pa1778data.pdf
pa1778data.pdf
pa1778data.pdf
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U.S. STEEL DUQUESNE WORKS<br />
HAER No. PA-115<br />
(Page 22 5)<br />
operator also controlled the removable stop, the steam driven<br />
pusher, and the car pusher which spaced and shifted the rail cars<br />
in front of the loading chute opposite the loading table.<br />
The 14" continuous billet mill consisted of 10 roll stands<br />
connected by a single drive shaft to a 44" x 78" x 60" Corliss<br />
vertical compound condensing steam engine with a rated 3 500 hp.<br />
Between the entry table of the mill and the first stand of rolls,<br />
there existed a set of hydraulic shears through which all blooms<br />
for the 14" continuous mill passed. They were used to cut crops<br />
from the front end of the bloom so that it would enter stand No.<br />
1 easily. Each of the blooms to be rolled entered the first<br />
stand and travelled in a straight line through the last stand of<br />
the mill where it was reduced to a billet ranging in size from 3"<br />
to 1 1/2" square. Only one pass was made through each stand of<br />
rolls. Because the speed of travel of the bloom and hence the<br />
speed of the rolls increased at each succeeding stand, the roll<br />
housings were spaced at increasingly closer intervals so as to<br />
prevent the material from buckling as it was being rolled.<br />
After the billet had passed through roll stand No. 10 it was<br />
delivered to the steam driven flying shears where it was cut into<br />
specified lengths. From the flying shears the billets passed to<br />
the skew-roll assembly table where all of the billets from one<br />
ingot lined themselves up side by side. A pusher subsequently<br />
delivered the entire group of billets onto one of four hot beds<br />
which were located at right angles to the skew-roll gathering<br />
table. Stream driven pushers slowly moved the billets across the<br />
slightly sloping 31' wide x 53'-6" long hot bed until the cooled<br />
billets were conveyed over its end into rail cars that were<br />
located in the shipping yard just below the hot bed level. From<br />
the shipping yard, the billets were delivered to an inspection<br />
station where they were examined for surface defects. Those<br />
found defective were shipped to a conditioning area where the<br />
defect was removed by means of hand chipping, grinding, or<br />
scarfing. 3<br />
The equipment described above was installed at the Duquesne<br />
Works in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and<br />
served the primary rolling needs of the mill until 1959. In that<br />
year the new primary rolling mill, explained above in the<br />
description section, was constructed and the old facilities were<br />
dismantled. 4<br />
ENDNOTES:<br />
l.J. M. Camp & C. B. Francis, The Making, Shaping, and<br />
Treating of Steel, Fourth Edition, (Pittsburgh: 1925): 435.