The Iron Age 1915-09-23: Vol 96 Iss 13

New York, September 23, 1915 D RSS ) y Oo ESTAB 2 VOL. 96: N A Converter Foundry of Large Capacity Intensive Production Methods of the Reading Steel Casting Company—Time and Labor Sav- ing Deyices—Copper Bearing Steel a Featur With Supplement BY EDWIN F. CONE Progressive practice spells success in the manu not been lost sight of. The result is a unit ir facture of small steel castings. The demand for fairly satisfactory conditions as compared with the these grows rapidly. New plants and new proc- possibilities of an entirely new plant. With an out esses are not infrequent but real success does not put of 600 tons of finished castings per month, always follow. Efficiency and economy in molding, averaging 30 lb. to the casting, and a possible pro maximum metal output insuring low cost, up-to- duction of 700 tons, this plant, with its four 2-ton date heat treatment and finishing, with devices for converters, can equal the tonnage output of some saving time and labor are indispensable. Progres- of the smaller open-hearth foundries sive ideas-are even more necessary in this field than Three features are prominent in this found: in that of the producer of large steel castings. The the molding facilities, the production and manipu 3 eat f E ik tment of the Reading Steel Casting Company, Consisting of Four Converte ‘ Heating Arrangement for Cupola Ladle and a Small Cupo fe Melting Fir ‘ t I re operated ir batteries of two, one hlow nN ‘ the other < pt plant of the ing, Pa. Ments, Commencing in 1906 with a small foundry, for- Merly the RB s ‘rylgon Steel Casting Company, hav- Small Castings.—Very small castings, made in mg but one converter, the present management has_ large quantities daily, are the chief work of such a wen the plant grow to four times its former size foundry. In the average small foundry many of a capacity and eight times in floor space these are made in snap flasks, in which they remair “ales. Though the new construction has been until poured. This involves the provision and ., added to the old, the necessity for an handling of hundreds of such flasks. The Reading Progression in foundry manipulation has Steel Casting Company approaches this problem 669 Reading Steel Casting Company, Read- lation of the steel and the heat treatment and fin pical illustration of the above state- ishing of the castings. MOLDING AND POURING ie OP RFE IE. PRS nee UE eS grt ate oe 670 THE IRON AGE Septen uniquely. The efficiency and progressiveness of the molding machine were at once recognized. In a large space devoted solely to this class of work, on a concrete covered floor provided throughout the plant, a battery of molding machines and some bench molders turn out hundreds of molds in snap flasks. Instead of leaving the finished mold in its flask, each one, removed from the flask, is placed upon a rack carrying several molds on steel plates. By means of a monorail crane system, serving this department, each rack of snap molds is trans- ported to specially constructed oven cars, the crane, the racks and the loaded cars being shown in some of the illustrations. These cars are of two types and are designed by the company. Thorough drying of these small molds in two ovens is a feature, thus eliminating the uncertainty resulting from the pouring of such castings in green sand. The molds are then bedded in on the dry floor in front of the ovens where they are poured and knocked out. One of the illustrations shows this snap dry floor after the heat has been cast. This method of molding, drying and casting the small work on so large a scale is believed to be a feature not found in other similar foundries. The Latest Style of Drying Oven Car for Snap Molds (Left) and the Method of Stacking the Molds Original style of ove ear for snap molds (right) which permits the loading of very wide molds A few cars of this tvpe ire still in use Larger Castings.—As shown by the plan of the plant in the accompanying Supplement there is a larger molding floor of concrete, 68 ft. x 240 ft., which is served by two 10-ton Shenard traveling cranes and which has two drying ovens of a ¢ca- pacity of ten cars each. Each oven has two tracks and each track carries five cars, a total of 20 cars capacity. It has one jolt molding machine with a capacity of 5000 lb., served by an electric jib crane. Six pneumatic sand rammers are also a part of the equipment. Here the larger castings are molded and prepared with the usual flask equipment. The core department, located conveniently at one side of the main dry floor in a bay, has a unique continuous core oven, there being only one other like it in operation. The illustration of this depart- ment shows this oven. It contains 48 sliding com- partments, each one of which can be opened inde- pendently for the placing in or removing of cores without interrupting the drying of other cores. It is fired over a pit with coke and hard coal and is operated continuously. The jolt molding, sand- mixing and wash-mixing machines are also visible. THE MELTING DEPARTMENT To operate at 100 per cent capacity 100 per cent of the time is the desideratum in converter steel foundry practice. With the equipment and Ss \ ds Made On a Squeeze Molding M Racks Read for Drying Ovens Facing hs t the right ready for the facilities described, the company oul tons of finished steel per month. Allowing an aver age vield of 50 per cent, 700 tons of finished ! ings is the possible output. This means b and pouring 54 tons per day in a month of working days, nearly the equal of an open-heart! foundry having one 20-ton furnace. All this al. however, is produced and poured in from six ¢ seven hours in the day time, no night shift being employed. The equipment consists of four 2-ton met verters, originally of the Tropenas type, but so al- tered and improved that the company considers them its own design. Besides the converters there is one large Paxson cupola as well as a smaller one of the same make, at the opposite end of the row, for pre-melting the additions of ferrosilicon, ferro- manganese, etc. One of the illustrations shows the four converters, the cupola and the oil heating arrangement for the cupola ladle. The converters are operated