This is a shot of the pouring pit aisle in the Franklin Open Hearth shop (later called the Steelmaking Department). The steel ladle hanging from the crane hooks held 185 tons of molten steel when full.
The men on the platform included the Steel Pourer, his Assistant and a Metallurgical Dept. Observer. The Pourer operated a lever that raised the refractory-clad stopper rod inside the ladle. This allowed the steel to flow from the bottom of the ladle into cast iron ingot molds lined up on ingot cars below. When an ingot became full, the stopper valve was shut off and the Craneman moved the ladle over the next mold for filling.
After emptying the ladle, the "drag" of ingots cars were moved by a railroad dinky engine to the stripper area where the glowing molds would cool and then be stripped from the ingots. The red hot ingots would then be charged by crane into the reheat furnaces at Franklin Mills.
This is a shot of the pouring pit aisle in the Franklin Open Hearth shop (later called the Steelmaking Department). The steel ladle hanging from the crane hooks held 185 tons of molten steel when full.
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After emptying the ladle, the "drag" of ingots cars were moved by a railroad dinky engine to the stripper area where the glowing molds would cool and then be stripped from the ingots. The red hot ingots would then be charged by crane into the reheat furnaces at Franklin Mills.