Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-02
PUDDLERS ARE IDLE.
The Light Demand for Muck Iron
Closing the Pudding Furnaces.
STEEL USED FOR ALL PURPOSES.
Coal to- Be Used Instead of Gas in the
Carnegie Mills.
ECHOES FROM THE INDUSTRIAL FIELD

Ine QlscnorglnR OF all the puQQiers enl-
ployed at the Union Mills of the Carnegie
Steel Company yesterday is only following
out the general trend of the iron and steel
industry for the past few years. Less pud-
ding is being done in and around Pittsburg
each year, and 1t is only q question of a
short time until the puddler's work will
have ceased to be distinct branch of the
iron manufacture. Steel is gradually tax
ing the place of much iron not only because
1t is cheaper, but that it makes better ma
terial
It is stated on good authority that the
pudding department in the Union Mills
has been closed indefinitely. All the men
connected with 1t were paid of yesterday
afternoon and given 20 understand that they
would have to seek work elsewhere, as the
other departments were full and there
would be no opportunity to take other posi-
tions for which they might be fitted. There
were IS furnaces, with a daily capacity of
80 tons, and the men thrown out of employ
ment will only increase the army of idle
puddlers now in the Pittsburg district. It
is estimated that there are fully 5000 of
these idle men in the district, and their
numbers are rapidly increasing, as since
the first of this year the output of raw
muck iron has fallen about one-ffth- Many
of the men thus thrown out Of employment
have been able to secure work in other de-
partments of the mill, but some are still
idle, with few prospects of securing any
position.
Steel Takes the Lead.
The displacement Of iron by steel has
been going on gradually since 1884 and has
increased in Importance in about the same
ratio that its manufacture has been i'm
proved upon. For the first four years there
was little decrease in the amount of iron
used, but from 1888 to January last the
decrease has been very rapid.
In the Pittsburg district only one firm is
now buying muck iron and one other is
making it for the market Moorhead
Brother & Co. buy between 400 and 500 tons
o week and make $50 tona The new Monon-
gahela plant with 20 furnaces has daily
output OF 40 tons which is all sold. 1t has
been more than two years since two other
mills, which made this iron for the market,
were closed, while two or three other firms
have ceased making this class of iron
entirely. Many other mills have not only
quit the manufacture of muck iron, but
have dismantled the furnaces and will tear
them down. No new furnaces have been
started up and it is not likely that there
will be any, at least if the present tendency
of the market is maintained.
Steel is now being used in almost all
branches of the trade and for every class of
goods Until year ago, iron was used en-
tirely in the manufacture of tubes All
this is now changed and more steel is being
used each month. When the National
Tube Company realized that steel could be
prohtsbly used q steel department was
erected with daily capacity of 100 tons,
which will soon be put into operation.
VIII No Longer Be Dependent
The finishing departments of the iron
mills operated by this company will be in
creased by more trains OF rolls, 80 that the
skelp iron for the tube works can be
turned out in the iron mills The company
has never been able to make more than one
half the iron needed, and had to depend
upon other firms for their skelp iron and
muck bars
To offset this the introduction Of the Bes-
semer process has caused the output of pig
iron to be greater than ever before. By this
process the steel is made direct from the
iron and saves both time and money. There
are now rs blast furnaces in this district,
with daily capacity of over 5000 tons.
This great output has greatly reduced the
price, and it is only those companies that
have every advantage that can successfully
compete in the market. The blast furnace
of Moorehead, McCleane & Co. at Soho
is the only blast furnace not running,
and the company is talking of starting
it in a short time. The Carnegie Steel
Company has IL furnaces, ten of which cast
about 800 tons, or half of the whole out
put None of this metal is kept on hand,
as the demand surpasses the supply, So that
it is used as fast as made This company is
the erection of three more
blast furnaces, so that it can make all the
pig iron it uses In the light of these facts
is easy to be explained why the puddlers at
the Union Mills were laid of, as the Carne-
gle Steel Company can little afford to en-
ploy puddlers when with its improved ma
chinery pig iron can be turned into finished
steel quickly and easily.