The Iron Age 1918-09-05: Vol 102 Iss 10

New York, September 5, 1918 Experience in Training Mechanical Operators Machine Tool Plant of Medium Size Succeeds in the Effort to Develop Efficient Workers from Ranks of Unskilled Men and Women HI ess of the large machine shops and assembling and inspecting is now well know: But ns plants in training men and women many are the managers of smaller plants who have machines and to do some classes of hesitated to undertake this work becaus« Carpenter Who Began Machine Work in January. Fig. 2—A 63-Year-Old Shoemaker On Cal per Dev cen Fig. Yoman Began in June and Now. Performs an Indexing Operation. Fig. 4—-A <0-Year-V Assist Pocus Since April. Fig. 5—Broaching Parts Weighing 40 Lb 551 552 THE IRON AGE September 5. 1918 lack of sufficient e} : volume of re- we petitive opera- thei: tions. The suc- blo cess attending the ies the establish- pa) r the ¢ ment of a small pens = training shop by dering. 17 the Blanchard company fy: Machine Co., nishes ate Cambridge, and caps Mass., manufac- For the her turer of a wide- ly used vertical grinding ma- chine, should give managers of other plants of medium size an_ inspiration to undertake this important * work. This work was first un- dertaken a few months ago, but the installation of a separate training shop with a few simple machine tools was made about two months | ago. Sthce the establishment {| of the training shop the par- ticular aim has been to de- velop women operators. The women have been taught to operate plain drilling ma- chines (some with jigs and some ordinary layout work), broaching machines and en- gine lathes, and to do bench assembling and inspecting. The company is also success- fully employing girls in the stock room and tool crib. Most of the women have been over 25 years of age and several are married, At the start the women were _ secured from an em- ployment agen- cy, but of late the accessions to the force have been se- cured by the recommenda- tions of the os women workers shown in Fig.’ and by applica- is a carpenter © tions made to r, trade, 36 year the employment pic ¢6—with efit of the won en workers the company) has opened a speci: rest and lunek room. This room has good washing facili ties. with hot = and cold water steel lockers gas range, table, comf able chairs with one broa arm, and a mirror. This last is no inconsequentia item, as any employer of women will testify. A go toilet room opens from this room. No set time is allowed for the completion of the training course, but an ef- fort is made to hold the women in training for period long enough so that they will not require « stant supervision and guid- s ance by the foreman afte! § they are put on product machines. The act panying trations affor a good conce} tion of the work that the new trained men an i women are 4 ing. The com- pany feels that the policy of e tablishing training sho! under a specia instructor * justified by ™ results that are here graphica shown. The mal entere g out Lathe Experience Before June Now Finish Turning Steel Bevel old, and : f department bv Gears Fig. 7—Comparative Simple Drilling Fig. 8—Operator Who Began the employ . May 9, Now On Exacting Thread Cutting women who had the compat: learned that the company had established a training Jan. 9. He had had no previous experience = course. So far, 14 women have been trained and 11 machinery, but by placing him on work at have stuck to the work. Of the three two left, one there was an opportunity to do mostly repeluy” said that she did not like the work, and the other work his output virtually equals that of a traine® two objected to the dirt and oil. The women oper- machinist. It will be noted that directly gee ators wear either bloomers or aprons, as they the man’s face in the illustration there is @ 5” Septem! er Dd, 1918 f paper. On this slip of paper are two figures ne for the turning position of the cross slide i the other for the boring position. . ing fine measurements on the work being sound on the vertical grinding machines made by - ompany, it manufactures a special caliper de- This work is much like instrument work, +s heing done (Fig. 2) by a man 63 years old, oe ous to taking up this work, in June of ‘vear, was a Shoemaker. In this short space of has learned to assemble completely these delicate instruments, making the proper adjust- ments, and doing some fine lapping, and the quality ‘his work is such that it passes a rigid inspec- For mak the time ne The graduating of segment plates which are part ‘ the equipment of the Blanchard grinder is done the young woman shown in Fig. 3. It calls for ‘he use of an indexing head and for the making ‘ every fifth line 3/16 in. longer than the other nes, using a gage shown on the front of the ma- hine for that purpose. This operator had a small mount of experience assembling automobile start- ers before taking up this work last June. By set- ting up the machine for her, and not giving her too difficult jobs, she is able to equal the time of the average man on this work. One woman has been an assistant inspector since April 29. In Fig. 4 she is shown inspecting bevel gears that have just come from the gear generator. If they do not run smoothly in the fixture shown she lays them to one side for final inspection by the chief inspector. She also inspects other compo- nents that can be tested by the use of go-and-not-go gages. She is only 20 years old, and while she does not understand all the technical phrases, there is a very large part of the Work that is merely routine, and doubtful pieces can be referred to the chief nspector. The woman shown in Fig. 5 is operating a No. 3 aching machine on a variety of parts. The r MUNITION INDUSTRIES American and French Missions Inspecting Plants of the Two Countries WASHINGTON, Sept. 3—An American mission, sent ¢ Ordnance Department, is to study French muni- ndustries. After three weeks in Washington, the mission of ordnance engineers is now touring ed States. ‘rench mission, which numbers six officers and “gineers and 20 foremen and superintendents of french munition plants, was divided for the trip. Ex- peri shell production left for the shell plants; ex- n gun production—field artillery and heavy arti!