The Iron Age 1924-05-22: Vol 113 Iss 21

ESTABLISHED 1855 THE IRON AGE New York, May 22, 1924 VOL. 113, No. 21 Jobbing F oundry of Ford Motor Co. Iron, Steel and Non-Ferrous Departments—Blast Furnace, Cupola and Electrically Melted Metals Used —The New Steel Plant BY F. L. HE new jobbing foundry of the Ford Motor Co., Detroit, recently placed in operation, has a num- ber of outstanding features. Because of the size and broad scope of the Ford industrial enterprises, a large capacity is required to supply patterns, dies, flasks and other equipment as well as repair and re- placement parts for the foundry and other depart- ments. In addition to making these the jobbing foun- dry will also make castings for new equipment built in the Ford plant. The foundry is located at the River Rouge plant, which also has a production foundry for the manufac- ture of cylinder blocks and which consumes 1800 to 2000 tons of pig iron per day. The jobbing foundry enables the company to keep the two classes of work separate so that there is no jobbing work in the pro- duction foundry to interfere with production output. Another advantage of the jobbing foundry is that COMPLETED Casting (Below) for the Con- denser Shell, Which Here Appears on Its Side, Though Made in an Upright Position PRENTISS of service. If a repair part is required quickly, it can be turned out in a few hours as compared with a much longer time required if an outside foundry is de- pended on for this work, as delays such as occur in getting prices for making a casting, delivery of pat- terns, etc., are avoided. Conspicuous features of the foundry are that it is equipped for a wide range of work covering both car- bon and alloy steel and gray iron castings from a few ounces up to 80 tons in weight, as well as being equipped for making brass, bronze and aluminum castings. Three Melting Processes Three methods are provided for melting iron for ferrous castings. These are the blast furnace, the electric furnace and the foundry cupola. Consequently blast furnace iron can be brought in for mixing with in the Ford Jobbing Foundry. Which Weighs 94,000 Lb., Is a Gen- erator Housing, 14 Ft. in Diameter and 12 Ft. High. Its size is emphasized by the placing in it of not only a Lincoln automobile but on each side of this a Ford sedan and a Fordson tractor Pa E Heaviest Casting Thus Far Made Se ee ee oe Le . * 7 2 : a i r oT the oe . . as -_ — sata - ~ eT - oe - > - ; ~ o io a - 9 aan vs : ie aT ait . aed ‘ . - ne ear Es r = a pa peers ws IAAT S®: Oh eee coe cate a a . ~~“ " . ed = oe A aor nee ee WIS ee 1486 THE IRON AGE May 22, 1924 the cupola melt, or iron melted by the three processes is available for use in making any desired mixture that later developments in foundry practice may show to be practical. Another interesting feature of the foundry is that it is connected directly with the blast furnace cast house. The outer foundry bay, in which the largest gray iron castings are made, is a continuation of the cast house bay. With this arrangement the hot metal from the blast furnace, should it be used in a mixture in the foundry, can be delivered directly into the foundry on the track which extends on into the foundry from the cast house. As the crane runway in the foundry bay is a continuation of the crane runway in the cast HNLAUNUEUNSEOESTND EEN SEHR ENE AUEUEOAGEOROHONDEMELEN NOON UNO ROANAODELEOEUSGNONG HEUALETEGSCAUELISELELOUO ODEO oBADNEE ADERUEDEDEEDNDNGEONEENHNDHL NOH DLANY The Three Cupolas (Above) and the Three-Ton Electric Furnace Constitute Part of the Melti Fquipment for the Jobbing Foundry The 800-Lb. Elec- tric Furnace Which Is Used for Making Various Alloys house, the cast house crane can also be used in the foundry. The 90-ton ladle, which serves the pig cast- ing machine, is being employed for pouring large cast- ings on the foundry floor, being filled from cupo!a ladles. A Spacious Building The foundry building is 660 ft. long and 170 ft. wide and is divided into three bays, one 42 ft. wide and two bays each 64 ft. wide. The narrower bay 0” the charging platform side is occupied by the cupolas, blower room, core department, core ovens, non-ferrous foundry departments, snap flask department and for pattern storage purposes. In the center bay are tH steel casting and small gray iron foundry floors, and May 22, 1924 in the outer bay large pit molding is done. This is a high bay surmounted by a monitor, the roof truss be- ing 50 ft. and the crane runway 35 ft. above the foun- drv floor. Cleaning departments are located at the end of the larger bays and an annealing furnace adjoins the cleaning equipment in the center bay. The Cupola Equipment The cupolas are placed in the center of the foundry with their pouring spouts extending out into the mid- dle bay. At one side of the cupolas are the electric melting furnaces, one on each side of a transformer house. There are also concentrated in the cupola sec- tion the core ovens, sand hoppers, high-pressure air compressors, and elevators to the charging floor so that there is a minimum interference with light. A maximum crane travel is provided, and the arrange- ment will lend itself readily to any future foundry ex- tensions. The foundry has three 78-in. cupolas which are charged with wheelbarrows. All charging material is delivered to the charging floor with a locomotive crane. Ladles ranging from 1500 lb. to 50 tons capacity A Telescopic Chute Which Is Connected with the Cupola Charging Floor De- livers Scrap to a Charging Door in the Rear of the Three-Ton Electric Furnace. Eight small bins at the left, also connected with the cupola charging floor, con- tain material for making bottoms and slag One of the Large Core Ovens (Be- low) Which Is Gas- Fired and the Bat- tery of Small Core Ovens Located at One Side Mrsyeeeneareisnueeersane sapevoneeentunenevenennetcncveanesensepenenssapannnenntoseenn nestetsten THE IRON AGE 1487 handle the metal from the cupolas. The cupola spouts are 6 ft. from the foundry floor, or of sufficient height to place a large ladle beneath. A feature of the cupolas is equipment that is pro- vided for handling the slag. This runs back of the cupola into a water filled trough in which a conveyor operates. The water causes the