The Iron Age 1912-10-03: Vol 90 Iss 14

Established 1855 Bolt and Nut Making at Gary, New York, October 3,. 1912 Vol. 90: No. 14 Indiana An Illuminating Example of Modern Manu- facturing Plant of the Gary The tonnage of steel products manufactured in the Chicago district has trebled in a decade. In 1901 the out- put of finished steel at Chicago was approximately 1,490,000 tons. In 1911 this total had increased to 4,000,000 tons, which was considerably less than the productive capacity at that time. The particularly significant feature of the increase has been the establishment in the past year of Western branch plants by Eastern interests for the manu- facture of the more highly finished products. Of this, the mew capacity in rivets, bolts, screws and kindred materials has been an especially prominent example. Fol- lowing the building of a rivet, bolt and nut plant by the Inland Steel Company at its Indiana Harbor Works, the ae oo JY ee Design in Screw the Works & Bolt Company cold punched nuts in all finishes, foundation bolts, lag screws, cap screws, rivets, tie rods and upset rods in sizes up to and including 6 in. Much of the equipment consists of machinery developed by this company, including special! bending rolls for bending pipe bands to any radius, auto matic bolt pointing and threading machines and nut finish- ing machinery. The General Plan of the Works ~The manufacturing building is arranged with ten par- allel bays, and the bays extend in a north and south direc- tion. The building is about 400 ft. long from north to ig. 1—The South End of Bay No. 3 Showing Row of Bolt Heading Machines and Heating Furnaces on the Left, the Central Sorting Table with Belt-Driven Arrangement for Pointing Bolts and on the Right a Battery of Bolt Threading Machines Gary Screw & Bolt Company has just completed an ex- ceptional works at Gary, Ind., and construction has been egun in the East Chicago-Calumet district on plants for ‘wo Ohio gompanies manufacturing similar products. ; The Gasy Screw & Bolt Company was organized by the interestggrepresented in the Pittsburgh Screw & Bolt ‘ apeny, Elder. to build a Western plant for West- ern business. The plant unit just completed and now in operation. affords a productive capacity of 2000 tons of ‘nished materials monthly. It is located on a tract of 20 acres about two miles east of Gary, and is served by the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Belt Line. The ‘quipment of the plant provides for the manufacture of a full line of carriage and machine bolts, hot pressed and 757 south and about 600 ft. wide from east to west, and af- fords a total enclosed floor area of 255,000 sq. ft. Except for three north and south tunnels in which railroad spurs pass through the building and one transverse east aad west transfer tunnel, which divides the floor area into north and south portions, this area is a continuous con- crete flooring, laid at car floor hight above ground level. The building superstructure, fabricated and erected by the Riter-Conley Mfg. Company, is a light steel framework carried on concrete foundations and enclosed on sides and roof with painted corrugated sheeting. The side lighting consists of two rows of ordinary sliding sash and the roof arrangement comprises several parallel gables with simple monitor construction. oe ea She a ie a 1 ne En A NEA OE NU a AEN a ‘y ka ; i ; h | I dia | a z ‘ Se ae ot PES ie grip aoe ramet ae aa =e > c Gir eee aT oe Mapas te me A OE I a i is uly alge: As it 2p eR NORE Ore em?! * a su cninectaaniaMigp ee asta mM er T= . ae ne tin spina efoos . a Fane Gn tre 4 IRON AGE rx October . , a XY / a . ul Xr, ls mee | | Fig. 2—View of the Machine Shop Located in the North Half of N« The three shipping tracks enter the building at yard grade by reason of the floor tunnel arrangement, the car and shop floors being at a common level. These tracks enter one at each side of the building, traversing the No. 2 bay and the No. 10 bay, while the third traverses the No. 7 bay in the center of the building. This arrangement of trackage is in keeping with the general plan whereby, on the one side, stock for hot pressed and cold punched nuts and for cold headed bolts is unloaded from the east track and moves through the various finishing processes toward the shipping floor in the center of the building, while in similar fashion stock is unloaded from the west track for bolts and rivets and, moving eastward, also ar- rives at the center of the building for inspection, packing and shipment by way of the central shipping track. For handling materials within the shop each bay is traversed by an overhead crane of. which five have a capacity of 3 tons and three a capacity of 10 tons. The central bays, in which the material is prepared for ship- ment, require no overhead handling arrangement, as the weights moved are light. A typical view of the crane arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. For the east and west PT g. 4—View in the North End of Bays No. 3 and 4, Showing the Rivet Heating Furnaces, the Rivet Machines and Row of Five Presses The Arrangement of the Machines with Reference to the Floor Tunnel and the Layout of the Motor Drives is Apparent } 1 . ad TTT AT PL ee : i 1 Bay Showing Individual Motor Drive for Each Tool handling of materials a truck is operated in the transfer tunnel mentioned. The passage of various tunnels in the shop is negotiated either by means of temporary gang- ways or by the concrete steps shown in Fig. 2 and con- veniently placed in the lines of travel throughout the shop. For Machining Products and Forging Large Bolts For making its own dies.and for machining such prod- ucts as are turned and finished, a complete machine shop is installed in the north portion of bay No. 1, as illustrated in Fig. 2. With but one or two exceptions throughout the shop, each machine is driven by an individual motor. This feature is conspicuous in the several illustrations. The machine shop equipment includes seven 16-in. Von Wick Machine Tool Company lathes with adjustable-speed direct- current Westinghouse motor drive; one Rahn-Larmon screw cutting lathe; three No. 3 Cincinnati horizontal- spindle milling machines; a Mueller 36-in. radial drilling machine; a