The Iron Age 1916-05-11: Vol 97 Iss 19

BLISHED 1855 HE automobile business, it is believed, has been T responsible for many advances in foundry practice. With the advent of the automobile came a demand for absolute accuracy in castings and for a homogeneous metal which would give tight cvlinders, jackets, etc., and further a metal which would not crack when subjected to repeated shocks This article is confined to certain phases of the core problem. In the larger automobile casting foundries many intricate cores have to be handled every day. After these cores are made and baked they have to be embled and pasted together and then rebaked to iry the paste. In some cases part or all of the s made of dry sand in the form of a core, and rammed-up cores increase the work in the core irtment. The tonnage of sand handled in a plant, both in bulk and as cores, introduces is handling problems, and in order to facili- this work it is necessary to reduce labor to the test possible extent. With these points in mind, a new core room has ntly been laid out and put into service at the of the Wilson Foundry & Machine Company. ] New York, May II. 1916 New Expeditious Method of Baking Cores Under-Floor Firing Pits with Pits Under Air Pressure—Rack - Type Ovens Employed to Reduce Handling Pontiac, Mich., which is making the entire output f gray-iron castings required by the mammoth plant of the Willys-Overland Company at Toledo, Ohio. The object, of course, was to produce the greatest possible output of cores in the smalles possible floor space. The majority of the cores in this foundry are baked in what are known as rack-type ovens, de signed and built by the H. M. Lane Company, De troit, Mich. In Fig. 1 three double batteries of these ovens are shown. There are ten ovens in eac! Fig. 1—Three Batteries of Forced-Draft-Fired Rack-Type Core O battery, arranged in two groups of five each place back to back. In Fig. 2 an interi: ew of on of the ovens is shown with one of the racks in place, and in Fig. 3 the electric-lift truck is shown int: ducing the second rack into the ove: Each is made of sufficient size to accommodate two ra In practice these racks are set down next to the core maker’s bench, and the core maker puts the green cores upon the rack. The truck then pick up the rack and places it in the en, where tl cores are baked. After baking, the racks of |} cores are withdrawn and set on the ling floor and other racks ire substituted for then T) or a | ovens are always kept closed whether empty or full, to conserve heat, the doors being opened only at the time cores are being placed in or removed from the oven. The ovens are of the forced-draft type, and are arranged with auxiliary air in accordance with the Lane patent methods. In this case the fire boxes are all sunk beneath the regular foundry floor, and the firing pits are entered through which may be seen in Fig. 1, to the left of each battery of ovens. The entire fire pit is under air pressure, and dampers are pro vided for control- ling both the forced draft in the fire pit and the auxiliary air used to temper the products of combustion to the desired volume and temperature. The doors are insulated with cellular in- sulating material, are counter bal- anced, and provid- ed with locking cams, which hold them in place when closed. In these ovens the heat en- ters at the back, and is taken out through dampers at the front. ladderways Some of the ad- Fig Electric Lift THE IRON AGE May 11, 19 vantages claimed for having the fire box b: the floor are: The only interference with r: lar foundry operations arises from the that there must be a manhole through w coke can be dumped into the coke bin a: ladderway for reaching the pit; all the res’ the foundry space is available. Ovens of | type have been in use for more than two ye: and have proved their success. Fig. 6 shows a group of core racks, also a hand-lift truck which is used for shi ing racks from place to place when the elect lift truck is not immediately available. [y this view the electric truck is also shown the act of backing under one of the rac The Lane Company, it is understood, has pat ent applications in covering various features in connection with the racks and their use for drying cores. The racks are also arranged s they can be picked up by a trolley and take: to the foundry as required. Practically all of the storage of cores in th: Wilson Foundry is on racks. This system has been found to be more flexible than the in stallation of permanent shelving and also does away with the handling of cores. The core is placed in position by the core maker and is not removed until it is to be inspected and sent to the foundry, or until it is required by the man pasting up groups of cores. In this plant there are also two batteries of drawer-type ovens. These were installed by the H. M. Lane Company, and one of them is shown in Fig. 5. This is an all-metal type of oven. The battery shown in the illustration was used in the old plant for more than a year before it was removed to its present location. Be hind this battery there is also a battery of brick ovens of the drawer type, a corner of which is shown in Fig. 4. The lifting mechanism shown is interesting on account of the fact that it is a retur: to a simple type. In all of these ovens the outlet dampers are controlled by rods which extend to the front of the ovens. This places the entire contro 11, 1916 THE IRON AGE 1e ovens immediately under the operator’s Some years ago the time dials, shown on front of these ovens, and particularly nly in Fig. 4, were adopted. When used in nection with drawer ovens, where there is ittendant constantly in front of the draw- these time dials have been found very suc- ful. When used in connection with the type ovens, where one man has charge of baking in 30 ovens, it has been found possible to depend on the time dials, on ac- int of the fact that when no one is looking ie of the foreign labor are likely to move pointer, just to see what will happen if y do it, and thus destroy the record. For s reason the man in charge of the rack-type ns has gone back to the old-fashioned piece halk to record baking time. The oven with forced draft and auxiliary supply has been found more satisfactory