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21-586: Lucy was named after co-owner Thomas M. Carnegie's wife. The furnace entered blast in summer 1872, at the same time as the Isabella Furnace . Over the decades that they operated, the two furnaces developed a fierce rivalry. Prior to their construction, blast furnaces in the United States did not exceed about 50 tons of iron yield per day, and the prevailing attitude of operators was to follow "rule of thumb" methods and not to attempt anything beyond

42-515: A decade earlier, but World War II and the Korean War produced unexpected demand for steel. Carnegie Steel Company Carnegie Steel Company was a steel -producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was formed in 1892, and

63-427: A leader in volume of production. By the end of its first year, it was making about 72 tons of pig iron a day. In October 1874, it produced over 100 tons daily. The record-setting production brought attention to Carnegie, and to Pittsburgh. Andrew Carnegie's aggressive approach was known as hard driving , and was controversial within the industry. In 1890, English metallurgist Sir Lowthian Bell denounced operation of

84-581: The Homestead Steel Works , which Carnegie acquired in 1883. The presence of the Allegheny , Monongahela , and Ohio rivers provided transport for the heavy materials used in steel production. Each plant was near to or alongside a river. Carnegie agreed to Frick's subsequent proposal that the various plants and assets, including H. C. Frick & Company, be consolidated into a single company. This consolidation occurred on July 1, 1892, with

105-570: The Allegheny, and both the Lucy and Isabella went into blast around the same time in the summer of 1872. The Lucy and Isabella maintained a fierce rivalry, racing to outproduce each other. The rivalry lasted until Lucy was dismantled in 1937. In 1901, Carnegie Steel Company acquired the Isabella. The next year, much of the plant was replaced with more modern equipment. James Gayley developed

126-547: The Isabella Furnace Company and built two furnaces, later adding a third. The first two furnaces were 75 feet high, one with a capacity of 12,800 cubic feet and the other 14,000 cubic feet. They were built following the designs of modern English furnaces, among the first in the United States and among the largest at the time. Isabella Furnace Co. also built in Spring 1872 its 200-oven, 600-acre coke works for

147-504: The Lucy as "reckless," with the practices wrecking the lining of the furnace such that it had to be replaced every three years. Carnegie's superintendent responded: "What do we care about the lining? We think a lining is good for so much iron and the sooner it makes it the better." Unusually, Carnegie employed a chemist in the administration of the furnace, and credited having "almost the entire monopoly of scientific management" in making Lucy "the most profitable branch of our business." Due to

168-547: The company having earned net profits of $ 21 million in 1899. J&L Steel was the most important competitor to the Carnegie Steel Company (and later to U. S. Steel ) in the vicinity of Pittsburgh . Carnegie Steel Company was sold in 1901 to U.S. Steel , a newly formed organization set up by J. P. Morgan . It sold at roughly $ 492 million ($ 18 billion+ today), of which $ 226 million ($ 8.3 billion+ today) went to Carnegie himself. U.S. Steel

189-519: The dry-air blast technique at Isabella Furnace and the Edgar Thomson Steel Works between 1885 and 1904. The discovery reduced the cost of a ton of pig iron by $ 0.50 to $ 1.00 and made it possible to produce uniform quality metal regardless of weather. It was first put into operation at the plant on August 11, 1904. In the week prior to its introduction, Isabella averaged 358 tons of pig iron daily, consuming 2,147 pounds of coke ; in

210-473: The early success of the first furnace and an increasing need for pig iron at Carnegie's Edgar Thomson Steel Works , a second furnace was erected in 1877. Both furnaces had a 75 foot stack with a 20 foot bosh (the lower portion of the furnace where melting occurs). In addition to their sheer size, a key to Lucy's prodigious output was their massive vertical steam reciprocating blowing engines , which provided 16,000 cfm of hot air at 9 psi . A typical furnace at

231-479: The following week it averaged 447 tons with a coke usage of 1,726 pounds. By 1948, the plant was no longer producing any iron; its furnaces repurposed exclusively to produce ferromanganese , an important deoxidizing alloy in steelmaking. Using 10 million gallons of water a day, the furnaces produced about 210 tons of ferromanganese. Isabella ceased operation in August 1953. It was scheduled to be shut down at least

