Wickwire Spencer Steel was located on River Road along the shore of the Niagara River in Tonawanda, New York. The steel plant opened in 1901 as Wickwire Steel Company. The million-square-foot steel plant had several buildings that housed blast furnaces, open hearth furnaces, blooming mill, billet mill and rod mills. In 1920, Wickwire Steel Company […]
The roots of Erie Forge and Steel Company located at West 16th and Greengarden Boulevard in Erie, Pennsylvania, can be traced back to 1903, when the company operated as a small forge and machine shop known as the Erie Forge Company. In 1912, the company was officially named Erie Forge and Steel Company. At the […]
Auburn Steel Company (Austeel) was located in Auburn, New York, and it began operations in 1974. The steel mill was considered a “mini mill” and occupied an 812,000-square foot building. Auburn Steel was in the business of reclaiming old steel in order to melt it into billets and finished products. In February 1983, Auburn Steel […]
Roblin Steel was located on South Roberts Road in Dunkirk, New York. The 12-acre site was first developed in 1910 as part of a locomotive manufacturing company called American Locomotive Company (ALCO). ALCO used this site to manufacture process equipment consisting of heat exchangers, tunnel shields and steel pipes. During WWII, ALCO manufactured naval vessels, […]
The Simonds Saw and Steel facility in Lockport, New York, was established in 1911 to replace a previous facility in Chicago, Illinois. This move was undertaken in order to utilize hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls, and to allow for greater control over the quality of the steel used in their tools. In 1965, Simonds sold […]
In the early 1940s, the United States government began a series of experiments, later known as the Manhattan Project, with the goal of manufacturing atomic weapons and power plants. After the end of World War II, the Atomic Energy Commission was created to establish civilian control over atomic energy development and weapons production. Several locations […]
The South Buffalo Railway Company was established in 1899, as a short-line railroad owned by the Lackawanna Steel Company, the predecessor to Bethlehem Steel. The railway also served other customers in Lackawanna, including Donner-Hanna Coke, Ford and Republic Steel. The South Buffalo Railway spanned over fifty miles of track in Western New York. Bethlehem Steel owned the South Buffalo Railway […]
Buffalo and Lackawanna New York, have a rich steelmaking history. Republic Steel was built on the banks of the Buffalo River, giving it great access to Lake Erie and the Great Lakes and the rest of the United States. Ease in transportation and relatively inexpensive hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls made our community ideally suited […]
Crucible Industries is located on the west side of Onondaga Lake, roughly two miles from Syracuse, New York. Former employees of Crucible Industries (formerly Crucible Steel) have developed and died of mesothelioma, lung cancer and other asbestos-related diseases. Workers in the steel industry were at high risk for exposure to asbestos. Asbestos was utilized throughout Syracuse, New […]
The Crucible Materials Corporation’s roots were established in 1876 when the Sanderson brothers of Sheffield, England founded a steel manufacturing facility in Syracuse, New York. The Sanderson facility was one of the thirteen plants that formed the Crucible Steel Company. Crucible, has since then, made its mark as a great technological innovator, when in 1883, […]
Laborers who worked in the steel industry were at high risk for asbestos exposure. Asbestos was utilized throughout the Bethlehem Steel Lackawanna Plant and could also be found in workers’ protective clothing. Workers who handled asbestos materials or were in the vicinity of others who did, were at a high risk for injurious exposure, and […]
The steel making process involved many different types of furnaces and ovens, all of which were lined with asbestos insulation. Asbestos refractory materials were used as an insulator and binder in the following units: Coke Ovens – The function of the coke ovens at Bethlehem Steel was to take the raw material, coal, and convert it […]
In 1964, Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna began to produce steel using basic oxygen furnaces (BOF). These furnaces processed metal more quickly than the open hearth furnaces and were cheaper to operate. Prior to the late 1970s, asbestos-containing refractory and insulating materials were used in the construction, maintenance and operation of basic oxygen furnaces. Asbestos was […]
At Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna, New York, the open hearth furnaces were the primary means of producing steel from pig iron. Open hearth furnaces remove impurities from molten iron, scrap steel and limestone when charged in the furnace. Heat for the furnace is supplied by blowing a combination of air and fuel gas into the […]
A hot top is located on the top of a steel mold or ingot, and it traps impurities that rise out of steel as it cools and takes shape in the mold. During the steel making process, when molten steel has been sufficiently heated, it is poured into an ingot mold. While the steel cools, […]