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Summary
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SUMMARY SEVENTY-SEVEN blast furnaces have been built and operated in the State of Alabama. Four more furnaces were either partially completed or, if completed, were never operated. Out of this total of 81 furnaces 32 were built to use charcoal as fuel and of this number 10 used coke at some time during their operation. Five of these 11 furnaces were later permanently converted for coke fuel. Since 1877 fortyeight furnaces have been built to use coke. Today there are 19 blast furnaces in the state. Seventeen of these are located in the Birmingham District. Eighteen furnaces are active at this writing; the nineteenth has been idle for a number of years due to its state of repair and an uncertain raw material supply situation. The question may well be asked as to why this decrease in the number of units. There are several answers. The first furnaces were very small with very limited productive capacity. They depended on local ore and fuel sources for their supply of raw materials and on local narrow markets for the disposal of their products. As time went on demands for iron increased, new furnaces were built, each of greater size and capacity. As in the case of many other industries, the principle of mass production asserted itself. With larger units and larger production , costs could be lowered. However, with larger furnaces, greater capital was required, wider markets had to be sought and a dependable supply of ore and fuel in much larger quantities became necessary. Consequently location and transportation became increasingly important factors. The transition from "small business" to "big business" took place. Larger and stronger organizations were necessary, hence the various consolidations or mergers during the past fifty years. Increasingly severe competition also fostered the gradual concentration of productive facilities into the more economically sound, ably managed and adequately financed concerns, controlling ample and favorably located raw material supplies and reserves. Such organizations were also better able to finance and adopt the most up-to-date improvements and developments in the industry and so to keep pace with the other iron producing sections of the country. Numbers of the older furnaces were forced out of existence because they had been built without due regard to the various involved economic factors. Others failed through lack of financial resources. Still others failed because they were originally conceptions of speculative enthusiasm. It will be noted in the records that a number of furnaces operated inter_ .o~~ 31 r).o,- ALABAMA BLAST FURNACES mittently, with long periods of idleness between operations. These may be termed fair weather furnaces. Their building was induced by a nearby supply of ore but their fuel had to be obtained from distant localities and consequently their competitive position was greatly weakened . Such plants were able to operate only in times of abnormal demands and high prices. They had no stable position in the industry. After the period of great demand for iron during the World" War had passed, these furnaces were gradually abandoned and scrapped. And so it is, that while at one time there were thirty or more merchant pig iron companies in Alabama, today only three survive. The decrease in the number of furnace units does not indicate a decrease in productive capacity. On the contrary, the total annual output of the remaining furnaces is greater than ·the many smaller plants formerly operated. The surviving merchant blast furnaces of Alabama have consolidated their position. As a result of intelligent operation, they compete successfully in the nation's markets. With the combination of ample material reserves , efficient modern plants and sound financial structures, their position is assured. The foundry industry of the country can be certain of a dependable Alabama pig iron supply, manufactured under close specification limits to suit individual or special needs. The development of inland waterways and the combination of rail and water J;stes have helped to bring Alabama pig iron economically closer to a widespread area of the nation. Approximately 400/0 of the foundry iron consumed in the entire country is now furnished from the Birmingham district; Alabama's proportion in 1912 was approximately 20%. This is factual evidence of this state's increasing importance in the national picture as a pig iron producing center. [44.223.31.148] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:43 GMT) INDIVIDUAL HISTORIES OF ALABAMA BLAST FURNACES ON the pages which follow the individual history of every blast furnace built in Alabama from the year 1815 to...