in batteries of two, one being blown while the metal is removed from the other; a third converter is in the meantime being repaired. Every 20 minutes, 5000 lb. of metal can be poured into molds and as a consequence no time is lost as to small castings. Bottom-pour ladles are the rule over 92 per cent of the castings being poured this way. This is considered a distinguishing mark of the foundry practice of this company as compared with the frequent use of small hand ladles. Each ladle is pre-heated with oil at a heating stand a the stone pier between the first two converters. A convenient and time-saving method handling the ladles just after pouring consists in 3 small car, made of a ring, mounted on low wheels, on which the ladle is placed by the large crané after pouring. It is then easily rolled to a clean- ing floor for proper treatment in preparation for a Method of Mounting Swing Grinders On )) "> the Shop They Can Be Operated in Practically Any “pieveleise ’ 15 THE IRON AGE 671 further crane handling. The in ear loads to a blast furnace en.—No heats are made without with pre-melted alloys, except trical purposes or those speci- ent carbon, without manganese re taken from the converters as added enough aluminum to nsure solid metal. A small for pre-melting. Here proper licon. pig iron and ferroman- together, tapped into a small to the finished blown steel in e the threatened scarcity and romanganese, the use of high- nearly free, from copper and lower in sulphur The physical results of some of this steel are given in another part of this article. A metallurgical theory has evidently been proved a fallacy HEAT TREATING AND FINISHING Heat Treatment.—Of prime importance in these progressive times is a proper annealing of steel castings, large or small, but especially small ones. Small steel castings cannot be too good and a proper heat treatment cannot fail to add to their strength and durability in service. Without ques tion, where the shape and class of casting w permit it, quick cooling from just above the re calescence point will produce the best physical re sults and the toughest metal. The continuous i Continuous Oven Containing Forty-eight Sliding Compartments It is fired over a pit 1s The jolt-molding, sand-mixing and as a substitute has been inaug- irked success. This is melted with rnishing not only the necessary ilso the carbon usually obtained BEARING STEEL CASTINGS etallurgical feature characterizes iron. Steel scrap up to 50 to the charge is used together with ie nat with a content of 1 per cent sulphur ranging from 0.045 to 0.060 Pr and Robesonia low-phosphorus, on. It contains about 1 per cent ; i ) the castings made from it. It and is still in many quarters, 0.50 per cent of copper in cast- detriment to their physical and especially where the sulphur lhe Reading Steel Casting Com- Tt results after proper heat treat- which equal and surpass those earth and other steels free, or wash-mixing machines are in the center brackger nealer, into which a car of green castings can be pushed as one with treated castings is pulled out into the air, insures this heat treatment. Two annealers make up the heat-treating de partment at Reading. One is a small annealer for small castings or special heats. It is oil-fired and equipped with two cars, insuring continuous opera tion. The other is a larger one, coal-fired, also equipped with two cars for continuous operation It is open at both ends so that castings go throug! the furnace from one department to the other. Physical Properties—The table of physical tests on the next page is evidence of the effective ness of the heat treatment. The elastic ratio and ductility are noteworthy. The product of this foundry is plain carbon steels except for the copper content of practically 1 per cent. They range in carbon from 0.25 to 0.33, in manganese from 0.50 to 0.75, in silicon from 0.25 to 0.30, in sulphur from 0.045 to 0.060 and in phos phorus from 0.035 to 0.045 per cent. That the pres- ence of copper accounts at least in part for the su- periority of the static qualities is claimed by the oe. oe PEGE oy ] x 3 ee k % The Sand Blast Equipment Consisting IRON AGE Machines with a Capacity of Three Cars of Sand p management which states that tensive scale of non-copper bear sulted in satisfactory evidence effect of the copper. Two other factors, however. question: 1. The method of cast 2. The method of heat treatment about 1 in. x 1 in., are cast on the block of steel, 2 in. thick. This insu metal and a sveed of cooling result structure free from ingotism, w!} duces the best physical results un: treatment. This is also true of n ings, which are of more or less thin cooled ‘in the sand. The process of a for itself. Further evidence, however, is fur reproduced photomicrographs showing the struct of the fractured piece from the second test table of physical results. The finen formity of the grain and the low are evident. Finishing the Castings.—The clain more money is spent on the annealing and fj of the castings than on the molding. Al! are annealed unless the company is inst the contrary. They are sand blasted or ru in rumblers. An illustration shows th: for sand blasting consisting of two a pit, a dust arrester, sand elevating apparat sand storage above the machines wit! of three cars of sand. While the cleaning ment has three cold sawing off machines these is abandoned wherever possible. A sprue cutter or the oxy-acetylene torch remo of the small gates, heads and sprues. For taking off lumps or rough spots an swing grinder, designed by the company, ticularly efficient. An illustration shows the of mounting these grinders on wheels so t! with Pit, Dust Arrester, Sand Elevating App@ S E IRON AGE, SEPT. 23, 1915 ——_— 113i, 37 et 384 | ! e “| La] a ae a w | =| =) Ds —o | | al ee | Iinciisiepncinnsnicscindl : Liscactgatpslcal a Al, Y ~ - see a . - - é — ae ee = fare retest etre . General Plan of the Plant of the Reading Steel C 4 Pa ing, Pe . I * ead ) \ wer Company, f l Mill isting’ yractically any part of the shop stationary grinders carrying wheels. any’s output is all classes of + 7 A for the general jobbing trade, valves and fittings for super- est these the company has a wn design, shown in an illus