in ng uniform drying, Mr. Lane says, than be obtained from direct-fired natural-draft ens. One fact, he emphasizes, must not be sight of, and that is that an oven is a hine doing work. The work may be di- ed into two parts. First, there is a large unt of water to be evaporated and carried and second, there is a certain amount of ler to be baked and hardened. The moist- must travel through the oven from the nt where the heat strikes the first cores to the outlet, and as a consequence the cores that are nearest to the outlet must have all of the isture from the other cores swept past them. The result is that in an oven where the products of mbustion are taken out at the bottom the moist- re will naturally drop toward the bottom and cause wer baking in the lower part of the oven. With reed draft and auxiliary air, the incoming heat in be tempered so that it will not injure the cores the top of the oven, and the rapid circulation Fig. 5 Eight All-metal Drawer Type Ovens a ge te EE eR troubled the crucible maké1 on which their hopes and efforts have been wrecked sut at last the sky is clearing, manufacturer. es quick drying in the points nearest the outlet. Care of Crucibles ; vel a trie rari quantities, is what na This, In fact, is the rock a prominent cruci more satisfactory ort ise better result in the foundry will be had ind longe! lived rucibles will re lif It rest howeve vith the user, in a measure to improve the present unfortunate state affairs, and this can be done in the fol lowing ways Greater care mu be yiven in annea ing’; more time must be consumed, after the crucible is ré ceived, before it put into service; and smaller crucible must be used than those which the foundry has been in the habit of using In the past all bra rollers, crucible stee! makers and jobbing shop thought noth ing of having six month oO a year’s stock of er icible ahead of their want seasoning and a ing But now t} Ga ew crue ible i nut nto immediate use 1130 The native clays now being put to use have made the crucible more frail and tender than were those made from foreign clays, more likely to crack on sud- den heating or cooling. Therefore, more than ordinary care must be used by the melters in the handling of American clay-made crucibles. They should not be cooled down too rapidly, nor should the heating up be done too quickly. It is a good plan to return the crucible while it is still hot, after the day’s work is done, to the furnace, from which, of course, the coal has been dumped. By doing this the strain in the cooling will not be so severe and the crucible will not crack so early in its life. The smaller the crucible is the greater are the number of heats that can be secured. Therefore, if a crucible of a size or two smaller than what is generally used is adopted, better values and less disappointments will be the result. For instance, if a foundry has been using a 400-lb. pot, let it adopt a 300 or a 225-lb. pot, or in a shop where 60 Ib. is the rule, let it be a 45 or a 50-lb. In this way, both caster and crucible maker will be relieved of the hundreds of annoyances and complaints that for the last few months have made their bed anything but one of roses. New Koppers Coke-Oven Contracts The H. Koppers Company, First National Bank Suilding, Pittsburgh, has recently received contracts for the building of 640 by-product cross regenerative coke ovens of 12% tons coal capacity for the Carnegie Steel Company at Clairton, Pa. This plant will be built in 10 blocks of 64 ovens each, and it is intended later to add a similar plant of 640 ovens. The output will be about 7500 tons of coke per day, which will come close to supplying coke for the Carnegie Company’s seven Carrie furnaces, three Clairton furnaces and six Duquesne stacks. These ovens will also furnish about 85,000,000 cu. ft. of surplus gas per day, which will be used in the company’s mills at Duquesne, Clairton and Homestead. The Koppers Company has also received an order from the National Tube Company for 208 by product ovens at Lorain, Ohio, to be built in four blocks of 52 ovens each. They will turn out about 2200 tons of coke per day, or nearly enough to serve the blast furnaces at Lorain, and also about 22,000,000 cu. ft. of surplus gas per day, which will be used in the stee! plant. The Koppers Company has also an order from the American Steel & Wire Company for 180 Koppers by-product ovens to be built at Cleveland, Ohio, in four batteries of 45 ovens each. These ovens will turn out about 2000 tons of coke per day, to be ised by the THE IRON AGE May 11, 1 1 Truck and Electric Lift Truck blast furnaces, and also about 20,000,000 cu. ft. of surplus gas per day, which will be used in the com- pany’s local mills. The erection of the ovens at Clair- ton, Cleveland and Lorain was started some time ago, but the contracts with the Koppers Company were not signed until recently. The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, Pueblo, Col., has placed a contract with the Koppers Company for 120 by-product coke ovens, consisting of two batteries of 60 ovens each. They will turn out about 1350 tons of coke per day and 12,000,000 cu. ft. of surplus gas. The Koppers Company has completed for the To- ledo Furnace Company, Toledo, Ohio, 94 by-product coke ovens, built in two blocks of 47 each. Contract for these ovens was signed June 1, 1915, and they were completed May 1, 1916, or in 11 months, this being the quickest by-product coke-oven construction ever done in America. They will hold 12% tons of coal per charge, and will turn out about 1100 tons of coke and about 11,000,000 cu. ft. of surplus gas per day. The Camden Coke Company, Camden, N. J., through the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, has started work on a benzol plant being erected by the Koppers Company, and work has also been started on a Koppers by-product coke-oven plant for the Seaboard By-Product Coke Oven Company, to be built on the Jersey Meadows, near Jersey City. These ovens will turn out about 11,000 tons of coke per day and also 11,000,000 cu. ft. of surplus gas, the coke and gas hav- ing been sold for a period of 25 years to the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, the gas to be used for domestic lighting