The Iron Age 1925-11-19: Vol 116 Iss 21

THE IRON AGE New York, November 19, 1925 ESTABLISHED 1855 VOL. 116, No. 21 Texas Market Hit by Foreign Steel Amount Imported Is Small in Relation to Total Consumption of State, But the Unfavorable Influence on Domestic Prices Is Marked BY CLARENCE E. WRIGHT* GALVESTON, TEXAS, Nov. 12.—For some time im- perts of. foreign steel at the ports of Galveston and Houston have considerably exceeded those at any other ports in the United States, and the result is that Texas and the Southwest is one of the most difficult sections of the country as a market for American steel. While the total amount of foreign steel coming in is not large in relation to the total consumption of the Southwest, the imported steel has had a disturb- ing effect on prices. Indications are that imports of foreign steel will increase during the next year be- cause of better arrangements that are being made for the distribution of such products as can be brought in cheayly. Warehouse to Handle Foreign Steel Foreign steel was brought in occasionally at Texas ports even before the war, but only within the last *Associate editor THE TRON AGE. rs \ ie Ame iA |) hl * a 7 | ed — ———E_ three or four years has European competition shown signs of becoming a serious factor in the Southwest- ern steel market. This business has developed now to such an extent that the Markle Steel Co., Houston, Texas, is erecting an all-steel warehouse, 102 x 410 ft., which will carry full stocks of imported steel in all of the finished forms that can successfully be sold here, and this steel will be distributed in the regular ware- house manner at prices equivalent to American mill prices plus the freight, with no warehousing differen- tial. C. N. Markle, who heads the Markle Steel Co., was for several years president of the Texas Carnegie Steel Association, which is the Texas warehouse dis- tributor for the mills of the Carnegie Steel Co. Since his retirement from that position, he has been regularly importing steel from Germany, which has been sold to Texas jobbers and manufacturing consumers in in- creasing volume. Texas is essentially a warehouse territory because many of the manufacturing consumers of steel are ve » - Te Harbor at Galveston, Where Sometimes as Many as 100 Ships Are Loading Cotton or Awaiting Cargo. These ships, rather than to return from Europe with sand or water ballast, are making very low rates on steel, thereby making it possible for foreign steel to enter Texas and the Southwest at prices much below those of American mills 371 eh Te ieee Sa ee ae small and prefer to purchase their raw materials in small lots rather than anticipate their requirements and buy in large quantities, as they must do if they purchase mill shipments from abroad. It is this pol- icy of small-lot buying which has kept importations as low as they have been. Mr. Markle recognized the situation and determined that the most successful way of distributing foreign steel in this district was to put it in warehouse and give customers service as well as low prices. Foreign Steel Now in Better Favor For a time the buying of foreign steel got a “black eye,” and it was thought that buyers would largely confme their purchases to American mills because of the unsatisfactory’ shipments from abroad and the ondition of some of the shipments when they arrived. A case is cited wherein a foreign shipment promised in six to eight weeks was not completed much short of one year, and in several instances foreign bars came so badly bent as to be almost unusable. These diffi- culties appear to have been largely overcome, and un- til there is a revision upward in the duties on some forms of finished steel the chances favor an increase in the amounts that will be received American mills are fully awake to the situation, but so far they have put forth no great efforts to stem the tide of imports, except in the case of cotton ties. Presumably their attitude is that they do not care to enter into price competition with foreign steel to the extent that they would have to if they were to try to keep it out entirely. They seemingly prefer to take what tonnage comes to them naturally and with a fair profit, knowing full well that few jobbers and consumers will want to pass up their American mill onnections entirely and depend upon foreign steel for their full requirements. Bars, Shapes and Cotton Ties the Chief Products As yet only a few products are seriously affected principally bars, shapes and cotton ties. On shapes and bars it would have been necessary in some cases for Eastern mills to sell at a price equivalent to 1.35¢., f.a.s. Philadelphia to meet the lowest prices that have been quoted on foreign steel namely 1.65c., Galveston, duty and all other charges paid. Pitts- burgh and Chicago mills would have had to accept in even lower mill price because of their high freight rates to this State. 1 disposition While American mills have shown occasionally to make here tonnage, they have not gone the full length meet the foreign prices. The case of cotton ties exception. For several years the importers of European cotton ties have awaited the announcement of the American mill price and then have come out with a lower price, thereby taking a considerable share concessions : he m desirable S$ al f the business. This year the American mills made‘ no early price announcement, but waited for the Ger- man and English mills to name their prices. When $1.34 per bundle of 45 lb. was finally named by the importers, the American mills came out with a price of $1.25, f.o.b. Galveston, New Orleans or any other Southern port. Government customs statistics show that 4410 tons of hoops, bands and cotton ties (mostly cotton ties) came in at Galveston and Houston during the first seven months of this year, there being no imports in August and September. State Uses 750,000 Tons of Steel Annually During the first nine months of 1925 the total steel imports at Galveston and Houston (figures for October not being available at this writing) were slightly in of 25,000 tons. It is estimated that the total consumption of steel of all forms in the State in a good year is about 750,000 tons, from which it might appear that the imports