The Iron Age 1913-09-11: Vol 92 Iss 11

THE IRON AGE Established 1855 New York, September 11, 1913 Vol. 92: No. 11 Apparatus for Catching Cinders in Gases A Method Found Efficient by the New York Edison Company—Regarded Applicable to Blast Furnace Gas Cleaning A new aratus for cleaning the gaseous products of cerning the system and the ph heat n, showing, it is stated, an average efficiency of accompanying illustrations were made wet tained fr o less than 95 per cent., has been developed by the New’ C. B. Grady, of the New York Edison mpany, W Work Edison Company at its Waterside No. 2 station, on had much to do with the experimental work, and by wl he East River, New York City. The apparatus is the a number of patents covering the system were originall sult of some years oi experiment, and so successful is it taken out. The work was done under the charge a TWo Views in tHe Cinper CATCHER. The gases containing the particles of unconsumed carbon, dust and ash are turned downward at high velocity into a tank of water. The bottom df the smoke passage forms the tank. The gases are turned downward by a damper (the hain suspended plates in the picture at the left), the bottom of which forms one side of a slot-like opening with the side of the tank The slot is the point of high velocity and on entering the tank the gases ate sharply diverted. The opposite face of the damper to that shown im the picture is kept wet and the little waterfall from it, and through which the gases on entering from the slot have to pass is shown at . : —aake a » 24 hou The mee af ¢ . the bottom of the picture. The piping shown is for washing out of the tank the material caught every 24 hours. The picture a ght shows th supplying water to the wetted face of the damper and the mechanism for raising and lowering the damper according to the Volume of gase handled with the immense volumes of gases which are treated Thomas E. Murray, vice-president f the New Y Many times larger, for example, than the volume handled son Company, who is responsible for the experi: ata blast furnace plant—that it would seem to have an equipment and the design. ‘pplication of very wide scope. Accordingly, it is ex- The accompanying drawing is a cross-section of om Pected that it will be employed in the steel industry for the of the boiler settings, showing the apparatus arranged in Ptrification of blast furnace gas for use in gas engines the main smoke flue. The steam oilers in the W atereide and hot stoves, and in cement plants. The facts con- station are placed in rows, back to back, and the draw 547 es + Sees P ¢ lS em aw eee 5 expe tole ~ ty aoe News 9 2 Nain eae s a aneat ata Sgt eS. FS TUES wv es my ee ~ . Ci Steele, + Rigs AGF 548 THE IRON AGE S ung shows how the gases of combustion ap] roach th apparatus from Opposite directions. oome idea of tile size of the installation may be gamed when it 1s realiz that the power station contains 96 steam boilers of 650-hp. rating, which boilers, however, are operated much above the normal rated capacity. The boilers are arranged on wo floors, with 48 on each floor. The movable damper D in the drawing is about 5 ft. high and 50 ft. long, run ning the entire length of the flue The water tank at the bottom of the flue is 8% ft. wide by 50 it. long, and about 18 in. of water is maintained inthe tank. Water 1s taken from the tank and pumped into the water pipe K by means of a small low-head centrifugal pump. Thx vater flows out of the pipe K through a number of I-in oles, spaced about 4 in. center to center, into the gutter, G, then flows over the edge of the gutter G down th: inside face of the damper D into the tank. About 75 gal of water per minute per boiler are thus circulated, and ibout 8 gal. per minute per boiler are added to make uy for the evaporation and for the water spray which is ‘arried away by the gases. Salt water is used at the Water side stations, the water being taken from the fire service. The gases originally left each boiler at the rear throug] a horizontal intake A and traveled along a _ horizonta rectangular flue P to the stacks There are four stacks all told, each 264 ft. in hight above the second-floor boule grates. The new arrangement with the cinder catchers is as follows: The gases leave the boiler through the same horizontal intake A and are deflected downward by baffle plate C and then pass down through a wedge shaped duct, one side of which is formed by the movable damper D and the other side by one of the sides of th flue. The above-mentioned duct is of uniformly decreasing cross-section and is open at the lower end, so that the direction of flow of the gases as they leave the duct ts substantially vertical. In passing through the cinder catcher the gases are fanned out, so that they leave the bottom of the catcher through a narrow, long slot. The water level in the lower portion of the flue is kept con stant and at a comparatively short distance from the bot tom of the damper D. The water flowing into the gutter G and running over the edge of the gutter forms a sheet of water on the damper D which makes a little waterfall from the bottom of the damper D to the water in the hottom of the flue. The cinders are caught either by coming in contact with the sheet of water on the damper D and thus being carried into the water below or are projected into the water in the bottom of the flue by the comparatively high velocity that they have attained. This velocity is attained a ° ° pees e ° } | Li Cross-Section Showing Cinder Catching Apparatus Arranged in Boiler Smoke Flue irtly by the increase in the velocity which the cinders are suspended an {his 1s an important feature, for thx : i particies varies in proportion to the and the resistance of the projected pa 5 in a tending to change their direction of inertia. It is estimated that the , ‘ toward the surface of the water with a yelocne. sect 50 It. per second. s of ab Two positions of the damper D are howing the damper D in full lines is useq when ilers are operating at light loads and the POsition sh ng the damper in dotted lines is used when the boik are operating at a maximum load. The dampers ; raised and lowered by turning the shaft F which is 0 ited from the boiler room floor by means