Garvin die slotter; a Rockford 30-in. planing machine; five 16-in. and one 24-in. Rockford shaping machines; a Jones & Lamson 2x 2%-in. bolt cutting ma- chine and a Newton circular saw. TREE BLisiigitie ctober 3, IG12 y TPT | Oa ‘rr Lert PE VY THE IRON AGE es LUT TT ——— aia » pm rn . . fen a ae id View in the North Half of Bay No. 2 Showing Bar Stock for Rivets, 10-Ton Crane, and the Concrete Pocket for Stock Failing to Pass Inspection. mm tne he south end of this bay is devoted to the forging of dies, the making of bridge and upset rods and the forg- ing of large and special bolts. The equipment provided in- cludes a rs00-lb. Erie steam hammer from which die stock is worked down from billets and a Tate-Jones oil- uurning heating furnace. The rod and bolt machinery includes a heading machine with capacity for upsetting ids 1 in. diameter to 1% in. and up to 6 in. from 5-in. k. It is belt driven from a motor with a suitable il furnace for heating. There is also a 6-in. bolt-thread- ng machine, a double spindle 2%-in. bolt threader and a in. bolt threader, all of the type manufactured by the ne Machinery Company, Cleveland. A United Engi- neering & Foundry Company bar shearing machine com- letes the installation. The location of this heavy work this particular portion of the shop at once isolates it 1m the regular channels in which the lighter material loves and at the same time reduces the handling of stock a minimum, inasmuch as the finished material may be ided out on the adjoining track upon which the raw Fig. 5—South End of Bay No. 2 Showing Track for Incoming Stock and Unloaded Material for the ‘Smaller Size Bolts. The Three Long Heating Furnaces for Rivet Stock with Motor-Driven Blower Arrangement \djacent Bay No. 3 are Also Shown material is also brought in. 10-ton Alliance crane This bay is spanned by a Making Bolts and Rivets 3ay No. 2 is used entirely for the storage of bar stock at the north end for rivets and at the south end for bolts. In Fig. 3 the rivet stock is shown, and in Fig. § the bolt stock. Fig. 3 also illustrates a concrete floor pocket into which pieces failing to pass inspection may be conveniently discarded and subsequently removed. Views of the Tate-Jones rivet heating furnaces and the rivet machines are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The group includes three long furnaces with three large machines, one of Ajax and two of Acme Machinery Company’s man- ufacture, and three smaller furnaces and machines, making rivets from % in. to 4 in. in diameter. The machines are placed in a row above a floor conduit in which oil and water piping is laid and in which suitable receptacles are placed for receiving the finished rivets discharged by gravity from the machines. The larger machines are ar- At the Right are the Bar Shears and in the Adjacent Bay, the Heating Furnaces 0on ose Mager asian * + ae on wee i ah a ag Mage amt THE IRON TT i tT Beil) IN ».. , Te a ote. e i ys View Looking North in Bay No. 6, the Central Shipping Bay Showing the Shipping Track, Ico Devoted to Sorting and Packing for Shipment ranged in a straight line with the long furnaces, the bar stock charged into the furnaces at one end, fecding directly into the machines from the opposite end. The smaller machines on which short bars are worked up are placed diagonally in front of the corresponding furnace, and with the axis of the machine at right angles to the center line of the furnace, a natural arrangement for the handling of the stock from furnace to machine. The heating chamber of the long furnaces is approximately 21x 3 ft. and of the small furnaces about 5x3 ft. Air for the furnace blast is furnished by motor-driven American Blower Com- pany blowers, the three large blower and air connections for the furnaces being shown in Fig. 3 rhe blast pipe for the smaller furnaces is carried from a blower at the opposite end, \t the south or opposite end of bay No. 3, a v:ew of which is shown in Fig. 1, is the bolt-making department The present eqvipment for making bolts includes 11 Tate- Jones heating furnaces, and correspondingly eleven head- ing machines. of which nine were furnished by the Paw- tucket Mfg. Company, Pawtucket, R. 1. Of the remaining two, one was built by the National Machinery Company, Tiffin,. Ohio, and the other by the \cme Machinery Com- October = oo aS Th To Bays No. 5 on the Left and No. The Overhead Toilet and Lavatory Spanning the Center Bay is Conspicuous pany, Cleveland. a Tow The furnaces are placed consecutively in along the building columns, with fronts to th north and bridging a floor conduit which extends under all of the furnaces and carries the oil and water piping The air blast is piped from blowers, one at each end. A platform is placed over the open tunnel in front of each furnace for the furnace attendant to stand on when hand- ling the stock in and out of the furnace. machines parallels the row of furnaces. The row of The bar stock is cut into short lengths on the bar shearing machines shown in Fig. 3, one a National Machinery Company guillotine frame shearing machine and the other a Williams, Whit« & Co. vertical open-gap bar shear with adjustable stop at- tachment. In the center of the bay is a long soriing table, Fig. 1, divided into top compartments corresponding to the head- ing machines opposite. Along the edge of the table ten cl:ucks are mounted, in which the ends of the bolts are pointed preparatory to threading. These chucks are driven by belt from a shaft mounted on the table framing below The remaining side of the bay is occupied by a battery of bolt-threading machines consisting of four 3-spindle and six 2-spindle Acme machines and two Nationa! ma- Fig. 8—The Row of 16 Horizontal and 6 Vertical Nut Tapping Machines Located in Bay No. 8 for the Cold Punched Nuts tober 3, 1912 IRON AGE aug ie ania ae wee a Pte View of the Cold Punched Nut Department in Bay No. 9 Sivowing the Presses on Both Sides with the Bar Stock Between, In the Background Beyond the Transfer Tunnel is the Cold Heading Bolt Department also Shown 1n Fig. 9 For rolling threads two small and one large Water- diameter. The incoming materials track traverses bay larrel Foundry & Machine Company’s thread rolling No. 10 immediately inside