The Iron Age 1917-05-03: Vol 99 Iss 18

OO CUKETUON, 3 3 i, New York, May 3, 1917 \BLISHED 1855 OOOO LLIN OU OY LOLLY Uy, thy ttm OM George W. Cope—An Appreciation 4ARRYING out a purpose announced to his asso ( iates some months ago, George W. Cope retired yn May 1 from active participation in the editorial ict of THE IRON AGE. Both in the length of his -eer in iron trade journalism and in the high char- r of his service to this journal and the industries it represents Mr. Cope has a unique distinction. It is g. therefore, that our readers should be told in ne detail, as he takes leave of them, how large a tribution he has made to good will which ap- praisals of THE IRON AGE its work have rated so lhe period of Mr. Cope’s nection with the iron trade has been an eventful ne. It began in the day of small things in the industry as well as in_ industrial journalism. From a pig- ron output of roundly 00,000 tons in 1873, the year in which he entered the service of the American lt and Steel Association Philadelphia, he has seen figures grow under the nating setbacks and ad- characteristic of our y in iron, until last they were fifteen-fold THE IRoN AGE of earlier day, potent a it was even then be, had only a moiety pages and the pres- - to-day, and those things which the pub- onsults as gages of ; iccess. In 1883, when . M pe came from Phila- New York to be- oclate editor of ' N AGE, trade jour- z r vas in the making. 1 " this paper then had e- iblished for 27 years 1g nterest of the iron and hardware trades, the ortant departments of its work, including ting of the markets, showed only the embryo . velopment to which they have been brought at ecent time. Only by the most careful and 1, ni t cultivation at the hands of Mr. Cope and the reviewing of iron market conditions— ‘ing and printing of the significant facts in . ngs between buyers and sellers, from one end ” intry to the other—been brought to the au- jer € status of the past 20 years. In no other 1061 country has such work come to any like standing accuracy or influence, as indicated by the acceptance . | of the market quotations in this journal as a basis fo1 settlements in transactions involving millions of dol lars every year. Mr. Cope first became a contributor to THE IRON AGE when he was associated with James M. Swank in the office of the American Iron and Steel Association in Philadelphia. When he took up his duties there in 1873 the foundations were being laid for the statistical work which long made that - office famous. In those days of beginnings it fell to Mr. Cope to meet the iron and steel producers at _ their plants, win their confidence and secure their figures of production and their co operation in the associa tion’s plans for the upbuild ing of the industry. Through these contacts Mr. Cope made many friends for the association and for himself and these relations were of great value to him in subse quent years in the knowl edge they gave of the vari ous branches of the iron trade. These ten years of experience as a statistician confirmed a native habit of accuracy which has strongly marked his work as writer and editor. In 1885, after nearly two years’ service as associate editor of THr IRON AGE in New York, Mr. Cope resigned to become secre tary of the American Iron and Steel Association, Mr. Swank havir it that time been elected general man ager In January, 1887, Mr. Cope accepted the po sition of western editor of THE IRON AGE with headquarters at Chicago. The creation of this position was a new departure and in the editorial announcement of it the expectation wa expressed that “from personal contact with men a happenings in the West, he will be able to reflect Western views and Western interests more fully and ably than has ever been done in the columns of a trade newspaper.” The expectation thus expressed was more than realized. The contributions of the Chicago office became a more and more important factor in the columns of the paper and the experimental term aig a) ed Pini Oe « 1062 for which Mr. Cope went to Chicago lengthened into 15 years. It was terminated in May, 1902, when it was decided that his services were more imperatively needed in the office. In his 15 represented the David Williams journals at home years at Chicago he scores of conventions in iron and steel, hardware, stove, metal working and foundry trade through all of which he ecame widely known. For the past 15 years, most of that time as manag writing New copy desk. It ing editor, in addition to important editorial and the York would be difficult to supervision of parts of the work in the had overestimate office, he has charge of the what his alertness, his precision and his scholarship have done in the bet terment of the tens of thousands of manuscript pages that that Untiring industry and a mastery of the details of that characteristics of Mr. Cope’s editorial career. have passed through his hands in time. outstanding In hand- and his work amounted to genius are ling the important issues involved in iron steel market reporting, he showed a keen sense of his respon- He recognized that THE IRON AGe’s readers were entitled to know sibilities. the facts about the market and in presenting these he showed unswerving loyalty to the truth. In all his activities Mr. Cope exemplified a saying on which Andrew Carnegie often laid stress—that what Mr. Cope liked all his work, whereas the average editor develops a strong ‘one likes to do he does well. liking for some things he does and frankly confesses that other things are in the béte The added duties that came to Mr. Cope from time to time seem philosophy that the reward noir class. to emphasize afresh the of all good work well done is always more good work to do. Probably no other editor connected with the David Williams Company had to do with more sides of its than Mr. Cope. Chicago editorship he not only served THE IRON AGE as to its iron and steel and machinery interests, but hard much to do with editorial work In the period of his contributed voluminously to the columns of its ware department. Likewise he had the pages of the Metal Wor tion, being for a time its managing editor, in addition office ker, an associated publica- to his regular responsibilities. His