The Iron Age 1925-10-15: Vol 116 Iss 16

THE IRON AGE New York, October 15, 1925 ESTABLISHED 1855 VOL. 116, No. 16 Blooming Mill Has Heavy Drive Largest Single-Unit Reversing Motor Now in Ser- vice at Wisconsin Steel Works—New Mill Replaces Steam-Operated Unit BY ROGERS A. FISKE date is the drive of a new 40-in. blooming mill at the Wisconsin Steel Works, South Chicago, This mill is electrified throughout and will supplant, when in full operation, a steam-driven blooming mill which has been in service for about 20 years. The capacity of the new mill is estimated at 40,000 tons per month when rolling down to 4 x 4-in. billets. It is probable, however, that in the future the company’s Bessemer plant, which is located east of the new mill, will be moved to the south, thus making room for a second mill unit. If that plan is put into effect, the present electrically-driven blooming mill will roll to an 8 x 8- in. bloom, which will give it a capacity of about 70,000 tons per month. The proposed unit would roll from an 8 x 8-in. bloom to a 4 x 4-in. billet. This arrangement [Vast largest single-unit reversing motor built to would necessitate placing a saw about half way down the run-out table. Current for the mill motor is supplied through elec- trical cables, installed in duplicate, which enter the basement of the motor room and are tied to a common bus system from which the mill motor switchboard is fed. This board is located in the motor room and is under remote control from the blooming-mill pulpit. Three-phase 60-cycle current reaches this board at a voltage of 2300 and is fed directly to a motor-generator set and exciters. The former consists of two d. c. generators, each rated at 3000 kw. and 700 volts, a 14-ft. 3-in. cast steel flywheel which weighs 100,000 lb. and a 4000-hp. induction motor, all mounted on a common shaft. The speed of this unit is 352 r.p.m. The rated temperature rise of the motor is 50 deg. C. and that of the generators 40 deg. C. The motor driving the mill is rated at 7000 hp., 700 volts, 50 to 120 r.p.m., with a temperature rise of 50 deg. C. over the speed range of 0 to 120 r.p.m. The exciter set is a three-piece unit consisting of a 130- hp. constant speed induction motor, direct connected ease Te Lang ania - Saale Ses eetS The Drive of the Mill Is the Largest Single-Unit Reversing Motor in Service. It is rated at 7000 hp., and current is supplied at 700 volts by two direct-current generators, driven by a single induction motor. age a se Some ee i ne Sere es Auziliary equipment consists of a three-piece exciter unit and a slip regulator Oe) 1020 to a 70-kw. constant-potential 250-volt d. c. generator and a 15-kw. variable-potential 240-volt d. c. generator. This unit operates at a speed of 685 r.p.m. A slip regulator has also been provided. The two generators of the motor-generator set are connected in parallel and they feed to the mill motor. It is interesting to note that the peak loads, which are heavy but of short duration, are ironed out only in part by the mass of the motor armature, the bulk of this work falling to the flywheel of the motor- generator set. The sudden demand for power created by a peak load tends to slow down the induction motor; this allows the fly wheel to give up some of its kinetic energy to meet the momentarily increased demand for power. The shunt and series windings of the motor are not interconnected. The main motor snunt field and the generator fields are supplied with current from the constant-potential exciter, whereas the series field of the main motor is furnished with current by the variable-potential exciter. Thus it is seen that the main motor has the characteristic of a compound Govesevenrvaresnseesvvenervsvnninnorsrscsisenesunnrseerteneassasersenessonraneneneroneunngnanerennannnnescernenacc sieges 1 ee eee i | xHENsION 70 SOAKING | PAT BUILDING | i 4! “itGas Producers 1 it l ul t 1 for corrtrols hariot buggy a | Shop | at || UUELEN NAA UNENNRNEELLANEUESEEN EARN UENOLTOELLUUELTINENENEUNEHUEELEAC EEL HERL NEN COnEREHEREEOEEEEN yONUOUEEDANOLVUUCHEOTALLUONOLINOLSODERRDOGARAOOSRGGONBRROOEERONEAAACOROOOsesOONRONOEOR enaannnonsenueasunenonnanentane wound machine, that is, constant speed from no load to full load. To reverse the main motor it is necessary only to reverse the field current of the exciter set, thus reversing the generator fields, which in turn changes the direction of rotation of the main motor. In the basement of the motor room are two motor- driven air washer and fan units furnished by the American Blower Co., Detroit, Mich. One of these provides 50,000 cu. ft. of air per min. to the main motor. The other unit ordinarily provides air for the motor-generator set and to certain of the motors near the rolls. The air ducts are so arranged, however, that either fan unit can supply air to the main motor. This precaution is taken to safeguard against the possible failure of the unit which ordinarily furnishes cooling air to the main motor. All the electrical apparatus in the motor room, in- cluding the main motor, the motor-generator set, the exciter set, the slip regulator and the switchboard, was furnished by the Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., THE IRON Ss — wre -- See eee es = oe = goes Cp Conver ar: of Gage A ie ER SP Sale MILL BUILDING Rolf. AGE October 15, 1925 East Pittsburgh. A 75-ton single-hook motor- operated crane which serves the motor room was fur- nished by the Morgan Engineering Co., Alliance, Ohio. The motors in auxiliary service throughout the mill are under remote control, their switchgear being placed in a separate room to the east of the main motor room. All auxiliary drives are made by means of d. c. motors. The Cutler-Hammer Mfg. Co., Milwaukee, Wis., furnished all auxiliary control and master switches, limit switches on the transfer table, switches on the manipulator lift and also the limit switches on the shear clutch, the shear table pull back and the shear table lift. A stripper building is located south of and in line with a soaking pit building and the blooming mill adjoins at right angles to the soaking pit building. Ingots are transported over narrow-gage track to the soaking pit building and are then handled to or from the pits by