Snapshots of the Past

A Bessemer converter, McKeesport, Pa. – Antique Wall Art

A Bessemer converter, McKeesport, Pa., [between 1900 and 1915] — historic photograph
A Bessemer converter, McKeesport, Pa., [between 1900 and 1915]. Historic photograph from the Detroit Publishing Company collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of A Bessemer converter, McKeesport, Pa.. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.

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A Bessemer converter, McKeesport, Pa.

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Few industrial subjects show the steel mill as directly as a Bessemer converter, the tilting vessel in which molten pig iron was refined into steel by blowing air through it. This view of one at McKeesport, Pennsylvania, a steel and tube town on the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh, was made on a glass dry plate by the Detroit Publishing Company, which sent photographers across the country roughly between 1900 and 1915. The negative's cracked and taped lower left corner is a reminder of how fragile these plates were after decades of handling. The scale of the equipment is the main thing to notice here.

Created / published[between 1900 and 1915]
Medium1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in.
GenreDry plate negatives.
NotesAlternate title: A Bessemer converter, Pgh., Pa. Negative cracked from lower left corner and taped. Detroit Publishing Co. no. 068029. Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949.
SubjectsFurnaces. Steel industry.United States--Pennsylvania--McKeesport.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection
Original scan973 × 706 px
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-DET-76930

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