The Iron Age 1916-02-24: Vol 97 Iss 8

bey “hip Wily Yi pgp, leony CP AMEE, Yip yy > y g 4 New York, February 24, 1916 ESTABLISHED 1855 VOL. 97: No. 8 Ascertaining the Status of an Industry How Price and Production Tendencies May Be Studied in the Light of Actual Average Prices and Production Averages ductions of charts he prepared, accompanied by the following ob servations: The usual price history of an industry is illustrated by the chart showing normal and actual prices of pig iron. While actual prices have fluctuated wildly, average or normal prices have undergone a steady decline, re- flecting improvements in meth- ods of manufacture and distribu- tion until comparatively recent years. This industry has now reached that stage of technical perfection in which there is lit- tle further chance of a material saving in the cost of manufac- ture and the curve of average prices has, therefore, become a horizontal line. In time, as pres- ent supplies of raw material ap- T IS perfectly obvious that in | case of a young industry, ement for example, statistics of actual prices mean nothing so far as showing the state of the industry at any particular time. Because of the fact that funda- mental conditions, such as cost of manufacture and distribution, are changing so rapidly, what may be considered a good price this year may have been an en- tirely abnormal price, or it may be next year. In studying this subject John J. Porter, first vice-president and genera] man- : ager of the Security Cement & =” Lime Company, Hagerstown, re Md., conceived the idea of calcu- oe lating what may be called a nor- TT] mal price curve and laying this down over the curve of actual prices. His view is that the state “? in o a ’ proach exhaustion; and manu- of an industry at any particular : e S g = facturers must use poorer grades period is accurately shown by the Normal Curve of Production of Portland or more expensive materials, I fluctuations of actual prices Cement. The normal production was cal- should expect to see this curve above and below h al. Th culated from the formula that normal hegi if ae é ve and below the normal. e production is equivalent to ar(*"), where egin to rise. same idea may be carried out in “= production in year 1880; r = rate of [ have plotted the price of pig 4) . g increase ; 7 number of years after 1880 ; 2 he case of production. The ac- The value for r was calculated separately iron roughly running back as far m n« sf i tor cach rear, yttecr i Oo smoot} . 2 . . . 4 companying drawings are repro- [oT ach, year, plotted into a ic voc. a8 price statistics are available. Year ea 2 oO i] wo = wo oO a © =e} Dp > S oS = “© 20 2 co © > Sc cS > tt tt pt ne tt tt ptt te See ee eE RE RSG GOGO GRRGRGORRGGeeenne t 7 + ——F- > —> ~ +--+ +—_>—_+—_+—__+—_+_+_4+—+- + _ \ TT TTT ++ + 9 ee Thiet +++ + pe pp tee ef be + 4 ee i - ' f\ \ + + pp Wormal Price i iit 1 | (Pricé t ly 5 So.4} A y y - + TI Porte ee rr pat ee i wi \ ‘* +p ttt saad rt 4 7 ttt tor Lit No Yi \ ; —— i ' dati nadinithetbadhcdhihchedbatal + —- aan! 4 Actbontinedh bef ft | 4 donde x PeeMclsnalinathcenietbendidantimadiedesttentie () RMAL PRICE OF FOUNDRY IRON, PHILADELPHIA NORMAL PRICE OF CEMENT mal prices are determined by taking averages for 20 yr., including 10 yr. preceding and 19 yr. following ea year ige price of iron for each year is based on THe IRON AGE statistics. The average price of cement is obtained from statistics of the U. S. Geological Survey 471 he This longer curve shows in an interesting way the continuous fall in the normal price during the first half of the nineteenth century, due to improvements in manufacture. A rise in the normal price from the years 1852 to 1870 was due to the approaching exhaustion of the Eastern ore deposits and the sharp decline running from 1870 to 1890, due to the introduction of the Lake ores. In the case of cement it is obvious that the mate- rial has not fully settled down to a stable basis of manufacturing and distribution cost, but it is interesting to note that the indications are for a future normal price, approximately 90 cents per barrel. BLAIR REVERSING VALVES Installation at Open-Hearth Furnaces of Brier Hill Steel Company A departure in the reversing valve system has been adopted by the Brier Hill Steel Company, at Youngstown, Ohio, in both its open-hearth furnaces and its soaking pits. The flues are completely sepa- rated so that gas leaks common in ordinary cases of brick-lined tubes cannot occur. The system em- ploys a swinging section of the flue by which the passage to or from the furnace chambers may be made a continuous flue from the gas producers to the furnace at one end, and from the furnace to the stack at the opposite end, and by which the Cleanine PF 7 ITI y T7777 Section A-A Plan and Section Showing Arrangement of Flues THE IRON AGE February 24, 1916 functions of these flues may be readily reverseq without any valve. Each flue is distinct, and com. pletely separated from every other flue, there being no partition walls, with the possibility of leak be- tween gas and draft flues. This scheme, it is held. eliminates the cause of practically all deterioration inherent in all forms of reversing valves, and re- duces the cost of maintenance to a minimum. The accompanying drawings show the swinging sections of the flue system. These sections are con- structed of steel plate lined with firebrick and have water-sealed connections at each end. The method of reversing the tubes is apparent. The gas comes from the producers, in either over- head conduits or underground flues, to the regulat- ing vaives. The lower one in the plan drawing is open, admitting the gas to the furnace as shown by the arrow, and the air regulating cover is also open, admitting the required amount of air to the same end of the furnace. The products of combustion are passing out from the opposite end of the furnace to the stack. To reverse the furnace the one gas regulating valve is closed by means of a hydraulic cylinder, or motor, which, at the end of its stroke, releases the valve actuating the cylinders or motors, as the case may be, which swing the three tubes over into the reverse position. The other gas regulating valve is now opened by means of its