Grace's Guide

Iron and Steel Timeline

1620	Dud Dudley patents a process for smelting iron by using coke as a fuel
1709	Abraham Darby improves the process of using coke as a fuel for smelting
1751	Benjamin Huntsman invented the process of producing crucible steel but failed to patent it
1759	Dowlais Ironworks opens and by 1815 the company was the largest iron and steel producer in the world
1760	John Roebuck founder of the Carron Co ironworks used coal to make cast iron into malleable iron "by the action of a hollow pit-coal fire" urged by a powerful artificial blast.
1763	Patent by John and Charles Wood for improving the manufacture of cast steel.
1765	Cyfarthfa Ironworks opened and by 1807 was the largest ironworks in the world but was later overtaken by Dowlais
1766	Thomas and George Cranage developed the use of the reverberatory furnace for the production of wrought iron from cast iron under the sponsorship of Richard Reynolds
c1766	John Wilkinson promoted the use of cast iron where other materials had previously been used and used raw coal as a substitute for coke in the production of cast iron
1783	Peter Onions patented a puddling process where the iron is stirred to separate out impurities and extract the higher quality wrought iron
1784	Henry Cort patented the an improved puddling process for refining iron ore
1828	James Beaumont Neilson invented the hot blast process for iron furnaces
1837	David Thomas (1794-1882) pioneer in using anthracite for iron production
1839	Josiah Marshall Heath introduced the use of manganese in steel-making
1856	Henry Bessemer introduced the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel
1856	Robert Forester Mushet found an inexpensive way to make high quality steel by adding ferro-manganese
1867	William Siemens succeeded in developing the regenerative furnace for steel making
1868	Robert Forester Mushet produced the first commercial steel alloy by adding a small amount of tungsten to the molten steel in the crucible
1878	Sidney Gilchrist Thomas invented a process for dealing with the phosphorus in pig iron with the help of his cousin, Percy Gilchrist
1880s	Robert Hadfield developed the first alloy steels in the form of high manganese steels, very tough but ductile; the first non-magnetic steel.
1894	British Aluminium Co formed
1912	Harry Brearley discovered and subsequently industrialized a martensitic stainless steel alloy
1924	William Herbert Hatfield developed 18/8 stainless steel
1951	Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain in the nationalisation of 92 companies by acquisition
1967	British Steel formed

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