Waterjet Cutting

Waterjet cutting (or more accurately abrasivejet cutting) is one of the useful and unique metal fabrication services available at American Metalcraft Industries.

Abrasivejets have been used in industry since 1982. The precursor to abrasivejets, waterjets, have been in use since 1970. Abrasivejets are used by industries such as the automobile, aerospace, and glass industries, to create precision parts from hard-to-cut materials.

An abrasivejet pressurizes water up to 55,000 pounds per square inch (psi) [379,000 kiloPascals (kPa)] and then forces it through a small sapphire orifice at 2500 feet (762 meters) per second, or about two and half times the speed of sound.

Garnet abrasive is then pulled into this high-speed stream of water, and mixed with the water in a long ceramic mixing tube. A stream of abrasive-laden water moving at 1000 feet per second (305 meters/sec) exits the ceramic tube. This jet of water and abrasive is then directed at the material to be machined. The jet drags the abrasive through the material in a curved path and the resulting centrifugal forces press the particles against the work piece. The abrasivejet's cutting action is a grinding process, but rather than using a solid grinding wheel, the forces and motions of the cutting action are provided by water.

Long regarded as a tool for trained experts, abrasivejets have changed dramatically in the last few years. New technologies have made it possible for fabrication shops to offer this technology for their customers. Many don't, but American Metalcraft does!

Illinois Steel Corporation Supervisors Picnic

An intersting look at industrial corporate life, this film documents the Carnegie Illinois Steel Corporation Homestead Division (one of the top steel companies in Illinois) supervisors picnic at the Lithuanian Country Club. At the picnic, the men enjoy playing baseball and horseshoes, eating traditional picnic fare like corn on the cob, and trying their hand at company picnic games. A piece of Illinois steel manufacturing history, this amateur film gem that shows off the culture of steel mill workers in the 1940s.

To Each Other

This promotional film sponsored by the United States Steel Company promotes the idea that the steel industry was contributing greatly to the World War 2 war effort by making the weapons, munitions, and tools that soldiers needed to fight and survive. Though the film is a blatant attempt to win support for U.S. steel, it offers some precious glimpses of the history of steel making and the history of the steel industry. Oscar-winning character actor Walter Brennan plays a steelworker who claims to support his WWII soldier son (also a former steelworker) by working in the U.S. steel industry. As a World War Two steel manufacturer, Brennans character explains to his son the new technology and modern advances made possible by the steel industry in order to protect him while he is abroad fighting. Steelworkers that toiled in mills across the nation had a major impact on World War II, and this short film captures that effort.

Bridge for the Yaque

Bridge for Yaque is an informative historical description of the U.S. Steel manufacturing company constructing a bridge in the Dominican Republic. There is no bridge over the North Yaque River in Santiago, and the building of this bridge is an important part of Dominican Republic History. The film details how the designers must account for many factors, including the traffic demands and topography of the region. What they will then begin is a superb example of 20th century bridge building. Once the engineers of the bridge building company have checked all aspects of the design, the earthmoving will begin. Large amounts of earth are displaced in order to create the build up to the bridge deck. They will use aggregate from the river and mix it in with the concrete, taking advantage of local resources when possible. In a daring bit of construction work, a dam has to be constructed to enable the use of a crane in the middle of the river! All the work will be done so that the bridge is symmetrical from one side to the other. Once the steel structure is secure, the reinforced concrete bridge deck is put in place. Concrete is poured over, and a vibrator is used to reduce air voids between the concrete and the rebar. It is brushed, wetted, and cured, which is a key to building a strong bridge. This is a great look at historical bridge engineering.

Valley Town

Valley Town is a social documentary directed by Willard Van Dyke and was commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloane foundation during Sloanes management of General Motors. It explores the effect of industrialization on American towns. A great piece of documentary filmmaking, Valley Town is the fictionalized boomtown that is created by machines, but is then destroyed by newer machines that make its workers obsolete. The effects of industrialization on population are devastating. An extremely sensitive and well made film, Valley Town portrays the shattered lives of the factory workers and their wives and children through haunting images of industrialization in America. Meditative shots of the demolished factory and its crestfallen workers is overlaid with beautiful songs sung by the workers wives. Because of its message - the irresponsibility of large corporations was largely to blame for catastrophes of this nature - Sloane pulled it from post-production and had it edited to cast corporations in a better light and promote a new message of educating workers in order to keep them from becoming unemployable. This is an important moment in the history of General Motors. Still, the film retains the better part of its criticism of evil corporate America and captures the average lifestyle during industrialization in America.

U.S. Steel Commercials

A look at the advertising and marketing efforts of U.S. Steel, this video consists of rare historic steel industry commercials that you cant find elsewhere on DVD.

Steel: The Hardest Metal in the World

Steel manufacturing has been a vital American industry for decades, and here in Steel: The Hardest Metal in the World, viewers are treated to an eye opening look at the history of steel production. In this exacting promotional film detailing hazardous working conditions, first the liquid pig iron is heated to 2600 degrees, and then sent down a chute to be formed (this is what pig iron is used for, mostly). After cooling, the iron hardens into steel ingots. The ingot form is then rolled into elongated sheets by the steel mill workers. This entire process is being watched by inspectors to ensure the quality of the product, though it illustrates unsafe working conditions in the 1900s. Not entirely automated, there are men inside the factory that must manually work machines in these adverse conditions. Afterwards, the steel is cut by a secret metal that is tougher than steel. In fact, it cuts through adamantine steel as if it were cheese, generating a lot of heat in the process. Steel: The Hardest Metal in the World is a prime example of historic cases of unsafe working conditions in American factories.