of the east wall of the build- hines are installed. Two tumbling barrels are located ing, leaving the remainder of the floor in that bay for is bay for the cleaning up of the finished stock. The the storage of wire and wire rod stock for the bolts. In arrangement provides for a movement of the mate- the adjoining bay, No. 9, the automatic machines for cold ross the bay from west to east in accordance with forming of the bolts are located, being so placed that the ceneral direction of material movement in the west stock can be fed into the machines from the place where the works. The bar stock is sheared into short it is unloaded with the least possible subsequent handling and it ig piled in racks near each furnace and is \ general view of this department is shown in Fig. 9 idled across the face of the furnace to the corresponding The equipment consists of nine E. J. Manville cold-heading iding machine, thence to the sorting table for pointing machines, three open and three closed-die Waterbury Far- delivery to the threaders. The five trimming presses rel heading machines. For squaring the bolt heads six trimming the bolt heads are arranged in a row adjacent E. J. Manville automatic trimming machines are arranged he rivet machines, as shown in Fig. 4: Bay No. 4, in a parallel row. ining, is occupied almost entirely by storage bins for For the cut thread bolts special automatic self-feeding nd bolts. machines designed by the company are installed for point- ing and threading. The row of twelve of these machines Department for Cold Headed Bolts is shown in the foreground of Fig. 9. For rolled-thread the east side of the plant, including bays Nos. 10, bolts four Waterbury Farrel thread-rolling machines are 8, the materials move from east to west toward conveniently located. The arrangement of this equipment entral packing and shipping floor. On the portion is in consecutive rows in the order of the several opera- floor north of the transfer track is the department tions, so that the movement of the material in the process ld-headed bolts in sizes from 3/16 in. to 4 in. of completion is continuously toward the packing floor. 1g. 9—View Into the North Erd of Bays Nos. 8, 9 and 10 Showing the Cold Heading Department. In the Rear is the Wire Stock in Bay No, 10, in Bay No. 9 a Row of 15 Heading Machines and a Row of 6 Automatic Head Trimmers. The Row of Machines in the Foreground Includes 12 Automatic Self-Feeding Machines for Pointing and Tnreading aad 4 Thiead Rolling Machines THE IRON AGE October 2 Fig. 10—View in the South End of Bay No. 10 Showing Hot Pressed Nut Department Containing Seven Nut Machines and Heating Fur- naces. The view of this department also shows the annealing ovens. These are of the type equipped with rotating cylin- drical furnaces, inclined sufficiently to feed the material out of the opposite end automatically. Making Hot Pressed and Cold Pressed Nuts In thé south end of No. 10 bay are located the heating furnaces and machines for making hot pressed nuts. The equipment provides for the manufacture of nuts ranging in size from % in. to 3 in. The bar stock is unloaded from the cars immediately in front of the furnaces. This is shown in Fig. 10. This view also illustrates the ar- rangement of the furnaces and machines with respect to each other and to the line of building columns. The usual practice has been adhered to in placing the machines with an alignment parallel to the run of the building, while the center lines of the furnaces are rotated at such an angle that the operator handles the heated bars into the machines with a half turn and ample clearance. The machines span a floor tunnel similar to those previously mentioned and into which the finished nuts are discharged by gravity. The cold-punched nuts, in sizes from %4 in. to % in., are made in bay No. 9, adjoining the hot-pressed nut department. The arrangement of the floor space, as illus- trated in Fig. 7, provides for the storage of bars in the center with a flow of vertical nut presses on either side The Arrangement of Incoming Track, 10-Ton Handing Crane and Bar Storage are Apparent Of these cold punching machines there are 17 in all, placed five on the east side of bay No. 9 and seven on the west side. The remaining five are in the adjoining bay, No. 8, in a parallel row. At the extreme south end of bay No. 9 three continuous nut burring machines of interesting type are installed. They are illustrated in Fig. 11. The frame is similar to that of an inclined punch press, and carries an upright rotating shaft with a cutter head for facing off the fins on the nuts that are placed in the sockets of a rotating chuck mounted in a hori- zontal position. The nuts are placed in the chuck sockets by girl operators, and when faced off they drop out by gravity. The center portion of the south end of bay No. 8 is occupied by storage bins. Arranged in rows on either side are the nut tapping machines. The group of machines for the tapping of the smaller size nuts is shown in Fig. 8. These machines were built by the Acme Machinery Com- pany, and include 16 horizontal spindle machines in two sizes and 6 vertical 6-spindle machines, For the nuts of larger size a group of National vertical 6-spindle ‘nut tapping machines is located at the extreme south end of the bay, adjacent to the nut burring machines. Fig. 12 illustrates this group, which includes seven machines hand- ling a medium range of sizes and three larger machines. The liberality with which provision has been made for we TE ee ee ew on - = Sehr SE ae a -aik%s Fig. 11—View Showing the Three Continuous Nut Burring Machines at the South End of Bay No. 9. October 3,.1912 sorting, packing and shipping by the allotment of the entire floor area of the three center bays is illustrated in Fig. 6. Shipments may be loaded into the cars from either side and from any point in the length of the building. An additional noteworthy feature of this section of the build- ing, also shown in Fig. 6, is the suspended lavatories that are hung from the roof structure and span the center bay. The flooring is carried on I-beams, while the flooring itself and the side walls are concrete, with an expanded metal reinforcing. Stairways afford access at