The Iron Age 1915-03-18: Vol 95 Iss 11

quit % | TEDUUADEDUDEDADUOODOOESOUEDNORSERUOGEDEOEDERODODOERORO ROD BY A. R. Having had an opportunity to study the design of the ports, uptakes and valve areas of numerous open-hearth furnaces in the past six years, I de- cided to construct a chart, which I have termed “areagram,” for the purpose of more vividly in- specting the areas of both the gas and air pas- sages. In order to show ae the usefulness of the s.65 ae areagram, aS a means | of placing before the ~ ~ designer the areas of the passages on a 1 small and compact 9.77 as | chart, I will take for 1 13.45 barren an example an 85-ton 35-85 PIG | - furnace which was oo constructed for a steel plant in the mid- «5 dle west. This fur- nace was built by a 352 contractor, and very little attention was given to the details by the purchaser, as < he thought the fur- asses EY nace one of modern | design, and the de- *%77 signer one with con- siderable experience. Y The furnace had , ) two gas ports and one air port. The gas 665 ports were of the ven regenegeeenn0c9n 0000 NERONEROOURORUORECAROSRUOLOOREUO NEONATES GAAOA AA OAK AAROARSARREHAEA AA c _—————————— ——————————— - TRON A AIR ——anely VALVE UPTAKE is. 8125 a ay Hee m ° nn OTT vsusgnensngnensenonsenennannnasescnnnnunité Established 1855 New York, March 18, 1915 Vol. 95: No. 11 ‘Areagrams’ of Open-Hearth Furnace Flues How the Plotting of the Passage Areas Con- ducting Gas and Air Revealed Defects in Design and Construction—The Soaking Pit MITCHELL this fact. The port coolers being of considerable size, and containing quite a quantity of water, it was thought that the gas in passing through the cooler was cooled to such an extent as to produce the effect of lengthening the melting time. To remedy the difficulty the port coolers were removed, and the furnace tried without them, but this produced no change VALVE. —10 whatever. The gas producers for this furnace being at a considerable dis tance from the boiler Recenteck--1oze house it was thought that the steam upon VALVE SEWER 19915 —_—>-— Siac Pocket--3e28 arriving at the pro ducers through the UP TAKES 125 i long system of piping, Port--27.45 Was subject to a con- siderable degree of FURNACE -S2 condensation. To rem- edy this a _ super- PoRT--2745 heater was installed Uptaxrs.-nzs near the producers to furnish thoroughly > SLAC POCKET 1828 dry steam to the blower nozzles, but RECER.NMECK 10.28 this proved to be an expense, and not a VALVE SEWER- -1915 remedy. Vas. ve Weeene--te The writer, at this juncture, began to JALVE- 10. study the areas of the gas and air passages, water-cooled type, = ae cxenuet Fanvren os" «6a te Ges Cae made under the Knox STACK FLUE-—12.7 a chart was made, patents. The furnace which has been was capable of handl- 5 De STACK 26 termed an “area- ing a charge of 185,- Fig. 1—Areagram Showing Areas of the Gas and Air Passages of a gram.” On this the 000 Ib. and, being an New Open-Hearth ante yy ty the Valves and Continuing areas of the different entirely new one, with a '-cooling facilities, it was naturally anticipated ‘hat the melting time would be much less than on the old furnaces in the plant. The furnace was — and the usual time taken to prepare the ottom. It was then charged. .. Contrary to anticipations the relative melting time was not shortened, but lengthened. This ‘itnace being the only one of five in the plant with the ports and bulkheads equipped with water-cool- ‘Ng devices, the difficulty was at once attributed to passages are repre- sented by straight lines. For an example—an area of 4 sq. ft. will be represented by a line four units in length, of any desired scale. The areagram, Fig 1, represents the areas of the gas and air passages of the new furnace, starting at the valves and con- tinuing to the stack. The gas passages are indi- cated by the single section lines, the air passages by that part not section lined, and the passages which carry the combined discharged gases from the exhaust ports of the air and gas reversing 607 608 valves, to the stack, are indicated by the double sec- tion lines. THE MEANING OF THE FIRST AREAGRAM A study of the areagram, Fig. 1, will disclose that the passages were constricted or enlarged, as the case may be, without any reason or forethought. For instance, if one looks at the line representing the area at the point (exhaust partition) where the exhaust gases from the air valve combine with those of the gas valve, it will be seen that the pas- sage has been made so small that it has a choking effect upon the air valve exhaust, which in turn limits the amount of waste gases that pass down the air uptakes of the furnace, and through the air regenerator chamber. Consequently the air checkers do not receive the requisite amount of heat in the interval between the valve reversals and as a consequence the cold air passing through the regenerator does not receive sufficient heat units to raise the calorific value of the combustion the hearth. over THE IRON AGE March 18. 19}; single port type. This furnace was capable of mak. ing excellent time, had it not been for a tendene to burn the roof in a short time. The flames seemed to start from the face of the ports in a correct map. ner, but as they neared the center of the furnace seemed to rise very rapidly, and most of the burned gases passed through the air uptakes, illustrating that the air passages had a much better draught than the gas passages. It might be safe to say tha: a damper in the exhaust of the air valve, capab) of throttling the discharging gases from the ai; regenerator would pass more of the burned gases through the gas port, and have a tendency to keen the flames from impinging against the roof. The author merely cites the incidents pertaining to unsuccessful attempts to remedy the defects j; the open-hearth furnace te portray the importance of the areagram as a means of looking for the dis. crepancies in the proportionment of the various flues, also the importance of the areagram as record in condensed form of open-hearth and other types of furnaces. The reader will now note the difference in the The areagram, Fig. 2, represents a soaking pit areas of the stack and the which was designed stack flue, the stack hav- RAS AIR rule of thumb rather tha: ing an area almost twice *°77 VAL“! FY VALVE 2.35 by any forethought. Th that of the stack flue. It pit is equipped with tw : : ; . 