are too small to be as serious a factor as they are made out to be. But when for- eign bars and shapes can be sold for delivery at Gal- veston and Houston at $33 to $35, against $54 to $56 from American mills, the potential results are clearly in evidence. The fact that foreign steel is now quite satisfactory to Texas buyers is a_ point be reckoned with. excess generally that must THE IRON November 19, 1925 AGE Of the 750,000 tons estimated by steel men here the annual consumption of the State, a good shar possibly 200,000 tons, is in fabricated structural steél The oil companies are large buyers of steel tanks, most of which are fabricated at Northern plants and shifted here ready for erection, and this tonnage accounts for a considerable part of the total amount of structural steel work. There has also been a building boom in some of the leading cities of the State, which are mak- ing records in growth of population not equalled out- side of Florida. A 35-story office building and a 22- story newspaper and office building in Houston and a 17-story hotel in Dallas, now in course of erection, are examples of the large buildings that are being constructed. There are several good-sized structural! steel fabricating shops in the State and a number of smaller ones, but some of the steel erected here is fabricated elsewhere, as, for example, the 35-story building now going up in Houston, for which the Ameri- ‘an Bridge Co. furnished the steel. Several Large Fabricating Plants The largest fabricating interest is the Mosher Steel & Machinery Co., Dallas, which, with its subsidiary, the Houston Structural Steel Co., with plant at Hous- ton, has a monthly capacity of 2500 tons. Austin Brothers, Dallas, and the Pennsylvania Car Co., Beau- mont, also have fairly large capacity, the latter hav- ing furnished all of the steel for the 22-story Post- Dispatch Building in Houston. Practically all of the fabricating shops in the State are using some foreign steel, and this is a factor in the figuring of all build- ing work. The imports of structural steel in the first nine months of the year at Galveston and Houston totaled 11,305 tons, but this undoubtedly included some bar-size shapes, which are listed by the customs offices in the same bracket with large shapes. The common quotation on foreign shapes is 1.75c., c.if. Galveston or Houston, duty paid, but sales have been made at as low a figure as 1.65c. Even with the railroad freight rate of 42.5c. per 100 Ib. to Dallas, the delivered price at that point is about $10 a ton below the delivered prices of American mills having the lowest freight rate. Charge of “Dumping” Not Sustained Equivalent prices have been quoted on imported bars. The situation is so serious for the only rolling mill in the State, the Texas Steel Co. at Forth Worth, that George W. Armstrong, president of that company, last spring made a protest to the Federal Tariff Com- mission and to the Treasury Department on the ground that the low prices on foreign bars constituted a vio- lation of the anti-dumping act. So far Mr. Armstrong apparently has failed to convince the Government authorities that the imports constitute “dumping,” or that the duties should be raised. A few months ago he appeared before the Texas Railroad Commission in an effort to have higher rates apply on foreign steel when carried on Texas lines than the rate on domestic steel. In other words, he asked for a lower rate on the products of his own plant and a higher rate on imported steel, so that the difference in selling prices now existing would be wholly or partially wiped out, especially in north Texas. The Texas Railroad Com- mission took no action. Mr. Armstrong’s plant is equipped with an electric furnace for making steel from scrap, and his sole product is bars. Steel as Ballast Takes Low Rate The reason for the low prices on foreign steel here, lower in fact than at Atlantic and Pacific Coast ports, is not hard to find. The cotton shipping sea- son, which lasts from six to eight months, brings many ships to Galveston, Houston and other Southern ports without cargo. Rather than load with sand or water ballast, these vessels make extremely low rates on steel. The average rate is $3.50 per gross ton from Antwerp to Galveston, but in a few cases rates as low as $2.85 to $3.25 have been given. As the lowest rate from any mill in this country to Dallas is 69.5c. per 100 lb., it will readily be seen that foreign steel can per 100 lb. to points absorb the rail rate of 42.5c. eS) emt eal November 19, 1925 in the Dallas rate territory and still be sold at prices considerably under delivered prices on American steel. Government figures show that upward of 1,300,000 bales of cotton were exported from the ports of Gal- veston and Houston in the three months of the cotton shipping season ended with October, and November shipments promise to be large. At times as many as : 2 ee cs a oa ti ee Poe) ed Ran oug sae sa "se ee) ee BL 100 vessels are loading or awaiting cargo in the har- bor of Galveston, which shows that so far as ship space is concerned, the opportunity for greatly in- creased imports of steel is wide. Stock of Imported Pipe Carried at Houston Large tonnages of steel pipe are used in the Texas oil fields, but up to this time the imports have been almost negligible. The oil companies are said to pre- fer buying American steel as a matter of policy, but the American Seamless Tube Corporation, the main office of which is in the Woolworth Building, New York, seems to think sufficiently well of the outlook to have opened an office in Houston, and it is carrying a stock there of more than 1000 tons of various sizes of oil well casing and drill pipe. This company is the American representative of the Rohren-Verband of Germany and the French Syndicate, which together control the output of the Continental mills making seamless steel pipe by the Mannesmann process. The American Seam- less Tube Corporation has already brought from 15,- 000 to 20,000 tons of this pipe into the United States, most of which has been landed on the Pacific Coast. Its imports into Texas have not exceeded 2500 tons. As the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and the Pitts- burgh Steel