of — wheel H. The lower portion of the movable densill is connected to the side of the flue by means of a ink that the bottom of the damper D will move upwardl and outwardly when the top of the damper ig raised a maintain the distance from the side of the fiye to h bottom of the damper and the distance from the surfad f the water to the bottom of the damper approxima qual lhe wet method of cleaning was not considered at 4 outset, but imstead a number of experiments y made to avoid the use of water, which, it was though would be detrimental from a number of standpoints, ay it should be added that the cinders, so called, include y nly the dust and ash carried away from the fuel bed but small particles of unconsumed carbon, all of whid are drawn up the stack and blown into the atmosphere, The first experimental wet-cleaning apparatus cog sisted of a curved baffle plate placed just beyond boiler outfit, so as to deflect the gases in a downward direction and a water tank below to catch the cinders, Thi simple scheme caught quite a percentage of the solid matter carried by the gases, and the next step was to increase the distance traveled by the gases in a dow ward direction and also materially increase the velocity so that the solid particles would be driven toward the wate with a higher velocity and thus trap a larger percentagg of cinders. The first experimental outfit of this ty ive remarkably good results. The gases were conduct downwardly through a four-sided, wedge-shaped duct t ering toward the outlet, three sides of the duct vertical and the other inclined, the water level in t tank being maintained about 12 inches from the bottom of the duct. At the same time another scheme for wet cleaning was being tried out. An inclined baffle was placed Wh. Lhe Positid sO ‘entrifugal Pump for Circulating the Water Used in the Catcher ‘r flue and a sheet of water was maintained, flow- he upper face of the baffle, so that the gases would tend to drive the solid particles against this sheet of » next move was to combine this idea with the rmer i let a sheet of water flow down along the ‘f the duct into the watertank below, so ses in entering and going through the duct " portion of the cinders into this sheet of ’ ts on this experimental device led to the apparatus mow in use, ideas considered in the study of the lems was to enlarge the smoke flues, the velocity of the gases, allowing the ttle to the bottom of the chamber. The ed to less than one-half of the original, nt. of the cinders were caught. Later d, perpendicular to the direction of and only a slightly increased percentage aught, and in addition there was inter- he draft. It was then thought that per- in which the tubes are staggered, would pting cinders, and 24 of the boilers were nomizers, but the installation did not quantity of the suspended solids, and as nterference of draft in this case the econo ved Another method tried was that of through filtering material, a wire screen the hottom f one f the stacks The nat procating motion, and a part of it f the uptake while the other part was utside part was cleaned by means of ber of different sizes of sereens was tried, en W fine enough to catch So per cent t interfered too much with the draft and the screen was difficult. The idea of em al force for removing cinders was tried, ng to impart a whirling motion to the the cinders out into pockets. Tests on iners of this tvpe were not satisfactory, bination of the enlarged flue and the cen- ltogether satisfactory. Apparatus was also ‘ipitate the particles according to the Cot- ' ication method, but there was difficulty in a with the insulation under the high potentials ed form of cinder catcher, Mr. Grady says, THE IRON AGE 549 does not materially reduce the er Caf VV draft at the stack base of from 0.9 to 1.2 wat i load of 1500 np. can car! i n eac with only a slight se in 1 ef ) catcher. The posit such a point that the gas highest poss ble witl le 6S under normal draft nditions rs rating at 110 per cent. a! d 150 per ing would be from 3 t n., W 22 the boiler rating the opening uld creas j The gases coming from th ers at t Waterside stations contain about 0.06 per cent. of sulphur dioxide gases, and a certain amount of sulphurous acid ed by the flue gases coming in contact with water ses as they leave the cinder catcher carry with t L cer tain amount of entrained wat s sl the water in the tank after a run of 24 hr. is found to con tain 0.025 per cent. of sulphurous and sul; d—a small percentage of the sulphurous acid probably having been changed to sulphuric acid by the a rl f ! atom of oxygen. The presence of the li i] phuric acids and also of a small amount of acid, formed by the combination of t! ulphut id the salt in the water used, has given considerable t1 le due to the fact that ordinary iron and other metals which have been used for the damper D have been rapidly eaten away. The baffle plate C and the movable damper D in the first experimental cinder catcher were made of sheet iron After a two weeks’ run this material showed signs of rapid deterioration. A number of other materials have tried and copper is now plate and damper. The dampers are of No. 8 gauge « flanged and bolted together with baffle pper, been being used for both Ye-iIn. ci pper ends being reinforced with a 2%-in. copper bar The copper, Mr. Grady finds, is withstanding the acid a better than anything else which has been tried. The inside face of the damper D on which the water runs show practically no deterioration after two months’ use, outside face of the damper has been slightly periments are being made on a number of acid proof and heat-resisting coatings to protect the outside fa The flues at the Waterside stations are composed of ¥-in. steel plate reinforced with angle irot nd are painted inside and out with two coats of red lead and linseed oil plant. A lead lining has been placed at the bot tom of the flue forming the water tank. The lead ibout \% in. thick and a concrete mattress about 1% in placed between the steel plate of the flue and the lead lining. The upper portion of this lead lining is protected from the heat by a copper flashing M. N ther pr tion has been given to the inside of the fi rl cinder catcher was placed in