Mech Prop of old forged steel shaft, yr 1912 USA 1

[brmech]

Does anyone know the approximate mechanical properties of forged steel operating machinery shafts around the year 1912 from Strobel Steel Construcion Co., Chicago Ill? That is all the information known on the technical drawing.

 

[schmidjo]

Possibly you could go to a library (university with engineering program library) and they hopefully might have some old machinery's handbooks. Most likely such a book would have forged shaft properties.

-John

 

[TowerEngineer]

I have in my possession a copy of AISC's "Iron and Steel Beams 1873 to 1952". In this source it lists the year, manufacturer, and allowable unit stress for wrought iron and steels manufactured in the early 1900's. There were approximately 23 iron and steel producers in the US prior to 1912.

I recommend that you contact the American Institute of Steel Construction to obtain one of these useful sourcebooks.

Allowable unit tensile stresses for steels produced in the early 1900's were generally limited to 16000 psi for building structures, and 12500 psi for bridges or towers in which cyclic loading or moving loads occurred.

Steel tensile strength produced just prior to 1912 generally ranged from 50 to 60 ksi with yield strength approximately 1/2 T.S. These steels should have been produced under ASTM A7 or ASTM A9.

Considering the time-frame in which your steel was produced, I would seek the advice of someone at AISC to see if they can make a recommendation with regard to what allowable stresses should be used. In today's steel design practice, steel shear stress is generally limited to 30 percent of yield for non-cyclic loading.