pa1778data.pdf

U.S. STEEL DUQUESNE WORKS
HAER No. PA-115
(Page 32)
open-hearth process at a rate comparable to the faster Bessemer
process. The cost of production was more than $10 less per ton
under the basic oxygen process than under the basic open-hearth
process. As a result, open-hearth production was abandoned
shortly after the new plant was constructed. 42
Complementing the construction of the basic oxygen
steelmaking plant was the installation of a modern high-purity
gaseous oxygen making plant that also served the oxygen needs of
the Clairton, Edgar Thomson, and Homestead Works by means of a
4.5-mile pipeline. Built and operated by the Linde Air Division
of the Union Carbide Corporation, the plant was capable of
producing 1,365 tons of oxygen per day. The centralization of
oxygen production facilities at Duquesne induced company
officials to create a central energy management facility on the
site in an effort to make its Monongahela Valley steel mills more
energy efficient. Tucked away in a small 25' x 80' room on the
second level of No. 2 Power House and operated by twelve
employees, the computerized Mon Valley Energy Management System
monitored and managed the use of oxygen, natural gas, blast
furnace gas, coke oven gas, mixed gas, No. 2 and No. 6 fuel oil,
and electricity at each mill. 43
In addition to the modernization efforts described above,
important expansions to the works' heat treating facilities, 22"
bar mill, and metallurgical testing capabilities occurred in the
1960s. The expansion of the heat treatment plant included the
addition of two heat treating lines, a gas fired continuous line
manufactured by Salem Brosius and an Ajax magnethermic electric
induction line. The expansion of the 22" bar mill provided the
operation with additional finishing and shipping facilities.
42,l Duquesne Works to Get First U. S. Steel Oxygen Converters,"
Iron and Steel Engineer 39 (September 1962): 161; "Oxygen at USS
May Spur Steel Spending," Iron Age 190 (September 6, 1962): 43;
"Modernization Program at Duquesne Works Marked by the Completion
of Two 150-Ton OSM Furnaces," Iron and Steel Engineer 41 (July
1964): 201-04; "OSM Shop is Important Addition in Duquesne Works
Expansion," Blast Furnace and Steel Plant 52 (August 1964): 719-21,
732; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 30, 1962, May 13, 16, 1964;
"U. S. Steel Shuts Down Duquesne Open Hearths," Blast Furnace and
Steel Plant 53 (October 1965): 959.
43,, New Uses Create Oxygen Boom," Iron Age 184 (October 1,
1959): 45; Harold E. McGannon, ed., The Making, Eighth Edition,
268; "Computer Directs Energy Management," The Bridge (A Newspaper
of the National Duquesne Works), (December 1980): 3; Don Dvorsky,
former General Manager of the Mon Valley Energy Management System,
interview with author, March 9, 1990.