Norwich bulletin., 1915-10-29
LECTURE AND PICTURES
 ON MAKING OF PIPE
Given at Colonial Thsater Under the Auspices of Norwich Stationary En- sIneers.

nfal Iheater in addition to the reRu- | lar programme. on Thursday, evening. | ciation of Stationary EnEineers. No. 6. | a branch or the National Association | of Engineers. Before the pictures were | thrown on the screen H IT. Miller of | Boston gave a brief historical sketch | or the pipe industry in this and in appeared
 The lecture was we'll attended by | members of the association and others | tTacttcally every process in the nhak- ] ing of pipe, from the time the orc was l removed from the mine until It was | turned out in finished product, was | shown. The picture was in three reels |
 The first hlm began with a view showing the method of prospecting for | ore by drilling. Assuming that exam nation proves the ore to be desir- | able, steam shovels are brought and | the barren upper strata is stripped. | uncoverins the ore deposits. This method of mining. by which the larger portion of iron ore Is mined in Min nesota. is called the -open-cut- Iron ore averaging about SO per cent Met allie Iron orc somewhat resembled dark red soil or iron rust. and can be read fly shoveled up into freight cGrs sor shipment to destination. or to some convenient lake port for reshipment by water. The loading and unloading of specially designed ore boats was shown Some of these vessels hold in 30 minutes and unloaded in four hours. Upon reaching tho blast fur mace, the ore is transferred 10 the stockpile. then to the skip tor car1 by which 1t is charged into the blast furnace. Alternate loads of coke. iron ore and limestone constitute the fur mace charge. This charge. now con- verted into molten iron (which would be known as pig iron. if cast) Is tapped into ladle cars and taken to the 500-ton mixer. or reservoir. This crude iron contains about 94 per cent iron and per cent impurities. It Is now ready to be refined, either by the open hearth or Bessemer process. The closing pictures of this film showed the iron being refined in open hearth furnaces. Limestone. steel scrap and ore are charged on the heated hearth and the gas turnedNon for q few hours; when the charge is melted. about the same amount of molten crude iron is poured in and a violent reaction com l mences, which results in the eiimina- tion of most of the impurities in the | iron.
 The second film showed the crude iron being refined by Bessemer pro- cess, in which the molten iron is pour ed into a large pear-shaped vessels holding about ten tons. where the i'm | purittes are eliminated by oxidation. air zeing blown through the molten ! mass. The refined iron (so-called soft stee) made by either of these process es is much more nearly pure iron than that made bv the old, hand-puddline process and is also considerably stronger and more uniform. Follow ing this was seen the highly refined | iron-or soft steel, as it is termed being cast into ingots. relocated. and | rolled into blooms. slabs or bfiiets on various types of mills adopted to this purpose In this form the material Is ready for the rolling mill. where 1t is converted into sselp, or sheets, from which the pipe is made
 | The new roll-Knohbling process of | working the metal (which is termed l Spellerizing) was shown in detail The l metal is thereby given much additional mechanical kneadlng while hot, thus
 rendering :he structure more dense and resistant to corrosion and pitting. There are two processes of making | pipe. l. e.. butt-weld and ialp-weid. The
 latter part of Film II showed the mak- ing of butt-weld pipe. First charging
 the flat strips of metal into the weld ing furnace. then drawing out of the
 other end of the furnace through the | welding bell.
 frustrated the method of making lap
 weld pipe Tn large sizes The bend | ing of the sheets. charging into weld | ing furnace, welding rolls, sizing rolls and finishing rolls were shown in or der. Testing and inspection of pipe cess applies to smaller lap-weld pipe and tubes. Details peculiar 10 the making and testing of small tubes were shown afterwards.
 A description of the butt-weld pro- | cess follows:
 Skelp used in making butt weld pipe comes from the rolling department of the steel mills with a specified | length, width and gage, according to | the size pipe for which it is ordered.
 The edges are slightly beveled with the face of the skelp. so that the surface | of the plate which is to become The | inside of the pipe is not quite as wide as that which forms the outside: thus | when the edges are brought together
 they meet squarely. The end of each
 plate is turned up in a press and | sheared to facilitate handling with the
 welding tongs.
 | The skelp for all butt-weld pipe is heated uniformly to the welding tenn perature- The strips of steel when
 properly heated are seized by their | ends with tongs and drawn from the
 furnaces through bell-shaped Iies. or
 bells as they are called The inside | of the bell is so curved that the plate l is gradually formed in tho shape of l a tube, the edges being forced squarely together and welded. For some sizes | consecutively at one heat, one bell be- ing just behind the other. the second
 one being of 2 slightly smaller dia-
 meter than the first.
 | The pipe is then run through sizing and cross rolls similar to those used
 in the lap-weld process, to secure The
 correct outside diameter and finish
 After leaving the cross rolls the pipe
 passes to an inclined cooling table up
 which it rolls, thus preventing un-
 equal cooling. When cold, the ends of
 the pipe are cut off and the pipe is
 then threaded. if desired, after which 1t is tested.
 | The lap-weld process consists Of two
 operations. bending and welding. The
 plate, rolled to the necessary width and gage for the size of pipe intended. is
 brought to a red neat in a suitable
 furnace and then passed through a set
 of rolls which bevel the edges. so that
 when overlapped and welded the seam
 will be neat and smooth. It now pass
 es immediately to the bending ma- | chine. where 1t takes roughly the cvl-
 indrical shape Of a pipe with the two
 edges overlapping, In this form 1t is
 again heated in another furnace. and
 when brought to the welding tempera- ' lure fho hhr7f eLra1p Fo r,ttuhad ,,,t ~i