58 



A^ational Resources I'laiining Board 



because Williaui II. Basset t Ix'canie elieinist of the Coo 

 Manufacturing Company in 1902. Duriiitr tluit year 

 and in the ones miniediately following:, wliilf he was 

 chief chemist and metallurgist of the American Brass 

 Company, Basselt initiated a broad program of re- 

 search which was to have great influence upon the 

 entire copper anil brass industry. The progi'am was, 

 in reality, a gradual outgrowth of work demanded by 

 the problems of the industry; for instance, the produc- 

 tion of electrolytic copper had resulted in adequate 

 volume but not in the cjuality necessary for the pro- 

 duction of good WTOught copper and wrought copper 

 alloys. By cooi)erating closely with the most able 

 copper metallurgists and refmers of those early days, 

 Bassctt succeeded in securing electrolytic copper with 

 properties which were equal to those of the Lake copper 

 that previously' had been the standard of the industry. 



Such cooperation was not confined to those in tlie 

 copper refining industry, but was extended to the men 

 in the brass casting shop and brass mill where "rule-of- 

 thumb" methods were in control. In a relatively few 

 months, standard methods of chemical analysis of coj)- 

 per and its alloys had been developed and put into 

 practice throughout the mills of the American Brass 

 Company. Exact chemical ranges of composition of 

 alloj's were decided upon, and from that time each 

 alloy was cast to specifications, not only as to copper 

 content but also as to allowa])le amounts of impurities. 



From the multiplicity of problems facing the copper 

 industry one of the first that Bassett selected for study 

 was that of the logical determination and arrangement 

 of data on the properties of copper and copper alloys 

 after cold rolling and after heat treatment or annealing. 

 Charts were prepared showing graphically the tensile 

 strength, elongation, electrical conductivity, hardness, 

 and grain size of many brass, bronze, and nickel alloys. 

 This study, made more instructive by means of photo- 

 micrographs, was the first instance in America of the 

 use of the microscope in the examination of the struc- 

 ture of copper and its alloys. With the assistance of 

 Mr. F. G. Smith and Mr. J. C. Bradley, he revealed by 

 methods of polishing and etching the relation of grain 

 size to annealing temperature. 



The research department (as such) did not grow rap- 

 idly. It gave most of its attention to improving manu- 

 facturing methods, yet each of the trained men in the 

 department was expected to give a portion of his time 

 and thought to the solution of research projects. 



In 1920 the company's research program was broad- 

 ened to include a large number of studies in the resist- 

 ance of alloys to corrosion and the development of new 

 alloy materials. Today its research continues under 

 the direction of II. C. Jennison and J. K. Freeman, Jr. 



American Rolling Mill Company 



Since its incejition tlie American Kulling Mill Com- 

 pany has given iirst i)lace to researcii. Such emphasis 

 was essential, for the company started as a very small 

 concern in 1900, the j'car that much of tiie steel indus- 

 trj' was consolidated into the largest commercial corpo- 

 ration the world had j'^et known. Tiie officials of the 

 American Itolling Mill Company felt that if the C( m- 

 pan^' wvn: to survive it must enlist the forces of re- 

 search. Their early and continuing faith in industrial 

 research has been justified, and today the company is 

 the world's largest nnmufacturer of si)ccial-analysis iron 

 and steel sheets. 



The company's researeli can be divided into two 

 parts: one, the study of chemical anil metallurgical 

 problems to produce sheets for exacting uses such as 

 drawing, s])inning, and the making of alloyed metals; 

 the other, a study and ilevelo])nient of mechanical and 

 l)rodiictivc ])rocesses to better the |)roducl, increase the 

 output, and lower the cost. 



Chemical and metallurgical research at the American 

 Rolling Mill Companj- began when a 25-ton furnace 

 was set aside for experiments in nuiking electrical steel 

 of the uniformitj-, low hj'steresis, and high i)ermeability 

 needed by such concerns as the West inghouse Company. 

 The relentless toll of rust demanded attention, and 

 experiments were conducted in 1900 to make pure ii'on 

 in an open hearth furnace, with the result that the 

 company's ingot iron was placed on the market. It 

 won the prize award at the San Francisco Plxposition 

 in 1915 for rust resistance, welding, magnetic, and 

 enameling j)roperties. The growing need for stronger 

 lightweight sheets for railroad cars, busses, and products 

 of a similar kind led to intensive research which re- 

 sulted in the j)roduction of the high tensile sheets 

 which are today serving this market with definite 

 advantages. 



Closely associated with iron and steel production 

 are the various methods for coating sheets of iron and 

 steel. Recent research has i)roduced galvanized sheets 

 that can be painted immediately without weathering 

 and a galvanized coating that will not peel in forming 

 or spinning. As a result the cost of hand dii)ping is 

 saved on all sorts of galvanized products. 



The invention by John B. Tyttis in 1024 of the con- 

 tinuous process for rolling sheets is perhaps the Ameri- 

 can Rolling Mill Company's greatest contribution to 

 the iron and ste(>l industry. Mills built and equipped 

 for this process by the leading steel comi)anies, under 

 license, have made possible an increase in the use of 

 iron and steel sheets that could not lunc taken place 

 willi hand mil! ojiei'ation. 



