Industrial Research 



59 



American Smelting and Refining Company 



Iviiiy in 192-1 llic i)ropusal to establish a research 

 liepaitiiUMil ill the, American Smelting and Kelining 

 Company was given serious consideration. The sug- 

 gestion was occasioned by the feeling among the odi- 

 cials that systematic research would materially assist 

 the company in maintaining its position in the rapiilly 

 advancing nonferrous metallurgical field. 



It was believed that the needs of the cojnpaiiy couhl 

 best l)c served bj' a stall' composed of highly trained 

 scientists, together with men in the plant who had 

 shown a natural ai)titude for research. The activities 

 of the staff would be ilirecteil towaiil the investigation, 

 study, and developnu-nt of established i)rocesses, as 

 well as new ones. This staff, together with its facilities, 

 would also be availai)le for technical advice and service 

 to the various i)lants and, by keeping in touch with 

 scientific progress in otlier industries, would ]>rovi<le a 

 clearing house fur iid'ormation of intcresti to the 

 company. 



Largely through the ell'orts of F. H. Browuell, H. A. 

 Prosser, and W. H. Peirce, a laboratory was established 

 in 1925 at the company's ])lant in Perth Amboy, N. J., 

 under the supervision of Peirce, with C. A. Rose as 

 director. It had a staff' of six technical men. A west- 

 ern division was set up in 1926 at Salt Lake City for 

 the purpose of conducting research on smelting and 

 related problems. During the ilifficult years of the 

 early 1930's, some curtailment in operations was 

 necessaiy. However, as a result of the active interest 

 of some officials within the company, research was con- 

 tinued and the laboratory was further expanded by a 

 section devoted to physical metallurgy. 



United States Steel Corporation 



Since the days of Durfee, Ward, and Phipjis, applied 

 science has been a factor in the development of the steel 

 industry. The early efforts at research were frugal and 

 inadequate, yet they continually uncovered lU'W facts 

 and paved the way for more fundamental studies. 



A\Tien the United States Steel Corporation was 

 organized, in 1900, all of the constituent companies had 

 laboratories in which more or less systematic investiga- 

 tions had been carried on for some years. In 1891, for 

 example, AV. R. Walker hired Dr. Albert Sauveur to 

 begin the microscopical study of steel, in the laboratory 

 of the South Works of the Illinois Steel Company. At 

 that time only tw'O other men were exploring this field- — 

 Osmond in France; Martens in Germany.'"^ Five years 

 later Sauveur's microscopical work was interrupted 

 because of Roentgen's discovery' of X-rays, and because 

 "a hurricane in the form of a new president . . . 



"» Sauveur, A. Metallurgical reininisconces. New York, American Institute of 

 Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1937, p. 6. 



struck the South Works of the Illinois Steel ( 'ompany, 

 which in its violence carried away the metallographical 

 laboratory and its occupants." "" 



After the formation of the corporation, research 

 began to take organized form, and research laboratories 

 designated as such were provided in a number of units. 

 At least four of the subsidiaiy comi)anies had well 

 directed facilities and personnel prior to the year 1915. 

 In addition to the investigations carried on in the labo- 

 ratories, a much larger amount of work — sometimes 

 s|)ora(lic and inconclusive was going on at nearly every 

 plant. This work was mainly concerned with mechani- 

 cal developments rather than metallurgical ([uestions, 

 for only within recent years have appropriate experi- 

 mental and interpretive techniques been developed to 

 the ])()iiit at which steel making processes could be 

 studied with reasonabhi hope of success. 



In 1928 the United States Steel Corporation, as dis- 

 tinct from its constituent com])anies, estat)lished a 

 central research laboratory under the direction of 

 Dr. John Johnston. Since that date the widespread 

 research and technical activities of the subsidiaiy com- 

 panies of the corporation have been carried on in 

 conjunction with the central laboratory, now located at 

 Kearny, N. J. The staff' of this laboratory collaborates 

 with men in the plants where many investigations must 

 bo earned out because of the impracticability of repro- 

 ducing on a small scale in the laboratory the actual con- 

 ditions encountered in the mills. 



The corporation now has, under the supervision of a 

 vice president in charge of metallurgy and research, 

 Rufus E. Zimmerman, about 450 men engaged in re- 

 search. Their efforts are supplemented by the activi- 

 ties of the control laboratories, numbering more than 

 80 and employing approximately 2,000 chemists, phys- 

 icists, metallurgists, and engineers. 



During the last decade the corjioration's research has 

 increased greatly not only in amoimt, but also in quality 

 and significance. Closer control of the whole sequence 

 of processes involved in making steel has been secured 

 tlu'ough a study of the fundamental factors affecting the 

 qualities of steel and through the development of better 

 methods of temperature measurement. A study of the 

 rate of transformation of austenite at a series of temper- 

 ature levels has led to a new method of treatment which 

 imparts to ordinary carbon steel properties hitherto 

 associated only with alloy steels. 



Systematic research on the residual stresses in rail- 

 road rails has resulted in a process known as Brunoriz- 

 ing, which yields a rail that retains its ductility at low 

 temperatures. 



Twelve years of organized, adequately supported in- 

 vestigations have brought a clear recognition of the 

 value of research to the steel industiy. 



"» Metalliugical reminiscences, p. 13. See footnote 108. 