- “‘y—tor the centers where guns are being forged and “chined and where the carriage and recoil mechanisms ng built; the experts on tanks, tractors and for the factories where this material 8 | iced. Martinon, head of the mission, went to rt, N. J. Before leaving Washington, Col. “non made the following statement: _ ‘fn the conferences which have taken place since ~ ‘val with the committee which was formed by irs left ral Williams, we have considered in detail all MESLIONS relatiy . coli... ave to the production of ordnance. I hme: l&t we of the French mission and our nterees are in absolute agreement on all ply the ever-increasing needs of both the aa and Fk rench armies, production of certain eg material has yet to be increased. We rely he man \ufacturers and on the workingmen of THE IRON AGE 553 broach that she is holding in her hand is 48 in. long and weighs 40 lb. Speaking of this particular operator, Mr. Blakeman, the superintendent, said: “This work was so heavy that we rigged up a chain fall to enable her to do it without undue muscular effort, but the chain took a little longer time than it took to handle the work by hand, so she discarded the chain fall and handled the 40-lb. broach by hand until she was tired, and then went back to the chain fall to give her a chance to rest. This shows the spirit in which the girls that we have in our shop are taking this new work. Production on this work is equal to that of any man we have ever had on the job.” The finish turning of steel bevel gears to accu- rate dimensions is also done by a woman operator, Fig. 6. She is using a compound slide, and is pro- ducing a quality of work that passes the most criti cal inspection. The pose was not especially for the photographer, but is a natural one, and indicates the carefulness and watchfulness with which she does her work. She began work in June. A comparatively simple type of jig drilling on a 20-in. upright drill press is shown in Fig. 7. Much of this work calls for drilling and tapping, as well as counterboring and spot facing. The women oper- ators are able to reach the output of any except the most experienced men. An operation requiring very careful attention and unusual skill is the thread-cutting operation (Fig. 8) on a feed screw. This feed screw is made fronr 40-carbon steel, is 264 in. long, and has a %4-in. pitch Acme thread about two-thirds of its length that must be a close fit in a bronze unit. The young woman operator, who has been on this work since May 9, is able to take these screws from the rough stock, turn them to grinding size, and finally finish-cut the thread in less time than was formerly taken by skilled machinists. This is the most ad- vanced operator that the training in the Blanchard plant has yet turned out. America to increase production—to nificent work they have already done. “We of the French mission are now setting out with Col. James L. Walsh, of the staff of the Chief of Ordnance, on a long trip to America’s many great munitions plants that we may see on the spot the conditions of production. We would wish that the im- provements which have been reached, either by France or America, in ordnance production should be use of by either country. “With this object in view, it is the intention of General Williams to send to France a mission of the same character as this of ours and which will aim to make known to the French manufacturers all im- provements in ordnance production obtained by Amer- ican manufacturers. “Needless to say, such an American mission will be very heartily welcomed in France, and that welcome will serve to acknowledge the great kindness which General Williams and the officers of the Ordnance De- partment have shown us in order to facilitate our work in this country. ’ “America and France have no secrets one from the other as to the production of any ordnance material.” out-do the mag made As the future progress of the Dominion of Canada depends largely on the development and use of all the available fuel-power resources, the government has formed a Dominion Power Board, comprising nine per- manent officials of the various departments. The board has also been charged with the responsibility of co- ordinating all the investigation activities of the Govern- ment with regard to fuel power resources and of ad- vising upon their development and use. ws ~.ce- Aspects of the Indian Steel Industry Technical Phases of Present Practice—High Manganese in Rails Advocated—How Best to Add Manganese—Basic Steel and the War Government of India, India Munitions Board, presented before the Iron and Steel Institute in London in May, 1918, a paper entitled “Technical As- pects of the Establishment of the Heavy Steel Industry in India, with the Results of Some Researches Con- nected Therewith.” It is replete with many important metallurgical facts. The author gives first an historical resumé of the establishment and progress of steel making in India. Until some little time after the war broke out, the staff of the open-hearth department of the Tata Iron & Steel Co. was German and not particularly skillful. Mr. Mc- Williams then goes on to say: They favored running the heat down to a minimum carbon content and recarburizing with coke-dust. The coke-dust used with its high content of ash is not a good recarburizing agent, but the author tried several experi- ments and proved that when properly handled the method was capable of producing steel which, after rigid examination, showed no unusual signs of uneven- ness in composition, and passed with ease all the Indian State Railway tests for rails, including the drop test. As carried out by the Germans the method was not a success, and the losses from off heats, rejected heats, re- jected rails, and other causes were so great that the closing down of the steel plant had, it was understood, been actually decided on. At this stage Sir Trevredyn R. Wynne, then president of the Indian Railway Board, asked the author whether he could put things right. Arrangements having been made he successfully put the Indian heavy steel industry on sound practical lines, and others then worked out the labor and commercial side, and got it on a good business footing before the war. Since then the profits