Author Institution: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Youngstown State UniversityAnalyses of samples of the raw materials locally available for use in the Eaton (Hopewell) Furnace indicate that the iron ore and bituminous coal were of good smelting quality while the limestone (flux) was not. The limestone had a much higher then desirable silica content and a low calcium content. The limestone was insufficient to the task of removing impurities introduced through the fuel combination of charcoal and raw coal and contributed to the early demise of the furnace operation only 6 years after its start

White, John R.

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OhioJ. Sci. SEEDLING GROWTH IN ANDROPOGON 23Harper, J. L. 1977 Population biology of plants.Academic Press, London. 892 p., J. N. Clatworthy, I. H. McNaughton andG. R. Sagar 1961 The evolution and ecologyof closely related species living in the same area.Evolution 15: 209-227.Hladek, K. L., G. K. Hulett and G. W. Tomaneck1972 The vegetation of remnant shale-limestone prairies in western Kansas. Southwest.Nat. 17: 1-10.Mueller, I. M. and J. E. Weaver 1942 Relativedrought resistance of seedlings of dominantprairie grasses. Ecology 23: 387-398.Perino, J. V. and P. G. Risser 1972 Some aspectsof structure and function in Oklahoma old-fieldsuccession. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 99: 233-239-Copyright © 1982 Ohio Acad. Sci.Pickett, S.T. A. and F. A. Bazzaz 1976 Di-vergence of two co-occurring successional annualson a soil moisture gradient. Ecology 57: 169-176.Weaver, J. E. 1954 North American prairie.Johnsen Publ., Lincoln, NB 348 p.1958 Summary and interpretation of un-derground development in natural grassland com-munities. Ecol. Monogr. 28: 55-78.I960 Extent of communities and abun-dance of the most common grasses in prairie. Bot.Gaz. 122: 25-33.and T. J. Fitzpatrick 1932 Ecology andrelative importance of the dominants of tall-grassprairie. Bot. Gaz. 93: 113-150.and I. M. Mueller 1942 Role of seed-lings in recovery of midwestern ranges fromdrought. Ecology 23: 275-294.0030-0950/82/0001-0023 $2.00/0ANALYSES AND EVALUATION OF THE RAW MATERIALSUSED IN THE EATON (HOPEWELL) FURNACE1JOHN R. WHITE, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Youngstown State University,Youngstown, OH 44555ABSTRACT. Analyses of samples of the raw materials locally available for use in the Eaton(Hopewell) Furnace indicate that the iron ore and bituminous coal were of good smeltingquality while the limestone (flux) was not. The limestone had a much higher thendesirable silica content and a low calcium content. The limestone was insufficient tothe task of removing impurities introduced through the fuel combination of charcoal andraw coal and contributed to the early demise of the furnace operation only 6 years afterits start.O H I O J . SCI. 82(1): 23, 1982INTRODUCTIONDuring the summers of 1975, 1976 and1977 archaeological excavations werecarried out at the Eaton (Hopewell) Fur-nace site near Youngstown, Ohio (White1980). Erected in 1802 against the steepgorgeside of Yellow Creek, the Eaton (orig-inally spelled Heaton) was blown-in in1803 and lasted until about 1808. After afailure of the inwall lining and the sub-sequent spillage of the entire cast onto thecasting floor as a large multi-lobed sal-'Manuscript received 15 July 1980 and in revisedform 21 October 1981 (#80-39).amander, the furnace owners decided notto repair and relight.Until the archaeological work wasundertaken there was very little knownabout this modest smelting operation. Ac-cording to historical information, it wasthe earliest blast furnace west of theAllegheny Mountains and the earliest in-dustry of any kind in the Western Reserve.Outside of this observation, little else wasknown about the day-by-day operation ofthe furnace itself, its efficiency (or lackthereof), the production economics, or thequality of the raw materials employed.These were some of the reasons why the24 J. R. WHITE Vol. 8;archaeological work and subsequentchemical and metallurgical analyses werecarried out.The archaeological field work itselflasted approximately 20 weeks and led tothe recovery of thousands of artifacts andunits of data as well as several significantstructural features. Among the more ubiq-uitous remains, along with slag, werenumerous fragments of iron ore and coal.While we fully expected to find ore inabundance, especially in the tipple orcharging zone on the slope above and be-hind the furnace, the finding of such largeamounts of coal came as a surprise and,when substantiated by the chemical andmetallurgical findings, led to the in-escapable conclusion that the EatonFurnace was using coal in combinationwith charcoal as a fuel. The use of this fuelcombination is the earliest known in theNew World (White 1978) and occurredmore than 30 years earlier than at thePioneer Furnace (1839) in Pottsville,Pennsylvania, the site previously cred-ited as being the first (Warren 1973,Hogan 1971).Analyses of the furnace