The Iron Age 1917-07-05: Vol 100 Iss 1

THE IRON ACE New . York, July 5, 1917 - OS EEO pc wine AWw 2 V1 7 Interlocking Inserted Tooth Circular Milling Saw (Base Both Solid and Adjustable) The interlocking method of inserting teeth is virtually a dovetail. Teeth are immovable under heaviest pressure. HENRY DISSTON. & SONS, Inc. PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. CANADIAN WORKS, TORONTO, CAN. BRANCH HOUSES Chicago Cincinnati Boston Seattle Bangor Memphis San Francisco New Orleans Portland, Ore. Vancouver, B.C. > Sydney, Australia spunienaiintt CPONAUULEUTETUALTA EOE INNA LUNDA rt Win went | fl PVUNAUEYEEUALEGDELELL EUENDAGINAEUTRLONNUANRER LEED EEMEN EMMA ese ETT TTT eeeeeTy QUOT LENEDOETEDOPT EDUARDO OAD ERODUL AA Ted abaD CET 8 3 TABLE OF CON TENTS | se+ 8 ADVER ‘TISING INDEX - - - 413 | 2 Buyers Index Section . 96 Contract Work Sectio 37% Clearing Ho use Sect . 299 é 5 ete MOM o3:6 515d a Sacnbends 366 Help ae iaaeetoete Wa anted sd. ****3e9 Profession Notice z ig CCDS USN LCAYUCTOQNEQONS Q0QE SS COED TODA TEN LED TN VE QOODDIY EMEP YORI VALS AASDN MOAN ELON TRAY LYALL ATU OOM LDN MONASH LAMA APD ESATO TENNEY DOM AAO ENNU NOONE For Concrete Reinforcement Joseph T. Ryerson & Son maintain warehouses devoted exclusively to the reinforcing field. Dependable warehouse serv- ice is assured on all of the fol- lowing lines: REINFORCING Deformed Bars. Cold Twisted Squares. A : Arched Sheets — Black Plain Rounds and gers ; “ and Painted. Corrugated Sheets. Squares. > Black Annealed Wire. Expanded Metal Flat Sheets. Portable Bar Benders. And All Misc ellaneous Specialties. STRUCTURALS 1-Beams Angles Zees Channels Tees Plates Send your plans and specifications, and we will submit lump sum or pound price. ESTABLISHED 1842 INCORPORATED 1888 Joserpu T. Ryrerson & Son CLYDE M. CARR, PRES JOSEPH T. RYERSON, VICE-PRES IRON STEEL MACHINERY CHICAGO ST. LOUIS MILWAUKEE HOUSTON KANSAS CITY SEATTLE NEWARK BOSTON MINNEAPOLIS DETROIT July 5, 1917 — a THE IRON AGE New York, July 5, 1917 ESTABLISHED 1855 VOL. 100: No. | Forging Shells at Curtis Plant, St. Louis Free Use of Patented Process Offered During the War Period — Valuable Contribution of Data on Shape of Slugs, Heat Treatment, Etc. REE use of a process of forming hollow forg- the company has also supplied generously a large ings, patented by E. H. Steedman, vice-presi- amount of manufacturing data which are the result dent of Curtis & Co. Mfg. Co., St. Louis, is of searching investigations while reaching fully offered to shell makers of the country with a view successful manufacturing operations. to expediting the production of munitions during Based upon the principle that horizontal forces the period of the war. Besides giving THE IRON acting on the piercing tool of the forging press AGE an opportunity to describe this process and to must be in equilibrium so that uniformly concen- show details of the plants and equipment which it tric forgings may be obtained and that, if these has been operating in making shells for the Allies, forces are in equilibrium, concentric forgings must TERMINAL AR TERMINAL FR STORAGE TRACK SHIPPING TRACK a ala gSssVATor f SHIPPING PLATFORM : RECEIVING TRACK eae - 3 OXTGEN 2 Dl ienmadiipemanan”: Sarees Sate - . UNDERGROUND ROOM » UNLOROING PLATFORM ROLLWAY : \ ————————— , SS ——+ —— + cae a ; ee ae me —————— SS = WALL 8 ih 4 caanes nok h Ush INGOT STORAGE stot aha - piggy mr creartinett rar es woor & ; TEED rr TT WOSPITAL © ema | /NGOT STORAGE iit 0 “/8 |) BREAKING CRANE + — - FURNACES ~~. ~~ i} * cigars PRE. rity ¥ Tt 4 heed EE TORCHES $3 Sey Ll => SPINNER (1) ORILLS SHELL FORG/NG STORAGE PRELIM /NARY COOLING CHAMBERS ACCUMULATOR Te OOLING Pm nl oe Re lo}fo|! |o}/0) i} Lis UWL COLD WELL 3 if MH) (© ie] 4 OF ra $s oi vs TION : c 7 ee mar |S = | | | | i NATURMLIZIMNG | FURNACES [| o ae —_— - 4 : —}- ore STATION - TST eT et A * Alf HOIST SUCTION. aoe: OE TANK cooLinG_.*" pli 21E 6 Fue “f TUNNEL 45 ELEVATOR STORAGE YARO owes qouwe QUICK COOLING SHED ir No. 2 Plant of Curtis & Co. Mfg. Co., St. Louis 1 THE IRON AGE To the Left of the Hot Blank Being Received Is the Slugger and to the Right of it May be Noted the Piercer result, Mr. Steedman claims to have developed meth- ods and equipment which, irrespective of the shape of the bar from which the blank is taken, will pro- duce uniformly good shells. The press equipment embodying this principle and used in his process for the manufacture of 8 in. and 9.2 howitzer shells is shown in an accom- panying drawing, all important parts being prop- erly named. The heated blank received from a roller table leading to the press is fed into a maga- zine shown in one of the accompanying reproduced photographs and by it set down in the die. The blank so placed is compressed and centered by a slugger, so called; pierced by the piercing tool, and then ejected by the knock-out pin shown in the drawing. The first essential to concentric forgings, it is emphasized, is the even and thorough heating of the blank, for otherwise no process or equipment can maintain equal side pressures on the piercing tool during the piercing stroke. The next essential is equipment, which covers the following three re- quirements, described in Mr. Steedman’s applica- tion for the patent as the principles upon which his press is designed: 1. A compression or “setting down” of the blank so that the blank practically fills the die before it is pierced. 