slag to disintegrate and the conveyor carries it up to a hopper over the cupola charging platform and from the hopper it is discharged into a truck. In the non-ferrous department there are four aluminum melting furnaces for making flasks and bot- tom boards and four brass and bronze furnaces. Bronze castings are for the most part journal bearings and bushings for the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Rail- road. Ovens for Cores Gas-Fired The foundry has two core ovens and one mold dry- ing oven each of the double door car type, gas fired and 20 x 20 ft. in size. Attached to one side of each core oven is a battery of eight small ovens arranged in two tiers for baking small cores. Silica sand, eneeenneeNTEREAORONENETORERE Fr oTerey NT yyy) “PF ee ee ee ne en eee The Front of One of the 50-Ton Fur- naces in the Elec- tr Furnace De- partment Which Will Be a Melting Uni the Steel Plant This view was taken on the balcony which is 18 It above the ground The pour- ing spout is 20 ft ibove the floor, the top of the furnace platform extending Ls tt above the b ony, making the total height of the furnace approx! ly 36 ft The in front of pouring spout aised before the furnace is tilted The furnace has eight electrodes and yur charging doors two on each side The Mold for a Large Condenset Shell (Below) Is 3eing Made in One of the Large Pits The mold is built around the pattern which is moved up a foot at a time until the pattern is three feet above the upright wooden members THE IRON perseenenne sneer PERL el May 22, 1924 facing sand and fire clay are supplied from three hop- pers that extend down from the cupola charging floor. In the outer bay, in which the largest castings are made, there are four molding pits, two 18 x 18 x 12 ft. deep and two 28 x 28 x 12 ft. deep. These pits have reinforced concrete side walls 18 in. thick with a 24- in. bottom. Eyes are inserted in indentures in the top of the pit wall on 4-ft. centers for tying down steel beams that hold the cope in place while pouring. The largest molds are poured with the 90-ton blast furnace ladle, the metal being brought to it from the cupolas in 4, 6 and 10-ton ladles on a transfer track. This SUFPPDET/UODUEREREMEEERAAONOELELENE ROO DeseHHEH OnE A Water-Filled Trough Receives the Slag from the Back of the Cupola. A conveyor carries the material, disintegrated by the water, up to the hopper which discharges it into a truck bay is served by a 125-ton, a 25 and a 15-ton electric traveling crane. One of the illustrations shows a 94,000-lb. housing made for a 30,000-kva. generator. This is 14 ft. in diameter and 12 ft. high and has a 2-in. shell except at the top and bottom, where the thickness is 8 in. Another large casting illustrated is a condenser shell 14 ft. in diameter, 22 ft. long, having a 2-in. section Ht} pot) HOPPERS “TOO ROOM ae ——> 500 LB. ELEC) ky FURNACE + 3-TON ELECT FURNACE eS THE IRON AGE BLOWER ROOM 1489 and weighing 30,000 lb. This was made standing on end and poured through twelve 2-in. runners distrib- uted around the mold. The Electric Furnaces There are three electric furnaces in the foundry, one a 800-lb. two-phase furnace with basic lining. This is used for making carbon and alloy and man- ganese steel, michrome and other heat resisting alloys and iron of special analyses and also for doing experi- mental work in iron. Twelve to 14 heats per day are taken from this furnace. Steel Jobbing Castings The melting unit for steel jobbing work is a 3-ton acid lined electric furnace. The work includes cyanide pots, flasks, floor plates for heat-treating furnaces, gear blanks and conveyor parts. An interesting fea- ture of this furnace is the method of charging. This is done through a telescopic chute that extends from the cupola charging floor a distance of 22 ft. at an angle of approximately 45 deg. and through which the charge is delivered into the furnace through a door at the back. The chute is 18 x 18 in. Bottom and slag making material is delivered at the side of the furnace through eight connecting bins of steel plate construction 16 x 18 in. extending from the cupola charging platform where they are filled. The material is shoveled from the bins in hopper openings at the floor level. This furnace is on the foundry floor level and the metal is poured in a 4-ton ladle in a fire brick lined pit 11 x 13 ft. x 8 ft. deep. Large molds for steel castings are poured from bottom poured ladles and small molds from tea spout ladles. Electric steel castings produced include elec- tric locomotive frames weighing 7 tons. 4 50-Ton Electric Furnace for Steel Piant In the electric furnace plant, located in another building that has been provided for making alloy steel for the Ford steel plant, there are one 50 and two 10- ton electric furnaces. Owing to the insufficient power supply at present one heat from the foundry is being taken daily from one of the 10-ton furnaces, which is operating 8 hr., starting at 11 p. m. The furnace charge is entirely shoveling scrap. Sales of Mechanical Stokers Mechanical stokers sold in April numbered 89 with a total of 47,939 hp., according to reports of 15 estab- lishments to the Department of Commerce. This is considerably higher than the March figure of 34,597 hp., but much below either January or February, both of which exceeded 62,000 hp. The average of the 12 months of 1923 showed 122 stokers and an average of 60,870 hp. The current figure is somewhat more than half that of April, 1923, which showed 167 stokers and 85,339 hp. Saiz SERS eeanea nes OOM 0 «! a(S} ¥ el] CAST IRON JOBBING FOUNDRY CLEANING DEPT PITNO.! PITNO2 PITNO3 PIT NOS aes ee XI Dc) EX Bt x] eee | sinlisomieniiivitaglel Relative Locations of the Various Departments of the Ford Jobbing Foundry Sr ee en . > i ae ae Sa ian naete ieee eee tied hatin ommmmetitaaaaltidardiadidiee ate ee renin SOOO seni mee —— . tA , en eran Da CT en eee Dene eee parwene 4 i i a “ Hi} i) | 1490 THE IRON AGE PLANT HOUSEKEEPING Safety Conference at Cleveland Considers Preven- tion of Accidents Plant housekeeping was the general topic of a pro- gram of papers and discussions during one session of a joint safety conference held at the Winton Hotel, Cleve- land, May 16, by the engineering section