114989 Allegheny River Mining Kittanning Pittsburgh Original hand drawn Ink on Drawing Cloth
Collaged period photo & professionally Framed
Frame Dimensions 20 x 28"
Cloth Drawing Dimensions 15 x 24"
This is the detail drawing for the wheel on the mine car that Lorain Steel of Johnstown, Pa.(later U.S. Steel) built for the Allegheny Mining Company in Kittanning, Pa. It is a work of art with the detail right down to the wood grain. When drawing with ink on cloth there is not much room for error.
Vintage original hand drawn Ink on Drafting Cloth mechanical drawing from the U.S. Steel Corp. Complimented with vintage period photo. The original integrity of the drawing is intact. It is complimented with a period mill drawing and professionally framed.
This drawing was recovered from the drawing fire vault in the 1800s steel mill that eventually became U.S. Steel, Johnstown Works. U.S.S. sold the Johnstown plant in 1984. It operated until @ 2018 when the HQ building was demolished with most of the mill.
Along with the foundry patterns, I collected original photos of the plant and its products, and employees, plant documents and catalogs of the machines and rail cars the that patterns were used to build. I also shot my own before and during demolition.
Dr. Zaborowski with the Digital Public Library of America has been working tirelessly to digitize much of the ephemera for posterity. So, if you like further connection to these works, visit: https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Aacacc-jsic
In its' heyday, USS Johnstown Works employed @1400+ workers. The engineers designed and drew the plans along with a pool of draftsmen. They melted iron ore, converted it to steel, shaped it, rolled it. Expert carpenters made the wood patterns for the foundry pieces they poured. Then skilled steelworkers fabricated and assembled machines, industrial railroad and minecars. They shipped the final products to sister US Steel plants and third-party customers in Pittsburgh, nationally and worldwide.
When the jobs went overseas, they left their clothes, gear, old spice and girly calendars in their lockers and walked away from their family sustaining jobs. I have attached photos that roughly parallels the sequence of events that the drawing subject followed. Some I shot & some are vintage that I purchased. I spent 16 years servicing the mills and mines as a Westinghouse representative. The last 4 photos are me in my time on the job and later salvaging remnants of my customers as they faded into rustbelt brownfields.
These are remnants of Big Steel that remind us why the Pittsburgh football team is called STEELERS!
United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, including flat-rolled and tubular products for customers in industries across automotive, construction, consumer, electrical, industrial equipment, distribution, and energy. Operations also include iron ore and coke production facilities.[2]
Once the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world, (after the Mafia re: The Godfather Part II) It was the eighth-largest steel producer in the world in 2008. By 2022, the company was the world's 24th-largest steel producer and the second-largest in the United States behind Nucor Corporation. Though renamed USX Corporation in 1986, the company was renamed United States Steel in 2001 after spinning off its energy business, including Marathon Oil, and other assets, from its core steel concern.
Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, US Steel is set to be acquired by Nippon Steel, Japan's largest steel producing company, for US $14.1 billion. The deal, announced in mid-December 2023, retains US Steel's name and headquarters in Pittsburgh.