2. An ample size depression formed in the upper surface of the compressed blank concentric with the die to receive and center the piercing tool. 3. A true piercing tool concentric with the die. The compression of “setting down” of the blank, July 5, 1917 which completely fills the die with metal, is done by the slugger’s nose and the concentric depression in the slug is formed by the tit of the slugger nose at the same time the slug is compressed or “set down. A guide ring truly central with the die centers the slugger, and so long as the slugger fits accurately into this ring the depression in the slug will be commercially central. The sectional drawing of the press shows the stops at opposite ends which provide lengthwise adjustment respectively to the sluggers and pierc- ers, and the gib screws and the gibs in the top bolster, which provide means for the cross adjust- ment of the piercing tool. The slugger has inde- pendent cross adjustment by means of the slugger cross adjustment set screws. The piercing tool is cross adjusted first by means of the gibs and screws and the slugger later cross adjusted by its own set screws. That the equipment is efficient in making con- centric forgings is shown by the results set forth in the company’s record, as follows: Out of 340,- 000 8-in. forgings, the total losses, exclusive of those due to bad steel, were 1.1 per cent, including only 1, per cent due to eccentricity; out of 160,000 9.2-in. forgings, 1/20 per cent were scrapped due to eccentricity alone, with 8/10 per cent covering all forging losses except those arising from bad steel. These figures include forgings selected for tests and all rejections by the machiners except rejections for bad steel, and they are regarded as proving the importance of complying with all the conditions of forging mentioned in the foregoing and covered by the Steedman patent. The location of the three forging presses of the company’s No. 2 plant is shown in the accompany- ing plan where they form a part of a continuous manufacturing system by which the slug is heated, forged, inspected, cooled and heat-treated in a for- ward movement through the works and with mini- mum handling. Rollways and light overhead cranes constitute an important part of the equipment. Storage for the blooms is provided for toward one end; there they are broken into blanks by means of a press after being given preliminary oxy-acetylene cuts. At the opposite end of the plant a so-called ingot hospital is located. Here defective ingots and blanks are remedied. The storage of ingots and blanks is in the center near the unloading and ship- ping platforms. The forging presses have a capacity of 60 to 100 forgings per hr.; they are operated hydraulically and are provided with rams of 36-in. diameter and 5-ft. stroke. Under each press is a pit in which a hydraulic cylinder of T-in. diameter and 28-in. stroke operates the knock-out pin for rejecting the forging from the die. The accumulator in No. 1 plant, in which'‘8-in. forgings are principally manu- factured, is loaded to carry 1,450 lb. pressure per sq. in. on the hydraulic system, giving a maximum of 635 net tons pressure to the presses. The accu- mulator in plant No. 2, devoted chiefly to 9.2-in. forgings, is loaded to 1550 lb. per sq. in. hydraulic pressure on the line, giving 675 net tons pressure. which is found ample to pierce at. high speed a 9.2-in. shell forging after the blank is properly heated. The pressure required to pierce a shell, it is explained, depends principally on two factors—the temperature of the steel and the cross sectional area of the metal pierced; and the influence of the latter was unsuspected in its practical effect. The first 8-in. forgings that were made experimentally did not have the proper exterior or interior finish near the point of the nose, and it required over 700 tons pressure to pierce the forging, and, in conse- July 5, 1917 quence, die liners and piercing shanks broke with appalling rapidity. By adding 1% in. to the outside finish of the nose of a shell and 1/16 in. to the inside finish of the nose, the final maximum piercing pres- sure dropped to below 400 net tons with a well- heated billet or blank. More pressure per square inch of the shank area is required to pierce an 8-in., it is found, than a 9.2-in. forging. Also the pres- sure required to pierce an 8-in. shell within 12 in. of its full depth, it is stated, is but 500 lb. per sq. in., while the last 12 in. require 1000 lb. or 400 net tons on the forging. To facilitate piercing by the piercing tool about 1 cu. in. of powdered blacksmith coal is dropped into the center cone after the slug is set down, and this acts as a smoke and tar lubricant for the piercing point. As the point enters the forging dense smoke pours up around the piercing shank and as soon as the forging is removed from the press a large glob- ule of liquid coal tar is discovered at the bottom of the pierced hole. The company advises that‘ coal dust should be used in piercing with great caution and the quantity used must not be excessive. The British Inspection Staff, it says, considers the use of sawdust and fuel oil safer than the use of pow- dered coal, and if coal is used it must be used with discretion and in full knowledge of the possibility of gas pockets resulting from its use. The die liner is made from special castings of nickel-chrome semi-steel, heat treated. The metal is the result of experiments, study of photomicro- graphs and physical tests to get regular results. The liner is tapered and is pressed into the holder with about 500 tons pressure, after which one or more shims, indicated in the drawing, are inserted under it to fill the space between its bottom and the floor of the die holder and so to prevent repeated forging operations from forcing it further into the holder. The average life of a die liner is approxi- mately 1400 forgings, as shown by the records of 500,000 forgings. Some liners have run as high as 3500 forgings, while others have broken «after making only one or two forgings. The comparatively long life of the liners is attributed to four factors: The metal in the liners and its proper heat treatment; the tapered form of liner driven home with 500 tons pressure into a tapered holder, which it fits accurately, subjecting the liner to enormous initial compression, partially or wholly counteracting the great bursting pres- sure on the liner, due to the forging operation; the proper cooling of the die liner after every forging, so that the effect of heat treatment is not overcome by later overheating, and the use of no greater hydraulic pressure on the press than is necessary to pierce a properly heated ingot in a reasonable time. The cooling of the liner and also of the pierc- ing point is by means of water. The die holder and the die bolster are made from 0.40 per cent carbon steel castings. The guide ring and slugger nose are of the same material as the die liner. One guide ring outlives four liners. The life of a slugger nose is about 5000 forgings. The