Iron Trade Research Articles

Griffith's Guide to the Iron Trade of Great Britain.

Griffith's Guide to the Iron Trade of Great Britain.

Reviews

Reviews

The Swedish iron and ore trades

Abstract Interest by Swedes in the history in the iron industry of their own country is very understandable; exports of iron were one of the cornerstones of their economy for a long time. The share of bar iron in total exports during the years 1796–1806, for example, was about 45 per cent, and that of iron manufactures about 9 per cent, while the share of copper and brass was 5–6 per cent. Later on, particularly after the late 1880s, the rapid expansion of exports of iron ore from northern Sweden made up for the relative decline in the sale of manufactured iron.

In Search of Shorter Hours: The 1861 and 1874 Iron Trades Disputes

In Search of Shorter Hours: The 1861 and 1874 Iron Trades Disputes

The Baltimore Company Seeks English Markets: A Study of the Anglo-American Iron Trade, 1731-1755

HE American iron industry originated in the seventeenth century but did not become well established until after the close of Queen Anne's War when it entered a period of rapid growth that led to the construction of ironworks in most of the thirteen colonies. In the forefront of this expansion was the Baltimore Company, which built the second major ironworks to be established in Maryland and the first of consequence to be locally owned and operated. Preceded only by the Principio Company, an English enterprise that was organized about I715 and operated in Virginia as well as in Maryland, the Baltimore Company was formed as a partnership in I73i by Daniel Dulany, Dr. Charles Carroll, Benjamin Tasker, Charles Carroll of Annapolis, and his brother, Daniel Carroll.' Beginning modestly with the construction of a furnace on the Patapsco River.' the partners began to ship pig iron to England in I734, their exports to the mother country averaging about five hundred tons annually during the next few years. The Baltimore Ironworks was the largest and most ambitious industrial enterprise yet undertaken by anyone in Maryland.3 The construction and operation of a furnace required a large amount of capital for the purchase of land, slaves, equipment, and supplies. Beginning with a capi-

Foreign markets for Swedish iron in the 18th century

Abstract At the beginning of the 18th century, Sweden had a dominating position in the European iron trade. A century later, that position was lost for ever. Dominance and decline have naturally both called for explanation and research by Swedish historians: in some aspects of their work they have been greatly aided by the fact that Swedish statistics both of iron production and of iron exports are unusually good. Bar iron was by far the most important item in Sweden's 18th century exports; the average quantity exported during the years 1730–1799 was a little above 43,000 tons per annum. Of that quantity, more than half usually went to Great Britain and Ireland. Swedish statistics do not differentiate between the separate parts of that market; most iron went to England of course, but the export to Scotland and Ireland was not insignificant. 1 This article is an extract, with some revisions, from the author's recently published book: Fagerstabrukens historia, Sexton- och sjuttonhundratalen (1957), the first volume of a comprehensive work on the history of the Swedish iron industry and especially the history of a number of iron-works now owned by Fagersta Bruks AD. My thanks are due to Fagersta Drub AD for their permission to publish this translation from a work of which they hold a copyright. .

Developments in the Scottish Pig Iron Trade, 1844–1848

Between 1844 and 1848 the Scottish pig iron trade occupied a particularly important place not only in British but also in world economy. In 1830 Scotland produced only 37,000 tons of pig iron, or about 5 per cent of the total British output. By the mid-1840's it produced over 300,000 tons annually, or about 25 per cent of die British output. Of this increased output only one third was used in Scotland, while no less than one quarter left the United Kingdom for abroad. Such a rapid progress rested on peculiarly favorable geological and technical conditions.

The Charcoal Iron Industry in the Early Eighteenth Century

THE earliest known comprehensive list of ironworks in England and Wales was compiled in 1717 T a d source material for the study of the charcoal-iron industry prior to this date has been fragmentary, and for many areas almost non-existent. A most valuable set of manuscript ironworks accounts has recently been made available to me and most of them refer to the period 1688-1717,2 although for no works are the accounts complete for all these years. The papers cover ironworks in the central, north and west Midlands, the Forest of Dean, north and south Wales, and Sussex, though in the last three districts a total of only four works is involved. In addition to the manufacturing and commercial activities of the concerns to which the Foley accounts particularly refer, they yield much information on other works for which such detailed papers have not yet come to light and, with the help of supplementary manuscripts and published material, it has been possible to make a fair appraisal of the pattern of the iron trade in about 1700.3 Information on one important iron manufacturing region, south Yorkshire, is lacking in the Foley MSS. but accounts of several works in this district have been brought together in Bradford at Cartwright Hall.4 Although not compiled with the same attention to detail, they fill an otherwise serious gap. The account which follows provides a reasonably comprehensive picture of the iron trade in the Midlands and in the adjacent areas of the Forest of Dean, south Yorkshire, Derby and Nottingham. For the rest of the country, notably for south Wales and the Weald, the evidence is less adequate. The 1717 list of furnaces and forges appears to be substantially accurate in the light of the Foley accounts and provides an invaluable scale against which to gauge the extent to which the works concerned in them may be taken as representative of the whole industry. Figure 1 shows the distribution of works enumerated in the 1717 list. The close correlation of furnaces with the occurrence of iron ores is at once apparent; Coal Measure ironstones were the most widespread basis for the industry, except in the Forest of Dean and north Lancashire, where hsematite ores of the Carboniferous limestone were important, and in south-east England, where ironstones in the Wealden Series were used. This general pattern of blast-furnace distribution was to

