The Iron Age 1908-11-12: Vol 82 Iss 20

THE IRON AGE Published every Thursday Morning by David Williams Co. 14-16 Park Place, New York. Fol. 82: No. 20. New York, Thursday, November 12, 1908. $8.00 a Year. including Postage Reading Matter Contents ....... page 1408 Clesiied Let Aévertoors 176 emington, Power Advertising and Subscription Rates ‘‘ 1419 | REED F. BLAIR & CO. PRICK BUILDING, PITTSBURG, PA. . STANDARD CONNBLSVILLEB | Photograph of U. M. C. COK E a hatchet pete. penetrated by . FOUNDRY FURNACE CRUSHED | oft point .25 Rem, The Original and only Genuine bullets from 35 Rem: R . . ‘* STILLSON cota o» Autoloading WRENCH Rifles. Cartridges is manufactured by Used. WALWORTH MFG. CO., Boston, U. S. A. And bears their registered Trade-Mark THE BRISTOL COMPANY MANUFACTURERS OF ** Loads Itself ”’ Powerful shooter—powerful seller Send for Litsvature. h - H. Bristol a a. REMINGTON ARMS COMPANY, Pyrometers Ilion, N. Y. 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NICKEL ANODES en Bicycle Lanterns BRASS, BRONZE, COPPER in all forms Send for Circulars and Electrotypes. \ THE SEYMOUR MFG. CO., Seymour, Conn. 7 |] The BRIDGEPORT BRASS CO. BRIDGEPORT, CONN. _ HENDRICKS BROTHERS ||" lexyceaioxe“* Manufacturers of Sheet ana Bar Copper, Copper Fire Box Plates| 2 3» PHOSPHOR-BRONZE and Staybolts, Wire and Braziers Rivets| ;- Ca ‘Importers and Dealers in ; s y GERMAN SILVER Ingot Copper, BI Tin, Spelter, ‘ Y - Lead, Antlnony, Bismuth, Nickel. ete sae Meracco. 49 CLIFF STREET : a NEW YORK pedi RIVERSIDE, N. J. [oSRARY occ. - \\ ool Rec .ivgG nov /13 7608 cop sia Entry CLAZS COPY A. --o : - THE IRON AGE New York, Thursday, November 12, 1908. Vanadium and Its Estimation. BY GEORGE AUCHY, PHILADELPHIA, One of the most interesting questions of the iron trade at the present time is whether or not vanadium is all that it is claimed to be. The property of nickel, chrom- ium and tungsten (and manganese, also, according to Dr. Guillet, who stoutly maintains that so long as the steel is pearlitic—that is, under 3 per cent. manganese in an 0.80 carbon steel—there is no brittleness), of giving to the pearlitic steels containing them the same qualities as carbon, without lessening the resistance to shock as car- bon dees, has been known and utilized for many years. Now, is the new arrival and rival, vanadium, as much better than nickel and chromium as we are disposed to think it is? Poverty of Proof and Wealth of Assertion, The claim that it is so much superior, coming as it does from all quarters, and with so much confidence and emphasis, is one that it would be hardihood to question or dispute, and the writer does not propose to do so, and, moreover, is not competent to form an opinion one way or the other, but there is one thing that is clear, and it is that to which he briefly wishes to call attention, namely, the astonishing poverty of proof as compared with the exuberant wealth of assertion in this matter. It is true that J. Kent Smith, in the Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers for 1907, gives a very re- markable instance of the immense superiority of vana- dium steel over ordinary steel in resistance to shock, but a single instance is hardly convincing. The superiority might be accidental and due to something else. Going clear back to the beginning for further evidence, we find another instance, quoted by Dr. Guillet, when the pre- liminary tests at the Firminy Steel Works, France, gave the following: Tensile. Elastic. Elongation. Kilos. Kilos. Per cent. Without vanadium............ 87.6 75.5 10 WVEURY VEMORIGIE . 66s i Sac tic c cas 115.2 109.5 11.3 And the latter hardened far more by quenching. Here is another remarkable case, and if this and Mr. Smith’s instance, previously quoted, were all that we had, we would probably be satisfied that vanadium is bet- ter than nickel or chromium, but when we come next to Professor Arnold’s first tests and find that in a high earbon steel an increase of vanadium from 0.14 to 0.77 per cent. raises the tensile strength only from 106.6 to 121 (without it is true lessening the elongation), we be- gin to feel uncertain again, for obviously nickel or chrom- ium could accomplish this much. Another test by Pro- fessor Arnold, this one on an iron, although a very strik- ing one, does not give us much information because we have no idea what nickel or chromium would do in an iron. Enthusiasm With No Apparent Reason, Then when we come to Dr. Guillet’s own tests (Jour- nal Iron and Steel Institute, 1905, II, 2118), and find that comparing his 0.20 to 0.30 per cent. vanadium steels with his 0.75 to 1 per cent. vanadium steels (he gives us no common steel tests for comparison), the latter in the great majority of cases either show no improvement at all over the former, or else an improvement in tensile strength and elasticity only at the expense of ductility and tough- ness, and that in the remaining cases—the cases where there really is improvement in 1 per cent. vanadium steels over 0.25 per cent. vanadium steels—the improve- ment does not seem greater than that we would expect from nickel or chromium, we are puzzled to account for his very evident high opinion of vanadium, a high opinion which is at its maximum in the case of quenched pearlitic nickel vanadium steels. Here he becomes very enthu- siastic indeed, and the reason for his enthusiasm is not very apparent, except he has some sources of information outside his tests. These latter do not seem to justify en- thusiasm. For when we hunt out, in another article, re- sults of quenched nickel chrome steels that he tests, and compare them with these wonderful quenched nickel vanadium steels, we see that there is practically no dif- ference in favor of vanadium, thus: Tensile Elongation. Shock Hard- strength. Percent. test. ness. C, 0.30; Ni, 63 V, O06@-..... 