operation about four mor ago and the lead lining and all inside surface r the fue proper have shown practically no signs of de utior As stated, Mr. Grady claims on the basis of a number f tests an average efficiency of 95 per cent. in cleaning the cinders. This, he has figured, is equivalent to cleaning the gases down to 0.02 grain figure per cubic foot, a paring favorably with results obtained with scrubbers and washers used in blast furnace gas-cleaning pl From the nature of the iratus and the result d it felt that it is applicable for use in steel and cement n ind that in some form it may be applied t tearm | motives where fire from sparks has be¢ 1 loss to pr erties bordering on railroads With regard to the illustrations, it may be pointed out that one shows a general view of the cinder catcher which water may be seen flowing from the lower portion f the movable damper into the water below, the gases as they leave the cinder catcher pa r through this water fall. The pipes in the foreground are ed for wash the water tank, which is done every ing out the c nders in 24 hr. Another illustration gives a view of the upper portion of the cinder catcher and the mechanism for ra Water is shown the ing and lowering the movable damper flowing top of the movable damper into the copper gutter, which is hehind the upper portion of the damper. The third half- tone illustration shows the centrifugal pump used for circulating the water, this particular installation serving six of the 650-hp. boilers out of the cast-iron pipe, located just above | a th cl le eS Se owt The Two New Tilting Furnaces at Buffa, The Late Additions to of the Lackawanna Steel Company—Arrange- ment for Duplex Process—Record Outputs At the Buffalo plant of the Lackawanna Steel Com- pany two tilting furnaces have recently been completed and placed in operation. They form part of the No. 2 open-hearth plant, which, when completed, will comprise the two tilting furnaces and eight large stationary fur- naces, four of the latter being now in process of con- struction. The tilting furnaces, which were built from designs developed by the Lackawanna Steel Company, have shown most gratifying results in operation, both as to out- put and quality of steel, and have a number of interesting features of construction. The new plant is located directly north of the Bessemer Tilting Furnace During Tapping and Recarburizing Operation steel works, this location being adopted after careful con- sideration of the available sites as being well situated with reference to the mills using the steel, and at the same time permitting advantage to be taken of the equipment of the Bessemer plant for operating the duplex process with the two tilting furnaces. This arrangement makes a com- paratively short haul for the hot metal between the con- verters and the furnaces. The construction of the new plant is of a most sub- stantial character. Extremely heavy construction has been used in both the building and machinery, the object being to insure as far as possible against delays or shut downs through the breakage of machinery. The two tilting fur- naces are located in an all steel construction -building 352 long by 124 ft. wide. On account of the great iength of the tilting furnaces, and their location on the line of the center columns, the heavy construction is particularly noticeable in the case of the crane runway girders. These girders have a span of 110 ft., are 12 ft. in depth and the Open-Hearth Plant weigh about 115 tons each. The buildings for ;. were designed by the company and fabri a e . ‘ 4 shops. . [he accompanying cross-section drawing of the ole shows the ample proportions and the relation of fm and equipment. The general plan of the plant Te sh relation of the tilting furnaces to the Bessemer plan lhe charging floor is served by a 75-ton crane of «- & 10 in, span having an auxiliary trolley of 25-tons capaci while the pouring side of furnace is served by two ton cranes of 58 ft. 8 in. span having auxiliary tr Neve af 35-tons capacity. An interesting. feature of thece } te ranes is the 5-ton auxiliary hoist on the 35-ton which is used for tilting the spiegel ladle during the re- carburizing operation. The charging machine is of the high type and was furnished, together with the cranes, by the Morgan Engineering Company, Alliance, Ohio. The furnaces are charged with cold material by the chargins machine in the usual manner, this material being chie!) burnt lime, mill scale and spout skulls The charging floor has in addition to the tracks charging machine and the stock track next to che ft irnaces a third track along the west side of floor, to be used for handling hot metal from the mixers to the stationary '" naces in ladle cars. Two additional tracks are located - a platform outside of building for handling and sw! itching stock for the stationary furnaces and such as 15 for the tilting furnaces. A stock yard 650 ft. long a by two 10-ton Morgan cranes of too ft. span, 1s al fo to the west of the new plant where all cold mater al both the tilting and stationary furnaces will be loaded 50 for the requ vw harging cars. The tracks for charg- yard are at yard level and the cars are to the charging floor by an 18 x 24-in rter locomotive. On the pouring side ngot mold track extends the full length dard-gauge track. Along the east wall lding and above the pouring platform el track. of the duplex process with these fur- ielivered direct from the blast furnaces the Bessemer plant, of which there are . tons capacity, respectively This iron . tior Through Open-Hearth Plant, No. 2 iosphorous content of average basic iron, the usual way either full or in part as nverter equipment consists of four 12%- rs, two of which are ordinarily used in con- tilting furnaces. etal is poured from the converters into b cranes and from this ladle is poured nozzle into a ladle on a transfer car. In semer slag accompanies the metal going to turnaces. The transfer cars are ladles of 25 - motor tons capacity, taking two converters, the two together averaging > tons. These transfer cars, which operate on the then run to the south end of open hearth 75-ton crane raises the ladle of hot metal floor level, and delivers it to the furnace ere it is