and heating. The new plant of 204 Koppers by-product coke ovens under erection for some months for the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, Youngstown, Ohio, is nearly completed, and is expected to be ready for making coke about July 1, or shortly after. It will turn out about 2000 tons of coke per day, and close to 25,000,000 cu. ft. of surplus gas, which will be used by the company in its steel works and finishing mills at East Youngs- town, Foreign Specifications for Railroad Material Specifications for railroad material—rails, axles, wheels and tires—used in several European countries are given in full, together with a digest and discussion, in Technological Paper No. 61, just issued by the U. 5 Bureau of Standards in connection with its investiga- tion of failures of railroad material. Available data concerning the types and weights of foreign railroad equipment, together with those concerning derailments and accidents abroad, are included. Vater Intake Screens for Mill Power Plant The Chain Belt Company Installs a Traveling Type of Self-Cleaning Device at Cleveland for Removing Debris and Floating Material S a part of the construction of its steel plant A and two additional blast furnaces, Corrigan, 4 McKinney & Co., Cleveland, Ohio, are install- , in the pumping station which will supply all of water to the power house for their mills and furnaces two traveling self-cleaning intake water reens. The screens were built by the Chain Belt ‘ompany, Milwaukee, Wis., and are of a type riginally designed for installation at the North- west Power Station of the Commonwealth Edison Company, Chicago, and since duplicated in other power stations in Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee. A view of the Commonwealth Edison Company in- stallation is shown in one of the accompanying il- ustrations, while a single screen unit is shown in the smaller cut. At the Corrigan-McKinney plant the pump for which the water is screened will han- dle 50,000 gal. per minute, drawn from the Cuya- oga River, water carrying solids that would necessitate frequent removal of stationary screens for cleaning, and of a character likely to be ruin- sus to boilers and condensers unless thoroughly screened. It is the necessity of cleaning the screens which reveals the limitations of the commonly used sta- While the placing of two, and fre- tionary type. detriment of the power plant equipment. The labor cost of changing screens where dirty water is han- dled also runs up in a manner to render the low in- stallation cost of stationary screens much less im- pressive. These screens are built in units as indicated. The machines consist essentially of wire screening baskets, 5 ft. 3 in. x 1 ft. 54% in., and made of No. 12 copper wire meshed at °¢-in. centers, mounted on two strands of steel chain belt of 18-in. pitch. The baskets are stiffened with a galvanized steel frame bolted together with sherardized bolts. These chain belts and screens form a continuous screening apron which passes over 36-in. semi-steel sprocket wheels at top and bottom, the sprockets being car- ried on 3-in. cold rolled shafts mounted in a struc- tural steel supporting frame. There are lips on the baskets, and as this screening apron moves through the water slowly and in an upward direc- tion it carries with it particles screened from the water. After turning over the head sprockets these particles are deposited in a trough from which they are flushed into the river on the down stream side. The cleaning of the screen baskets after they pass over the head sprockets is effected by having a spray pipe running back of the screen baskets which en- ng Self-Cleaning Screens Which Remove Floating Matter and Debris from the Water Supply to the Power Station of the Commonwealth ently three, stationary screens in series in an in- xe makes it possible to remove them for cleaning, ¢ at a time, without stopping the pumps, yet it the common experience that the removal of the eens results in the dislodging of some of the imulated solid material which, particularly in ase of the last screen, is then carried by to the 1131 Edison Company, Chicago ables a continuous spray of water to pass through the screens from the back to the front, thus carry- ing away the particles which would naturally adhere to the screens. Each unit is driven by a 5-hp. motor from the head end with a chain and sprocket wheel drive. In the majority of installations these screens have been THE One of the Traveli ig Water Screenil | Chain Belt Compar placed on an incline, as shown on the cut, but there are several units which have been built in a vertical position and which are found to operate with satis- faction. Plaster of Paris for Patterns Discussing plaster of Paris for patterns, J. R. Moor- house, in a paper before the Lancashire branch of the British Foundrymen’s Association, referred to the use of this material in place of wood. The author showed how a worm pattern could be ‘turned out in plaster by a lathe in a very short time and also how the teeth of the worm wheel could be cast in plaster so as to be truer than when made in wood. He pointed out how, when the drawings come to the pattern-maker from the drawing room, immediate pressure is put upon the pat- tern shop to give quick results which is often impossible with wooden patterns, some of which mean two, three or even five days’ work. He ‘admitted that for certain classes of work wood is still the only material, but there are many occasions when plaster could be both time and cost of material. The use of plaster is not new, but many still deny its advatitages. Mr. Moorhouse advised great care in ascertaining the exact character of the plaster by mix- ing samples and noting the characteristi¢s and the time required for setting. Many disappointments re- sult in its use this respect. Some experience also is needed in manipulating, es- pecially on strickle work, when once the plaster begins to set it can not be dealt with except at the risk of impairing the strength of the pattern. Temperature of the room has something to do with the matter, but as a rule it is right to sprinkle the plaster lightly and quickly over the surface of the water until it begins to settle. Then the