The Iron Age 1912-08-22: Vol 90 Iss 8

+ NY Ze Established 1855 New York, August 22, 1912 Vol. 90: No. 8 The Use of the Camera in Industrial Plants . From a Toy for Amateurs It Has Become a Valuable Adjunct to the Manufacturer—Interesting Details of 2 the Practice Followed in a Number of Establishments iB e . . . . . 4 In these days of profusely and often splendidly illus- The growth of taking pictures as a concomitant of Mee trated catalogues, circulars and booklets and other litera- manufacturing or construction has for some time engaged ture in which halftones are abundant, to say nothing of the attention of makers of cameras and photographic a j periodical advertisements, in all of which expense is seldom apparatus and they are now endeavoring to arrange in y ~~ Ke Progress Photographs Showing the New Open-Hearth Steel Plant of the arious Stages of Construction of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company spare to get the best pictorial orderly array the many conclu- fesults, everyone knows per- sions which have been arrived at force that photography plays an , and “ay: are perfécting in- Mmportant part in industry, but @e)¥. 3 ' : i struments for special needs the real extent to which the art has been applied in manu- which have been shown to exist. Of course, in the facturing and selling is not so well known, or at least not larger number of cases equipment which long has been fully realized. Therefore it is the purpose: of this article on the market is ample to meet the requirements of 9 Present some of the many uses of the camera in the mill, ordinary work. In fact, it is asserted that a simple long He workshop and afield. These uses. are multiplying focus view camera will do from 75 to 80 per cent. of the Ost daily as one ingenious mind after another finds in work ordinarily met with. For many kinds of detail work Motograyhy another way in which time and effort may be special apparatus is advisable, if not necessary, as it will eonomized or made more effective, as, for instance, by render the required service more conveniently and accu- Sing the art’ toh lsipplefert! the services of the drafting rately. Where special equipments are required the best °om ani helping to dispense with lengthy and sometimes procedure is to consult the manufacturers of high-grade volved written descriptions. cameras who will be glad to give the advice sought. 393 THE IRON ‘View Showing a Battery of Bement Double-Frame Steam Hammers. Size from 6,000 to 3,500 Lbs. Falling Weight. Haze at the Top of the Forge Shop is Smoke. AGE Two 6,000-Lb. Hammers in the Foreground, the Others Varying in Taken by a Niles-Bement-Pond Photographer In few lines of activity are information and valuable pointers so-freely given as in photography. Of course, the high speed or snap shot camera should always be handy wherever general photography is undertaken and a good one can do wonderful things. They do easily what no camera could do a very few years ago. Through the courtesy of several large and representative companies The Iron Age is enabled to give a presentation of varied and actual uses of the camera in manufacturing and sell- ing, although it must be stated at the outset that the sub- ject is too broad to permit of many details of methods or apparatus used and it will be attempted to indicate in a general way only what can and is being done. The photo- graphic department in many industrial companies is recog- nized as a necessary part of the organization and in its way as important as the drafting department or any of a dozen others. Skilled photographers are employed and they are equipped with the best of apparatus, special and otherwise, and with all of the essential facilities for quick and high-class work. An interesting phase of the use of the camera in the mill or the workshop is that while the large corporations have their skilled profes- sionals and elaborate outfits to record pictorially what is desired, its use is economic- ally available to a very satis factory degree in smaller plants. The fact suggests the statement often made that the enormous growth | ee and facilities of the com- ee panies manufacturing cam- +; eras and photographic sup- plies were not built up as a consequence of the demand from the professional, but of that from the great army of amateurs, of whom at least a few are to be found among the employees of almost every plant, large or small. Some of these amateurs have studied and practiced the Cagting Revailg: $anding Malhpine A Double Photostat Reproduction (Reduced) of a Tracing Similar to the Results Secured by the Niles-Bement-Pond Company art of photography so assiduously that they are capable of highly creditable work. They know the values of lights and shadows, of the qualities of perspective, as to whether a long or short focus lens should be used, have good judgment as to exposure, stops and focusing; have a know- edge of developing and printing and of the materials needed and treatment most adaptable for different sub- jects; and also are aware of most of the pitfalls to be avoided. While they may be lacking in some of the tricks of the art, these, in the judgment of one of the foremost camera experts in the country, may easily be acquired Most of the photographic companies are glad to give advice and pointers, while the largest manufacturer of cameras maintains a traveling school for professionals and also sends out traveling demonstrators whose business it is to coach photographers, particularly those in industrial plants, to correct errors and extend knowledge. All of this leads to the suggestion of the same photo- graphic expert that where it is not expedient to engage 4 trained professional for constant duty, it is feasible to select a clever amateur and make the taking of pic- tures as occasion arises, 4 camera always being avail- able in the shop or works, @ part of his regular duties, subject, of course, to. the direction of his superiors. In many plants this is done. One advantage sometimes claimed by some for the amateur shop photographer, though disputed by others, that by reason of his being more intimately familiar with a product and % manufacture he knows the parts which should be feat: ured in a