Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1901-12-21
BERKELEY Co. LIMESTONE
How it is Used in the Manufacture
of Steel.
THE PROCESS DESCRIBED
Good Limestone Now an important Factor in
the Manufacture Of this Valuable Product
Half Ton of Limestone for Every
Ton Of Molten Metal
Ton Of Molten Metal,

Ion Of Molten Metal,
Since the limestone quarried in this
county has become so great a factor
manufacture OF steele, it viii be in
teresting to the residents OF this seq
ton to know how this newly develop
ed mineral deposit of the county il
used by the steel manufactures. a
blast furnace is nothing more nor less
than gigantic mixing pot IN which
the raw material from the mines,
coke or some other form OF fuel,
and limestone are churned about until
each has wholly lost it's identity in
one fiery boiling mass. The frightful
heat of the blast furnace may not,
perhaps, be better illustrated than by
tho fact that it's binding intensity Is
such that person may not look
steadily into this seething caldron
even few minutes.
The furnace derives its name from
the fact that through each brew OF
white burning liouid, replenished
every quarter of an hour with fresh
ore and fresh fuel, there is forced for
hours at time q tornado like blasts
OF hot air, which not only makes the
mass boil more actively, but also
tends TO drive off its impurities.
Ranged near each of the blast furna
ces are several monster iron tubes, re-
sembling IN general outline the ap-
pearance of the blast furnace itself
These are the stoves of the plant
and in them is heated the air which
is blown through the fiery mass with
IN the blast furnace. When il is ex-
planned that MANY presentd av blast
than half thousand tons of iron
every day. and that two tons of ore,
ton and quarter of coke and hal
ton of limestone are required for
each ton of motion metal produced,
it Will be appreciated tina the opera
tion of single blast furnace is no
inconsid cradle enterprise.
In the tapping of a blast furnace
there is presented the first of those
thrilling pictures which have no
counterpart in any other field of ac-
tivitv. A handful of men, pitifully
pigmy III appearance beside the tow
ering furnace with It's thy, glowing
white eyes, thrust and wrench and
jund until an inclsion is made low
down in this great tank of burning
metal, and then spring quickly out
OF the way in order to avoid the
stream of scalding metal which spnrts
from the opening, looking for all the
world like luminous porfidge.
This Is essential to introuuce the
reader to the two different methods
of steel. maklng-the Bessemer and
the "open hearth" processes, as they
are respectively termed. Up to thi:
point the transformation of the iron
Is invariably exactly the same, nomat
ter what It's ultimate destination may
be; but with the end of the Journey
OF "A railroad train loaded with half {
dozen kettles each containing full
twenty tons of the bubbling, red
tinged mass, comes the parting of tn,
ways.
From a spectacular standpoint, the
Bessemer process is the more Interest
ing. Each kettle of motion iron, a
it arrives from the blast furnace, i
known as the tinker. " where it boil
and sizzles in company with the con
tents of other kettles for quite an in
terval of time. Next it comes 70
converter. an egg-shaperd recep
racle of herculean size and strength
and here once more il undergoes pur
ification by menas of another territi
blast of air, forced upward througl
the mas with such violence that tn
top of the Converts" literally re
sembles a volcano in action. Whe
the publication by this heroic meth
cd is completed, the molten mass
ready to be poured INTO the lingo
moulds. where 1t hardens i'll tn
form of blocks, each weighing fv
tons
The "opeu hearth" me'hnd is les
impressive in the eyes of he onlonk
er, but results in the production of
better grade OF steel. Formerly
was so much more expensive than til
Bessemer process that few consumer
of steel could afford to nav the pric
exacted, but here as in all othe
branches OF steel making, costs hav
been shaved very heavily of late years
IN the open hearth plant instea
of converter, there are long line
of furnaces that look like bake oven
and in which miniature seas of whit
metal, so intensely hot that Won ca
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