1951 CAST IRON / PIG IRON SMELTING DOCUMENTARY " IRON -- PRODUCT OF THE BLAST FURNACE " 18524

Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit / periscopefilm
This short film from Academy Films of Hollywood dates to 1951, and shows how iron ore, limestone, and coke are handled and prepared for the blast furnace in the making of pig iron. The blast furnace is used for smelting materials into pig iron aka cast iron, lead or copper and is an age-old practice dating back to the fifth century. This film opens with an outside look at a blast furnace and its cylindrical towers (:40). A diagram follows depicting what happens inside, pointing to where raw materials entered (1:13) and the layering in which it was sent in. Footage of actual raw material entering the furnace is shown in the raw materials yard (2:27). The entire car is seen turned upside down to remove all materials (2:58) and these are then emptied into an underground conveyor belt (3:07). The traveling stacking machine (3:23), reclaiming machine (3:49), and large triangular rake (4:00) are all seen at work. Afterwards materials are moved to another conveyor belt headed for storage hoppers (4:10). The second most important material for the iron blast furnace is called ‘coke’ which is made from coal baked in closed ovens (4:24). At the unloading hopper (4:38) the railcars are unloaded and transported to stock piles (4:56). A crane is seen lifting coal onto another conveyor belt (5:12) to be sent to the coal crushing machinery (5:12). A ‘Larry car’ then sets to work delivering the crushed and screened coal to the coke oven (5:12). The gases which are a by product of this procedure are seen emptying out of the collector pipes (5:55). At the end the coke is pushed out in a stream of molten material which then falls into the hot car (6:12) which will take it to the quenching process in which it is dowsed with water (6:40). It then moves to storage piles near the blast furnace (7:11). Limestone is another important material and it follows a similar process as the iron ore (7:57). On the special scale cars, the installed scale is pointed to (8:07). Afterwards the raw material heads in the skip car to the top of the blast furnace (8:30) in which a worker is seen wearing fireproof clothes as the blast furnace is cast every five to six hours to (8:52). 250 tons of molten iron is dumped into hot metal cars (9:29). A mud gun then seals the cast hole until it must be used again (9:49). The hot metal car heads to one of the open-heart furnaces (10:09) and a small amount is cast into pigs giving the name pig iron (10:23). The film concludes at (10:52).
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference."
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

[@lisk3822]

2:57 Rail cars turned upside down. Now that's something I have never seen in any film. Love these steelmaking documentaries.

[@totalrecone]

Not one cheesy CGI shot in this film at all. Nothing but *actual* processes shown. This is why these films are awesome and far better than the CGI crap made today.

[@drcmac]

I used to love watching old films like this in primary school in the 70's & high school in the early 80's. I love those classy old tinny sounding voiceovers & that crackling shush background noise ❕ So very relaxing & truly wondrous indeed ❗

[@fko1]

Fascinating. Just imagine the effort needed to design and build these facilities

[@luthermcgee7297]

I've often thought about that myself.

[@BobWidlefish]

I knew these operations were large, though I was taken aback by just HOW large they are - very cool!

[@matthewlivermanne4441]

Very educational Thank you for sharing

[@jcastle614]

Love these vintage films !!! They used to show us these in elementary school lol! In the 70's😆

[@denali9449]

You had 'talkies' in school? Wow . . .

[@Sennmut]

Back before "Made in USA" became politically incorrect.

[@pitsnipe5559]

Brings back memories. Use to conduct insurance inspections at steel mills n the South. Always found the coke oven fascinating.

[@AdamSteidl]

Super video! I applauded for $2.00 👏

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Wow, thanks so much!

[@davidplata1302]

Great videos. Great production.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Much appreciated! Glad you found it.Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@graham2631]

The whirr of the projector, good memories.

[@usmale4915]

Now where is the sequel: "Making It Into Steel"? Good little documentary though! Thanks for sharing!

