The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-08-17
nEsT ELECTRICITY CONDUCTOR
How Copper Is Made Into Wire-ROd
Drawn Through Succession of Dies.

How Copper Is Made Into Wire-ROd
Drawn Through Succession of Dies.
Copper lis a reddish ductile, metallic
element which has been known to and
used by the human race from the most
remote periods. Its 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 prehistoric 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 500 600 tons. 1t is
found in Michigan in great quantities as
a 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 it a wide field of
usefulness.
The one big field. however, where pure
copper is used is the electrical industry,
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
oHdary lighting circuits and even the
small motor on your sewing machine,
copper Is 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
F, through the network of distribution lines
F! 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
| the electrical development of today
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
/ CT copper wire in Il fifth of a second.
How is copper wire made?
Refined copper, in its commercial form,
IS cast into bars, which are usually about
/ four inches square, 90 inches long. and
weigh 30 pounds.
The wire bars are first placed on a
| table in the rear of bar-heating furnace
I and a pusher, operated by compressed
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 a given bar to travel
through the furnace. In this way the
i heating takes place gradually and can be
controlled so as to have each bar at the
] proper rolling temperature when ii
reaches the discharge door. The bars are
taken out by n pair of tOngS suspended
by a 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 Ga inches long, one
above the other, motor driven. The ban
passes back and forth through these
rolls seven times, each pass reducing the
crOss-section of the bar and increasint
its length
After leaving the roughing mill. tht
rod passes to the intermediate and fin
fishing mills consisting of five and ST,
pairs of rolls respectively, each alternat,
pair rotating in opposite directions TIL
rod is run through all the different pair,
of rolls.
The WITHDRAWING process consists o
drawing the rod through a succession o
dies until it's diameter has been reduced
to the diameter of the wire required
These machines have series of DRAWN,
: rolls. each of which draws the wir
: through the next smaller die and on t.
the next drawing roll. this being re
peated until 1t passes through the finish
ing die. 1t is then either drawn into
coil ON revolving block, or drawn an
wound on a reel which is so driven a
. TO take the wire as it is drawn throug
: the last die.-Rutland Herald