Steel Mill Modeling

[Anonymous]

Hi I'm in the UK and am modeling a US Steel Works. I have recently built a Carbon Chip Tower a la Dean Frytag but would like to know what sort of car delivered the chips. Any one have any idea?
Also if you know how the 'mud gun' on the cast house floor gets its 'mud' I'd like to know that too

FMB

[ndbprr]

I've spent almost 40 years in the steel industry and never heard of a carbon chip tower nor can I figure out what one would be from the name. The only carbon used at a blast furnace is the coke in the burden or pulverized coal blown into the furnace through the tuyeres through which the air is injected into the furnace. The mud gun on the cast house floor is a big syringe bolted to one side of the casting hole. The other side has a pneumatic drill with a bit that is about 10-12' long to keep the drill proper away from the iron flow when it starts. the drill makes about a 3-4" hole in the taphole area to allow the iron to escape the furnace. When the tap is through the mud gun is swung into place and pushes a new plug of refractory into the tap hole to reseal the furnace. The refractory consistency is a little thicker than the clay a potter would use and has some other stuff in it and is generally gray in color. the mud gun is about 3-4' long and about 18" in diameter and is hand loaded before the furnace is tapped. There are bags of the refractory on a pallet and a wheel barrow for mixing it simlar to making mortar. The gun is cylindrical in shape and has a cone on the end to guide into the tap hole. The long drill bit makes for a situation where it can wander a little and be off a little each time. A cast house floor smells very similar to a pig farm. Don't ask me why but it is a smell you won't soon forget and it isn't pleasant. During a tap the smell turns to a sulfur smell from all the sulfur in the slag being removed from the iron through a secondary tap hole on the back side of the furnace. You need to be very careful to avoid the fumes becasue even a little of it will form sulfuric acid in your lungs to where you will cough for quite some time trying to clear it