have been sufficient to wipe out the cost of all past mistakes and to place the firm in a very strong position. , NDREW McWILLIAMS, metallurgical inspector, Cause of the Failure in Steel-Making The main cause of the failure to produce commer- cially or even technically successful results was the lack of sufficient knowledge and skill to work the method they had adopted. They had no stage laboratory, and depended for their judgment of the composition of the bath on the usual sample ingot tests without analysis. They seemed to make little attempt to govern the nature of the finishing slag, which, to the author as a slag enthusiast, was one of their worst faults. The author started to install his methods in August, 1913, had a stage laboratory erected at once, so that regular carbon and phosphorus determinations would show the progress of the elimination of these elements during the working of the heat instead of after the steel had been tapped, occasional sulphur determinations be- ing also made. He decided that, with the low phos- phorus content of the charge, the best method in which to train the men in the basic open-hearth process would be the comparatively new one of catching the carbon coming down, the amount of lime and oxide of iron used being so proportioned that the phosphorus would be suffi- ciently low when the proper carbon content was reached, and that the siag would also be in good finishing condi- tion at the same time. Failure with the men available was prophesied, but by this time a young American of great energy, Lansing W. Hoyt, who believed that the author’s methods were sound, had been given charge of the steel-making department, and he worked at the new process with great enthusiasm. The Germans showed no sign of resentment, but on the contrary were anxious to pick up every point, un- derstand it, and apply it. In a country new to an in- dustry there is no reserve of skilled men to draw upon, and in introducing a different method it is necessary to train men specially to the new work had to be trained into the ways of a and the melters to be impressed with + proper treatment of the sample for though simple, was as necessary to th: s final result as the more difficult features already « to them. The result was entirely success! ak both as to the proportion of heats that c limits of the specification, and to the perc rejected, mostly by the company’s own ji) Effect of Method of Adding Manganese The relative merits of the two main me?! ing manganese to the steel, in the furnace , he ladle, have been the subject of many discussions. It . be admitted that the ideal method is to finish th steel so far as practicable, on the hearth of the furn: addition of aluminum, and in the basic process, of haa silicon being necessarily made outside the furnac: The addition of ferromanganese in the bath entails an ext 20 per cent or so of loss of manganese, and for nar limits and severe inspection as to figures it is not per. haps so easy to hit the manganese content as by adding the manganese in the ladle, although it is easier to hit the correct carbon content, but the author's experience is that the resulting steel, when the'manganese js added in the furnace, is of superior quality, probably because the oxygen is more thoroughly eliminated. Unless the addition of manganese and also of carbon in the ladle is done with skill and great care, the steel is apt to be uneven in composition, and after the most careful consideration, not forgetting the slight extra cost per ton of ingots, though not necessarily of rails produced, he decided from his past experience in the works to add the ferromanganese in the furnace for all higher tempered heats, such as rail steel. It was not thought worth the extra cost for ordinary structural steels to British standard and similar specifications With manganese added in the furnace a larger per- centage of rail heats stood two standard blows under the drop test than with manganese added in the ladle, the manganese left in the steel being the same in both cases. : The English melters when they arrived elected t add the manganese in the ladle, and as they were skilled men were allowed to do so, but in making by the basic process such specially tested material as high explosive shell steel, with men unaccustomed to armament work, and with American ideas of rapidity of working in the open-hearth and of temperature of rolling in the mills, it was found difficult at first, especially when ferro silicon was scarce, continuously to keep both the yield point and the elongation safely above the minimum specified. If the bars are to be hot-worked during the process of manufacture into shell, or if there are facilities for normalizing the output, there is no trouble with elong® tion, as it is easily brought up by normalizing, and 8 the yield point can be kept well up; but where the shells have to be turned direct from the bar with no facilities for normalizing, the test must be correct on the bars # they leave the mill. Normalizing our output was quite out of the que tion. For the making of higher explosive shell st under these conditions the author ultimately had the manganese added in the furnace, for he found thst when added in this way the steel would stand a higher rolling temperature without seriously reducing elongation obtained under tensile test, and he was thus able to keep the yield point higher to satisfy the mil- itary inspection authorities, and also to allow of higher rolling temperatures to facilitate output with om large rounds, which were required in the maximum xtra TOW 554 5,°1918 ‘ould be produced in a given proportion ¢ the works. The discard from these bars :vor, as it stood fire much better than the bars made by the other method. Adding in the furnace has another advantage in nsures finishing with a good slag. Hich Manganese in Rail Steel Advocated s a curious prejudice in government and .gainst high manganese in steel, that is, cs to 1 per cent or so, and specifications ' tain the proviso that manganese shall not 0.70 per cent, as if it were a necessary vould be better if it were to be specified : in 0.70 per cent because of its beneficial oct steel. This is a question on which there ill a genuine