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252-556: The formation of the Carnegie Steel Company. The company headquarters were located in the Carnegie Building , an early skyscraper in Downtown Pittsburgh . Built to show its use of steel in its construction, the building was fifteen stories high and was left uncovered for a full year. The Carnegie Building was demolished in 1952. Carnegie Steel made major technological innovations in the 1880s, especially

273-519: The furnace in Coketown (now Cokeville ) near the terminus of the W.P.R.R., 60 miles to the East. Isabella Furnace was named after two women: Isabella Herron, the sister of one of the members of owners Spang, Chalfant & Co. and Isabella Crowther, daughter of the furnace's lead engineer, Cyril W. Crowther. At the same time, The Carnegie Steel Company was building its Lucy Furnace one mile down

294-642: The furnace was retained by Carnegie-Illinois "for its own use". Isabella Furnace (Carnegie Steel) Isabella Furnace was a collection of blast furnaces built in 1872 in Etna, Pennsylvania , across the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh . The furnaces were built by Pittsburgh-area manufacturers (Lewis Dalzell & Co; J. Painter & Sons; Graff, Bennet & Co; Spang, Chalfant & Co; Henry Oliver of Oliver Brothers & Phillips; William Smith) who were dependent on pig iron. They incorporated as

315-638: The installation of the open hearth furnace system at Homestead in 1886. It now became possible to make steel suitable for structural beams and, with the advanced work of George Lauder in arms and armament, for armor plate for the US Navy and the militaries of other governments, which paid far higher prices for the premium product. In addition, the plant moved increasingly toward the continuous system of production. Carnegie installed vastly improved systems of material-handling, like overhead cranes , hoists, charging machines , and buggies . All of this greatly sped

336-621: The mill produced cheap steel, which sold for a large profit in the growing markets of industrial development. Carnegie alone estimated that 40% was returned on the investment, i.e., a profit of $ 40,000 from a $ 100,000 investment in the mill. The profits made by the Edgar Thomson Steel Works were substantial enough to let Carnegie and his partners, including Henry Clay Frick , his cousin George Lauder , and Henry Phipps Jr. , buy other nearby steel mills. These included

357-424: The process of steelmaking and allowed the production of far vaster quantities of steel. As the mills expanded, the labor force grew rapidly, especially less skilled workers. The more skilled union members reacted with the unsuccessful 1892 Homestead Strike along with demands for reduced working hours and against pay cuts. After the unsuccessful strike the company continued to expand and profits grew year on year, with

378-400: The rated capacity. Lucy and Isabella began an era of scientific refinement of the process, of relentless experimentation with ways of producing more iron output from a given amount of input ore, increasing throughput, and pushing the furnace beyond its design capacity. Owing to this approach and its large size (the 75-foot stack was larger than any previously constructed), the Lucy quickly became

399-501: The time provided only 7,500 cfm at 3 psi. Working in a blast furnace was dangerous at the time, and more so when the furnace is being pushed to its limits. In August 1877, seven men were working to repair the lining of a furnace at Lucy—which had been extinguished but had not cooled down—when their scaffolding gave way. They fell 35–40 feet onto red hot clinker at the bottom of the furnace. Two men died of burns before they could be rescued, and two others were fatally injured. The furnace

420-416: Was rebuilt three times from the early 1870s, having been rebuilt on the same foundation each time. In later years, an additional furnace was constructed next to the original, which then became known as "No 1". The first furnace ceased operations on April 30, 1929, with the second ending its run a year later and each remained derelict for the next 8 years. The furnaces were dismantled in late 1937. The scrap from

441-500: Was subsequently sold in 1901 in one of the largest business transactions of the early 20th century, to become a major component of U.S. Steel . The sale made Carnegie one of the richest men in history. Carnegie began the construction of his first steel mill , the Edgar Thomson Steel Works , in 1872 at Braddock, Pennsylvania . The Thomson Steel Works began producing rails in 1874. By a combination of low wages, efficient technology infrastructure investment and an efficient organization,

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