yr shipping are such that three once from a platform or sent me point. ANT AND OTHER BUILDINGS entirely electric, purchased tan Electric Company at a guar- per year. The power plant generator set consisting of a Y notor and a 220-volt direct 0 cu. ft. capacity of free ait THE IRON AGE I \ One compre oO ) USE) at 80 lb. pressure One it Ol pump n al? pressure on the service Hnes tnre ! tne oil I orage The motor generator set furnish t the five 10-ton, the one 3 ton and the eling cranes and operates the converter ing current supplies all other power u plant. Separate buildings are devoted th and repair shop and to the store room a tory. In the matter of s ipphe a tr ments, the principle of scientifi vails. It is a rule that not the needed at any one time shall be lackin; so that “100 per cent operation 100 time” can be approximated. The built on a hill side so that heavy loaded into the lower floor while the is into the second story. In this upper floor, the chemical laborato1 mallest y whe! per nt store r naterial TY all + \ilding onsur {PRETTIEST 8. aR 5 4 t | ¢ > 674 THE IRON AGE Septen 3, 1915 of the space. The building devoted to patterns is in two parts, the space for pattern storage being separated from the repair pattern shop by a brick fire wall. While evidences of the results of scientific man- agement are not lacking, the matter of safety is Pneumatic Drop Machine for the Foundry Machine for Making Drop Tests on Chilled Car Wheels—DVesigned and Built at the Lenoir Car Works for the Wheel Foundry BY G. 8S. Compressed air is generally used for some pur- pose now-a-days at practically all foundries. Among its many uses, one which is not so general but which is nevertheless fast coming into prominence, is that of operating drop machines both for break ing up materials, such as heavy scrap, chilled car- wheels, etc., and for drop testing machines, both heavy and light. Among the advantages of this type of drop ma- chine are its rapidity of action and simplicity of construction with low initial cost and up-keep. An- other important feature is that it may be installed at the most convenient point for handling the par- ticular work to which the machine is adapted with- out the necessity of a special power station. *Superintendent of indy enoir Car Works, Fig MACHINE FOR TESTING WHEELS AT LENOIR CAR WORKS At 1, Fig. 1, is the trip for releasing the weight: at 2 is one of steel bands for holding guide rails toget opit g guid? how the guide rails are deflected to handle the wheel under test In Fig. 3, 1 is the safety Spring, -» : the tripping bloc! 1, the tripping spring; 5, the grab hook; 6, the grab head; Ts EVANS * not overlooked, nor is the welfare of Probably no steel foundry in the U t bie: equipped with so complete and mod: aie building, devoted to the relief ass etd company, as that of the Reading Stee! ae pany, described in THE IRON AGE ot > 915 Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show a drop testi: especially designed for making the Maste; suilders’ drop test on 33-in. chilled carwheek which is as follows: The wheels are placed flang downward on an anvil block having three support for the wheel to rest upon and is struck centr on the hub by a 200-lb. weight, falling fror height of 9, 10 and 12 ft., for the 625. 675 an 725-lb. wheels respectively. Fig. 1 shows view of the drop with a wheel in position for test ing and with the weight held at rest between the guide rails. Fig. 2 shows a side view with thé guide rails deflected for removing the wheel afteg it has been tested. Fig. 3 shows the test weigh resting on the test wheel and the grab rigging a it is engaging the weight to be lifted. The supporting frame is built practically fron the test weight 1915 structural steel left over from car The upright pieces or sides are i¢ two 4-in. angles to 8-in. plates of 4-in. angles, all being tied to- ise by riveting to a 10-in. plate, as ss support is made from two 6-in. braces of 6-in. plates, all of which e sufficiently rigid for the purpose. are made from two 56-lb. rails each toate n. plate and are held together by shown at 2 in Fig. 1. These are igh for the weight to pass through r the sides. part of the guide rails forms a sup- ir cylinder, which is made from a equipped with an ordinary cup head and a %4-in. cold-rolled steel he two cylinder heads are made of threaded upon the tube. The stroke the lifting capacity is 1000 lb. with ire or approximately five times the Consequently the weight is lifted ntake is placed in the lower head and the piston rod and grab rigging ist the spent air. The valve is of type and is placed near the ground the operator. trip shown at 1 in Fig. 1 serves to e weight and is arranged so that it can be lowered to suit the different eight wheels to be tested. The whole is supported the cross support of the frame, can be deflected to remove the e! ive 3% or fs entel Or ted s that it Fig. 3 shows the grab rigging and test weight, h 1 is a safety spring arranged to take up the shock when the grab falls to the test weight; the tripping guide which when it comes into con- t with the tripping stop, shown at 1 in Fig. 1, ~ - mpresses the tripping springs 4 and spreads the grabs means of the V-shaped tripping block 3, whict fastened to the tripping guides 2, and releases the weight. The exhaust valve is then pened and the grab falls to the test weight, the grab hooks are parted by the V-shaped grab head 6. ‘hese are made bottom heavy so that the two hooks } close together when hanging loose and as they re lifted, close into the notches of the grab head iiitthe weight. The test weight is made of cast ron which is cored out to receive the grab head; a steel forging and rests upon a ee «{ which is inserted in the core to absorb ie shock of the grab head when the weight strikes is nade of piece of woe the test wheel, Wi te ee ° a : ‘ith this type of drop machine, it is possible ; “ike Trom ten to fifteen blows per minute, which » © ‘hree or four times greater than is possible ie drum type and although the power con- S]mnt any ee M0On May be slightly greater than with the advantages overbalance several in power, making it an economical + th aver, the many Gilly ~ line and especially so where time is a con- leratioy ‘cht og h . e of the T. R. Almond Mfg. Company, Whitnen tn 25s:» has been established at 1257 David lon bop ding, Detroit, Mich., from which point ree edy, who has been appointed Michigan g oa ‘tive, will take care of the business in Mich- sts chiefly of flexible steel tubing for es and motor trucks, and the Almond This action has been made neces- as _increasing business among the auto- os ‘r. Kennedy will also handle the busi- vyer Tool Mfg. Company, which is anagement as the Almond Company, hinists’ fine tools. THE IRON AGE 6 -~) vl Electrically Operated Jolt Roll-Over Mold- ing Machine One of the interesting machines that will be shown at the exhibition in connection with the an- nual meeting of the American Foundrymen’s Asso ciation at Atlantic City will be an electrically op erated molding machine that has been brought out by the Osborn Mfg. Company, Cleveland, Ohio. The new machine, aside from the method of operation, is the company’s standard direct-draw roll-over molding machine and it is entirely operated by elec tricity with the exception of the sand shoveling. The machine has two motors with a controller within easy reach of the operator. One motor jolts and the other rolls over the mold and the pattern. The motors on a base separate from the machine so that they are free from vibra tion. Two important features in connection with the motors are that they are entirely inclosed to exclude dust and dirt and they run only when the machine is in operation. When the table is rolled over it is caught by a simple locking device designed to hold it in accurate alignment. The mold is then lowered upon the re- ceiving car and after unclamping the pattern is drawn. The receiving car is equipped with the Os- born leveling device, which adjusts itself to any un evenness of the bottom boards. The pattern draw can be fast or slow or varied to suit conditions. After the pattern is drawn the receiving car is drawn clear of the machine, from which the mold can be removed when convenient, without interfering with setting flasks, filling or jarring the next mold Working parts move in a bath of oil. It is claimed that the electrical equipment soon pays for itself as its up-keep and running expenses are less than those of air operated machines. The machines are adapted particularly for use in plants where there is no air or where the air capacity is overtaxed. draws are set A gold medal has been awarded the Dreis & Krump Mfg. Company, Chicago, by the Panama-Pacific Inter- national Exposition for its Chicago steel bending brakes. SS a OFS Tease. Old and New Methods of Making Carw heel; S The Metallurgical Superiority of the Air-Fur- nace Over the Cupola Method—High Sulphur in Chilled Iron Wheels—The Nitrogen Question BY CHARLES More than thirty) ears ago the Washbun double plate wheel, so called, became the standard in this country. A few years later one of roads specified the drop test and later still the mal test. the rail ther These are well known and all the larger railroads now use one or both of these methods of ascertaining the power of the metal to resist strain These tests were a step in the right direction and necessitated immediate improvement in metal and in methods of carwheel manufacture There was a time when not infrequently a whee would break of its brittleness wher merely dropped upon the anvil block preparatory té testing. The required tests, more especially th thermal tests, promptly necessitated the use of bet ter grades of iron and a better product was the result. To increase the manganese became a neces sity also, notwithstanding the fact that large addi tions of this element are objectionable. Manganese is known to remove sulphur and coke is known to add sulphur. Manganese makes the grain of the metal larger and sulphur tends to offset this by making it smaller, so the carwheel practice ot to-day still is to the manganese for the purpose of obtaining additional strength with which to pass the and of retaining a large per- centage of sulphur in order to keep the crystals or molecules small and uniform and at the same time to induce a harder tendency in the metal for the sake of the additional wear. own weight or increase tests THE PREVALENCE OF HIGH SULPHUR It is unnecessary to dwell upon the dangers of such a practice. The sulphur content of the iro: wheels made to-day is often far in the percentage permitted in steel, although the latter much stronger metal. It often happens that those who make the chilled iron wheel have never operated a laboratory in connection with their dail) operations and even when they excess of is a obtain determina tions in the laboratories of others they do not decide to root out the evils which the ascertained seem to demand. It is an open secret that the sul phur content of the present day chilled iron wheel continues permanently above the limit set for the requirements of grade steel and is therefore almost beyond question above the limits of safety in cast iron. Bessemer steel, having result low compared to iron) great strength in tension, torsion and transverse stresses is not allowed to exceed a maximum of 0.10 per cent of sulphur. On the other hand no limit is set for che sulphur content of the iron wheel, although it is frequently and in foundries usually excess of these figures. some far it SLOW AND QUICK COOLING Perhaps a more objectionable feature in iron car wheels is a method which seems to indorse, as some thing to be slow cooling. desired, the practice of exceeding |\ of steel that air cooling, where properly applied, is not only wholly purposes is decidedly beneficial. unobjectionable but for certain *The Sl ibricat ( gh, I It is well known in the manufacture SLOCUM In a prominent foundry son ( the practice to stack a series of upon the other as high as the would permit, to form a perpendicul: which the hot wheels were placed cool, the whole forming what might cooling pit above ground. Such drop and thermal tests almost infall method seemed to indicate that a quick is more desirable for chilled wheels th: retains the heat for days. Patents have been issued on several process cooling the thickest portion of the wheel fi; so arranged that the flanges would cool more s| the intention being