The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-04

might wear a starched shirt ana thih-soleu
Datent-leather shoes in rod-mlil OF TO-
day. AS for injuries, they VII pe ray iI.9
indeed. because care is taken to protect
the workmen. and there are few OF them
i'm nr,oportion to those attending the OLD
mills.
In the modern rod-mill referred to SIX
upright boilers, with capacity OF z"OV
horsepower furnish the steam. Ihese
are operated with mechanical stokers
Tb4 c6aI-bins are overhead, and the coal
is uuIoaded from the cars al a railroad
siding at the door, and the only men VINO
handle the coal from the time IL Is I'M
loaded until it becomes ashes under the
boilers are one or two who scrape II out
of the corners of the freight car. FROM
the same railroad siding forty-ton crane
swings over the cars and unloads steer
billets with one lift. the material pelng
carried TO The heating furnace where 1t
is needed. The heating furnaces can De
charged with billets thirty feet long and
from two to four inches square. The
size formerly used was about six feet long
and four 10 six inches thick. The fur
naces. are heated by producer gas. Slack
coal is run in from a hopper and is dis
integrated by heat, all the smoke, Volas
tile matter, and gas going mo the neat
ing furnace TO be consumed This Is
solution of the smoke question. Inc heat
thrown off from the furnace is collected
gas-producer by a blower to make gas
and the heat units are utilized over and
over again, nothing going to waste.
The furnaces are charged mechanically
No human hand touches the steel billet.
II is grasped in a clutch with rush, one
succeeding each other in rapid succession
Inside the furnace revolving tray keeps
showing the hot billets into position for
the sripper at the other end to seize the
billet when heated enough to be rolled
Formerly a large door was opened by a
lever with a steel weight attachd, to
which would be added a human weight
The bilets were poked in with tongs and
bars, turned over by hand and rooted
around TO keep one end from burning
while the other was but cherry red The
opening Of this huge door let much of the
heat out and it kept the mill idle long
time waiting until the billets were hot
enough 10 make run. There is no wait
ing nok From morning until night a con-
stdilt string of cold steel goes in at one
end ana comes out at the other, a small
door closing automatically behind each
bar as it leaves the furnace.
The billet is fed into the rolls by the same
power that drags it from the furnace
After passing through the first set of rolls
the first human aid is used to pass il far
Their: a man called "passer," with a pair
of tongs carrying the rod to the next set
of rolls. A circular block of iron which
looks like an upright capstain aboard ship,
protects his legs, or the hot piece might
saw them off i'm an instant, as the bar
travels at the rate of $50 feet a minute
increasing in speed as It passes through
each succeeding set of rolls. This must
be done to take up the slack, else, as the
metal is thinned down by rolling from 2
inches TO % of an inch, a long string of
metal would accumulate at one roll wait
ing to be taken up by the next. The steel
would cool and tear before being finished.
1t takes three 'passers" with the boss
roller who is responsible for the setting
of the rolls Ga task requiring years Of ex-
perience), an assistant roller, and two
heaters, to operate the new mill against
forty-six to fifty men in the old mill one
turn.
AS the rod, which was billet, energies
from the last roll. finished gripper car
ries it rapidly to a platform, where it IS
Strengthened and then carried on a travel
ling conveyor $50 feet to the other end Of
table finish the mechanical equipment.
sherman cuts the rod to lengths, passes
1t back on q conveyor travelling to the
storage bins, where the rods are piled au-
tomaticaly. There il remains until ten
ton travelling overhead crane takes up a
load big enough TO fill one-third of a
freight-car for shipment
The building in which all this is done Is
$50 feet, long and $50 feet wide, but only 400
feet 0 T. his is used for all the machinery
the remainder making a storage-room the
largest in the world