Hello Peter,

Thank you for your information. I will look into this process.

Sincerely,
Manfred Haissig

if all your going to make is deox its really easy to do on a properzi. quality requirements are almost nil.

Peter,

You Southwire and Western Electric but wasn't it Southwire and Westinghouse?

rb

Hi Spectre,

Here is a quotation from the published Southwire history where I believe I may have got some of the information in the first place:

"In 1963, the wiremaking industry was revolutionized when the Western Electric Company joined with Southwire to successfully adapt the continuous aluminum method to copper. Today, half of the copper rod for electrical wire and cable is made using Southwire's patented Southwire Continuous Rod (SCR) method."

Likewise the WAI Nonferrous Wire Handbook Volume 1 (1977 printing and no longer in print.) Yves B. Bonnamour, then Manager, Rod Technology for Aluminum, Southwire Co. wrote:

"During the fifties and sixties, five Properzi aluminum systems were installed and improved by Southwire. In 1969, the first aluminum Southwire Continuous Rod (SCR) system designed by Southwire in association with Morgan Construction Company, was put into operation in Southwire's Kentucky Rod and Cable mill plant."

I therefore have no understanding of any Westinghouse connections.

Best Regards,
Peter J. Stewart-Hay
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com

Peter,

Sorry, was not trying to contradict:

In 1968 I went to work for General Cable in Buena Vista, VA. After a couple of years in the Army, I returned to my first job and at that time, about 1971, Westinghouse was building a new plant in Abingdon, VA about 250+ miles or so from the GCC plant. We bought continuous cast copper rod from them. GCC and Westinghouse had an agreement to not "steal" employees or hire someone that was working for the other.

Several years later I was working for Hudson and a fellow engineer had worked for Southwire. We took a trip up to Westinghouse and got the complete tour. They gave us a nice booklet (which if I can find will double check) that told all about their continuous casting system. Additionally they told us that they were the primary contributor to the design and that Southwire was the fabricator. The former Southwire engineer I worked with said the same. In Abingdon they called it a WCR System and at Southwire they called it an SCR system.

Years later I visited Southwire and to me they looked a lot alike.

rb

Hi again Richard,

It would seem that the 1971 Westinghouse copper rod plant was some 8 years after the Western Electric - Southwire collaboration in 1963. Perhaps Westinghouse made a lot of design changes to the SCR system while it was under construction at Abington, VA and thereby renamed the variant as WCR.

It is a very interesting story and it would be terrific if a Southwire employee or former Abington employee would add to it.

Best Regards,
Peter J. Stewart-Hay
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com