pa1778data.pdf

information on production performance. 40
U.S. STEEL DUQUESNE WORKS
HAER No. PA-115
(Page 31)
Modernization of the mill's ironmaking facilities began in
the mid-1950s with the construction of a new raw materials
handling and storage system for the blast furnace ore yard. The
system encompassed the coordinated use of a rotary car dumper, a
conveyor belt and tripper system, and a modern 15-ton capacity
ore bridge. A particularly significant addition to Duquesne's
ironmaking facilities was the construction of the 'Dorothy Six'
blast furnace in 1962. Built to replace Blast Furnace Numbers
Five and Six, which were dismantled in the late 1950s, the new
furnace had a slightly larger working volume (49,568 cu. ft.)
than the combined working volume of the furnaces it replaced
(49,540 cu. ft.). Dorothy Six was reported to be the most
technologically sophisticated blast furnace in the world at the
time of its construction. Included among its notable
technological features were a computer operated automatic raw
materials delivery system, two tap holes, and eleven recording
probes placed at different levels on the furnace to give
operators valuable information about both the composition and
temperature of gases within the furnace. The data provided by
these probes was expected to improve production and give
engineers vital information with respect to future blast furnace
design. 41
In 1963, the modernization of the mill's productive
facilities was rounded out by the construction of a basic oxygen
steelraaking plant containing two 150-ton capacity converters.
Although basic oxygen steelraaking had been used at smaller firms
within the country for about a decade, the construction of the
plant at Duquesne marked its first use by one of the 'big three 1
steel companies (U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel, and Republic
Steel). The basic oxygen process combined the advantages of
open-hearth and Bessemer steelmaking in that it was capable of
producing many grades of steels in quantities comparable to the
40 "New Primary Mill at the Duquesne Works, United states Steel
Corporation," Iron and Steel Engineer 40 (June 1963): 80-6; Harold
E. McGannon, ed., The Makingf Eighth Edition, 640-44.
41 Heyl and Patterson, Inc., "Operating Instructions for Car
Dumping and Ore Handling System at the Duquesne Works, Duquesne,
Pa.," (Pittsburgh: 1958); American Iron and Steel Institute, Iron
and Steel Works Directory. (New York: 1967), 284; "Novel Equipment
Features U. S. steel's New Duquesne Blast Furnace," Iron and Steel
Engineer 40 (July 1963): 146-50; "Duquesne Works, No. 6 Blast
Furnace," Blast Furnace and Steel Plant 51 (September 1963): 780-2;
"A "Lady* Grows in Pittsburgh," U. S. Steel News 27 (January-
February 1962): 15-6.