plaster and water should be mixed thoroughly with the hand until they are of the con- sistency of cream. For strickle work the first coat has to be a trifle thicker and the finishing coat thir used, saving because of ignorance in for IRON AGE May 11, | STEEL IN WROUGHT-IRON PIP A New and Quick Etching Test Detection for An etching test has been developed by the A Byers Company, Pittsburgh, manufacturer wrought-iron pipe, as an aid in detecting the p ence of steel in pipe sold as wrought iron. VW this test may be used in detecting steel in an) the commercial shapes of wrought iron, it is ; ticularly suitable for the investigation of pipe The detection of steel by means of etching w picric acid and a microscopic examination requires the preparation of a metallographic specimen and is a tedious operation involving considerable time and the exercise of great care. Even when the wrought iron contains a large percentage of steel the stee! contents may often be missed, as there is nothing to indicate where the metallographic specime: should be prepared for microscopic examination. The etching test here described eliminates this uncertainty. It is not in itself conclusive as to the presence of steel, but by showing up the areas most likely to contain steel it eliminates the necessity for further search and enables the investigator to pro- ceed at once with the more elaborate preparation of the specimen for microscopic examination. Three or four sample rings 2 or 3 in. in length are cut from different pieces of pipe or from differ ent points on the same length of pipe. The rings are submerged, one at a time, in a solution consist- ing (by volume) of Per Cent chloric acid, c. p., 1.19 sp Sulphuric acid, c. p., 1.84 sp After being left in the solution about one minute the samples are rinsed in céld water and then with alcohol. Both ends of each sample should then be i —— The “Flat” is the Place Filed on Indicated by of the Pil Dotted Line the Surface the White 11, 1916 nined to discover bright streaks, which are an ation of steel in the metal. As a rule, an ex- nation of the surface of the metal will not show _ as steel scrap is usually inserted in the middle rs of the fagot to prevent it from coming to the face of the finished pipe. If no suspicious look- streaks are found in the first ring etched addi- al rings are tried. Three or four will usually eal the steel scrap, especially if rings cut from ferent pieces of pipe are available. A “flat” or smooth surface is filed on the outside the ring suspected of containing steel, as shown the white line on Fig. 1, where the steel, accord- to the end indications, is most likely to be ind. Filing is stopped when the suspected steel nd or bands are half filed away or when their iximum surface is exposed. It is not necessary Bands in (Left) Prominent White Etching Method. Three Fig 2 Are to polish the surface to be examined. The flat is ow etched in the same manner as the ends, keep- ing the sample in solution one minute, or as much longer as is necessary to bring out the steel bands n strongest relief, as shown in Fig. 2. If it is de- sired to keep the etched surface from fading, it is overed with white shellac or some other non-acid coating. Fig. 3 shows a sample of wrought-iron pipe giving no sign of steel under test by this method. If any doubt exists as to the bright streaks shown on the etched surface being steel, the surface s polished to the highest possible mirror finish, free from scratches, etched with a 5 per cent solution of picriec acid and alcohol and examined by means of the microscope. Summarized, the advantages obtained by the use f this test are these: It eliminates much of the incertainty incident to the use of the picric acid test alone; it saves time in the preparation of the test specimens and in the examination of the etched surface, and it requires only easily obtained mate- als and no special technique. Seeking for More Ore in Wisconsin W. O. Hotchkiss, State geologist, in a series of ad- esses on “The Undiscovered Iron Ores of Northern Visconsin,” now being delivered in various parts of State, indicates that drilling for iron ore on an ‘tensive scale will start in Douglas, Sawyer, Wash- irn and Bayfield counties within a short time. Surveys ve produced unmistakable signs of rich ore fields. lr. Hotchkiss said the magnetic action during the sur- ys was almost the same as in the ore fields of Michi- Because the glacial flow was greater in Wis- sin, the strata covering the deposits are much ‘ker and there are not so many surface indications in Michigan. THE IRON Streaks of Fig. 3 (Right) Is Pipe in Which Ste« AGE Snyder Electric Furnaces in England W. K. Booth, vice-president Snyder Electric Fu nace Company, 53 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, has just returned from England. While there he de signed and built several Snyder electric furnaces for making ferrosilicon. These furnaces are what is known as the company’s FAT type, in which it has succeeded in making silicon 97% per cent pure. Four of these furnaces are being built and installed at the present time, using a total of 1800 kw. of power input. The installation is being made in a plant which was entirely remodeled and put in operation in a period of fou months. This plant is equipped with a very complete chemical laboratory. Considering the conditions in England the work was done in a ably short time. In addition to the above installations started, and had well under way before present labor remark Mr. his Booth return, Steel Revealed Wrought-lIron Pipe } the i Was Found After the Same Treatment two furnaces, each capable of melting 12 tons of steel in 24 hr., for Thwaite Brothers, Bradford. These have basic linings and were to be in operation about May 1. A third basic furnace, of the same size, was sold to Thomas Summerson & Sons, Darlington This furnace will be in operation about June 1. Anothe1 furnace, sold to the Daimler Motor Car Company, to be used for the making of automobile cylinders of gray iron, was to be in operation about May 1 A special type of furnace, capable of turning out steel in 24 hr., was sold to the National Steel Foundry Company, Leven, Fife, Scotland. This furnace will be in operation about June 1. The