History of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages

by Swank, James Moore

• ISBN13: 9781108026840
• ISBN10: 1108026842
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-19
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

James Moore Swank (1832-1914) was a US expert on iron and steel, and wrote widely about the industry. In 1873 he became secretary of the American Iron and Steel Association. This second edition (1892) of his influential book on iron manufacture was significantly expanded compared to the 1884 original, with 132 more pages, 15 extra chapters, and revisions throughout the text. Swank aimed to move away from the highly technical approach and European focus that had dominated previous works. Instead, he would emphasise names, dates, facts and results, and give special attention to the growth of the industry in the United States while providing an international context. He includes every country and US state that produced iron. The book is organised chronologically, and provides a fascinating account of the manufacture of iron from the ancient Egyptian period through early modern Britain to late nineteenth-century America.

Table of Contents

Preface

The earliest use of iron

The early use of iron in Europe

Beginning of the British iron industry

The British iron industry from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century

The iron industry of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland

The British iron industry built up by British inventive genius

Early processes in the manufacture of iron and steel

Mediaeval and early modern processes in the manufacture of iron and steel

First attempt by Europeans to manufacture iron in the United States

Beginning of the manufacture of iron in the New England colonies

Extension of the manufacture of iron in New England

Early iron enterprises in New York

Early iron enterprises in New Jersey

Beginning of the manufacture of iron in Pennsylvania

The manufacture of iron in Pennsylvania extended to the Susquehanna

Characteristics of the early iron industry of Pennsylvania

The manufacture of iron in Pennsylvania after the Revolution

The manufacture of charcoal iron in the Juniata Valley

The early manufacture of iron in western Pennsylvania

Early iron enterprises in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

The early manufacture of iron in Delaware

Early iron enterprises in Maryland

The iron industry established in Virginia

The manufacture of iron in North Carolina

The manufacture of iron in South Carolina

The early manufacture of iron in Georgia

The early manufacture of iron in Kentucky

The early manufacture of iron in Tennessee

The manufacture of iron in Alabama

Primitive characteristics of the southern iron industry

The early manufacture of iron in Ohio

Early iron enterprises in Indiana

Early iron enterprises in Illinois

Early iron enterprises in Michigan

The early manufacture of iron in Wisconsin

Early iron enterprises in Missouri

The manufacture of iron in Texas

The manufacture of iron in various western states

The iron industry of the Pacific Coast

The first iron works in Canada

The manufacture of iron with anthracite coal

The manufacture of iron with bituminous coal

Statistics of pig iron production in the United States

The manufacture of blister and crucible steel in the United States

The invention of the Bessemer process

The Bessemer process in the United States

The manufacture of open-hearth steel

The early history of iron rails in the United States

Iron shipbuilding in the United States

The history of cut and wire nails

Improvements in American blast furnace practice

The manufacture of tinplates in the United States

Miscellaneous facts relating to the American iron and steel industries

Early discoveries of coal in the United States

British efforts to prevent the development of the American iron industry

The American iron industry long depressed by foreign competition

Impediments to the cheap production of iron and steel in the United states

Washington and Lincoln the descendants of colonial ironmasters

Production and prices of iron and steel in the United States

Imports and exports of iron and steel by the United States

Miscellaneous statistics of iron, steel, iron ore, and coal

Important uses of iron and steel in the United States

Conclusion

Index

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