photograph, especially if it is one depicting 4 machine or part of one. It is but fair to point out, how- ever, that most of the larger donterris with take the most extensive use of the camera prefer to hire professio \ OF s and obtain the desired results by giving syns orders as to what is wanted. In fact, much rk is so complex that a professional could nsed with. Camera experts give one caution in the matter of engaging a shop photographer the portrait or studio photographer is sel- _ the man to be employed for factory or mill vork, and itis said that there have been some grievous re- e of this mistake. There are radical differ- en taking a machine or shop interior where es of dificult or unexpected conditions may be encoun- .4 and making a portrait under the favorable circum- the well ordered studio. The les-Bement-Pond Company has been making ensive use of the camera for many years under the ervision of its publicity department and has skilled mer photographers who make exposures under ‘tion of the managers of the various works and under neral supervision of the New York office, at the jles works at Hamilton, Ohio, the Bement works at hiladelphia and the Pratt & Whitney works at Hart- 1, Conn. Shoulda photograph be wanted of a machine, any group of machines or any subject for that matter, explicit directions as to the position of the subject and AC details are sent to the photographer concerned for his lance and almost without exception the results bring it to a nicety the points desired, showing as many details possible, while not sacrificiug the important appearance s firm makes practically every application of photog- Igi2 THE IRON AGE 395 and sometimes an absolute advantage to have a fac- simile of the signature on the agreement appear on the reproduction. The copying of blueprints is done at the New York office of the company on the thirteenth floor of No. 111 Broadway. Where one would least expect to find it there is a well-equipped room, light tight, but ventilated by elec- tric exhaust fans, containing a high-class machine for re- producing drawings or contracts, and adjoining this is a darkroom replete with all necessary accessories for de- veloping and printing. The photographing machine is a special one and is more than a mere camera as it is so designed that a darkroom is not essential, the machine itself containing a developing device. The exposures are made directly upon bromide paper instead of on plates or films and the exposed paper after being cvt from the: roll of which it is a part can be developed and fixed at once, in or out of the machine. In the event of a darkroom being used, the exposed paper, after detachment, is enclosed in a dark box before being taken from the machine. Once in the dark box it can be safely laid aside or carried directly to the dark- room. This method of copying writings, drawings or printed matter makes it possible to have a number of exact duplicate copies in a very few minutes. The machine is not operated by an expert photographer as the apparatus is so nearly automatic that any office boy with a little instruction can get good results. Adjustment of focus is a slight mechanical operation and the period of exposure, selection of size of the reproduction wanted and use of of the Section of the Westinghouse Electric.& Mfg..Company’s Works in Which Electric Locomotives Are Built, Taken mpany Photographer. Similar Prints Are Made to Give an Intending Purchaser an Idea of the Magnitude of the Works has been shown to be advantageous. Its rs make the prints for its vast amount of ad- erature and a multitude of other purposes, and irgements suitable for framing. Sometimes xperts is sent out on the road to obtain illus- its Progress Reporter. It also photographs ueprints, contracts.or.any other documents of sited to obtain copies quickly and accurately. opy of a contract it is always of interest color screens to neutralize colors which might not other- wise have true values in the finished picture, requires but little judgment, so nicely have the operation and powers of the machine been calculated. In passing it may be said that the United States Gov- ernment has adopted the same design of machine for use in several of the departments at Washington and substan- tial savings have been effected over the older methods of copying which was attested a few months ago by the gs 396 THE IRON AGE Commission on Economy. and Efficiency. Though the Bement-Pond Company. Blueprints are practically all in the way of ma- chine designs, which are copied in the office of the company at III Broadway, most of the tracings re- maining at the various works. Experiment has shown that with a sufficiently powerful light it is pos- sible to make a blueprint from a blue- print, but the best of these results is so faint as to be unsatisfactory, and cannot be compared to the results of the camera. The result of photo- graphing a blueprint directly on bro- mide paper is to bring out the lines of the design in black while the back- ground is a soft gray. On the other hand, if a drawing or tracing is photographed the resultant back- ground is black and the design is white. If the black is objectionable, rephotographing reverses the black and white. Original pencil sketches or drawings may be copied with facility, thus saving the tracing work. A recent achievement of the pho- tographers at the New York offices of the Niles-Bement-Pond Company was to copy a blueprint measuring 4 x to ft., the work being effected hy photographing the print in sec- tions which were then pasted to- gether. One of the valuable features of the process is that blueprints or other drawings may be reduced to small size, as for instance that of a letterhead, and so easily transmitted through the mails in ordinary corre- spondence. The subject may also be enlarged within the capacity of the machine. Also representative of what is Vi f the Sh 5 ins Mecstiae & Bidinkoc : . iew o e Shop o awlin arnisch- being done photographically by the feger Comeaaa, Showing he Pinidore: De- very large manufacturing corpora- vice oe Ly oenareneins Small tions is the work of the Westing- eerie cot eral exterior views and making photographs « machine can be operated by daylight, the