Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World

[Skogsgurra]

Inspired by Zogzog's work with the hydroelectric power station, I take the opportunity to ask about blast furnaces still standing - and perhaps even in operation.

No. Not the huge, modern ones. The small ones run by "mountain-men" co-operations like ours in Granbergsdal. Have a look at

http://www.varmland.org/event.asp?typ=detail&id=3110&ty=3&su=25&lang=eng

We (wife and I) have been visiting places where we thought we could find similar old furnaces from ancient times, but it seems that the old ones were torn down when newer and bigger furnaces were built.

Does anyone know about such places where one can study antique pig iron production?

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...

 

[CJCPE]

I have visited this one. It is an interesting place.

http://www.cornwallironfurnace.org/

 

[C2it]

Don't know of any ancient blast furnaces in the UK, but Abbeydale near Sheffield has Huntsman Crucible and tilt hammers, all water powered and used to produce cutlery etc. Have a look at:

http://www.tilthammer.com/hamlet/gen1.html

Cheers

 

[zeitghost]

Blaenavon Iron Works in Wales.

Now a World Heritage Site (!).

Merthyr Tydfil might have something left too,if they haven't knocked it all down yet...

 

[Skogsgurra]

Thanks Zeitghost,

Actually, we did visit Wales in May this year. But we missed that one. We did Iron Bridge on our way home.

Hope to go to Wales again. You close to Blaenavon?

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...

 

[arto]

The Saugus Iron Works near Boston Mass. - "Wicked Cool!!"
{reopening in Sept}

http://www.nps.gov/sair/

 

[zeitghost]

About 40 odd miles from it.

Come to think of it, there's also the Neath Abbey Iron works which is very local to me, about a mile away.

The Neath Abbey Iron Works was involved with the very early iron ships.

This area of South Wales was intensely involved in the Industrial Revolution.

Swansea produced about 75% of the world's refined copper at one time.

Which explains the toxicity of some of the local tips...

 

[danw2]

Does anyone know about such places where one can study antique pig iron production?
>
China, Cultural Revolution, circa 1966

 

[unclesyd]

Here is the Tannehill furnace that has been restored about 12 miles from where I grew up.

http://www.tannehill.org/tsptoday.html

The following site has a lot of information, somewhat disjointed, on the old furnaces around Birmingham Alabama.

If you click on Woodward Ind. RR in the left hand column and then click on the furnace site at the bottom of the first page you will see what was in my back yard. We lived just to the right of where it says to the ore mines. I have gotten to ride on all the steam locomotives shown in this piece. I even got to be fireman in the days of coal shovel, prior to stokers.
If you look under word byproducts you can see an isolated building. This is where they really made the pigs until the advent of the casting machine. I actually saw the sand casting of the pigs. There is a ridge that runs by this building and parallel to the RR tracks that held two rows of beehive coke ovens which operated during WWII.
During my school days everything in the area was operating at full blast. You could not hang clothes on the clothes line or paint any thing a light color if the paint had lead in it. In a weeks time the paint would turn black. The first white paint that wouldn't turn black was from
skogsgurra's country. I think the name was "Emalja" it had 25+ % TiO2.

http://www.bhamrails.info/

 

[berkshire]

unclesyd
Was the Ox moor furnace by you, or was that one in Bessemer, down the road?
B.E.

 

[unclesyd]

The Oxmoor furnaces were just east of Bessemer, AL near Shannon on the east side of Red Mountain, the source of most of the area's iron ore. It was interesting that the Pyne Mine, the only vertical shaft iron mine in the area is located only about a mile from where the Oxmoor furnaces were located. The Tannehill Furnace was on the west side of Red Mountain just a few miles down the road. Between Oxmoor and Tannehill is the Muskoda #4 mine iron mine. This is the only mine in the world that you can get all the ingredients for the manufacture of iron. Coal, iron and dolomitic limestone can all be brought out the same portal.

In growing up in this area I was able to cover nearly all the area where old mines and furnaces were located. In my home town you could tell whether members of the a family worked with the coal or iron industry by what color there laundry was red for iron and black for coal or greasy looking, like my father's from the steel mills.

Red Mountain is was the main source of iron ore for the area while a few miles east and west are large deposits of coal. The form of iron ore found in Red Mountain was extremely tough to mine. Several years ago a group driving a tunnel through the mountain hit the ore and came to an abrupt halt. This ore caused and extended delay in the project. It also seems that none on that project check on old mine locations and galleries, all the tunnels also kept the project in check.

 

[kenvlach]

Interesting stuff.
The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel has a 35-page, illustrated chapter called 'Evolution of Iron- and Steelmaking' which covers the subject. Am looking at the 10th Edn. (1985) but I think the earlier editions (e.g., 9th, 1971) have the same & are much cheaper; sometimes on eBay.

http://www.campusi.com/search.pl?cat=book&isbn=&title=Making,+Shaping+and+Treating+of+Steel

Never been to Birmingham, Ala. (Atlanta was probably my closest) but I bought a load of Trambeam patent rail from near there (about 45 miles up the road in Attalla).

 

[rmw]

Nothing quite like standing up on the grating of a boiler near the (hot as he**) flue gas outlet / ID fan inlet pumping the sampling bulb and then shaking an Orsat analyzer bottle time after time.

Thanks for the memory trip unclesyd.

rmw

 

[Skogsgurra]

Thanks a lot for good tips!

As it happens, I am going to Elizabeth NJ to have a look at bearing problems in gantry cranes (big harbour there) and that is not far at all from

http://www.cornwallironfurnace.org/

So, tis is definitely a place where we (yes, Missus coming with me) will go. Thanks CJCPE!

And, as it happens again, I will then go to Mechanic Falls ME for another bearing-related business. And that brings us very close to Boston where this tip will come in handy

http://www.nps.gov/sair/

Thanks arto!

Anyone near these sites? Would be very nice to have lunch, dinner, a beer or whatever if that is so (my accountant told me I need to have expenses). We need more Eng-Tips person-to-person meetings. Post here - or find my e-mail address from the (Swedish) home-page. It is there, only a little hard to find if you are not good at Swedish.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...