3.975--VALVE UPTAKE- -}4 VALVE UPTAKE 5.625 should be the intention of gas valves and one air the furnace designer tO 10.42--VALVE SEWER A—4 4ALVE SEWER 4.455 valve. rhe gas valves are have the area of the stack of the ordinary mushroon flue as large as that of 1t465--Porr BRIDCE WALL 8.625 tvpe and non-reversing the stack, so that the fur- Consequently the gas con- nace, when new, can be PORT 16.75 trol for each end of the operated with the stack pit is separate. The ai: 1: ae eM ot . PIT 45.5 a tem te } 3 damper partly closed, and valve is one of the butter- as the checker work be- Sint sae fly reversing type; thus comes older, and more or the air valve supplies air less choked with dust and BRIDCE WALL e.ez5 to each end of the pit al- soot, the damper can be ternately, and is supposed raised and some compen- ro ~~~ CELLARFLUE 6.72 to direct the entire w sation made for the poor - ume of exhaust gases draught. rire = VALVEFLUE 4455 the stack. One look The area correspond- stil the areagram of this . 1 t “3 ~-VALVE UPTAKE 5.62 . ; as a ing tc the line marked weiienirnins iS soaking pit is sufficiel exhaust partition) on e lave = for the reader to deter the areagram, Fig. 1, was ; mine that the air valve made larger, the wate) — STACK FLUE 0.625 entirely too small to a cooled ports were rein Fe complish what is require stalled. The furnace then STACK 8.3 of it. It is certainly n made excellent time. The Mig I So Vi conducive to success! decrease in the melting; time of this furnace, after making the opening larger in the partition wall of the valve foundation, may be attributed to the fact that the larger open ing allowed more of the waste gases to escape through the air valve, thus permitting more of the burned gases in the furnace proper to pass down the air uptakes, and through the air regenerato) chamber, raising the checker work to a higher tem perature, and consequently ng alr t preheating the incom a higher temperature and the increasing the calorific value of flames over the bath. THE USE OF DAMPERS [It might be suggested by way of an improve- ment in open-hearth furnace design, that the open ing in the exhaust port partition wall of the valve foundation be made amply large, and be with a damper such as is used in the This would enable the furnace operator to govern the flow of waste gases through the air checkers and ailow more flexibility of control. There is another instance where a damper in the partition wall of the valve foundation might be of value. I have in mind a 50-ton furnace of the provided stack flue. operation for the valve | have an area only one-fourth as large as the stack and expect it to handle the same volume ot! the stack is capable of handling. It should be the purpose of the have the reversing valves too large rather than ' small, in order that they will act as valves, and not obstructions in the When the air valve is made amp!y large, and Is ! an obstruction, the process of obstructing moving obstructions from the passages can to the operator, and accomplished dampers placed in a suitable location. gases designe? revers as passages by means Payroll Calculating Chart A payroll chart for quickly figuring wages has be developed by S. C. Carpenter, 48 Oakland terract Hartford, Conn. By means of a disk the elapsed tim from starting time to quitting time is obtained direct!) in hours and minutes. The total wages correspondins t is obtained from radial lines of figures for wage '@' of 10 cents an hour up to $1.54 an hour. In the chart gives total wages for any number 0! from 1 to 9 inclusive, and for 1, 5, min., for each rate of wages. sho! t hou 15, St) i; 10, March 18, 1915 New Autographic Temperature Recorder An autographic instrument for recording tem- veratures, operating in a different way from those no" the market, has been developed by the wilson-Maeulen Company, 1 East Forty-second rere iis | I signe \utographi ad is Made on the lfossible to Records | the Engraving the Record Is Swur “ Removing the Paper Sti treet, New York City. The principal points of lifference are that the record is made on the un- derside of a paper slip, these records being avail- ble in more colors, if desired, and the the carriage containing the recording down, as shown in the accompanying istration, when it is desired to change a record. he instrument, which is known as the Tapalog, is alled on account of its scheme of operation. At Temperature Recorder Under Side of the Secure one or winging of aterials present time one of these instruments is in- at the Atha works of the Crucible Steel iny of America for recording the tempera the tool steel annealing furnaces. lhe record paper used is ruled with rectangular rdinates, and the record is made on the under the strip, so that the pointer does not touch nking ribbon. The speed of the record, which clockwork, is 1 in. per hr., and a dot is the depression of a bar above the pointer l2 sec., the pointer being free to swing to during the intervening period. operating the depressing member kes the dot is furnished by the three-cell The indicating scale is mounted on chopper bar, which is pulled down tromagnet with a blow to make the nd this chopping bar is over-counterbal- that it tends to rise quickly after the is accomplished. When the bar ottom of its stroke, the electromagnetic opened and by an arrangement of a wheel on the clock, the rise of the chopper etarded to a very slow speed, which it is it results in the clock really being helped doing away with a chance of its stopping having too much work to do, instead of to drive the recording mechanism. prevent any likelihood of the pointer of the meter coming in contact with the hands of erator in changing the record paper, etc., is being damaged, the whole carriage con- t} he recording materials has been pivoted so en DY position wer tor stroke THE IRON AGE 609 that it will drop down, away from the galvanometer. In this way, it is pointed out that the paper and the typewriter ribbon employed for making the records can be changed without any likelihood of injuring the