poured into the furnace through placed in position at one of the furnace arging machine. The number of ladles 13 THE IRON 2, Lackawanna Steel Company, Showing Tilting AGE 558 forming a charge, varies, but four is the usual number In case it is found necessary to add mixer metal to these furnaces, provision is made for pouring metal from the mixers into a motor-driven transfer car of the same type as used for blown metal. This car is moved to the south end of the open-hearth plant, and the ladle is handled by the 75-ton crane to the furnace in the same manner as with the blown metal. This method of handling hot metal from the Bessemer plant is necessary on account of the existing levels of the converters and mixers which pour at a lower level than the open hearth charging floor When the furnace is ready to be tapped, it is tilted and TEL ILLELEE SEE ATEIED Furnaces a heat of 95 to 100-tons of steel is poured into the ladle, which is suspended from the hooks of the 165-ton crane. [he spiegel for recarburizing is brought from the cu- polas in the Bessemer plant in 18-ton ladle cars and added to the steel in the ladle while the furnace is being tapped One of the half-tone illustrations shows the operation of adding spiegel to the steel. After the furnace has been tapped, it is tilted back and the slag line taken care of, if found necessary, and the cycle repeated. These tilting furnaces operating on all hot metal are each producing steel at a rate of over 20,000 tons per month; No. 15 Fur- nace, which was the first one placed in use, making over 22,000 tons in July. In the construction of the furnaces themselves, there are many interesting features ‘being, in common with the rest of the plant of the most massive construction. The framework of the furnace proper consists of heavy beams and channels suitably tied together and braced. The frame work rests upon two heavy box girders, extending from one rocker casting to the set 30 ft. 6 in. on centers and rest which support the entire w furnace. These girders also f anism, and are supported on a series of ed in a massive base cz THE IRON AGE Charging Side of the Tilting Furnaces ckers are accomplished by means of a rack bolted on t! 1 girders, ers, meshing with a gear segment bolted the tilting portion of astings and actuated by means of a steel ma part of the tilting mech between the I-beams and held by self-al rs mount ings of the ball type, so that no lengthwis *is screw can take place. The screws whicl La eine > ee aed / | i! Pouring Side of the Tilting Furnaces elow the floor level to avoid twisting ture, are each driven by a 50 hp. motor in either direction. a hearth 13 ft. wide by 4o ft. long and the chill plates. On the charging side A door 2 ft. 6 in. x 2 ft. If in. is ae ‘ nter of furnace, and on either side are : ft. 6 in. and a smaller door near the : 4 in. The center line of the ports has Tale nter of rotation of the furnace, which a in the tionary ports and those in the furnace 4 always ntaining their proper relation to each f the position of the furnace, and cold m impinging on the ports. Great care the construction of the ports so that is heated up there is a minimum of per, irrespe is prev been taken in the furnace THE IRON AGE 553 Coming Congress on Safety in New York The second safety congress is scheduled to be held Sep- tember 22 to 25, inclusive, at the Hotel McAlpin, New York City. The first was in Milwaukee, in the fall of 1912, and the proceedings have required a book of 336 pages. It was held under the auspices of the Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers. Information regarding the sec- ond congress may be obtained from L. R. Green street, Harrisburg, Pa., secretary of Council for Industrial Safety. Among members of the are the following: Palmer, 2135 the National advisory board of the council QO. P. Briggs, president National Found ers’ Association; W. H. Cameron, manager casualty depart ment American Steel Foundries; C. L. Close, manager bu reau of safety, relief, sanitation and welfare, United States 2 Plan of Open-Hearth Plant No. 2, tween the stationary ports and those in the itly reducing the amount of cold air intro- he furnace. The furnaces are equipped with ir ports. The regenerator chambers are of ample pro- ‘ T The checker volume for one end of furnace is 4 cu. ft. for air and gas checkers respectively. furnace is served by a self-supporting steel stack M ft. high having a diameter inside of lining of 7 ft. ¢ gas and air reversing valves are of the water cooled id water sealed type, designed by the Lackawanna Steel ompany, and used on all its open hearth furnaces. The alves are 36 in. in diameter for the gas and 48 in. in lameter for the air. ucers furnish the fuel for the furnaces, and cated 66 ft. west of the furnace building and It is housed in a steel building 153 ft. long Hughes self-cleaning mechanical e provided for each furnace. The gas mains re located outside of the producer house and the cross- to the furnaces are carried overhead and are lust pockets. The arrangement for supply- producers consists of a continuous steel ker from which the coal flows by gravity to the producers. Coal is discharged from track hopper and after passing through a roll elevated by a bucket elevator and distributed to the overhead bunker by a 24-in. belt conveyor. . scriptions which have appeared in these columns , ating to the Lackawanna Steel Works may be men- eet the following: General description of the original v 7, 1904; the gas producer plant, December » 14; the No. 7 blast furnace, February 21, 1907, and iant mill, September 28, 1911. Gas prod me plant is | paralle] to it 4 It. span Four cers - 2. prod Ba Bo aA : } ew s 1 I 2 POV ZO Ge OF hii a rath ly il Lackawanna Sand Shed Steel Company, Showing Tilting Furnaces Steel Corporation; J. W. Coon, chairman general committee Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; G. G. Crawford president Tennessee Coal & Iron Railroad Company; Mar cus A. Dow, general safety agent New York Central Lines; Elbert H. Gary, president American Iron & Steel Institute : J. D. M. Hamilton, claims attorney Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad; Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, director