World's Largest Plate Mill-Lukens

[@leverman7517]

I was a machinist for over 40 years, retired now since covid set in. I appreciate the work and care that men like these did and still do

[@SmilefortheJudge]

Yea but not Americans right? Their country isn’t even real according to this Russian bot. Weird too. I’m looking out a window at New Jersey and Philadelphia. I must be imagining it. These backward looking Russians only say that. Real patriots there. Don’t know where they are like that miserable cognitively declining felon and adjudicated sex predator who wants to terminate the constitution and never won a popular vote. Tiny crowd guy that talks about Arnold palmers member and dances to ymca because noone let’s him use their music. Mmhmm real patriots.

[@DrMatey215]

Roots run deep in communities like this. The ability to make a good living and provide for a family is any mans dream.

[@DonariaRegia]

I was immediately struck by all these men being close enough to walk to work. As they met up, one by one, each was carrying the old thermos brand lunch boxes. My grandfather had the same one. I miss him for many reasons. Truly the greatest generation.

[@TheBigdog868]

I looked up this place. It's somehow still in operation. The town appears to be doing well, too. That's good!!

[@jaym8027]

The mill is still in operation, though at a much reduced capacity. I think they make small runs of specialty steels. The town is not doing well at all.

[@robertmatch6550]

Was that the gay steel mill they used in 'The Simpsons'?

[@mattstarr8203]

owners are Cleveland cliffs

[@yourmanufacturingguru001]

Who made the armor plate for warships?

[@rtqii]

@@yourmanufacturingguru001 Carnegie (later Carnegie-Illinois and, still later, U.S. Steel), Bethlehem, and Midvale.

[@olduhfguy]

Steel men walking from home to the mill. A look into the past, men doing work that made America great !

[@HappyHarryHardon]

Back when the white guys were safe to poop free of black men. When your America was great white men never had to worry about working with black men. Good times.

[@eddiekulp1241]

I worked with steel for 31 years mostly grinding it . Been retired 12 years but its still part of my life

[@allenmccreary2359]

I worked for a sub contractor at a Nucor steel mill in SC. The lack of safety gear we take for granted is insane

[@Jack-cc3qm]

Remember when the US was a manufacting juggernaut? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[@phuturephunk]

This mill is still open. It's owned by Cleveland Cliffs.

[@babayaga2977]

And instead of working three shifts a day 7 days a week, they work one shift with weekends off.

[@flamingfrancis]

@@phuturephunk I hope it has been modernised otherwise it simply could not compete with the leading nations.

[@erikgeiger6601]

@@babayaga2977 And wear PPE, and read MSDS's.

[@rtqii]

@@flamingfrancis No it has not been modernized. They exist because they alloy speciality steel for the chemical industry, the size of the mill and the alloy recipes they have developed in house make plate for chemical and nuclear industry tanks and containments and pipe.

[@kahvac]

In those days even the milkman could buy a house.

[@chrisfournier6144]

And send the kids to college or get them a lifetime job somewhere!

[@AMERICANPATRIOT1945]

@kahvac, Our greedy, disgusting, dishonest, corrupt yuppie investment community and the politicians in their pockets ruined the American middle class and sold us out to the communists starting in the 1970s and 1980s, just as former Soviet premier Nikita Krushchev predicted they would. The short term greedfest and corporate raiding is still ripping us off.

[@palmlimit9297]

My neighbor is a milkman who owns his own home and sent two kids to college and one to the military (true story) his extended family owns the dairy, but at 62 he still runs a milk run every day. and yes, you can get home delivery still here in Pennsylvania. It’s expensive but you can get it.

[@karaDee2363]

I can guarantee you that Milkman didn't buy a very big house and probably had no Plumbing

[@BillWendell-y5c]

Gone forever if Kamala gets in. They have done nothing for the working class. Even the Teamsters have refused to endorse her.

[@djsandvig1]

Back when hard work and honesty was the norm. And America made EVERYTHING!!

[@TheCowboylogic]

Now we can't even make anything. We have become a beggar nation.

[@HappyHarryHardon]

Back when you never had to eat or poop along side a black person. Ah the good ol’days

[@andrewmadeup7375]

England taught the world how to make everything.

[@johnverney]

@@TheCowboylogic That's not true. The rest of the world has industrialized. Americans don't wanna pay $100 for something when somewhere else it's made for $30.