of the Na- tional Safety Council, the Cleveland Safety Council, the Cleveland Engineering Society and the Society of Ohio Safety Engineers. This session was presided over by Rodney Morison, Jr., National Carbon Co. An interesting paper on the illumination and proper painting of interiors of factory buildings was presented by Walter Sturrock, National Lamp Works, General Electric Co. He emphasized the importance of the proper painting of side walls and ceilings in providing efficient illumination. Cover- ing dingy walls and ceilings with white or the proper shades of paint aids in diffusion and minimizes glare and results in fewer accidents, increased production and better work. The speaker pointed out that glare is greatly re- duced by having white ceilings. White shows the greatest reflecting factor and aids greatly in reducing shadows. Colors can be used where there is wanted a high reflecting efficiency combined with color tones. The lower section of the factory can be painted gray, brown, soft green or some other colors without affect- ing the lighting efficiency. Glossy finish and mat sur- face paints both have practically the same reflecting efficiency, he said, but he suggested a compromise in the use of a semi mat finish where good reflection is needed. Mr. Sturrock stated that paint can be success- fully applied to machinery to improve the illumination at working points and also said that it is of advan- tage to workmen in some cases to have operating handles on machine painted light colors. Pneumatic Handling of Dust The art of pneumatic handling of dust is in its infancy, declared S. C. Allen, Allen & Billmyre, Inc., New York, who spoke on dust collection. He referred to the presence of dust in factories as a menace to health and safety and pointed out that nature had pro- vided two methods of removing dust—one by moving currents of air and one by moving currents of water. The principle of the vacuum cleaner of larger and more rugged types than used in homes can be applied in factories. It is only within the last two or three years that organized attempts have been made to elim- inate dust explosions in factories. Aluminum dust was included among others as an explosive dust. The speaker said that the lead recovered by the use of a dust collection system in a lead manufacturing plant had resulted in a 35 per cent per year return on the investment required for the dust collection system. E. W. Hulet, consulting engineer, discussed floor plans with regard to aisles, machines, material and men and showed floor plans of several plants which he regarded as unusually well arranged from a standpoint of plant efficiency and safety. The session concluded with a discussion of a pro- posed national code on walkway surfaces. H. W. Mow- rey, secretary of the National Safety Code Walkway Committee, gave figures showing the number of acci- dents that result from falls on stairs and floor levels and said that the number of injuries in industry result- ing from falls is near the top of the list. L. W. Chaney, United States Bureau of Labor, said that a committee is now conducting investigations of various groups of materials for walkways and research work along this line will be conducted by the Bureau of Standards, and after the facts are obtained a definite code will be formulated. Safety Legislation During the morning session, the general topic dis- cussed was safety legislation and codes. W. N. Fitch, Fisher Body Ohio Co., presided. J. M. Waltz, Youngs- town Sheet & Tube Co, and the president of the Society of Ohio Safety Engineers, read a paper on the opera- tion of the Ohio compensation law referring particu- May 22, 1924 larly to the recent amendment of the State cons:;; tion which wipes out the so-called open liability cla) which heretofore had been a serious handicap to tho proper operation of the law. The speaker pointed oy: that with the amendment to the constitution ever, employee now knows just what an accident to one of his employees will cost him, as the injured employee no longer has the right to bring suit in courts fo, damages growing out of injuries. The speaker also referred to the authority now given to the industria! commission under the new section of the constitution which allows an award of from 15 to 50 per cent in addition to the regular award in such cases, should the employer fail to comply with the specific require- ments of the law or codes issued by the industrial com- mission. Developments of the Ohio Workmen’s com- pensation law were discussed by John Patterson, Hy- draulic Press Steel Co., and the medical requirements of the law were outlined by Dr. A. G. Crantz, National Carbon Co. An informal dinner was followed by an evening session presided over by H. S. Pickands, Pickands, Mather & Co. Clarence L. Collens, president Reliance Electric & Engineering Co., Cleveland, acted as toast- master. New England Foundrymen’s Association The May meeting of the New England Foundry- men’s Association, held Wednesday, May 14, at the Exchange Club, Boston, was given over to the question of industrial relations. Charles H. Eglee, industrial counselor to the Massachusetts Leather Manufacturers’ Association, and John Williams, director of industrial relations, Yale & Towne Mfg. Co., were the guests of the evening. Mr. Eglee’s talk was a general one cover- ing the subject, while Mr. Williams spoke from the standpoint of his company’s experiences in handling this important problem. Norman Russell, president, presided at the meeting, which was largely attended. The June meeting of the association will be held the second Thursday instead of the second Wednesday, as is the rule. It will be at the Old Newbury Country Club, Newburyport. Arrangements have been com- pleted for members of the association to play golf, and for a musical entertainment. Pittsburgh Foundrymen’s Association C. R. Spare, president and general manager Ameri- can Maganese Bronze Co., Philadelphia, whose subject was “High Test Bronzes for Engineering Uses,’ was the speaker at the regular monthly meeting of the Pittsburgh Foundrymen’s Association at the General Forbes Hotel, Pittsburgh, Monday evening, May 19. At the business session, Ralph W. Jones, Union Switch & Signal