Mutual Effects Of Metallurgy And Speed In The Automotive Industry

IT has been stated and accepted for many years that the automotive industry was the instigator, the principal sponsor for and the largest user of alloy steel and nonferrous alloys. The only universally recognized standard specifications and heat-treatments for these materials are those adopted by the Society of Automotive Engineers. It is this same auto-motive industry that has been the chief inspiration for and consumer of modern production machine tools. The production curve of steel ingots is more sensitive to fluctuations in automotive production than any other influence or group of influences. In every other important steel-con-suming industry, automotive materials and automotive processes are the outstanding features of modern progress. In this connection I need only mention the prefabrication of buildings, following the automotive system of straight-line, interchangeable mass production; the motorization of ships and railroads, employing automotive types of prime movers; the production of pressed-steel stoves, plumbing and furniture by methods originated in the automobile-body industry and the extensive use of rubber for the cushioning of all manner of machinery as pioneered by the automotive and tire industries. Dr. Jeffries has brought out this point in his address (p. 21), assuring us that the transportation industry is the largest user of these materials. In the transportation industry, or as we might more accurately express it, the transportation group of industries, the. automotive industry pre-dominates as a user of light alloys. One out of every four tons of aluminum produced is consumed by the automotive industry. Similarly, the automotive industry ranks first in the consumption of the following metallurgical materials: steel, 24.04 per cent; malleable iron, .57; alloy steels, 72.2; nickel, 30; lead, 39 per cent.