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[ New Search ] Worker Tending a Phosphate Furnace Location : Muscle Shoals, AL Date : Jun, 1942 Agency : OWI Credits : Palmer (OWI Photographer) Owner : FDRL Medium : B&W Photo Control Number : Photographs (General): TVA: Dams: Alabama: Muscle Shoals Enlarged Image Description : TVA Production: Elemental Phosphorus. A Negro worker tending an electric phosphate smelting furnace which is producing elemental phosphorus at a TVA chemical plant in the Muscle Shoals area. The phosphorus, used in the manufacture of incendiary bombs and shells and of materials for "smoke," is produced by smelting phosphate rock, coke and silica together in the electric furnaces and condensing the resulting phosphorus gases. When surplus phosphorus is available it is converted into highly concentrated phosphatic fertilizer, much of which is shipped abroad under provisions of the Lend-Lease Bill. (June, 1942) Listed Under: [Tennessee Valley Authority][Hydroelectric Power][Industrial Uses]