Iron and Steel From the Ore Bed to the Smelter

Library and Archives Canada: 28mm, 35mm, video.
"This film shows the process by which ore is extracted from mines, prepared for the smelter, and then smelted, on the shores of the Great Lakes. A mine is shown with men preparing blasting charges and then digging out the rubble. This ore is taken up the shaft, crushed, roasted to burn off sulphur and then loaded for shipment to the smelter. At the smelter, finely ground coal is converted into coke for smelting fuel; the viewer is shown some of the large machines which charge the oven and then force the coke through the oven into rail cars. At the quenching tower cold water is poured on the coke. Coke, ore and limestone are then melted together in blast furnaces. Some of the actions shown are: charging the furnace; tapping the furnace; forming the iron in bars called pigs. In the next stage, molten steel is added to ore, pig iron, scrap iron, scrap steel and lime. This steel is cast into ingot, shaped, rolled and cooled. The film ends by showing some of the industrial and consumer uses of this steel, including a bridge and some hand tools."