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THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 14, No. 9
Pittsburgh as an Industrial Center’ By J. H. James and W. F. Rittman CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PITTSBURGH, PA.
I
T WOULD be interesting if some writer in the field of
industrial economics would trace the history of each of the industrial cities of our country, giving reasons, geographical and otherwise, that led to its specialization in manufacturing. These reasons in some cases have no connection with any strategic situation “of the city in its transportation facilities, or its proximity to raw materials, but depend upon the accidental location in that place in its early days of a strong individual with the enthusiasm and the vision to work out the development of an industry that later dominated the district. LOCATION AND TRANSPORTATION
For m y manufacturing we must have, of course, first of all, a cheap and abundant fuel. Pittsburgh is in the heart of the northern half of the great Appalachian bituminous coal field. The “Pittsburgh Seam” is known the world over, and it is a satisfaction to Pittsburghers to know that at a lower level, and not vet mined to anv meat extent, we have the “Frekport Seam,” insuring the“ kpremacy of this district for years to come. The annual production from the Pittsburgh Seam alone is over 100,000,000 tons, approximately one-fifth of the country’s bituminous coal output. The importance of this abundant fuel supply, with its r e d t a n t cheap power supply, is in itself a major influence and of primary importance to the industrial man, and more particularly to the chemical industry requiring power or fuel in a variety of forms. The natural gas of the district is being sold at about onefifth the cost of manufactured gas, when considered on a heat or B. t. u. basis. It is because of this natural gas supply that Pittsburgh is of primary importance as a glass manufacturing center.
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
FACILITIES
It appears pretty well settled that as early as 1795 there Pittsburgh, the ninth city with its population was established a window-glass factory of eight pots on the of 600,000, is the hub west side of the Monongahela River, and that General of the fifth metropoli- O’Hara erected his window-glass plant in the summer of ba W. F. RITTMAN tan district of the 1797. At this time the population of Pittsburgh was 1565. Glass manufacture gradually increased in volume. We country, which imrnediate district has a population in excess of 1,200,000. Within find that the glass factories in 1804 turned out products to the value of $12,500, the radius of R night’s trainride there is a population of including w i n d o w over 60,000,000, more than one-half the people of the country. glass, bottles, jars, The geographical position of Pittsburgh alone is sufficient blue glass, and decanto have brought about the development of a great city. ters. I n 1807 the At the junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, O’Hara works alone with the great Ohio stretching away to the southwestward, turned out $18,000 and being in water communication with all the valleys of the worth of products. In great Mjssissippi Basin, it holds a strategic position for 1831 it is reported2that distribution. there were four winPittPburgh is the central radiating point for six major dow-glass houses and railroads of the country, and thereby offers transportation four flint-glass houses, facilities second to none. The tonnage originating in the employing 102 hands, Pittsburgh District is larger than the combined tonnage of using 7000 cords of New York and Boston, and is far in excess of that of any wood, 150,000 bu. of European port. The Monongahela River alone in 1920 coal, and turning out floated 24,000,000 tons of freight, an amount equal to the products to the extent combined tonnage of the Suez, Panama, and Kiel Canals. of $500,000. Without NATURAL RESOURCES spending time to trace Remarkable as the factor of location has been in Pittsthe glass manufacJ. H. JAMES burgh’s military and political history, this city would never turing development have been anything but a distributing point for the great through the nineteenth century, it is sufficient to note that Middle West, had it not also had easy access to a mo$t there was a steady and a t times a phenomenal growth in this wonderful group of natural resources. These natural re- industry in Pittsburgh. For example, in 1886 we find that sources, coupled with the location and the indomitable spirit the use of natural gas had begun, and the operators mere conof the people, make her to-day “The Workshop of the World,” gratulating themselves on the more brilliant product obtained, and from the earliest days of the young republic we find here particularly in the case of tableware and lamp chimneys. the utilization of these natural resources that are of prime While Pittsburgh cannot boast of such a scientific developimportance to the industrial chemist. ment of glass production as we have seen a t Jena, Yet there 1 Composite of addresses by the authors to be presented at the 64th have been engineering improvements that represent equally Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Pittsburgh, Pa., September 4 t o 9, 1922.
2
Thurston’s “Pittsburgh’s Progress,” 1886.
