Heat-treating Department

: HEAT TREATMENT OF STEEL
: The Working Of Steel

The heat-treating department occupies an

L-shaped building. The design is very practical, with the furnace

and the floor on the same level so that there is no lifting of

heavy pots. Fuel oil is used in all the furnaces and gives highly

satisfactory results. The consumption of fuel oil is about 2 gal.

per hour per furnace.



The work is packed in the pots in a room at the entrance to the

heat-tr
atment building. Before packing, each gear is stamped with

a number which is a key to the records of the analysis and complete

heat treatment of that particular gear. Should a question at any time

arise regarding the treatment of a certain gear, all the necessary

information is available if the number on the gear is legible. For

instance, date of treatment, furnace, carburizing material, position

of the pot in the furnace, position of gear in pot, temperature of

furnace and duration of treatment are all tabulated and filed for

reference.



After marking, all holes and parts which are to remain uncarburized

are plugged or luted with a mixture of kaolin and Mellville gravel

clay, and the gear is packed in the carburizing material. Bohnite,

a commercial carburizing compound is used exclusively at this plant.

This does excellent work and is economical. Broadly speaking, the

economy of a carburizing compound depends on its lightness. The

space not occupied by work must be filled with compound; therefore)

other things being equal, a compound weighing 25 lb. would be worth

more than twice as much as one weighing 60 lb. per cubic foot. It

has been claimed that certain compounds can be used over and over

again, but this is only true in a limited way, if good work is

required. There is, of course, some carbon in the compound after

the first use, but for first-class work, new compound must be used

each time.



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