The Iron Age 1920-12-30: Vol 106 Iss 27

ESTABLISHED 1855 THE IRON AGE New York, December 30, 1920 VOL. 106: No. 27 terey Iron & Steel Co. Buys Durango Ore Moun- 5 tain‘and Begins Completion of Tube Mills and 7 roma ST ORE stable conditions in Mexico have en- Mi couraged the Monterey Iron & Steel Co., at Monterey, Mexico, to make long con- templated extensions of its business, including the purchase of the well-known Durango moun- tain of iron ore, commonly spoken of as “Iron Mountain.” This is situated near the city of Du- rango and consists of a mass of solid ore about one and a third miles long by one third of a mile wide and 200 to 400 ft. high. Reports of experts who have examined the deposit indicate that a con- servative estimate of the quantity of ore in sight, above the level of the plain, is 360,000,000 tons, analyzing about 60 per cent iron. The ore in this mountain is specular hematite, martite, or magnetite, according to locality. It is generally hard or massive, although at one end, where the only mining has been done, it comes.out as a fine powder, or the lumps disintegrate into powder upon exposure. This powdery ore is suit- Interrupted by Recent Revolutions able as “fix” in puddling furnaces because of its low silica content. At various times American, Japanese and German interests have negotiated for the purchase of this ore deposit. The pur- chase by the Monterey Iron & Steel Co. was com- pleted a few weeks ago by its American repre- sentative, W. J. Moler, 5 Beekman Street, New York. Among the improvements which have recently been provided for at the Monterey plant are tube mills having an annual capacity of 6000 tons with one 8-hr. shift per day; a wire department, capac- ity 6000 tons annually with one 8-hr. shift per day and a 3-ton electric furnace for making steel castings. The tube mills will make buttweld pipe ranging in sizes from 1%%4 to 6 in., inclusive, and the wire department will turn out telephone and telegraph wire, galvanized wire, plain wire and wire nails. Though the company was organized in 1900, it The Beehive Coke Ovens May Be Seen at the Right in the Panorama, with the Blast vupsmaee Immediately and erecting shop occupy the The various mill buildings foundry, machine shop 17 fs = - - — - e , - 5 ae ae Feces, 42 tack of Them rest of the landscape 23 aw eae atan tare vestets a See ig erie nde Org al Qin AN ace — eee eee Ne ORE A Oy Pega SS ee pean se rent ators! +2 oe peeps pe The Chara 1724 THE IRON AGE One Unusual Feature Is the Hoisting Mechanism of the Crane Serving the Pit Furnaces the Transfer Table at the Hydraulic Shear The Mill Equipment Includes These Bloom Reheating Fur- naces with Roller Charging Machine r of the Roll Trains Is Indicated in This View of December 30, 1920 Hot Saw on the Runout from the Rolling Mill has never fully reached its productive capacity of 150,000 tons of steel annually because of the vicissitudes of the political life of Mexico. In 1903 it produced 8823 tons of steel; in the follow- ing year this was increased to 29,552 tons and for several years thereafter about the same rate of production was maintained. In 1909 and 1910 the production was approximately 60,000 tons per year, and in 1911 this jumped to more than 80,000 tons. There was no production in 1914 and in 1915 only 656 tons was produced. The early development of the business was hampered by various factors, including lack of experience on the part of its organizers, insuffi- ciency of capital, deficient development of the country’s coal and iron ore mines, together with the disturbances through which the country has passed, due to recurring revolutions. During all of this time the stockholders have been without profits, but they have not lost faith that the plant might ultimately come into its own, and the latest extensions are a part of a new pol- icy to rehabilitate the business. As there is a high tariff on imported iron and steel, the plant will have sufficient protection to sell its products in the Mexican market providing there are no fur- ther political disturbances to disrupt business. The Mexican railroads, telephone and tele- graph lines and other public utilities, which have suffered damage or which have made little or no progress during the revolutions, are all greatly in need of reconstruction work which requires steel, and from these sources a profitable trade is expected ultimately to come. The plant includes a modern blast furnace, with a daily capacity of 300 tons, with a battery of boilers fed by gases from the furnace furnishing power for the entire plant, including three large vertical compressors. Adjoining the blast furnace are ore bins with large capacity. Over these bins are steel trusses on which run the ore cars by gravity. There are also 120 coke ovens of the beehive type, but these have been shut down since 1906, owing to lack of adequate washing facilities. In keeping with the rehabilitation of other depart- ments it is expected that these ovens will be made suitable for use again. Slag from the blast furnace is granulated as it PX > ree December 30, 1920 THE IRON AGE The 32-in. and 28-in. Rolling Mills comes out and is turned over to a cement factory, to which it has been sold for a number of years at $3 a ton (Mexican currency). Adjoining the blast furnace is a cupola for melting scrap iron, with an hourly capacity of 10 tons. Mexico has an inadequate scrap supply, most of the old metals coming from the railroads, which scrap about 20,000 tons annually. Connected with the furnace, by several rail- road tracks and at a distance of about 500 ft. (150 meters) is the steel plant, at whose entrance is installed a Bessemer converter with a capacity of 15 tons per cast and capable of taking the whole production of the blast furnace. Steam locomo- tives transport in ladle cars the hot metal from the blast furnace to the Bessemer converter. This is served by a 50-ton travelling electric crane. The duplex process is employed so that the Bessemer converter is utilized only to shorten the work of the open-hearth furnaces installed in the same department. The open-hearth installation was made in 1903. It comprises three furnaces of 30 tons per melt. They worked rather deficiently until 