to compel the shrinkage to d toward the hub instead of away from it. 0) these patents was issued in the very earliest of chilled-iron wheel making and was entitl “Oven for Cooling Castings.” This taken out by P. F. Geisse in 1859 and was fi by improvements, some of which if terially benefit the wheel of to-day. U. S. patent No. 83,605, to W. J. Cochran in 1868 while cumbersome and susceptible of improvement incorporated the definite idea of cooling the wheels in a logical manner through the hubs. Other ideas were worked out and patented in order to perfect the process but none of these were as simple as a pla would be of setting pits two or three feet apart so that while no cold air could reach the wheels, the radiation of heat would be considerably tated and the strength of the wheels increased whee patent used woul For insta: SLOW COOLING OBJECTIONABLE Slow cooling retards the essential binding gether of the crystals, preventing the mole from joining in the most compact and minute | with the result that under no circumstances the metal be as dense and strong as when ¢ particle is drawn down to the smallest possible at thus compelling every portion to come more Clos in contact. Some of these old patents were ' dently the result of much thought and beat dences of careful investigation. It still seems be logical that setting the wheels in alignment In pits so that the core holes in the hubs would! a sort of flue and passing the heat to the air by means of an adjustable ventilator, simply devised than any covered by the patents tioned, would bring about uniform shrinkage, ‘ grained metal and much stronger wheels Metallurgically the old system of maxims wheels has been out of date for nothing to commend it when compared wit! = quate and comprehensive method which first reau the metal to the required homogeneity 4! also brings about, by comparatively aul therefore positive operations, the desire in shop practice. years a DEFECTS OF THE OLD METHOD> ? oY Chilled iron for practically all equipn carwheels, even in very large tonn made in furnaces to absolute specificat!' of not less than 150 to 300 wheels this ns. I _—Pp ie b/6 tory SPTLCIL to much better advantage than is the limitations of the cupola. No acturer to-day openly claims that iodern method of melting and mix- tely. This state of affairs seems as been the outgrowth of sharp com- to the present not one maker has nend the money necessary to change wn to the modern plan. Another inwillingness no doubt is that no re taken the trouble to devise a con- omical method by which to exploit with a furnace system that would ;00 wheels or more on a scientific h would at the same time produce a less money. present system or old style cupola ecessary to melt iron all day long small lots, each of which varies nore or less, each of which goes arious stages of hand work from ie door and then is subjected to ialities of high or low blast from ved tuyeres; good or bad cupola prac- id or indifferent coke; proper or im- occasional shutting blast necessitated by a r, a hot box on the en- fan, an overfilled res- a broken or burned ? 1915 THE IRON AGE 677 of every heat, compelling the analysis of the iron during preliminary stages, adding or elimi- nating the various elements as required while the metal is in a molten state and determining daily from time to time just what must be done for the purpose. It is a fact that although every manufacturer is endeavoring to produce good goods at reasonable prices, the larger the cupola and the greater the size of the heat the larger the incentive for our modern Goliaths of the foundry to hunt for tonnage instead of any decided improvement in product. A natural result of this policy is one ap- parently very different from any outcome calculated. THE CUPOLA AND AIR-FURNACE PROCESS Large foundries have been turning out thou sands of tons of chilled-iron castings for several years by a method so superior in every way to the cupola method that there is but very little compari son between them. These castings include rolls, crushers and other difficult work. By comparison it will be seen that such elements in carwheel iron as sulphur, phosphorus and possi- bly other similar causes of weakness continue in } the metal to a great extent by the cupola method O00 >t - the ladle train or on the eel carriers; a deviation in one or more grades of ' ‘ther causes with which H foundryman is familiar. i On the other hand, in the com- | dry, tests are usually ! all parts of the heat | ia scover as far as practicable any 7 ne the metal. These tests sections of iron cor- H vith the weakest portion t heel, on the theory that of a wheel like that of the strength of its t FF THE RAILROADS a esting to note that iwn by the railroads #D not always adhered es operated by them- f f these makers en- I the application in eels that have not de- jualities in tests by would not consider nt that was “not cov- tents” although, as a mat- t ther lives than em- p St always at stake. >. indry are made on ae erse strain that are — sail soa J i | 24 in. long. This {" __—"SionGrone SS i ——F compares with the 5 part of the wheel s useless as a means fh i » © WHOM ON the actual strength i) a a a a ay ay a part. . eee ee SST ET 1 ra of nconsistencies should © . 4 R irae sible appears to be a A : ‘ difficulty and to that an LY EES ng has mapped out a Section C-D = Section A-B would be necessary S . ail, General Plan, with Sectional Elevation, of a Moder Cast-Iro W hes advance the details Pour 300 Wheels or Multiples Thereot Two Hours, Using an Air } % 5 SRR i ay Sethe NS PTS EL PN ae 678 ard are eliminated or neutralized by the air-fur nace process. The inspection and rejection of material does not of itself prepare for better results in other and later efforts. A peculiar feature to-day of all attempts to eliminate objectionable castings, is tha the tests are all applied to the three or four wheels tested to destruction, leaving the castings which go into service almost an unknown quantity excep for the surface inspection. Such an outcome ap pears inevitable when it is remembered that a day’s work in a cupola consists of a long series of addi- tions of metal and fuel throughout the day, no two of which applications