The Iron Age 1915-06-17: Vol 95 Iss 24

PEUUEUUR GUE EDL EOUERDERUEEOEROUERO TREES eeeneneanet ML IRON / UUULAODURLEDERAUAU AUD EAAE UA DURA amuneaiil 5j MO i Established 1855 New York, June 17, 1915 Vol. 95: No. 24 Safety Feed Increases Production Augmenting Punch Press Output by Using Automatic Feeding Attachments of Various Types—Average Increase 150 Per Cent A not uncommon complaint against safety de- ces, as applied to punch presses, has been their alleged interference with production. Interesting examples of attachments, which have not only pro- oted the safety of the operator but have more than oubled the output of the machines involved, are presented in the accompanying illustrations. These machines are installed in the plant of the Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Company, Chicago, and are employed n the manufacture of parts for the Comptometer. The machine shown at the top is fitted with a revolving dial operated from an eccentric on the main shaft with rod connections to a gear and ratchet mechanism. As shown, this dial is made with,a large number of die apertures arranged con- tinuously and concentrically around the circumfer- ence of the dial. The perator inserts’ the pieces to be formed in the receivers in the half of the dial removed from the punch and the rotation of the feed dial automatically brings the piece into position for the oper- ation, so that the oper- ator’s hands at no time are in proximity to the punch and die at the dangerous interval. The electric bell shown at the left of the dial gives a warning signal, to indicate when a piece of work may not be properly seated in the die in which event the piece makes a contact with a detector point just before coming into position for the press oper ation, thus closing the bell circuit. The operator can then stop the machine and correct the difficulty. The attachment of the above fixture has been re- sponsible for an -increase in the output.of this press from about 1200 pieces per hr. to 3000. An automatic-feeding mechanism serving a simi- lar purpose but with a somewhat different operating arrangement is illustrated at the left of the lower row. Here the work dial is arranged for receiving four pieces, the receiving dies being placed 90 deg. apart. The periphery of the feeding dial is a spur gear which meshes with an intermittent driving pin- ion actuated from the main shaft through a universal joint connec- tion, a portion of which is shown at the left of the press. This drive is positive and accur- ate, in bringing the die into alignment with the punch. An air connection leading to a valve and then ex- tended by a bent brass tube to bring the spe- cial nozzle into posi- tion for blowing the die clean is shown at- ree Types of Automatic Feeding Attachments Applied to Punch Presses Producing Small Pafts! to in ®rease ‘the. Output the top is a ratchet-driven feed dial, below at the left is shown a safety feed dial having an intermittent gear driv and at the right is a press equipped with a friction roller feed for sub-die operatior 1333 = 1334 THE TRON AGE tached the frame of the press. The protruding stem of the air valve engages with a block on the plunger which determines the point and interval at which the air jet is turned on and off. At the lower right, a friction roller attachment for the automatic feeding of long strips where the blanking operation is performed with a sub-die, is June 17, 19 shown. The friction rolls are driven by a rate} attachment which also limits the feed between e: operation within the severe requirements of acc acy demanded for the work. This feeding atta ment has increased production on this press, as co; pared with the output with hand feeding, from 20 to 5000 pieces per hr. Works Apprentice School Discontinued Cost per Graduate One Reason—Scientific Management Another in Minimizing Demand for Labor—Public Vocational Schools a Third To abandon a works apprenticeship school seems a retrograde step at this time of prominent con- sideration to shop education in mechanical pursuits; but the H. H. Franklin Mfg. Company, maker of the Franklin automobile, Syracuse, N. Y., has done just this thing and for very good reasons, so it believes. The following account of the experience will show why the company no longer conducts its technical classes. Briefly, the cost per individual graduated has been high, but the continued need for new employees has practically vanished with the expansion of scientific management within the works. A widening circle of satisfied workers and a razing of the peaks of the usual highly variable demands for labor have resulted, and the new con- ditions have naturally lightened the tasks of the employing officers. Besides this gain derived by the inauguration of scientific management in main- taining substantially a constant number of em- ployees throughout the year, a vocational high school is being erected in Syracuse and from this the company is sure it can secure when needed boys who, with some additional expenditure on them, can be developed quickly to meet the com- pany’s requirements. In fact the company holds that applicants from the vocational school would know what they want and would be more than likely retained in any continuation course which the company might plan. The per capita cost of the graduate, so to speak, from the company’s apprenticeship school was, however, an important item in the decision to discontinue the school. The total cost of run- ning the school, not comprehending overheads which could properly be charged, was $17,000 for the four years covering the existence of the school, and the total output was 28, or a cost to the company of $607 for each apprentice. The company’s employ- ment figures show that the cost of selecting a work- man and making him the equivalent of the ap- prenticeship school output is $50, and the com- pany considers that it can charge itself with a loss of $17,000 — 28 « $50 = $15,600, or, say, $15,000. The school was established to give boys not only a training in the regular work of manufacturing, but some instruction in technical subjects. A grad- uate of Purdue University was engaged for this purpose, and the boys were not, as in the old svstem of