A company that recently completed work on the Statehouse has been providing sheet metal work from the same location in Topeka since 1952.

Stevenson Co. made repairs to the copper roof of the exterior of the east and west wings of the state Capitol and improved the lay light, which is a glazed opening in the ceiling to admit light near the House chambers.

The company, with 25 employees, is working for a London firm to prepare a platform for a food processing facility in Mexico. The platform will be 8 feet by 20 feet and 75 feet long and will be shipped in sections.
It's made of painted structural carbon steel. The decking is aluminum tread plate, and the handrail is stainless steel.

"A lot of our work is in Topeka, then the U.S. and a little bit out of the country," Joseph Pennington, president, said. "Most of our business is through word of mouth, and we do have great partners."

He also said some business comes through the company's Web site.

"We do no residential work," Pennington said.

Stevenson Co. employs craftsmen and welders to fabricate and install sheet metal inside and outside businesses.

The company works mostly with food processing plants, making tanks for liquids, bins for products, conveyors and chutes that come off of conveyors.

The chutes have been made for raw ingredients, brass casings and food items for people and animals. The company also makes wall panels, stairs, mezzanines and ladders.

For the outside of buildings, the company makes metal roofs, flashing and gutters for industrial plants.

It also makes siding in different colors, finishes and metals.

After assessing the customer's needs, the company makes items to the customer's specifications. In Topeka, the company will deliver and install small items. Larger items will be sent by truck.

The company can ship worldwide.

Stevenson Co. has 32,475 square feet, including an office space, four shops and a storage area.

The main shop is a fabrication shop, where copper, aluminum, stainless steel and carbon steel is cut and pieces are welded together to create custom fabricated sheet metal parts.

Another shop does what the main shop does, plus painting.

A third shop works with all stainless steel; the fourth is a special projects shop.

In 1952, Russell B. Stevenson bought a small tin shop.

The company has grown through the years, acquiring more shops and remodeling but still has the same address. It even has the same telephone number as it did then, with the addition of two extra numbers in front.

"It's a real family business," Pennington said. "Dear old granddad used to work here."

His grandfather, Wiggie Pennington, worked for Russell B. Stevenson.

His father, Jerry Pennington, bought the company and was owner and president, and his brother, Tim Pennington, works there now as a sheet metal worker.

Pennington and his brother are one of three sets of brothers who work for the business. The other sets of brothers are Galen and Melvin Lister and David and Jeff Dechand.

The Dechands' father, Don, also worked for the company.

During 55 years in business, the company has seen ups and downs.

"It seemed that for my business, after 9/11, companies were more focused on security equipment than processing equipment," Pennington said. "We now have more orders than we used to after 9/11."
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Building owners are beginning to understand metal's benefits, including low life-cycle costs and appealing designs

Just a few years ago, metal roof and wall systems were often relegated to industrial or agricultural districts where looks usually don't really matter. However, times and technology have changed that mindset, say industry sources. More and more, building owners are discovering that metal is a fashion statement - in many ways.

Metal has emerged as cost-efficient roof and wall material that can save building owners money and look good doing it. And it has environmental benefits as well.
The major factors in selecting any roofing or wall materials should include the initial costs for material and labor, impact on the job site schedule, finish, possible moisture intrusion, expected life of the material and energy costs.

"Contrary to popular belief among owners, metal has an advantage," says Rick Mowrey, director of marketing and business development for Centria and chairman of The Metal Initiative. "Most owners think metal is a high cost material because they think it needs to be replaced every 20 years or has poor energy costs and needs lots of maintenance. These are old myths and misconceptions."

Metal does have a higher initial cost compared to other materials, such as a single-ply system. However, once other life-cycle costs are factored in, the overall costs are significantly cheaper, he says.

Once owners understand that metal is less expensive in the long run, maintenance usually is the next hurdle.
"When you start comparing metal to flat roofs, you should be comparing on a life-cycle cost basis," says Blake Batkoff, national accounts sales manager for Petersen Aluminum. That really means maintenance. If you put a metal roof on a building, you don't have to touch it."