hydraulic cylin- der or motor, and the furnace is reversed. In re- versing, the gas and air regulating valves are au- tomatically adjusted to the same positions they oc- Details of Ce struction of Valve Made of Steel Plate Lined with Firebrick One of the Gas Valves Arranged for Electric Operation February 24, 1916 A General ipied on the previous period of operation on that end of the furnace, so that the amounts of gas and air admitted are the same as they were when the furnace was previously reversed. lo burn out the flues back of the valves, the tubes are set on center, and both regulating valves raised clear of the flue. Air then enters the tubes and is drawn to the stack through the valves and flues, burning out the soot in the usual manner, and at the same time air also enters the now open seals, burning out the soot, if any, in the short flues leading from the gas valves to the furnace cham- pers, When a repair becomes necessary through acci- dent, the gas or air connecting tube is so placed as to become a part of the draft system from the outgoing end of the furnace. If the repair is re- quired on the gas tube, or any part of its mechanism Hydraulically Operated Gas Valve View of the THE IRON AGE 473 Valve Pit that part is disconnected, breaking the connection through that flue to the stack, which acts the same as putting a damper in that flue. The draft then all passes through the air tube to the stack and the furnace continues to work as usual. If the re- pair should be required on the air flue connection, this flue is disconnected, and the draft through the gas tube to the stack. Besides eliminating the possibility of a leak from either gas or air flues to the stack, or between the gas and air flues, some of the other advantages are enumerated as follows: All parts of the mechan- ism are exposed, cool and accessible. Any part of the device can be repaired, or replaced, without shutting the gas off the furnace. The cost of main- tenance is reduced to a minimum. in reversing. The only water supplied to the valves at the Brier Hill plant is the overflow from the stack damper. The gases do not come into contact with the water, an advantage when waste- heat boilers are used. The gas ex- plosions that frequently occur under the waste-heat boilers at the time of reversing the furnace are elimi- nated, it is stated, because no gas escapes to the stack in reversing. Another economical application is its use as a burn-out for the gas flues, in place of the sand-damper or inclosed valve commonly used. A tube of 30-in. in internal diameter is used for this purpose, operated by means of a hand winch, and is inexpensive, is found to remain tight and dependable. The system described was de veloped by the Blair Engineering Company, New York and Chicago, and has been adopted by the Inland Steel Company in the equipment of its mew open-hearth plant now under construction. The photo- graphs here reproduced are views of the valves at the works of the Brier Hill Steel Company. passes Gas is saved Shell Turning Attachments for Lathes Four-Tool Carriage and Made Here for French for Use on Standard i Sper Two interesting devices for use in the manufac- ture of munitions have been built by the Jersey City Machine Company, 115 Plymouth Street, Jersey City, N. J. These were developed to suit the par- ticular requirements of a French shell maker and ‘were especially designed for attachment to a stand- ard 36-in. triple geared lathe built by the Niles- Bement-Pond Company. The attachment consists of a four-tool carriage for mounting on the carriage of the lathe in place of the ordinary rest and an expanding mandrel for attachment to the faceplate for driving the shell blanks during the machining. The purpose of these two attachments is to en- able a blank for an 8-in. shell, for example, to be turned to the proper diameter for the finishing op- erations and to have the exterior wall tapered to provide the necessary thickness of material for the nosing operation that is subsequently performed. A section of the shell blank as it is placed in the lathe is presented at the top of the accompanying line drawing, while the middle portion shows the blank after leaving the lathe. Especial attention is di- ially Developed Four-Tool Lathe Corr for trolling the Tool Producing the Mandrel Used to Expanding Mandrel Munition Manufacturer American Machine Tool Turning Shell Blanks Portion in oe ( and Bracket for Con- Tapered rected to the amount of material that has been re- moved from the outside of the blank, 7.5 mm. on each side, and the position of the taper that is cut near one end. This view, however, is not a true sec- tion of the shell blank as it leaves the lathe, as the shell has been cut off in this drawing and a boss formed on the opposite end, both of which are done subsequently in another machine. In other words, it is simply the function of these attachments to re- duce the outside diameter of the blank and cut a taper. Some idea of the amount of metal that is re- moved may be gained from the weight of the three pieces of metal shown in section, which are respec- tively 283.8, 184.8 and 147.4 lb. In machining these blanks a set of distance pieces is placed in the shell blank and rests against the closed end of the blank. The mandrel is at- tached to the faceplate of the lathe by four bolts and the shell blank is slipped over this, the distance pieces referred to resting against the end of the mandrel and thus insuring accurate duplication of work. After the shell is in place on the mandrel a Mount tl Shells in the Lathe February 24, 1916 r wrench is inserted in the slots of the outer The movement of this sleeve causes the tool .ws placed in the slots in the sleeve to move he cam surface of the inner member of the mandrel until they bear tightly against the inner yrface of the shell blank. In this way the shell is ridly in place. To guard against the entrance and dirt which would interfere with the on of the mandrel, an end plate is secured to indrel by three screws. ter the shell has been placed on the mandrel, | carriage comes into use. This mounts four t predetermined distances on the shell. Two tools rest against the front of the blank and the other two, including the one that forms the bear against the back. All of the tools are lled in the customary manner from the front the lathe by the regular ball crank handle, lock eing provided to prevent an excessive motion tools toward the work. The two tools cutting rear of the blank, and particularly the one ed for producing the taper, have a means of tment at the back. The pairs of tools on either de of the blank are mounted in the carriage so the cutting point is exactly at the center line of the blank. The travel of the carriage along the ed is secured in the regular way by engaging the tudinal feed. ‘he cutting of the taper is controlled by a special racket which fits in the track provided on the back 20mm > rrr rrr rrr errr ere LLL LLL Ofy x 3mm € ~~ 347mm o--- y £ g § SOmm-4/7 E § (AS 6 ? 