New mthod oceaning aluminum before welding with inert-arc method
✍ Scribed by R.H.O.
- Book ID
- 103079795
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1946
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 140 KB
- Volume
- 242
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0016-0032
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✦ Synopsis
Steel Wire Mauufacture.--A triumph in the art of manufacturing quality steel wire has been achieved by the American Steel and Wire Co., U. S. Steel subsidiary, in producing great amounts of valve spring wire so vital to the efficient operation of America's postwar automobiles.
Prior to the outbreak of World War II, virtually all of the steel rods for reduction into wire for automotive valve springs were imported from Sweden. In that country, extremely high grade ores were readily available. Swedish iron plants, for the most part, were small units utilizing charcoal rather than coke for fuel, resulting in a cleaner iron and a cleaner steel. Rolling mills were small, hand-operated units which, while producing comparatively small tonnages, permitted extreme care to be exercised in producing steel rods with virtually no seams or scratches. Extremely high surface qualities are of great importance when attempting to avoid failure of the material used in springs which are compressed and released 4,ooo times each minute.
With the advent of the war, in 1939, shipments from Sweden were cut off and metallurgists of the American steel industry, including American Steel and Wire, were faced with the problem of replacing that source of high-grade steel rods. The result was that a product superior even to the Swedish material was developed for use in the last of the pre-war automobiles. It played an important war-time r61e in keeping in operation the jeeps, peeps, half-tracks, tanks, and other mobile equipment so vital to the winning of the war.
Extreme care is exercised in choosing raw materials for this premium steel product. Only carefully graded pig iron and steel scrap are used, and improved steel-making practices have been developed. Special heat treating methods, together with close rolling and drawing controls, also contribute toward producing a high-quality steel wire free from surface imperfections and possessing other physical properties rendering it more than adequate to make American automobile manufacturers independent of the foreign source of supply.
R. H. O.