Evening star., 1928-06-14
COSTS BEING CUT
|NSTEEL INDUSTRY
New Processes Also Aiding
BuiIders-0utput for 1923
Ahead of 1927, So Far.
BY J. G. ROYLE.


Special Dispatch to Tho Star.
NEW YORK, June 14.--Steel ingot
production for the first half Of this
year will top all previous records for
a corresponding period. June, now has
progressed sufficiently TO enable iron
and steel trade statisticianS to be as
Sured on that point. i
The volume, so far. has been 10 b
per cent ahead OF the corresponding
period of 1927, and we'll above the pre-
yious record established in 1926. The
industry Is experiencing the usual sea-
sonal decline, but this is less and later
than in previous years, and there Is a
possibility that production viii take
another squirt in the Fail.
Prices have not been high, but eLi-
cheney has cut costs. Even at that,
profit margins have not been vide,
but they have been sufficient to satisfy
many in the industry. After all, the
thing that counts for as much as any
thing in the steel industry Is volume OF
production, and for the haif-year this
is expected to be 4 per cent over that
Of 1927.
Building Holding Up.
Fabricators of structural steel are
assured Of active operating schedules
throughout the Summer. owing to the
volume of building contracts which
have already been let and the projects
which are known to be in prospect
Building contract awards have been
per cent heavier than a year ago and III
heavy construction such as 6ubWays,
bridges. tunnels, power plants and In
dustrial structures the gain has been
even greater.
There is no doubt that the position
taken by the American Institute OF
Steel Construction in promoting eco
nomical Use OF material which would
lead to lowered building costs has been
responsible for much Of this gain. The
structural steel mills have benefited
through increased demand. which
caused intensive production. Officers OF
the institute are working with Govern
ment officials, especially the acting su-
pervising architect Of the Government,
to stabilize practice and lower costs on
$250,000000 Of proposed governmental
structures.
Want Standard Specifications.
The institute is trying to get all cities
to adopt It's standard specifications.
Most of the large centers have already
done so, but New York, Chicago and
Philadelphia still are officially 0perat-
ing under a code years behind the
times. The old building code provided
that steel should not be required To
withstand o stress Of more than 10000
pounds TO the square inch. This was
perhaps advisable under the old BeS-
semer steel production methods, but
the new open hearth processes have
changed steel resisting powers, and
Ia. 900 pounds now Is the limit usually
adopted. This cuts down the amount
Of steel needed in each building ma
terial, but In New York the old code
still Is adhered 10.
It is a strange anomaly that the sub
way steel supports may be subjected TO
ia, GOO pounds, while the building erect
ed on the top of those supports can
only employ stresses up to 10000
pounds Thus the superstructure Is
stronger than the foundation which
must support 1t, II Is estimated an an
nual saving Of $4,000 600 viii be ef-
fected by a change to the new speci-
fications Engineers Of the institute
consider a stress of 10000 pounds TO
the square inch absolutely safe with
the new open hearth steels.
Wrought Iron Processes
Recent reports Of the success Of the
newer wrought iron production proc
eSSeS may have dlSIlnct enect on lue
iron and steel trade. The character
istics of wrought iron are produced
largely through mixture OF a small
amount of stag with The metal. ef-
fected by pudding" while the mass is
semi-molten This has always beep
hand process and quarter-ton lots are
the usual unit Of manipulation. AS
result, steel threatened to replace the
older metal but the properties of
wrought iron were SO desirable that
new process was evolved. With the new
processes no attempt is made TO dupli-
cate the efforts Of the human puddler
to mix iron and Stag. The iron Is re-
fined in a Bessenler converter and then
poured into the Stag
The experiments Of one large wrought
iron pipe manufacturer seem to have
been highly successful and other pro-
ducers are also experimenting.
Another factor which has added 10
the profit margins Of the steel COM
panies is the trend toward by-product
coke ovens. The old beehive coke ovens
are being abandoned and the steel COM
panies which necessarily must have coke
are replacing them with by-product
plants which yield revenue outside
the product used as fuel in the mills,
The leading interest and many indie
pendents are spending millions this year
in eliminating the old style coke ovens.