Sept., 1922
THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
as much in another direction-the writers refer to the machine production of glass bottles, etc., and the wonderful windowglass machine. Pittsburgh capital and Pittsburgh technologists have been closely connected with these developments, and from the modest beginning in the early part of the nineteenth century, to-day the industry musters 62 factories with over 3000 pots, an employment of 25,000 workers in normal times, and an annual payroll of over $20,000,000. Although glaw manufacture preceded that of iron in Pittsburgh, it was not long before the iron ores of the district were smelted and a thriving business developed, particularly in making iron for castings. The rapidly growing country to the westward absorbed the products of these early furnaces and foundries. It sounds strange in this day of beehive coke and byproduct coke to hear that the first iron ores in this district were smelted with charcoal. George H. Thurston, writing in 1867, notes that the first “coke metal” was of inferior quality, but that later experience both a t the blast furnace and the puddling furnace had obviated this difficulty. I n any discussion of Pittsburgh’s iron and steel development it should be emphasized that the real inventor of the well-known Bessemer process was Kelly, a Pittsburgher. Three important events took place in the latter half of the ninet.eenth century which placed the United States in the lead as a steel-producing country. The first of these was the development of the Kelly-Bessemer process, and the second was the entrance of Mr. Andrew Carnegie into the steel business. Although Mr. Carnegie had already embarked in a small way in iron and steel manufacture, he a t first opposed the adoption by his firm of the Bessemer process. The story goes that a little later he stood in an English steel plant watching a Bessemer converter in full blast. The spectacle of 30,000 lbs. of pig iron converted into steel in a few minutes changed Mr. Carnegie from a somewhat aimless investor and speculator into a steel enthusiast. It is still further related that this rapid and cheap production of steel opened up for him the vision of replacing all the wooden bridges of the Pennsylvania Railroad with steel structures, an accomplishment to which his firm later contributed largely. The third great factor in the development of steel manufacture was the opening of the great Superior ore properties. The hard ore mines, opened in the seventies and eighties, and followed by the Mesaba in the early nineties, placed the United States ahead of any other steel-producing country in the world, and Pittsburgh, because of the fact that it was already an iron center, became the leading steel center of the United States and of the world. The Bessemer ores, which served in the earlier part of the period outlined, have begun to decline, and we have had a gradual increase in the basic open-hearth process. Pittsburgh’s natural gas has contributed in a remarkable manner to the cheap manufacture of steel from the Superior ores. With the present rapid decline in the natural gas supply, producer gas .from bituminous coal is taking an important position in the steel industry. The steel man is primarily interested in metallurgical coke, and as a result the by-product coke industry has been wedded to the steel industry. We have had a great deal of loose talk in this country about the belated development of by-product coke. It should be pointed out that the steel industry is probably one of the most sensitive in the country to the fluctuations of business. The steel manufacturer would hesitate about the installation of an expensive by-product coke plant which he might have to close down within a year or so. Assuming a ready market a t all times for all the by-products except the
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gas, he would be compelled to stock coke in a time of depression with no market for the gas. A market for gas means usually a contract with a local public utility corporation, Gas would be demanded for domestic purposes in dull times and in good times, but the steel man can use the gas in his own plants in good times. All these objections, however, diminish when me see how by-product coke manufacture is handled by the United States Steel Corporation at its local Carnegie plants. At Clairton is now the largest by-product plant in the world, and work has already begun on nn addition that will double its present capacity. The Clairton plant ran all through the recent business depression; this plant sends the gas to the steel mills a t Duquesne, Edgar Thomson, and Homestead. By transferring business from other parts of the country to these plants, the Clairton by-product plant was kept in operation. It seems certain, therefore, that as far as metallurgical coke is concerned, the by-product development will succeed best with the largest corporations. It is but logical that along with the growth of “tonnage” steel manufacture we should have the manufacture of alloy steels. Crucible steel manufacture is an importants factor in Pittsburgh’s steel activities. At this point we should pay our tribute to the man whose vision and enthusiasm as a capitalist made possible the realization of the dreams of a chemist; the capitalist, the late Mr. Jos. M. Flannery, and the chemist, Mr. J. Kent Smith, worked over immense obstacles to the successful production of vanadium alloys. To-day, the company which they founded is the greatest producer of vanadium in the world, and a monument to these pioneers in a difficult field of metallurgical development. The growth of iron manufacturing in Pittsburgh gradually attracted other industries which might be called iron subsidiaries: these include iron galvanizing, tin plate, sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, and in late years we have seen the interesting development of zinc and sulfuric acid manufacture here, as well as many other chemical