1910, when the new directorship of the com- pany decided to tear them down and to build on their site four other furnaces of 35 tons, accord- ing to plans furnished by a German firm, with all the improvements in use at that time. In 1913 it was resolved to substitute oil as fuel for gas. The substitution of the furnaces and the employment of petroleum lead the board of direc- tors to believe in complete success for the opera- tions when the country’s peace allows them to -arry out a long, uninterrupted operation. The steel ingots obtained from the steel mill are carried by electric cranes, with a capacity for handling 700 tons per day, to the fixed reheating or pit furnaces. A 40-in. roughing mill does the first reducing. The capacity of the mill for 85-lb. rails is 700 tons of ingots in 24 hr., as it was cal- culated for transforming the production of two blast furnaces equal to the one now existing. The ingots, after being reheated in pit furnaces, go to the three runways of the other mills; one of 32 in. and 28 in., another of 18 in. and another of 12 in. Each of them is provided with the mecessary modern elements, for rolling, cutting, cooling, straightening and testing and turn out sections of beams, bars and rails as used in the Mexican market. The 40, 32 and 28-in. mills are operated is for Structural Stee with Fab ating a , 11 seal Lita 6 6 he ze H One End of the Machine Shop 1726 THE IRON AGE The Iron Mountain of Durango Acquired bly the Monterey lron & Steel Co by steam reversible engines and their accessories by electric motors. Close to the rolling mill shop is the structural shop, with a monthly fabricating capacity of 600 tons. It has a 5-ton electric crane. There exists at the plant a large foundry with an electric 30-ton crane, two 15-ton cupolas and another of 30 tons. There is a machine shop for machinery con- struction and repair. In connection with this de- TO TAX CORPORATIONS Plans of Congressmen to Meet Needs of Govern- ment—Tariff Legislation WASHINGTON, Dec. 28.—Repeal of the excess profits tax by the special session of the Sixty-seventh Con- gress next spring, will be followed by an increase in the normal corporation tax and probably an additional tax upon undivided earnings. This is the outstanding development of a month of Congressional discussions and committee hearings. The ways and means committee of the House of Represen- tatives which will frame the new taxation law—all revenue bills must originate in the House—has prac- tically abandoned the various sales tax proposals. This rejection is not based on any inherent weakness in the sales tax, but chiefly on the political reason that it would be difficult to win popular support for a meas- ure that removed an excess profits tax from corpora- tions and put a consumption tax in its place. For this reason the House members are agreed that the substi- tute tax must be put on the corporations and the Sen- ate finance committee is expected to follow the same course of reasoning. Proposed Tax on Earnings Varied suggestions have been made by members of the House committee for the new corporation tax. Some of the members, including Chairman Fordney, favor the adoption of a straight 15 or 16 per cent tax on corporation earnings, without a tax on undistributed earnings. Others favor the retention of the present 10 per cent tax, coupled with a tax on undistributed earnings. The treasury officials have estimated that a 16 per cent corporation tax would net the same revenue as the present 10 per cent tax and the excess profits tax combined. Not to tax undistributed corporation earnings would favor the latter as against individual and partnership business concerns. As a result, it is expected that there will be a compromise in the shape of an increased corporation tax—possibly as high as 15 per cent—and a moderate tax on undistributed earn- ings. The Agricultural Bill All of this, however, applies to the special session to meet in the spring. The present Congress is not ex- pected to touch taxation problems at all. The House December 30, 1920 partment is found the nail, screw and rivet fac- tory, recently fitted out for a yearly production of 4000 tons. There are a large forge shop, a tool shop, a building for the technical offices, a laboratory and storage, all independent, substantial brick build- ings. There are besides, separate from the plant, a large hotel for employees, a sub-division of 300 houses for workmen, as well as others for super- intendents and foremen. Electric power for the plant is supplied from a 3000-hp. station. On the branch of the National Railroads the company has its own station, with a weighing scale for cars. After weighing they are sent to the railroad routing department, where they are passed over to the yard superintendent for ship- ment. The purchase of the Durango ore mountain will make the plant self-contained as to ore supply. In due time the coke ovens will again be in pro- duction. The company has an interest in coal de- posits, which probably will be worked eventually. Coal has been obtained from nearby mines. Lime- stone is gotten from practically inexhaustible quarries. Manganese of 35 to 40 per cent quality is obtained from the Salinas region. There is also an abundance of fluorspar situated not far from the plant. passed a special agricultural tariff bill last week be- cause of the pressure from the farmers, but the Senate seems unlikely to accept this measure. The Senate finance committee will not touch the bill until some time next week. There is talk of holding hearings then, but even this is doubtful. The Republicans have a majority of only one vote in the present Senate and there is a growing feeling that President Wilson would veto such a measure if it were sent to him. As a re- sult, it is doubtful whether the Senate will spend much of the remaining few weeks of its life on a bill which it considers doomed. Some headway has been made by the proponents of the re-enactment of the Aldrich-Payne or Dingley tariff schedules at the beginning of the special session to act as an anti-dumping bill until a real revised tariff bill can be passed. Chairman Fordney announced in last week’s debates that he favored such a plan, and it is possible