galvanometer The instrument is shown with the strip in position for changing in the accompanying illustration, the position of the paper on which the record is made being normal conditions in the horizontal plane. In the simplest form, the Tapalog will make a record of one temperature in one color, but as gen erally supplied, it is furnished with an automatic switch located in the case and operated by the bat tery furnishing power for operating the depressing member. This the instrument under mechanism from automatically switches one thermo-couple to another and at the same time another band of the multi color typewriter ribbon is brought under the pointer, so that different records are distinctive colers, up to the number of sired. made on one sheet, differences in temperature between various parts of a single furnace or members of a battery of furnaces are readily seen. In addition t matic shifting of the ribbon from one color to ar other, there is an independent arrangement where by the entire width of each utilized for making records, thus, it is emphasized, wearing of the ribbon in a single line. While pro vision is made for taking four records and binding posts are provided on the outside of for that purpose, by connecting the to form two pairs. secured in four, as de As these records are all » the auto band 1s avoiding four the case secured two records can be alternate binding In this case posts, so as a two-color ribbor is used. This ribbon which passes under the record paper is made in the form of an endless belt, s that it is not necessary to employ any mechanisn to reverse the direction of travel New Pressed Steel Wheel for Light Duty A new pressed steel wheel has by the W. J. designed par ticularly fo use on porta ble gasoline trucks 11 heen brought out Clark Compan Salem, Ohi it garages, but | can be used for vari ous purposes where a light duty wheel is required Special con struction fea tures are provided t add to th strength o the wheel The rim ; web are in one las Bes and piece instead of a separate rim being attached. It onstructed so channel part on which the tire is placed thickness and the section of the the base of the tire has four thicknesses The is furnished either with plain or ball axle bearings either type of bearing being renewable, and with or without a hub cap and with the holes in the web as shown or without, as desired. It has a renewable rubber tire with round face and is made in sizes ranging from 24 to 30 in. in diameter. that tne is of double web at metal. whee! Failure of British Steel Ship Plates How the Metal Exh Properties - But Was ibited Excellent Static Worthless When Worked at Low Temperatures—The Cause The remarkable failure of a consignment of steel ship plates is recounted by W. J. B. Wilson in a paper before the Northeast Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders (England). It shows how static inspection of metal is not always indica- tive of its true value. An abstract of the paper follows: In 1907 the author’s firm received an order for an icebreaking cargo and passenger steamer, to be built to Lloyd’s highest class, under special survey. The material for the shell, which had been tested and passed by Lloyd’s, and characterized by the sur- veyor as excellent, failed entirely to stand the or- dinary work of the ship- yard, and was_ subse- quently condemned by the surveyors, notwithstand- Fig.1—ci ing that it fulfilled all the requirements of the rules as regards testing. acks Developed ir DETAILS OF THE FAILURES The vessel was begun in November, 1907, but the sheil plating was not taken in hand until the end of December. B strake was first worked, but, owing to the difficulty with the flanging of the gar- board strake plates, several of which cracked, the rest of the shell was practically completed before the garboard strakes were in place. The garboard strake plates which cracked were carefully exam- ined, but as the results of both bend and tensile tests were excellent, the failure at the time was put down to the severe cold prevailing (about —13 deg. to —18.4 deg. F.). The riveting of the shell was well in hand before the keel riveting was begun, but after a few garboard plates had been riveted, cracks were noticed between the rivets and the edge of the plate in the flange portion, as shown in Fig. 1. These plates were condemned by Lloyd’s surveyor, and cut out. During the process two of them cracked badly in the neighborhood of the keel rivets, and appeared to be little better than hard baked clay, as a single blow with an ordinary hand- hammer knocked pieces out of the flanged portion. This sudden change in these plates, which had withstood flanging, punching, riveting, and in some cases also caulking, was very remarkable, and the job of riveting the keel was at once stopped until a thorough hammer-test of the flanged portion of all the remaining garboard plates had been made. This proving perfectly satisfactory, the riv- eting was resumed, and the riveters were ordered to report immediately any cracks; but only one or two occurred, and these were of a minute descrip- tion. 9) oO EFFECT OF LOW TEMPERATURES About this time the cold again became very severe, and on January 11, 1908, garboard plate No. 4 starboard, which had then been riveted in the 3 Fig Low Broken Plate Temperature in Snow and Salt ship three weeks, was found to be badly cracked. The crack started from a rivet hole in the flanged portion, and went off into the plate in a transvers; direction, being about 10 in. long and about 3-32 j; open at the widest part. This was clearly a case of spontaneous rupture, and precisely like those de- scribed in Holmes’ “Practical Shipbuilding” (page 575, paragraph 562). When this plate was cut out, the material in the way of the keel rivets cracked j; the same way as those described above, and a ney hammer-test was there fore made, with start- lingly different results, as every plate in the garboard strakes (with the excep. tion of those previous! replaced) cracked, pieces falling out in some cases These plates were there- fore condemned and cut out. So far the cracks had been entirely confined to the flanged portior of the garboard strakes; but during the cutting-out of the