The Iron Age 1912-03-28: Vol 89 Iss 13

Established 1855 New York, March 28, 1912 Vol. 89: No. 13 Plant of the Portsmouth Steel Company Late Developments in an Ohio River Steel Works—Arrangement and Equipment of Plate Mill, Bar Mill and Jobbing and Sheet Mills Che plant of the Portsmouth Steel Company is located at Portsmouth, Ohio, in what was originally known as the Hanging Rock district, where the first blast furnace west of Pittsburgh was built, and consists of open-hearth steel works, blooming mill, plate mills, sheet and jobbing mills and pickling, galvanizing and corrugating works. The Portsmouth Steel Company is the successor of a” small lhe Continuous Bar Heating Furnace for the Bar Mill, business tounded in 1871. The original plant was located im the west end of Portsmouth at the junction of the Scioto and Ohio rivers. Owing to the steady growth of the company, it was deemed necessary in 1898 to remove ythe plant to the eastern part of Portsmouth whére more ground was secured, the new location also affording bet- ter eailroad and shipping facilities. At that time the prod- ust consisted of steel bars, plates and small structural shapes, also special five-ply and vault steel plates. The resent Owners acquired the property in 1901, which then Sonsisted of two acid and one basic open-hearth furnace, one 22-1n. blooming mill, one 28 x 60-in. jobbing mill and ‘aa 2i-in. bar mill. This equipment was not modern and id not meet the purposes of the new company and was early discarded. The entire plant has been rebwilt and enlarged ind the latest modern furnaces, mills am@ other egy has been added to brig the plant strictly up — \t Present the works of the Portsmouth Steel gy ‘onsists of seven 60-ton basic open-hearth fur- gd -in, blooming mill, an 84-in. three-high plate an n. three-high bar mill, one 48-in., one 60-in. and 7 one 66-in. jobbing mills, five hot sheet mills and three stands of cold rolls, together with pickling, annealing and galvanizing departments. The plant parallels the Ohio River and is on the Southwestern Division of the Balti- more & Ohio and on the Norfolk & Western Railroad. The open-hearth building is .100 x 528 ft. in plan and contains two charging machines installed by the Wellman- Showing a Part of the Plate Mill Engime at the Right Seaver-Morgan Company. Cleveland. In the casting bay operating the entire length of the building are two 1oo-ton ladle cranes equipped with 25-ton auxiliaries. In addition, there is one 10-ton electric traveling crane and, at each of the furnaces, a jib crane has been installed for handling furnace spouts, etc. The cranes were installed by the Alliance Machine Company, Alliance, Ohio. The ingots are stripped by a 125-ton Morgan crame provided with a 10-ton auxiliary. The open-hearth furnaces are ali fired with natural gas, but are arranged for the use of producer gas or fuel oil. The gas producer plant, which is installed for emergency use, contains eighteen producers. All pig and scrap iron used in the open-hearth furnaces is unlgaded in the stock storage building by ¢ranes with electric magnets. This building is 65 ft. wide by 322 ft. long, with a 350-ft..open runway having two railroad tracks, one on each side of the structure. The yards are equipped for handling inbound and outbound freight and the transfer of materials from one department to another is made on standard gauge tracks laid with 70-lb. rails. The rolling stock consists of six locomotives varying from We Se Charging Crane Serving the Slab Heating Furnaces and the Plate Mill Table 20 to 60 tons, twenty-five 40-ton capacity flat and gondola cars and numerous charging box and hot metal cars for handling raw and finished material The soaking pit building is 66 x 200 ft. in size and con- * tains three 4-hole soaking pits with hydraulically operated covers. The pits are natural gas fired, but can be arranged for producer gas, if desired. Each of these pits is 7x9 ft. The entering table for the blooming mill parallels one end of these pits, making it convenient to handle the ingots. The blooming mill building is 84x 480 ft. in plan and is commanded by two cranes of the Morgan type; one of 30 tons capacity with a 10-ton auxiliary, and the other of 15 tons capacity. The reversing engine and the bloom- ing mill were installed by Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co., Pittsburgh. The 35-in. blooming mill has a capacity for breaking down ingots to 4x 4-in. billets or slabs 1% x8 in. The induction drive was furnished by the Wheeling Mold & Foundry Company. The product of the mill is cut by a steam-hydraulic shear, which has a capacity for slabs 10 x 30 in. or billets 17x 17 in. Space has been reserved for the future installation of another mill. The plate mill is of the three-high type having 30 x 84- in. rolls driven by a 44x 60-in. Corliss engine. The plate mill and engine were built by Mackintosh, Hemphill & Co. The slabs are heated in three gas-fired furnaces. The The Slab Heating Furnaces for the Plate Mill; the Approach to the Plate Mill at the Middle Left and the Billet Unloading Yar Bar Mill at the Left Background THE IRON AGE March 28, 191, plate mill building is in plan, with lean-t. side, 37 x 47 ft. wide. ; The tilting tables lically operated and di: small double cylinde: “ engines; while the s| ro an at a red heat they ar avoids from the shears at th: vii mill to the heating fu: S at the plate mill, where they are ch i and drawn by an improved typ of electric charging and drawing crane furnished by the Allianc Machine Company Plates as thick as 1% in. and varying ip width up to 78 in. and in lengt up to 480 in. are rolled. After th, plates leave the mill they ar passed through a series straightening or leveling rolls table having rollers driven by electric motors. At the end of the cooling tables the plates are marked off into the various sizes into which they are to be sheared and stamped with the origi: heat number for identification. A number of test pieces are cut from the plates, properly marked and delivered to the laboratory where such physical and chemical tests as are necessary to meet the requirements of the specifications are made The shearing department is equipped :with cut-off, slit- ting, circular and