Ladles. Once upon a time: at BHP Newcastle the BOS furnace is charged with hot metal from a ladle. "Each hour or so the great BOS furnace is turned down to run 200 tons of steel into the waiting ladle below.  With an absence of fuss that belies the scale of the operation, the furnace turns to receive its clanging charge of scrap, and then to the other angle for molten iron (pictured). Within minutes of the tapping, the furnace is re-charged, the oxygen lance lowered then the rising roar of sound marks the beginning of a new blow."
Lower image: No 1 BOS furnace under construction. Newcastle 1962. Drives can be seen on either side of the trunnion ring, with the water-cooled hood above.
BOS or basic oxygen steelmaking was an innovation using pure oxygen under high pressure to charge the furnace with oxygen and with hot metal from a ladle and with scrap steel from the opposite sides of the working floor. Steel production was increased a whole lot.
from Giant Strides 1965 BHP Publicity Dept.