Burns Harbor: The last integrated steel mill built in the United States.

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Blast Furnaces ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor


50 years ago the Bethlehem Steel Company from Pennsylvania started building a new, state of the art, integrated mill on the banks of the Lake Michigan. 3000 acres of land, neighbouring US Steel’s Gary works, were purchased and construction started in late 1962. Probably few could have imagined that Burns Harbor would be the last integrated mill in the U.S. to be built until today.

Burns Harbor BOF Shop

In 1964 the 160 “ plate mill was started followed in 1966 by the 80” hot strip mill. In between 1969 and 1972 two blast furnaces, a coke plant (164 coke ovens) and a steel mill, containing two 300 ton BOF vessels were started.In 1975 Bethlehem Steel’s first continuous slab caster started production. In 1978 a 110” plate mill and a third BOF vessel became operational.In 2000 the last ingots were poured.
After filing bankruptcy Bethlehem Steel was taken over by the International Steel Group (ISG) in 2003. Two years later Burns Harbor became part of Mittal Steel USA (ArcelorMittal since 2007).
Further images.

Map Burns Harbor facilities

   1:  Blast furnace C
2:  Blast Furnace D
3:  Ore storage
4:  Coal Storage
5:  Coke plant
6:  Sinter plant
7:  BOF shop
8:  Slab caster 1
9:  Slab caster 2
10: 80″ hot strip mill
11: 160″ plate mill
12: 110″ plate mill
13: Cold rolling mill



Schupp & Kremmer

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© Deutsches Bergbaumuseum

A (nearly) new publication by the German Mining Museum in Bochum I just discovered is concerned with the work and the assets of the famous German industrial architects Fritz Schupp (1896-1974) and Martin Kremmer (1895-1945).
On more than 400 pages it lists all their industrial buildings and shows what is still there.

Hundreds of high resolution images and plans complement this catalogue.

The Bergbaumuseum shop offers it as a real bargain right now. Unfortunatly only in German.

Hand rolling.

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Hand RollingThe Walzwerke Einsal GmbH is one of the oldest iron works in Germany.
Founded as a forge in 1675 by the Holtzbrinck family (same family that today owns the Rowohlt and DIE ZEIT publishers) it became the Einsaler Eisenwerke in 1856. Main product were wire and nails.
In 1963 the Thomashoff family took over and transformed the Einsal works into a speciality steel rolling mill.
In 1992 a new fully automatic rolling stand for bars was installed.
Sections are still produced on three Banning double-duo hand rolling stands.
Finishing is done in a cold rolling and a heat treatment center.
Walzwerke Einsal employes 300 people.

More from there.

The largest factory in the world..

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Blast Furnaces Rouge Steel..employing up to 100000 people was built 95 years ago in Dearborn, Michigan. The Krupp works in Essen, Germany once had 104000 people on the payroll but that was only in war times (1918).
Anyway, the Ford River Rouge plant was remarkable with the unique vertical integration of it’s production cycle.
From iron ore to rubber and glass any kind of raw materials could be processed on ground and could be transformed into finished cars in less than 50 hours.
In 1989 the Ford company sold it’s integrated steel production to the Rouge Steel Co. which was taken over by Russian Severstal in 2004. Some images from that year.

The image shows the older blast furnaces ‘A’ (from 1920) and ‘B’ once called Henry Ford II and Benson Ford.

Ford River Rouge Plant 1927

 

Rien ne va plus

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Florange Blast furnaces
According to the French newspaper Liberation AcelorMittal announced to shut down the hot end of it’s  last integrated steel mill in Lorraine, France at Florange permanently.
The two remaining blast furnaces P3 and P6 that were idled in 2011 will not be restarted by AM.
ArcelorMittal is said to have offered the iron and steel making facilities at Florange to the French Government for one Euro to find a new owner within the next few month.

The vintage image #1

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August Thyssen Huette Bruckhausen
Bruckhausen, the former working class neighbourhood that adjoins to the vast August Thyssen Hütte steel mill in Duisburg, Germany, in the early 1950ies.
Ironically Bruckhausen looks much the same nowadays again because the ThyssenKrupp steel company and the administration of Duisburg have decided to tear it down in favour of a huge park (Article, in German).
Guntram Walter did some impressive images of this ghost town.

Christmas time is coming.

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So if you are already in search for the extraordinary gift here are two books that will bring a special glow to the dark days.
Michael Schultz Foundry Work Book
Mike Schultz’ Foundry Work volume I & II both show unique images done in dozens of foundries worldwide by one of the best industrial photographers around.
The amazing clarity and detail of his work is well supported by the vintage printing.
Strongly recommended.

One can order the books here: Vol. I , Vol. II .

Survivor

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Hosch Schwerter Profile Walzwerk

The Hoesch AG based in Dortmund once gave work to 64000 men and women, controlling dozens of subsidiaries. Few members of this steel empire have survived. One of them is the Hoesch Schwerter Profile GmbH.

The steel mill in Schwerte, Germany was founded by the Kissing & Schmöle company from nearby  Menden in 1868 next to the brand new railroad line going from Hagen to Unna.
A melt shop and 5 rolling mills were built.
The Johanneshütte near Siegen, running two blast furnaces, was acquired in 1871 and supplied iron until 1914.
In 1891 the mill was expanded by an open hearth shop, a blooming mill and a wire mill.
In 1926 the steel plant became part of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG and was renamed Schwerter Profileisenwalzwerke AG in 1936.
After the war Schwerte became part of the Dortmund-Hörder Hüttenunion (DHHU).
The stamping mill was built in 1957 and from 1962 the new rolling mill no.7 replaced all older mills.
After the fusion of DHHU and Hoesch in 1966 Schwerte joined the Hoesch rolling mills in Hohenlimburg to form the Hoesch Werke Hohenlimburg Schwerte AG.

Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG ; Schwerter Profileisenwalzwerke

The takeover of Hoesch by Krupp in 1992 made the works part of  Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, and in 1999 of the ThyssenKrupp AG.
In 2005 the Calvi holding from Italy purchased the Schwerte plant, now called Hoesch Schwerter Profile GmbH, producing 70000 tons of special profiles per year and employing a staff of 530.

Further images.