A question of grey or white: Why Abraham Darby I chose to smelt iron with coke
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Published
Nov 8, 2021
Abstract
The tendency for an iron to solidify white or grey on coming out of a blast furnace in the 17th and 18th centuries is reviewed and quantified. It is demonstrated that iron from a charcoal blast furnace could not produce the necessary grey iron in a thin-walled cooking pot cast in a cold mould. Charcoal iron masters therefore had to pour their metal into heated moulds, which obliged them to use the costly loam moulding process. Abraham Darby’s great breakthrough was realising that iron made with coke could produce a grey iron pot in a cold mould, which allowed him to use the much cheaper green sand process. His patent tells us he realized this several years before moving to Coalbrookdale. Part of the evidence for this assertion involves identifying castings made with each process. A pot in the Ironbridge Gorge Museum is identified as the oldest known coke-iron casting made in the western world.
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References
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Awty B G 1996, ‘Early cast irons and the impact of fuel availability’, Historical Metallurgy 30(1), 17–22.
Bauerman H 1890, Treatise on the metallurgy of iron (London).
Cox N 1990, ‘Imagination and innovation of an industrial pioneer’, Industrial Archaeology Review 12(2), 127–144.
Diderot D and d’Alembert J le R 1779, Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, Vol 15 (Lausanne/Berne).
Duhamel de Monceau M 1774, ‘Manière de mouler les marmites de fonte de fer’, in J E Bertrand (ed), Descriptions des arts et métiers, Vol 15 (Neuchatel), 205–222.
Dudley D 1665, Mettallum martis (London).
Elliott R 1988, Cast iron technology (London).
Evrard R and Descy A 1948, Histoire de l’usine des Vennes (Liège).
Forsythe R 1909, The blast furnace and the manufacture of pig iron (New York).
Fournel H 1839, ‘Différence de consummation qui a lieu dans la production de la fonte blanche ou de la fonte grise’, Recuil de brochures 1828-1838 (Paris), 3–7.
Greenwood W H and Sexton A H 1907, Iron and steel (London).
Hassenfratz J-H 1812, La sidérotechnie, ou l’art de traiter les minerais de fer pour en obtenir de la fonte, du fer ou de l’acier, Vol 2 (Paris).
Higgs K 2005, ‘Dud Dudley and Abraham Darby, Forging new links’, The Blackcountryman, 38(3), 43–53.
Hyde C K 1977, Technological change and the British iron industry 1700 -1870 (Princeton).
Jars G 1774, Voyages Métallurgiques (Lyon).
Karsten C J B 1841, Handbuch der Eisenhuttenkunde (Berlin).
Karsten C J B 1830, Manuel de la métallurgie de fer, trans F J Culmann (Metz).
King P W 2001–2, ‘Sir Clement Clerke and the adoption of coal in metallurgy’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 73, 3–52.
King P W 2002, ‘Dud Dudley’s contribution to metallurgy’, Historical Metallurgy 36(1), 43–53
King P W 2011, ‘The choice of fuel in the 18th century iron industry: The Coalbrookdale accounts reconsidered’, Economic History Review 64(1), 132–156.
Macquer P 1767, Dictionnaire portatif des arts et métiers, Vol 1 (Paris).
Macquer P and Jaubert P 1773, Dictionnaire raisonnée universel des arts et métiers, Vol 2 (Paris).
Moldenke R 1917, The principles of iron founding (New York).
Mott R A 1934, ‘Dud Dudley and the early coal-iron industry’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 15, 17–38.
Mott R A 1957, ‘The earliest use of coke in the blast furnace’, Gas World, Coking Section 50, 7–18.
Mott R A 1957-8, ‘Abraham Darby (I and II) and the coal iron industry’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 31, 49–93.
Neff J U 1966, The rise of the British coal industry, Vol 1 (London).
Percy J 1864, Metallurgy: Iron and steel (London).
Powle H 1677, ‘An account of iron-works in the Forest of Dean’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 12, 931–935.
Raistrick A 1970, Dynasty of iron founders (Newton Abbott).
Sisco A and Smith C S (trans) 1956, Réaumur’s memoirs on steel and iron (Chicago).
Réaumur R-A F de 1762, Nouvel art d’adoucir le fer fondu … (Paris).
Rehder J E 1987, ‘The change from charcoal to coke in iron smelting’, Historical Metallurgy 21(1), 37–45.
Schubert H R 1957, History of the British iron and steel industry (London).
Sharp J 1905, Modern foundry practice (London).
Thirria M E 1840, ‘Mémoires sur les perfectionnements et modifications des proceeds employés pour la fabrication du fer obtenu par l’affinage des fonts dans les foyers d’affinerie’, Annales des Mines 18, 215–292.
Tylecote R F 1991, ‘Iron in the Industrial Revolution’, in J Day and R F Tylecote (eds), The Industrial Revolution in metals (London).
Wilkie G 1857, The manufacture of iron in Great Britain (Edinburgh).
Williams R in prep, The production of foundry irons from 18th-century charcoal- and coke-fired blast furnaces.
How to Cite
Williams, R. (2021). A question of grey or white: Why Abraham Darby I chose to smelt iron with coke. Historical Metallurgy, 47(2), 125-137. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/98
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How to Cite
Williams, R. (2021). A question of grey or white: Why Abraham Darby I chose to smelt iron with coke. Historical Metallurgy, 47(2), 125-137. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/98