apprenticeship training, turned loose to the tender mercies of this or that foreman. The course was for 200 weeks, or 4 years. The class room and text book work, two periods of 2 hr. each were arranged every week. In the first year 10 weeks were given over to a review of arithmetic and 40 weeks to studying algebra. The second year’s technical instruction was devoted to plane geometry. Half of the third year was taken up with trigonometry and the other half with studying the elements of machine design. Ele- ments of machine design and shop mathematics constituted the fourth year’s work. These lessons were for 42 to 34 hr. and the remainder of each 2-hr. period was taken up with mechanical drawing work in the first two years and with the analysis of different machines in the last two years. A short course in shop supervision was also under- taken. The shop training was as follows: EE 5 as wad a 6 wih. wa Oe dab a'dialeu ee 24 weeks es ee fer ee eee ee eet ee 16 weeks Second year NS |: QPP Cree ee ree ee 10 weeks I GEE icin cece ube asc kawapeeeree 12 weeks oy coma 8 weeks Cee DENOTE. vcs eae cee eca ned eeuwaees 8 weeks Automatic screw machines.............. 12 weeks Third year SEE on. bebe: n 6h Ce cere ae ee 8 weeks’ TE EN hs ecu tebcwan byw sda cede our 18 weeks oo Pere eee ee 12 weeks DER GOUMREOD . vé db avéiwvsdedesstouae 12 weeks Fourth year 2 RO ee Ter eerev nr tree 26 weeks ee SRE: a. ba cdvabadkéasiantacaeaeere 24 weeks WAGES PAID TO APPRENTICES The students received payment for actual serv- ice, totaling 2700 hr. each year. The rate for the first year was 11 cents per hour; for the second year, 134% cents per hour; for the first half of the third year, 16 cents and the second half 18% cents, and for the first half of the fourth year, 21 cents and for the second half, 23% cents. When the student satisfactorily completed his term of instruction of 10,800 hr., the company paid him a bonus of $100. This was promised as an induce- ment to him to make the effort to finish the course and he was presented also with a diploma. The underlying idea in providing the course was naturally to fit persons for positions of use- fulness and responsibility in the company’s service. With the changes in conditions, such as the public vocational school and a reduced need for new em- ployees, as already mentioned, the company has come to regard its own school as no longer the main hope it had of filling its supervising positions. At no time, however, did it expect the student to remain against his wishes nor that necessarily he would continue with the company after the ex- piration of the course, but there was a mutual agreement covering the cessation of relations. The application which the student made formally for entrance into the work breathed a broad-gauge at- titude, demanding applied, faithful interest on the part of the student and offering in return on the part of the company and at a generous wage rate to instruct the student in the machinist’s art and ne 17, 1915 des. Applications were limited to boys of 17 to years of age. The first twelve weeks constituted term of trial. FIGURING THE COST OF THE SCHOOL With regard to the item covering first year’s y, there were 31 students who finished their first ar. Not counting any losses at all to the com- iny for instruction in this year, the student has received lle. per hour for 2700 hr. Those who tayed less than one year averaged 3 months, and ; they received at least 10 cents a day, besides in- olving other incidental expenses, the per capita ost is put at $100 apiece. This cost per student ; about $600 for each graduate as stated. The actualities of the technical course are that it was put into operation on April 4, 1910; that up to November 1, 1914, there were 79 applications; that of this number, 59 were accepted; that of the 59, 52 took up the work, and that of the 52 enter- ing, 28 remained in the course, or about one-third as many as applied and one-half as many as en- tered. Those who resigned left for the following reasons: Lack of ability, or lack of interest, 10; to obtain other positions, 3; for higher education, 2; due to low wage, 2; sickness, 2; marriage, 2, and for reasons unknown, probably due to low wage or lack of interest in the work, 3. The student cost has been figured as follows: ie og ge ae OR ere $2,800 First year pay for entrants, 31 at $300...... 9,300 Expense in pay for less than one year for 21, 2 _ RRA EMER RRC ee a re one ee 2,100 Prise for graduates at $106. 2... cccccccccess 2,800 NE oouin:g Nirmala wala darn oe Ar ed eae $17,000 This total figure does not include rental for building occupied, light, heat, or depreciation, re- pair, interest on buildings, machines and other physical equipment. It does not include allowance for extra foremanship in the shops, that is, time taken by regular foremen, nor miscellaneous ex- pense of correspondence, committee meetings or student class supplies. The $700 for instructor’s salary is somewhat less than one-half of that of the person acting as instructor; the remainder of his salary being devoted to instruction in repair- men’s courses and is not included in apprenticeship school. A Duplex Piston Ring Milling Machine For slotting piston rings in sizes from 12 in. to 14 in. in diameter, C. F. Fulmer, 535 North ave- nue, Plainfield, N. J., has produced a duplex milling machine. The cutters are offset one above the other, and are driven independently by pulleys. The two arbors that carry the cutters and driving pul- leys rest in bearings at the ends of unequal arms of a crotch-shaped casting that is clamped in a split hollow cylindrical bearing on one side of the frame of the machine. The frame is bolted to a standard which is a length of 6-in. pipe. The ring to be cut is fastened upon an elevated movable table which fits into the slotted bed plate. The ring is fed to the cutters by a pilot wheel that operates a ratchet on the front of the frame. The piston ring is held on the table by means of a cam clamp, which forces it against elevated stops by bringing down an arm having hard steel bearing strips. A slight turn of a lever operates the cam. causing these strips to press down on the ring at each side of the cutters. The end of the