of ovens and for the railroad loading track the additional travel of the larry will cause delay in charging or the use of more larries. Block ovens—that is, ovens built back to back in a double line—occupying less ground and served by a single larry track located on the center line between the two lines of ovens, are therefore better adapted to the larger plants. A very economical arrangement, where the ground is suitable, is the combination of one line of bank and one line of block ovens, one loading track in this case serving for the bank ovens and one side of the block. With the mine opening and the railroad tracks fixed the engineer may have very little latitude as to the loca- tion of the oven plant, but economy in construction and operation of both mines and ovens can be secured by a eareful study of both surface and underground topog- raphy before locating mine openings, branch railroads and coke ovens. Coke Drawing Methods, Any one who has watched the method of drawing coke by hand must have wondered that some mechanical proc- ess had not been adopted to do away with such heavy and disagreeable work, and many experiments have been made and machines more or less successful have been built. At least one style of machine has come into quite extensive use in the past year or so, probably to a large extent because ovens already built can be adapted to its use with slight changes. This machine, operated by elec- tric motors, runs on a track in front of the oven doors. A wedge-shaped shovel, operated by a rack and pinion sliding on the oven bottom, lifts the coke on the forward stroke and scrapes it on the back stroke onto a conveyor running parallel with the ovens, and a cross conveyor delivers the coke into railroad cars. This latter conveyor is adjustable so that any, hight of car can be loaded. It will be seen, therefore, that at a plant using this type of machine exclusively, if no provision were made for stock- ing coke, a yard only wide enough for the operation of the machine and practically on the level of the railroad tracks could be used. The safer plan, however, would be to provide some storage for-coke, and at least a low yard wall to render the reloading of stock coke less difficult. The only changes in the standard construction to acom- modate this machine have been to provide wider doors to the ovens and increase the hight from yard level to oven seat about 1 ft. The wear and tear on the ovens by the machine is quite noticeable, especially the abrasion of the jambs and tile. ; The increasing difficulty of securing coke drawers and the decreased cost of mechanical drawing will undoubt- edly lead to the wider adoption of coke drawing ma- chines, of the type described above or of some other type, and it would indeed be strange if further modifications of the beehive oven were not made to better adapt it for the use of machines. I cannot state from memory the difference in cost between drawing an oven by hand and drawing it by machine, but the amount of labor required is reduced very materially. The drawing of two ovens is considered a day’s work. A machine of the kind referred to will take care of 25 or 30 ovens a day. It requires two men on the machine proper, and usually two men that follow the machine, as it will not draw the coke out of the corners, and a man to wet down the coke ahead of the machine. The machine in use so far has not been in serv- ice for many years, and, as is always the case with a new machine, it is developing weak points which are being improved and strengthened from time to time. They are quite expensive to keep up, but there is no question that there is considerable economy in their use. This season, when all the plants were short of coke drawers, has brought a number of operators to the point of putting in machines. Utilization of Waste Heat, Even the casual visitor to a coke plant is impressed by the apparent waste in the smoke and flame issuing January 17, 1907 from every trunnel head, and to the engineer this con- stant loss of energy seems little short of criminal. In the by-product oven the attempt has been made to utilize as large a percentage as possible of the gases and heat given off in the coking process. No discussion can be entered into at this time as to the relative merits of the coke pro- duced by the by-product ovens and the beehive type, or of the practical reasons that have prevented the erection of the by-product ovens at the mines to any large extent. A successful utilization of a portion of the waste heat, however, is now being accomplished at some of the more recently completed plants. This consists in using the waste heat for generating steam in the power plant. The construction adopted up to date has been to connect each oven of a line of bank ovens by a flue with a main flue located at the rear of the ovens, conducting the gases to the boilers. A very effective demonstration of the power wasted by the beehive oven is given at a plant recently completed, where from the waste heat of 50 ovens all the electric power required, both for mining opera- tions and at the coke ovens, for two plants aggregating 800 ovens is being generated at the present time, and at this same plant, within a short time, 100 ovens will fur- nish the power for the operation of five mines and coke plants, aggregating 1500 ovens. If a market for the power could be secured a further development of the use of waste heat for power purposes would doubtless bring about the making of other changes in the construction of the ovens. Whether run of mine coal can be charged directly in the ovens, or whether the coal must first be crushed, or whether it must be washed as well as crushed, may have a very material influence upon the location of the ovens and some of the details of their construction. [The extracts above are from Mr. Judd’s paper. Be- low are given some portions of his comments in the dis- cussion of the paper.