[@TheCowboylogic]

@@johnverney Yeah. Made in China. With Chinesium......

[@zzzingrol]

Clevland-Cliffs is still the largest flat plate steel mill in North Americal in Coatsville producing 800,000 tons of raw steel annually. Nice to see some vintage footage of hot rolling.

[@BillJones-gv2io]

Because they are buying all the idle mills

[@frosthoe]

Lol Ex Machinist here. That mill is soooo small☺ lol. like a lil baby nowadays! 😋 Yet Its was responsible for making so many things that probably exist today. Very nice!😍

[@WAL_DC-6B]

An early "mini-mill."

[@mikebaum5976]

I've made ingot moulds for this company..I'm proud of it.

[@davidroth4514]

My Grand father and my father both worked there when I was a child !!!!

[@donjohnson3701]

The fab shop I worked for in the 1970’s bought quite a bit of Lukens plate steel. We also bought from Bethlehem Steel. Sad, a lot of good paying jobs gone. This was the backbone of the middle class.

[@otterbob5771]

So nice to see them walking to work

[@david9783]

Yeah, they're walking DOWN to the mill. That must be a long trudge home after work!

[@richardrichards8401]

Waking is so good for mental and physical health, but not the smoking 😜

[@doppler3237]

@@richardrichards8401 most did not make it to 60

[@maxscott3349]

They probably had much less strict zoning laws in the 19th century.

[@Lakeman3211]

The background music makes me think that Dorothy and Toto are in big trouble!

[@robertpierce1981]

The whole video is like a chase scene

[@jimsvideos7201]

What a remarkable time capsule.

[@icegiant1000]

Just imagine: No cell phones, no computers, no microwaves, no internet, no VCRs. Hats off to those guys, I can't imagine getting up at 7am everyday to do a manual labor job like that, and do it for 40 years straight. But, they probably could never imagine my job either (software developer). Amazing.

[@david9783]

I did it, and still do. 40 years in construction. And up at 5!

[@flamingfrancis]

What would a software developer be employed as in those days?

[@erikgeiger6601]

And they could afford homes and send their kids to college because they weren't buying all that crap. No financing $70k trucks or running up revolving debt to buy groceries. These men were thrifty and had little sense of entitlement. Back then only fools used credit for anything other than a mortgage.

[@rtqii]

@@erikgeiger6601 Businesses were built on credit, and run on credit to this day. The owners of a steel mill never put up cash for equipment, the capital came from the bank, the income generated by the mill went to pay the bank note back. Then came bond, and stock financing.

[@TheSilmarillian]

Love these old docos its like time travel in my humble opinion.

[@joezeigler1064]

The decline of our industrial base is beyond sad. Jack Welch at GE started this road to ruin. It is criminal

[@28704joe]

We have the best economy on earth.

[@joezeigler1064]

For now it is functioning… It seems frail

[@StonesAndSand]

Too big to fail, and too good to fail ruined our economy.

[@redwater4778]

It didn't decline. It went overseas.

[@redwater4778]

@@28704joe Minus debt.

[@BernardBouchard-qq9kq]

When they closed Homestead and the plant was gone the big mill was still there they brought my freind who was laid off for years back to run some armor plate for the Goverment because it was the only rollers that it would not blow up.

[@Phantomthecat]

Getting up at 7am ! - living the dream!

[@shawnferguson5363]

I see a similar active plant exactly like this every day,much larger in fact…90% of the heavy equipment is still in use today such as forging presses and overhead cranes and furnaces….so don’t lose hope,we still do this in America….West Virginia to b exact.😎

[@AluminumOxide]

15:48 These open hearth furnaces look so clean! Must be brand new.

[@thejerseyj5479]

The fourth and final generation of steel workers. I feel like at my age, I was born in an entirely different country than the one I'm living in now.

[@jprime5128]

You mean except for the people working there today, right? Cleveland Cliffs is still operating the Coatsville mill.

[@trainnerd3029]

2:38 gives Mom a kiss, gives his daughter a kiss, tells his son to get his elbows off the table, clean his room and get the trash out… it’s garbage night! 🤪

[@mosesmarlboro5401]

We used to be a real country...now look at us.