several small shears for cutting sketch plates for special requirements. After the plates are cut to the sizes ordered, they are carefully weighed and loaded into cars for shipment, the loading being done by two 10-ton and one 15-ton Morgan electric cranes. The 18-in. bar mill is of the three-high type and is operated by a 32x 54-in. Corliss engine installed by the Hooven-Owens-Rentschler Company, Hamilton, Ohio. Billets are unloaded from cars and are delivered by a lifting magnet to the pusher table of the continuous heat- ing furnace, which is of the latest type. The lifting magnet is of the Electric Controller & Mfg. Company manufacture The furnace is gas fired and is provided with water cooled skids. The mill is provided with an attachment for rolling universal plates, if desired. For emergency purposes ten gas producers are provided. The bar mill, roll and machine shop is 40x IIo ft. The tie plate, shearing and shipping building is 60 x 34 ft.. and is served by a 10-ton Morgan crane. The mill is fully equipped with mechanically operated entry and run-out tables for handling the product of the mill, which d for the nted Economy tie tured exclusively iirements. The tie veyed to a punch irtment, where in they are cut to hed to suit various fter inspection are for shipment. bbing and sheet nt was constructed [he mills are drives \Vackintosh-Hemp- gine, geared in the > to I with the mills ited on each side of sheet and jobboing It by the Wheeling oundry Company, WV. Va The west tains one 30 x 60- ) x 66-in. jobbing and sheet mills and the roughing stands g mills are equipped operated lifting ist train of mills 28 x 48-in. jobbing ree sheet mills and The product of the after rolling, is passed through continuous i.ces for blue annealing, and when the sheets rged from the annealing furnaces they are igh straightening or leveling rolls, and then long run-out cooling tables to the shears, are cut to the specified sizes, inspected and n the warehouse for shipment. The heating the jobbing mills are fired with producer the five sheet mills, sheets varying from No. 12 ) gauge in widths up to 48 in. are rolled. The ire box annealed in specially constructed furnaces 1 carried either to the warehouse for shipment pickling and galvanizing department. tire new department is under one roof, and the which is of steel construction, is 275 x 490 ft. in e roof is unusual in design, as it is not broken The Lifting Magnet for valleys. The building is divided practically into ays. The furnace bay is 80 ft. wide; the hot mill So it. wide; the annealing bay, 48 ft. wide, and the 11 use and shipping department, 58 ft. wide. The use and shipping department extends beyond the of the building a distance of j22 ft, 6 in. The e hight of the building to the peak of the monitor \ll of the cranes in this department were fur- cy < b * Geen Coal Handling and Automatic Stoker-Equipment in THE IRON Carrying Bars to the Continuous Heating Furnace of the Bar Mill nished by the Alliance Machine Company. The furnace building is served by a 20-ton crane with a 10-ton auxiliary ; the hot mill building, by a 4o-ton crane with a 15-ton auxiliary; the warehouse, by two 10-ton cranes, and the pickling and galvanizing department by two 5-ton mono- rail telphers. The sheet and jobbing mill equipment includes five pair furnaces, five double-sheet furnaces, six double-box annealing furnaces, three slab heating furnaces for the jobbing mills and three double open-annealing furnaces. [he pair, sheet, box-annealing and open-annealing fur- naces are stoker fired, coal being used for fuel. The slab heating furnaces are producer gas fired. The box-anneal- ing furnaces are-17 x 21 ft.; two of the slab furnaces are 8 ft. 6 in. x 21 ft. and a third is 7 ft. 6 in. x 19 ft. The open-annealing furnaces are 8 x 20 ft. For pickling the sheets four vats are provided with capacity for 54-in. stock. Each vat is served by an electrically driven plunger. From the pickling vats the sheets are delivered by the mono-rail to three water tanks and then to three muriatic acid tanks. In addition to the other equipment in the sheet finishing department are corrugating, crimping and corrugated curv- ing machines. The two cooling tables are, respectively, 350 and 400 *t. long. rad the No. 3 Boiler House; View of the Pumping Plant THE IRON AGE the Rollers’ Side of the 30-in. Sheet Mills In the galvanizing department are three galvanizing marketed in flat, corrugated and curved, V crimped and pots with the necessary pickling, washing and drying ac- pressed standing seam, etc. There will be but two grades cessories of special design for making high-grade galvan- of galvanized sheets manufactured, trade marked “Ports- ized sheets. The sheets from this department will be mouth Iron” and “Portsmouth open-hearth steel.” Before The Catchers’ Side of the Sheet Mills, Showing the Steam Engine Drive at the Left THE IRON AGE Jobbing Mill Heating Furnaces Showing in Background Parts of the Jobbing Mills gy and bundling each sheet must pass the scrutiny experienced inspector and the defective materia The department is located on the plant. ' . wi . ie cw eee A coal and ash handling plant has been installed in the new jobbing and sheet mills department and is ar ranged for handling and distributing coal to overhead ae NINN The Sheet and Pair Heating Furnaces Showing the Automatic Stokers AGE Marc! THE IRON 1912 Ries f- j rs : 4 4 i * > ? Enf of Box Annealing Furnaces, Showing Automatic Stokers, Method of Driving the Stokers and in the Distance at the Right th. Carriage Containing the Sheets to be Annealed, Cars Loaded with Charging Boxes Filled with Scrap from the Mills and in the , Far Background the Front of the Facing Group of Box Annealing Furnaces; in the Illustration at the Right is ;‘* Shown the Turho-Generator Set in the Central Power House j bunkers in the boiler house, gas producer house and to a The foundries for making steel and gray iron castings : storage bin serving the sheet and pair furnaces and box- are well equipped for making large and small castings for 5 annealing furnaces, which are stoker fired, as stated. The the requirements of the plant. In the store house is car- ashes from the boiler house, gas producers and furnaces ried a large stock of miscellaneous supplies such as are are collected through underground tunnels and elevated in required in the maintenance of machinery and equipment a ship hoist to an elevation over the railroad track. The in all departments of the works. 