Steelmaking/U.S.A. (56efd1b6-8fed-4f04-aac6-d48b6833b5a9)

Part III of a four-part series on the history of steelmaking in the US, describes furnace developments, improvements during the last few decades, and the contribution of the AIME. THE invention of the dolomite machine was a great boon to the open-hearth furnaceman. By speeding up bottom making, it helped to increase tons per hour and decrease cost. The first homemade unit was built and operated before 1925 at the South Side works of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., Pittsburgh The first commercial machine, similar to those known today, was built for the Donner Steel Co., Buffalo, N. Y., in 1925. Heavy slab buckstays, 6 in. by 15 in., supplanted lighter I-beam buckstays as furnace framework in the middle 1920's. They greatly improved the rigidity of the furnace binding. Although the first sloping back wall had been in- stalled prior to 1920 on a small basic open-hearth foundry furnace at Columbus, Ohio, the impetus to install such back walls universally in ingots shops came after S. Naismith installed the first one on an open-hearth furnace at Illinois Steel Company's South works in June 1924. Before that event, back- wall life had already been improved somewhat by the use of chrome rock or metal-encased basic brick. Here again, these changes heralded major for- ward steps in furnace design, decreased costs, in- creased production, and improved safety and working conditions on the back standing of the furnace. Fuels Up to 1930, a number of different kinds of fuel were used to melt and refine steel in American open hearth furnaces. During World War I, powdered coal was used in a few plants as an open-hearth fuel, but because of the high sulfur and ash content in the coals, many operational difficulties arose. There were also dust, explosion, and accident hazards, so that after the War its use was discontinued. In some steel-manufacturing centers, natural gas was available as a fuel and gave good performance. In most steel-manufacturing centers, operators had to rely on producer gas made from bituminous coals in producer gas houses. Low-sulfur low-ash, high-fusion coals required for the manufacture of such gas were not readily available. The quality of producer gas was uncertain. The gas had to be pre-heated. Maintenance problems connected with the use of this fuel were serious. Tons per hour per month was unsatisfactory. Although petroleum had been first discovered by Edwin L. Drake at Titusville, Pa., in 1859, it was not until the early 1930's that heavy fuel oil residues for open-hearth use began to appear on the market. They were cheap; the calorific value was high, and it was not necessary to pass this fuel through the checkers to preheat it. Various plants began to use such oil as an open-hearth fuel. Others used it in combinations with tar, coke-oven, and/or blast-furnace gases. Because of its low calorific value, blast-furnace gas had to be preheated in the checkers. These fuels were cleaner and more dependable than producer gas. The dirty gas house adjacent to the open-hearth shop was no longer needed, and