best results in show how streets, parks and other places are ; steady work are obtained by artificial light and the Cooper by the various incandescent and arc lamps mz Hewitt vapor light is used by many, including the Niles- company. Frequently, as with other companies »} August 1912 h ght to inated y the notog. raphers are sent. afield obtain photographs for adverti.: and other purposes. The standard sizes of p!.:¢s used by the Westinghouse phot raphers are 64% x 8% in. and 8 x 10 in. The photographer making the negative is required to number it properly ang place it in an envelope having the same number, after which it is turned over to the man who handles the prints. As each new negative is re. ceived in the print room, prints are made for the permanent file, which js indexed according to class of appar- atus. Large numbers of prints are made up for use with proposals, jn order that the intending purchaser may be more clearly advised as to the appearance of the Westinghouse apparatus, and it is conceded that a better idea of the apparatus can be given by means of a photograph than with a drawing. After the necessary prints have been made and the negative properly recorded it is filed and is thereafter available for future orders. The Westinghouse Company also has a machine for copying drawings, blueprints, etc., which, like that al- ready referred to, dispenses with glass or film negatives and makes good clear reproductions irrespective of the color of paper stock or color of ink. The machine is used quite extensively for photographing large drawings down to standard letter- head size, 8% x 11 in., which insures a uniform size in all the papers sent out with an estimate. From the standard sizes of nega- tives the company’s photographers make bromide enlargements up to approximately 24 x 30 in. in size, house Electric & Mfg. Company, which for a number of although larger ones are sometimes made on request. years has maintained as an adjunct to its department of They are used for advertising purposes and are furnished publicity a photographic division, the records of which .to engineering firms, central stations, schools and colleges, show an ever-increasing number of orders for photographs etc. Lantern slides are also produced and are used ex- from year to year. To carry on the work, most of which tensively in connection with advertising through the agency is of too advanced a character for even the clever ama- of moving picture shows throughout the country, as well teur to attempt, there is required an extensive equipment as being furnished in sets to schools and colleges for use of cameras and lenses, as well as the special apparatus in illustrated lectures and to acquaint students of engineer- that is needed to photograph detail parts of apparatus ing with the great variety of apparatus manufactured by Sample of Pawling & Harnischfeger Renewal Sheet Showing a Reproduced Photograph of Parts Which Can Be Duplicated by Number the Company. c Interesting uses are made o! the camera by E. L. Smidth & Co, manufacturers of cement ma chinery and engineers and design- ers of cement works. This com- pany does not regularly employ 4 professional photographer but gets excellent results from employees who make exposures incidental to their other duties. On a big oper ation, such as the plant of the Olympic Portland Cement Com- pany, which is now being com structed at Bellingham, Wash. @ member of the field force skilled in the use of the camera takes views once a week or oftenet, most of them panoramic or “i cuit pictures, sometimes 45 ". length and 6 in, wide, which are economically. The requests for illustrations received cover forwarded to New York. The field man only makes the practically every branch of the photographic art, its experts exposures, the negatives being, sent to|New ¥ork being called on for portraiture work, interior work which velopment and printing. In this way executives int frequently requires lengthy exposures, flashlight work, gen- can post themselves at a glance as to the more n« for de- hat city ticeable 22, 1912 )f progress made at a point on the other side of ient. Details of the work are shown in pictures smaller cameras also manipulated by the field 1ese progress photographs, as they are called, nded to the written reports of the work under e machine shops of the company at Jersey City, mployees who know how to use the camera have ents handy and frequently record jobs which are sual interest. New work is pictured, and there have ee! asions when defects have been found after ship- ment where a photograph of the defective part has been returned instead of the part itself. In addition to the ordinary uses photographic prints are utilized by sales- t to customers to supplement written descriptions pplied to directors of plants to apprise them of the s made in works in which they are interested. In y constructed steel cabinet in the New York office mpany has pictorial records of its big accomplish- d example of the utility of the camera is afforded uses made of it by the Pawling & Harnischfeger 1y, builder of traveling cranes, which obtains excel- sults from an 8 x I0 in. view camera. The Com- ’s; photographer, while subject to the direction of the ing department, is required to do blueprinting for irafting room. He makes photographs of all the special ment turned out in the shops, views usually being from several positions which, aside from being used advertising purposes are sent to prospective per- hasers and also to the company’s agents in the United States and Canada. It has been a custom of the company’s photographer in taking a picture of a machine, or part, to nearly always block out everything but the actual piece of apparatus de- sired in the picture, a method that has its disadvantages 1s well as its advantages, and which is not, of course, practiced when installation views are made. The blocking- ut process is made easier by backing the apparatus to be photographed with white cloth. Were a white back- ground not used it would be almost impossible to pick t wires, tailings, bars, etc., in the negative, and there- fore these parts might be eliminated from the picture. [he conditions for taking pictures in the