arm is U-shaped to allow for the cutters. Both vertical and horizontal adjustments are provided for the cutters. The horizontal variation is made by turning nuts at each end of the arbors THE IRON AGE 1335 carrying the cutters. This adjustment keeps the edges of the teeth so close that when they cut through the metal, they come as near to meeting as possible without doing so. Two vertical adjust- A Milling Machine for Slotting Piston Rings. Above the Adjustment Wrenches is the Elevated Table of the Carriage, on the Top of Which is the Cam Lock for Holding the Piston Ring on the Table ments are provided, both operated by handwheels. To keep the cutting line of the saws at the same elevation, the upper handwheel is turned to raise or lower the upper arbor and so bring the cutting points of the wheels together. To keep the cutters ——————E / } ; Cr ; { 7 — t } Utes See + q Tr / Fy A i J j = ! i J i 1 Front View of the Milling Machine, the Elevated Table Which Carries the Ring Having Been Removed at the right hight to meet the middle of the ring being cut, a similar operation of the lower hand- wheel raises the crotch-shaped casting carrying both cutters. These adjustments can all be made to a fineness of 0.001 in. OA tee Se -* Niele Ree me i Mie ae = vat ih New Forge Shop of Upson Nut Compan: Modern Bolt and Nut Works in Which the Equipment, Arrangement and Systems for A forge shop recently erected by the Upson Nut Company, Cleveland, Ohio, as a part of its bolt and nut works has a number of unusually interest- ing features including the arrangement of the plant and machinery for convenience and economy in production, its very complete equipment for the handling of material by means of three handling systems and its furnace equipment. In the fall of 1912 this company began the first construction work in replacing its old bolt and nut works with a mod- ern and much larger plant, the forge shop being the first unit to be erected. The rebuilding opera- tions presented some difficult problems for the rea- Handling Material Are Features loaded from boats at the company’s blast furna along the Cuyahoga River, scarcely more than stone’s throw from the bolt and nut works. Th: molten metal from the blast furnace goes to th: open-hearth furnaces of the steel plant and is co: verted into ingots and later into billets on th: blooming mill and rolled down into bars in the fin ishing mill; thence the material goes to the bolt and nut works, about 50 per cent. of the output of the steel plant being consumed in these works. The forge shop occupies a steel frame building 620 ft. long from north to south and 180 ft. wide Toward the north end it is tapered off somewhat son that all departments were kept in operation while sections of the old plant were being torn down and rebuilt, the difficulties being increased by the fact that more than one-half of the new plant is on the site of the old. The new forge shop was erected in two sec- tions, the first being placed in operation about a year ago. The shop now adjoins the old finishing department, which will eventually be replaced with a six-story building, 450 x 180 ft., which will be used for tapping, threading, making cold pressed nuts, machine shops and packing and shipping de- partments. The products of the plant include a full line of carriage and machine bolts, track bolts, hot and cold pressed nuts, rivets and coach and lag rews. The products of the forge shop at present include hot made bolts, nuts and rivets. An interesting feature of the Upson plant is that all of the manufacturing processes, from smelting the ore to the manufacturing of bolts and nuts, are carried on in this plant which covers approxi- mately 26 acres. Lake Superior, iron ore is un- a Portion of the Hot Nut Department with Stock Piles<in the a on the east side, conforming with the building site, which adjoins several railroad tracks on that side. At the south end where it now connects with the old finishing department, a 30-ft. extension will be added when the new finishing department is built. The shop is divided lengthwise into three 60-ft. bays, and into twenty 30-ft. bays crossways, and a 20-ft. bay connects it to the office building. The sides are bricked up to a distance of about 8 ft. and from that point to the crane rail there is a sec- tion of continuous glass, and two sections of con- tinuous windows above the crane rail. In the roof there are 20 transverse sawtooth sections, one sec- tion in each bay except in the 20-ft. one. As the glass roof sections face the north, the direct sun- light is avoided. With the large amount of glass surface on the sides and the roof, the shop is well lighted throughout. The windows are of ribbed wired glass and are in steel sash, furnished by the David Lupton’s Sons Company. The sides of the building between the window sections and also the sides of the sawtooth roof sections are covered with 336 ine 17, 1915 THE IRON AGE 1337 Hot Bok techies | << — ==” eee Hi Nu M. f. Hot aa Hot Bolt Machines Rie diseeoneee | Stock bop aa |} === _ See —4 Pal iF Hot Bolt Machines | | Hot NutMachines | Blacksmithy) Annealing Cold Heading Machines Future) Si (Future) (Future) Cgiled Wire —— ne eet tt et Storage. __ oe “Heading Machines — a 4 — -* <> ogee po ee ee Mgnorail ~ | Changing Fug naces. stem Fig. 2—Plan to Show Traveling Cranes, Traveling Mono: sbestos protected metal. The roof is of tile. The loor is built up of 6 in. of reinforced concrete cov- red with 2 in. of sand on which paving brick is aid. The machines and furnaces are placed on con- rete foundations. Raw material enters the forge shop at the north- vest corner where a depressed switch track runs nto the building along the side wall, bringing the ar floor on the level with the shop floor, and pro- viding inside track space for three cars for loading finished products for shipment. The outside. track- age is so arranged that five cars can be spotted on 1 track just outside the entrance along the west wall, thus providing space to spot 8 cars for un- loading if desired. A large section in the center and west bay at the north end of the building is taken up with stock piles, and next to these, occu- pying the greater part of the remainder of the west side