144 10 9 321 C, 0.20; Ni, 6; Cr, 0.50..... 143 10 11 277 Again : Oaes e 6s VV; GM. cs. 159.5 10 1 321 Cy Ges are OF Wy Beccccces 155 8 9 387 Again : Gi Qaes oe Gs ¥; O80... a8. 144 10 9 321 G& Giles Ma Ss Ce Sin. css 143 7 8 444 These comparisons, the best that could be found, make us so skeptical about the great superiority of quenched nickel vanadium steels that we look further through his article on quaternary steels to see if vanad- ium has any superiority even over the cheapest and most common of elements in the way of improving quenched nickel steels. We find: Tensile Blongation. Shock Hard- strength. Percent. test. ness. C Gees. me SB: 'V, GOB... +4 117 8 11 387 ch Wee Oe, We Bias cence 129 0 3 851 Again : CG Te, SF Vi Bic ics vives 149 6 6 269 C, G205 Mi, Ss. Oi, O80...... 169 3 6 418 From which it might be inferred that silicon, if not too high, is considerably superior to vanadium for use in quenched nickel steels. None of the above comparisons are selected, but all were taken that could be found, most of his tests being made on high nickel and not on pearlitic nickel steels, and but few tests on pearlitic steels are given. But these few utterly fail to corroborate the lat- ter part of his statement that “ Vanadium has the prop- erty of causing an extraordinary increase in the tensile strength of the quenched pearlitic nickel steels by com- parison with the normal steels; while the elongations re- main fair and the steels are markedly non-brittle. The author cannot call to mind any other element which is capable of giving similar results.” On the contrary, it would seem from his own results, quoted above, that al- most any other element is capable of giving similar re- sults. It can hardly be possible that such a universally fa- vorable opinion of vanadium as exists in the iron trade to-day can have no foundation whatever to rest on, but why is it that when a famous investigator sets out to in- vestigate and to prove, his results can be gone over with a fine-tooth comb, so to speak, without dragging to light any corroborative instances; and how is it that in spite of this poverty of proof, the investigator still stoutly ad- heres to this favorable belief? A Peculiar View of the Effect of Vanadium, In a subsequent article on “ Quaternary Steels” (Jour- nal Iron and Steel Institute, 1906, II, 1), Dr. Guillet again takes up vanadium, makes fresh tests, and says: “The author believes more firmly than ever in the future of nickel-vanadium steel, but he is in the position to af- firm that investigations should be confined to steels con- taining from 0.10 to 0.30 per cent. carbon, from 2 to 7 per cent. nickel and 0.10 to 0.30 per cent. vanadium. In- deed, it is quite possible that it might become necessary to limit the amount of vanadium permissible to below 0.05 per cent.” That is to say, he still believes in vana- dium (more firmly than ever, in fact), but the less you use of it the better! The obvious view favorable to vanadium that can be taken from Dr. Guillet’s latest statement is that vanadium does not act to improve steel because of any good quality that it itself imparts to steel (it imparts no good quality to steel, but just the reverse), but because it takes out of the steel another bad element—oxygen—and therefor we 1358 want just enough of it to accomplish this, and no more. The auswer to this view of the case is that although it is doubtless quite true that vanadium is a far better deoxi- dant than carbon, manganese or silicon, yet at the same time these latter are strong deoxidants, and it is hard to believe that, at the temperature of molten steel for a considerable time, the carbon, manganese and silicon of the charge could fail to take care of all the oxygen present; that is, in a crucible steel for instance, which finishes up with 1 per cent. carbon, 0.30 per cent. man- ganese aud 0.20 per cent. silicon, there is enough of these elements to make it impossible for the oxygen to with- stand their attacks through all the period of melting, “killing” and teeming, and therefore if they take out all the oxygen, the vanadium could do no more, no matter how much stronger a deoxidant it may be. So-Called Deoxidizing. The addition of aluminum or silicon to the charge just before teeming is sometimes spoken of as a deoxidizing operation, but, according to Brinell and other authorities, it is not so at all, but quiets the steel simply because it in- creases the solubility of the gases in the steel; the oxygen, it would seem, being already disposed of by the carbon, manganese and silicon originally present in the charge. But cannot, and as a matter of fact does not, the dis- solved gas consist mainly of carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide? According to well-known facts, manganese and silicon at a low temperature have a greater affinity for oxygen than carbon has. It is on this principle that the making of washed metal depends. Therefore, we would expect that while yet in the furnace the gases would consist of oxides of carbon mainly, but that when withdrawn from the furnace, the silicon and manganese present in the charge would take out and transfer to the slag the oxygen of the carbon dioxide and monoxide. As a matter of fact, investigation has shown the gases of cold steel to be not carbon oxides but hydrogen and nitrogen, quite as bad of course in their effect on the steel as carbon monoxide or dioxide, and absolutely beyond the curative power of vanadium. But if there is no oxygen in crucible steel, how is it that the best crucible steel will always show “slag and oxides”? The answer is that it must be all slag and no oxide. The teeming of the steel mixes up the slag with the steel to some extent, and the metal cools too