The Iron Age 1914-10-08: Vol 94 Iss 15

CUUUUCLUELUEELELC LCE LLL Hii LL HEULDEOCELEEEREOAPREPEEOD ATE U AOE PADERRDRTPGELEEERED DALAT ' PaLedanune | | | UPPUDUUEOUECURCUNCUA DUO ENRDAOUEOTEOEOREDECO EERE RODOND Established 1855 New York, October 8, 1914 Vol. 94: No. 15 Williams Drop Forging Plant at Buffalo Why the Site Was Selected—An Unusuall) Interesting Case of Industrial Works De- signed for Present and Future Needs A notably valuable contribution to the fund of by the possibilities for expansion ther har information concerning the design of industrial widely apprehended. plants is obtained through the new works of J. H. The business of J. H. Williams & Co. wa Williams & Co. in outlying Buffalo. The plant is tablished in 1883 and acquired what is even now also interesting as an example of the study of condi- large area for industrial purposes. As the busine tions which should be considered carefully before a grew the expansion had to be accommodated { new factory site is selected, and it is informing in solely in the horizontal direction but also verticall) its illustration of the remarkable expansion whicn but with new lines added it necessarily followed the drop forging industry has enjoyed. In this de- that departments could not be related one to the / Fd r—--4 lanier! 7 7 - IHouse | , ‘=e , r ——y °C "TF >t ! = a ' ' j | 147 hee Th 2 i ; i i i | sony came acery i = id | 1\Engine| rod 1 oa + - arr Is isaicr 1 | od f ! } ; j ' i i i | a ee ' ' ' : shor <ASINVS ST ' 4 17 S a Lo ri i i ' ' j ' ~ | ’ i i ' ' ; ' ' ' . 7 ; ' ' ’ ’ ' ' 1 i ; i j i i | |® Beas cel i ' i i i i [tacters]' | ! Ti IT | | y ' ; ' tL 4 . . anil ian ens ain ok ute, abe ox j ; 1 «TR Soe lif. | $8l< > ' . . ‘ ; | i ; ; i 5 f ° ’ i ~ + 1 i ‘ | ®: oe So Se So .. TST Aceeee Pye ae ES eee ee ce cewetal ‘ at i 4 = . —4+4 eaeaaeee Sar i , ' ry ---—s id A i, ; ' ; Tecmo esoroMicty wih J ilj ___I_o_] i ------—- Pietnmanthe enemnstinentinaients > Pp eee | + -——_———_ i om - i Geneon i Eco annecd ' arr i ‘ 4 é bem ee ee - eee ee ee eee —— ! this hee ee eee dewembes ace 4 5 s Extent <« t Buff I \ ‘ I I Expansion, Thougt ! \ I Marked I t Ss “ a new manufactory, the design repre- other to facilitate to the highest degree economical! se he capitalization of the company’s years of handling of the product in process of manufacture e e in its Brooklyn works. That the Will- The development of the automobile and the large npany has been pressed for productive ca- number of automobile parts made of drop forgings r some time has been well known, but that has aggravated the situation, and while depart in the future as represented not only by ments were rearranged from time to time and new i portions of the present new Buffalo plant but equipment added, it finally becam: vious that the 817 818 THE IRON AGE Temporary End of the Forge Shop Showing the Addition most desirable way to take care of expansion and to reduce unit cost of manufacture was to build an entirely new plant. Owing to the large proportion of the output which goes into the automobile, it was desirable, other things being equal, to locate in a part of the country favoring shipment to the automobile manu- facturer, but it was also desirable to maintain a position as central as possible with regard to the general market for the Williams drop-forgings, im- portant among which as articles manufactured for stock are an extensive line of wrenches, hoist hooks, C clamps, lathe dogs and other machine shop tools, as well as the Vulcan and Agrippa chain pipe wrenches and the Vulcan chain pipe vise. Without going into the conditions surrounding other sites considered, Buffalo, N. Y., was selected partly be- cause of the proximity of a large labor market, the opportunity to get abundant electrical power at favorable rates and a situation which would still make the company an eastern concern capable of supplying its present market satisfactorily and hav- ing water and railroad facilities for shipment to manufacturers east and west. At this writing the Buffalo plant is in operation in part but the equip- ment has not been completed. Much of the machin- ery at present utilized is being brought from the congested Brooklyn plant, but both plants are to remain in operation indefinitely. It has not been established to what extent the company will with- draw from Brooklyn, particularly as the company does a large business in contract work forgings and for case hardening. One of the particularly impressive features of the design of the new plant is the large scale on which it has been laid out, comprehending easy ex- pansion in successive stages to meet future demand. The company purchased an area much beyond even the needs of the most hopeful view of possible ex- pansion, and this is an interesting detail, as it is proposed to dispose of parts of this for other indus- trial developments which may be attracted by the for drop mo Hammer Building No.1 UL The Forre Shep Comprises F Monitors Over the Over the Steel Storage Bays Heating Furnaces and the Sawtooth Const, general situation as it exists today together with the immediate industrial community Williams plant will develop. As the accompanying plan shows, the works are planned to grow about a central point. At one hand is the forge shop where the material is heated and forged by steam hammers or board drop ham- mers, and on the other is the department for finish- ing and shipping stock. Expansion in plant may be accommodated in opposite directions from this point. The plant requires also a department for pickling the material, and one for heat treating. These are centrally located as is also the power house for supplying the steam needed for steam hammers, for controlling the distribution of the electric current for motors and lighting, for cen- tralizing the heating plant and for supplying com- pressed air. The plan shows not only the buildings at present erected and the additional buildings which will be provided for from time to time and the way in which the different buildings may be enlarged, but indicates also the future temporary ends beyond which the buildings may be continued even outside of the lines of the plan. Some of the work which will ultimately make the Buffalo plant