difference of opinion, the view being no doubt strengthened by ’ Mr. Harbord, in his excellent book on t advocacy is one of the few things that iid like to see changed in his authoritative ould make easier the task of those of us higher manganese. is a great cleanser of steel as to the por- lized out, and for rails and many other 1 per cent or even a little beyond is en the portion that is left in the steel. Mangan is a fining effect on the pearlite, of which are very largely composed. One is some- 5 y the objection that manganese may be good for the steel, but that with high manganese it is lifficult to pass the drop test. The British Standard; Indian St Railways, and Bengal Nagpur Railway jrop tests are severe, and the author’s experience with these tests during the last six years is that for the same temper as measured by the deflection under the first blow, and for the same method of adding the man- o the steel, the high manganese rail stands the pn test Dest \verage Composition of Indian Steels Since the author put the method of manufacture on per basis there has been practically no trouble with phospho intent, and there was never much trouble the average being something like 0.03 per By the time the Germans were interned, English steel melters, mostly from Middlesbrough dis- rict, i. It was amusing to notice that for their s at work they seemed to attack the 0.40 sphorus with somewhat of the same vigor iey had attacked their 1.60 per cent at home, with that they produced a considerable number of t with less than 0.01 per cent of phosphorus | steel. ty of the structural steel is excellent. Only number of heats have had to be rejected, arly all for being a little over or under the per. There is no trouble with elongation iiphur and phosphorus contents. \ 1 ve Ww hes heats of rail steel have failed under the it is well known that the Indian State Rail- their British standard section flat-footed only one blow. For 90-lb. rails the blow s ton dropped from 26 ft. on a 5-ft. piece head upwards on supports 3 ft. 6 in. rrangement with the firm all test-pieces 1114, 40, 35, and 30 Ib. are given two aa cond for information only. This was ented it ier to study the effects of various modi- tions actice in steel-making, and has been con- time, for, as practically no rails break ndard drop, the only information received for the accumulation of general metal- . ‘ledge would be from the deflection which, e ecified, was always measured. The British ‘ndard p for 60-lb. rails seems much more severe rs mentioned, and so many of the higher- s break under the second blow that it is , as affording very little information, and _ ting ve apparatus to unnecessary strain. It : wme vt that this test should be recalculated by ,, -athematical engineer. a thought possible that the freedom from the drop test might be partly due to the astember 8 THE IRON AGE high temperature at which the rails are tested during seven months of the year. On one day when the ther- momenter was showing a maximum of 118 deg. Fahr. in the shade, a thermometer was laid on one of the rails and showed 154 deg. Fahr. To test the question, merely for information, test-pieces from some of the high tempered rails were put into a pan, covered with ice, and tested when quite cold to the touch. These rails were perceptibly stiffer as shown by the deflection, but passed the specified test. For those who specify two equal blows, and the measurement of deflection, it seems waste of time to re quire the deflection to be measured after the second blow, as that after the first blow shows the character of the rail, and the second generally gives just double the deflection minus a fraction of an inch, about one quarter, due to the stiffening effect of the first blow As the higher management of the works has been American from the first, it must be remembered that the standard American drop test to which therefore they were accustomed at the time of starting the mak ing of rails in India was a blow of 1 net ton dropped 15 ft. or 30,000 ft.-lb. for 90-lb. rails, little more than half the Indian State Railways or British standard drop of 1 gross ton dropped 26 ft. or 58,240 ft.-Ib Importance and Abuse of Inspection The question of rejections by engineers and inspec- tors is one of national importance and will have to be given careful consideration after the war, as it has been during the war. Although there should be no relaxing of our aim at high quality, to keep up our reputation in the world, and therefore specifications must be strict, at the same time every article unnecessarily condemned is a dead loss to the community. The condemnation may be’on mere figures that it is necessary to put on paper to form the basis of a commercial contract; but some of those condemned on these figures might do their work in the world even better than some that must be ac- cepted. For example, take a common type of chemical specification for a rail where the temper might be de- fined as carbon 0.60 to 0.70 per cent; manganese, 0.50 to 0.80 per cent. A rail at carbon 0.60 and manganese 0.50 per cent would have to be accepted, but one at carbon 0.57 and manganese 0.90 per cent although out on both elements, would be expected by most people to do as good work as the other, and although the engineer has a perfect right, as in this case, to enforce his obvious preference for low manganese, and to insist on the great bulk of his material being to that pattern, if the inspector were sufficiently well trained metal- lurgically, he might be allowed, though not compelled, to accept a certain proportion that, although not liked generally by the engineer, would, according to very widely held views, do as good if not better work. Where there are these almost diametrically opposed views, searching investigations should be made to set- tle the question. Every unnecessary restriction in- creases the cost of a material, the time required for delivery, and the quantity available. Fads have some use in peace times, or times of bad trade, in developing the skill of steel-makers to meet even unnecessary con- ditions, which might ultimately become necessary; ‘but some of them are impossible to meet, or conditions are too rigid to be met economically