can, by any possibility, be absolutely alike. Theoretically it may be said that the problem of uniform carwheel manufacture has already been solved, for such well known concerns as the Amer- ican Sheet & Tin Plate Company and Seaman, Sleeth & Co. have been making hundreds of tons of large chilled castings daily for years by a method in which all parts of the heat are regulated and adjusted in a uniform and scientific manner. A PROPOSED NEW METHOD By the following proposed method many reforms are possible both in the manner and accuracy of melting, in the means of handling the molten meta! and in the disposal of the hot wheels after shaking out. By laying out a foundry in sections or units of approximately 300 wheels each, using straight floors with the pits at the end of each floor, as shown in the illustration, it becomes entirely prac ticable to manufacture any multiple of 300 wheels say 1200, in eight hours and, when made, the wheels will be a modern product that has been subjected to modifications tending to absolutely neutralize or remove the impurities. A traveling crane picks up the ladle containing 60 to 75 tons of iron and takes it to the molders’ floor directly over the first mold. The operator fills the mold; the ladle is then taken to the next mold and so on. When the first wheel poured is cool enough to strip, the cope is lifted and the floor hoist used to transfer the hot wheel to the pits at th end of the floor. As will be seen by the illustration, the larg units possible to employ in a modern wheel plant derive additional merit from their flexibility, hence the plant outlined is calculated to readily cover the pouring of 300 wheels in two hours or as many multiples of 300 wheels in the same length of time as the dimensions of the plant permit In othe words 1200 wheels may be readily taken care of in two hours including both pouring and pitting, not only with better results as to keeping the metal hot and getting the wheels into the pits cherry red but each wheel will be like the other, metallur gically, so that the tests will actually represent every wheel made by the particular unit in the identical heat from which the test wheels were drawn. This statement means more, perhaps, to the metallurgist or chemist and the well informed in spector of wheels than it does to the average car wheel maker himself. The air furnace and travel ing crane cut off at least 90 per cent of the labor One man operates the crane and one man opens and closes the stopper in the ladle, making it possible to pour 300 carwheels from one ladle in not to exceed two hours with two men only. In the in variable practice of to-day throughout the United States from two to three men are used for pouring off each floor of 18 to 25 wheels or not less than 24 men for 300 wheels, as against the two men for THE IRON AGE Septen the same number of wheels by the pi At the same time the wheels poured s by the assistance of the traveling shaken out by common labor as rapid! In order to pour off 600 or 1200 hours it is only necessary to instal] « as there are multiples of 300 in th wheels required. The illustration shows plainly th: and saving in time in having the pit end of the rows instead of at any other foundry, thus making it practicable not the wheels into the pits faster, but als: than is possible in any other way. T} ment of the pits makes it possible ¢ further apart than is the usual custon spreading will facilitate a desirably mor ing, a closing of the grain of the metal wit} aid of sulphur and a consequent definite stre) ing of the wheel from the two sources. ERRORS IN THE OLD PRACTICI One of the erroneous practices of th system consists in preventing the wheels f; ing for days, thus keeping the granules of the; at the largest possible size, preventing the cules from adhering as closely to each other would if the iron were compelled to cool wh latter was in a more subjective conditio: as U! | ' cohesion of minute particles of metal there is a | greater strength than is possible when these at are enlarged to such an extent that grains o ganese, for instance, may be discovered | f mal wv ¢ y\ ine naked eye. The same is true as to the fine coarse grain of other metals in regard to the of holding together under stress or strain. powe! By the air-furnace system of melting, the cher ist regulates the progress of the heat by testing the metal from time to time much after the manner of the best open-hearth steel practice. When hi has brought about the elimination of sulph ir re Al, noved practically all of the phosphorus and brought the combined carbon to the point tl give the desired depth of chill in the castin heat is ready to be drawn off into the lad this point the comparison between the cup the air furnace is very remote. The thorot 1at W aie a gs, ] e la igl rf r duction of the metal in one large body changes the whole operation. Economies already de will bring the total saving to more than $100 | day aside from the improvement in achi definitely standardized metal. More than one hoist for handling hot wh¢ Ving eS Co be utilized on each floor by having the overht track arranged so that other hoists may be ru from the pit tracks as needed. The hoists 1! ru! orn to work in conjunction with floors and pits ” ’ require electric power and thus do away wit long piston rod of the air hoist. By this meat wheels can be pitted in less time than it takes itted P ’ "ne ha r pour them and of course 900 wheels can be p Ans + the same length of time by applying the necess@ ated as aLCu @ number of units which the writer has estim three, since it would take two of the 60 to (» furnaces for each 300 wheels. — Many conveniences and economies £0 hand +e hand with such an arrangement. The tr crane is available to carry to the extreme the foundry the scrap wheel heads and spr‘ can be used to bring center and pan cores core room to each molder. It will do mos' work of taking molding sand to the floors, e The use of the traveling crane prevents stant duplication of labor for there 1s » d in having one crane serve the two furnaces Perry) 1rom AVei ’ enu 1e¢ lt tne ne tc he iPHeult LAM in eac! 15 THE IRON AGE 679 erely necessary to start one fur- men a little later than the other ther set