To what extent was the iron industry 'transformed' between 1750-1830?

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To what extent was the iron industry ‘transformed’

between 1750-1830?

        Though the iron industry undoubtedly experienced a notable transformation between the years 1750-1830, the extent to which it was transformed, in R. Brown’s opinion, was not of the same immense scale of that of the cotton industry. He claims that ‘no other industry underwent the explosive development that the cotton industry experienced during the ‘industrial revolution’.’ This is true in some respects, but evidence indicates that though the iron transformation may have been less ‘explosive’, it was still a highly significant revolution, which occurred at a more gradual, yet accelerating pace. The change in the iron industry was caused by a number of factors. Firstly, Abraham Derby’s substitution of coke for charcoal, which was said by J.R Harris to be “One of the greatest advances in the history of technology.”  This was followed by the development of the steam engine by Boulton and Watt in 1774, and finally Henry Cort’s noteworthy ‘puddling and rolling’ technique in the 1780s, which was said to bring rationalisation to the iron industry. It is these innovations that assisted the iron industry in changing from “small, scattered and stagnant” (M. Falkus) to being widespread, “large scale” and “integrated” (J.R Harris), and ultimately leading to a dominant British iron industry by the beginning of the 19th century.

        Chronologically, the first significant innovation which was to transform the iron industry was that of the substitution of charcoal for coke by Abraham Derby in 1709. Before 1750, the British iron industry was described to be “scattered, migratory and tightly constrained by its resource limitations.” (P. Deane). Sites were usually confined to areas which had both water and woodland nearby, such as the Sussex Weald, the Scottish Highlands and Shropshire. There was also said to have been a massive decline in pig iron production from 26,000 tonnes per annum in 1625-1635 down to approximately 23,000 tonnes in 1720, and therefore most wrought iron had to be imported from Sweden, a country rich in resources. However, Derby’s innovation did eventually provide a vital discontinuity which enabled Britain to break free from the constraints of wood. A wider range of household utensils could be produced, which were affordable to a poorer stratum. Moreover, though the industry still remained scattered, as sites had to be located near water, the geographical restrictions of ironmongers were much reduced, as they no longer were confined to sites near woodland.

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        However, despite undoubtedly being a formidable breakthrough, Derby’s invention was not widely diffused until the 1760s, a “very significant time lag” in P. Mathias’ opinion. This “time lag” could be attributable to a number of reasons; the main one probably being that of the sheer cost of the coke technology. It was not until the 1750s that the prices of the equipment dropped enough to enable iron masters to save between £1.50 and £2.00 a tonne (C.K Hyde), and therefore the innovation was slow to be adopted until this time. As late as the turn of the century, Britain was ...

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