edge rivets connecting the above plates to B strake, several of the plates in B strake also cracked. A new survey was then made by Lloyd's, and pieces cut out of plates in the ship, rolled from different charges, were tested. The tests all proved satisfactory to the surveyor. Bend tests were excellent so long as the test- pieces were not taken near any rivet holes. Chem- ical analysis for phosphorus gave 0.063, which can- not be regarded as affecting the material. After these tests, one may judge the astonishment created when one blow of a heavy hammer was sufficient to knock large pieces out of the flanged portion « plate A.S.6. Riveting Shipbuilding Plates THE PLATES REJECTED The net result of this survey was that all plates rolled from the same charge as the garboard plates, together with several plates which had bad surface defects, were condemned. The latter had been filled with some composition, which fell away during riveting. One plate had two large holes which had been filled up. A thin feeler pushed into these holes penetrated 11% in., while the maker’s brand was not 12 in. away, on the same side of the plate. This plate was returned to the makers, after hav- ing been specially pointed out to Lloyd’s surveyor The condemned plates, 12 in number, were ! various strakes of the shell- plating, and during their re- moval, despite the care taken, the trouble spreae over the whole of the botton of the vessel. As an example, plate E.P. 3, % in. thick, which had been punched, sheared, bent, riveted and caulked without any trouble, had to have the rivets in its lower edge removed in order to take out a plate in D strake. W hen the rivets were center punched preparatory to drill- aaa After Being Tested at a 610 18, 1915 Mat THE IRON AGE 611 m out, the plate E.P.3 cracked, although ing only reaches the temperature called forth in the vas not actually touched by the hammer, which _ Plates by the hot rivets. ih vas only an ordinary hand hammer. In the lower. Mew eet et ee pons <i a — . _— 2 : ; > ; ’ é é ar Or ¢ ) . gnt as a“ this plate, when all the vives had been “OS Ow ee 6 See Se ee SS. we wa . . " sufficient in most cases to crack the material betwee ut and driven, the author found 16 cracks. ane cei = : : ; the holes or between the holes and the edges. A strong ; plate was afterwards examined by Lloyd’s pjow broke whole pieces from the edges, and even wi sur’ rs, when it was plainly shown that one have beaten a hole of about 6 in. in diameter in one y with a sledge-hammer was sufficient to cause blow with a light sledge-hammer. Before riveting to appear between the edge and butt rivet- es: but although the hammering was continued, t a single crack would travel far into the plate from the rivet-holes. The failure still con- ‘, a new survey was made by two of Lloyd’s surveyors, one of whom had previously tested the Tests were made, which, like all the others, hrew not the slightest light on what was really wrong with the steel. tae SLet 4 SPECIAL LOW TEMPERATURE TEST \fter these tests had been made, the surveyors iintained that as the steel passed the tests laid wn in the rules, they were not justified in blaming the material, unless a test could be devised which vould, in their presence, prove the steel to be at rhe author, who had made res of tests with a like ob- ect, had found one that gave the required results, and the lescription of this test, taken from the official report, is ere given: “At last a butt-strap, which had not been worked into the ] ssel, and a plate of material nade in a Swedish steel works placed in a mixture of y and salt, and the tempera- ire of these plates reduced to tdeg. F. The plates were then kly punched on one side for ible riveting and riveted to- gether, care being taken that edges of the plates opposite holes were kept cool with (as much possible to epresent conditions when work- g in a low’ temperature). the plates were allowed ool down, the rivets were driven out, during which ation the one plate cracked badly and a piece fell The broken plate is shown in Fig. 2. The plate the Swedish steel works was also inspected, but not show the least signs of cracks. ‘From another plate two strips 60 mm. wide were t, and four holes % in. in diameter and 4% diameters apart were punched and the strips riveted together. The same was done with two similar strips, but with rilled holes, the temperature at the time being about 2 deg. F. After cooling, the strips were bent through angle of 25 deg.; the outer strip was found to be en right through in the punched sample and cracks d in the drilled sample.” lhese butt-strap tests were sufficient to convince ncerned that the material was really entirely ied by riveting, as the extracts from the report the surveyors given below show, and in which the ders are relieved from all blame, the workman- eing characterized as first class. A further that the material was bad is the very con- one of the new Swedish material, which, igh worked in the same way, gave no trouble THE SURVEYOR’S REPORT \Juoting from the surveyor’s report: imples cut from the center or near the center of ites were then flanged under different circum- , and the results of these tests seem to indicate ne material is liable to crack, and is becoming very when heated and hammered, even when this heat- vere as ? Fig. 3 Transverse Micrograph Section, of everyday occurrence, the author does not Magnified these plates could be punched, bent and hammered, but as soon as the plates had been riveted the steel wa spoiled altogether. I may still add that in my opinion the shipbuilders not at all to blame. The workmanship seems to be first class, and every precau tion seems to taken to the well.” are have been treat materia That material such as has been described in this paper manufactured and afterward tested yassed by the various classification societies as I : is and an tor one moment insinuate, nor, further, that the utmost ha not been done by the societies as far as the recog nized tests would allow. rHE METALLURGIST’S REPORT At the instance of a friend, the case of the plates dealt with in this paper was submitted to Prof. J. O. Ar nold, of the University of Sheffield. Extracts from his report, which shed further light