that the Senate leaders will agree. So far, however, they have not accepted the proposal. Blaming Secretary Houston The possibility of the passage of bonus legislation, with its plan for an expenditure of $1,500,000,000 from a depleted treasury, met a new setback last week under a vigorous attack by Secretary Houston of the Treas- ury department. The Senate leaders would like to kill the measure if they can find an excuse for doing so, but so far there has been a marked hesitancy about permitting it to go to a roll call. Now they can lay the blame on Secretary Houston, and they probably will. Secretary Houston also punctured the plan to re- vive the War Finance Corporation as a basis for the extension of foreign credits to help the farmers. He pointed out that such a credit extension would require heavy treasury borrowing—already a most expensive undertaking—and it is expected that he will recom- mend that President Wilson veto the measure. The Edmonds bill, for the relief of income tax pay- ers who failed to pay the Dec. 15 installment on time, has been withdrawn by the ways and means commit- tee of the House and is considered dead. Treasury officials pointed out that it was so loosely drawn that it might remit the penalties of all income tax delin- quents and lead to endless tangles. Secretary Hous- ton also announced that the payments under the Dec. 15 installment exceeded the original estimate of $650,- 000,000, so that no vital emergency exists. O. F. 8. Testing Hardness of Bearings and Journals Instrument Developed Using Point So Hard and Fine That Hardness of Indi- vidual Crystals of Steel Can Be Tested ETAILS of an instrument known as a micro- character developed for testing the hardness of bearing alloys and adaptable also for testing all the steels suitable for journals, was given in a prog- ress report of a sub-committee on bearing metals of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at the recent annual meeting in New York.. A tentative scale of so-called microhardness that expresses in definite units the relation of the hardness between different materials was also submitted by the committee (C. H. Bierbaum, vice-president Lumen Bearing Co., Buffalo, N. Y., chairman; J. A. Capp, testing laboratories, Gen- eral Electric Co., and H. Diederichs, professor experi- mental engineering, Sibley College, Cornell Univer- sity). The report substantially in full follows: The importance of studying the physical properties of the individual crystals of the bearing alloys was very forcibly demonstrated by one of our early experi- Fig. 1, above—Photomicrograph of an Etched Bearing Bronze Surface, a Copper-Tin Alloy, at 300 Magnifications. The copper-tin delta crystals are unaffected and in relief Fig. 2, above at right—Surface of Cold-Rolled Steel Shafting with the Copper-Tin Delta Crystal Impressed upon It. 300 magnificatior ments, as illustrated by the photomicrographs shown in Figs. 1 to 4. Fig. 1 shows a small part of the sur- face of a bearing bronze, a copper-tin alloy, which had first been ground and polished and then strongly etched with ammonium persufphate. This left the copper-tin delta crystal unaffected and in pronounced relief, while the portions containing a higher percentage of copper were etched to proportionately greater depths, the deeper surfaces corresponding to the alpha and the in termediate to the beta crystals. A small piece of cold- rolled steel shafting was then ground and highly pol- ished—a steel containing 0.12 per cent of carbon, and having a Brinell hardness of 175 and a scleroscope hardness of 24. The etched bronze surface was placed in a crosswise position upon this polished steel surface and then subjected to a pressure of 50,000 lb. per sq. in. of contact area. Figs. 2 and 3 show the edges of the steel surface where the bronze had overlapped. They both show a distinct indentation made by the delta crystal into the steel. The larger part of the steel surface, say 95 per cent, remained entirely unaffected and retained its original polish, which seemed strange in view of the heavy load to which these surfaces had been subjected. But upon examining the condition of the bronze surface, matters seemed to be accounted for. The softer or plastic crystals of the bronze had allowed the harder ones to become embedded in them, and thus as shown in Fig. 4 the surface originally shown in Fig. 1 has the order of the surface crystals completely reversed, that is, the alpha crystal which had been deeply etched out is now in bold relief, as shown by the surfaces, the areas in focus; and the delta crystal which was originally in relief is now distinctly intag- lio. This of course is possible only in an alloy whose various constituents possess varying degrees of hard- ness. The fact that the bearing bronze had constituent elements harder than the steel shaft seemed remark- able. The importance of a knowledge of the microcharac- teristics of alloys is not new. It has been fully appre- ciated by many of the early investigators who first ap Fig s, below at left Another Portion of the Shafting Surface Shown in Fig. 2 toth Figs l and 2 show the edges of the steel surface where the bronze had overlapped and the in dentations made by the delta crystals into steel Fig. 4, below at right—Same Surface as Fig. 1 After Being Subjected to a Pressure of 50,000 Lb. per Sq. In plied the use of the microscope to the study of alloys, as is shown in their early work. The only means for this study until now, however, has been the needle point, and when this is compared with the finest of the sapphire points, which have been successfully ground for our latest instrument, the microcharacter, the con- trast becomes striking. Fig. 5 shows the end of a micro-cut in soft steel with a sapphire point under a magnification of 2000 diameters, while Fig. 6 shows under exactly the same magnification a shadowgraph of the point of the finest cambric needle, Sharps No. 12. A comparison of the two shows that a refinement of at least a thousand-fold has been effected. In addi- tion, the hardness of the sapphire as compared with stee] offers a means for testing the hardness of the individual crystals of which the steel needle is com- posed. The fact that these