altogether self-contained is, of course, done at the Brooklyn plant, and the present occupancy will be shifted to the ultimate intention of use. For ex- ample, the stock and finishing building at the pres- ent time accommodates in one corner the works office and also the grinding, straightening and other finishing work necessary. How these departments will later be disposed is indicated in the plan. One other interesting aspect of the plan is that the rail- road connection is sufficiently distant for sidings to be made from time to time to suit conditions. For example, the plans show existing and proposed sidings, which obviously may be located substan- tially at any point desired. The conspicuous things which the about the buildings themselves are their substantial construction, their unusually lofty interiors and the generous amount Stee/ Storage No.1 Drop Hammer Three Having the Hammers and the Two Intermediate ©" surface, all contributing toward cool, light erally sanitary surroundings. The accom- reproductions of photographs help to indi- ondition. lesign of the forge shop is unusually inter- It may be built both sides of an axis run- rpendicularly to the center line of the power and, of course, also in a direction with the As the plan shows, the immediate future de- ent does not comprehend building the forge — = a = ~~ a a ren tT ling Building shop on the opposite side of the axis to that shown, it rather the present expansion is to be in the xial direction. The various buildings of the plant are served from the power house by means of an nderground tunnel and the steam hammers of the rge shop are located in the bay of the building reached by the tunnel or nearest the boiler Then in succession the bays of the forge omprise a steel storage bay, holding material for the heating furnaces; then a bay for hammers; then another storage bay and finally ond drop hammer bay. A cross section through hop is included among the illustrations. The , hammer bay is 66 ft. in width while the drop bays are 60 ft., and over the line of col- parating the bays is a monitor form of practically all glass in the upright sections, vable sash, as indicated in the photograph orge shop. Half of each monitor lights and the other half the adjoining bay, with monitor at the ends of the building. The furnaces are located directly under the , thus to secure adequate ventilation. storage bay has an intermediate line of dividing it into two craneways. Material vith Heating Furnaces Between Material and THE IRON tT The Middle Chimney Belongs to the Power Houss Building 819 AGE it ee a Trt Perr aan | . While the Others Serve the Case-H to be manufactured is placed in racks underneath the cranes. As each hammer bay provides for a double row of hammers the heating furnaces, there is a crane material for each row of hammers, addition to the monitors and glass lights in the sides of the building, a few saw teeth have been provided in the roof over each storage bay, these being indicated in the general photographic view of the forge shop. The main trusses of the build with corresponding for handling practically. In ing are located at 16 ft. centers and over every other 16-ft. section thus formed is the saw tooth, 25 ft. wide and with a continuous steel sash in the vertical member. Two of the craneways are equipped with Northern cranes and two with Shaw cranes, all fitted to use a lifting magnet, and the crane cabs are reached by a stairway as a safety measure. The steel stock for manufacture is stored in the open in an interesting fashion along the floor in each of these bays are of 60-lb. tee rails 6 ft. apart. The rails are spiked to 2 ft. 10 in. lengths of wooden railroad ties, Extending three lines which are set in a cinder ballast tamped around them. To the rails at points desired are clamped by mean upright of bolts, steel bars forming adjustable Underneath the Ro« Mie 820 THE IRON AGE October 8. 1914 spaces or compartments between uprights so that atmosphere as a means for maintaining the material, commonly various sizes of bars, may factory indoor air. be piled up across the rails, each size and grade The character of the case-hardening in its separate section. is indicated by a reproduction of a photog Oil burning heating furnaces are used with the it. The picture shows a large monitor to, air blast supplied from the power house through assists, with its long expanse of movable an air main in the underground tunnel. Opposite maintaining a cool atmosphere. It con: each line of furnaces this air pipe is tapped. In _ the present time two double hard-coal burn), general each heating furnace has an asbestos heat naces, and one smaller double furnace. 1 guard for the protection.of the operator. The guard chimneys are at present outside of the hangs in front of the furnace and below it is a but with the extension of the building th, blast pipe with perforations so that with the air be near the cross center line of the buildin, issuing at some velocity the flames of combustion What is now called the stock and finishin, are deflected and prevented from issuing underneath ing is partitioned so that along one side the) the asbestos screen into the face of the furnace wood-block gangway for trucking, this be attendant. The hammers are set on concrete part along which parts from the pickling and | foundations on top of which are bedded yellow pine ing buildings will be carried toward the finis} timbers. In connection with each line of hammers’ partments and for loading on freight car a direct connected motor driven fan is installed for gangway takes the shape of a corridor with sk removing scale from the hammer anvil as _ the overhead and serves also as a continuation forgings are made. The cross section of the forge tunnel, the piping and electric conduits fro, shop indicates how the motor driven hammers are’ tunnel being carried overhead in the corridor belted to line shafts overhead. Paralleling the line Otherwise this building has a maple fi I Hand Hoists shafts are suspended walkways with suitable rail and a steel frame saw-tooth roof, supported ings and, to improve safety conditions further, ex- cast-iron columns. The bottom chord of the trusses tension platforms are hinged