Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
(OP)
Inspired by Zogzog's work with the hydroelectric power station, I take the opportunity to ask about blast furnaces still standing - and perhaps even in operation.
No. Not the huge, modern ones. The small ones run by "mountain-men" co-operations like ours in Granbergsdal. Have a look at http://w ww.varmlan d.org/even t.asp?typ= detail& ;id=3110&a mp;ty=3&am p;su=25&am p;lang=eng
We (wife and I) have been visiting places where we thought we could find similar old furnaces from ancient times, but it seems that the old ones were torn down when newer and bigger furnaces were built.
Does anyone know about such places where one can study antique pig iron production?
No. Not the huge, modern ones. The small ones run by "mountain-men" co-operations like ours in Granbergsdal. Have a look at http://w
We (wife and I) have been visiting places where we thought we could find similar old furnaces from ancient times, but it seems that the old ones were torn down when newer and bigger furnaces were built.
Does anyone know about such places where one can study antique pig iron production?
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
http://www.cornwallironfurnace.org/
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
http://www.tilthammer.com/hamlet/gen1.html
Cheers
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
Now a World Heritage Site (!).
Merthyr Tydfil might have something left too,if they haven't knocked it all down yet...
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
Actually, we did visit Wales in May this year. But we missed that one. We did Iron Bridge on our way home.
Hope to go to Wales again. You close to Blaenavon?
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
{reopening in Sept}
http://www.nps.gov/sair/
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
Come to think of it, there's also the Neath Abbey Iron works which is very local to me, about a mile away.
The Neath Abbey Iron Works was involved with the very early iron ships.
This area of South Wales was intensely involved in the Industrial Revolution.
Swansea produced about 75% of the world's refined copper at one time.
Which explains the toxicity of some of the local tips...
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
>
China, Cultural Revolution, circa 1966
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
http://www.tannehill.org/tsptoday.html
The following site has a lot of information, somewhat disjointed, on the old furnaces around Birmingham Alabama.
If you click on Woodward Ind. RR in the left hand column and then click on the furnace site at the bottom of the first page you will see what was in my back yard. We lived just to the right of where it says to the ore mines. I have gotten to ride on all the steam locomotives shown in this piece. I even got to be fireman in the days of coal shovel, prior to stokers.
If you look under word byproducts you can see an isolated building. This is where they really made the pigs until the advent of the casting machine. I actually saw the sand casting of the pigs. There is a ridge that runs by this building and parallel to the RR tracks that held two rows of beehive coke ovens which operated during WWII.
During my school days everything in the area was operating at full blast. You could not hang clothes on the clothes line or paint any thing a light color if the paint had lead in it. In a weeks time the paint would turn black. The first white paint that wouldn't turn black was from
skogsgurra's country. I think the name was "Emalja" it had 25+ % TiO2.
http://www.bhamrails.info/
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
Was the Ox moor furnace by you, or was that one in Bessemer, down the road?
B.E.
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
In growing up in this area I was able to cover nearly all the area where old mines and furnaces were located. In my home town you could tell whether members of the a family worked with the coal or iron industry by what color there laundry was red for iron and black for coal or greasy looking, like my father's from the steel mills.
Red Mountain is was the main source of iron ore for the area while a few miles east and west are large deposits of coal. The form of iron ore found in Red Mountain was extremely tough to mine. Several years ago a group driving a tunnel through the mountain hit the ore and came to an abrupt halt. This ore caused and extended delay in the project. It also seems that none on that project check on old mine locations and galleries, all the tunnels also kept the project in check.
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel has a 35-page, illustrated chapter called 'Evolution of Iron- and Steelmaking' which covers the subject. Am looking at the 10th Edn. (1985) but I think the earlier editions (e.g., 9th, 1971) have the same & are much cheaper; sometimes on eBay.
h
Never been to Birmingham, Ala. (Atlanta was probably my closest) but I bought a load of Trambeam patent rail from near there (about 45 miles up the road in Attalla).
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
Thanks for the memory trip unclesyd.
rmw
RE: Vintage Blast Furnaces of the World
As it happens, I am going to Elizabeth NJ to have a look at bearing problems in gantry cranes (big harbour there) and that is not far at all from http://www.cornwallironfurnace.org/ So, tis is definitely a place where we (yes, Missus coming with me) will go. Thanks CJCPE!
And, as it happens again, I will then go to Mechanic Falls ME for another bearing-related business. And that brings us very close to Boston where this tip will come in handy http://www.nps.gov/sair/ Thanks arto!
Anyone near these sites? Would be very nice to have lunch, dinner, a beer or whatever if that is so (my accountant told me I need to have expenses). We need more Eng-Tips person-to-person meetings. Post here - or find my e-mail address from the (Swedish) home-page. It is there, only a little hard to find if you are not good at Swedish.
Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
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100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...