United States Steel Corporation

Associated Materials, Inc.

Frank W Bakewell

Charles D Stricker

Thomas E Nicely

C Donald Stricker

Wayne L Briney

A process for producing steel wire for tire cord includes providing a brass coating on the wire containing from about 54 to about 65% copper and from about 46 to about 35% zinc. The weight of the coating is within the range of from about 2.5 to about 13.0 grams per kilogram of wire. The coated wire is heated at a temperature of at least about 650.degree. F. for a time sufficient to reduce the hardness of the coating to a range of 40 to 70 Rockwell B. The heat treated wire is then cold reduced to final thickness. The wire subjected to this treatment has significantly improved drawability and greater coating continuity. In another aspect, an improved steel wire product for tire cord applications is provided when the brass coating contains from about 54 to about 62% copper and from about 46 to about 38% zinc and the coating weight is within the range of from about 7.0 to about 13.0 grams per kilogram of wire. The wire having these harder coatings is subjected to the aforementioned heat treatment to enable it to be drawn to final size. The wire having such coating exhibits a pull-out force of at least about 150 new tons when it is embedded in certain rubber formulations, cured and then subjected to a steam aging test for an exposure of 48-hours.

Process for producing brass-coated steel wire for the tire cord

In the hot-dip coating of wire, a sinker assembly is utilized for guiding the wire during its travel through the molten metal bath. The outer perimeter or bearing surface around which the wire is wrapped is composed of alumina or other refractory segments housed within the sinker assembly. The discrete segments are provided with a small clearance to permit some movement, within the confines of the housing, along the locus of the wire travel. The outer surface of the discrete segments is grooved, so that the wire wrapped therearound bears solely on the internal sides of the groove.

Sinker assembly for hot-dip coating applications

The subject invention provides an improvement in split gas-wipe apparatus, which, although not limited thereto, is normally used in coating or cleaning applications on wire, rod, or strand. The conventional apparatus has two segments hinged along an outer edge parallel to the passline of the wire or rod. The segments have mateable half-conical guides on their entry side which, when contacted by joints in the workpieces, cause rotation of one segment, the other normally being fixed, so that the joints have sufficient space to automatically pass through. The improvement of this invention involves providing pivoted mounting means replacing the hinged joint, the mounting providing an axis of rotation for one of the segments in a plane normal to the passline and substantially spaced therefrom. Advantageously, much larger joints may pass through the apparatus. Furthermore, better guiding is achieved since the guide of the rotated segment remains centered in a plane through the passline and center of the guide of the fixed segment. Thus, the workpieces do not become dislodged from the guides when the segment is rotated, as tends to happen in the conventional apparatus when the joints are more than several times larger than the workpiece cross section.

Gas-wipe apparatus for automatically passing larger joints in tandem

A system is provided for the electrolytic cleaning of metal wire which is arranged generally in horizontal, overlapped non-concentric loop form. The system includes a container for holding an electrolyte, means for conveying the wire in loop form through the electrolyte, and a plurality of tandem electrodes of opposite polarity separated by non-conductive barriers. The elongated electrodes include a wrap-around portion at each of their opposite ends. Each wrap-around portion provides from 5 to 35 percent additional electrode area which enables more effective cleaning to be accomplished adjacent the outer edges of the wire loops.

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Apollo, PA, United States of America

Frank W Bakewell