Carrie Furnaces Before and After

Original configuration when built in 1906.


Same view in the 1950s.


Same view on December 11, 2011


The mud gun control room in the No. 6 cast house


Control room being restored.

AC Powerhouse in 2010.


With new roof being installed in November, 2011.

Rick,

Thanks for the historical photos. Interesting to see how there was a stack on each stove when originally built, but changed to a single stack by 1950s.

I wonder if that was to capture more heat or to put a precipitator on the big stack? Or both.

The row of stacks to the right in the 1906 photo I'm assuming are for a battery of open hearth furnaces.

My dad worked for 35 years at Allegheny Ludlum Steel, Brackenridge, PA. He worked on open hearth furnaces, mostly as a stocker. (Selected scrap to be put in the heat.)

Thanks for what you are doing.

Paul

Paul,

The 8 three pass hot blast stoves were replaced in 1937 by 6 two pass stoves. Due to the different design only one exhaust stack is needed.

When this plant was originally built there was a boilerhouse between the blowing engine house and power house. The stacks you mention were part of the boilerhouse.

Tons of dirt on the top platform of No. 6 furnace.


Platform as it appears now.

Rick Rowlands said:

Paul,

When this plant was originally built there was a boilerhouse between the blowing engine house and power house. The stacks you mention were part of the boilerhouse.

Click to expand...

My first thought was that is a lot of boilers. Second thought is they made steam for the blowing engines and probably for generating electricity.

Were there any rolling mills there?

Do you know of any photos of the inside of the blowing engine and power houses? I am assuming originally they would be reciprocating engines, steam cylinder (s) on one end and big air cylinder (s) on the other for the blowing engines.

Paul

Roofing, etc.

Amazing progress Rick. Looks like you've really got a handle on the entire project. How many volunteers/volunteer hours were put in in 2011?

About 1000 hours so far this year. We will certainly double that next year.

Another set of before and afters:


The Carrie furnace plant during WWII. from left to right, No. 7, No. 6, No. 1, No. 2 and way in the background No. 3 and No. 4.


Same view in 1989. 1 and 2 are gone, 3 and 4 are still there but not for long.


No. 6 and 7 in the summer of 2011. Way too many trees blocking the view.

Thanks for the historical and before/after pics Rick.

After looking at these (and this recent pic on shorpy)

Here's Lucy: 1908 | Shorpy Historical Photo Archive

I finally looked up how the hot blast stoves worked.

Its great that someone is putting in the effort to save such important industrial structures. If I was closer I would gladly volunteer my services sometime.

Don't Stop!

Keep up the good work Rick. Haven't been posting much at all, as I finally landed meaningful employment late last year, and the owners lean heavily on this old fossil.

I have GOT to get my molding room put together. These photos are so compelling. I talk to so many young people who have no conception of how metal is made, formed, poured. The heat, dirt, gas, smoke, back-breaking work, and finally, the result.

I miss it terribly.

More on History

Rick,
This is fantastic work. If I was not so old …and retired in Texas, I would jump in with you folks on this project full-time. These original iron furnaces were at the heart and soul of industrial America. They were truly one of the most powerful instruments that built this nation. When you consider where our economy is today along with the movement of much heavy industry to overseas, we are really at risk of loosing our place in the world. Looking at these photos brings the loss into perspective.

On a brighter note, one of the recent issues of Modern Machine Shop has great article that covers a growing effort in this country to bring manufacturing back. The term being used is "Re-shoring." We should all keep abreast of this effort.

I am a model railroader working on an HO scale layout that includes a full steel mill. It may be interesting to some of you that the model railroading hobby is preserving much of this history in a small way. A large hobby supplier named Walthers is now offering a complete line of iron furnace and steel rolling mill structure kits in highly detailed injection molded plastic. . The blower house is available along with detailed ingot molds, ingot cars, hot metal cars, slag cars from State Tool & Die. One of the amazing kits available from Walthers is the Hewlett Unloader used on the Great Lakes to shovel ore from large lake carriers like the Edmund Fitzgereld. On the other side, several HO modelers have scratch built ore/taconite trestles that loaded the ships at the rail terminus from the mines on the North shore of the lakes. I am also working on a scale model coke oven that feeds the cupolas.

I just purchased a great picture book that covers making iron at the Republic Steel plant located in Cleveland, OH. The title/author is "Steel Remembered by Christopher J. Dawson." The publication contains a large number of original black and white photos of the plant under construction. Along with this book, I would like to plagiarize some of your photos to use in modifying the Walthers furnace kits in order to achieve a mill model that is closer to the original.

However, nothing can beat working to restore the real mill site. I commend you and your cohorts for the effort. Wish I was there!

Respectfully,
G. Anderson
San Antonio, TX