industries (see table). The reasons, freight rates, markets, etc., which prompted capitalists to locate the latter industries in Pittsburgh, make an interesting study for the industrial chemist. Although aluminium manufacture is now centered elsewhere, it should be remembered that Hall made his early experiments here, and that Pittsburgh capital supported him. The headquarters of the successor company is still in Pittsburgh, and one of the largest ahimininm rolling mills is located near the site of Hall’s early experiments. Pittsburgh is becoming known a? the “Electric City,” because of its efficient means for changing coal into electricity. The district is served by two major utility companies, which are able to sell power on such favorable terms that most manufacturers, and particularly the smaller ones, prefer to purchase power in the form of electricity. The city has the largest steam power central station in America. The new Colfax plant has one operating unit of S0,000-h. p. capacity, with a second 80,000-h. p. unit now under construction. Ultimately, a$ the power demands increase, this one plant will have six turbines of 80,000-h. p. capacity, a total power development of 480,000-h. p. capacity. The combined electrical horse power of the two public utility companies serving in the Pittsburgh District will be about 1,000,000 h. p. The power generating plants are located directly adjacent and in direct open communication to the coal mines, making power as cheap, if not cheaper, than in any other locality in Smerica. The story of petroleum reads as much like a romance as the story of steel, and the discovery of petroleum and its ultimate utilization was the work of Pittsburghers. It seems
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well authenticated that M r George H Bissell and Dr F. B . Brewer of Pittsburgh were the prime movers in the formation of a company called the “Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. which included some New Haven capitalists and Prof . B . Silliman. Jr., who was president It was this company that employed Colonel Drake of New Haven to sink an artesian well Work on this well was begun early in 1859 and oil was struck on August 28. 1859; the production was ten barrels a day. without pumping. and the oil sold for fifty cents per gallon . The rapid growth of oil refining is shown by the following figures: in Pittsburgh. one year after the opening of the Drake well. seven refineries had been erected. bringing oil into “use as an illuminator and a lubricator. as one of the local historians records it; in 1861. 17 new refineries wereadded; in 1862. 9 new ones. and in 1863.15 additional were constructed . By the year 1867. tho Pittsburgh district had 58 refineries and supplied over 60 per cent of the whole foreignexportation of petroleum While the later centralization of petroleum refining and the development of pipe-line transportation of the crude have changed the aspect of oil refining from what it was when qttsburgh boasted of 58 refineries. this city is still a factor in the petroleum industry. The headquarters . of many of the large oil firms are located here. and Pittsburgh’s capital and technical skill are now going to all the oil countries of the world . It may seem like an anomnly that. in a district dedicated to the element iron which has determined our engineering and material development. we should have the first largescale development of the element radium. whose study has revolutionized chemical thought . I n 1911. Joseph M . Flannery of Pittsburgh with his associates organized the Standard Chemical Company. securing carnotite ore claims in southwestern Colorado and Utah. and having in mind the production from carnotite of radium and the associated values. uranium and vanadium . After large investments and discouragements that would have led an ordinary man to give up. the first production of radium on a commercial scale in America was made by this company in 1913. The chemical treatment of the ore is made a t Canonsburgh. 21 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. and the final purification of the radium is made a t the laboratory a t Forbes Street and Meyran Ave., Pittsburgh . The production of radium was rapidly increased. owing to the demand for this material in Europe just prior to the outbreak of the war. the production in 1914 amounting to 9.6 g . of radium element . The company founded by Mr . Flannery is now the strongest concern engaged in refining carnotite ore. having produced 90 g of radium since 1913. and possessing ore reserves capable of producing. on the lowest estimate. over 1000 g . of radium element in the finished product I n speaking of Pittsburgh. one may refer to the corporate city. the county. or the metropolitan Pittsburgh District The following table gives a list of Pittsburgh industries. with the number of plants located in each of these sections A study of this table shows that the metal and metal products industries hold fir& place With 391 of these industries in Pittsburgh. 119 in Allegheny County outside of Pittsburgh. and a total of 694 in the Pittsburgh District. most of which are fabricating iron and steel and their products. it is apparent why Pittsburgh is called the Steel City and the Pittsburgh District is a Rteel center. These comprise 32 per cent of the industries of the district. As might be expected. the next largest industrial activity. measured by the number of industries in the district. is that of mines and quarries. principally coal. and numbering 519 in the district The groups of industries ranking next are:
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paper and printing. 297; textile and textile products. 193; clay. stone and glass products. 169; chemicals and allied products. 165; lumber and its re.manufacture. 96. PITTSBURGH. ALLEGHENY COUNTY. A N D THE PITTSBURGH DISTRICT Pitts- ‘Alleg Ptsb bureh Countv Dist Aluminium and Its Products 2 3 8 Automobiles and Parts 41 46 35 Axles 4 5 3 INDUSTRIES OF
.
