P-esented at the joint meeting of the Associa-tion of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers anzdthe American Institute of Electrical Engineers,Detroit, Mich., September 9, 1915.

Copyright 1915. By A. I. E. E.

PROGRESS IN THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY ANDTHE ELECTRIC FURNACE

BY KARL GEORG FRANK

ABSTRACT OF PAPERThe paper traces the history and development of the electric

furnace, which has become a very valuable tool in the steelindustry and gives promise of an increasing range of application.It is believed that by means of the electric furnace steel willbe produced of a quality far superior to any made at present.

HE BEGINNING of the twentieth century saw the adventof the electric furnace, its introduction into the iron and

steel industry, and its use on a larger scale. It did not receivemuch of a welcome, and critical eyes followed its course. Steadilyand relentlessly it worked its way upwards, until today it hasbecome a valuable tool in the industry, with an increasing rangeof application and usefulness. Those who look ahead even seea vastly larger field, and firmly believe that the electric furnacewill be generally employed in the production of higher qualitiesin all branches of the steel industry, and that by it steel will beproduced possessing qualities unknown today, but far superiorto anything we produce at present.The simple fact that the electric furnace has been successfully

introduced and has proved its usefulness and applicability issufficient Iroof that its appearance is not accidental, but thatit arrived with historical necessity at a time when it was foundthat the then existing meanis for the production of iron andsteel were insufficient to meet the new conditions.

I purposely use the term historical lnecessity, indicating tlherebythat we must look upon such a thing as the introduction of anew technical means, not only from an engineering or industrialpoint of view, but that w\e must consider it as a part of the totalmaterial and intellectual development of the country. Every-body knows 1bow closely related the technical and commercial

1731

1732 FRANK: THE ELECTRIC FURNACE [Sept. 9

conditions are in any industry, but it may not occur to all thata step in advance in the steel industry may be due to certainchanges in social or even political conditions, and that, viceversa, an improvement in the steel industry may react on suchconditions and possibly influence the total national structure.An industry and its technical means are not a world by

themselves, or only to a small extent, but a part of a larger bodywhose purpose they must serve. That is no news to an electricalengineer !-The engineer who lays out the plans of a powerstation or an electrical railway, or the telephone engineer wholooks into the plan for the enlargement of a telephone exchange,must very carefully investigate general conditions in that countryor in the community. He must take into account the humanelement, the ways and tendencies in private as well as in businesslife, as all these factors will influence such an undertaking.

I touch upon these points here because I want to show thatthe present conditions and requirements, as well as the develop-ment in the iron and steel industry proper, brought about theadvent of the electric furnace, and the latter is not the resultof fad or fashion, but the legitimate child of progress anddevelopment.

If we now abandon our little excursion into the world ofgeneral ideas and turn again to that part of the world that in-terests us here today, we have onily to look back into the historyof the iron and steel industry of the United States in order torealize that those general statemnents can easily be verified byglancing over the development during the last 30 or 40 years.The iron and steel indu$try of the United States was of little

importance before the Civil War, especially as compared withEngland's highly developed works, and only as late as 1868to 1870 it began to extend and develop.on a larger scale. Therail the chief requirement of the railroad was the first greatinfluencing factor during a period of about 25 years, beginningapproximately 1868 and ending about 1893. That is best shownby the fact that the mileage of the railroads from 1880 to 1890increased from 93,262 to 166,703 miles, while from 1890 to 1900only an addition of 27,630 miles is reported.Not only the extent of the production of the industry was

largely determined by the needs of the railroads, but also thequality of the products, and the gradual replacement of ironrails by steel rails was largely responsible for the quantity of steelmade in those days.

1915] FRANK: THE ELECTRIC FURNACE 1733

In 1880 out of 115,647 miles of rails only 29 per cent weresteel rails. In 1890 there were already 167,458 miles of steelrails out of a total of 208,152, that is to say, 80.4 per cent,and in 1903, 94.6 per cent out of a total of 286,262 miles weresteel rails.The table below shows very clearly the tendency to replace

iron by steel. This was due, as will be seen later, not only tothe influence of the railroads, but was a general feature of theindustry, forced upon it by the demands of the consumers.

Year Pig Iron Steel Per Cent

1890 9,202,703 tons 4,277,071 tons 46%1895 9,446,308 " 6,114,834 " 65%1900 13,789,242 10,188,329 " 74%1905 22,992,380 a 20,023,947 " 87%1910 27,303,567 a 26,094,919 a 95%1911 23,649,547 " 23,676,106 " 100%1912 29,726,937 31,251,303 " 105%1913 30,966,152 31,300,874 101%1914 23,332,244 a 23,513,030 101%

After this period, the demand for structural steel for building"sky scrapers", bridges, etc., had a decided influence on theproduction. Still later on, towards the end of the last century,steel for freight cars, agricultural machinery, wire rope andgeneral machinery, as well as the demands of the shipbuilders,were important factors.