[@ЯрославШевченко-х7й]

Good film. Thanks

[@jamesgrinder2491]

I walk on a local nature trail in western PA that still has the remnants' of an old Rock Furnace from the 1820's and 1830's. Iron ore and charcoal from burnt wood (trees) were used to make Pig Iron.

[@raymondnewton2388]

I used to drive out of my way to watch the coke being taken to the quenching tower. Spectacular day or night.

[@toolsteel8482]

Love this . I know it’s old technology, but is very fascinating. Steel mills also maintained huge piles of scrap too, the original recyclers.

[@mikefoehr235]

I had to clean up nickel dust on the top of the furnaces at INCO in Sudbury. The heat was literally 🔥 like hell. The beams were so hot, it would melt the bottoms of your work boots. That was not a fun job.

[@fantastichound]

You must be proud

[@MrWolfTickets]

The boot melting detail really paints a picture!! Did you have to replace or re sole them regularly doing that work?

[@mikefoehr235]

@@MrWolfTickets The 2 Brothers who did it year round got new boots every month if i remember correctly. This was 40 plus years ago so my memory has faded a wee bit.

[@mikefoehr235]

@@fantastichound To tell the truth, i was terrified. You see, there was no fall arrest and if you fell off a beam, you would probably fall thru the bricks that made the oven and be roasted to death in seconds. I am thankful I never found out the hard way.

[@painmt651]

My Aunt was one of the first women to work there.

[@christophernorton33]

Truly fascinating thank you. 👍

[@larrytruelove7112]

I worked at a steel mill in the blast furnace area.

[@theoldbigmoose]

My hat is off to you sir. I can think of no more dangerous job. Forging is another area I am glad I never had to work in. Danger at every turn.

[@larrytruelove7112]

@@theoldbigmoose True, but I only worked there in summer between semesters. Except the last time, for a few months. Then the economy went bad and I lost my job. Then I moved out of state.

[@scotsmanofnewengland7713]

In East Canaan,Ct there is the Beckley Blast Furnace that was made in 1847. Amazing to see and some good Connecticut early American History. Y

[@bradb7060]

Thank you

[@keithalaird]

Appears to be a Western blast furnace, judging from the reporting marks on the railroad cars (Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, and Rio Grande)

[@markschroeder2578]

I believe this film was shot at Kaiser Steel's Fontana Works in Fontana, California. The 1950 era movie "Steel Town" was shot there also. Stay safe and healthy.

[@TrainsOhio]

Thanks for sharing!

[@lowercherty]

This would be either USS in Provo UT or Kaiser Steel in Fontana CA. I'm guessing the latter since the ore was in SP cars and there were no obvious USS logos anywhere. At Provo the mountains in the background are very prominent. USS was and is pretty good about splashing their logo around on things like buildings and locomotives. None appear here.

[@moboutmen]

You had me at the intro music....

[@ericheine2414]

"Iron American Dream" on KZbin Without iron America would have never happened. No Railroad, no mining industry, no automobile industry, no shipping industry. No steam locomotive no Colt.

[@tmfd9476]

Never knew any of this… now I’m left with more questions.. pretty cool tho

[@robertboykin1828]

Lost in Bethlehem steel, Baltimore, Md with a load of 3000 gal of diesel fuel. They were pouring steel as I passed by. Not caring to stop & ask for directions. I really, really wanted to get the hell outa of there.

[@74KU]

Great video, one question.. Iron or what?

[@GaryCameron]

Open hearth furnaces are largely obsolete. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_oxygen_steelmaking I do remember the rest when I had a summer job in a steel mill.

[@-oiiio-3993]

You smelted it, you dealted it.

[@kelvintorrence5994]

2023 and ,they dint make anything like this in the good old u.s.a. anymore, all made overseas and cheap,i grew up.around sharon steel in sharin pa watching all these as a kid and its probably why im a owner operator steel hauler 2day.

[@robertlozano6053]

I wouldn't be surprised if they used Asbestos suits to protect themselves from the fire..