even in the best prac- tice, and must be taken round until a maker is found who has developed sufficient skill in evading conditions, thus making this carrier of temptations pleased with himself, which is all to the bad. The preparation of bend tests so as to give the steel the best chance possible under the terms of the speci- fication involved considerable unnecessary cost, so the bending of test-pieces of all sections as they were, that could be done by the machine, was introduced. As this test was too severe there went with it the promise that we would only pass on it and not reject. In the few cases that do not pass, fresh samples are taken and pre- pared in the best way allowed by the specification, and the heat is considered not to have any stain on its char- acter. The same principle was adopted in doing away with means of measuring the internal angle of the bend, which takes time. The whole section is simply pressed down until the internal radius is well below that speci- fied, and again the sample may be passed on this rapid \s > x, f & ; > ww * eet B~ “we —— 556 and severe test, but not rejected on it. The method has worked to the satisfaction of both sides and saves cost in preparation and time in testing. Relative Wear of Basic Open-Hearth Rails The question of the relative wearing qualities of rails of different types of compositions all within safe limits should be tried on a large scale on some home railroad where traffic is heavy enough to give results in a reasonable time. Through the interest of G. C. Godfrey, the agent; H. H. Jellett, chief engineer of the Bengal Nagpur Railway, and the author have had a trial set of various selected rails of Tata’s make, and some English rails under test on a portion of the Ben- gal Nagpur Railway line where there is excessive wear. The compositions of all the rails and the results of the drop tests on all the Indian-made rails are known. As the tests have only been going on for two years it is too early yet to say anything definite, but already the results are interesting, and in another three years’ time may be worth publishing. So far, the Indian rails are showing up well in comparison with their English com- petitors in the trial. Specifications for Basic Open-Hearth Rails The British standard specifications are so much used now that it is time there was one for rails made from basic open-hearth steel, which must be the main source of supply in the future. It is hoped that when the speci- fication is made the committee will retain the high man- ganese requirements shown in their present specifica- tion, which was made more particularly for acid Bes- semer rails. The author’s idea of a specification might be taken as a basis for discussion: Carbon, 0.50 to 0.60 per cent, with perhaps 0.03 per cent carbon lower for rails of 50 lb. per yard and under; manganese, 1 to 0.70 per cent; sulphur and phosphorus not more than 0.05 per cent each, and silicon to be left to the discretion of the manufacturer, the amount present to be stated—for flat-footed rails, the test-pieces to stand one blow, the same as in the present specifications, but with a recon- sideration of the blow to be given in each case in order that the test may be of about equal severity throughout the table, and particularly to reconsider the drop test on the 60-lb. rail. If a measurement of deflection is specified a maximum should be sufficient without a mini- mum, and if a tensile test is recommended there should be a minimum tenacity only and no maximum with a minimum elongation. Refractory Heads for Rail Steel Ingots The only portion of the author’s recommendations that the Tata Company for various reasons has not yet tried is the use of refractory heads for the ingots, and if possible casting big end up. He has made such cal. culations as he could without access to the company’s books, but with special information as to rejections, and he feels sure that when circumstances admit of their being adopted the practice will pay even now, and by practically abolishing rokes and pipes in the rails will tend to the building up of a high reputation. His opin- ions were given in some detail in the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, 1915, No. I. pp. 74-75, in the discus- sion on the paper by Sir Robert Hadfield and Dr. Bur- gess. Another advantage of the high manganese temper in a rail specification is that it facilitates the thorough killing of the steel, which is essential for the proper use of refractory feeding heads for ingots. An important matter that does not seem to have been given the thought that it deserves is the nature and degree of the loosening of the bonds of a specifica: tion in times of war, which involves the very carefu: consideration of the relative values of the various parts of the specification as to which are necessary and whick are only desirable. This is not an idea born of the war but represents an opinion that the author has long held He even addressed his department on the point, in so far as it had reference to his own work, in November 1913, before the war. As the very figures of specifica: tions are apt to become fetishes worshipped for them. selves, it ought to be remembered that the tests made are generally only attempts to get at the real thing by making measurements of certain properties of the THE FRON -AGE September 5, 1918 steels. He feels strongly that experim, made in times of peace, and at least som: cisions arrived at as to the points that laxed in times of great stress. Analysis of a German Rai! There is a wealth of interest in othe: nts should be tentative de. might be re. s . y People’s w r in one’s own line, so the analysis of a German rail ca k tured at Bagdad is here given. Carbon, 0.45 per om silicon, 0.02 per cent; manganese, 0.90 per cent: g») phur, 0.050 per cent; phosphorus, 0.086 per cent. |) One of the most fascinating duties of the office ; the examination of rails and other materia|s taken a ° ‘ up for various reasons, among others failure in use. }y u unfortunately the results are at present strictly cop. fidential. “—e Personal Things move rapidly in this “island” site jin th midst of an enormous Indian jungle. The present holder of the office of Government