on the subject, are given below: Department of Applied Science, St. George’s-square, Sheffield. Dear Sir:—With reference to our examination of the broken ship-plate from Ff inland, we have obtained the following re sults: oO] 1 me Per « ' Carbon { Graphite T Silicon Manganese Sulp! Phosphe Vf \ ‘ I'y Fractured Ship Plate, The material i a dead-mild 184 Diameters steel which, from a chemica point of view, is not of very good quality. A micrographic examination showed the structure reproduced in the accompanying micrograph (Fig. 3). The very small carbon con tents are centered into dark etching areas, best de scribed as the fourth phase of pearlite—namely, when it is passing into ferrite and massive cementite. When such high sulphur as 0.08 per cent. is present, dove grey areas of sulphide of manganese are scattered through the steel in very appreciable numbers. Ths crystals have sharp angular boundaries; indeed, the material appears to have been overheated in the manu facture, and gravely injured by the operation. ; A number of alternating stress tests gave extremely unsatisfactory results. The conditions of testing the standard method adopted here. The bar % in. in diameter, and the distance from the zero of stress to the plane of maximum stress 3 in.; the deflec tion each way on the zero plane was % in., and the rate of alternation 650 per min. Good mild steel should endure a minimum of 300 alternations of stress. The faulty steel, however, in eight tests averaged only about one-third of this, or 100 alternations. This is the worst steel of its class I have examined nating stress. were were ever under alter I have not had the tensile tests made, as in such cases these would be of very little use, usually giving very fair results. The bends have bent double without any sign of a flaw. This also is quite usual. I am a little puzzled as to the origin of this steel, since the high silicon, 0.08 per cent., suggests an aci«! It may, however, be a basic steel, over-treated steel. 612 with ore, to which manganese and silicon have been added in the ladle. If the carbon were, say, 0.2 per cent. instead of 0.05 per cent., I should with some confi- dence class it as Bessemer steel; as it is I find it diffi- cult to suggest its method of manufacture with any degree of certainty. The overheating to which I referred would take place in manufacturing the plates from the slab ingots. When such ingots are heated to too high an initial tem- perature and rolled, they leave the rolls at too high a temperature, cool too slowly and crystallize; and if such plates are stacked in heaps to cool, it is obvious that the cooling is still slower, and the crystallization more perfect, and hence more dangerous. J. O. ARNOLD. That the ordinary methods of testing were in this case insufficient to detect this bad material certainly seems to place shipbuilders and others in a position in which they run grave risks. It is cer- tainly worth considering whether the tests, in con- nection with which a mixture of snow and salt was used, described above, should be adopted or not, as they decidedly detected the fault in this steel. BURNING BLAST FURNACE GAS* Bradshaw-Huessener Combustion Arrangement Involving Burner and Damper Regulator It is generally recognized that the present method of using blast furnace gas under boilers is uneconomical. Scores of experiments have been made to improve the boiler efficiency, but the re- sults hitherto obtained have always fallen short of the efficiencies obtainable from the same boilers when burning coal. To get as high efficiencies it is necessary to ob- tain complete and quick combustion with a very low excess of air. In other words, get the highest in- itial temperatures possible, and the rear tempera- tures will look after themselves. The only method of obtaining this is to mix gas and primary air before ignition, and to reduce the secondary air to the lowest possible amount compatible with complete combustion. It would appear that simply to apply the bunsen principle to the burning of blast furnace gas would offer a solution of the problem. This is, however, only partly correct. The bunsen burner depends on a somewhat even gas pressure, at least. Although it makes use of the kinetic action of the gas, it does not, owing to the large friction in the mixing tube, maintain a constant relation between the gas and the primary air aspirated by the gas, irrespective of the quantity of gas passed. As a matter of fact an increase or decrease of the quan- tity of gas will always necessitate a resetting of the primary air valve. Then again for a bunsen burner there will always be a point where it flashes back. That happens when the quantity of gas is so small that the friction loss absorbs the whole of its kinetic energy. It will be seen at once that at American blast furnace plants that principle cannot be employed to advantage, as it is out of the question to supply gas under a constant pressure. A possible way of over- coming this difficulty suggests itself in the form of gas governing devices which will reduce the gas pressure to a certain maximum and regulate the bunsen burner accordingly. Apart from the fact that there would still be the difficulty of dealing with gas pressures lower than the maximum, and the question of relighting and re-regulating a bun- sen burner, for instance, in the case of a one-furnace *Basecd on report mace by K. Huessener, president Power Gas Economy Company, 324 Diamene street, Pitts- burgh THE IRON AGE March 18, 191; plant where the gas, during the casting periovs, wjj) stay away altogether for a few minutes, there \ one very weighty objection to using pressure-regy. lating devices in blast furnace gas mains. With the very large furnaces in use in this country, slips are regular occurrences, and a result of a slip is that the gas pressure may be momentarily increased }, as much as a few hundred per cent. This sudden jp. crease in the quantity of the gas requires a relje; and the natural safety valves for the America; blast furnace plants are their boilers. For this res. son it would not be safe to interfere with the gas mains by placing in them obstacles to the free floy of the gas. A gas burner alone cannot take