of men, precisely as is st and second iron in the wheel en the iron from the first furnace from the second furnace will be would be preferable to one be- the ladles will be kept hot by a d the ladle should not be used but the one crane will suffice. anufacturers have brought about could readily be utilized in con- nethod. This improvement con stripping plate on the drag side ts use the bed of the mold is than it has ever been possible and and the countless bad cast vork are practically eliminated een impracticable to ram the old by any type of machine be spaces between the bars near have to be “tucked” by hand. as described makes for another Ider and two helpers will put th the machine as compared to ther method with an equal num the air furnace as an auxiliar ry is entirely practical and that large economy above any he writer seems to be proved by est foundries in the United which he is not at liberty to have written volumes on the irnace and have made its use e method of making heavy cast ations Plenty of time is al ron to exact analysis so that itions under this system would leces are made, chill blow ks aue uurse the entire heat ottom pouring ladle, contain ten iron for 150 wheels, can be nd the entire number of wheels n hour and probably in less d be sufficient to convince the it remembers the ladles and he cupola during a single ler existing conditions. which was given to the 100,- will be equaled when moder: the manufacture of the cast iny points of advantage over onditions are brought about trong casting and the day is ast-iron wheel will be con as the cheapest wheel for + NCE OF NITROGEN trogen has often been raised irwheel castings. It appears to essay any improvements nce under existing conditions reach each wheel poured it correct the metal separately e every time the ladle was filled, s that would mean 900 times. arwheel manufacture should be conceded by every one Ks that are run by leaving this ll impurities in either steel er the opportunity for deoxidiz- ing as well as for denitrogenizing the meta ¥ purification properly carried out removes impur! ties that have remained in carwheel castings since their manufacture began. The consensus of opinior among metallurgists seems to be that thorough deoxidation is readily accomplished by modern pra tices and if their views are correct a new and prom ising field still remains untouched in the manutfa ture of chilled iron car wheels Gaging High Temperatures by Color Identity A new method of estimating high temperature offered by a paper before the Physical Society of London by Messrs. Paterson and Dudding, represent original work of a high order. The following from th: authors’ Synopsis gives the general content rt Union Wage Scales in Various Trades The United States Department « Labor, B Labor Statist Washi £ y? D. ¢ Bulle vives tne Ink calie ol wage 1 | I ninety-tnree ne pri pal traa¢ i! ne eading ties of the I ed States p Mi 1914. | tate that the highs ale pe hour paid n May, 1914, in few of the p pal trade re follows Br icklaye rs, 87.5 ents, in Dalla and ®& Francisco; carpenters, 6 ents, in Chicago: hod ca riers, 50 cents, in Portland, St. Louis, Salt La City and San Francisco; painters, 70 cents, in Chicago; pla terers, 87.5 cents, in Dallas and San Francisco; plun ers and gas fitters, id cents. in hi avo, Da as, Pe land, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Fra co and Seattle: sheet-metal workers, 68.8 cents, in Cl igo an San Francisco; stonecutters, 70 cents, in Portland and San Francisco; structural iron workers, 70 cents, ir Cleveland; freight handlers, 60.6 cents, in New Orlear granite cutters, 68.8 cents, in New York; iron molde 50 cents, in San Francisco; linotype operators (Hebr« book and job), 83.3 cents, in New York; compositor (English newspaper), day work, 75 cent Seattl An interesting trade publication appearing evu larly is Wood con Wan pum Week u p IDI hed DY tne E. J. Woodison Company, Detroit, Mich., with brancl offices in Cleveland, Buffalo, and a number of other cities. The issue usually consists of a single leaf, but it invariably begins with a catchy anecdote having a flavor of the foundry business This attracts atter tion, and reference is then made to some one or more of the foundry supplies handled by the company. Much origi- nality is shown in the preparation of the matter Dean Hermann Schneider, of the engineering depart ment, University of Cincinnati, reports the enrollment of over 500 students who will take the co-operative course in that institution. This number exceeds all pre- vious records. The fall term began Sept. 20. “Es RT tn DAE 2 Lavgege 8 7 Fig The Piston Ring Pattern and One-half of the Mold Foundry Economies in the Ford Motor Plant Casting Piston Rings Separately, Fifty at a Time—The Saving Effected in Metal, Machining and Quality of Product The Ford Motor Company, Which until recently has been casting its piston rings in pots, four pots to the mold, has adopted the practice of casting the rings separately with marked success. When cast- ing the rings in pots, twenty-two men were used on this work, producing 2500 pots a day, equivalent to 52,000 rings, or an average of 1477 rings per man. Casting the rings according to the present method, at a reduced rate of production, five men are en- gaged in turning out 4160 rings per day, or an average of 832 rings per man. This unfavorable showing in output per man in the foundry is, how- ever, much more than offset by the saving in metal, in defective castings, in the amount of machining and in the quality of the rings themselves. For a finished ring weighing 1 lb., when cast in pots from which twelve rings can be machined, the total weight of metal per pot, including a proportionate weight of the sprue, was 8 lb., with a clean weight of 61» Ib. Casting the rings separately, the total weight of twelve rings is 4%. lb., the clean weight 21. Ib., for a net finished weight of 1 lb., a saving of over 50 per cent of the finished weight of each ring. This method also makes possible the detecting of defective rings in the foundry before any ma- chining is done and the discarding of the particular ring rather than the whole pot. It is also stated that a much more uniform tension is obtainable