THE AGE OF STEEL 



work about these furnaces was done by manual labor, 

 or at least manual labor was an active assistant to the 

 machinery used in manipulating the furnaces. The 

 top of the furnace was closed in by a great movable 

 lid, or "bell," and the material for charging it was 

 hauled up the sides by elevators and dumped in at 

 the top. About the top of the furnace was constructed 

 a staging upon which the workmen stood, an elevator 

 shaft connecting the staging with the ground. The 

 ore and other materials were brought to the foot of 

 the shaft on cars from which it was shovelled into pecu- 

 liarly designed wheelbarrows, trundled to the elevator, 

 and hauled to the top. 



In order to dump the wheelbarrow loads into the 

 furnaces it was necessary to raise the bell. This was 

 always dangerous, and frequently resulted in the suffo- 

 cation or injury of the workmen on the staging. For 

 when the bell was raised there was an escape of poi- 

 sonous gases, which might flare out in a sheet of flame, 

 with the possibility of burning or suffocating the work- 

 men. The fumes from these gases, if inhaled in small 

 quantities, might simply cause coughing, hiccoughing, 

 or dizziness; but when inhaled in large quantities 

 they struck down a man like the fumes of chloroform, 

 suffocating him in a few seconds if he was not removed 

 at once into a purer atmosphere. Indeed, the like- 

 lihood of this was so great that at many of these fur- 

 naces a special workman was detailed to take the 

 position on the staging, well out of range of the gas, 

 his sole duty being to rescue any of the men who 

 might be overcome, and hurry them as quickly as pos- 



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