Learning about steel through the story of a nail

Citation preview

THE

STORY OF A o

M5s

CO.

J672

Adler

Ados C513947

Story of a nail

J672

Adler TIT

Ad5s C513947

Story of a nail

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PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY, IND. ALLEN COUNTY EXTENSION DEPT. ANTHONY 3333

SCHOOLS

as

IllPPWW^'g 8056

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^'DRAWN

THE STORY OF A NAIL Irving and Ruth Adler

The John Day Company

- New

York

Books by Irving and Ruth Adler

NUMBERS OLD AND NEW THINGS THAT SPIN

:

FROM TOPS TO ATOMS

SHADOWS THE STORY OF A NAIL Books by Irving Adler SEEING THE EARTH

FROM SPACE

HOT AND COLD

WEATHER IN YOUR

LIFE

DUST

THE TOOLS OF SCIENCE THE SUN AND

ITS

FAMILY

MAN-MADE MOONS MONKEY BUSINESS: HOAXES IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE

HOW LIFE BEGAN MAGIC HOUSE OF NUMBERS

THE

STARS: STEPPING STONES INTO SPACE

TOOLS IN YOUR LIFE FIRE IN YOUR LIFE

TIME IN YOUR LIFE

THE SECRET OF LIGHT

© 1961 by Irving and Ruth Adler must not be reproany form without permission. Published by The John Day Company, 62 West 45th Street, New York 46, N.Y., and on the same day in Canada by Longmans, Green & Company, Toronto. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof,

duced

in

Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number; 61-5646

Manufactured

in the

United States of America

Contents Nails, Nails

4

Joining Without Nails

8

Handmade

Nails

Machine-made

Nails

10 co SCH00LS

The Story of Iron Ore C513947 The Story of Coal The Story of Limestone Moving the Ore, Coal and Limestone The Story of Coke The Story of Wrought Iron The Story of Pig Iron Making Steel from Pig Iron The Story of Wire Rods The Story of Steel Wire Making the Nail

12

14 16 18

20 22

24 26 28 32 34 36

Finishing the Nail

38

Sterilized Nails

40

Nails with

Two

Balloon-frame

Feet and

Homes

No Head

42 44

Picture Story of a Nail

46

Word

48

List

Head

Nails, Nails

/¥ m

These are

all nails.

Nails usually have heads

and pointed shanks. Nails have many and shapes and are made from many ent metals.

Shank

Each kind

of nail has

its

sizes

differ-

own

spe-

cial use.

There

is

one way

same. They are

all

together.

J

4

in

which

all nails

are the

used for joining materials

The carpenter

uses

common

nails for

mak-

ing the rough framework of houses.

The

roofer uses roofing nails.

and

their shanks

their

roof shingles from

broad

The barbs on

flat

becoming

heads keep

loose,

even in

strong winds.

The man who makes wooden packing boxes uses box nails. They are long and thin. Some have bumps on their shanks, so that they will hold well.

The man who makes wooden hoop fasteners rels in place.

are easy to

for fastening the

They have sharp

hammer

barrels uses

hoops of bar-

points. So they

into the barrel, close to

the hoop. Their shanks are short. So their points do not go through to the inside of the barrel

where they might scratch what

They have mered

large

flat

is

in

it.

heads which can be ham-

against the hoop. So they hold the

hoop

tightly in place.

The carpenter who

builds docks uses barge

for his work.

The

spikes are

long and thick. They do not

split

the

and boat spikes

out of which the dock

have square shanks and

is

built

flat

wood

because they

points.

0\

The man who lays a wood floor uses flooring nails. They go through the hard wood easily without splitting it. The shank of the flooring nail

is

rough. So the nail holds very

well.

The man who

builds concrete forms uses

double-headed form

made

of

nails.

wood. Concrete

is

The forms

are

poured into the

form. After the concrete has hardened, the

form

is

taken apart. The extra head makes

it

when the form has to be taken off, and keeps the wood from being damaged. Then the wood can be used over easy to pull out the nail

and over again

for

making other concrete

forms.

many kinds of nails that are made. They are made in many sizes. Some nails are so small that 1,000 of them weigh as much as a thimbleThese are only a few

ful of water.

