There was a need to expand the works to make products other than rails and in 1915, a direct metal foundry was added to produce ingot moulds and a year later a steel casting foundry was opened. A second Blast Furnace of 1000 tonne per day capacity was blown-in in the same year together with the addition of 450 mm merchant mill for light rails and structural.

Ship construction at Walsh Island opposite the steelworks had been started by the Government early in the war and a request was made to BHP to roll heavy plate for warship construction. Although a mill for this purpose had not been contemplated, the request was answered by construction of the mill in Newcastle, the local firm A. Goninan & Co. making the steel mill housings, each of which weighed 50 tonnes. With business looking bright as the war finished, BHP committed itself to No. 3 Blast Furnace that was blown-in in 1921.

Wire products

Other makers of steel products grew up around BHP, largely following discussion with that Company. BHP was instrumental in attracting James MacDougall to set up a wire production plant in Newcastle. MacDougall had founded a very successful company, Austral Nail Co. Ltd. in South Melbourne, making mainly barbed wire, for which they used imported rod, and drawn wire. In 1913 they supplied about one half of the Victorian market. As part of the deal with MacDougall, BHP purchased a continuous rod mill utilizing the latest technology and situated it in Newcastle. BHP also financed the purchase of equipment by MacDougall when it was set up alongside the BHP Works and where the rod mill first produced in 1918. MacDougall drew the first wire in Newcastle in 1919 and, in the end, produced some 40,000 tonnes in the first year. In 1920 a galvanizing bath was added, together with equipment for producing barbed wire and, at this stage, they were the largest BHP customer. Within a couple of years, however, the parent Austral Nail Company, had merged with another company, Rylands Brothers, to reform as Rylands Bros. (Aust.) Ltd. BHP acquired a controlling interest in Rylands in 1925.

The Titan Manufacturing Company produced a similar product range to Austral Nail Co. and were situated close by in Victoria. Titan had been founded by a John Rose in 1888 and went into new premises around the start of the war, taking rod from BHP. In 1927, the nail and barbed wire manufacture of this company were integrated with Rylands through a BHP takeover.

Australian Wire Rope Works Pty. Ltd. was established in Newcastle in 1923 as an outcome to talks between BHP and English company, Bullivants. Production of wire rope products began in 1925 and some years later, BHP bought out the Bullivants interests.

There were many important technological developments during the first decade of Australian production of wire, led mostly from Newcastle and coming largely from the influence of J. K. MacDougall, son of the earlier James MacDougall. His aim was to supply quality feed wire to the wire ropeworks and this led to the introduction of the first patenting plant, a heat treatment process which was followed initially by an air quench but later developed to a lead bath quench. He instigated an all-steel fencing system with the 'Star Picket' post, patented in 1926 and the 'Key Hole Tie' for baling wool and other items, patented in 1930. After considerable development backed strongly by Essington Lewis, the first multi-hole wire drawing machine was installed which projected Australian wire industry technology into the world front ranks for the first time. The subsequent procurement of tungsten carbide dies from Germany in 1934 and the addition of water cooling at the die and block, combined with other refined practices in cleaning and coating, led to dramatic increases in finishing speeds to 12.5 m per second compared with only 2.0 m per second with single block stands. Welding of rod coils introduced continuous processing and reduced eight separate operations to two. At this time, 1935, Rylands, Newcastle, was drawing equivalent wires twice as fast as the best American mills and three times faster than the British and so overseas mills began changing to Rylands' practices. Speeds of finishing were later increased to 22-23 m per second.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering