i68 WALDON FAWCETT 



structure, with the molten pool directly below — standing 

 above the crater of a volcano, as it were — are workmen whose 

 daily occupation is as dangerous as that of a steeple climber. 



The deadliest danger is from the great wave of poisonous 

 gases which rushes up with terrific force whenever the bell, 

 as the top of the furnace is called, is opened to admit a fresh 

 supply of fuel or ore. As a rule, the escaping gases become 

 ignited, and woe betide the unfortunate workman who is 

 tardy in retreating before the sheet of flame that momentarily 

 illuminates the whole country side. At times, however, 

 the gases do not pass off in flame, and the effect upon the 

 workmen of this terrible rush of carbonic acid fumes is very 

 much the same as that which might be expected from an 

 overdose of whisky. 



More terrifying even than the menace of the gases is the 

 ever present possibihty of an explosion that -vv^U toss the mas- 

 sive cover of the furnace into the air. Sometimes this giant 

 hd rises only a few yards and then falls back into place, but 

 there have been instances when it landed on the ground many 

 rods away. Whatever be the force of one of these sudden 

 upheavals of the lava like mass, the laborers on top of the 

 furnace have no warning of its approach, and their chances 

 of life, when flames burst forth as though from a cannon's 

 mouth, constitute the most uncertain of problems. 



The new modern furnace, however, has eliminated much 

 of the risk of human life that is involved in tending the iron- 

 monger's kettle under the old plan, and from another stand- 

 point it has shown the way to an immense saving of time and 

 labor in the charging of the huge melting pot. The present 

 day blast furnace may perhaps best be described as an im- 

 mense iron cyhnder bearing a close resemblance to the stand- 

 pipe of a waterworks system, and mounted on short iron 

 stilts. There are usually two of these furnaces, some dis- 

 tance apart, and extending between them a hne of six or 

 eight smaller cylinders. The latter are the stoves wherein 

 is heated the hot air that is blown through the molten mass 

 in the furnace. 



The great iron tube reared on end, which, in the eyes 