....................... ............................ ........................................... Bare-Iron and Steel ............................. Billets-Blooms and Slabs ......................... Bolts-Nuts and Rivets ........................... Brass and Bronze Products .......................
13 8
..
a2 12 22 32 37
32 I9 27 39 67
31 9 64 16 2
35 16 97 20 2
23 22 1
27 28 1
8
Bricks ..........................................
17 23 22
Canned and Preserved Goods ...................... Cars and Parts ................................... Castings-Iron and Steel Cement Chemicals Cheroots and Stogies Chocolate and Cocoa Products Cigars Clay Coke-By-product and Beehive Coal-Bituminous Cork
44 1 12 23 1 16 5 10 142 3
12 207 3
15 52 479 4
25
34
42
35 7
44 11
21 60
0
6
4 2 2 0
8
. 109
2 6
16 6
1
1
7
11
14
9 9
15 15
24 20
..........................
......................................... ....................................... ............................. ..................... .......................................... ............................................ .................... ................................ ............................................ Forgings-Iron and Steel. ......................... Gasoline ........................................ Glass Bottles .................................... Glass-Lamp and Chimneys ....................... Glass-Plate ..................................... Glass-Tableware ................................ Glass-Window .................................. Glue and Gelatin ................................. Hoops. Bands and Iron Ties
28 8
.......................
and Steel ............................ ....................................... Lead ........................................... Machinery and Parts ............................. Men’s Clothing .................................. Meters ........................................... Ingots-Iron Iron-Pig
Motors, Dynamos, Generators, Etc .................
4
4
4
47 32 2 6
55 32 3
..................................... 31 17 ................................. ................................. 1 Paper-Printing and Wrapping, ................... 4 Pipes and Tubing ................................ 17 Planing Mill Products ............................ 39 Plates-Iron and Steel ............................ 4 167 Printing and Publishing ........................... 8 Pumps and Valves ................................ 1 Radium ......................................... Rails-Iron and Steel ............................. 1 Railroad Supplies ................................ 9 Refrigerators and Ice Boxes ....................... 3 5 Repair Shops .................................... Sand and Gravel ................................. 14 3 Shafting-Cold Rolled, Drawn, and Turned ......... 13 Shapes-Structural ............................... 4 Sheets-Iron and Steel ............................ 8 Ships and Boat Building .......................... 15 Slaughtering and Meat Packing .................... 1 Sole Leather ..................................... Soap and Soap Powder ............................ 8 9 Springs ......................................... 22 Supplies-Electrical ............................... 14 Stoves, Heaters and Ranges., ..................... Oils-Crude Oils and Greases Oil Well Supplies
8
72 33 4 8
33 22 1
51 25 11
5 20 57
6 28 90
7 205 8
9 291 13
1 2 11 3 7
1 2 13 5 11
17 4 16 10 7
25 8 I9 11 10
18 1 8 12 23 14
21 1 8 14 32 21
14 8 38 12 ................ 11 ............................. 6 4 6 ................................ 3 Ware-Galvanized and Enameled .................. 6 7 12 Washing Machines and Wringers ................... 1 1 16 22 ... 1201 2 ... 1 . .TOTAL ................ 1064‘ 1388 2180 Includes Pittsburgh.
Terra Cotta and Fire-Clay Products Tin and Terne Plates Toys and Games.
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FINANCIAL FACILITIES Despite the generally accepted axiom that. given time. finance follows industry. the element of the credit and financial facilities of any community is important to the industrial leader. more particularly when the pioneer’s facilities are such that he cannot wait on the “time” element. In making the financial appraisal of a community with a view of establishing an industry. the controlling elements are three: facilities for credit information. facilities for marketing commercial paper on a national scale. and availability of New
