No Waste by Ford in Salvaging His Great War Fleet.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18380, 4 February 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)

No Waste by Ford in Salvaging His Great War Fleet.

Work is Nearing Completion, With Everything Reclaimed from 1 99 Ships Purchased from Government.

Not Even Sawdust Was Lost, for It’s Being Used on Floors of Company Butcher Shops.

By A. M. SMITH. Special dispatch to “ Star ” and North American Newspaper Alliance.

('Copywright 1927 , in all countries by North American Newspaper Alliance .)

DETROIT, Dec. 21. The last chapter is nearing its close in another of the unique yet soundly economic ventures of Henry Ford. It is the chapter on scrapping Government ships. Idle at anchor after the war were SoS ships of steel ordered by the Government, but never used. The Shipping Board wanted to salvage what it could, and Henry Ford put down his cheque for 1.697,470 dollars for 199 of these ships, “as is and where is.” The country at large took his purchase as a fine gesture of hatefulness of war and all that war invited. But Mr Ford hates -waste, as he hates dirt, and he is a business man. He believed that the ships could be turned into use with a fair showing on the credit side, though he stated that he would be content if he struck even on the deal. All of the vessels he bought, except eighteen of the lake type, have been scrapped at the docks of the Fordson plant of the Ford Motor Company. Three were converted into ocean steamers. Five were converted into barges for the Great Lakes. Ten still are held, probably to be converted into uses in the development of the new Ford rubber industry in Brazil, some for ocean steamers, others for barges. The bringing of the ships to Detroit, and the process of dismantling and scrapping, were organised with the clock-like precision and regularity of movement characteristic of Ford production.

eeptionallv good quality, was saved for construction work in the company’s building. Quantities of paper and beaver-board were sent to the Ford paper mill at Fordson, where all paper scrap from the Ford plants and offices is converted chiefly into cardboard for shipping. Oakum from the ships’ upper decks was saved for future use. Much of the furniture from the ships, swivel chairs and tables* is used in the Ford trade schools. Railroad Equipment. Imitation leather from the ships’ settees was used on the equipment of Mr Ford's Detroit, Toledo and Ironton railroad, as were many of the ships’ doors. Radiators were all saved and used, as was also oak ceiling, panelling and moulding of high quality. Mirrors in good condition were used on the railroad and in the plants. Cabin windows, of standard sizes, have been used in construction work. All other glass was remelted in the glass factory at Fordson. Hardware—hinges, locks, door-knobs, brass and electric fixtures —was reconditioned and saved for use. Ship bunks not of standard size were sent to the saws. Great quantities of bed-springs were salvaged, some saved for use, others sent to the melting fires. Globe lights, wash-basins and toilet fixtures have been saved for use. All scales have been reconditioned, and many of them are at work, in the Ford stores. Radio equipment in good condition was saved. Many steam injectors were retained. Most of the galley stoves in poor condition were sent to the furnaces. Steam and oil gauges have been reconditioned. Some ventilators have been used, others sent to the tin shops of the company for scrap. Brass scuff-plates and ladderways were saved, also engineroom control machinery, winches and windlasses, pumps, cable and towing hawsers, some of the latter unstranded and used for twine. This work of converting hawsers into twine was given to crippled workmen. Some of the deck-houses of the ships were removed intact and are being used as tool cribs, fire houses and oil stations. Asbestos and magnesium from pipe sand boilers were shredded and repacked for rise. Good cork from ice boxes was sent to Iron Mountain for dry kiln insulation. Salvaged Oil Refined. i ' A large quantity of oil in the fuel and oil tanks and in the storm oil compartments was put through the Ford oil plant for refinement. Pipe and conduit in great quantity were salvaged. A new department was installed for straightening crooked pipe and for electric welding of short lengths into standard lengths—a new process in pipe salvage. Pipe fittings, pulleys, lanterns and all of the small stuff that makes a modern ship livable and usable came out of the dismantling work in great numbers and varieties. On the face of it, it does not appear that Mr Ford will profit greatly by the purchase of the ships. In fact, he did not expect to. He has kept approximately 800 men at work for eighteen months on the dismantling and scrapping. He must pay an additional 16,470 dollars for each ship he retains for his own use, or 296,460 for the eighteen reserved; but the labour bill alone will probably mount higher than the original purchase price of the 199 ships. On the other side of the ledger is the value of the power plants, approximately 50,000 dollars each—if they can be used; but it is not certain how many can be used economically in the Ford industries. There is also on the credit side the value of the scrap and plate steel, about 699,000 dollars. Then there are the assets of ships’ crews and dismantling crews, probably better trained in this type of transportation and work than any other men in the world. Mr Ford and his officials hold that highly trained men are one of the greatest of industrial assets. Some of the men who started with the crews bringing in the purchased ships and breaking them up have grown so rapidly in knowledge and ability in the matter of navigation and in unmaking and remaking ships that they have risen to positions of great responsibility in the Ford organisation.

Everything was Saved. Everything was saved. Pieces of wood less than six inches long were kept to start furnace tires. Larger pieces were found useful somewhere in the plants and shipping of the tryExpensive unused boilers and triple expansion marine engines were placed neatly in line at one side of the yards. iSome were installed at once in the Ford industries. Two of the boilers were installed m the Ford Motor Company plant In Paris. Four of the engines were put to work in the company's plant at Chester. Pennsylvania, and two were installed in the Ford lumber mills at Iron Mountain, Michigan. Six boilers have been installed in the open hearth plant at Fordson to convert waste heat into steam. Steam from the ship boilers operated the 3000 ton shears which cut scrap steel plates like jack-straws into pieces small enough for furnace charging boxes. One of the ship engines and boiler are producing power in the by-pro-ducts plant at Fordson, and supplies most of the power for this plant. Another engine was sent to Pequaming, Michigan, where it produced power for the Ford Motor Company lumber mills. Another engine is being reconditioned for use in the Lincoln motor plant. Thus far, nine boilers and nine engines taken from the ships have been converted into power plants. These were the large unit mechanisms of the ships which Mr Ford wis able to use without scrapping. 200,000 Tons of Scrap Steel. From ISI ships scrapped, the Ford Motor Company saved 200.000 tons of scrap steel and 16,000 tons of plate steel, the latter varying from one-quar-ter to five-eighths of an inch thick. Thus far the company has melted and used in production 27,000 tons of scrap steel, and has used in building operations and otherwise 6000 tons of plate. Besides the scrap and plate steel were many I-beams, girders, short flat, bar and round steel, angle-iron and channel steel, and smokestacks which contained exceptionally good steel. Rivet heads and nails all were sent to the electric furnaces. Sawdust produced in the cutting of wood scrap into sizes for car dunnage, boxes, crates and bulkheads was sent to the butcher shops of the Ford commissaries or mixed with oil for floor sweeping. Bolts and nuts in good condition were sorted and put in stock. Ship floor decking, much of which was of ex-