Co., Swissvale, Pa., was elected president; William K. Frank, Damascus Bronze Co., Pittsburgh, vice-president, and William J. Brant, secretary and treasurer, and the following to the executive commit- tee: John W. Guay, Fort Pitt Steel Casting Co., Mc- Keesport, Pa.; B. F. Schuchman, Homestead Valve Mfg. Co., Homestead, Pa.; L. V. Stevens, Locomotive Stoker Co., Pittsburgh; J. S. McCormick, J. S. Me- Cormick Co., Pittsburgh, and L. B. Snow, Hickman, Williams & Co., Pittsburgh. Industrial Exposition at Waterbury An industrial exposition is to be held at Waterbury, Conn., June 2 to 10, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of that city. Nearly every manufac- turing concern in town is to be represented in addition to other businesses, and as Waterbury is to a large extent devoted to the manufacture of brass, there wil! be numerous exhibits of all sorts of manufactured brass articles in plumbing and electrical lines, and also on such products as screw machine work, brass stamp- ings, castings and manufactured specialties. Among the companies actively interested are the Waterbury Mfg. Co., Chase Metal Works, Chase Rolling Mills, Scovill Mfg. Co., American Brass Co., and American Pin Co. The exposition will be held in the Waterbury armory. Development of Continuous Rolling Mills Iron and Steel Institute Discusses Chief Features of British, American and Continental Practice at Annual Meeting—Other Papers (Special Correspondence) LONDON, ENGLAND, May 9.—The annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute opened here yesterday with a reference by the President (Francis Samuelson) to the death of Dr. Stead and with an expression of sympathy with those whom he had left behind. This was followed by the reading of the following letter from the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, dated New York, April 25: ‘It is my privilege, on behalf of the Board of Direc- tors of the American Institute of Mining and Metal- lurgical Engineers, to extend to the Iron and Stee] In- stitute, on the occasion of its annual meeting, cordial congratulations on the fulfillment of another success- ful year. I am happy to be able to do this through Mr. Charles F. Rand, past president and director of our institute and an honorary member of yours. “Our iron and steel metallurgists are conscious of the debt which they owe to your organization and are mindful of the generosity which your members have shown in placing the results of their scientific labors at the disposal of the entire world. We are grateful that cordial relations have existed between British and American metallurgists for so many years and that these happily grow stronger as time advances. We feel that our two institutes have the same purpose and that by the maintenance of friendly relations and cordial cooperation we can more fully achieve our objects which so materially affect the advancement of civilization throughout the world. With warmest per- sonal regards from myself and my associate Direc- tors, I am, yours very truly, William Kelly, President.” President Samuelson said that it was the intention of the council to send a suitable reply and he would ask Mr. Rand to convey the thanks of the institute for the extremely kind and friendly message that had been sent by the American institute, a message which had given very great gratification to the members. The Honorary Treasurer, Illtyd Williams, in pre- senting the accounts, called attention to the fact that the institute had finished the year with a small balance to its credit after paying for the publication of the ten year index, amounting to the sum of £600. In the income and expenditure account there had been a de- crease of nearly £80 through loss of members. That was rather to be anticipated considering the adverse conditions under which trade was being carried on. In the Carnegie fund the income had been over-spent; that was due to the fact that during the war years there were no claims on the fund and income was ac- cumulated, and the committee had decided that they might deal more liberally with the fund during the last year. The total number of members on Dec. 31, 1923, was 2137. Bessemer Medal to Dr. Sauveur Mr. Samuelson then vacated the presidential chair and inducted his successor, Sir William Ellis, who reminded the members that although they were a Scientific institute dealing with iron and steel metal- lurgy they had elected one as president who was an engineer by training and not a metallurgist. His first official duty on taking the chair was to present the Bessemer gold, medal to Prof. Albert Sauveur, of whose career he gave a short sketch. There was only one opportunity, he said, for the members of the institute ‘o show their high appreciation for scientific services and that was the presentation of the Bessemer gold medal. Science knew no language and no boundary, and the work Professor Sauveur had donc had added to the wealth of the world in connection with many im- portant scientific subjects and a work which could not fail to be of benefit in the development of the great in- dustry of iron and steel. The name of Professor 1491 Sauveur, he added, would remain in the memories of British metallurgists as that of one who had done more perhaps than anyone in recent years to add to the informaton in connection with metallurgy. Professor Sauveur said it was a very great honor to be one of the 57 recipients of the Bessemer medal since it was founded in 1874 and also a pleasure to be one of the smaller group of the six American metal- lurgists who in the past had received the medal. Those American metallurgists had played a dominant part by their talent and their labor in developing and building up the iron and steel industry in the United States. In justification of that claim he thought it would suffice to mention their names: Peter Cooper, who received the medal in 1879; Alexander Lyman Holley, who re- ceived it in 1882; the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, who re- ceived it in 1890; John Fritz, who received it in 1893, and Henry Marion Howe, who received it in 1895. Therefore within the 25 years following the establish- ment of the medal in 1874 it was awarded to five Ameri- can