5 gas producers are of the latest type, mechanically fired. The power for operating is derived from three inde- : " — = a ‘a Fy / = SS . 5 3° . . @ arena * >ORTSMOUTE GENERAL PLAN OF THE PLANT OF THE PORTSMOUTH STEEL COMPANY, ? 5 8 Nos. 1 to 7—60-ton open-hearth furnaces No. 19—No. 2 boiler house for the bloom- No, 35—Pum ping ee $ No. 8—Three four-hole soaking pits ing mill No. 36—Artificial lake No. 9—Pouring platform in open-hearth No. 20—Feed water pumps No. 37—Air compressor _ < nse ; No. 21—Hydraulic pumps and accumulator: No. 38—Emergency lighting unit ian ‘ No. 10—Bar mill engine, 32 x 54 in. No. 22—Stock storage No. 39—Plate and bar mill boiler nd bet ft No. 11—Ingot tilter and entering table No. 23—Pattern storage - No. 40—Gas producers for plate and ' ‘ for blooming mill No. 24—10.ton cupola in gray iron foundry mill furnaces — Jate mill No. 12—Induction drives for reversing No. 25—Machine shop No. 41—Slab heating furnaces wee in tables of blooming mill No. 26—Forge shop No, 42—Three-high plate mill, 30 x , No. 13—Manipulator No. 27—Oil house No. 43—Corliss engine, 44 x 60 im No. 14—Blooming mill reversing engine No. 28—Store room No. 44—Leveling or straightening °° No. 15—Steam-hydraulic slab and billet No. 29—Electrical repair shop No. 45—Run-out table | shear, shear ; No. 30—Physical and chemical laboratory No. 46—Electrically driven plate | *y No. 16—35-in. blooming mill No. 31—General office 144 in., for stock up to 1% in. thi No. 17—Gas producers for open-hearth No. 32—Clay grinding mills No. 47—Hydraulic shear furnaces and soaking pits No. 33—Central power station No. 48—Scale No. 18—Fuel oil tanks No. 34—Hydraulic pumps No. 49—Castor bed for plate shears x walaginsil tO Li . bito—e, ainntient THE IRON AGE Plan of the Sheet and Jobbing Mills of the Portsmouth iler houses of 3000-hp capacity each and one All boilers are of the Stirling power station. water tube type, equipped with chain grate stokers. The s unloaded from the railroad cars into a large re- Steel Company ceivitiz hopper located under the track close to the boiler house; from here it is fed into a crushing plant and then lifted into a large storage bin or distributed into overhead bunkers in front of each boiler. Each boiler house is SHOWING THE OPEN-HEARTH PLANT, PLATE AND BAR MILLS AND SHEET AND JOBBING MILLS Shear, 120 in, circle shear ontinuous billet heating furnace 'S-in, three-high mill for she_, yy Oars e plates ulically operated cooling table ‘te shearing department : and die tempering depart- ate roll and machine shop ing offices ton track scale nter shop use trance for employees per’s office eadquarters No. 65—Grease house No. 66—Mechanically fired gas producers No. 67—Coal and ash-handling plant No, 68—No. 3 boiler house No. 69—Toilet No. 70 Sheet and pair heating furnaces No. 71—Slab heating furnaces for the job- bing mills ; ws No, 72—Ash-collecting hopper No. 73—Box Annes urnaces ; No. 74—Sheet and jobbing mill superin- tendent’s office ~ are x 72-in. Corliss engine, geared to No. 76—30-in. jobbing mills si No. 77—Electrically operated lifting jacks for 60 and 66-in. jobbing mills No. 78—Sheet mills No. 79—Roll racks No. 80—Roll lathes No. 81—Double open annealing jobbing mill furnaces No. 82—Run-out cooling tables for job- No. 8b 1564 jobbing 0. - n. No, 84— — stretcher o. No. $s 1gein seaiiien atin 86—Curved corrugating machine ~ THE IRON AGE Right ( Furnaces at the Sheet Side of the Open Annealing The Runout Conveyor and provided with automatic regulators for maintaining a con- stant steam pressure and water level on each boiler. In the power house are two 250-kw. 250-volt direct- current generators, direct-connected to high-speed side- crank engines; one 500-kw. 250-volt direct-current mixed- :flow steam turbine; two large cross-compound. two-stage air compressors and two hydraulic pumps which furnish power for the hydraulically operated machinery through- out the plant. The pumps work under a pressure of 600 to 750 lb. per square inch. There also the necessary auxiliary apparatus for operating the turbines condensing. is Another View of the Open Annealing Furnaces, Showing the Level Product of the Mill and _ Dischargi: at the Left Receiving Jobbing Sooling Bed Exhaust steam for operating turbines at low pressure i furnished by the engines operating the bar and plate mills [he power house piping is arranged so that during periods when the bar and plate mill engines are shut down the exhaust from the power house pumps, engines, etc., may be utilized to operate the turbine. Sufficient steam is ob- tained from these units to operate one turbine under full load lhe water supply is taken from the Ohio River, near the bank of which is located a waterproof concrete dry-well, 24 ft. in diameter and 70 ft. deep. The bottom of the well ‘ the Toward the Left, in the Distance, One Group of ing Machine and Box Annealing Furnaces THE IRON AGE ae | ia ee 5B \/ ] a} ‘Ks ise he Cooling Tables, Showing the Box Annealing Furnaces and in the Bay at the Left the Warehouse and Shipping Departments, with Shearing, Crimping and Corrugating Machines of the river’s low-water mark, and here to a 100,000-gal. capacity steel tank located at the top of a two motor-driven centrifugal pumps, each hav- 70-ft. tower directly over the pumps. Condensing water of 1500 cu. ft. per minute. These pumps for the turbine is taken from this well and delivered to water into an artificial lake 60 ft. above the the condenser by two motor-driven centrifugal pumps. water level. The lake varies in depth from 3 nd covers an area of about 4o acres. From the h is used as a cooling and settling basin, the M Glauber & Co., manufacturers of plumbing special piped to a large gravity well located back of the ties, have removed from 10 and 12 Christopher street to ise. In the power house are located two cross tor and 103 Varick street, New York, where they enjoy mpound crank and fly wheel pumps, having a capacity better arrangements for conducting their business and con- 500 gal. per minute lifting water from the gravity well siderably improved shipping facilities Other Machinery in the Shipping Department Opposite the End of the Conveying Cooling Tables As the annual report of the United States Steel Cor- poration was received at a late hour on March 109, it was impossible to give it adequate attention in The Jron Age of March 21. We now supplement the extracts given on page 735 of that issue with further details of the opera- tions of the corporation in the year ended December 31, IQII. Condensed Balance Sheet Following is a condensation of the general balance sheet as of. December 31, 1911, compared with that of a year previous: 1911 1910 Assets Property. account. ~............. $1,460,303,982.84 $1,430,212,860.76 Deferred charges ............ 