CRANE IRON WORKS.
Source: Lambert & Reinhard,
ÒA History of CatasauquaÓ; pp 38 -45
Before proceeding to the
statement of certain historical facts regarding this Company, it will no doubt prove
interesting to introduce such information as is available regarding the first
use of Anthracite coal in the manufacture of pig iron in the United States.
We are celebrating in
Catasauqua in the year 1914, the seventy-fifth anniversary of the erection of
blast furnaces from which pig iron was first produced on July 4, 1840, and at
which plant Anthracite coal has continued to he used in the making of pig iron
at Catasauqua almost continuously since the erection of the first furnace until
the present year, and it might be of further interest to note here the fact
that the year in which this celebration is being held marks the first year in
the history of the furnace plant in which Anthracite coal has not to some
extent been used as a fuel for the making of pig iron.
It is not claimed by any
one with a knowledge of the history of pig iron manufacture that the furnaces
at Catasauqua produced the first pig iron made by the use of Anthracite coal in
the United States, but it is true that the furnaces here, erected in 1839, were
the first of all the early Anthracite furnaces which were completely successful
from an engineering and commercial standpoint and which continued to
manufacture pig iron successfully by using Anthracite coal, over a long period
of time.
We quote from several
authentic articles on this subject as these contain the most carefully compiled
information in existence with regard to this branch of the iron industry. The following
extract is made from a report of the Pennsylvania Board of Centennial Managers
to the Pennsylvania Legislature at the Session of 1878 and forms a part of a
volume entitled "Introduction to. a History of Pig Iron Making and Coal
Mining in Pennsylvania" by James M. Swank, who was the Secretary of the
American Iron & Steel Association for forty years, his term of service
beginning January 1, 1873.
"Down
to 1838 all the blast furnaces in the United States, with the exception of a
few coke furnaces, used charcoal for fuel. In that year pig iron was
successfully made in Pennsylvania from anthracite coal. We present below a
complete account of the first steps that were taken to use the new fuel in
blast furnaces.
In
1840 Jesse B. Quinby testified, in the suit of Farr & Kunzt against the
Schuylkill Navigation Company, that he used anthracite coal at Harford furnace,
Maryland, mixed with one-half charcoal, in 1815. He believed himself to be the
first person in the United States to use anthracite coal in smelting iron. In
1823 The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company erected near Mauch Chunk a small
furnace intended to use anthracite in smelting iron. The enterprise was not
successful. In 1827 unsuccessful experiments in smelting iron with anthracite
coal from Rhode Island were made at one of the small furnaces in Kingston,
Plymouth County, Massachusetts. These experiments failed because the blast used
was cold. About 1827 a similar failure in the use of anthracite took place at
Vizille, in France. Doubtless other unsuccessful attempts than those here
recorded were made to smelt iron ore with anthracite coal, but these were
probably the earliest.
In
1828 James B. Neilson, of Scotland, obtained a patent for the use of hot air in
the smelting of iron ore in blast furnaces, and in 1837 the smelting of iron
ore with anthracite coal by means of the Neilson hot-blast was successfully
accomplished by George Crane, at his iron-works at Ynyscedwin, in Wales. Mr.
Crane began the use of a blast furnace obtaining 36 tons a week. In May of that
year Solomon W. Roberts of Philadelphia visited his works and witnessed the
complete success of the experiment. Mr. Crane had taken out a patent on the
28th of September 1836, for smelting iron ore with anthracite coal. Upon the
recommendation of Mr. Roberts, after his return from Wales, the Lehigh Crane
Iron Company was organized in 1838 to manufacture pig iron from the anthracite
coal of the Lehigh Valley. In that year Erskine Hazard went to Wales for the
company and there made himself acquainted with the process of making anthracite
iron. He ordered to be made such machinery as was necessary, under the
direction of George Crane, the inventor, and engaged David Thomas, who was
familiar with the process to take charge of the erection of the works, and the
manufacture of the iron. Mr. Thomas arrived in the summer of 1839, and to his
faithful and intelligent management much of the success of the enterprise is
due. The first furnace of this company was successfully blown in on the 4th of
July 1840. But it was not the first successful anthracite furnace in this
country, as will presently appear.