to these walks to get consist of two light channels back to back wit! at counter shafts when necessary, these platforms distance pieces between so that shafting hangers having their outer ends hooked to suspending rods _ can be readily bolted to the pair of channels or tu from the roof trusses. ncidentally the revolving bers may be likewise bolted for carrying motors machine parts are guarded, largely by wire mesh for example.. The brick walls are painted a dar} guards. To facilitate handling the waste mate green for about 6 ft. high from the floor as a wal rial and the trimmed material which is carried to scoting and the walls are gray white above. Th the pickling department nearby, a gangway or walk roofing is a fireproof slab composed of plaster of brick paving extends along the end of the build paris and shavings; strong and light, also heat a! ing near the center line of the plant or parallel with cold proof. The building is lighted by pendant ele the tunnel. The forge shop contains shears, up tric lights in green shades, white lined, and is heated setting and other incidental machinery. by hot water by means of long wall coils below th The pickling building is built of wood trusses windows and with small double coils just unde! and sides, as a material sufficing to withstand the the roof skylights. The hot water heating systen corrosive fumes developed in pickling, and a cross utilizes the exhaust from steam actuated machi! section is included among the drawings. It is ar- ery in the power house and is interesting in that ranged for four lines of pickling tanks with wood it is piped along what in electrical distribution racks in front of them for a footing and each line known as the loop system. In other words, th is served by hand-operated hoists mounted on a light return pipe starts from a point near the power hous' traveling crane composed of the Coburn form of and goes away from it to the most distant p track suspended from I-beams, as indicated in the before it is turned back again to run to the power illustration. The building has brick walls and vitri house; the idea is that each section of the heating fied brick floor and numerous doors of wood, few of system shall receive water traveling the sam them with glass, but thus allowing for a maximum distance and thus likely to give the same temper amount of opening when atmospheric conditions ture drop, instead of the possibility otherwise 1! admit of immediate communication with the outdoor some sections of the heating system might rob oth Oct , 1914 THE IRON AGE 821 short circuiting. This building is vith sprinkler heads of a fire extinguish- The window lights are of ribbed glass e sections. ver house like the rest of the plant is r its lofty interior. It is divided into ral sections. One contains the boilers, installation comprising two Stirling 250 hp. capacity with space for two oth- the other part having the auxiliary ap- one level and above it the switchboard the electric distribution and a General turbo-blower for supplying the air blast heating furnaces. The boiler house has a oof; the walls are of a gray white; there ead walks to reach boiler valves readily, ne corner is located the boiler feed pumps, er heater, etc. turbo-blower mentioned is driven by a team turbine, operated non-condensing, so is available for heating purposes when and it delivers air at 242 lb. pressure. This irried through the tunnel in a main about diameter of spiral riveted pipe. Besides the tunnel, which is about 7 ft. in inside and 6 ft. or more in width, there are the t water mains, high-pressure steam lines and electric conduits. The electric power lines are ed at high potential in a corner of the power ise walled off with only an outside entrance. In are located the transformers and switches. [he switchboard within the power house is a local listributing board with the usual complement of wattmeters and indicating instruments. The hot water heating system was installed by the General Fire Extinguisher Company, Provi- dence. It includes an Alberger steam turbine driving an 8-in. volute Alberger pump for main- ng the circulation. The other apparatus in- the fire pump, the general service pump, the hot water heater and the oil service pumps furnaces. In connection with the water there are two overhead tanks shown in the rations, one holding 75,000 gal. for the ler system and the lower one 20,000 gal. for e service, and back of these has been built a ,000-gal. concrete reservoir, so that while the t has connections at city pressure, it is assured ndant supply of water for use in the emer- The grounds are provided with a fire pro- system which includes hydrants and hose , these built with slat floors to allow for the ventilation necessary to preserve hose as ssible. Mention should be »made of the toilet rooms ied throughout the plant. These are large and only equipped with long white enameled th both hot and cold water supply; in- ockers, and shower baths of two compart- compartment providing for disrobing tuting an arrangement different from the lic form of shower baths sometimes noted. room annexes are built of brick and concrete floors with red composition Baldwin, assistant to the president of the id charge of the design and erection S, ow has removed his offices to rooms 511- new Federal Street Building, 136 Federal ton, Mass. In its new quarters his organiza- has been carefully built up in the past seven be still better equipped to act as publicity 1 general advertising agent. Adapting a Machine for Special Work A field service department is maintained by the Newton Machine Tool Works, Inc., Twenty-third and Vine streets, Philadelphia, Pa., for passing upon the necessity of building machines to meet the re- quirements of particular cases. The function of this department is to investigate instances of this Sketch Showing the Adaptation of a Regular Horizontal Milling Machine for Machining a Small Air Compressor Frame nature and determine whether or not it will be possible to turn out the products in question quicker and cheaper by adapting some of the standard ma- chinery already built. An interesting case of this kind is that of a small air compressor frame, which is indicated by dotted