United States Bureau of Mines; J. Kirby, Dayton Mfg. Company J. Kruttschnitt, chairman executive committee Southern Pacific Railroad; Thomas Lynch, president H. C. Frick Coke Company; M. W. Mix, president Dodge Mfg. Com pany; Arthur T. Morey, assistant to president Common wealth Steel Company; S. J. Peterson, acting safety agent Union Pacific Railroad; G. A. Ranney, International Har- vester Company; R. C. Richards, chairman central safety committee Chicago & Northwestern Railroad; Henry D. Sharpe, president Browne & Sharpe Mig. Company; W. B Spaulding, chairman central safety committee Frisco Lines; Dr. W. H. Tolman, director American Museum of Safety: R. J. Young, manager safety department Steel Company. Sa fety Illinois A new building material, known as Tekton, which is being introduced by Ollendorff & Clarkson, Ltd., Glasgow, is stated by the London Times to be of the. nature of artificial wood and to possess the strength and durability of concrete. The ingredients are magnesite, granulated slag, chloride of magnesium, and “wood flour,” and its prin- cipal properties are that it is porous, has a low heat conduc- tivity, and is sound-proof, fire resisting, odorless, and not liable to develop dry rot. It is made in boards and planks, or may be modeled in any required shape. The Zeppelin Airship Company has made a five years’ contract for Tekton for the construction of all its hangars. A Criticism of This Idea—Fractures Due - ——————= BY F, For many decades it has been usual to describe a piece of wrought iron or steel which breaks in service with a bright crystalline fracture as having “become crystallized through fatigue.” This diagnosis, especially in the case of iron, occurs quite as frequently nowadays as before the advance of metallography. Evidently upon its soundness rests largely the allocation of the responsibility for many failures, as between the maker of the iron, who in some cases at least knows that the explanation is incorrect, and the user, who should now be aware that there are ready means of systematic inquiry into such failures. Even among well-known writers such phrases occur as “evidently crystallized through fatigue,” and “there is now i —_— leat arg Se A a , ” <)> ac tepaesee Sa ake a sia a et a Ba TC ~ ner open fae - es Corda - dayr ipo * osm . Neg wena Pla a ve ae tot Pe Se Bt ee " err pest ate ee ageny Sydnee! gr agile “ ee lk waning “s : Fig. 1—Fracture of Defective Iron Post. Four Diame | ters. Fig. 2—Edge of Fracture in Defective Iron. Photomicrograph Reduced One Third from 250 Diameters ample evidence that fatigue has caused them to become crystallized and therefore brittle.” In no case, however, have I found any evidence in such papers that fatigue— that is, the effect of repeated stress in any form—had caused the metal to crystallize, or rather, to become more perfectly or coarsely crystalline, or that repeated stress had caused any alteration of the structure other than directly destructive effects Types of Breaking Effects It is not proposed to enter very deeply into existing *A paper presented at the Brussels meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, September 1 to 4, 1913. “Crystallization of Steel Through Fatigy, sarily Crystalline—A Practical Example Generally Accepted to Stress Not Neces- ROGERS knowledge of the mechanism of strain effects. nari. since it is not proposed to offer any mportant call terial from this point of view, but it will be re a there are four well-recognized principal we all 1. Slipbands. 2. Intergranular weakness 3 Pos : which Neumann lamellae may tentatively | atl special case. 4. Change of structure. _ Of these the first is by far the commonest. and ic +t universal, I have found that typical fractures deo ll peated slip under alternating stress in iron and ed not of markedly crystalline appearance. The portion finally suddenly breaks, if any, may have a “cr fracture, but any other portion of the same com by nicking and a blow has a similarly crystalline ; showing that the alternating stress has not produced crystalline-breaking structure. ~ a The second can give rise to a fracture of highly talline appearance. There is, however, no evidene fatigue can give rise to crystalline-like intergrany tures in a material which would not when quite new. 4 is, by a single straining, break in the same manner The third, twinning, excluding Neumann lamellz occurs to an unimportant extent in iron and steel ¢ merce; further the ability to form twin crystallizatiog in my experience found to be associated with great duel rather than with brittleness. I have never been able ascribe brittleness to this cause. The precise nature Neumann lamellez is problematical. For example, an cipient fatigue fracture which I regarded as caused repeated slipping of an ordinary slip-band was consid by the late Mr. Osmond to be a Neumann lamella. S as my observation goes, a fracture through a Neum lamella is not essentially of a crystalline appear Speaking broadly, however, it may be said that crystallf like fractures may be expected in ferrite-containing terials which show Neumann lamelle under dynamic st Here again fatigue does not necessarily enter into the duction of a crystalline fracture. The fourth of the effects, change of structure, has been proved to occur in polyhedric nickel and manga steels whose composition is near the border between tensitic and polyhedric structure, and is evidently m typical case in point. During the past dozen years I have examined 1 samples in the hope of finding evidence on ¢! have come to the uniform conclusion that if a piece in service with a crystalline-looking fracture it would have done so when new. and will also give similar cys line fractures in parts which have not been materi fatigued, and where the material is of the same kind that near the service {racture, Further, it is my exper that fatigue will not cause crystalline fractures 4 terial which initially gives fibrous or silky tract Very sudden shock may, however, give rise to 2 ™ more crystalline appearance of the fracture of some ® metals. € taken to } yr “ac A Practical Example The partly “crystalline” and partly fibrous fracture produced in Fig. 1 is of a type which is usually at ¢ ascribed to “crystallization