slugger shank is a 0.40 per cent carbon-steel cast- ing and the piercing shank is made from nickel- chrome steel forgings of approximately 0.50 per cent carbon. The life of the piercing shank is indeter- minate, as some shanks lasted for more than a year, while others were discarded in a few months. The piercing points for 8-in. forgings are made from 0.50 per cent nickel-chrome steel and heat treated to a Shore scleroscope hardness of 50 and 40 at the open end. The average life of these points is about 500 forgings, allowing for reworking those that can be reused after a grinding salvage operation. Immediately after being forged the shells are THE IRON AGE 3 Pull-back Cyl ¢ Piston Rod lelescopre Exhaust Water Pipe) SG 4/ +) en ‘ Ram y R ioe Moving Platient iS = i Bolster 2: ’ yet) i -~ TT ja Lom ra ni es } i | wa \aueeene ~~ “= J wei tse opie a eas = | | Valve Qperating’: | Shale ia erce lever { Operating iN 90/7) Glinder w Cross Centering Screws’ | Press Side Rod --* Sluager Tit -- > 3 rh, Slugger Point ~ 1 00/7) B L al Coc 1g a) | Qutlet Water Croove. FLOOR { pe i Py ; | Bt “ eee 8 3 3 3 : 4 *| ie me Soniye | 4.° 2 & Y | - E we i : u-4 ; = a/c to 4 Choy, Pac a | ae es j4) " rf a oF ae a4] ap oene j i ‘ 4 o | 5 | Mnockovt | +9 f Plunger O:.$°. P | How Accuracy of Adjustment of Slugger and Piercer Is Ob- tained May Be Noted from This Sectional Drawing inspected for eccentricity and, if found eccentric, the press is stopped and the reason for the eccen- tricity remedied. One of the illustrations shows the method of hot inspection. After being in- spected the forging goes to the preliminary cooling chambers shown in the illustrations and are here cooled to below 550 deg. Fahr. previous to heat treatment. The object of these preliminary cool- ing chambers is to provide a means for cooling the forgings under cover to protect the men in the shop from the intense radiation of heat from a large number of hot forgings, and these chambers have been found very effective in so doing. When forg- ing at a rate of 100 forgings per hour, the men work close to the chambers without serious dis- comfort from the radiated heat. The chambers allow the forgings to cool in about the same time they would if set out on the floor, but without in- convenience to the men in the shop. The finishing process in the manufacture of shell forgings is normalizing—that is, reheating the forging and allowing it to cool naturally to bring the steel into the best untempered condition. There are, it appears, three critical zones of tem- perature which have to be considered in normaliz- ing a shell forging. A lower zone of heat about 600 deg. Fahr., below which the forgings must cool after forging and before normalizing; a middle zone of about 1450 deg. Fahr., at which the grain struc MANGANESE Normalizing Chart for Forgings Made from Cast Steel Slugs Zone A—Temperature held at 1500 deg. F. 2 hr., forging cooled, reheated to 1650 deg. F. and after 10 min. rapidly cooled under cover Zone B—Temperature held at 1650 deg. F. 10 min., cooled normally on Method of floor. Zone C’ either zone B of C may be used Zone C and D in proximity to C cooled normally Zones E, F, G, H, and zone D in proximity to E cooled in chamber as slowly as possible ture of the steel refines if the steel is held at that temperature, and a third zone of about 1650 deg., above which the grain structure enlarges and car- bon conditions change. The exact temperatures of these three heat zones and the time which the steel must be subject to these temperatures vary with the analysis of the steel, and the company has found that the time and tem- perature factors for bar steel differs from the simi- lar factor for cast steel of identical analysis. Steel with carbon from 0.45 to 0.60 per cent is normal- ized by rapid heating to 1500 deg. Fahr., holding it at that heat from two to five hours, according to chemical analysis, and then allowing it to cool nat- urally at a fast or slow rate, according to chemical contents. As most of the steel used comes in the range of carbon of 0.45 to 0.60, the name normal- izing has been appropriated to specifically apply to the method used for this range of carbon. Steel with carbon from 0.40 to 0.45 is normalized by rapid heating 1650 deg. Fahr., holding it at that tem- ’ & THE IRON AGE July 5, 1917 perature only long enough to be heated through and through and then allowing it to cool naturally at a fast or slow rate, according to the chemical analy- sis. The name naturalizing has been given to identify the process used for normalizing such low carbon steel. Normalizing results of course in refining the graim structure of the steel, and increasing con- siderably the elongation without materially lower- ing the elastic or ultimate limits. Naturalizing results in considerably increasing the elastic limit of steel, slightly increasing the ultimate strength and slightly decreasing the percentage of elonga- tion. The company believes that with bar steel of proper analysis, that is carbon 0.45 to 0.55, man- ganese 0.60 to 0.75, and silicon 0.15 to 0.25 per cent, normalizing would be necessary on but very few heats to make the steel meet the standard require- ments of physical tests, but that much more regu- lar physical results and much greater ease in ma- chining are obtained by normalizing. The normalizing furnaces are heated by means of fuel oil. They are of the continuous truck type, a truck load of forgings at 500 to 600 deg. Fahr. being pushed into the furnace each time a truck load of heated forgings is withdrawn. A truck holds 25 8-in. or 9.2-in. forgings. It is of cast steel covered with fire brick and is 4 ft. 4 in. square. The furnaces are long enough to take eleven trucks with a foot to spare at each end when the doors are down. A truck is loaded by means of tongs on a wire rope operated by an air hoist. The intervals of removing trucks vary from a minimum of 12 min. to a maximum of 35 min. for an eleven-truck furnace. These intervals have been determined by experiments for various analyses of steel. The accompanying chart shows the length of time forg- ings are carried at the normalizing temperature. The oil burners in the furnace near the entrance end are equipped with