sapphire points have been accurately ground and mounted according to definite specifications and can now be perfectly duplicated, makes it possible to supply various investigators with a standard instrument for doing our work in a manner that permits direct comparison of results. Fig. 7 shows the instrument complete, mounted 1727 A 0 io if Fig the being equipped for work with a vertical with condensing lenses and an ocular provided with a upon st age of an ordinary microscope, the latter illuminator movable micrometer scale Fig. 8 shows the micro- microscope with the jewel At the left is seen the feed, the handle of whic h making a cut at f 30 character separate from the suspension bracket swung out. worm gear for the micrometer is rotated when the rate o iy, which a . re is mounted in a delicate steel the point of application of i suspended slightly s center of gravity sap- phire jewels, and the left end is provided with a spirit level. slow and continuous feed to suspension. spring directly r.p.m., gives very ] + | + tne jewel poll JY snow ne poll jewel The jewel beneath is the weight above it on The distinctive features of our instrument are: first, the extreme refinement of the shape and proportions of the jewel point; second, the special advantages due to the particular shape of the point; third, the microm- eter feed for the jewel point; and fourth, the elastic mounting of the jewel point. We have found that the material for the jewel point, the artificial white sap- phire (fused Al,O,), is very satisfactory and seems to meet all requirements for hardness and toughness. The shape of the point, a corner of a cube, accurately mounted so that the three facets make equal angles with the test surface, with one edge of the cube ad- vancing in direct line of motion, seems to spe- cial advantages. The advance edge of the cube and the line of cut form an angle of 35.26 deg., the angle of incision, Which insures that the normal pressure upon a crystal is always greater than the transverse pull, thus completely eliminating the objectionable tearing effects of a sharp conical point; moreover, we have thus far been entirely unable to grind a round conical point to the same degree of accuracy as one made by grind- ing three intersecting plain surfaces. Fig. 10 shows two views of this jewel point: an end view (1) show- ing the three facets ground at an angle of 54.73 deg. with the axis, each facet being ground after rotating the jewel upon its axis 120 deg.; and a side view (2) the lower edge at the right being the advance or cut- ting edge. To start with, the jewel is a small cylinder, say, 0.022 in. in diameter and 3/32 in. long, and the point is ground and tested before the jewel is mounted. The mounting is done by accurately clamping both the jewel and the jewel spring in a fixture while in the field of the microscope. A heavy solution of specially re- fined shellac is then applied to the point on the lower of the spring and permitted to harden. The spring then removed from the jig and a small amount of this shellac is applied to the jewel on the upper side of the spring. After this has hardened the excessive top length of the jewel is ground off in order to reduce its weight to an absolute minimum. Alcohol should therefore never be used in cleaning the point, xyline being the most desirable solvent to em- possess side is o>, left THE IRON graph Showing Cut. 2000 magnifications Fig. 6, left Shadow graph Showing the Point of Finest Cambric Ne t ale 2000 magnifications Complete character Attached December 30, 1920 AGE Photomicro- Steel Surface End of Micro- of Sharps No. 12 Mic roscope Micro- right with ploy. Early in our work it was found that the jewel point should move at a slow and constant rate in order to insure corroborative results. This requirement has been met by means of a worm gear. The rate of travel should be so slow that no additional indentation is effected by stopping. At the same time it was shown that the cutting point should be held in such a manner that the point while passing suddenly from one crys- tal into another, could instantly take a new position without having to overcome excessive inertia of mov- ing parts. Accordingly the jewel itself is reduced in weight as much as possible and is mounted in the end of an elastic steel blade which tapers evenly toward the jewel point. It was found desirable to lubricate the test surfaces, and watch or porpoise-jaw oil was at first used for this purpose. It was found, however, to be difficult to com- pletely remove this oil, and with the application of im- mersion oil, which is not miscible with watch oil, op- tical difficulties were encountered, since all measure- ments are made with the high-power immersion objec- tives. The immersion oil used is the standard optical cedar oil having a specific gravity of 0.976 at 15 deg. cent. The same oil may now be left upon the surface while making the necessary measurements, after which the oil may be left to dry upon the specimen and so form an effective coating against corrosion. The jewel point should be kept clean and should be cleaned imme- diately after use, since a small amount of oil dried on alone in connection with other material may pro- duce very erratic and unaccountable results, even though this dried-on material be small to be barely visible. We have found that elderberry pith wetted with xylol a very desirable material for cleaning the jewel point. This pith is also very suit- able for wiping off the test surfaces after a cut has been made, since a freshly cut surface of this material will not scratch or mar the test surfaces and will ec: ™ away the loose chips made by the cut. Many crystals of a known definite chemical comp: tion could be tested in bulk without’ resorting to the extreme refinements here entered into, but all crystals formed due to a varying degree of solubility of con- stituents under varying temperature, together with the various eutectic formations in general, demand the ut- or so as is most refinement in this work. A three-gram weight seems to be the lightest that will make a sufficient impression upon the hardest crystals that have to be taken into consideration in our work, and at the same time give a reading the measure- ment of which shall be possible and within the limits of the modern microscope. A proposed Scale of Microhardness is shown in Fig. 11. It is a curve plotted on two rectangular co- ordinates; the readings of the widths of cuts are given on the X-axis and the corresponding degrees of hardness are given on the Y-axis. The micron, a thou- Figs. 12 to 16, Reading from copper. 