Pawling & irnischfeger plant are most conducive to good work, ofs being of the sawtooth type with the light com- ng from the north. The company’s photographer stops n his lens to f. 64 and gives an exposure of about on bright days and 10 to 12 min. on dull days. All indard component parts of the equipment manufactured Pawling & Harnischfeger Company, including mo- rs ‘and motor parts, shafts, wheels and gears, etc., are t in stock and can be very easily duplicated at short through the use of what are known as renewal These sheets, which cover everything that can replaced on all of the company’s products, are made m photographs of the different parts, each of which is rly numbered. To facilitate the photographing of special platform was built for the purpose, to the camera is screwed, pointing downward upon numbered parts spread out on a white sheet. The rm is substantial enough to support the operator uses the camera, makes the other adjustments exposure. The lighting in this instance is suf- regulated and shadows are avoided by a curtain the nearby window. A card index is used to keep | of what renewal sheets have been sent to cus- pany has not done much copying of plans ccasion to do so recently and met with good To save time and wérk jfor the-draftsman the rinter set the titles of the drawings in type, a few ere struck off and then pasted into place on ving and photographed. The company’s method ng track of its prints and negatives provides for king with cloth of one print from each negative. nforced prints are then bourid in loose leaf form highest number on top, and while the file can be indefinitely, it is made certain that the pictures iin together. * “Several duplicates are made of the t which there is the greatest demand, and these to correspond with the numbers in the book. The are numbered in such a way that the number THE IRON AGE 397 will appear directly on the finished print. Should it be necessary to make new prints the negatives are easily located through the number which appears on the cor- responding print in the loose leaf book. The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company maintains a photographic department and makes all ’round use of the camera, including general view work, accidents, ma- chinery, mill interiors, showing the processes of making different products, copying blueprints, drawings and maps, and, of course, extensively in advertising. The size of the pictures taken by the company’s photographers are in- variably 8 x 10 in. or 14 x 17 in. the cameras being manipulated by an employee selected from the office force of the company who i8 trained in photographic work. The firm has found it expedient to design and build spe- cial apparatus for a part of its work. The pictures made by the photographers of the company to show the progress of its new open-hearth plant and to some extent the methods employed in the building operations are almost perfect examples of their kind of work. The Lackawanna Steel Company has an especially well- equipped photographic department, employs professionals for the work and makes practically every use of the camera which a modern industrial company can, among which may be enumerated: making permanent records of tests. by photomicrographs, securing records in cases of accident, showing progress of constriction where new work is undertaken, making reproductions of drawings for preservation and other purposes, etc. It has not been Photograph Taken by F. E. Smidth & Co.’s Sho Show the Interior of a Cooler or Device Used in Cooling the Clinker After It Leaves the Kilns and Also that There Were Some Uneven Joints in the Cast-Iron Spiral, the Latter Being One of the Reasons for Taking the Picture Photographer to ement Making for found necessary to have special apparatus designed for its work, that obtainable in the market sufficing for all purposes. At the ‘time of the raising of the battleship Maine many pictures were taken of the work by the company’s own men for the reason that the steel piling used in building the cofferdam had been manufactured by this firm. So many reproductions of photomicrographic pictures showing the structure of steel under varying conditions and demonstrating their value as a basis of comparison have appeared from time to time in The Iron Age that little need be said of that use of the camera beyond adding it to the utilities already referred to. Acid Resisting Alloys—It is reported that it has been proved possible to preduce iron s which, will en- tirely resist the corrosive actién of acids, while the mate- rials used and the articles produced can be manipulated by the usual methods of the workshop. The new alloys were prepared by Prof. Borchers, of Aix-la-Chapelle, by adding from 2 to 5 per cent. of molybdenum to an alloy of ferro- chrome which contains practically little or no carbon, and at least 10 per cent. of chromium. An alloy composed of 36 per cent. of iron, 50 per cent. of chromium and a very little molybdenum was found to be insoluble even in boil- ing nitric acid, while it possessed all the solid qualities of iron and could be worked in the usual way. It is stated that the results obtained by adding titanium and vanadium were not quite so favorable. ~ arr Oa 35 te pe Defects in Steel Ingots and Steel Rails A Mechanical Method That Aided in Secur- ing Sound Steel—The Prevention of Oxi- dation— Rails with Slightly Concave Base BY J. B. NAU, The report of James E. Howard on the broken rail in the Great Northern Railway wreck near Sharon, N. D., published in The Iron Age of July 11, 1912, induces the writer to submit some of his experiences with defects in steel and steel rails. In the same connection a description will be of interest, of a special pouring appliance that was in use in a large steel works with which the writer was connected for a number of years in the beginning of basic steel making, first as assistant, then as superintendent of the basic Bessemer converting works, and finally as super- intendent of both the converting works and the rail mill attached. This pouring method was imported from le Creusot Steel Works in France. To the writer’s knowl- edge it was in use in no other steel plant. It had for its purpose obtaining sound