[@davidg3944]

Yeah, that whole bit about leading the world in technology, space systems, computers, size of our military (best on Earth) - all overrated. Bring back belching steel mills!! I guess we'll have to do with our clean (relatively) steel and other metals production... [I'm in manufacturing. We're still doing well, just not poisoning our citizens while doing it]

[@Bob-jn8gt]

From Steel Town to Skibidi Toilet town

[@28704joe]

We are a great country. why don't you leave if you hate it so much?

[@matthewmoilanen787]

I was going to say how great this country is but then I saw your really weird selfie with a knights helmet and sword in your bathroom.

[@morpheusduvall]

The 206” plate mill at Lukens actually still is in operation by Cleveland Cliffs

[@briansass9551]

I love the dramatic music. My life needs a soundtrack!

[@TheCowboylogic]

My life has Soundtrack. Waylon Jennings sings it....

[@thenoodledrop]

I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve been waiting for almost 20 years to find something like this. Grew up in Coatesville but well after its heyday, always trying to search for archival film footage from this era. Where did you find this?

[@trainnerd3029]

This is definitely some next level nerd stuff! Way cool! It’s this downloaders only video… I subscribed maybe he’ll find more 🤔😎

[@MarkShinnick]

Yep...great stuff :)

[@kenwaltson7113]

Coatsville is very diverse no white supremacy a great democrat town

[@trainnerd3029]

@@kenwaltson7113 “great Democrat town“ no such thing… And why would you bring politics into this?

[@0dbm]

I miss the traditional family unit , it’s a beautiful thing

[@chrisfournier6144]

It worked for them and cemented the lives of the next generation. Bit it was so woefully old fashioned… ;)

[@nunyabitnezz2802]

Well, back then Science didn’t know there were 24 genders. 😏

[@michaelmeyers3664]

It's not traditional, it's natural!!!

[@Acer_Maximinus]

@@nunyabitnezz2802 “REEEEEEEEE!!🥴” If you hate America so much, leave.

[@joehutmacher3323]

@@Acer_MaximinusSounds to me like Nunya loves America.

[@jimgallagher3185]

My first job out of college was Phoenix Steel. Loved the steel business. Lukens was my competition.

[@pekkahagglund2381]

The good old days..

[@gordonbeyreis2043]

As a contractor who goes in (to what is now Cleveland-Cliffs) once a year for a few hours nowhere near the actual mill, my employees have to provide proof of a clean 10-panel drug and alcohol test in the last 12 months, OSHA-10 training within the past 5 years, annual site specific training and driver's license. They have to wear steel toed boots with integral metatarsal guards, long sleeves, hard hats, safety glasses, gloves and a few other odds and ends. They must to Lock out - Tag out, do work permits and be fully escorted while on site. This is in addition to our own extensive safety rules. I can't imagine the number of injuries and deaths they had in a mill run like that. 🤕

[@douglasharbert3340]

Regulations and red tape like that are also why modern products cost ten times more than what was produced back then. 😉

[@kaptainkaos1202]

@@douglasharbert3340 those regulations were written in blood. Here’s the thing you can have an operation going fast and furious while skirting the rules. More product comes out and cheaper too but you suffer a number of crippling and fatal accidents. Now have an operation that plays by the rules. Fewer products and more expensive but everyone goes home at the end of their shift. Which one do you want?

[@douglasharbert3340]

@@kaptainkaos1202 Pretty sure I still prefer a new vehicle off the assembly line to be $2,000 instead of $50,000. 😉

[@wadestanton]

@@douglasharbert3340 You can buy new vehicles, Nice.

[@davidschwartz5127]

Believe me they had a lot!

[@rogerrowsell5926]

Worked at STELCO Hamilton on in the 70s.

[@nunyabitnezz2802]

America used to make things. When wars started it helped us survive. Our political and business leaders should feel deep shame.

[@stretchhfab7315]

Wtf are you blabbering about.

[@nunyabitnezz2802]

@ See if you can find something in your house made in your own country. Then find something not made by a potential wartime enemy. Then learn some history. Blabber Blabber Blabber.

[@Z1a_qui_boucane]

And today? John Jr's son is doing fentanyl in Philadelphia.

[@shakascloset1700]

Unfortunately, you're probably right

[@jprime5128]

Or he works at the steel mill like his old man. It’s still there.

[@electrolytics]

I would say his grandson. Not his son.

