Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-11
BRADDOCK BOOMING.
The Edgar Thomson Steel Works
Pushed to Their Utmost.
ORDERS on THE BOOKS SUFFICIENT
To Keep the Works in Operation From Now
Till Next Spring.
IRON AND STEEL MOVING UPWARD
OFFICE OF PITTSBURG DISPATCH,
TUESDAY, December 10. 1889.

OFFICE OF PITTSBURG DISPATCH,
TUESDAY, December 10. 1889.
The Edgar Thomson works at Braddock
are being crowded 10 their utmost capacity.
Orders for steel rails already booked will
keep the works active from now until
spring. The present capacity of the Edgar
Thomson is close to 100 tons of steel rails
per DAY. By February 1 Furnace H will
be in operation, and by May Furnace I will
wheel into line. There will then be nine
furnaces in operation, and the capacity of
the two new furnaces, which are now being
pushed as fast as money and muscle will
permit, will be far above any of those now in
operation.
A Wonderful Consumer.
F furnace, which has been recently refined,
is consuming $50 tons of ore every "A hours and
1853 pounds Of coke to every ton. From this
consumption Of ore and coke comes $40 tons
of Bessemer iron every "a hours. Six of the
seven furnaces of the EDGAR Thomson average
close to 800 tons daily their yield of Bessemer
iron. Furnace goes beyond this. and the two
new furnaces, which will be in operation next
spring. will far. exceed furnace + in their
capacity to turn out Bessemer.
In aNziticn to the two new furnaces approach
ing coG.pletiOn, the Edgar Thomson will have
in operation, soon after the turn Of the year,
two open hearth furnaces to work up the blllets
and bloom ends, on winch there has heretofore
been considerable loss.
Loss Reduced TO a Minimum.
The scraps OF ODDS and ends which are very
large in q concern like that at Braddock being
put into an ordinary cupols entail a loss of 10
per cent at least. This loss will be reduced to
minimum by the two open-hearth furnaces,
which will yield 40 tons daily of higher grade
hat oh
the converter. The new open-hearth furnaces
will necessitate an addition of % to so men to
the force, and furnaces H and will require
still larger additions. There are now in round
numbers $500 men employed at the Edgar
Thomson works, and in the next six months
this force will pc increased couple of hundred
at least
Ii Brings Up Corner Lots.
With the two new furnaces in operation, and
the two open hearth furnaces to work up scrap,
the capacity of the Braddock works will not be
much below l.5OO tons of steel rails every "a
hours. A conservative workman reports that
in the year 1890 the Edgar Thomson will turn
out above ], 200 tons each day of the year, and
that there will not be the least trouble in sell
ing the goods, since orders are now in sufficient
to cover One-third of that period.
As result of this activity in the steel works,
the town of Braddock is in the midst of q sea-
son of unusual prosperity, and corner lots were
never so high as now.
Iron on the Advance.
The advance in iron of all grades the past 90
days amounts to So so per ton, and markets are
very active at the advance. A leading iron
broker said to-day: Last summer we found
markets very sluggish at SIS per ton. Now
markets are very active at SIS 90 and there are
no signs of check to this upward movement
in sight. The advance in iron has brought an
advance of z0c per ton in coke and other ma
terials which enter into the manufacture of
iron have been stimulated SO that the producer
has little advantage over the low prices of last
summer. aside from the fact that he finds much
more ready sale for his goods"
Heavy Iron Goods In Demaud.
A member Of one of the leading firms en-
gagged in the manufacture of hefty iron goods
reports an advance of IS per ton on his products
in the past 90 days, but says that all this ad-
vance is absorbed by the increased cost of
labor and raw materials. Said be: I'VE are
having a nice profit for our products, but this
is Cue to the fact that anticipated an ad-
vance IN iron and coke, and laid in, large sup
plies before the rise. If we had our materials
TO buy at present prices our profits would be no
larger than they were last summer, when we
sold our goods lower than we had done for
years. But we are content with the present
situation, and our only fear now is that bust
ness will boom to a condition that is unhealthy,
TO be followed by period of reaction and de-
preston. Everything pertaining to iron and
steel is now in healthy state. If newcomers
and Spectators will but keep their hands of
we are ali right for years 70 come"