Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-21
FIGURES AND FACTS
Relating to the Capacity Of the Iron
Mills in This District.
SOME EYE.OPENERS In COLD TYPE.
War to the Death sin Prospect Between
Strikers and Stricken.
HOwTHE GAS JUMP AFFECTS GLAssMEN

To the pessimistic gentleman who believes
that Allegheny county has not progressed
Just a little within the last half decade, the
figures relating to one staple industry-the
iron and steel trade-will not be welcome.
More advance has been made within that
period in this industry than at any previous
period, but it is remarkable that while the
volume of raw material has greatly in
creased, no proportIonate progress has fol-
lowed in the production of finished material.
As has been stated in The DISPATCH, by
the end of the year the production of pig
iron in this district will reach daily out
put of 4, 900 tons day. In 1885 the daily
output of pig iron was l, 450 tons, while at
present the production amounts to over 1000
tons day.
The daily output of iron and steel, fin
ished, in Allegheny county at present is
over 1000 tons. OF this amount Carnegie
& Co. plants furnish 2,300 tons, or nearly
one-third the entire amount; Jones &
Laughllns' and oliver Bros. & Phillips, 500
tons each; the Soho Iron and Steel Com
pany, 150; the Juniata Iron and Steel Mill,
$50; J. Painter g. Sons, $50; Vesuvius Mill,
14O; the Republic. Iron Works, 125: Key
stone Rolling Mill, 100 tons; the Millyale
Mill, 100 tons; Pittsburg Forge and Iron
Works and the Sable Iron Works, 80 tons;
Lindsay & McCutcheon, So; the Sligo Mill
and Chess, Cook & Co., so tons; Linden
Steel Works, IS; Elba Works, 60; A, M.
Byers & Co. and Spang, Chalfant & Co.,
each 60 tons; the Vulcan Forge and Iron
Works and the Wayne Iron and Steel
Works, each so tons; Clinton Mill, 45 tons;
Kensington Iron Works and Howe, Brown
g. Co. and the Eagle Mill, 40 tons. and the
Pennsylvania Forge, So tons.
ALL ARE UNION MILLS
All these, with the exception of the Edgar
Thomson works, which has adopted three
years sliding scale, are union mills, paying
the rate and working under the scale of the
Amalgamated Association. Their gross
daily output is 8, $50 tons.
The following mills are not bound to any
rate of wages, and produce as follows: The
National Tube Works, 500 tons; Duquesne
Steel Works, 45O tons: Black Diamond, 300
tons; Spang Steel and Iron Works and
Singer, Nimick & Co., 125 tons; the Glen
don Spike Works and Carbon Iron Works,
100 tons; William Clark & Co., rs tons;
the Pittsburg Steel and Casting Co., the
LaBelle and Crescent works. 80 tons each,
and W. Devices & Co., 80 tons, being 1855
tons more, or 1905 tons daily for the dis
trict
In addition to the foregoing are six pipe
mills in operation, namely: The National
Tube Works, producing 800 tons; Pennsyl-
vania Tube Works, 300; Pittsburg Tube
Works, 100 tons; A. ID. Byers and Spang,
Chalfsnt & Co.'s tube works produce 100
tons each; and the Duauesne Mill makes
about so tons, being total of 1,450 tons of
wrought iron pipes daily produced in this
district, or about one-third of the total pro-
duction of the country. The Continental
Tube Works is not included, as it is only
just started up, having been idle since 1887.
In the last year of its operation it made
a, 900 tons OF pipes.
The iron used in the manufacture of these
pipes must be deducted from the gross total
of Z, 205 tons above given. About IL mills
are constantly employed in turning out this
grade of iron alone. While very little of the
raw iron made here is shipped to outside
sources to be finished, the production of raw
metal in the district is still much below the
requirements. The National Tube Works
draw about 200 tons day from outside
mills; Carnegie & Co. exceed 100 tons, and
the Glendon Spike Works imports all its
raw material. In all the Pittsburg mills
there are only three in which there is no
iron finished, namely, the Eagle, the old
Pennsylvania Forge and Chess, Cook & Co.,
ho only tao fa In he
tack and nail factory.
WAS ONCE A LEADER.
The PENNSYLVANIA Forge was at one time
a leading mill in turning out sheet iron, hut
the finishing department was burned down
in '87 and has not been rebuilt. The raw
iron from these mills, probably about 100
tons day, is bought by two or three mills
in the city.
OF the 1,13O pudding furnaces in the
mills referred to, one-third are running on
two-thirds capacity. and the rest are all on
double turn. Their output of muck iron is
about 2. 400 tons per day, but as at some mills
a large percentage of old rails is subse-
quentIy worked in, the amount of iron pro-
duced is about 5000 tons, steel being about
!, 900 tons ahead.
Excluding the amount of old rails it will
be seen that of the total daily production of
1905 tons of finished material. fully two
thirds is steel. These figures would seem to
indicate that the use of steel is rapidly en-
croaching on the domain of iron. It is said
that Carnegie Bros. & Co. bought $4,000
tons of muck iron in the first eight months
of last year, but in the same period
this year have not purchased
more than 5000 tons. In the former
period they did not build any new furnaces,
but last fall they put up eight, and eight
more are now under construction, with ten
more to follow. A year ago 20 furnaces
were built in the pudding department of
the National Tube Works rolling mills.
Twenty-Five new furnaces will soon be
ready for firing in the Endlay, O., Iron
and Steel Works, and other new furnaces
are in course of erection here and in Eastern
Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, which
shows that the demand for steel is not max
ing any particularly rapid progress over the
call for iron.
WINTER RATES RESTORED.