lines in the accompanying drawing. Under the old methods the face was finished at a to give a working surface from which the flange b and the cap fits c might be located. The latter were milled with face cutters which should be the exact width of the tongues. As this condition was not practical it was necessary to take one cut along each side of the cap, thus making four operations in all. An in- vestigation by the field service department indi- cated that one of the company’s horizontal milling machines with an adjustable spindle mounted on the left upright at a fixed angle of 45 deg. and hav- ing hand vertical adjustment would enable the cast- ing to be machined with one setting of the work, thus eliminating the necessity of planing the bot- tom to provide a locating point. As is shown by the layout, the flange was finished by the angular cutter and the cap fits were machined by a combi- nation of cutters mounted on the horizontal spindle. These cutters were divided by an adjustable spacing washer which permitted them to be adjusted to give any desired width of tongue, the depth of the tongue being always standard in this work. In this way not only was time saved in the machining of the work, but the adaptation of a standard machine gave both low initial and maintenance costs. The sale of the plant of the Wisconsin Engine Com- pany, Corliss, Wis., bankrupt, for $120,000, has been or- dered set aside and a new sale held. The court declares the former proceedings grossly irregular. The resale was ordered on petition of the Titusville Forge Company and the Bosch Magneto Company. Committees for Controlling Manufacture’ Gaining Co-operation by Giving Foremen Cc A Voice in Solving Factory Problems—Com- c mittees for S BY C. U. Foremen are the real representatives of the company to the workmen. It is their interpretation of ideas and ideals that count with the men. The men’s opinion of the company is made up of their opinion of the foreman. Two-thirds of the wak- ing hours of their daily life are under his control Their promotions, their increases in pay, their good or bad jobs, depend upon his whim, his sense of fairness. The method of management usually adopted is that of placing all of the responsibility upon the shoulders of the superintendent and so overload him with details that the best results cannot possibly be secured. If a shop is large enough to have several assistant superintendents, the same conditions of overloading usually prevail with them. Such a sys- tem gives rise to the condition where these valuable men are so overwhelmed with comparatively petty details, that they have no time to give to the larger and important problems of effective management, cost economies and future progress. I claim that organization must be founded upon the principles of : 1. Education and development of the best that there is in a man. 2. The arousing of the work. Absolute fairness and justice. 4. Team play or “a working together for a com- mon end.” interest and enthusiasm in » o. I consider that the ordinary one-man organiza- tion as I have seen it, with overloaded superintend- ent, jealous, back-biting, unimproved foremen, surly, discontented, dead-level workmen, with no vim nor spirit to them, does not fall within these principles and is not efficient. I claim that a prop- erly developed committee system, properly carried out, will fulfill the requirements of these principles. All committees should be of an advisory char- acter. The factory manager or superintendent should always be the chairman and the deciding factor of the main committee which may be termed the general factory committee. The other commit- tees should have at their head, either the superin- tendent or one of his assistants. GENERAL FACTORY COMMITTEE AND ITS WORK The general factory committee should be the court of last resort on all important subjects, and should have the final decision on all actions taken by any subsidiary committee. The members of this general factory committee should be selected with great care, with a view to having the brightest, most progressive men in the shop on it. Ordinarily the personnel may consist of, in addition to the superintendent, the chief engineer or designer of the product, the head of the tool room, at least three foremen and whatever assistant superintendents the shop may have. The head of the cost department may also well be a member of this committee. Ac- curate notes of action taken are necessary. A capable stenographer to act as secretary is always valuable, for he can often straighten out many a *From a paper read before Placid, N. Y., September 18. *President Fire-Proof Furniture & Construction Company, Miamisburg, Ohio. 8 the Efficiency Society, Lake 9 = les and Executive Management CARPENTERt difficulty between meetings, and the k shop conditions that he will absorb, w great value. The work should cover: 1. Consideration of routine work, bot! contract, and of progress upon this work. of great importance. 2. Consideration of possible economies and } Y -e of the general factor) ( and A alld | systematic planning of cost reductions. T} starting of a general discussion on cost reductions often opens up a surprisingly large field highly important work. Reports by foremen upo: economies previously assigned should invariably }y required, so that progress upon these very tant ideas may be insured. 