Document yp7zv4VMYemqMwoDOb5yYzp7d

HF. Ben wood, West Virginia. Tplant of the Wheelin'! Steel Corporation produces Imtt weld pipe by the Fretz Moon process with modern high-speed mills. Due to advancements in the art. higher mill speeds and mill improvements, the capacity of the pipe mills became greater than the supply of skelp and the problem of 'what to do" re quired a practical answer. It was realized that any improve ments to the existing skelp mill had to be made with a minimum of down time on production. Also the im provements should result in better heating of slabs at lower cost in addi tion to the increased production. These decisions involved: 1. An increase of slab thickness irom a to 4 'a in. 2. Additional stands on the skelp additions and the mill area a' mill for reducing the heavier slabs in this location. The mill la> to skelp sizes. corporating these condition 3. An increase in mill speeds and billet heating capacity. caterl that a modern furnace t of heating slabs up to 4 J4 ir. When approaching a problem such as this, a major consideration is the %' expenditure that can he justified for the improvements based on increased capariiy, latter product, and reduc tion in operating costs. Ihe capacity of a mill is usually controlled by two factors: first, the tonnage that can be heated in the furnace and, second, the rapacity of and with a capacity of 80 tt hour could be installed. A fur this rating was purchased. This increase in slab thi with the same length, would r< heavier slabs, in turn pro> longer lengths of skelp. These lengths would mean less cro] per ton of production, hence, crease of yield. the mill to roll product. If for example, we assutii' The maximum heating capacity of only two feet of skelp is croppet the old furnace was 60 tons per hour. each end of the piece with n The location and size of a now furnace production from the furnace were limited by the space require would l>e some 1200 less pie ments of the proposed roughing mill crop on the new mill per week