This view, from the South overlooks the stock bins (bunkers) where hopper cars would drop limestone and coke. These, and iron ore were charged into the furnace top via a twin skip hoist arrangement. The right hand skip is at the top of the hoist. The wheels and rails combined to invert the skip, tipping the charge into the breeches chute – the funnel shaped structure. From the breeches chute the materials would be guided by the McKee rotary distributor onto the small bell. At intervals, the small bell would be dropped and the charge would drop on to the large bell. When the large bell was full, it would open and the charge would fall into the furnace.

In this way, the escape of blast furnace gas and dust and heat could be contained.

Ropes acting on pulleys mounted high on the furnace top hauled the skips. They were counterbalanced, so as one skip was at the top, the other was at the bottom.

You can make out the counterweighted lifting beam to the top and left. This was linked to the furnace double bell arrangement, which stopped gas escaping when the charge was dropped in to the furnace. At this time in Great Britain some furnaces were still filled by hand.

The photographer is standing on the approach ramp to the stock bins. In the middle foreground is the gas washer with the dust catcher behind and to the left.

The inclined skip hoist is easy to spot with the stoves beyond that.

The blast furnace was built above ground level on concrete foundations. When first slag, and then molten iron were tapped from the furnace (say 4 times per day) they would be guided by sand lined troughs (runners) constructed fresh in the cast house floor before each cast. Slag floated on the molten iron and was tapped first into slag cars positioned alongside the cast house. Then the molten iron would be tapped into refractory lined ladles and hauled by rail to the pig casting machines out of sight to the right.

The elevated cast house floor is to the right.

The cast house is in the foreground. There is a staircase linking the cast house floor to ground level and you can also see a staircase spiraling around the stack and a bridge to give access to the stoves and furnace top. The gas washer and dust catcher were supported on structures built over railroad tracks so that the accumulated flue dust could be periodically dumped into cars.