"He is like a doctor ," said shift chief V. Koloskov about Petr Karlovich, tending to the work of the mill and knowing by the slightest sign its condit ions:"heal thy" or"compla in ing about something," a remarkable specialist.

A roll operator must have great knowledge and skill to stt ictlymaintain the production regime without allowing breakage. Petr Karlovich has all these qualities. The phrase, " to work like Gail i t" has become the slogan of the shop. This means to work well, with high efficiency, and to know the equipment perfectly.

Many kind words can be said about crane operator Kuznetsov, about Sinitskii, the senior roll operator of the dressing milt , about senior cutter Orishunov, pickler Taskaev, and about many other people in the second brigade. Each of them ,at his post,performs dear ly and conscientiously his job for the Motherland, contributing to the business of building Communism.

During our conversation, shift chief V. Koloskov named a figure of 10,000 tons of meta l - th i s is how much metal the brigade has produced over the plan from the beginning of the year to the opening of the 22nd Party Con- gress. Now this figure has become even more impressive. The shift chief named many reasons for such a success, but the main reason is that the people are industrious, persistent, untiring.

A G R E A T C O N T R I B U T I O N TO THE M A T T E R OF LABOR P R O T E C T I O N

P. D. E r m a k o v , Chief Technical I n s p e c t o r of t h e R e g i o n a l T r a d e - U n i o n C o u n c i l in M a g n i t o g o r s k

Translated from Metallurg, No. 1 p. 38, January, 1962

The adoption in the blast-furnace production of single-spout casting of pig iron and slag significantly increased safety and facilitated the work of the blast-furnace workers.,

The unsatisfactory design of the bott, the long channels, the numerous spouts of the troughs for tapping the pig i ron -a l l this greatly complicated the work of the hearth brigade. Frequently, improper attachment of the bott en- tailed flooding the hot pig-iron pathways with metal, Moreover, the heavy and dangerous work of tending numerous casts was accompanied now and then by unfortunate accidents.

A n analysis of industrial injuries in blast-furnace production showed that 25% of all accidents are due to tend- ing the channels and bott. These injuries are mainly to the extremeties,with more than half of the injuries being those to the legs.

The numerous manual operations of preparing the channels (heavy physical work under conditions of high heat radiation and temperatures) was unfavorably reflected on the over-all condition of the workers.

All this compelled a vigorous search for ways to control the botts at a distance or to replace them with other, better mechanisms. Thus,there were two problems:

1) To prevent accidents which arise when tapping the pig iron and slag', with the use of more botts;

2) To ensure safety and facilitate the work of the hearth attendants.

The introduction of single-spout casting of the pig iron and slag solved enormously greater problems than those that faced the authors of the project. First of all, the length of the channel was reduced by 20 running meters for one cast per day and by 180 running meters for 9 casts per day; the volume of hot scrap removal was reduced; the need for botts and the locomotive brigade to be in the dangerous zone during casting was eliminated; the amount of frit- ting material was decreased, etc.

8ingle-spout casting made it possible to reduce injuries (there was not a single accident in the blast-furnace shop of the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine in four years) and also to change from seven casts of pig iron per

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day to nine. Several blast furnaces at the combine are already operating on a nine-cast schedule of pig iron. How- ever, the existing single-spout installations have a number of shortcomings from the point of view of safety factors and indnstrial sanitation.

As is known, two methods for single-spout casting exist: with the use of a rocking trough and with the use of a traveling trough. The first of these (Chelyabinsk Metal lurgical Plant) requires, from our point of view, greater labor expenditures, since the trough is insufficiently compact and when it is transferred from one ladle to another excessive dynamic loads are created on the l ining, leading to its destruction and the need for frequent repair . Casting with the use of a traveling trough (Magnitogors k Metal lurgical Combine) is associated with smaller expenditures for repair since i t yields a smoother transfer of me ta l from one trough to another.

I t is also necessary to observe the rules of safety when moving the ladles at the t ime of casting. Movement can be accomplished by means of a locomotive, pusher, or an endless cable. Locomotive delivery of the ladles at the t ime of tapping is imperfect from the point of view of safety, since the locomotive brigade is found under un- satisfactory conditions. Moving the ladies by means of a pusher similar to that now used in the open-hearth shop also does not satisfy the requirements of safety techniques.

The instal lat ion of a reversing winch with an endless cable is the best. But for this it is necessary to pay at - tention to the method of fastening the clevis of the moving mechanism to the ho t -meta l cars.

The a t tachment of the clevis of the pull cable on the carriage of the ho t -me ta l ear should be simplif ied.

It is especial ly necessary to devote attention to the organization of signal devices. For the proper coordination of the work between those part icipating in arranging the ladles and the hearth brigades, it is necessary to use l ight and sound signals and loud-speaker communicat ion. For this purpose a l l installations a!ong the t ravel of the ladies should have red and green signal lights, l ight panels (e lectr i f ied writing), a cal l ing system, and two-way signals be - tween the control panel for the trougl~ and the posts along the tracks. I t is also desirable to have magnitophone de- vices, interlocked with the moving mechanism of the trough and ladles.

Working experience has shown that the ho t -me ta I cars should be stationed not later t ha : 40 rain before the start of pig iron casting. The reserve t ime makes i t possible to check whether the ladle is well prepared and proper- ly arranged.

In order to protect the workers from industrial injuries i t is extremely necessary to install a canopy over the pig iron and slag casting site which has an exhaust for gases and for removal of graphite and dust from them, to cover the pig iron trough behind the skimmer, and to insulate the slag troughs three meters from the top hole. The working site, when repairing the troughs during the hot season of the year, should be provided with an air blower.

When faci l i ta t ing the work of the hearth attendants, one must not forget the quality of the tap hole mater ia l used for plugging the hearth channel and trough. According to the opinion of file Magnitogorsk workers, the carbon- aceous mate r ia l of the Dneprovskii Carbon Plant (Zaporozh'e) has good durability; its use make i t possible to cut in half the labor of the hearth attendants. I t is true, however, that i t is necessary to install something to remove the gases when heating the ma te r i a l and also tamping mechanisms (e lec t r ica l vibrators). The resolntion of the Al l -Un- ion Conference of Blast-Furnace Operators (Magnitogorsk, 1960) recommended the introduction at a l l plants (where possible) of single-spout casting of pig iron and slag; this wil l increase the productivity of labor, improve the work- ing conditions, and ensure safety when casting pig iron and slag into ladies.

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