Nicholas MillerNicholas BrownLauren Messing

Iron and Steel during theIndustrial Revolution

Many people in England towards the start of the revolution began to produce iron by using wood or charcoal in order to fuel the forges needed to separate the element from its ore

Later on, some discovered that coal worked better than wood or charcoal

Great Britain had a huge advantage because they had a lot of these materials

As revolution continued, iron and coal became two of the most important raw materials to use

Iron

Iron smelting corporations used coke, a by-product of coal, to make the smelting process much easier

This product helped quicken the smelting process, making more product

Smelting Iron

Coal didn’t just help create iron, the gases released from burning it gave people the ability to produce light

People used these gases to light homes

Helped create street lamps in London in the 1830’s

Creating Light

As revolution circled, Thomas Newcomen invented the first successful steam engine in 1712 using iron

A little after this invention, many iron based steam engines exploded due to high pressure

Workers needed new material that could withstand the pressure

Inventors came up with a stronger and harder metal that could withstand the pressure based off iron

This iron (with removed impurities) was called steel

Steel

Britain had an advantage during the industrial revolution

They introduced the power-driven in many industries

Production of shoes , clothing, ammunition, and furniture became mechanized, as did printing and papermaking

British entrepreneurs banned the exploration of machinery and goods from Britain, but technologies spread by luring British experts with lucrative offers, and even smuggling secrets into other countries. This helped spread goods to France, Germany, Belgium and the U.S.

Great Britain

These famous innovators created a more cheaper, easier, and more efficient process of making steel

It involved forcing air through molten iron to burn carbon and their impurities

Became known as the Bessemer Process

This was similar to the steel-making technique that was created 1500 years ago by the Haya people of South America

Abraham Darby

William Kelly

Henry Bessemer

Stock loads of iron helped produce many new machines, and new tools

Smelting iron with coal helped produce street lamps and light

Steel helped produce even greater and stronger machines and tools

Great Britain helped spread these well designed machines and tools to other countries, and helped spread the ideas of the industrial revolution

Inventors and innovators during this time designed the tools, and created the tools still existing today

Important Points