furnaces sold to the two companies last named are of the Snyder special doorless type, which has proved so satisfactory in this country. One of the interesting points in connection with the installation in the plant of the Nationa! Steel Foundry Company is that the managing director of that com pany, Mr. Lake, is also managing director of the Lake & Elliott Company, Braintree, the first in England to install an electric furnace for steel casting work. Within the next few months the Snyder Electric Furnace Company will have in operation in England at least nine electric furnaces, which is a very good showing, considering that this done within year. 5 tons of basic was one The Arkansas manganese field has been the scene of considerable activity the past few months as a result of the rapid advance in the price of ferromanganese. The deposit is being worked rather crudely because of the lack of concentrating machinery, but the ore which promises results from better treatment is held for future milling. About ten cars per week are being shipped, mostly of high grade ore, going as high as 60 per cent in manganese. The area of the field is about 200 square miles but discoveries are continually extend- ing it. The heaviest production is in the vicinity of Batesville, Cushman and Pfeiffer. being Germany’s Position in the Steel Industry Districts in Which the Development Has Been Greatest—The Raw Material Situa- tion—Competition with the United States anne —_— — BY H. H. In THE IRON AGE for July 15 and July 22, 1915, the writer reviewed the steel industry of Germany and described two manufacturing districts which it was then thought might change ownership after the war. At that time it seemed quite probable that the victor would demand extensive territorial in- demnities, and it was and still is interesting to con- sider what the effect would be on the steel industry of the world if France should annex Lorraine or Germany retain the territory she now occupies. But as the war progresses it becomes plain that the transfer of territory has fallen to a minor issue. It is true that Italy wishes to gain control of lands to which she has no right, and which she would be quite incapable of governing or developing; but the greater powers to-day would willingly make peace, leaving geographical boundaries unchanged, if larger problems could be settled that involve polit- ical, military, financial, economic and social read- justments. For the sake of argument, therefore, it will be assumed that the final treaty of peace will leave political boundaries as they were before the war, and we will try to find out what the chief fac- tors will be in the struggle that Germany will make to capture the steel markets of the world. POLAND It would be rash to say that there will be no change in the administration of Poland; but we are not profoundly interested in that province, for it was pointed out in the articles just mentioned that this district has no future. The fuel is poor and iron ore must be brought from Hungary, or through almost prohibitive distances from southern Russia or from Sweden. The steel works are in the extreme southeastern tip of German Silesia, near the point where the frontiers of Russia, Germany and Austria come together, and it is 450 miles to Hamburg, which is the nearest good seaport open all the year round. Taking into consideration that the total output of the district is only 50,000 tons per month, it may be seen that Poland will not be an important com- petitor for over-sea trade; but this province is men- tioned because it is shut out from the markets of Austria and Russia by protective tariffs, so that it supplies the needs of eastern Germany, thus forc- ing the plants in the Rhine valley to find a market abroad. PEINE There is one steel plant at Peine, between Hannover and Brunswick, which has its own ore mines within 3 miles of the works, while it is with- in 150 miles of the coal fields of Westphalia. The ore contains from 30 to 35 per cent of iron in the raw state, but if it were calcined the percentage would be from 40 to 45. It contains sufficient lime to make a self-fluxing mixture, so that although the blast furnaces use nearly 3 tons of ore for every ton of pig iron, the coke consumed amounts to only 1 ton. The pig iron contains 3 per cent of phosphorus, which gives a more ample supply of heat in the basic converter than the iron in western Germany, CAMPBELL while it also carries 3 or 4 per cent of manganese so that no manganiferous ores need be bought, as is the case with minette ore and with the Cleveland ores in England. Moreover, the plant is within 100 miles of both Bremen and Hamburg, so that it is very favorably situated for foreign trade. It can make steel as cheaply as any plant in Germany, and must be reckoned with when we are considering the markets of the world. WESTPHALIA Thousands of Americans are familiar with the Rhine between Cologne and Bingen, but few know much about it below Dusseldorf; yet from our view- point the most important part of the river is the sluggish channel that extends from Rotterdam up to Ruhrort. Boats drawing 9 ft. of water are con- stantly carrying the output of Westphalian factories to the seaport on the North Sea, and the river traffic at the port of Ruhrort alone averages 20,000 tons per day. Just south of the Dutch frontier are coal fields in the valley of a tiny stream called the Ruhr, and it was here that Krupp built his steel works a cen- tury ago. It was the universal rule at that time that ore should be carried to the fuel, because a works making finished wrought-iron products would use 5 or 10 tons of coal to every ton of ore. So we find that as early as 1850 the ores of the Siegen and the Lahn were coming down the Rhine about a hun- dred miles to the coal district around Essen, just as they are coming to-day. The Bessemer converter was quickly adopted in Westphalia, and in 1870 Germany was making more than one-quarter of all the steel output of the world. The ore was brought from Spain, and such importa- tions have continued ever since; but the production of acid Bessemer steel is growing less all the time, and in 1913 it was only 13,000 tons per month, or less than 1 per cent of the steel produced