9,208,581.99 8,331,704.91 RepUOUNMNNO Ss 5005545 50.665. 2 wr 2,383,885.06 2,369,394.04 Sinking and reserve fund assets. 13,149,161.33 16,067,905.24 NN OT LA CATO 2,383,885.06 2,369,394.04 Accounts receivable ............ 48,325,472.88 44,603,273.53 SE ON ns ga e's vs cee s 6,100,874.27 5,540,180.77 meemts belances ..........+6i0 786,758.59 696,833.76 Marketable stocks and bonds... 2,047,100.18 4,410,793.61 SRS 6 a Ree Men ina na Koes bss aio 43,499,127.78 56,953,514.16 Total assets.....7........$1,739,288,533.58 $1,745,724,284.49 Liabilities. ens = DA a ese cae $508,302,500.00 $508,302,500.00 OS EE ee 360,281,100.00 360,281,100.00 Outstanding stock subsidiary com- REE yt Se ee ae 596,702.50 620,352.50 Bonded and debenture debt..... 620,501,376.83 596,351,866.70 Mortgage and purchase money obligations subsidiary com- ee oe ay ee 1,152,922.79 3,097,792.38 Accounts ‘payable and payrolls.. 22,938,620.87 23,695,264.04 Be ONE cro eh deen cet ess ons 41,743.59 813,500.00 Special depasits or loans due SES A OE 911,580.14 886,122.16 DE ENT ah hncicsce eves 6,712,858.36 6,789,827.16 Accrued interest ............-. 8,372,555.73 7,991,373.15 Preferred dividend, payable Feb- oe oi Cie es a rome 6,304,919.25 6,304,91%25 Common dividend, payable March 30 Die bib GW bine b bade » v0 ein 0a 6,353,781.25 6,353,781.25 hy Se ee EEE Ee 23,126,677.19 20,092,727.91 os Appropriations for capital ex- 4 eS reer 40,000,000.00 40,000,000.00 * is We En, MURS ig vcpvcicnse 33,691,195.08 164,143,157.99 Total Mabstities. ¢.:. 0. <2 $1,739,288,533.58 $1,745,724,284.49 Inventories An explanation of the apparent loss in surplus shown above was given last week. The reduction in 1911, due to deducting from inventories the profits earned by sub- sidiary companies on inter-company sales. of products, is indicated in the following classification of inventory valua- tions at December 31, 1911, as compared with a year pre- i vious : Lt 1911. 1910 a NN a cele Ra a Medic adie ia $73,642,448 $80,345,434 iy ay i Pig iron, scrap, and ferro............ 6,998,670 7,348,570 i ‘4 Coal, coke and other fuel........... 3,728,595 4,282,791 : Pig tin, spelter, copper, nickel, alumi- ; eS SEAR RE ae 6,536,069 5,385,399 nea Limestone, fluxes and refractories..... 2,000,130 2,281,845 oa Rolls, molds, annealing boxes, etc.... 6,101,885 5,776,398 =e Manufacturing supplies and sundry = se rs Gs. a5 oe nc kb ens 0 13,682,475 13,467,993 , Ingots—steel | SR ee ee 1,278,318 1,001,785 a Blooms, billets, sheet and tin bars, =) SS “heb eaShGb Wee ees os ccezesccens 7,756,691 7,755,479 ‘ em We EE It esas cab pecesssavep 829,461 941,101 et) Neen as ones 968,516 910,598 sata FemseOG “STOOGES nw wv oscnccccevessss 32,737,559 31,913,767 E i Mining supplies and stores.......... 3,163,242 3,183,109 | an 4 Railroad supplies and stores........ 3,350,134 3,631,629 B eeae Merchandise of supply companies..... 748,004 771,429 4 Material, labor and expense locked up ‘ Py Ang in bridge and structural contracts , / rH less bills rendered on account....... 5,401,293 2,649,990 Ei Reem Stocks abroad and on consignment... 5,351,377 3,957,616 Material in transit...............s.. 1,792,322 1,390,365 Bills réndered account work done on sundry material in process of MUU 5 nk SOS 6 ob ceenc ae sedis »deatedacy es Cr. 457,474 Total inventory valuations to sub- sidiary compamies..............-- $176,067,189 $176,537,824 Amount included therein represent- ing profits of subsidiary »com- panies on inter-company sales of materials and products on hand.. 22,583,600 33,704,439 Valuation exclusive of inter- company profits.......... $153,483,589 $142,833,385 Maintenance and Extraordinary Replacements The expenditures made by all companies in ro1r for maintenance and renewals, including the relining of blast furnaces, and for extraordinary replacements, in com- parison with expenditures for the same purposes during the preceding year, were as follows: United States Steel Corporation's 1911 Repor 774 1911 19 Ordinary maintenance and repairs $37,882,850.77 $4 ‘81a. 2002 Extraordinary replacements .... 7,077,414.37 8 489 99s 64 SOME. Sree a5 es + cup agen $44,960,265.14 $49,308, 184.96 The entire amount of the foregoing expenditures was charged to current operating expenses and to depreciatio, and replacement funds reserved from earnings Employees and Pay Rolls The average number of employees in the service of ajj companies during the fiscal year of 1911, in comparison with the fiscal year of 1910, was as follows: ‘ 1911 1910 Manufacturing properties ..........e6.00. 140,118 “154,563 Coal and coke properties.......cccseceseee 21,723 23,528 Tron Ofe properties... .ssececsvevecesesees 14,445 16.956 Transportation properties ........+..+ee08. 17,963 20,758 Miscellaneous properties ...........seee00. 2,639 2,630 SOO. Kya'caweh Hb8d aess Chee ees 196,888 218,435 Total annual salaries and wages.