3. Consideration of plans to standardize product and also new methods of design, together with re ports upon actual progress made upon new ideas already introduced into the factory. This latter js a most important subject, for the way in whic! valuable ideas bravely begun can be totally buried and lost sight of in the press for the every-day out- put is often discouraging. The number of meetings to be held will depend on the character of the business, usually two a week will suffice. There should be stated times for these meetings and nothing should be allowed to interfere with them. e mere r thic y Imp ! SUBSIDIARY COMMITTEES Most companies manufacture several different lines of product or a number of important variations upon the main product. Each line should have it own committee, formed along the lines of the gen- eral factory committee. Each committee should be made up of the foreman handling that particular line of product, and the superintendent or one of his assistants should be chairman. Other members of the factory committee should be called into these meetings, and the same stenographer should act as secretary for both the subsidiary committee and the general factory committee. This last point is im- portant when you consider how much information of great value to a first-class superintendent, 4 bright man in this position will absorb. : By arranging so that each line of product w! rave its own committee, and putting on each com- mittee the foreman who handles that partjcular line, it will be seen that it is possible to get each fore man on at least one committee and sometimes tW or three. Each foreman, therefore, gets the educa- tive influence of this get-together plan. He feels his importance as a helpful member of a real organ- ization. In my own experience, throughout a long term of years, I have seen foremen so altered b) this method of procedure, inside of a year, that = would not recognize them as the same men, 80 @! cient had they become. MEETINGS OF JOB BOSSES In a large concern, it is often an excellent aoe tice to sub-divide the workmen in a departmen' into small groups, ranging from eight to twelve, and then to place over each group, one of the effi- cient workmen, selected as “job boss,” who will con- 2 me 3. 1914 his daily work at the bench or machine, -eycise a subordinate supervision over his r this, he will receive a small increase in He will not have the right to hire or men, nor will he have anything to say promotions or increases of pay. Natur- ‘men cannot be taken away from their often, without crippling the output, but sharp meetings with them every two advisable, for upon these men ultimately responsibility for putting through many successfully. Among these men too are ture foremen, and the development of the ; among them is of prime importance. The ct upon the workmen of a careful selection e job bosses, based only upon efficiency, and ner education of these men, can hardly be mated. MAINTAINING PROGRESS OF WORK | particular attention to the item on the pro- eramme for each and every committee referring to eration of routine work.” The secretary of he committee will have proper progress report rms, showing: 1, name ofgjob; 2, required time shipment and delivery; 3, a number of columns esenting each department in which a portion of work will be done. Twice a week each foreman enters the meeting, prepared to report on his de- partment’s progress on each job. He already knows when he must get it out of his department to meet the shipping date. Each man wants to present a clean slate. Results: 1, discovery of causes of de- s; 2, each foreman pushing work in proper se- quence; 3, each one knowing what he has ahead of him; 4, quick action; 5, doing away with much sys- MEETINGS OF GENERAL FOREMEN Once a month a general foremen’s meeting A should be held, which should be attended by the superintendent, the members of all committees, and foremen and assistant foremen. The presence of t least one of the higher officials of the company is dvisable, At these meetings the heads of the several com- ttees should touch upon the important problems efore their particular committee requiring solu- Progress of important work should be dis- cussed. Each man should be required to make a statement, concerning the condition of his own de- partment, and whether or not he is suffering any ielays on account of other departments. With the knowledge that they cannot possibly “get away” with thing but the truth before their fellow-foremen committeemen, they will, themselves, develop an interesting situation and uncover for you a sticking point. You may be sure that each every foreman will strive to his uttermost to ent a clean slate before such an audience. is very profitable to discuss departmental rec- ior each past month. These records can in- such subjects as output, departmental expense, tion of costs and suggested improvements. ‘ost factory managers, while recognizing the f scientific management, realize, too, the diffi- n the way of introducing it. While the first appears to be the attitude of the workmen, tso. It is the attitude of the foremen. Too their authority is taken away by a plan- epartment, and the result may show up in- Why not reverse the method, and, after on the essentials of your plan, let these p, whose heads are full of information of the a i THE IRON AGE 8: iw COMMITTEES FOR THE SALES DIVISION The same principles of committee organization and work apply to the sales division; indeed, with peculiar force, because, in this work, it is not a question of machinery men’s methods, but it is a question of the individual who is away from con trol most of his time. In this division there may be general sales committee, subsidiary sales com mittees, if the company is large and the product varied, and an advertising committee. The general sales committee may be made up of chairman, general sales manager, his assistants; office manager; advertising manager; secretary of committee; the general manager. This committee should consider such questions as: Volume of sales needed to meet de ad pront Sales price vs. factory costs Orders on hand, unfilled Allowable sales expense How to develop new territory) How to get items of new possible How to cover territory Salesmen’'s daily reports How to get and train salesm« How to sell standard goods How to work out orders, and the necess ill ay on new customers, in order to properly determine credits The securing and training of agents Competition: its nature and how to meet it Needed improvements Is I order conditions or best competitors COMMITTEES FOR THE EXECUTIVE DIVISION Proper committees in this division are of great value. The greater the responsibility, the greater the need for co-operation. The committees here vary, of course, according to the needs of the busi- ness. Ordinarily, an executive committee and a finance committee are ample. The executive committee may be formed of the president, vice-president, general manager and treasurer. In the case of large corporations with many vice-presidents, each one may