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By Ron SimonSHELBY — If there was one thing to remember about living on Shelby's west or south sides, it was that noise. As long as you heard it. all was well. If it stopped, you might even wake up in the middle of the night wondering what was wrong. It might take a while to figure it out. but when you did, it was because the sound wasn't there.And you wondered why.•The sound was the clear, sharp clang of steel on steel, of seamless steel tubes hitting one another or clanging down the roller line. Instead of being a nuisance, it became as commonplace as the sound of crickets at night. Along with the sound of train whistles in the night, it was almost soothing. It was the sound of Shelby at work. It was the “Tuby.★The title is. Ohio Seamless Tube Division of Copperweld Steel Co. It has been called the Tubeworks. but that usually is shortened to the Tuby. It was a familiar, almost affectionate term for the city's oldest industry.Shelby, of course, had other industries and once had a big Air Force Depot, but the Tuby'’ had a special place, made a special product and gave Shelby industrial fame It was a very large part of Shelby's life.On summer nights, the sound of crashing steel carried sharply and youngsters would gather beneath a residential light poie and talk about the sweltering heat. Someone would always ask. “What's the hottest place in Shelby?' And the answer was always, “The Hot Mill-''When seamless tube was riding high, the hot mill was the heart of the operation. Here the big furnaces roared with hellish heat to turn the steel billets white hot. Shelby's steelworkers, a unique breed, would send the white hot billets to the Piercing Machine where the billets . begin turning into tubes by a method neither they or metallurgists fully undertood. then or now.From there, the rough tubes head for the traditional plug or modern assel mills to be lenghtened and finished inside and out to a customer's specifications.Once, seamless tube was this plant's only product, today. electric welded tubing has come into its own and can also be used in hydraulic equipment, presses and medical fields.*But seamless steel tube is still important, particularly in the energy field where the tubing shields oil well drills.The “Tuby employes 300 men and women these days and once employed as many as 1.500 in the 1920s. There are an average of 50 men and women employed in the hot mill. But tonnage figures are carefully guarded. Steel is a competitive industry and the hot mill is going most of thetime. Julian Barnard, head man for Dublic relations atAthe company, said there were once three hot mills, but one produces a great deal more seamiess tubing today than three did in the 1920s. And it is just as hot as ever.The operation there begins when solid carbon and alloy steel tube is hauled in by rail cars, inspected and cut into billets of predetermined lengths. They are fed into a huge rotary hearth furnace. The heat gets up to 2.200 degrees.Once they are white hot, they move to a hydraulic punch where they are centered and then sent to the piercer.Steel billets are not really pierced in this device and no one. not even metallurgists, really are sure just what happens. Barnard said that the steel billet is rolled and the right combination of rolling, angle and heat causes the billet to fracture and eventually open up into a tube.From there, the billet, now a tube, goes on to other lines where it will be shaped, lengthened, shortened, reheated and refined until it becomes what the customer wants.Before seamless tubing, all steel tubes were rolled from a fiat piece of steel and welded in some manner. Barnard said. There were problems with this kind of tubing that made it unsatisfactory.Then. someone, fooling with heat, with rolling and other methods, made the discovery of seamless steel making. That event occurred in Germany in the 1880s and the secret found its way to Engiand.In the United States, there were attempts to make seamless tuhe. but commercial ventures failed. Bicycle builders here decided to resort to slicker methods. They found an English engineer named Truman. Barnard recalled. and shipped him to Shelby. “Build a plant. they ordered. Truman, secret plans- in hand and money in pocket, did just that. The Tubeworks rose in 1890 and a work force was hired. But Truman had a trick up his sleeve. The machinery was there, but only he knew how to make it work. There were negotiations, but in the end. Truman left with the plans. *There was the workforce, but not a steelman among them, all mechanics and artisans with no experience. Barnard notes with pleasure that they went ahead, hit or miss, until the first seamless tube rolled off the line. It isprobably just as well theyweren't steel workers. Barnard said, because making seamless steel tubing took a special kind of expertise and it was just as well they learned from the ground up. They made steel by the seat of their pants, and grew like Topsy.So successful was the Shelby plant that it finally absorbed 14 other fledgling seamless steel plants in the country and became a giant.This naturally attracted the attention of J-P. Morgan and Henry Clay Frick of U.S-Steel and that greatest of monopolies swallowed up the seamless steel industry.In 1908. the Tuby burned down, but local citizens, along with big money from Detroit and elsewhere, rebuilt the plant.By this time. Shelby'ssteelworkers had gained renown. Barnard recalls that when a big steel plant in Pittsburgh got into technical trouble, they sent to Shelby and a foreman and 40 workers took the train to Pittsburgh. Barnard recalls their technical expertise saved that plant, but he doesn't like to mention names. They're one of our competitors now. he chuckled.The plant has grown slowly over the years, an addition here and another there. In 1952. it became a division of Copperweld Steei Co.The plant supplies seamless and welded tubing for gears, bearings, cylinders, axles, landing gear assemblies. motor parts, farm machinery. power tools and components for machinery of just about every' description.Ali this meant growth and stability for Shelby, as the town and the “Tuby grew together. And many Shelbi-ans go to bed each night, still going to sleep to the distant sound of steel on steel. The “Tuby works while the city sleeps and the noise is like a town crier telling all and sundry that All's Well.
Newspaper Details
News Journal
Mansfield, Ohio, US
Sun, Apr 20, 1975
Page 32
Full Page
Clipped by
Porter C.
IN, USA 04 Sep 2018
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