Products Co. are now putting in equip- ment for the making of large tubing by the Mannes- mann process, the European mills may reap only a small share of American business. Steel Plates Sold at Low Prices Although steel plates could be landed at Texas ports at about the same prices, not counting the duty, as are quoted on bars and shapes, the duty of 50c. per 100 Ib. has kept them out. Eastern plate mills have THE IRON AGE 1373 quoted very low prices for delivery in this State, in a few instances business having been done on the basis of 2.20c. per lb., delivered Galveston or Houston. In one or two instances even this figure was shaded. As the water freight rate from Philadelphia or Sparrows Point, Md., is 30c. per 100 lb. this means 1.90c. at these points. Receipts of plates from abroad in nine months of this year totaled only 69 tons. Imports of rails and splice bars in the nine months were 3335 tons, but most of these were light rails used by lumber and other industrial companies. One railroad is reported to have bought a small tonnage of heavy rails, but was so severely criticized that no other purchases of heavy rails have been made. Texas is a large consumer of galvanized sheets, which are extensively used for building purposes. Im- | OUSTON and Dallas and Some Other Texas Cities Have Enjoyed a Building Boom Calling for Fairly Large Quantities of Structural Steel. These views show the type of buildings being erected in Houston, one of which is to be 35 stories high ports in nine months were 1413 tons, this includ- ing sheets of all kinds. However, the sheet mills represented here do not fear that foreign competi- tion will become particularly seri- ous, as Amer- ican sheets are generally recog- nized as a supe- rior product. Small Imports of Other Products Negligible quantities of other steel products have been brought in. From January to September, inclu- sive, they were as follows: Blooms and billets, 714 tons; iron bars, 299 tons; tubes, 1386 tons; wire rods, 20 tons; nails and screws, 351 tons; wire rope, 89 tons. Belgium and Germany have been the principal sources of supply, but the United Kingdom has also contributed a fair share, with France and Sweden also adding to the tonnage. The principal importers are the Markle Steel Co., Houston; the Black Hardware Co., Galveston, and F. R. Phillips & Sons Co., Philadelphia. The Phillips com- pany carries a small stock of bars and shapes on dock at Galveston, from which it sells in warehouse ship- ments. The Markle Steel Co. handles mostly Krupp and Thyssen products, and when it occupies its new warehouse about Jan. 1 it will receive regular ship- whee ~ he be peas * 4. + aniptotetat om ~via ta Sima aux. tee; camtecmaaieat nin, «>see nana aed tS lly tae 6 Ee COS Sit pC RE Ae tae RE Efe as ete sel ls phate ree aa See A te Beg. SE es et rae tee me Senay Semen ae 1374 ments from those German mills. The Black Hardware Co. conducts a jobbing business from Galveston and s one of the large distribuiors of imported steel. Foreign Pig Iron Also Coming In In addition to steel imports small lots of foreign nia pig iron have been coming in, most of it from India. The total for the year up to the end of September was 4936 tons, of which 3938 tons was from India and 998 from Germany. foundries in this tons As there are only a few represents a State, this probably larger share of the total consumption of pig iron than the relation of steel imports to the total steel con- sumption. New Orleans Steel Imports Smaller Conditions somewhat similar to those prevailing in Texas are found in the New Orleans dis- trict, but modified somewhat by the fact that the New Orleans district consumers are closer to the Birming- ham mills and thereby enjoy lower freight domestic shipments. In the also to be rates on same period of nine months which Galveston and Houston imported 25,- 000 tons of steel, only 13,000 tons came in at the port Operations Suspended at Riverdale Iron Mill The Riverdale Rolling Mill Co., Riverdale, Ill., pro- ducer of bar iron, suspended operations on Nov. 1. An inactive market and low are given as the rea- Officials state that operations will be resumed when market conditions become more favorable. This mill, which has an annual capacity of 11,000 tons of finished rolled products and was constructed in 1907, passed to the control in 1917 of Henry A. Lanman, Ed- ward A. Lanman and Charles B, Lanman, who are its present owners prices 50ns THE IRON AGE November 19, 1925 of New Orleans. The latter, however, had heavy re- ceipts of ferromanganese—12,018 tons from England, 399 tons from Germany and 1583 tons from Norway— presumably for the steel plants of the Birmingham district. Imports of steel bars at New Orleans in the nine months were fairly heavy—6092 tons—while re- ceipts of shapes were only 900 tons, and imports of other forms of steel were small, except rails, of which 2491 tons came in. A complicated railroad rate structure, together with high freight rates from all American mills, makes the SHIP Chan- 4 nel to Hous- ton Makes It Pos- sible to Land For- eign Steel There Equally as Cheap as at Galveston. Houston is a fairly large con- suming center and the market there for Amer- ican steel has been undermined. These views, show ships at wharf at Houston loading cotton Texas situation very difficult for American mills. In a State which is growing both industrially and agricul- turally there are bound to be increasing uses for steel. Doubtless American mills will find ways of preventing the encroachments of foreign steel from becoming too great, but at present few of them are making any effort to obtain business at any great sacrifice of price. To be sure much of the heavy tonnage coming into Texas, such as oil pipe, rails and structural steel, will continue to go to American mills regardless of price, but much of the warehouse business seems in danger of larger absorption by foreign steel companies. To Hold Exposition of Machine Tools the exhibition of its machine tools in operation at its Hamilton, Ohio, works, on Dee. 1, rail- road officials and executives of industrial concerns have been invited by the Niles-Bement-Pond Co. Following the exhibition the company will hold a two-day sales conference of