Other

of the

nails are so large that

each one

weighs 2 pounds.

The carpenter buys his nails at the lumberyard in cardboard boxes or wooden kegs. Each container usually holds from 25 pounds to 100 pounds of nails. You can buy nails at the hardware or five-and-ten-cent store in cardboard boxes. Each box contains A pound, /i pound or 1 pound of nails. l

6

l

The word "penny"

used to

is

tell

the size of a nail.

long time ago, in England, nails that sold for

six

A

pennies

pound were called "sixpenny" nails. The name "sixpenny" meant the price of the nail. It was written as 6d, which is the short way the English write "sixpenny." a

The name "sixpenny" any more.

Now

it is

doesn't

nail

(12d)

A twopenny

nail

(2d)

is

is

if

size of the nail.

smaller than a sixpenny

/7 ££s

nail.

Very small ones are

they have small heads, and tacks

have large heads.

A

larger than a sixpenny nail.

nails are called spikes.

called brads

the price of the nail

used to show the

twelvepenny

Very large

mean

if

they

I lift

il

Joining Without Nails

made of iron. People began to make houses out of wood long before they had any iron. So they had to join the pieces of wood without nails. The first houses that used wood were made of posts, Most

nails are

twigs and mud. Posts were set in the ground. Twigs were

woven back and

forth

around the

posts.

The spaces and

cracks around the twigs were filled with

The

carpenters

who

lived in

mud

or clay.

Egypt 4,000 years ago

did very fine woodworking. They had metal tools with

which

to work.

They

also

had

iron

and copper

nails.

But

metals were hard to get. So they did not use nails often.

Also there was not tians did not

make

much wood

in

Egypt. So the Egyp-

their houses out of 8

wood. They did

use

wood

for

making furniture and

needed large pieces smaller pieces.

coffins.

When

they

wood, they made them from

of

They made

large pieces of

wood by

plac-

ing planks cut from the same tree trunk side by side.

The planks were then were sometimes used furniture

row

Wooden pegs planks. Wooden

joined together. for joining the

was often held together by

linen cord or nar-

strips of leather.

Woodworkers used gether.

They had

to cut the pieces of

wood

together very carefully, so that they would like a jigsaw puzzle.

were used

to

make

wood

special joints to hold the

Wooden

to

to-

be joined

fit

together

pegs, iron bolts or glue

the joints hold tightly.

f-^

Coffin

lid

made by join-

ng small pieces of |

—

2**f-^

wood

FjjSgjfrPeg

^^^

in

B^S Joining with

wooden pegs

Old Egyptian 9

The peg

joints

place

Nailrod

Hammer

Anvil

Handmade

Nails

Until about 150 years ago, nails were

The

nail

makers bought iron nailrods

made by hand.

in different sizes

from the ironworks nearby. They used very simple So they were able to make the

The

nail industry in

nails in their

own homes.

England grew up around the

works of Birmingham. In the United States

around the large iron

New

New

and

tools.

it

iron-

grew up

England ironworks. Today the very

steel mills in the

United States are not

England. But Taunton, Massachusetts,

is

still

in

the

center of the tack-making industry.

The handmade nails were known as forged cause the nail maker used a forge for heating rods. The heated nailrod was hammered on 10

nails be-

the nailthe nail

maker's anvil.

A piece,

with a

The shank

chisel.

the length of the nail, was cut of the nail

was then held

off

in a

The head was shaped by hammering one end of the shank. More than 300 different kinds of forged nails vise.

were made. Nails with ferent ways. There

different shapes

were round

nails

were used

in dif-

and square

nails.

The shape of the head gave the nails Some nails had heads that looked like shoe nails were

made

would not break in the

curious names. flowers. Horse-

of the very best iron so that they horse's hoof.

Some horseshoe

nails

made by hand. Because nails were made by hand, they were very expensive. When the farmers who settled our country wanted to move farther west, they could not take their are

still

houses with them. But they could take their did this by burning

down

their houses

nails.

They

and gathering

the nails together from the ashes.