5 35 | “i e } -* Y: SIO OOOO. _— ZZ WZ CALL LLY Z / y T i E e & 6» & " Dan ; O Y ~ /9Smm : 219mm 8 Befor e and After Machining and the Finished Shell lathe for the standard taper attachment. It vill be noticed in the view of this bracket that the { ways or guides on the upper portion of the racket are tapered in the reverse direction to that ‘he finished taper in the shell. This is taken care the mechanism controlling the movement of taper cutting tool which derives its motion from Oler sliding between these guides. This motion ‘ magnified and reversed in direction by the mech- lism to secure the proper taper on the finished y W} y 4 Ne 'e the mandrel and the carriage were made the requirements of a particular lathe, it that they ean be adapted to any other | machine tool by such modifications as may sary to make them conform to the changer ns of the lathe or the method of securing attachment bracket in place, no changes in tial design being required. In the case of +a4 THE IRON AGE 47 on the mandrel, too, the changes needed to enable it to be used on other tools are matters of dimensions only rather than marked structural changes. THE CRUCIBLE SITUATION One Crucible Maker’s Experiences and Expecta- tions—Substituting for Foreign Clays The crucible manufacturers have been put to straits for the past eighteen months in securing their raw materials. First came the embargo on Ceylon plumbago. This was lifted after a few months, but the market was left in a depleted condition. Next came the exhaustion of the foreign clay used in crucible making as a binder. The clay as far back as crucible history in this country goes has come from the little principality of Klingenburg in the Black Forest in Bavaria, where, so the story goes, the entire Govern- ment expenses are paid out of the export duties col- lected from the clays shipped out. This Klingenburg clay has for years past been the only clay the crucible makers seemed to think they could satisfactorily use. No shipments of this clay have been made since the beginning of 1915. Some makers have husbanded the supplies of the foreign clay they had on hand when hostilities started. This has been done in part by substituting clays from various parts of the United States and mixing with the Klingenburg clay. One crucible maker says the tests and trials made in the past twelve months have been almost endless. It appears that it takes six to ten weeks to prepare a graphite crucible for service in the foundry. Mean- while, the chemical laboratory tests and trials must be made. Then must come the practical tests in a small way in the foundry before the crucible maker would dare to use up his supply of Ceylon plumbago, costing 17% to 25c. per pound. The bright side, however, is that in many cases the crucibles made with American clays have gone a sur- prisingly long time in the fires. In one case there is a report on a No. 300, which ran 40 heats on manganese bronze, and numerous cases as high as 38 and 40 heats on No. 100 crucibles melting car box metal. The annoyances now seem to be the ununiformity of the products secured. Crucibles made by the same potter out of similar materials and at the same time and burned in the same kiln, when run by one melter on the same grade of metals, show a wide variation. All this, it is held, will in time be rectified, as soon as the manufacturer has become more familiar with the mixing and blending of our native clays. The user, however, it is emphasized, must use more care in handling the American clay crucibles. It is imperative that they are thoroughly dry and warm before going into the fire, and that they are heated up very slowly on the initial heat. Some users make a little fire with charcoal inside the crucible, and others put hot ashes in, before placing the pot in the fire, so that the crucible is hot when it goes into the fire for the first heat. Ad- vantages are claimed for heating the crucible from the inside first rather than the outside. The advance in prices of crucibles is due to the present unusually high price of Ceylon plumbago; but as soon as the war insurances are a thing of the past plumbago, it is agreed, will be at a normal figure once more, and crucibles will again be marketed at as low or lower prices than they have been for many years past. The Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Company, Park Row Building, New York City, has prepared a circular for general distribution covering a water front property in Brooklyn for manufacturing sites. This is on Jamaica Bay in outlying Brooklyn and is served by an 18-ft. channel, which gives a water connection to the various railroad terminals at New York harbor. At the present time the National Lead Company has its Crooke works at this site and the Gulf Refining Company has a dis- tributing station and the Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Com- pany repair shops for its dredges and other equipment. “¢ The New Steel Works at Lowellville, Ohio Youngstown Iron & Steel Company Now Supplies Bars and Universal Sheet Mills and Nearly twenty-two years ago, or, to be exact, on Jan. 26, 1894, a small company known as the Youngs- town Iron & Steel Roofing Company was organized at Youngstown, Ohio, with a capital of $12,000 for the purpose of manufacturing and selling roofing, eaves trough and conductor pipe made from sheet steel. The company prospered from the start, and on Jan. 18, 1898, the capital stock was increased