I got to the part of my blast furnace model where I'm working on the design of the skip hoist equipment. I can picture a hundred different ways to pull the buckets up to the top of the furnace but I prefer to work off pictures. Steam, diesel, electric, mules, etc. Does anybody have any photos, links, or comments on what equipment was inside the skip hoist house/building?
For extra detail, the blast furnace I'm working on is heavily inspired by the four at Youngstown Sheet and Tube Campbell works, their Hubbard furnace, the Anna furnace in Struthers, and the Mary Furnace in Lowellville. These were all places with older furnaces and I'm foregoing the ore bridge like the Anna furnace (and I think Mary Furnace). Photos suggest the skip hoist equipment was housed in an elevated building above the ramp itself where the bucket road at Campbell works and Hubbard. I haven't zoomed in enough to see if I can find electrical or steam power to the building. I hope to have some time to look tonight. But either way, do you guys think it would a plain steam or electric motor driving a gear box that drives a winch?
The archives at the Museum of Industry and Labor are closed here for renovation or something. It won't be open for a month. My other option would be to hustle down to the Carrie Furnace in Pittsburgh for a tour and hope that they let me in the building for the skip hoist. The building looks pretty rusted out on Google maps but the location of cables does give me some clues about how things are arranged inside.
