Page 9 - Frank Murphy and the Open Hearth

ISSUE : Issue 52

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1989/8/1

called melters, then. They weren't called helpers. When you ran your furnace, they considered you a melter. You were in charge of your furnace. You made the heat. The foreman came down and tapped it out, and put your name on the sheet, and his name on the sheet. And the time--every? thing went on the sheet of paper. And those records are still there, right back to 1901. I don't know if they kept them all or not, but they had--a few years ago, they could tell you what heat you made. Now, if we got a bad heat. And 5 years af? terwards, something turned up, they could go back and say, "Frank Murphy made this heat on February the 5th, 1955." They could tell you right to the--and tell you what you put in it. (In other words, if a rail failed in New York City....) We made rails for New York Central. We made them for San Francisco Railroad, British Colum? bia, North Shore Quebec, CNR. CPR. And overseas, we made them for Poland, India, Pakistan. We made them for Malaysia. We made rails for everybody. (But I'm saying, if a rail failed in Ma? laysia, they could trace it back....) Right back to the heat number. 'Cause eve? ry rail that went out of here had the heat number on it. "No man is an island, entire of itself..? (John Donne, 1572-1631) Today's global marketplace enlarges our opportunities. And our challenges. The spirit of teamwork has never been more important. At Enterprise Cape Breton and Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation we work with business-minded people to build for the future. We're here to counsel, support and encourage men and women whose vision and determination is creating jobs and an improved economic climate. Miracles.'' Not likely. But solid achievement and, over time, a better way of life in Eastern Nova Scotia.'' YES. We firmly believe in that. Working with ACOA; working with governments at every level, working with people who can make things happen, we're here to help. Enterprise Cape Breton • ' Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation P.O. Box 2001, Commerce Tower, 15 Dorchester Street, Sydney, NovaScotia B1P6K7 564-3614 MW Part of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (And to the person who....) I Man that made the steel that I made that rail. (That's an in- Iteresting sense of responsibili? ty; I didn't know that.) Yeah, they could pinpoint you right to the minute you tapped it. Learning on the job was some? thing that, when the first help? er- -if he liked you--he would sit down and tell you the ac? tions, to watch for in a fur? nace. Like, a bottom boil, on the bottom of your furnace, it would be a roll. She'd roll. But if it was an ore boil, she'd be shooting up. The sparks would be coming up through the steel. And.if it was a stone boil, you'd see it getting thick on the top. You'd have to put fluorspar in to cut it up. The stone'd be making it thick --like putting dumplings in a stew. That's the expression I've used: like dum? plings. Well, then you'd know your stone was up. And then, if

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