On
the 19th of December, 1833, a patent was granted to Dr. F. W. Geissenheimer, of
New York, for smelting iron ore with anthracite coal, by the application of
heated air. Dr. Geissenheimer made experiments in smelting iron ore with
anthracite at the Valley furnace, northeast of Pottsville, but they were not
successful, although the results achieved were highly encouraging.''
There are mentioned several
experimental operations at Cressons, Schuylkill County; at South Easton.
Northampton County; and at Maiteli Chunk during the years from 1836 to 1839.
He continues:-
''The
next furnace to use anthracite was the Pioneer, built in 1837 and 1838 at
Pottsville, by William Lyman, of Boston, under the auspices of Burd Patterson,
and blast was unsuccessfully applied July 10, 1839. Benjamin Perry, who had
blown in the coke furnace at Farrandsville, then took charge of it, and blew it
in October 19, 1839, with complete success. This furnace was blown by steam
power. The blast was heated in ovens at the base of the furnace, with
anthracite, to a temperature of 600 degrees, and supplied through three tuyeres
at a pressure of 2 to 21/2 lbs. per square inch. The product was about 2$ tons
a week of good foundry iron. The furnace continued in blast for some time. A
premium of $5,000.00 was paid by Nicholas Diddle and others to Mr. Lyman, as
the first person in the United States who had made anthracite pig iron continuously
for one hundred days. Danville furnace, in Montour County, was built by Biddle,
Chambers & Co., and was successfully blown in with anthracite in April.
1840, producing 33 tons of iron weekly with steam-power. Roaring Creek furnace,
in Montour County, built by Burd Patterson & Co., was next blown in with
anthracite, May 18, 1840, and produced 40 tons of iron weekly with water-power.
A charcoal furnace at Phoenixville, built in 1837 by Reeves, Buck & Co.,
was blown in with anthracite, June 17, 1840, by William Firmstone, and produced
from 28 to 30 tons of pig iron weekly with waterpower. The hot-blast stove
which was planned and erected by Julius Guiteau of the Mauch ('hunk furnace,
was situated on one side of the tunnel head, and heated by the escaping flame
of the furnace. This furnace continued in blast until 1841. Columbia furnace at
Danville, was built in 1839 by George Patterson, and blown in with anthracite
by Mr. Perry on July 2, 1840, and made from 30 to 32 tons of iron weekly, using
steam-power. The next furnace to use anthracite, and the last one we shall
mention was built at Catasauqua, for the Lehigh Crane Iron Co., in 1839, by
David Thomas. It was successfully blown in by him on the 4th of July, 1840, as
we have stated, and produced 50 tons a week of good foundry iron, waterpower
being used.
It
will be observed that while Mr. Neilson invented the hot blast, Dr.
Geissenheimer was the first to propose the use of anthracite coal by means of
heated air for the manufacture of pig iron, and that Mr. Crane was the first to
successfully apply the hot blast of Mr. Neilson for this purpose. Dr.
Geissenheime experimented as early as 1833 with ovens for heating air before
its introduction into the blast furnace in which anthracite was used as a fuel,
and his patent bears date of that year; but his invention was not successfully
applied until after Mr. Crane had
made iron at YnyseecIwin. Dr. Geissenheimer is entitled to the honor of
having proposed what Mr. Crane was the first to accomplish. His patent limited
to the United States, was purchased by Mr. Crane, who, in November 1838,
patented some addition to it in this country. The patent was never enforced
here, but Mr. Crane compelled the ironmasters of Great Britain to pay him
tribute. Dr. Geissenheimer died at Lebanon, Pa., where he had long resided.
The
discovery in 1839 and 1840, that anthracite coal could be successfully used in
the manufacture of pig iron gave a great impetus to the iron industry in
Maryland, New Jersey and New York, as well as in Pennsylvania. The rich
magnetic ores of New Jersey were first smelted with anthracite coal by Edwin
Post, Esq., at Stanhope, in 1840. On the 1st of January, 1876, there were 225
anthracite furnaces in the country, 161 in Pennsylvania.''
Vol. III. of the
Transactions of the American Institute of Mining -Engineers contains a
"Sketch of the Early Anthracite Furnaces" by William Firmstone,
Glendon Iron Works, Easton, Pa., this paper having been submitted at a meeting
of the Association held in Hazleton in October, 1874.