of the plant, taking in the west and part of the center bays, is the hot forged and hot pressed nut department. There are approximately 75 hot nut machines which are located on three platforms, the positions of which are shown in the accompanying general layout of the plant, Fig. 2. Most of these machines were built by the company from its own designs. The arrangement of the forging machinery on platforms is a particularly interesting feature of this plant. These platforms are 5 ft. above the forge shop floor and the nut machines are placed along the edge of the platforms with the axes of the platforms and the center lines of the furnaces at an angle, making the handling of stock from the furnaces to the machines as convenient as possible. [he platforms are of concrete with an overhang, providing space beneath the overhanging section for discharge spouts and piping. The space back of the machines and the furnace platforms is filled in with dirt so that the machine operator stands on a lirt floor. Fig. 1 is a view showing the west bay section of the hot nut department and Fig. 4, taken in the west bay, illustrates very clearly the con- struction of the platform. Stock is conveyed in 5-ton bundles from the stock pile and is deposited on racks in front of the furnaces, as shown in Fig. 1. These bundles are ail System and Other Handling Apparatus made up in the finishing mill, each bundle being tied together with two chains, and the stock is kept in this bundled form at the north end of the shop until it reaches the furnaces. The nuts pass from the machines through spouts to shop buckets having a capacity of 200 lb. each, located on the floor be- neath the machines and alongside the aisle dividing the platform, as shown in Fig. 4. These buckets are placed on trays, each tray having a capacity of 24 buckets, and the loaded trays are conveyed by crane to the scales adjoining this department. After weighing and counting on the scale the nuts go to the old shop for tapping, finishing and kegging, the hexagon nuts first being burred, a battery of seven burring machines being located on the floor level at the south end of the hot nut platforms. Fig. 6 shows an aisle between the hot nut and hot bolt departments with the burring machine in this aisle at the right. Scrap passes from the hot nut machines in an- other spout adjoining the one that delivers the nyts and is discharged into similar shop buckets and carried by crane and dumped into open-hearth charging boxes that are located in a trench at each end of the hot nut department, as shown in Fig. 6. This method of handling scrap is unique and con- venient. The trench is just large enough in width to hold the charging boxes and sufficiently deep so the top of the box comes about to the floor level. Placing the receptacles in the trench puts them out of the way and makes it convenient to dump wheel- barrows of scrap into them. When the boxes are filled they are taken by the cranes to flat cars and conveyed to the steel plant where the scrap is charged into the open-hearth furnaces. The south end of the west and center bays is occupied by the hot bolt department, shown in Fig. 5. The concrete platform in this department is 30 in. high, and is, arranged somewhat in the form of the letter E. In the north cross-section, corre- sponding to the vertical section of the letter, are nine rod cutters. Bar stock is conveyed by crane in 5-ton bundles to racks in front of these cutters. Extending lengthways down the plant from the bar cutter section are three platform sections accom- modating five rows of hot bolt headers. Fig. 3—Elevation to Show the Material Handling System and the Use of the Lower Floors of the Office Building PRRELE IIT EASE LY TAIT FEEL EEE IEEE I OLLIE Office By ildina PETITE AE EET IEEEIIES EDUC IEE PLIEIE LETT IIT ORES Serr crerererrmE bert 3-4 = *s z = tee CT REGGIE P82 SEREEDED 2122 °2PCTERTEPELIPE LEEOOOEY © LEPEELIES © 2 STEEBESOEEES. | ae - fone i : tied FI i ‘ ene LEST TTILI OAT — y f H on ee aah A /f 4 = —= o? SEZ Pan ARO * 4 = ~ ‘ seme a withered = | Dipadidiicdeses deninensemenctnie a = —— +” 1338 Hot Nuts 4—One Aisle of Nut and Fig West Bay Deposited Department in Serap Are The machines are placed in a diagonal position on the platform which is constructed in zigzag form along the sides so that the edges of the platform are parallel to the sides and backs of the machines. This zigzag platform construction and arrange- ment of the machines provides more room on the platforms and width where it is required, and also more convenient floor space in the aisle for taking care of product that passes by gravity through Ct oe enews eer Pad en ST = A Portion of the Hot Bolt Department Machines and Showine Piping Is Also Shown Beneath the Showing Zigzag Form of the THE IRON AGE Machines and Buckets in Which Platforms Platforms, Spouts from spouts from the headers to wheelbarrows placed in the right-hand corner of the zigzag, close to the machines. As stock is cut on the rod cutters, it drops by gravity into wheelbarrows at the back of the cutters and is wheeled to the various ma- chines. After being heated and headed, the par- tially made bolts are wheeled to scales conveniently located, weighed and transferred to the finishing department. In the hot bolt department there are eee) met Pte Platform and Arrangement of Hot Bolt Heading Wheelbarrows lune 17, 1915 §6—Aisle Between Hot Nut and Hot Bolt Departments, Burring Machines on Floor Level Track for Charging Boxes Into Which Scrap Is Dumped about 50 bolt heading machines having a range of from 3/16 in. to 2 in. in diameter. The continuous header department shown in Fig. 7 is located on a 5-ft. platform in the center and east bays at the north end of the shop. This department is equipped with seven continuous heading machines for making rivets, track bolts, machine and carriage bolts. On an extension to this platform are six hand rod headers designed and The Continuous Rod Header Department. Rox kwell Long THE IRON AGE n Aisle and Trene A Tray for Conveying 24 Kegs of Products built by the company, for making machine and car- riage bolts and particularly for filling small orders for products similar to those made on the continu ous machines. Bar