Artistic tendencies abound in metalcasting. People in the industry often refer to their manufacturing process as both an art and a science.

But for the most part, the artistic talents one finds in metalcasting facilities tend toward the visual arts. The ability to imagine solid metal pieces solidified of molten material is one that lends itself to the creation of sculpture, paintings and other decorative pieces.

Sam Ramrattan—if he'll excuse the use of one of his own puns—breaks the mold. The industrial and manufacturing engineering professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo, Mich., is a part-time poet. At the 113th Metalcasting Congress in Las Vegas, Ramrattan took the opportunity of receiving an AFS Award of Scientific Merit to regale the audience with a poem he penned for the occasion. Following is the metalcaster poet's work; be on the lookout for a number of clever industry puns like the one above:

THE FOUNDRYMAN
by Sam Ramrattan

A spell was cast using fire and ore.
Giants walked among men.
A profession since the sands of time;
A Foundry Society bonded with inclusions of art and science.

From Ages of Bronze and Iron, through an Industrial Revolution;
Plows, cannons, bells and engines; shaped by Masters.
Malleable minds molded in their image; we tap their reservoirs.
The die was cast; Foundrymen made of the same mold.

Safe: The noise our music;
The sparks our fireworks;
The danger our excitement;
Man of steel: Superman or Foundryman?

Arising from out of a crucible.
Ancient process, modern methods;
An industry in continual flux,
The Foundryman a catalyst for change.

Pegged as polluters, what a drag!
Hardened by Standards we cope.
Tempered with the fact that we are our civilization's first recyclers.
Cladded with the materials of a possible future;
The Foundryman's love etched in my mind.