800 magnifications. Fig. 13 Micro-cu ym sal ( fications. Fig. 14.—Micro-cut showing difference of hardness Micro-cut in soft steel showing hardness of ferrite and pearl showing micro-cut in the sandth of a millimeter and a unit commonly used in physics, seems for our purpose to be a convenient unit of lerigth and as such is usually represented by the character u. For the reason that the sections of micro-cuts in the different materials are symmetrical and have areas proportional to the squares of their widths, these squares should be taken into con sideration; and for the reason that the material which has the narrower micro-cut is the harder, the recip rocals of the squares should be used. Now, if we let « be the michrohardness and \ the reading for the dif- ferent widths of micro-cuts, in terms of microns, and if we then multiply the reciprocal of the square by 10 raised to a convenient power, we have «=\~“10'. This formula has been plotted and is shown in Fig. 11. We believe that in this work we have been the first to suc- ceed in establishing a rational scale of hardness, that expresses in definite units the hardness between different materials. The hardness of some materials varies considerably in different directions. For example, we find this prop- erty illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13, both of which show a micro-cut across the surface of chemically per. various cross- one relation of the pure cop- In the first we have practically a uniform width Fig 8, above—The Microcharacter Designe r Te Hardness of Bearings and Jo Fig. 9, right—Jewel Suspension of the Microcharacter Fig. 10, below Details of the Jewel Point, an Artificial Whit Sapphire Fig. 11, right—Diagram of Scale of Microhardness THE IRON Left to Right Fig. 12 Micro 1729 ut in two adjacent grains having the same hardness Pure s as Fig wing diffe in hardness SOO mag bro nd Ki 1000 magnifications Fig. 1 I ( Mix cut har ned steel T ‘ of cut, althou made ac of two adjace nt ross tn Fig. 13 we hav different dire erent polnt two grains, an appreciable hardness f shown nicro-cut. I the differen ! LLIO! l! 1e gra S Fig. 14 shows a micro-cut across a portion of fused n oxide ery i] edded in brone. The difference in the widt f 1 es a difference in hard- ness betwe ( ) iterials. Fig. 15 shows a micro-cut over t irface f a soft steel, passing through a pearlit ie: 2 juare of the width of the cut a I WS ( ve hardness of the ferrite crystal as compared to the narrow part of the cut nat of pea te Fig. 16 shows a micro-cut across a martensite struc- ire hardened tool stee It is undoubtedly the hard- on =| = = j= = — me ‘= = a” i= oe fh x i 3 4.10 111 H | -_ = 4) 5 > Saw) Hz 3 u | 1 000 x 25 ) 2.445 } . Az l ”) ‘ 425 ~~ i igiz s y f 27,777 Pits 7 4 2 40.000. } a 277 $ 62,500 | 2 bu = 5 aL > | bibl f i < 4 625 250,000 } _is 2 \ ; j +\= 2. * j “ , = =! } === FS x= X*10° I _| / |= ; f A= |=) / = f nes y | iets ~|=\= S == Ps =|= et: ¥ iit the peheeeeerertt i er se i 60. SO. ies #. a) ». be 10. | 7 9 8. _7 _ 6 de a Mi ct 5 | 659 OS 0.7 0.6 0s ima | ie 03 o> ae A , Readings in Microns. 1730 est constituent of hardened steel,” says the report. From what has gone before it must be evident that our instrument is adapted for a very wide range of THE IRON AGE December 30, 1920 testing, including not only the various bearing alloys, but also all the steels suitable for journals, whether hardened or soft. Foundation Design to Eliminate Vibration Substructures for Engines and Machinery to Keep Synchronous Speeds Below Operating Speeds N interesting paper on foundations for machinery was presented by N. W. Akimoff, manufacturer of balancing machinery, Philadelphia, at the meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, Dec. 8. The object of the paper, as stated by the author, was to point out some definite lines along which a rational theory of substructures for and moving machinery can in general be built up. It was explained that vibrations are caused by two engines distinct orders of agencies: Those due to unbalance, a eit —_ a rf 4 ‘| i | | | | | | i i | | | / | | i fq , \ A /™\ : x \ A ik A \ cao —~ or, more correctly, lack of running balance, and those other unbalance. Unbalance, he said, can be easily corrected in the construction of the machinery, but that there are many causes independent likely to result in vibrations, as for in- stance, “whipping” of a crankshaft, armature, turbine .; water in a steam turbine; peculiarities of the reciprocating mechanism as for instance, a 4-cylin- der or an 8-cylinder V-type engine where certain forces cancel out and where running balance alone is not conducive to perfect results; or torsional vibrations, which under certain conditions produce an effect very similar to that of unbalance. A free body, the speaker continued, is said to pos- six degrees of freedom, three along the three mu- tually perpendicular axes drawn through any point, within or without the body, and three about these same axes. “By fixing one point of the body we suppress all bodily motion along any three axes through this point, but we still have three degrees of freedom, that is, freedom of angular displacement about any or all three axes.” Mr. Akimoff discussed well known effects of vibrations on various types of apparatus: In large power plants where the main units are of the modern type the steam mains have been known to burst, due to rough running, that is, vibra- tion; the operation of a printing plant is often ex- tremely unpleasant for adjoining dwellings and inspec- tion often, reveals that machinery in such plants is firmly secured to massive foundations and the owners are at a loss as to how to remedy the trouble; within the building itself, the action of machinery is often felt; an internal-combustion engine often exhibits a certain amount of vibration which can