metal with fewer blowholes, less —" and smaller piping, and it served its purpose well. The Pouring Attachment Described The appliance (Fig. 1) was what we called a “basket,” because it looked like an egg-shaped brick-lined basket. It had a clear inside hight of some 8 to 9 in. and it hung under the nozzle of the steel ladle above the molds. A transverse partition about 3 in. high divided the interior into two unequal parts; the larger of these formed a kind of reservoir, in which the steel running from the nozzle of the steel ladle gathered in a pool ‘ until it ran over the shallow artition into the adjoinin VTEILEEELL aida funnel-shaped caaaines. ; ; é ment. The bottom of the latter — tae? f Pouring was a pouring nozzle with either one, two, three or four holes, through which the metal ran from the basket to the mold underneath. The idea was to secure through this basket conditions known to give sounder metal with less segregation and less piping. The use of the basket, indeed, produces what Prof. H. M. Howe so judiciously recommended in his paper, “Piping and Segregation in Steel Ingots,” published in Vol. 38 (1907) of the Transactions of the American In- stitute of Mining Engineers. The interposition of the basket between the ladle and the mold naturally cools the metal running into the mold. With the hottest heat a basket with the greatest number of holes in the nozzle was used, in order to increase the cooling surface of the pouring stream of metal. The pressure of the metal falling upon the bottom of the mold is reduced to the hight of the level of the metal in the basket, above the bottom of the mold. Reduced pressure gives less stirring of the metal below, which is allowed to solidify from the bottom upward. It also reduces considerably the splashing of the metal against the cold molds, which causes the numerous and often troublesome scales that are so often found on the ingots. Furthermore, the metal being always poured from. the same hight, all ingots will be cast under the same condi- tions of pressure. With the tall ladles now used, that must be of sufficient capacity to hold the whole heat from a 60 to &-ton open-hearth furnace, the force with which the stream strikes the bottom’ plate is considerably greater than with the heat from a 10-ton converter. The advan- tages derived from the use of the pouring basket would now be much more marked, therefore, than with the old 10-ton heat. An experience extending over many months showed us that the basket-poured ingots were uniformly so much sounder, so much freer from blowholes and segregation, with less piping, and invariably so much cleaner on the surface, that when the writer was requested to establish tonnage prices he was finally instructed to pay 4c. more >» y p Z ASSESS NEW YORK a ton for basket-poured ingots in order to encourage the use of the appliance. Preventing Surface Cracks While the basket was thus helpful in the elimination, or at least in the reduction, of some of the principal de- fects found in steel, it did not influence other defects. Among these may be mentioned horizontal surface cracks, which in some cases extended around the ingots, which they penetrated to a greater or less depth. These cracks, mainly due to the impurities still contained in the metal, were accentuated and in some cases directly traced to de- fective or worn-out molds; in others to a temporary stop- page in the pouring of the ingot. The solidifying steel will hang in a worn-out spot, prevent free contraction of the ingot below in a downward direction with the result that a horizontal crack will open in the surface of the still soft metal below the worn-out spot and under the weight of the metal below. The same crack may be produced, especially in a cold-pguring heat, if the pouring is stopped temporarily. With careful attention given to the molds in one case and with instructions to the pourer never to fully stop his pouring until the whole ingot was cast these cracks were largely avoided. The Use of Deoxidizers The primary cause of blowholes and kindred defects in steel being mainly oxide of iron remaining unreduced in the finished steel, and in those earlier days to a much larger extent than today, nearly every means was tried that was then known, to deoxidize the metal. Aluminum, probably the most powerful deoxidizer known even to- day, was then being introduced, but owing to the bad effect on the steel produced by even a small quantity of this metal, its use for some time received a serious set- back, until it was finally demonstrated that it acted bene- ficially only as a deoxidizer, but in a deteriorating way as a constituent element of the steel. Naturally its use, after having been completely abandoned in some. plants, was taken up again, but for fear of adding too much, often too little was added to get the full effect. The fact that aluminum improved the metal but solely through its purifying action, so clearly established at a time when burnt or overblown steel was an everyday oc- currence, in the then new industry, led the writer to state, in an article published in The Jron Age in 1892, that tita- nium, then in use nowhere as an addition in its metallic state to steel, would be found to act as a powerful purifier. nothing else. Treatment of titaniferous ore in a blast furnace in Colorado had shown him that the pig iron ob- tained therefrom was always of a quality superior to other iron, although no titanium was found in its com- position. The addition of a powerful purifier to the metal in order to eliminate from it the oxide of iron, the prin- cipal cause of blowholes and segregation, without causing deterioration in the quality of the metal by its presence, produces a sounder, purer and stronger metal, that will have in its composition only what it is intended to con- tain. The simultaneous use of a pouring method of the kind above described, cooling the metal and hastening its solidification, would further help in the same direction and give clean ingots without surface ‘scales. Manganese and Sulphur Other defects too well known to be more than men- tioned were red shortness, the presence of too much sul- phur, and heavy rephosphorization of the metal in cot tact with the