through fatigue.” The pi which failed in use, was a wrought-iron center post, aro which rotated a heavily loaded overhanging arm “7 amination readily proved that the crystalline appearance the fracture could not have been due to the fatigue 7 caused the failure. Some of the following particus's also relevant in other respects. . When broken elsewhere the fractures were, one the length of the post, of the same type, and conta crystalline and fibrous portions at positions qn exactly with those in the fatigue fracture Ths that the piece had been built up of two or more Gbe 4 metal. Examination of microscopic ferme is. Corresponding to the crystalline - ins predominated, and the part which ; fracture consisted of comparatively .n observation is not novel; but is not at coarse-grained metal is necessarily ne-grained metal necessarily tough. The grains was from ten to twenty times e largest grains in best Yorkshire iron, rous fracture. slag was relatively less in the coarse ined part, but it was all iron slag sing of any suggestion that this piece and steel. Neither cold work nor C. removed the relative brittleness nor refined the microstructure, nor rous fractyires. by a blow, a piece after polishing, it fect typical of the brittleness of the rt was a breaking straight across the wn in Fig. 2. This sharp edge lies at he large grain in which it occurs, and he direction of the very slightly ap- he same grain. It is the edge of one which give the crystalline appearance s place. I found no instance of Neu intergranular weakness. Analysis gures Phos arbor S ho € cent € en 00 if actures sures offer no tangible explanation of the causé tween the two portions the defective post was submitted to test in r's shock-testing machine, reproducing on a small | falling-weight test upon an axle. This is porting the unnotched sample at both ends ne suitable blow at the center from a fall- eight, then reversing the piece and giving two blows, The ple was tested with a crystalline portion downwards, to be tension at the first blow. The crystalline through Upon reversing, the usua ugh at the first blow. in two pieces at the next blow Tests on Yorkshire Iron n, some similar samples of best Yorkshire tested; they gave practically constant blow, and showed no sign of failure after hen the test was discontinued. Upon nick- the center, or at any point, these gave fractures, despite the severe straining rkshire iron is tested under less severe s than this, one does not expect it to break crystalline appearance, whether it breaks bsequently broken for examination at the ressed section. This was further verified ating cantilever machine (Wohler type), f best Yorkshire iron was submitted, 10,000 reversals of a stress of 7 tons per d of When minute. ed and broken, the fracture at the most section was still perfectly fibrous, as be- 1200 reversals per Conclusions is clear that the coarse crystallization n could not have been caused by the sed its failure. The original bar was made ind very bad irons. The precise reason was bad is not positively indicated in the but they suggest defective manipulation ns previous to piling with the good por did not cure the so-called “crystalliza- fatigue.” tance I have readily traced the cause of a fracture of iron, accompanied by brittle- nce of some steel in the iron. This steel enter in the form of scrap. The admix- with iron is admitted to be a hopelessly by iron manufacturers THE IRON AGE wn uw vw Osmium-Platinum, a New Alloy In a paper presented before the 24th general meet ing of the American Electrochemical Society, at Denver, Colorado, this week, F. Zimmerman discusses his in vention of a new alloy to replace the important platinum iridium so extensively used in metallurgical metrical work. He says “Of the several metals of the platinum group, platinum, paladium, iridium and rhodium have been most generally employed in the industrial arts, either alone or in com- bination as bivalent alloys. Of the latter, iridium-plati- num is the best known, but the growing scarcity of iridium has led to the search for other combinations of the metals of this group yielding alloys possessing physical chemical properties of equal if not greater valu rarer metals of the platinum group are not easily in great purity, and because and pyro- and The tained of this fact but littl success has heretofore been obtained when combining them as bivalent alloys. Furthermore, the strong affinity of osmium for oxygen has increased the difficulty of making alloys of it other metals in definite proportions \fter much experimentation by the author, highly refin with nned platinum and osmium have been successfully combined in widely varying ortions yielding alloys of commercial value. While the two metals may be combined in almost any proportion, alloys c osmium and used. “Great ntaiming trom I to Io per cent. of 99 to 90 per cent. of platinum are chiefly purity of the presence of components is essential, as the small percentages of other elements appears to be very detrimental to the properties of the resulting alloy. According to the chemical and physical behavior, it seems that one part of osmium in an alloy with plati num will take the place of two and weight of iridftum. one-half times its The osmium-platinum alloy is very acid-resisting, and for this reason may be of great service in the electrochemical industry. considerably higher than alloy of the further Its electrical resistance is that of an _ iridium-platinum percentage composition. The great hardness and tensile strength Wires of the finest size are drawn with comparative ease.” same possesses alloy Safety Measures at Raritan Copper Works The Raritan Copper Works, refiner of copper, Perth \mboy, N. J., through addresses and entertainment at a local theater building on the evening of started a movement to engender enthusiasm employees, of whom 350 present, in supporting a plan intended to reduce the number of accidents in the plantgo the lowest point possible. The programme was under the direction of Superintendent A. C. Clark. Talks on accident prevention were made by L. H. Burnett and Robert Dixon, of the Carnegie Steel Company, and by Dr. William E. Ramsay, surgeon of the Raritan Copper Works. Through the courtesy of