pa1778data.pdf

U.S. STEEL DUQUESNE WORKS
HAER No. PA-115
(Page 12 6)
dramatically increased the rate of speed of the handling and
storage of iron ore. In 1928 a new car puller system was
installed on the coke trestle serving blast furnaces number one
and two. Finally, in that same year, two 10-ton ore bridges
replaced their original counterparts. 2
Alterations to the raw materials handling and storage system
between 1928 and 1953 were limited to minor repairs on the coke
trestle. Between 1954 and 1962, however, the system was almost
completely revamped. A new 15-ton ore bridge, designed and
constructed by the Heyl and Patterson Company of Pittsburgh, PA,
was installed in 1954. The new ore bridge was constructed after
a fire which destroyed one of the 10-ton bridges installed in
1928. A new 150-ton rotary car dumper and conveying system, also
designed and constructed by the Heyl and Patterson Company,
replaced the old car dumper arrangement in 1959. Under the new
system, a railroad hopper car, filled with ore or limestone, was
run into the car dumper contained within the car dumper building.
As the hopper car reached its destination, its wheels were
clamped by the dumper 1 s platen locks after which the mechanism
automatically began to rotate. Upon a rotation of 15 degrees,
the dumper's clamp beams automatically moved downward, gripping
the top of the car for the remainder of its 160 degree rotation.
Raw materials from the hopper car were thereby dumped into three
hoppers, rated at a capacity of 50 tons each, which were located
directly below the car dumper. From the hoppers the raw
materials were delivered to a system of 48" conveyor belts,
connected in series, by means of three rotary table feeders
located directly below the hoppers. The conveyor belts, running
parallel to, and located between the trestle and ore yard,
delivered the raw material to one of two tripper cars which
diverted the material into an assigned stockhouse bin or into the
ore yard where it was relocated into one of the various stock
piles by an ore bridge. As such, this newly installed stocking
system, capable of delivering 3500 tons of raw material per hour
to the stockhouse bins or ore yard, represented a dramatic
increase in productivity over the system installed in 1928. 3
In 1960, as part of the construction of a replacement for
blast furnace number six, another 15-ton ore bridge, designed and
built by the American Bridge Company, was added, superseding the
other 10-ton ore bridge built in 1928. During the next two years
the trestle at blast furnace number six was altered in order to
meet the specifications of its newly built stockhouse. Three new
car pullers were installed at the trestle for blast furnace
number six and the car pullers serving the coke trestle at blast
furnaces numbers one, two, three, and four were replaced. 4
Between 1962 and 1984, when the Duquesne Works shut down,