Favourite Furnaces

[igorbalis]

Round Oak Steel Works

[Mr vertical]

They're just another heat source..

[Everything Zin]

Not the ones at TI Weldless in Wednesfield (now long gone). Had a summer job as a 16 year old helping to reline the bastards - hot work.

[Babel]

Instructive video WWHO

[Remi_Moses]

Very informative video, a must see for schools, colleges and the Black Country Museum? It could do with a media information centre.

[HawkingsHalfpint]

Cottonace

[Babel]

A cupola isnt technically a furnace, its a round tower on top of a blast furnace used to trap stray sparks.

Blast furnaces good for basic iron, as it creates more impurities in the iron. 

Electric induction melting the best, expensive but quick and better Iron. (can melt 6 ton in 50mins)

Foundry man 16 years

Good knowledge.  Here's a film i made about Elisabeth (the last blast furnace to grace the skyline of the Black Country) and Bilston steelworks:

Good video never been involved with steel.

Tipton had the first blast furnace (Iron foudry) with zero smoke emission in around 95. It was way ahead of its time.

Wrought a good post.

[hudds]

A cupola isnt technically a furnace, its a round tower on top of a blast furnace used to trap stray sparks.

Blast furnaces good for basic iron, as it creates more impurities in the iron. 

Electric induction melting the best, expensive but quick and better Iron. (can melt 6 ton in 50mins)

Foundry man 16 years

Not my experience but I always thought a cupola was a foundry furnace in toto, not a gizmo on top of a blast furnace.

I worked on electric induction furnaces mainly.  Chucking co-ag onto the open tops and then skimming off the slag with a half cwt skimming bar was good exercise and ferociously hot in the summer...

Not the same at Johnson's Rolls in West Brom (Rolls for rolling mills for British Steel).

SG converter the dog's bollocks for drama (Johnson's made SG but different process).

WWHO - don't forget Round Oak steelworks.  I couldn't believe how clean it was were compared to an iron foundry.

[WWHO]

A cupola isnt technically a furnace, its a round tower on top of a blast furnace used to trap stray sparks.

Blast furnaces good for basic iron, as it creates more impurities in the iron. 

Electric induction melting the best, expensive but quick and better Iron. (can melt 6 ton in 50mins)

Foundry man 16 years

Not my experience but I always thought a cupola was a foundry furnace in toto, not a gizmo on top of a blast furnace.

I worked on electric induction furnaces mainly.  Chucking co-ag onto the open tops and then skimming off the slag with a half cwt skimming bar was good exercise and ferociously hot in the summer...

Not the same at Johnson's Rolls in West Brom (Rolls for rolling mills for British Steel).

SG converter the dog's bollocks for drama (Johnson's made SG but different process).

WWHO - don't forget Round Oak steelworks.  I couldn't believe how clean it was were compared to an iron foundry.

I'm no authority on this but i'm pretty sure Round Oak stopped producing its own hot pig iron in 1936.  From hereon in it imported cold plate in order to produce steel in their Open-Hearths and electric arcs.

This meant Round Oak was a steelworks (and finishing end) and Bilston a fully-integrated iron and steelworks (and finishing end).

[coxy134]

A cupola isnt technically a furnace, its a round tower on top of a blast furnace used to trap stray sparks.

Blast furnaces good for basic iron, as it creates more impurities in the iron. 

Electric induction melting the best, expensive but quick and better Iron. (can melt 6 ton in 50mins)

Foundry man 16 years

Not my experience but I always thought a cupola was a foundry furnace in toto, not a gizmo on top of a blast furnace.

I worked on electric induction furnaces mainly.  Chucking co-ag onto the open tops and then skimming off the slag with a half cwt skimming bar was good exercise and ferociously hot in the summer...

Not the same at Johnson's Rolls in West Brom (Rolls for rolling mills for British Steel).

SG converter the dog's bollocks for drama (Johnson's made SG but different process).

WWHO - don't forget Round Oak steelworks.  I couldn't believe how clean it was were compared to an iron foundry.

Thinking back its possibly better to say

A cupola is a furnace getting its name from the round dome spark arrestor on the top? 

I remember when I worked there we didnt realize water had stopped flowing the spark arrestor and a load of cars in Tividale (near Boat pub) had sparks burnt into their cars!