Beckley Furnace Industrial Monument
What Is This Place?
Beckley Furnace Industrial MonumentYou are standing in front of the remains of an iron furnace. This facility, Beckley Furnace, operated from 1847 until 1919, making it one of the last of its kind to operate in the United States. Originally, this site consisted of several buildings which evolved over the life of the site. On this side of the furnace there was a large brick building with a curved metal roof called the casting shed. It was in this building that molten iron was removed from the furnace and cast into ingots called "pigs". The ingots got their name from the fact that the shape of the molds resembled piglets nursing on their mother. These ingots were then shipped to other industries, some nearby, some very far away to make iron goods of great variety. One particular use of the iron made here was railroad car wheels. Wheels made from the iron produced here were particularly resistant to cracking. Thousands of them carried goods all over the United States as well as other countries during the great industrial expansion of the second half of the nineteenth century.
On the far side of the building was a water turbine and associated machinery which was used to force air into the furnace to aid in the combustion of the charcoal used as fuel. Also on the far side of the furnace was an oven used to preheat the air sent to the furnace. Early ironmakers learned that hot air made the furnace more efficient so the oven was an important component of the overall site. The oven used waste gas from the furnace as fuel showing an early example of industrial recycling.
The ironmaking process resulted in by-products as well. This furnace produced a waste product called slag. This material is formed from other minerals present in iron ore, most notably silicon, and resembles glass. During the years of its operation this furnace produced an enormous amount of slag. The size of the slag heap across the river from the furnace was estimated at 900,000 cubic yards in 1920. Some of the slag was crushed and mixed with cement to make slag concrete. A number of buildings in New England were made with slag exported from this site. Slag was also used as a component in road surfacing, but it did not perform well in that application. Ultimately the slag was abandoned to the forest which has reclaimed the slag piles and made them all but invisible today.
Beckley Furnace has been designated an Industrial Monument by the State of Connecticut, the first site in the state to achieve that status.
Please explore this remnant of northwestern Connecticut's industrial past. Interpretive signs have been placed near the significant remaining structures on the site to help you appreciate what once was here.
Furnaces such as this one were usually located on the side of a hill so that access to the top of the stack could be gained via a bridge from the hilltop.
The furnace is a stone tower with a central chimney consisting of three parts: the upper part, called the
stack , the central portion called the
"bosh"and a cylindrical chamber at the bottom called the
crucible.
A charcoal fire was built inside and when it had reached the right temperature iron ore and limestone were added to the top of the stack.
To aid in the combustion of the charcoal, hot air was forced into the furnace under pressure. This hot air was fed into the furnace through nozzles called
"tuyeres". This
"hot blast" made the furnace more efficient. Hot carbon monoxide produced by the charcoal fire reduced the iron ore to pure iron which would drip to the bottom of the furnace and collect in the crucible.
When the crucible was full, the ironworkers would
"tap" the furnace letting the liquid metal flow into sand molds where it would harden. Molten waste, a glasslike material called
"slag" was also produced in the furnace. The
slag was lighter than the molten iron and floated on top of it. It was drawn off separately and discarded.
Production was continuous: after tapping the furnace the fire was built up and another charge of ore and limestone prepared. Production could only be interrupted by severe drought which removed the power source for the air blast or a breakdown in the furnace. Furnaces of this type were used for the production of iron throughout the United States.
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