The first thing building owners will notice about metal is that it continues to look good over time "because it doesn't wear out," says Sid Peterson, vice president of sales and marketing for Alcoa Architectural Products.

That means coatings are important, particularly for steel or aluminum systems. Many of the coating systems in use today have warranties up to 30 years. If they are recoated after 30 years, the building owner can expect "long-term function for many years," says Todd Miller, president of Classic Metal Roofing Systems.

Some buildings erected in the early 196Os using predecessors to today's products are still functioning well, he says.

With metal, maintenance is one less thing facilities executives have to worry about, these manufacturers say.

'Very little is spent on maintenance. One of metal's greatest benefits is that its maintenance costs are very low, and in most cases, there aren't any," says Toy Henson, The Metal Initiative's director of marketing.

"Metal roofs clean themselves in a good rain storm," says Batkoff.

'Wall panels need to be cleaned," says Peterson. "Glass cleaners can streak so you have to clean the panels after you clean the glass, but that's it. If you don't spend a lot of money maintaining it, life-cycle costs naturally go down."

Kasto’s UNILINE single- or double-sided system with 200 to 800 storage locations for single-deep storage of sheet. Smaller and larger sheet metal storage systems are available from the company’s UNITOWER and UNICOMPACT ranges respectively, the latter configurable with thousands of locations.

Standard UNILINE pallets have a usable load of 3 tonnes, although 5 tonnes or more is possible on request. All systems can accommodate small, medium and large (3m x 1.5 m) format sheet; even extra-large and special sizes can be specified. Additionally, material can be stored on EURO pallets.

The rigid gantry crane is designed as a double mast unit with the handling equipment moving up and down between the masts. Lift movement takes place via two robust roller chains. A pull-push system is employed to handle the pallets. Precision roller chains with follower pins move the pallet into and out of the storage locations on plastic glides. These are virtually maintenance-free owing to the large support area, resulting in low surface compression. Another advantage is the increase in available space; telescope forks moving in and out would not permit such dense packing of the pallets in the shelf.
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Featuring 15 in. touch screen with IntelliTouch Surface Wave technology, 6-axis Voyager III is based on 2.4 GHz Intel processor using Hypertherm Automation CNC Software v6.0. Machine interface converts SERCOS fiber optic communication to analog interface for motion commands and I/O. It offers choice of enclosure-mounted analog interface, SERCOS communication ring, or remote-mounted SERCOS-to-analog conversion card. Unit expands to 12 axes of motion and over 1,000 I/O signals.
Hanover, NH, USA- Hypertherm, Inc. continues its leadership in PC-based CNC controls for thermal metal cutting machines with the introduction of the Voyager III controller. Voyager III from Hypertherm Automation will replace all earlier versions of Voyager products and offers users increased performance and enhanced flexibility.

The new six-axes Voyager III features a 15-inch touch screen display and 2.4Ghz Intel processor utilizing Hypertherm Automation CNC Software Version 6.0. The screen incorporates patented IntelliTouch Surface Wave technology for drift-free touch accuracy and screen clarity.

"Making people and machines more productive through process automation" is the mission of Hypertherm Automation. They have become the world leader in PC-based CNC controls for thermal cutting machines. Hypertherm also produces CNC controllers under the brand names MicroEDGE, EDGE II and Mariner.
Voyager III comes standard with a unique machine interface that converts SERCOS (Serial Real Time Communication) fiber optic communication to a traditional analog interface for motion commands and input/output (I/O). This SERCOS/Analog technology allows increased system flexibility by offering three different styles of machine interface: a traditional enclosure-mounted analog, a standard SERCOS communication ring and a remote-mounted SERCOS-to-analog conversion card. The SERCOS machine interface was first offered by Hypertherm with the Mariner CNC controller and allows expansion of up to 12 axes of motion and over 1000 I/O signals. SERCOS is available on all Hypertherm CNC hardware.