be felt all over due to causes tnan of balance rotor, etc ao not SeSs some turbo-generating the understructure. “The point we wish to emphasize,” he said, “is that in an understructure too much rigidity is as harmful as too much freedom to yield. We are now ready to formulate the new criterion of ‘stability’ for foundations. Stability is here characterized by re- moteness of the operative speed from any one of the several synchronous speeds at which the frequency of the operative speed would be nearly, or exactly, equal to the frequency of the free oscillation of the system, if displaced from natural state of rest and let go. “How many distinct synchronous speeds a system is capable of having depends upon the number of degrees of freedom. A system with one fixed point may have only three such synchronous speeds, while a system mounted to rotate about an axis can have only one At the Left, a System with One Degree of Freedom, and a Ss vith Two Degrees of Freedom, One of Which May Be Suppressed Below, Foundation for a Turbo-Generator Designed to Eliminate Vibration M4, \ ‘1 H tr } , | 4 | t = | f 4 | h~— oo 4 _ =< a 4 such speed or ‘period,’ as it is often termed. If we could control these synchronous speeds, so as to make sure that none comes anywhere near the actual speed of operation of the machine, we would then have a fair- ly complete solution of our problem.” To illustrate the foregoing points, the speaker con- sidered an experiment with a pendulum. The pendulum, shown in the accompanying illustration, consists of a platform rigidly connected to an upright free to swing about the pivot point shown. A small motor fastened on the platform operates a countershaft carrying an off-center weight. The motor is fed through a suitable flexible connection and it is always possible to adjust the speed of the countershaft carrying the weight so that the numher of revolution per minute of the former will be equal to the number of double oscillations per minute of the pendular system, if the latter is slightly displaced from its vertical position of equilibrium and let go. The effect of this adjustment of speed will be the so-called “synchronism” and the extent of swing (amplitude) of the pendular system, in general very slight for arbitrary values of the rotative speed of the weight, now become violent, in fact out of all propor- tion to the magnitude of the weight itself. In the vicinity of synchronous speed, both above and below, the amplitude drops down to a value almost insignificant, so that if the weight is small the sys- tem appears to be practically at rest. Furthermore, any further increase of speed will not produce any effect. This system has one degree of freedom. By pivoting the triangular portion of the device as shown in the right, hand illustration, a system with two degrees of freedom is introduced which is readily convertible to the system of one degree of freedom by tightening the nut holding the triangle to the upright piece. With December 30, 1920 the nut tightened and with synchronous speed of say 100 r.p.m. the pendulum will oscillate violently. When the nut is loosened, introducing an additional degree of freedom, the amplitude decreases practically to zero. If the speed is reduced considerably, say to 50 r.p.m., violent oscillations of the whole system will reappear, as likewise will be the case in speeding up the counter- shaft, say to 150 r.p.m. These figures, the speaker stated, were purely illustrative; whether they will actually correspond to exact facts will of course depend upon the characteristics of the system. “In other words,” Mr. Akimoff said, “by introducing an additional degree of freedom we have accomplished this double result. What was synchronous speed for a system with a single degree of freedom is no longer synchronous speed for the same system provided with an additional degree of freedom; the new system has two frequencies of oscillation, at which it is sensitive to disturbing influences (such as centrifugal action of the weight), one being below and the other above the value corresponding to that of the same system with the additional degree of freedom suppressed. “Tt should especially be observed that the oscillations were thus reduced practically to zero, not by steadying the system by something without it, but by some sort of an adjustment wholly within the vibrating system itself. Furthermore, what we did was to increase in a measure the flexibility of the system by breaking it in two; and although at first glance this might have in- creased the effects of the disturbing agency (rotation of off-center weight) the actual effect was practically to bring the system to rest. It is still more important, however, to note the fact that we introduced the addi- tional degree of freedom precisely in the sense of action of the disturbing agency, that is, in the of the plane of the figure and not at right angles thereto; or say, in an up-and-down sense, as for instance by pro- viding a coil spring instead of joint. The Basis of “This, then, will be taken as basis for our further discussion. In contemplating the design of a founda- tion we shall always separate those directions (or axes of instantaneous rotation) about which the system can- not (or at least is not likely to) oscillate from those direc- tions (or instantaneous axes) about which the system is more or less certain to vibrate. We next shall select a ‘steady’ point from purely practical considerations, and finally devise such means of controlling the ‘free periods’ of the system as will secure the desired degree of remoteness from synchronism under the actual opera- tive speed. Such means of course will be springs, ex- ceedingly heavy, and not in the calculated to allow of any free wabbling of the system. They will also be adjustable so that the desired periods may be readily varied within wide limits; and in general structurally arranged to introduce as few changes as possible in the arrangement as a whole.” Mr. Akimoff stated that to submit too many partic- ulars as regards the detailed designs of such an ar- rangement would defeat the purpose of the paper, which was merely to introduce the broad idea and not any one of the scores of individual designs