BLAST IT!

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 16th Year

Issue

Issue No.

10

Date Released

Jun 1963

Length of issue (in feet)

896

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1DUTCH BOFFINs
2. 2COAL BIRDS
3. 3BLAST IT!
4. 4PRIDE OF THE LODGE

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: at the Stanton and Stavely Ironworks, near Nottingham, coal is used to fire No. 5 blast furnace.
NCB Commentary - Once iron was smelted - extracted from the iron ore - with charcoal.
Then they used coke in the blast furnaces - ordinary coal would have been cheaper - but it wouldn’t do the job.
But nowadays you can do almost anything with coal, and research has shown that you can grind the coal up - dry it - blow it through pipes - and finally inject it into blast furnace with the stream of air which keeps the furnace at white heat.
This is coal ready for injection. It will flow through small holes - like sand through an egg-timer, and is easily transported.
At the Stanton and Staveley Ironworks near Nottingham, a road tanker, using its own compressor, blows the coal up into 125-ton storage bunkers.
From the storage bunkers the coal is carried through pipes across the works to No.5 Blast Furnace.
The injection equipment is completely automatic. When coal is wanted it flows from the hopper down to the injection lance, and into the white heat of the furnace.
The plume at the end of the lance is coal.
Every movement of the coal is shown on a mimic panel in the control room.
A way has been found of substituting coal for some of the expensive coke used in blast furnaces, and so reducing cost per ton of iron produced.

Keywords

Industry and manufacture; Mining; Fuels

Locations

England; Nottinghamshire

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The British National Film Catalogue   Vol.1 1963, p.56
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963

Credits:

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Production Co.

National Coal Board Film Unit