Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-06-01
MAKING 4 | CHAIN,
The Big Ones and the Heavy Ca.
b|es Are Of Wrought Iron.
SOFT STEEL FOR SMALL ONES.

SOFT STEEL FOR SMALL ONES.
The Larger slzss Are Al Hand Forged,
and In This Work the Metal Must
b Of PrseissIy the Right Heat and
the Blows Quick and Sure.
The great bulk Of chains. including
all cable and pooring chains, are sold
by the pound. The price ranges from
8h to IL cents4a pound. according to
the size, material and quality.
All cables aAd other very heavy
chains are made Of wrought iron. and
there are made, wrought iron chains Of
all sizes down to and including chains
Of material a quarter Of an inch In
diameter, but nowadays most Of the
chain used In comparatively smaller
sizes IL made Of soft ,steel, such chain
being made In sizes ranging by six.
teenths from three-dxteenths Of an
inch to an inch and a'quarter.
When the size Of a chain is referred
to by those familiar with chains. It
always means not the link. but the
material used In It Thus a one inch
chain would be made.o Of one inch steel
or iron. The completed link would be
about 1--WE or six times as long and
about three and a half times as wide
across as the thickness Of the material
Of which It was made
In other days all chains was hand
made, but the modern chain is Of soft
steel and machine made. There IL
taken q long bar Of steel. which is bent
cold around a mandril that Is oval in
shape. The bar is thus bent into what
looks like a spirsl spring with Its coils
not round. but oblong. This spiral Is
cut up cold in q cutting machine. which
cuts it into as many parts as there are
coils. each of these being the material
for a link, and at the same time the
machine spreads each Of these sections
apart a little at the opening and cuts
on each Of the two free ends a long
scarf or bevel and bends the ends over
within the opening. &c.. ....
This bent piece of steel is now in
shape, roughly speaking, like a letter
u with rather long arms and with it's
two ends bent over inward. 1t needs
only to have those scarved ends weld
ed together to make 1t a link Of chain.
The chainmaker sits at q foot oper-
ated power hammer, with a forge be-
side him. in which he heats the open
links. a. = E,r
He takes from the fire a link suitably
heated and hooks It into the chain as
far az completed and then pinches the
open ends Of the new link together un.
der the hammer, and with three or
four quick blows he YIELDS the link, to-
gether. When he takes a hot link
from the lre he1putssa cold one in. and
80 he continues to work. 1t is alto
gether a quick and more economical
process Of manufacture tn hand
forging, but it has not yet been adapt
ed to chains of the larger sizes.
There are wrought iron chains Of
some sizes that are machine made. but
all wrought chains of material above
an inch and a quarter in diameter are
hand forged. 49,, 'f
OF whatever size the big chain IL to
be the workmen cut up the iron bars
into straight lengths, each suitable to
BIO made into a link. This length Of
iron is heated. one end at a time. and
one after the other the ends are ham.
mered down by hand on an anvil to
shape the scarves or bevels. Then
this straight piece of heavy wrought
iron with scarved ends IS swaged into
link form, and If it is to be a stud or
bar chain there is placed within the
link before it is welded together the
stud or bar: This Is a stout little bar
Of cast iron. with its ends rounded, In.
conceived to fit the rounding surface
of the link iron. the stud being placed
across the link inside Of it and mid.
way Of its length.
Once in place and the link pinched
together on its ends the stud could not
be got out except by breaking 1t out
with a sledge. Its purpose is to pre-
rent the links from drawing together
at their sides and wedging under
heavy strains. In a stud chain there
is a stud in every link.
With this stud in place and the link
beat to shape with the scarves over.
tapping. the link Is again put in the
fire to be finally heated for the weld.
ing. which is done by hand. 1t takes
a blacksmith to handle It and on big
chains two or three helpers striking
with sledges to do the welding. The
iron must be of precisely the right
heat, and the blows must be quick
and sure to complete the work perfect
" before the iron cools.
Stud chain IL sometimes made Of
Iron as small az, ave-eighths Of an
inch in diameter. From that the iron
used runs through various diameters
up to three inches and more. A three
inch chain makes 4 tremendous cable.
suitable for a FIVE ton anchor.-Har.
per's Weekly.
a. Unlawful.
What the man spent for flowers and
randv hofore his wedding wal duitA