the safety committee of the United States Steel Corporation, moving pictures were shown describing “An American in the Making” Workman’s Lesson.” The programme livened with singing by a quartette. Superintendent Clark made an address giving the de- tails of a plan designed for the cultivation of safety methods, patterned after the system now in use by the Carnegie Steel Company. He named a general committee of five members composed of heads of ments and another committee of seven no higher in rank than The members of the latter committee are to make regular trips about the plant every week and recommend to the general committee any improvement looking to the more effectual of safety. The committee of three months, giving a large number of the employees an portunity to serve on the board. The general tee will not only act on the recommendations of the work ing committee, but will also investigate all accidents occur- ring in the plant, and, after ascertaining the cause, will take action to prevent a recurrence. All this work will be done in the company’s time. Mr. Clark closed with an appeal to every workman for his own sake, his fellow worker's sake, and his family’s sake, to co-operate in the plan of the company to prevent accidents September among it were and “A was further en different depart- composed of men foremen ‘ ‘ est ablis ment seven will be changed every mmit ‘| + aes. entiomienip cast aes 5 pation iaiieds tana © a OE PTE CP 4 : aS Wie wri» ot “> The Trumbull Sheet and Tin Plate Mili Equipment of the New Works at Warren, Ohio, Which Are Noteworthy Also in Turning Out Formed Sheet Metal Products An important addition to the steel finishing capacity of from the usual practice to have the bar bank under the Mahoning Valley in Ohio was made by the recent \ railroad track runs into the plant th. a length of the g aisle is used Dars are Unlog starting up of the plant of the Trumbull Steel Company, yard and another track in the adjoinin Warren, Ohio. An important feature of this plant is that the loading of scrap on cars. The sheet it is one of the few mills in the country equipped for the from the cars into the yard adjoining the track with manufacture of both sheets and tin plate and for making crane in that aisle and are piled up until they are y various formed sheet metal products. The plant contains [he bar yard has a capacity of 10,000 tons. i 12 hot mills, six for rolling sheets and six for rolling tin The sheet bars are picked. up by the crane in the plate, 13 stands of cold rolls, four single stands and three yard and taken to the shears, where t¢] ey are cut j tandem stands, and it is equipped with 3 galvanizing pots lengths as desired, the length of the bar being appre and 20 tin pots. It has an annual capacity of 60,000 tons mately the width of the sheet to be rolled Two mom of sheets and tin plate. driven shears are used for this purpose, one hayj The plant occupies a 70-acre site along the tracks of the capacity for cutting four bars 8 in. in width and of ¢ Pennsylvania and Erie railroads at the eastern edge of usual thickness and the other cutting one bar at a ¢ Warren. It consists of three principal buildings, the main The larger shears were furnished by the Mesta Macks Hot Sheet Mills to the Left and Heating Furnace#to the Right. Bar yard is in the background at the end of this aisle building, the tin house and a structure occupied by the Company, Pittsburgh, and the smaller by the United Fou galvanizing department, sheet pickling equipment, roofing dry & Machine Company, Pittsburgh. The shears @ department in which various other formed sheet products located about 25 ft. from the first heating furnace, s0 th are made, and a storage and shipping room. The entir the bars have to be carried only a short distance atte, plant is arranged for the convenient handling and loading being cut to lengths. In the aisle near the shears are of material so that there is no unnecessary handling, as motor-driven roll lathes. well as for convenience in loading on cars when the ma Facing the hot mills there are six pair and Six Saee terial is ready for shipment furnaces of the single type for the hot sheet mills, 0 The main building is a steel structure 250 ft. wide and pair furnace and one sheet furnace being provided fc 800 ft. long. It was designed and erected by the Rite each hot sheet mill, and six single furnaces for the nd Conley Mfg. Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. The sides ar tin mills. Each furnace has two separate heating hea covered with corrugated sheets and roofing is of the same The furnaces were built from designs of the compa material. The building is divided into three bays or aisles. Coal is used for fuel and the furnaces are hand fi " The first on the right or south side is the bar yard and \fter reheating, the sheet bars go to the roughing mil hot mill aisle. This is 68 ft. wide. The middle aisle - and then are given the required number of passes thro cupied by the shearing and opening department is 42 ft the finishing rolls, the number of passes depending on the wide and the south aisle containing the cold rolling anneal gauge. The usual practice in this plant will be to roll the ing and tin plate pickling departments is 78 ft. wid In sheets on the same mill that the bars are roughed 02. addition there are on each side of the building lean-t The hot mills are driven by a double gear trom in 26 ft. wide In the lean-to on the south side the heating engine, the six hot sheet mills being located on one furnaces are located and in the one on the north side ar and the six tin plate mills on the other side. The a the annealing furnaces. Each aisle has a crane runway mill rolls are 30 in. in diameter. Usually 26 or 7 its entire length The south aisle is served by tw 25-ton rolls are us¢ d, but the use of the larger rolls is in s cranes, the center aisle by a 10-ton crane and the nortl with the tendency toward the adoption of the heavier aisle by a 10-ton and a 20-ton crane. These electric tray ing mill equiy ment. The tin mill rolls are 28 in m aa eling cranes as well as all the other crane equipment eter. The widths of the hot mill rolls are 2 32, 8 ‘Is throughout the plant were furnished by the Morgan En s4 in. The