which might readily suggest themselves to the engineer con- fronted with the problem of designing a foundation for a given machine. “Considering, therefore,” he said, “only one of apparatus, a turbo-generator, we must start out with the selection of the steady point. We will naturally place it as near the steam main as possible (not to the exclusion, of course, of a suitable expansion joint), as under all conditions, should there be a choice of position, preference should be given to that point as far as possible from the center of gravity of the sys- tem, so that any static unbalance (whipping, etc.), would be made to act not as a force upon, but as a movement about that steady point. Such should actually be made as steady as possible and no trouble should be spared in providing suitable piling or dig- ging down to the solid ground and constructing suita- ble footings. “The next problem is to design a substructure adapted to receive the bedplate of the apparatus and made stiff enough so as to eliminate any ‘periods’ of its own. This bedplate may be made of structural steel sense Foundation Design least point THE IRON AGE 1731 or of reinforced concrete, in which latter case the ends thereof may be made of cast iron. The substructure is supported upon the steady point either by a ball-and- socket arrangement, or is simply bolted at that point to the floor plate underneath by necessarily be very light, a bolt which need not but which must be arranged In a manner to secure the minimum area of actual contact. “Remembering that in apparatus of this sort the tendency to oscillate about the horizontal axis is al- ways rather negligible, we have practically only two de- grees of freedom and only two periods to adjust so as to have them well out of the limits of the operative speed. Hence the two sets of springs, one to take care of the period corresponding to oscillation in the ver- tical plane, the other to control motion in the hori- zontal plane. It should not be imagined, however, that these springs will very light; they will always have considerable stiffness, but their function is that of being the only members that can yield and the whole situation is controlled by the proper choice of these yielding elements.” necessarily be To Protest Against a National Board of Adjustment The demand of the railway brotherhoods that a Na tional Board of Adjustment shall handle all labor prob lems instead of the individual company settling its own troubles, as formerly, will be protested at a convention of manufact merchants, railway executives and shippers at Chicago, Jan. 12. About 500 delegates, rep- resenting all sect the country, are expected to attend the meeting at the Congress Hotel. urers, ions of Acquiescence in the railway brotherhoods’ plan would mean the opening wedge for collective bargaining and the closed shop in all branches of American industry, convention call issued by the National State Manufacturers’ Associations, through its president, William Butterworth, who is also a director of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and the president of Deere & Co., Moline, [ll.; and the secretary, John M. Glenn, who holds the same position with the Illinois Manufacturers’ tion. according to the Conference of Associa In explaining the primal purpose of the convention the call says, in part: “The railway brotherhoods are insisting upon the National Adjustment Board. The rail- way executives are opposing it because, if created, it means the nationalization of railways under the domi- nation of the labor and the destruction of disci- pline, efficiency and loyalty, which are necessary to the efficient and economical operation of the common car- riers for the benefit of the people. If the railroads are thus shackled, the resulting conditions must necessarily be reflected in the organization of every manufacturer. It means the closed shop and union domination over all industries alike. This, to-day, is perhaps the most vital issue facing the manufacturing and producing interests of the United States, and should have immediate atten- tion.” A discussion of the open shop, its effect on employee, company, production, cost of production, and union labor, is also scheduled. The immigration problem, particularly vital at this time, will be considered in all Among the points discussed will be: Should America’s real human in the immigrant before he leaves his home country? Can the reception of the immigrant in this country be improved upon, and how? Cana found for placing the im- migrant in the right place with the right surroundings, and can uniform methods of educating and American- izing the foreigner be adopted? Many prominent men have been invited to address the convention, including—Elbert H. Gary, United States Steel Corporation, New York; Charles M. Schwab, Bethlehem Steel Co.; John D. Ryan, Anaconda Copper Co., New York and Butte. Mont.; Charles Piez, president Link-Belt Co., Chicago: George M. Gillette, Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Co., Minneapolis, and F. T. Bentley, Illinois Steel Co., Chicago. creation of a unNnIONS, its phases. interest begin better plan be Saenger s= er Oren i ; eee * ae nightie pee ee os — a a Sener ~ 1732 Multiple Spindle Drilling and Tapping Machine A multiple drilling and tapping machine, developed by the Fox Machine Co., Jackson, Mich., has a numbet of new features. The drive operates through a single drive plate friction clutch, similar to the Hoosier, Borg and Beck and other standard automobile clutches, the clutch being located on the outer end of the upper cone. At the head of the vertical drive shaft is a 12-jawed positive driving clutch, with right hand teeth on one side and left hand teeth on the other. These teeth en- gage opposing members carried by bevel gears, the gears being driven by a bevel pinion mounted on the horizontal shaft, which in turn runs into the speed change box. The movement of the clutch from forward to reverse is controlled by a lever at the front of the machine which is also connected to the lever controlling the fric- A Single Drive Plate Friction Clutch on Outer End of the Upper Cone and a 12-Jawed Positive Driving Clutch at the Head of the Vertical Drive