its district managers. To attend Automobile production in October is reported by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce to have broken all records, at 454,327 cars, a gain of 49,951 cars over the 404,376 cars in May, the previous high. Scraping Defects from Hot Steel Surface Flaws Removed During Rolling— Quality Improved and Yield Bettered ANUFACTURE of steel into various forms often MI is hampered by defects in the finished product, even in those cases where the defects in the metal‘can be discovered before reaching the finished stage. In many other cases it is not until the final inspection, after the maximum expenditure has been made for labor, fuel and power, that certain flaws are detected which result in the material being rejected, or being classified under a different grade and sold at a lower price. Many of the defects which appear at various points during the process of conversion from ingots to finished product can be traced to the metallurgical practice, including melting, pouring, the design and condition of molds, etc. Some may be traced to the soaking pits or reheating furnaces, and a great many to the rolling. The most common defects are cracks which did not weld, seams, lines, scabs, blisters, slivers and scale, and these are due to the rolling operation. Methods used to overcome many of the troubles arising from defective steel include chipping the blooms, billets and slabs to remove cracks, seams and scabs. Various means have been used to remove a part of the scale which arises during rolling. These include the use of water on the steel, chilling to raise scale, flood- ing at various passes with high-pressure water, use of steam, rock salt, etc. In addition, different ways of turning the blooms, billets, etc., have been tried and slabs are set on edge for certain passes, to crack off the scale by a slight reduction in area. For products where the surface is of extreme im- portance billets and bars are pickled, and in the case Fig. 1—Billet Scraper Between Passes on Continuous square, is moving from right to left. The scraping knives are pressed against it by four air cylinders, top, bot- of the manufacture of certain grades of automobile sheets, “breakdowns” also are pickled. Some of the steel companies in Europe are turning ingots in a lathe to remove the outside surface, before heating them for piercing and conversion into seamless tubes. The object of this is to facilitate the operations of piercing, pilgering, rolling, drawing, ete., and to in crease the yield from ingot to finished product. Where scale, slivers and scabs are removed during the rolling of billets there is a material improvement in the quality of the finished product, and in many cases an increase in the yield of products from billets. Similarly if, during the process of rolling sheet bars for sheets and tin plate, and slabs for hot strip, the top and bottom and edges of the bars are cleaned of heavy scale and scabs and slivers, there will be a marked gain in the quality and surface of finished material, and an increase in yield of finished product from bars. Scraping Away Defects During Rolling A scraping device has recently been perfected, whereby billets and bars can thus be cleaned during the process of rolling, without reducing the tonnage produced. For billets, the scraping device consists of one or two units per billet mill, each unit consisting of two vertical- and two horizontal-acting knives. The first set scrapes the billet top and bottom as it leaves the preceding pass, and the second scrapes the billet on the sides. Fig. 1 shows the apparatus between stands No. 3 and No. 4 of a six-stand continuous mill. The sillet Mill. The billet, which at this point is 2% in tom and both sides. The upper cylinder appears behind the shield at upper center of photograph tavenrverey vn Moa A 1 CEEPDLSEDEREOSE YD OSEEORSSEERNESSEOESERENGFOINDELEDYDRDOFETHDS Ss FOESOEOLDESEENESTS HE FROEDTSENRONSESS (H8ED PIV I4 CE) COTTEETROE NETS TEREROIROD 7% Ainicentastnetpatt it a a a tee eI ‘ COMET clas ne Stet AeA cs A NaC ay AN RD MARE WS ETS 8 ool, Moca FRA chomp ce ia i 7 billet being scraped is 21% in. square, and the finished size on pass No. 6 is 1% in. square. In this installa- installed back of No. 6. The cylinders which actuate the knives are operated y air and can be adapted to be controlled auto- matically, closing the after the billet both sets of knives, and releasing them afte) the end f the billet has been pulled through. The power re- juired for the billet through the knives is furnished by the tion a second scraper is pass knives enters arawing Fig. 2, a ectional elevation on the center line of the top and 1 ' small and is rolls. cross Two ylinders are at BB. Che other naers 0e-ng THE IRON AGE November 19, 1925 bottom knives, illustrates the construction and shows that the knives and their holders can be stripped out of the machine between billets, during operation, with- out interfering with the tonnage. For sheet bars, the device consists of two sets of vertical-acting knives, one preceding the other by about 9 in. and operated by aiz, as in the case of billets. This also can be made automatic and the knives made to close and open in proper relation to the beginning and end of the sheet bar. For the best results on sheet bars it has been found necessary to install two scraping -_-__—} 4 IDI IO Ooo SSS — Cae F 5 ; t J i _ CL - ol November 19, 1925 THE units, one either in front of the last pass or next to the last pass, and the other preceding the final scraper by one or two passes. Fig. 3 illustrates the rolling of a sheet bar with the scraper on the entering side of No. 4 stand of a six-stand mill, scraping the bar at a thickness of 1 1/16 in., the bar finishing 11.5 lb. per ft. in stand No. 6. Fig. 4 shows this bar scraper in cross sectional side elevation. Apparatus necessary to scrape the sides of the bars is comparatively simple, and in principle is the same as for the top and bottom except that only one set of Fig. 3—Sheet Bar Entering Scraper Just Ahead of No. 4 Stand, Its Section Being 8 In. by 1lvs In. (Final Thickness After No. 6 Stand to Be 11% Lb. per Ft.) The two upper cylinders of the double set of top and bottom scrapers