He refers to the
erection of the first furnace at Catasauqua and concludes:
''With
the erection of this furnace commenced the era of higher and larger furnaces
and better blast machinery, with consequent improvements in yield anti quality
of iron produced.
It
was the commencement of an enterprise that, under the able management of Mr.
Thomas, resulted in building up one of the largest and most successful works in
the Lehigh Valley, now consisting of six blast furnaces, some of them 60 feet
high and 17 or 18 feet in the boshes, producing 250 tons of pig iron a week,
and using the escaping gas to raise steam and heat the blast."
In the year 1892 there
was published a ''History of the Manufacture of Iron in all ages, and
particularly in the United States from Colonial times to 1891.'' The author of
this history was James M. Swank, to whom reference is made above, and in his
preface to this edition, Mr. Swank states:
"In the collection of the materials for this volume I
have been exceedingly fortunate in possessing a personal acquaintance with most
of the leading actors in the wonderful development of our American iron
industry during the present century, and in learning from their own lips and
from their own letters many of the incidents of that development. It is the
exact truth to say that, if the preparation of this history had been delayed
for a few years, it could not have been written, for many of these pioneers are
now dead.''
This latter contribution
may therefore be regarded as an authority with respect to the subject which it
covers, and we quote from it a single paragraph:
"David
Thomas was born on November 3, 1794, at a place called, in English, Grey house,
within two and a half miles of the town of Neath, in the County of Glamorgan,
South Wales. He landed in the United States on June 5, 1839, and on July 9th of
that year commenced to build the furnace at Catasauqua. He died at Catasauqua
on June 20, 1882, in his 88th year. At the time of his death he was the oldest
ironmaster in the United States in length of service, and he was next to Peter
Cooper, the oldest in years. David Thomas's character and services to the
American iron trade are held in high honor by all American iron and steel
manufacturers. He is affectionately styled the Father of the American
anthracite iron industry, because the furnace built under his directions at
Catasauqua and blown in by him was the first of all the early anthracite furnaces
that was completely successful, both from an engineering and a commercial
standpoint, and also because he subsequently became identified with the
manufacture of anthracite pig iron on a more extensive scale than any of his
contemporaries. He was the founder of the Thomas Iron Company, at Hokendauqua,
which has long been at the head of the producers of anthracite pig iron. The
first two furnaces of this Company were built by Mr. Thomas in 1855."
It will be observed that
in this statement, Mr. Swank gives us in a very few words the historical
position of Catasauqua with relation to the use of anthracite coal in the
manufacture of pig iron.
CORPORATE EXISTENCE.
A charter was granted to
the Lehigh Crane Iron Company on May 16, 1839, for twenty-five years under an
Act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania entitled ''An Act to encourage the
manufacture of iron with coke or mineral coal and for other purposes,"
passed June 16, 1836. The charter was renewed in 1864 for a further term of
twenty-five years, expiring in 1889.
In 1872, when an
increase was being made in the Capital Stock, the corporate name of the Lehigh
Crane Iron Company was changed to ''The Crane Iron Company. "
The property, rights,
franchises and privileges were transferred on January 30, 1895, to the Crane
Iron Works, the existing corporation, which was, upon application, granted a
perpetual charter on October 8. 1908.
ACQUISITION OF RIGHTS.
The Lehigh Coal &
Navigation Company, feeling that their interests would be promoted by securing
the business of manufacturing iron from the use of anthracite coal to be
extensively established along the line of their canal improvements and in order
to encourage and induce the same, at a meeting of their Board of Directors held
July 2, 1839, passed the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the Lehigh Coal & Navigation
Company will give in fee simple all the water power of any one of the Dams between
Allentown and Parryvile except so much thereof as may in the opinion of the
Managers be necessary for the Navigation and Two hundred inches of water under
a Three feet head at each Lock for propelling Boats and other crafts on the
said Navigation, to any Company or individuals or their assigns who shall
actually expend or cause to be expended Thirty Thousand Dollars in improving
the Site for Iron Works arid in making the experiment of Manufacturing iron
from the Ore with anthracite coal, should this amount be required to be
expended before succeeding in the manufacture of iron. The fee of the water
power to become vested in the said Company or individuals or their assigns
either upon their succeeding in making iron at the rate of twenty-seven tons a week,
or in case of failure when they shall allow to the satisfaction of the Lehigh
Coal & Navigation Company that the sum of Thirty Thousand Dollars has been
expended as above mentioned in making the attempt. The land belonging to the
Company suitable for using the said water power upon, and not necessary-for the
navigation, shall be included in the Deed. Should they succeed in making iron
with anthracite coal, then not more than one fourth of the water power thus
granted shall be used for any other purpose than in the manufacture of iron
from the Ore, or in the manufacture of articles from iron thus made. The water
in all cases to be so drawn as not to interfere with the navigation arid
subject to the regulations contained in the Company's printed deeds. The dam
must be specified and the work commenced by the first of September One Thousand
Eight Hundred and Thirty Nine, and at least Fifteen Thousand Dollars expended
in the work within two years from that date."