care of the con bustion of the gas, although it is a most essentias part of any combustion arrangement. All a gas burner can do is to supply a mixture of gas and primary air before ignition, and if it does that and keeps the relation between gas and air constant. whatever the gas pressure is, it has done everything that it is possible for it to do. In addition to the mixing function, a second factor that requires regulation is the secondary air. which is just as essential for good results as the primary air. The secondary air is dependent sole! on the chimney draft and will, for a given position of the damper, vary inversely as the amount of gas admitted which, of course, is just what is not de- sired. The chimney draft itself is a varying quan- tity, also, as it depends on the temperature of the waste gas, the outside temperature, the wind velocity at the top of the stack, etc., all factors which are subject to continued changes. It is therefore evident that in order to keep the secondary air in a constant relation to the quantity of gas passed, the dampers must be automatically regulated. Now the gas in the combustion chamber of a boiler is directly affected by the quantity of gas admitted, and will decrease for the same position of the damper with an increase of gas, and vice versa. Further, the velocity of the products of com- bustion, when passing through the boiler, again depends on the aperture of the damper, and, as for constantly good results this velocity must be kept constant, it is again shown that a governing device for the dampers is indispensable. The accompanying illustrations show the appa ratus which, used together, constitute what is known as the Bradshaw-Huessener combustion arrange- ment. The one shows the Bradshaw burner, in- vented and developed by Grant D. Bradshaw, stean engineer of the Cambria Steel Company, Johnstown, Pa., where 40 boilers are fitted with the burners The other shows the damper governing device. The burner departs from the general bunse! principle in that a gas injector is used. The burne! is oblong in shape and a cross section through its mixing chamber is an expanding cone. The ad- vantage of the device is that the gas expands whil traveling through the combustion chamber, thus overcoming the difficulty of friction which, as intl mated, is fatal to the use of the bunsen principle The result is that however much or little gas passes, the full benefit of the kinetic energy is retained, and the quantity of air drawn into the burner |s in a constant relation to the weight of the gas passed, so that even great changes in the tempera ture of the gas are automatically provided for. The burner does not require different dimensions °F clean and unclean, or hot or cold gas, and all thal has to be done is to adjust the primary air inlet [or the particular quality of gas supplied. The damper governing device has a small elec- trically-driven oil pump which circulates oil under 60 Ib. pressure. The gas bell shown in the drawing ner ted with the combustion chamber of one the boilers and weighted for such draft as will e most favorable composition of the waste gases. s gas bell actuates, through suitable gearing, a ble piston valve. If the draft in the combus- m chamber decreases on account of an increased as pressure, the gas bell will raise and open the pper piston valve, admitting the oil under 60 lb. pressure to one side of a piston which works in a linder. The piston carries a piston rod which is onnected by suitable gearing to a shaft, which, in turn, actuates all the dampers of a boiler battery ‘simultaneously. The dampers will be opened suf- iently to restore the old draft in the combustion hambers, while the reverse action takes place in ne case of an increased draft. To guard against slips, a three-way piston valve perated by a separate gas bell is fixed in the pipe ning from the combustion chamber. The gas bell s governed from the gas main and is weighted for e highest ordinary gas pressure. As soon as the pressure rises above this point, as, for instance, the case of a slip, the three-way valve will connect raft bell with the atmosphere, with the result the dampers are wide open before the effect he slip occurs. When the slip has passed, the way valve will return to its old position, and itomatic governing of the dampers will be e resumed. rding charts have been taken of the equip ~cheme of the Damper Controlling Device THE IRON AGE ment of 40 boilers at a Steel Company, these being Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at 300 hp. each. One chart showed that the gas pressure in 24 hr. varied and 5 in column, the lowest pressure being only 36 per cent of the highest pressure. It is to be noted that thi chart was taken from a one-furnace drops in pressure to zero at casting times. The chart of the CO, record corresponding to the varying gas pressure showed that the CO, was kept constant at about 23 per cent. The temperature of the waste gas was 495 deg. F., and as the tempera ture of the boiler house was 70 deg., the rise in temperature was 425 deg., and it can be shown that the losses through waste heat under such conditions are about 14 per cent. losses being below 5 tne Cambri between 2 in water plant, wit! The radiation and conductio1 per cent., the total efficien of the boiler plant exceeded 80 per cent sults blast without supervision or hand regulation of the boiler were blown twice in 24 hr These re were obtained on unclean furnace ga The tube Validity of Kentucky Compensation Act lror loge | deciaring the made in The decision of the Kentucky Court of Appeal Reference was recently workmen’s compensation act that State unconstitu tional in certain features. In a supplementary opinior that court says: “While in no particular receding from the positior taken in make certair the opinion herein, we have thought proper thereir present cor statements more explicit: provisions of the npensation act, a far a they affect the employer, are ul yjectionable, as they do not conflict with any provisio: if the constitutior 2. Any employee coming within the provisions of the act may voluntarily agree to accept its provisions fix ing and limiting h recovery in case of injury He may likewise voluntarily aecept the provisions of the act fixing the amount that shall be recovered in the event of his death, and said sum should be paid to his dependents, if he leaves any, and, if not, to his personal representative. The Legislature has no power. to dire that this sum shall in any event be paid into the con pensation fund. 4. should be made the act whereby the employee signifies his acceptance of the provisions of the act by some affirmative act or his part. Silence on this subject should not be cor strued into acceptance. 