[@newportshapwick]

I love films like this. Unfortunately people today couldn’t give two shiny shits about industry anymore! Where did it all go wrong?

[@chuckoster8221]

China.

[@newportshapwick]

@@chuckoster8221 Here in the UK anything to do with “manufacturing” is regarded as a dirty word, and the Chinese have stepped in to fill the void.

[@joezeigler1064]

Jack Welch CEO of GE. Read the book, “The Man that Broke Capitalism”.

[@newportshapwick]

@@joezeigler1064 I'll have a look - thanks!

[@blaydCA]

​@@chuckoster8221 It started LONG before China was our big importer. Japan in the 1970's was a major problem. Source: I was around back then.

[@nickrandol9133]

Pretty awesome vid.

[@ricbarker4829]

"John" should set his alarm 10 minutes earlier so he doesn't have to eat his breakfast like someone may steal it.

[@TheBinderBoneyard]

It's common for men who were in the service to eat fast. My grandpa was in the navy during the Korean War. He could eat his dinner before us kids were seated.

[@karaDee2363]

It's good to know that it's still alive and well

[@markwilhelm168]

I spent a couple of week at this place replacing some electrical controls, for the rolling mill, back in the 90s. It was the biggest mill I was ever in. The control pulpit was 25' high, The bridge cranes were 400 ton and big enough to drive a car across. We took a 2 man elevator to the attic electrical room that was above the cranes. When we were done up there the elevator didn't work so we took the catwalk out the back of the room looking down at the bridge cranes moving below us.

[@geneva760]

CHEERS from AUSTRALIA

[@flamingfrancis]

At least our main Aussie steel industry became updated from the early 70's. The oldest plant was closed down

[@darrininverarity4297]

Get up at 7,your wife cooking breakfast for the family,your children smile and say good bye as you go to work for the day,what a time to be a man.

[@walterfarley9230]

Yeah wonder what his shift was . Most started at 6:00

[@Drawson663]

What you speak of is not the rule but the exception. Life sucked for a lot of families and people, a lot of variables and chance to get the ‘perfect good ol’ days’…

[@Dr.Pepper001]

Another part of Americana gone with the wind.

[@jprime5128]

Except they are still operating today.

[@thebaldhippie]

Lukens was our major supplier for 30 years. Best quality and on-time delivery every order. It's a crying shame what has happened to our country.

[@outbackwack368]

My dad worked for Alan Wood Steel in Conshohocken. By the time he retired he lost 50% of his pension while the owners got rich after filing for bankruptcy... Made in America? More like stolen in America for my dad...

[@nicodesmidt4034]

Still happens, look up what Trump did to his contractors

[@johnsobolewskijr.-tp8sr]

I am very sorry for your dad

[@bustedford]

@@nicodesmidt4034, what was the name of the pension trump screwed over in bankruptcy?

[@Afro408]

I love all the drama! 🤣 So serious.

[@joefrisco]

Puleeze wearing suits going to work in a steel mill. I worked in a blooming and tin and chrome plating mill next to blast furnaces. They played it up that day for the cameras.

[@flamingfrancis]

Look at similar vision from that era and you'll find workers plus spectators at sports events and the general pulic all dressed similarly.

[@OKFrax-ys2op]

Well, loads of comments? How about the U.S. of A., manufactured 7O% of goods & 50% automobiles in 1950, for the entire world. My dad retired as a machine builder at General Electric, and never had to work at Walmart to make ends meet during his retirement.

[@user-sw9jo7fe3d]

We use to make everything a family needed. There was a day when a "Made in Japan" label meant an inferior product.

[@Zzrdemon6633]

Made in Japan has never till recently meant an inferior product, china, tiawan sure but never japan

[@videodistro]

Zzrdemon6633... You clearly did not live through the 50's and 60's! The term "Japanese junk" was common. They eventually became a good manufacturers. But after WWII for a few decades their stuff was cheap junk.

[@markp8277]

My father would take the overnight train from welland ontario representing atlas steels to coatsville in the early fifties !

[@MichaelDebalski-mk6bt]

Back when people were thankful to have a good job and family. Today people's expectations have grown out of much excess !