raw materials,products and by-products provided valu-able insights into the Eaton smeltingprocess and indicated the level of operationefficiency. This report deals with the lithicraw materials iron ore, coal and limestoneand discusses their specific role in the suc-cesses and failures at the furnace.METHODS AND MATERIALSThrough its operation, the Eaton Furnace utilizeda reniform or kidney ore, a concretionary ore con-sisting of masses of impure carbonate of iron in adiscoidal or ellipsoidal form and invariably boundedby curved surfaces. (The renal shape and deep red-brown color is responsible for its name.) As withother kidney ores, the Eaton materical was generallycomposed of concentric layers or shells made distinctby exfoliation and weathering. Quite close-grainedand heavy, the specimens observed at the site rangedin size from 2.5 cm to more than 45 cm in length.In the Yellow Creek gorge where the furnace waslocated, the ore is found abundantly weathered asfloat material and in beds of shale where they areoften in close conjunction with the coal measurestrata. The 6 ore samples, along with 8 pieces of coaland 4 specimens of limestone, were taken from var-ious stratigraphic levels and areas of the site andtested by a combination of spectrochemical and wetchemical procedures.RESULTSThe Fe2O3 content of the ores variedbetween 44.0% and 58.6%, with an aver-age of 51.3%; the Fe by itself rangedbetween 34.1% and 46.7%, with a meanof 39-8%. The SiO2 content, the principlegangue material, varied between 5.1% andTABLE 1Analysis* of Eaton iron ores,ConstituentsFe2CHSiO2A12O,CaOMgOMnOCr2O,TiO2Na2OLoss on IgnitionFe153.2**5.12.51.71.02.00.10.20.132.541.4257.86.91.60.50.31.60.10.20.129.544.9Specimen346.515.93.32.03.51.20.10.30.228.036.0Number444.011.73.82.32.21.40.10.20.129.134.1558.66.82.71.00.95.00.20.1.3525.446.7647.917.05.21.42.01.20.40.1.6025.035.6Mean51.310.63.21.51.72.10.20.20.228.339.8*By Frank Galletta, Research and Development Laboratory, Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company.**Rounded to nearest tenth. Figures are percentages by weight.OhioJ. Sci. EATON FURNANCE RAW MATERIALS 2517.0% with an average of 10.6%. Loss onignition ranged between 25.0% and32.5%, the mean being 28.3%. Full con-stituent percentages are shown in table 1.An analysis of the 8 coal specimenstaken from the site indicates a high qualitybituminous coal of the Block variety; typi-cal of other Mahoning Valley coals, it isrelatively low in ash and sulfur content.Proximate analysis of the Eaton Coalspecimens yielded the results shown intable 2. The ash content varied between1.66% and 4 . 0 6 % , with a mean of2.88%. Volatile matter, including mois-ture, lost on burning ranged between36.0% and 39-28%, averaging 37.43%.Fixed carbon varied between 57.25%and 60.91%, with a mean of 59.05%. Alow sulfur coal, the specimens containedbetween 0.52% and 0.79%, with a meanof 0.64%.Premium blast furnace fluxes are usuallyselected for a low silica—high calcium(lime) ratio (McGannon 1964). The meansilica content for 4 Eaton specimens was33.8% (the high was 35.2%). For the cal-cium, the mean was 27.5%.DISCUSSIONThe Eaton ironmakers utilized a highquality reniform iron ore with an averageof 39-8% iron (Fe). This high iron-lowsilica ore compared favorably with contem-porary ores in use and, in fact, would begood by today's standards. It was gatheredlocally as float material or from bedsof shale.As a point of comparison, records showthat in 1883 the iron ore used at thePennsylvania Hopewell, the Berks Countyfurnace thought to be the namesake of theEaton, contained an average of 37.85%metallic iron (Walker 1966). An analysisof kidney ores utilized by furnaces in themid-19th century and coming from theMahoning Valley district (in whichthe Eaton is located) averaged 45.0%(Lord 1884a).As compared to coals from nearby de-posits analyzed in 1884 by ProfessorN. W. Lord, chemist of the Ohio Geolog-ical Survey (table 3), the Eaton coals werenot atypical. They were high quality coalswith a low ash and sulfur content; they hadon the average less ash than all but 4 ofthose analyzed by Lord and less sulfurthan any. However, the low temperaturesmaintained by the furnace and the poordesulfurizing capacity of the slag were notsufficient to allow its successful use evenwith these fine properties.Unfortunately, "high quality" is a rela-tive condition — what might constitutehigh quality in the furnaces of the late19th century and today might not havebeen sufficient for the technologicallyprimitive blast furnace of the early 1800s.The Eaton slags analyzed (White 1977) in-TABLE 2Proximate analysis* of Eaton coals, %ConstituentsVolatileMatter**Fixed CarbonAshSulfur136.0'59.83.50.8237.60.1.0.0777338.57.3.0.7034.6Specimen436.160.92.40.6No.538.258.62.50.7639.358.41.80.6738.57.4.0.0415836.259.53.70.7Mean37.459.12.90.6*By Frank Galletta and Robert Pristera, Research and Development Laboratory, Youngstown Sheet andTube Company.