head a subsid- lary committee of himself as chairman with the heads of his department under him. To this execu tive committee will come up condensed formed re- ports of the findings of the finance committee, the general sales committee, and the general factory committee. All of these are absolutely co-related. The finance committee reports upon findings as to the relationship of orders, output, expenses. It can give an accurate forecast of prospective finan- cial conditions for months ahead. This forecast is often the guide to the executives for actions as in- dicating possibly a necessary increase in sales, or reduction in expenses. The finance committee may be made up of the treasurer as chairman, auditor, general manager, general sales manager, general factory manager. The unusual suggestion of having the factory and sales managers on the finance committee is made because in the last analysis the finances depend upon price, sales and output. The general manager committee may be made up of general manager as chairman, with general sales manager and factory manager as members, with possibly a few assistants. Its work would consist of a review of the work of the other committees. The outlining of policies for the sales manufactur- ing division to follow in view of the decision of the executive committee. The Cutler-Hammer Mfg. Company, Milwaukee, Wis., has removed its Cincinnati office from the Fourth National Bank Building to larger quarters, the new address being room 812, Gwynne Building. Horace L. Dawson is manager. hs The New Gary 36-Inch Slabbing Mil! Power Developed by Waste-Heat Boilers—Modified Hydraulic Manipulators and Hydraulic Slab Scale— Forging, Axle and Tie Plate Billets Also Rolled The largest slabbing mill in the world was placed in operation at the Gary works of the Illinois Steel Company about July 1. With respect to size the mill is in harmony with the scale upon which the entire plant has been built. In general design it may be compared with the slabbing mill of the National Tube Company at McKeesport, Pa. The mill is located to deliver its product under the slab vard cranes and in turn by direct transfer to the cranes serving the heating furnaces for the plate mill. In the general drawing, Fig. 1, the arrange- roll slabs up to 60 in. wide, weighing 4 to 20 tons and at the same time it is sufficiently flexible go that it may be conveniently used for rolling forg- ing, axle and tie plate billets as well. For this range of product a variety of ingot sizes are used, ranging from the standard Gary works ingot, 29 x 24 in. up to ingots 30 x 64 in. The maximum opening obtainable in the vertical rolls is 90 jp, and the very small minimum, 12 in., made possible by the vertical staggering of the driving gears, The mill is driven from two independent re- \ | a \N \ Feet 4 \ ; YN ‘. | \\ ee ie, Wie, ie” Ly oe \\ Mess Ni +4 a AS |e tcoumsaien. Intenaiien..\ Ei “ic | _— — ~~ , = == — aw — = ae = ee Oh iy Fas x |h\ 58 dtr are | Q5 ft) - i , = J? X i Ie I> f a) 3 No + ‘as ners ~ ‘ 5 m 4 in 1 TT Oo peta ee et ‘ i 2 ' , sae 4 wn t ~*~ or % ¢ 2 Z ~ CS mr ny * > BSo Shea z > Cyr -or bb : XO) ee cede te ~} 9 } ata {- mente oe os + > ' 5 hy | § } ; | 5 s | rTy WNC INTE ee } 1 : = “ \ j ir j | re 4 A ator 71'9" Span of Crane Qry ast | w| | Se 1 } is ai ' 1 || | Ad ' : ni fa t ' | i ' 1 | ff 5 the we cree —- at ; anol | | | } oT DS ; | i — sh * ; ii = a a 1 - Fig. 1 Plan of the Slabbing Mill, Gary Works of the.lllinois Steel Company ment of the slabbing mill is shown. There was a need for this new unit principally for furnishing the slabs for the plate mill formerly supplied in the form of slab ingots cast at the open-hearth plant, but overflow capacity is also added to the billet mill, particularly for pieces 6 x 6 in. and larger. The use of rolled slabs also reduces the amount of work required on the plate mill. In addition a plant is provided for using the power developed from the installation of waste heat boilers recently built to utilize the residual heat from two open-hearth bat- teries. The mill is impressive in the size of its housings and the substantial proportions which characterize the design of mill tables and gearing. All of the mill and table gears are machine cut and all bear- ings are ring-oiled. The wobblers on the rolls, spindles and main pinions are also machined together with the coupling boxes which fit them. The horizontal mill rolls are 36 in. in diameter, and 84 in. face with 26% in. necks. The original verti- cal rolls are 24 in. in diameter, but it is the plan now to equip the mill with 28-in. vertical rolls. The main pinions are 46-in. pitch diameter, 57-in. os face and 27 in. diameter at the necks. The mill will versing steam units, steam for which is generated in waste heat boilers as indicated above. One unit drives the horizontal rolls and the other the vertical rolls. The screw-downs of the mill are motor driven with hydraulic pull-backs. The engine driving the horizontal rolls is a twin tandem compound geared reversing unit with cylinders 44 and 76 in. in diam- eter by 60-in. stroke. The drive for the vertical rolls presents a new combination with a high pres- sure and two low pressure cylinders acting as 4 triplex unit, the cylinders being all 44 in. in diam- eter by 48-in. stroke. A general view of these units is illustrated in Fig. 4. They are not now run condensing, but later it is the expectation that they will be. Some modifications of design are incorporated in the hydraulic manipulator for this mill. The manipulator is built in, in the sub-floor space directly under the mill approach table, and consists of two similar opposed units, each comprising 4? hydraulic cylinder and movable fingers with con- necting mechanism. By virtue of the bell crank connection between the hydraulic operating cyl inders and the manipulating fingers, two motions, vertical and horizontal, are obtained, so that the 824 | Spl Fig. 2—Soaking Pits r may be used both for turning the rely over or for straightening the long desired. w of the soaking pits for the slabbing mill in Fig. 2. This installation consists of rows of four-hole pits 7 ft. 9 in. x 6 ft. 6 in. section and 8 ft. 6 in. deep. The covers draulically operated