The British Iron and Steel Industry: 1929-49

r-_,H:E British iron and steel industry did not share equally in the general . economic revival following the close of the first World War. Urgent demands upon productive facilities during the conflict caused a hasty and often haphazard expansion of existing works. Accordingly, when war orders ceased and the short-lived activity came to an end, the industry found itself with much redundant plant. Many firms could not earn enough to cover the heavy capital charges incurred in construction. Largely as a result of the occupation of the Ruhr, total profits of the industry rose above the level of I9I3 during the years I920, I923, and I924. Thereafter, earnings fell considerably below prewar figures. To add to the difficulties, the expansion -of the past decade led to an increase of bond issues, resulting in heavy inroads upon reserves and a diminution of funds available for distribution to common stockholders.' Attempting to offset declining revenues, a number of large manufacturers undertook the establish-ment of vertically integrated combinations.2 Moreover, a National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers was formed in I9I8. Originally organized at the suggestion of the government, the Federation published statistics relating to the industry and studied questions of transport and fuel. It did not deal with prices and wages.3 The period revealed an alteration in the ratio of costs of materials and labor to total productive outlay. Whereas wages in I9I3 had represented II.7 per cent of the cost of producing one ton of steel ingots, the same item in I924 accounted for I6.5 per cent of the total. Expenditures for materials declined from 73.5 to 71.5 per cent. The increasing importance of wages as a cost-determining factor was even more apparent in comparable figures relating to highly finished products.4 Until I9I3 there were a number of separate unions representing iron and steel workers. By I928, however, almost half the total employed were members of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation. A significant change in industrial policy was indicated by the adoption, in I9g9, of the eight-hour shift. Wages were generally fixed, through collective-bargaining agreements, on a sliding scale based upon the selling priceof products in various sections of the industry.5 British imports of iron and steel increased markedly during the postwar decade. This rise was principally in semifinished materials used largely in the manufacture of sheets and tin plates and

An Undiscovered Coalfield. By H. A. Baker. Reprinted from The Iron and Coal Trades Review, 13th, 20th, and 27th September, 1935. Price 1s. 6d.

An Undiscovered Coalfield. By H. A. Baker. Reprinted from <i>The Iron and Coal Trades Review</i>, 13th, 20th, and 27th September, 1935. Price 1<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>.

Diamond Jubilee of the Iron and Steel Institute

THE May meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, to be held this year on May 2 and 3, is of special significance inasmuch as the Institute is celebrating its diamond jubilee. The proposal for the formation of the Institute originated at a meeting of the Northern Iron Trade, held at Newcastle-on-Tyne on Sept. 29, 1868, and a committee was appointed with the object of giving effect to this suggestion. Mr. Isaac Lowthian Bell (as he then was) took a prominent part in the Eroceedings from the very beginning, and it was irgely through his influence and efforts that the Institute took shape.

Statistical History of the Iron Trade of England and Wales, 1717-1750

(1928). Statistical History of the Iron Trade of England and Wales, 1717-1750. Transactions of the Newcomen Society: Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 12-35.