associates have long recognized him not only as the dean of the IRON AGE staff, but to its junior members he has been a valued mentor and friendly censor. Mr. Cope’s associates to the number of 24 gave him a dinner at the Club, April 28, “to signalize more than a generation of dis- Saturday evening, Engineers’ tinguished service in iron trade journalism—years of never flagging industry and of unswerving devotion to ideals.” In the after-dinner speeches tributes paid to the marked the career of the guest of honor, and Mr. Cope high were qualities which have so strongly was presented with a gold watch and chain and an autographs of his The speakers assured him that in his absence embellished souvenir pearing the friends. they would take up their duties with the thought that he had but entered upon a temporary vacation and they the keen had existed so would trust to the kindness of time to blunt edge of the severance of relations that long and so pleasantly. Mr. Cope participated in the work upon this issue of THE IrRoN AGE through Monday, April 30, the methodical and systematic habit of many years bring- ing him to the office for the final day of the month which he had originally designated for the termination of his active service. His associates feel that they can scarcely do better, in their wishes for the future, than to express the hope that in the avocations which will now engage him he may find as much real pleasure as he has found in his vocation, in the 44 years of his connection with the iron trade. THE IRON AGE May 3, 1617 Is the German Iron and Steel Outn:: Declining? Because of the absence recently of statistics by | many of its steel and pig-iron output, the questio raised whether there has not been a decline in pri tion. Up to last fall Germany regularly gave out t data and each month showed a constant increase. last figures THE IRON AGE published were for | ber, 1916, steel output, given in the issue of Jan. 11 the November, 1916, pig-iron output in the issu March 8. Because of the holding up of all German nical papers by the British Government since the s; of 1916, this information, as published in the U States, has been taken from British trade papers. London commenting on the qu whether the German steel output is declining, had to.say, March 10, 1917: “The organizations that direct the German iror steel industry have always been noted for the prom ness with which they published monthly returns of « put and for the accuracy and the fullness of their tistics. The production of steel in Germany was going up by leaps and bounds from year to year When the war broke out the flow of statistics cam: a stop, but only for a month or two. When it was rx sumed in the early autumn it was found that there had been a sudden and remarkable decline in the first month of the war, followed almost immediately afterward an almost equally noteworthy improvement. In round figures, the monthly production of steel in Germany and Luxemburg before the war was 1,500,000 tons. In th first two months of the war it averaged just over 600, 000 tons monthly. Then it crept up to 900,000 tons; in March, 1915, it reached 1,000,000 tons, and by the second half of 1916 it had risen to 1,400,000 tons month- ly, or barely 6 per cent below the peace record. Pig iron followed an almost precisely similar course: 1,- 500,000 tons a month before the war; 600,000 tons in the summer of 1914, 1,000,000 tons in the summer of 1915, 1,100,000 tons in the autumn of 1916. . “It is curious, and it may be very significant of the present condition of German industry, that during the past three months, so far as we can ascertain, no sta- tistics of output have been published in Germany. We have carefully explored all the usual channels of in- formation in the German technical and daily press without:finding a trace of them. The figures relating to the production of pig iron and of steel were supplied by the Association of German Iron and Steel Manu facturers; those dealing with the deliveries of half- manufactured materials came from the Stahlwerks- Verband. Both appeared with the utmost regularity within three weeks of the close of the month to which they referred. The last returns published by the Stahl- werks-Verband refer to the month of November, 1916; the Iron and Steel Manufacturers’ returns of pig iron -arry the tale up to the same date, and the statistics of steel production came to a sudden stop with the end of October, 1916. “There must, of course, be a reason, and a weight) reason, for the withholding of statistics which hav been freely used for more than two years as evidence 0! the ‘conquering energy’ of German industry in ‘over- coming all obstacles,’ and it seems a reasonable infer- ence that there has been an all-round decline in th production of pig iron, of steel and of manufactured materials, and that that decline has been so marked that the continued publication of the figures would have had a depressing influence upon the public. It may be that Hindenburg’s mass levy of civilians is unable to make good the labor power withdrawn by the calling up Germany’s last reserves, or that underfeeding is begin ning to tell; but, whatever the cause, there is hardly room for doubt that if the German works were stil! creasing their production the statistics would continu to be published.” Ironmor ger, T j The blast furnace at Pequest, near Allamuchy, ’. / has been entirely dismantled and the machinery move The furnace was established in 1873 and was active '° $< It was last operated by the Hewitt interest 30 years. New England Steel Bar and Wire Plant Covered Loading Platform, Extensive Crane Service and Use of Slotted Pipe Containers in Annealing Work Features of Frasse Plant } y HEN Henri Frederic Frasse came from k \\ Switzerland to New York in 1800 and soon ifterward started the little machine shop : laved so large a part in the development of ; first steamboat, he could have little guessed e house of Frasse would be an important fac- the steel business of the Eastern States in It was a far view from the little shop at 95 now Fulton) Street, New York, to the steel at Hartford, Conn., and the three warehouses York, Philadelphia and Buffalo of Peter A. & Co., Inc. [he