Heads of handmade

Horshoe

nail

'^i 11

nails

o

Knife cuts off nail here

Holding iron

strip for

making

^

cut nails

Machine-made Nails

The first machine-made nails were cut nails. A man named Ezekiel Reed, who lived in Massachusetts, invented the machinery for making cut

These of iron.

and

as

first

The

machine.

was

strip

wide

made very

machine-made

A

The

were made from

as thick as the nail

as the nail

hot.

nails

nails in 1786.

was

strip

long.

The

strips

was going

strip of

was then fed

to

metal was

into a cutting

knife sliced a piece of the strip

by making

a slanting cut near one end. Before the next cut

made, the cut off

strip

became

caught by a small

was turned

over.

Each piece

a nail. As each slice

vise.

The

be

was cut

that off

it

was was

was

vise held the slice tightly while a

hammer hit one end

of the slice. This flattened the

end, making the head of the nail. Cut nails, which are usually used for nailing

the

wooden

same way. 12

floors,

are

still

made

in

The machine-made nails with the largest number of uses are made from wire. They are called wire nails. The first

machines for making wire

were made

nails

France. So wire nails are also called French

have been made by machine

for

nails.

in

They

about 100 years.

became worth while making wire nails by machine when there was plenty of iron and steel to use. About It

100 years ago a

new way

of

making

iron

and

steel

discovered. Very good iron and steel could then be

cheaply. steel.

Wire could be made cheaply from

So good wire

nails

could be

made

the nails that are used today are wire

The of the

story of a nail

way

in

is

which iron

made.

three things that are needed to

and limestone.

It is

story of the earth

It is

make

a story that

is

nails

and

It is

the story

a story that

is

the story of the

iron: iron ore, coal

almost as old as the

itself.

Old cut

this iron

nails.

It is also

older than the story of ironmaking.

made

cheaply. Most of

a very long one. is

was

and spike

The Story Before you can

and

iron

and

and water are Iron

ores

iron nail,

you must have iron

iron ore, coal

steel:

also

to

and limestone. Air

used in making iron and

steel.

usually not found in nature as a metal.

is

found joined

The

Ore

Three things must be brought together

steel.

make

make an

of Iron

It is

to other chemicals in minerals called ores.

from which we get iron are found

all

over the

world. Most of the iron ore used in ironmaking in the

United States comes from the

states of

Minnesota, Mich-

igan and Wisconsin, along Lake Superior.

The trict is It

iron ore that

is

found

in the

a kind of rust. In this ore, iron

began

to

Lake Superior is

joined to oxygen.

be formed millions of years ago when great

shallow seas covered that part of the earth. of these seas

had

iron in

it

The water

joined to other chemicals to

form compounds. As time passed, these compounds to the floor of the sea.

of

mud hundreds

They stayed

Many

there,

mud that also settled The mud hardened into rock.

millions of years passed.

fell

making a layer

of feet thick. This thick layer

ered later by more of the sea.

dis-

was cov-

on the bottom

The shape

of the face

of the earth kept changing. Parts of the earth that

were

covered by water were pushed up and mountains were formed. Mountains rose out of the sea in what 14

is

now

the

Lake Superior

Rain

district.

millions of years, wearing

the mountains were iron

compounds

in

left.

it,

off.

on the mountains for

them away. Only the roots of The hardened mud, with the

was

ground wore away part

fell

Water

in these roots.

of these roots

in the

and carried them

But the water did not carry away the iron com-

pounds. These were

The

ore near

kind of mining iron ores are

left

behind.

Lake Superior is

very

mined

much

is

mined

like

in

open

digging a

in tunnels that

pits.

cellar.

-"

r^" i

pit

Other

go under the ground.

5*

Open

This

ore mining

The Story Iron

is

of

Coal

freed from iron ore by heating

Coke

together with coke.

makes the furnace

hot. It

in a furnace

it

also acts as the fuel is

which

made from

a kind of coal

dug up out

of the ground.

called soft coal.

Coal

is

a black rock that

had

Coal, too,

its

is

beginning

when

great shallow seas

covered parts of the earth millions of years ago.

covered what nois

is

now

and Ohio. The

Pennsylvania,

air

West

grew

in the

into the

Virginia,

to the seas.

large.

