MR COATES ON TOUR

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 28

MR COATES ON TOUR

BUSY DAY AT SHEFFIELD. (From Our Own Correspondent, LONDON, December 4. On arriving at Sheffield from Stoke-on-Trent on the Monday night, Mr Coates and Mr F. D. Thomson went on to Endefiffe Holt, where they were the guests of Mr T. R. Ellin.’ Master Cutler of 1925. At 9 o’clock on the Tuesday morning the New Zealand party began their day’s programme, and it was a very full programme indeed. Australia was not represented in Sheffield that day and the New. Zealand Prime Minister was able to take the lead and work to his own time-table unhampered by a second party. The first visit was to Messrs Brown, Bayley’s Steel Works, ■where Mr R. J. Harvey (consulting engineer to the New Zealand Government) had arranged for a series of tests on railway tyres rnd wheels. Mr H. Brierley, the inventor of stainless steel, explained to Mr Coates what happened in the moulding of the steel ignot, how the wrong heat was apt to cause small holes in the metal, and cause .defects in the finished wheel er axle. He showed the Prime Minister steel which had been over-heated and which might break very easily, and other specimens which had received the proper heat and were perfectly strong. He explained how a slight defect on the surface of an axle might develop by use into an actual fracture, just as one may fracture a piece of wire in one’s hands. Finally, he explained to Mr Coates the usual tests that are applied to the railway tyres, wheels, and axles before they arc sent out of the factory. ATTAINMENT OF PERFECT COMBUSTION. The remainder of the party were shown over the works, where they had the opportunity of seeing railway tyres being forged from solid ingots of steel. This firm, by the way, has faced the coal strike and continued work in order to keep their customers. Instead of paying about 17s 6d a ton for coal, they have had to pay about 58s per ton, and where thousands of tons of. coal are used each week the loss must have been very great. For every ton of shaped steel sent out of the factory two tons of coal are used. Another interesting feature-of these works is that in a-course of a few months no smoke will ever be seen rising from the chimney stacks. At the present time CO per cent, of the fuelling is smokeless. The principle followed is not the consumption and disposal of the smoke, cut the perfect combustion of the fuel. Instead of a blast of cold air bejpg mixed

with the gas of the furnaces, red-hot air is injected, and this makes the perfect combustion. Thus the fuel bill is enormously cut down. ADVANTAGE OF STAINLESS STEEL. As another example of how science is applied to the business there is the use of stainless steel. Stainless steel is manufactured by adding to the metal 12 per cent, of chromium, which makes the material insoluble in water and thus rustless. In the past the pistons of the great hydraulic machines, which are used so much in all iron works have been of meta) subject to oxidisation. Stainless steel has been substituted. Previously the pistons had to be replaced once in six months, and a half an hour was occupied in packing the pistons at every shift. The loss of time on some of the monster hydraulic presses is calculated at £1 per minute. With the stainless steel all that is saved. HOW A RAILWAY TYRE IS MADE. Every process ini the manufacture of railway tyres was seen at these works. First the square ingot is taken from the furnace where it has been subjected to a heat of 1200 degrees Centigrade. It is held at the end of a long steel bar on wheels. In a few moments it is under the seven-ton forging hammer. What appears to be a few gentle squeezes take the corners off the ingot. Another squeeze flattens it into a thick disc. A punch is laid in the centre of the disc and the hammer descends and punches a whole through the disc, leaving it in the form of a rough thick ring. At this stage it goes back to the furnace for a few minutes. Once more it is taken out and carried on a steel carriage to the wonderful machine that shapes the rough ring into the perfect tyre. It is a complex machine but briefly explained it consists of four rollers projecting from a steel floor. The white hot ring lies with three of these rollers in its outside rim - and one roller against the inside rim. The rollers are made to revolve and adjusted so that the ring of metal is forced to assume the prearranged circumference and a flange is forced out from the outer rim of the soft metal.' It is only a matter of a few minutes and the ring of steel is a railway tyre. • Mr M. R. Mainprice (one of the directors) Mr R. E, Mainprice, Mr'H. Brierley (technical expert), and Mr R. Waddell (works manager) kindly conducted the party over the works and explained the processes. MILLS AND CRUSHES.. A brief visit was paid to Messrs Edgar Allen and Company, a firm which specialises a great deal in railway and tramway points and crossways. The party was received by Mr R. Woodward (chairman), and the other directors of the company. Here were seen in the course of construction a large rotary kiln for cement making, various tube mills ball mills, and i>stary dryers, and a huge Stag jaw crusher, 42in by 30in; which when under

