• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

This is an interview with Michael Kostelnik for In the Age of Steel: Oral Histories from Bethlehem Pennsylvania. The interview was conducted by Kathy (Kane) Schlegel on March 13, 1975 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. th 00:00:00 Kane: The following is an interviewer with Michael Kostelnik at his home, 726 Hillside Avenue, Bethlehem, on March 13 , 1975. The interview is being conducted by Kathy Kane. Okay, let’s start with when you started working at Bethlehem Steel. Kostelnik: 1915. Kane: 1915. And what did you do at that time? 00:00:59 Kostelnik: Well (inaudible) that slip there on the table, I was paid six cents an hour. Kane: Six cents an hour. And what did tape boy do? Kostelnik: Well, my brother was a foreman and he had steel tape in his hand and we had to measure all the steel coming out. From 18 foot to about 100 foot. That’s the size of the beams, or angles or channels. That’s what they used to— I mean, like a straightener1, he would send them out and that was about 40, 50, 60 bars an hour, angle beam2 and everything else. And then they were all lengths and we had to measure them off. And then where one goes, one customer and some of the other customers, them bars was scrap or anything else, that (inaudible). Kane: I see. And how long were you a tape boy? Kostelnik: Not too long. Just about a year, I guess. Kane: And then what did you do? Kostelnik: Then I was on the rake off3, it was job on the levers.4 Ten cents an hour, I got a raise at that time. 1 A straightener used a machine to straighten out hot bars when they come out of the rolls. 2 An L-shaped beam. 3 Project staff were unable to identify this term. 4 Project staff were unable to identify this term. Kane: What did you do with the levers? Was there lifting being done? Kostelnik: Well, the scrapers5 send them out and we had to rake them off. (inaudible) And the straighteners6 would start the bar right here and then we’d either take it off or wait to get the next bar through. Kane: And how long did you do that? Kostelnik: (inaudible) I’m not available in 1917. That was about a year, too. Kane: Then where did you go? Then what did you do after that? Kostelnik: Then I was a—it’s called a marker. Kane: A marker? Kostelnik: Yeah, we had to—after the bars were measured, we had, we had paint (inaudible). We had to paint them and I mean in the can, and we had a brush and everything and we had to mark it on them. Like it was 8-inch channels7, a 7-inch channel, a 9-inch channel or a IA beam.8 The weight per foot and then how long the bar is. So that was our job. Kane: I see. And then they would know where that was supposed to go after that? Kostelnik: Well no, I mean, it was (inaudible). Like for one customer here and one there and a bar with a scrap or stock, that was extra also. Kane: Oh, I see. And how long did you do this? Kostelnik: Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out because in 1917 in the First World War, we had what you call down there was the rail mill. They used to make rails. But then they cut that there mill out, and they started with construction steel, what we had over at the other mill. So I was sitting over there in 1917 and I was only 16 years old as a leader. 1917. 5 Project staff were unable to identify this term. 6 Project staff were unable to identify this term. 7 A beam shaped like a bracket ( [ ). 8 Possibly referring to an I-beam, shaped like an I. Kane: As a kind of a foreman? Kostelnik: Yeah. Like my brother had at the other place. Kane: And you were only 16 years old at that time? Kostelnik: 1917. I was born in 1901. Of course I started working when I was only 14. Kane: So is that the job that you kept all the way through? Kostelnik: No, no, I got the job at— That was the only thing I could do in the war. 1917, 1918, and 1919 I came back at the other place because they shut that place down then. 00:03:53 Kane: Oh, I see. And what did you do after the war? 9 Kostelnik: Well, I got a job, I was slip making (inaudible). Kane: You were a slip maker? Kostelnik: No, (inaudible). (shuffling papers) Actually here’s, where’s it at? Unit leader, see? 00:00:59 Kane: (reading) A unit leader in the plant’s former rail mill. Kostelnik: That’s right, I was just telling you that. Kane: (reading) A crane operator in the Saucon Yards10 in 1919 and served in that capacity until 1921 when he was named a straightener. He had served as straightener in the Saucon Yards since that time. What does a straightener do? Kostelnik: When steel is rolled, it’s rather hot, so it comes out in all kind of shapes. 9 Project staff were unable to identify this term. 10 A group of buildings in the main Bethlehem Steel location located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This location was often referred to as Lehigh/Saucon. It was a part of the Bethlehem plant containing rolling mills and associated facilities for producing from ingots a wide range of structural steel sections. And then we had what you call an auto rotary.11 Kane: The rotary? Kostelnik: R-O-T-A-R-Y. It’s a machine that puts pressure on the steel and (inaudible) bend out. You understand what I mean? Kane: Mm-hm. Yeah. Kostelnik: A roll like this here. So what they couldn’t take out, we had to take out down below. Kane: And you used machinery to do that. Kostelnik: You got a machine there going back and forth. Kane: And that’s what you did from 1921 on? 00:05:18 Kostelnik: Yeah, till I quit. About 1921 to 1951. About 45 years, I guess. Like when they made that Golden Gate Bridge12 in California. You heard about that. Kane: Yeah. 00:00:59 13 Kostelnik: Well we rolled all that steel that are (inaudible). I straightened all that steel. And the Verrazano [-Narrows] Bridge down in New York. We that complete ordered it. Kane: So then you can look at those things and say that you had a part in that. Kostelnik: Yeah, yeah. I had a big hand in the Golden Gate Bridge. 11 Project staff were unable to identify this term. 12 Completed in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge connects the city of San Francisco and Marin County, California. The bridge was fabricated from steel produced by Bethlehem Steel. 13 Completed in 1964, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York. The bridge was fabricated from steel produced by Bethlehem Steel. Kane: Right, right. That would give you some satisfaction then in being able to see what you have done. 00:05:53 Kostelnik: Oh yeah, yeah. That’s a few years ago. Yeah, we used to average when, at that time we used to work 12 hours, 6 to 6. At that time we used to average about, I’m not quite sure now whether I’ll be right or not, but it’s around that. Three hundred actual ton of steel every turn. Kane: Every turn meaning? 00:00:59 Kostelnik: Twelve hours. Every 12 hours. That was considered high, very good. Now when I quit in 1966-67, after 8 hours we had to put out four or five hundred ton. Kane: Why the difference? Kostelnik: Everything was speeded up. Kane: Because of automation? Kostelnik: Yeah, that’s right. Everything was speeded up. Like it was nothing for us to, like a small channel, 8-inch channel— Now do you know what a channel is? Kane: No. Kostelnik: It’s structural steel, it has one flat top, the top is flat, and there are small flanges on the side, it’s 8 inches wide. It used on all the bridges and all over. Got some down in the cellar, I guess, as a matter of fact. We put out 900 pieces in 8 hours, 40, 50 foot long. That’s about an average of 100, 110, 120 every hour. You’ve got to be active in that kind of work. Kane: Did you notice a change, did they need less men when automation came in? Kostelnik: No, we had more men, we had more men before, but the work was the same. The work was the same. I mean, only we would, we had more (inaudible) afterward Now in time they had no more tape boy as I started with and we had these inspectors, they’d inspect the steel. They held that tape toward the end and they got rid of the tape boy, and they got rid of the boy on the lever too. (inaudible) Kane: What about the marker? Did they still have the marker? Kostelnik: No, the marker had to be on there. The marker was still on there but nobody else. That’s about all we lost, I guess. Two or three men. But the work was the same way always.

Load more

  27

Copy Link