Illi-

There were

Great forests of giant ferns

swamps. As time passed, plants died and

swamps. They rotted slowly

swamps. The rotted plants formed a

known

sea

was very hot and damp. The heat

and dampness made plants grow very

swamps next

A

in the

fell

water of the

thick, black paste.

More plants grew and died and rotted in the swamps. In this way layers of peat hundreds of feet thick were formed. Later, in some places,

This paste

is

as peat.

the sea rose and covered the layers of peat with sand.

The

layers of

peat, pressing

it

mud and

together.

sand pushed

mud and

down on

The water was squeezed out

of the peat, leaving the black rock called coal.

times the land rose out of the sea again. giant ferns

the

grew and rotted and 16

died.

New

Some-

forests of

Another layer of

New with mud

peat was formed.

seas rose

layer of peat

and sand.

was formed. Layers

known

1.

A

second layer of coal

formed

in this

way

as soft coal.

Giant ferns grew

the

of coal

and buried the second

in

swamps

2. Plants

died and

into the

swamps and

fell

rotted

3.

Layers of peat were

formed

1

The peat became when the water was squeezed out of it

4.

coal

MM How coal was formed

are

The Story

of

Limestone

In making iron a long time ago, part of the iron was

caught in a rocky mixture called wasted.

Now

slag.

This part was

saved with the help of limestone.

it is

made from

Some

of the

animals that live in the sea are shelled animals.

When

Limestone

is

a rock

shells.

they die their shells sink to the bottom of the sea, where they pile up. bits.

The

pile of shells breaks

Finally the pile of shells

mud. The weight

of the

up

into smaller

becomes a layer

water presses

down on

of white this

mud,

called limestone. In

some

of the places,

where limestone was formed there

aren't

any seas any

making a rock

longer. So the limestone

earth where

it

is

found near the surface of the

can be dug out 18

easily.

Limestone

is

usually

loose from the sides

mined

in

open

and bottom

of the pit. It

crushed into small lumps which are size.

Finally

it is

pits. It is

washed and ready

all

to

blasted is

then

about the same

be used

in iron-

making.

Limestone

way

is

sometimes mined in tunnels

as coal.

:?=

32=

Mining limestone

in

a tunnel

in the

same

Moving the Ore, Coal and Limestone After the iron ore, coal and limestone are mined, they

must be carried

making takes

Most States

to the steel mill,

used

ore

is

mines of the Lake Supe-

pit

The

pits.

The

ore

is

dumped

into

cars are then pulled to long ore docks.

stored in one of the

the ore dock.

steel-

Great steam shovels and electric shovels

scoop up the ore from the

The

and

ironmaking in the United

in

comes from the open

railroad cars.

iron-

place.

of the ore

rior district.

where

Then

ore

is

many

pockets which line

poured from these pockets into

the holds of the lake ships.

The

ships carry the ore to

ports near the steel mills. At the port, giant shovels with

clamshell buckets unload the ore into waiting cars.

scoop of the shovel can

fill

a whole car.

The

cars

One

dump

the ore on one of the piles at the steel mill.

Most

of the soft coal

used in coke making comes from

western Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, West Virginia and

Kentucky. Moving belts carry coal from the mines to the top of the

tall

carry the coal

coal-washing plant. More moving belts

down

down, the coal

is

to waiting railroad cars.

sorted

by

several times. Clean coal

The is

size

On

railroad cars carry the coal to the steel mill,

20

way

and washed and dried

makes a better kind

stored in large piles.

its

of coke.

where

it

Much Lakes.

limestone comes from pits near the Great

It is

iron ore

loaded and unloaded in the same way

which comes by lake

limestone

come by

ship.

as the

Other supplies of

railroad car to the steel mill. It

stored alongside the coal and ore.

Giant shovels unload ore 21

is

The Story

of

Coke

made from coal in special ovens called coking ovens. The ovens are high and narrow and are built in long rows. There are often 100 ovens in a row. The coal is heated in these ovens without any air. The ovens are Coke

is

heated by coal gas. Since there doesn't catch

very hot,

made

gives off gases.

it

Chemicals

and begin

fire

any

isn't

gases are piped away.

in the gases are taken out.

The chemicals

Then

are

and other useful

later into drugs, dyes, plastics

things.

the coal

As the coal gets

to burn.