load is belt driven from 120 h.p. motor and supplied with a mechanical feeder of the moving bar or finger feeder type. From the engineering department the visitors passed to the large steel foundry, the largest bay of which has a total length of 1000 ft, while the capacity of the plant is upwards of 300 tons of finished steel castings a week. The equipment of the foundry comprises all sizes and varieties of moulding machines from the ordinary hand machine built by the firm itself to suit particular conditions to the large jarring machines capable of lifting a mould weighing five tons. The visitors also saw castings being made in Imperial manganese steel, which has a surface hardness so great that it resists fbrasion to a very great degree. Castings made from this steel are, therefor, specially suitable for renewable parts of crushing and grinding machinery or for any parts of machines subjected to excessively heavy wear. Finally, the visit ended with an inspection of the foundry fettling and machine shops, in which the castings, after being taken from the moulds,, are subjected to important finishing processes. Unfortunately, a very short time had been allowed for the visit, so that it was only possible to walk through the shops mentioned and to obtain an impression of the vast work being carried on. AT MESSRS HADFIELDS. . The next visit was to Messrs Hadfields, which has shops covering 70 acres of land, and some of the sho P s are ..-quarter of a mile in length. In normal times 5000 workmen are employed. _ During the war 14,000 people were continuously at work. Though the coal -.trike had considerably reduced the staff, a good deal of work was in progress, and the New Zealand visitors had an opportunity of going through the pattern shop, of seeing the moulds being made, and .moulding in progress. The firm specialises in manganese steel from which dredge buckets and crushing machines are made. It was mentioned that the New Zealand type of dredge was still the best, and th . New Zealand men were still at the head of their profession as designers of dredges. THE SHELL THAT WAS NOT MADE. Here one saw the massive machinery for handling heavy work. Fifteen-ton ingots' and sometimes 25-ton ingots of steel are handled and shaped, and one forge has a pressure of 1500 tons. The Government has expressed the desire that the firm should retain its shell-making shop, and one had an opportunity of seeing specimens of the projectiles which are manufactured. An interesting exhibit was a model of an armour-piercing projectile which was contemplated before the Washington Conference. The weigh.t of the projectile was to be 2-J tons, with a muzzle energy of a-quarter of a million foot tons. It v as to have been capable of perforating five feet of hard-faced armour r.t a range of 10 miles. The projectile, standing about seven feet in height, was never made, and the gun in which it