quickly to permit it to all rise to the top. Right here the thought occurs, why not avoid this mixing by letting the steel get cold in the crucible in such cases where the crucible is in use for the last time? The practical objection probably would be that the cru- cible could not be cleanly broken away from the steel when cold, and it would be too much trouble to remove it. To return to our subject: The case is entirely different in the strongly oxidizing open hearth furnace, and with a charge in which the carbon, manganese and silicon have been practically all burnt out. Here it would not be at all surprising if the dissolved carbon monoxide and car- bon dioxide gases were not destroyed by the manganese added to the ladle before teeming, the time for the re- action being a short one. As a matter of fact, Belloc (Bull Soc. Encouragement, 110, 492), has proved that the guses dissolved or occluded in a cold open hearth steel containing carbon 0.10 per cent., silicon 0.03 per cent., manganese 0.38 per cent., consist very largely of oxides of carbon—dioxide and monoxide—also hydrogen and nitrogen. In such a case, then, it is quite probable that vanadium (or perhaps better, titanium, since the latter is supposed to remove nitrogen also) would serve better than manganese to add to the ladle. But even with crucible steel it is not at all beyond dispute that the car- bon, manganese and silicon of a charge take out all of the oxygen. Perhaps they do not take out all the oxygen. Perhaps, therefore, the addition of vanadium serves a useful purpose, and makes a sure job of it. A Series of Shock Tests Needed. But with all this granted, the puzzling question re- mains, why is it so hard to find actual tangible proofs of vanadium’s usefulness in the experiments so far made and published?’ What the iron trade needs at the presert time is a series of shock tests where vanadium steels, preferably hardened, are compared with nickel, chrom- jum, tungsten, manganese and silicon steels made exactly THE IRON AGE November 12, 1908 the same way. Doubtless this has been done over and over again by different works and the results found fa- vorable but not published. But, if so, why do those re- sults that have been published prove so inconclusive? One cannot believe the iron trade entirely wrong in its estimate of vanadium, but may be excused, at the same time, for having doubts; especially as it is a matter of past experience that the iron trade is not much disposed to take the trouble to get to the bottom of anything chemical, but prefers to guess at it. Thus, for instance, in the matter of such common elements as phosphorus and sulphur in steel, the trade spends thousands of dol- lars every year in making phosphorus and sulphur tests, but has never yet, as far as we are aware, spent a single cent to find out just how much phosphorus or sulphur it takes to spoil the steel. The Estimation of Vanadium. So, although whether or not vanadium is all that it {s supposed to be may remain an unsettled question for many a long year to come, one thing is sure: the chemist will be busy making vanadium tests. Luckily this is @ simple matter, as follows: Reduction by strong hydro- chloriec acid to the V,O, condition, evaporation with sulphuric acid to complete expulsion of the hydrochloric, dilution and titration with permanganate. This is easy if the iron be not first separated. But A. A. Blair, in a recent article in the Journal of the American Chemical. Society, follows Campagne in stating that the iron must be separated first from the vanadium before the reduc- tion and titration of the latter takes place. Why? It makes the method a tedious one. The only reason the writer can see is the fact that the end point of titration cannot be distinguished with much iron present, and the liquid hot when titrated. But if the liquid (in a bulk of 350 c.c.) be cold then there is no difficulty in getting the end point of the titration. Must the liquid then be hot? The following tests with vanadium solution, titrations made in the cold, seem to answer this question in the negative : Per cent. found: 1.15; 1.13; 1.15; 1.14; 1.15; 1.115; 1.18; 1.13; 1.18; 1.12; 1.18; 1.18; 1.15; 1.16. Per cent. present, by reduction with zinc to V,O, form.. Per cent. present, by mercurous nitrate.......... - 118 - 1.10 Then a new vanadium chloride solution was analyzed, found to contain no impurity except alkali and the vanadium determined in an aliquot portion gravimetric- ally by mercurous nitrate precipitation with the following results: Vanadium per cent. :1.36; 1.39; 1.34; 1.37; 1.85; 1.386; 1.36. Then volumetric titrating cold, per cent.: 1.85; 1.83; 1.36; 1.38 ; 1.29; 1.31; 1.29. Then with iron present equivalent to a sample of steel, titrat- ing cold: 1.37; 1.38; 1.39; 1.88; 1.37; 1.388; 1.86; 1.38; 39. ies aoaend iron, titrating hot: 1.37; 1.37. A point is made by Treadwell that has so far, it ap- pears, been entirely ignored by other analysts. He states that strong hydrochloric acid reduces V,O,; to a variable mixture of V.O, and V,O,. If this be true, results by the above would come too high. The above results quoted by the writer were plainly not too high, but yet he had three results that were too high, as follows: 1.48; 1.52; 1.55. He attributes these three results to the fact stated by Dr. Treadwell, but evidently this error is one that occurs rarely. To avoid it, the writer, when the liquid is ready for titration, instead of titrating, evaporates again to pastiness, to give the V.O,, if present, plenty of opportunity to oxidize up to V,O,. But whether or not this precaution is efficacious, and serves its purpose, the writer cannot say positively. He has not had any high results since its adoption, but may have yet some time. Or a current of air through