either end. Economy of floor space, ventilation, accessibility and cen- tral location are all obtained in this arrangement. In the present building the arrangement of the ma- chines and space not yet occupied provide for the instal- lation of additional equipment, while an extension of the entire plant on the unit system has been provided for in the layout and location of the plant now erected. Canada’s Manufacturing Progress \ succinct statement of Canada’s progress in manufac- turing industry has just been given by the Census Com- mission: The total value of Montreal’s manufacturing output in 1910 was $166,206,972, as compared with $154,- 306,048 for Toronto. During the decade Montreal showed a gain of 134 per cent., as compared with 164 per cent. for Toronto. Hamilton’s total value was $55,125,046, and Win- nipeg’s $39,490,608. Ottawa came next with $20,924,331. The comparative increases of a few of the leading cities show Sault Ste. Marie and Steelton ahead of all: Sault Ste. Marie and Steelton, 7194.56 per cent.; Calgary, 3803.26 per cent.; Sydney, 2692.26 per cent.; Windsor and Walker- ville, 1171.03 per cent.; Hamilton, 293.57 per cent.; Toronto, 243.18 per cent.; Ottawa, 137.18 per cent.; Montreal, 145.81 per cent. In 1910 manufacturers in Canada paid $241,- 08,416 in wages. The industrial expansion of the province of Ontario, Canada, is strikingly shown in the annual report for 1911 { the Secretary and Registrar of Ontario. During the twelve months 825 companies came into existence, while icenses to do business in the province were granted to 125 companies incorporated outside of Ontario. Most of licenses were issued to companies incorporated under the federal act, but a large number represented the appear- ance of British and United States enterprises. Eighty- nine older companies found it necessary to apply for au- thority to raise additional capital to take care of the de- mand for their output. The Hub Machine, Welding & Contracting Company las removed to its new plant at Twenty-second and, Race streets, Philadelphia, Pa. In its new quarters the company Nas secured an open space of 13,000 sq. ft. on one floor. Its specialties are engine room repairs and ice machinery work, but it has opened a new department for the repair of automobiles in all its branches. It has enlarged its electric and autogenous welding department to double the Previous size, and has installed a new system for doing electric welding. THE IRON AGE Fig. 12—View in the South End of Bay No. 8 Showing Battery of Ten Vertical Nut Tapping Machines for Hot Pressed Nut Department Youngstown’s Iron Industry in Civil War Time A recent issue of the Youngstown Telegram, Youngs- town, Ohio, giving local history from its files of 49 years ago, publishes the following item, which shows the im- portance which the iron industry had attained there so long ago: “Despite the war, great business activity prevails in Youngstown. Brown, Bonnell & Co., owning the Ma- honing Iron Works, are erecting an addition 190 x 106 ft. in which 10 puddling furnaces will be installed. An engine of 500 hp. will be necessary to operate the rolls which will turn our bar, sheet and boiler plate iron and heavy armament plate for gunboats. Shedd, Clark & Co. are making good headway with their main building 65 x 125 ft. and will manufacture merchant iron only. They have 15 furnaces. Shunk, Lane & Co. and Homer Hamilton & Co. are also making great additions. Youngstown will soon have seven blast furnaces, three rolling mills, one steel works and two machine shops and foundries. Population is between 4000 and 5000.” The Southern Aluminum Company The Southern Aluminum Company awarded to the General Electric Company a $400,000 contract for the elec- trical equipment for the 40,000-hp. hydroelectric plant at Whitney, N. C., which will supply electricity for the ex- tensive aluminum works to be established at that place. The equipment purchased consists ef seven 5000-kw. and two 2500-kw. alternating current generators with all neces- sary apparatus. The dam of the power plant has been finished and work is, now progressing on the power house, while construction is being pushed on the aluminum works proper and 500 concrete cottages for the employees. The development will cost about $10,000,000 and will be ready for operation probably by June of next year. Dr. Paul Héroult, 149 Broadway, New York, is the engineer. The plant of the National Rolling Mill Company, Mansfield, Ohio, containing three hot mills and two cold mills for making black and galvanized sheets, was sold at sheriff’s sale September 28 for a nominal sum to the American Steel Company, Park Building, Pittsburgh. The buyer has received financial inducements from the Mans- field Board of Trade to keep the plant there but may move it to Ellwood City, Pa, where the American Steel Company is now operating wire and wire nail mills. Whether the plant remains in Mansfield or is moved to Ellwood City, it is the intention to add three or five hot mills and several stands of cold mills. The American Steel Foundries has made public the financial results of operations in the six months ended June 30, 1912, showing a net surplus, after all charges, of $112,229, as compared with a deficit of $259,031 for the 17 months to December 31, 1911. As the present outlook indicates still larger buying of the company’s products, the future is considered bright with promise. eee <> hapivars peeing -nsee a ms ht Pc BR mga ait nactstimcirt, gottte F eke pus een: ro ahd UN = La ae Net ala ig pice op The Making of Wootz or Indian Steel The Smelting of Iron Sands and the Conver- sion of the Resulting Sponge Into Steel Carried on in Identical Ways for Hundreds of Years - —BY A. R. ROY— an Wootz steel is made by the Hindus in India and is cele- brated for the remarkably hard temper it takes. From this steel the famous Damascus swords were made; for it England was glad to pay the fabulous sum of $30 per Ib. before the time of Huntsman. In England it was used for making dies for coining presses and for all purposes which required great strength, homogeneity and fineness of grain. Of late years not much has been heard of Wootz steel in Europe because enough is not made to supply the demands of