Sendzimir Mill Video Documentation
name: label: Interviewer
content: Liebhold, Peter
label: Creator
content: Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
label: Names
content: Washington Steel Mill
label: Names
content: Sendzimir, Tadeusz, 1894-1989
topic: label: Topic
content: Steel industry and trade -- 1930-2000
label: Topic
content: Steel -- Cold working -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Steel, Stainless -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Factories -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Inventions -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Inventors -- 20th century
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Created by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and Peter Liebhold of the Division of History of Technology in December 1996.
creator: label: Interviewer
content: Liebhold, Peter
label: Creator
content: Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Sendzimir Mill Video Documentation
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Tadeusz Sendzimir, a Polish émigré, came to the United States in 1939 to work at Armco Steel in Middletown, Ohio.  Sendzimir had earlier developed radical processes for galvanizing steel (1931) and cold rolling steel (1933).   Sendzimir's rolling process departed dramatically from the multi-stand continuous process developed by John Tytus Armco (1924).  Instead of using multi-stand four high rolls Sendzimir's mill used a clustered nest of rolls, like two inverted pyramids (1-2-3-4 configuration).  A  few Sendzimir Mills were built in Europe before WW II stopped construction of experimental steel plants.  While Sendzimir was working at Armco, Signode Steel in Chicago ordered on of his "Z" Mills (Sendzimir Mills are called "Z" Mills in the United States).  Signode used the mill to successfully roll low carbon steel for strapping and more importantly for rolling ultra thin silicon steel (for radar units) during WW II. 

Stainless steel, first developed around 1915, is made by alloying carbon steel with chromium to make a metal that is highly resistant to corrosion.  Stainless steel is relatively hard and is difficult to weld, cut, or drill.  The physical properties of stainless steel are important to understanding why the "Z" mill has been so successful.  Stainless steel was traditionally rolled in sheets on a four high reversing mill (with a Z mill much larger strips forming rolls can be made).  Because stainless steel work hardens quickly it cannot be run through a multi-stand mill easily.  One advantage of the a Z mill is that the small work rolls provide a sharper bite, greater pressure, and less roll deflection than a four high mill and thus can roll stainless top gage without having to anneal (soften) the roll. 

For more on Sendzimir as an inventor see Steel Will: The Life of Tad Sendizmir, Hippocrene Books, New York, 1994 and by Vanda Sendzimir or "My Father the Inventor" in Invention and Technology, Fall 1995, p. 54-63 also by Vanda Sendzimir.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (3 boxes)
label: Extent
content: 27 Video recordings
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1996-12
custodhist: label: Ownership and Custodial History
content: Transferred from the Division of Work and Industry to the Archives Center July 8, 1997.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0605
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Videotapes
label: Type
content: Oral history
label: Type
content: Interviews
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is divided into three series.

Series 1: Original Videotapes, 1996

Series 2: Master Videotapes, 1996

Series 3: Reference Videotapes, 1996
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alison Oswald, 1997.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Videotapes -- 1990-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Oral history -- 1990-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews -- 1980-2000
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Inventor Tadeusz Sendzimir, a Polish immigrant, designed and installed the first "Z" Mill for cold rolling stainless steel in the United States. The videohistory documents the story of a new approach to the rolling process of steel technology transfer and consumer demand for a new product;video documents the mill in operation and interviews with active and retired workers.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Archival Materials
content: Mill's central control pulpit in collection of the Division of History of Technology (now Division of Work and Industry).