Blast Furnace, Iron & Steel Mills, and By-Product Coke Plant Research References

Micheal Rabbitts Steel Mill Plan listings

Highly detailed prototype drawings of Steel Mills,  Coke Ovens, Equipment and Buildings related to the Steel and Railroad Industries - Based on Original Engineering Drawings and Information from Industrial Sources.

Drawing Listing - 1/2006 (MS Word file)

HABS-HAER Drawing Listing - 1/2006 (MS Word file) - 

 

Mclouth Steel Operations Pamphlets:

Stock House Manual  (pdf)
Stove Tenders Manual (pdf)
Blast Furnace Gas Manual (pdf)

Many thanks to Rick Ware for obtaining, scanning and sharing these interesting documents.

 

My Books:

'Iron and Steel Works Directory for the United States and Canada' American Iron and Steel Institute  1935
'Iron and Steel'  E. Oberg, F. Jones  1918
'The Metallurgy of Iron and Steel'  B. Stoughton  1923 
'Iron and Steel'  H.M. Boylston  1928
'The Making of Steel'  AISI  1964  (also a later, undated, edition) 
'The Pictorial Story of Steel'  AISI  1965
"Rails to Pittsburgh"   W.A. Feibelman 1979 (some good shots esp. in Union RR section)
'Industrial Drawings of Pennsylvania'  L. Bacha  2002  (prepared for 2002 NMRA Industry SIG)
"The History, Making and Modeling of Steel"   Dean Freytag  1995

United States Steel:

'Steel Making in America'  D.A. Fisher  1949  (USS)
'Steel Serves the Nation 1901-1951 The Fifty Year Story of United States Steel'  USS  1951
"The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel"   9th edition  United States Steel Corp.  1971
'Homestead'  W. Serrin  1992

Jones and Laughlin Steel:

'Strips and Sheet'  J&L Steel  1937 (American Iron and Steel Works, Pittsburgh, PA)
'Eliza - Remembering a Pittsburg Steel Mill'   M. Perrott  1989
'Steel - the Dairy of a Furnace Worker'  C.R Walker 1922  (1999 reprint) (J&L Allquippa works)
"Portraits in Steel: An Illustrated History of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation"   Wallman and Inman  1999

Colorado Fuel and Iron:

'Pioneer Steelmaker in the West'  H.L. Scamchorn  1976  (CF&I)
'Mountain to Mill, the Colorado and Wyoming Railway'  W. McKenzie  1982  (CF&I)

Ford Rouge:

'Matchless Model A'  Ford  1929  (1982 reprint) 
"Rouge: Pictured in its Prime"   F.R. Bryan 2003  (Ford Rouge plant)

Other Steel Companies:

'True Steel'  C. Borth  1941  (story of ARMCO founder)
"American Steel"   R. Preston  1991  (story of Nucor)
"Making Steel: Sparrows Point And The Rise And Ruin Of American Industrial Might"  Mark Reutter  1988, 2004 (Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point works, as an example of the history of the steel industry)

Pictures and People:

'Along the right-of-way'  Howard Fogg  1964  (64 paintings of P&LE industrial subjects)
'The Men And Machines that made America'  Iron Age  1976
'Industrial Archeology'  T.A. Sande  1976  (Sloss and Woodward furnaces -Alabama)
"Industrial Eye"   Jet Lowe  1986 
"The Steel Workers"   J. A. Fitch  1989
"Images of the Rust Belt"   J.J. Higgins  1999  (Some shots of Ohio and WV mills)

Coke and Coal:

"Cloud by Day - the Story of Coal and Coke and People"   M.E. Sheppard  1947  (1991 Reprint)
"Chemicals, Metals and Men"   N. Anderson  1995  (by-product coke industry)

Other Good Reference Books (I don't own):

'The Cleaning of Blast Furnace Gas' F.H. Wagner  1914
'Blast Furnace Construction in America' Johnson  1917
'Principles, Operations and Products of the 'Blast Furnace' Johnson  1918
'Blast Furnace Practice'  Sweetser  1938
'The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel'  United States Steel Corp.  1920, ?, 1940, 1957, 1964, 1971, 1985
"From Fire to Rust: Business, Technology and Work at the Lackawana Steel Plant, 1899-1983"    Leary, Scholes  1987   (Bethlehem's Lacuna steel plant)
"Blast Furnaces"   Bernd and Becher  1990
"The Inside History of the Carnegie Steel Company: A Romance of Millions" by David H. Wollman  1992

 

My Drawings:

Ford Motor Co. Rouge Plant Track Map  1951  (scale - 1" + 400')

McKee Co. Cleveland Blast Furnace #2 cross section  1957  (scale - 1/8" = 1')

Great Lakes Steel - General Plant Layout  1977  (scale - 1" = 800')
Great Lakes Steel - Plant Layout of BOF's and Slab Casters  1968  (scale - 1" =40')
Great Lakes Steel - Plant Layout of Slabbing Mill and Shops  1969  (scale - 1" =40')
Great Lakes Steel - Plant Layouts (25 -30" x 40" sheets) covering all steel facilities along the Detroit river  1982  (scale - 1" = 100')

United States Steel Clairton by-products Coke Plant layout  19??  (scale - 1" = 175')

 

My Photos:

Great Lakes Steel, from the Detroit river and some inside the grounds
McLouth Steel
Rouge Steel (Ford, Dearborn, MI)
Algoma Steel (Sault Ste Marie, Canada)
Detroit Steel (Portsmouth. OH)
Armco Steel (Ashland, KY) and Coke plant 
Some Gary and Cleveland Steel mill shots

 

C&OHS ARMCO Photos:

CSPR-57.074       H-6 (front) passing Sement-Solay Coke plant at Ashland
CSPR-57.075       H-6 (full) passing Sement-Solay Coke plant at Ashland
CSPR-101           H-6 at east end of plant
CSPR-162           K-4 and good shot of blast furnace
CSPR-10787.Y01  Mill gons in front of west end of plant
CSPR-10787.Y05  Mill gons in front of blast furnace and stockyard crane

 

Misc. References:

Blast furnace design binder - copies from many old books on iron and steel
Folders on ARMCO, Ford, GLS, Misc.  and early (pre-1920) iron and steel plants and equipment
Coal and coke binder - copies of by-product coke plant and equipment plans from many old sources

 

Last update: 11/21/05