means of either of two charging cranes, furnished by the Alliance Machine Co., Alliance, Ohio. The runway for these cranes extends over the floor in MERCHANT MILL N°4 The Center Line of the Blooming Mill Is at Right Angles to the Soaking Pit Building. It is probable that in the future the mill will be ex- tended to the east. Controls for the iter Ses apeogsccss = mill are located at three points: in the main pul- pit at the rolls; 3 Transfer Table Shears. i ‘ rol - = ane, os yt x asin and at the operat- ‘ 2 iSeale Ga ~~ Platform ing platform near the billet pusher. The dotted double lines indicate nar- row-gage track; the solid double lines, standard- gage track SUUNREUONEEOONAEDOOEOHUCEEL OUD EEOGEDO NOG LD ORAL EN ENEH DONEC OEEON TON HOGG anne nneccunnans sneMnnnennneannannbeceneneenaenaenennieneanenenceesenicenscansncserceuersnenens enenet the northwest corner of the blooming mill. This ar- rangement has been used to great advantage in the operation of the old blooming mill, for by it billets could be removed from the soaking pits and deposited in cars. standing on a narrow-gage track in the new blooming mill. From that point it is only a short haul by locomotive to the old mill. In this manner the old mill has been kept in full operation during the con- struction of the new blooming mill. Ingots Not Carried Over Roofs of Soaking Pits It will be well to mention here the advantages de- rived from the respective locations of the soaking pit and blooming mill buildings. The delivery track in the soaking pit building runs north and south, that is, parallel to the charging-crane runway. There are four 4-hole pit furnaces so arranged with their re- generators that the cranes have no occasion to carry ingots over any other pit than the one it is charging or drawing. The regenerators to the east are not October 15, 1925 THE IRON AGE e ) geemapaialscas eek sti he . he he Be seal lias At the Left Isa Ciundane Which ies: Billets into Narrow- eis Cars on Which They Are Taken Either to the Merchant Mills or to the Billet Storage Dock.” The conveyor at the right handles crop ends from the shear pit to scrap buckets which are moved by overhead crane under the crane runway. They are covered by a steel platform which is raised high enough to allow free movement of the pit covers and their mechanism. The regenerators to the west are protected by a rail steel and concrete floor. Thus it is seen that a loaded crane need pass over only that pit which it is working and the corresponding regenerator, which is _ protected against damage from a falling ingot by a special floor. The charging crane deposits the ingot in HELLVEUMONELDEOUULDOUUDONURLDTERREU DEI OODRLDNOROOOSSDONAUDEDBODEEDOENSEDDOODEOUDOUOELODOREDINEBDIORSLODEDDEDEDDOTOROBUROOONS ROMOROOORUEE AL HOORIORED the ingot chariot car which travels the full length of the soaking pit building and at right angles to the center line of the blooming mill. This car is operated from a pulpit on the west side of the soaking pit building and opposite the ingot run-in table, which is separated from the approach table by an automatic switch gate. Ingots leaving the approach table pass to the front feed table, then through the 40-in. two-high reversing | pT we ed ee | a The Electrically-Operated Manipulators, One of Which Is in the Foreground, Are So Constructed that All Parts Which Might Need Replacement Are Readily Accessible to the Overhead Electric Crane. The mill and transfer table are shown in the center and background 1022 THE IRON AGE October 15, 1925. or! filter Quy Air Inlet Box In the Basement of the Motor Room Are Two Air Washers Which Supply Washed and Cooled Air to the Main Motor and the Generator Equipment. mill, which is provided with an electrically-operated manipulator on each side of the rolls, that is to say, opposite the front and back feed tables. It is to be noted that these manipulators are so constructed that every part is readily accessible to the overhead electric crane, that is, all parts which might need replacement can be reached without dismantling the feed tables or working underneath them. This construction elimi- nates the necessity for a basement beneath the feed tables. A 500-lb. accumulator has been installed to pro- vide hydraulic power for balancing the upper roll, for the jack on the lower spindle and for the shear gag. Loss of water occurs only when the spindle jack is used. Hydraulic pressure is maintained by means of a Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation 2% x 6-in. triple-plunger pump geared tova Reliance Elec- tric & Engineering Co. d. c. motor, whith is rated at 20 hp., 230 volts and 900 r.p.m. Easy Removal of Rolls Rolls are removed and replaced through the hous- ing by first fitting a coupling to the neck of the old roll and then fitting the new roll into the opposite end of > The arrangement of the air system is shown in the basement floor plan veneneenee be handled easily by the crane. When the old roll has been swung clear of the housing, the load is turned end for end and the new roll is slipped into place, after which the old roll and coupling are removed. The finished billet passes from the back feed table to the transfer run-out table which is 150 ft. in length. Transfer cables are on 10-ft. centers, and the distance between the center lines of the rollers on opposite sides of the transfer table is 25 ft. 1 in. The rollers are spaced on 5-ft. centers and their length on both the run-out and the run-in tables is 4 ft. Control of the billet from the time it reaches the run-in table to its delivery to the shears is provided for in a pulpit located on the north side of the table and to the west of the shears. Upon delivery to the shears the billet is cropped, the butt falling to a pit where it is picked up by a drag-type conveyor which discharges over a narrow- gage track located just outside of the blooming mill building. Controls for the shear gage, the billet pusher and the billet conveyor are located on an operating plat- form near the billet pusher. The scale for weighing billets is located between the shear gage and the billet the coupling. In this way the load is balanced and can pusher. The billet conveyor discharges to narrow-gage ; Sr