On July 8, 1839, the
Lehigh Crane Iron Company signified their acceptance of the proposal of the
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which had subsequently been confirmed by
action of its stockholders, and on December 15, 1840, the Lehigh Crane Iron
Co., having fulfilled the conditions imposed, were granted a conveyance of the
property and water rights by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co.
In a report submitted by
the President to the stockholders of the Crane Iron Company on May 28, 1884,
the following information with regard to the erection, dismantling and
replacement of the furnaces is given:
"The
first furnace, commonly designated as No. 1, was constructed in the year 1840,
and was 45 feet in height x 11 feet bosh.
Furnace
No. 2 was built in 1842, and was 45 x 13 feet.
Furnace
No. 3. in 1846, was 55 x 161/2 feet.
All
of these furnaces were fitted up with iron hot stoves, and the three had a
total average weekly capacity of about 420 tons.
In
1879, No. 3 fell down, and it was then determined to remove the three old
stacks, and to erect new ones upon the sites of Nos. 1 and 3, and to place
firebrick hot stoves upon the ground formerly occupied by stack No. 2. Nos. 1
and 2 were accordingly torn down in 1880, and the new No. 3 was completed and
blown in in November, 1880.
The
new No. 3 is 60 x 17, and the new No. I was completed in 1881, and is 75 x 18
feet.
The
cost of new No. I was $103,461.74, and of No. 3, $96,211.10. The old boilers
had been in use from the original erection of the plant and were no longer
safe. They were replaced with new steel boilers, which with the boiler house
cost $84,410.23.
The
increased capacity of the new furnaces required additional blowing engines,
anti two new engines were furnished by the I. P. Morris Company and put in
operation in January, 1884, at a cost of $31,283.43.
These
expenditures have been fully justified by the result. As compared with the old
furnaces, which they have replaced, there has been a saving of 1/2 ton of fuel
to a ton of iron, and an average saving of about 75 per cent, per ton in labor.
The
new furnaces have not yet done as well as may reasonably he expected, but No. 1
furnace made 22,281-1/2 tons in the year 1883, of which 19,600 tons were
foundry iron; and No. 3 furnace made 19,507-1/2 tons, of which 15,443 tons were
foundry iron. The largest weekly output of No. 1 furnace was 510 tons. The
largest weekly output of No. 3 was 450 tons.
The
dates of construction and sizes of remaining furnaces are as follows:
No.
4, 1849 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 55 x 17-1/2
No.
5, 1850 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 60 x 17-1/2
No.6,
1868 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 60 x17-1/2
Of
these, No. 4 requires to he relined; No. 5 (which has fire-brick hot stoves
erected in the year 1877) is in blast; and No. 6 is ready to be blown in when
desired. The capacity of the five furnaces as about 1800 tons weekly, or 90,000
tons a year."
It will he seen
therefore that in 1884, five furnaces remained as follows:
No.
1, 1880 1849 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 75 x 18
No.
3, 18811849 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 65 x 17
No.
4, 1849 1849 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 55 x 171/2
No.5,
1850 1849 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 60 x171/2
No.6,
1868 1849 ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ. 60 x 171/2
In 1889 No. 3 furnace
was raised to the height of 75 feet and continued standing until the latter
part of 1913 when it was dismantled. No. 4 furnace was blown out in July 1890,
and several years later was dismantled. No. 5 furnace was torn down in 1908 and
a furnace known as No. 2, size 80 x 17-1/2. was erected on this site. No. 6 was
torn down in 1904, and the plant therefore consists of only two furnaces at
this time known as Nos. 1 and 2, the combined annual capacity of which is about
130,000 tons.
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