occidental manufacturers; but in India the native blacksmiths still use it, and many sword makers will use no other steel for the blades they turn out. Wootz steel is still made in India, although foreign steels are gradually diminishing the annual output. It is made to-day in just the way of 100 or 1000 years ago. Rarely in the past few thousand years has India changed any of the methods of manufacturing her commodities. \nd it is noticeable that whenever modern methods have been substituted for the historical and traditional processes of manufacture, the product has deteriorated in quality. Primitive Methods of Winning Ore The method of making the steel is very simple; nor is there anything complicated in the design of furnaces or any of the implements employed in the manufacture. The iron ore is generally picked up along the river beds or in water courses or on rocky surfaces in the form of small lodestones about the size of pigeon eggs. These are --/ronSand --Red Clay Bank i Tuye CST ISAS oe Fig. 1.—Smelting Furnace. then thoroughly washed until separated from all clay and foreign matter, when they look a dull reddish brown or a bright metallic black. After being cleaned the ore is pounded with large wooden mallets into powder or iron sand. In the Chota Nagpore district and some other parts rich in iron, long ditches are dug about 3 ft. deep, that terminate in holes about a foot deeper. Such a system of ditches and holes is often called a gravel pit. The gravel pits are filled with water which is allowed to evaporate, leaving at the bottom a deposit of fine iron dust, which is carefully scooped up with the hand for use. These pits are often inundated with water three or four times before they are abandoned. The quantity of iron deposit gathered, of course, varies with the richness of the field. As a rule, such gravel pits yield enough iron dust every time they are scooped to make 8 to to Ib. of steel. The gravel pit deposits of India remind one of the lake deposits of Sweden and are probably as pure. The Most Primitive Method of Smelting There are three kinds of furnaces used for smelting the iron ore: 1. In a hole dug in the ground. 2. In a long cylindrical furnace. 3. In a brick furnace which is built out of the ground to a hight of 5 ft. above the ground. Furnace No. 1 is packed or charged in almost iden- tically the same way as the Catalan forges. The iron dust is put on a bed of charcoal, and then covered again with charcoal. Bamboo tuyeres covered with mud are intro duced in the bottom of the hole and the air blast is sup- plied by bellows made of skins that are worked by hand or foot. The fire is constantly supplied with charcoal and iron dust from above. After three to four hours the iron, which looks like a sponge, is pulled out of the fire, carried to a stone and beaten with wooden mallets into a homogeneous mass. Then again it is heated white and beaten into four square bars about 12 in. long and nicked every 4 in. From the time it leaves the fire until it is nicked the iron is never allowed to grow cold. After the bars are broken where they are nicked they are ready to be converted into steel. A Cylindrical Furnace Furnace No. 2 (Fig. 1) is a long clay cylinder about 3 ft. above and 1 ft. below the surface of the ground. The base of the cylinder does not rest on the bottom of the hole, but 4 to 6 in. above it. Near the bottom two holes are made in the cylinder on opposite sides and through these are introduced the same kind of bamboo tuyeres as in furnace No. 1, agd connected with the same kind of bellows for supplying the air blast. The cylinders have a diameter of about 2 ft. at the base, tapering to 18 in. at the top. The sides are banked heavily with clay to about 3 in. of the opening on top. These cylindrical furnaces are somewhat more care- fully charged. Layers of charcoal and iron sand are alternately packed. The ratio is 1 to 15; 4. e., for every basket of iron sand 15 baskets of charcoal are charged. Thus the furnace is charged to the top, the uppermost layer being charcoal. The furnace is fired from below through a hole in the ground which leads to a point below the base of the cylinder. The space below the cylinder is filled with dry faggots over which the first layer of charcoal is arranged. Two men work the bellows continually for four or five hours to supply the air blast. As the burning mass sinks more charcoal and iron and in the proportions men- tioned are fed into the furnace. When about 20 lb. of iron has been produced the spongy mass is again treated in the way described, and is then broken into small pieces of bar ready for the crucible for conversion into steel. Furnace No. 3 is only a modification of No. 2. The only difference is that it is made of brick instead of clay and the tuyeres are placed about 4 in. above ground. There is, however, an important difference in the detail of charging. The ratio of iron ore to charcoal is I to 2. Fig. 2.—Converting Furnace. This may be explained by the fact that in these furnac® found on the Malabar coast charcoal made of irool al is employed. and it is better than that from the ba0° 764 ctober 3, 1912 od or other species of acacia native to other parts of ndia. The preparation of the iron for the crucible is ways the same. The Converting Furnace Whatever be the method and design of the furnace for melting, the conversion of the iron into steel is the same, ind always the same kind of furnace is employed. A hole Fig. 3.