with a lifting action to dragging the cover. For re-heating the oke oven gas is used exclusively, coming pits at a pressure of approximately 114 \n electric transfer car with an automatic pot under control of an operator on the the re-heated ingot from the ingot crane | approach table. ipproach table has a length of 123 ft. 4 in., ll approach equipment also includes an THE IRON AGE © te éeee a7} for the Slabbing Mill auxiliary crane with an ingot cradle for handling ingots from the soaking pits to the mill But under normal circumstances the distance is suffi ciently short so that the approacl made more conveniently on the tables, the table being geared for a speed of about 385 ft. per minute. The pulpit from which the vertical rolls and manipulator are controlled is in front of the mill and the pulpit for the horizontal rolls faces the delivery side of the mill, both pulpits spanning the mill tables. The operators are protected by a vision glass 1 in. thick From the mill to the hydraulic shear the table length is 161 ft. 8 in., and this run of the mill illustrated in Fig. 5. The hydraulic shear is of the same general construction as a hydraulic press, and has a shearing power of 3600 tons, equivalent to a maximum cut of 20 x 60 in. The actuating Fig. 3—The Mill Approach Table Looking Toward the Soaking Pits THE IRON AGE Driving the dem Compound Engine, ; the Right, > ne at cylinders are arranged in tandem, the one having a capacity of 1200 tons pressure and the other 2400 tons, which pressures may be made effective sep- arately or combined. This combination, which makes available pressures of 1200, 2400 or 3600 tons, is obtained by an arrangement of the valves controlling the admission of water to the two actuating cylinders that the pressure can applied to either or both as desired. The shear delivery table is arranged to tilt the billet is SO be as rizontal vdraulic October 914 Rolls in the Vertical Background, the Rolls Upposed to being sheared, giving the needed clearance with the stroke without allowing the billet to drop suddenly. The shear run-out table is also arranged with a set of three rolls which swing up, breaking the run of the table and allowing butts that are sheared off the billet to drop into the butt conveyor. In connection with the run-out table there is also a hydraulically controlled scale of new design, the weighing platform of which consists of arms that interlace with the table rolls. The weighing is done Slab Shear THE IRON AGE Vertical Rolls ind t Right I valancing parts of the scale in suspension. far end, the run-out table delivers to a being equipped with a tilting section at ilso, which facilitates the delivery of the s slab piler is directly under the slab When the mill is rolling billets, the diverted into the slab mill warehouse, piled on skids for subsequent transfer the finishing mills. ne Ways for sliding the run-out table are provided. it the Right the Horizontal sackground the “Ste The crane service in the mill Alliance with 113-ft. span, which power plant and mill, two soaking pit tons capacity, a transfer crane of 25 tons, crane of 40 tons and a warehouse and a yard crane, each of 15 tons capacity. The mill tables and en gine drives were built complete | Mesta Ma- chine Company. The continually attention given to safety provisions in all tl includes 60-ton the cranes of 25 a crane serve a shear Vy tne increasing which of 1S tne mi the nn EEEEEEI EIS NUEISnSS SSSI nS InEES EEE The Fig. 7 Hydraulk Slab Scale 828 Illinois Steel Company finds no exception here. Every place which must be reached is made safely accessible. A noteworthy adjunct of the mill is the excellent change and bath house. Steel lockers mounted on concrete pedestals which are at the THE IRON AGE October 1914 same time formed to provide a comfo) in front of the locker are installed and also showers, washbowls and toilets provi, conditions calculated to make cleanliness tary habits attractive. seat © are inder Measurements of Modern Blast Furnaces How These Affect the Production —An Investigation of 48 Ger- man Stacks — Oxygen Variations A paper of great interest to blast furnacemen, both to those operating furnaces and to engineers, was published in Stahl und Hisen, May 14, 1914, by Prof. Oskar Simmersbach, of Breslau. It consists of a general discussion of furnace design based on and accompanied by details of no less than 43 blast furnaces. These 43 furnaces include nine on foundry iron, seven on hematite iron, one on Bes- semer iron, nine on basic Bessemer iron, nine on iron to be used for steel making in the basic open - hearth, four on spiegeleisen, two on ferromanga- nese and two on ferrosilicon. An outline drawing of each furnace is given showing the lines, dimen- sions and method of charging. Also a table with each drawing giving the percentage of each kind of ore in the burden, the analysis of each ore, its percentage of coarse and fine material, and of mois- ture, and the percentage of limestone used. A sec- ond table gives full details regarding the furnace and its working under 26 headings. These include the data usually given, such as the cubical contents of the furnace, daily output of iron, blast pressure and temperature, number and size of tuyeres, and coke consumption, together with much not usually found, such as the quality of the coke, the amount of slag, the time required for the charge to work through the furnace, and the analysis of the fur- nace gases in regard to CO and CO,. Also the re- lation of many of these quantities one to the other. Formerly the designing of a furnace was a com- paratively simple matter. If the ore was easily smelted and reduced, then a wide hearth and throat were used, and the opposite with an ore difficulty reduced and smelted. With an ore easily reducible but difficult to smelt, the hearth was made narrow, and the throat left wide; and the reverse in the case of an ore difficult to reduce but easy to smelt. To- day conditions are altogether different. All kinds of ores must be used in the same furnace, and in the one furnace not only one kind of iron but usually several must be made. This is made possible by the higher blast temperatures, and greater efficiency of the blowing