slag. After some experimenting it was found that a pig iron with a high enough manganese content largely overcame these difficulties. »»Aften:! that an: irom with never less than 1.2 per cent., and generally more. of 98 August 22, 1912 THE IRON AGE oN 309 was used. In connection with this manganese question the writer may say that some 10 years ago he treated in a 27-ton open-hearth furnace a charge contain- - vooco lb. of grate bars and 20,000 Ib. of otherwise ; iron but with somewhat less than 0.5 per cent ; manganese. The steel contained more sulphur than oe of the charge. Sulphur was absorbed from \Vithout removing any of the cheaper grate bars cull ; sulphur, the 20,000 Ib. of basic iron was replaced by another asic iron with more manganese, but of the same market price, and the sulphur of the steel immediately fell below the average content of the charge. mangan¢ Effect of Blowholes on Rolled Product To what extent blowholes in those days becam trouble- come in steel obtained from, let us say, badly conducted heats was shown in a series of extended mechanical and heat treatment tests that the writer undertook at one time with soft and medium soft steel furnished by neighboring steel works, that were still somewhat behind the times in heir steel making methods. These tests were to deter- mil ie what would be the best brands of steel-to be rolled und bars and rods in a rolling mill then in the sises’é charge. This steel was to take the place of ex- ellent brands of puddled iron used up to that time in the nufacture of bolts, rivets, track screws, spiral bed springs and other forms. The steel was received in the shape of about 7x 7-in. blooms, many of which were so ‘f blowholes that the core was detached from the out- je shell. A length of particularly bad bloom was heated a white heat and rolled down to a 134x1%-in billet. The worst part of this billet was cut off, heated again w , white heat and rolled into a %-in. round. From this round a piece several inches long was cut off and the core driven out without the least trouble. The sample is still in the writer’s hands. Such defective blooms will give finished bars or rods, in which sections will be found where the inside core will not be welded to the outside. These spots in most cases can be traced without trouble by the seams that form on either side of the rod. Breaking or cutting the rod in the seamy part will nearly invariably show the existence of the defect. \fter the experiments referred to such unsound blooms ere carefully eliminated from the good ones, a lower rice was paid for them and they were rolled into fence re, for which a good paying market existed. \nother series of tests extending over several weeks iowed that the best track screws were obtained from the f soft steel by quenching the round bars imme- tely after they came from the finishing groove, in a ugh of running cold water. This treatment made + he metal tougher. Rail Defects Due to Improper Heating or Rolling { ther defects found in rails are often due either to ad heating or to rolling in badly designed rolls. Among them may be mentioned laminations, seams and longitudi- ( ‘rach KS \ flange rail is of an unsymmetrical shape in respect ‘ Its axis perpendicular to the web. Steel, unlike iron, foes Not spread much in the rolls; it elongates under Pressure. If the roll tracing is not carefully established re pressure is liable to be put in the first grooves on lower flange part than on the web. The flange has a tendency to elongate more than the web, giving rise to an ‘ernal strain somewhere in the junction of the flange id the web, in the “finished rail, if in the subsequent rooves the effect produced is not wiped out. Under the peated shocks of the passing trains, this internal strain ay cause a longitudinal crack in the rail or at least it powerfully contribute toward #9! formation. HD Convex and Concave Rail Bases many months in succession the rails rolled at the ‘erred to above were 60-Ib. rails (30 kg. per meter) i shape illustrated in Fig. 2. The base of the ae “as straight as usual. Now it is known to every _‘' that when the rolls begin to wear out this base “ss a tendency te Jbecome..comvex, somewhat in the man- - indicated by!the»lowWer broken line. Such a rail will “ton the central part of its bottom, while the ends will offer less support, In a curve the great centrifugal force developed by fast-running heavy trains will suddenly be thrown with great power against the inside of the head of the outside rail, with a tendency to turn the rail slightly on the rounded base. Thereby the rail will be subject to more Fig. 2.—Section of Rail Showing Slightly Concave Base, Also Con- vex Base Which Is to Be Avoided strains. To avoid this, the manager of one of the large rolling mills belonging to our company, a man of many years’ experience in rail rolling and roll tracing, proposed to give the flange an originally concave shape in the man- ner shown on the sketch. [This method is used today in some rail mills—Editor.] With this arrangement the rolls could wear out, but the rails had never a convex base. The modification was submitted to the railroad company, which readily accepted it. After that all rails were rolled in that manner. In 1894 the late Prof. L. Tetmajer, then president of the testing department at the Polytechnic School of Zurich, Switzerland, was appointed a member of a com- mission charged to investigate the behavior of basic Bessemer rails in service, in order to determine if it was safe to use these rails on the main passenger tracks of the State Railroad of Hungary, where up to that time their use was not permitted. His report submitted the re- sults obtained with acid Bessemer, basic Bessemer and open-hearth rails from many steel works. Many of these rails had been under observation for quite a number of years on different important lines. Among the sections of track observed, two were laid with rails from the works with which the writer was con- nected at the time of the manufacture of at least one of the lots. This lot laid in a double-tracked section had been under observation for,7.27 years over a length of about 1 1/3 miles. The rails of this section were the best of all the rails submitted