Shaft Are Features of New Fox Multiple Drilling and Tapping Machine tion clutch. When the tapping lever is moved from for- ward to reverse, or vice versa, the first movement of the lever disengages the friction clutch. Further mo- tion of the lever carries the solid tooth driving clutch to the opposite position, this being accomplished while the power is off. As the lever movement is continued, the friction clutch is again engaged, driving the spin- dles in the reverse direction. Special provision is made against the possibility of the teeth of the jaw clutch striking one on top of the other while being reversed. A stop is provided that may be set so that when the taps have reached a desired depth, the machine auto- matically operates the reversing spindle, relieving the operator of the responsibility of reversing the machine at the proper moment. The machine is ball-bearing throughout. THE IRON AGE Deceraber 30, 1920 MANY MILLS IDLE Youngstown Plants of Independents Operating at Reduced Capacity—Market Is Dull YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, Dec. 28.—Iron and steel in- dustry of the Mahoning Valley faces the New Year with operating schedules at a largely reduced rate and new business reduced to small proportions. “I expect business to be fair after the first quarter,” states a leading manufacturer, “but during the next three months operations are likely to be more or less inter- mittent.” Until this time the volume of unemploy- ment has been held down, though there has been con- siderable partial employment. Sheet business is con- fined to small tonnages and rollings are at a low ebb this week. In fact, most of the sheet mills in the Val- leys are idle. Sharp declines in tonnage rates paid puddlers and sheet and tin mill workers are expected to materialize from the bi-monthly settlement to de- termine the rates for the January-February period. Examination of sales sheets will occur this week be- tween representatives of the companies and the Amal- amated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. A feature of the sheet market during the past week was the appearance of an inquiry for 4,000 tons of black sheets for export shipment. No. 4 blast furnace at the Ohio Works of the Car- negie Steel Co. has resumed after a suspension for repairs and overhauling and this interest now has all six stacks in this battery active. Its operations are close to normal and are far better than those of the independents. Usual absence of buying is manifest at the close of the year and manufacturers approach the first quarter of 1921 with varying views on the trade outlook. It is the general opinion in the trade, however, that buy- ing will be slack for the next three months and that a sustained revival will hardly come before spring. Those interests with a diversity of products are of course in the best position to meet such a contingency, and especially tube manufacturers whose unfilled ton- nage will maintain schedules for several months. In the meantime, mills are engaged reducing inven- tories as much as limited production will permit and some output is moving at an actual loss. Sales de- partments are eager for what limited business is in sight. Pipe at Corporation Prices Steel pipe is approaching the Steel Corporation level and a leading independent interest is reported to have taken a contract for spring delivery at the quotation of the leading interest. Heretofore a premium of $7 per ton has been maintained by the independents. All products are now obtainable from the independents at the Corporation level. For several weeks there has been pressure on the part of pipe consumers to force lower quotations from the independents, basing their claims on the reduced costs of raw materials. The principal demand for tubular products comes from Texas and California oil fields and from export inter- ests. Much of the pipe produced by a district interest has been shipped to Japan in the past two months. Stocks of buttweld pipe are still low despite the im- provement in deliveries. Demand, while not as firm as two weeks ago, is still well sustained. An important development in the tin plate market is in inquiries from Japan, which aggregated 75,000 base boxes in the past two weeks. Current new business, though, is negligible. Fuel Prices Lower Fuel prices reflect the weakness of the steel market all along the line. One interest operating its own coal mines has been selling part of its product on the open market. Industrial buyers say high-grade gas coal is obtainable under $3.65 f.o.b. mine. Deliveries to the leading interests are now being made under contracts running to April in some cases, contract prices averag- ing around the present spot market. Standard furnace coke is nominally between $5.50 and $6 and weak at these prices. One transaction is reported at $5, though this was negotiated to dispose of a tonnage on wheels. Electric Blooming Mill in Delaware Penn Seaboard Steel Corporation Makes Wide Variety Made Where NUSUAL diversity of product characterizes the operations of. the Penn Seaboard Steel Corpo- ration (and its subsidiary, the Tacony Steel Co.). The company offers to the marine field both heavy and light forgings as well as marine steel cast- ings; to the locomotive industries, large and small steel forgings and steel castings; to the automobile indus- tries, special alloy steel bars and shapes as well as large forgings and castings; and to general steel con- sumers, special steel billets and miscellaneous alloy and carbon steel bars and shapes as well as machinery steel castings. In February, 1920, the Penn Seaboard Steel Corpo- ration consolidated with the Tacony Steel Co. The headquarters of the consolidated interests are in the jobbing and Franklin Bank Building, Philadelphia, and the three plants are all located on the Delaware river. Its steel casting operations are confined to the plant at Ches- ter, Pa., which was at one time the Penn Steel Casting & Machine Co., a pioneer in the acid open-hearth steel casting industry. At this plant all varieties of castings for battleships, steamships, ordnance work, locomotive work and miscellaneous uses are produced. Its forging plant and finishing mills are at Tacony, ’a.,