engines. EFFECTS OF A WIDE HEARTH While formerly the hearth measurement depend- ed chiefly on the kind of iron to be made (narrow for high silicon, wide for low silicon iron) it now mainly depends on the output desired. The size of the hearth influences the output chiefly in three ways. First, as the width increases so does the capacity, so that more tuyeres can be installed, and more air blown into the furnace. A direct result of this is that considerably more coke can be burned before the tuyeres and more ore smelted. The in- fluence of the increased number of tuyeres, with the same volume of air per tuyere, is a greater pressure. The higher the pressure, the more quickly will the oxygen of the blast and the carbon of the coke unite to form carbon monoxide, also the surface of the stream of air increases with the increased number of tuyeres. The more quickly the combustion take: place the higher the hearth temperature wil] pe. which favors direct reduction in the hearth so tha: silicon and manganese are reduced more rapidly. and enter the iron. For foundry iron, therefore comparatively many but small tuyeres are recon mended, and for white iron few but larger ones. With the higher hearth temperatures brought about by the high blast temperatures used today is com. bined a greater expansion of the gaseous product: of combustion. -This expansion can only take place properly with a wide hearth, so that with a wide hearth the blast takes effect more in a horizontal direction, while with a narrow hearth the expansio of the zone carrying free oxygen can only take place upward, whereby combustion, and the accompany- ing temperature, is spread over a greater area, which increases the coke consumption. Second, a wide hearth brings about increased furnace output because the slag, which contains in- cluded coke and oxide of iron, can spread out more, and therefore descend more slowly. Thereby the reducing influence of the coke is granted more time. It is well known that the first slag on tapping usu- ally shows darker in color than that which has been longer in the hearth. The work of a large diam- eter hearth is also of value because more metal and slag can be collected, whereby heat is better re- tained just as in a pig-iron mixer. There is not, therefore, the same dependence on the source of heat at the tuyeres, as in the case of a narrow hearth where the level of the tuyeres cannot be placed too high or else the metal and slag may chill more or less readily. It is therefore possible to place the tuyeres higher with a wide hearth furnace which has the result that on the one hand more material can be collected in the hearth, and on the other the tuyeres remain clearer and cleaner, s0 that the blast finds readier entrance to the furnace. The third reason for the favorable influence 0! a wide hearth is that widening of the hearth works against the effort of the gases to rise along the fur- nace walls; and brings about more uniform distri- bution of the furnace gases through the charge, 0 that there results a better indirect reduction of the ore. Table 1, taken from the collected details of the 43 furnaces, shows the relation between furnace output, and distance between the tuyeres. These are measurements that would have been looked upon as almost impossible a few years ago, and are a proof that the great importance of the hearth - its dimensions on furnace output have already made considerable impression. Table 1.—Relation Between Furnace Output and Distance Between Tuyeres Tuyere distance my OCCT, Daily Silicon, M snga- Blast furnace per nese, making mm. ft. in. tons cent. per cent. Foundry iron.... to 3,200 10 6 160 2.5 oF i ee to 3,400 11 2 185 3.5 4 Open-hearth steel- making iron .. Basic Bessemer WOM ices eens to 3,600 a: Se 350 to4,200 13 9% 450 8, 1914 the hearth, the hight of the blast furnace sidered. Leaving on one side the grade h will not be considered here, it depends } | on the quality of the coke. We find, the following hights: Hight of charge 19.0 to 23.5 meters 25.5 to 29.5 meters 24.0 to 30.0 meters irmful influence of the lower quality coke Silesia is here shown very clearly. In the tates furnaces have been built up to 33 108 ft. 3 in.) high, but this was soon low- 29-30 meters, with a hight of charge of 27 Practice proved that the extreme hights table, because the coke consumption did decrease. The saving is very slight for hight, the nearer the coke consumption hes the theoretical. The reason for this is igh the ascending gases give up their heat the charge because of increased hight, vet it leave the throat colder. Through the temperature due to the greater hight of ce a decomposition of the carbon mon- es place, with evolution of. heat, accord- the equation co C +t. CO 39 calories wering of the temperatures of the throat innot therefore go beyond a certain limit already reached with lower furnaces. no object to building higher furnaces than ers, especially as by doing so the cost of the maintenance and operating costs increase gether out of proportion. The blast arrange- and work of blowing become more difficult, in blast greater, and also the mechanical f charging the furnaces. rty years ago the space used per ton of pig follows: is as Cubic meters 5.5 to 7.0 4.5 to 5.5 h st making iron 3.5 to 4.5 s ire . 2.5 to 3.3 it is the following as averaged from the d details of the 43 furnaces: Daily Cubic output meters 185 Only 2.89 . fae 165 Only 2.22 steel-making iron.... 350 Only 1.34 ssemer iron............. ) 490 Only 1.28 ) 280 Only 1.10 a favorable ratio of useful furnace ca- daily tonnage shows that the German fur- st probably lead all the pig-iron producing Similar way the time required for the © work through the furnace has decreased lerably during the last 10 years, although the ntage of iron in the charge has also decreased. sic Bessemer iron it varies from 10 to 25 hr., ver time for Rhine-Westphalia and the higher Minette district. For open-hearth steel- iron it is from 14 to 21 hr., for hematite 15 r., and for foundry iron 16 to 27 hr., accord- the iron contents of the charge, the reduci- the ore, and the quality of the coke. For leisen the time varies from 24 to 27 hr. For cent. ferromanganese the time required is with about