The Vast Growth of the Iron and Steel Industry

When James Watt invented the steam engine in the latter part of the 18th century, the whole industrial scene changed. Steam power made possible the ‘Industrial Revolution’ in Britain. Vast quantities of metal were needed for the railways pioneered by the Stevensons, and the huge iron ships and bridges of Brunel. In Sheffield, the centre of the iron and steel industry, the output of metals multiplied fifty times in thirty-five years.

During this expansion, improved tools were invented for use in the factories and many steam-powered tools were invented and developed. One of the most famous of these tools was the steam-hammer designed by James Nasmyth about 1830. It was used to forge the huge shafts and plates required in the ships of the time, and could be accurately controlled to give heavy blows or light taps. In fact, to impress visitors to the foundry an egg was placed on the anvil and cracked by the hammer without breaking the egg shell. Other machine-tools invented and developed included the rolling-mill which could roll metal, either hot or cold, into thin sheets.

A British metallurgist Henry Cort took out a patent in 1783 for a mill to roll iron sheets and bars. In 1784 he improved the puddling process by hollowing out the bottom of the reverberatory furnace so as to contain the molten metal in this puddle. Railway lines could be made in this way, the hole in the press being suitably shaped to the section of the railway-line. Puddling played a great role in the development of iron and steel industry in Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

These tremendous advances in engineering were matched by improvements in the quality of metals, and the metallurgists were as active and successful as the engineers. Between 1750 and 1850 no less than thirty-five more metals were discovered. Many of these were unimportant but three were outstanding, nickel, cobalt, and manganese, the latter to play a vital part in steel production.