appear near top of mill housing knives is used. The side scraper is attached to and made an integral part of the second top-and-bottom scraping unit. In other words, the cleaning of the edges of the bars is done at the same time the bar has its last scraping on top and bottom. Fig. 5 shows a front cross section and elevation of a side scraper. What Is Cleaned Away When cleaning billets, if there are slivered places on any corner, or if there is a projecting fin on the edge of the billet or, as in many cases, a rolled-in fin on top or bottom, the scraping. knives will as a rule scrape off this projecting material in similar manner to a tool in a lathe. Many of these slivers, fins, etc., are found in the sweepings after rolling. Samples of the scrapings when rolling sheet bar show much coarser material for Unit No. 1 than for the succeeding Unit No. 2, and in the sweepings from No. 2 will be found scabs, slivers and pieces of metal which have been scraped off the edges of the bar. Knives used for scraping billets and bars are of IRON AGE 1377 special steel. No water is necessary on the scraper and, although the knives show color immediately after completing the scraping operation, they have an oppor- tunity to cool and lose their color before coming in contact with the next piece of steel. The knives for bars will scrape 1000 to 1500 tons per dressing and the life has ‘been found to have a range of from 12,000 to 15,000 tons production. Our illustrations are for installation of the scraper for both billets and sheet bars on a continuous mill. This type of mill lends itself readily to the standard scraper but, with certain modifications, the device can be applied to almost any type of bar mill. In the plant where the scrapers were first installed, and where they have been in operation for a number of years, there has been a marked improvement in finished material and a decided increase in yield from billets and bars to rods and sheets. The records of the company show that, for rods and merchant products, there has been an increase in yield of 1.89 per cent after using scraped billets. In the sheet mill depart- ment, for a period of three years after installation of the scrapers, the average increase in yield from bars was 1.50 per cent over a similar period prior to their installation. Frank L. Estep, president Bar & Billet Scraper Co., 40 West Fortieth Street, New York, is responsible for the new mechanical method of removing flaws. Meeting of New England Foundrymen Vincent P. Malcolm, metallurgical engineer, Chap- man Valve Mfg. Co., Indian Orchard, Mass., and Cole Estep, vice-president Penton Publishing Co., Cleveland, were the speakers at the November meeting of the New England Foundrymen’s Association, held Wed- nesday evening, Nov. 11. Mr. Malcolm first gave a brief description of the X-ray machines at Watertown, Mass., and at Long Island, which are used in connec- tion with study of castings. He then, by the aid of lantern slides, told of work being carried on by his company in this connection and conclusions reached regarding shrinkages, stresses and external defects; causes for defects; and how proper location of gates, risers, etc., has been obtained from a study of castings by the X-ray. Mr. Estep showed by charts the wide strides made in numerous other branches of the iron melting indus- try while the gray iron industry has been practically at a standstill. He suggested in a somewhat indefinite way what the gray iron foundry industry should do to remedy the situation, laying stress on technical study. Zinc Institute Directors Meet Directors of the American Zinc Institute held a meeting at the Hotel Statler, St. Louis, Friday, Nov. 6. After reports on the activities of the institute by the president and the chairman of several of the commit- tees, it was decided that the slab zinc statistics should be released by night letter on the ninth day of each month and that the usual summary should be mailed at the same time to all names on the statistical mailing list. The secretary of the institute, Stephen S. Tuthill, 27 Cedar Street, New York, accepted the secretaryship of the sectional committee on zinc coating of iron and steel under the procedure of the American Engineering Standardization committee and the sponsorship of the American Society for Testing Materials. This is the committee which is undertaking the national standardi- zation of all zine-coated material. The board referred to the executive committee for decision the matter of the proposed exhibit of the insti- tute of the products of the zinc industry at the Sesqui- centennial Exposition to be held in Philadelphia, June to December, 1926. The membership of the institute is reported as 210, of which 148 are active, 46 are associate and 16 are honorary members. The 1926 annual meeting was set for St. Louis on April 19 and 20, 1926. oe il i i i tt eee Improvements in Automotive Steels” Difficulties Due to Seams and Dirty Steel—Normal ’ and Abnormal Steels—Effect of Heat Treatment BY WALTER G. tive steels has been confronted with problems which have been difficult to solve; in fact, many of them have never been solved. The result is that periodically these troubles come up involving, in many cases, an enormous expense until that particular heat of steel is gone. The aim of this paper is to attempt to throw some light upon these problems and to elaborate upon them ) tive steel who has had experience with automo- Fig. 1 (Left)—Showing Dirty S.A.E.1015 Steel; X-100, not etched. Fig. 2—Showing Non-Metallic Inclusions in S.A.E. 3140 Steel; X-100, not etched in the hope that we may have the cooperation of the steel companies in bringing about their solution. In general, I believe that the main problem, at least for the present, is one of obtaining greater uniformity from heat to heat, rather than attempting to producs new steels. In other words, it should be possible to obtain heat after heat of the same steel which could be forged, treated and machined alike. Also it should be possible to use a standard heat treatment and obtain hardness and physical properties within the limits usually allowed for that particular steel. 