the hot liquid before titration might serve. A blank test made with steel drillings vanadium free must be made, not once for all, but each time a test is made, or at least every time a different bottle of sulphuric acid is used. The blank seems to vary with the sulphuric acid. But it is safest to do a blank every time. In chromium vanadium steels, it must be found by trial, adding definite amounts of chromium to vanadium— free drillings—how much of the permanganate is used in neutralizing the green color imparted by the chromium. eeeeee November 12, 1908 A Unique Fire Alarm System. That of the Maryland Steel Sparrows Point. Company at BY J. H. K. SHANNAHAN, JR. The town of Sparrows Peint, Md., where the plant of the Maryland Steel Company is located, is situated at the mouth of the Patapsco River, and is well laid out and carefully cared for by an efficient organization un- der the direction of the steel company. Among the up- to-date conveniences of the town are an underground sewer system, electric lights, a water system which draws its supply from artesian wells driven to a depth of from 150 to 400 ft.; a uniformed police force and 4 volunteer fire department. The fire department has a Fig. 1.—One of the Fire Alarm Boxes. hose house, centrally located, with auxiliary equipment stationed at other points about the town and works. Perhaps one of the most unique features of the town and certainly one of the most interesting, is the fire alarm system, which is the invention of one of its own residents, A. J. Woodworth, the chief electrician of the steel company. This system, which is electrically oper- ated, sounds each alarm by blowing a number of blasts simultaneously on three large steam whistles supplied by boilers which are constantly under steam. The num- bers blown are those of the box from which the alarm is turned in, and as the whistles are located, one at the ex- treme western end of the works, one near the center and the other at the eastern end-.of the town, the whole town, including the plant, is made aware of the breaking out of a fire. Cards giving the numbers and locations of the boxes are widely distributed among the uifferent offi- ces in the works and the residences and public places of the town. All members of the volunteer fire department are em- ployees of the steel company.or of the Sparrows Point Store Company. (Only employees of one or the other concerns live at Sparrows Point.) The fire department is divided into several well drilled companies. When an alarm is turned in, the members of the fire department are allowed to leave their work and proceed at once to the equipment station of the company to which they belong. If the men are detained at a fire after working hours, they are allowed overtime just as though they were in the shops on special work. Usually a company is made up of the men working in a given department, so that in case of a fire in that department, prompter service may be had. The other companies also respond, but by distributing the several companies in this man- ner, the work of the department is facilitated. The steel company furnishes and maintains all equipment and pro- vides the department with a commodious meeting place, with reading room, &c. The town, including the steel company’s works, cov- ers an area of probably two square miles, and has 15 alarm boxes distributed at suitable places. These are THE IRON AGE 1359 uumbered as follows: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 32 and 33. Obviously a number having a cipher in it could not be blown and the numbers given the boxes were selected with a view of being easily Gistinguishable. Those numbers consisting of a single numeral are blown as short blasts. For a number in which two numerals appear, for instance, 24, the signal would be two short blasts followed by a pause, then four short blasts. The signal, whatever it may be, is repeated four times from the one turning in of the alarm. The alarm boxes, Fig. 1, are of iron, similar in ex- terior appearance to those used in some of the cities. When the system was first installed the key to each box was placed on the door of the box behind a thin piece of glass. This proved too much of a temptation to the mis- chievous to turn in false alarms, so now two keys for each box are left at houses within a few yards of the pole. A sign over the box tells where the keys may be found. When a fire is discovered, the door is unlocked, ex- posing a single lever, which the instructions explain is to be pulled down to the left as far as it will go, and then released. This winds a clockwork arrangement which revolves a small wheel notched with as many notches as there are blasts to be blown. If the signal is 24, the wheel will have two notches, a space, then four more, as in the diagram, Fig. 2. Just above the wheel is an arm or contact spring, set in hard rubber, whose metal point just touches the circumference of the wheel, thus form- ing a closed circuit. (One advantage of operating the system on a closed circuit is that if anything gets out of order, the circuit will be opened, which will cause the whistle to make a prolonged blast.) As this notched wheel, which is about 114 in. in diameter, revolves, the contact spring or arm comes to the vacant space caused by the notch, breaking the circuit. This releases a con- tact arm of a relay which is drawn back by a spring, making a contact that closes a secondary circuit through the coil operating the whistle. The spring of the clockwork, which revolves the sig- nal wheel, is strong enough to cause the wheel to make four complete revolutions, thus causing the signal to be repeated four times. This can be regulated at will to control the speed with which the signal is given. The system is so arranged that an alarm cannot be turned in from two different boxes at the same time. The spring, which may be seen attached to the side of fer iivetedaniih ke lo | or Fig. 2.