Pressed Metal Developments 1927

INCREASED USE OF PREST METAL

THIS interesting feature of the year’s iron industry is reported in The Iron Trade Review (Cleveland), by Ethan Viall of that city, a former editor of The American Machinist. Mr. Viall attributes it to refinements in mechanical processes, and to more extensive employment of welding and improvements in the finishing of metal surfaces. He writes:

One of the outstanding developments during the year was the noticeable trend toward all-steel automobile bodies. Wider adoption of seam-welding, because of the rigidity it affords, is hastening the swing to the steel body.

The change from the old type of body does not involve the increased tonnage of steel that one might expect. This is because a better grade but lighter gage of steel is being used than in former years, and also because late changes from steel-and-wood bodies to all-steel does not require much more sheet steel. In most of the composite bodies, wood was used merely to stiffen or back up the metal. A slight change in design, with, in some cases, a harder grade of steel or a slight increase in gage, now gives a stiffer and stronger body which is self-supporting at only a small increase in the total weight of sheet metal used.

Marked advances in die-making and improvement in the art of pressing metal are responsible for the constantly broadening use of shaped metal for articles of intricate design formerly cast or assembled from multiple parts. Many steering-wheel spiders now are made of prest metal, as also an increasing number of vending machines, motor-air-cleaners, stove legs, and even the tops for kitchen rangesâ€”the latter an application long considered impractical because of the exposure of the metal to warping and burning influences.

Perhaps the greatest growth in point of tonnage may be traced to the gradual improvement in the finishing of sheet metal, which now permits surfaces comparable to that of the finest woods. This refinement, coupled with the fact that sheet steel now is being laminated with insulating and other materials, has led to the use of metal cabinets for iceless refrigerators. The largest manufacturer of this equipment, in announcing plans to build 600,000 units during 1927, states that this expected production and the greatly reduced price of the product are made possible by the economy and manufacturing efficiency permitted by the use of metal cabinets. Enameled products, kitchen cabinets, and similar articles, as well as furniture, are made of prest metal in greater quantity owing to refinements in construction and finish.

Another indication of the growing favor of steel for highly finished articles formerly made of wood is found by the writer in inquiries from manufacturers of radio equipment for dies for radio-set cabinets, boxes, and stands. He says:

The finish of the steel cabinets is almost indistinguishable from that of those of the most expensive woods, and steel lends itself more readily to mass production. The fact that some of the highest-priced radio sets now come in metal cases indicates how satisfactorily the prest metal manufacturer has met the requirements of this new market.

Important development work now under way may open up new applications. It is predicted by reliable authority that steel shingles, prest from sheet metal and treated to resist corrosion, will furnish a new market of unusually attractive tonnage possibilities.

This and other pending projects would seem to indicate that the now cooperating agencies of engineering research and market extension may win significant victories, and expand the consumption of prest metal in the near future.

Source: The Literary Digest for April 16, 1927. Article – Increased use of Prest Metal

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