Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1896-12-15
BATTLEsuIP STEEL.
Nearly tho WhOic Amount siackc'
upat Ne "! ort News Condemned

Anew AOhlNi lJtCs ia CptClh' ~
the Herald from Newport News, Va,
sayt:
Net results OF the experiments OF the
board which IL investigating battleshl p
steel may be summed brit fly as equiv.
alent TO the condemnation OF nearly
the wbole am unit now stacked up In
the Newport News shipbuilding com
pauy's yards. Six out OF twelve test
pieces which should have been folded
back on the vessels without breaking
either broke short oil US readily az
csst iron, or tore apart with less brittle.
ness but none The less certain evidence
Of failing to meet ths 70 ntrsct require.
ments.
Such wholesale failure has caused
the board to go extensively Into testing
other plates and eighty.four test pieces
have been marked out Of plate ranging
between those weighing ten pounds
and those Weighing twenty-five
POUNDS to tho square foot. All OF touay
VIII be spent In cutting out tnose test
pieces anu on "Wednesday the bench
inc tests Will continue.
On Thursday anu Friday pulling
teets will be made at Norfolk navy
yard and the board will probably com.
plete It's labors on Saturday.
So startling have been the discov-
cries that they 20 beyond the Kesr.
sarge and the Kentucky steel. 1t is said
that although the contract require
ments for the Illinois, the battieship
just awarded to the Newport News
company, were not in some respects
quite ss rigid AZ those in the contracts
lor the Kearsarge and the Kentucky,
there is no certainty that the steel seen
there for the Iilinois will come up to
the specifications.
This Present board being on the spot
nigh nlso be ordered to investigate
the Illinois tteel, also in which case
no further work would be done on that
vessel until there WAS a certainty that
she would be constructed of satisfactory
material.
One OF the requirements OF the con-
tracts for structural steel Tor battieships
IL that the metal shall be submitted to
what is known AS the queDching test.
Each specimen, after beng heated to u
| cherry rel, is plunged into water hav-
ing the temperature OF 81 Fahrenheit.
Then the strip must be Gu uable of bend.
ing $50 degrees, that is doubling back
on itself until the space between the
| two parts Is no greater than the thick.
ness OF the plate.
Chief Engineer Smith and naval
| constructor conducted the test. Twelve
| strips OF 0teel were heated. The plates
| from which they were taken were
| chosen In the sam- way as those that
were broken on Thursday, part being
| from the bottom and part from the
bracket plates. Tho strip, weie nun.
bered from seven to eighteen inclusive
for Identification, A tier they bad been
plunged 10 the water and thoroughly
cooled they were taken to powerful
hydraulic bending machines.
| Tho bending machine CO insisted OF 0
heavy steel mass V shaped along itt
| lower edge, suspended over a similarly
| shaped trough IN the base OF the ma.
| chine. Large hydraulic cylinders,
| one st each end having u COMPRISING
| power OF nearly oUe hundred tons
each moved the bending beam up oil
| down rs desired. The twelve sirius oil
metal that had been passed through the
| quenching process were laid across the
V shaped trough, and the men ut tn,
| hydraulic levers received tho word tC
bring the bending beam down.
Hardly had the ponuerous mas.
| touched the specimen pieces ere til,
two numbered Is aud l6 snapped with
a sharp ringing report without having
| bent NJ all. AS toe BRAN sank lower
| two other clear clicks were heard. The
| beam when lifted showed two strip
separated, the fragments having sprung
up AMI away from the groove, two
| pieces numbered 10 and Ia broken
through. go that the paris barely hung
| together, and eight pieces bent al
right angles, without breaking. TIL,
iauius OF the curve ut the bend wa,
ABOUT one inca, showing very easy
stress on the metal. Specimens mum
oereJ 10 and 10 were sneareu from tn,
| brSckst plates aud number one from q
bottom plate.
The half way bent strips were then
taken to another machine In wnicu a
massive poat WAS moved horizontally
upon a solid foundation until IL meet,
another similar post. One Of tue strip,
was placed between two resisties.
| squrezers knd the hydraulic pressure
| WAS put upon the movable poet. A.
1t moved up 10 lis opposite, the steeI
strip was smut up like closing the blade
| OF "A knife. A rod just as thick "a the
strip itself was insertei at tho Jaw OF
| the penu, and another between the
| Two enus as they approached each
| other.
When the two parts touched the
| rods, the pressure was taken of anu
| the tests were completed. When al!
had been tested II WAS found that num-
Der nine, taken from the came plate as
number ten, already broken was
! cracked very badly near the whole
| length OF the bend. The remaining
uix pieces showed NO fracture. But OF
the dozen specime ms therefore four mad
| shown u brittleness 30 extraordinary as
| TO raise doubts whether their chemical
| qualities could be Otherwise than dan.
| Aerously bad.
Two other specimens were cracked
before the bending was complete show
ing prittleness probably from over.
| carbonizati0n or the presence OF phos.
| phorous. ln other words, half the
specimens failed to come up to the
| government requirements.
| The board heid "a private consulta.
| ton al the emu OF which the following
| conclusion was reached:
"Specimens arc TO be taken from
| upwards OF seventy plates on Wednes.
Jay next. The board viii reconvsne
| at the Newport News ship yard 10
| prosecute further tesls anu on phurs.
| day anu Friday the specimens viii be
| pulled at the Norfolk Navy ysrd. On
| Saturday the board Will meet again al
| Newport News and IL Will then decide
what iurtuer inquiry and experiments
! sfs necessAry.