San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-30
One Little Change Saves
$50, 000,0 900 in Four
Years for Ford.

There are no lights within
! the building, all artificial il
Elimination being furnished
from the outside on account
OF the fire hazard. Every
machine is grounded, and as
many precautions against
fire taken as in an explosive
factory, and we have had
no accidents at all.
The treating of steel by heat is of
the highest possible Importance, for it
makes possible the use of lighter parts
by Increasing their strength. But it
is delicate process; a part NUS rot
be too soft or it will wear out. or
again, If it is too hard, it will break.
The exact state of hardness depends
upon the use to which the part is TO be
put. This is elementary. But the
treating of large quantities of parts
so that each will be of the right hard
:, ness is far from elementary.
J The old way was to guess. We
cannot afford to guess. We cannot
afford to- leave any process to human
Judgment. In our former heat treat
processes, VIC thought that we were
fairly advanced. And we wee ad.
vanced for the time, because the work
could be done by men after only a
little training and the results were
uniform, owing to the mechanical
regulation. But the heat treat depart
ments involved hot, hard labor. and we
do not like to. have jobs of that sort |
in the shops. Hard labor is Tor ma.
chimes, not for men. And also the
straight parts, such as axles, lid nor
cool evenly, and after treatment they
had to be Strengthened, which added to
the cost.
WONDERFUL ADVANCE.
We set young man about 80 years
old the task of lettering all our heat
, treat operations. He felt his way for
a year or two and then began to get
yesults. He not only cut down the
lumber Of men, but he devised cen.
trifugal hardening machine which cools
the shafts evenly all around. Thus.
they do not bend. and the straighter
ing operation is no more.
The electric furnace replacing the
gas furnace has been one Of the large
steps forward. Where four gas-fired
furnaces. with six men and fore
man, did 1000 connecting rods an hour
for the drawing operation alone, now
two electric furnaces will both harden
and draw 1900 rods an hour. with
only two mcn-one to feed and the
other to take off. #
For the heat treat. the axle shaft |
department uses large two-deck fur
mace. A walking beam, working slow
~. moves the shaft forward ;rto the |
lower chamber Of the furnace at in
,tervals OF one minute. 1t takes % |
minutes for shaft to move complete
ly through the lower chamber VI the
furnace, and during those 2S minutes
II IS IN a constant heat of 1850 degrees
Fahrenheit, the temperature being |
regulated by instrument control.
As the shafts slowly come out at
the far end of the furnace they arc
seized by an employe with tongs and
placed one by one in r spinning ma.
chine. They are quenched in causiic
solution at the rate of four pcr min.
ute; the spinning motion given them
by the machine makes the decrease in
temperature practically instantaneous
over the shafts entire surface. This
operation goes to insure uniform
hardness and avoids pulling them out
Of shape by uneven cooling.
3c,O0O,OOO SAVED.
The quenched shafts are carried by
a conyeyor TO the upper chamber Of
the furnace and move back toward
the entrance end through a constant
heat Of $50 degrees Fahrenheit. 1t
takes As minutes for this treatment.
Thoroughly drawn, they are sent by |
overhead conveyor TO the final machin-
ing.
These changes may not seem i'm
portant. but cutting out the item OF
Strengthening after the heat treat has
lConfinncd I'm page 1Sl L