—Shapes of Crucibles and Lid. ; dug in the ground about 2 ft. deep (Fig. 2). At 9 in. elow the surface the hole is about 1 ft. in diameter, and voes down perpendicularly. In the upper part it begins to spread out till it attains a diameter of 2 ft. at the surface. rhe furnace is filled with charcoal nearly to the surface. fen to 14 crucibles are placed on the bed of fuel and then covered over fully with more charcoal, which is kept from scattering by a mud ridge 6 in. high all around the le. Two tuyeres are sunk nearly to the bottom of the hole at opposite sides. Bellows are used to produce the last.. A little tunnel leading to the hole, say 14 in. below the surface, furnishes fuel. This chute is carefully closed vhen not in use during the burning. Two men who work the bellows continually for four to five hours replenish he furnace with fuel and carefully regulate the heat. At end of four hours the crucibles are shaken to ascer- if the metal within is molten. The fires are allowed die out slowly and the crucibles to cool gradually through the night. In the morning they are broken and the buttons of Wootz steel, called “oolies,” and weighing lb. each, are taken out ready for sale. While the steel is hot no cold air is allowed to touch it; in fact, to insure the exclusion of cold air, the fire is kept up sometimes for an hour after the metal has reached the molten state, and then allowed to die out slowly. The preparation of the clay for the crucibles, as well the manner of charging them is worthy of notice. slack clay is brought from the bottom of ponds that dot the whole continent, or from the low-lying rice fields. lhis mud is for some reason supposed ‘to be less liable to rack in great heat. It is mixed and kneaded by trampling Carefully all gravel, hard lumps and stones are removed ind the clay is worked until it attains a uniform con- sistency. Then it is divided into small lumps, each enough to make a crucible. Each of the lumps is mixed with rags shredded and torn into small pieces and beaten with . hammer on a hard surface until the linen is reduced to pulp and becomes indistinguishable. Then the clay is ready for making crucibles.. Goldsmiths prepare the clay ior pots in which they melt gold in the same way; other- vise it would crack in the intense heat. In a very large umber of cases the clay is prepared by merely mixing thoroughly with an equal proportion of burnt rice husks. Sometimes the inside of the crucibles and fur- nace is lined or coated with red clay. Crucibles. (Fig. 3) ire made in various shapes, and the lids, which are con- vex, are made of the same material. They seldom have a apacity for holding more than 2 Ib. The crucible is harged thus: \ few leaves of the Asclepias gigantea are placed cov- ering the bottom of the crucible. Above this come a few pieces of dried wood, the Cassia auriculata, in lengths of ibout 1% in. and weighing not more tham.a tenth part f the piece or pieces of iron. The sum total of these pieces of bar iron in the crucible seldom amounts to more than 1 Ib. The iron is placed with or above the wood, then the whole is stuffed with the leaves mentioned above to fill up all airspace. The less space the better the qual- ity of the steel. Of course, the irregularities in the form ‘f the wood seldom permit the exclusion of all air. \bove the covering of leaves the lid is tightly pressed down and luted with the same prepared clay. Properties of Indian Steel _Wootz steel is renowned for its malleability and duc- tility, combined with great toughness. But it is somewhat THE IRON AGE 765 dificult to work. It gets burnt or decarbonized very easily if the heat is raised above a dull cherry red or the steel is kept long in the fire. At white heat it becomes very brittle and is apt to crack. Nor can this steel be easily recarbonized. . A successful method of recarboniz- ing is employed by Indian blacksmiths, but it requires much care and skill and is rather too complicated to ex- plain here. As a rule, Wootz steel becomes useless once it is burnt. The best results with it can be obtained by working it quickly with the heaviest hammers possible. The remarkably hard temper it can take makes it unique. << “TS, A sword made with this steel will cut in half at a stroke a floating cocoanut which has not been de- prived of its natural fiber covering. It will cut in twain a silk thread floating in the air. Tools of remarkable temper have been manufactured from it. It is difficult to give a representative analysis of Wootz steel because it is made in various parts of India, and the iron ore used and the method of manufacture are not identical. In some specimens analyzed aluminum has been found; in others there. was no aluminum, but traces of graphite, sulphur and arsenic, in addition to the usual carbon and silicon. However, it would appear that the percentage of carbon is pretty high, rising to 1.45 and be- ing seldom less than 1.10. Considering the marvelous re- sults obtained, it would be quite interesting for scientific purposes to conduct a thorough investigation of Wootz steel, Portable Parallel Grinding Attachment Accurate work and hard continuous service are the twé special features claimed by the Standard Electric Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, for a new portable electric grinding attachment which it is now nmianufacturing. The special work for which this attachment is designed is the grinding of rolls, shafts, connecting rods, bushings, journals and other similar work after it -has been turned in a lathe. In addi- tion to handling pieces of this character it is also pos- sible for it to do surface grinding on a planing ma- chine and it can also be used to advantage on a bor- ing mill. The attachment is fas- tened to the lathe by bolt- ing the angle plate on the tool post rest. If desired a shank can be furnished when required instead of the angle plate attachment. There is a vertical adjustment of 4 in. to bring the attachment in line with the lathe centers. The bearings are made of phosphor bronze and are dustproof and adjustable.for wear. As far as possible the mechanical construction has been simplified, the idea of strength and rigidity being carefully carried out. This machine is made in two sizes,. being driven by '% and 1 hp. motors respectively. The motor is ait cooled by a special fan mounted on the armature shaft which gives forced ventilation, The .armature and poles are made of soft electrical sheet steel laminations which are well insulated. An Improved Motor-Driven Port- able Parallel Grinding Attach- ment Made by the Standard Electric Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. Isaac H. Orr, trust officer of the St. Louis Union Trust Company, St. Louis, has been appointed receiver by the United States Court for the St. Louis Blast Furnace Com- pany under proceedings brought by the Whitney-Kem- merer Company, Philadelphia, which enjoined the fore- closure sale of the property some weeks ago. A bond issue of $200,000, on which