pa1778data.pdf

U.S. STEEL DUQUESNE WORKS
HAER No. PA-115
(Page 22 5)
operator also controlled the removable stop, the steam driven
pusher, and the car pusher which spaced and shifted the rail cars
in front of the loading chute opposite the loading table.
The 14" continuous billet mill consisted of 10 roll stands
connected by a single drive shaft to a 44" x 78" x 60" Corliss
vertical compound condensing steam engine with a rated 3 500 hp.
Between the entry table of the mill and the first stand of rolls,
there existed a set of hydraulic shears through which all blooms
for the 14" continuous mill passed. They were used to cut crops
from the front end of the bloom so that it would enter stand No.
1 easily. Each of the blooms to be rolled entered the first
stand and travelled in a straight line through the last stand of
the mill where it was reduced to a billet ranging in size from 3"
to 1 1/2" square. Only one pass was made through each stand of
rolls. Because the speed of travel of the bloom and hence the
speed of the rolls increased at each succeeding stand, the roll
housings were spaced at increasingly closer intervals so as to
prevent the material from buckling as it was being rolled.
After the billet had passed through roll stand No. 10 it was
delivered to the steam driven flying shears where it was cut into
specified lengths. From the flying shears the billets passed to
the skew-roll assembly table where all of the billets from one
ingot lined themselves up side by side. A pusher subsequently
delivered the entire group of billets onto one of four hot beds
which were located at right angles to the skew-roll gathering
table. Stream driven pushers slowly moved the billets across the
slightly sloping 31' wide x 53'-6" long hot bed until the cooled
billets were conveyed over its end into rail cars that were
located in the shipping yard just below the hot bed level. From
the shipping yard, the billets were delivered to an inspection
station where they were examined for surface defects. Those
found defective were shipped to a conditioning area where the
defect was removed by means of hand chipping, grinding, or
scarfing. 3
The equipment described above was installed at the Duquesne
Works in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and
served the primary rolling needs of the mill until 1959. In that
year the new primary rolling mill, explained above in the
description section, was constructed and the old facilities were
dismantled. 4
ENDNOTES:
l.J. M. Camp & C. B. Francis, The Making, Shaping, and
Treating of Steel, Fourth Edition, (Pittsburgh: 1925): 435.