$161,419,031 $174,955,139 Employees’ Stock Subscriptions In continuance of the plan observed in previous years, beginning with 1903, the employees of the United States Steel Corporation and the subsidiary companies were, in January, 1912, offered the privilege of subscribing for pre- ferred or common stock. The subscription price was fixed at $110 per share for the preferred and $65 per share for the common. The allowances for special compensatiofy or bonus to be paid subscribers who retain their stock were fixed at $5 per share per year for the preferred and $3.50 per share annually for the common. The conditions attached to the offer and subscription, aside from the features of subscription price and the amount of special compensation or bonus to be paid, were substantially the same as those under which stock has been offered to em- ployees in each of the previous nine years. Subscriptions were received from 36,946 employees for an aggregate of 30,619 shares of preferred and 30,735 shares of common stock. Extracts from Chairman E. H. Gary’s Remarks The output of finished products for sale was only about,67 per cent. of the full normal productive capacity of the plants.. The decrease in output was most marked in thoSe classes of materials used largely by railroads: rails, track fittings and steel carbuilding material. The decrease in business done as represented by total tonnage output of finished steel products was, 11.7 per cent. in comparison with roro. In the domesti¢ trade the decrease was, however, considerably greater, namely, 18.6 per cent, while in the export business there was an increase 0! 414 per cent. The following is a statement of export ship- ments : 1911 1910 Tons Tons Rolled steel and other finished products.... 1,719,272 1,216,057 Pig iron: OG. BOVOD ss divicc cccns 09 0e¥da anne 26,728 we Sundry materials and by-products.......... 492 Sus Total ns all kinds of materials, grat conelit lec ug ete seeeraee 1,746,492 1,223,4% Cement (Oblai} 2. esc vqedeccevscbetaeeses 110,364 mass <. Aggregate tonnage of rolled steel and other finished products shipped to both do- A Sous mestic and export trade............+. 9,460,169 10,72/,/9! The amount of bonds, mortgages and purchase money obligations of the corporation and subsidiary companies paid off ‘during the year was $11,021,359.46. Of this total, $7,751,000 represents bonds retired under sinking fund pro- visions. Ponds of subsidiary companies to the amount 0 $14,854,000 were issued and sold for account of outlays for construction expenditures and in the refunding ° maturing bonds. There were also issued $17,712,000 : subsidiary company bonds in payment for the Pittsburg , Monongahela coal property purchased, and there were assumed $600,000 of outstanding bonds on warehouse property purchased in San Francisco. i There was expended during the year by the corporation and the subsidiary companies for additional property, ca tensions and construction, and for stripping and deve xf ment work at mines the net sum of $49,430,861.12, follows: Mar 5, 1912 \ ‘ Connellsville coking coal propertiqn..$17,707,200.22 eos & BR. R. Co. extensions. ... 5,069,983.85 erties, extensions and betterments.. 18,713,783.02 cece dasa e sos sie ees wiememes $49,430,861.12 -e of the year the amount of unexpended appro- onstruction and extraordinary replacements, ig12 programme for stripping and develop- at iron ore mines, was approximately $20,- it is probable that not all of this amount will | during 1912. These authorizations cover a oe of miscellaneous additions and improvements - points, but none of them, aside from that for the plant at Duluth, is of magnitude. The before | total includes about $5,500,000 for additional Gary in finishing the improvements heretofore de- sacly Hid mel! 10.00% f new steel : " -PHE GARY DISTRICT EXPENDITURES. se of the year nearly all of the manufacturing nt construction heretofore authorized for the Gary dis- trict had been completed. At the steél plant of the Indiana Stee] Company the sheet bar mill was completed and put ‘ pe ration June 29, 1911; the two 12-in. and the 10-in. merchant bar mills September 1, 1911; the 60-in. plate mill November 4, 1911. The first battery of the by-product coke olant, consisting of 70 ovens, went into operation April 12, roll, and 4 additional batteries at various later dates in roll. The full capacity of this plant, comprising eight ttteries of 70 ovens each, will be completed by April 1, [he third unit of open-hearth furnaces, consisting furnaces of 65 tons capacity each, was placed in oper- n in February, 1912. An addition to the electric power tation, consisting of six generators of 3000 kw. each, ven by gas engines, was completed during the year. [he several units of the sheet plant of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company and of the bridge and struc- | plant of the American Bridge Company, both at Gary, e completed and commenced operations at various dates ing the year. [he output of the Gary steel plant of the Indiana Steel pany in IQII was 707,273 tons of pig iron, 1,036,545 of open-hearth steel ingots, 281,980 tons of open- irth steel rails and 469360 tons of various other rolled teel products. The by-product coke plant produced 811,804 s of coke. The production of the sheet plant was 4,550 tons of black and galvanized sheets, and at the ridge plant there were produced 27,371 tons of fabricated steel work lhe total amount expended to December 31, 1911, at Gary the several subsidiary companies for acquirement of real ite, development and construction, was as follows: real estate (exclusive of that occupied by the manu- facturing plants) and for development and con- ruction work in the city of Gary, less credits for is, lots and houses sOld....scasscescabaubeceuane $9,966,520.16 nstruction of the manufacturing plants, together th cost of land occupied by them........seeeecees 62,719,664.75 terminal railroad WOOP. cccscqcdidetacunstue sens §,572,323.70 FOtal ... «0:0 secs miei en oe eee ace $78,258,508.61 funds for the payment of the foregoing have been ided from the following sources: 8 specially appropriated..........0+ee00s5 $65,000,000.00 eciation allowances raised by subsidiary com- other of their properties and invested: ¢ Gary property os. custacee seed sdeecanmabeds 1,510,000.00 “cago, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Co. issue e of its bonds. .