combustion chambers and are placed low to heat the forgings up rapidly. The oil burners behind the second truck are placed high and deliver directly into the upper part of the fur- nace, and but little heat is required to maintain an Rollways Transfer Blanks Across Furnace Fronts and Lead from the Furnaces to the Presses July 5, 1917 even temperature to the back end of the furnace. The forgings are easily heated in the furnace, it is stated, and the results are regular. A portable pyrometer couple is occasionally used to check the temperature of the forgings and to keep the opera- tors trained as to the proper color of the heated forgings. The temperature must be closely watched and kept within 1450 and 1550 deg. Fahr. After the truck leaves the furnace it is trans- ferred to the cooling tunnel, where it cools quickly or slowly, according to the chemical analysis of the forgings. The cooling tunnel is the same length as the normalizing furnace and the trucks are pushed through it by means of air hoists, so that a truck in making a full cycle will pass forward through the furnace, across through the cooling tunnel, back through the tunnel for unloading, and is then reloaded for another cycle. The cooling tun- nel is brick or concrete, has light doors at each end, small side draft doors at the bottom and three stacks with dampers. In hot summer weather the natural draft of the stacks is augmented when nec- essary by steam jets in the stacks. High carbon heats are cooled slowly in the tunnels, but low car- bon heats are cooled rapidly. The draft in the stacks over the tunnels even with the steam jets on, is but 1/3 oz. per sq. in., and with the steam jets on forgings in the cooling tunnel require a longer time to cool than if set out on the storage floor. The appearance of the grain of the broken test specimen is a check on the proper normalizing of the heat when compared to the chemical analysis of the steel, and with a little practice it is said that a metallurgical engineer can rapidly learn to handle the normalizing of steel of wide ranges in chemical analysis if he will study at one time the five items he has at hand concerning each heat: First, the chemical analysis; 2, physical test report after first normalizing; 3, the fracture of the broken speci- men after normalizing; 4, the record of time in the furnace; 5, the time of cooling of the heat. If the heat falls down on the first normalizing, it can be corrected by a second or rarely by a third normaliz- Press Showing Magazine Containing Blank and Its Air Oper- ated Tilting Mechanism THE IRON AGE 5 BO @H ULL Blanks Used in Making Shell Forgings Sizes for 8-in. shells in inches ; A Cc D E Cast ingot* : 85 16 : 20 4% 413/16 1% Round cornered ‘ 6 11/16 19 wo aed lh WON Tha dw a is aoe 614 to 28% to z ; X 16% Gothic pate ; es Is, S 27/16 Sizes for 9.2-in. shells in inches : \ ( DD iE Cast ingot* 7 925/64 21% 311/16 ly & Round cornered .. oa 25% & : iy & Round . aah ; S 1 16 3 aa Gothic ; x1 205 10 31/16 *B for 8-in., 7% n., for 9.2-in., 6 1/32 it ing, after studying the results of the first normal- izing, unless the steel is out of the possible range of analysis. The furnaces used for naturalizing are similar to the heating furnaces. They are oil fired, of the same general construction, width and height, and are 20 ft. long inside. The fire brick floor is level and is corrugated with cross-saw tooth ridges to keep the forgings separate as they are rolled through the furnace. The furnaces are continuous, that is, a cold forging is rolled in the receiving end of the furnace each time a hot forging is removed from the discharging end. The cooling trucks are the same lengths as the normalizing trucks, but have only six butts, so the forgings are separated farther on the trucks and therefore cool more rapidly than Blank Handled by Tongs and an Overhead Traveler Before the Rollways Were Installed Preliminary Cooling Chambers and Rollway in the normalizing trucks. For slow cooling six forgings are put on a truck and the truck pushed through a cooling tunnel similar to the tunnels used with the normalizing furnace, but for quick cooling only three forgings are placed on a truck, and the forgings cool naturally under a corrugated iron shed without side walls. The capacity of one naturaliz- ing furnace is approximately 30 forgings per hour. or a total of about 600 forgings per day. Hot Inspection of Forging on Turntables at Front of Pres Also shows Forging being ejected from Die THE IRON Leading AGE July 5, 1917 from Back of Chambers to the Normalizing Trucks As intimated, the naturalizing furnaces are used primarily for steel relatively low in carbon and manganese, but they are also used for retreating heats that have been normalized and have failed on tests because elastic limit or ultimate strength was too low. Such heats can be put through the naturalizing process, cooled naturally at a rate more rapid than the cooling rate of the normalizing proc- ess and the elastic limit and ultimate strength raised. The Curtis Company’s records show that many heats of 0.42 to 0.45 carbon which had been nor- malized and failed in test have been later natural- ized and the elastic limit raised 25 per cent, the ultimate strength raised 10 per cent and elongation reduced from 24 per cent in 2 in. to 21 per cent. in 2 in. The point made is that naturalizing after nor- malizing retains nearly all the benefits to elonga- tion imparted to the steel by normalizing and adds very materially to the elastic limit and adds mod- erately to the ultimate strength. If a normalized heat is later naturalized but kept too long at the temperature 1650 deg. or above, the effects of nor- malizing are counteracted in proportion to the time the steel is carried at the high temperature, so that the steel must be quickly brought up to the desired temperature and only held there long enough to heat through and through. Normalizing after naturalizing entirely eliminates the effect of nat- uralizing. Curtis & Co. Mfg. Co. has had in operation presses designed according to the Steedman patent since February, 1916, when their first contract for 150,000 forgings was started. Since that time they have made and shipped 560,000 8-in. and 