in Prof. Tetmajer’s report. The other section, which was nae: -tracked, sriendet. over the short length of about 1/10 of a mile, had under ob- servation for two years only. The quality of the rails was in some respects a little above the average of those ob- served. It may be stated, however, that for obvious rea- sons the wear of rails will ordinarily be greatest in the beginning of their service. The rails made were mostly 60 and 72-tb. rails, with the following analysis: Carbon, .0.35 to 0.45. ; Phosphorus below 0.10. it geal Manganese, between 0.5 and 1 per cent., generally well above 0.5, sometimes above I per cent. Sulphur, mostly between 0.03 and 0.04 per cent. ‘(jiwr A New Small Steam Turbine The Use of Velocity Stages a Special Feature of the New Class C DeLaval Prime Mover The relative suitability of the several types of turbines in a given case is determined by the steam conditions, capacity and also the nature of the service as affecting the THE IRON AGE August - 1912 bines exhausting to atmosphere or against bac! essure the friction of a large disk moving in dense s con- sumes much power and largely counteracts the d effi. ciency obtained in the nozzles and buckets. As a resy} turbines in which pressure staging and velocity staging respectively or both combined are used have been widely introduced. The use of multiple-pressure stag: how- ever, open to the objection that to secure reasonable econ- omy at the usual speed a large number of stages is required. The chief requirements for smal] tur- bines are safety, hardiness and in many instances steam economy. These points have all been prac- tically applied in the new line of velocity stage turbines recently brought out as the new class C turbine. Fig. 1 shows one of these turbines directly connected to a single-stage pump. Fig. 2 illus- trates the shaft with the wheel, governor, packings and couplings assembled thereon, while Figs. 3 and 4 are views from above into the turbine casing and an end view respectively. Fig. 2 shows the shaft with the wheels, governor, packings and couplings assembled thereon. The speed governor consists of two weights pivoted on knife Fig. 1—A Single-Stage Pump Driven by a Direct-Connected New Small Steam Turbine Built edges and compressing a helical by the De Laval Steam Turbine Company, Trenton, N. J. speed. For each type of turbine there is only one correct wheel diameter and one speed and one number of stages for each capacity and set of steam conditions. In the single-stage turbine, built by the DeLaval Steam Turbine Company, Trenton, N. J., where the wheel runs at a speed giving a bucket velocity approximately half that of the steam expanded from the initial of the terminal pres- sure in one nozzle, the necessary reduction to the speed of the driven machine is obtained by helical spur gearing of the type which was illustrated in The Iron Age, April 13, 1911. Although this arrangement has given high steam economy for turbines of all sizes up to 500 hp., and its use greatly improves conditions for the driven machine, since it permits both the driving and the driven machines to run at their natural and most advantageous speeds, the additional cost involved has prevented the general intro- duction of the geared turbine in many situations where small power is required. Besides gears, there are four other solutions of the speed problem in the small turbine. These are: multi-staging with pressure stages, multi- staging with velocity stages, increasing the wheel diameter and reducing the bucket velocity. The last-named method, while permissible where all the exhaust steam can be utilized and while it gives an ideally simple turbine, does not permit the turbine to enter into competition where steam economy is a factor of considerable importance. Mechanical impracticability has limited the employment of a large wheel, only a small part of the periphery of which would be needed for developing power. In steam tur- Fig. 2—The Shaft with the Wheels, Governor, Packings and Cou- plings Assembled Thereon spring arranged with the axis concentric to that of the shaft. The compression of the spring is accompanied by the forc- ing out of a pin which, as will be apparent from an inspec- tion of Fig. 3, raises and lowers the double-seated poppet Fig. 3—View from Above Into the Turbine Case After the Rotating Parts and the Bearings Have Been Removed valve in the governor valve casing through a system o! levers. The tension of the spring may be adjusted to give the speed regulation desired. The governor is completely inclosed in a.stationary casing.and,therefore there are no externally moving parts. While, it is pointed out, that by the us¢ of this relatively simple governing device, close regulation is secured, as a precautionary measure, a second spec¢ limiting device or emergency governor is employed. This consists of a radial bolt set in the disk which forms the base of the speed governor and is held in place by a stroné spiral spring. .When a certain, predetermined speed ” exceeded, however, this bolt, will. project, and strike @ small lever, Figs. 3 and 4, thus; tripping the. mechanis™ which closes the butterfly valve in the steam inlet openiné Fig. 1. This emergency governor is entirely independent of the speed governor and comes into action whenever 4 st 22, 1912 limit is exceeded irrespective of the operation of cular speed governor. prevent damage due to the rupture of the wheel h overspeeding, an inclosing armor is provided that a ring in which the stationary guide buckets are Fig, 3. This ring is made of steel and it is empha- t effectually prevents the escape of fragments which penetrate the ordinary cast-iron housing. The ¢ itself consists of two parts which can be readily to render the wheel, shaft and all interior parts ac- at once and the lower portion which contains the nlet and outlet openings. Both parts are definitely | with respect to each other by taper dowels to insure t and easy assembling. To insure continuous opera- for long periods under the care of unskilled labor, tating parts have been carefully balanced and the employed is so proportioned that its critical speed ve that. of the normal operating rate. It is pointed that in this way absolute