Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-07
NEW ALLOY CARVES
STEEL LIKE CHEESE
'Krupp Composition for Tool
Edges Cuts Metals at
High Speeds.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, January TESTS at
Bridgeport, Conn, Of new metal pro-
duced by Krupps indicated yesterday
that a revolution In manufacturing
processes Is at hand which will make
it possible to speed up greatly the ma
chine used in making hundreds Of diff
ferent automobile parts and in prac-
tically all processes involving the cut
ting, grinding or drilling of metals in
quantity production.
In trials at the Billiard Machine Tool
Co. plant the Krupp metal, used in a
high-speed machine, cut through steel
Mt the rate of $50 feet a second, or
nearly twice the speed which the finest
cutting steels now in use achieve. At
high speeds the Krupp tool broke, but
it was apparently not the fault of the
metal, but due to the melting Of the
brass which held the cutting edge in
place. The new metal cut through cast
iron at 500 feet a second, or more than
four times the speed which could be
achieved with the finest high-speed
steels.
Next to Diamond in Hardness.
The metal Is the hardest thing known
next to diamond. Krupp has chtstened
it vida, a contraction of "wie claimant"
or like diamond" 1t cuts glass or
porcelain as steel knife whites WOOD.
It takes a keener edge than any steel
and holds it longer.
The great drawback of vida is the
price. Krupp is selling it at $500 a
pound, or more than double the value
of gold, although the materials Of which
vida is composed are comparatively
cheap. It Is an alloy of tungsten, car
bon and cobalt. The process of manu-
facture is expensive, but the chief rea-
son for the staggering price is the
fact that the Krupp Steel Works now
holds monopoly on its production and
Is charging what the traffic will bear.
Krupp has licensed the General Elec-
trio Co., the Ludlum Steel Co. and the
Firth Sterling Steel Co. to manufacture
the tungsten earbon-cobalt metal for
heavy royalties. The General Electric
Co. has begun to place its product
on the market under the name of
carboloy, but the other companies have
of the product.
Experiments Started 80 Years Ago.
BEGINNING nearly 80 years ago, the
introduction of Taylor-White steel, a
steel mixed with tungsten, which could
be used in manufacturing processes at
vastly higher speeds than ordinary
steelS, caused nearly every machine shop
in the country to adopt new machinery
capable Of taking advantage OF the
higher speeds.
According to E. P. Billiard of the
Billiard Co., the introduction Of the
Vida metal is the most important de-
velopment since Taylor White steel.
''I remember the Paris Exposition IN
1900, where the Taylor White steel was
introduced" said Mr.. Bulliard. 81 tried
to get sample, and others tried, but 1t
was guarded with the greatest care.
Finally it came on the market and 1T
made q revolution, not all at once, but
from year to year, in every machine
shop In the country.
1--WE are making these tests now to
see whether we will have to remodeI
some of our high-Speed machinery. Be-
cause better and better Steels have been
coming out, we have been building ma
chimes which are capable OF much
higher speed than our present Steels
viii stand This gives us margin, so
that we can take advantage Of improve
mentS in the cutting metals. Whether
we have enough margin to enable US
to use this new Krupp metal to the
ton Of its capacity we don't know yet.
In the tests so far our machines have
been able to achieve speeds which would
break the tools equipped with the Vida
metal, but apparently the melting OF
the brass under the high temperatures
has been the cause of the breakdown
rather than any failure in the Vida
metal. We have not yet found out how
much the metal itself will stand"
Americans Chagrined.
The success Of the Germans in this
field has caused some chagrin to Amer
lean scientists. One noted American
metallurgist said that the Germans
had caught the rest of the world asleep.
The fact of the hardness OF tungsten
carbide has been known for more than
metallurgical laboratories have been ex-
perimenting with tungsten carbide, try
ing 1t out with various alloys.
The Krupp works is now turning OUT
approximately one ton, or 100000
worth a month, and Is rapidly increas-
iny its capacity. A single ton goes a
long way, because small piece weigh
ing an ounce or so is sufficient for the
cutting edge Of the average cutting
tool.
Roger D. Prosser of Thomas Prosser
81 Son, Is Gold street, the American
representative Of Krupp, said yesterday
that one Of the big accessory makers
at Detroit had reported that, with the
Use of Vida cutting edges the COM
pany was able to make in 20 seconds a