Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-02-01
FURNACE STACK
THROWN over


Wednesday when the huge eightv-tive
foot furnace stack was hurled from its
foundation by heavy charges OF dyna-
mite and thrown over bodily, lying at
present intact III the pig bed of the
cast house. The overthrow was not
accomplished without great deal OF
delay, one or more unforeseen circum-
stances adding much to the danger us
ualIy attending such work and making
the situation at times little short of
thrilling. The interesting operation
was not without spectators, large
number of townspeople witnessing the
work of demolition.
BY Tuesday evening everything was
ready for throwing the stack and for
the first thing Wednesday morning the
blasting began. The furnace consisted
of the floor or hearth supported by
heavy iron legs several feet i'll height,
above which was the outer wall or
casing of the furnace known as the
mantle In the Bessemer furnace the
mantle consisted of the usual circular
wall of brick sheeted with iron plates
firmly riveted together
The usual plan adopted i'll throwing
furnace stacks was followed. \ charge
of dynamite was placed under each of
the four legs supporting the mantle
under the front part Of the furnace and
the fuse was lighted. This was about
! 80 O'Clock. The presence of a great
crowd was not desirable and Mr.. Poul-
terer, who has the work of dismant-
ling in charge, had not talked very
freely about his plans for yesterday
Nevertheless the fact got noised about
that the big stack was to fall and by
I 80 O'Clock there were a good many
people IN groups of dozen or twenty
five standing about anxious to see what
was to happen.
When the fuse connected with the
four charges of dynamite which We're
to tumble the furnace were lighted the
crowd stood silent with suppressed
emotion and suspense 1t was only
few moments, however, and then the
first explosion occurred, which fairly
shook the earth there was an interval
of half a minute and then the second
shot rent the air; another very brief
interval ana the third explosion oc-
Cured the tremor it sent through the
earth indicating how effectually it was
doing its work Every eye was fixed
upon the huge tower of masonry and
iron firm in the belief that with the
next shot the huge mass would totter
on its foundation and fall These re-
Elections We're cut short by the fourth
shot which was the heaviest of all and
then TO the disappointment of all the
furnace did not fall or indicate that it
had been weakened in its support
This really was contingency not
looked for by the wreckers, as accord
ing to all theories the furnace should
have fallen after the four shots. \
new element of danger now entered
into the situation. The furnace might
be merely hanging fire and would fall
the next moment or it might be held
i'll such manner as to stand indefin-
itely. 1t devolved upon somebody to
take the risk and ascertain the true
circumstances
Alexander Hamilton. the boss wreck
er, is a man of too much push and
long in doubt. Defying danger the
wreckers approached the base of the
furnace and discovered that the dyna-
mite had done its work well; each of
the four legs was blown away and
along with them the iron base and the
lower portion of the mantle taking
in the whole front half of the furnace.
The reason why the stack refused to
fall is thus explained: The furnace
when shut down had not been blown
out and in the bottom lay an immense
salamander when the legs were blown
away by the dynamite the breast of
the stack lodged upon the solid mass in
such way as 10 hold it firmly in
position. A new problem now present
ed itself, but the quick wit of the
wreckers soon suggested a method of
overcoming the difficulty, which was
to blast away Il portion of the brick
work resting on the salamander, thus
depriving the structure of its support
By means Of the opening afforded by
the tweers three charges of dynamite
were placed in the breast of the fur
mace. This work was accomplished
with much difficulty and danger by
reason of the bricks which We're CON
stantly falling from the breast of the
furnace where the mantle had been
blown away. a delay of over an hour
was occasioned by the unexpected tur
taken by events.
1t was . 80 O'Clock when the crucial
hour arrived and everything was ready
to set off the second set of blasts. BY
this time there was big assemblage
of people occupying widely scattered !
points waiting to witness the spec
tacle. No one was disappointed this
time. The three shots went off at in
teryals Of probably half a minute. |
with the last report a |
was discernible IN the stack |
the next moment there was the sound |
of rasping iron and the crashing of |
many timbers as the eighty-five foot !
stack, swung away from its moorings |
and carrying with it the high elevator |
shaft by its side amid dense cloud of |
dust fell bodily over and landed on the |
site of the cast house recently torn |
down. 1t was some minutes before the |
dust cleared away sufficiently to re-
veal the stack, which lay PROSTATE and
half fiattened under the force of the