UEEHOUEEUOEALOCUDEADOUUENELICEUETADUDEEDOOUUREUGTABOEDDASEEDERCUPEDERSGHELELLEOOEEEEDUDLELIVERTDGLINDOD IED OERELSIOESOAEDORDSIPURELSDONEROLTLOERTEAEDENOD ORS NEST LEDONEOROEDOGDFRONUONREAI TO HONORED EFENTL ORRENOETONOMBO SENT OTD FERRI ORBAN IT RENNSND Gaity Oil Tank lank. Bottom Chord of Truss ie» vA 25-Ton Crane, pn Ia p of Runway Rar, Slip Regulator. xs i f bd Eh Peet) ! y / TEE i eo | hy I! | WELW} a ay. an =I = r (Dp = LJ Ahir Duct — Lengthwise Section of the Motor Room and Basement Under It, Showing Relative Location of Air System and Motor Room Equipment CvPeeeUONMNOUEERUANNSAHONR seen AUARAGUANGAUNEELAUADLONSEUGONSOONASEOONDLONONGDOURDOUONELAGGEDASEDONOELEOERDOTENROAONELOOOEDODENEEDOUCUTOSOHODONRADOOAALASANADINEOOOESELAGNON GOAEREDOENLENOANOOAEDEEE TENHUU Cen eneesaneneenENOED October 15, 1925 cars spotted on a track outside and parallel to the building. Billets are gaged upon delivery to the shears. An open yard billet dock has been left be- tween the blooming mill and the company’s merchant mills. It is traversed by narrow-gage tracks and a 10-ton gantry crane, made by the Whiting Corpora- tion, Harvey, Il. The blooming mill, complete with tables, shear and conveyors was furnished by the Mackintosh-Hemphill Co., Pittsburgh. The 50-ton overhead crane provided for the mill was constructed by the Morgan Engineer- ing Co., Alliance, Ohio. A Mesta Machine Co. 50-in. roll-turning lathe is housed in a brick and steel room constructed on the floor of the mill. The roof is pro- vided with a sliding door so that the mill crane can be used for handling rolls to and from the lathe. Scale Removal Was Carefully Studied In rolling hot steel there is an accumulation of scale which must be removed from time to time. This 4 : ee Ye uy Transfer Cables Are On 10-Ft. Centers. THE IRON AGE 1023 later removed by a bucket attached to the overhead crane. Another scale pit is located near the transfer table end of the back feed table. Scale is washed into this pit through concrete sluiceways which extend under the front and back feed tables. The floor plates over the pit are easily removed and at required in- tervals the crane bucket is used to remove the accumu- lated scale from the pit and transfer it to standard- gage railroad cars. Beneath the transfer table is a concrete tunnel, down the center of which is a track. The scale loosened on this table drops through to the tunnel and when the accumulation has become such as to warrant removal, it is shoveled by hand to a car which is pushed to the end of the table nearest the back feed table where a grating may be taken up and the scale removed by the overhead crane. The total length of the blooming mill, from the center line of the ingot chariot car to the outer edge of the billet conveyor is 372 ft. and the width of the building is 90 ft., the columns being spaced on 25-ft. In the left background can be seen the 500-lb. accumulator which provides hydraulic power for the shear gag, the jack on the lower spindle of the mill and for balancing of the upper roll is provided for at three points in the blooming mill. The first is at the ingot-run and approach table. After the removal of the ingot from the soaking pit, scale forms rapidly and as the ingot is discharged from the chariot car to the table and passes over the first set of rolls, much of this scale is knocked loose. It falls into a pit provided for this purpose and is Main Roll Drives A list of motors supplied by the General Electric Co., Schenectady, N. Y., to steel, copper and similar mills for driving rolls has been compiled in that com- pany’s bulletin No. GEA-151. The list shows horse- power, temperature rise, speed, voltage, cycles, kind of mill, method of drive, date of purchase, name of purchaser and location of plant. It is in all essential particulars similar to the comprehensive list published by Iron and Steel Engineer last January and covering installations from all of the principal motor manufac- turers. The article just mentioned formed the basis of two analyses, which were published in THe IRon AGE of Feb. 12, page 488, and June 25, page 1880. In addition to the numerical list of 555 motors, centers. Steel for the building was fabricated and erected by the American Bridge Co., New York. Upon entering the building it is at once apparent that special attention has been given to ventilation, sim- plicity of layout to facilitate operation and mainte- nance, and also to provide as much daylight as is possible in a mill building used for this purpose. arranged in order of power, with the largest first, there are several lists similarly arranged, but segregating reversing drives from those of adjustable speed, etc., etc. A further classification is that by type of mill, lists being given of 131 merchant and bar mills, 95 sheet and tin hot mills and cold rolls, etc., down through the different types of use. Finally, there is an alphabetical list of purchasers. The bulletin, which has a few half-tone illustrations, covers 48 pages. Dining cars on the Pennsylvania Railroad are to have aluminum chairs. The initial order was placed in Pittsburgh Sept. 24 with the Aluminum Co. of America. The use of aluminum will eliminate a fire hazard. The Slaves of Modern Industry’ Machinery Equivalent to Millions of Serfs—Exports of Equipment Are Missionaries of Progress, Raising Living Standards Abroad BY W. H. RASTALL N connection with our work, circumstances some- times make it necessary to call it to a manufac- turer’s attention that the wage rates in Germany are on the level of, say, 25 per cent of our own. In England, the ratio is not quite so unfavorable but the levels are perhaps one-third of our own, while in coun- tries like India and China, on certain classes of work, the ratio may be even one-tenth or one-twentieth of our own, and almost invariably, under these condi- tions, we find that manufacturers are inclined to throw up their hands and indicate that it is entirely impos- sible for them to face such competition, that the wage ratios are extreme, and yet statistics issued by our Government and other governments show quite clearly that manufacturers in the United States are able to export very large quantities of manufactured goods of great variety, and will even place