latest addition to the Frasse facilities is Frasse steel works at Hartford, Conn. The in building is a one-story structure with steel lumns and girders, sawtooth roof and steel-framed lows which occupy a large portion of the side- Which Has Been Rur Otis ' LrUuUcks, An extension on the front of the building An unusual feature is a large platform extending across the rear of the with the roof extending out over a spur so that cars can be loaded and unloaded under (he main building is divided into three main vhich permit crane service throughout the length of the building. Stretches of indus- ck on the loading platform and in the build- rnish good auxiliary transportation service ement of heavy loads transversely to the tructure. The floors and the loading plat- re concrete. first bay in the extension on the front of ding is occupied by the toolroom which is tely equipped for upkeep of machines and \djoining this is a large locker and toilet ed for offices. the Regular Steel 1063 room with all the modern lavatory, shower bath and toilet fixtures that to-day are Next comes the employees’ entrance with ; a part of well-designed Snops. time clock in the sidewall. On usual prominent position on the the opposite side of this corridor is the office of the superintendent which is inclosed in glass so that all who enter the shop and most of the shop itself are the superintendent's which is separated from the main entrance under direct observation. Ad jOlInIng office is the general office a railing. Next in the series of offices is the private offices and beyond that is the switchboard room which presents the usual attractive appear ance of modern installations of electrical appara tus. In this room is placed a 225-kva. generator set which furnishes current for the adjustable These motors are controlled by Gen le ybby DY speed motors. Inside the Stoc} BB eral Electric remote-control switches which are placed on columns near the point of operation. This plant in common with other new Hartford factories emphasizes the care which the electrical engineer of to-day is giving not only to appearance but also to safety. All wiring is in conduits, if possible, and the mechanical safeguarding of all electrical appli- ances is thoroughly carried out. The walls of the switchboard room and the two business offices are made of hollow tile so as to shut off so far as possi ble the noisies of the shop and warehouse. Beyond the switchboard room is a large steel rolling door which permits a motor truck to be run directly into the building. On one side of this is the storage space for tool steels. Fig. 1 shows one of the company’s 7-ton motor trucks in position for loading. The tool-steel section with the bars stacked NR 4 ES SOE Senay ED NCS TS 1054 THE IRON AGE Fig. 2 Each of the Three Bays in the Main Plant Is Equipped Crane thus Providing for the (y1 iter ‘art oft the Ty vertically is seen in back of the truck body. Steel rails set in the concrete floor and protruding a little above its surface keep the bottom of the bars from obstructing the aisles, and pins in a steel frame work separate the various sizes of steel. Each aisle is lettered and the end of each pin is numbered so that any required size of stock can be quickly located from the stock records. Alloy steel and other general lines carried in stock are kept in steel racks which are well show: in Fig. 2. These racks are eight tiers high and are roofed over to afford a general storage space which The vertical! rows are numbered and the horizontal rows are let tered, beginning with “‘A”’ at the bottom row The loading platform, a view of which is re produced in Fig. 3, is unusually commodious and permits the handling of 2000 tons of stock at one time and the storage of stock for such period as may be necessary before it is put through the vari ous stages of operation in the works and then int the finished stock. . The outside racks are of two types, a floor type made of heavy channel iron and an angle type which is seen on the walls at the left side of Fig. 3. is easily reached by the crane service. The large electric crane can pick up stock from flat cars and deposit it at any point on the platform. At the further end of the plat form is a motor-driven rough-bar straightening ma hine with capacity up to 4 in. The industrial track extends to the platform so that loads can be placed directly on a special type of car which has a turn table. The convenience of this special car is seen by referring to Fig. 4. In planning and equipping this plant the basi thought was to make it possible to provide all com mercial sizes and shapes of bar steel in any condi- tion required by the purchaser. The equipment ‘onsists of machinery and auxiliary apparatus for pickling, cold drawing, shaft turning, straighten ing, polishing, annealing and heat treating, also welding by the oxy-acetylene process. Three-ton electric cranes are placed in each bay. The type of crane and the method of installation and operation are clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. Be- cause of the character of the larger part of the operations in this plant and the heavy loads which it is necessary to move over considerable distances, tat.on Throughout the May 3, 19 these cranes are a most u ful part of the plant equ ment. The pickle tank is pla against the outside wall the building, as shown in F 5, which is pierced with s eral holes so that the fun can escape into a wood tume stack which is built the exterior of the plant carries the fumes to a po several feet above the roof. wood fume box is suspend over the pickle tank to ke: the vapor from the ma building. The pickle tank made of waterproof concret: and is 26 ft. long, 4 ft. 8 i: wide and 20 in. deep. It lined with acid-resisting brick laid in sulphur. Simi lar concrete tanks are used for the water bath and the lime bath. The pickle and with a 3-Ton Electric lime tubs are steam heated, the steam supply coming fron a 25-hp. upright oil-fired boiler which is placed near the pickle tank. Bars to be pickled are placed in acid-proof alloy yokes which are easily handled by the crane. Each layer of bars is separated from its neighbor by small alloy rods placed transversely, thus permitting the