from $25,000 to $300,000, this increase of $275,000 having been made to provide funds for the erection of four hot sheet mills, one set of cold rolls and a galvanizing department containing one pot. Prior to this time, the company had been buying its sheets in the open market, but with the steady growth of its business it decided to manufacture them. On Jan. 8, 1910, the capital stock was further increased from $300,000 to $1,200,000, and on Nov. 8, follow- ing, the name of the corporation was changed to the Youngstown Iron & Steel Company. The number of hot sheet mills had in the meantime been in- creased to eight,'a plate mill and jobbing mill had been added, and, in fact, the entire plant had been Plates to Pressed Steel Its Nearby Department greatly increased in size and a more general line of products was being manufactured. At a special meeting of stockholders held April 29, 1914, the capital stock was increased from $1,200,000 to $3,000,000, divided into 22,000 shares of common stock and 8000 shares of preferred stock of a par value of $100, and an issue of bonds not to exceed $1,000,000 was authorized for the erec- tion of an open-hearth steel plant. The success attained by this company and the fact that at times, owing to unusual conditions, it was unable to obtain a prompt supply of steel and sometimes of the quality it desired, led officials of the company to believe that in order to round it out properly and carry on more successfully the manufacture of its different lines of products, its own steel plant was imperative. This would then assure a regular supply of steel of the quality desired. The site selected for the new open-hearth steel plant was at Lowellville, Ohio, about 344 miles from Haselton, where its present sheet mills and pressed steel works are located. The company made 4a Charging Floor of Open-Hearth Furnace s of Youngstown Iron & Steel Company, Lowellville, Ohio 476 February 24, 1916 ble contract with the Ohio Iron & Steel Com- perating Mary blast furnace at Lowellville, upply of hot metal to be used in its open- furnaces, which are only a few hundred feet he Mary furnace. The open-hearth plant and ist furnace are connected by a private rail- which the company built itself, and over which tal is carried in 40-ton ladles to the charging rm of the open-hearth furnaces. ‘The first n the building of the new plant was done 1914, and in one year afterward, or on , 1915, the first ingot was poured. e new plant, on which Julian Kennedy, Pitts was consulting engineer, comprises three open-hearth furnaces, 18 gas producers, a universal plate mill and a 30-in. bar mill. products consist of billets, slabs, universal and sheet bars, and the output of sheet bars is t close to 500 tons daily. The open-hearth de- irtment is located on the side of a hill and retain- walls were built at several points, these serving ible purpose, one forming a side for the coal! rage pit, while another will be used later for carrying the rails for a traveling crane to be in- stalled over the storage yard. The storage yard and harging platform are 18 ft. above the floor level the pouring floor and the duplex mill, and the gas producers are located 10 ft. above the storage rd and charging platform, so that the works have three different floor levels. The open-hearth building is 308 ft. long and 126 ft. wide, the charging floor being 66 ft. wide and the pouring aisle 60 ft. The entire building is of steel construction, sheeted with galvanized copper- iron alloy, and has a monitor type roof. The crane rails are 39 ft. above the floor level, and the height to the eaves line is 54 ft. The three open-hearth furnaces are located in the east end of the building, and the hot metal scales of the Fairbanks type in the southwest corner. The ladles after reaching the charging floor are nandled by a 60-ton Morgan charging crane. The en-hearth charger is also of the Morgan type, the scrap in charging boxes is brought from storage yards by two Brown hoisting machines, ed also for general yard service. The stock yard about 50 ft. wide and extending the length of the mill building, has an estimated capacity of 15,000 ns. It is intended later to install a 10-ton crane The dolomite and ferro- r storage yard service. THE IRON AGE 477 manganese are stored in a pit at the extreme east end of the building and are taken from the pit by the charging crane. The furnaces are provided with water-cooled burners designed by one of the foremen, and are fired by natural gas. It is in- tended later to install a producer plant. Provision has been made for increasing the number of fur naces east of No. 3 furnace. The pouring ladles are of 100 tons capacity, and are handled by a Morgan 150-ton crane of 55-ft span, and there is a 25-ton Morgan ingot crane, and of course electric jib cranes for handling the spouts. All ingots are bottom poured, the arrange ment of shown in the molds and a one of the accompanying illustrations. The steel is poured from a ladle into a central mold, from which it passes to the adjacent molds, 25 being poured at one time. The operation of ingot pouring is controlled by a workman stationed on the mov able platform, which is shifted from one set of ingot molds to another as the pouring is done. The soaking pit furnaces are contained in a building 72 ft. wide and 192 ft. long. They are of four-hole capacity and are commanded by a 10-ton Cleveland crane. A 24-ft. bay is built adjacent to the soaking pit building for the gas equipment. The soaking pits are now fired with natural gas, but later on it is intended to use producer gas. The plate and sheet bar mills are in a steel build ing 600 ft. long and 56 ft. wide, and adjoining this building on the north end is a 27-ft. bay, which con- tains motor and pump rooms, the muchine shop and a testing laboratory. The three-high 30-in. bar mill and the 24-in. universal plate mill, of which an il lustration is given, were built by the William Tod Company, Youngstown, Ohio. This department is commanded by a 25-ton Morgan crane. The mill is unusual in design and is intended to meet the requirements of a steel plant which desires to produce a wide range of products with a mini- mum amount of equipment, and with a minimum number of