these products in countries from which we find the strongest competition. Gaeanaceenncvererveacavovesnvvresnyvvenayrsasavussovpenayevengnonevererngrery(cet01 i014 000000004 0NENNUUNULALLENALEENONEO NEGA TNNDRUMENE TONNE TEN eeeN Lee LUO NNT NNNENNT Eta POWER and machinery in American in- d ustry, according to one estimate, are equivalent to more than three billion slaves. WHO QUULIQONESQSUASUOUDOOOOOOOOMAALAUSER8¢0LL0 0A DODODALANERMARSGENLL00444 1400004 .400000000000ELUSUULYAUOAMNGNSTRUE UU AAAS ANN The secret of our success in this competition is in the employment of machinery. The United States is distinguished for the economical production of goods when standardized production is possible, and in many lines, of which automobiles are an illustration, our manufacturers have been able to produce goods of su- perior quality at prices which cannot be approached by manufacturers elsewhere. Consequently, we have tried to find something that would measure the value of this machinery to Ameri- can industry. Recently, an opportunity of this kind occurred when a manufacturer of textile machinery visited my office and after we had discussed his par- ticular problems, I asked him to indicate the compari- son between one man in a modern textile mill operating automatic looms as compared with one man using more primitive equipment such as foot or hand power drive. This suggestion seemed to appeal to the imagination of my friend and he prepared a short historical state- ment for me, starting with conditions as they existed in the United States in 1804. In a loom the unit of capacity is a pick by which is made one passage of the shuttle between the threads of the warp. With a hand-power or foot-power loom, as used in this country in 1804, a weaver had a capacity of about 50 picks a minute. Today, under favorable conditions, a weaver can operate 60 looms, each having a capacity of 160 picks a minute, or a total of 9600 picks as compared with 50 as operated in this country in 1804. This works out that one weaver, today, has the capacity of 1960 weavers of the earlier times or, otherwise ex- pressed, the machinery and power in the modern weaver plant provides our men with 1960 slaves apiece. I am frank to say that when this statement was first made I was greatly impressed and when I showed this, my textile machinery friend immediately said, “Why, think of spinning,” and he went on to show that one spinner in a modern textile mill, with the machin- ery and power available there, is able to turn out a volume of work equivalent to what would be done by *Abstract of address before American Society for Steel Treating, Cleveland, Sept. 14. The author is chief, industrial machinery division, Department of Commerce, Washington. 45,000 of our great grandmothers operating the hand- power spinning wheels with which you are familiar. Modern machinery provides each spinner with 45,000 slaves. The Coolie and Modern Transportation This method of analysis can be used in many direc- tions. For instance, in connection with transportation, there are places in China today where goods are han- dled in much the same way as they were at the time of Christ, and a coolie will load a wheelbarrow and start on trips that, from our point of view, are startling. I have in mind one such journey where a coolie loaded a wheelbarrow with 300 Ib. of goods, pushed it 800 miles, at the end of which journey, he brought back a similar load. The task involved two months at a cost of about $12, which is about $4 per 100 lb., a rate not unlike that which we pay to the rail- ways on less-than-carload shipments to the Pacific Coast. Now it is interesting to note that this Chinese coolie receives about five cents per ton mile for his work; also he does three ton miles of work per day. If you will take the total freight handled by the Class One railroads of the United States and divide it by the total number of employees which include not only loco- motive engineers but every stenographer and office boy, you will find that the equipment and power on these railroads make each employee equivalent to a very large number of these Chinese coolies, or again, each employee has many, many slaves. Unfortunately, it is not possible to pursue this subject and reach a figure that would represent the total human equivalent of all the machinery in the industries of this country, but I have seen one statement which shoawed that the power and machinery in American industry are equivalent to more than 3,000,000,000 slaves, and this is the factor which explains our present standard of living. Even such a statement is entirely inadequate be- cause no allowance is made for things that were im- possible under the old method. Slaves could never do the work of the modern telephone, telegraph, or, in GUANA UAL ALAS T UOT OEE TNITA ENTE TENE EET —— OE spinner in a modern textile mill is able to produce as much as 45,000 of our grandmothers operating their hand- power spinning wheels. ed WUUUGMADUGARLGAUOUQEOONUOT ALE ASLANANUONARASONANUQALONLOLUOUQOUUOYOOOUL LS LDU ANA EAE NETELSLUMUAEOES AES AS TNTALS EATON fact, any of the devices represented by modern speed. A jinriksha could never replace an automobile. The employment of power and its application to machinery in modern industry is more precious than we have ever come to realize in struggling with the problems en- countered daily in our business. We enjoy a standard of living that has never been equalled in any other country or at any other time in history. In our Ameri- can homes, humble though they may be, we have con- veniences, as a matter of course, that would have proved to be luxuries to many of the most distin- guished kings and queens of old. The Bath Tub and Recent Progress Have you ever heard the story of America’s first bathtub? This is interesting because it shows the rapidity with which Americans have progressed in raising the standard of living. My father was born in 1840 and is still living. In 1842, a certain business 1024 October 15, 1925 man from Cincinnati went to England and while there learned that the prime minister had a bathtub. This was a very interesting discovery and on his return our Cincinnati friend decided that he too would have one of these contrivances. On