various tluids to reach all parts of the bars to be treated. When the bars are lifted from the lime bath, they are allowed to hang over the bath for a short time so that the heat which they retain and that arising from the bath will dry them thoroughly before they are taken to the draw benches. A smaller set of concrete tanks are used for the pickling and lime treatment \f wire which is to be drawn. As the coils of wire are so small, they do not retain sufficient heat fron the lime bath to dry quickly and a wire baker ha been provided for that purpose. This is a brick chamber level with the floor and a separate combus tion chamber at one corner, projecting outside the wall of the baking chamber. An Anthon) burner is installed in the combustion chamber. A pipe, 10 in. in diameter, located beneath the flo leads from the combustion chamber down throug! the center of the baking chamber and separates at the farther end into two pipes which lead back along the side walls. Thus no direct flame reaches the ble Fig. 4—The Use of Industrial Cars Equipped with a Turnt Enables Long Steel Bars to Be Handled Readily and Where Desired pa) The usual temperature iintained in the baking mber is 600 deg. Fahr. The cold-drawing equip- nt consists of one pointing hine with capacity for from %g to 2 in.; one iw bench of the chain- ven type for rods from 6 to 144 in. and two simi- benches with capacity up 2 in.; two rotary straight- ng and polishing machines iown in shop parlance as flvers,” for rods from *4 to / in., one for rods from *, = 2 in., and one shown in Fig. r sizes up to 4 in. For rning shafting and high- rbon steel bars there are vo turning machines with pacity from % to 1'% in,, | three others for diameters to 2, 4 and 6 in. respec- vely. Another interesting chine is a press straight- Fig. 3— r ning machine, Fig. 7, which = ‘"* W#!! Provies _ in straighten shafting up to is in diameter. A double-end, collet cutting-off chine which can handle bars up to 4 in. in diame provides a rapid means for cutting shafting o her round stock to required lengths. Another use piece of apparatus is an automatic cutting-off chine which will automatically cut pieces up to 1) in. in length from round stock of diameter. pe wo \ ik a 32 to 1'> in. A power and a hand shearing ma- ne and two hacksaws complete the cutting-off iipment of this department. lor drawing wire up to '» in. in diameter, a ock wire frame of the latest type has been in d. A wire-straightening machine to handle up to '% in. in diameter and an automati r-off machine of the same capacity which auto ally cuts lengths up to 12 ft. are also a part he wire equipment. \ turk’s-head machine is used for drawing irreg shapes. Its capacity is up to 3-in. hexagon stock t will draw, by a universal die of the roll type, ther shape not exceeding this in cross-sectional The large rough-bar straightening machine ted on the loading platform will straighten bars to 4 in. in diameter and a smaller one of the \ Bundle of Bars in a Special Acid-Proof Alloy Yoke ded After Removal from the Lime Bath for Drying THE IRON AGE 1065 Permanent Racks on the Fioor of the Unloading Platform and Anele Racks o1 Storage Facilities tor About 70 Tons of S eel Stock at (Oh rime same type located inside the building has a capacity up to 1!» in. For the annealing of large bars a truck bottom oil-fired furnace is in This Fig. 8, is 20 ft. 7 in. long and 5 ft. wide. It is equipped with seven burners and with seven thermocouples so placed that the evenness of temperature in the furnace can be readily determined. It will hold five of the 10-in. pipes in which the stock to be innealed or hardened is packed in charcoal or other heat-treating substances. Instead of pipes which are customarily used for this purpose, 1 somewhat novel method is employed in this plant The 10-in. pipes have a 6-in. extends the length of the pipe to within a foot of ach end. The ends of the pipes are sealed by caps which are welded on and the use. furnace, the open-end slot, see Fig. 9, which slots are covered by sections of the pipe which are held in place by band and wedges. The average loads between 2000 and 2500 Ib. In the heat-treating hardening furnaces of which are oil-fired, the single exception using ci gas for fuel. A 10,000-gal. fuel oil tank is located beside the railroad track from which the oil is pumped to the furnaces under a pressure of between 20 and 25 lb. Three air compressor units of 150, 750 and 1600 cu. ft. capacity respectively are ar- ranged so that any compressor unit can furnish air for any one or all of the furnaces of the various furnaces in common with all the pyrometers in use in the plant have leads to a central control box which is equipped with both auto- matic and manually operated selective devices for recording graphically or showing on an indicator the temperature of any furnace which is selected for reading. The automatic feature of the graphic charting of temperature shows the reading of each furnace in turn and provides a permanent record of the condition of each of the furnaces under observa- tion during any run of the furnace. Three lead baths and a water bath are an im- portant part of the heat-treating equipment in this section of the shop. These baths are 82 in. long, 17% in. wide, and 12 in. deep. The lead baths are oil-fired, with three burners under each bath. The of the pipes range also six department are various sizes, all but one of The pyrometers = o ae ow crsanettint 09 eee a nee ee St a a a OR GLA ATES A aa LO LE GOEL OSE III A 8 1066 THE IRON AGE Fig ¢ Stee Shattir £ Is Straightened and Polishe R ! Machine Which Is Protected in Operatic | iW Guard first one is used for preheating the stock and the temperature maintained ranges between 400 and 500 deg. C.; the second is maintained at tempera- tures ranging from 760 to 875 deg. C.; the third is the water tank for quenching; the fourth is a draw- back furnace and its temperature ranges from 350 to 700 deg. C. There is a thermocouple in each end of the lead baths. A feature of the operation of the lead baths is the home-made handling device shown in Fig. 10. By a lever arrangement, operated by) one of the men handling the apparatus, the vertical shafts to which the lifting