9.2-in. shells, which by the variety in shapes of blanks used show the flexibility of their process of manufacture. The first forgings were made from Gothic rolled blooms of basic open-hearth steel which were sawed into short blanks of 241 lb. each for an 8-in. forg- ing. About 12,000 tons of this steel were used. Later the company resorted to the use of 8-in. round forged bars of basic open-hearth steel. These bars July 5, 1917 Normalizing Furnace and Cooling Tunnel of No. 1 were forged under a hydraulic hammer, and sawed into blanks of 245 lb. weight. About 9000 tons were used, When the steel market became oversold in the spring of 1916 and the company could not obtain an adequate supply of rolled or forged bars for prospective orders, it turned to individual cast steel ingots, and these individual cast ingots are now its main and regular source of steel supply. On account of the foundry’s inability to break off accurately the discard from these ingots, the average weight for an 8-in. cast ingot is specified as 250 lb., and for a cast ingot for a 9.2-in. forging 358 lb. The above weight of blanks, it is said, can be maintained low because of the greater accuracy of forgings pos- sible by its method, which, however, requires the greatest of care in heating and in maintenance of equipment if the results are to be duplicated. When it became necessary to resort to the use of individual cast ingots, the company undertook an investigation to compare forgings from rolled steel with those made from cast ingots, which of course have not had the work done on them that rolled steel has. This led to the following conclusions: Compressed slugs not normalized compared fa- vorably with rolled bars not normalized. Compressed slugs normalized compared favor- ably with rolled bars normalized. Forgings made from compressed individual cast ingots as normalized are equally as good as forg- ings made from rolled steel. The company’s present opinion is that forgings made’ from steel of equal analysis, whether from forged bars or individual cast ingots, if normalized, will give equal results on physical tests but that normalizing is essential to all forgings made from individual cast steel ingots. In its experience with about an equal number of forgings made from bar stock and from individual cast ingots, the percent- age of rejections due to defective steel have been considerably less with cast ingots than with forged or rolled bars. A further advantage in favor of cast ingots, if properly made, is that the forgings from individual ingots are free from pipes and THE IRON AGE Fx rge Plant Showing Air Ram for Charging Trucks seams due to the extension by rolling of small de- fects in the original large ingots from which the rolled bars are made. It has discovered many rolled blanks with secondary piping, but has not found any of the small individual cast ingots with a trace of secondary piping. For the purpose of studying the flow of metal in a forging due to the piercing process, a cast ingot was drilled through and through horizontally Flow of Metal in Forged Shell Due to es are the Piercing Zebra Norway-iron bars 8 THE IRON AGE with a series of parallel horizontal holes *4 in. in diameter and Norway iron bars were driven into the holes and riveted in place. The special ingot was then forged in the usual manner, after which it was split, polished and acid-etched. The Norway iron inserts showed up in zebra-like streaks, as here shown, indicating a comparatively small area of dis- tortion or local flow. The weld between the Norway iron and the steel was perfect except near the outer surface, though the blank was not heated to an ordinary welding temperature. Another experiment was made to study the prob- able results of accidentally forging piped ingots. A 6.4-in. diameter ingot had a *,-in. hole drilled axially from end to end. A %%4-in. Norway iron bar shorter than the blank was put in this hole and the two ends were then plugged up lightly with iron plugs. As the rod was % in. smaller in diameter than the hole, and the two ends of the hole were plugged, this blank was then somewhat similar to a blank with a secondary pipe, which did not show at the fractured end. The prepared blank was forged in the usual manner and the entire length of the forging was cut into horizontal sections. On the main body part of the forging no trace of the hole or the Norway iron bar could be discovered, even with the microscope after the sections were etched, and no trace of the bar or hole was dis- - covered until a section was reached 1!» in. from the bottom of the pierced hole. The Norway iron bar was everywhere thoroughly welded to the steel, and no trace of the void or hole discovered anywhere. DEFECTS IN STEEL INGOTS Hot Tops Necessary Precautions—Relation Be- tween Folds and Splits or Canties 6sQ\TEEL Ingot Defects” were discussed by J. N. Kilby before the spring meeting of the lron and Steel Institute in London, May 3, 1917. His paper was supplementary to one that he presented at the In- stitute’s meeting last September, an abstract of which appeared in THE IRON AGE, Oct. 12, 1916. In the pres- ent paper Mr. Kilby confined himself to the causes of certain defects in steel ingots of three tons and less. An abstract of his paper follows: Except with special steels the use of a refractory feeder head or hot top has not been widely adopted, but that it is necessary to produce the maximum of sound steel is beyond dispute. The type of feeder head does not matter a great deal, so far as reducing pipe is con- cerned, provided it is of sufficient capacity adequately to fill the chill portion. Cost of production seems the real reason why such heads are not more generally used, it being supposed that the extra cost entailed is not more than covered by the saving of steel. Savings from Use of Hot Tops Actual works costs, based on piping steels of 0.45 per cent, carbon, show that ingots without feeder heads yield 65 per cent sound, 15 per cent doubtful, and 20 per cent scrap, whereas with feeder heads 90 per cent is sound and 10 per cent scrap. A 15-cwt. ingot would yield 1.5 cwt. more sound steel with head at a cost of ls.; 30-cwt. ingot 3 cwt. more at a cost of 1s. 4d., and a 50-cwt. 5 cwt. more