History of Continuus-Properzi
Following World War II, many people like Ilario Properzi were living through moments of happiness, great will of making, rebuilding, giving a better world to the next generations. He was happy that was again a free man. He was not a rich man and almost everything had been lost during the war but he had been working hard on new ideas.
At that time, copper was the absolute king in the electrical application while aluminum cable was at the beginning of the subsequent boom. Both rod and less-precious rod-like zinc and lead were produced by rolling wirebars and to a much lesser extent by extruding billets.
Actually it was a long, tough and expensive way to turn raw metal into wire bars/billets and then roll milling after the heating. All this job only to get little 100 kg coils. The head and tail had to be scrapped, the surface had to be severely pickled and the coils had to be welded head-to-head before drawing, sometime using precious alloys with high silver content in the case of copper rod used for telephone cables
Ilario Properzi got down to work. It took two years to create the continuous casting and direct rolling of nonferrous rod, a process that saw the transformation from melted metal to an unlimited coil in just one minute! The Properzi process, formed by the rotating wheel and the belt, became soon famous in all the world. Metal goes in a launder to the tundish and through a spout, then is poured into the cavity. The belt surrounds about half of circumference of the wheel and is tensioned by the upper pulley. The belt and wheel or better component of the wheel (called the casting ring) are cooled by water and the metal is solidified in a continuous bar.
This revolutionary system, which was industrialized for lead, zinc, aluminum and copper, later faced bigger difficulties. The first line was exhibited at the Milan Fair in 1948 and sent then to San Gavino (Sardinia) for the production of the lead wire that was then transformed then into lead shots. The second one was used by Ilario Properzi himself. This line is now at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan but the one in San Gavino is still running!. In the ‘50s Ilario Properzi carried his efforts towards the production of an aluminum continuous casting line, a metal conductor of great use for electrical cables especially for bare overhead conductors.
At the same time on a similar line he threw down the gauntlet for copper, something unbelievable in those days: With a few tons of cathodes and a borrowed small furnace, he successfully made the first simple tests in the old factory.
The ‘60s, la “dolce vita” and the Italian style got a footing and Ilario’s machines become bigger, more complicated and sophisticated. Finally arrives worldwide success for Properzi: the Model 7. Ilario Properzi began to try to convince the copper industry to accept and try this model for continuous casting. After many efforts and a lot of shut doors, two companies, an American and a Russian, bought two of the models. Needless to say, it took a few years to optimize the system, but the industrial advantages of the new process was clear cut in just a few months.
From a mechanical and a constructive point of view, a decisive step was taken in 1966 with the birth of the Model 8. This system persuaded the big North American manufacturers.
These lines proved that Properzi was more than able to supply high production equipment.
And in the first years of the ‘70s, the copper lines capable of producing 100,000 metric tons per year were started up in Sweden, Italy and Greece. The Greek equipment is still in production in the original place.
Since 1971, Giulio Properzi, the older son of Ilario, has been the President of the factory.
Many targets reached by Continuus-Properzi are due to Giulio Properzi’s contribution; among them the invention and development of different processes and technologies mainly linked to Continuus Casting and Rolling.
An effort and engagement that has been properly recognized by the most important and prominent International Association awarding twice Continuus-Properzi with the Nobel Industry Prize.
In 1973 The Wire Association International has rewarded Ilario Properzi, the founder, with the Memorial Mordica Award for “a contribution to the wire industry’s base through research, development, innovation or other technical contributions”.
It was the first time in the Association life that the recipient of the prize was a Non American.
In May 2003, after exactly 30 years, Giulio Properzi – Ilario’s son, has been awarded with the same Prize.
Once more the Properzi Family has astonished the press.