stock for the continuous ma- chines is placed in racks at the front of the furnaces and is fed into them in 24-ft. lengths, one bar at a time, from four to ten bars being heated at once The heated bars come out from the opposite end of the furnaces adjoining the machines. When a bar Are Set Uy posite the : a NT : ) ee ae tel ee 7 Monorail Conveying, a Notable Feature of the Plant is fed up in a continuous machine, the operator sig- nals the furnace charger, who pushes another rod through the furnace to the machine by means of a cold rod. The headed work drops through a chute into a dump bucket with a capacity of 3000 lb., one of which is shown in the aisle in Fig. 7. A crane takes the product to a section just north of the con- tinuous machines where it is weighed and dropped on a cooling plate, inspected and sorted, and if of rivets, it is packed in kegs. If the bolts are to be roll threaded, this is done on roll threaders con- veniently located in this department. Rivets and rolled thread bolts are taken to the loading platform at this end of the shop for shipment and loaded on cars on the depressed track. Bolts requiring cut threads are sent to the finishing department. The furnace equipment, including the forge fur- naces and hot bolt and hot nut departments and the long double end rod heating furnaces, was furnished by the W. S. Rockwell Company, New York. The furnaces are of a recent type, having a special econ- omizer shield over the working opening which re- covers a large percentage of the heat ordinarily wasted, and, at the same time, affords protection to the operator. The spent gases discharged from the working opening are defiected by the blast and away from the operator and against the tubes and heaters of the economizer, through which air for combustion is circulated, with the result that the air, taking up heat in its passage, is delivered hot into the furnace with the fuel. In addition to the advantages claimed for this furnace in the protec- tion of the forge operator against the heat and gases from the working opening and the utilization of the heat and gases to preheat the air for com- bustion, resulting in economy in fuel, this type of furnace permitted a compact arrangement of the shop with the furnaces and machine units. This type of furnace was more completely described in The Iron Age of April 13, 1914. The handling equipment includes three 10-ton electric traveling cranes, one of which spans each bay, an interesting monorail system, bridges and an industrial railroad on which is operated a storage battery locomotive and trailers. THE IRON transfer AGE June 17, 19) The combination of traveling cranes, monorail s\ tem and transfer bridges constitutes an ingenio method of handling material over a site of irreg lar shape and meeting an obstacle in the form a six-story office building, which separates the manu facturing department from a point where city shi ments are made. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the shop an shows the location of the adjoining office building to the problems that had to be met. In Fig. 2 the monorail track is indicated by a broken line and th: position of the transfer bridges is at points 4 an 5. The monorail track runs into all three crans bays and is high enough to allow the trolleys to pass over the crane bridges. At the ends of the bays the floor space is accordingly served by both cranes and monorail so that the material is readily inter- changed between the two systems. At point C of the plan a similar relation exists between the monorail system and transfer bridge 4, while the transfer bridge trolley can run from bridge 4 to bridge 5 by locating them opposite a short piece of fixed track at point D. Communica- tion is thus established from the manufacturing department through to the points E and F which are accessible to automobile trucks or wagons. Cars of stock, when not taken into the shop on Fig. 9—Concrete Piping Duct and Electric Conduits Unde! Industrial Railway Track. One of the Cover Plates for Duct is Standing on its Edge at the Left the depressed track previously referred to, are switched to point A. At this point the monorail track is directly over the railroad track, thus per- mitting the ready transfer from gondola cars. The monorail trolley carries this stock into the building, depositing it into one of the bays as required. Thence it is distributed to the machines, except for the continuous hot headers, the latter being served directly by the monorail. The depressed track enters the building at the side of the west bay, thus permitting either the traveling crane in that bay or the monorail to serve cars on this track. The rivet and bolt stock for the continuous ma- chines is delivered by monorail system into the storage space on the east side of the plant, as indi- cated on the drawing, and subsequently removed by the same means when required and deposited beside the racks of the continuous furnaces in the east bay. The monorail is also used to lift bundles of stock off the floor and place them on the rack be- hind the continuous furnaces ready for charging. The traveling cranes are used for transporting june 17, 1915 he forged product to the finishing department at he south end of the plant, where it is machined and acked. When shipping by team or truck, kegs are aded on large flat trays which the monorail trolley ransports through the shop and into the office build- ng where it lowers them down the hatchway at point C, depositing them on the floor. Transfer ridge 4 then picks up the load, runs to D, where the trolley runs off to transfer bridge 5; this is then brought over an automobile truck at E or F or shipment. The monorail trolleys, which are 5 tons capacity, ne of which is shown in Fig. 8, are provided with . hoisting mechanism of the 4-point-suspension type, o that the tray will not tip appreciably out of level, f the kegs upon it are loaded so as to throw more weight on one end or one side of the tray than on the other. When it is desired to carry bundles of bars the tray is unhooked and a lifting beam is attached to the frame which hangs on the cables. This beam is arranged to swivel, so that the bars an stand either parallel to the monorail