LUBRICATION ON THE FACTORY FLOOR

AT the British Steel Corporation's Orb Works, at Newport, Gwent, it used to be customary to use mineral oil for lubricating steel strip during rolling. However, following a serious fire, it was decided to eliminate this hazard by using a non‐flammable oil. At first, a mixture of oil and water was tried, but this fell back on to the hot steel strip, the water separated out and rust occurred. It was necessary to use certain inhibitors and then to maintain the correct mixture ratio of oil, water and inhibitors.