was to be used was never cast, but this terrible weapon of war gave one an indication of the development that must come if there is ever another world war. Mr P. B. Brown (managing director) and Mr W. P. Pickering (commercial director! took the party round. AT MESSRS VICKERS. At Messrs Vickers’s the party was shown a kinenratograph picture of a new type of motor car in action. This has its customary four wheels for ordinary"”travelling, but when it is necessay to travel over obstructions, mud, or up the side of a hill a caterpillar appliance as used in military tanks may be let down. The wheels are raised off the ground, and the car proceeds on the endless chain, negotiating any obstruction. The lowering and raising of the caterpillar chains is the work of a moment, and all the mechanism is controlled from the driver’s seat. A THERTY-FI v E TON INGOT. The next demonstration was the rolling of a 35-ton ingot which is to be used as a shield for an 8-inch gun. Work was also going forward on these 8-inch guns. The forging of tyres was also in progress, and here, too, we had an opportunity of seeing the railway tyres being tested. One tyre is taken out of a certain set made under identical conditions. It is placed under a ton weight. The weight is raised toft and allowed to drop on the rim of the tyre. If the tyre were defective it would probably collapse under this weight. If it is s<-und it is merely flattened down a quarter of an inch. The ton weight is’ again raised to 25ft and dropped on the tyre. This time the tyre flattens another half an inch, but it remains intact. When this test is finished a small cylinder of steel is <ut out and subjected to what js called the tensile test. The section is placed in two grips, and a pull is exerted by Hydraulic pressure. Eventually the steel snaps, but, if sound it will not snap until there has been a pull of from 56 to b2 tons per square inch. In the same way a section is cut out of one of • the set of railway axles. - If the steel is sound, it will stand a pull of from 35 to 40 tons per square inch. One learned in Messrs Vickers’s works that pulverised coal is likely to be largely used in the future. Germany and America have already begun using it. The coal is powdered up so finely that when a handful is thrown in the air it floats away. The advantage of this system is that not only complete combustion is attained but the dust from the pit as well as the nuggets of coal may be economical!-'- used. SHEFFIELD CUTLERY. After the public luncheon at Sheffield, Mr Coates visited the cutlery works of Messrs Joseph Rodgers and Sons, whose knives and Star and Cross razors are known throughout the Empire. There was not enough time to go round the works, but the New Zealand party had the opportunity of seeing the remarkable exhibits in the showrooms. Here were to_ be seen 12 pairs of perfect scissors weighing half grain. Although so small in dimensions, these miniatures are capable of cutting a thread of fine silk. There was the 4|in knife with 57 blades, and the Knife of the Years, containing 1926 blades. It was made in 1822, and in that year 1822 blades were affixed. A blade has been added every year since, and there is plenty of room for other blades for a century or two tJ come. . The firm had very considerably laid out an exhibit of those utensils which are most frequently ordered by New Zealand. The exhibits included skinning knives, boning knives, ham slicers, butchers’ knives, an 1 scissors. The various processes from the rough steel to the completed article 1 were illustrated. > Mr Coates was presented with a handsome pearl, gold-mounted penknife, and for : Mrs Coates he received a pearl,. silver- , mounted penknife. This was a shaped i knife known as the ‘'«cnuy Lind,” which t is a r ery old pattern. The name was 1 given to it by reason of the fact that J the first of this pattern was produced by s the company especially' for Jenny Lind. f The presents were made by a highly- > skilled workman over 75 years of age. e Each member of Mr Coates’s staff re--1 ceived beautiful examples of a more modern type of stainless steel penknife.

A USEFUL CONFERENCE. rom Messrs Rodgers the party went on to Messrs Harrison Bros, and Howeon, manufacturers of silver plate, forks, spoons, and nickel plate. They saw the electroplating processes, the silver plating, and the gold plating. Three ounces of gold are used to every' gallon of liquid in the gold plating. Al' the other processes of manufacture front the elaborate and costly silver plate, to the common spoon and fork were seen, and the visit was most interesting and instructive. Immediately after the presentation of the Freedom, Mr Coates paid still another visit to Messrs George Butler and Company’s cutlery and electroplate works. Here all the foremen of the various departments were assembled to meet the Prime Minister. They expressed their desire to meet the requirements of the Dominion market, and an interesting discussion took place as to the peculiar needs of New Zealand. The .Prime Minister considered that such a conference as this waj most useful, and great good should follow from it. Mr Coates was presented with a seven-day case of ivory keen razors, and for Mrs Coates a crocodile case of Cavendish gilt scissors, hand worked. At the conclusion of the visit to Messrs Butler and Company, the programme in Sheffield came to an end. It had been a very full day, but a most useful one in every respect. Mr Coates had never wasted a minute throughout the programme, and he arrived on the station platform just two minutes before the train left for Birmingham. A FREEMAN OF SHEFFIELD. LONDON, December 4. At Sheffield, as in other places which Mr Coates visited, he was entertained at a public luncheon, and afterwards received the freedom of the city. A feature of the luncheon, which was given by the Chamber of Commerce, was that the Prime Minister’s speech was broadcast over the districts The president of the Chamber of Commerce (Mr J. H. Chapman) presided, and proposed the toast of the principal guest. New Zealand’s strong affection for this country, and her equally strong preference for British goods, was the keynote of Mr Coates’s reply.

