Into the inferno
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Work in the steel mills was always hot and hard. Gradually, though, it became safer and less exhausting. In the early days, 12-hour days and six-day weeks lead to less alert workers and many accidents. Shorter work days and, later, more safety training and equipment, made mill work much safer after the 1930s. Labor unions played a big part in making these changes.
While millworkers were glad when payday came, they also felt rewarded by a job well-done. They were proud of the teamwork of their work crews. When the country needed more steel to make weapons during wartime, they worked extra hard and celebrated their contributions to the war effort.
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The row of chimneys are open hearth furnaces and the thick chimney is a blast furnace. |
Another view of the mill yard. |
Rail went into the mill buildings. Here cinder is being tapped directly into the cars at the Franklin Blast Furnace. |
These men were loading materials into the top of a blast furnace. Around 1900. |
A Kelly converter - invented by William Kelly to convert large amounts of iron into steel. |
A Bessemer converter - pictured here - was invented in England at the same time as William Kelly was inventing his converter in Johnstown. |
Open hearth furnaces, like the one pictured here, created tremendous amounts of heat. |
This photo is of a charging furnace, taken at Franklin Open Hearth. |
Tapping a furnace was extremely dangerous since it involved molten steel. This photo of tapping a furnace was taken at Franklin Open Hearth. |
Another furnace tapping. The steel in the picture is white-hot. |
The molten steel is being poured out of the Bessemer converter and into a huge ladle. |
Steel is being poured from the ladle and into the mould below. |
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