«¢00snbisuen debe cae abe. 5,258,405.32 balance has been provided by subsidiary es interested from their surplus and working fovdane © 9 0 06-0 pide wile boi aiw ait oly'e iamn stir eleniatal ne cc ccsccvnsvensveup path ea weae gms $78,258,508.61 i addition to the outlays made as above for capital ex- tres at Gary, the companies have also invested a con- amount in inventories and working capital re- r the operation of the plants. ‘© was purchased in May, 1911, for warehouse pur- property of the Risdon Iron & Locomotive an Francisco, California. The plant had pre- cn operated in the ship and engine building and susiness, and had for a long time been offered he property consists of about 20 acres of land, “iderable water front, is well located and has on uildings especially adapted for the storage and ” ng of steel products. It is believed that by carry- ng ¢ Pacific coast large and varied stocks of the ‘ the subsidiary companies their distribution will v expanded. THE IRON AGE 775 Substantial progress was made during the year on the construction of the new steel est at Duluth, Minn. The expenditures for the plant and the terminal railroads serv- ing it amounted for the year to $1,437,518. An additional outlay of $1,037,069 was made in payment for coal property in Illinois and Indiana, the purchase of which had been contracted for in previous year, and for the development of the properties. There were purchased by the subsidiary transportation companies during the year 41 locomotives, 893 freight cars and 71 road and service cars. There were also purchased and placed in commission three 12,000-ton steamships for service in the ore carrying trade on the Great Lakes; and there was acquired one additional ocean-going freight steamer for service in the export trade. PENSION AND RELIEF FUNDS, There was set aside from the accumulated undivided surplus the sum of $663,018.37 for permanent pension fund, reference to which was made in last year’s annual report. Of the foregoing amount $163,018.37 was paid over in cash to the board of trustees of the United States Steel and Carnegie Pension Fund for use by the board as cash work- ing fund. A like amount for similar purpose was also con- tributed by the Carnegie Relief Fund. The balance of the appropriation first mentioned, together with the $1,000,000 set aside in previous years for pension purposes, is carried to credit of pension fund in general balance sheet. During the year the corporation also paid over to the board of trustees $756,301.70 which was charged to current opera- tions. This amount, together with the $200,000 of income received by the trustees from Carnegie Relief Fund (being the income on the $4,000,000 fund created by Ms. Carnegie), and making a total of $356,301.70, was disbursed by the trustees during the year for pension and relief purposes. At the close of the year there were 1606 ex-employees on the pension rolls. In the annual report for 1906 reference was made to the arrangement which had been consummated for a lease of the so-called Great Northern Railway ore properties by the Great Western Mining Company, a subsidiary company of this corporation. In acordance with an option reserved to the lessee to cancel the lease on January 1, 1915, the Great Western Mining Company on October 26, 1911, formally notified the lessors that the company elected to cancel the lease. To December 31, 1911, there had been mined and shipped under this lease 7,832,137 gross tons of ore, and royalties had been prepaid on account of minimum tonnages for years prior to I9II covering an additional 2,892,183 tons. It is expected this prepaid tonnage, as well as the mini- mums called for by the lease for years 1912, 1913 and 1914, namely, 15,750,000 tons, will be mined and shipped prior to 1915, thus making an aggregate of 26,474,320 tons of ore which it is expected will be shipped under the lease prior to its relinquishment on January 1, 1915. This total tonnage is equal to about one year’s ore requirements of the blast furnaces of the subsidiary companies (exclusive of those of T. C., I. & R. R. Co,) on the basis of the furnaces oper- ating normally full throughout the year. On October 26, 1911, the United States Government filed a petition in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey against the corporation and a number of its subsidiary companies, alleging that the cor- poration and its codefendants are in violation of the act of Congress of July 2, 1890, and asking that they be adjudged to be illegal and that they be dissolved. Noteworthy Plant Improvements The report, as usual, enters into great detail regarding work completed during the year and in progress at the close of the year at the various plants of the subsidiary companies. Noteworthy among the improvements com- pleted in 1911 are found the following items: Carnegie Steel Company, Homestead Works, four ad- ‘ditional 55-ton open-hearth furnaces at plant No. 4. Illinois Steel Company, South Works, new light struc- tural mill; installation of four gas-driven blowing engines at blast furnaces Nos. 5 to 8, and equipping structural mill No. 1 for rolling sections from 18 to 24 in. American Steel & Wire Company, Central Furnaces, new blast furnace D. Salem Works, 48 American felt roofing nail machines and a building for housing them. az Rockdale Works, 67 additional wire drawing blocks and electric power plant and motor equipment. Worcester North Works, 30 additional wire drawing blocks. The plant and patents of the American Post Company were acquired, There were constructed for installation at va- rious works four automatic concrete fabric machines, 10 Anthony fence machines, and 13 National fence machines. Union Steel Company, South Sharon Works, 30 addi- tional wire drawing blocks. Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, Ensley Works, equipment of the rail mill to roll 4-in. billets. Bes- semer Rolling Mills, bar twisting department, for concrete reinforcement bars. Central electric power plant, 12,000- kw. turbo-generator equipment, to provide electric power for the Ensley plant, the new by-product coke plant and coal washer, and the new wire ‘plant of the American Steel & Wire Company. The construction of the American Steel & Wire Com- pany’s new rod and wire mill at Pirmingham, Ala., was continued, expenditures to the amount of $1,122,802.22 having been made thereon during the year. Enumerated among the details regarding work in prog- ress are the following: Illinois Steel Company, Joliet Works, new electric power plant and motors replacing steam power. American Bridge Company, Ambridge Works, extend- ing launching ways, handling facilities and equipping plate shop for steel barge construction. Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, by-product coke plant, new plant of 280 coke ovens, Koppers type. Minnesota Steel Company, Duluth plant. Substantial progress was made in the construction of the several units of this plant, the expenditures for the year totaling $1,323,- 509.77. The attention given to safeguarding workmen and to caring for their welfare is shown by the enumeration among improvements of expenditures for various safety appliances and for welfare work as follows: Carnegie Steel Company, Ohio Works, floors on skip bridges to protect employees at blast furnaces Nos. I and 2. Illinois Steel Company, Joliet Works, equipping 26 electric overhead: traveling cranes with safety appliances. Universal Portland Cement Company, equipping for safety of employees cement plants Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6. National Tube Company, National Works, safety de- vices to protect employees. Lorain Works, safety devices at blast furnace No. 1. American Steel & Wire Company, Worcester South Works, emergency escape from crane cabs in open-hearth department. Central furnace docks, safety equipment on ore handling machinery. American Sheet & Tin Plate Company, Wood Works, installing safety devices throughout the plant. Vander- grift Works, new emergency hospital. H. C. Frick Coke Company. As part of a general plan to better the living and sanitary conditions surrounding the various works affecting the welfare of employees, ex- penditures totaling $273,700.61 were made for improve- ments to tenement houses and the drainage systems there- for and surrounding thereto, at 40 of the coke plants. Edenborn Works, additional ventilating and escape shaft. Leisenring No. 1 Works, swimming pool. The Bucyrus Company, South Milwaukee, Wis., has taken over the manufacture of the Atlantic type steam shovel, heretofore built by the American Locomotive Com- pany, and under a license from the patentee, A. W. Robin- son, it is the expectation to continue making all the sizes previously built, and to eventually have a complete line of Atlantic wire-rope shovels, in addition to a complete line of Bucyrus chain type shovels, which it has been build- ing for 30 years. The building of the Vulcan shovels has been transferred by the Bucyrus Company from Toledo, Ohio, to the new plant at Evansville, Ind. A stock of re- pair parts will be carried at Montreal, New York, San Francisco and Spokane, in adidtion to a very full supply at the South Milwaukee and Evansville plants. Scully-Jones & Co., 316 Railway Exchange Building, Chicago, have been appointed exclusive agents in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin, for Elco high speed steel manufactured by Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Ltd., Sheffield, England. THE IRON AGE Mar 8 <0, 19}2 The Watters Grab Buck: Arrangements have just been completed by : Whiting Foundry Equipment Company, Harvey, III. {.; the a clusive right to manufacture and sell the Watters Quick detachable grab bucket. One of the special {atures x this bucket is that it operates with a minin amount of head room and will perform in a few hours’ work that would ordinarily keep a dozen laborers busy an , : : ntire day, When not in use the bucket can be quickly detached leav- ing the hook free ‘for regular service. One of the special fields in which this bucket can be used is in the foundry where it can be employed for cleaning floors. cutting or cooling sand, filling large molds, transferring sand toon the shaking out to the molding floor and for removing refuse. Other applications are the loading and unloa of coal, coke, clay, crushed stone, gravel, etc. This bucket can be handled by an ordinary crane by simply inserting the crane hook in the yoke to which the bucket operating ropes are attached. The act of lowering the crane hook sets the latch mechanism and spreads the bucket to its full extent as shown in the accompanying engraving. The raising of the hook closes the blade and ling The Watters Quick Detachable Grab Bucket Made by the Whiting Foundry Equipment Company, Harvey, Ill. picks up the load. Pulling the hand rope attached to the latch lever which can be controlled by the regular crane operator from his cage or from the floor causes the con- tents to be dumped. All the shock to either crane or the bucket caused by the emptying of the load can be absorbed by a special cylinder device. Three different sizes of bucket, having capacities of | 1% and 2 cu. yd. are made. In a recent test of the largest size 40 tons of sand was unloaded from a 8° dola car in 20 min., the only manual labor employed being that of the crane operator. The Erdle Perforating Company, Rochester, \. Y, maker of perforated sheet metal and plates, has opened af office at 16 Court street, Brooklyn, N. Y., and W. P. Davis has been appointed in charge of the branch. The company reports doubling its business in three years. On March 12 ground was broken at Monessen, Pa., for two blast furnaces and four open-hearth steel furnaces t0 be erected by the Pittsburgh Steel Company. Automatic Drilling Machine to bringing out a drilling machine which rk with the maximum rapidity obtainable tions of high speed drilling, Baker Brothers, do, Ohio, have brought out the new type ompanying engravings. It was developed time required to drill a hole in a piece of ng the time required to place the work in e the tool to the work through the jig irance space, engage the feed, withdraw the e the work as much as possible. The op- rformed automatically, without, it is ex- ning complications in construction. The ind the rear of this new tool are shown in re specti\ ely. f the machine is secured by cams, an ar- h it is pointed out gives a powerful feed | quick return. The feed also has,a dwell h enables the drill to be used for facing eature, that of facing to an exact depth, it is vet a the spindle com with the hange gears ny desired ed. Another spe | feature of this f feed is the orrect in be secur- r threading. spindle, of high hammered steel, is the mini- section being tif ted in a nze bushed hich works fully scrap- 1ys. The el of the s 6 in. and 3 or No 4 taper 1s Fig. 1—Operating Side [he dis- Two Views of a New Automatic Drill