The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, part 2: output and efficiency
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Published
Sep 15, 2021
Abstract
There were specific physical and chemical reasons why early coke furnaces underperformed their charcoal competitors in both fuel usage and output, but they do not fully explain why Abraham Darby I’s furnace performed as poorly as earlier commentators or the company’s books of accounts have suggested. It is proposed that Darby’s potential output was twice as high as was actually achieved and his potential coke usage per ton of iron significantly less than has been reported. The difference was because Darby worked under new operational disadvantages in his foundry-orientated business compared to a blast furnace producing pig iron for the forge. He had to spend longer getting his metal out of the furnace because he was filling foundry moulds, rather than casting large pigs, he frequently held his furnace hot whilst waiting for the furnace pool to fill up again and he was deliberately making a higher silicon-content iron.
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References
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Geerdes M, Chaigneau R, Kurunov I, Lingiardi O and Rickets J 2015, Modern blast furnace iron making, an introduction (Amsterdam).
Gross J 2001, The Diary of Charles Wood of Cyfarthfa Ironworks (Cardiff).
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Lowthian Bell I 1884, The principles of the manufacture of iron and steel (London).
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Powle H 1677/1678, ‘An account of ironworks in the Forest of Dean’, Philosophical Transactions 12, 931-935.
Raistrick A 1970, Dynasty of ironfounders (Newton Abbott).
Rehder J E 1987, ‘The change from charcoal to coke in iron smelting’, Historical Metallurgy 21(1), 37-43.
Riden P 1991, ‘The charcoal iron industry in the East Midlands 1580-1780’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 111, 64-84.
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Williams R 2013, ‘A question of grey or white: why Abraham Darby chose to smelt iron with coke’, Historical Metallurgy 47(2), 125-137.
Williams R 2017, ‘The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, part 1: temperature of operation’, Historical Metallurgy 51(1), 22-33.
Birkinbine J 1880, ‘Experiments with charcoal, coke and anthracite in the Pine Grove Furnace, PA’, Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers 8, 169-175.
Dufrénoy, Élie de Beaumont, Cost and Perdonet, 1837, Voyages métallurgiques en Angleterre, Vol 1 (Paris).
Fournel H 1842, ‘Difference de consommation qui a lieu dans la production de la fonte blanche ou de la fonte grise’, in H Fournel, Recueil de brochures 1828–1838 (Paris), 1-4.
Geerdes M, Chaigneau R, Kurunov I, Lingiardi O and Rickets J 2015, Modern blast furnace iron making, an introduction (Amsterdam).
Gross J 2001, The Diary of Charles Wood of Cyfarthfa Ironworks (Cardiff).
Gruner M L 1873, Studies of blast furnace phenomena, trans L D B Gordon (London).
Hall J W 1924, ‘Notes on Coalbrookdale and the Darbys’, read at the Iron and Steel Institute, Westminster. Manuscript held at the library of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum.
Hassenfratz J H 1812, La sidérotechnie ou l’art de traiter les minérais de fer etc, Vol 2 (Paris).
Hyde C K 1977, Technological change in the British iron and steel industry, 1700-1870 (Princeton, NJ).
Johannsen O 1925, Geschichte des Eisens (Dusseldorf).
Johnson J E 1918, The principles, operation and products of the blast furnace (New York).
Karsten CJB 1841, Handbuch der Eisenhuttenkunde, Vol 3 (Berlin)
King P W 2003, The iron trade in England and Wales 1500-1815 : the charcoal iron industry and its transition to coke. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Wolverhampton. Available from https://
ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.275455
King P 2013, 18th- century ironfounding: coke iron, air furnaces and cupolas, Historical Metallurgy 47(2), 138-145.
Lowthian Bell I 1884, The principles of the manufacture of iron and steel (London).
Mott R A 1957a, ‘Abraham Darby (I and II) and the coal-iron industry’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 31, 49-93.
Mott R A 1957b, ‘The earliest use of coke for iron making’, Gas World, Coking Section 145, 7-18.
Mott R A 1957c, ‘The Coalbrookdale Horsehay Works, Part I’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 31, 271-287.
Mott RA 1959, ‘The Coalbrookdale Horsehay Works, Part II’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 32, 43-56.
Mushet D 1840, Papers on iron and steel (London).
Percy J 1864, Metallurgy: iron and steel (London).
Powle H 1677/1678, ‘An account of ironworks in the Forest of Dean’, Philosophical Transactions 12, 931-935.
Raistrick A 1970, Dynasty of ironfounders (Newton Abbott).
Rehder J E 1987, ‘The change from charcoal to coke in iron smelting’, Historical Metallurgy 21(1), 37-43.
Riden P 1991, ‘The charcoal iron industry in the East Midlands 1580-1780’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 111, 64-84.
Rogers H D 1840, Geological survey of the state of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, PA).
Schubert H R 1957, History of the British iron and steel industry (London).
Turner T 1908, The metallurgy of iron (London).
Tylecote R F 1991, ‘Iron in the Industrial Revolution’, in J Day and R F Tylecote (eds), The Industrial Revolution in metals (London), 200-260.
Wiebmer, H 1874, ‘Hochofenlage und Hochofen Betrieb auf der Koniglichen Eisengiesserei bei Gleiwitz’, Zeitschrift fur das Berg-hutten und Salinenwesen 22(5), 253-297.
Williams R 2013, ‘A question of grey or white: why Abraham Darby chose to smelt iron with coke’, Historical Metallurgy 47(2), 125-137.
Williams R 2017, ‘The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, part 1: temperature of operation’, Historical Metallurgy 51(1), 22-33.
How to Cite
Williams, R. (2021). The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, part 2: output and efficiency. Historical Metallurgy, 51(2), 87-98. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/38
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How to Cite
Williams, R. (2021). The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, part 2: output and efficiency. Historical Metallurgy, 51(2), 87-98. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/38