The converter shop, with two 350-ton converters, was built in 1977 to make steel for large-diameter oil- and gas-line pipe. The method used previously to remove the slag before the pig iron was added to the mixer did not ensure the removal of slag from all of the incoming ladles because of the heavy freight traffic. Thus, the plant used the Ukrgipromez design to build a special slag-handling section. Its construction has improved slag removal and increased the capacity of the mixer section. The new section for removing slag from blast-furnace pig-iron ladles is housed in a separated building 30 m wide and 60 m long. The crane track is at the +17.0-m elevation. The building is located inside the mixer section in the path of the pig-iron flow from the blastfurnace shop. The building contains two through railroad tracks for transporting the pig and one siding for the slag ladles. The section is equipped with two foundry cranes of 180 + 63/20 tons capacity and two MSSh-I slag-pumping units designed by VNllmekhchermet. The units are installed on the working platform at the +8.2-m elevation and are operated by attendants. The work plan in the section is as follows: the iron, after desulfurization or directly from the blast-furnace shop, arrives in the section in a train made up of 4-5 140-ton hotmetal-car ladles. The foundry crane then places the pig-filled ladles near the slag-pumping unit. The inclination ofi~the ladle is regulated by raising the crane a small amount. The slag is pumped into a 16-m 3 slag ladle set on a stand. An exhaust hood located above the slag ladle helps remove impurities from the air by means of fans, the exhausted air later being cleaned in cyclones. The section pumps off 60-80% of the slag. To keep the surface of the metal from cooling, a device is provided which covers the surface of the pig iron with fine llme. In the charging bay of the converter section, slag is pumped off from the hot-metal ladles by another MSSh-I unit into a 16-m 3 slag ladle set on a special stand. After the ladle is filled, it is transferred to one of two self-propelled cinder cars, moved under the converters, and taken on to the slag pier. However, the efficiency with which the slag was pumped off by the lISSh-i was too low. Therefore the "~qllmekhchermet" institute designed the MSSh-2, based on the first design. Results of trials of the new machine confirmed its reliability and greater efficiency in pumping slag from 350-ton ladles. Plans called for the installation of two MSSh-2 units in the charging bay to continuously remove slag from all of the hot-metal ladles even in the case of shutdown of one of the machines for repairs or malfunction.