in Ger- many. A new day dawned for Germany when in 1870 the basic converter appeared. The new process was immediately taken up and 18,000 tons of Bessemer steel was made in 1880 from pig iron high in phos- phorus. There has been a steady increase in output ever since, and in 1913 Germany made 18,959,000 tons of steel, 56 per cent being made in the basic con- verter and 39 per cent in the basic open-hearth, there being less than 3 per cent of acid steel. LARGE IMPORTATIONS OF ORE For a long time this development of the steel industry took place mainly at the old seat of the iron industry at Westphalia, and that little district has grown to be the most important industrial cen- ter in Europe, and now makes one-ninth of all the steel produced in the world. The available supply of ore in the Rhine district was found insufficient, and it soon became necessary to bring ore from abroad for the making of basic iron, and these im- portations have increased rapidly. In 1913 the im- ports of iron ore into Germany were as follows: Sweden, 4,564,000 tons; France, 3,811,000 tons; Spain, 3,632,000 tons; Russia, 489,000 tons; Al- 1134 11, 1916 a, 481,000 tons; Norway, 303,000 tons; Greece, 000 tons; Tunis, 136,000 tons; Newfoundland, .000 tons; Austria, 106,000 tons; other countries, 000 tons—a total of 13,951,000 tons. Some of ore went to the province of Silesia, especially t from Russia and Austria, but most of it was ed in western Germany. In spite of these enormous importations, more ‘han half of the ore used at the furnaces on the wer Rhine comes from the minette field, a dis- tance of 175 or 200 miles. Part of this is from German Lorraine, just north of Metz; part from Luxemburg, and part from the French province of Meurthe-et-Moselle. The cost of the freight per ton of pig iron will vary with the percentage of iron n the ore, so that in shipping to Westphalia the best of the mineral is chosen, the run of the mine being about 31 per cent in iron, while the ore sent to the Ruhr will carry about 35 per cent. Naturally this better grade is worth more than the average, and yet if a steel plant has its own mines, as is often the case, the rich ore may be charged at the bare expense of mining. The cost of the ore laid down at Westphalia will be about 6.5c. per unit, which is far from cheap when we consider that the basic converter must be used to make steel. So it is not surprising to find that about all new steel plants are being built at the ore mines in Lorraine, rather than in the coal districts on the Ruhr, sincé it is cheaper to trans- port 1.25 tons of coke than 3 tons of ore. Never- theless, Westphalia remains the best place to work up the steel into finished forms on account of cheap coal, while common labor and highly specialized craftsmen can be had for half the wages paid in the United States. GERMAN LORRAINE The ore deposits in the German province of Lothringen extend in a narrow strip along the French frontier from Metz, northward to the Duchy of Luxemburg. In the north, as a rule, the ore is siliceous, while it is calcareous in the south; but both varieties are found in strata of different thick- ness throughout the region. The ore varies widely in different mines, but the following may be taken as representative: Iron Silica Lime a ee ere 32 to 40 12 to 22 Tto 9 Calcareous ...... 28 to 37 6to 9 12 to 20 The general average is from 30 to 35 per cent of iron and from 10 to 20 per cent of combined water and carbonic acid. The phosphorus is very regular and the pig iron contains about 2 per cent. The manganese in the iron, when using minette ores exclusively, is only about 0.5 per cent, which is not enough to insure good results in the basic converter, so that a certain proportion of man- ganiferous ore must be used, adding quite a little to the cost of the pig iron. Blast furnaces in Lor- raine try to get siliceous and calcareous ores in such proportion that the mixture will be self-fluxing, and this often means that a furnace situated close to its own mines will bring part of its ore quite a dis- ‘ance. This is why constantly increasing amounts ' caleareous ores are being imported from France. COSTS IN LORRAINE The cost of iron at any furnace will depend on vnether the ore mine is owned by the furnace com- pany; how much ore must be bought in the open market; whether siliceous or calcareous ore must * purchased to make a self-fluxing mixture, and on ‘he distance through which it must be hauled. The THE IRON AGE 1135 average cost of the ore at the mines may be taken at 2 cents per unit, to which the freight must be added. Coal is found at Saarbrucken, about 75 miles away by railroad, and although it is very high in ash and gives a poor coke, the furnaces in the minette district, both German and French, use it extensively; but many companies prefer to pay more for better fuel, and bring coke from West- phalia, the cost of freight alone being about $2.25 per ton of pig iron smelted. No two furnaces in Lorraine will have the same cost sheet, but it has been stated that pig iron can be made for $10 per ton, although it is not clear whether this allows for stoppages, derangements, general repairs and de- preciation; while it is usually best on general prin- ciples to add something to such an estimate of costs. THE EXPORT TRADE Unfortunately the steel plants of Lothringen do not have a market close by. A few miles to the west is the tariff barrier of France, while on the north is Belgium and on the south are the Alps. Over-sea shipments must go right past the -steel works of Belgium or the lower Rhine, and be loaded either at Rotterdam or Antwerp, and to an impar- tial observer it seems an economic wrong that western Germany should be compelled to ship through foreign ports. For a hundred years Germany has been trying to get Holland to dredge the lower Rhine, and the work is not finished yet, even according to plans mutually agreed upon many years ago. The case of Antwerp is still worse, because the steel plants of Belgium are direct competitors for the trade that Germany supplies through that port; just as Amer- ican manufacturers are under a big handicap in shipping to many ports in South America, because they must send goods to be trans-shipped on a Brit- ish