The

air,

the gases are piped back to the coking

ovens to be burned in order to heat them. After the gas has been burned, left in

it

the ovens after the gas

gray in color.

It is

It is

becomes very

burns,

it

When

the coking

oven are opened.

is

hard and strong.

spaces like a sponge. it

The piped away

passes off as waste.

is

A

It

has

solid matter is

coke.

many

It is

little air

almost pure carbon, and

when

hot.

finished, doors at

both ends of the

large coke pusher pushes the hot

coke out of the oven into a waiting

car.

The

car carries

the coke to a special building. There sprays of water wet

and cool the coke. catch

fire in

If this

the open

air.

was not done, the coke would After the coke has cooled,

sorted and ready for use in the iron furnaces. 22

it is

Before coal was discovered, charcoal was used for heating the iron furnaces. Charcoal is carbon made by baking wood, very much the way coke is made

by bak-

ing coal.

Now

coke takes the place of the charcoal. Coal

is

loaded here

Gases are away

piped

Door

^11

Hot coke is pushed out here

Gases are piped back here

How

a coking oven works

Old blast furnace

The Story

The

first

iron that

of

Wrought Iron

was made was wrought

iron. Iron

ore and charcoal were heated together in a furnace. blast of air

some

from bellows made the

ores, the iron

is

fire

joined to oxygen.

burn very

A

hot. In

The hot charcoal

away from the iron, leaving the iron by itself. At the same time the heat melted the iron. Iron ore always has some sand mixed with it. Part of the iron took the oxygen

joined with the sand to form a rocky material called

The

slag.

solid

came out of the furnace was a pasty mixed with slag. It had to be hammered while it

was

still

was

lost

iron that

hot to squeeze the slag out of

with the

slag.

24

it.

A

lot of iron

hundred years ago the ironmakers of Belgium learned what to do so that they wouldn't lose any iron Six

with the

slag.

with the ore

They put limestone and charcoal. Then

into the furnace along

the limestone, instead

of the iron, joined with the sand to form the slag.

furnace was

made

The heavier

iron sank to the bottom of the furnace.

slag,

which was

lighter, floated

of the slag, all they

the iron. tall

To

had

on top

do was

to

let it

of

slag melted.

it.

To

The

get rid

flow off the top of

get the slag hot enough to melt, they used

round furnaces.

bottom

and

so hot that the iron

The

A

blast of air

of the furnace, to

Such a furnace

is

make

was blown

the

fire

called a blast furnace.

Bellows

in at the

burn very

hot.

The Story

of Pig Iron

A modern is

blast furnace

higher than a ten-story

building.

Near the

nace are the

blast fur-

piles

of ore,

limestone and coke. Next to the furnace stoves.

The

is

row

a

of tall

stoves are used

for heating the air that

be used

is

to

in the blast furnace.

Ore, coke and limestone are

coke and

\

in at the top of

the furnace by

limestone! [,;,'/

dumped

\

little

dump

which run along the

cars

sink to the

bottom and

t

tracks that slope

up

to the

top of the furnace from the

ground. Blasts of hot

air are

blown up from near the

tom

of the furnace.

bot-

The coke

burns and the mixture of ore, coke and limestone sinks to the bottom of the furnace.

The furnace

is

hottest at the

bottom. So, as the mixture sinks,

26

Modern

blast furnace

it

keeps getting hotter.

By

the time

it

has melted and

melted and off.

bottom

gets to the

come out

floats

on top

coke, limestone

iron

The

is

little

and ore

So while iron flows out

more

of the ore.

The

of the iron. It

In the meantime, the

more

of the furnace, the iron

dump

is

slag has also

easy to skim

cars

keep pouring

into the top of the furnace.

at the

bottom

of the furnace,

being made.

iron flows through a hole in the furnace into a

large ladle

which dumps

it

into a bottle-shaped car called

The mixer keeps the needed for making steel. Iron made in this way is called a mixer.

iron melted until

it

pig iron, and this

is

how into

it

got

its

name. At one time the melted iron flowed

a

row

of

little

of

it

forms.

baby pigs next

The row

to a

mother

of forms looked like a pig.

