Watch the following informative video for a short introduction of what you are about to visit.
You are now standing in front of the remains of an iron furnace. This facility, Beckley Furnace, operated from 1847 until 1919, making it one of the last of its kind to operate in the United States. Originally this site consisted of several buildings which evolved over the life of the site.
On the far side of the building was a water turbine and associated machinery which was used to force air into the furnace to aid in the combustion of the charcoal used as fuel. Also on the far side of the furnace was an oven used to preheat the air sent to the furnace. Early iron-makers learned that hot air made the furnace more efficient so the oven was an important component of the overall site. The oven used waste gas from the furnace as fuel showing an early example of industrial recycling.
The following diagram shows how the furnace was constructed and the major components of a typical iron blast furnace of this era.
Casting Arch
This arch was used to gain access to the hearth area of the furnace. It is the largest of the four arches in the furnace structure. It is from this opening that molten iron flowed into sand molds to form the iron “pigs” that were the final product of this furnace. Waste material, called slag, was also removed from the furnace via this arch.
Furnace Hearth
This area of the furnace is where the molten iron was removed from the furnace. The restored hearth is shown cut away so that you can see the details of its construction. The small cylindrical chamber at the bottom of the furnace stack, called the crucible, is where the molten iron collected. Floating on top of this pool of iron was a layer of unwanted glasslike material called slag. The slag was drawn off and discarded in huge piles still to be seen across the river from the furnace. Openings in the crucible were plugged with clay to hold the molten liquids in place until the furnace was tapped. The first plug was removed to drain the slag and then the second plug to release the iron. The stream of molten iron was directed to molds made in the sand floor of the casting shed where it hardened into ingots called pigs.
This furnace had a water jacket around the hearth to lengthen the life of the refractory bricks and keep the furnace in service for longer periods of time.
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