track rr at an angle thereto. When being picked out of the railroad cars and while in transit, they occupy the former position, a lock being provided to insure that the beam shall not swivel around accidentally when traveling on the straight, and that it shall Fig. 10—A Cross Duct Connects Piping Ducts Under Zigzag latforms. The Large Pipe at Top Supplies Air to Furnaces remain parallel to the trolley when running around curves. When the destination is reached, the beam is unlocked and the bars swivelled around at right angles to the track by hand, before being deposited. An ingenious system of electrical interlocking was installed to prevent a crane running up to the north end of the bay when that space is already occupied by a monorail trolley and similarly to pre- vent a monorail trolley entering a bay, the north end of which may be already occupied by a traveling crane. The monorail runway comprises 1607 lin. ft. of track and six fixed-tongue track switches. These track switches are interesting because of the safety element which they introduce, the saving of time which they secure in consequence of it being pos- sible for the trolley to run through them in any di- rection without stopping and because of their sim- plicity of construction. Each track switch consists simply of two massive steel castings bolted together, there being no moving part. If the operator desires to take the spur track, ne pulls a lever, located con- THE IRON AGE veniently to his hand in the operating-cage of the trolley, as he approaches the switch. This raises a heavy vertical pin in front of the leading truck, hav- ing at its upper end a roller, which, when thus raised, engages with a curved rib on the underside of the track switch, thus diverting the trolley to the spur track. If the operator does not pull the lever the trolley runs through the track switch on the main track. The contractor for the cranes, monorail system and transfer bridges was the Shaw Electric Crane Company, Muskegon, Mich. An industrial track with a 42-in. gauge extends the length of the center bay into the old plant where it divides into a double track for empty and loaded trucks. This track handles raw and finished material throughout the shop and supplies from the stock room, supplementing the traveling cranes and telpher system in providing very complete handling equipment throughout all parts of the shop. At the north end of the forge shop there is a transverse track connecting with a Y and another transverse track extends from the main track to the west wall in the passageway beween the nut and bolt depart- ments. This spur is used as a transfer from the west bay, saving handling with a crane, and is also convenient for handling hexagon nuts, as the spur track runs alongside of the burring machines at the end of the hot nut department. On the industrial track is operated a storage battery locomotive which has a capacity of carrying a 5-ton deck load and will haul three trailers, each with a 5-ton load, the speed with maximum load being 4 miles per hour. The space next to the hand rod headers to the east is used for wire storage, and beyond that in the east bay and the east half of the center bay, now occupied by cold nut machines, will be the cold- heading department which will be moved from the old plant and will be equipped with 60 cold-headers, upsetters, trimmers, annealing furnaces and tum- bling barrels. The machinery in this department will be placed on the floor level. The tool tempering room is located in the east bay at the south end of the shop. This is equipped with five heat-treating furnaces, one with a pre- heating chamber above, two large oil tempering baths and a lead bath, three oil quenching tanks, two water quenching tanks and a high pressure air line for air hardening. The hardening department is served by an I-beam trolley. Fig. 11 ne of 50-hp. Ce neath Ends of Platforms trifugal Blower Sets in P Intake Cow ite Under at Left 2 wr ate pila tate Fe ype “e ee ~ eee Lom 1342 All main line piping and conduit, except for steam heating and for electric lights, which are overhead, is carried on the side walls of a main duct that runs the length of the center bay underneath the electric railway track. This duct is built of con- crete, the side walls carrying on their top the 60-lb. rails of the 42-in. gauge track. The piping in the duct includes lines for circulating water, air, oil and an electrical power line. Fig. 9 is a view in the tunnel, showing the location of the piping. The space between the track rails is covered with re- movable cast-steel sections. Fig. 10 shows the main pipe duct across the north end at the bolt depart- ment. The oil supply for the furnaces is kept in three tanks, having a total capacity of 72,000 gal., in a concrete oil storage house a short distance from the shop, and an interesting oil circulating system has been installed. The oil is continuously circulated by means of two motor-driven rotary gear pumps, each having a capacity of four times the require- ments. The main oil line that runs in the duct the length of the shop is 4 in. in diameter with a 3-in. return. Branches are taken off the supply line and run the length of the platforms to supply the fur- naces, the return of these branches being to the main return in the duct. The end of the main line at_the south end of the shop is closed with a valve to preyent circulation direct from the main to the return, the circulation being entirely back from the main to the return through the branches and their returns. At the end of the return in the oil house is an adjustable relief valve so that any pressure desired may be maintained. For unloading the oil from tank cars a centrifu- gal pump with a capacity of 500 gal. per minute is installed in the oil house and with this the oil can be unloaded in one-fourth of the time required by the gravity method. The tanks are so located with ref- erence to the railroad siding that their tops are be- low the bottoms of the tanks of tank cars. The un- loading pump can also be used for pumping oil through the system in case of an emergency and it also can be used for emptying any tank into another tank. A 2-in. steam line is carried into the oil