—Diagram Showing the Signal Sender for the Number 24. the box in Fig. 1, when the lever is pulled down, comes in contact with the spring on the end of the lever, which cuts out all other alarm boxes by short circuiting them, so that an alarm turned in from them would have no effect at all. The first signal given would be blown cor- rectly. By means of the button provided in the lower part of the box, signals may be blown independent of the clockwork signal wheel, indicating by a single blast that the fire is out, or by other blasts, which cannot be mis- taken as another alarm, that more water is needed. An alarm is turned in every day at noon from first one box, then another, to test them all, and as this is thoroughly understood, the alarm sounded at that hour is not re- sponded to. As the system has been in continuous operation for about three years, with entire satisfaction, its practica- bility has been determined. While simple in design and operation, its simplicity is its greatest guarantee of effi- cient service. 1360 THE The Struggle in the German Iron Industry. (By an Occasional Correspondent.) MaINz, October 22, 1908.—When in the course of the past year, the retrograde movement in business set in, the prices of finished iron and steel declined rapidly. It was particularly in the products of the open hearth and of the “pure” rolling mills, the so-called B products, that prices within a short time reached a very low level. It was lowest, probably, in the late fall of last year, and was not even overcome in the spring. Under these cir- cumstances the struggle was resumed by the consumers of billets and blooms, and particularly the open hearth steel works, and “pure” rolling mills against the price policy of the raw material syndicates. For some time this fight has become more bitter, the relations between the “pure” and “mixed” .plants having grown more strained since the Steel Syndicate and the raw material syndicates have refused to put down the prices for raw materials and for coal. The development of the German iron industry has not been uniform through its history. Numerous rolling mills were established on the one hand and many blast furnace plants on the other. The obvious advantages of concentrated operations finally led to the rounding out or the consolidation into large “mixed” plants which embrace all the phases of iron manufacture from the pig iron to the finished product. Naturally, not all the works have been able to develop in this direction. Geographical position, at a distance from coal and ore, the lack of’ the enormous capital for such expansion and the character- istic German plan of retaining possession for one’s self and family, all stood in the way. The result is that there are now in existence: First, the great “ mixed” works, who begin with pig iron, manufacture everything themselves, and partly own their coal and ore. Second, the open hearth steel works, who must pur- chase pig iron and other charging materials, and the “pure” rolling mills dependent upon the market for bil- lets and blooms. The Claims of the Dependent Works. Between these two groups and the “mixed” works there exists in Germany a deep economic contrast which is explained by the unfavorable position of the former, as contrasted with the latter. The opinion is widely held that the much greater advantages of the “ mixed” works are due exclusively to the natural results of concentrated operations and that the misery of the dependent plants is the natural consequence (deplorable possibly, but yet necessary) of economic development. Concentrated operations do entail certain natural ad- vantages, particularly in the production of the heavier lines. But in the products which are chiefly made by the dependent mills, the advantages referred to are forced to the background by the greater economy in handling small plants, by the greater ease of supervision, and above all, by their greater adaptability to the desires and the quality requirements of customers. The principal and almost the only reason for the superiority of the great mixed works lies in the fact that they can build up their entire production to the finished product upon. duty free raw material, since they need only buy such ore as they do not themselves control, and that is duty free. Nearly the entire production of these works is free from customs payments. The open hearth steel works produce steel from a charge which consists of about 25 per cent. of pig iron and about 75 per cent. of scrap. The duty on pig iron and scrap is 10 marks per metric ton of 1000 kilos. Cal- culated on 1000 kilos of steel billets, this means a cus- toms charge of about 11 marks, while the large mixed basic Bessemer steel works may manufacture the pig iron which is the basis of their steel from free ore. The “pure” rolling mills who depend upon the open billet market are in an even more unsatisfactory position. The raw material of these mills—steel billets—is subject to a duty of 15 marks per ton. Figured on the finished product (sheets, bars, hoops, &c.), this is equivalent to IRON AGE November 12, 1908 a duty of 18 to 20 marks per ton. This the large “‘ mixed” works do not bear, because their only raw material (ore) is duty free. In England the movement in favor of protective duties is gaining ground. The abandonment on the part of Great Britain of free trade would, without doubt, seri- ously hurt the German industries. The German produc- tion of pig iron and of steel billets is so large that in normal times it is not, by far, absorbed by the home con- sumption. This means that there must be heavy exports. In free