interest has not been paid, hampers the company, whose plant has been idle for a year. The stockholders have been endeavoring to re-establish the company, but the court decided that sufficient time had been allowed for their efforts and the receivership order is a result. ; ; a Se teat z “OR fas tig te oa a pe raconloat oe cate ee 1 Sk ae ee hay a ys : a a eee Hh a ak CAT. es a. GS Tye pantie rs ~ a oa “ os - ame we On Tp Eee grt sate wee . Toes ah v rat yaks = ie aE. * oe iS *e ne : eH ee. aa 4B a a a+) eS oo a inkl peat es. The Manufacture of Tool Steel A Description of the Processes and Equipment Used in the Plant of the Columbia Tool Steel Company BY EDWARD K,. HAMMOND, CHICAGO The manufacture of tool steel is one of the older industries, but be- fore the application of chemistry to steel mak- ing little was known of the reasons for follow- ing the various steps in the process. Like many of the older generation of manufacturers, the steel maker worked upon traditional rulés which had been slowly de- veloped from the ex- perience of his fore- bears. The more suc- cessful manufacturers laid great stress upon their so- called “secret processes” of compounding the materials from which the steel was made; these methods were jeal- ously guarded and were handed down from father to son as treasured heirlooms. Fig. 1—A Chargec Crucible The Application of Chemistry in Steel Making But with the application of chemistry in tool steel plants, which took place less than 50 years ago, the way was paved for great improvements, both in the quality of the product and in the facility with which it could be pro- duced. Instead of making his “mix” without knowing the underlying principles, the modern. steel maker works with the same degree of accuracy that a druggist ob- serves in putting up a prescription. All of the raw mate- rials are accurately analyzed in the laboratory, and from the knowledge of their composition which is secured in this way the formulz for the different brands of steel are made up on paper. The total amount of carbon, man- ganese, sulphur, phosphorus, and other constituents which are to be present in the finished steel is determined by adding up the sum of each which was found by analysis of the raw materials. In starting upon the manufacture of a new brand of tool steel, a trial ingot is made from the formula which has been developed from the knowledge of the exact composition of the raw materials furnished by the lab- oratory. When completed, this ingot is analyzed to prove that its composition is in accordance with the formula which was calculated upon the basis of the materials from which the steel was made. From the foregoing, it will be seen that the modern steel maker, assisted by his chemists, works upon the production of steels of pre- determined composition, which his knowledge of the prop- erties imparted by different constituents enables him to predict will be suitable for specific classes of service. This contrasts sharply with the haphazard methods of former generations. It is true that this scientific way of going at the manufacture of tool steel has robbed the industry of much of that treasured air of mystery which was formerly in vogue, but, where scientific methods prevail, mystery no longer has a foothold. It must. not be thought, however, that the work of the chemist can produce good tool steel unassisted. The chemist has demonstrated the value of his work, both in compounding the charges of raw materials from which the steel is made and in explaining the principles upon which the process of manufacture works. But unless all of the materials are of the highest purity, and the great- est care is observed in every process through which the steel is passed before reaching completion, satisfactory re- sults cannot be obtained. The Evolution of Modern Manufacturing Methods Wrought iron forms the base of all tool steels, and to be suitable for this purpose it must. be of the highest purity. The first known form of tool steel consisted of Fig. 2—General View of the Melting Shop in the Columbia Tool Steel Company’s Works 766 ‘tober 2 Fig. 3—Teeming Steel Into Molds wrought iron which had small percent- ages of carbon com- bined with it. Such steels are used to- day under the name § “carbon steels” to distinguish them from the more modern high-speed or alloy steels. In converting wrought iron into tool steel, the primitive steel maker followed what is known as the cementation It consisted of packing bars of wrought iron in firebrick boxes filled with powdered charcoal. Each bar of iron was completely surrounded by the charcoal, the method being to place alternate layers of iron bars and charcoal in the box. When filled, the cover was placed on the box and the joints were luted with fire clay to make them airtight. Two such boxes were customarily mounted in the same furnace, and when the charge had been properly sealed up, to prevent the charcoal from burning, the fire was started under the converting boxes. The heat was regulated in such a way that it took about two days for the boxes to come to a dull red heat, indi- a temperature of 1250 deg. F. At this temperature n has a slight solvent action on carbon, the latter being taken up to form a carbide of the composition Fe,C, which s known by the chemical name of cementite. The rate at which it was possible to convert iron into steel by the cementation process was very slow, experi- ments having shown that the carbon penetrates into the on %& in. for every 24 hrs. that the iron in kept at a red heat. As a consequence, it required from 7 to 11 days after a red heat had been attained, to enable the carbon to be absorbed right to the center of the bars of iron. The rocess. THE IRON AGE 767 rate at which the process was progressing was judged by means of small test bars, which were placed in the fur- nace, where they were readily accessible. After the sev- enth day, one of these bars was taken out at intervals of several hours and broken, the appearance of the fracture indicating the depth to which the carbon had been ab- sorbed. When the process of conversion had been completed the fire was allowed to die out, and when the bars of steel had cooled sufficiently they were taken from the