Automobile Manufacture and War Effects.
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Relative Merits of Steel and Malleable-Iron Castings and Stampings.
Mr. Pomeroy's second paper relating to the above matter, read before the meeting at the Midland Centre of the I.A.E., was of unusual interest, as indeed it could not fail to be.
After drawing attention to the, fact that few firms, if any, in this country produce a motor vehicle entirely from raw material, and pointing out that the elimination of Continental sources of supply had brought home to us how dependent we were upon them, and, further, how poorly some of our British suppliers have hitherto compared with Continental firms, the author dealt in detail with some outstanding examples and made reference to : stampings, both light and heavy ; steel castings, particularly road wheels ; pressed steel parts ; high-tension steel tubes and thin plates; and electrical insulating materials suitable for supply in moulded forms.
In regard to stampings the chief complaint against British stampers is a 'lack of knowledge of the physical characteristics of the material they are manipulating. In the author's opinion, this could, to a great extent, be obviated by a reduction of the number of steel specifications ; he suggests that about three or four classes of steel would be sufficient for all practical requirements, is distinctly in favour of the elimination of fancy steels, and believes that these recommendations, if adopted, would, in addition to saving money, eliminate many mysterious failures.
In drawing a distinction between steel castings on the one hand and stampings or pressings on the other, the author drew attention to the fact that, whereas steel castings were notoriously difficult to machine, owing to their lack of homogeneity, on the other hand stampings and pressings were remarkably easy to cut. Progress in the manufacture of stampings should follow the line of rendering the use of thinner metal possible, thus enabling designers to get the best advantage in the way of weight reduc
tion. In his opinion also, malleable iron compares very favourably with cast steel; he sees no reason wny it should not compete with steel as a material for road-wheels.
Another point touched on, was that bearing on representation, it being a fact that, whilst a few commercial travellers understand the fundamental principles underlying the application of their various goods, the vast majority are hopelessly ignorant of anything outside the information contained in their firm's catalogue. The folly of such proceeding should be obvious.
As a constructive policy of reform, the author suggests the raising of the standard of efficiency of the whole personnel of the industry, and, as a means to this end, the encouragement of apprentices, who should be caught young, and should be provided with increased facilities for studying in our technical institutions. The practice of paying each man according to his efforts should become more usual, thus displacing the futile and obsolete method of payment to all men of a, standard rate, irrespective of their productive attainments. The author suggests the careful investigation of the whole problem of production, and is of the opinion that there is no single detail of a car on which a saving of 50 per cent, could not be effected. With his notion that the drawing office should be the department from which all instructions are issued, and that nothing should be done in the works or in relation to the product without passing through that office, we are in entire agreement ; the idea that it must also be the final depository of all and sundry complaints, though quite sound, is not blatantly novel, nor is the reminder an urgently-needed one. If in conjunction with the above, increased comforts in the way of heating and lighting are arranged for, and every, detail, no matter how small, receives continuous attention, the efficiency of the product thus
attained, combined with a wholesome spirit of enterprise, should together place the British motor industry.in such a.position as to leave the world n alternative in deciding which nation occupies the premier position therein.
During the dismission that followed, Mr. A. A, Remington .(Birmingham) pointed out that the automobile industry had its birth on the Continent, rendering it almost a matter of course that purchases of this nature should be made on the Continent. A splendid magneto industry had been built up in Germany, lout there was no reason why magnetos of equal quality should not be made in this country.
In the opinion of Dr. Hatfield (Sheffield) the difficulty of starting new industries was due to the shortage of labour.
Mr. Flather (Sheffield) said the motor industry was not so completely dependent upon foreign material as Mr. Pomeroy imagined. In the past there had been a want of cohesion between the steel maker, the stamper, and the motor manufacturer, due to a want of confidence. He urged that a committee shoule be formed, with the object of getting out specifications and indicating requirements which would guide the steel manufacturers.
Mr. Brearley expressed himself as being in favour of the elimination of fancy steels, but pressed for a definition as to what „actually constitutes a fancy steel. He agreed with Mr. Pomeroy that if it were possible for four steels to meet all requirements, nothing but good could arise from such a simplification. He pointed out that manifold properties can be got out of one and the same steel by different forms of heat treatment, and suggested a recommendation from the Institution as being a step in the direction of securing adherence to specification, any suggestion to follow only on exhaustive experiments and tests, the results being given to the public. Mr, G. W. A. Brown suggested limit gauges for stampings, with an allowance of, say. inin, above and below normal. Mr. Pomeroy—" No." Mr. C. J. Watson, in discussing the, relationship between suppliers and users of stampings, was of
opinion that very little consideration was shown on either side, in this country, to facilitate the other side's work. He also thought that many people were using stampings where it would be cheaper to
from the solid.
Major Bagnall-Wild thought that heat treatment required more careful supervision, and suggested that it could best be carried out by the maker after consultation with the user, and after the steel-maker had arrived at a clear understanding of the exact nature of the work the steel has to perform.
In proposing a vote of thanks to the author, the chairman mentioned that in his opinion the fault in many motor works lay with the buying department, ,n that it does not always consist of skilled men.. He begged for closer co-operation between motormakers, steel-makers and stompers, holding up the methods of American producers as examples.
Mr. Pomeroy, in the course of an interesting reply, pointed out that although many gentlemen from the. steel industry were present, they only represented possibly one-tenth of I per cent, of that industry,. which might be very important from the point of view of that small section, but it was a very great question as to how far it affected the automobile.in dustry itself. Referring to Mr. Remington's idea. that carbon steel was proposed for crankshafts, that impression was not intended, but that ordinary nickel-chrome steel should be used for crankshafts. As regarded, any heat treatment, although practised in this country for many years for armaments, it had not got right into the heart of the automobile industry, the reason being that this country has been and is a very prosperous one, because it has been making the big things that the world reouires, and has not treated the motorcar with due seriousness.
As regards the suggested limitation of the varieties of steel used, it should be remembered, in dealing with a motor, that all the dimensions are small. To put a shaft up from 1 in. to 2 ins, diameter, you put up the strength in the ratio one to eight, and the stiffness to 64, and it is because of that, that quite small alterations in the dimensions make tremendous differences in strength, with comparatively little increase in weight, that it should be possible to devise a series of quite commercial steels which would serve all the purposes required.