The inside history of the Carnegie Steel Company, a romance of millions (1903) (14589973070)

Identifier: insidehistoryof00brid (find matches)
Title: The inside history of the Carnegie Steel Company, a romance of millions
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Bridge, James Howard, 1858-1939
Subjects: Carnegie Steel Company Steel industry and trade
Publisher: New York, Aldine Book Company
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto



Text Appearing Before Image:
every element in the twelve-ton charge now roar-ing and flaming before us will eventually find and unite withthe atom of oxygen for which it has an affinity—chemical orelective it matters not. It may be this moment or the next, inthe violent ebullition of the Bessemer converter; it may bethousands of years hence in the beam of a sky-scraper; butsooner or later, every atom of iron as well as every atom ofsilicon and carbon will find its mate in the oxygen of the air,and so separate itself from its fellows. This is a predestinationof matter not found in theologies. When the flame at the lip of the converter becomes white itis a sign that the manganese, silicon, and carbon have unitedwith the oxygen blown through the mass and escaped into theair. Now the iron itself is following the same course, and thatmeans waste. So the youth, who has been watching the con-flagration through colored goggles from a distant platform,touches a lever; and the huge vessel slowly bends forward so Plate N
Text Appearing After Image:
Copyright by the S. S. MoCliiie Co. BESSEMER CONVERTER IN OPERATION THE BESSEMER PROCESS U7 as to let the metal flow into the body of the converter, and un-cover the air-holes beneath. With a mighty rush the blast nowsweeps along the surface of the metal, detaching a million minorparticles of glowing matter and sending a shower of sparksacross the converting-pit. It is the brilliant finale of the gor-geous display. To replace a part of the lost carbon, a fewshovelfuls of spiegeleisen or ferro-manganese are thrown intothe mass, which is then poured into moulds, to solidify intoingots of steel. When taken out of the moulds the steel ispassed under heavy rollers to give it the shapes needed for itsintended use as rails, beams, or plates, as well as to knead it intothat fibrous texture which we saw resulted from similar actionin the making of wrought-iron. The first rolling thus makesblooms; and these cut into lengths make billets, which againare shaped into a hundred and one things as ne