pa1778data.pdf
pa1778data.pdf
pa1778data.pdf
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STEELMAKING PLANT - BESSEMER<br />
U.S. STEEL DUQUESNE WORKS<br />
HAER No. PA-115<br />
(Page 159)<br />
Historic Name: u.S.S. Corporation, Duquesne Works: Steelmaking<br />
Plant, Bessemer Converter House.<br />
Present Name: N/A<br />
Location: Upper Works<br />
Construction: 1886, 1897<br />
Documentation: There are no photographs or drawings.<br />
DESCRIPTION<br />
I. There are no extant facilities from the Bessemer Converter<br />
Plant.<br />
HISTORY<br />
Each of the industry's major steelmaking processes -<br />
Bessemer, Open Hearth, Electric Furnace, and Basic Oxygen - have<br />
been employed at the Duquesne Works during the course of its<br />
history. When the works began operations in 1887, the acid<br />
Bessemer process was used to make steel. Essentially, the<br />
process involved blowing air up through tuyeres located in the<br />
bottom of a cylindrically shaped, acid (silicious brick)-lined,<br />
open-top converter which contained a mixture of scrap steel<br />
(approximately 10% of the charge) and a molten bath of iron. The<br />
exothermic (i.e. heat generating) reaction between the oxygen<br />
content of the air and the molten metal converted the bath of<br />
iron into a bath of steel by eliminating carbon, silicon, and<br />
manganese from the iron through oxidation. An average blow<br />
lasted approximately 15 minutes.<br />
The Bessemer converter plant at Duquesne occupied the<br />
southern end of the present site of Open Hearth Number Two. Its<br />
physical design allowed for the most efficient operation of the<br />
process possible. Buildings and equipment were laid out in close<br />
proximity to each other so as to permit easy movement of<br />
materials. Basic features of the original Bessemer converter<br />
plant included a combination converter/blooming mill building<br />
which contained two refractory brick lined converters with a 8<br />
1/2 ton capacity; a bottom house where the removable converter<br />
bottoms were taken to be repaired; a cupola house which contained<br />
iron remelting furnaces; a scrap storage yard; and a blowing room<br />
containing the vertical steam driven blowing engines which<br />
supplied blast air to the converters.<br />
The converter enclosure was the center of operations. It<br />
was divided into a charging, pouring, and teeming aisle. The<br />
converters, which sat on trunnions located on the elevated