In connection herewith, it may be of interest that the first50-ton steel freight car was introduced in 1897 by the PressedSteel Car Company, and that from 1900 to 1902 the numberof freight cars increased by 150,000.

Quite a number of events extending almost over the entireperiod reviewed here; and even up to the recent past, may onlyslightly be touched upon here, although their influence upon thedevelopment of the iron and steel industry is very pronounced.I have in mind here the discovery of new mines in the middleWest, the consequent shifting of the principal seat of productionof pig iron and rolling mill production to new centers such asPittsburgh and Chicago, and the establishment and growth ofthe manufacture of machinery, tools, implements of all kinds inthe East, especially in New England, which, with its varied de-mands, presented new problems to the steel maker.

During all these years, up to 1890, and even up to 1900, the

1734 FRANK: THE ELECTRIC FURNACE [Sept. 9

means at the disposal of the steel industry were fully sufficientto produce all the material necessary. The blast furnace, theconverter, the open hearth furnace, and especially the crucible,enabled the steel makers to meet the demand for practically allkinds of steel used. From that time on, however, a new develop-ment in the industry set in, which is characterized by the factthat it is intensive rather than extensive, in contra-distinction tothe period before. New industries sprang up which created ademand for steel of very high quality for special high-pricedmanufactures. Competition grew up, and it became evidentthat further improvement in the manufacture and productionof iron and steel was needed.

If we add to this fact that no new iron mines of any importancewere discovered in this country, that high-grade ore has to beimported from Cuba, Chile, etc., and that ore of poorer qualityhas to be used, we will easily understand that a new furnacewhich promised to overcome these difficulties was gladly ac-cepted. Not only ore, but other raw material, cold scrap, etc.,underwent a change for the worse, so that steel makers had to usepoorer material, or pay much higher prices than previously forraw material.

Additions to the mileage of the railroads were, of course, muchless than in former periods, but the heavy traffic in the greatcities, thevastly improved freight movement,created a demand forheavier and better rails. On the other hand, endeavors arebeing made to design lighter cars for passenger as well as forfreight service, without, of course, decreasing the mechanicalstrength, so that steel of better quality and better mechanicalproperties is to be used. The total weight on drivers increasedfrom about 69,000 lb. in 1885 to over 180,000 lb. in 1907, andreached that year a maximum of 316,000 lb. TheSaverage axleload increased in the same time from 22,000 lb. to 48,000 lb.,and the weight of rail per yard from 65-75 lb., to 85-100 lb.When the American Society of Civil Engineers adopted itsstandard section in 1893, 80-lb. rails were just coming into use.The electrical industry that grew up to unexpected and un-

precedented greatness, called upon the steel industry for betteror more suitable raw material; transformer and dynamo sheetsof low carbon content but high in silicon for reducing hysteresislosses were called for. The casings of railroad and mill motorsdemand a low carbon steel of good magnetic properties; throughthe increasing speed of turbo-dynamos new requirements were

19151 FRANK: THE ELECTRIC FURNACE 1735

set up for a steel of good magnetic properties and at the same timeof very high mechanical strength.The small electric motor has recently received new attention,

and its further improvement and development is probably largelydependent upon the material for its active parts. Steam tur-bines, high-velocity rotary pumps, and similar machinery addfurther to the demand for high-grade steel.

Of special importance and great influence was the automobileindustry, with its manifold requirements, from the highest gradeof alloy steel for axles, gears, camshafts, magnetos, down toordinary steel castings.The hardware industry with its varied products of fittings,

fixtures and household goods of all description, must also be men-tioned here. So we find a great number of industries, each oneoffering its particular problem and its special requirement as toproper.material, and all of them ready, even waiting, for improve-ment in the raw material., and their progress largely dependentupon same.

Steel pipes for high-pressure water systems for municipalities,tubes of all description, valves and fittings for city water supply,further nuts, bolts and rivets of high mechanical strength, and agreat many other implements, should further be mentioned here.But this is not all; the methods of manufacture have changed

and improved in order to meet the new conditions. Lathe-work-planing and milling has been largely replaced by grinding, thusenabling the use of hardened gears, shafts and valves. It iswell known, however, that even this method does not overcomethe difficulties: internal strains are set up which frequentlycharige the shape of such hardened parts after the grinding-which even a finishing grinding cannot fully remove.That reminds us and shows that the behavior of steel under

such conditions is still little understood, and that a good dealremains to be done. The problem involved herein can only besolved by careful and thorough scientific investigation, an investi-gation that is to be carried out largely by the chemist and metal-lurgist. It is evident to everybody familiar with the conditionsof the steel industry, that the electric furnace will prove to be avery valuable tool for solving all thes and many more problems.Its flexibility and adaptability will increase with increasing scien-tific knowledge.

