Kurako, Mikhail Konstantinovich

He was born and spent his childhood in the cozelie of Cherikovsky district of the Mogilev province - the family estate of his maternal grandfather, retired Major General Artsimovich, who was involved in his upbringing. Mikhail's mother, Anna, was the general’s only child, and his father, Konstantin Kurako, was a retired colonel , a veteran of the Sevastopol campaign . After the death of his grandfather, according to his will, Mikhail was sent to study in the Polotsk cadet corps ^[2] .

At smelters in the south

He began his career in 1890 in the blast furnace shop of the Alexandrovsky Iron-Making and Rolling Plant of the Bryansk Joint-Stock Company (now the Dnieper Metallurgical Plant ). He was a catcher - he drove trolleys with ore weighing about 1000 kilograms. Then he worked as a probonos - he took samples of liquid slag and cast iron from blast furnaces for transmission for analysis. Having gained experience, he became a henchman 's assistant .

In 1892, Mikhail Konstantinovich switched to the Gdantsevsky plant as a forge plant . In 1896 he worked as a shift foreman on it, and in 1898 he moved to the Mariupol plant . In 1900, Kurako worked as the chief master , replacing the American Julian Kennedy . I independently studied physics, chemistry, English (I knew French before).

In 1900, I had to go on business to the Mariupol plant, the same one that the famous American Kennedy blast furnace designer built with us. There, quite unexpectedly, I again met Curaco. Before we had time to say hello, he brought me to the blast furnace: "Look, what a wonderful tuyere device here." There were American-style tuyeres, very light, simple and comfortable. Before this, I spent fifteen months on a business trip abroad, examined metallurgical plants in different countries of Europe. I have not seen devices of this type. I liked them, and I expressed this to Kurako. He was delighted, almost rushed to hug me - it was so pleasant to him that I appreciated the American devices. Over the four years since our first meeting, Kurako has grown unusually in theoretical terms. I was surprised how in such a short time he could get acquainted with literature, mostly foreign, learn English (he knew French before), learn the latest American domain methods. He showed me sketches of his drawings - something that he independently designed for the future.

- Memoirs of Professor Rubin .

In the Donbass

In 1903, M.K. Kurako, thanks to his outstanding abilities, became the head of the blast furnace shop at the Kramatorsk Metallurgical Plant , although he did not have a special education. He was one of the first Russian shop managers in factories in southern Russia, flooded with foreign experts. Since that time, he began to design blast furnaces . Soon there are "Kurakin" tuyeres , a tuyere device, gutters, refrigerators and other structures that are firmly included in all the blast furnaces of southern Russia. According to his drawings, a blast furnace with an inclined skip hoist was built; it was the first Russian lift. At the same time and independently of the American engineer, Mackey M.K. Kurako worked on the creation of such a top furnace device that would eliminate the incorrect distribution of raw materials when loading a blast furnace. He successfully solved this problem, and when building a new blast furnace he installed his own device, which yielded positive results.

As a result of Kurako’s work, a fundamental improvement in the design of the blast furnace and the technology of the blast furnace process took place. For the first time in Russia, he introduced masonry from only four standard grades of shaped refractory bricks (instead of hundreds used), which allowed overhaul of furnaces in 30–35 days instead of 50–60 days. The standard of four brands of fireclay bricks introduced by M.K. Kurako is still applied almost unchanged.

For active participation in the revolutionary events of 1905 he was exiled to the Vologda province (1906). After the exile, he returned to Donbass (1908) to the Yuzovsky Metallurgical Plant , where he worked as an assistant to the head of the blast furnace shop, and then until 1913 its chief. At the Yuzovsky plant, he created a school of domain managers - the “Kurakin Academy”, from which large engineers, professors and academicians ( I. P. Bardin , M. V. Lugovtsev, G. E. Kazarnovsky , N. G. Kizimenko, V. I Grebennikov and many others) ^[3] .

In the years 1913-1916. M.K. Kurako worked at the Yenakiyevo Metallurgical Plant as the head of the blast furnace shop. In the years 1916-1917. again worked at the Yuzovsky Metallurgical Plant.

In Siberia

In 1917, having received an offer from the Kopikuz joint-stock company (Kopy Kuzbass Mine) to design and then build a metallurgical plant in the Kuznetsk basin , according to the plan of the largest in Russia, MK Kurako was leaving for Siberia . Here he got the opportunity to build the first in Russia blast furnace shop with full mechanization, without the Kataly, cast iron and other qualifications inherent in the old blast furnace shops. In Tomsk, he led the design of the blast furnace shop of the future metallurgical enterprise . In 1918, he began compiling a book on the design of blast furnaces, which was published in Enakievo after his death.