storage house so that should the oil catch fire, the tanks will be flooded with steam at 150 lb. pressure, the steam being automatically released by means of a fusible link connected to a quick-opening valve. The water supply is so arranged that water for cooling tools on the machines can be taken direct from the lines connected with the city service or the water can be used over again by being drained from a settling pit, located in the floor under the hand headers. The water supply from the settling pit is circulated by means of two centrifugal motor-driven pumps with a capacity of 400 gal. per minute each against a 100-ft. head. Air for the furnace blast for all furnaces, except those in connection with the continuous heaters, is supplied by four 50-hp. centrifugal air compressors, two of which are located under each end of one of the hot nut platforms. One of these compressors with its motor connection is shown in Fig. 11. Air is supplied at a pressure of 11% lb. and the air con- nections are so made that any one or more, or all the compressors may be operated at one time. . For the continuous heading furnaces there are three 10-hp. compressors of the same type, one compressor being located between each pair of furnaces, which it serves. The larger compressors have a capacity of 5400 cu. ft. of free air per minute and the smaller ones 1000 cu. ft. A special water gauge is used to indicate the air pressure. Every bolt and nut machine is driven by an in- THE IRON AGE June 17, 19 dividual motor, electrical current for power a lighting being furnished from the power-house connection with the steel plant. The power lin are carried in a tunnel and in conduits under th platforms. Plain squirrel cage motors of the in duction type, ranging from 1 to 35 hp., taking 440 volt, 3-phase, 60-cycle current are used to drive a! the machines except the continuous headers. Ther: is a separate cutout box for each motor. The moto: starters have overload and no voltage release as a safety device to protect the operator, should he put his hands in the machine after it had stopped with- out first turning off the power and then get them caught as a result of the return of the power and the unexpected starting up of the machine. The mo- tors are set close to the small machines to econo- mize in space and belts. These motors are equipped with belt tightener idler pulleys with spring tension to provide sufficient belt contact on the motor pul- leys. The continuous hot heading machines are driven with shifting armature variable-speed direct- current motors with magnetic starters and equipped with overload and no voltage release and push but- ton control. The cranes and telphers are driven by 250-volt direct current. The shop is lighted with 250-watt tungsten fila- ment lamps with concentrating reflectors. These lamps are spaced 30 ft. lengthways in the plant and 29 ft. 6 in. crossways, being located in the center of the longitudinal and transverse bays, and 30 ft. above the floor level, or 25 ft. above the level of the platforms. For lighting, the 440-volt 3-phase 60- cycle current is reduced by means of three delta connected transformers to 115 volts and the light- ing is controlled by two panel boxes. The panel boxes contain 3-phase bus bars, single phase lines being taken alternately from one bar to the other to balance the load, each line controlling 5 lamps. With this arrangement dark spots in the plant are prevented should one of the transformers get out of order. The wire is placed in conduits attached to the roof trusses. A vacuum return line heating system is used for heating the forge shop and office building. Steam for heating purposes is carried 1100 ft. at 150 lb. pressure from the steel plant boiler house and is reduced to 5 to 10 lb. pressure. The location of a portion of the steam coil radiation is unique. In- stead of placing the overhead radiation beneath the windows of the transverse sawtooth roof sections, this radiation is located above the crane runways, as will be noticed in some of the illustrations. This was regarded as a better location for heat efficiency and at the same time the continuous radiation sur- face, running the length of the two crane runways, serves as a safeguard. Two lines of barb wire are stretched above the coils and the radiators and wires prevent the workmen from stepping from one crane to another and the accompanying danger of injury. Other radiation is located along the side walls be- neath the windows. Wall type radiators are used throughout. The heating system is designed to heat the shop to 45 deg. Fahrenheit in zero weather, the additional heat from the furnaces being sufficient to bring the building to the proper temperature. The water discharge from the vacuum pump is into the settling tank previously referred to. The Powers temperature control system is in use in the office building. The hot water supply for the various lavatories is controlled by a Sylphon tank regulator. Various provisions are made for the convenience and comforts of the employees, including a first aid hospital, bubbling drinking fountains in connection with water coolers, the drinking water supply being sterilized, and sanitary urinals and closets. ne 17, 1915 Adjoining the forge shop to which it is connected the north end, as shown in the drawing, is the ypany’s office building, a six-story and basement ‘+k, steel and concrete structure. The first two rs are used for general storeroom purposes, the st floor also being used as a receiving department. the smaller supplies are kept on shelves and ‘ks with a list at the end of each row indicating » contents and the amount in stock. The third THE IRON AGE 13438 floor is used for pattern shop and pattern storage. The fourth floor is taken up with the engineering and operating departments and the two upper floors are occupied by the general offices. In the basement is the mechanical equipment for the office building, this including an air washer for purifying the air supplied in the office rooms and refrigerating equip- ment for adjoining cold storage rooms used in con- nection with the office emplovees’ dining room. The Commercial Production of Sound Steel’ A Special Type of Sinkhead Applied to an