competition, the home prices would naturally be lowered, in view of this necessity to export, and the im- port duty on pig iron and steel could only be utilized to a very small degree. The open hearth works and “ pure” rolling mills therefore demand that they he placed on an equal basis with the “mixed” works by being granted their raw material free of duty, and they regard this demand as a simple act of justice. They ask that the duties on pig iron, scrap and steel be suspended, and later on be abolished altogether. This removal of these duties, according to the opinion of the “pure” rolling mills, would strengthen the hands of the free traders in Eng- land and hamper the advocates of a protective policy. The Reply of the Steel Syndicate. Naturally, the German Steel Syndicate could not re- main silent under these attacks, and a reply was made in an elaborate paper. The fact is not denied that the “pure” rolling mills have a difficult struggle, but they cannot expect the Steel Syndicate to abandon the manu- facture of B products for their sakes and to stop their mills. The “ mixed” works are as much—or possibly as little—finishing mills as the “pure” rolling mills. The difference between them consists in that the “ pure” roll- ing mills must buy their steel, while the “ mixed” works produce it themselves. Formerly the “pure” rolling mills did partly make their own steel, but later, relying upon the competition among the “mixed” works, they extended their rolling mill facilities without thinking of permanently securing their supply of steel. Then the “mixed” works had come to an agreement, and the “pure” rolling mills could not expect the steel works to go on fighting simply for their sake. The Steel Syn- dicate, during the last boom, delivered steel to the Ger- man roHing mills at an expense of their foreign cus- tomers. On the rising market the Steel Syndicate sold to the “pure” rolling mills for long deliveries and even at a time when prices had risen again, they had delivered at the old prices. Now the Steel Syndicate must try to recover, by concessions in prices, their foreign customers whom they had lost for the sake of the “pure” rolling mills. To remove the steel duty would be to cut into their own flesh, even for the petitioners who had not proved that the removal of the German iron duties would put them into a better position under prevailing conditions. The contrary would undoubtedly take place for them- selves and for the whole German iron industry. All who are cognizant of the present development in the British iron industry agree in the conviction that it will not do to weaken Germany’s fiscal position against her. If the great steel producing works of England do not yet fur- nish the rolling mills there with their requirements of steel—possibly with the idea that it will not do to sup- ply steel to one’s competitor—this does not prove that it will not be done later on. It might, under certain cir- cumstances, entail the greatest sacrifices to recover the protection necessary for the German iron industry if the existing duties were disrupted. So far as the export of steel to England is concerned, Great Britain does not yet produce enough for its manufacturing industries and Germany has no call to encourage an increase in steel manufacture on the part of England, by declining to de- liver steel to them. If Germany stopped supplying steel to England, then the English makers of sheets and wire would still, in normal times, be able to secure their steel for their home consumption cheaper than the German mills and wire drawers could get it, because then Amer- ica, France, Belgium, &c., would jump into the market. In spite of the progress made, the German iron in- dustry has higher costs than competitors in England, Bel- gium and France. English authorities claim that even in spite of the German protective duties the English iron industry would crowd back the German, if it were not for the existence of the iron syndicates in Germany. But England is at work on the removal of this lack of organi- zation, In the United States there is the Steel Corpor- ation as a constant threat against the iron industry of the Old World. If the Steel Syndicate in Germany were to break down, which would undoubtedly take place if the duties on steel billets were removed, then the United States Steel Corporation would not have to fear retalia- tion from any quarter, while to-day it extends its hand to international arrangements. With such competitors in the world’s markets, it is a matter of great regret that success has not yet attended the efforts to create syndi- cates in the B products. But it is entirely wrong to ad- vocate measures which, like the removal of the protective duty on pig iron and steel billets, would tend to disrupt the German syndicates. It is clear that for Germany the situation in the world’s markets is as unfavorable as pos- sible to a proposal to remove the duties on pig iron and steel. The United States and France will retain their high protective duties and England is making steady progress in tariff reform. All signs point to the fact that England has entered a period of passing from the free trade to the protective principle. Therefore, Germany must not disrupt the existing protective tariff unless it is not to be put at a disadvantage in the coming negotia- tions with England. Even the most ardent opponent of the duty on steel must confess that this duty should be kept intact, at least, for the present, as a means of trad- ing, in the negotiations with England. The indications are multiplying, too, that the English iron industry is aiming at the consolidations necessary for aggressive ac- tion and that its technical practice is improving. As yet the German government has not taken any measures