Thanks for your help Drew. I've found an interesting lead I'd not seen before in one article that talks about a "special cupola foundry design". The Titanic Steel Co. partners had a patent on a furnace design and fitted new furnaces at the outset. I know very little about steel manufacture, but I'll follow that lead up to see if I can make sense of what it all means. Family anecdotes tell us that the pair were developing a superior steel but couldn't get the temperatures as high as required. Without more details, which I suspect are just not to be found anywhere in the record, I think this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack! I'll carry on for a while though. Thanks again for your help, Chris
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