Dec. 20, 1842, the owner of this wonderful new bathtub had a party of gentlemen to dinner and as part of the entertainment four of these gentlemen tried it for themselves. This experience was so un- usual that the story was published in the papers and then the fun began. Doctors attacked the bathtub on the ground of health and politicians opposed it as an obnoxious and luxurious toy from England designed to corrupt American simplicity. In 1843, the Common Council of Philadelphia considered an ordinance to pre- vent any such bathing between November and March. The ordinance failed by only two votes. About the same time, the legislature of Virginia levied a tax of $30 a year on all bathtubs and in addition very heavy water rates were laid on them. The Boston council CNN ESSAANEN OUTTA OTTNAAA TONAL TEENA HET TNA NAAN Ne TNT NTH NNNN NNT TATA RENAN NENA HU ene eTeeneeTN LUNE ee ESPITE low labor costs abroad, Ameri- can manufacturers are able to export large quantities of their products because of the employment of machinery and stand- ardized methods of production. SS Wout eeecneeanaceneneenenneneNecNe TENUOUS ee passed an ordinance forbidding the use of bathtubs except on medical advice. Such is one measure of modern progress as represented by the experience of persons still living. This evolution is still in progress. Note the fol- lowing quotation: “Since 1900 in the United States the production of pig iron per man has increased from 267 tons to 702 tons. In connection with glass, production has risen from 55 sq. ft. per workman per hour to over 3000 sq. ft. Newspapers have increased in circulation per employee over 2500 per cent. Gasoline output per employee has increased from 23,000 gallons to 75,000 gallons. In Philadelphia, certain dock equipment en- ables 12 men to do work that formerly required 1100. Within the memory of most of us have developed elec- tric motors, sewing machines, babbitt metal, automatic couplers, adding machines, telephones, radio, automo- biles, air brakes, pneumatic tools, the X-ray, linotype machines, vulcanized rubber, hydraulic presses, nickel and other alloys of steel, ether, celluloid, cylinder presses,” and in your own field a very large number of new alloys and compositions of ferrous and non- ferrous metals. * To .a very large extent all of this represents the progress of the United States. Conditions here favor development of this kind but in foreign countries this is not so. In Europe it is quite difficult for a laborer to secure recognition for methods or devices that his inventiveness might originate. Machinery salesmen find it very difficult to gain access to factories in order that they may introduce their improved equipment or methods. As a consequence, very large volumes of American mechanical equipment are shipped abroad and our machinery enjoys a reputation for superiority throughout the world. You know, of course, that sometimes workmen have been unwilling to use improved machinery feeling that UMA saeaAanennnnvaeennenarnaenanaaaeneavaneensacaennttaaonsagneenne snare nnyenyroeeezenevenesooenennse sncengreyeenernorreeeveovscnnesnenenneneanennreverveggy astasyy ste reine vvioy eee If ACHINERY does not permanently de- prive the workman of his livelihood; on the contrary, it eventually raises his standard of living. SS MLULANLNSUESC A OOAANANAANANATSAAAAAAAAATUU LUAU UATE NTN GNA it would deprive them of their incomes, that it would take bread out of the mouths of their children, but as already pointed out, in spite of the tremendous equip- ment used by our railroads, we still pay substantially the same cost per ton mile of freight that is given to Chinese coolies working under more primitive condi- THE IRON AGE 1025 tions. This railroad equipment is consecrated to the raising of the standard of living of the men who oper- ate it and this has been the experience in many, many instances. In fact, it could probably be shown that the standard of living of people depends upon the ex- tent to which they employ modern industrial, mining PUMADUOAELATUAULUAUTAUOERALEREUIOOGREANTLEERUOAUUUNSUMAARTNEGAN EATON RRNA TMNT jf Europe it is difficult for a laborer to secure recognition for methods or de- vices that his inventiveness might origi- nate. As a consequence, large volumes of American equipment are shipped abroad. —_—_ AQUUUUNEUNSAUUUUNLA ELLA. RE and transportation equipment with the result that when we export machinery to various foreign countries, we are in reality exporting a better future for the popula- tion of these lands. Asia Is Hungry for Industrialization For many decades, the American people have been sending missionaries all over the world in order to carry the Christian religion to those populations and if you are familiar with the work of these mission- aries, you will discover that in addition to their purely religious activities they are very actively engaged in educational work and medical work. Missionaries in Asia, for example, are anxious to occidentalize those people. Practically every traveler who visits Asia is filled with a feeling that something should be done to improve the conditions of life under which they struggle; and so it seems in order to remind you that when you succeed in placing a bridge, a factory full of machinery, or any other modern engineering work in those countries, in addition to merely solving an engineering problem, you are releasing forces that will have a most profound influence there for an indefinite length of time to come. A modern bridge means modern transportation which in turn means that these people will be sup- ported by the transportation slaves previously men- tioned, and when you place a factory full of modern PTTL ULLAL ee _— ———— ———— ————— —— - ET slaves could never do the work of the telephone, telegraph or any of the devices represented by modern speed. EU UE EEE IEEE SUH LALUNOUUUANUCESLENALLONDALUUSAANYULOONROUONSUUULGOSALUONONOULLULEEUUSAEOUOESEE LAOREET machinery in one of these lands, the industry there is supported by the industrial slaves. The standard of living in these countries necessarily is raised and when such a factory is placed in the hands of some Asiatic manager, he must become quite largely occi- dental. The oriental mind has to