at a cost of 1s. 8d. Apart from increased yield and more reliable steel, there is the great saving in the ultimate manipulation of the ingot in the rolling mills, and it would thus appear that feeder heads are economically essential even for what are termed “ordinary” steels. Effect of Occluded Slags The presence in ordinary carbon steels of finely divided or emulsified solution of slag is as undesirable asin the case of special steels, though it is not so July 5, 1917 liable to influence the ordinary physical tests called for in these steels. There are two sources of “oxides” in the steel. They may be formed during the melting of the charge and not subsequently removed, and they may be introduced by excessive or erratic feeding of ore. The first essential in acid open-hearth steel manu- facture should be correct and consistent conditions at the melted stage. The two important factors up to the melted stage are quick melting and correct state of slag and bath at melting. A 2 per cent silicon basis is a good one to work to; in other words, the whole charge should have an available silicon charge of 2 per cent, taking the silicon in the pig iron and making up the difference by adding slag -with the charge. The use of slag in the charge greatly reduces the amount of oxidation and gives more reliable bath conditions. Folds from Bottom-Cast Steel Bottom-cast steel poured at too low a temperature or too slow a speed tends to cause “lappiness” or “folds” in the ingot. Ordinary carbon steels do not suffer much from this condition, since if the steel is so cool as to “lap” badly the chances are much against the ingots filling; but chrome steels and high silicon steels (the latter up to 2.50 per cent of silicon) are always liable to lapping in a greater or less degree. Some steel makers think that the lapped portion of the steel be- comes coated with the film of oxide which is embedded in the ingot by the flow of steel over it, and that this forms the beginning of a flaw in the rolled bar, taking the form of a crack or split after the bar has been sub- jected to pickling. But, in the author’s opinion, a cavity or split in a rolled or forged bar has no relationship whatever with lapping in the ingot. The use of comparatively large nozzles in the ladle and the small number of ingots per bed lead to spas- modic teeming; the stream from the ladle running at full force being of greater volume than is compatible with correct filling of the molds. The teemer then has to endeavor so to control the stream as to fill the molds correctly, and what is obtained is an ingot teemed at various speeds and in a good many places. The stream being momentarily cut off, trouble might be expected from such teeming and wrongly attributed to the steel having a habit of lapping. Erosion of Runner Brick In bottom-cast steel the flow of the metal in: con- tact with the fire clay trumpet pipe and runner bricks causes erosion, the product of which is carried along into the ingot. The tendency of this “slag” on enter- ing the mold is to rise to the surface and toward the sides of the ingot, but the flow of the steel carries it to its final position, and since the steel in the imme- diate vicinity of the mold begins to solidify on con- tact, the fluxed runner brick has little opportunity to reach the actual face of the ingot and become merely a surface deposit. Apart from material actually fluxed by the flow of the steel, the jointing used in the trumpet and runner brick joints is washed off in fairly large pieces, often too large to become fused. The position taken up by these pieces Of “dirt” is similar to that of a fluxed runner. Extraneous matter such as fireclay jointing may be largely eliminated by using a suction ejector down each mold and a trumpet pipe immediately before casting. Manganese Ore Imports Manganese ore imports into the United States in April, according to official data recently made public, were only 27,023 gross tons, the smallest in many months. This brings the total to May 1, 1917, to 172,- 743 tons or at the rate of 43,186 tons per month. The March imports were 56,394 tons and the monthly import rate in 1916 was 48,026 tons. The Phoenix Mfg. Co., Cleveland, has removed its offices from 1430 West Sixth Street to larger quarters at 913-15 Engineers Building, in that city. July 5, 1917 Automatic Press with Multiple Plungers An improved form of automatic press of the multi- ple plunger type has been placed on the market by the H. E. Harris Engineering Co., Bridgeport, Conn. It is designed for the production of stamped, perforated and embossed sheet metal parts such as eyelets, snap fasteners, primers, percussion caps, thimbles, ferrules, automobile grease and oil cups, fuse caps, boxes and jar covers. The press is automatic in operation and will, after the blank is cut, carry the work along until the part is completed without any handling by the workman. This type of press, which is commonly known as the eyelet machine, has been in use for some time. In the new machine the frame is offset at the left end and provision is made for an extra die and a double punch to be carried by the last plunger, thus enabling the press to perform one more operation than the number of plungers. This arrangement, it is emphasized, is a special feature of the machine and enables an extra operation that might not have been thought of at the time of purchase to be performed. Another point upon which emphasis is laid is that all of the operations are simultaneous, each one of the plungers performing an operation on the parts which are going through the press at each revolution of the camshaft. The press consists of a heavy main frame carrying a number of press plungers operated by a camshaft which rotates at rates varying from 65 to 150 r.p.m., according to the nature of the work being handled. This shaft determines the time and throw of the plungers which carry the different punches for stamp- ing, embossing, piercing, drawing, etc. Dies designed to suit the different punches are held in the bolster fitted on the bottom part of the main frame, which also carries the transfer slide. After the punches have operated the plungers are returned to their upper position by another set of