metallurgists. Then came an interval of 29 years when it was again awarded to an American. He was reminded, he said, of what he owed to British metallurgists, how much they had contributed to his education and what an inspiration their work had been to him. It was a long list; it included illus- trious and distinguished British metallurgists—to name but a few—Percy Bell, Greenway, Stead, Arnold, Tur- ner, Hadfield, Saniter, Harbord, Hatfield, Rosenhain, Carpenter, Brearley, Desch and others, to all of whom metallurgists owed a great deal. He himself was more fortunate than his American predecessors in being able to be present on that, for him, memorable occasion to receive the medal, because he thought he was right in saying that not one of the other American recipients had been able to cross the Atlantic in order to receive the medal from the hands of the president. President’s Address Sir William Ellis in his presidential address said that the introduction of electric-driving and high-pres- sure steam were the two elements which had, to his mind, revolutionized steel works equipment and intro- duced economies more than any other features, ex- cept, perhaps, improved education. The introduction of electricity had made it possible to arrive exactly at the cost of power in each department in a steel works, thereby enabling the management to trace the lack of economy in diffe: ent directions. Metallurgy was a science still in its infancy, o« possibly in early manhood. In the early days chemical laboratories existed at only some of the most important steel works. Today no works of importance was with- out a thoroughly well-equipped chemical laboratory in charge of a chief chemist of high training. As the improvement had taken place, the demands for higher quality which were thereby rendered possible had come on to the steel workers, and were, he thought, being reasonably met. He urged that close cooperation be- tween the engineer and the metallurgist was absolutely necessary for the satisfactory development of the steel trade. British and Other Continuous Rolling Mills J. Phillips Bedson, Manchester, read a paper giving an historical account of continuous rolling mills. An abstract is printed on other pages. Discussion Capt. L. D. Whitehead said that in the early con- struction of the Bedson mill the bevel drive for arriv- ing at the various range of speeds was the standard og ' ee ee ny oes © hin RE ee a alm RENIN TRAPP on 5 em eA RRR ri 8 ve” FU Ae ea a a ma eG ae ~ aS ee " me — e » a Srna Ne OeTOMMREE STS De —s wae 7 ; : ar Sa | a re ee oy : . 1492 THE IRON AGE system at the present time of driving in the modern Morgan mill. Curiously enough the author had also taken up the system of straight gear driving, which was the Morgan standard construction 20 years ago. It was of interest to notice in referring to the history of the subject that the American engineers always seemed to adopt the old customs of this country. They in- tended very shortly to go back to the system of driv- ing mills by means of the old Staffordshire wobbler. The Americans abandoned that system for what they thought was a better one, but it had been proved con- clusively in the operation of continuous rolling mills that the old Staffordshire wobbler was by far and away the best. In his opinion, to apply the continuous rolling mill to this country as a specialized American mill was not a good proposition. Personally he tackled the problem at a comparatively early date. In those days the work- ing of the continuous mill was a regular nightmare. The manufacturers were given a clean set of rolls and told to find out how to do the work. They took care to have a mill that would not be capable of being a rod mill, a bar mill or a strip mill. He went closely into the subject and introduced a mill which would produce rods, bar and strip. That mill had been running in this country since 1907 and had proved to be an eco- nomic success every hour of its existence, simply be- cause it was possible to work that mill on any section desired from 3/16 to 1% in. round, practically the whole range of rods, and hoops from \4-in. up to 3-in. in strip. When the new continuous mill was installed at New- port, Monmouth, the problem was tackled in exactly the same way. It was seen that there was no outlet for a continuous skelp mill which would keep it running at all states of trade, and the Morgan Construction Co. was induced to allow two of its mills to be combined for that purpose, although the Morgan company would not take any responsibility in connection with the matter. Certain problems existed which the Morgan company had never tried out, so that the English company took the risk. That mill was now producing anything from % x 20-in. hoop up to 8-in. skelp. The mill was convertible into a rod mill, and when it was found necessary to go on short time in connection with other productions, the mill would produce those rods. He compared the respective positions of continuous rolling in England and in America. There were ten billet mills in operation in America, while he did not think there were more than one or two in England. He believed there were about 12 skelp mills in opera- tion in America, while there was only one in England, and the same kind of figures ran right through the comparison of the number of the various mills in the respective countries. In view of the fiscal conditions in England it was quite impossible, from an economic point of view, to operate what he would call the spe- cialty of American mills. It was necessary for this country to adopt what was described as a bastard mill, i. e., a combination of half a dozen American mills. The last time he saw J. R. George (Morgan Con- struction Co.) that gentleman inquired if he had come to him with a proposition to roll a rod from a bloom mill, and he replied that that would probably be done before things were finished. That was no doubt what had to be done in England. To make continuous rolling a success it was necessary to have the most abounding degree of optimism possible, a statement with which he thought the author would agree. He did not think that any continuous mill in England would ever pay if it was placed inland. It must be