Let's take a look at the history and art of forging a gun barrel.

Often, when bearings are discussed, people call them ball bearings. In truth, there are several other types of bearings that don’t even use balls. 

While considering the next Now You Know topic, it seemed like we had already covered “everything but the kitchen sink.” So, naturally, the kitchen sink was the obvious choice for this month.

In recent days, aluminum seems to be getting a lot of play. Aluminum is attractive and lightweight, and as nature’s most abundant metal, it is plentiful, easy to work with and readily recyclable. These features make aluminum attractive for a variety of consumer products.

Thermal processing has played a key role in making Industrial Heating’s home city of Pittsburgh great. I know you’re thinking of steel, and you would certainly be right. 

You never know where you’re going to run into thermal processing, as a summer trip to the Green Bank, W. Va., National Radio As-tronomy Observatory (NRAO) illustrated. 

Many of you are probably unaware of the number of different types of bridges. Just the basic list includes beam bridges, cantilever, arch, truss, suspension, cable-stayed, movable, floating and combination bridges. Within these basic categories there are a number of subcategories as well. Movable bridges, for instance, include the bascule (drawbridge), vertical lift and the swing bridge to name just the most common.

With today’s cost of energy, it’s no wonder there is a renewed interest in generating electricity by means of the sun’s energy. This is not a new concept. The development of solar energy goes back more than 100 years. 

When July comes to mind, it’s natural to think independence. When you think independence, it’s natural to think of the Declaration, which was adopted on July 4, 1776. But when you think of the Declaration, is it natural to think that more than 10% of its signers were metalworkers of the day

While the February 2008 Now You Know discussed tunnel boring, it seemed appropriate to look at deep drilling in light of the recent Chilean miner rescue. It is especially appropriate because without thermal processing, the rescue would have taken much longer or might not have been possible at all.