roll necks on both the hot sheet and tin = gineering Company, Alliance, Ohio. The east end of the are 23 in. in diameter. The mill housings are extra hes n south aisle is occupied by the bar yard, it being a departur: weighing 16 tons, and shoe plates of heavy desig” na 556 THE IRON AGE SUR ta a yt tg ve ae Double Annealing Furnaces Located in veight of 1250 lb. per foot. The sheet n mills and cold rolling mills were built by the Mesta are driven by a 3000-hp. 34 x 60 x 60-in mpound condensing engine driven at a The engine runs on a 57-in. Helander The ratio of the gear driven is 2! of 65 r.p.m tric condenser ett . Rolle l gears ons the flywheel, are used. The engine bed plate weighs and which is 25 ft. in diameter bs 85 tons. The engine is lubricated from S. F. Bow gravity lubricating system, having a capacity of 30 per hour There are four single stands of cold rolls and three stands, the latter being for tin plate. The rolls 4 in. in diameter and 36, 40 and 48 in. in width. The Hrolls are driven by a 1500-hp. 22 x 42 x 48in. tan mpe \llis-Chalmers engine driven at a speed of The cold mills are driven through a train of cut at speeds ranging from 45 to §2 r.p.m., the speed g alter the first rolls so that sheets will not pile each other. One end of the plate and gear housing nished so that they may be extended should addi uins be installed. Both engines will be \ » tte quick-closing valves with ele s t ngines can be stopped by means of irts of the building After the e are t ylled they go to the shears esquared There are 11 motor-driven s ve 144-in. shears for sheets and ars for tin plate. From the shears sh necessary. Some are cold rolled A/S Ne] North Lean-to of the Main Building before being annealed and some go direct to the annealing furnaces. In the annealing department there are eight doubk coal-burning furnaces fired by hand, built from the com- pany’s design. Sheets are left in the furnaces from 12 to 36 hr., according to the finish desired. From the annealing department the sheets are taken by the crane to the trans- fer car at the end of the aisle and on that to the gal vanizing department. Tin plate is pickled in the annealing department before being taken to the tin house, the pickling being done on two Mesta 4-armed kling ma- chines, in connection with which there are the necessary washing tanks Parallel to the main building and north of it lies first the tin house and then the galvanizing and roofing build ing. A track on which is operated an electrically driver transfer car extends from the west end of the main bu ing near the cold rolls to one end of the tin house. An other track on which is operated a second transfer car runs into the east end of the main buildit ind across to the galvanizing department. The tracks are depressed so that the floors of the cars are about a level with the floor »f the mill building Che galvanizing and 1 ng department which all the formed products are acl f ised in a building so ft. wide and 600 ft. lons f structural steel and brick nstruction and with a nerete floor he north end of the ulding is used f wwe a Ipt epart ment and the south end is occupied by the galvanizing and formed roofing departments. The galvanizing department is separated from tl lepartments by a cor VY Row of Tinning Machines on One Side of the Tin Miil a all 558 THE IRON AGE rugated steel partition to prevent fumes from escaping x 2!I-in. Buckeye engines direct contr from that department into other parts of the building. It nghouse direct-current generators, w a is equipped with three motor-driven, coal-fired galvanizing power and light throughout the pla: pots. Additional galvanizing pots are to be installed s secured from the Mahoning rive; shortly. Material is handled with a 15-ton crane. There De Laval centrifugal pump direct 4 ' — ‘ h | are also two electrically operated pickling machines of the \Vestinghouse motor, driven at a sx pats prenatal - ane double plunger type. After the sheets are c ing ty of 3500 gal. pe: & rolled and annealed they are put in pickling col ( in the power house : taining sulphuric acid, where they are pickled a short time Elaborate facilities are provid 4 They are then given a bath in water and are kept in storage shed product. Covered loading | : in water until they are wanted for galvanizing. Before tire length of the roofing depart: going to the galvanizing pots they are pl ks cor there is another loading platform taining muriatic acid. Afterward they go into a roller assorting root f the tin house. T; / level and are delivered through the partition separating tl latforms so that 50 cars can be pla galvanizing department from the roofing department t time. The yard is well covered with tra Oe ; the cooling wheels on one side of t latter irtment mpany operates its own switching : 7 . ‘ 4 There are three ling wheels, ea fw lds ; nished by the Davenport Locomoti, : 2¢ sheets f products enables the compar jl ‘ ‘ ag 7 r a . . . fing department ntains a corrugating machin mixed materia Che office building with a capacit f king rrugations fr to 3°11 sa fir rick and stone structur ; ; : ; us roofing tin, bright char 4 x 440 ft. It is ser 1 5-tor part right e tins, I. C. fire-door plate ar r gh the center divides ng int section tins. The products of the roofing department in f f about equal size ne of 5 5 us for the mar gat t ng and siding, 3-V crimped r g, pres he facturing department and the other for t 3 ng tanding seamed r ng, roll and capped roomng rtment ] ‘ ry] atter | ne ¢ mills : ping roll roofing plain and corrugatt r ; to remove tl rt and se s then anneal ng and metal shingles and tile t to soften t ite; then each sheet is given three pass Trumbull Steel mpany was organ «2 separately through the c rolls‘to give t o= guste = the erection af aan a represen vim af A Ss re cle ’ 1 n ti plat tay f a it $2,000.00. in May, 1912 T nt © . ee sO 1 a se on the transier Car in she n operation July 31. At the heac of ™ a . Ss? filled wit! ter n the t se t pla tint sident is Jonathan Warner, wh 5 roe or polished, assorted for primes ar wastes, 1 ned ar f years general manager of the sheet mills 0! ‘ g nanag ets a complete ash-handling plant t nstalle the | . n Plat mpany, and later general nag — 2 ! 7 a. : 2