placed on the coast where it could have the backing of the export trade as well as of the home trade. It must always be fed with home and foreign metals; it was no good relying alone on English metals. Silesian Mills Gr. Uff. G. Falck (honorary vice-president) said that Italian metallurgists were closely following the questions dealt with in the paper but one difficulty they had to contend with was that few works had cogging wheels for making billets from the ingots. They had been considering whether it would not be possible to start from the ingot itself, and he had gone - May 22, 1924 into the question on behalf of several Italian works. He had been to Silesian works where he had seen cop. tinuous rolling carried out, starting from 7-in. ingots which were heated up in a continuous furnace and went through a series of rolls, among which the shearing machines were suitably distributed. This example among others, showed that continuous rolling started from ingots had been solved. The first shearing ma- chines had been done away with and shearing was now done at a later stage in the rolling process. In Italy they wanted to roll a larger ingot than the one he referred to, as was done at the Denain and Anzin works in northern France, cutting up the rolled ingot into five billets. There was no danger, he thought, of the billets becoming too cold; in fact, the third one was often more hot than the first. T. W. Hand said that when making a somewhat ex- tended tour of American steel works a few years ago he observed that the practice of installing a continuous billet mill in conjunction with the cogging mill was practically universal. He understood that about 80 per cent of all billets rolled in America was produced on the continuous system, not the type of mill 'to which the author had referred, of which there were two in the States, but the standard practice now was a con- tinuous tandem mill in line with the cogging mill. The success of 'the continuous mill was entirely due to the successful development of its auxiliaries, in particular by the Morgan company of America, without which such outputs as were obtained could never be realized. The handling involved in such enormous ton- nages was inconceivable unless the subject was thor- oughly studied. He had had the opportunity of seeing Mr. Whitehead’s mill, and was informed that one day when he was in the mill it rolled 103 tons of 1% x 0.03 in. strip in 8 hr. That production meant that about 200 miles of strip had to be disposed of, and without such auxiliaries as those to which he had referred the disposal of such an amount of tonnage would be ab- solutely impossible. He thought some mistake must have been made with reference to the details of the British plants given by the author. There were in Sheffield alone four such mills at the Templeborough plant of the United Steel Co., namely, one mill for billet and slabs, one mill for wire rod, one mill for merchant sections and one mill for strip. In South Wales there were the two mills of Mr. Whitehead, namely, one mill for rods and one mill for strip and skelp; in Staffordshire there was another mill for skelp. In regard to the mill in Staffordshire he said he was informed by a roller in that mill that on a recent shift of 7% hr. actual rolling time, 229 tons of skelp 7% x 0.160 in. had been produced from 7% x 2 in, slabs. All the above seven mills were of Morgan type, which added to those with which the author had been asso- ciated and two more continuous mills of less elaborate type in the Manchester district made a total of 12 mills installed in Great Britain. America with a potential steel production of about four times that of this country possessed about 100 Morgan mills, while France, in ad- dition to many continuous mills of Continental origin, had one Morgan mill in operation and was at the present time installing five more in connection with the various large plants now being reconstructed. Analyzing those figures it appeared to be very clear that there was scope for more continuous mills in England. Wire Rods Direct from Ingots J. D. Ellis referred to the question of rolling wire rods direct from the ingot which was being done at the small steel works of Denain and Anzin in Libau. About 300 tons of wire rods were being rolled per week in 4 small ordinary Belgian looping mill direct from the in- got. The ingots were cast on the hen and chickens principle, the small 6-in. ingots weighing about 3% ewt. each. The ingots then passed through a con tinuous heating furnace into an ordinary cogging mill, and from the cogging mill they passed through a palt of shears direct into a three rod looping mill, the billets being cut into three pieces, with the result that three coils of wire rods of about 1 cwt. a piece were produced. In reply to a question by the president, Mr. Ellis stated that the steel works themselves were on the spot May 22, 1924 : well, the ingots being cast on the place and passing lirect through. Mr. Bedson, in the course of his reply, said that one f the reasons he had taken the trouble to write the paper was in order to preach the doctrine that the coun- try was not advancing as fast as it ought to do. More vork on the continuous system was being done in Ger- many than most people had any idea of. Two years ago when he went to Germany he was astonished to see how much was being done in that direction. As for the \mericans, they could crow for themselves, but never- theless he thought that as far as Englishmen were con- cerned they had to take their hats off both to the Ameri- cans and to the Germans in respect to the continuous mill, Slip Bands and Plastic Deformation Papers entitled “The Plastic Deformation of Alpha and Gamma Iron,” by Dr. F. C. Thompson and W. E. W. Millington, Manchester, and “The Effect of Cold Work Upon the Density of Crystals of Alpha Iron,” by Hugh O’Neill, University of Manchester, were discussed by Dr, Walter Rosenhain who said that, in a paper to be read a few weeks later, a large amount of experimental evidence would be given to substantiate the conclusions adumbrated by Professor Thompson and Mr. Milling- ton. It was a serious matter, in his opinion, to base an elaborate theory on the geometry of piled