Timeline: Iron and Steel
From Graces 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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