**Includes water.'Figures, rounded to nearest tenth, are percentages by weight.26 J. R. WHITE Vol. 82TABLE 3Early analysis of 19 th century coals from Columbiana and Trumbull Counties, Ohio*, %Specimen/LocalityChurch Hill Slope, Liberty TownshipCleveland Shaft, Brookfield TownshipChew Bank, Brookfield TownshipHigh Tone Shaft, Liberty TownshipCalifornia Slope, Hubbard TownshipAnderson Bank, SalinevilleHussey Bank, SalinevilleState Line Mine, East PalestineLeetonia Bank, LeetoniaWashingtonville Bank, WashingtonvilleBrier Hill, Liberty TownshipMoisture(H2O)5 9**4.64.44.75.83.32.32.13.64.45.4VolatileMatter (gas)35.038.436.235.836.737.539.139.437.935.536.9FixedCarbon55.750.449.848.654.953.752.853.556.157.956.0Ash3.46.69.76.92.65.55.85.12.42.21.8Sulfur0.82.03.11.00.71.22.92.90.80.70.7*By N. W. Lord, Chemist of the Ohio Geological Survey in 1884.**Rounded to nearest tenth. Figures are percentages by weight.dicate that the furnace operated at theminimum temperatures necessary to smeltiron i.e., between 1176 C and 1232 C.Fortunately the slags were of a low refrac-tory nature, thereby allowing productionat such a "cool" temperature. However,while such a primitive furnace withbottomline temperatures might operateeffectively using charcoal as the sole fuel,the addition of bituminous coal went toofar. Of "high quality" or not, the tech-nologically primitive Eaton could nothandle the charge mixture. The additionalsulfur input, though in small proportionfor coal, was yet too much for the poordesulfurizing Eaton slag. Cast iron wasproduced with a sulfur content between0.055% and 0.22% and a mean of 0.086%(White 1978). Ultimately the furnace be-came choked with the tarry residue thatresulted from the heating but incompletecombustion of the bituminous coal.The fluxing agent used at the EatonFurnace was a very poor quality nativelimestone having a much higher than de-sirable silica content (33-8%) and low limecontent (27.5%). Premium blast furnacelimestones are selected for the oppositeproportions, i.e., high lime —low silica.Use of a limestone of this poor qualityresulted in creation of a poor desulfurizingslag and undoubtedly created problems forthe Eaton ironmakers.Two important requirements of the slagin ironmaking are to have an effective de-sulfurizing capacity and a low viscosity.Desulfurizing capacity increases in theorder S i O 2 < A l 2 O 3 < M g O < C a O . Theoptimum compositional ratio for de-sulfurization will have a low SiO2-Al2O3content and a high CaO —MgO content(White 1977). Fortunately, low viscosityis met by the same set of circumstancesthat provide a high sulfur-removing capac-ity. To a point, the viscosity decreases withthe increased ratio of lime and periclase tosilica and alumina. Unfortunately, theEaton flux had a reverse, or unsatisfactoryproportion of calcium to silica. The Eatonoperators, producing cast iron in a furnaceonly marginally efficient in other ways,were not helped in their endeavors by theirchoice of a readily available but poor qual-ity fluxing limestone.The Eaton furnace was successful for thefirst few years of its operation because itused high grade ore and charcoal, both ofwhich were initially in abundance locally.The poor choice of local limestone was ofno real detriment as the purity of the char-coal left little for it to do, particularly in itsdesulfurizing capacity. When timber sup-OhioJ. Sci. EATON FURNACE RAW MATERIALS 27plies ran short and local deposits ofbituminous coal were utilized in combina-tory manner with the charcoal as a furnacefuel, the technologically primitive furnace(low temperature) and poor desulfurizingslag (due to the use of the low qualitylimestone) failed to maintain the necessarylevels, and the earliest furnace west of theAlleghenies went out of blast.LITERATURE CITEDHogan, W. 1971 History of the iron and steel indus-try in the United States. Heath, Lexington.Lord, N. W. 1884a Iron manufacture in Ohio,p. 438-554. In: E. Orton (ed.) Rep. Geol. Surv.Ohio. V. 5. G.J. Brand, Columbus.1884b Report of the chemical department.p. 1087-1113. In: E. Orton (ed.) Rep. Geol.Surv. Ohio. V. 5. G.J. Brand, Columbus.McGannon, H. E. 1964 The making, shaping, andtreating of steel. United States Steel, Pittsburgh.Walker, J. E. 1966 Hopewell Village. University ofPennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.Warren, K. 1973 The American steel industry,1850-1970. Clarendon, Oxford.White, J. R. 1977 X-ray fluorescent analysis of anearly Ohio blast furnace slag. Ohio J. Sci.77: 186-188.1978 Archaeological and chemical evidencefor the earliest American use of raw coal as a fuelin ironmaking. J. Archaeolog. Sci. 5: 391-393-1980 Preliminary archaeological exam-ination of Ohio's first blast furnace: The Eaton(Hopewell). OhioJ. Sci. 80: 52-58.Copyright © 1982 Ohio Acad. Sci. 0030-0950/82/0001-0027 $2.00/0

Analyses and Evaluation of the Raw Materials Used in the Eaton (Hopewell) Furnace

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Analyses and Evaluation of the Raw Materials Used in the Eaton (Hopewell) Furnace

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