El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-08-25

iron as II flows forth from the fur
mace. IL is a flaming stream Of the
purest gold II drops into great ladies'
holding twenty tons and Dc boils and
bubbles as these are carried by loco
motive to a great steel, brlck-iined
even which hold about 900 tons. This
Is known as a mixer. The ladies' are
lifted by steam cranes and poured
into IT,
After this the iron goes to the Bes-
semer converter an immense egg
shaped barrel hung upon axles. The
converter is made OF steel plates and
lined with material that will with
stand The fierce heat Of the molten
iron. In the bottom are set cylinders
of fire clay which are SO arranged
that am air blast may be forced in %
a pressure OF thirty pounds TO the
inch. The barrel is turned ON the
side while the molten iron r poured
iu. but Do rises 10 an upright posi-
tiou as the air roars through the
metal As it does so flames leap forth
from the top.
Like Gigantic Fireworks Display.
They come out in millions upon mill
lions Of sparks, forming mighty fire
works of giant slyrockets, which
grow and grow until the sparks Join
together i'm flames. As the blast
continues the flames rise higher and
higher They Erow whittier. reaching
ND and licking the steel roof far over
head The torch Of flaming gases IS
ten feet i'm diameter. II is fire
works display that is TO be seen no
where outside = steel plant. The heat
is about 5000 degrees. II is an srti-
fetal volcano or flaming fire. The
flames contain NOSE Of the impurities
that have been left in the pig iron
The converter drives them out. and
at the end OF twelve minutes the
liquid iron has been turned to liquid
steel
Here in Birmingham tine metal is
further treated by the open hearth
process 20 remove some other impurl-
ties and fit ir for making the purest
Of steel The molten mixture as IL
comes from the converter is poured
into great ladies on wheels. which are
drawn by steam engines to a series
of ovens or furnaces which have doors
at the front. As they come TO the
furnace travelling crane high over
head reaches down and tips the ladies
so that the iron flows i'm. AT the
same time a mighty iron hand. as
big around rs YOUR waist attached
TO q steel arm the length Of a tele-
phone pole. lifts up an IRON box as
larEe as a bath tub and thrusts 10
into the furnace. This box contains
fifteen hundred pounds Of limestone
Tt weighs twenty-five hundred
pounds. including the material within
it, The arm Is operated by a man
who sits in what might be called the
chest Of the monster and controls the
arm by pressing a button or pulling
a lever. As he makes one movement
the arm thrusts the box into the
furnace. and as he follows with an
other the arm turns over the emptes
the limestone evenly upon the molten
metal within. third touch. and the
receptacle is back in its place and the
iron hand pulls it out for another
charge All this is done in less than
one minute, and the great human
chest and arm then move upon wheels
to perform the same office for the
furnace adjoining All this takes the
work Of only one man
In Three-TOn InEOts-
AT the end the steel comes out
from the furnaces I'm the shape OF
iuEOts, which are nodded from the
molten liquid. I have described Each
inE0C weighs three tons Tt is a great
block Of steel about a foot square.
reaching from tho ground 20 the
height OF your shoulder. IL Is now
the raw steel OF commerce and IS
ready TO be run through the rolling
t- into the thousands OF products used
I'm our various industries
Here ~ Birmingham much NJ the
product goes into masking steel rails
I'm rIl- process the IuE0rs. which have
been c1r into blooms ard heated red
things through a series OF steel rolls
which press and mold the metal as
nous" NJ were putty OF tafrr- he
bloom enters rho rolls a great thick
block OF steel II leaves them as a
steel rail ready TO be laid on the
track The whole f. done automat-
icallv. and with almost no man-pover
Tvha-ert- some idea Of the capacity I
Of the mill may be had when 7 tell
YOU that DO can make enough rails in
a day 10 lay ten miles Of track. and
that i'm one year 10 could furnish a
sufficient number OF rails for a road
reaching from the tip end OF Cane
Cod on the Atlantic 20 the Golden
Gate which forms the entrance 10 San
Francisco bsv on the opposite side Of
our continent