In- verted Ingot Reduces Segregation and Piping to a Minimum and Produces a Uniform Steel BY EDWARD F. KENNEY The writer has been experimenting for some years the effort to develop some practical means of apply- g the benefits of the sinkhead to the ordinary methods steelmaking in commercial use. The principal es- sentials seem to be: That the ingot be carried through the heating and roll- operations without the necessity of becoming cold. *From a paper presented at the eighth regular meeting of American Iron and Steel Institute in New York, May 28, The author is metallurgical engineer of the Cambria Company, Johnstown, Pa ORDINARY FIRE BRICK SINK HEAD . Boe Sink HEAD ° FO. H. HEAT Ne 87969. LADLE ANALYSIS: C0860 POOSO $.0.045 Mn 04! DISCARD = 153% DISCARD = 26.6% PRODUCT: 847% PRODUCT «71.4% That sinkheas be of such type that gots of varying weights can be cast from the same ingot molds 1. To get the solidity desired it is not necessary that the ingots become cold. There is little to be gained and there are very decided objections to it, chiefly the loss of heat and cost of replenishing it, and the risk of damage to the ingot in reheating. Any betterment in quality obtained in allowing steel to become cold and then reheating through the critical range is much more economically and safely accomplished after the steel is STANDARD INGOT D NO SINK HEAD DISCARD = 5964 DISCARD :« PROOUCT « 64.0% ih PRODUCT + 41.6 % Fig. 1 (‘omparisor of Four Ingots Poured According to Four D‘fferent Pr ocesses Showing Variation in Segregatior ~ st a, ela AE Ae ny A ‘i 1344 put through the process of rolling into a bloom. The function of the sinkhead being the preservation of a reservoir of molten metal on top of the ingot until all the body of the ingot has solidified, it follows that the non-conducting jacket should be kept on the top of the ingot when it is charged hot into the pits. The temperature of the soaking pits is lower than the freezing point of the steel, and there would consequently be a loss of heat from the sinkhead even in the pits if there were no protecting jacket. The loss would be much less rapid than in an atmosphere at lower temperature, but the very fact that the ingots solidify throughout while in the pits shows that there is a con- siderable loss of heat from the molten metal. The proper thermal treatment of high carbon heats involves the use of comparatively cool soaking pits when the ingots are charged. It would be quite possible for the small mass of molten metal comprising the sinkhead, if unprotected, .to lose heat to such an extent that it would solidify before the greater volume of the ingot. The value of the sinkhead in this event is gone, as on the further contraction of the liquid metal in the ingot there could be no feeding from the sinkhead which had solidified. Any large masses of slag-making material] are ob- jectionable in the furnaces because of the extra labor involved in keeping the pits clean, and therefore sink- heads of ordinary fire-brick are not as available for use with ingots which are to be handled hot as for ingots which are allowed to become cold. It is true that the ordinary brick tops can be broken off before the ingots are charged, but this involves an additional operation; is objectionable on account of the dirt products, and, in addition, leaves the sinkheads with- out protection in the pits. Moreover, it must not be done until immediately before the ingot is charged, as the sinkhead cools very rapidly in the air as soon as the covering is removed. If for any unforeseen reason the charging is delayed after such removal, the value of the sinkhead is destroyed, and the ingot will be piped. A LOAM-LINED SINKHEAD The loam used by the writer does not have to be removed from the ingot before the latter is charged into the pit furnaces, but can be allowed to remain on until the ingot is bloomed, being so plastic that it does not affect the rolling. The practice used in connection with these sinkheads is as follows: A wooden form of the dimensions of the sinkhead extension desired is placed inside the metal sinkhead casing, leaving a space 214 in. wide between the form and the casting. This space is filled with moist loam well rammed. The loam and casing are then dried, the drying requiring about two or three hours in a pit oven. A number of wooden pegs around the bottom of the casing prevent the loam lining from slipping from the casing, while the whole is being handled and set on the ingot molds, and the steel is poured in the usual manner. When the metal reaches the sinkhead, the wooden pegs are burned off, releasing the iron casing, so that it can be removed, leaving the loam lining attached to and protecting the sinkhead against heat loss. The iron castings do not leave the open-hearth, being promptly removed and rerammed with fresh loam. The loam lining remains on the ingot until it is rolled, which insures against trouble which would result from delays in charging after the protective covering was removed, or the neces- sity of banking steel, or any of the many possibilities of commercial steel works’ practice, which interfere with the regular routine. In practice, this type of sink- head, besides being more efficient thermally, has been found much cheaper than the regulation brick, and has possibilities which make it much more applicable to ordinary steel works practice. In addition to the quality betterments which are possible by the use of inverted ingots with sinkheads, there is possible a very great economy because of the much smaller percentage of metal which has to be cropped from the top, as compared with the cropping which is necessary with the ordinary ingot. This is shown in Fig. 1. Here are the photographs of four ingots, all poured from the same heat of steel under identical conditions. All were allowed to become cold, THE IRON AGE June 17, 1: and were then slotted about one-third of the through from either side and broken with wedges. | an ingot. of the ordinary shape; B, an inverted ing. A, a similar inverted ingot which was equipped wi an ordinary fire-clay sinkhead, and C, a similar ing equipped with the special sinkhead consisting of iron shell with dried loam lining. The brick sinkhea has not b