No. 1 Blast Furnace ‘Elisabeth’

A high top pressure furnace built by Ashmore, Benson, Pease & Co. of Stockton-on-Tees in 1954

Height to large bell 90’ 0”

Overall furnace height 212’ 0”

Dia. of hearth 21’ 0”

Dia. of top (throat) 18’ 9”

Iron Production

Oct. 68 to Sept. 69 306,762 tons

Average weekly 5,899 tons

Average per cast 150 tons

Slag Production

Average month 10,000 tons

Typical Iron Analysis

C 4.38%

P 0.77%

Mn 1.24%

Si 1.06%

S 0.023%

Fe………….Remainder

Pig-Casting Machine
Double Strand type, 200 ft. centres of sprockets
Capacity 40 tons

Swarf Crushing Plant
Three Lindemann type Crushers
Capacity 5-7 tons turnings/hr. each.

Melting Shop

The Melting Shop consists of:-

2 – 1,000 ton Mixers
1 – Scrap Baling Press
1 – Material Handling Plant
7 – Open Hearth Furnaces
1 – Vacuum Degassing Plant
Cooling Water Plant

Mixers

Type
Head Wrightson 2 x 1,000 tonnes nominal capacity.

Yearly Output
285,922 tonnes September 1968 to September 1969

Average Weekly Output
5,840 tonnes September 1968 to September 1969

Operating Temperature
1,300°C average

Fuel
Fired with Blast Furnace gas or oil (C.T.F.50) depending on availaility.

Scrap Baling Press

Type
Lindemann-Sidul Press

Size of Bundle
706 mm x 556 mm x 2.249 mm
Nominal weight -1 ton

Rate
1 bundle every three minutes

Ram Pressure
Final Pressure – 3,500 p.s.i.
Ram diameter – 500 mm

Storage Bunkers
Eight storage bunkers containing: Lime, Ore. Fluorspar.
Ferro-Manganese and Ferro-Silicon.

Siemens-Martin Open Hearth Furnaces

Consists of: —

Seven ‘Basic’ Open Hearth Furnaces

3 x 120 ton capacity

3 x 115 ton capacity

1 x 110 ton capacity

All furnaces are fired with pitch creosote with provision for oxygen enrichment of flame.

The air supply is pre-heated in a chequer type regenerator system, the flame direction being reversed every 20 minutes to maintain a high temperature.

Furnace Construction and Maintenance

Hearth is Magnesite / Rammed Dolomite. Life Five years average.

Walls are Chrome-Magnesite brick. Bottom six courses : Magnesite. Life : Fourteen weeks average

Roofs : Suspended Unfired Chemically Bonded Metal Cased Chrome Magnesite.

120 tonne furnaces installed by Wellman Incandescent Furnace Ltd in 1965.

Processes

37% hot metal charged

63% scrap (charged cold)

Majority of ingots bottom teemed

Furnace Operations (1970)

Tap to tap – eight hours average

Charging time – one hour

Fettling time – one hour

Tons per cast – 115 average

Yearly Output

685,787 tons September 1968 to September 1969

Rolling Mill Equipment

14 x Soaking Pits
1 x 40” Cogging Mill
1 x Hot Deseaming machine
1 x Hot Shear 12” x 12” (750 ton)
1 x 32” Roughing Mill
1 x 32” Finishing Mill
2 x Hot Saws 66” diameter
1 x Automatic Measuring stop
3 x Cooling Beds

Tonnage Rolled:

Ingot input to mill: 516,689 tons September, 1968 to Sep-
Tember, 1969. Average tons per week 10,333 tons.

Soaking Pits

Fourteen Stein Atkinson one way oil or gas fired Soaking
Pits arranged in two batteries.

Charged by two Wellman 7½ ton Vertical Ingot Chargers.

Capacity

11 x ingots per pit.

Temperature: approximately 1,300ºC.

Ingot Output Tonnage : approximately 10,000 tons per week.