This early 1900s photo shows the Inland Steel company area where ingots are lowered into the "soaking pit."

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This early 1900s photo shows the Inland Steel company area where ingots are lowered into the "soaking pit." The company's business was reducing iron ore to steel. Its only steel mill was located in East Chicago, Indiana, on the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal and a large landfill protruding out into Lake Michigan. After the ingot stripper machine pulls the mold off the ingot, the train of red hot ingots foes on its journey into the rolling mill. Here is a row of "Soaking Pits" sunk into the ground. They are made of fire brick and heated to a white heat. An overhead crane grapples an ingot from its car and lowers it into the soaking pit. This operation is repeated until each of the pits has its full load of ingots in soak. Here, the ingots are brought to a white heat and when ready are lifted out and swung over the table of the blooming mill.

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Size: 3468px × 3996px
Location: East Chicago, Indiana
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1900s, casting, company, early, furnace, furnaces, hearth, heating, history, industrial, industrialization, inland, iron, lake, machine, making, michigan, open, ore, pit, plant, revolution, roller, soaking, steel, working