Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1922-09-22
Fest ELECTRICITY CONDUCTOR.
How Copper Is Made Into Wire-Rod
Drawn Through succession of Dies.

Conner is a reddish ductile, metallic
element which has been known to and
used by the human race from the most
remote periods It's alloy with tin
(Bronze) was the first metallic compound
in common use by mankind, and so ex-
tensive and characteristic was its en-
ployment in historic times that the
epoch is known as the Bronze Age.
This metallic element is found in many
parts of the world. In 1920 the United
States produced over 100000 tons. 1t is
found in Michigan in great quantities as
free element. California, Arizona,
Utah and Montana produce it, but in
these states it is more in ore deposits.
Copper has been one of the great
mediums of civilization and is constantly
growing in Importance. In ancient times
pure copper was almost exclusively used.
Now it is used as an alloy with many
other metals, giving il a wide field of
usefulness.
The one big field however, where pure
for it is used in almost everything you
touch electrically. From the big genera
tors and transformers at the power
houses to the transmission lines sec
ondary lighting circuits and even the
small motor on your sewing machine,
copper is a necessary factor.
For the transmission of electric en-
ergy, copper is the best known conductor,
and it is from the great lines of copper
reaching out from the generating plants
to the substation and from the substation
through the network of distribution lines
to your home, to the factory, and to all
other places where electric energy is used
that makes it possible for us to enjoy the
benefits of the latent power represented
! by our mountain streams in the high
! Sierras. AS far as science has yet gone,
| hn n1nn nj nnt Of tA1a
would have been impossible had it not
been for copper.
You can hear over the transcontinental
telephone line between New York and
San Francisco as plainly as you tele-
phone across the street-your voice
travelling 3,400 miles through 740 tons
of copper wire in a fifth of second.
How is copper wire made?
refined copper, in its commercial form,
is cast into bars, which are usually about
four inches square, 80 inches long, and
weigh 220 pounds.
The wire bars are first placed on a
table in the rear of bar-heating furnace
and pusher, operated by compressed
1 air. moves them along into the furnace,
which holds 100 bars lying side by side
throughout its length.
The bars are taken out of the furnace
at the rate of 100 per hour Thus it
takes an hour for given bar to travel
through the furnace. In this way the
heating takes place gradually and can be
controlled so as to have each bar at the
proper rolling temperature when it
reaches the discharge door. The bars are
taken out by a pair of tongs suspended
by trolley which runs in line with the
first groove in the rough rolling mill.
This mill consists of three rolls. is
inches in diameter and CT inches long, one
above the other, motor driven. The bar
passes back and forth through these
rolls seven times, each pass reducing the
cross-section of the bar and increasing
its length.
After leaving the roughing mill. the
rod passes to the intermediate and fin
ishing mills, consisting of five and six
pairs of rolls respectively, each alternate
pair rotating in opposite directions. The
rod is run through all the different pairs
of rolls.
The wire-drawing process consists of
drawing the rod through succession of
dies until its diameter has been reduced
to the diameter of the wire required
These machines have series of drawing
rolls, each of which draws the wire
through the next smaller die and on to
the next drawing roll, this being re.
peated until it passes through the finish
ing die. 1t is then either drawn into a
coil on revolving block, or drawn and
wound on reel which is so driven as
to- take the wire as it is drawn through
the last die.-Rutland Herald