The herald., 1897-04-11
(written for The Herald.)

(Written for The Herald.)
At the Invitation of President Schwab
of the Carnegie Steel. Works, Professor
Lowe and myself visited THE world re-
nowned establishment last week. on
Tuesday morning, after receiving the
necessary ticket Of admission from Mr..
Schwab he sent one of his clerks to es'-
cort us to the station, where we took the
train. Half an hours ride took up to
Homestead, where the Carnegie works
begin and a little further on Is Munhall,
where we were met at the station and
escorted to the office. Here the gen.
eral manager, Mr.. Cory, and the super
ntendent, Mr.. Wood, welcomed us, and
| Immediately entered into conversation
with Professor Lowe as to his methods
| of gas manufacture, and the use OF gas
so manufactured, for metallurgical pur-
poses. 1t was the intention of Mr.. Wood
| to send US through the works with the
ordinary guide, but this conversation
SO Interested him that he arranged to do
| the honors himself.
| learned during this tour of the works
| that twenty-five years ago Professor
Lowe devoted considerable time and at
| tention to the study of metallurgy, and
| the best methods of producing and util-
izing was for metallurgical purposes,
and that, therefore. he was on quite fa-
miliar ground when discussing the con-
| struction of furnaces, the chemical
changes transpiring in the converters,
| the methods Of applying the fuel used,
and other subjects with which metal
lurgical experts alone are supposed to
be familiar. He noted with great pleas
ure the many and varied improvements
introduced in the furnaces and methods
of handling the vast quantities of ma
terial used in these works.
| We first visited the large building in
which the open hearth furnaces are in
operation. Here furnaces are in full
blast in each of which fifty tons of melt
ed steel was bubbling and seething and
kissing as does pan full of fat on the
fire when the cook is making doughnuts.
But to gaze into the "eye" of the furnace
at such times, when the heat is so great
that thermometers are unable to record
1t, would be destructive to the eyesight.
so each workman is provided with pair
of green or brown goggles that enables
him to watch the liquid metal as it Is
licked by the furious flames.
Twelve million cubic feet of natural
gas are used per day in these furnaces,
and as the company is preparing to en-
large its plant, this supply must soon be
proportionately increased. At present
the Carnegie company pipe the gas over
a hundred miles, and the wheels are now
giving out, hence the position they now
find themselves In is that they must
either extend their pipe line into West
Virginia and Southern Ohio or erect
plants that will manufacture gas for
them from coal which Is mined close at
hand Mr.. Wood candidly stated that
If any man in the world could solve this
latter problem Prof. Lowe was that
man, and he and his colleagues listened
with the keenest interest as the profess
sor outlined the methods Of his newly
invented system Of gas and coke produc-
tion. With this new method he can
make gas t2F fJr fArbhb bbp ppprnnmoTpfiss pprnnmpisg feh ete
and thus render them independent OF
the natural supply. while at the same
time they can manufacture their own
coke of superior quality and at much
less cost than at present they are pay
ing for it.
In the buildings where the furnaces
were melting their fifty tons of steel at
time were a number of most interest,"
ing machines used for charging the fur
naces. Each machine was operated by
| electricity. On train of cars were pc
culiar, heavy, trough-shapec vessels
filled with the crude metal to be melted.
At the end of each trough was an ar
rangement by which it could be auto
matically lifted by the electrically
worked crane. 1t was thus raised to
the proper elevation, the furnace door
automatically opened, and then, that
portion of the lifting machinery to
which the trough was attached, moved
forward as If 1t were the piston of an en-
gine. thrusting the trough into the heart
of the furnace. Then, with revolving
motion, the piston turned the trough
| over it's contents We're dumped into
! the furnace, and, in moment, the "pis-
| ton" was withdrawn and the door
| closed. 1t was the work of a few Sec
onds to move the machinery to the next
loaded trough. raise it, open the door,
thrust 1t in, overturn it, and so on, until
each furnace was completely charged
with all the raw material desired.
In the buildings and about the out
side were tracks upon which snorting,
putting engines moved to and fro con-
stantly, conveying their loads of crude
material to the furnaces or bringing
back the great ingot moulds full of the
slowly solidifying steel.
The pouring of the steel was accom-
plished with equal ease. Vast ladies.
that would have frightened the witchery)
out of the hags of Macbeth, were placed
so as to receive the flow of molten metal,
when the furnace was tapped, and then,
placed upon trunnions were tilted by
electric and hydraulic working machin-
cry so that their contents were poured,
at WILL into the moulds. The ease with
which these vast ladies of liquid metal
fire were handled Is an establishment to
those who have never witnessed it, and
the simplicity of the machinery and the
perfect adaptability of 1t to the work re-
quired shows the power of the master
minds that have grappled with and
solved the problems presented.
Close by this large building, work is
progressing for the erection of more
furnaces, all Of which will be fully
equipped with the most modern methods
of charging and manipulating.
We next visited the Bessemer CONVEX
ters. These are immense furnaces sus-
pended on trunnions, into which the |
molten metal Is placed. Into it power
full blast is introduced which makes the |
chemical change necessary for the man. |