ping-pong balls or other spheres, but that was what the authors had done. They had done it very ingeniously, and some valuable ideas resulted from their work, but it was not right to carry atomic speculations to anything like the length to which they had been carried in the present instance, . = the Slip-Band Theory If “easy-glide” occurred there would be, he sup- posed, no appearance of ‘slip on the surface; no slip bands would be formed. He imagined he was right in that assumption; if not, he failed to understand the matter at all. If that were the case, if “easy-glide” occurred before slip took place, then there must be a large amount of permanent deformation of the metal before slip bands began to occur, but that was not the case; slip bands began to occur as soon as the elastic limit, as measured by the most delicate instruments, was passed. That was the first fact with which the views of the authors did not agree. He was inclined to take a sympathetic view with the authors’ theories with regard to slip bands. He had long felt that the idea of what they described as “block slip” was not altogether THE IRON AGE 1493 satisfactory. One need not suppose that the slip oc- curred on any single layer of atoms; it was probably distributed over a large number. He thought it was quite probable that, as the authors suggested, the step on the previously polished surface of the strained speci- men might not be the slip plane itself, but be built up by a number of slips on different layers. If that facili- tated the idea of the transmission of that slip through the crystals, he thought their work in that connection most helpful, and the most interesting part of their paper. Col. Belaiew said that in his opinion some of the deductions which the authors had made could be recon- ciled with previously ascertained facts. Professor Edwards, referring to Mr. O’Neill’s paper, suggested that some considerable hesitation should be shown in applying data such as Mr. O’Neill had ob- tained. First of all it would be seen that the differences were remarkably slight and, secondly, Mr. O'Neill was not dealing with pure iron, but with iron containing 2 per cent of silicon, which, of course, must necessarily alter any particular kind of movement that one got along a gliding plane. - Such Elaborate Theories Premature Dr. Hatfield thought that until physicists were more certain as to the nature of the atom, it was too early to build up elaborate theories such as the authors’. The authors stated that there were certain metals which behaved differently under suddenly applied stresses than under, say, static effect. That was in- formation which those who were interested in the be- havior of steel and metals under service conditions were extremely interested in, and he would like the authors to give examples of where such differences arose. Were not the authors confusing shock with the notch bar test? In the next paragraph they spoke of “temper brittleness” which was notch brittleness. One should not confuse failure under shock with failure under the influence of a notch. Moreover, the authors said, speaking of steel, “There cat be little reason to doubt that this phenome- non”—temper brittleness—‘“is due to the precipitation of something from solid solution during the slow cool- ing of the steel.” He submitted that there was every reason to doubt that it was due to the precipitation of something. His own view was that the explanation of the phenomenon of temper brittleness would, when more was known about the atom, be explained by some geo- metrical gymnastic of the kind the authors had shown. Continuous Mills: Their Growth and Development’ Some Typical British, American and Continental Units— Early History BY JOSEPH P. BEDSON mand fer long lengths of wire; but the wire rod rolling mills 140 years ago were able to supply single pieces of 13 to 20 lb. only, according to size of gage. Whe material rolled was either puddled or charcoal iron, in billets of 1% in. to 2 in. square, and was rolled in a looping mill to wire rods of about %4 in. in diameter. It was under these circumstances that the late George Bedson, general manager of Richard & William Johnson Brothers, Manchester, conceived the idea of continuous rolling. He obtained a patent, dated July 2, 1862, in which he claims “the employment of a series of ‘rolls’ placed at varying angles, whereby the necessity of turning the metal is avoided,” also the use of guides formed by spiral grooves for turning the metal to be operated upon. In a second patent of Sept. 12, 1862, he claims “the application of rolls to a furnace, so as to draw the heated metal from it or through it.” \ A = the advent of the telegraph came the de- *Abstract of a paper before the [ron and Steel Institute, London, May 8. The idea of a continuous system was suggested to him by the drawing frame in cotton manufacturing, where the cotton fiber is drawn out by successive rollers, and according as it lengthens at each draft the suc- ceeding roller runs at an increased speed. In 1862 this first continuous wire rod rolling mill was built. It ran with such success that the inventor was encouraged to find room for it, and erected it permanently at Bradford Ironworks, Manchester, where it remained continuously in operation until 1884. A Mill Which Made History A second improved mill was built in 1866, which was destined to make history; for in 1868 a replica of this mill was made for the Washburn Moen Mfg. Co., of Worcester, Mass., now incorporated by the Ameri- can Steel & Wire Co., and the s»perintendent of which was the late Charles H. Morgan, who eventually be- came the founder of the Morgan Construction Co. of the same city. It is of interest to note that on investigating the 1494 THE IRON AGE question of patenting the Bedson rolling mill in Amer- ica, it was revealed that substantially the same idea had been patented in the United States by Joseph S. Levy (1854) and Henry B. Comer (1859), but neither had ever constructed a mill on their principle. It was therefore necessary to purchase the Levy and Comer interests before installing a Bedson mill. This was done by Mr. Ichabod Washburn, the founder of the Washburn Moen Mfg. Co., and later on Comer was engaged to