change to accommo- date itself to the ways of modern business. Since the armistice, Asia had purchased several hundred million dollars worth of modern factory machinery. Asia is hungry for industrialization in the modern sense. You are probably familiar with the rapid progress made by Japan in this direction during the past two or three decades. Progress in China has been much slower but during recent years the United States alone has put about $40,000,000 worth of textile machinery into that country. India has great ambitions in this direction and while China has perhaps 3,000,000 spindles and Japan 6,000,000, India has 9,000,000 preparing the yarn from which those people shall be clothed. Attention has been called to the profound effect upon the American mind of the scientific and indus- trial progress in this country during the life of persons still living. Apparently, no force can prevent a sim- ilar progress in Europe, Asia and all other countries. The introduction of these processes will enrich the lives of those peoples. These forces can be seen in operation in Japan. The standard of living there and the raise of wages have advanced most rapidly since 1900. The introduction of modern machinery, modern methods of production, and the materials that you pro- 1026 duce will also pass on to China, India, the Dutch East Indies, and other countries that heretofore we have considered backward. Every ton of this equipment is in reality a missionary working effectively for the occi- CRAMAUAAA ALA AMMA SORMMMAB adam SLING TUALATIN MANOR —— Ww HEN we export machinery, we are in reality exporting a better future for the populations abroad. — CULL CUMAUU RCA ALAS SAUL SNMENONUNMNUOU ASN EONS AAH HU NYO NALAANNSN A Eee dentalization, people. You are all familiar with the experience of the great war in Europe and regardless of the little incidents that might be considered the immediate cause of that great conflict, we all know that it was the outgrowth of the system or sittation then existing. It is all quite clear now that this war was almost an inevitable result of the methods being pursued and yet apparent- if not the Americanization, of those THE IRON AGE October 15, 1925 ly no one in any country was able to draw back and view the situation from a distance in order to detect the results that must inevitably flow from the pursuit of those policies. Perhaps it is in order to suggest that we draw back and viewing the situation thought- fully from afar, satisfy ourselves as to the results that must accrue from the work of these steel missionaries ENNENUDALAENANNT LSA ETAAENNA NAAN NAL ENUESAA AENEAN NANG AT ETT PTAA SEU STENT EL TAPE TAA grees ton of equipment shipped to the Orient is a missionary working for the westernizing, if not the Americanizing, of the recipient. SS ee — — AMLENDNALaHU UAnUaaeNNAUUUNNNNNNNNNAANMNUANANENNNNLYUULANE NCSL CLUNLNC LA LGSSAANEMANU TERNAL AENEAN NNT LUNA in the United States itself, in the occidentalized coun- tries of Europe, in the comparatively sparsely settled areas of Australia and South Africa, but especially among the oriental peoples of Asia. Casting Composition Around Monel Battleship Turbine Buckets Re-made in Unusual Way, to Meet a Time Schedule— Special Dies Made for Stamping and Bending BY BRUCE R. WARE* is the mother of invention.” Undoubtedly many of the readers of THE IRON AGE have been impelled by necessity to think out new schemes for meeting emergencies. A few months ago the writer faced an emergency. One of our battleships damaged the second stage noz- zles of her main turbine. This damaged turbine blad- ing and nozzles are shown in Fig. 1. The nozzles are formed by monel metal partition plates. These plates, as may be seen in the picture, extend into the side walls and by reference to Fig. 2 their shape and curva- ture will be understood. The metal holding the blades, and forming the top and bottom walls of the nozzle opening, is brass composition. To permit the battleship to take part in the spring “war game,” repairs had to be completed in less than six weeks. The best that the manufacturers of the turbine could do was delivery of parts in sixteen weeks. This could not be considered. Here necessity, emer- gency and an opportunity to show what we could do impelled the engineer officer and the masters of the Norfolk Navy Yard to attempt new work. The problem was made still more difficult, as the second stage nozzles are contained in eight sections. In assembling the wheel, these sections must line up per- fectly where they join together, forming one continu- ous bucket. The outside diameter of the stage was 5 ft. 5% in., inside diameter 5 ft. 1% in. There were 120 monel metal partition plates to be cast integral with the composition body. A special die was made for each operation of stamp- ing out and bending these partition plates to the re- quired finished dimensions. To insure firm anchorage in the casting, it was decided to dovetail the plates into the body. Four finished plates are shown in the fore- ground of Fig. 2. The finished partition plates were sent to the pattern shop and the patterns made. Referring to Fig. 2: In the foreground, in addition to the four plates, five spacing blocks are shown. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 show the steps of assembly of the cores and patterns. The figures are self explanatory. But remark should be made on the five spacing blocks that are shown in place, Fig. 4. Each block fills its space entirely. The composition metal must like- wise fill the space entirely and when poured must be [Tis the is a well understood adage that “necessity *Commander, United States Navy, engineer officer and outside superintendent, Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va. at the proper temperature of 2150 deg. Fahr. If the inflowing metal is too hot the monel metal partition plates would either melt (fuse) or warp; if too cold they would not be firmly grasped, and loose, chattering plates would result. The casting must be whole; that is, fill the space and all irregularities completely, to prevent eddy currents in the steam flow and to reduce friction losses. This unity of casting was obtained by means of fourteen gates, two large risers and the molten