[@DonariaRegia]

Today we have a myriad of bobbles for purchase, but housing, transportation, and education are far from affordable. Any one of the people in this video including the woman that worked in the lab analyzing alloys could go to public college for free. Now we have generations burdened with decades of debt. Thank corporate lobbying for that, slowly shaping America to their will, maximizing profit for overpaid executives and shareholders.

[@bobjohnson6371]

Sad to know that this part of america is gone forever.

[@karaDee2363]

This Steel mill is still in operation today

[@WAL_DC-6B]

There are plenty of domestic, mini-mills in operation in the U.S.

[@flamingfrancis]

@@WAL_DC-6B Many using electric arc processing which uses as much energy in a day as your home does in a decade.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

@@flamingfrancis Oh heck, easily!

[@MetallicMedium]

RIP American steel

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Except for those domestic, pesky, "mini-mills" with their one or two EAFs all over the country!

[@jprime5128]

This mill is still operating.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

@@jprime5128 Indeed!

[@flamingfrancis]

@@jprime5128 You mean the rolling section is. If it is operating five days a week any blast furnace or open hearth furnaces would be redundant.

[@peep39]

amusing how 1940s America is almost indistinguishable from 1970s Britain, especially that bedroom and breakfast scene

[@flamingfrancis]

Britain upgraded their steelmaking facilities well before the USA did.

[@hermanschijf21]

Love from holland,love usa.

[@flyerbob124]

My uncle lived in Marshallton and worked at Lukens Steel. Both are now long gone. Such a shame.

[@jondoes7836]

I believe this mill is still in operation and is now owned by Cleveland Cliffs? If still in operation, I doubt if they’re still using open hearth furnaces. They probably have a continuous slab caster too?

[@vattican]

From what I can remember when I worked for cliffs, Coatsville still casts ingots due to some of the high alloy content of their steel, but Lukes was one of the first steel companies in America to have an electric arc furnace.

[@bigredc222]

I live about ten minuets from Lukins, they are operating at a fraction of the capacity of their hay day, but they are still making steel. They have an arch furnace, they make high grade steel now. I moved to Coatesville in 1977 when I was in 11th grade, I went to school with kids who's fathers and grandfather worked there. They were still going strong then, but the end was near. Bethlehem steel bought them at some point, then International steel group bought Bethlehem steel, I'm now aware of Cleveland cliffs being involved, but they could be.

[@bigredc222]

I found this other video about Lukins, and there's a comment from someone that works there, and Cleveland Cliffs is involved. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2acoJxvepqojM0

[@mikekeretzman4757]

206 mill now is used very little as the 140” mill just north of the 206” mill. Japan, with the help of Lukens built a 210” rolling mill in the late 1980’s. Date needs to be checked.

[@BronzeAgePuritan]

This was the life.

[@matthewmoilanen787]

You weren't even alive at that time. How the hell would you know.

[@BronzeAgePuritan]

@@matthewmoilanen787 You don't know how old I am.

[@williamgibb5557]

Hard but very rewarding work.

[@jaynecobb6711]

​​@@BronzeAgePuritan It is obivious that you have no idea of what you speak. 12 hour days, 6 days a week, DANGEROUS work, injures or death on a industrial scale, get killed or injured on the job your family of 10 starves, low pay, no vacation, no sick leave, no holiday pay, no overtime pay, no pension, little or no benifits to the workers. And certainly no unemployment benifits, go find a bread line if you are hungry. And a life expectancy only in the 60's. Not to mention that your 10 year old children are working right next to you, because the wages are almost nothing. Oh yea. Good times indeed.

[@jaynecobb6711]

​@@williamgibb5557 Says someone who has no clue what working in those conditions were like. What a idoitic post.

[@Garry-pd8gw]

Back when men could be men, and we respected those around us

[@Celler2]

This explains so much in terms of why am seeing verity of quality of steel that appears to be ordinary but ones you bite into it with tools it is clear that not all steel is made equal and this video covers some reasons for the differences I am noticing.

[@jackuzi8252]

I was familiar with Lukens because they had another plant in Conshohocken. They actually bought scrap steel from the public (which is how I ended up there). I didn't know that wasn't their main facility.

[@georgew.5639]

7 am wake up? Today he’d be late for work! At 7 am most people have already clocked in. Some have been working for an hour or more by 7 am.

[@briansimon8969]

Yep he is over sleeping!