—THE Eprror.] The Most Effective Size of Ovens, The ovens have been developing in size. The earlier ovens were 10 ft. 6 in. to 11 ft. in diameter, and were gradually increased until 12 ft. 3 in. was considered standard. Ovens have been built up to 13 ft. in diameter. I think the general opinion now is that 12 ft. 6 in. is about as economical as you can get. It depends a little on the coal you are going to use. With some coals you can use a larger charge and larger ovens than with others. The majority of the new plants I know of have been using a 12 ft. 6 in. oven, about 8 ft. from high tile to trunnel head. In West Virginia two or three ovens were built 20 or 25 ft. in diameter, but I have not heard what results were obtained. The size is somewhat arbi- trary. I know of one plant where the ovens are built 13 ft. in diameter, but the experience is that there is no larger yield from these ovens or any better coke than from the 12 ft. 6 in. ovens. There are three plants under one management where they have 12 ft., 12 ft. 6 in. and 13 ft. ovens, respectively, and they have found from ex- perience that the 12 ft. 6 in. ovens give the best results. They secure a very little larger output and the cost of charging and handling the larger amounts Is somewhat greater. The distribution of air for burning volatile matter, as the ovens are built with the same size door, is a little different as the oven increases and the hight of the crown is raised, and just the proper relation between the hight of the crown and the diameter of the oven comes into consideration, so that it would require prob- ably quite a series of experiments with any particular diameter to secure the best results. Take the ovens being built for the Frick Coke Company. They have a little lower crown this year, ag,the company thinks it will get better results out of the oven. I do not know that any of them have been in service yet to see whether there is any material difference. Answering the question as to the availability of a 15-ft. oven, there are difficulties from the construction point of view. If you get much more than 13 ft. 6 in. you get too wide an arch, with more pressure than the brick will stand. Wither the oven will be too high or go flat that there will be a tendency to crush in—that.is, following the ordinary construction of beehive ovens. THE IRON AGE Ig! In answer to the question whether if an oven could be built 20 ft. in diameter and properly designed just as good coke could be made in it as in a 12-ft. oven, I should say there might be difficulty in getting the proper distribution of air over the bed of coals. The air as it comes in now passes over the coal and burns the volatile matter and passes out the tunnel hole. Whether with a small door in a 20-ft. oven there would be a tendency to burn better in the center than on the sides and thus not get a uniform quality of coke throughout the oven, I could not say. The Life of Beehive Ovens, The life-of an oven is extremely variable. Some of them have been 10, 12 and 15 years in service, but they are exceptional cases. Usually an oven requires some lit- tle repairs in the course of a year or so. It depends very largely on the quality of brick that goes into it in the first place. The charge for a 12 ft. 6 in. oven on 48-hr. coke is about 64% to 7 tons. For 72-hr. coke they increase it to 74% and sometimes as high as 8 tons. The ordinary larry that is used now holds about 200 bushels level full and for a 72-hr. charge it is heaped as high as possible and frequently side boards added. As to the question whether the coke could not be taken out without quenching it in the oven: Of course the less water that can be put on the coke and yet quench it the better the quality of the coke. But in any case you must put on enough water to extinguish entirely any fire, otherwise your coke will catch fire in a steel rack as well as in a wooden one. It happens once in a while that coke that has not been sufficiently quenched is put in a car and catches fire. The question of the breaking up of coke is of course one of the strong arguments raised against coke drawing machines. There has not been any machine made yet that does not break up the coke to a greater or lesser ex- tent. It would seem that this is not a very strong point, however, for by the time it is drawn from the oven to the yard and forked from the yard into a barrow, dumped from the barrow into the car and from the car to the yards. or bins at the furnace and then reloaded into the furnace skip, it gets to the furnace anything but large coke at best. The furnaces are using coke drawn by machine, and, as I understand, with very fair results. Some of the furnaces used to require that their coke be shipped in box cars or cars with tops. Of course the pro- tection of the coke in transit is an advantage. But for furnace coke the use of cars with tops has been nearly abandoned. The Illinois Steel Company when it first began getting its coke in the Klondike region installed a series of cars with removable roofs, intending to have all the coke covered in transit. Those cars are still in service now, but their roofs are over the bank. —_—_—_—_—— |S oe The Electrically Heated Bath for Hardening Tools. —Good results are reported in the use of the electrically heated bath for hardening and tempering steel, described in The Iron Age of January 3, 1907. A Sheffield, Dngland, correspondent refers to the experiments of one firm in that district in the treatment of turning tools and milling cutters. The tools, which were made of Rex No. 1 high speed steel, were heated in a bath registering 1400 degrees C., and hardened in a blast, the time in the bath being 1 min. 20 sec. in each case. The feature of the furnace is that, as the electric current passes through the steel the whole piece i