https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/0dd5d918-f2d8-43d4-9f51-4b9ec8fa04bb Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Join us on Patreon. Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com “Americans at Work - Steel Workers” was filmed at Kaiser Steel Mill in Fontana, California — home to the largest steel plant on the West Coast during World War II. The film highlights the contributions of steelworkers who shape the material integral to American infrastructure, defense, and industry. From the Golden Gate Bridge and towering skyscrapers to railroad tracks and food cans, steel’s versatility is illustrated through footage of its production, from molten ore to finished products. "Americans at Work" dates to 1959-1960. In 1958, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer, William F. Schnitzler, announced the production of 52 films to run weekly for one year. The popularity of the series persuaded the AFL-CIO to extend the project by an additional 52 films. The AFL-CIO Public Relations Department, primarily coordinated the production and distribution of the series. Production was contracted to Norwood Studios, Inc. of Washington, DC, which was founded and managed by Phillip M. Martin. 00:00 Film opens; Foundry workers at work (0:09). Structural ironworkers erect steel frameworks for buildings (0:40). What appears to be steel framing for the Federal Courthouse and U.S. Post Office Building in front of Los Angeles City Hall (c.1938) (0:46). Rail car train transporting steel pipes (0:53). Kaiser Steel-branded storage tanks (0:54). View of Golden Gate Bridge under construction (0:56). View of completed Golden Gate Bridge (1:00). Example of steel used to construct complex highway overpass (1:02). Atlas-B 10B (57-1783) on launching pad in front of steel gantry tower at test center at Cape Canaveral, Florida (c.1958) (1:04). Launch of Atlas-B 10B (57-1783) (1:07). Aerial view Kaiser Steel Mill Fontana, California, Jurupa Mountains in background (1:11). Carts of raw material (iron ore, coal) led into the mill (1:20). Rotary car dumper discharging ore at mill (1:23). Row of industrial coke furnaces called “batteries,” coal baked in airless kiln called a "coke furnace" or "coking oven” (1:40). Coke transfer car/ quench car collects molten coal (2:03). Kaiser Steel plant blast furnaces (2:09). Men at base of blast furnace, use picks and tools to guide pig iron from furnace (2:13). Man uses small ladle to collect samples of molten steel, send small molds to lab to test quality (2:44). Molten iron loaded into torpedo cars that will transport material along rails (3:05). Men feed open heart furnace with limestone, scrap steel, pig iron (3:21). Hundreds of tons of steel heated to 3,000 degrees flows from furnace into ladle; White hot, showing sparks illuminate frame (3:44). Steel slag floats to top of ladle, spilled into second ladle (4:00). Ladle crane man operator slowly moves bubbling cauldron of pure molten steel away from slag ladle (4:13). Ladle spills metal into basic oxygen furnace (4:32). Oxygen lancing process; Close-ups of operator in separate room using various levers, controls to facilitate furnace operations (4:51). Molten steel dramatically poured from oxygen furnace into another ladle below (5:17). Craneman maneuvers ladle of molten steel over ingot molds while men in hard hats on floor standby to cap them (6:03). Molds removed as ingot cools, rectangular-shaped molded steel revealed (6:32). Processes in the Blooming Mill: Molten steel ingots guided through series of rollers, compressed into various shapes; Operator sits in separate room and operates various levers to guide and shape ingot (6:47-8:09). Flat Bar / Flat Plate emerges from roller, narrator discusses link between steel industry and American shipyards and railroads (8:11). Camera follows flat bar as it continues through rolling mill for further shaping (8:39). Completed heated stainless steel sheet roll emerges from rollers (10:00). Workers feed steel sheet roll into another machine to form smaller squares, later used for tinned food products (10:11). Women’s role at mill: Quality control, inspect tin plates (11:14). Worker operates machinery while smoking cigarette, forms piping (11:36). Row of completed bicycles (12:45). Mural in AFL-CIO building in Washington with classic characteristics of mid-20th-century American labor art, popular circa 1920-1950. Film ends (13:36). If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb-GTzzRPjU Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 13:24:44 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/0dd5d918-f2d8-43d4-9f51-4b9ec8fa04bb All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.