[@ronblack7870]

wouldn't the place run 24/7 ? so he is just on the day shift .

[@electrolytics]

@@ronblack7870 It's very possible. Depends on the economy. Places have 3 shifts and then go down to 2 shifts if the economy slows way down. Maybe just 1 shift.....LOL. And then POOF! Factory closes.

[@theoriginalchefboyoboy6025]

With all the dramatic music playing, it's a shame they couldn't have used just one Wilhelm Scream, y'know, just to mess with us... I drive past this plant 5-6 times a day and I'm finally glad to be able to see what really goes on inside there. Huge respect for this dangerous work.

[@rolandtamaccio3285]

Hauled something into or out of there 20 plus years back ,,, ! ,,, I believe they sent many an oversize plate to the ship builders on the Gulf coast ,,, !

[@samueltaylor4989]

Sorry, John Jr. but the mill is going to close by the time you are old enough to work there. Put out of business by China.

[@bigredc222]

It's still making steel, but at a fraction of their hay day.

[@12345anton6789]

The integrated steel mills where put out of business buy their greedy owners who didn’t want to modernise the mills so they could compete. It was the much more modern Japanese and German mills who outcompete them with their much more advanced production technology

[@jprime5128]

Still there, sooo……

[@JimmyCrackCorn-c3q]

Alarm at 7am & walking to work. Lots of people are driving to work at 4:30am to get to work by 6am due to heavy traffic.

[@ShainAndrews]

Urban sprawl...

[@garygraham4679]

Phoenix Steel, 1973, 4 bucks an hour. No such thing as "OSHA" though we got 1 pair of safety glasses a year. Highest paying job on the floor was $16/ hr. overhead crane operator. Sudden death or dismemberment was waiting around every one of those 150 year old machines! This place had turned out cannon for the "War of Northern Aggression" and had NYT newspaper clippings about it framed in the pipe mill breakroom. Six months of that Hell hole convinced me to quit for something saver like maybe join the Marines and go to Nam.

[@jaym8027]

Many of the cannon at Gettysburg Battlefield National Park are marked as being made in Phoenixville.

[@DonariaRegia]

sixteen dollars an hour in 1973 was the same pay as ten minimum wage employees. Talk about hazard pay!

[@ILikeDoritos456]

That's over $100 per hour in today's money. Wow.

[@sl1200mk02]

Except osha was signed into law in 1970: www.osha.gov/osha50/#:~:text=President%20Nixon%20signs%20the%20Occupational,fatalities%2C%20injuries%2C%20and%20illnesses. By a republican president no less

[@morticia981]

Sixteen bucks, wow!

[@28704joe]

Taking lunch boxes to work is so out of fashion these days.

[@benniemcdonald1365]

It's coming back

[@karaDee2363]

It's how people saved money with cash instead of credit cards. Which people today don't know how to do

[@28704joe]

@@karaDee2363 When my Dad got his first credit card you could tell he was proud to use it in restaurants and such. Never once in his life did Dad carry a balance into the next month. LOL

[@28704joe]

@@benniemcdonald1365 Like bell bottom pants

[@ronblack7870]

place like that you didn't have time to go out for lunch and i don't know if they had a cafeteria open to the steel workers ? when i went to grade school in the 60's had to bring your lunchbox cause we had no cafeteria . in high school there was a cafeteria.

[@mikemissildine370]

OSHA won't allow this hard work to remain going- its unsafe😂 i quit working when i found out i was really working by workman's comp insurance "rules" made up by people who dont have a clue on how to do the job. Work is hard and no pencil pusher needs to dictate how to use a shovel or a welding machine.

[@rangerjones5531]

But people today don’t know simple things that were common sense back then

[@houseofsolomon2440]

12:05 yard boss in vest & neck tie. Different times~

[@Handles_are_good_for_holding]

Lukens is about an hour drive from me. My grand pop knew many of the workers there from his high school.

[@Tishers]

Funny how people romanticize this type of work; It was very hard and your body was broken down by the time you were 50. There were plenty of lost time injuries, lost limbs, lost lives as just a matter of showing up to work every day; Not a week went by at a steel mill where someone was not leaving in an ambulance or a hearse. The quality of what was produced was 'spotty', and was still using steel chemistries that were thirty years old by this time. Engineers, chemists and customers were demanding better products at a lower price so automation was introduced to take the thirty guys who stood around while a plate was rolled out and reduced that down to five people. The work those five people did required higher skills so folks who only had a sixth grade education could not keep up. The pollution output of these plants was incredible; Poisoned air, poisoned water, unregulated landfills stuffed with things that still haven't broken down in to something non polluting. We are still living with that legacy.