Melted iron

dumped

in

is

herei^

©© Mixer car

27

is

row

Making

The

first fast,

Steel

from Pig Iron

cheap way of making

steel

semer process. Pig iron has some carbon iron with

some

of the carbon taken out of

was the Besin

it.

it.

So

Steel

steel

is

can

be made from pig iron by taking part of the carbon out of the pig iron. This

is

done by blowing

air

melted pig iron in a Bessemer furnace. The the carbon burn. steel.

The

steel

is

What

is

left in

then poured

Gases given off by burned carbon

Inside a Bessemer furnace

the furnace

off.

over the

air

makes

is

melted

Another cheap way of making hearth furnace. The hearth

shaped

like a large

round

is

dish.

steel

is

in the

an open, shallow pool,

The pool

is

scrap iron and melted pig iron. Limestone the mixture.

Hot gases and

over the pool. They burn as

make

open-

filled is

with

added

to

come together and pass they flow over it. The flames air

the mixture in the pool hot enough to melt the

scrap iron and burn out the chemicals in the mixture that aren't wanted.

The limestone melts and forms

kV

Z.

,

WfA

*\

POT Gas

•

An open

hearth furnace

29

a slag.

The pool now contains melted on the top. The slag overflows melted

back molds

steel

into a small ladle.

steel flows into a giant ladle

of the furnace. in

which

it is

with slag floating

The melted

through a hole steel

is

at the

poured into

shaped and cooled. After the

has hardened in the molds, the molds are taken

A soaking

pit

The

off

steel

while

v

the steel

is still

ing pit where it

soft

red-hot.

it is

enough

to

into

wide

rolled.

by

flat sheets.

pieces called

steel

then put into a soak-

is

heated through and through to make

be

to different shapes

The

Next the

giant

Some

rolls. is

steel

Some

is

squeezed

steel

is

squeezed

squeezed into long narrow

billets.

—

,;

—

—

_

A

-+ ».

-^P-*

Giant

rolls

squeeze the

in-

steel into different

31

shapes

The Story

The end

of

Wire Rods

or cross section of a billet

or circle. Billets are used for

is

a small square

making some

steel pipe.

Billets are also

used for making the wire rods out of

which the wire

for wire nails

Billets for

they are pair of

still

rolls.

a potato

is

is

formed.

wiremaking are rolled several times while hot.

The

Each time they billet

is

are rolled

by a

squeezed by the

rolls

the

way

squeezed by a potato masher. The opening

between the

rolls is

smaller than the billet that

rolled.

So each rolling makes the

longer.

Each

ly,

different

the billet

rolling also is

makes the

billet

is

being

narrower and

steel stronger. Final-

squeezed out as a rod, and wound up

coils.

32

in

A The wire they can be

reel of

wire rod

rods must be cleaned of

made

into wire.

They

oil

and

dirt before

are cleaned

by

dip-

ping them into a chemical bath. They are then washed with fresh water. Next, the rods are made to ly they are

rust. Final-

dipped into a bath of lime and dried

in a very

hot oven. The heat of the oven makes the lime form a

very hard coating on the outside of the rods. The coat of rust

and lime on the rod makes the next step

making

easier.

33

of wire-

The Story

The wire

rods are

of Steel

made

Wire

into wire

by pulling them

through smaller and smaller holes. This drawing. The wire rods are drawn

They

are

drawn through

when

a hole in a die.

is

called wire

they are cold.

The coating

of

lime on the rod keeps the rod from sticking to the die.

Dies for drawing steel wire must be strongest steel.

Diamonds

made from

the very

are sometimes used in the

wire-drawing dies because they are the hardest things in the world.

spool near the

wound around a wire-drawing machine. One end of the

rod

The pointed end

To draw

wire, the cold coiled rod

pointed.

is

is

is

threaded through a

hole in the die of the wire-drawing machine, the

thread

is

way

put through the eye of a needle. This end

a is

then attached on the other side of the die to a drum that turns.

An

electric

motor turns the drum, pulling the rod

The rod becomes longer and narrower and is wound around the turning drum. The wire rod becomes steel wire. The steel wire is drawn several times. Each time it is pulled through a smaller hole. Each time through, the wire becomes narrower and through the hole in the

die.

longer.