Since 1968, Hypertherm has been the industry leader in plasma arc cutting equipment and service. Now, with its entry into the laser-plate cutting market, Hypertherm expands its technology leadership commitment. By continually delivering breakthrough advances in metal-cutting productivity and precision - first in plasma, now also in laser-Hypertherm reaffirms and extends its position as the world's leading supplier of advanced high temperature metal cutting technology. Hypertherm serves a wide range of industrial metal cutting needs from its headquarters in Hanover, New Hampshire, with subsidiaries, sales offices and partner representation worldwide.

Hypertherm, Hypertherm Automation, Voyager, MicroEDGE, EDGE II and Mariner are trademarks of Hypertherm, Inc. and may be registered in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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Metal Move: Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. acquired Wood Dale, Ill.-based Clayton Metals Inc. Under the agreement, Los Angeles-based Reliance will acquire the outstanding capital stock of the aluminum, stainless steel and flat-rolled metal products processor and distributor. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Clayton's current management will remain in place. Clayton booked sales of about $123 million in 2006. Its shares have gained more than 106 percent since hitting a 52-week low in September of 2006.http://findarticles.com

As pirate treasure goes, it does not look like much.

About the size of a small car, the mass of fused black metal is spotted with rust and studded with barnacles. It smells like low tide, and at one point, a crab scurried from under it.

But to Barry Clifford, an underwater explorer, and the two dozen or so people gathered at MacMillan Pier here to see it raised from the ocean after 290 years, the object is a treasure, a tangible piece of pirate lore.

"Look, it's a piece of glass," Clifford said excitedly as he scrutinized the object, which lay on a flatbed.

"I bet it's a bottle of rum," said Nelson Disco of Merrimack, N.H., who is vacationing here and watched the salvage operation.
Clifford has spent about 25 years looking for and salvaging the remains of the Whydah, a pirate ship sailed by Samuel Bellamy, who was known as Black Sam. The ship sank off the coast of Wellfleet, Mass., during a storm in April 1717.

The mass, about 12,000 pounds, is thought to be part of the wreck and to contain at least seven iron cannons. Clifford and his team plucked it from below 30 feet of sand last week.

The cannons twisted together and probably preserved numerous artifacts. The exact contents will be determined through X-rays in the next few weeks, but Clifford expects the concretion, as the mass is called, to contain coins, weapons and perhaps bone, as others have.
"This is the biggest thing we've brought up from the shipwreck in 25 years," Clifford said. It may also prove to be the best clue yet as to where the more than five tons of gold and silver the ship supposedly carried may be.

Clifford found a piece of the ship's hull in 1998 and was sure he was close to the mother lode. Nine years later it has not been found, but Clifford said this discovery led him to believe that the booty lay nearby, far beneath accumulated sand. Because the treasure and cannons were so heavy, Clifford said, they are probably near each other. "There's nowhere for it to go but down," he said.

Charles R. Ewen, a professor of archaeology at East Carolina University and a co-editor of "X Marks the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy," said anything new from the Whydah was significant because it was the only pirate ship that had been "unequivocally found" and offered clues about the pirating life.

"It sank with everything," Ewen said, "so the material you find with it is very good at comparing with other ships. It's very important for history and capturing what it was really like to be a pirate, as opposed to Johnny Depp."

Clifford said his crews would continue to comb the ocean floor. His discoveries are documented by the National Geographic Society, which is sponsoring a touring exhibition of the Whydah's artifacts based at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Others are displayed at Clifford's museum here, the Exhibition Whydah Sea Lab and Learning Center.

Although the gold and silver may still lie somewhere below, Clifford believes he has already hauled riches from the sea.

"It's history, and people are learning," Clifford said. "Every artifact that's brought up is a treasure."

A steelmill town, a ridge of pine, The taste of snow upon the tongue, Meant all the world was black and white At Christmastime when he was young.

In softened angle, muted line, The harshnesses became oblique.

The keening lathes were pacified:

All quiet on the frozen creek.

And it was Christmas when he died Far off, no place on earth to go, But fresh as in his childhood came The scent of metal and of snow.