3efore enumerating the various improvements needed, it should be stated that they are given with a full realization that the steel men have their troubles. The quality of their raw materials is a variable factor, the temperature at which they work is very high, in- volving many difficulties; the pouring and rolling offer still more problems. In addition, present day metallurgy is so new that metallurgists do not agree on all specifications. How- ever, difference of opinion is one of the penalties of *A paper. slightly abridged, presented at the fall meeting of the American Gear Manufacturers Association at West Baden, Ind., Oct. 1 to 3 The author is metallurgist, Reo Motor Car Co., Lansing, Mich. HILDORF progress. If everything was standardized and every- one agreed, there would be no progress. In spite of difficulties and difference of opinion, the automotive metallurgist should have a higher quality and more uniform steel to meet the requirements of present-day automotive vehicles. The demands are more exacting and the service more severe than in the past. For example, the last member of the family, the bus, prob- ably receives more severe service than any other be- cause it must run at passenger car speed, with a truck load in all kinds of weather and in many cases over very bad roads. Trouble from Seams and Spongy Centers In so far as the fabrication of steel is concerned, seamy stock probably causes more trouble than any other one thing in the drop forge plant. This is a con- dition which should be improved. The inspection methods should be such that no seamy material leaves the steel mill for use in parts where seams would be objectionable, as in gear forgings. The grain structure in steel should be uniformly dense in order to have uniform strength, hardness, re- sistance to wear and freedom from warpage. Spongy centers are usually more pronounced in the larger sizes. A .good example of this is in die blocks which often show spongy spots which will wear much faster than the more dense part of the block. I believe it is generally agreed that any of the steel mills will meet requirements as to chemical composi- tion. However, the analysis tells only a part of the story. The chemist will tell us whether we have the correct amounts of such elements as carbon, manga- nese, nickel, etc., but he does not tell us if the steel contains a dangerous amount of foreign matter such as manganese sulphide, oxides or slag. Or, to use the common term, he does not tell us whether the steel is dirty or not. Dirty Steel Non-metallic inclusions may be divided into three classes according to Giolitti, in his “Heat Treatment of Soft and Medium Steel”: _a.—Drops in suspension, of size larger than a cer- tain critical dimension, will ascend with relatively high velocity toward the surface of the bath, there to unite with the floating layer of molten slag. b.—The same thing will happen for the drops re- sulting from the agglomeration of the smaller, step by step, as their increasing dimension will have reached the critical c.—Suspended droplets, which have dimensions equal to or smaller than the above indicated limit, will rise in the bath with velocities extraordinarily lower than that reached by the larger drops men- tioned in (a) and (b). Therefore, after a certain period of time, the undis- turbed bath will no longer contain inclusions of molten slag, except those which are in the form of minute drops whose dimensions are equal to or smaller than the “critical.” Giolitti states that “under normal conditions of temperature and for steels of ordinary composition, the time necessary for substantially complete separa- tion of the inclusions indicated in (a) and (b) is rela- tively short and of such an order as to render it pos- sible in practice to maintain the molten metallic bath quietly so as to eliminate those inclusions.” It should be possible then for the steel companies to furnish steel without large inclusions. However, it is not possible to make steel entirely free from minute inclusions, because it would be practically impossible to keep the bath molten and quiet for a time long also 1378 November 19, 1925 enough to allow their separation. Figs. 1 and 2 show two examples of non-metallic inclusions in some auto- motive steel. In justice to the steel companies it should be said that there has been considerable im- provement in the cleanliness of steel, yet the average product is not as clean as it should be. Normal and Abnormal Steels The terms normal and abnormal, as generally used, differentiate between a steel which will harden 100 per cent hard and a steel which will have soft spots after hardening in the ordinary way—without the use of cyanide or salt baths. It has been demonstrated that it is often possible to harden an abnormal steel 100 per cent hard by the benensneseins AOOEOUUEEDONUNADOOEERD ENNELY Ss ceeneneannEOONDONETOAUON RODEN SEERONERS (iitrnedt | — EXPANSION ened hk >| \ TEMPERATURE Fig..3—Theoretical expansion curve taken from Bureau of Standards Bulletin No. 433 QDURELANDADNNERENOUEDLLUNEHEOOESEDOOEELUONOEDUOUNECAONORKAENOAOOOOEASEDEAEROGOONAOLONANEOLOGEOLITONEDODRERDDOROEEDLOOOREDDOOBEDOEORRERENOEEDOGERRISESERHTENRA SEN OL DORE rROTONODDEREED IPO use of cyanide or salt baths. The Bureau of Standards has investigated this and states, in their second prog- ress report on “The Investigation of the Influence of the Character of the Steel Used on the Results Ob- tained in Carburizing,” that “further quenching ex- periments of carburized normal and abnormal steel were made which indicate that abnormal steel is more prone to give soft spots than normal steel.” A large number of the steel mills can furnish the normal steel. Since this is true, it would seem desir- able to use this steel rather than abnormal steel, be- cause. it would not be necessary to use salt or cyanide baths for hardening. In other words, if one already had furnaces which were heated with oil, gas or elec- tricity, they could be used for successfully hardening normal steel but they would not give satisfactory re- sults with the abnormal steel. We have used normal steel since about May 1, 1921, penneneesevsnnneneneneeenenneeeneennenenernneneEDNNADOUeNERROETEROGNNORDUEUEREOUOESEDOEEORDEDERERODEGESOOEAEUODOUEEERDENGED ONES OO DENOENNENEDOONEDONHTRDODEN