When it

the wire passes through the wire-drawing die

becomes bright and

shiny. It also

34

becomes

stronger,

harder and

stiffer.

the wire cannot be

Sometimes

it

becomes

made any narrower by

fore this happens, the wire

cooled,

it

hard that

drawing. Be-

heated. After the wire has

is

can be drawn through the dies again. This

be done several times

.fS*3947

'

i. , Wire u has thousands

clips;

may

until the wire has the right thickCO. SCHOOLS

n6SS

paper

so

t

or uses. It

is

, used tor fences and

coat hangers and safety pins; needles and

spiral notebooks.

Much

Things

wire

is

used for making

made from 35

wire

nails.

Making the Nail Before the wire straightened. eral pairs of

is

used to make

straightened

It is

smooth

It is

must be

it

by passing through

sev-

rolls.

The straightened wire machine.

nails,

is

then fed into the nail-making

fed into the nail-making machine in jerks

by a feeding machine. Wire

nails are

made head

first.

A

gripper die holds

the wire firmly in place in the nail-making machine. little bit

mer

hits this bit of

of the die.

A ham-

wire with a hard blow, flattening the

die.

The

The hammer then

pulls

wire against the

head

end

of wire sticks out past the

A

flattened wire

becomes the

of the nail.

away from

the gripper die

and the die opens up. Then the feeding machine pushes

more wire through the

die.

Enough wire

through the die to make a

nail.

Now the steel jaws

gripper die close around the wire and pinch after the wire

cut the wire.

same time

is

pinched, two knives

The knives form

gripper die. the

it.

of the

Right

together and

the point of the nail at the

that they cut the wire.

The knives do not make Then

move

pushed

is

A

little

hammer

wire

is

their cut right next to the

left sticking

hits this bit of

of the next nail.

36

out past

wire to

make

its

end.

the head

The nail-making machine goes through these steps over and over again — hammer, push, cut; hammer, push, cut

—

as

it

makes

nail after nail.

This will

be the

head of the

nail

Rolls of

feeding

machine

.

.

.

.

when

the

hammer flattens t

against the

gripper die Knife

How

a

nail

machine works

37

Knife

-———-———

"^•- -ffiflf '

Finishing the Nail

When the nails

are cut

smooth. There are

by the

little

knives, the poinjts aren't

wire hairs, called whiskers,

where the wire was pinched and

cut.

After the nails have been cut off from the wire, they

drop into

moving

little

nails to bins.

The

carts.

These

little

carts carry the

bins tumble the nails around the

a clothes dryer tumbles the clothes inside

many

little

it.

way

There are

fingers that stick out all over the insides of

the bins. There

is

sawdust inside the

bins, too.

As the

bins turn, the nails rub against the sides of the bins. This shines the nails

be sticking

and breaks

off

the whiskers that

Any

oil

that

to them.

sticks to the

may be on

sawdust. Screens in the bins

let

may

still

the nails

the oily

sawdust and the whiskers drop out of the drum, but hold

back the

nails.

The

nails are

then ready for weighing and

packing.

A

may make many different kinds of wire nails. Each kind of nail is made by a different machine. Most wire nails are made by single-blow machines. The heads of nails made by single-blow machines are hit by the hammer only once. Single-blow machines can make as many as 700 nails in a minute. nail mill

38

Nails with very large heads are

made on double-blow

machines. Their heads are formed by two blows of the

hammer. Staples

and tacks are other kinds

of wire nails

made

by nail-making machines.

U. S.

Nail-making machine

St—

I

Corp.

Sterilized Nails

Tacks are small

nails

with big heads. They have very

sharp points.

man who

Tacks are used by the

lays carpets. Their

sharp points go through the carpet easily. They grip the

wooden

r

floor

under the carpet because

their shanks are

down

the carpet with-

not smooth. Their big heads hold

out tearing

it.

Because tacks are so small, the

lays carpets keeps a

works.

easier for

It is

mouth than

He

bunch

to

have

him

to

of

them

a tack.

hunt around

tacks around in his

He

mouth

in his pocket for

mouth with

uses his tongue to

mouth and then

to

his

it.

hand

move

the

push them out

he needs them. Because he keeps the tacks he uses

i

he

as

to take a tiny tack out of his

doesn't even have to touch his

when he needs

in his

man who

as

in his

mouth, they must be very clean. Tacks are sterilized

by putting

made very tacks.

make them clean. They are them into a drum which has been

sterilized to

hot.