5. Provision should be made i: the act for appeal to a court of competent jurisdictior for review in all cases where compensation is denied or where a less sum is allowed by the board than tha claimed by the injured (State Journa Company vs. Workmen’s Board, 172 Southwestern Reporter, 674.) Some provision employee.” Compensatio! 614 New Continuous Blueprinting Machine A continuous electric blueprinting machine shown in the accompanying illustration has re- cently been brought out by Wickes Brothers, Sagi- naw, Mich. This is a small, compact machine, sim- ple in construction and operation and with various features not found in other machines of this type. In operation it is claimed to be unusually economi- cal. In this machine the contact between the trac- ing and the paper is secured by a single wide con- tinuous belt that passes around the feed rolls and the metallic printing cylinder in which is located the lighting element. The belt is arranged so that it comes in contact with over 92 per cent of the circumference of the cylinder. The tension of the belt is regulated automatically. The printing cylinder which surrounds the lighting element instead of being of glass is made of longitudinal and spirally disposed bronze wires woven right hand on one side of the center of the machine and left hand on the other. This is said to give a desired ironing or spreading effect to each side of the tracing and a perfect contact between the tracing and the paper. The light is obtained from a mercury vapor lamp of standard pattern, oi a type rich in chemical light, practically all the energy being given out in actinic rays. It is claimed for the mercury lamp that it gives no more trouble to maintain than an ordinary incandescent lamp and that it does away with the necessity of renewing the carbons were an arc lamp used. It operates at a low temperature and is said to re- quire no attention from the operator. The light is projected directly in a radial line through the trac- ing without having to pass through any interven- ing glass and without being deflected by reflectors. It is said that the wire cylinder affords less actual obstruction to the light than a glass cylinder would, and the light is brought close to the blueprinting paper, the distance from the light to the paper be- ing only 2 in. around the entire circumference. As the wire cylinder permits free circulation and A Self-Contained Continuous in Which the Tracing Is of the Surfaces Electric in Contact of the Blueprinting Machine with Over 92 Per Cent. Printing Cylinder THE IRON AGE March 18 1915 | PAPER STORAGE LIGHTING CLEMENT -—— PIRAL CYLINDER A Sectional, Elevation of the ment of th Machine Showing the Arr Different Parts and the Scheme of Oper escape of air, heated by the light, a ventilating fay is not necessary. It is stated that the total current consumption of the machine, including the lighting element and motor at 110 volts is only 5 amperes, 3’ amperes being required for the lamp. The mo- tor is connected to a variable friction feed allowing a wide range of adjustment. In the front just below the feeding table, is a light-tight magazine which provides storage room for three or four rolls of blueprinting paper. In continuous printing the paper passes from this storage compartment over the feeding table which is at an angle of 45 deg. and down to the feeding rolls. The blueprinting paper and tracing the: travel around the printing cylinder, the tracing be- ing delivered to the operator, if he so desires, or it can go with the blueprinting paper into the light- tight storage compartment in the rear of the ma- chine. Because of the light-tight compartments there is no necessity for an operator working in a darkened room. Feeding the tracing and the blue- printing paper through the machine at the rate of 1 ft. per min. allows the operator to print, trim, wash and dry prints without stopping the machine. The machine will print continuous rolls or separate cut sheets as desired. It has a capacity for making blueprints in any desired length and in widths from 2 to 48 in. The machine is entirely self contained and occupies a floor space of 212 x 5 ft. and is 30 in high. Southwark-Harris Valveless Engine The Southwark Foundry & Machine Company, Philadelphia, has secured the United States license to manufacture the Harris valveless engine, Diesel prin ciple, which will hereafter be known as the Southwark- Harris valveless engine. It will be built in sizes from 75 bhp. to 1000 bhp. for both marine and stationar) service. The Southwark Company will have with " Leonard B. Harris, the inventor of the Harris valve- less engine, as consulting engineer and naval architect, and J. P. Johnston, who has been connected with the development of the Harris engine, will be in charge © oil engine sales. The development of machine tools has been made the subject of a meeting of the American Society ot Mechanical Engineers, to be held at New Haven, Uonn. on April 21. March 18, 1915 THE IRON Attachment for Grinding Curved Knives grinding tapered or curved machine knives, the Stockbridge Machine Company, Worcester, Mas as developed an attachment for use in con- ee ree et n Irregularly Knife Without Shaped Removing It Wood-Working Machine from the Machine tion with its Quicsharp grinding machine, was illustrated in The Iron Age, February 2», 1914. The attachment consists of two brackets t on the bridge of the grinding machine and have projecting arms to hold the template. The mplate passes between two guide plates attached the spindle controlling the elevation of the grind- ng wheel, as is shown in the accompanying draw- ng. A piece of bandsaw or other thin material is ised for the template, which