294 



National Resources Planning Board 



Continuous Rolling 



Tlie development of the continuous rolling mill for 

 the steel mdustry was a successful and profitable under- 

 talcing, which has materially reduced the cost of flat 

 steel products to the ultimate consumer and greatly 

 extended their use. The work (which involved more 

 mechanical and electrical than strictly metallurgical 

 research) necessary to bring this idea to its present 

 position, probably comprises the most expensive research 

 project ever undertaken in the field of metals. 



To one acquainted with the old-time method of 

 rolling, with its many roll stands, great amount of back- 

 breaking handling of materials, and dependence upon 

 the roller's judgment, not to mention the irregular 

 quality of the products, the modern continuous mill 

 with its few stands but its myriads of precise controls, 

 and the uniform quality of the product, is a revelation 

 indeed. When these mills were under erection, there 

 were dire prophecies of overcapacity. The judgment of 

 steel industry executives that a better and cheaper 

 product would find new uses has been abundantly 

 justified. Every home now has conveniences it did not 

 have in earlier days, the availability of which, at a price 

 justifj'ing their purchase, can be traced to the avaO- 

 ability of good, cheap, flat-rolled steel as raw material. 

 The sum total of employment resulting from the change 

 in practice is also undoubtedly on the right side of the 

 ledger. 



Continuous Tubing 



Even before this continuous-rolling development an 

 analogous one was getting started in the production of 

 welded tubing. A tiny plant worked out a method for 

 drawing heated flat stock, "skelp," through sets of 

 rolls in such fashion as to cause the edges to weld, and 

 to subject the weld to mechanical working. First 

 developed for very small sizes of tubing, it was found 

 to give very clean welds, to be susceptible of accurate 

 control and hence to be suitable for handling long 

 lengths. That is, the process can use the long coils of 

 flat stock produced by the continuous rolling process so 

 its development was favored by the recent availability 

 of suitable stock. 



Over the last 20 years the process has been improved, 

 adapted to fairly large sizes, and implemented with 

 suitable equipment and control devices, until it has 

 made large inroads upon the older method of pulling 

 the skelp tlu-ough a bell to force the edges into welding 

 contact. Many of the larger producers of tubing have 

 changed, or are changing, to the process. This is true 

 not only in the United States, but all over the world. 

 The original tiny plant with its handful of men and small 

 production, something like an experimental pilot plant 

 of today, has flowered amazingly. The "big fellows" 

 accepted a scheme worked out by a "little fellow." 



This shows that the lone inventor still has a place. 

 In this case the inventor was fortunate in being able 

 himself to enter production and demonstrate the vir- 

 tues of the product by its salability in a competitive 

 market. 



Continuous Forming From the Melt 



Efi^orts are being put forth to carry the idea of con- 

 tinuous forming to its logical conclusion by starting 

 with molten metal continuously cast as a strip or a rod, 

 and processing it to thinner strip or to wire without 

 interruption. Plenty of difficulties still beset these 

 efforts. One cannot yet evaluate them on the basis 

 of fully proven achievement, but they do show promise 

 of improvements to come that may be as revolutionary 

 as was the continuous mill. 



Raw Materials 



Research in the utilization of the raw materials of 

 the steel industry has not been neglected. In blast- 

 furnace practice research has produced notable results 

 in the use of lower grade iron ores, reduction in coke 

 consumption, and the production of a more uniform 

 product. In basic open-hearth steel making the results 

 obtained during the last 20 years have been amazing 

 in the conservation of fuel, in greater production, and 

 above all in the improvement of quality. A very note- 

 worthy instance has been the study of open-hearth 

 slags and the application of the principles of physical 

 chemistry to the process. It has been research work of 

 the best kind. 



Research in the field of molding sands has been very 

 fruitful in foimdry practice, and the resultant savings 

 to the foundry industries have been very large, to say 

 nothing of the assurance of more uniform and better 

 quality of castings. 



Research in the refractories industries has been very 

 helpful to the metallurgical industries, and in many 

 cases has been carried out because the iron and steel 

 and other metallurgical industries asked for better 

 refractories. 



The iron and steel industry is "research minded." 

 The men in charge of production are never satisfied. 

 They constantly seek for more and improved products. 

 Every time a blast furnace or open hearth is rebuilt 

 something new is tried, sometimes along radical lines. 

 This attitude of mind is an enormous national resource. 



New Viewpoints 



Possession of the research point of view is a precious 

 possession. It steers one's mode of thinking into new 

 channels, leading to new seas and new lands of research 

 advances whose existence was hitherto unsuspected. 

 Thum * comments that some recent outstanding met- 



< Thum, E. E. Editorial— Where do we go from here? Metal Progress, St, 643-49 

 (November 1937). 



