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Show Consolidated Western Steel Planning for Larger Plant, Expansion Possible Next Year The Consolidated Western Steel Division, United States Steal Corp., plans an expansion of its Utah pipe mill facilities, possibly next year, Charles W. Lee, division president, pres-ident, said Tuesday. Mr. Lee announced the plana' during a visit at the firm's plant south of Pleasant Grove. Consolidated, Mr. Lee indicated, is seeking bids on the Glen Canyon Can-yon Dam Project, which would increase plant capacity at the pipe mill north of Geneva by 20 per cent and require the hiring' of an estimated 100 more men. More than 2,500 miles of large and small diameter steel pipe have rolled fr cm the Utah pipe mill of the Consolidated Western Steel Division since the plant commenced operations two yeai-s ag-o, Charles W. Lee, president of this U.S. Steol division, revealed here today. Mr. Lee, here to host a press visit to the big new plant, where pipe from four inces to 36 inches in diameter is manufactured, predicted pre-dicted a continued high level of operations op-erations for the plant and the pipe (Continued on page 6) Plant to Expand (C3ontinued from page 1) industry in general for the balance of 1957. "We're very optimistic about tho future," Mr. Loe said. "When wc first announced plans to build this mill, we said it would put us in a good position both geographically and productionwise to meet the demand de-mand for large diameter transmission transmis-sion line pipe; and it has. "Last year we started operating operat-ing our small diameter pipe mill to supply resistant weld line and water wat-er pipe to users throughout the plained. "Since that time, we have added additional service facilities for coating and wrapping small intermountain west," Mr. Lee ex-diameter ex-diameter pipe and, at the present time, we're well along with installation install-ation of a plant which will form special couplings fo .rsmall diameter dia-meter pipe, thus greatly increasing the service we oan provide to our oustomers when they need it." Pipe is manufactured in two 980 foot long work bays located side by side under more than five pipe is made from steel plates produced pro-duced at United States Steel's neighboring Geneva Works. This steel represents plate tonnage formerly for-merly shipped by Columbia-Geneva to other fabricating divisions of Consolidated Western for operations opera-tions now consolidated at 'this new Utah mill. The plates, ranging in thickness from three sixteenths to five eighths ,cf on inch, are edged in a planer, formed into shape by heavy U-ing and O-ing presses, then welded inside and outside by the submerged arc weld method. Finally, the sections of pipe, normally nor-mally 40 feet in length, move to a giant expansion press where they are expanied as much as three-eighths three-eighths of an inch in diameter dur-in dur-in ghydraulic testing and truing opeiratioins.. The big pipe is produced pro-duced in sizes from 20 inches to 36 inches in diameter,, depending on customer's orders. An end seaming seam-ing welding machine, designed by CW engineers, was added to large diameter mill equipment last year. This operation welds two of the 40 foot long sections together into an 80 foot length of pipe, saving field welding and testing upon customer cus-tomer specifications. Small diameter pipe, ranging in sizes from four inches to 12 inches in diameter, , is produced in the second wairk bay, beside the large diameter mill. Here coils of steel srip from Geneva are slit into correct width for the various pipe sizes, prepared iand rolled into lengths of pipe up to 60 feet long in a continuous operation, which utilizes util-izes a continuous resistant welding machine and a flyig lathe which cuts the pipe to length without interrupting production. H. M. Thomas, a veteran steel-man steel-man from Texas, who served as assistant project superintendent on on the construction of the plant, is superintendent. Thomas J. Boast-field, Boast-field, a CW sales engineer, recently re-cently has transferred to Utah as U. S. Steel's newest addition to the intermountain west. j |