cams on the same shaft. This movement is secured by the adjustable horizontal members above the camshaft, which is connected to the plungers by vertical lifting rods at the back of the press. The camshaft is con- nected through gearing to the vertical crankshaft which operates the transfer slide from right to left. The function of this slide is to carry the work along from one plunger to the other and locate a piece under each plunger before every stroke of the press is made. A roll feed on the back of the press passes the stock from a reel at the front of the machine under the first plunger, where a blank is punched out for the first operation. The size of the machine is determined by the depth of the parts to be drawn or embossed, together with the diameter or width of the blank. From three to 12 plungers are regularly supplied, although the presses most generally used have from four to seven. The weight of the machine and the throw of the cam and other details are arranged to suit the parts that are to be manufactured. In operation the stock, which is in the form of a coiled strip, is placed on the reel at the front of the machine and passes through a lubricating pad and stripper over the blanking die to the feed roll mechanism in the back. An intermittent ratchet timed to co-ordinate with the movement of the press plunger operates the feed mechanism. While the stock is in this position the first plunger blanks out a piece and carries it through the die to a pocket in the transfer slide, the scrap stock being coiled on a reel at the back of the press after it leaves the feed rolls. The vertical crankshaft moves the transfer slide to the left through a distance equal to the center distances between the plungers, this action carrying the blanked piece in the pocket under the second plunger. The forming punch which is carried by the second plunger descends and draws the blanked piece through the transfer slide into the first forming die. The trans- fer slide then moves to the right and assumes its original position. The next movement of the slide from right to left carries the cupped piece from the second position to the third, while a fresh blank is brought from the first plunger to the second. A set of THE IRON AGE J D444 Wh ts sie a a ' i. ii An Automatic Multiple Plunger Press Capable of Turning vat Between 3500 and 8000 Small Sheet Metal Parts in 1 Hr. vertical ejector plungers operated by the lower crank- shaft returns the work from the die into the fingers of the transfer slide. These take hold of the piece in practically the same way as the thumb and index finger of the human hand and serve to hold the part while it is being transferred for the succeeding opera- tion. This operation is repeated at each stroke of the press, until the work has been carried along to the last plunger, when it is ejected and carried through a tube into a box or pan, provided to receive the finished parts. Miter gears on the two camshafts and the ver- tical crankshaft provide for synchronous operation of the upper and lower camshafts. The machine is en- tirely automatic in operation, all the attention required being to keep the stock reel full and to remove the boxes of finished work and any small piercings. The output of the press varies from 35,000 to 80,000 parts per 10-hr. day, this large variation cover- ing all classes of work. These figures, it is stated, allow time for repairs, setting up the press, sharpen- ing tools, oiling, replenishing the stock and other legitimate stoppages. The output, of course, depends upon the kind of material used, its thickness, the depth to which it has to be drawn and other factors due to the nature of the work. The Gschwind Furnace Company of Youngstown, Ohio, and the Star Iron Works of Gowanda, N. Y., have merged, and the name of the new organization is the Star Iron Works Company, Inc., Gowanda, N. Y. Plant, foundry, machine shop and main office are at Gowanda and a branch office at 15 Wick Avenue, Youngstown. Furnaces and supplies for the warm air furnace trade will be manufactured at the Gowanda plant. A general foundry and machine shop will also be operated. Previous to the merger the Gschwind company was buying its castings, but growth of the business necessitated arrangements whereby it could have a foundry of its own. The following are officers of the new company: Carl E. Gschwind, Youngstown, president; W. W. Watson, Youngstown, vice-president, and D. H. Foster, Gowanda, secretary, treasurer and general manager. These officers, with Edward Foster and Robert Congdon, constitute the board of directors. American Society for Testing Materials Specifications Drawn Up for Carbon Tool Steel and Railroad Malleable Iron Castings—Standards for Photomicrographs—Practicable Magnetic Testing OTABLE contributions to the progress of the iron N and steel industiy were made in the past year by the American Society for Testing Materials, judging from the annual meeting held last week at Atlantic City, N. J. In spite of the demands growing out of the war, some fresh specification writing had been achieved out of the committee conferences of pro- ducers and consumers, and a portentous step in testing developments was announced in a paper on the mag- netic method of testing a material without requiring a specimen selected to be representative. The registra- tion was surprisingly large and the attendance at ses- sions unusually well sustained, a fact commented on as indicating the especially serious consideration which is given to the society’s work. The report of the first day’s sessions, Tuesday, June 26, covering some of the main iron and steel matters, was made in last week’s issue. This included a review of the work of the committees on wrought iron, cast iron, micrograph making and methods otf testing, and of the report of the executive committee and the ad- dress of the president. As regards the magnification scales for micrographs, it may be added that George F. Comstock, ‘Titanium Alloy Mfg. Co., Niagara Falls, N. Y., in a written communication, questioned that there should be separate standards for ferrous and non- ferrous metals and emphasized that 75 diameters though possibly applicable to rolled non-ferrous material