operate the Bedson mill at Worcester. The original idea for the Worcester mill was to roll 1%-in. billets made out of scrap iron, “wash-heated,” but the difficulties were too great; and as no suitable billets were obtainable in America, they turned to Sweden, which could furnish softer grades of iron in the form of long billets of sound material. Here the mill began to show itself. The billets were clean, with smooth surfaces and, being so highly weldable, “rolled like butter.” This mill for Worcester, with its 16 sets of rolls, housings, gearing, and a pair of high-pressure non-condensing engines to drive it, was supplied for £2,000, f.o.b., Liverpool, and the Siemens regenerative gas furnace, 22 ft. long overall, cost £1,000! From the ‘nineties onward the invention underwent its full and natural development in the United States, where today 30 per cent of the rolled products are rolled on the continuous system. The Washburn Moen Mfg. Co. having finally decided to adopt the continuous system, founded upon the lengthened experience of the origina) 1868 mill, there was designed, under Mr. Morgan’s direction, the first continuous wire rod rolling mill in America. Mr. Mor- gan departed from the original design of alternate horizontal and vertical rolls and used all horizontal rolls, with suitable twist or spiral guides between each pair, so as to present the rod to each in the correct position for compression. This mill was erected in 1878. It was-soon found that the mill could be run at a speed beyond that at which a boy: could pick up the end of the rod as it came from the last pair of rolls and stick it in the reel. The outcome was an automatic reel placed near the finishing rolls to receive the rod at the corresponding speed at which the rolls delivered it, thereby producing an evenly wound coil. Mr. Mor- gan designed and patented such an automatic reel, as also Mr. Daniels; and it is entirely due to its adoption that the speed of the continuous mill is limited only by the heat due to compression, which would eventually cause the metal to melt. A 12-in. roll can be run at a speed of 1000 r.p.m. A French Mill Little or nothing was done in this country with the system outside the Bradford Ironworks; but in 1884 La Société Anonyme de Commentry Fourchambault, . Niévre, France, ordered a mill similar to the 1866 mill, to run on a royalty, and it was built at Bradford Iron- works, under the direction of the author. The company did not, however, make a success of it. The author demonstrated at those works that it was possible to roll a billet direct from an ingot, and with the initial heat to finish it into a No. 8 wire rod. This was in October, 1885. In 1887 Mr. Morgan severed his connection with the Washburn Moen Mfg. Co., and thereafter devoted him- self to the development of the continuous rolling mill system, not only for wire rods, but for billets, bars, hoops, flats and other sections, where quantity and length were called for in the ordinary run of merchant mill practice. But before Mr. Morgan succeeded in accomplishing these improvements, it should be noted that Mr. Daniels had also made some great advances as chief engineer of the Washburn Moen Mfg. Co., and afterward in the same capacity with the American Steel & Wire Co. The 2-In. and 134-In. Billet The question has often been asked why the 2-in. billet was adopted. In 1887 the Manchester mills were all taking 1%-in. and 1%-in. billets, which involved buying 3-in. or 4-in. blooms and rolling them down to the sizes required; but this was an expense which close May 22, 1924 competition would not allow, and it was then that the 2-in. billet in this country was adopted, on the sugyes. tion of Mr., now Dr. Arthur Cooper of the North Eastern Steel Co., Ltd., Middlesbrough, who said: “I+ you can alter your mills to take a 2-in. billet, I can give you one, and thus save this reheating and rolling.” In 1896 N. K. Turnbull designed a rod mill for R. Johnson & Nephew, Ltd., which they built themselves under his direction, and erected at Bradford Ironworks. This had 11 pairs of roughing rolls in continuous fash- ion—horizontally and vertically, as in the 1862 model: but the vertical drives were from above and not below. These rolls took a 2-in. billet, and after rolling it through these eleven pairs the resultant rod was fin- ished in a looping mill to No. 6. This mill ran until 1922, when it was rolling over 400 tons a week of high- carbon rods. In 1893 the author designed a wholly continuous wire rod rolling mill for the Bedson Wire Co., Ltd., Middlesbrough, since absorbed by Dorman, Long & Co., Ltd., and there the 2-in. billet was adopted in a 28-ft. length, weighing 364 lb., so that, as required by some wire drawers and others who cannot take such long pieces, the resultant rod can be cut into three equal parts of 1 cwt. each, a weight commonly called for in the wire trade. The adoption of the 1%-in. billet, where there are many continuous blooming and billet mills, both as in the States and on the Continent, is very easy to account for; but for the production of this size of billet there are two or three novel “semi-continuous” rolling mills, consisting of one pair of rolls, which takes the ingot, and, in this one pair, it is reduced at one heat to a 1%-in. billet. The idea was original. The undertaking was bold and plucky. The result was perfect, and justified its inception. A mill of this design was built by the Morgan Con- struction Co., Worcester, Mass., and to quote the de- scription of Jerome R. George, a distinguished member of the company: This mill was designed and built for the Grand Crossings Tack Co. in 1902. The owners and directors at that time consisted of two Yankees, who as young men had left Eastern Massachusetts to ply their trade of tack-makers in the West. They secured employment in Chicago; saved a few hundred dol- lars, and went into business for themselves with four tack-making machines, which they had bought on credit, using their savings for working capital. The plant is now a part of the Interstate Iron & Steel Co., having been purchased by them during the late war. This company is a striking example of the adoption of continuous rolling throughout, coupled with a very c