Some Price-Determining Factors in the Iron Industry

THE object of this paper is to assemble and weigh the statistical evidence bearing on one phase of the pre-war history of pig-iron prices, namely, the amplitude or extent of pig-iron price movements. In effecting this object some very familiar and perhaps shop-worn data are employed but, it is believed, with new inferences. In previous studies,' these same data, the cycle figures for pig-iron prices, have been used to interpret business conditions and to illustrate the contrast in amplitude between production and consumption goods or between raw, semi-finished, and finished goods; but a conclusion that pig iron, because it is a production good and a raw material, is in the class of things subject to wide price movements, or that the general character of these movements is of unusual significance in the interpretation of business conditions, does not exhaust the meaning of the data. There are forces to be found particularly in tariff changes and in the rate of growth of successive stages of the iron and steel industry which exercise an important modifying influence on the course of pig-iron prices throughout the business cycle. It is toward a statistical analysis of these forces that this paper is directed. For the purposes of investigation, the selected period, I898-I9I4, is advantageous because of the stability in the art of making iron. Throughout the seventeen years, which cover five price cycles of varying intensity and duration, including one of unusual severity, the blast furnace has seen little modification in technique. Such changes as there have been may be quickly summarized: The industry has grown; blast furnaces have increased in size and in capacity; mechanical devices for handling the ore, coke, and limestone have displaced the older hand methods; and refinements in process have obtained a marked economy in fuels. Yet these changes have been no greater than might be expected in the history of any matured industry, and have been so gradually worked out that they have attracted no attention to their effect on the cyclical movements of the iron trade. The economic organization of the industry during the period demands more careful scrutiny than its technique. The most striking change known to haye taken place concerns the merchant furnaces which produce iron for sale in the open market (see Chart 3). With the growth and integration of large steel companies merchant furnaces have become a less and less. important factor in the production of iron. That part of the industry which makes iron principally for sale, the part represented by merchant furnaces, has expanded little during the period while the number of furnaces which produce chiefly for the maker's own use has increased at a very rapid rate. Since a price is quoted only on the iron which actually enters the market, this change in the organization of the industry is important. However, its consideration is postponed for the moment while a survey of the history of the period is undertaken.

The Iron and Steel Trades During the War

The Iron and Steel Trades During the War

The Iron and Steel Trades During the War

The Iron and Steel Trades During the War

FOREIGN INDUSTRIAL NEWS: A New Textile Fiber; Annealing of Glass; Tetraphosphate; Jute Substitute; Combined Rail and Road Trucks; Two-Cycle Paraffin Oil Engine; Present State of Russian Industry; Electric Melting of Brass; Australian Eucalyptus Oil Trade; Paper-Making Materials; Treatment of Peat; Future of German Iron Industry; Liquid Crystals; Potash Discovery in Sicily; Mineral Wealth of the Ukraine; Iron Trade in Sweden;

FOREIGN INDUSTRIAL NEWS: A New Textile Fiber; Annealing of Glass; Tetraphosphate; Jute Substitute; Combined Rail and Road Trucks; Two-Cycle Paraffin Oil Engine; Present State of Russian Industry; Electric Melting of Brass; Australian Eucalyptus Oil Trade; Paper-Making Materials; Treatment of Peat; Future of German Iron Industry; Liquid Crystals; Potash Discovery in Sicily; Mineral Wealth of the Ukraine; Iron Trade in Sweden;

Navigation to the Far East under the Roman Empire. By Wilfred H. Schoff. - The Eastern Iron Trade in the Roman Empire. By Wilfred H. Schoff. - The Transcontinental Silk Trade at the Christian Era. By Wilfred H. Scoff.

Navigation to the Far East under the Roman Empire. By Wilfred H. Schoff. - The Eastern Iron Trade in the Roman Empire. By Wilfred H. Schoff. - The Transcontinental Silk Trade at the Christian Era. By Wilfred H. Scoff. - Volume 50 Issue 3-4

The Metal Resources Employed in the British Iron and Steel Trade

(1917). The Metal Resources Employed in the British Iron and Steel Trade. Journal of Geography: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 81-85.

Metallurgy of ferrochromium : R. J. Anderson ( Iron Trade Review vol. lxi, No. 1, p. 75, July 12, 1917.)

Ferroalloys are defined as iron-bearing alloys with a high proportion of one or more other elements – manganese, chromium, silicon, molybdenum, etc., mainly used by the iron and steel industries. Life cycle assessment methodology was used to estimate the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of a number of these ferroalloy production processes. The results of the study showed that GHG footprint for ferroalloy production in Australia was 1.8 t CO2e/t FeMn, 2.8 t CO2e/t SiMn and 3.4 t CO2e/t FeSi alloy metal. These results compare with GHG footprints for ferronickel and ferrochromium of 13.9 t CO2e/t and 3.0 t CO2e/t, respectively revised from an earlier study. These GHG footprint estimates were calculated using the Tasmanian electricity greenhouse gas emission factor since these ferroalloy industries are located in Tasmania, Australia. The major difference in greenhouse gas emissions between the various ferroalloys is largely due to their respective amounts of electricity use and coke/coal consumption. These results are not too different to the results from a limited number of studies reported in the literature when compared on a similar electricity source basis. The LCA results also showed that coke and coal usage contributed close to 60% or more of the total GHG emissions from the various ferroalloy production processes. In light of this finding, there would appear to be an opportunity to reduce GHG emissions from ferroalloy production if fossil fuel-based coal is replaced with biomass based renewable carbon.

Pyrometers-past, present, and future: R. P. Brown, before Steel Treating Research Club. ( The Iron Trade Review, vol. 1x, No. 12, p. 671, March 22, 1917.)

Pyrometers-past, present, and future: R. P. Brown, before Steel Treating Research Club. ( The Iron Trade Review, vol. 1x, No. 12, p. 671, March 22, 1917.)