lake marked “a”—‘“a” in Fig. 5. The first casting was awaited with much interest and it came out of the mold as shown in this figure; not much to look at, but 100 per cent good. All eight sections were suc- cessfully cast. In this connection, at “A” in Fig. 6 and 7, will be seen a partition plate cut in two. That is the way the section actually had to be cast and, to obtain perfect alinement of divided plates, accurate spacing was neces- sary. If the entrance side, Fig. 7, of this divided plate did not meet perfectly with the exit side, Fig. 6, an un- even, low-efficiency nozzle would result. Eight sections were cast without one failure. Yates-American Woodworking Machinery Merger The American Wood Working Machinery Co., Rochester, N. Y., and the P. B. Yates Machine Co., Beloit, Wis., two of the largest firms engaged in the manufacture of woodworking machines in this coun- try, have been combined to form the Yates-American Machine Co., with headquarters at Rochester. J. E. McKelvey, president of the American Wood Working Machinery Co., since its organization in 1901, will be president of the new company and P. G. Farrow, vice- president of the Yates Co., will be vice-president. The new board of directors will be composed of representa- tive men from both concerns, including H. A. Perkins of Rochester and Earle L. Hart of Chicago. The American Wood Working Co. was itself the result of the merger of a dozen smaller plants in 1901 while the P. B. Yates Co., organized in 1884, owns the P. B. Yates Machine Cq,, Ltd., of Hamilton, Ont. No change in operation of the plants is contemplated at present. October 15, 1925 THE IRON AGE . 1027 guveuveevevvsoueouevenvaucescenenneuenseunevecnennsocanrousoencnvueueanenuecnsusuneseanenccvenvecueneunensnouunnanencavenosvnnvnnsssuenseneasasnacesusuearsusenessnensncaveyecseanencaveaveausuueneacancessouenssuevsnuenuauanseueanneneunsnsenevencannercanecnscnsvanceuuennevenvanenensnnsusgnensnnsgnscusnsnuensensansncansnnevsgnsuevocnscoacesvnavennenansesusvotouascasesecnevereeneeneeneam Showing Methods Used in Casting Around Monel Metal Fig. 1 (Left)—Damaged i Turbine Blading. A and B—First wheel, first stage. C—Second wheel, first stage. D—Second stage. E—Third stage Fig. 2 (Right) —A—Sec- ond Stage Nozzle Core Box. B—Second stage nozzle pattern. Partition plates and spacing blocks in foreground Fig. 3 (Left) — Second Stage Nozzle Core in Core Box Fig. 4 (Below)—Second Stage Nozzle Core with All Monel Metal Partition Plates and a Few Spacing Blocks in Place Fig. 5—Second Stage Nozzle Casting with Risers and Gates. “Lakes” of metal at “a, a” aided in feeding Fig. 6 (Left) —Steam Exit Side of Second Stage Nozzle. A—Damaged noz- zle section. B—Finished nozzle section before cut- ting to exact length. C— Rough casting with risers, etc., removed Fig. 7 (Right)—Steam Entrance Side of Second Stage Nozzle. A—Damaged nozzle section. B—Finished nozzle section before cutting to exact length. C—Rough castiny with risers, etc., removed Increasing Wire-Drawing Speed Its Relation to Cost of Production—“Chores” the Governing Factor— Advantages of Continuous Machine BY KENNETH B. LEWIS* HIS discussion relates to low-carbon basic or Bes- semer steel wire, drawn from one to five drafts from No. 5 gage wire rod. The matter of drawing speed, originally of no importance, has been gradually pushed to the front by the following successive ad- vances in the art: 1. Adoption of Bessemer steel—a strong and homogeneous material. Increase in weight of rod bundle by the successive adoption of three-high, Belgian and continuous rolling for wire rods. a Improvement of coating, lubrication and 2 S. 4. Strengthening and refining of wire-drawing machinery. 5. Adoption of slow starting blocks, by the use first of friction clutches, and then of individual motors. 6. Mechanical stripping. 7. Continuous drawing of coarse wire. The object of speed in wire drawing is partly to reduce investment, but chiefly to reduce labor cost by increasing output per man. Whether or not drawing speed affects output per man is a question that has given rise to more vigorous debate than any other wire mill problem. In the main, the answer dictated by logic and by experience has been NO. Wire drawing may be divided into two parts. One part is a series of non-productive jobs such as placing the rod bundle on the reel, pointing, drawing out an end, gaging, stripping the blocks, tying up and loading finished wire, etc. The other part is the actual run- ning of the wire through the die. The non-productive operations can be conveniently referred to as the “chores.” The number of bundles for which a wire drawer can perform, in the course of a day, the series of chores necessary to get that wire to the desired size, is the number of bundles he can draw. Drawing speed, while it affects the number of drawing units used, obvi- ously has no effect on the number of times the standard round of chores can be performed, nor therefore on the output per man. This is the logic of the situation, and it checks per- fectly with experience. It has been repeatedly shown that the average output of a man running five blocks at 65 r.p.m. is the same as that of a man running eight blocks at 40 r.p.m. In spite of logic and experience the fact that the relation between drawing speed and output per man has never been actually pinned down to cold figures leaves the matter decidedly foggy, and permits an oc- casional fallacy to creep in. This has been noticeable in recent years, since direct motor drive, both of indi- vidual wire blocks and of continuous machines, has re- moved one of the obstacles to high drawing speed. Saying It with Symbols It occurred to the writer recently that, if logic and experience were trustworthy, it ought to be possible to express the relation between drawing speed and output per man, or the absence of such relation, in the form of an equation. The difficulty of reducing wire drawing to mathematical terms is painfully apparent. A man’s output is dependent chiefly on the time spent on the chores. The time required for the chores varies con- siderably, and the difficulty of even separating them one from another for the purpose of time study is con- siderable. A further complication lies in