changes of rolls and interruptions in operation. It is essentially a duplex mill consisting of a one-stand three-high bar mill and a three-high universal plate mill, both driven from the same pin- ion housing, and so arranged that either mill may be used while the other is not in operation. The mill is provided with a common hot bed and receiv- ing and shear table, the shear being mounted on ways so that when operating the bar mill the snear movable platform being ‘ TTT LL Ingots Are Bottom Poured in the Open-Hearth Steel Plant of the Youngstown Iron & Steel Company is located at the runout table that mill, and when the universal mill is being operated, the shear serves the table from the universal mill. The bar mill is designed to reduce an ingot toa tin bar, which is finished separate stand or bullhead, so called. The universal mill is capable of rolling sheets or skelp up to 36 in. wide and 100 ft. long. The duplex arrangement is to delays due to break-down and necessary expense of repairs on Sunday or other times when a mill is not in operation, because it is possible to operat one mill when the other is idle, this being done by changing or shifting gears, an operation requiring but a few moments. There are, for example, no changes in guides or guide bars required in chang- trom in a opviate ing from slab ingots or standard ingots, the ingot car being diverted by means of a switch to tracks leading to the universal or the bar mill, as the case may be. Electric power is used. A General Electric 2000-hp. motor, operating at 2200 volts, takes cur- Cooling Bed, Which Takes from Bar Mill at the Left and Plate Mill at the Right THE IRON LLS AT AGE February 24, LOW™LLVILLE rent furnished by the Mahoning & Shenango Rail way & Light Company, this entering the plant 22,000 volts and stepped down by transformers. A 700-hp. motor-generator set in the motor room pr vides for other purposes. After passing the 24-in. bullhead rolls, the sheet bars are transferred to the cooling bed, the bars being sheared by a slab shear equipped with a 40-in knife and with a capacity for shearing at one stroke four *4 x 8-in This shear is mounted on truck and rails, being shifted from one side of the bed to another to accommodate the alternate opera tions of the universal and sheet bar mills, as stated The sheet bars drop into a water box for cooling, an the box is then lifted out of the pit by the crane, the scale is removed and the bars are then loaded into a shipping cradle. The gas producer plant comprises 18 producers 12 of which are for the open-hearth furnaces and si) for the soaking pits. They are of the Laughlin bars. February 24, 1916 THE IRON AGE + red type and are furnished with steam fron Stirling water-tube boilers. The producers aced on 16-ft. centers, with a total length of The 12 producers for the open-hearth fur are built in a continuous series with the : at the east end. A continuous pit for han- coal and ashes parallels the producers on the for the entire distance and extends to the This pit is commanded by a monorail, pro- | vith a 1's-yard grab bucket. The distance | the bottom of the pit to the monorail track is | 9 in. The gas producer house is constructed crete and steel. The monorail tracks pass | large storage pit at the west end of the | cers; and also extend to the six soaking pit | icers. These are located 178 ft. west of the hearth producer building. [wo Cameron 5-in. six-stage centrifugal pumps employed for furnishing water, rated to deliver 600 gal. per minute at 550-lb. pressure. This is d to be the first installation in this country of s type of pump of such large capacity. Each p is directly connected to a 300-hp. motor. All r, after being used, is filtered and returned to imping system. A Scaife filter system was led. The water is run through a lime tank large agitating tank. After sedimentation ean water is put into two 16,800-gal. tanks. filter house and tanks are located adjacent to producer boiler house. testing laboratory is located in the rolling Three-High Universal Plate Mill The Sheet Mills and Stamping Department at Haselton 480 mill annex and is unusually well equipped. A ma- chine for conducting physical tests is provided, to- gether with a small electric furnace, a tin bath and a gas annealing furnace. All the laboratory fur- naces are under pyrometric control. The chemical laboratory is located in the temporary office build- ing. The machine shop is equipped with two drill- ing machines, 42-in., 18-in. and 14-in. lathes and a shaper. The welfare and general interests of the em- ployees are carefully looked after. A first aid hos- pital is provided with facilities for taking care of minor injuries and also for giving first aid treat- ment in case of more serious accidents. The hos- pital is under the supervision of an attendant who also serves as safety director. THE HASELTON WORKS. The entire output of sheet bars, which will run close to 500 tons per day, is to be used by the com- pany in its sheet mills at Haselton. These com- prise eight sheet mills, a plate mill, a jobbing mill and expanded metal, metal lath, roofing and pressed steel departments. The plate mill is of 72-in. 3-high type, rolling plates up to 60-in. in width. It has a monthly capacity of about 5000 tons. The jobbing mill is 30 x 60 in., with 2-high finishing mills, and roughing rolls of the same size. On this mill sheets are rolled up to 54-in. wide and from 1/40 up to 3/16 in. in thickness. The galvanizing department is equipped with three roller galvanizing machines designed by the company’s own engineers. These handle sheets up to 54-in. in width and varying in thickness from 9/64 to 1/80 in. The other sheet mill equipment includes one hot mill 29 x 48 in., one 29 x 42-in., one 29 x 40-in., three 29 x 36-in., and two 29 x 32-in. mills. These sheet mills are provided with the usual equipment of roughing stands, sheet and pair fur- naces and roller levelers. There are four stands of cold mills, also four 4-box coal fired annealing fur- naces, two roller levelers for handling cold sheets and two hydraulic stretching machines. The pressed steel department was put in opera- tion on Nov. 8, 1905, with G. F. Danielson, general manager, who continues in that