It was a pleasure, he said, to visit any centre of the United Kingdom, but Sheffield, with its outstanding position in the manufacturing life of the country', and its far-reaching reputation throughout the world, was of particular interest to any citizen of the Empire wherever he might be. The prosperity of this great country', he thought, depended very largely at present on its wealth of iron and coal, and the facility with which those two products might be transferred for the use of mankind.. Sheffield might be regarded as the very centre of that form of activity, not only in the United Kingdom, but throughout the world, and the importance of Sheffield to the prosperity and progress of the Empire could not be over-estimated. It might interest them to know that, in travelling to England through U.S.A, from San Francisco to New York, the well-appointed dining cars attached to the trans-conti-nental trains were fitted with cutlery stamped with tha familiar mark, "Made in Sheffield.” "The dominions have observed with the greatest sympathy the very' real difficulties experienc'd since the war by the United Kingdom, and I am sure I am voicing the opinion of all British people beyond the seas when I say how sincerely we hope that brighter prospects are in store in the future. For my part, I have no shadow of doubt that this great country has the power to throw itself free of the shades of depression, and that it will again take its place as the leading commercial nation of the world. We in New Zealand feel that we have a connectio’n with Sheffield, rather closer, perhaps, than with the majority of the centres in this country. We were familiar with your products front the very tender age at which we became the proud possessors of a pocket knife. And if that pocket knife is not marked ‘Made in Sheffield,’ I can assure you it is regarded as a very inferior pocket knife indeed.” The Prime Minister went on to speak of the Dominion, its attractions, its trade, and its desire for still further trade with the Mother Country. “If there is ever any question of the Empire and the Mother Country, you will never need to worry where New Zealand stands. She is right alongside the country she came from, the Motherland of Great Britain.” This was how Mr Coates expressed New Zealand’s attitude to Britain when he iceeived the freedom of the city in Sheffield Town Hall at the close of the afternoon.

‘‘The Imperial Conference of a few weeks ago has been the most important yet held,” he continued. “The freedom offered to each part of the Empire is undoubted, and we value that freedom more than anything else, but we recognise that our great strength lies in co-operation one with the other. There must be co-operation in all things that are good, and co-operation in the event of disaster or in the event of disaster threatening any one of us. “As a result of the Imperial Conference, New Zealand now knows where she stands in connection with matters that affect the Empire. Great work has been done in clearing away misunderstandings, and we can see that each representative at the Conference has since definitely stated that it is his view, now that matters have been, cleared up, to go back, and each to tell to his people what has happened. “It is my intention to state that it is our object and desire to work, not only for the interests of our own constituent parts, but for the whole of the Empire, and to do all we possibly can do to build up the Empire to be a greater and stronger implement for peace and freedom in the future.” ... . i Every phase of Sheffield’s civic and religious life was represented at the ceremony, which was held in the City Council Chamber. The resolution proposing the conferment of the freedom was proposed by the Lord Mayor (Aiderman J. G. Graves), who referred to the many links which bound New Zealand to Sheffield, and Cr Rowlinson, leader of the Labour group, seconded. After the resolution had been carried, Mr Coates signed the Freemen’s Roll, and replied to the expressions of goodwill in the speech quoted above. The Lord Mayor also presented a cabinet of cutlery, in which there was a copy of the illuminated resolution presented by the Corporation. The cabinet of cutlery, a handsome example of Sheffield craft, was made by Messrs Joseph Rodgers and Sons (Ltd.), and was fitted with their famous “Star and Cross” cutlery. It is of Spanish mahogany and contains 111 pieces of stainless steel knives, forks, and spoons with sterling silver handles, all of the Chippendale pattern. The drawers of the cabinet are fitted with art metal handles, and the lower drawer can be used for table linen. The waiter tray is fitted with legs. The inscription reads as follows: —“Presented to the Honourable J. G. Coates, M.C., Prime Minister of New Zealand, with the Honorary Freedom of the City of Sheffield, November 30, 1926.”