Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-18
PITTSBURG' MILLS,
A ACompIete Review of the Iron
Situation by One Well
VerSed in 1t.
A VERY BRIGHT OUTLOOK,
Wholesale Changes From Gas Back 10
Coal and Vice Versa.
SOME MILLS TRYING NEW FUELS.
New Gas and Superheated Steam and
Slack Are Being Tested.
A VERY BRIGHT OUTLOOK,
SOME MILLS TRYING NEW FUELS.
A WAR ON FREIGHT AND COKE RATES
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.I

WRITTEN FOX TIE DlSPAISH-l
The activity that pervades the industrial
trades in this section has never been so
marked as at present. A tour among the
manufacturers in this section engaged in the
iron and steel business reveals a most
healthy condition Of trade, at least so far as
the production and con lmption of these
articles is concerned, and consequent
activity at every mill and furnace, except
where the shortage of gas interferes:
The furry in railroad and financial circles
throughout the country has no doubt
created some distrust among buyers, and
lcssened the demand, as we'll as ineon-
veniencing some local manufacturers; but
merchants are a unit in the opinion that
this is only temporary, and assert that val
vues are on too solid a foundation, and the
legitimate demands of the country too great
to be seriously effected by the operations of
Wall street speculators.
There is now an echo Of complaint from
some pig iron makers against the low prices
ruling for all grades OF pig iron; neverthe-
less, the output for the number of furnaces
in blast is as large as it ever has been.
Bright Outlook for Next Year.
Well-posted iron men are of the opinion
that prices will advance, and base this be-
lief not only on the great consumptive de-
mand OF the country, but upon the natural
reaction from the present abnormaIly low
range of prices.
The year Just drawing to close has been
one of the most prosperous in the history of
the trade in this vicinity. Mills have all
been favored with plenty of business, and
the general conditions existing throughout
the year, until very recently, have main
taiued prices at a very satisfactory level.
We are now near enough to the close OF 1890
to estimate the production at about 9, 9,000600
tons, with unsold stocks on December 81
estimated at $50, coo tons, or per cent of
the production. The outlook for the coming
year is none the less promising. From pres
ent Indications the consumption in 1891 will
be between 10 000, 900 and II ,000 900 tons
The amount OF railroad building and car
construction, the heavy demands for struc-
tural material for building purposes, the
activity among foundries, machine shops
and engine builders and boiler makers, as
well as the usual demands of the country
for iron promised for Jthe year, all warrant
the prediction that the incoming year will
prove one of the greatest in activity and
profit, alike to mill owners and wage
workers
The fuel question is now uppermost in
the minds of Pittsburg ironmakers. Ac-
cording to recent reports, there are IA mills
here (not including McKeesport) that have
changed back to coal In the pudding
furnaces, although in two of these some OF
the furnaces are yet working on gas.
Furnaces Changing From Gas to Coal.
In these mills there are asa pudding fur
naees, while the total number of furnaces in
Allegheny county, including MeKeesport,
is /, ,152. At the National Tube Works
Company, Mckeesport, every department
of the four rolling mills is again using-coal
About IL, 600 bushels are being consumed
daily. The company intend erecting a coal
elevator on the river bank near their works.
in order to transport the coal from the
barges to the mills. They recently erected
naces, and these will now have to be torn
down, owing to their not being adapted to
the use of coal; either natural or artificial
gas must be used in these furnaces.
At the Clinton Mill, on the Southside,
five double pudding furnaces are standing
idle, while the single furnaces are using
coal. At the Republic Iron Works, on
Twenty-ffth street. Southside, they are still
in a condition of gas shortage. The new
puddle forge, consisting of II double
pudding furnaces, will have to be torn
down. The old forge, comprising 26 single
furnaces, is back to coal, and part OF the
finishing department is likewise back to
coal.
1t is thought that the recent gas strike by
Jones & Laughlin, whose mill adioins there,
will urge the Republic to try for gas. At
Howe, Brown & Co.'S mill, on Sixteenth
street, coal is being partially used. In the
Millvale mill the pudding department is
equivalent 10 36 single furnaces, but only p
OF these are built single. At this mill there
are two quadruple furnaces, being about the
only furnaces of their kind about Pittsburg
In one turn the total output of one of
these furnaces is about IL, 900 pounds, while
of a single furnace it is $500 pounds
The Pittsburg Forge and Iron Company
is using coal In all their pudding and scrap
furnaces, and artificial gas in their heating
department. About 1000 bushels of coal
will be required daily at this mill. At the
LoCkhart Iron and Steel Works, Charters
the pudding furnaces have been changed
back 10 coal, as has also the pudding de-
parIment in the Soho mill of Moorehead,
McCleane & Co. Lindsay 6 McCutcheon
and Chess, Cook s. Co. are now using
coal entirely. The consumption in these
mills is almost 10, 900 bushels per day.
Experimenting With a New Gas Process.
At Painters mill in the West End, 16
pudding furnaces In the new forge were on
LAST hSSAf anu II Oh owing 10 the shortage
OF gas; in the old forge "A furnaces are idle
and under repairs to resume coal during the
week.
The firm is experimenting with the Archer
process OF fuel gas. The new fuel is Lima
crude oil, but, judging from the former re-
port Of the change back to coal, the process
must be unsatisfactory. Regarding the
Archer process, an authority states that it
has poor future; that it would cost more
than natural gas, and nearly double the
price of coal. 1t is understood that the La
Belle Steel Works, OF Smith Bros. & Co..
in Allegheny. also the United States Iron
and Tin Plate Company, Linden Steel Com
pany. Duquesne Tube Company and the
Pittsburg Tube Company are experiments
ing on this process.
At the American Iron Works of Jones
s. Laughlin, the puddle furnaces that were
changed back to coal when the gas gave out.
are now being returned to gas, the company
having struck two wells of their own that
furnishes them more than an ample supply
of gas. The works are now running full in
all departments, with the likelihood of con-
tinuing so throughout the winter. The old
wells have been plugged and reserved for
possible future use
In the Upper Union Mill of Carnegie.
1hipps g. Co., Thirty-third street, there Is