[@bigredc222]

Steel mills are hell holes. I worked at Lukens for three months in the 90s for an electrical contractor, I was almost killed a few times, and a Lukins employee died of a heart attack while we were there. It was winter so I would wear about four layers of clothes, but the fine dust still made it to my skin, I had to scrub my whole body with a brush to get clean.

[@ironwolf6849]

Yes I agree to a point But today with technology Its 95% cleaner than what it was back then.... And yes fewer people to run the plants but More opportunity for those 6th graders down the line because of the cheap steel. Plus the possibility of economic growth. Now the plant is closed and cold because of greedy CEOs, So not only is no steel being produced. But everyone who could benefit now live in tin shacks. And even the poor people suffer MORE.

[@joecummings1260]

Yeah, so much better now that all those bad factories are gone. So much better with low wages, poverty, no healthcare insurance, young families can't afford houses, broken families, overdose deaths, male suicide at never before seen levels. Yep so much better now. Btw, I was there at Lukens Coatesville and at Luria Brothers who ran the scrap receiving there in the 80's and 90's so I am not "romanticizing" I was there getting dirty

[@JBB4118]

@@ironwolf6849 The plant is closed? No it's not, it's still running though with only one shift five days a week.

[@benniemcdonald1365]

At least they had jobs.

[@jamesboardman7048]

It would still would be there if the company kept up with modern technology, but instead of reinvesting,they paid out to stock holders, today's business are handicapped by stock holders wanting more and bigger returns

[@660Oliver]

It is still there. Owned by Cliffs Steel now.

[@jprime5128]

Swing and a miss. It’s still there.

[@johngibson3837]

Worth checking out the river don engine videos it's a large steam engine used to drive a plate mill in Sheffield uk

[@HighTonnage]

You can follow along with these guys on their walk to work in Google Maps. Very interesting. Most of the homes and buildings in the film are still there. Third Street to Walnut, then to the plant. Quite a walk down memory lane from a lost time.

[@andrewmadeup7375]

The hidden genius behind all factorys are the designers that drawn the plans for the machines, tools, factories etc. Without the clearver designers drawing this stuff non of this would have happened.

[@StonesAndSand]

I guarantee you; John Jr. has higher aspirations than running an ingot chariot.

[@BrianStroud-d3p]

Like being a corporate shill?

[@BillJones-gv2io]

This is before corporate greed and selfishness was a real thing,and before China learned about smelting

[@jaynecobb6711]

Geezus. Look into the Guilded Age, dummy. Here are a few names of those rapacious Captains of Industry, people like the Astors, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Mellon and the Vanderbilt's, just to name the cream of the crop. THOSE guys make modern billionaire's look like little school girls and rank amateurs. Those people killed and injured workers on a industrial scale to get their wealth.

[@flamingfrancis]

China was smelting metals long before the USA was discovered.

[@walterfarley9230]

Mills must been lot cleaner back then . Never seen anyone go to work in a steel mill in a white jacket and sweatervest and tie .

[@ferngrows6740]

They weren't. I worked in one of the offices directly outside the (coil) rolling mills at Youngstown Sheet & Tube in the 70's. I had to wear a white shirt, tie and suit. At the end of the day, the soot covered your car and even us office guys had dirt rings around our shirt collars. Foreign built cars in the lots (Hondas, Datsuns, VWs) were definitely frowned upon and women employees had to put up with a boatload of grief. The IT staff (it was called DP back in the day) were pretty much referred to as "Hey, college boy!". It wasn't a term of endearment.

[@robertmatch6550]

We made the plate steel for our battleships. The British made plate steel for their battleships. The Japanese made plate steel for their battleships. The Germans made plate steel for their battleships. The French made plate steel for their battleships. Then we went to war and SANK those battleships!