ERODING LENOROED UD HEN DON NeONHEERODEY Fig. 4 (Left)— Normal Case of S.A.E. 1015 Steel. Note the sharp, definite grain boundaries. Fig. 5—An abnormal Case of S.A.E. 1015 Steel. Note the partially broken down grain boundaries. Fig. 6—Very Ab- normal Case of S.A.E. 1015 Steel. Note the com- pletely broken down grain boun- daries. All X-100, etched with 3 per cent nitric acid in alcohol THE IRON AGE 1379 obtaining very satisfactory results as to warpage and hardness using either oil, gas 6r electricity for heating. The following routine is adhered to in checking steel for normality: (a) Carburize at 1700 to 1725 deg. for 8 h using a carburizing material which will give a case contain ing considerable excess cementite (b) The boxes are removed from the furnace and the samples are allowed to cool in the box (c) A section of the sample is cut out with a hack saw (d) The sample is polished and then etched with per cent nitric acid in alcohol or with 5 per cent picric acid in alcohol. (e) A microscopic examination is then made of the case, the junction of the case and core, and the core (f) The magnification is 100 dia. on all except cases of alloy steels, where it was necessary to use 425 dia. in order to bring out the structure so that it was sharp or plain and comparable with the photo- micrographs obtained on other steels, Warpage of Steels Considerable has been written, concerning the soft spots which are obtained when abnormal steel is hard- ened in the usual way, but little if anything has been written regarding warpage, although it seems to al- ways accompany the abnormal condition of steel. This can be easily checked by making simple shapes of both the normal and abnormal steels and checking them for warpage after hardening. One of the best checks that we have ever had was with an abnormal heat of S. A. E. 2315 steel which had been made into rear axle ring gears. The normal steel had an average hardness of 80 to 85 scleroscope. The abnormal steel had a hardness of 60 to 80 scleroscope and warped much more than the normal steel. Twenty- five of the gears were marked and put aside on the gear floor where they were kept until normal steel had been in use for about two weeks. Then these gears were mixed with the regular gears and sent to the heat- treating department after which they were inspected for hardness and warpage. The inspectors, without any knowledge of the fact that these gears were com- ing, scrapped 24 out of the 25 gears. This phenomena of warpage can probably be ex- plained by reference to three curves which have been taken from the Bureau of Standards Bulletin No. 433, “Thermal Expansion of a Few Steels.” Fig. 3 is a theoretical expansion curve for range 1112 to 1650 deg. Fahr. From A to B there is nearly uniform expansion as the temperature increases. At B the steel starts to go through the critical range and cannes relia Uh He ee cece sa RAL Tt ee oe ioe ht na Sint ta aa ineiaap nisi ere TT Senet ETNA LN 1380 contraction takes until the point C is reached which is the end of the critical range. From C to D there is a practically uniform expansion with increase of temperature. From D to E contraction takes place. At E the steel starts to go back through the critical range; from E to F then there is an expansion. At F the critical range is passed and the steel contracts from F to G in a line which is practically parallel to A-B. [In the original ther curves for place paper the author presents two two different kinds of steel.] Suppose a steel were quenched at the temperature D Fig. 7 (Left)—Normal Case, S.A.E. 3140 Steel; X-425, {bnormal Case of S.A.E. 3140 Steel; X-425, etched with S.A.E. 3140 Steel (Core of Fig. 7); X-100, etched wi Core of S.A.E. 3140 Stee . nd it hardened uniformly. All parts of uniform hard ness, such as the outside of a gear, would no doubt ve all expanded to some point between E and F near kK When soft spots are examined under the microscope found that their structures are troostitic or a ination ot troostite and sorbpite. ly ther words, ese soft parts have gone through,.a greater expan- n than the harder parts, and therefore would cause warpage. Fig. 4 shows the case normal S. A. E. 2315 teel. Note the sharp, definite grain boundaries. This teel hardened 100 per cent hard when heated in an ectric furnace and water quenched. It had a sclero ope hardness of 95 to 105 The case of an abnormal S. A. E. 1015 steel is wn in Fig.-5. Note the partially broken down ain boundaries. When heated in an electric furnace nd water quenched, 20 per cent of its surface was ft The hardness varied from 60 to 95 scleroscope The case of a much more abnormal steel is shown n Fig. 6. Here the grain boundaries are completely broken down. When heated and quenched, the same as the steels shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, 50 per cent its surface was soft. The hardness varied from 45 to YU scleroscope. The core was not shown in the preceding photo- micrographs because it is believed that the core struc- ture or grain size is not a reliable indication as to whether a steel is normal or not. Distinguishing a Normal Steel steel When deciding whether a is abnormal or not we base our decision entirely upon the condition of the THE IRON etched with 3 per cent nitric acid in alcohol. th 5 per cent picric acid in alcohol. (Core of Fig. 8); X-100, etched with 5 per cent picric acid in alcohol AGE November 19, 1925 excess cementite in the case. If the excess cementite exists as a sharply defined network, the steel is classed as a normal steel. The condition of the pearlite grains seem to also serve as a fairly reliable indicator of this condition. If the cementite and ferrite lie in straight parallel bands in all the grains, the steel is normal. If it exists as a jumble of parallel bands, it usually indi- cates that the steel is abnormal. At one time it seemed to be generally believed that the core could also be used to indicate this condition. If the grains were large, the steel was supposed to be normal and if small, abnormal. However, it is possible Fig. 8— Fig. 9—Normal Core Fig. 10—Abnormal 3 per cent nitric acid in alcohol. 