Columbia Steel marks its centennial year of foundry operation despite national, local hardships. (North America).Celebrating 100 years of operation last August, Columbia Steel Casting Steel casting is a manufacturing process in which molten metal is poured into a mold, allowed to solidify within the mold, and then the mold is broken and the solid piece is taken out. Co., Inc., Portland, Oregon, has been part of the U.S. longer than Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico New Mexico, state in the SW United States. At its northwestern corner are the so-called Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah meet at right angles; New Mexico is also bordered by Oklahoma (NE), Texas (E, S), and Mexico (S). and Oklahoma have. The foundry also has survived the Great Depression, two World Wars, a flood in Verb 1. flood in - arrive in great numbers arrive, come, get - reach a destination; arrive by movement or progress; "She arrived home at 7 o'clock"; "She didn't get to Chicago until after midnight" 1948 and a fire in 1957. Originally called the Columbia Engineering Works in 1901, it was the only steel foundry in the Northwest. Columbia started in a block-long building and melted steel using the coal-fired Bessemer process Bessemer process (bĕs`əmər) [for Sir Henry Bessemer], industrial process for the manufacture of steel from molten pig iron. The principle involved is that of oxidation of the impurities in the iron by the oxygen of air that is blown . It catered to the logging, agriculture and mining operations in that area. Eventually the jobbing foundry expanded into the gold dredging industry beyond the Northwestern states. Today's plant in Portland now encompasses 15 buildings combining engineering, patternmaking patternmaking In materials processing, the first step in casting and molding processes, the making of an accurate model of the part, somewhat oversize to allow for shrinkage of the cast material as it cools. , molding and coring, foundry, heat treating, machining, and large-scale fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. and quality assurance facilities. Part of Columbia Steel's ability to persevere can be attributed to not relying on one market; it has diversified and sought new markets at every opportunity. The foundry produces castings from 4-40,000 lb for markets in the aggregate, metallic mining, cement, open pit coal mining, scrap shredding and coal-fired power plant industries. Columbia went on to make manganese steel by the duplexing method. Currently, its proprietary alloys include standard and premium manganese steels, high strength martensitic steels, chromium molybdenum steels, high chromium alloy irons, heat resistant stainless steels and carbon steels. |
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