in the rings when cast separately than when cast in pots for the reason that the metal at the flange end of the pot cools more slowly because of the heavier section than at the other end, with the re- pig 2—-The Machine on Which the Pisto e sult that the metal in some of the rings is appre- Made. While the cores are being ramum™ . : : the mold in which the preceding cores 5 7 g ciably harder than in others. It is the practice, removed and the next mold made ready [0 680 MlD these separate rings only on the THE IRON hich preserves on the inner side the casting, materially improv- nd service of the piece; and by finished core in the mold, it is may variance as they come from the possible in the regular run of formerly involved the removal of int of metal where now only a cessary. ring ent for ited ‘in sizes making the accompanying re made from the same metal pat- on each side of ts of 26 rings, 1 sprue S the » vo be piston held within ring views. For making the core a er machine has been adapted, as The core mold, which is made hined inside to an exact diameter will run with a nice uniformity. s hollow and a special hand ram- for making the central cores immediately adjacent to the h the cope and drag are made, so is made and the core set in, it is mold The mold and core For the convenience of the inary the it sand cope put is made. on Cylinders on c and the is AGE 681 Mi core maker an inclined portable sand table is used, which is placed alongside of the core machine en- abling the molder to pull the sand down by hand into the core mold as required. The design of the mold with reference to the gating contributes a detail of considerable advan tage. When cool the rings may be broken off from the sprue by a very light shock and there remains on the ring scarcely a matk to show the point of fracture. Fig. 4 illustrates the manner in which the entire twenty-six rings may be shaken fron the sprue by one blow on the end 1 Flight Conveyor—Continuous Process Which Saves Floor Space, Increases Production and Betters Foundry Conditions ~ ‘ , t ’ rr ‘ nil Anist r . pe terns ter np . Prid f 7 ine a hy t 7 iV nde, } } (de . r formerly in vogue at the plant of mpany for the casting of motor en previously Split Core lich the gz Lined Mold %s:-Removed, Dra ip i described is the practice to pour these molds with ’ a 4 t Half of Accura Core in the Mold THE in long rows on the floor from hand ladles, the mold then being picked up with an overhead trolley to be carried out to the end of the building where it was shaken out. This process was continuous and served to increase markedly the production as com pared with earlier methods. More recently the co tinuous operation has been modified by conducting it on a traveling conveyor, with the result that out put has been increased and the floor space required for the work very much reduced. Of no less in portance is the advantage ®ained in that restrict ing the movement of the Zaseous molds within a definite line of travel has permitted the construc tion of a ventilating hood immediately over the conveyor. This removes all of the gases and clari fies the atmosphere of the foundry to a remarkable degree. The accompanying illustrations more clearly indicate the nature of the installation The conveyor extends from the cupola at one end to the shaking-out grids in an annex at the end of the foundry. The conveyor consists of three parallel strands, the flights of the outside strands traveling toward the cupola and terminating at a cross-over roll-table which delivers from both sides toward the middle strand, the flights of which travel away from the cupola, carrying the poured mold to the shaking-out tables. The operations of making up the molds are con- secutive and continuous. As may be seen from Figs. 5 and 6, materials and facilities are provided in the form of. molding sand, machines and flasks on either side of the outer strands of the conveyor. 3eginning with the placing of bottom boards and flasks at the erid of the cohveyor remote-from the cupola, successive stages of complétion include the placing of the dfag, Darrel cores and cope, in order, as the mold moves *%long.” In thé space between the outer and middle strands of the convevor the port cores and water-jacket cores are stacked and placed in position 4s the mold passes. The outer strands of the conveyor on which the mold is built THE IRON AGE The Cylinder erhead Conveyor, Molds and Gas Hos up travel at the rate of 6 ft. per min., and the in in} s.des, travels at the rate of 21 feet per minut strand, which accommodates the’ molds from both The molds are poured as they approach et VERE OT sere Sees ts H hs i oa be i ; The Cylinder Mold C’on\ End Showing the Roll Table Transfer and Conveyo! 1915 £ Mii the conveyor from 1500-] ladles. suspended from an I-beam trolley v} the end of the conveyor and trans- ore the le from the cupola to the pouring 125 lb. of metal per the sprue, the conveyor handles 6!» per hour, the equivalent in two shifts f 1680 molds. The rate of travel and the length of the con- evor are such as to provide a time interval suffi- he necessary cooling of the casting in from Fig. 6 the nature of the venti- ating hood for the disposal of gases from the mold nt. The provision for shaking out the asting and the general layout of the conveyor are in the accompanying sketch. Imme- liately beyond the wall which separates the shak- from the foundry proper, four tables two on each side of the conveyor and Above the conveyor a trolley hook is and, as the mold comes through, the ope is lifted off to the first table, the drag pass- ng on to the next table on the same side, where it s dumped over grids, the casting being lifted out with a trolley hook, the sand dropping through to the basis of iiustrated + = ry ng-Out room are piaced, + } stagvgere( agRercu s Ispenaed, be reclaimed while the flask is piled for return to found The following mold, coming through short interval, is handled on the tables on pposite side of the conveyor, and so on in mveyor is built of steel angles and chan- nks being supported by and sliding be- Fig. S—Deliver) THE IRON AGE 683 tween two channels rhe enera ‘ ne conveyor is_ illustrated n the mpal ‘ sketches. The conveyor flights a