fingers are attached can be turned through a 90-deg. are so that the fingers can be turned under or away from the bar to be lifted from or placed into the bath. This method of handling bar stock in a lead bath does away > l ‘ with much of bars are handled with tongs. The view shows clearly the construction of one of the baths. A water cooled oil bath for quenching pieces from the small annealing furnaces is placed at one end of the row of furnaces. A Siemens water pyrometer is em loyed to check the accuracy of the selective device. The company makes large use of welding appara ) ? } I tus and operates two generators for the making of acetylene gas. These generators are housed in a small separate building. As American business goes, Peter A. Frasse & Co., Inc., is a very old concern and has seen many mutations in everything except control. For well Fig. S$—For Annealing and Hardening, a Large Oil-Fired Muffle Furnace with a Truck Bed Is Employed the danger always present when the over a century a Frasse has been represented in the ownership and its executive control has always been in the hands of a Frasse or a man whose business life has been wholly passed in the company’s emplo Henri Frederic Frasse in his little machine shop made some of the first clock tools turned out o1 blanking press and made the first model of the m: ‘hinery for driving Fulton’s steamboat and late made the clockwork for Fulton’s torpedo, a devic which was far ahead of its time. Mr. Frasse died in 1849 and was succeeded by his son, Peter A. Frasse, who continued active in the business until 1885 and died in 1891. After his death the busi- ness was incorporated, with John L. Howe as presi- dent. Mr. Howe died in 1901 and was succeeded by the present president, Adolph E. Brion, who en- tered the employ of the company as a boy in 1878, ind under whose administration the company has greatly extended its field of activities. [It was about 1808 that Henri Frasse opened his first store in New York for the sale of jewelers’ supplies and fine tools and became the leading porter of fine tools in the country. In the per following the Civil War the business began to ey pand greatly due to the increasing trade in Ame! an tools, not alone the small tools but heavier a: ticles such as vises, forges, blacksmith’s tools, ama teur lathes and scroll saws for which there wa: then a large demand. The company in 1897 added steel tubing and tubular parts, bicycles and bicycle Fig. 9—A 10-In. Pipe with a 6-In. Slot Extending !! tically the Entire Length of the Pipe Is Used for Anne 5 yee SEE THE IRON AGE ; s il Appliance in Which the Arms Carrying the Lifting Fingers | B hrough an Ar B Manipulating a Lever at the Left End Has Been Devis Bat oy pplies. Gradually tool steel and steel tubing be bursements to April 30 being $543,000,000. There are e the important departments of the company) the bicycle supply and other lines were dropped. revious to the outbreak of the European war the npany was the selling agent for some of the best- own steel and steel products manufacturers of irope and the development of the Hartford steel the company is one of the results of the in duplicating from American the European steels for which it had built ge business. its. nT oT nv’s success [he home office of the company is at 417-21 Canal eet, New York, and the executive staff is Adolph president ; Stacy, vice-presi- Frederick O. Becker, secretary, and Lester E. treasurer. W. T. DeWalt is superintendent K. Newman is manager of sales of the Hart lan? al | il. Brion, Rose e C ese a w oF MUNITIONS IN CANADA nense Amount Manufactured in the Dominion fe Since War’s Outbreak May 1.—The difficulties tage of labor and scarcity of raw material, to eference has been made from time to time, show ' lessening and the demand for manufactured nues undiminished. The prospect of relief se conditions has not been increased by the re- ar developments in the United States, from which Canada has been obtaining steadily increasing raw materials since the outbreak of Machinery for munitions making has also been in large quantities, and although Canadian are now well equipped, the machinery must con- e replaced. The hope is entertained that a sat- arrangement will be arrived at between the intries, so that their resources may now be ap- the same great cause. W. Flavelle, chairman of the Imperial Munitions Canada, has furnished the Finance Minister striking statement showing the extent of the ; in munitions built up in Canada with the il assistance furnished by the Dominion Govern- The total value of orders received by the Im- Munitions Board of Ottawa is $850,000,000, which il to the entire international trade of Canada, and exports, of 1912. The value of munitions to March 30 was $470,000,000, the total. dis- NTO, Ont., due to i i ever } ; i 630 factories, chemical and loading plants in operation carrying out the orders of the board. The cash dis bursements for March were $41,000,000 and for April will be $43,000,000. Toward the financing of this im mense business the Dominion Government has con tributed $200,000,000 as a loan to the Imperial Treasury, and arranged with the gregating Canadian banks for advances ag $100,000,000 Chere is a brisk demand from all parts of Canada for agricultural implements and manufacture} are naking provisions for supplying to the farmers prac tically every type of up-to-date machinery. This year the farmers are trying out the 10-20 hp. and 15-30 hp type of tractor in preference to the larger and mor cumbersome machine Manufacturers in Canada ar experiencing a shortage in certain kinds of steel neede for the manufacture of implement Chey are also suf fering from labor shortage Official announcement has been made from Ottawa concerning the proposed exten » shipbuilding program, which was foreshadowed some six weeks ago. Orders have been placed for steel ships in Canada up to the full limit of the steel plat ivailable during the next 15 months, and a good many wooden vessels will be bui in the Dominion as we The Dominion Government part consists in idvancing a loan of $10,000,000 to the Imperial Munitions Board, Ottawa. The Imperial Mu nitions Board has recently placed large orders for stee! plates and it expected