capacity. This de- partment has about 60 presses to turn out stamp- ings varying in weight from 50 pieces to a pound to single pieces weighing 500 Ib. The output con- sists very largely of specialties used in the agricul- tural implement and automobile industries. Elec- tric spot welders and acetylene gas outfits form a part of the equipment. Dies are made in the com- pany’s own tool room. The officers are John O. Pew, president and gen- eral manager; H. W. Heedy, first vice-president; C. A. Cochran, second vice-president and secretary; Mason Evans, treasurer; C. B. Cushwa, general superintendent, and C. F. Danielson, manager pressed steel department. These officers with C. D. Hine and L. B. McKelvey constitute the board of directors. Mr. Cushwa, who joined the Youngs- town Company in 1901, had been superintendent of rolling mills at the Republic works of the National Tube Company, Pittsburgh. Facilities are afforded by the mechanical division of the Mayor’s Bureau of Weights and Measures, 244 West Forty-ninth Street, New York, for testing and proving the pull per pound and percentage of stretch in air or in water disclosing the strength or weakness of paper. The laboratory at the address given is open from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. each business day, and written reports of tests are rendered to applicants without charge or fee for the service. Samples may be sent by mail. Joseph Hartigan is commissioner. THE IRON AGE February 24, 1: Hack Saw Machine for Large Round A heavy-duty power hack saw machine, designed ticularly for cutting round stock ranging from 6 ; diameter downward, has been placed on the marke: the Diamond Saw & Stamping Works, Buffalo, N Tight and loose pulley drive and an automatic lif; [at A Power Hack Saw Machine Designed for Use on the Large Rounds Employed in the Manufacture of Shrapnel the saw blade on the return stroke are incorporated in the machine, together with a somewhat peculiar type of construction and design which provide a cutting speed of between 50 and 55 strokes per minute. It is emphasized that this slow speed of operation adds to the life of the saw blade, which is important in view of the large amount of high-carbon and manganese steel rounds that are being cut at the present time. With a new blade and only the normal amount of weight on the frame, it is possible to cut 3%-in. round stock in between 3 and 4 min. A record of 32 cuts with one blade has been made on this size of round bar which had a high carbon and manganese content, the aver- age time required for each cut being 5% min. The automatic lift provided for the saw blade is relied upon to raise the blade positively on the return stroke at all times. The use of tight and loose pulleys in the drive, it is emphasized, does away with trouble sometimes encountered where a clutch is used for driving. Structural Business in January The records of the Bridge Builders and Structural Society, according to the statistics collected by George E. Gifford, its secretary, show that in January 69 per cent of the entire capacity of the bridge and structural shops of the country was put under contract. This is to be compared with 121 per cent for December and 109 per cent for November. The average for the last six months is 87% per cent, while that for the pre- ceding six months is 64 per cent. This shows that in the last six months over 35 per cent more tonnage was fabricated than in the preceding six months. From the Chicago structural market report of the issue of Feb. 17, it is noted that the average tonnage per job in the last six months was 115 tons against 175 tons for the half year preceding. This indicates that while there was about 35 per cent more work in tonnage contracted for the average job required only two-thirds as much steel per job, and thus there were about twice as many contracts signed. A machine for measuring yardage on the store counter and simultaneously indicating the total cost of the material measured is being made by the Measure- graph Company, which was incorporated in Missour! March 1, 1914. Recently the company took new quar- ters at 2109 Olive Street, St. Louis. The Manufacture of Washed Metal’ A Description of the Process at the Brier Hill Steel Company—The Chemistry Involved and the Theory of the Removal of the Metalloids process of making washed metal now fol- s in principle that described by Holley before stitute in 1879, as the Krupp washing process. Sir Lowthian Bell also experimented extensively in nd during 1877 and 1878 on refining iron and his interest with Krupp, the process being referred to as the Bell-Krupp process. The ly plant in this country now operating this process hat of the Brier Hill Steel Company, Youngs- . Ohio. This process may be considered as the e survivor of the numerous methods conceived for refining crude iron, when the removal of phosphorus from steel-making material was the great desidera- affecting large districts. The east coast of England and all northern Ger- iron, except the carbon, are eliminated and the iron is maintained molten until cast. In puddling, the iron loses its carbon as well, and because of that, its fusion point rises above the hearth temperature; it freezes into a pasty malleable form, and is worked at once by squeezer, hammer, or rolls. Since Holley’s paper, important improvements have been made from time to time in both plants and methods for washing iron, and the degree of purifi- cation attained is far greater than Krupp accom- plished, particularly as to phosphorus, though Bell’s results approximated those of the present practice. The costs have been diminished as well. The use of washed metal is limited. It is in re- quest now only as an exceedingly pure iron and is , the homes of Bell and Krupp, respectively, used, first, in acid steel processes, solely for the : Dock Track est levator and hihtiry Guides Scale Bear, f T oat T i ae oer a q TJ <—— 1, I I I I down / forgiving ————— «sao urnace-- ’ May) cnill Chill ] Chill —| Car Pit | | Pit Checker a | Tilting ff i! I i! Casting, ‘Machine\ i A I | <—— I 20 30 04«640)~—Sss«50’s«/OD Stack Oo Washed Metal Plant of the Brier iid at that time make steel only from imported res. These processes were in use or