in this struggle. It is probable that the Reich- stag, which reassembles next month, will discuss the question, —- oe - Remarkably Small Ohio Driving Chain. An interesting exhibit at the recent convention of the National Association of Agricultural Implement and Ve- hical Manufacturers, at Columbus, Ohio, was that made jointly by the Ohio Malleable Iron Company and the Jeffrey Mfg. Company of that city. This contained a dis- play of malleable detachable link chains, including many specimens which illustrated the substantial progress re- cently made by the former company in the refinement and production of malleable iron. The extremely malleable and ductile qualities and high tensile strength in the iron were shown by chain links bent double and distorted in form by impact. torsion, bending and tensile strains without the occurance of fractures. Two very small chains were also displayed to illus- Patterns from Which the Smail Chains Are Cast by the Ohio Malleable Iron Company. November 12, 1908 THE IRON AGE 1361 Running. Exhibit Shown by the Jeffrey Mfg. Company and the Ohio Malleable Iron Company. trate the molding qualities of the iron resulting from the high degree of fluidity obtained. The links composing the larger of these three chains were of %-in. pitch, 5-16 in. wide, with a maximum area in cross section of 1-16 in., while those of the smaller chain were 5-32 in. wide, 3-16- in. pitch, with a maximum cross sectional area of only 1-32 in. This is the more striking when it is considered that the sectional area of a conduit through which iron will run has commonly been limited to 3-32 in. For this achievement much credit is also due to skillful molding. The iarger of these chains is designated as Ohio Spe- cial .08 and the smaller as .008. Lengths of both were shown in suspension from scales, the .08 sustaining a weight of 75 lb. and the .008 of 15 lb. The pull on the former was increased by hand to 130 Ib. without visible effect on the links, and as these were assembled as made, without the usual tests to develop weak or defective parts, it may be safely assumed that with such parts eliminated the larger chain would develop a safe working strength of about 30 lb., or approximately one-half that of the ordinary commercial No. 25, which has four times its maximum area in cross section. To demonstrate the accuracy of pitch and uniformity in shape of the links composing these chains two running exhibits were shown, one a small rotary fan and the other a group 6f American flags, each driven by an elec- tric motor. The former was driven through a single strand of .08 chain, and the latter, which is herewith illustrated, by two strands of .08 and one strand of .0OS8 chain, three reductions being made. The chain speed was high in both cases, and the operation was very smooth and quiet. At the exhibit souvenirs were distributed, consisting of a watch fob having a short length of .08 chain at- tached, from which a nine-tooth sprocket wheel of cor- responding pitch was suspended, and three links of .008 chain pendant in the form of a stick pin. The gated pattern from which the parts forming these souvenirs were cast, imbedded in the match, were also on exhibi- tion. This is shown in the other of the accompanying engravings. It is stated by the companies that no special heat or composition of iron was resorted to in producing these chains, nor in fact any of the specimen links on exhibition, but that all were made in the,ordinary way from regu- lar heats and correspond in all respects to the daily run of the foundry. The Jeffrey Mfg. Company is the séle distributer of all the chains manufactured by the Ohio Malleable Iron Company. Rake caine angemnaaree Jo Se cee eta No vitae Nk TE os ch ite ately SS AGM, AMD Em mm 2 ae et See i. tielgeapatsit arm stein Sta (ate ne Ret i it eeRte ANN — cemt eati ¥ THE 1362 A Modern Steel Car Plant.* Features of the Detroit Shops of the American Car & Foundry Company. BY HORACE H. LANE. The regular steel car of 100,000 Ib. capacity weighs from 40,000 to 45,000 lb. In designing a plant to turn out 50 steel cars per day we must handle approximately 1100 tons of material each day. The operations this material goes through may be summed up as shearing, punching, pressing, assembling and riveting. To do these rapidly and economically we must lay out this plant so that the material progresses steadily forward from the time it enters as raw material at one end until it emerges as the finished car at the other. We will not discuss the building of the trucks, as that is usually done in another shop. The material we have to handle consists mainly of channels, angles and plates. In addition to this we must handle the drawbars, bolsters, brake rigging and some smaller parts which go to make up the car. After we have selected the necessary machine tools for performing the operations named, we must next ar- range them in the building so that we shall be able to fabricate this material with the least amount of handling, leaving the necessary room between the machines for storing the material being worked without making an unnecessarily large and expensive building, as an exces- sive amount of space not only means expense of the build- ing and ground, but increases the distance over which much of this material must be carried. At the Detroit plant of the American Car & Foundry Company the principal tools are four heavy shears, four multiple punches and four large presses. Shears. The four shears are capable of shearing a plate 10 ft. wide and 1 in. thick. There are also smaller shears of various types, including a special angle shear on a turn- table so that long angles can be cut at any angle with- out having to swing them around the shop; that is, the shear is turned so that it stands at