furnace. Steel produced by this method is known as “blister steel,” owing to the fact that the surface of the bars is covered with blisters, caused by the formation of gas in the steel from a chemical reaction between the slag in the wrought iron and the carbon of the cementite. The bars of blister steel were refined by hammering, and where exceptionally large bars were required they were produced by welding together the necessary number of bars of the size that were converted in the furnace. This process is still used by reputable steel makers in Sheffield, England, although much of the steel thus made is afterward cut up and melted in crucibles. About the middle of the eighteenth century the more rapid method of converting iron into steel by the crucible process was invented by Benjamin Huntsman, an Eng- lishman, who endeavored to keep his process secret, but was unable to do so. With the advent of the chemist into the steel] trade, the crucible process, in which the iron is brought into a molten condition, was of course found Fig. 4—Ingots Stacked According to Carbon Content more favorable than the cementation, process for the ap- plication of his art to the production of a steel of pre- determined composition. The crucible process, therefore, by reason of the reduction of the time required to produce finished steel, the great saving in fuel and the possibility of securing a product of a desired composition, is now followed by all important manufacturers of tool steel. Fig. 5—Rolling Mill, with 14-In. Rolls, Used for First Reduction on the Billets Tae te nea at EE A erm A TN EN ae A HE ar RI a ate Spe at rat ana Bait i ig Tilo PGs. Lae Re ae ee : * = Seiden actly > De eer es Bee | oat on" ote oe 4f ‘iy ‘ . At af fete «ih Bh Hee oo i ; mae ee Pit may. in as 1% ' 8 4 ‘4 i if ei Na Pate ay? FAR i? ii The Development of High-Speed Steels Before entering upon the practice of a modern tool steel mill a brief account of the development of our mod- ern alloy or high-speed steels will be of interest. These steels were first discovered by Robert Mushet, -who found that the introduction of from 4 to 12 per cent. of tungsten and 2 to 4 per cent. of manganese into tool steel gave the product the so-called “self-hardening” properties; that is to say, the steel took a temper upon cooling without being quenched in oil or water. The analyses of the early forms of Mushet steels varied widely, but the average composition is fairly well reptesented by the fol- lowing figures: Tungsten, 9 per cent.; manganese, 2.5 per cent.; carbon, 1.85 per cent. Since the early experiments of Mushet a great deal of attention has been given to the improvement of these so- called alloy steels. This result has been obtained by the combination of a number of other elements than tung- sten and marganese to form different tool steels, each of which has its advantages for particular classes of service. The up-to-date steel maker has used such elements as chromium, vanadium, titanium, boron, silicon, uranium, nickel, and even silver in advancing the quality of his product, in addition to the manganese and tungsten: orig- inally employed by Mushet. The first public exhibition of the use of alloy steels was made at the Paris Exposition in 1900. It was shown 768 THE IRON AGE October 2, 1912 ties of toughness and red hardness, and that bett are secured by increasing the tungsten and dis with the use of manganese. It has also been fou; t molybdenum can be used in place of tungsten wit : factory results. In the case of the molybdenum st. percentage,of molybdenum present is about half as as the quantity of tungsten used, while essentia|| same amount of carbon is allowable in either case: . mium is used in quantities ranging from the almost perceptible up to 6 per cent., and is claimed to giv. 2 steel additional hardness. Tungsten and molybdenum have also been combined in the same steel with the producti of good results. Later in the development of alloy steels came a silico: steel developed by Hadfield. 'The formula calls for 2.7; per cent. of silicon with the smallest possible amounts o/{ manganese, carbon and other impurities. This steel! capable of being hardened by a double heat treatment, but has not found wide application in the production of tools Its greatest field of usefulness has been in the manu facture of electrical machinery, for which purpose - its high magnetic permeability and electrical resistance mak: it well suited. oS The use of vanadium in alloy tool steels has been adopted with satisfactory results. Next to carbon this is the element which has the most powerful effect on th: steel; from 0.1 to 0.15 per cent. of vanadium will produce Fig. 6—Rolling Mill with 9-In. Rolls, for Completing Rolled Bars of Tool Steel at that time that tools made from alloy steels and sub- jected to the proper heat treatment were capable of taking cuts of such a depth that they were heated to redness through the friction of the cut. At the same time these tools were capable of working at such a remarkable speed that the name of “high-speed” steel was given to the stock from which they had been made. During the past 12 years high-speed steels have been steadily increasing in popularity among the users of ma- chine tools, and builders have been increasing the strength of their machines to enable them to secure the full advan- tage of the increased capacity of the alloy steels over that which had formerly been possible. A great variety of formule have been used in combining the elements mentioned; in general, however, it may be said that the tendency has been to reduce the percentage of carbon from the average value of 1.85 per cent. employed by Mushet to about 0.6 per cent. In tungsten steels the amount of tungsten has-been ingreased from the 9 per cent. called for in the average formula of Mushet to as high as 20 per cent. When given the proper heat treatment it has been found that tungsten, combined with the correct amount of chromium, gives the tool the desirable proper- marked results, while the best authorities agree in saying that 1 per cent. of this constituent is the best amount to use in high-speed steels. The use of vanadium in too! steels has been found to give added strength, toughness and temp