the fact that a wire drawer is often under no pressure to speed up the *Morgan Construction Co., Worcester, Mass. chores, because he knows that he cannot stand up under the physical strain of lifting and handling more than a definite amount of wire a day. The num- ber of pounds of wire of any coarse size, multiplied by the number of lifts necessary in its production, is prac- tically constant at 30,000. If he does the chores quickly it is only because he would rather spend his surplus time entirely idle than to divide it among leisurely conducted non-productive operations. Fortunately, the continuous wire-drawing machine offers a more convenient approach to time study. In such machines the stripping of unfinished wire is elim- inated and the wire drawer, freed from the limit im- posed by his physical endurance, can cash in on alert- ness and economy of movement. In the operation of continuous machines the chores are bunched in such a way as to be more easily timed and charted and the operator realizes that he has a direct financial in- terest in reducing them to the minimum. On a Semi-Continuous Machine The writer has been concerned with the development and marketing of a type of semi-continuous wire ma- chine which produces coarse sizes from the No. 5 rod. He has not only collected much data relative to pro- ductive and non-productive operations, but has had ample opportunity to check conclusions drawn from such data against sustained average production. The number of wire-drawing units (whether blocks or ma- chines) operable by one man is equal to the time of the operating cycle divided by the sum of the times of all the chores. Expressed mathematically, this re- lation is R+T N=—————_- T+P+B Where N=Number of units; R=Minutes required for the run-off of one bundle ; T=Minutes required to thread; P=Minutes required to put bundle on reel and make point; B=Minutes required to tie up and load fin- ished wire. In the machine mentioned, stripping is mechanically done as an incident to the threading operation, and its time is therefore included in T. The arranging of a new rod bundle on the reel or the flipper, and the making of a point, are done while the machine is pro- ducing at full speed, as are also the tying up and load- ing of the finished wire. Hence R+T represents the full cycle, from the start of one bundle to the start of the next. If these chores interrupted production, as in the case of standard equipment, they would go into the numerator of the fraction, which then would become R+T+P+B NO) -— T+P+B The two factors included in output per man are (1) number of machines and (2) quota per machine, which we will indicate as Q. The number of minutes in the working day (M), divided by the minutes in the cycle (R+T) gives the number of bundles produced per day, per machine, and this figure multiplied by the weight of one bundle (W) gives the daily quota of a machine, thus MW RLT 1028 ae October 15, 1925 If we multiply the number of machines per man by the amount produced per machine per day we get the amount produced per day per man. R+T MW Multiplying —————— , we find R4+T T+P+B R+T as a factor in both numerator and denominator and cancel it out. The resulting formula for output per MW man per day is ——————. T+P+B uct of length of day and weight of bundle, divided by the total time of the “chores” in the production of a single bundle of any finished size, is the output per man In other words, the prod- THE IRON AGE 1029 per day for that size. The formula, by construction, is of universal application. Speed Not Involved The most notable thing about this formula is that it contains no term which in any way expresses draw- ing speed. It justifies absolutely the contention that there is no connection between speed and production per man. The absence from the formula of any term related to number of blocks per man, together with the absence of any term relating to speed, proves that the product of drawing speed and number of blocks is a HOULULCOUEOEDDUE ELL ADERAUEETUOREEROAROEOTETEOEOO OND TORU UHCLUTSEOREEEDEDEOETV AGRO ORODD HERFTRAE® *O°DRE’ 1ONEDORORETONRAOONOLONRDEAETONESEDENNADSAAOOAEDEDAORAAESSDURAABOONEDAASTINEG® (Concluded on page 1084) Abrasive Dust and Lung Trouble X-Ray Photographs of Norton Employees Fail to Show IIl Effects from Continuous Inhalation of Dust from Artificial Abrasives yy. at sharp variance with accepted be- liefs were drawn from the first X-ray study of the effect of abrasive dust on workmen, conducted by the medical department of the Norton Co., Worcester, Mass. The purpose was to establish as definitely as possible whether, under modern factory conditions, these sharp particles produce pneumonokoniosis, which is the medical name for a condition of the lung tissue that cripples the functions of the organ and invites chronic disease, particularly tuberculosis. The story of the tests and their results has been told in the Journal of Industrial Hygiene in a paper by Dr. W. Irving Clark, head of the Norton service department (which includes the medical department), and his associate, Dr. Edward B. Simmons. Their conclusions, which upset a commonly accepted belief, follow: 1. In factories which provide proper methods of dust removal, the continuous inhalation of artificial abrasive dust, extending over many years, does not produce the symptons or present the X-ray findings of pneumonokoniosis. 2. The number of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis occur- ring in the artificial abrasive industry does not greatly ex- ceed the number normally present in the community. 3. Workers who habitually use grinding wheels will run but slight risk of developing pneumonokoniosis if they use artificial abrasive rather than sandstone wheels for all grind- ing operations, and if the machines upon which the artificial abrasive wheels are mounted are properly hooded and ex- cessive dust removed by suction fans, Tests Under Extreme Conditions of Exposure The investigators were not content with taking as their subjects for study men working in shops and factories using abrasives in processes of manufacture. Instead they selected 79 men of the Norton plants who had been engaged more than 10 years in the manufac- ture of abrasives and