Tag Archives: Blast Furnace

8/72. Bethlehem Steel, Lackawanna

Posted on by


Image shows the Bethlehem Steel Mill in Lackawanna, NY south of Buffalo at the Lake Erie shoreline probably in the late 1960ies.
Foreground shows the 535 coke ovens along the dock, behind are the seven blast furnaces and (right hand side) the open hearth melt shop (35 furnaces).
The background is also attractive:
Right from the centre we can see National Steel’s Hanna Furnaces and far away in the middle Republic Steel’s Buffalo works.

Lackawanna was closed down in 1983.

  • BF A: Ø 21’3” (6,47 m)
  • BF B: Ø 21’3” (6,47 m)
  • BF C: Ø 28’0” (8,53 m)
  • BF F: Ø 26’0” (7,92 m)
  • BF G: Ø 27’0” (8,22 m)
  • BF H: Ø 29’0” (8,83 m)
  • BF J: Ø 29’11” (9,11 m)

British Steel Ltd.

Posted on by

former Tata Steel, Corus, British Steel Corp., Appleby Frodingham is on the verge of collapse.
Talks with the government on rescuing the steel group failed on Wednesday.
British Steel is owned by private equity group Greybull Capital, main products are rails.
According to Greybull shrinking orders due to Brexit-related issues and  difficult market conditions are to blame for the financial problems.

Blast furnaces Victoria, Anne, Bess and Mary.

llanwern Blast Furnace No.3

Posted on by

llanwern steel works
One of the most short-lived fully integrated plants in the history of steel making was torn down 15 years ago.
Built by the Welsh steel maker Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd in 1962 the site became part of nationalised British Steel Corporation in 1967 and was called Llanwern works from then on.
In 1974 No. 3 blast furnace was the third to be built on the site and with it’s 11,2 m hearth and two tapping holes it was the first modern large volume furnace in Britain.
Furnaces No. 1 and No. 2 had a hearth diameter of 9,1 m.
Because of the lack of a deep-water iron ore unloading terminal the iron and steel making facilities, including  the three 175 t converters of the BOF shop, where closed down in 2001 after producing steel for less than 39 years.

The Blast Furnaces Of Gustave Boel

Posted on by

in La Louviere, Belgium where torn down 15 years ago in between August 2003 and September 2004.
The line of 6 units showed the entire development of blast furnace technology in the 20th century.
Usine Gustave Boel Hauts Fourneaux
Blast furnace 1, Ø 4,5 m, 1913.
Blast furnace 2, Ø 4,5 m, 1913.
Blast furnace 3, Ø 4,5 m, 1930.
Blast furnace 4, Ø 4,5 m, 1939.
Blast furnace 5, Ø 5,5 m, 1958.
Blast furnace 6, Ø 6,5 m, 1972.
Duferco La Louviere, Blast Furnace

DMKD, Ukraine

Posted on by

DMKD, Ukraine
The steel plant in Dneprodzerzhinsk was founded in 1887 on the banks of Ukraine’s largest river the
Dnepr supplied with coal from the Donezk bassin and iron ore from Krivoy Rog. The mill was nationalized in 1917 and named after Feliks Dzierżyński (Revolutionary and founder of the Sowjet secret police) in 1925.
Today the plant is privatized and runs four blast furnaces (No. 1/8/9/12) a BOF shop including two 250 ton top blown vessels. Two continuous casters and several rolling mills for railroad axles, rails, billets, tube blanks, medium sections and sheet pile.
Images now at Stahlseite.
DMKD Blast Furnaces

Four Queens

Posted on by

Victoria, Anne, Bess and Mary.
Further viewing at Stahlseite.
Tata Steel’s integrated steel plant in Scunthorpe, GB was founded in 1864 under the name Frodingham Iron Works.
Iron was produced from local iron ore deposits since 1865. A Thomas converter steel making shop started it’s production in 1890.
In 1912 Frodingham took over the nearby Appleby Iron Co. (founded in 1874) to form the Appleby Frodingham Steel Co.
This enterprise became part of the United Steel Companies in 1937. In 1939 two new large volume blast furnaces were installed (Mary & Bess). In 1954 Anne and Victoria were added to complete the “Four Queens”.

In 1967 the United Steel Companies became part of the newly founded British Steel Corporation.
The Anchor project (1969-1973), one of the largest investments into the British steel industry ever, brought a new BOF shop, new rolling mills and the Immingham iron ore terminal by the Humber river.
British Steel merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens from the Netherlands to form Corus in 1999. Eigth years later Corus was taken over by the Tata Steel group from India.
Tata Scunthorpe today consists of 4 blast furnaces (three active) a BOF shop containing three 300 ton vessels, a slab caster, a bloom caster and three rolling mills (rails, heavy plate and wire).

No. 5 Is Down

Posted on by

WP-Steel in 2004 © Uwe Niggemeier


Despite the harsh winter weather the demolition of RG Steel’s former Mingo Junction site in Ohio continues.
Blast furnace No. 3 was already dismantled in 2004. The remaining furnace No.5 five came down recently too.
The mill was idled in 2009 and still waits for a new investor to restart the electric arc furnace and the rolling mill.

Further reading