in various tages of development forty years ago and all ex- ept the Bell-Krupp received their quietus from the development of the basic steel processes, both pneu- and open-hearth. The aim of the early refin- . processes was, first, the removal of the silicon, hn could be done on a sand bottom, and later, emoval of the phosphorus, requiring a bottom would give or permit a basic slag. The inci- advantages of increased yield and small fuel imption were not generally recognized or con- |; the aim of the later operations was the of the difference in value between low and hosphorus irons, as well as hastening the re- f the metalloids. chemistry of the washing process follc.vs in at of the puddling process, and indeed wash- ght be considered as the first half of pud- nce all the non-ferrous elements of the crude 1 two-part paper presented by Henry D. Hibbard, N. J., and Edward L. Ford, Youngstown, Ohio, be- erican Institute of Mining Engineers, New York, Chamber-¥ 4 j ‘Checker Chamber Outline of . Second Floor+ Hill Steel Company, Reservolr--%,-4-------- Your gstow! , Ohio reason of its purity, as in open-hearth and Bessemer steels of high grade; and, second, because of its high carbon contents (3.25 to 3.50 per cent) as well as purity, as a carburizer in crucible steel. BRIER HILL WASHING PLANT The washing plant of the Brier Hill Steel Com- pany is placed near one of its blast furnaces, which supplies it with molten crude iron. It consists briefly of a reservoir, a Pernot furnace, a reheat- ing furnace and a casting machine. The reservoir is about 100 ft. or more from the blast furnace, a runner in the floor of the cast house conducting the stream of molten crude iron to it from the furnace. It has a brick lining 18 in. thick, is of 50 tons capacity, and is mounted on top of the ram of a vertical hydraulic cylinder, which straddles a 100-ton weighing scales. It is provided with mechanism for tilting to pour the metal. Fifty tons of iron make four washed-metal charges, which take about 1 hr. each to work, and, since the blast furnace is tapped every 4 hr., the reservoir provides a continuous supply of iron to the washing plant. 481 482 The reservoir receives iron when at its lowest posi- tion, is raised by the hydraulic plunger about 15 ft., and discharges to a short open runner which con- ducts the molten crude iron to the Pernot furnace. fron has been held molten in the reservoir 48 hr. with the help of a small oil jet, and then washed without difficulty. The Pernot furnace in which the washing is done differs in many details from the Pernot furnaces which have been described. In fact, nothing of the original furnace remains and hardly any of the de- tails of the original design, though the general plan is the same. The changes made have resulted in greater durability and efficiency, but even now, the cost of repairs is an important item in spite of the relatively low temperature of the operation. The pan, as the circular hearth is termed, was originally designed to revolve on wheels, but now runs on conical rollers, which are kept spaced by a spider. The rollers travel on a circular track below the pan, turning in the same direction as the hearth, but at half the speed. On the bottom of the pan circular track on which it travels over the The pan driven a bevel pinion en- gaging a gear on the bottom of the pan. The pan lining is so thin (8 in.) that water is continuously sprayed upon the bottom, from underneath, to keep if cool. In the operating door on the charging side and above the is an opening with which the crude-iron runner the reservoir is connected and through which the molten iron is charged into the furnace. In the side of the pan near the bottom is a tap hole and the top a slag notch. A hole through the fur- nace roof connects with an ore chute through which the « shot for éettling the hearth after each charge has been drawn off. One circular gas producer supplies IS a rollers. is by superstructure, at one side of the single pan, from 17 neal re is gas for the use of the furnace. The ability of a single producer THE IRON AGE February 24, to run this plant depends on the fact that the used contains only about 1.5 per cent ash, wit to 46 per cent of volatile matter, and will not under any circumstances. This makes it pos to carry a fire 8 ft. or more deep, and drive high rate with a steam injector for the sir, wit having above 2 per cent CO, in the gas. This in earlier days was used raw in the blast fur of the neighborhood without other fuel for ma] pig iron and is in this respect like the Scotch c A section of the floor, 10 by 10 ft., on the ch; ing side of the furnace, is arranged to be lowe; which is done after each heat is run out, prov a place for the men to stand to repair the tap | and cinder notch, the pan being revolved so { these openings are on the high side. After a heat has been run out, the furnace js drained; any holes in the hearth are puddled out and filled with iron ore, and the fettling, consist of dampened ore, is run down in successive batches Holdi Washed Metal While Casting in the Machine o1 through the roof, the hearth being revolved a little at each dose, so that the bank of fettling is continu- ous around the hearth. The gate of the ore chute above is controlled by the melter from the working platform by means of overhead levers. While the banks are thus being built up, the bottom is cov- ered with ore thrown by the shovelful through the operating door. The ore used for bottom making and fettling is high-grade specular hematite, into from the size of a hen’s egg down, with enough fine ore to make a compact mass a broken pieces without voids. Between 20 and 30 min. are con sumed in repairing the bottom and fettling. Th tap hole and cinder notch are cleaned out plugged with sand. The firing is then resumed to heat and set fix, the reservoir is raised, and 12 tons of iron }s run into the pan, which is then started revolvi A reaction immediately takes place between te oxygen of the ore and the silicon, phosphorus 4 February 24, 1916 inese of the iron, the bulk of these elements eliminated in a few minutes, by passing into ag which is formed. The small percentage of which goes off during the operation (3 to 5 nt) makes