an angle to the pile of material, thereby economizing shop room and labor. Punches, There are four multiple punches capable of punching a row of holes entirely across a plate 10 ft. wide at one stroke of the machine, and of sufficient length to take plates of 50 ft. in length. These machines deserve special mention, as they are self-spacing. There are two levers at the side of the machine (where the operator stands) like the reverse lever on a locomotive and about the same size. These levers have graduated arcs, one being grad- uated for inches and the other for eighths. By simply throwing these levers the machine will space any distance desired up to 7 in.; in other words, if you have a plate across which you want to punch a row of holes every 7 in., and this plate is started in the machine, with the spacing lever set to 7 in., the machine will automatically feed it through, punching a row of holes every 7 in. If instead of 7 in. you want to make it 4% in. or any other number, you simply set the lever to read that way. A great deal of the work put through these machines has various spacings on the same sheet. The operator, keeping his schedule before him, will set these levers to the proper spacing without stopping the machine, so that the plate goes forward automatically, first making a space of 4 in., another of 2% in. or whatever may be wanted. In addi- tion to this the punches are all arranged with gags so that any punch can be instantly thrown out and the holes omitted wherever it is desired. The operator also has a smaller lever in front by which he can instantly gag all the punches if for any reason he wishes to omit one spacing, or if he should possibly notice before the punches go down that he had made a wrong spacing, he could pre- vent the punches from doing any work. These gags * Extracts from a paper read before the Detroit Engineering Society. IRON AGE November 12, 1908 consist of steel blocks about 2 in. thick, above the punches, which are simply withdrawn so that the punch, instead of going through the sheet, slides up into the socket, or rather the punch and socket both slide up into the upper head or ram of the machine. These machines not only have the advantage of saving an immense amount of labor in marking and punching, but will do the work much more accurately than it is possible to do it by hand. The American Car & Foundry Company is, I believe, the only car manufacturer to use this type of machine. In addition to these multiple self-spacing punches is a va- riety of both small and large punches, such as will be found in any good structural shop. On some of the larger punches a great deal of special work can be done, such as coping flanges on I-beams or cutting the angles or channels to any special shape desired. Presses, This shop has two 1000-ton and two 500-ton presses, By 1000-ton we mean a press which will exert a pressure of 1000 tons on the work. Many cars have pressed steel sills. These are pressed cold from plates usually % in. thick and perhaps 30 in. wide at the center, tapering down to 18 or 20 in. at the end, these plates, of course, being the full length of the car. This work being too long to be done at one impression, the dies are made in three sections and all three sets of dies are placed on the press at once. The plate is pushed into the press and placed so that one-third of it is pressed. It is then pushed in farther and the middle section is pressed and is then pushed on for the third impression, each section of the sheet being pressed to its final shape at one stroke so that after the sheet has been passed through the press it is finished so far as the pressing is concerned. The dies for this work are about the heaviest things to be handled in the shop. The traveling cranes are made heavy enough to handle the dies, which are of cast iron, and which have to ‘be changed every time the press starts on a new lot of work. One of the 500-ton presses is what is known as the flanging press. This has three cylinders, the main plunger remaining stationary while the two auxiliary plungers push down the clamping bar, holding the sheet in place until the main platen comes down and bends it over. In some cars a great many sheets have the edges flanged at 90 degrees or less, according to the de- sign of the car. This work is done on this press. The presses used at this plant all have a fixed lower platen while the upper platen descends on the work. In some other plants presses are used where the upper platen re- mains stationary and the lower one rises. These are perhaps more particularly adapted to small work. On some of the smaller presses I have seen men insert four pieces simultaneously from all four sides of the press, so that four pieces were pressed at once, Each of these presses has near it a heating furnace, as most of the work pressed is heated. . The heating fur- naces at the large presses are 20 x 30 ft. and will take in any part of a car which needs to be heated. These are reverberatory furnaces, and in the Detroit plant they are fired with soft coal, although in some other plants they are heated with oil. In addition to the above machines there are saws for cutting off I-beams or other special shapes. There is a variety of other equipment which cannot be enumerated in detail. The truck shop has axle lathes, wheel borers, arch bar drills, wheel presses, &¢., such as are used in any truck shop. The axle lathes in the Detroit -shop are especially heavy modern tools, each driven by its own motor, the Bullock multiple voltage system being used, giving six changes of speed. There is a full machine shop equipment for taking care of the tools, including a heavy planer 10 ft. wide, this being necessary for fitting up the dies used in the presses. There are also four m