When the tongs of the big overhead crane have lifted the white-hot ingot out of the soaking pit it is run back and forth through the rolls which are forced nearer and nearer together by the “screw-down” man so that the piece continually becomes thinner and much longer with each pass. Tables made up of small rollers geared together receive the long piece as it emerges from the rolls. After each pass they bring the piece back to the rolls which are now turning in the opposite direction. The table on the other side repeats the process, the piece being regularly turned on edge or slid from one side of the rolls to the other by steel guides which can be raised up between the rollers of the tables where desired. The direction of these as well as of the rolls themselves is controlled through levers by two or three men standing at one side of the mill. Reversing after each pass, with the big ingot apparently turning and sliding itself into the most advantageous position for the next entry, the big engine, mill and roll-train seem almost human. [Illustration: INGOT IN THE ROLLS ] The Rolling of Steel Plates It is manifestly impossible in the space at disposal to give in much detail the rolling of many of the better known products. Fortunately it is not necessary, for after description of the making of plate, pipe and tube, and of rod and wire, the rolling of other forms such as rails, bars, and the structural shapes, I beams, channels, angles, Z bars, etc., can well be imagined. [Illustration: STEEL BILLETS FOR FORGING OR OTHER PURPOSES ] From the contract department to the mill clerk come the orders for plate, with detailed list of sizes and thicknesses, and definite specifications of quality in terms of chemical and physical requirements, etc. [Illustration: ROLLING INGOT INTO SLABS ] After studying these, the clerk makes requisition upon the open-hearth furnace for such tonnages of steel of various compositions as he estimates will give him sufficient stock for his purposes. As soon as possible the steel is made and poured into ingots which are transferred to the soaking pits of the slabbing mill there to await disposition as soon as the chemical laboratory has made analysis of the sample taken and has reported by telephone the result to the clerk who ordered the material. If close enough to the composition he ordered, he sends to the slabbing mill his requisition ordering them to roll and cut the four or six ingots of the “heat” into slabs of definite weights, each one designed for a plate on a customer’s order. The clerk at the slabbing mill determines to what width and thickness each ingot shall be rolled and in what varying lengths it is to be cut to furnish slabs of the definite weights ordered in the requisition.