freedom from vibration is ired. The shaft used in this turbine is illustrated in with the rotating parts mounted upon it. It is made of open-hearth steel, ground and polished over its entire length and is carried in two bearings, one of which is a plain ring-oiled bearing, while the other is a thrust bearing of the marine type and is intended to prevent wise movement of the shaft, and thus hold the wheels the proper position with relation to the nozzle and the stationary blades. As all the buckets are surrounded steam at a uniform pressure, the turbine is balanced axial thrust. The bearing brackets are supported irectly on the turbine case casting and are separate and listinct from the stuffing boxes. In this way it is stated that it is impossible for steam or water to enter the bearings or oil reservoirs. The bearings are scraped to standard gauges, while the bearing shells are ground to standard dimensions to insure interchangeability. The wheels are forged steel disks finished and ground nm all surfaces and thickened toward the center to with- stand rotating speeds far in excess of the normal one of the turbine. They are centered on the shaft by ground fits and are secured by Woodruff keys, the whole series being located on the shaft by a collar which is held in place by a heavy lock nut. Each wheel is balanced separately, as is also the entire series after being assembled on the shaft. Each wheel carries a single row of buckets which are of drop forged nickel bronze and are inserted in the rim of the wheel by bulb shanks fitted into slots milled and bored in the rim transversely to the plane of the wheel. It is pointed out that this mode of attachment develops the full strength of the bucket and at the same time permits individual buckets to be removed and replaced vithout disturbing any of the others. The bucket tips ave projections front and rear which touch adjacent buckets to form a continuous rim, an arrangement which t is emphasized has proved beneficial in reducing the fan iction in the blades and in guiding the steam jet. The guide vanes are similar in form and are attached in the same way to the retaining ring which is divided on the horizontal plane of the center line, the upper half being lastened to the wheel case cover, while the lower portion ts in a groove from which it can be lifted when the it and wheels are removed. \nother feature which characterizes this turbine is the ‘f access to the parts for inspection, repair or replace- _All the internal parts are at once accessible upon ving the casing cover and without disconnecting the supply or exhaust piping. After the bearings have removed and the coupling unbolted, the rotating mem- in be taken out, which gives access to all parts of turbine, as is shown in Fig. 3. All the parts subject car are machined to limit gauges and are perfectly hangeable so that they’ ¢an be’ quickly and cheaply ed nozzles are solid bronze castings in which the — through which the jet is delivered is bored and | to the shape adapted to secure the desired ratio of ion and the delivery of a jet free from turbulence. heel of the nozzle piece is a plugged hole through iccess is had for machining the throat of the orifice. nozzles communicate with the steam chest cored out wall of the wheel.case and are held by nuts and with copper gaskets. If it should at any time be- ecessary to replace them, as, for instance, if it THE IRON AGE 401 Fig. 4—End View of the Turbine Showing the Governor Which Controls the Balanced Valve, the Safety Governor Mechanism Which Operates the Butterfly Valve and the Handwheels of the Valves Controlling the Individual Nozzles. sheuld be desired to operate the turbine under steam con- ditions different from those for which it was originally designed the nozzles can be readily removed. Throttling is used to govern the turbine, and in the one illustrated in Fig. 4 six of the ten nozzles are fitted with hand con- trolled valves so that they may be cut out of service when the demand for power is light. It is pointed out that the only way in which high pressure could accumulate within the casing would be through the stoppage of the exhaust outlet. To guard against any accident from this cause, however, an adjust- able bronze safety valve is fitted to the upper part of the casing cover, as can be seen in Fig. 1. Proposed Permanent Exposition at Washington With Charles Freeman Johnson as secretary and man- ager, headquarters have been opened in the Southern Building, Washington, D. C., for a proposed World's Permanent Exposition in that city. A conference was held August 6 at the headquarters, at which were repre- sented the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The conference is stated to have been enthusiastic, and such men as A, B. Farquhar, of York, Pa. a prominent manufacturer and identified with many movements for social uplift and con- servation, consented to become members of the Advisory Committee. A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives, providing for a commission consisting of the Secretary of State, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Treasury and four other persons to be appointed by the President, whose duty it shall be to investigate and report by bill or otherwise to Congress its findings and recommendations regarding the practicability of installing and maintaining at Washington a permanent exhibit illus- trative of the natural, indusggial and educational resources of the various States. The bill provides that the sum of $25,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be appropriated for the purposes of the commission. At least two of the commissioners are to be men well versed in exposition theory and practice. Many Governors of States have already indorsed the project. The American «Steel Foundries, at Granite City, IIL, ast week announced an increase in pay of 2 cents per hour generally to workmen paid by the hour. The advance was entirely voluntary by the company and was 4 surprise to the workmen. : “4 pee er ee ~* 4 Special Automobile Machinery Details of Some of the Specialized Machine Tools Required to Produce Parts of Motor Cars When the variety and number of duplicate parts pro- duced each year for u