The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-06

One of the most interesting manufac- turing operations was the processes necessary to o'make a single part, the cam shaft used in the new Series Is Studebaker cars. This part is a diff fi6ult one to( manufacture, yet many of the operations in its making are the same as those required to manu- fracture the axle shaft, transmission shaft, propeller and many of the other 2,000 parts that go to make the fin ished Studebaker.
 The steel for the cam shaft comes to the factory in bars. This bar is cut off by gigantic shears into billets about foot long. The billet is heat ed to a malleable state just as the blacksmith of old heated the piece of steel to make a horsehoe, but the cam shaft, instead of being hammered into shape on an anvil, is placed on the die of a great steam hammer The die is the shape of the cam shaft the hammer which strikes the steel is guided to strike exactly the same spot on the die each time. The face of the hammer is also cut in the shape of the cam shaft. This great hammer is operated by steam, striking it a smashing blow. In a few strokes the billet of steel is elongated and shaped roughly into its final form. At the same time the blows of the drop forge hammer press the grain of the steel together and refine it. After this operation the shaft is allowed to cool in the air. It is then heated again slowly to 1700 degrees Fahrenheit in furnace, where the heat is electric ally measured. This heat treatment readjusts the grain of the steel after the strains of the drop-forge hammer. It then goes through several lathes which still further shape it to its final form. For this process it is first cut to length and centered so that it can be turned accurately, and the grind ing machines must be especially made to machine the cam surface into parabolic shape-that is, curved some thing like an egg. After these rough ing processes the shaft is again trued, inspected and, if it passes muster, packed in a heat treating furnace, where it is kept for eleven hours un- der a temperature of 1700 degrees Fahrenheit. Under this heat a chem fcal substance slowly permeates the surface grain of the steel and, whea the steel is fixed by the next heat treatment, makes it's surface "dia- mond hard' after that treatment. So skillfully has the steel expert devel- oped this process that extreme hard ness has been secured without the shaft being made brittle. But, bear in mind, the hardness extends only just below the surface of the steel. The core of the shaft is still as tougn as the horseshoe nail.
 As last finishing process it is cleaned, strengthened, inspected and then passed on to the final grinders Here it is ground to shape under em- cry wheels. Automatically. the emery wheels are guided over the curved surface of the cams so as to insure accuracy to the one-thousandth of an inch. On the siX-cylinder Studebaker cars there are twelve cam surfaces six for the intake valves and six for the exhaust valves. In addition, there are four bearing surfaces. This makes sixteen surfaces to be ground, all to perfect dimensions and all in perfect line within one-thausandth of an inch Tn the Series IS Studebaker -Four" there are four surfaces less.