will be placing additiona orders in the near future. President Hobson, at the annual meeting of share holders of the Steel Company of Canada last week, re ferred to the ome of the ness as evidenced by the financial statemen of the prospects, he words of twelve out year’s busi t. Speaking satisfactory stated that he could only months ago, that the steel would continue to be large while the war lasts. The financial howed profits, deducting all charges and war tax, amounting to $5,021, 391.53. These were disposed of as follows: Dividends on preferred stock, $682,111.50; interest on bonds, $525,819: distribution on stock for 1916, $406,000: for bond sinking fund, $165,454; re- serve for depreciation, $601,624.65; transferred to bet terment reserve, $953,526.68; credit to profit and los $4,647,497.64. The officers are: C. S. Wilco, Chairman of Board; Robert Hobson, president; Cyrus A. Birge, vice-presi dent; F. H. Whitton, general manager; Ross H. Me Master, assistant general manager; H. H. Champ, sec retary-treasurer; H. S. Alexander, assistant secretary; Corbett F. Whitton, assistant secretary repeat his business after statement net common reserve aad iawn igh ome pe mee paneeneees Alloy or Carbon Steels Versus Carbonize: An Argument for the Former—Hardness or Tough- ness and Resistance to Wear—The Roller Bearing Industry—Three Difficulties with Carburized Steel BY E. [The first portion of Mr. Lake’s paper deals with the history of the carbonizing process in general, how it was first practised by the ancients and the resem- blance of their practice to that now used. The paper was presented at a meeting of the Steel Treating Re- search Club, Detroit, Mich., in that city Thursday evening, April 27, 1917.] HE method the ancients developed for making stee! proved to be the cementation, or carbonizing process. We still use this process for adding carbon to some of our cruder iron and steel products, such as transforming wrought iron to the blister bar that has heretofore been used for making the highest grades of cutlery and tool steels and also for the making of crucible other purposes. The modern electric melting furnace, however, is rapidly displacing steels for the crucible process and has revolutionized the making of the higher grades of steel. With it the impuritie can be reduced to lower percentages homogeneous steel can be made. More important still the cost of making these high grades of steel is not as great as with the crucible process. In spite of all the improvements that have been made in the composition of steels and the methods of their manufacture, this crude carbonizing process, which our forefathers developed when emerging from the savage or barbarous state, is still used in the manufacture o some important machine parts. Probably the automo bile business uses more carbonized parts than all other and a more put together and yet. strange to say, it boasts mot about being the instigator of many new processes and methods for manufacturing steels of greatly improved quality. It also boasts of having brought into practica use many new alloys which have doubled and tripled the power of the vibrational strains and also the rotary vibrational and 1] torsional strains, as well steels formerly used to resist alternati as wearing properties, elastic limit, ete. High Grade Carbon Steels Any of these would give better results, when prop erly worked and heat treated, than would carbonized steel for the same part. carbon steel can also be Many of the better grades of made to develop better wearing strains. To illu trate, in a transmission used on a Peugeot car in 1907 while it traveled 7500 miles, the second and third gears were made of an air-hardening steel and the teeth only measured 9/32 in. across the face, or less than one-thi the width of the carbonized which had to be made % in. wide to withstand the strains to which they were subjected. Of course, they were correctly heat treated and thus the factor of called the factor of safety—was reduced to a minimum This would that we pay 18c. per lb. for the alloy steel, if we paid 6c. per lb. for the steel we carbonized, as the gears only weighed one third as much. But that is not all; it would also meai that we could reduce the weight of the frame, axles, wheels, tires and all parts that had to carry the weight of the surfaces and greater:resistance to gears ignorance—sometimes mean could parts we thus lightened. We could go even farther and reduce the horsepower of the engine and thus reduce its weight, as well as that of the drive shaft, drive gears and other moving parts. I might mention another saving—one where the shoe might pinch many of you very hard. Let me whisper it. It would reduce the heat-treating depart- ments to only those furnaces needed to heat work to the hardening temperature; the particular steel in the gears being an air-hardening steel, they only have to be heated to the correct temperature and then pulled *A consult ng metallurgical engineer. Mich Detroit LAKE* . out of the furnace and thrown on the floor, or tl} might be handled on trays. At that, the harden temperature does not have to be held within as nan : a range as do the carbon steels. Therefore, conjure up all the arguments you « for the boss, so he will keep the heat-treating depart ment full of carbonizing furnaces, drawing furnac: quenching tanks, etc. You may then be able to sta) off the inevitable for a few years, but just so sure a steel making was revolutionized by the open-heart! Bessemer and electric furnace processes, so will th: heat treatment of steel be evolved away from the ca) bonizing process of the ancient catalan forge or fu Only in the details of carburizing materials and type of furnace has this been improved upon, as th main process is the same as it was centuries ago. Ths furnaces are a little more handy to operate, but principle they are the same. oe . #3 eae nace, The Machining Problem Of course, a low carbon steel can be machined more rapidly than a high carbon steel, and this is one of the why the crude carbonizing process has re- mained in vogue. Stellite and the improved high-speed steels have reduced this difference in machining time to a very small percentage, however, and this argu- ment