Page 34: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 15, 1973)

Bath Iron And Maryland Ship

To Install Key Houston, Inc.

New Concept Blasting System

A new concept that is resolving an old prob- lem has gained Key Houston two contract awards from major East Coast shipbuilding firms.

The total $650,000 worth of contracts for

Key Houston, Inc., 1231 Shadowdale, Houston,

Texas, is for equipment being installed in $3- million worth of all-weather facilities at Bath

Iron Works shipbuilding yards at Bath, Maine, and the Baltimore yards of Maryland Ship- building Company, a division of Fruehauf Cor- poration.

The Final Blasting Facilities System, as designed by James A. Giese, president of the

Houston manufacturing Company, is housed in a totally enclosed building about the size of a football field. A section of a ship is moved into the building and the section is then more easily iblasted and coated.

The concept is quite simple, according to

Mr. Giese. It incorporates a shallow subfloor as a feature element of its design, which Key has patented in the United States and 27 foreign countries. With the new concept, the shallow subfloor has only a slant at the sides.

A rubber slide sweeps the shot to a conveyor and the material is quickly reclaimed. The abrasive material is shot, collected, processed, classified and readied for re-use in 90 seconds, all mechanically.

The importance of the new concept is that the enclosed facility permits continuing pro- duction even in the most inclement weather.

Conventional blasting equipment had to be used outdoors, and in cold or rainy weather production had to be shut down with subse- quent production work delayed. According to

Mr. Giese, the economic advantages in the factor alone are enough to warrant the instal- lation of the system.

In addition, the facility offers ecological benefits since it greatly reduces the kind of pollutants that are emitted in open-air opera- tions.

The system for blasting and coating is housed in a totally enclosed building. The abrasive material is reclaimed and readied for re-use in 90 seconds, all mechanically.

Key Houston, Inc. manufactures a full line of industrial blasting equipment with special emphasis on the marine industry. Its units are in use in most of the major shipyards in the United States. Several other yards are reportedly negotiating with Key for compar- able systems. In Europe, Key Houston's sub- sidiary Key Europe is negotiating for several major facilities in Spain and Portugal.

U. Of Mich. Offers Course On

Fluid Flow Considerations For

Land And Sea Transportation

The University of Michigan, College of En- gineering, is offering a course on "High Speed

Land and Sea Transportation, Fluid Flow Con- siderations" on October 18 and 19, 1973.

The fee for the course is $125, and it will be held at Chrysler Center, North Campus, The

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48105.

The special fluid and aerodynamic problems of high-speed land and sea transportation will be covered in this course. Fluid-dynamic ef- fects are the principal causes of drag for both land and sea vehicles and also provide lifting forces. Propulsion systems suitable for high- speed transportation will also be included.

Midland-Ross RPC Div. Moves

Marine Office To Port Chester

The RPC Division of Midland-Ross Corpo- ration has moved its marine sales office from

New York, N.Y., to 11 Rye Ridge Plaza, Port

Chester, N.Y. 10573.

The office is responsible for sales of con- tainer handling and securing devices and other marine equipment.

Texas Transport & Terminal

Names New Baltimore Manager

William L. McCollough has been appointed manager of Texas Transport & Terminal Co.'s

Baltimore, Md., office, the company has an- nounced. He will -supervise the steamship agency's activities concerning Yamashita Shin- nihon Line at Baltimore.

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