In December 1919 he was arrested by Rogov bandits. In 1920, for some time he was chairman of the county Sovnarkhoz. During the next business trip to Kuznetsk , M.K. Kurako fell ill with typhus . He died in Kuznetsk on February 8, 1920, was buried by will on the Shushtalep site (where they originally wanted to build a metallurgical plant) in the village of Shushtalep, Kuznetsk district. In 1947, he was reburied in Novokuznetsk in the Upper Colony in the Pantheon of Kuznetsk metallurgists.

The Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant , the design of which was started by M.K. Kurako, was built in 1929-1936. under the guidance of his student and associate - Academician I.P. Bardin .

• He designed and built on one of the furnaces of the Kramatorsk plant the first mechanical skip elevator in Russia for loading the charge ;
• He developed the original design of the hearth , which is still used on blast furnaces;
• Improved a tuyere device for blowing;
• Introduced 4 standard grades of shaped refractory bricks , which allowed to halve the duration of overhauls of furnaces.

Kurako M. Plan of the blast furnace shop. Enakievo, 1921 ^[4] .

• One of the central avenues of Novokuznetsk was named after Kurako; on the house number 12 there is a memorial tablet ^[5] .

• The monument to MK Kurako is installed in front of the blast furnace shop of the Yenakiyevo Metallurgical Plant ^[6] .
• In the village Krasnopole ( Mogilev region , Belarus ), near which M.K. Kurako was born, an obelisk with a memorial plaque was installed ^[7] .
• In 1966, the Guryev Metallurgical Plant ( Kemerovo Region ) was named after M.K. Kurako ^[8] .
• A plaque in honor of the metallurgical designer of blast furnaces M.K. Kurako was installed in Mogilev (8 Kurako street) ^[9] .
• The plaque is placed on the House of Technology of the Donetsk Metallurgical Plant .
• A memorial tablet in Kramatorsk on the house where M.K. Kurako lived, during his work at the Kramatorsk Metallurgical Plant .
• Streets in Donetsk , Enakievo , Kramatorsk , Magnitogorsk , Mariupol , Mogilev and Lane in Lipetsk are named after Kurako.
• In 1962, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of M.K. Kurako, a postal envelope with his portrait was issued in Donetsk, and on September 23, postal correspondence was canceled with a special postmark.

• The Pantheon-Tomb of M.K. Kurako in Novokuznetsk (Central District, Upper Colony, Garden of Metallurgists, the Pantheon of Kuznetsk Metallurgists) has been a cultural heritage site (historical monument) of federal significance since 1960 (Appendix No. 1 to the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of 08.30.1960 G. No. 1327) ^{[10] [11] [12]} .

The activities of M.K. Kurako are described in the stories of A. A. Beck “Kurako” (1935, Znamya magazine , No. 5) and One Night Events (1936, Znamya magazine).

The biographical book of I. Alexandrov (pseudonym A. A. Beck) and G. Grigoriev, “Kurako”, was published in the ZhZL series in 1939 (reprinted in 1958).

In the 1930s, A. A. Beck wrote in the journal “Siberian Lights” that although MK Kurako died in Kuzbass in 1920, it was on his project that a metallurgical plant was built in Kuzbass in the 1930s, which played significant role in the fate of the country. By that time, the role of Kurako was oblivious and, in fact, A. A. Beck returned his name to the history of Russian science and technology ^[13] .

• Novokuznetsk Metallurgical Plant

• Alexandrov I., Grigoriev G. Kurako. ZHZL (Life of wonderful people). Vol. 2 (146). M.: Mol. Guards., 1939.200 p. (2nd ed. - 1958).
• People of Russian Science: Essays on the Outstanding Figures of Natural Science and Technology, vol. 1 / Ed. S. I. Vavilova. M., L ..: State. Publishing House of Technical and Theoretical Literature, 1948.
• The great master of domain business M.K. Kurako (On ​​the 30th anniversary of his death). Stalinsk, 1950.
• Bek A.A., Grigoriev G.A. Mikhail Konstantinovich Kurako: biographical sketch. M.: Metallurgizdat, 1953.16 s.
• Beck A. Kurako, in the book: Beck A. My Heroes, M., 1967.
• Beck A.A. Kurako; One night events; Vlas Meadow; Last blast furnace; New profile: story. Sobr. Op. in 4 t. M.: Hood. lit., 1974. V. 1: Tales and short stories.

• The riddle of the blast furnace (neopr.) . Date of treatment June 1, 2008. Archived December 2, 2012.
• Kurako M.K. is a wonderful self-taught blacksmith (neopr.) . Date of treatment June 29, 2009. Archived December 2, 2012.
• Russian technology: Chapter II (neopr.) (Inaccessible link) . Date of treatment October 9, 2018. Archived October 10, 2006.