metallurgical jp. spector in the six years since he landed in India at the end of January, 1912, has become the oldest inhabitant who has held a head position all the time. He has had to deal with four general managers in that time, and with the present one, T. W. Tutwiler, for over three years of it. Mr. Tutwiler and he have worked in com. plete accord during the whole of the time, and they jp. tend to present a joint paper on the works practice at the present time before what are called the “great ey. tensions” are made, when the output will be raised wp nearly five times the original estimate of about 120,00 tons a year of steel. Among the others he has had most to do with mill managers, and the first was James Cave, who brought out the mill men, mostly from Cum. berland. The next was F. K. Bennett from the South- ern States, who, however, was born in Sheffield, and lived there till he was ten. Mr. Bennett having been made works manager, William Bamforth of Sheffield is the acting superintendent of mills, with the bar-mill un. der the care of Alfred Cave. In the government department C. A. Irwin, trained at. the University of Sheffield, and with experience in various works, came out with the author, and his special speed and accuracy in analysis stood us in good stead in the early days when differences most frequently o- cur. When he was required for the work of assistant metallurgist we had Aloke Nath Bose, who had bee at the University of Birmingham, ready, and two other Indians, Phanindra Nath De from Calcutta and Bhabo- taran Chakravarti, who is a product of our own train- ing as an experiment. All three are skilful and re Jiable workers, and our laboratory has never once let us down. As inspection work increased R. ©. Arbery, from King’s College, London, joined us as assistant en- gineer, now assistant metallurgical inspector, and has been with us since. Since March, 1917, the metallurgical inspector's office has been taken over by the Indian Munitions Board under the presidency of Sir Thomas Hollané, K.C.LE. Of about six people present at a recent meet ing to discuss war steel questions, three—the pres dent, the representative of Tatas, B. J. Padshah, and the metallurgical inspector—had all been students of the Royal School of Mines, London, at the same time, the two last having joined on the same day. The Future The manufacture of rails, fish-plates, and structura steels has now been successfully and firmly esta® lished in Sakchi, and the making of steels for spikes, fish-bolts, gun-carriages, and other similar pu poses has been a success. In the higher flight of " making of high explosive shell steel the success 4 “ quality may be gaged from the official report that - one shell made from our steel failed under proof, *™ the verbal statement that no complaints were rece!" from home, and this under conditions when we to make the maximum possible output in a given share of the full time of the works. . The only risk for = future seems to lie in the choosing of the men te °™ trol the work. f The author’s experiments on the manufacture ° basic open-hearth steel have not been merely a reference to rails, but they were made at first 0 conveniently high-tempered steel used for these art ire rhe the rti- September 5, 1918 view to the higher and higher uses of the e country. The methods tested and advo- ostly for normal times, as during the stress ae modifications have had to be made for output os \y that may be discarded in normal times, i others postponed till after the war. The methods . be considered too costly for rail steel, but this is rial all admitted for normal conditions. For Tatas concumption of a little extra manganese is not so -.) oven now as for many other firms, as Tatas own nanganese ore mines and for some time sufficient ferromanganese for their own use. Por reasons that are fairly obvious now, India must duce as much of her war material within her own lers as possible, hence the experiments on steel. advantage of war is that it spurs us on to the best use of the material we have, and we turn our experience to good account when peace rns. Damascus and Toledo blades were not de- ned for table cutlery but for attack and defence, nd although much of their fame may be due to the ne ago. and one would be unwise to pit them against est that the skilled Sheffield sword-maker could luce in his day, they must have been splendid The experience gained in the quest swords and armor served well for fter tl pest n How Acid Steel May Be Supplied in India When we have done our level best with basic there ne of our needs, even in times of stress, that be met by acid steel. The ideas the author t in those lines, and the nature of the ratory work already done are as follows: lt been mentioned that a small output of pig im hematite quality could be produced. be made low enough in sulphur with our low but might contain 0.06 to 0.07 per cent Partly for another purpose, but partly istrate the methods in mind, samples were taken Dec. 5, 1917, of three ordinary heats in the works, ete ordinary analyses of the samples were Mrs. A. MeWilliam, who apparently ont of the times as they are now devel- prese! fuel, ospnorus, was luring our first few months in India she igh a course of ordinary iron and steel the laboratory as an added interest to She became an accurate analyst of the and her newly acquired skill was ind proved of great value. The analyses e be taken as thoroughly reliable, espe- few of the less ordinary results have been ‘ther ements workers: finished steel contained: Carbon, 0.65 vanese, 0.62 per cent: sulphur, 0.038 per cent; per cent In heat No, 2 the finished steel n, 0.26 per cent: manganese, 0.66 per cent 0.019 Mean Maxi- 25.4 per cent. Carbon, 0.22 phosphorus, sts on bar-mill elongation, per cent. three sections per sq. in.; finished steel contained: 0.68 per cent: sulphur, 0.028 per cent per ce Mean of British standard tests sections: Maximum stress, 29.0 tons per sq 28.0 per cent No. 1 is an ordinary rail rbon 06.91 per cent the bath had less than phosphorus in it. In heat No. 2, at 1.13 he bath contained 0.026 per cent phos Né }, at 11.25, the bath sample showed t ent; manganese, 0.17 per cent; sulphur ad phosphorus, 0.011 per