0 obtain a very fine grained normal steel and, since it has a much wider hardening range and is not so liable to be brittle, it seems a much more desirable steel The condition of abnormality does not seem to be onfined to any particular class or type of steel. It has often been found in such steels as S. A. E. 5140 and S. A. E. 3140. Fig. 7 shows a normal case on 5S. A. E. 3140 steel, while Fig. 8 is that of-an abnormal case of the same steel. The core structures are shown n Figs. 9 and 10. Samples of these steels were heated n an electric furnace to 1525 deg. Fahr., quenched in il and drawn at 750 deg. Fahr. The normal steel had a hardness of 70 to 75, while the abnormal had a hard- 55 to 70 scleroscope. ness ol The abnormal condition can exist in many, if not all, kinds or classes of steel. Since it is more liable to give soft spots and cause trouble from warpage than the normal steel, the steel companies would perform valuable service to the automotive industry if abnor- mal steels could be eliminated. (To be concluded) The delivery of steel products from an Eastern mill to Milwaukee entirely by water is to be noted in the arrival of the steamer Grammer on Nov. 9 from Buf- falo, with a cargo of rolled steel material from the Donner Steel Co., Inc., for distribution to customers in the Milwaukee territory, of which L. E. Meidinger is sales manager. The experiment is expected to result in a regular boat service to Milwaukee and Chicago. Blast Furnace Problems Studied Conference in Pittsburgh Takes Up Design Characteristics—Stove Capacity- Blowing Practice N all-day conference on blast furnaces, held under A the auspices of the steel works section, Engi- neers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, at the William Penn Hotel, Pittsburgh, Nov. 12, attracted a distinguished group of blast furnace superintendents and engineers. The papers covered the subject so com- pletely and profitably to those present that more meet- ings of the sort may be held. Light attendance at the monthly evening meetings of the section prompted the thought that more would come to an all-day conier- enee; this conference to that extent was an experiment. It brought out an attendance of 100 or more from points in the eastern half of the country. The papers touched upon blast furnace design, blast furnace stoves, physical properties of raw materials and blowing prac- tice. Discussion of the several presentations was free and open. A paper by Arthur G. McKee, president Arthur G. McKee Co., Cleveland, on “Some Observations Regard- ing Blast Furmace Design,” was illustrated by lantern slides and reviewed the history of blast furnaces, with special emphasis on changes in design; the tendency toward the wider hearth in the more modern furnaces, the drift toward larger and stronger furnaces; the passing of the excessive number of bosh plates; that cooling plates above the tuyeres were less in evidence now than in former years; the greater attention being paid to downcomers, especially with reference to the larger openings and the introduction of the larger bell as an aid toward larger production and a lowering of the flue dust losses. Changes in Furnace Profile In opening the discussion Walther Mathesius, IIli- nois Steel Co., South Chicago, reviewed the changes in the profile of the lower portions of the furnace and explained that the activity of his company under his direction in that way had been the result of a policy to spend money where it would do good. He thought changes would continue to be made in the upper por- tions of the stack, dictated by the desire to eliminate excessive flue dust losses caused by unavoidable segre- gation of material. An enlargement of the stock line would mean corresponding changes in the bosh and hearth to equalize resistance to rising gases. Julian Kennedy emphasized in his remarks the ne- cessity of attention to the stock line and the desirability of metal blocks which would stand the abrasive effects of the raw material. He also favored the wider hearth and a stack of good slope, with a %-in. flare to within 12 ft. of the tuyeres, referring to the performance of the Toledo furnace of this type, which last month aver- aged 712 tons daliy of foundry iron, on 1800 lb. of coke, blowing 49,000 cu. ft. per min. with a pressure of 14 to 16 lb. and a temperature of 1300 deg. Fahr Several speakers touched on the question of whether it was not more desirable to have a furnace-supported instead of ** > cantilever skip. A tendency away from the latter type was noted and a return to the older style of furnace-supported skip. This obviates the danger of the bell and hoppers getting out of center in the event of settling, since the skip would move with the stack in any settling. Large Stove Capacity Recommended A. E. Maccoun, superintendent of blast furnaces, Edgar Thomson works, Carnegie Steel Co., Braddock, Pa., spoke on the subject, “Modern Blast Furnace Stoves.” He said that the modern blast furnace fs ex- pected to produce 700 tons of pig iron daily and that such an output calls for a furnace with a hearth of 21 1381 ft., a bosh of 24 ft., capable of taking 55,000 to 65,000 cu. ft. of air per minute, with a temperature of 1400 deg. Fahr., and backed up with stoves having a capac- ity of 360,000 sq. ft. He said that clean gas is essen- tial; advocated the two-pass side or central combustion stoves in preference to the three- or four-pass stoves, as simpler and of lower upkeep because of savings in brick; ground level valves; square checker openings, which eliminate special shapes of brick; the importance of central control and of more efficient burning of gas and the regulation of air and gas for improved com- bustion. He also urged larger mains as a means of cutting down line resistance. There was lively discussion of this paper. It was urged by one speaker that increasing the stove areas to 360,000 sq. ft. is a big step, as it now is possible to get and maintain a temperature of 1100 to 1200 deg. Fahr. with stoves of heating areas of 175,000 to 180,000 sq. ft. and the temperature would be raised only .200 deg. by the:suggested doubling the stove heating areas. It was suggested that, in addition to the central con- trol, there is the hot blast regulator and there is a way out without increasing the size of the stoves, through greate