vessel, while English manufacturers are rivals for the same trade. CARTELS There have been no combinations of steel plants in Germany similar to what we have seen in the United States, but there are syndicates which find shelter behind a protective tariff and fix prices for all material, whether sold at home or abroad, whether for government railroads or for private companies, and they also apportion both domestic and foreign orders. The government not only al- lows this, but not long ago a high state official attended a meeting of the Union of Steel Manufac- turers and made a public statement that the gov- ernment heartily approved such organizations. It is even stated that a decree has been issued recently requiring all steel producers to join a trust that will handle export trade after the war. These syndicates have had the troubles that al- ways and everywhere have confronted such pools. The relative finishing capacity of the various plants must in the long run be the basis of apportionment, and so there is a continual race to build new mills which are expected to stand idle. If prices are low, nothing is gained by such a syndicate; while if prices are high, in wire nails, for instance, new nail factories are built by every steel plant to give addi- tional tonnage to its converters. There are always dissensions, secessions, reapportionments and new agreements that never settle anything. In handling foreign orders, however, these pools are of great benefit, for it often happens that such business is taken at a low price, and in Germany the plant rolling the material is recompensed by the other members of the syndicate who have profited a = ate 1136 THE IRON AGE by the relief of the home market, so that no one works is forced to sacrifice itself in order that the country as a whole shall get this additional trade. It must be remembered that prices in the mar- kets of the world do not follow quotations at home; they may be higher this summer and lower next year, and we cannot keep trade by seeking it only as a stop-gap in dull times. If any one plant will take low-priced foreign orders in boom times, and thereby bring work to our factories from abroad, every one in the business and everybody in the country is benefited. But passing over this matter of recompensing individual plants, it is not fair to subject American manufacturers to the competition of this German syndicate, and then deny them the right of self- defense. Either our Government should give them full liberty to combine, and use the same weapon as their opponents, or a tariff should be imposed high enough to keep out goods which are openly and confessedly “dumped” on our market. GERMANY’S FOREIGN TRADE In the year 1912 Germany’s imports exceeded her exports by $413,000,000. This was partly offset by receipts from American tourists, ocean freights and dividends on foreign investments; but the in- come from the carrying trade cannot be compared with that of Great Britain from her merchant ma- rine, while Germany falls way behind England and France in the money coming from tourists and foreign enterprises. Germany sends goods all over the world; but in the past Great Britain, France, Russia and Bel- gium have together taken one-third of her total exports. We cannot suppose that there will be a perpetual boycott of Germany by the entente powers, but it does seem inevitable that sales in those coun- tries will be much reduced for a long time after the close of the war, and it is in the United States and in South America that Germany will look for mar- kets to take the place of those that she has lost. We must expect fierce competition in the future from an energetic and resourceful people, who will be aided by all the power of an autocratic govern- ment. [t remains to be seen whether German manu- facturers are also to be assisted by our Congress, or whether we are to be protected by tariff legisla- tion before our mills are shut down and our people thrown out of work. The sixth of a series of short talks covering the use of fuel in power stations has been issued by the Fuel Engineering Company of New York, 106 East Nineteenth Street, New York City. Like the others, it takes the form of a little pamphlet printed for more or less general distribution. One of the burdens of the argument is that manufacturers are too often either too prosperous or not prosperous enough to economize. Some of the points on which special emphasis is placed are that power plant waste is prevented, not by instru- ments, but by what is done with the facts they produce; boilers and grates play a small part in the day-to-day changes in plant efficiency; combustion efficiency is the heart and soul of operating economy; efficiency is too often confounded with economy. W. H. Coverdale and W. W. Colpitts announce that the business of W. H. Coverdale & Co., Ltd., consulting engineers, will hereafter be conducted under the firm name of Coverdale & Colpitts. The address of the firm is 66 Broadway, New York. The Aldrich Publishing Company, publisher of the Boiler Maker and Marine Engineering, has moved to suite 1403 in the new Printing Crafts Building, Eighth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, New York City. May 11, |::16 Book Review Coal and Coke. By Frederick H. Wagner. Pa. es xii + 431, 6 x 9 in.; illustrations, 1387. Publishe, by the McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., \ York. Price, $4. Only the direct manufacture of war munition: exceeded in development the enormous expansion of :} by-product coke-oven industry caused by the war. country was suddenly cut off from supplies of chen products derived from coal product bases and, as a re- sult, these industries were given a tremendous impetus The book under review, coupled with the author’s for- mer book on “Coal Gas Residuals,” covers the field fairly well, and is a welcome addition to our coke oven literature. The first part, comprising five chapters, is devoted to coal; its origin, classification, oxidation, coking qua|- ity, analysis and bulk storage are discussed in the order named. The subjects are treated fairly and clearly. The space assigned to coking coals is far too smal! and more attention is paid to the small anthracite deposits than