cent us from these analyses that if specially horus scrap were wanted, heats can easily th as low as 0.01 per cent phosphorus, and to pig of even 0.07 per cent phosphorus con- with a charge of 50 per cent pig to 50 per produce a steel of 0.04 per cent phosphorus open-hearth. The method has been tried and essful. The other method that the author but has only tried to the stage shown here, ‘hat stage often enough, is best shown in heat ere the bath at 11.25 had about 1.8 per cent , This mate- | only 0.01 per cent phosphorus. ', transferred to an acid open-hearth furnace, ed under a slag of suitable composition, could THE IRON AGE 557 then be worked down into best quality acid open-hearth steel. There has not so far been an opportunity to try this to the end, but the author sees no fundamental! diffi- culty in the way, and the supply of acid steel in India by this method would be just as large a proportion of the present output as it was considered desirable to make. Gcod Basic to Replace Acid Steel The methods, then, on which the author has worked or has in view are first reducing the necessity for acid steel more and more by modifying and improving the process of manufacture of basic steel and studying the effects on the behavior of the steel in use. He has had experiments going on during the last five years on these lines at such times as opportunities arose, and has had the great benefit of the fact that twice for normal work his methods have been changed for others for a short time and twice put back, too expensive an experiment to try on purpose, but most valuable for retesting one’s calculations on a somewhat colossal laboratory scale The second method is using scrap made purposely very low in phosphorus to water down the rather high phosphorus hematite type of pig, which is the only one we could make so far entirely of Indian materials. The third method designed is making in the basic open- hearth a bath of high carbon and low phosphorus, transferring this to an acid hearth and finishing as acid steel in the usual way. A fourth method will be avail able soon of making the higher class steels in the elec- tric furnace. Those who doubt whether the best higher temper steels can be made on a basic hearth but yet believe strongly in electric steels might be reminded that practically all electric steels are basic. Interactions Between Basic Slag and Metal There is a great similarity between the inter-reac tions of slag and metal in the basic furnace and those in the acid, allowing for the obvious chemical differ ences. At first one might think that as, by increasing the lime content of the slag, one can get the phosphorus contents to below 0.01 per cent, while the carbon is above 1 per cent. One ought also to get the bath very low in oxygen by decreasing the oxide of iron in the slag. How ever, just as it was shown by McWilliam and Hatfield in their paper, “Elimination of Silicon in Acid Open Hearth,” that below a certain basicity of slag the carbon of the bath reduces silica and the silicon is transferred to the steel, a process that can be used to the benefit of the steel, so in the slag basic open-hearth there is‘a balance point of oxide of iron in the slag below which the carbon of the bath reduces the oxide of phosphorus to phosphorus which returns to the steel, a reaction that cannot be tolerated beyond a very limited degree. There is thus a real essential difference, so far as oxygen in the steel is concerned, between the acid and the basic processes that must be recognized and allowed for. Hence the author’s protracted experiments on adding manganese to the bath, a practice which, beneficial even in the acid process, seems essential in the basic for the production of the highest qualities of the higher-tem- pered steels, for the reasons indicated above. The theo- retical considerations, it has been shown, were strongly supported by the results obtained in practice. The effect of the history of a heat that was dis- cussed in the other paper by the same two authors on “Acid Open-Hearth Manipulation” seems also to have a counterpart in basic practice. Basic Steel and War The country that can make the best basic steel with regard to price, output and quality for the work it will be called upon to do, and can make the best use of it, has the greatest chance in war. War, so far as the steel industry is concerned, is an intensified phase of the peace struggle, tonic and educative in its effects. The nation that makes economically basic steel of the most suitable quality for the greatest portion of its demands, assures high reputation and the comparatively unlimited output that under present conditions can only be main- tained in basic steel conserves its acid material for the special purposes for which it is still found necessary or preferable, and thus has the best chance in peace times as in war. Re a Reclaiming Oil From Metal Turnings Scheme Employed by the Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. Makes Use of a Special Collecting Truck and a Separator BY C. SYSTEM for collecting steel turnings, recov- A ering the cutting oil that usually clings to them and loading them on cars, has been suc cessfully developed in the plant of the Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. Ina shop where large amounts of turnings are produced it is difficult to collect them without wasting a considerable quantity of the cutting oil that clings to them with the attendant difficulty of keeping the shop clean. The nature of this class of scrap also makes it extremely hard to handle it economically, and this is prac- tically impossible with the usual methods of mak- ing collections from the machines in wheelbarrows, or in cylindrical cans moved on shop trucks. In developing the system in this plant, one of the first steps taken was to provide receiving trucks for conveying the turnings to the oil and scrap building located about 100 ft. distant from the main plant. These trucks were designed and built in the company’s shop and the idea in their design was to eliminate the handling of the turnings as much as_ possible. , Only two of these re- ceiving trucks are needed for the entire plant and they are op- erated by one man. The trucks are