is rapidly losing its force. Against the argument of the saving in time in the machine shop we must figure the cost of carburizing material, of carbonizing furnaces, of fuels to operate the furnaces, of the time required for packing the steel parts, charging the fur- naces, removing the work from the furnace for quench ing and again reheating the parts for the second ha) dening. When that is done we will find that the ca bonizing process is rather expensive. The leaf springs that enter into the constructio1 o! automobiles were very recently manufactured in thi same crude way in which they had been made for ge erations. But at the summer meeting of the Society of Automobile Engineers in 1912 I read a paper before that calling attention to this fact and showing how the hardening and tempering could b« done in a more scientific and accurate manner. Since that time the manufacturing methods for producing leaf springs have undergone a revolution and are stil rapidly being revolutionized. Where skilled makers, earning from $5 to $10 per day, did the fabr cating, hardening and tempering in one operation and in one furnace, the fabricating is now done in a machi! and the hardening and tempering are made separat operations in separate furnaces. Many of these ful naces are of special design and built so the work travel through them in a continuous stream. reasons organization spr Hardness Versus Toughness The principal argument advanced in favor 0! bonized steel parts is that they have a hard outer su! face that will resist wear to the greatest degree, 0! such parts as gear teeth, cams, etc., and a tough cente that will prevent breakage. When this is analyze¢ carefully, however, we find it does not prove to be te fact. For instance, bronze gears running in mesh with carbonized steel gears outwear the steel gears. Yet hardness testing machines show that corbonized steel gear teeth have several times the degree of ! ness that bronze gears possess. Another example is that Hadfield’s manganese Stee’ when made into gears, will wear longer than four five carbonized steel gears. These show their greates* efficiency when used on stone crushers or similar ma chines, where the gears are subjected to the grinding hard 1068 tion of mineral dust. This manganese steel is the ighest steel known, yet it does not show anywhere ir the degree of hardness of a high-carbon steel. merous other examples could be cited, but these will ffice to prove that hardness alone is not the property will give the greatest wear to two surfaces that rubbing against each other. [t is folly to claim “a tough center that will prevent eakage” for the steels containing from 0.12 to 0.18 cent carbon, which are usually used for carbonized ts that contain approximately 1 per cent carbon the outer shell. The carbon steels in this class sel- have an elastic limit of more than 40,000 lb. per iare in., and this cannot be increased much more 5000 lb. by any kind of heat treatment. When is exceeded the teeth of gears would become de- would not mesh properly and would Mi fracture. To overcome this weakness, the piece must designed much heavier than would needs be if it ere made from a high-carbon steel that was hardened tempered properly, without being carbonized. ially the factor of ignorance (or safety) is very large. \ 3.50 per cent nickel steel of the carbonizing grade geht have the elastic limit of the soft core raised to rmed, soon also 80,000 lb. per sq. in., but this could be made 160,- 000 lb. per sq. in. if the piece were made from a rade that contained enough carbon for it to be rdened and tempered, without carbonizing. Like e a vanadium steel of the carbonizing grade would have an elastic limit of more than 100,000 lb. per in. in the center and this could be raised to e 200,000 lb. if we did not resort to the carbon- The nickel-chrome steels, which are the process. ongest and toughest steels known, can have their stic limit raised to something like 250,000 lb. per in. The ordinary carbon steels are carbonized in much arger quantities than all the alloy steels put together. If we use such a steel, with a high enough carbon con- to give the best wearing surface, we can raise the tic limit to more than 100,000 lb. per sq. in. as iinst the 40,000 to 45,000 lb. in the core of a steel t is carbonized. Therefore the straight carbon steel would resist as much load as the core of the carbonized steel, ore it would stretch enough to take a permanent But the elongation and reduction of area of the steel would be double that of the harder e, taken together, usually indicate the ductility of metal, which is the opposite of brittleness. They ht indicate that the softer steel would withstand greatest transversely applied load, or torsional [In commercial work that is drawn back to a cer emperature, it would probably mean that the soft "a carbonized piece would bend before the hat and tempered high carbon steel would break. tortion is as bad a feature as breakage in a that must fit others to work in unison with them. distortion will either cause the piece itself to r it will break up other pieces with which it contact. Frequently both occur. Therefore, nothing gained by having a soft, ductile center hard outer shell. The homely saying that “a no stronger than its hoops” applies with some carbonized steel. steels. onized parts are always used where two sur- ib together on the assumption that a hard outer will cause steel to resist wear longer than se would be the case. Extreme hardness pro- the martensitic or austenitic structures. This hardness in steel carries with it a brittleness causes the steel to wear away quicker than when awn back enough to show the troositic structure. ls reduces the brittleness to a certain degree of ess. ransverse Tests of Carbonized and Alloy Steels series of transverse tests was conducted with in. round and 12 in. long, loaded at the center 10 in. supports. The best results that were ed with carbonized steel was a load of 1750 Ib. deflection of 0.50 in., while a straight oil- THE IRON AGE 1069 with a was a hardened steel withstood a load of 5025 Ib. deflection of 1.55 in. The carbonized steel Halcomb electric furnace chrome-vanadium steel, con- taining 0.20 per cent carbon, before