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Author Gordon, Robert B. (Robert Boyd), 1929-

Title American Iron, 1607-1900 / Robert B. Gordon
Published Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 341 pages) : illustrations, maps
Series Johns Hopkins studies in the history of technology ; [new ser., no. 19]
Johns Hopkins studies in the history of technology ; new ser., no. 19.
Contents 1. Iron -- 2. Ore, Fuel, and Other Natural Resources -- 3. The Rise of American Iron, 1720-1860 -- 4. Smelting with Charcoal -- 5. Converting Pig Iron to Wrought Iron -- 6. Coal-Fired Blast Furnaces -- 7. Steel -- 8. Shaping Iron and Steel -- 9. Iron Quality -- 10. Ironmaking Eclipsed, 1860-1900 -- 11. The Industrial Archaeology of Iron -- Appendix A Metallography -- Appendix B Iron Production Data
Summary In American Iron, 1670-1900, Robert B. Gordon draws on recent archaeological findings as well as archival research to present an ambitious, comprehensive survey of iron technology in America from the colonial period to the industry's demise at about the turn of the twentieth century. Closely examining the techniques - the "hows"--Of ironmaking in its various forms, Gordon offers new interpretations of labor, innovation, and product quality in ironmaking, along with the industry's environmental consequences. He shows the high level of skills required to ensure efficient and safe operation of furnaces and to improve the quality of iron product. By mastering founding, fining, puddling, or bloom smelting, ironworkers gained a degree of control over their lives not easily attained by others
By applying their abundant natural resources to ironmaking early in the eighteenth century, Americans soon made themselves felt in world markets. After the Revolution, ironmakers supplied the materials necessary to the building of American industry, pushing the fuel efficiency and productivity of their furnaces far ahead of their European rivals
Analysis United States
Iron Production
Notes Open access edition supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program
The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No derivatives 4.0 International License
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 318-330) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Iron -- Metallurgy -- History -- 19th century
Iron -- Metallurgy -- History -- 18th century
Iron-works -- North America -- History -- 19th century
Iron-works -- North America -- History -- 18th century
Iron-works
Iron -- Metallurgy
North America
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781421435022
1421435020