lined with sheet metal and the sheet covering the slop- ing bottom is perforated at the lower end to al- low the oil drained from the turnings to pass in- to the tank located be- low. A 4-in. baffle plate is provided at the front end to divert the oil into the receiving tank un- derneath and at the top of the perforated section an oil splash guard is placed for the same pur- pose. The oil tank has a sheet metal sliding top and can be emptied and cleaned with a minimum amount of trouble. A sliding door at the front of the truck is provided for unloading the chips that are raked into the oil separator. The top of the separator is leve! with the floor, which is more convenient and economical than if the turnings were unloaded into a separator located above the floor level. In collecting the chips from the different screw Filter An Oil and Chip Separator Frees th on the Seconc tribution to Different Parts o Discharged into Standard | Platform Operating on a Ru Serving the Diffe 558 Foreign Matter and Provides Storage Space Pending Redis- Set Flush with the Floor L. SMITH machines in the plant a specially shap« steel pan is used. This pan is placed shop truck directly beneath a Sliding « oil pan of the screw machines and the raked into it without spilling oil on th usual method of removing the turning. machine oil pans with a fork and puttir gy tl wheelbarrow or other receptacle, it quires considerably more time and a gr oil is necessarily dropped on the shop fi collecting pans on the shop trucks after hei) are carried to the rear of the shop where | ing truck is stationed. These pans ar with a trunnion at each end and the pan is and its contents dumped into the receiving by one workman using an electric hoist. This method of collecting turnings has enabled one p “ to take care of the entire plant, working only the day shift. Formerly it required two ‘ & Hlued e recely- y ri” ] pl Vide raised ry AUR men on both the day and night shifts... The amount of labor saved is obvious. and attention need not be called to the cleaner condition of the shop that has been brought about by the present sys- tem. The oil reclaiming and scrap storage partment is housed three-story _ brick concrete building, 90 ft., that is separated from the main shop. Al scrap, such as _ borings and_ turnings, veyed to the third floor on a Warner electri elevator. The turnings are delivered to a Tol- hurst oil separator, which has a basket of 14 cu. ft. capacity. This revolving basket is lifted from its seat by a travel- ing electric hoist through two slings sup- porting the two tru! fe. le and au YR X le is con- nions attached to basket near its center gravity. The operaor of the truck can with ease dump the dry chips in the bin where wantec. The arrangement 0 the concrete storage bin for turnings to be loa¢- ed on cars is out of th ordinary. The bins have sloping bottoms an sheet-metal doors ‘4 are the full height © the bins, which are t 1 Floor Directly under the Oil e Cutting Oil from Particles of f the Shop, while the Chips Are tailroad Cars by a Traveling nway Outside the Building and erent Loading Ports 5, 1918 side of the ere the load- placed. It ted that the ibout 25 ft. hat a stand- ar can be both ends time when \ traveling perating on outside the erves the dif- ng ports, or ngs are also he same way, oading ports essary to be s for turn- same ar- for loading the car for borings, and in this instance it is is the railroad regulations require such e material to be placed over the trucks the Floor where the Oil Is is ol NOT ENOUGH ENGINES That, Says Mr. Ryan, Is Limiting Factor in Air Programs of Friends and Foes Sept. 3—John D. Ryan, who had taken charge of our air program after the failure of \ircraft Board and has been made Acting tant Secretary of War in place of Edward , now in France, in discussing the Senate eport with the correspondents, said: “We r to make any promises or predictions”—a the reverse of the aircraft policy of 1917. uilding of the Bristol fighter had been ause it was not a safe machine. Changes ide in the De Haviland 4’s, and “a good ng built. Four new types, he said, have WASHINGTON, lation of the Bristol,” he said, “left us being a limited program as far as manu- concerned, because we were developing hat had not been brought to the point of Four New Machines ast two weeks, as the result of these months ition and study and design, we have flown in Dayton at least four machines that are as our manufacure is concerned in this We have flown the SE-5, which is a British ngle seated fighter. Samples of it have over from England, copies have been country, and with our engines in them een flown and are now being tested. In a will decide whether that machine will go production or not. The exact copy of the ‘tol with an engine of about the same ey used in it in England has been brought pies have been made, machines have been are being flown. Another machine now was designed in Detroit by Captain Lepere, er who was brought over here to design \ipped with Liberty engines. These differ- ‘f that type have been flown and are very ¥ e at least two other types of machines that lown that we do not think it advisable to to because they are not so far along that tished that they are going through. We do ) say that we have five types and come out three. These are all machines that can be THE IRON Metal Turnings Are Collected from the Different by a Special Truck, Delivered to a Separator Set Flush with Bins Preparatory to Loading on Railroad Cars AGE 559 of the car and not in the center. On the second floor of the oil house there is a Bowser filter directly beneath the oil sepa- rator. This filter has a tank of sufficient ca- pacity_to take care of the filtered oil until it is drawn into portable tanks for redistribution to different parts of the shop. On the third floor of the old house a small separator is provided for taking care of brass and aluminum turnings. Records of the com- pany show that the oil reclaimed from the turn- ings Machines Removed and Then Placed in represents a sur- prisingly large saving. For instance, in April, 1918, 3092 gal. was re- covered, in May 2400 gal. and in June 1402 gal. The general average is about 100 gal. per working day. made in quanti