is straight on the bot- ind made in the desired shape on the top. It Showing the Relative Positions of the Template, the Wheel and the Knife That Is Being Sharpened held stationary at the ends, so that as the head els along the bridge, the spring tension on the ndle holds the upper guide plate on the curved ge of the template and causes the grinding wheel ollow the same curve, (he grinding wheel is motor-driven, and the tor is mounted in the grinder head, the current ng taken from an ordinary lamp socket. The screw lies along the top of the bridge, and a nut is attached to the saddle of the grinding nachine, thus enabling it to be fed in either direc- n along the entire length of the bridge at any de- ‘speed. The bridge is supported either at the il Templates Used with the New Attachment for Grinding Knives AGE 615 ends or some other convenient points by two angu- lar brackets bolted to the bed of the machine proper, this construction being relied upon to hold the grinding machine rigid. The wheel is of the cup type and a tension spring in it keeps the pres- sure uniform on the wheel. This arrangement, it is emphasized, will prevent the knives from being overheated and burnt. A Motor-Driven Auxiliary Grab Bucket A motor-operated clamshell grab bucket has been designed by the Mead-Morrison Mfg. Company, Boston, Mass., as an auxiliary to the electric travel ing crane of the foundry. It is intended for handling such material as sand and slag, when this form of digging is a factor of econ- omy. The capa- city of the bucket is from 1'% to 2 cu. yd. The motor is incased at the uppermost part of the top head and transmits power to the drum shaft through a Morse silent steel chain. A o ae sae friction clutch Traveling Crane in the Found: is relied upon to act as a safety device, permitting the drum to slip in case the operator should neglect to turn off the power after the bucket has been closed. Inter locking links tend to prevent the top head from slip ping if, for example, the bucket should land on the side of a pile of material. A hinged gear, which is not shown, is relied upon to serve the same purpose for the bottom head. The control of the bucket rests entirely the crane operator. When the bucket is not in use, the wire connecting its motor with the controller in the cab is carried on a drum mounted on the crane bridge within convenient reach. When the bucket is picked up by the operator, the connection is plugged in, and the grabs open and close in ac cordance with the movement of the controller handle. Bucket Has to the witl Mumtord Molding Machines The E. H. Mumford Company, Front and Franklin Streets, Elizabeth, N. J., announces its return to the molding-machine business. It owns free from all liti gation all patents on the inventions of E. H. Mumford and applications for patents under which the Mumford Molding Machine Company has been operating since 1909. A manufacturing arrangement has with the Samuel L. Moore & Sons Corporation, Eliza bethport, N. J. A complete line of molding machines will rapidly be put on the market, made interchangeable with all previous Mumford machines as far as practica- ble, and the new machines will embody many points of merit made possible in redesigning. Mr. Mumford calls attention to the fact that after 15 years spent elsewhere he is again in the identical spot where he joined Harris Tabor in the development of the first vibrator molding machines, which was in 1895. been made a4) American Opportunity for Russian Business An Interview with Capt. David L. Hough—What American Manufacturers Must Consider—Recon- struction Demands of Russia Not Appreciated American business needs to prepare for the period of reconstruction in Russia succeeding the European war. The volume of business will be far larger than is generally apprehended in this coun- try, but the business man here will probably have to go at least half way if he expects to get the share which is otherwise his practically for the asking. This, in a few words, is the burden of an illuminating interview had by The Iron Age with Capt. David L. Hough, who has spent the greater part of the last four years in Russia and ought to know something about the situation in that country. That Russia is a land branches in Russia. Particularly is this likely whe, it is appreciated that the normal value of imports tions inte Russia has been, as Captain Houg} agrees, much greater than the total business goi; to South American countries. LARGE RUSSIAN PROJECTS CHECKED BY THE War Captain Hough’s views are particularly valuab\ not alone because of his residence in Russia, but he cause he was actively identified with a number unusually large projects held up on account of th: war. He has enjoyed an intimate contact wit! tussian business affairs of possibilities for far greater direct commercial! relations with this coun- try than has obtained heretofore has been fre- quently argued _ with figures and voluminous statistics. Information, though general rather than intimate, has been spread widely in this country regarding Russia, and in the main it re- mains for individual efforts of business and financial interests to take advantage of the oppor- f tunity offered. How to |f~™ eWoarsaw get the buyer and seller cc together is the problem. |<... f Kupsk The buver i Russia. Cap- 7 lhe yuver in Russia, Jap Kiefa eeenes tain Hough emphasizes, fe ' r likes to see what he is buy- ing just as does the Amer- ican buyer, and he will be slow to take chances just as we would were the conditions reversed. The American, with confi- dence in his product, will be concerned chiefly over payment; the Russian, with intention to pay the prices asked, will require . »Ekateri AN ICE-FREE P¢ At the breaking out hostilities he was about to engage in a monument. al undertaking to bring the railroads centering at Moscow into a centra passenger station. Non¢ of the nine railroads radiating from the city, six of them government railroads, pierces ever the outer line of fortifica- tions of the city, so that the stations are 2'» to 4 miles from the center of i the city. The work in- Nijof Novgorod volves tunneling, as the ‘Simbursk city, as will be recalled, / -Orenburg| lies on a plateau in a wide fg