enough CO gas to give a vigorous ¢ action, throwing jets of slag 3 to 5 in. above ith at first when the temperature of the bath atest. out 15 min. after the crude iron has been ed the slag is made to run off through the slag This slag contains most of the oxidized sili- hosphorus and manganese from the crude iron, erhaps a quarter of the sulphur. A second then formed by additions of lime, which, . the ore melted from the fettling, takes up of the phosphorus and sulphur of the iron. e slags are rich in iron and are therefore ted afterward in the blast furnaces for making pig. ests are taken from time to time, averaging THE IRON e AGE { The metal runs from the furnace fairly well, but looks cool, almost of an orange temperature, per- haps not over 1250 deg. C. It gives off copious brown fumes, as well as scintillating sparks and CO gas, which burns, the whole making a brilliant effect and, when viewed from a distance, gives one the impression that the hotter really is. metal is than it CASTING THE METAI For casting the metal two means are provided: The one generally used when the product is for domestic consumption is a broad shallow cast-iron pan on a car, which runs on a track leading from the Pernot furnace the center of the cast house. The charge is run out into this pan, where it forms a single plate from 4 to 6 in. thick, and the car is then drawn away from the furnace to Water from a hose is played upon this plate few minutes, while hot, to down cool. for a loosen any slag Se se i. Py el eal Be Storage ; five to a heat, to determine the degree of sphorization. The test is a circular cake about n diameter and 1.25 in. thick in the center, thinner at the edges. This cake is broken The test contains a myriad of small es and has a faint crystalline or columnar ture normal to the bottom surface. The lower sphorus, the larger the bubbles and the the crystalline structure mentioned. With w phosphorus, bubbles as large as 1/16 in. neter may be found within 1 in. of the lower with smaller ones still lower and larger 1; in. in diameter near the upper sur- eces + whole washing operation takes about an ne most of this time being consumed in se- the extremely low phosphorus content re- When ready for casting, the tap hole is to the proper position on the pit side of the - and is then dug open by means of a hand Yard for Washed Metal at the Brie! i Ne eae Hill Steel Company, Youngstown, O which may come out after the metal and is not trapped off while casting. When the cake of metal is cool enough to be moved without breaking, but is still red hot, it is lifted from the car with a crane and put in a pit. Water is then turned on and it is flooded until cold enough to handle, when it is broken up into one-man size chunks, either with a sledge or by a traveling breaker. This is not difficult, because the water cooling has filled it with cracks, which go clear through the plate. These cracks seem to have no system, except that they are always at right angles to the upper and lower sur faces of the plates, leaving the pieces very irregular in outline. The other casting method, usually employed for export orders, is to run the washed metal without the slag, into a 12-ton tilting, oil-fired regenerative furnace, located at a lower level, where it is held about 15 min., heated, and poured directly into the molds of an endless-chain casting machine, which moves at the rate of about 15 ft. per minute. The ~~) ee ee ee a 3 “a> 484 THE IRON joints between the tilting hearth and the stationary ends of the reheating furnace are packed with as- bestos, which closes them tightly and will endure the moderate temperature, say 1350 deg. C., fairly well. The metal is a little hotter than when it left the Pernot furnace, but is still of an orange heat. In the molds the metal is puffed up by gases being evolved, but settles more solidly soon after being cast, leaving a fin standing up all around each pig. For casting into this form, an extra charge is made. The yield of washed metal is about the same as the weight of the original crude iron charged. CHEMISTRY OF THE WASHING PROCESS The crude iron contains: Silicon, 1 to 1.25 per cent; sulphur, 0.02 to 0.03 per cent, and phosphorus, 0.090 to 0.10 per cent. All of the silicon and man- ganese, 90 to 95 per cent of the phosphorus, and 530 per cent of the sulphur are eliminated. The silicon and manganese with 75 to 80 per cent of the phosphorus leave the iron in 10 min. and 30 per cent of the sulphur in 15 min. The silicon, man- ganese and phosphorus are removed by oxidation, while the sulphur seems to be eliminated by liqua- tion, the sulphide of iron getting into the slag me- chanically without oxidation. At certain high tem- peratures, the affinity of sulphur for oxygen seems to be weaker than its affinity for iron. The slag takes sulphide of iron from the metal until equi- librium is established between the proportions of sulphide in the two, when no more will pass. When a second slag is formed, some of the sulphide will enter that, making the elimination from the metal more complete. Should the slag have too much sul- phide, as has happened when some blast-furnace slag got in with the crude iron, some of the sul- phide will pass from the slag into the metal, and in that way establish the equilibrium. Individual heats of washed metal have been made having as little as 0.002 and even 0.001 per cent of phosphorus, and it has been furnished on specification of 0.006 phosphorus and under. When iron heavily charged with carbon, like washed metal, lies molten in contact with molten oxide of iron, there will be, if the heat is high enough, a con- tinuous oxidation of carbon to CO until the tem- perature falls to a certain degree, when the action will cease. That reaction is endothermic and the consumption of heat automatically brings the tem- perature down to that point. This temperature has not been determined, but there is ground for sus- pecting it to be near 1300 deg. C. ANALYSES OF METALS AND SLAGS Typical analyses of crude irons with washed metals and slags therefrom are given below: The Metals Pig Iron Per Cent Washed Metal Per Cent Silicon ‘ 1.2 none Phosphorus 0.09 0.010 Sulphur .. 0.020 0.015 Manganese none Combined carbor 2.40 S