The heat

The heat also

kills

the germs that are on the

changes the color of the wire from

which the tacks have been made. After the tacks have been

sterilized,

nails are called

they look blue. So sterilized tacks and

blued tacks and 40

nails.

The upholsterer who makes

sofas

and

chairs also keeps

tacks in his mouth. So upholsterer's tacks are blued.

The

lather

who

nails

down

the

wooden

strips

on the

wire for plaster walls keeps the lath nails in his mouth.

So lath

nails are blued, too.

41

Nails with

The farmer has going into the

Two

Feet and

to build fences to

fields that

No Head keep

his

cows from

he has planted with grain.

He

has to build fences around his chicken yard to keep his chickens from getting wire.

He fastens the

lost.

He

builds his fences out of

wire to fence posts with special wire

nails, called staples.

42

The farmer can use an ordinary wire fencing wire to fence posts. the nail part

he

is

using.

He

way into the fence Then he bends up

sticks out past the wire.

hammer and

He

nail for fastening

this

by hammering

post, just

below the wire

does

the part of the nail that

hits the nail

hard with

flattens the nail against the post.

his

The bent

nail holds the wire against the post.

A it

staple does the

better.

A

ends of the

staple

is

same job shaped

as a

bent

like the letter

U have very sharp points.

but

nail,

U.

it

does

The two

These are the

feet

The wire fencing that is to be fastened to the fence post is held in place by the bend in the U. The staple is hit hard with a hammer until it goes all the way

of the staple.

into the post.

Then

the

bend holds the wire

against the post.

43

tightly

Balloon-frame Houses

The people who settled in the western part of the United States had plenty of wood for building houses. Because nails were handmade and expensive, they didn't have many either,

that

nails.

There weren't enough carpenters,

who knew how

were used

for

to join the

heavy pieces

wood

of

making houses. Houses took a long

time to build. So people often had to live in shacks or

dugouts until their houses were finished.

The machine-made

changed

nail

this picture.

Car-

numwhenever

penters didn't have to worry any more about the

ber of nails they used. They could use nails

wood together. So a new kind of house began to be built. The frame of this new kind of house was made of long, light pieces of wood. The frame held up the roof and both floors of the house. Some people made fun of this way of building houses. They called the houses made this way "balloonthey wanted to join two pieces of

frame" houses, because they thought the frames weren't very strong. These people were wrong. These houses

were strong and easy

to build.

building was a church built in a the city of Chicago.

en houses built

It

in the

of light pieces of

was

The little

first

balloon-frame

town

that

became

built in 1833. Nearly all

wood-

United States since then are made

wood held

together by

44

nails.

Heavy pieces of wood held together by joints and pegs

A wooden Light pieces of

house 400 years ago

wood

held

together by nails

A modern wooden 45

house

x

PilescpjF

co

*

—

-

Coking ovens

—

™

-

Mixer car

Open

hearth

furnaces 11* (A

Limestone

pits

46

1

*

j

yTTTTTT]Xpl__^x\x

ioa wire from

f

l Hi \

I

ittZfr

Hot hardened steel

u-

li

WMu-

Picture story of a nai

47

WORD —A

Bellows er, it

Billet

blows

—A

blowing

tool for

LIST air.

When

pressed togeth-

air out.

long piece of iron from which an iron rod

is

made.

Coke is

Die

—A

solid fuel

coal without

air. It

almost pure carbon.

— A tool used for shaping something by cutting it or

squeezing Iron

made by baking

it.

—A

compound

chemical in which iron

is

joined to

other chemicals.

Limestone

—A

rock formed under the sea from piles of

old sea shells.

— A mineral from which a metal can be taken out. Peat — A pasty, black muck formed by rotted plants on Ore

swampy Pig iron

—

bon on

Wrought

ground. Iron

made

in a blast furnace. It has

some

car-

it.

iron

—A

soft iron that

mering.

48

can be shaped by ham-

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