was not satisfactory for cast non-ferrous material. He also had objection to the scale of magnifications reported, as the scales obtainable with his apparatus, of 20, 50, 100, 200, 400, etc., modified to suit the proposed standard of 50, 100, 250 or 500, would in some cases result in loss of definition or in others unnecessarily limit the field photographed. In the matter of the railroad malleable iron cast- ings specifications, mentioned in last week’s account, Stanley G. Fagg, Jr., explained that owing to the dif- ferent requirements which malleable iron had to meet, the classification as railroad malleable iron was re- garded as needed and the name was selected for the want of a better one. Some manufacturers as of driv- ing chain demanded stiffness so as not to destroy the pitch of the chain and automobile makers desired a rela- tively soft material. J. H. Gibboney, Norfolk & West- ern Railroad, Roanoke, Va., added that a number of railroads have had to put into the malleable iron speci- fications of the society the improvements covered by the new standard. In his presidential address, A. A. Stevenson, in ad- dition to the passages referred to in the preceding issue, touched on the movement for international specifica- tions. “Those of us who have kept in touch with the progress, or lack of progress, in so far as international specifications are concerned,” he said, “ have realized how hopeless the task has seemed. The different cen- ditions existing in the several countries and the appar- ent feeling in some countries that international speci- fications would militate against their export trade, seem to be the two main difficulties in the way. In fact, uni- versal international specifications would appear to be somewhat of an iridescent dream, although I feel we should continue our efforts in this direction.” Revising Specifications In respect to the changing of specifications, he spcke in part as follows: As we gain more knowledge of ma- terials and as new methods of testing are developed, there will be less necessity for a number of require- ments that are now in our specifications, and as a conse- 10 quence the specifications will be much shortened, though just as efficient. As better grades of raw material be- come exhausted, there is no doubt that changes in the requirements as to impurities will have to be given con- sideration. Personally I feel that time will show that many specifications have requirements covering impuri- ties that are not necessary, and that materials with these requirements raised will be just as reliable as ma- terials furnished under present specifications. Some of the recent literature indicates that the countries now at war, both the Allies and Central Powers, have found that to be true. In discussing the question of copper in steel with a British officer not long ago, I was told that the Germans had presented them with some shells run- ning as high as 1% per cent in copper. Observations on Tensile and Other Tests The recommended speeds for pulling tensile tests brought out some discussion from which it developed that the U. S. Bureau of Standards and the Baldwin Locomotive Works had made series of tests which had been a guide to the selection of the committee’s table of proper speeds and these test results are to be sup- plied to the membership to indicate, for example, the differences of average results at different speeds. An interesting observation on the progress report of the committee on corrosion of iron and steel was made by R. B. Carnahan, Jr., second vice-president Ameri- can Rolling Mill Co., Middletown, Ohio, who deplored the lack of a real measure of corrosion, A metal roof is removed, he remarked, because of holes, though many parts show no corrosion at all. To describe corrosion in terms of a loss of weight in an accelerated test is fallacious. The failure of a steel plate in spots may be due, he held, to flaws resulting from steel cast in a dirty or moist mold, from some malpractice in the soaking pit, from seams produced in rolling; and many of these mill influences may be worse than chemical shortcomings. The report of the committee on steel, A-1, was made at the session of Wednesday morning, June 27, and the paper on “Some Applications of Magnetic Analysis to the Study of Steel Products,” by Dr. C. W. Burrows was presented at the same session together with a group of papers on the role of different alloying elements in alloy steels, such as nickel, vanadium, etc. It is planned to review Dr. Burrows’ paper in a later issue together with the discussion, which was participated in by Dr. J. C. Unger, Carnegie Steel Co., Ralph P. Devries, Dr. Henry M. Howe and others. Also a study of the alloy steel papers will be carried over to a later issue; these were presented by the following authors: Dr. Howe, on manganese; Robert R. Abbott, metallurgical engineer, Peerless Motor Car Co., Cleveland, on nickel; Dr. W. E. Ruder, Schenectady, N. Y., on silicon; G. L. Norris, engineer of tests, American Vanadium Co., Pittsburgh, on vanadium, and F. J. Griffiths, second vice-president and general superintendent, Central Steel Co., Mas- sillon, Ohio, on chrome vanadium. In connection with the steel committee’s report, the review of which fol- lows, it was announced that Chairman C. D. Young has resigned because changes in duties compelled him to do so. Report of Committee on Steel The committee on steel, A-1, submitted one new specification, to be published as tentative for one year under the present regulations before it is put to a mail vote of the membership; it revised two tentative speci- fications with a recommendation that these tentative July 5, 1917 standards should be continued as such for another year; it revised ten existing standards, which revisions will stand in abeyance under the rules for one year, and it recommended that four other tentative specifications should be continued as tentative. Thus a carbon tool steel specification represents the fresh specification writing in steel lines this year, the work of a new sub- committee, and none of the six new specifications sub- mitted last year were regarded as ready for final presentation to the membership, although, as noted above, in only t