[@BillJones-gv2io]

I'm a union millwright 1102 proud have worked Nucor, Cleveland cliffs, inland,arcelormittal, Bethlehem work's Gary, Midwest,US steel,the rouge,in all phases of the mills from the ore yard to the coker the strip mill and it's the same every place safety is #1 over anything 25 yrs never been injured

[@rustyshackleford7082]

Spent 45 years in the rubber and chemical/coatings industries and saw some horrendous injuries because safety was not followed. Safety rules are written in blood.

[@douglasharbert3340]

People these days wouldn't know what hard, honest work was if it dragged them to the bottom of the Mariana Trench by their nutsack.

[@DonariaRegia]

Tens of millions of Americans work hard labor jobs every day, just because we have a lot more technology related fields today does not diminish anyone. In the past few years close to one million manufacturing jobs have returned stateside. We are on a path to putting more Made In America on shelves for the consumer.

[@erikgeiger6601]

@@DonariaRegia When the costs of transportation and logistics exceed the cost realized using local labor and facilities, these jobs will slowly return. It would also help if consumers don't sell themselves out for cheaply made crap and instant gratification.

[@timkis64]

i used to deliver machine turnings from the hagerstown mack truck plant to there, in dump trailers.had to be careful.they had you back in big bins on other machine turnings( like millions of coil springs) whenever the hydralic mast would reach the next extension, the whole 80k pound truck would bounce up & down setting on the turnings.had to be ready to drop the bed at an instant if it started to lean on you.otherwise you didnt get a second try after its laying on its side.

[@TheDieselbutterfly]

Never again,prepare for the times we are to face,they have started even now

[@davecarter34]

Was this like a mini doco prior to the Saturday night movie at the cinema/picture show

[@rdallas81]

They look like communists from any old soviet Union videos😂😂😂

[@georgemartin7717]

NO SHIT!

[@BrianStroud-d3p]

Amazing how these people did that without COMPUTERS?

[@WAL_DC-6B]

They used the computer in their heads.

[@forddon]

What kinda steelworker gets up at 7 AM?

[@shawnsustrich7981]

"John Jr can't wait to run an ingot chariot for his father" Unfortunately the owners of those plants couldn't wait to send those jobs to China. If John Jr is lucky he'll be old enough to work at the plant long enough to train the person who will be doing his job in China.

[@TheBinderBoneyard]

Imagine what america could do with large scale manufacturing like this.

[@jprime5128]

Maybe look up what they do with it. The mill is still open. Nice try though.

[@lekoman]

Fun fact… the music for this was written by a young John Williams. Note the fanfare at about 0:06… sound familiar?

[@JustinMiales]

I am old enough to say the good old days👍

[@Jungleland33]

Poor woman probably up an hour before everybody else. And probably had a working day twice as long as the men. Unsung heros.

[@kendigjl]

She had a family - that's not exactly an unrewarding experience. She's the reason that guy went to work and breathed in toxic fumes and had his hearing ruined.

[@DonariaRegia]

She can take a nap in the middle of the day to compensate for the early wake-up time while the kids are at school. Domestic labor does have that reward, and she could shop or visit with friends and family while the husband is at the mill. She wasn't allowed to have a bank account or get a divorce without her husband's permission though. We have come a long way in society since those days.

[@electrolytics]

I hope your a woman saying this.....otherwise, you're a pathetic feminist. Simpy.

[@brucebrunner3268]

Could our young people putting in a hard days work like this without a cellphone in their hand!😅😅😅😅😅

[@russmiller3745]

Walks to work? What kind of madness is this? It’s raining men!

[@gazmmm]

America at its peak strength

[@robertlee4809]

Not one overweight person...because they worked their asses off.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

About half the country smoked back then which may help to explain the lack of obesity.

[@jackuzi8252]

And their food wasn't full of seed oils.

[@flamingfrancis]

@@jackuzi8252 Also were not eating Big Mucks and similar sh!t.

[@soyoucametosee7860]

The big mills are gone and so is our integrity.

[@28704joe]

This is America our integrity is just fine. We lost it for a while with Trump , but he'll be in prison soon.

[@matthewmoilanen787]

​@@28704joeNiiice!

[@bigredc222]

@@28704joe I always say, America has always been great except for four years.

[@28704joe]

@@bigredc222 Those four years were a cancer that was narrowly rejected in 2020. That cancer still runs thru America, we must ensure it doesn't raise its head again.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

There are four "big mills" still operating in "da region" of northwest Indiana and south Chicago.