with the the spindle center is 8 in. The running ‘bearings nachine are Hess Bright D. W. F. ball bearings thrusts are all taken on ball bearings. The driv- on ball bearings surrounding a vertical ich the spindle runs, being driven from this entering drive, ‘erent types of table are provided, a plain matic indexing one. With the former type places the work under the drilling spindle nachine in the,same way a punch press is spindle advances quickly to the work, the isses through the piece and the feed stops, he operator removes the finished piece: of Dstitutes another and again starts the ma- ping the foot lever. In this way it is pos- to use both hands in handling the pieces igh rate of production, ng table has an automatic indexing motion vn in Fig. 2. At the instant the spindle is m the piece being drilled, this motion in- to the next position, thus bringing a new inder the working tool. The time occupied ‘wal of the tool and the indexing of the 3 sec. To give any desired number of THE IRON Fi Cam Feed Built by Baker Brothers, Toledo, hio AGE divisions from 5 to 80 change gears are provided for the indexing mechanism. Since the table has an in and out movement the machine can be employed to drill holes in circles of any radius within the capacity of the drill by using the proper change gears. The standard machines will drill holes in circles ranging from 4 to 20 in. in diameter. The table also has a scale which shows at once the setting with reference to the diameter of the circle. The machine can also be used for chuck work and from six to eight chucks are ordinarily provided for the table. When equipped for this work as shown in Fig. 1. all the operator has to do is to chuck and remove the work. If a drill should break it is possible to stop the machine without delay at any point, and if it is desired, the machine can be arranged to index so that any num- ber of chucks can be skipped. The use of the automatic indexing mechanism also permits the operator to look after one or more machines easily. The spindle is driven by a 2-in. belt on a cone pulley, the diameter of the largest step being 18 in. Six speeds ranging from 200 to 800 r.p.m, are available. Three of these are se- cured by the three- step cone pulley which drives the spindle and this number is doubled by the use of a two-speed counter- shaft. The ma- chine itself can be driven by a belt or an electric mo- tor as may be de- sired. In tests which have been made of the ma- chine eight %-in. holes have been drilled through a piece of cast iron 4% in. thick in a minute and this rate was main- tained for a con- siderable period. The Standard Welding Company, Cleveland, Ohio, has a large amount of work on hand from automobile concerns and is running its plant double time. . 2—Rear View Cleveland Superintendents and Foremen The annual meeting of the Cleveland Shop Superin- tendents’ and Foremen’s Club, Cleveland, Ohio, was held March 16. Officers were elected for the ensuing year as follows: President, John Mortimer, Central Brass Works; vice-president, L. W. Bosley, Cleveland Hardware Company ; treasurer, Fred. Sebelin, Hill Clutch Company; sergeant-at-arms, Charles Schork, W. M. Pattison Supply Company. Executive Committee, president, vice-president and treasurer, and Emmett Leckner, Chandler & Price Company; Adam Herkner, Warner & Swasey Company; G. W. Ward, Glauber Brass Mfg. Company; George Decker, Warner & Swasey Company; Julius Walt, Cleve- land Punch & Shear Works Company. Membership Com- mittee, John Tiplady, Variety Iron & Steel Works Com- pany; John Francis, Kilby Mfg. Company; William E. Kelley, Kelley Reamer Company; Timothy Kellackey, Oster Mfg. Company, and S. S. Bolton, Chandler & Price Company. An interesting talk was given by Ralph E. Flan- ders, Fellows Gear Shaper Company, Springfield, Vt., on “Gears and Gear Cutting.” FY cae i partie find is.” nm a) =i a an Tis ch alae 3 sy, Steel Rivets * Practical Suggestions for Users BY D. J. CHAMPION. Rivets are the most important articles you use. On their trustworthiness, life and property depend, and for this reason too much importance cannot be attached to guarding the quality and’ looking, after the workman- ship iti order to insure, as nearly as possible, perfection, along these lines. Improvements in the quality of rivets have kept pace with the improvements in the manufacture of steel, and excel them to some extent. Twenty years ago, steel rivets were practically unknown, and the conservative boiler- maker would throw his hands up in horror even at the mere mention of them. So great was the antipathy against them that one of the leading manufacturers who was then successfully producing steel rivets was afraid to call them by their proper name, “steel rivets,” and sought to appease the prejudice against them by using the misnomer, “semi- steel.” How Soft Steel Has Worked a Great Change The word “steel” was formerly used to indicate hard- ness and brittleness; that is, it conveyed the idea of an un- yielding metal, principally intended for razors, swords, chisels, plowshares, gun barrels, or other articles of like hardness that required a very good strong, stiff material that would wear well. With the advent of basic open- hearth steel, however, a metal was placed on the market that was a surprise even to the most skeptical. The metal- lurgist and the steel maker worked hand in hand to make this metal thoroughly reliable, and the result today is that good, soft basic open-hearth steel cannot be surpassed for the manufacture of good rivets or other articles requiring the maximum of strength and toughness. The great desideratum long sought for, namely, low sul- phur and low phosphorus, was attainable for the first time by the use of this process of steel manufacture. So great have been the improvements in the manufacture of this steel, and so responsive under intelligent management have been the furnaces and rolling mills for the manufacture of it that it is put on the market to-day as a very reliable product at a reasonable price. The Purity of Steel For the enlightenment of those who still lean toward iron in preference to this steel, let it be said that this steel is over 99 per cent. pure iron and much more reliable for the productio