[@BernardBouchard-qq9kq]

I can remember washing quencher of the porch everyday.Look out the front window all you could see was the largest coke works in the world

[@dinklehimerschlitz9111]

I like limestone in my coke.

[@YeseniaCargill721]

My father and uncle worked in the steel industry it was not fun at all they told me it felt like 🔥 they had their boots melt to the floors as well those machines were extremely hot and quite dangerous as well that was way before i was born that was in the 60s and 70s I'm actually surprised my father had so many jobs that were dangerous

[@tommygrubbs2053]

What plant is this?

[@Katlick]

8:48 That looks like a job with a lot of OHS incidents

[@Astinsan]

Sloss?

[@agtpony]

Live old videos

[@rh5971]

If you could please take the numbers off the screen, that would be great! They block the video you are trying to share, in case you didn’t know.

[@SrD1D0]

You can license videos from the provider without watermarks for a fee

[@tomservo5007]

Makes me wonder if the mafia ever used this method of getting rid of bodies

[@mikefoehr235]

Hoffa

[@MrNobody2828]

Hoffa Steel Works

[@santanamargiela]

Why do they call it pig iron?

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Because when the molten iron use to be cast to numerous small molds in the floor near the blast furnace it gave the appearance of a sow with suckling piglets. Hence the name, "pig iron."

[@santanamargiela]

@@WAL_DC-6B oh ok thanks for the information, now it makes sense

[@mikefoehr235]

Everything goes better with pork

[@dapawaz8310]

I worked in an iron foundry when i was a young buck, in the late 70s/early 80s. I can verify, it is hot, heavy work. OSHA was nowhere to be seen. 🤣

[@manhoot]

Pig iron doesn't make me go oink

[@aaron042671]

Sad, we don’t do this like we used to. Now we pimped ourselves to China, India and Brazil. All because rich people wanted more profits.

[@1940limited]

Fascinating! What a tragedy the US chose to offshore it's heavy industry.

[@riveness]

Not true. Peak steel production in the 70s was about 120 million. It's now 80 million,so a reduction but not huge. America isn't building massive amounts of infrastructure rather maintaining it.

[@InformationIsTheEdge]

Let me know if you ever are able to load this up without the modern time tag on it. SO distracting.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes. In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous KZbin users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do. Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.

[@InformationIsTheEdge]

@@PeriscopeFilm Wow! Thank you for that detailed response. Like you, I love these old films, great slices of history that they are. I was surprised to learn that content thievery was a thing especially seeing that your material is copyrighted. I can see how that would be very frustrating. I am frustrated FOR you because that is cheating. Someone else getting fat off of your hard work. Very frustrating.

[@Nderak]

SHOW ME THE PIGS

[@ssenyondonathanmark4803]

A

[@663rainmaker]

EVRAZ Russia 🇷🇺 oligarch owns EVRAZ Portland Oregon USA 🇺🇸 and track Stars ⭐️ EVRAZ Pueblo Colorado USA 🇺🇸

[@helbitkelbit1790]

When men were men........today ?....your little boy thinks he is a little girl

[@Christian762]

We used to build shit in this country

[@Marg-nt7qm]

Yes and people spoke properly.

[@jcastle614]

Love these vintage films !!! They used to show us these in elementary school lol! In the 70's😆

[@mikes7639]

Repeat

[@footballCartoon91]

I always thought that black and white film means everything is boring.. I always think back then, Everything is black and white Until I watch these videos.. I wish I could build my own Blast furnace And then build my own lathe machine.. And then build something meaningful

[@663rainmaker]

We grew up in the Cold War Wyoming History USA 🇺🇸 and now Russia 🇷🇺 owns EVRAZ Pueblo Colorado USA 🇺🇸

[@howiedewin3688]

And the sound of projector clacking. Getting to see a film was a treat, until we found out there's a quiz at the end.

[@drcmac]

The same films were shown here in Australia too...They were truly wondrously fun times indeed ❕