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ITH the object of securing used in making ship channels and bulb angles, and of revising the _ American standard steel ship shapes, _ two conferences were recently held in Philadelphia. The first conference was between steelmakers while the second was between steelmakers and _repre- sentatives of the Emergency Fleet cor- poration. ke : Representatives were present at these conferences from all the larger mills which manufacture steel shapes, including the Bethlehem Steef Co., Cambria Steel Co., Carnegie Steel Co., Eastern Steel Co., Illinois Steel Co., Inland Steel Co. Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., Lackawanna Steel Phoenix Iron Co., Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad 'Co. At the second conference the United 'States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corp. was represented by Fred T. Llewellyn, in charge of steel standardization, engi- neering section, division of steel ship construction, and by A. J. C. Robert- son, chief designer. : The first step in the direction of the standardization of ship steel was tak- en on July 2, 1917, when representa- tives of the companies mentioned, to- gether with representatives of plate manufacturers, met in Washington and adopted the standard practice rec- ommended by American steelmakers and subsequently adopted by the Emergency Fleet corporation' as. a guide to the shipyards in placing or- ders with the mills for ship steel. _ The effect of the standard practice has been to eliminate minute variations in the thicknesses of plates ordered from the mills and to simplify the trans- mission of orders. The situation as regards plates has been greatly im- proved and plate mills have been able .to make some remarkable production records, At the time the standard practice was adopted it was deemed inadvis- able to prepare a selected list of structural sections, but only to rec- ommend that in general the use of sections rolled infrequently be eli- minated and that orders be confined so far as possible to American stand- _ard beam sections, American standard structural channels and plain angles, provided, however, that ship chan- nels and bulb angles might be rolled if required on shipbuilders' schedules. hile it was recognized that the bulb angle and the ship channel were more suitable than other sections for ship construction, the limitation in the use ~ of ship channels and bulb angles was due to the lack of adequate facilities for their manufacture, and it was the desire of the steelmakers to make _ as broad as possible the allocation of ship steel to all makers. ; It was further considered unneces- sary to draft a selected list of struc- ° tural sections for the reason that it was believed the Emergency Fleet _ corporation's plan for the standardiza- standardization of ship steel, of modifying designs of rolls 'Cox oe Siedtoskars and Osveenciant Officials Discuss Standard Lists Which - : Will Promote Production at Mills and Yards--British Practice Approved -- o tion ok the. designs of hulls, particu-_ larly cargo vessels, would of itself operate to reduce the number of structural shapes required, and, there- fore, no further action was necessary. The recommended list, however, did limit the number of plain angles. The experience of 16 months has made it clear to American steelmak- ers that the structural channel, by reason of its narrow flanges and steep inner flange slope, is not an entirely satisfactory section for use in hull construction. Further it has been found that the bulb angle is in many - respects a most desirable section for ship construction and that its use should be encouraged rather than dis- couraged. Also the introduction of beams and structural channels into the list for ship steel had opened the way to the use of a large number of structural sections with relatively limited tonnages per section. Difficult. to Secure Steel This situation had also come to. the attention of the Emergency Fleet corporation by reason of the diff- culties which, due to the use of a great variety of sections, the ship- yards had had in securing an ade- quate supply of all those sections in due sequence as required in con- struction. gation was inaugurated in the divi- sion of steel ship construction, Daniel 4d. Cox, manager, with a view to the tabulation by tonnages, shapes and thicknesses of all the sections used at the yards so as to make pos- sible the compilation of a_ selected list of sections for use in the con- struction of ships on the basis of which it might be possible to insure the receipt of steel in adequate vol- ume and due sequence, and also. to arrange for warehouse stocks of suit- able sizes at conveniently located points. The investigation which was car- ried on by Mr. 'Lleyellyn covered 1508 hulls' of 10,302,150 deadweight tonnage either requisitioned or under construction by the Emergency Fleet corporation, with a total shape weight of 1,100,651 net tons distributed among 131 different structural] shapes in 403 thicknesses (sections). It was noted that in the case of one design for a 5000-ton. boat with but 1,026,966 pounds of structural shapes. there were 42 different shapes and 11 sep- arate thicknesses (sections), of which nine sections were rolled only at one mill and one T-section only at an- other mill. Of separate sections there were items as low as 8 pounds each and 35 sections aggregating less than 500 pounds each. Of one shape only pounds were required. If such tonnage were the only tonnage avail- able at the mills for this particular shape, it would require material for 4600 boats to accumulate before con- sideration of economical production would justify placement of rolls. Of another relatively heavy shape 18 ' those sections represented the growt In consequence an investi-. | » Ste : on the same basis, economical p duction would require tonnage - 1000 boats to accumulate. In the. of another cargo vessel of 9400 ton requiring 1,800,103 pounds of stru tural sections, there were only separate shapes and but 44 thickne: and of each separate shape the m mum quantity of any one thickn was 2800 pounds and that of a sec in' general use. The next small item on that list is three tons of small angle section which would on require material for 66 boats to a cumulate. By the addition of 55 tor to the weight of the steel the num ber of shapes in that particular bo: might ibe reduced to 8 and the n ber of different sections to 19. This investigation also indica that while a number of steelmak rolled bulb angles and ship channel of years and reflected the individu ideas of the shipyards for which rol were first turned. There had bee no definite endeavor to standardiz those sections, with the consequence that American steelmakers publishe different dimensions, weights properties for sections of the sam depth, the use of which at the yard should be interchangeable. With the completion of his repor and its distribution to the shipyard and to the steelmakers, Mr. Llewellyn recommended that ship channels an shipbuilding bulb angle sections b adjusted to British standards, steelmakers confer and agree to pub lish like ranges of weights and d mensions, and that there be pre pared for distribution to the yards a selected list of sections recommende The conferences were held in the offices of the Cambria Steel Co. with | George E. Dix, assistant to the gen- eral manager of sales, in the chair. -- R. B. Woodworth, engineer with the ~ 'Carnegie Steel Co., who had bee instrumental in the formulation o the original standard practice, present ed detailed written proposals as 47 tion and standardization. of ship chan s and bulb angles and for th revision of the American standar practice. It was decided by the steelmakers -- that inasmuch as the British stand ard sections of ship channels shipbuilding bulb angles appeared t be 'better adapted to economical man- © ufacture than the American stand- 7 ards, and inasmuch as the new rolls which had been turned in recent years ~ to produce those sections conformed | in general to British standards, here- -- after American standards should be © discontinued and rolls on hand not to British standards should be ree q dressed at as early a date as possible -- to roll such sections as closely to a British standards as slightly diver- gent methods of production would allow; 'patticularly in view of tHe