In drawing this conclusion I do not limit it to such caseswhere the production of electric steel will prove to be more

1736 FRANK: THE ELECTRIC FURNACE [Sept. 9

economical, as for instance crucible steel, but I include also thosebranches of the industry in which economical superiority of theelectric furnace is still very doubtful.The question involved is by no means one of price only. At

any rate not of price of the steel as raw material. In quite anumber of instances the finished product, machined castings,lathe work, etc., or other parts, for which the cost of labor is tobe taken into consideration, it can be shown that the use of thehigher grade of steel as raw material cheapens the product in-stead of increasing its price. This is so in all cases where lossfrom faulty material is greatly reduced by the use of higher-grade raw material, and in each particular case it will bevery easyto find the limit and conditions under which high-grade expensiveraw material will permit the most economical production.

Aside from that, there is no need for striving to compete onthe basis of price and cheapness, which I consider is funda-mentally wrong. What we must do and strive for, is to pro-duce a higher quality of steel which commands a higherprice, and which, in spite of such higher price, is more economicalin the end than other steel. It is mainly for this reason, I amconvinced, that the electric furnace has come to stay, and be-cause it is the best, and in not a few cases the only means forproducing steel of the highest quality. That does not mean,of course, that in years to come all low-grade steel will disappear,but it means that in the different branches of the steelindustry, steel will be made which will exhibit some superi-ority as compared with that formerly used in that par-ticular branch. Furthermore, the above statement doesnot mean that the electric furnace will replace all otherfurnaces hitherto used, but it means that it will become theadjunct to all other furnaces for refining and improving theirproduct. It follows therefore that the electric furnace is essen-tially a refining furnace, which was never intended to competewith the blast furnace, or the open hearth furnace or the cupola,in order to produce only what these furnaces produced in quality.It is true that in some instances the electric furnaces are success-fully employed for melting or smelting only, but these casesare not representative. When in such cases the electric furnaceis used for melting and refining, and competes successfully withthe combustion type furnace, it is because the advantage de-rived from the refining exceeds the loss which results from usingthe electric energy for melting only. The economical problemsinvolved in such cases must, of course, be considered individually.

1915] FRANK: THE ELECTRIC FURNACE 1737

I have no doubt that in many cases a duplex process will proveto offer special advantages, so that the melting proper may becarried on in a cupola or open hearth furnace, or liquid Bessemersteel may be used, while the action of the electric furnace is con-fined to the refining only.

Naturally, the question arises as to the specific technical orphysical element by virtue of which the electric furnace canaccomplish all these results claimed. The answer to that ques-tion is simply this, lst: The electric furnace produces a tempera-ture higher than any other furnace, and produces such highertemperature more economically than other furnaces.

2nd. It produces these higher temperatures without con-tamination of the charge through gases and other impurities,etc., and in the case of the induction furnace, without contamina-tion through carbon.

3rd. The electric furnace, and again especially the inductionfurnace, offers the possibility of controlling the temperaturewithin limits which are entirely beyond the reach of the oldfurnaces.There may arise some doubt whether the temperature is

really such an important factor as stated above, but to substan-tiate that contention it will suffice to call attention to the be-havior of silicon and carbon in the Bessemer converter, ofphosphorus, sulphur, manganese, etc.,in the open hearth fur-nace, facts which are all well known, and represent conspicuouscases. There are really only three fundamental factors whichdetermine all steel-producing processes: the chemical compositionof the material, temperature, and time. The more perfectlywe can control these elements during the process, the moreperfect results will we obtain. Thus we see at once the immensepossibilities of the electric furnace, and it only remains for thesteel maker to investigate thoroughly and carefully the phe-nomena in question. He must, of course, not stop with the in-vestigation at the ladle, but must extend it to foundry, rollingmill, forge, hardening furnace and even the machinery shop,in order to be fully informed about the behavior of the steel dur-ing the process of conversion from the raw material into thefinished product.

Also in these branches of the steel industry, electricity hasalready rendered great service, and helped to solve the problemsinvolved. It will do more in the future, and I can well imaginethat the temperature of the steel in the molds, or passing through

1738 FRANK: THE ELECTRIC FURNACE [Sept. 9

the rolling mills, will be controlled by electricity in order toinfluence the cooling-off process, which, as we know, is quiteimportant for the character of the finished product.We have therefore good grounds to trust that the close co-

operation of the electrical engineer and the steel maker willresult in the improvement and progress in the steel industry,and the electrical engineer will always welcome the oppor-tunity to assist in solving the problems of our iron and steelindustries.