to the great bituminous deposits of the country. There is such variation in the coking coals, ranging as they do from 17 or 18 per cent to 40 per cent volatile, and their properties are frequently so different that a full description of them would add much to the value of the book. The analyses are few and phosphorus is neglected entirely. While of less importance to-day in metallurgical coke than formerly, its percentage is, at times, vital. The oxygen-hydrogen ratio as an index of the cokabil- ity of a coal is discussed, but no reference is made to the very illuminating studies of Vivian Lewes. Profes- sor Lewes has shown the reason for the value of this index and his work appears to have placed the analysis of the coking properties of a coal upon a firm basis. Some of the financial data are misleading unless further explanation than the author gives be available. The chapter upon analyses is excellent, except that a description of the volatile matter determination methods used abroad and a comparison of the results by each method would be helpful in comparing Euro- pean data with American, as frequently must be done. Chapter V, upon preparation and storage, consists largely of a reprint of a series of articles which ap- peared in Stahl und Eisen and many of the methods illustrated have never been attempted here, nor, in all probability, will they be. Washing and drying receive far too small attention, as they are increasingly im- portant. The electrostatic cleaning methods are not mentioned. These appear to have a future. The second part of the book deals with coke and is largely employed in describing the several methods of carbonization. Retorts of standard type, inclined benches, coke ovens and chamber ovens are all as fully covered as the limitations of space permit. Several of the coke oven types illustrated are obsolete to-day, and other descriptions are not complete enough to be clear. The cuts could be improved in their detail. The author views the matter almost exclusively from the viewpoint of a gas manufacturer, while the great development in recent years in ovens has been for metallurgical coke. The quality of coke made is usually not discussed. Some of the apparatus described has had limited de- velopment in the United States. Pyrometry, combustion, heating and waste gases are well treated. Euchene’s “Thermic Reactions” are given in much detail, and will be welcomed by coke oven and gas engineers. The results are, it is regretted, confused by a loose use of English and French physica! units. The book is timely, and is one that is well worth reading, and that will be helpful to anyone engaged in coal gas or metallurgical coke manufacture. The author has been scrupulously careful to give ample credit in the very many quotations made from the works of others. In this he sets a good example which could be followed to advantage by other authors. S. M. The Stinson all-steel resilient tire for vehicles, pat- ented Sept. 1, 1914, has now been put on the market by the Stinson Tire Associates, Gardner, Mass. Newark Foundrymen’s Association he Newark Foundrymen’s Association, Newark, at a meeting held May 3 re-elected the officers have served in the past year. They are: H. P. Nonald, Snead & Co., president; James Flockhart, er & Flockhart, vice-president; James Campbell, r & Flockhart, treasurer; J. Smylie Kinne, River- Steel Casting Company, secretary. The following tive committee was elected: James Flockhart, Sacks, G. Hannay, Oscar Barnett Foundry Com- Arthur E. Barlow, Barlow Foundry Company, kK. M. Taggart, J. W. Paxson Company. ir. MacDonald, in a brief address to the members, that for the first time in years the foundry in- y was feeling a shortage in unskilled labor, and the situation will not be helped by one foundry ing another’s men, as in the end the only one who efited from this procedure was the man who went one job to another following higher wages. In- ntally, it was questionable if the man himself bene- ed. “This is a time when we can show how much sideration we have for the other fellow and for the de generally,” said Mr. MacDonald. Where skill is The Nature of the Crack in the Machine Frame juired he believed it better for employers to en- avor to make men, rather than entice them away other employers. The meeting was addressed by T. Everett Austin, stant manager of the crane department of the es-Bement-Pond Company, Philadelphia, on the uses the electric traveling crane in foundries. Every ap- ition of cranes in foundry work was referred to by \ustin, and most of them he illustrated with the pticon. Amalgamated Association in Session [he Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Workers met in annual convention in Cleveland, last week. About 135 delegates are understood ive been present, and addresses were made by lead- fficials of labor organizations. It is intimated that vage scales to be formulated, governing bar-iron, t and tin-plate mills, that will be presented to manu- ers this month or early in June, will carry ad- over the rates in the present scale, which ex- June 30. These advances will be based on the prices ruling on all kinds of iron and steel prod- Mill workers belonging to the Amalgamated As- ition have insisted to their officials that they are tled to good advances over the present scale. ie Hardware Board of Trade, Ltd., has removed ‘ices from 127 Duane Street to the East River Sav- Bank Building, 291 Broadway, corner of Reade et, New York. THE IRON AGE 1137 MACHINE FRAMES REPAIRED Two Cases of Breaks in Heavy Parts Gas Welded—Savings Effected The Portable Elevator Mfg. Company, Blooming ton, Ill., recently made use of oxy-acetylene welding in effecting machinery repairs with a resultant sav ing in one instance of $550 and in two cases with a complete restoration of the machine’s strength and usefulness. A heavy 85-ton punch press shortly after being installed developed a serious break in the main frame. Front and rear views of the crack are shown in the accompanying illustrations. A new frame would have cost about $700. The Ox weld Company, Chicago, repaired it for $150. In repairing the break, it was necessary to dis mantle the entire machine, lay it on its side, cut away almost the entire frame at the br