being carbonized. The straight hardened and tempered steel was a Hal- comb electric furnace chrome-vanadium steel containing 0.50 per cent of carbon. Both were practically the same steel except for the carbon content. The outer shell of the carbonized steel had the carbon content raised to 1.22 per cent, while at a depth of 0.20 in. it decreased to 0.30 per cent. A Halcomb electric furnace nickel original carbon content of 0.31 per cent withstood a load of 1950 lb., with a deflection of 0.62 in., after being carbonized. The outer shell contained 0.95 per cent of carbon. The results steel with an with carbon steels that had been carbonized was a load of 1050 lb., with a deflection of 0.50 in.; 1020 lb., with a deflection of 0.61 in.; 950 lb., with a deflection of 0.44 in. The original carbon content of these was 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25 per cent, respectively. This was raised to 0.90 and 0.95 per cent in the outer shell. The tensile show car- bonized steels that no one thinks of using them. There- fore, we cannot now comparisons. Suffice it to say that the elastic limit is seldom one-half of that of a high-carbon steel that is properly heat treated best obtained tests such poor results on rive Carbonized Balls for Roller Bearings In the early days of the bicycle, ball and roller bearings first came into general Then the cups, cones, races and even the balls and rollers were car bonized. The learned, however, that the hard outer shell of the balls would compress against the soft center and them to deform. When that occurred the bearing soon failed. Many of the balls would also check and crack between the hard outer shell and the soft cause the shell to peel off. Next, they resorted to a straight carbon steel and gave the balls a uniform clear to the center. They found that a size of ball would carry a much larger load. Later they found that a chromium steel was the best thing that could be used for balls. At the present the chromiun to 1.75 per cent, according to the size of to the carbon content, the best; that is. a steel containing from 0.85 per cent to 0.90 per There of manganese or of silicon, less than 0.02 per cent of sulphur and less than 0.015 per cent of phosphorus The chemical composition amounts to nothing, however, afterwards heat are turned from bars use. manufacturers soon cause core and hardness then given varies from 1 per cent the balls. As a eutectoid alloy is considered cent of carbon. hould be no trace unless the steel is homogeneous and is treated accurately. of this same steel In the carbonized « ips and cones a form where the balls applied their greatest load. was caused by the soft core flowing away from the compressive force that was applied by the load carried by the balls as they rolled around the cup and This flowing of the soft steel would continue to until the hard the cups were pressed together. The ba!l race would This groove metal in the cone. carbonized shells on As the bearings were designed so that wear could be taken up, enlarge this groove both sides o these grooves could be ated for as fast as they formed. After a time, however, the carbonized shells would peel off and destroy the bearing. These troubles turers abandoned the ancient carbonizing process and made all their ball-bearing parts steel that had the correct chemical composition to start with. They could then heat-treat the parts correctly and have a uniform hardness and chemica] composition clear through the steel. Attachments for taking up wear were abolished and the present high grade ball bearings outwear automobiles. At that, they carry more than twice the load they did in the bicycle days. That many parts of roller bearings are still being carbonized is due to the fact that a roller has a com- paratively larmer bearing surface than a ball. As a consequence, the weakness of carbonized parts did not compe! were overcome when the manufac Irom — ape mea mmr pape Nea pe a a al wen 1070 develop as quickly as they did with ball bearings and roller bearing makers did not learn their quickly as did the manufacturers of ball bearings. Nevertheless, there is a steady growth in the number of roller bearing parts that are being given a straight hardening and tempering without carbonizing. In car- bonizing steel there are many difficulties to overcome and it is doubtful if we overcome them all in any given batch of metal that we carbonize. troublesome is exfoilation, or the carbonized outer shell away from the core If a steel is correctly carbonized there is no distinct lesson as Probably the most hr ios > f + preaking Oo! tne bark to shell off, as the carbon content will gradually reduce from something like 1.25 per cent on the outer surface to the 0.10 to 0.20 per cent of the original steel in the core. In commercial there is nearly always a distinct demarcation between the of high carbon and the core. | } work, nowever, zone It has been demonstrated that a high carbon steel increases in volume much more than a low carbon steel when they are hardened. Therefore, there is considerable st between the parts of a carbonized piecs alning high carbon and low carbon hardened. ture parallel to the S€ ldom every time it is This often results in rup } outer surfaces. Such rupture is seen until the carbonized part failed in Here again, however, the factor of service. ignorance can be One made large enough to cover up such defects. 1 showed that series of tests with nickel steel the specific gravity was greater afte when the same was ing. This is the direct W ith carbonizing than without the effect steels. Therefore, if the h, they would burst the develop cracks that could be seer hardened opposite of steel carbonl: obtal ed carbon strains » 1? shel were great enoug outer and Evils of Segregation and Grain Growth Another difficulty to overcome is the of carbon. lowering of time of coal-fired segregatior This can easily be caused by a raising and the temperature of the furnace during the carbonization. This nearly always occurs in furnaces. In the rush of manufacturing it very often happens with furnaces that are fired with the best of fuels. It might mixture that nations of be caused by a carbonizing was not uniform. Microscopical e